News Briefing: 25 July 2025

ELECTORAL REFORM
Luke Malpass (Post): Getting rid of same-day election enrolment is a mistake (paywalled)
Giles Dexter and Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira (RNZ): Enrolment changes could have 'significant' impact on democratic participation - Ministry of Justice
Stuff: Deputy PM says electoral law change will only impact ‘drop kicks’
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): Government under fire over sweeping changes to voting rules
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Same-day election enrolments to be scrapped in electoral law overhaul
Sam Smith (Stuff): Government moves to end same-day enrolment under new electoral law changes
Māni Dunlop (Te Ao Māori): Electoral law changes spark fears of lower Māori voter turnout, Minister ignored advice
Thomas Manch (Post): No more same-day enrolling amid major electoral law changes (paywalled)
No Right Turn: An attack on free and fair elections
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Hundreds of thousands of voters affected by planned electoral changes

PARLIAMENT, LOBBYING
David Williams (Newsroom): Who Benefits: The power of the farm lobby, part two
Joel MacManus (Spinoff): Echo Chamber: These people are just speaking for the sake of it
Audrey Young (Herald): The Government’s homelessness problem; Christopher Luxon and his minced oath (paywalled)
Tina Molyneux (Te Ao Māori News): Te Pāti Māori calls out decision to run by-election during Koroneihana
Phil Smith (RNZ): Space, spies, stalking, and extra sittings
David Farrar: Poor Labour MPs
Davina Zimmer (RNZ): The Detail: The value of Youth MPs put under a question mark

HEALTH
Adam Pearse (Herald): Health Ministry admits ‘limited evidence’ used to create now scrapped vaping regulations
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Why did the Government reverse a ban on these vapes?
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Vape rule requiring removeable batteries being lifted
Ruth Hill (RNZ): Risks identified with Gumboot Friday's 'fee-for-service' model
RNZ: Controversial charity Gumboot Friday gets another year's government funding
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Gumboot Friday leaves $1m unspent but minister is confident it can grow
RNZ: Gumboot Friday founder says measure of success is young people getting help fast
Sapeer Mayron (Post): Doctor’s dire warning over the state of palliative care
Nicholas Jones (Stuff): ‘Set up to fail’: Why dementia patients are walking out of care and into danger
Mihingarangi Forbes (Mata): Former Black Fern Cheryl Waaka left to fundraise for survival after shock cancer diagnosis
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): $51b fund is the one part of ACC that’s working well, says minister
Rob Campbell (Post): When times are tough, the disabled carry an even heavier burden (paywalled)

EDUCATION
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Polytech changes will cost 1000 jobs, 500 courses, Cabinet paper reveals
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Polytech boss launches withering attack on government (paywalled)
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): More than 20 Otago Polytech staff face redundancy (paywalled)
Claire Mabey (Spinoff): Why the New Zealand book industry is ‘freaking out’ about Whitireia Publishing
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Erica Stanford faces greatest NCEA test (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: Testing times for NCEA (paywalled)
Chris Abercrombie (Herald): NCEA changes must build on what works, not destroy it (paywalled)
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Newly qualified early childhood teachers to lose as much as $22m over next two years
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Education Minister announces $30m to be put towards new classrooms at state-integrated schools
Julia Gabel (Herald): NZ’s largest teachers’ union taking Government to court over resource teacher cuts (paywalled)
David Hood (Aotearoa Educators Collective): Putting NCEA in Context
Herald: Integrated schools get $30m for new classrooms

HOUSING, HOMELESSNESS
Greg Presland (The Standard): So the Government has increased homelessness
Rebekah Graham: Social housing is a key part of solving homelessness
Martin Van Beynen (Press/Post): Why we need slums and ghettos (paywalled)
Harriet Laughton (Post): Wellington MP backs bold New York-style housing shake-up for capital (paywalled)
Robin Martin (RNZ): Chronic homelessness up 50 percent across New Plymouth
Peter Newport (Crux): Developer's Queenstown worker accommodation - in pods

FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, TRADE
Henry Cooke (Spinoff): Winston Peters intervened to stop diplomat accounts posting about Pride Month
Phil Pennington (RNZ): US commander visits as military integration with 'kill chains' advances
RNZ: New Zealand not part of 'trifecta' with Cook Islands and China, Winston Peters says
Losirene Lacanivalu (RNZ): New Zealand challenges Cook Islands PM to independence vote after his comments on China
Mick Hall: Secretive terror laws review targets protest and dissent
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Ripple effects of Trump tariffs leave gloomy trade outlook

PUBLIC SERVICE
Sam Smith (Stuff): More legal action over working from home rules for public servants
RNZ: PSA takes legal action against MBIE over flexible working
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Business ministry ‘breaches contracts’ in work-from-home crackdown
Sam Smith (Stuff): Over 70 jobs set to go at the Department of Conservation
RNZ: Department of Conservation cutting 71 roles to 'modernise' the government agency
Anna Whyte (Post): One job, 67 applications: A pulse-check on the public service job market (paywalled)

COST OF LIVING, ECONOMY, WILLIS-FONTERRA BUTTER MEETING
ODT Editorial: Economic clock ticks for National
Mandy Te (Interest): Early KiwiSaver withdrawals hit over $190 million in June
Anan Zaki (RNZ): Fonterra boss rejects idea of discounted butter prices for New Zealanders
Blayne Slabbert (Press/Post): Fonterra boss says cost of butter ‘a good news story for NZ’ (paywalled)
Joe Hendren: Butter Wouldn’t Melt: Nicola Willis and the Politics of Dairy Denial
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Blame supermarkets for high butter prices, not Fonterra, says Nicola Willis
Lloyd Burr (Stuff): Explained: Why butter costs so much
Ella Scott-Fleming (ODT): Margarine comment provokes response (paywalled)
Gordon Campbell: On Why The Free Market Is A Scam

RESERVE BANK
Michael Reddell: Bad behaviour: an update
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Reserve Bank chairman Neil Quigley apologised for Adrian Orr losing his cool in the lead-up to his shock resignation (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Finance Minister disappointed with RBNZ after details emerge of events leading up to Orr’s departure
David Farrar: Reserve Bank perks can’t be justified

FOREIGN BUYER BAN, FOREIGN INVESTMENT
Mahvash Ikram (Law News): Moves afoot to relax the residential property ban for foreign investors
Bryce Wilkinson (Herald): Attracting overseas investment: A step forward, but not far enough (paywalled)
Rebecca Stevenson (BusinessDesk): Golden visa boom: Punakaiki Fund nets $4.9m in early 2026 (paywalled)

CLIMATE CHANGE
Eloise Gibson (RNZ): 'A ray of sunshine': NZ litigants spurred on by international climate ruling
Metiria Stanton Turei (ODT): Climate ruling victory for the planet, wake-up call for us (paywalled)
Richard Harman (Herald): Climate Change: The culture of complaint is alive and well

BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT
Brent Edwards (NBR): Report calls for reform of welfare-to-work schemes (paywalled)
Daniel Vernon: Need a report on the effects of the Supermarket duopoly? Open your letterbox
RNZ: Company directors load up on liability insurance as legal risks increase
Brianna McIlraith (BusinessDesk): Women overboard! How many is too many? (paywalled)
Duoya Lu (RNZ): Construction firms offering large discounts to avoid collapse
Herald Editorial: Signs of a brewing building crisis cannot be ignored (paywalled)
Dita De Boni (Post): Bremworth starts down path to bring yarn-making back to NZ (paywalled)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Tom Hunt (Post): Mayoral field could grow again, donation declarations divide candidates (paywalled)
Alisha Evans (Local Democracy Reporting): Tauranga Mayor Mahé Drysdale's call for council review backed by LGNZ
1News: Big, awkward, neglected: Auckland scores poorly on international report
Felix Walton (RNZ): Auckland councillors agree on desired helicopter saga outcome - but not how to get there
RNZ: Auckland Council votes in favour of amendment to helipad ban Notice of Motion
Jonathan Killick (Post): Auckland’s skies being taken over by ‘the Jetsons’, councillors hear
Brent Melville (NBR): Petition claims Auckland Council consent fees are illegal (paywalled)
Tina Law (Press): Christchurch councillor accuses Venues Ōtautahi of ‘dodging moral responsibility’ (paywalled)
Kira Carrington (Local Democracy Reporting): Candidates urged to step up in slow start to Marlborough election

TRANSPORT
Brent Edwards (NBR): Govt to pay Ferry Holdings directors up to an extra $120k (paywalled)
Peter Dunne: Bluebridge replacement strategy may have greater merit
Matthew Martin (Waikato Times): Greens petition for Hamilton - Tauranga Te Huia rail link (paywalled)
Justin Wong (Post): Porirua ratepayers face $350k bill for new speed limit signs
Pokere Paewai (RNZ): Marae along dangerous stretch of SH1 call for return of lower speed limit following death