PARLIAMENT, YEAR IN REVIEW, YEAR AHEAD
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): The Year of Our Discontent
Ani O’Brien: The Best and Worst of NZ Politics in 2025
Chris Trotter (Interest): People and Power
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Winston Peters on NZ First’s ‘rejuvenation’ and coalition tensions
Jamie McKay (Herald): Winston Peters, free trade deals and farm votes – what’s really at stake in 2026
Chris Finlayson (Newsroom): Hopes for 2026
ODT Editorial: The tricky job of electoral reform (paywalled)
Derek Cheng (Herald): Revealed: The urgent message from Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee’s office before her alcohol policy reversal (paywalled)
Benn Bathgate (Waikato Times): Trust issues: How many homes Waikato’s MPs own, and why they’re in trusts (paywalled)
RNZ: Ngā Kaupapa Hirahira o te Tau: A look back at the year that was in Te Ao Māori
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Julie Anne Genter: Hoping for a return to ‘holistic solutions’
Tini Molyneux (Te Ao Māori News): Jobs, mining and push back; Shane Jones on the year that was
Tini Molyneux (Te Ao Māori News): Cushla Tangaere Manuel hopeful Ikaroa-Rāwhiti still backs her as focus turns to next election
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Youth MPs’ speeches contained potentially defamatory remarks, breaches of copyright, AI content before controversial review, officials say (paywalled)
David Farrar: Little support from Māori for TPM leader and deputies
Henry Cooke (Post): Summer off politics: James Meager’s holiday break means family, cricket and reading (paywalled)
PRIMARY AND EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES, ENVIRONMENT
Ruth Hill (RNZ): Animal rights advocates call for camera surveillance in shearing sheds
Maxine Jacobs (Press): The scale of Canterbury’s nitrate pollution in drinking water (paywalled)
Riley Kennedy (BusinessDesk): From boardroom battles to billion-dollar deals: the year that was for NZ agribusiness (paywalled)
Andy Brew (Marlborough Express/Press): Endeavour Inlet residents and iwi plan to fight mine proposal
Tim Scott (ODT): Five new Otago marine reserves greenlit (paywalled)
Sue Teodoro (Local Democracy Reporting): Thousands of Wairarapa properties at risk in the event of 1-in-100-year flood
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
Dave Armstrong (Post): Wellington’s finest cock-ups and comebacks (paywalled)
Sue Teodoro (Local Democracy Reporting): Government’s proposals could cost ratepayers more: McAnulty
Tom Hunt (Post): Dreams of a clean-swimming Wellington summer down the drain (paywalled)
Sinead Gill (Press): Ratepayers on the hook for ‘iconic’ tram failing to break even (paywalled)
Tina Law (Press): Former councillor follows through on pledge to donate directors’ fees (paywalled)
Mike Yardley (Press): Why reopening Christ Church Cathedral matters more than ever (paywalled)
JUSTICE, POLICE, CRIME
Bruce Curtis (ODT): How lawyers turn routine legal work into a luxury few can afford
Lane Nichols (Herald): Ngawha Prison death: Police hand child sex offender inmate case to Coroner after 400 days
Ellen O’Dwyer (RNZ): Ministerial advisory group wants commitment to tackling transnational organised crime in Budget 2026
RNZ: Nelson mayor welcomes police boost a year after officer was killed
RNZ: Top cops on the beat over the New Year
Andrea Vance (Post): Gangland Pāua: New Zealand’s hidden seafood crime wave (paywalled)
Lane Nichols (Herald): US businessman implicated in $800k scam involving Remuera financier threatens to sue NZ Police (paywalled)
ECONOMY, SOCIETY, COST OF LIVING, INEQUALITY
Andrea Vance (Post): The $600 shock: One bill away from crisis for many Kiwis (paywalled)
Max Harris (Post): In a fast-paced, burned-out world, we need our public holidays more than ever (paywalled)
TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE
Tom Hunt (Post): A short history of the Terrace Tunnel and Mrs Jones stuck in her home (paywalled)
Nick Leggett (Herald): Can emerging infrastructure bipartisanship survive an election campaign? (paywalled)
Blayne Slabbert (Press/Post): The rise of the cycle economy: From trail towns to e-bikes (paywalled)
Ian Allen (Marlborough Express/Press): ‘The shortest route always wins’: Danish ferry man on potential Clifford Bay port (paywalled)
Lucy Xia (RNZ): Auckland Harbour Bridge repaint project: Where things stand more than a year later
Jamie Morton (Newsroom): Why you should consider a ‘flight diet’ in 2026
BUSINESS, CONSUMER AFFAIRS
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Significant changes on the horizon for tourism industry
Rob Stock (Post): The banks and insurance advertising that got people complaining in 2025 (paywalled)
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): ‘Game on’: Kiwibank’s goal to erode Aussie-owned bank profits (paywalled)
HEALTH, DISABILITY
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): A 7-year-old with cerebral palsy has waited most of her life for a suitable home
John Lewis (ODT): ‘I’m just not prepared to be put off and put off’ for surgery (paywalled)
Laine Priestley (ODT): Aim to ensure wife’s life ‘was not a waste’
OTHER
Joseph Los’e (Herald): MyChoice gambling harm app launched as online casino licences loom
Tony Wall (Stuff): A house sale, a few accounts - and a $65,000 bill. One family’s search for answers
Simon Mercep (1News): Acclaimed Kiwi actor at forefront of effort to protect artists from AI
Amelia Wade, Hanna McCallum and Fiona Ellis (Post): After dark: packed bars to park benches, karaoke and kebabs ‒ a picture of our big cities at night (paywalled)