ELECTION 2026
Henry Cooke (Post): Why the Mowbray plot to skew the election probably won’t work (paywalled)
Anneke Smith (Post): Ready, set, go! Everything to play for in this election (paywalled)
Isaac Davison (Stuff): Report Card: The policies which the Government didn’t campaign on but did anyway
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Labour claims Christopher Luxon ‘MIA’ on campaign, National reveals what PM’s been doing
Emma Ricketts and Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Where is the prime minister? Hipkins says he is missing in action
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Politicians ‘sneak about’ says climate protester after missing Luxon
Mike Houlahan (ODT): He’s not missing in action, he’s right there in the spotlight (paywalled)
Tom McKinlay (ODT): Festival rocking for democracy (paywalled)
Paul Gorman (ODT): ‘Everything sucks, but that’s why young people’s voices matter’ (paywalled)
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): Are these election promises worth it to you?
James Nokise (Post): Look out for the slop as AI takes centre stage in election campaigns (paywalled)
Julia Gabel (Herald): Labour’s Ginny Andersen ahead of minister Chris Bishop in Hutt South race - poll
Alice Peacock (Newsroom): Judith Collins’ successor has skin in the game in Papakura
Tim Brown (RNZ): The election fight for Wigram is taking flight
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): Labour’s West Coast candidate backs fast-track hydro once damned as ‘destructive’
Will Johnston (Post): Jones talks gas, industry and backs new candidate at Taranaki meeting (paywalled)
Robin Martin (RNZ): Shane Jones backs NZ First’s controversial New Plymouth candidate selection
RNZ: New Zealand First names New Plymouth Deputy Mayor Murray Chong as election candidate
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): Controversial New Plymouth councillor to stand for NZ First
Stuff: The Coalition Government wanted to build more, faster. Did it succeed?
NICKY HAGER’S DIRTY WORK
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): In defence of Nicky Hager’s Dirty Work
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): The secret diary of .. Nicky Hager’s book
Dane Giraud (Herald): Nicky Hager is of an elite intelligentsia who hold a kind of Free Speech Union derangement revealed in Dirty Work (paywalled)
Ben Thomas (Post): Nicky Hager lobs a dampish squib while Chris Hipkins self-detonates (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Dirty Work, monetary policy mistakes, local government reform (paywalled)
TAX AND FISCAL POLICY
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Landlord tax cut was about the Labour Party, not property (paywalled)
Chelsea Daniels (Herald): Do Kiwis want more tax, less tax, or no tax? – The Front Page
Anna Whyte (Interest): Ipsos poll suggests 64% support wealth tax of 2.5% on assets above $10m
No Right Turn: Taxing the rich is popular
Harriet Laughton (Post): Nearly half of voters would support delaying return to surplus by a year to restore pay equity (paywalled)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
The Post: Editorial – Head Start becomes a false start (paywalled)
ODT: Editorial – Bordering on the absurd (paywalled)
Sue Teodoro and Tom Hunt (Post): Amalgamation freeze leaves willing councils stuck in limbo (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Council amalgamation – something else this Govt didn’t deliver
Ruby Shaw (ODT): ‘No goalposts have been shifted’: Watts dismisses Dunedin MPs critical of council merger ‘stunt’ (paywalled)
Rebecca Hogan (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘Angst’, ‘irony’ and ‘lost time’: Wider Manawatū reacts to Government pausing council reforms
1News: Local councils ‘left in limbo’ after amalgamation process paused
Bronson Perich (Local Democracy Reporting): Ōtorohanga Mayor: Local government reform delay ‘a bit like the Wahs’
Bronson Perich (Local Democracy Reporting): Forced merger proposal process a waste of time – Tūrangi councillor
Jordan Smith (Local Democracy Reporting): Thames-Coromandel council reveals cost as Head Start proposals delayed
Ayla Yeoman (Local Democracy Reporting): Tauranga, Western Bay mayors on Government decision delay
Lianne Dalziel (Newsroom): Council voting rights attack is a dog’s breakfast for the sake of a dog whistle
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Auckland leaders’ warnings over Māori votes ignored by Govt, bruising relationships
Moana Ellis (Local Democracy Reporting): Ngāti Rangi blasts Horizons over complaints process after iwi leader cleared of conflict concerns
Craig Ashworth (Local Democracy Reporting): Iwi want early say in South Taranaki council decisions
Andrew Little (Post): Tough decisions are coming (paywalled)
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