PARLIAMENT, TĀMAKI MAKAURAU BY-ELECTION, PUBLIC SERVICE
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Christopher Luxon faces leadership crisis as National MPs lose confidence (paywalled)
Anne Salmond (Newsroom): Bats in the belfry, trolls in the Beehive
Thomas Manch (post): Immigration, Paris climate pact, nuclear power on agenda as NZ First meets (paywalled)
The Standard: So, New Zealand First Then?
Max Harris (Post): Traps a new progressive government must avoid (paywalled)
Roger Partridge (Herald): Time to unscramble New Zealand’s government (paywalled)
RNZ: Te Pāti Māori apologises over Tākuta Ferris' social media post
Karanama Ruru and Lloyd Burr (Stuff): Te Pāti Māori apologises for MP’s ‘totally unacceptable’ social post
Jamie Ensor & Ethan Griffiths (Herald): Te Pāti Māori MP Tākuta Ferris takes issue with ‘Indians, Asians, Black, Pākehā’ campaigning for Labour in Tāmaki Makaurau byelection
RNZ: Tāmaki Makaurau by-election: Two days left to vote
Audrey Young (Hearld): Act-NZ First rivalry ramps up; two words for Aussies in a froth over NZ-born neo-Nazi
BUDGET
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Budget documents find $8.5 billion gap between costs and savings
Herald: Budget 2025: Confidential documents reveal new details of KiwiSaver, health funding, $8.5b hole
Luke Malpass (Post): Budget documents release shows desperate search for savings (paywalled)
HEALTH, DISABILITY
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Health authorities recommend doing 'absolute minimum' to fix Auckland City Hospital
Azaria Howell (Newstalk ZB): Public Service Association calls out Health NZ for hosting private healthcare job ads on website
Ruth Hill (RNZ): Doctors fear law change would gag healthworkers from speaking out
RNZ: Health Minister Simeon Brown demands union and Health NZ go to arbitration
RNZ: Health Minister sees 'little prospect' of Health NZ and doctors ending dispute alone
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Health minister calls for intervention to end stalemate with doctors, as strikes continue
Anna Whyte (Post): Health minister’s last-ditch effort to resolve senior doctors’ dispute (paywalled)
Adam Burns (RNZ): Decision on whether senior doctors will strike again expected next week
No Right Turn: National’s divide and rule plan for health
Sue Adams (Newsroom): Proposal to cut grad nurses’ hours and training is wrong-footed
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Hospital under-staffing major issue: nurses (paywalled)
Amanda Gillies (RNZ): The Detail: The cost to society of weight loss drugs
Chris Thom (Herald): This is how we should build NZ’s future hospitals (paywalled)
RESERVE BANK
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): The missing links in the Reserve Bank saga
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Treasury pushed for steeper Reserve Bank cuts (paywalled)
Michael Reddell: Willis and the Reserve Bank Board and Governor
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Nicola Willis insists she's been transparent about mismanagement of Adrian Orr's resignation
Michael Reddell: Yes (he has “given a sufficient explanation”)
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Bureaucratic Lese Majeste (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Major bank calls for increase to inflation target
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): Westpac suggests more transparency, January rate decision at RBNZ (paywalled)
HOUSING, BUILDING
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Jury is out over whether homeowners will be left in the cold under Chris Penk’s building regime overhaul (paywalled)
David Long (Stuff): Myth-busting Auckland’s plans for 2 million new homes
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): The housing intensification battle reaches cabinet level
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Auckland is dealing with the trouble of change
Lois Williams (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘You can’t stop stupid’: New hazard rules for home owners
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Fast-tracked Auckland housing project faces setback after draft consent decline (paywalled)
Sinead Gill (Press): Housing rules loosened in more parts of Christchurch (paywalled)
Miriam Bell (Post): ‘Social bonds’ to boost community housing lending (paywalled)
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Community Housing Funding Agency gets A+ credit rating, prepares to issue first social bonds (paywalled)
Bella Craig (RNZ): Student met with rubbish, dirt, faeces and bad smell in Dunedin rental
Mike Jones: The ups and downs of the sideways housing market
ENVIRONMENT, RMA
Emma Ricketts (RNZ): Fact-checked: Are nitrates contaminating our drinking water... and harming babies?
Michael Daly (Stuff): University apologies after academic’s ‘extreme, violent and dangerous’ hanging post
Michael Daly (Stuff): ‘Extreme, violent and dangerous’: Farmers demand action, academic unrepentant over ‘hanging’ post
Stephanie Ockhuysen (RNZ): Academic Mike Joy apologises for 'hanging' dairy CEOs comment
David Williams (Newsroom): Law change scuppers challenge to irrigation scheme mega-consent
Andrea Vance (Post): Law change leaves polluters protected after mega-irrigation ruling (paywalled)
Kirsty Johnston (RNZ): The great methane debate explained
Farah Hancock (RNZ): Pākiri locals celebrate an end to sand mining
Teuila Fuatai (RNZ): Sand mining to cease at Pākiri beach after settlement with Māori Trust
Lois Williams (Local Democracy Reporting): Hefty new fines for polluters
Monique Steele (RNZ): Waikato Regional Council hopes for fewer RMA breaches amid 'enormous' new fines
Lois Williams (Local Democracy Reporting): Consent hearing for controversial dump begins
Annabel Reid (Rotorua Daily Post): Rotorua tanker crash: Diesel spill leaves human, cultural and financial costs
Toni McDonald (ODT): Mining application upsets locals (paywalled)
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
RNZ: Judith Collins questions presence of ex-PMs at Chinese military parade
Nicholas Jones (Stuff): He invited Sir John Key to his wedding. Now, he’s called the former PM’s actions ‘shameful’
Martin Van Beynen (Post): Clark and Key provide succour to dictators on China’s big day (paywalled)
Keiller MacDuff (RNZ): Covert nature of Collins' trip to Ukraine a sensible precaution, expert says
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): Judith Collins makes secret visit to site of Russian missile attack in Kyiv
Samantha Hayes and Glenn McConnell (Stuff): ‘The Russians attack at night’: How Judith Collins slipped into war-torn Kyiv on secret mission
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Defence Minister Judith Collins’ secret trip to Ukraine: ‘Heart-breaking’ scenes, reminder of strong NZ support
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Judith Collins visit gives Ukraine 'enormous strength'
Thomas Manch (Post): Defence Minister Judith Collins visits war-scarred Kyiv
RNZ: 'He's an Australian': Luxon on possible deportation of 'awful human being' Thomas Sewell
Chris Marriner (Stuff): Christopher Luxon brands NZ-born neo-Nazi an awful human
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Councils expecting influx of rates help requests as households struggle with rising costs
David Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘Living in la-la-land’: Mayor takes aim at zero rate rise
RNZ: Call for govt action after Thames Coromandel council misses out on new water entity
Amelia Wade (Post): Wayne Brown lets rip on councillors and low-rise suburbs
Jessica Hopkins (RNZ): Mayoral candidate Kerrin Leoni backtracks on speedway at Western Springs decision
Krystal Gibbens (RNZ): Battle to save City to Sea bridge from demolition won't go to appeal
Krystal Gibbens (RNZ): Dozens stage last-gasp protest to save Wellington's City to Sea Bridge
Tom Hunt (Post): ‘Fierce fight’ promised to save doomed bridge but campaigners drop legal action (paywalled)
Ethan Manera (Herald): Wellington City Council adopts official rainbow action plan
David Farrar: Judging Little
Matthew Martin (Waikato Times): Will it be haere mai or haere ra for Māori wards? (paywalled)
Chris Hyde (Hawkes Bay Today/Herald): An alternative option for voters in the Māori wards referendum (paywalled)
Linda Hall (Local Democracy Reporting): Standing out above 16 others – the most crowded race in Hawke’s Bay
Sinead Gill (Press): Recap: Christchurch mayoral candidates go head-to-head in Press debate (paywalled)
ACC
Paula Penfold (Stuff): 'We have fallen short': ACC's apology to staff as major review findings revealed
RNZ: ACC review finds 'gossipy' culture and 'very high risk' hiring practices
Anna Whyte (Post): Frontline strain and leadership gaps flagged at ACC (paywalled)
EMPLOYMENT, WORKPLACE SAFETY
Melissa Nightingale (Herald): Asbestos contamination in fire doors: Couple fear son won’t see his kids grow up
Melissa Nightingale (Herald): Construction worker ‘disgusted’ at handling of fire door asbestos contamination scare
RNZ: No sign of asbestos in fire doors at Auckland's convention centre - Fletcher Building
Ethan Manera & Melissa Nightingale (Herald): Sky City International Convention Centre latest building embroiled in asbestos door scare
Thomas Manch and Harriet Laughton (Post): Asbestos scare extends to SkyCity convention centre (paywalled)
Sam Smith (Stuff): ‘A lot more abuse’: Traffic management worker says abuse on rise since ‘war on cones’
BANKS
Nick Stride (Interest): Banks 'delaying' open banking, says Commerce Commission
Tim Hunter (NBR): More bark than bite in bank capital review (paywalled)
BusinessDesk: NZ banking capital adequacy proposals may face choppy trans-Tasman seas (paywalled)
MEDIA
Spinoff: Announcing the new editor of The Spinoff
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Auckland radio shows it’s not all talk
Shayne Currie): RNZ to ditch youth brand and weekend roles; NZ on Air-Film Commission merger scrapped; Mike McRoberts’ email hack (paywalled)
Herald: Steven Joyce boosts NZME stake with 32,000 share purchase
RNZ: RNZ-ABC series on Rainbow Warrior sinking scoops major prize at Asia Podcast Awards
EDUCATION
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Minister of Education Erica Stanford rejects claims Treaty being removed from school documents
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Children's war history lessons at national memorial to end as historians lose jobs
Mark John (ODT): ‘Very proud’ to open new school site
JUSTICE, CORRECTIONS
Neil Sands (Law News): New Zealand scores highly on rule-of-law index but Chief Justice paints grim picture of court system
Neil Sands (Law News): Law Commission recommends adding transgender, non-binary and intersex to anti-discrimination laws
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Do heavy court workloads justify crims getting off lightly?
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): NZ judge’s Hong Kong role shows need for ethics overhaul – report
IMMIGRATION
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): Government moves to broaden deportations as overstayer tally revealed
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Deporting criminals set to get easier under law change
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Government to strengthen deportation powers
Caleb Fotheringham (RNZ): Children's Commissioner says immigration bill fails to reflect lessons of Dawn Raid era