HOUSING, HOMELESSNESS
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Government advisory group recommends effective homelessness ban but Cabinet is not so sure
Aaron Hendry (Post): We already have a solution to end rough sleeping - it’s housing
Emma Gleason (Spinoff): Is the government going to ban homelessness in CBDs?
Amy Williams (RNZ): Homeless becoming more desperate, court worker says
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Is this really the best way to deal with rough sleepers?
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): I don’t blame retailers for wanting to ban the homeless
Nick Mills (Newstalk ZB): Wellington desperately needs a rough sleeper solution
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Wellington social housing tenants frustrated at rent hikes
Greg Ninness (Interest): Average advertised rents down by $21 a week compared to a year ago
Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): It’s time for the Government to back our seniors
CLIMATE, ENVIRONMENT, MINING
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): War on Nature v Going for Growth (paywalled)
Rebecca Stevenson and Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Santana, Uvre, New Talisman and more: What’s driving NZ’s mining momentum? (paywalled)
Crux: Government’s Bendigo mining permit a “rubber stamp”
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Leadership, not working groups, build consensus for policy change (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Gutting of Zero Carbon Act crashes bipartisan climate consensus
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): Zero Carbon Act overhaul signals end of political consensus on climate change
Lois Williams (RNZ): Conservation Boards set to lose functions under new law
Jane Smith (Herald): Why NZ’s heifers don’t deserve the climate blame (paywalled)
Chelsea Daniels (Herald): Front Page: Beekeepers warn yellow-legged hornet could devastate local hives
Steve Hepburn (ODT): Majority opposed to Shotover River consents (paywalled)
BusinessDesk: Reduce emissions or lose export value and trust: AgriZeroNZ (paywalled)
PARLIAMENT, GOVERNMENT
Lloyd Burr (Stuff): Who knew what and when about the Public Service Commission’s anti-strike Facebook ads?
Henry Cooke (Post): New law modernising Parliamentary security and funding passes unanimously (paywalled)
Roy Morgan: In October, National-led Government edges ahead of Labour-led Parliamentary Opposition
Gordon Campbell (Scoop): On Mamdani, And How The Luxon Government Is Expanding The Powers Of The State
Grant Duncan: Zohran Mamdani: how significant is his victory for the Left?
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Former Green MP Kevin Hague returns as party’s new chief of staff
Adam Pearse (Herald): Former Green MP Kevin Hague becomes party’s new chief of staff
Harriet Laughton (Post): Kevin Hague returns to Green Party as chief of staff
Henry Cooke (Post): NZ First withdraws then re-inserts bill defining man and woman within 24 hours (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): Christopher Luxon’s deflection forces National into clean-up mode; Keeping Up With the Kapa-Kingis (paywalled)
Tony Wall (Stuff): ‘I’m not paying’: His disabled brother died, then he was hit with $1100 bill
Bryan Bruce: Ep 70 : Labour MP Kieran McAnulty
TE PĀTI MĀORI
Liam Rātana (Spinoff): Is it time for a second Māori political party to enter the fray?
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Te Pāti Māori ‘rogue’ duo back for peace talks, but divisions grow deeper
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Iwi leaders want hui next week for Te Pāti Māori factions
Tim Selwyn (Daily Blog): A short missive on Te Pati Maori’s nepotising fasciitis
EDUCATION
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Warnings of relationship damage, Treaty breaches over school board changes
Sarah Aiono (Aotearoa Educators Collective): World-Leading? Or World-Lagging? New Zealand Is Repeating the World’s Mistakes
Herald Editorial: Mixed signals in education: New curriculum v charter school push (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: Well meaning and well understood (paywalled)
Hanna McCallum and Cate Macintosh (Press/Post): Cut to Te Tiriti obligation for boards ‘ideologically blinkered’ - Ngāi Tahu leader (paywalled)
Erica Stanford (Herald): Why the Government is removing Treaty of Waitangi requirements for school boards (paywalled)
Nicholas Jones (Stuff): One of NZ’s oldest schools challenges hostel shutdown prompted by student safety fears
Cate Macintosh (Press/Post): Christchurch tutor honoured as Prime Minister’s Educator of the Year (paywalled)
Shanti Mathias (Spinoff): University pension scheme under fire for Israeli investments
INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT
Thomas Manch (Post): Actual cost of Transmission Gully to be $2.5 billion (paywalled)
Connor Sharp (Greater Auckland): This government’s legacy for transport in Auckland
David Long (Stuff): Long queues and baffled drivers: New $152m flyover drives minister mad
Jonathan Killick (Post): Why a $154 million flyover is ‘not working’ two weeks after opening
RNZ: New Plymouth mayor wants NZTA to pay compensation for SH3 closure
Will Mace (NBR): More fibre funding better than new roads - Chorus (paywalled)
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Otago Council calls for urgent government change after networks failed in storm
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
Justin Wong (Post): Former Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry lands new consulting job (paywalled)
Crux: Will Glyn Lewers follow New Plymouth’s former mayor into a top water CCO job? (paywalled)
Torika Tokalau (Local Democracy Reporting): Leaders chosen for Auckland local boards
Sue Teodoro (Local Democracy Reporting): Local authority councillors’ pay not enough
Mary Afemata (Local Democracy Reporting): Ōtara ‘locked out’ in stoush over local board leadership roles
RNZ: West Auckland official cleared of criminal offending in local body election
Carolyne Meng-Yee & Chris Knox (Herald): Auckland rates dispute: Council to revalue all properties in Ōnetangi hotspot, community divided (paywalled)
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Mana whenua representative roles approved at the Invercargill City Council
Tom Hunt (Post): Former Wellington transport chair to research transit housing in the UK
FREE SPEECH UNION
David Williams (Newsroom): Who Benefits: A think tank’s charm offensive and a doubting Thomas
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): Casey Costello meets with self-proclaimed ‘terf’ as landmark case reaches final chapter
Jonathan Ayling (Herald): The individual is the smallest minority (paywalled)
BANKS
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Small lenders pass on mortgage rate cuts while big banks ‘pad profits’
Raphael Franks (Herald): Westpac CEO pay over $4 million, nearly double last year’s earnings and 55 times average Kiwi wage
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): BNZ boss cites ‘pretty significant’ competition, as the bank does more business but its profits stay the same
Rob Stock (Post): BNZ posts flat $1.49 billion annual profit as recovery drags its feet (paywalled)
Andy Macdonald (BusinessDesk): BNZ looks to economic uptick supporting its FY 2026 outturn
EMPLOYMENT, ECONOMY
Herald: Unemployment: Finance Minister Nicola Willis says rise in hours worked shows economy improving
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): $50 an hour, 12% superannuation: Australian recruiters target jobseekers
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Government kicks off financial year with higher than expected deficit (paywalled)
Anan Zaki (RNZ): Global rating agency gives New Zealand triple-A rating
HEALTH, DISABILITY
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Health Ministry accused of sitting on dying state abuse survivor’s redress claim for weeks
Barbara Fountain (Newsroom): Stop telling health professionals to get back in their box
Maddy Croad (Press): ‘Abandoned and betrayed’: Disabled community still hurting a year after funding cuts (paywalled)
Maddy Croad (Press/Post): New Zealand’s longest running helpline forced to slash hours and miss calls (paywalled)
Tova O’Brien (Stuff): Wellington depression recovery centre will close its doors after no funding reprieve
Joanne Naish (Press): Christchurch ED’s worst winter sparks fears code red will become the norm (paywalled)
Brodie Stone (Northern Advocate): Calls for Hato Hone St John to be legally recognised and fully funded amid growing demand
RNZ: Labour promises to make cervical screening free for everyone
Julia Gabel (Herald): Labour Party’s latest election policy makes cervical screening free for all women aged 25-69
Harriet Laughton (Post): Labour pledges to make cervical screening free with ‘Medicard’ (paywalled)
RNZ: Researchers say healthcare system failing long Covid patients
Natasha Gordon (Herald): Health NZ says measles outbreak far from over as vaccination drive ramps up
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Liquor store near to notorious party street wants to open for longer, but cops aren’t keen
RNZ: Wegovy an instant hit among both patients and doctors - but with a warning
Prabani Wood (Herald): The data blind spot weakening New Zealand’s health system (paywalled)
POLICE
Sam Sherwood (RNZ): Anatomy of a downfall: How Jevon McSkimming’s 29-year police career came to a shocking end
Katie Ham, Edward Gay, Luke Malpass, Blair Ensor and Mike White (Post): The remarkable rise and fall of a top cop embroiled in a scandal (paywalled)
RNZ: Police Union says officers disgusted by disgraced former police boss Jevon McSkimming
Sam Sherwood (RNZ): Former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming’s offensive search terms revealed
Sam Sherwood (RNZ): Former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming pleads guilty to possessing child sexual exploitation and bestiality material
1News: Jevon McSkimming admits to child sexual, bestiality material charges
No Right Turn: Why fake breath tests are a problem for police (paywalled)
ENERGY
RNZ: Gentailers’ Huntly coal mountain given the go ahead
Mandy Te (Interest): Commerce Commission green lights power giants’ dry winter electricity plan
Jamie Gray (Herald): Commerce Commission clears Huntly power deal to secure electricity supply
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Coal deal to secure NZ’s power supply gets Commerce Commission thumbs up (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Government lowers bar for gas companies accessing $200 million co-investment (paywalled)
Ian Llewellyn (BusinessDesk): $200m gas fund may not be enough as Māui field closure looms (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): ‘Political risk’ prompts broker to cut big four power valuations by $1.3b (paywalled)
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Seymour promotes coal, nuclear, and privatisation (paywalled)
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): ‘Constructive step’: broad support for fuel security plan (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): David Seymour calls for gentailer sell-off and ‘adult conversation’ on nuclear power (paywalled)
KIWISAVER
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): ‘People learning to manipulate the system’: Call for KiwiSaver hardship withdrawal changes
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Have KiwiSaver billions boosted house prices?
Chelsea Daniels (Herald): Front Page: Ethical investing: KiwiSaver funds linked to accused human rights violators
Greg Hurrell (BusinessDesk): NZ funds lending to governments at bottom of human rights table – report (paywalled)
David Chaplin (BusinessDesk): KiwiSaver in private and public: Why side-pockets are out (paywalled)
MEDIA
RNZ: The Tom Phillips recordings: Why the police say they won’t prosecute Stuff
Richard Chambers (Herald): Use of police radio from Tom Phillips’ shooting broke the law
Isaac Davison (Stuff): ‘A very serious issue’, but police won’t prosecute Stuff over Tom Phillips audio reporting
Keith Lynch (Stuff): Why publishing the Tom Phillips audio was the right call
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Did Stuff make the right call publishing the Tom Phillips audio?
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Post): Local children’s shows getting ‘lost’ on digital platforms, NZ On Air says (paywalled)
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Post): What 1News’ succession plan says about the bulletin’s future (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): Jack Tame to assume TVNZ 6pm newsreading role on Fridays, Saturdays (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): The race to be TVNZ 6pm newsreader; Screen Production Rebate boost; Troy Bowker buys property housing Stuff printing press (paywalled)
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, TRADE
Thomas Manch (Post): Mock invasions and hunting subs: Defence Force war games in NZ and beyond (paywalled)
Bruce Munro (ODT): Global Insight: ‘Ground-shaking change’ should embolden NZ
Martin Van Beynen (Press/Post): Shot, Mr President - now let’s talk tariffs (paywalled)