UNEMPLOYMENT
Giles Dexter and Kim Baker Wilson (RNZ): Jobseeker changes: ‘Punished for economic crisis they didn’t create’
Thomas Manch (Stuff): ‘The world doesn’t owe you a living’: PM says 4300 teens will lose Jobseeker benefit next year
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Jobseeker: Parents earning more than $65k must support 18-19yo children
1News: Govt tightens youth benefit rules, offers $1000 employment bonus
Herald: Government brings in $1000 bonus to keep teens off the dole, speeds up benefit cut plans
PARLIAMENT
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Labour’s secret ‘bold plan’ and Luxon’s unpopularity: The left’s 2026 gamble
Danyl McLauchlan (Listener): Government promises should be taken with a grain of salt (paywalled)
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): When will the government’s pro-competition agenda start delivering lower prices?
Grant Duncan: Government Shutdown: could it happen here?
Thomas Manch (Post): This week in Parliament: eyes on Te Pāti Māori ‘reset’, OCR cut (paywalled)
Greg Dixon (Listener): “Shaky” Luxon leadership still high risk despite earthquake rule changes (paywalled)
ENERGY
Bryce Edwards (The Integrity Institute): How the energy oligopoly won the “reform” battle
ODT Editorial: Dim energy announcement (paywalled)
Chris Trotter (Interest): Fretful dreamers
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
Hannah Brown (Herald): Careful who you vote for: Foreign states target local NZ councillors (paywalled)
Spinoff: With a week to go, how is voter turnout looking in the big cities?
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Fears over ‘politicisation’ of Auckland Council property deals
Pokere Paewai (RNZ): The City to Sea Bridge and the legacy of trailblazing Māori architect Rewi Thompson
Julie Jacobson (Post): Election countdown ... don’t stop me now (paywalled)
Alexa Cook (RNZ): Five newcomers vie for Hastings mayoralty
Peter de Graaf (RNZ): Far North town wins battle to stop effluent getting into water
1News: Parts of Hamilton under boil water notice until at least Tuesday
RNZ: Boil water notice remains in place for Rototuna water supply
Brodie Stone (Northern Advocate): Kaipara election hoardings vandalised amid rising abuse of local politicians
Grant Miller (ODT): Call for low satisfaction levels to be ‘arrested’ (paywalled)
ECONOMY, COST OF LIVING, INEQUALITY
Craig Rennie: Open Letter to Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
Dennis Wesselbaum (The Conversation): Nicola Willis is right: NZ’s economy isn’t as bad as the ‘merchants of misery’ claim
David Hargreaves (Interest): To cut, or to cut bigger - that is the question for the Reserve Bank
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Reserve Bank to review Official Cash Rate, experts call for 50 basis point cut
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Economists divided on likely size of this week’s expected OCR cut (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Economists divided on whether we’ll see a 25 or 50 basis point rate cut this week (paywalled)
1News: Q+A: Why this part of NZ’s tax system leads the world - visiting expert
EARTHQUAKE REFORMS
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Mediawatch: Quake-prone shake-up celebrated - but devil is in the detail
Justin Hu (1News): Q+A: Chris Penk questioned on quake-prone building reforms, energy costs
Harriet Laughton (Post): The winners and losers of the quake-prone building shake up (paywalled)
Nic George (Post): Quake-prone building changes still causing confusion (paywalled)
Sam Olley (1News): Classification change for Otago’s seismic risk causes division
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Quake-prone building law changes caution
Gary Hamilton-Irvine (Hawkes Bay Today/Herald): Law change could see third of Hawke’s Bay’s earthquake-prone buildings deemed safe (paywalled)
HEALTH, DISABILITY
Jessica Roden (1News): Canterbury oncologists on how delays impact lives of patients
Guyon Espiner (RNZ): Health NZ cutting alcohol harm reduction staff and campaigns, union claims
Juliet Speedy (Stuff): ‘It just feels empty’: Widower says PM broke promise to late wife as bowel screening age lowered
Juliet Speedy (Stuff): Bowel cancer screening age lowered, but experts say it’s not far enough
RNZ: Government reveals which areas will have free bowel cancer screening age lowered first
Ben Leahy (Herald): Bowel cancer screening age to be lowered to 58, home tests to be made available
Nicholas Jones (Stuff): Kiwis are losing limbs in record numbers - and most never see it coming
Maddy Croad (Press/Post): ‘Minutes’ from dying: Calls for meningococcal vaccines to be funded for young people (paywalled)
Natasha Gordon (Herald): Meningococcal meningitis: Mum’s charity walk raises awareness after teenager’s sudden death
1News: More government funding for natural pharmaceutical sector
RNZ: Mental Health Awareness Week targets wellbeing
RNZ: Government announces more funding for natural pharmaceutical sector
Fiona Rotherham (NBR): Govt redirects $42m of science funding into Biodiscovery Platform (paywalled)
RNZ: Associate Health Minister Seymour pushing for more medicine funding in next year’s Budget
Bijou Johnson (Bay of Plenty Times): Labour warns ‘it’s getting harder to access healthcare’
Jonathan Jarman and Lou Wickham (PHCCA): More than just a bad smell: Odour pollution and health in Aotearoa New Zealand
Tony Wall (Stuff): ‘Soul destroying’: Family of boxing legend Monty Betham Snr slam rest home care
Bindi Norwell (Herald): Health innovation: The economic lever New Zealand can’t afford to ignore (paywalled)
Katie Todd (RNZ): New provider takes over South Island needle exchange service
Eva de Jong (Herald): The hidden price of blindness
Sarah Richards (ABC): Air NZ twice denies woman with disability permission to fly with assistance dog
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TRADE
RNZ: Kiwis detained in Israel after flotilla intercepted get consular support
Thomas Manch (Stuff): ‘Can I have nachos?’: Detained activist’s message to family
Mick Hall: Flotilla activist’s partner ‘shocked’ at NZ Govt’s lack of response to abductions
Adam Burns (RNZ): Two Kiwis in flotilla mission to bring aid to Gaza hope for success
HOUSING
Amelia Wade (Sunday Star Times): Epileptic beneficiary told to try boarding house before applying for emergency housing (paywalled)
Adam Burns (RNZ): Christchurch homeless people living on church grounds forced to leave
John Burns (Newsroom): More zoned land won’t solve housing woes
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): A zoned house is not a home – let alone two million homes
Yolisa Tswanya (Northland Age/Herald): From village feel to high-rise living? Kerikeri debates its future after Kāinga Ora submission (paywalled)
Denise Cosgrove (Sunday Star Times): Let these sobering stats guide your vote these local body elections (paywalled)
MEDIA, SOCIAL MEDIA
Maddy Croad (Press/Post): ‘Pervasive’: Academics call for ban on harmful online advertising over fears for public health (paywalled)
RNZ: Majority of NZ adults support social media ban for kids - research
Tracy Watkins (Sunday Star Times): Why we need uncomfortable journalism (paywalled)
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): The secret diary of .. the Talley’s defamation trial
Shayne Currie (Herald): Rugby betting complaint; Is TVNZ closer to a sale?; Cartoonist’s financial support for The Platform (paywalled)
Mike Thorpe (Herald): TVNZ cameraman Mike Fitzgerald reflects on five decades of news
EDUCATION
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Changes to NCEA food subjects could narrow students’ options, cut jobs, teachers say
James Kierstead and Michael Johnston (Post): Academic freedom legislation puts too much trust in university managers (paywalled)
Katie Hunter (Post): The case for teaching civics and citizenship at school (paywalled)
Elsie Williams (Press/Post): ‘Not surprising in the slightest’: Young men acknowledge teachers’ warning about online extremism (paywalled)
BUSINESS, CONSUMER AFFAIRS
Tom Dillane (Herald): Heart of the City survey: Auckland business owners slate CBD as lawless, unclean, hit out at drug use, begging (paywalled)
Maria Slade (BusinessDesk): Building sector doing it for themselves may make greater difference (paywalled)
Rob Stock (Post): Consumer watchdog analysing hundreds of car parking ‘breach’ notices (paywalled)
WHAKAARI/WHITE ISLAND
Libby Kirkby-McLeod (RNZ): Coronial inquiry into Whakaari eruption hears country did not seem ready for disaster
Libby Kirkby-McLeod (RNZ): Impact of Whakaari eruption on victims heard in court
Libby Kirkby-McLeod (RNZ): Whakaari/White Island coronial inquiry set to begin nearly six years after eruption
POLICE, CRIME, JUSTICE
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): ‘People can be harmed’ while anti-stalking legislation inches through Parliament - advocate
Natalie Coates and Tai Ahu (E-Tangata): Why the justice minister is wrong about tikanga in law
Deborah Chambers (Herald): NZ law must catch up with reality on jury trials (paywalled)
David Farrar: Silliness from Stuff over suppression
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): The Tom Phillips info injunction is useless
Hamish McNicol (NBR): Disappointment as $15m legal fidelity fund winds up (paywalled)
Katie Ham (Stuff): The changing face of police top brass
Paula Penfold (Stuff): Chief victims advisor wants answers over failed extradition case
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): ‘I would be dead without them’: New service aims to help people struggling to leave unsafe relationships due to legal costs
Cecilia Robinson (Herald): AI deepfakes and companion apps: How NZ can lead the world on child safety (paywalled)
ENVIRONMENT, PRIMARY AND EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES, CONSERVATION
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Gisborne’s future requires up to 100,000ha of land to be retired - report
Alexa Cook (RNZ): Cyclone Gabrielle inquest: Families of victims to speak
Tom Eley (Herald): Cambridge sand quarry proposal on hold as local lodges appeal with Environment Court
Kate Green (RNZ): Native lizards protected as condition of road construction near Levin
RNZ: DOC expects to make $1 million from paid parking trial at South Island tourist spots
Nice aerial shot of the Parliamentary precinct and the capital's harbour and hills.