FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE
1News: Q+A: Helen Clark questions NZ's continued involvement in Five Eyes
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Five Eyes: Former Prime Minister Helen Clark questions New Zealand’s continued involvement
Nadine Roberts (Stuff): Helen Clark says Europe is traumatised by Trump - describes new international era as ‘terrifying’
Danyl McLauchlan (Listener): Why Donald Trump is shunning Europe - and what it means for NZ (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Post): Defending New Zealand in Trump, Putin and Xi’s new world order (paywalled)
Phil Pennington (RNZ): New Zealand's part in US moves provoking China
Herald Editorial: Warships and ferries leave troubled waters for Peters to calm in Asia (paywalled)
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): NZ now even more in China’s sphere of influence
Corin Dann and Jo Moir (RNZ): New Zealand needs to 'step up' on defence spending, Winston Peters says
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Media raise alarm over Chinese ships - and the end of 'benign' times
Robert MacCulloch: The PM and his Mates Have Left NZ Defenseless with No Allies, and Unable to Pay for our own Security
Herald: Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters gifted a horse in Mongolia
Stuff: Winston Peters gifted a horse on trip to Mongolia
Thomas Manch (Post): New Zealand leaves monitoring Chinese warships to Australia (paywalled)
Jano Gibson and Andrew Greene (ABC): China tells Australia to expect more warship visits but insists its navy poses 'no threat'
Shaun Bamber (Spinoff): What Cook Islanders think about their country’s relationship with China
Talaia Mika (Cook Islands News): Cook Islands government to seek update on China’s naval exercises
Kirsty Needham (Reuters): Australia discusses security, aid with Vanuatu amid competition with China
Koroi Hawkins (RNZ): Political expert hopes NZ and Australia will 'step up' to fill gaps left by USAID cuts
Grant Bayldon (Herald): World Children’s Day: NZ must spend more on foreign aid that supports young people – World Vision
RNZ: Christopher Luxon's Vietnam trip a success, he says
Paula Penfold (Stuff): Restaurant at centre of indecent assault allegations closes
Jason Walls (Newstalk ZB): Kiwi police in Vietnam amid Wellington sexual assault case investigation
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Ukraine ambassador ‘thankful’ for NZ support after White House row
Herald: Trump, Zelenskyy clash: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon reacts to ‘robust’ meeting, supports Ukraine
RNZ: New Zealand reaffirms support for Ukraine after disastrous White House meeting
John Hobbs (E-Tangata): Time to drop the rhetoric on Palestine
FOUR-YEAR PARLIAMENTARY TERM PROPOSAL
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Four-year term bill will come back to bite Govt – Sir Geoffrey Palmer
Steven Cowan: A four-year term will only entrench the status quo
ODT Editorial: The long and the short of it (paywalled)
Rob Campbell (Newsroom): Four-year terms are a case of politicians focused on the least important things
Tracy Watkins (Post): The time has come for a four-year term of government (paywalled)
RNZ: Greens back a four-year parliamentary term - but with caveats
Good Ideas: Four-year terms: a good idea – with one big caveat (paywalled)
Ryan Bridge (Herald): Extending Parliament to four-year terms: I’ll be voting yes, our politicians are too short-sighted (paywalled)
Ryan Bridge (Newstalk ZB): Do we need to give our politicians four-year terms?
GOVERNMENT, PARLIAMENT
Damien Grant (Stuff): The difference between Christopher Luxon and Andrew Bayly
Jenna Lynch (Stuff): Christopher Luxon has questions to answer, including from his own MPs
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): The Secret Diary of .. the Hosking-Luxon trainwreck
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's increasing strength in foreign policy, deficiency in domestic
Jason Walls (Newstalk ZB): Christopher Luxon’s brilliant week of diplomacy; terrible week of politics
Ben Thomas (Post): Time for Luxon to front up to himself with some direct answers (paywalled)
Gabi Lardies (Spinoff): The Weekend: Leaders with poor convictions and scripted communications
Mike Houlahan (ODT): The Act leader and his day as the acting Prime Minister (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Minister resigns, China tension, retail crime, the Greens
Ian Taylor (Stuff): Dear David Seymour...
1News: Q+A: Greens will cut through global trend of 'divisive' politics - Davidson
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): Rachel Boyack & the $26,000 alpaca
Philip Crump: New Zealand’s MMP Journey: Lessons from Germany’s Electoral Long Game
Cécile Meier (BusinessDesk): My Net Worth: Chris Penk, Government minister (paywalled)
Herald: Z Manu Grand Finals: Sports Minister Mark Mitchell does bomb fully clothed in Auckland’s Viaduct Habour
Victoria Carter (BusinessDesk): Fail File: Tracey Martin, Aged Care Association CE
Phil Smith (RNZ): How the sound and voices of politics have changed from 1912 to 1990
INFRASTRUCTURE, HOUSING, PROPERTY INDUSTRY
Corin Dann (RNZ): Hyundai in running to build two new Cook Strait ferries
Herald: Hyundai may bid again for Cook Strait ferries after Winston Peters meeting
Thomas Manch (Post): Winston Peters to meet Hyundai Mipo in South Korea
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): UK experience shows New Zealand Infrastructure Investment Summit needs more strategy and less secrecy (paywalled)
Thomas Coughaln (Herald): Chris Bishop’s plan to fight communist-style productivity with ‘the whole shebang’ of affordable housing tools
Luke Malpass (Post): Government moves to reward councils for more houses (paywalled)
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): The new tool Chris Bishop says could end NZ's housing crisis
RNZ: Shake-up of council infrastructure funding announced
Ella Somers (Interest): Government to replace infrastructure development fees with new levy system
Luke Malpass (Post): Bishop announces levies system for infrastructure growth (paywalled)
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Growing infrastructure pipeline not ‘translating into projects coming to market’ (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): How do you know when to give up on buying a home?
Gabi Lardies (Spinoff): For and against build-to-rent housing
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Kāinga Ora tenant ordered to pay $17k in rent arrears
Brianna McIlraith (Stuff): Is it cheaper to rent or buy a property?
Mary Williams (ODT): Intention to end motel housing announced (paywalled)
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): Why the housing market is just not firing up (paywalled)
ENERGY
Eloise Gibson (RNZ): Fossil fuel advocate who slammed clean energy grants joins energy agency board
Vernon Small (Post): Why can’t politicians get along? (paywalled)
Jonathan Milne and Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Govt readies for any court action from aggrieved gentailers
RNZ: Brakes come on four big electricity generator-retailers
Shane Te Pou (Herald): Energy crisis: Power gentailers are draining NZ’s economic lifeblood, political courage is needed (paywalled)
Ian Llewellyn (BusinessDesk): Once burnt twice shy, gentailers results show loss of confidence in gas (paywalled)
Karyn Scherer (NBR): Consumers facing ’triple whammy’ on power prices (paywalled)
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Call to justify increased lines charges
Brianna McIlraith (Stuff): Here's why your power bill is getting more expensive
Jamie Gray (Herald): Departing Meridian CEO Neal Barclay’s parting shot: If it ain’t broke … (paywalled)
Mike Casey (Newsroom): Look to the skies and pray – for sun, not rain
PUBLIC SERVICE
Anna Whyte (Post): What public servants are actually earning (paywalled)
Brian Easton (Pundit): The Cult Of Generic Management
Tony Burton: In the State we trust...?
Robert MacCulloch: Seems neither Pharmac's CEO, nor its Chair, have ever prescribed a drug in NZ
SCHOOL LUNCHES, EDUCATION
Claire Trevett (Herald): Is David Seymour heading toward a fail mark on school lunches? When small things turn into big headaches (paywalled)
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): Seymour's late, missing, discarded, allergenic, nutritionless, dangerous & skimpy school lunch programme is unravelling
Press Editorial (Post): Losing it over school lunches (paywalled)
Alex Casey (Spinoff): The A-Z of David Seymour’s school lunch disaster
Jamie Ensor & Adam Pearse (Herald): Chris Hipkins calls on PM to compel David Seymour to address school lunch programme issues
RNZ: Prime Minister expects David Seymour to give school lunch problems his 'full attention'
Jason Walls (Newstalk ZB): School lunches: Christopher Luxon makes expectations clear to David Seymour as minister responsible
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): This is what school lunches looked like for Wellington’s Mana College last year, and what they look like now
Yolisa Tswanya (Northern Advocate): Ministry investigates school lunch issues in Christchurch but not in Northland
Bruce Cotterill (Herald): Who’s at fault on school lunches? (paywalled)
Arena Williams, Stuart Smith (Stuff): No student should feel alienated because their needs aren’t ‘standard’
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John Gerritsen (RNZ): New NCEA tests failing students in low income schools - principals
Rachel Helyer Donaldson (RNZ): 'Why would you even consider this?': Union flabbergasted by plan to switch funding for resource teachers
Elizabeth Rata (Open Inquiry): A Knowledge Rich Curriculum for New Zealand
Sharon Brettkelly (RNZ): Preparing our kids for the wild world of the internet
Robin Martin (RNZ): Parents left shellshocked at closure of community childcare centre
Ben Leahy (Herald): Private schools: Most expensive, biggest fee increases for 2025 (paywalled)
CITIZEN’S ARREST POWERS, CRIME, JUSTICE
Kate Newton and Phil Pennington (RNZ): Violent crime victimisation rates steady, not dropping, data shows
Duncan Garner (Listener): Will citizens’ arrests deter retail thugs or will someone die? (paywalled)
Katie Ham (Post): Citizen’s arrest: End to the ‘paradise for thieves’ or opening Pandora’s box? (paywalled)
Andrew Gunn (Press/Post): Goldsmith’s DIY crime-fighting plan: Citizen’s arrests, fly spray, and a well-timed wet towel (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): We wanted citizen arrest powers. Stop moaning
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): Who actually wants the expanded citizen's arrest powers?
RNZ: Firearms crackdown gives police and courts given new powers
RNZ: New Auckland training facility hoped to boost police recruit numbers
Catrin Owen, Glenn McConnell and Paddy Gower (Stuff): 'Gandalf' the Green Fairy set to appear in court after police bust
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Former cop, widow, Chlöe Swarbrick and more speak out for Gandalf, the arrested green fairy
ECONOMY, GOVT REVENUE
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Ratings agencies are not worried, but are watching Government’s books (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Post): ‘Hard-head’ Treasury Secretary Iain Rennie issues debt and shocks warning (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Government freezes incomes of 3000 mostly single-parent families, saving $970,000
Shanti Mathias (Spinoff): IRD is learning the hard way what scams have done to trust
David Hargreaves (Interest): As interest rates fall, will the economy rise again?
Hillmarè Schulze (NBR): Is New Zealand doomed to mediocrity? (paywalled)
Michael Reddell: Forty years of floating
Kate Nicholls (The Conversation): NZ’s barriers to economic growth: short-term thinking, political concentration and policy flip-flops
Kate Nicholls: New Zealand isn’t Ireland and it sure as heck ain’t Singapore
PRIMARY AND EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES, ENVIRONMENT, CONSERVATION
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): NZ will ‘no longer tolerate’ being pushed around in the Pacific – fisheries minister
Richard Reeves (ODT): Open-cast mines are for keeps, so no to gold prospecting
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Concern over nitrogen use discussions
Stefan Korber (The Conversation): Farming cooperatives can get a bad environmental rap, but they can also be a force for good
Sally Round (RNZ): Country Life: Could small-scale farms be the best way to feed the country?
Susan Botting (Local Democracy Reporting): Millions being thrown at Bay of Islands' caulerpa control as pest seaweed spreads
David Williams (Newsroom): Court hears of emotional toll of murk and mud
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Jonathan Killick (Sunday Star Times): Accusations of gerrymandering and suburb-stealing as voter lines drawn in Auckland (paywalled)
Jonathan Killick (Sunday Star Times): Inside the meeting: Auckland Council stumps up for St James theatre but not all the players are happy (paywalled)
RNZ: Takapuna Golf Club at risk under new proposal from Auckland Council
Ruby Shaw (ODT): Poor approval rating a surprise: mayor (paywalled)
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Toxic waste cleanup budget halved (paywalled)
Grant Miller (ODT): 1500 ratepayers affected by error (paywalled)
Grant Miller (ODT): Water supply pipe ‘major risk concern’ (paywalled)
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Four-year terms for councils? No thanks
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Chch council should be red-faced over red zone decision
K Gurunathan (Post): The council, the law and the never-ending coastal hazards saga (paywalled)
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Cars and carcasses: Southern council forks out for clean-ups
Laura Smith (Local Democracy Reporting): Rotorua council seeks input on proposed alcohol outlet freeze
Zita Campbell (Local Democracy Reporting): Gisborne District Council seeks input on CBD alcohol rule changes
RNZ: 'Deeply sorry': Taupō District Councillor Anna Park admits to drink driving
HEALTH, DISABILITY
Keiller MacDuff (RNZ): Most health care workers think cuts are damaging services - survey
Rachel Thomas (Post): Health staff survey reveals ‘immeasurable pain’ of cost-cutting
Isaac Davison (Herald): Nurses, social workers working as receptionists as ‘back office’ public sector cuts bite
RNZ: What will Whaikaha do about the 62% of disabled people with an unmet need?
Ian Powell: Private Versus Public Health Systems
Jacqueline Cumming (NZ Doctor): Is $6000 enough? The harsh reality of swapping public for private (paywalled)
Cecilia Robinson (Herald): New prescription guidelines to enhance equity, access to care (paywalled)
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Dunedin Hospital: Budget for outpatients building ‘under pressure’
1News: 'We can start helping people' - Southland Charity Hospital opening
RNZ: New CEO, new culture says Pharmac's board chair
Jenna Lynch (Stuff): Pharmac CEO Sarah Fitt resigns after months of pressure
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Sarah Fitt resigns as Pharmac chief executive
RNZ: Pharmac chief executive Sarah Fitt resigns
Victor Waters (RNZ): Liver cancer drugs tecentriq and bevacizumab to receive Pharmac funding
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): Medical grad wants to be a GP – but is stuck in training limbo
RNZ: Hospital in rural Northland raises $13,500 for helipad upgrade
Patrice Dougan (NZ Doctor): Face off: Political desire meets clinical caution meets telehealth turmoil(paywalled)
Barbara Fountain (NZ Doctor): Editorial – Target practice (paywalled)
Alan Perrott (NZ Doctor): Minister’s slow response to invites raises red flags for Māori leaders (paywalled)
Stephen Forbes (NZ Doctor): Health IT in 2025: Trends, tensions and transition in turbulent times (paywalled)
Alan Perrott (NZ Doctor): Minister’s slow response to invites raises red flags for Māori leaders (paywalled)
COVID 19
Julie Jacobson, Kelly Dennett and Rachel Thomas (Post): Covid times: How the pandemic changed us (paywalled)
Julie Jacobson (Post): Is New Zealand ready for the next pandemic? (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: An odd anniversary (paywalled)
Paula Penfold (Stuff): Covid Inquiry: Bullying claims, four resignations, 'concerns' acknowledged
Libby Kirkby-McLeod (RNZ): A look back at the Covid-19 pandemic, five years on from New Zealand's first case
Louise Ternouth (RNZ): Covid-19 five years on: What it was like being one of the country's first cases
Stephen Howie (Newsroom): Covid anniversary: Time to give this issue oxygen
MEDIA
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Defending media against defunding
1News: 'Encouraging': TVNZ sees positive half-year earnings
Nona Pelletier (RNZ): TVNZ reports half-year profit, but foresees potential full-year loss
Shayne Currie (Herald): Media Insider: TVNZ interim financial results - state broadcaster posts $11.8m operational profit on revenue of $152.7m (paywalled)
Esther Taunton (Stuff): TVNZ reports $11.8 million first-half earnings
Keith Lynch (Stuff): The Aotearoa complaints have gone up
Cartoons
Great piece by Brian Easton.