News Briefing: 10 March 2025
GOVERNMENT, PARLIAMENT
Danyl McLauchlan (Listener): How likely is the National Party to oust Luxon? (paywalled)
Duncan Garner (Listener): Why I’m picking Christopher Luxon won’t lead National into the next election (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Post): Under-fire MP Andrew Bayly takes a break to climb Everest (paywalled)
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Horizon poll: 39% of voters 'concerned' about coalition Government
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): What Christopher Luxon knew about Commerce Minister Scott Simpson’s grocery link (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Reforming competition law remains priority for new Minister (paywalled)
Alice Peacock (Newsroom): Seymour’s quick regulatory trims leave happy customers
Louis Collins (RNZ): The House: Four more years? MPs debate bill to extend parliamentary term (paywalled)
David Farrar: A too complicated solution
Brent Edwards (NBR): Orr gone, Goff gone, school lunch issues, and Trumpian economics
Mihingarangi Forbes (RNZ): Mata: Who should take on Te Pāti Māori's Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke?
Dileepa Fonseeka (BusinessDesk): Orr the Money: Valerie Adams, Trump's tariffs, frying pans, and mOrr …(paywalled)
Elliot Crosson: Where Is the Resistance to Privatisation and Austerity?
Dita De Boni (Post): James Shaw to leave NZ for greener (finance) pastures (paywalled)
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Peace breaks out as MPs debate dairy and the environment (paywalled)
Anna Whyte (Post): 10 minutes with... The ‘sheriff in stilettos’ Erica Stanford (paywalled)
LABOUR
Chris Trotter (Interest): Leadership problems
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): The more things change, the more they stay the same
1News: Q+A: Hipkins: No position yet on CGT, but will campaign on 'tax reform'
Jo Moir (RNZ): Chris Hipkins promises political bipartisanship, Chris Bishop isn't so convinced
RNZ: Chris Hipkins' speech fails to impress National's Chris Bishop
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Jobs, health, homes: Labour reshuffle shows more focused agenda
1News: Chris Hipkins outlines Labour caucus reshuffle
Adam Pearse (Herald): Opinion: Fresh faces headline Labour reshuffle amid Chris Hipkins’ back to basics State of the Nation (paywalled)
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Chris Hipkins announces new Labour 'economic team', Tangi Utikere promoted
Kelly Dennett (Post): Labour’s election campaign will be different this time. Here’s why (paywalled)
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Sunday Star Times): Labour’s Auckland redemption: Can it win back the supercity? (paywalled)
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): Labour’s reshuffle reignites a war for Auckland
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Post): Labour promises focus on ‘jobs, health, homes’ as it prepares for election (paywalled)
Robert MacCulloch: Returning Hipkins as PM is unthinkable
Steven Cowan: Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before
INFRASTRUCTURE, FAST-TRACK, INVESTMENT SUMMIT
Thomas Manch (Sunday Star Times): Is cartel behaviour threatening NZ’s ailing infrastructure? (paywalled)
Russell Palmer and Nick James (RNZ): Public Works Act changes:'It will definitely make it a lot faster'
1News: Land acquisition overhaul offers incentives, cuts out environment court
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Government to offer ‘premium payments’ for giving up land to major infrastructure projects
RNZ: Government moves to speed up land acquisition for public works
Stuff: Landowners to object directly to minister, receive incentive payments as part of changes to land acquisition
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Revealed: The international businesses invited to Auckland investment summit
Oliver Lewis and Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): 'Wait and see': the builders, bankers and investors summiting in Auckland (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Post): The PM’s big sell gets ready to ramp up (paywalled)
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Government needs pipeline of quality infrastructure projects to attract investors, research shows (paywalled)
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Port of Auckland resubmits fast-track application after little blue penguin setback (paywalled)
WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
Max Rashbrooke (Post): The dismal revelations at the heart of Wellington Water debacle (paywalled)
Nick James (RNZ): Wellington Water woes: Extraordinary meeting to decide fate of chair
Tom Hunt and Julie Jacobson (Post): Road cone ‘rort’ on suburban footpath (paywalled)
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): Wellington Water leaders to front shareholding councils
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Porirua mayor blasts proposal to sack Wellington Water's Nick Leggett
David Farrar: The Wellington Water fiasco
Maia Hart (Local Democracy Reporting): New legislation could mean Marlburians pay more for water
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): $6m proposed to run water networks in South Wairarapa
MEDIA
Bryce Edwards (The Integrity Institute): Billionaire influence and the future of media independence in NZ
Hayden Donnell and Colin Peacock (RNZ): Mediawatch: Anxiety over editorial policy and a billionaire on board at NZME
Merja Myllylahti (Post): With billionaire media owners, things can be rosy, until they’re not (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): Media Insider: Billionaire investor Jim Grenon says he has close to 50% support for NZME board overthrow (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Jim Grenon indicates majority support to roll NZME board — or close to it (paywalled)
Peter Williams: A Media Coup
Calida Stuart-Menteath and Hamish McNicol (NBR): Grenon lobs grenade at NZME’s board, staff, shareholders (paywalled)
Victor Billot (Newsroom): An Ode to .. the New Zealand Herald
Shayne Currie (Herald): Media Insider: Whakaata Māori (Māori TV) chief executive Shane Taurima, his private studio event - and a deleted hire agreement (paywalled)
TREATY, WHĀNAU ORA, PREBBLE’S WAITANGI TRIBUNAL RESIGNATION
Isaac Davison (Herald): Dramatic overhaul of Whānau Ora contracts includes John Tamihere-led agency
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (1News): Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency loses major contract (paywalled)
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): The fight for the fabric of our nation: Who won the Treaty Principles Bill hearings?
Ani O’Brien: Richard Prebble is not an extremist
Sarah Hopkinson (E-Tangata): Befriending our wild disagreements
Moana Ellis (Local Democracy Reporting): Iwi joy as Crown settles: ‘From now on, it’s progress all the way’
HEALTH
Rachel Thomas (Post): Health minister has shown his plan, now voters await receipts (paywalled)
Bill Hickman (RNZ): Health Minister's priorities a 'slippery slope' towards private healthcare - PSA
Ruth Hill (RNZ): Trend to health privatisation 'means we're effectively paying twice' - union
1News: Q+A: Simeon Brown considering new GP wait-time health target
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Health Minister Simeon Brown wants primary healthcare, GP wait time target
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Health New Zealand lost control of spending, Deloitte report finds
Craig Renney: Not in rude health – just rude
Tova O’Brien (Stuff): ‘You're not an expert’ - health boss fires back over whether delayed patients at risk
ODT Editorial: Health package lacking detail (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: Local health moves welcome (paywalled)
Ruth Hill (RNZ): Health Minister Simeon Brown announces major overhaul of health sector
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Commissioner Lester Levy to go; new Health NZ board to outsource services
1News: Board to return at Health NZ - Simeon Brown
Teuila Fuatai (E-Tangata): Bowel screening change ‘totally unethical’
Emma Andrews (RNZ): Experts on why bowel cancer screening changes are a concern
RNZ: Government promises to further drop bowel cancer screening age
Rachel Graham (RNZ): Christchurch Hospital needs more nurses for safe staffing levels, internal system shows
Paula Penfold (Stuff): ‘It was just hugging’: What a senior govt manager said to Stuff that led to stand-down, investigation
RNZ: National HPV vaccine programme effective at preventing cancer, study finds
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Aged care industry blames govt pressure for putting patients unlawfully in secure facilities
Fiona Rotherham (NBR): Winners and losers in NZ’s medical cannabis market (paywalled)
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TRADE, DEFENCE
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Phil Goff exits stage right as Winston Peters goes to Washington (paywalled)
RNZ: Goff should have been warned to 'pull your head in' - Helen Clark
Press Editorial (Post): Fallout from the Goff gaffe (paywalled)
Giles Dexter (RNZ): What was actually wrong with what Phil Goff said?
ODT Editorial: Beware the emperor’s new clothes (paywalled)
RNZ: Brand new Deputy High Commissioner Guergana Guermanoff steps up temporarily after Phil Goff's sacking
Josie Pagani (Post): In unsettled times, we can still stand up for what’s right (paywalled)
RNZ: NZ joining AUKUS would make geopolitical waves - expert
Luke Malpass (Post): Why Trump’s global shakedown changes the Budget strategy (paywalled)
Vernon Small (Sunday Star Times): Our home-grown chaos may seem low-level, but it’s chaos all the same (paywalled)
Tracy Watkins (Sunday Star Times): A brawl at the White House, Chinese warships on our doorstep (paywalled)
Rod Carr (Sunday Star Times): Pax Americana is over, and New Zealand’s 30-year peace dividend is spent
Ryan Bridge (Herald): Donald Trump’s agriculture tariffs and NZ: Billions of dollars are on the line, time for crucial diplomacy (paywalled)
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Diesel fuel aboard sunken Manawanui still unaccounted for
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Ukraine: NZ ‘very closely’ watching developments on Keir Starmer’s coalition of the willing
Phil Pennington (RNZ): NZ's part in helping Ukraine find new satellite images
Eric Crampton (Post): An age of prosperity gives way to the time of monsters (paywalled)
Daniel Street (Post): ‘Regulatory whiplash’ threatens Kiwi exporters as EU eases sustainability reporting rules (paywalled)
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): 'Carnage' expected as more countries adopt electronic travel checks
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Warning new European ETA will cause chaos as borders tighten
PUBLIC SECTOR
Audrey Young (Herald): Who are the public sector leaders leaving their jobs? (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Sunday Star Times): Is New Zealand’s public service at risk of being Trumpified? (paywalled)
Peter Davis (Post): How New Zealand is venturing down the road of political upheaval (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: Winston Peters’ anti-DEI bill is a distraction from real issues (paywalled)
RNZ: NZ First targets 'woke' legislation it previously helped make law
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Alka Prasad (Post): ‘We’re being set up to fail’: Local board concern as council’s urban regeneration arm disbanded (paywalled)
Local Aotearoa: Ombudsman chases up closed door councils in win for Local Aotearoa
Wayne Brown (Sunday Star Times): National consistency, the Government’s two worst words (paywalled)
Jonathan Killick (Sunday Star Times): Why cycle lanes have become a broken spoke in Auckland’s local politics (paywalled)
Simon Wilson (Herald): Strawberry fair, bus fares and Phil Goff’s future (paywalled)
Jonathan Killick (Sunday Star Times): ‘Send them a message’: Auckland councillors reject retirement village despite lawsuit risk (paywalled)
Mary Afemata (Local Democracy Reporting): Auckland pushes for more female representation ahead of 2025 elections
Amanda Gilles (RNZ): The Detail: Golfers think council plans for Takapuna course are below par
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Auditors found Napier council paid $290,000 in severance payments to 12 staff
Matthew Martin (Waikato Times): Unpaid rates bills top $50 million (paywalled)
Maioha Panapa (Te Ao Māori News): After Toitū te Tiriti hīkoi: Waikato Councils plan to boost voter turnout for Māori
Sinead Gill (Sunday Star Times): Early battle lines emerge in South Island mayoral races (paywalled)
Zita Campbell (Local Democracy Reporting): Four out of five Gisborne Māori ward district councillors to seek re-election
Susan Botting (Local Democracy Reporting): Whangārei District Council to hold sudden closed-door fluoridation meeting
Yolisa Tswanya (Northern Advocate): Far North’s drinking problem: Can a LAP fix the region’s booze stat blowout?
Joel MacManus (Spinoff): Windbag: To be a world-class city, Wellington needs to be bigger
Peter Newport (Crux): Local MP endorses denial of sewage crisis
Joe Shaw (RNZ): Cost of artwork repairs questioned by Christchurch city councillor
Sinead Gill (Press/Post): Christchurch council commits millions to protecting Banks Peninsula communities
Jonathan Leask (Local Democracy Reporting): Ashburton council says flock off to pigeons
Justin Wong (Post): Info countering Kāpiti council climate science now on LIMs (paywalled)
Katy Jones (Stuff): City’s ‘momentous’ climate change plan
RNZ: Taupō District Councillor quits after drink driving charges
POLICE, CRIME, JUSTICE
Sapeer Mayron (Sunday Star Times): Police watchdog accused of overreach with ‘legally questionable’ report (paywalled)
Katie Ham (Sunday Star Times): How Sunny Kaushal came to have the ear of the Government on retail crime (paywalled)
Virginia Fallon (Sunday Star Times): ‘Power corrupts’: May the ‘reasonable force’ be with you (paywalled)
Eva Gallot (Stuff): Family and friends of man who died in police custody call for mandatory body cameras
Katie Ham (Post): Citizen’s arrests, three strikes, bootcamps: Justice Minister’s half-term report (paywalled)
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Green MP Tamatha Paul’s ‘regret’ about TikTok claim on why people are in prison
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): What happens to all the confiscated gang patches?
ADRIAN ORR’S RESIGNATION, RESERVE BANK
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): Adrian Orr and the seven-year itch
Martien Lubberink Adrian Orr’s legacy and Nicola Willis’s dilemma
Liam Dann (Herald): Adrian Orr was never boring - perhaps that was his biggest problem (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): So you want to be a Reserve Bank governor? (paywalled)
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Departing Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr made more memorable contributions than his Covid record (paywalled)
Steven Joyce (Herald): Reserve Bank needs to get back to its core role after Adrian Orr’s departure (paywalled)
Michael Reddell: A letter
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Gradual rate cuts are falling out of fashion
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): Interest rate cuts still likely despite Trump's trade war (paywalled)
ANIMAL WELFARE, CONSERVATION, PRIMARY AND EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES, ENVIRONMENT
Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere (Newsroom): Animals would be a lot better off if the police did their job properly
Robin Martin (RNZ): NZTA Waka Kotahi's permission to kill protected species at Mt Messenger ruled unlawful
Andrea Vance (Post): Permit to kill wildlife for new road ruled unlawful (paywalled)
Peter de Graaf (RNZ): Decision to continue allowing vehicles on Catlins beaches to be revisited after 'disgusting' incident
Maia Ingoe (RNZ): Victory University law students take oil exploration case to Supreme Court
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Fishing industry hit back at claims
RNZ: New Zealand Aquaculture Development Plan aims to grow industry to $3b a year
Katie Kenny (RNZ): Gene technology changes: What you need to know
Jo Lines-MacKenzie (Waikato Times/Post): Ngāruawāhia quarry looking to expand its capacity for further 50 years (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Could it be a case of when, not if, Government dumps NZ’s 2030 Paris ‘pledge’? (paywalled)
Rachel Helyer Donaldson (RNZ): Farmers milking once a day and sending stock to works early, amid drought
RNZ: Drought declared in more regions as government offers assistanc
RNZ: Birkdale fruit and vegetable movement restricted until next month after fruit fly find
SCHOOL LUNCHES
Bridie Witton (Stuff): School lunch contracts awarded to companies with ‘substantive number’ of complaints
1News: Education Ministry calls on MPI to expand school lunch investigation
Caron Copek (Stuff): School lunches that burned a child can no longer be served - Ministry of Education
Sam Smith and Ava Whitworth (Stuff): Cottage pie ‘exploded’ when dropped in school lunch burns incident, principal says
RNZ: School lunch that burnt student wrongly reheated - Ministry of Education
Damien Grant (Stuff): Forget the noise, the school lunch scheme is working incredibly well
1News: 'We are solving them': David Seymour on school lunch problems
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): School lunch savings don’t offset the social cost of hunger, say experts
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): The Secret Diary of .. school lunches
EDUCATION
John Gerritsen (RNZ): State-integrated school's optional $10,000 fee shocks parent
Melanie Wrintmore (Spinoff): It’s toilet paper or me: Teacher aides are doing it tough
Ripeka Lessels (E-Tangata): Another gut punch for tamariki Māori
Teuila Fuatai (E-Tangata): Why cut what’s working?
Robin Martin (RNZ): Evicted daycare centre in Waitara in race against time
RNZ: Massey University records $3.7m surplus instead of expected deficit