GOVERNMENT, PARLIAMENT AND ELECTION
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Luxon’s leadership is now a problem for the whole country (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Bombshell poll: Luxon under pressure as National sinks towards 2020 disaster mark
Stuff: National poll slump expected as Taxpayers’ Union prepares release
Lloyd Burr (Stuff): Former National MP quits party, joins TOP in new role
RNZ: Former MP Jackie Blue quits National to join Opportunity party
Anna Whyte (Interest): Latest disclosures detail MPs’ travel and accommodation spending
Brent Edwards (NBR): Election 2026: what impact will leaders have on the campaign? (paywalled)
Jimmy Ellingham (RNZ): Officials warns that retail crime advisory group lacks relevant expertise after resignations
Allan Barber (Interest): State owned asset sales a matter of philosophy
Julia Gabel (Herald): Did Nicola Willis promise to reduce food prices? Labour says so (paywalled)
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Immigration Minister Erica Stanford apologises after inflating overstayer figures
Louis Collins (RNZ): MPs put public service integrity under the microscope
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): RBNZ ‘focusing on the reality on the ground’: Breman (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Christopher Luxon vs Barbara Edmonds
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): Francisco Hernandez on the Greens being ‘so f**king back’
IRAN WAR
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Luxon says he doesn’t have the intelligence (or the principles, it seems)
Don Brash: I have some sympathy for the Prime Minister
RNZ: New Zealand has small, important role in Middle East solution, expert says
Sam Smith and Samantha Hayes (Stuff): US boasting of ‘quiet death’ on Iranian warship ‘not words we’d use’, minister says
Phil Pennington (RNZ): NZ spy agency providing Iran war threat intelligence
RNZ: Over 3000 New Zealanders in the Middle East amidst conflict
Hanna McCallum (Post): Defence Force planes deploy for Middle East evacuations as 3000 Kiwis stranded (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): Winston Peters can’t resist crack at Christopher Luxon over Iran fumble (paywalled)
Reuben Steff (Post): Where the Iran war - and NZ - fit into a shifting world order (paywalled)
Amanda Gillies (RNZ): What to know about the war in Iran
Dita De Boni (Press): Five takeaways from a business week dominated by Middle East conflagration (paywalled)
Martin Van Beynen (Post): ‘We have to accept losing our children’ - the growing risk of war (paywalled)
IRAN WAR IMPACT ON NZ ECONOMY
RNZ: Finance Minister Nicola Willis says economic impact from Middle East war isn’t clear
Nik Dirga (RNZ): What are New Zealand’s global supply chains being disrupted by the US-Iran conflict?
Roeland van den Bergh (Post): Airfares more than double as Middle East conflict disrupts flights (paywalled)
Rebecca Stevenson (BusinessDesk): War fallout hits home: Pultron shipment trapped by Hormuz closure (paywalled)
Luisa Girao (Post): Middle East shipping disruption forces NZ exporters to rethink (paywalled)
MEDIA
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): When lobbyists get to advise the media newsroom
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Post): Press secretary turned government lobbyist to lead NZME editorial board (paywalled)
David Farrar: The terrible TVNZ story
Audrey Young (Herald): Why Paul Goldsmith’s TVNZ crime stats phone call is unlikely to stick as a scandal (paywalled)
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Broadcasting Minister Paul Goldsmith says he ‘may have grunted’ at TVNZ chair
RNZ: Questions raised over TVNZ’s editorial independence
ODT: Editorial – A tale of two stories (paywalled)
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Disappointment as storied Otago student mag downsized (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): TVNZ news review – why report will remain secret; TVNZ CEO on crime story, Tova’s start and World Cup; Brodie Kane on podcast break-up; journalists pour hearts into new books (paywalled)
REGULATION OF BUSINESS
Tina Morrison (Newsroom): Allowing Foodstuffs merger would flout Govt drive for competition – ComCom
Tim Hunter (NBR): A fish hook in the competition Bill (paywalled)
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): RBNZ rejected expert advice about capital requirements for banks (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): IAG warns RMA reform could lead to properties not being insured (paywalled)
Gemma Rasmussen (Post): Outdated product safety laws put consumers - and children - at risk (paywalled)
Rob Stock (Post): ASB fined $2.1 million at High Court, consultant raised red flags about overcharging 61 times (paywalled)
Greg Hurrell (BusinessDesk): Dismissal of Santos greenwashing case not a signal for complacency (paywalled)
Eric Crampton (Post): Timid thinking behind the ban on prediction markets (paywalled)
SECURITY STATE
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Spy agency warns NZ’s cybersecurity barely up to scratch
Phil Pennington (RNZ): NZ spy agency put US far-right group Proud Boys on terrorist list despite not meeting threshold
Henry Cooke (Post): NZ spy chief’s warning: Terror investigation list ‘looks like a year 13 boys’ school’ (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Ministry of Defence considers uses of AI in war, ex-Air Force MP says front line wants more people and bullets (paywalled)
ECONOMY, INEQUALITY, AND BUSINESS
Metiria Stanton Turei (ODT): We need to sort out the attitude problem to sort out poverty (paywalled)
RNZ: Treasury figures show $6 billion deficit for seven months ended January
Miriam Bell (Post): NZ’s second private building consent authority gets the green light (paywalled)
Azaria Howell (Herald): David Seymour eyes wine-style export boom in medicinal cannabis industry
Hamish McNicol (NBR): Winstone Aggregates eyes $650m-plus expansion with fast-track bid (paywalled)
Eric Crampton and Roger Partridge (Newsroom): Reserve Bank drifts out of its lane again
Sam Smith (Stuff): The timeline of woe for Auckland’s half-finished ghost tower
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Peter Dunne: Can Andrew Little continue his solid start?
Bill Hickman (RNZ): Moa Point wastewater plant replacement equipment not yet ordered, Wellington Water says
Tom Hunt (Post): Wellington sewage spill: Moa Point catastrophe could force its first business closure (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Post): Wayne Brown boycotts tourism conference over hotel lobbyist row (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Post): Wellington council budget cuts - rates tipped to ease but union raises job fears (paywalled)
Sam Smith (Stuff): Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown takes aim at ‘nest of vipers’ in Wellington over housing changes
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Housing Minister Chris Bishop clears up ‘maps’ talk in Auckland housing debate, Mayor Wayne Brown says David Seymour ‘trying to screw me’ (paywalled)
Blayne Slabbert (Press): Canterbury mayors retool regional deal pitch under time and budget pressure (paywalled)
SOCIAL MEDIA AGE BAN PROPOSAL
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Parliamentary committee calls for under 16s social media ban
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): ACT calls committee report recommending social media age restrictions ‘predetermined’
Tom Pullar-Strecker and Henry Cooke (Post): Social media ban for under-16s: MPs back new online regulator, raise VPN concerns (paywalled)
Ellen O’Dwyer (RNZ): Amnesty International calls for corporations to take responsibility for social media harm
TRANSPORT AND INFRASTRUCTURE
David Williams (Newsroom): Queenstown’s notorious traffic ‘will get worse’ despite ¼ billion dollar spend
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): NZ hits 100,000 EV milestone as Government consults on scrapping Clean Car Standard (paywalled)
Herald: Editorial – Triple fatal Ramarama crash: NZTA must replace outdated wire median barriers (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Does the Government have the political courage to scrap the Clean Car Standard?
HEALTH
Kate Green (RNZ): Spike in children under 12 needing mental health support
Kim Baker Wilson (RNZ): About 5500 Waikato Health New Zealand staff not paid overnight due to glitch
Jessica Roden (1News): Nelson Hospital waitlists worse than ever despite Health NZ review
Joel Kulasingham (Herald): NZ ‘significantly behind’ other OECD countries in new-medicine access, report reveals; David Seymour agrees with ‘most’ findings (paywalled)
RNZ: Health NZ says petrol vouchers helping lower MRI waiting list in Greater Wellington
RNZ: Alcohol Healthwatch ‘horrified’ after Steinlager beer mislabelled
MĀORI
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Māori granted customary rights under tougher coastline law
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Māori ‘pushed into a corner’ by Govt seek new way out
Mike McRoberts (NBR): Ruapuke wins customary marine title, again (paywalled)
Liam Rātana (Spinoff): What is the ‘fourth article’ of te Tiriti and why is it being debated?
Te Ao Māori News: Hapū-led biosecurity response rolled out in Te Tai Tokerau
Mike McRoberts (NBR): Whānau Ora’s proof point (paywalled)
LAW AND ORDER
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Disproportionate treatment sees 149 more Māori women in prison
James Nokise (Post): From Dawn Raids to re-hashing the old immigration dog whistles (paywalled)
Ethan Griffiths (Herald): Prison phone access: Calls for phones in every cell as rules reviewed
Gary Judd (Law News): Karakia and judicial neutrality: A principled examination of the demands of judicial office
WELFARE
Anneke Smith (RNZ): MSD can now legally claw back welfare payments
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Call for politicians to confirm KiwiSaver members can have their money at 65
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): The retrospective law change that will mean beneficiaries lose out on $63m
ENVIRONMENT AND ANIMAL WELFARE
Keiller MacDuff (RNZ): Fine for unreported Hector’s dolphin death reveals toothless system, conservation group says
Emily Robertson (Herald): Greyhound racing ban: How the sport lost its social licence (paywalled)
CARTOONS