News Briefing: 5 December 2025

PARLIAMENT, PUBLIC SERVICE
Russell Palmer (RNZ): 95 percent of fast-track amendment bill submitters opposed to changes
Richard Harman: Committee ignores submissions and gives Bishop draconian powers (paywalled)
Erika Harvey (Lobby for Good): When a text message gets you a seat at the table
Luke Oldfield (Post): How Chris Bishop is trying to turn the Kiwi dream into a support base (paywalled)
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Taxpayers’ Union to target Nicola Willis with major campaign on tax and debt (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): ANZ warns Government’s surplus at risk without tighter limits on new spending (paywalled)
Gyles Beckford (RNZ): Government finances worse than expected as tax take falls
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): NZ First re-enters Labour’s 2026 calculations
Gordon Campbell: On Our Reneging On Climate Change, And Labour’s Chronic Evasiveness
Phil Smith (RNZ): Parliament’s biannual Scrutiny Week: A cascade of diminishing attention
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): Under more scrutiny? Act more stupidly
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): From jerks to dicks to tables, the political debate is really on one
Audrey Young (Herald): Andrew Coster’s apology had all the feeling of a piece of wood (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Post): Labour’s candidate for once-safe seat of Wigram revealed (paywalled)
Michael Neilson (BusinessDesk): Commerce Commission chair declares electricity sector a ‘market failure’ amid budget scrutiny (paywalled)
Monique Steele (RNZ): Kiwis putting cost of living ahead of environment, ministry boss says
Brent Edwards (NBR): Commerce Commission has to ’save to invest’ (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: NZ’s trust deficit deepens as institutions falter (paywalled)
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): One MP, One Pint: Rima Nakhle on being a Lebanese diva
Julia Gabel & Thomas Coughlan (Herald): MPs’ Spotify Wrapped: Luxon loves Zach Bryan, Bishop backs Aussie rock band, Labour MP’s passion for the Pacific
Rachel Moore (Stuff): Prime Minister Christopher Luxon wraps up Spotify year with listening age of 27
Herald: Labour MP Barbara Edmonds and business executive Dame Therese Walsh dance to Abba at Bold Steps leadership conference

TE PĀTI MĀORI
Henry Cooke (Post): Unscrambling an omelette: Te Pāti Māori case asks court to consider what a party really is (paywalled)
Tom Day (1News): Mariameno Kapa-Kingi challenges Te Pāti Māori expulsion
Adam Pearse (Herald): Māori Party expulsion: Judge reserves decision as Mariameno Kapa-Kingi challenges ouster in court
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Ousted Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi challenges ‘purported expulsion’
Laura Walters (Newsroom): ‘I wish I didn’t need to’ – ousted Te Pāti MP seeks reinstatement in court
Māni Dunlop (Te Ao Māori News): Unlawful and fundamentally flawed’ Lawyers make case against the expulsion of Te Tai Tokerau MP
Tom Peters (World socialist website): New Zealand Māori Party in chaos

RETIREMENT VILLAGES
1News: Proposed retirement village changes aim to give ‘certainty’ to families
Giles Dexter and Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Government presses ahead with retirement village rule changes
Nicholas Pointon (NBR): Government retirement village reforms introduce 12-month buyback (paywalled)
Anne Gibson (Herald): Government reforming retirement village sector after 11,000 submissions (paywalled)
Stuff: Retirement village rules shake up a ‘double whammy’ for operators, they say
Sarah Curtis (Northern Advocate): Govt’s retirement village reforms risk two-tier system, residents say
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): Stronger protections for residents promised under retirement village overhaul

CLIMATE, CONSERVATION, ENVIRONMENT
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Govt warned new methane target aligned with ‘catastrophic’ warming
Kate Newton (RNZ): ‘Pitiful’ decision on emissions targets will cost the country, former climate commissioner says
Kate Newton (RNZ): Government rejects all of Climate Change Commission’s emissions target recommendations
Greg Presland (The Standard): Is National planning to welch on Paris Climate obligations?
Matthew Nash (Local Democracy Reporting): Rotokākahi pipeline planning grievances aired in High Court
Susan Botting (Local Democracy Reporting): Northland council leader blasts boat ramp call amid clam threat

HOUSING, BUILDING
Annemarie Quill (Stuff): This 1000-home development never began: Why Kāinga Ora is offloading $71m Ferncliffe Farm
Sam Smith (Stuff): A generational split emerges within National on house prices
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): Bishop admits ‘slippage’ on housing targets (paywalled)
Anneke Smith (RNZ): ‘Negotiate with your landlord’ - Housing Minister’s message to renters
Henry Cooke (Post): Housing Minister Chris Bishop urges tenants to push for lower rents next year (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Negotiate with your landlord - but how?
Rachel Moore (Stuff): ‘Ugly’ Wellington flats will be demolished. Here’s the architectural vision of what could have been
Nick James (RNZ): Wellington’s Gordon Wilson flats to be demolished this month
Stuff: Controversial flats building set for demolition before the year is out
Bob Burnett (Press/Post): ‘Hotboxes’ a housing health crisis hellfire (paywalled)
Michael Cugley (Te Ao Māori News): Housing pods become pathway to ownership for Wairoa whānau
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): What’s going on with Auckland house prices?
Deborah Morris (Post): No early Christmas present coming for the property market
Greg Ninness (Interest): Stock of homes for sale on the rise while average asking prices declined in November - Realestate.co.nz
Greg Ninness (Interest): Higher timber prices starting to push up residential construction costs

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
Phil Goff (Herald): Why a rates cap isn’t the answer (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): In-house water services are also exempt from rates cap (paywalled)
Kira Carrington (Local Democracy Reporting): Rates cap puts future infrastructure projects at risk, Marlborough mayor says
Moana Ellis (Local Democracy Reporting): Rates cap will hit tourism districts - Ruapehu mayor
Andrea Vance (Post): Watchdog probes spending under Paul Eagle’s leadership of council (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Post): Wellington City wins power struggle over water votes (paywalled)
Guy Williams (ODT): Wastewater options put at $44m to $203m (paywalled)
Simon Wilson (Herald): Democracy and the Takapuna Golf Club: Decision-making without the shouting (paywalled)
Diane McCarthy (Local Democracy Reporting): Whakatāne District Council severance payouts jump 700% in annual report
Peter Newport (Crux): Is it time for Queenstown’s unelected mayor to step out of the shadows?
RNZ: Boil water notice issued for Paihia, Ōpua and Waitangi in Far North

EDUCATION, SCHOOL LUNCHES, ASBESTOS SAND
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Ministers were warned against removing schools’ Treaty obligations
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): Education Ministry advised Stanford to consult Māori on Treaty clause changes
Layla Bailey-McDowell (RNZ): Education union supports Northland iwi in fight over schools’ Treaty obligations
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Secondary teachers vote to accept government’s latest collective agreement settlement
Samantha Gee (RNZ): Principal says school not to blame for mouldy lunches as authorities review footage
Ellen O’Dwyter (RNZ): Asbestos sand clean-up legal responsibility falls on schools, Education Ministry says
Stuff: Kmart cancels recall of magic sand products after tests clear asbestos concerns

POLICE, CRIME, JUSTICE
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Can Andrew Coster come back from this?
ODT Editorial: Gone but not forgotten (paywalled)
Michael Daly (Stuff): Coster knew dismissal ‘likely outcome’ if he didn’t resign, public service commissioner says
Sam Sherwood (RNZ): Transport Agency halts $6m in funding to police until breath test targets met
Derek Cheng (Herald): $3200 for morning tea, $227k for advising role: Labour questions retail crime chairman’s work
Rayssa Almeida (RNZ): ‘Transformed my life’: Call for specialist courts to break addiction cycles
Bill Hickman (RNZ): Police looking at improving scheme that allows disclosure of history of violence to partners
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Gang patch ban ‘likely’ behind increase in drug possession charges, Justice Ministry CEO says

CHILD WELFARE, ABUSE IN CARE
Alecia Rousseau (Manawatū Standard/Post): ‘Hoodwinked’: Lake Alice survivors feel deceived over redress (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Post): Seven times worse than UK: Grim warning, new campaign as danger season nears (paywalled)
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): After mauling by Auditor-General, Oranga Tamariki reaches for its code of practice

HEALTH
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Government considered cutting more than $3b of ACC sex-abuse claims (paywalled)
Nicholas Jones (Stuff): A breakthrough cancer drug gave her hope - but her life was soon turned upside down
Lucy Xia (RNZ): GP worries crowded housing contributing to measles spread in Auckland
Allan Pollard (Post): Crate Day slowly fades away as binge drinking loses its allure (paywalled)
RNZ: Process to register stillbirths to be changed
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Government unveils ‘compassionate’ changes for parents of stillborn children

EMPLOYMENT, BUSINESS, TAX
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Uber fall-out: NZ Post faces legal action from six workers claiming employment status (paywalled)
Mandy Te (Interest): Minister says surcharge ban better for customers than proposal to cap surcharges
Kate McNamara (Herald): IRD Covid loan defaults hit $447m as 20,000 small firms fall behind (paywalled)
Phil Pennington (RNZ): WorkSafe rule change introduces ‘lethal’ risk of electrocution, electrical inspectors say
Jo Cribb (Newsroom): Working for free is great – if it is voluntary
RNZ: Gen Z workers least happy, 40 percent dread going to work
Toss Grumley (Post): The NZ Christmas break from work has become extreme - and it’s affecting our GDP (paywalled)
Gyles Beckford (RNZ): Number of insolvencies rises, but fewer than this time last year, report shows

TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE
Andrea Vance (Post): Ferry agency turns to top law firm over information request (paywalled)
Nick James (RNZ): KiwiRail director’s conflicts of interest management affecting efficiency, board chair says
Nick James (RNZ): Why is the Aratere ferry still in New Zealand waters?
Samuel Sherry (Herald): NZ Transport Agency fraud licence scandal: Some of the 459 commercial drivers can resit tests
Sharon Brettkelly (RNZ): The Detail: Testing, testing and more testing for the country’s biggest transport job: Auckland’s CRL
RNZ: Air NZ reaches ‘in principle’ deal to ward off some strikes
Joseph Los’e (Herald): Auckland Harbour Bridge march: NZTA denies permission for Brian Tamaki protest – again

IKEA
Herald Editorial: Ikea and Costco are not an economic recovery strategy (paywalled)
Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): Ikea’s opening was a deeply embarrassing time for us as a nation
Martin Van Beynen (Press/Post): Ikea - it’s just a shop, everyone p w
Henry Oliver (Guardian): ‘I’m rapt!’: meatball chants but no mania as New Zealand assembles for first Ikea store
Alexa Cook (RNZ): IKEA’s Hawke’s Bay pine tree expansion flames fears residents will be left to pay