News Briefing: 24 June 2026

THE 1NEWS VERIAN POLL
Tom Day (1News): Poll: Big two parties at 30-year low, Opportunity nears 5% threshold
Tom Day (1News): NZ sours on National and Labour, minor parties on the rise
Justin Hu (1News): Party leaders react to new 1News poll, play down newcomer’s rise
RNZ: Left bloc leads in latest poll despite Labour slump
Nick James (Post): Coalition would be gone at election, Opportunity nears 5% new TVNZ poll suggests (paywalled)
Jenna Lynch (Stuff): Coalition out in new poll, Opportunity nudging so close to 5%
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Chris, Chris and the purple devolution
RNZ: Opportunity Party leader Qiulae Wong on the party’s surprise surge in a new poll
Henry Cooke (Post): New poll suggests the coalition Government has a problem, not just National (paywalled)

ELECTION 2026: CAMPAIGN, COALITION AND PARTIES
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): ‘We’ll swallow our ego’: Te Pāti Māori ponders the ultimate tactical sacrifice
Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira (RNZ): Te Pāti Māori lay out their strategy to defeat the coalition
1News: Hipkins confident he can form coalition with Greens without budging on tax
Stuff: ‘No to wealth taxes and inheritance taxes’: Hipkins draws red line on Greens’ proposals
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Would NZ First form a government with Labour? Winston Peters calls that a ‘w....r question’
Herald: Winston Peters calls Ryan Bridge’s coalition query a ‘w***er question’ during on-air interview
Stuff: ‘Sliding towards 25%’: Winston Peters attacks ‘desperate’ National
RNZ: Peters chafes at ‘w****r question’, bemoans ‘career politicians’
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Does National want to win electorate seats? Electorate success could expel senior MPs
Sam Smith (Stuff): Five times politicians attacked, defended, and ducked claims of fiscal holes
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Chlöe Swarbrick says Greens ‘rolling with punches’, ‘transparent’, as it issues another correction (paywalled)
Ryan Bridge (Newstalk ZB): Labour takes huge election gamble
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Electoral fantasy vs what will actually happen
Stuff: ‘I did not complain’: Louise Upston says she only sought rule clarification over Stuff photo
Asia Pacific Report: Why NZ’s ‘Free Palestine’ party seeks to put Gaza genocide at centre of politics
Chris Lynch: Why the media is obsessed with TOP
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): Let’s put the ‘demos’ back in democracy
Chris Trotter: Holding Back the Revolution (paywalled)

GOVERNMENT
Luke Malpass (Post): Why Christopher Luxon outlasted Keir Starmer (paywalled)
RNZ: Christopher Luxon wishes UK’s Keir Starmer well after resignation announcement
Azaria Howell (Herald): $200 All Blacks jersey gifted to Marco Rubio from Foreign Minister Winston Peters
Adam Pearse (Herald): Investigation into Human Rights Commissioner Stephen Rainbow in regard to conduct concerns
RNZ: Human Rights Commission head to be investigated over conduct
Inside Government: Ombudsman’s survey blows whistle on disclosure retaliation
NBR: A third of whistleblowers say they lost their job as a result (paywalled)
Cameron Bagrie (BusinessDesk): The pain points for public service job cuts (paywalled)

KIWISAVER, SUPERANNUATION AND TAX
Herald: Editorial: KiwiSaver reform needs to be lasting (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Labour says superannuation is sustainable without changes, Treasury warns that may cost billions of dollars in tax or debt (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Post): ACT against compulsory KiwiSaver - but won’t call it a bottom line (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Nicola Willis responds to equity concerns over KiwiSaver, Super mix, saying ‘we can have both’ (paywalled)
RNZ: ‘Fundamental issues’ need to be addressed with National’s KiwiSaver policy, Labour says
Greg Smith (Herald): How a 12% KiwiSaver rate reshapes retirement saving – Generate Wealth Weekly
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): How KiwiSaver could give kids tens of thousands of dollars
Mandy Te (Interest): Early KiwiSaver withdrawals hit $243 million in May
Mandy Te (Interest): Luxon says National’s KiwiSaver policy for the self-employed is ‘fair and reasonable’
Anna Whyte (Interest): Politicians want New Zealanders to save this election, but can they save themselves?
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): The Super bill is staggering. See how much it costs us in the time it takes to read this article
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Seymour thinks Peters could be convinced to support raising retirement age
Chelsea Daniels (Herald): Money looms large in election as National, Greens set out economic policies
Henry Cooke (Post): Calculator: How the Green Party’s tax policy would impact you (paywalled)
Grant Duncan: MMP: Is it a problem?

THE FAILED IMMIGRATION IT PROJECT
Adam Pearse (Herald): Michael Heron KC to lead review into immigration IT upgrade scandal
Nick James (Post): Michael Heron heads inquiry into whether officials misled ministers over failed $33m project (paywalled)
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): MBIE officials told MPs they were re-working the $33m immigration upgrade. The project was already dead
Justin Hu (1News): Claim Parliament may have been misled over failed $33m govt IT project
Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira (RNZ): Public service commissioner outlines scope of IT upgrade inquiry
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Immigration New Zealand head didn’t tell select committee $35m IT project had been axed
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Failed IT project: Greens question what would have happened if it had continued

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