News Briefing: 24 February 2025
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): Chinese ships in the Tasman 'a gift from Beijing' for defence spending - expert
1News: 'We cannot hide anymore': Collins signals 'big budget' defence investment
Rachel Moore (Stuff): ‘We can’t hide at this end of the world anymore’: Judith Collins signals 'big' defence investment
Anna Whyte (Stuff): Explainer: The China live firing exercises between NZ and Aus
Anna Whyte (Post): Chinese firing exercise not likely to be the last near NZ
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): International relations expert says China's military excercise in Tasman Sea serves as 'serious threat'
Pretoria Gordon (RNZ): Explainer: What are the Chinese naval vessels doing in the Tasman Sea?
Luke Malpass (Post): China flexes in the Tasman Sea (paywalled)
Stuff: Chinese ambassador dodges questions about live firing exercises in Tasman Sea
Guardian: China conducts second live-fire drill near New Zealand
RNZ: China begins second military exercise in Tasman Sea
Ed Scragg (Stuff): Chinese warships conduct second live firing exercise in Tasman Sea
1News: China warship carries out second live weapons drill in Tasman Sea
Kelly Dennett (Post): Second live firing exercise by Chinese ships in Tasman Sea (paywalled)
Rachel Maher (Herald): Chinese warships in Tasman Sea: ‘Live-fire activity’ reportedly seen by NZ Navy (paywalled)
AFP: China defends naval drills in Tasman Sea, accuses Australia of ‘deliberately hyping’ military exercises
Stephen Dziedzic and Andrew Greene (ABC): Australia's Penny Wong challenges Chinese foreign minister over 'unprecedented' live fire drills off Australian coast
1News: 'Unsatisfactory': Australia queries China weapons drill in Tasman
Michael Daly and Sam Smith (Stuff): NZ-bound flights diverted due to Chinese military drills
Sapeer Mayron and Luke Malpass (Post): Chinese military exercise that disrupted flights across Tasman ‘posed no risk of danger’ (paywalled)
Herald: Transtasman flights diverted due to Chinese ‘live-fire’ military drills in Tasman Sea
1News: Australia alerts airlines to Chinese navy live-firing in Tasman Sea
Andrew Greene and Stephen Dziedzic (ABC): NZ gathering more information after Chinese military exercise disrupts Tasman Sea flights - Judith Collins
Jaime Lyth & Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Defence Minister Judith Collins says Chinese war ships in Tasman Sea a ‘wake-up call’
Ben Doherty (Guardian): Commercial flights diverted as Chinese warships undertake apparent live-fire drill in sea between Australia and New Zealand
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Steve Ratuva (E-Tangata): Delinquent juvenile or neocolonial paternalism?
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Why hasn’t Luxon visited China yet?
Reuben Steff (Post): The Pacific chessboard, and NZ’s place in the US-China power struggle (paywalled)
Barbara Dreaver (1News): China secures maritime presence in Cook Islands
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Cook Islands deal opens up Pacific to China - expert
RNZ: Cook Islands strikes deal with China on seabed minerals
Rashneel Kumar (Guardian): On the ground in the Cook Islands, controversial deal with China stirs debate
Rashneel Kumar (Cook Islands News): ‘Very little detail’: PM Brown explains vague China agreement
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Phil Pennington (RNZ): NZ in 'holding pattern' over joining AUKUS Pillar II, Defence briefing docs show
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Trump moves toward Pacific 'not surprising,' Collins says
Luke Malpass (Post): Trump’s pursuit of a Russia deal won’t mean peace or stability (paywalled)
Louis Collins (RNZ): The House: A rare glimpse into the intelligence community
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Trump tariffs should give us cheaper Chinese EVs – but there’s a catch
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Pacific ‘not a chessboard for global competition’
INTEGRITY ISSUES
Danyl McLauchlan (Listener): Paradise Lost: How short-term thinking, top-down governance and weak economic policies squandered NZ’s potential (paywalled)
Maia Ingoe (RNZ): NZ road lobby's tobacco industry-like tactics exposed in study
Rod Carr (Sunday Star Times): Who is influencing New Zealand’s most influential? (paywalled)
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): Revealed, fast-track ministers’ personal picks that govt had denied existed
Andrea Vance (Sunday Star Times): How the Manurewa Marae data breach scandal unfolded (paywalled)
David Farrar: Did the Electoral Commission cause Labour to lose Tāmaki Makaurau?
ODT Editorial: Wake-up call on privacy (paywalled)
RNZ: Manurewa Marae inquiry: New Electoral Commission chair confident despite potential investigation
Tini Molyneux (Te Ao Màori News): Waititi likens the heightened scrutiny on Te Pāti Māori to a pig-hunting expedition
FOREIGN INVESTMENT
1News: Govt announces reform to boost overseas investment in NZ
Anna Whyte (Stuff): Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announces overhaul of foreign investment laws
RNZ: David Seymour announces Overseas Investment Act overhaul
Brent Edwards (NBR): Fast-track route for overseas investment applications (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Post): Have the jingoistic politics of foreign investment finally moved on? (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Post): Government to overhaul foreign investment laws (paywalled)
GOVERNMENT
Greg Presland (The Standard): When will Luxon be rolled?
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Don’t be too quick to call Christoper Luxon’s demise as Prime Minister (paywalled)
Josie Pagani (Post): We all agree – nothing works and only radical change will do (paywalled)
Shane Te Pou (Herald): If Christopher Luxon wants to run NZ as a business he needs to get it in order (paywalled)
Ryan Bridge (Herald): Christopher Luxon’s Cabinet congestion: Time to streamline the number of ministerial portfolios (paywalled)
Susan Sandys (Ashburton Courier): List MP Jo Luxton bids farewell to Canterbury, moves to Gisborne
PARLIAMENT
Andrea Vance (Sunday Star Times): The Greens are being baited. Why do they keep swallowing the lure? (paywalled)
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Monday night political football proves to be a ratings winner (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Interest rate cut, defence spending data breach…let’s go
Geoffrey Palmer (Sunday Star Times): Book Extract: The Futures of Democracy, Law and Government (paywalled)
Natalia Albert: Trust in the Public Service from a Political Science perspective
Grace Tinetali-Fiavaai (RNZ): Fa'anānā Efeso Collins remembered one year on
Harriette Boucher (Post): The Art of Parliament: role of the curator (paywalled)
PUBLIC SERVICE
Anna Whyte and Rachel Thomas (Post): Changing of the guard: The changing face of the top echelons of the public service (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Fresh push to modernise government services ‘a good start’ (paywalled)
Anna Whyte (Stuff): Strike action kicks off this week at Oranga Tamariki
GOLRIZ GHAHRAMAN PRIVACY BREACH
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): Golriz Ghahraman case brings justice system into the spotlight (paywalled)
David Fisher (Herald): Foodstuffs admits its security staff leaked photo of ex-MP Golriz Ghahraman as new privacy breach emerges (paywalled)
Ava Whitworth (Stuff): Foodstuffs confirms security staff leaked Golriz Ghahraman photo amid new privacy breach
HEALTH
Teuila Fuatai (E-Tangata): ‘Public health progress is being dismantled’
Rachel Thomas (post): Will the ructions at the top of the health system impact patients at the bottom?
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Profiting from National’s failure to fix health system
Laura Crimp (RNZ): Top ACC staffer pulled over to help plug gaps in senior roles at Health NZ
Anna Whyte and Rachel Thomas (Post): Transport boss plugs health gap ‒ for a fortnight (paywalled)
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Cancer doctor: ‘System not equal for Māori’, seeks fair access to game-changing Keytruda
Nicholas Jones (Herald): Wānaka blood cancer patient, 36, to get cutting-edge CAR T-cell therapy in China - why experts want the therapy here
Benjamin Plummer (Herald): Health New Zealand apologises for sharing social media post depicting sex act
Cliona Ni Mhurchu, Raewyn Bleakley, Cristina Cleghorn, Donnell Alexander (Public Health Communications Centre): Decades old nutrition data leave NZ in the dark – updated nutrition survey needed
Nikki Macdonald (Post): ‘Like watching him drown’: Family fights for change after son’s death (paywalled)
Anna Sargent (RNZ): Oceania Healthcare rest home workers worried staff cuts risk elderly residents' safety
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Australian medicinal cannabis company looks to set up kiosks in NZ stores
The Ministry has fallen: It's not just data that Health NZ/Te Whatu Ora is failing to safeguard
Rebecca Maurer (Bay of Plenty Times): Katikati Medical Centre closes to new patients amid long wait times
POVERTY, INEQUALITY
1News: Q+A: Advocate to Govt: Spend the billions needed to improve poverty
Max Rashbrooke (Post): Labour’s patchy poverty record eases pressure on National (paywalled)
ECONOMY, OCR
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Reserve Bank offers coalition a lifeline, but National’s funny calculations show economy isn’t as good as it thinks (paywalled)
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Inflation stats may be incorrect, the RBNZ says
Liam Dann (Herald): The economic recovery has begun. Here’s what the new normal looks like (paywalled)
Vernon Small (Sunday Star Times): Sunny OCR figures overshadowed by nagging uncertainty on Trump policies (paywalled)
Steven Joyce (Herald): Economic optimism: NZ poised for growth amid global challenges (paywalled)
Michael Reddell: Orr at it again
Greg Smith (Herald): Why NZ should consider more asset sales (paywalled)
RNZ: Tourism New Zealand backs 'Everyone Must Go' marketing campaign
EMPLOYMENT
Rob Stock (Post): Labour’s wage theft bill gets support from NZ First (paywalled)
Brianna McIlraith (Stuff): The one thing Kiwis now care less about when it comes to work
Gabi Lardies (Spinoff): One position, 1,200 applications: A snapshot of New Zealand’s job market right now
Stuff: Kiwi salaries hit record highs despite fewer job listings
HOUSING
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Residents who challenged approval of Kāinga Ora homes must pay $55,000
Stuff: Housing costs squeezed Kiwi households as rents and mortgages surged in 2024
Jane Phare (Herald): Property managers want rental industry ‘cowboys’ gone; Dunedin student flats in line for clean-up (paywalled)
Mark John (ODT): High rents putting students off (paywalled)
Tracy Watkins (Sunday Star Times): Big rates bill? Why it’s unfair to demand that people just sell up (paywalled)
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Home owners face up to $400 a year insurance hike as Treasury consults on Natural Hazards Insurance Levy for disasters amid funding shortfall (paywalled)
Miriam Bell (Post): ‘Game-changer’ law opens build-to-rent sector up to overseas investors (paywalled)
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): Character housing advocates take on Wellington council in court
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington City Council social housing buildings deemed earthquake-prone despite recent upgrades
Alex Matthews (Post): Giving new generations of Wellington hope they can live here (paywalled)
Justin Wong (Post): Decision ‘isn’t too far away’ on Porirua housing developments (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Where houses might have given you a 1000 percent capital gain
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Property investors told not to count on same capital gains in future
Nona Pelletier (RNZ): Housing confidence back to 2020 levels - survey
ENVIRONMENT, CONSERVATION
Richard Harman (Politik): Finger wagging at the Blue Greens (paywalled)
David Farrar: 2025 Blue Greens Forum
David Williams (Sunday Star Times): The risks of GMO deregulation to NZ farmers (paywalled)
Jamie Morton (Herald): Cook in his own kitchen: National’s Shane Reti talks science’s big reset and gene tech bill (paywalled)
Shanti Mathias (Spinoff): The main arguments for and against the Gene Technology Bill
Catherine Delahunty (E-Tangata): Digging deeper
RNZ: Govt pledges $4.5m boost to QEII conservation group
David Williams (Newsroom): Donor pledges $100k for subantarctic pest project
RNZ: Huge restoration and pest control project planned for three of NZ's largest islands
Jamie Morton (Herald): First-of-its-kind study: How Antarctica’s melting ice sheet could change NZ’s climate patterns
David Williams (Newsroom): Activist asks Supreme Court to keep climate case alive
Stuff: Strict fruit and vegetable movement controls in place after another fruit fly found in Auckland
RNZ: Fruit and vegetables movement restricted after fruit fly found
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Sunday Star Times): Exclusive new polling offers first look at this year’s mayoral races (paywalled)
Simon Wilson (Herald): Inside Wayne Brown’s bid for re-election (paywalled)
David Farrar: Brown well placed to be re-elected
Cecilia Robinson (Herald): Wayne Brown has served his time: Now it’s time for change (paywalled)
Alisha Evans (Local Democracy Reporting): Regional deals: Tauranga, Western Bay plan for 46,000 more homes, 35,000 new jobs
Ruby Shaw (ODT): Fears legislation would remove local control (paywalled)
Tim Scott (ODT): City councillors knock back ‘desperate’ jibe (paywalled)
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Councillors to give feedback on FTA projects (paywalled)
Tess Brunson (RNZ): Dunedin and Christchurch city councils consider Three Waters partnership
Marika Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): Defiance and threats as fluoride deadline looms
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Napier ratepayers paying more than they should for National Aquarium
Hawkes Bay Today: Napier council proposes two-year library closure to limit rates increase
Alexa Cook (RNZ): Hastings farmer announces bid to be elected Hastings mayor
Michaela Gower (Hawkes Bay Today): Hastings libraries see more than 9000 searches for online gambling site in six months
Rachael Kelly (Stuff): ‘I’ve grown up’: Ben Bell to seek re-election as Gore’s mayor
Luke Pierson (Post): Vision for Wellington: For now, it’s up to us (paywalled)
Sarah Catherall (Post): We know what’s failing in Wellington - but this is why I love it
Alex Casey (Spinoff): A trip back to Wairarapa in the 1990s, when a trans woman was elected mayor
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): Veteran politician wants to transform ‘best-kept secret’ into tourism hotspot
Riria Dalton-Reedy (Te Ao Màori News): Whangārei hapū say land was sold to hotel chain without consulting mana whenua
TRANSPORT
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Winston Peters slated to meet Hyundai Mipo shipyard reps in South Korea (paywalled)
RNZ: Carterton and South Wairarapa councils unable to implement speed reductions under new law
Michael Daly (Stuff): ‘Nervous’ retirement village residents’ plea to keep speed limit at 80kph
RNZ: Six years 'severe disruption' on Auckland roads predicted, until new bridges built
Calida Stuart-Menteath and Hamish McNicol (NBR): It really is time for an aviation market study (paywalled)
Roeland van den Bergh (Post): Air NZ, Jetstar punctuality took a dip leading into summer (paywalled)
EDUCATION
RNZ: Teacher shortage no surprise to head of the secondary principals association
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Stanford writes to public service chief over botched teacher supply data
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Principals, unions disappointed by 1250 teacher shortfall
Anna Whyte (Post): Upheaval on way for future of school buildings (paywalled)
Cécile Meier (BusinessDesk): MPI investigates school lunch provider (paywalled)
Phil Pennington (RNZ): No 'official record' of school lunch feedback
Louise Ternouth and Ellen O’Dwyer (RNZ): 'It's pretty bad, I hate it': Hundreds of school lunches going uneaten
Yolisa Tswanya (Northern Advocate): Whangārei Intermediate rejects burnt school lunches, orders pizza
Phoebe Utteridge (Stuff): Family struggles to find suitable schooling for neurodiverse son
Zita Campbell (Local Democracy Reporting): Gisborne school to close after 60 years as student numbers dwindle
Susnation Seta (PMN): Ground-breaking position significant for Pacific communities
Megan Wilson (Rotorua Daily Post): Toi Ohomai timber machining apprenticeship: Changes made to proposed disestablishment
DESTINY CHURCH, SEXUALITY
1News: Destiny Church responds to calls to remove its charity status
Kirsty Johnston (RNZ): Domestic violence groups slam 'dangerous' Man Up programme
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): Rainbow community stands against Tamaki, Destiny Church at Auckland's Albert Park
Raphael Franks (Herald): Protest against Destiny Church in Albert Park: Auckland police will be on-site
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Labour MP calls for Destiny Church to lose charity status
Sam Smith (Stuff): Labour MP calls for Destiny Church to lose its charity status
Steve Braunais (Newsroom): The Secret Diary of .. The Man Up Gang
Grace Thomas (Stuff): Calls for police minister to do more for rainbow community safety
Coco Lance (RNZ): Haka at Destiny Church Protests: Māori and Pacific leaders weigh in
Sam Smith (Stuff): Radio host sacked after appearing at Destiny Church protest
Davina Zimmer (RNZ): The Detail: In the shadow of a rainbow
POLICE
Azaria Howell (Herald): Police abandon 105 call wait targets amid lengthy delays
Katie Ham (Post): Gangbusters: Three months on from the gang patch ban (paywalled)
Adam Pearse (Herald): 500 extra police: Minister ‘even more confident’ in hitting target despite fewer officers
RNZ: Audit finds police officers illegitimately accessing sensitive case files
BUSINESS
Karyn Scherer (NBR): Is it time to ‘go nuclear’ with supermarkets and their suppliers? (paywalled)
Damien Grant (Stuff): Are our grocery prices really too high?
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Sunday Star Times): Iwi bid to challenge supermarket duopoly suffers setback (paywalled)
Eric Crampton (Post): Delivering competition shouldn’t come down to a roll of the dice (paywalled)
Jacob Johnson (1News): Former POAL boss fined $190k in legal first after workplace death
John Weekes (Herald): Ports of Auckland former CEO Tony Gibson to pay $190,000 after death of stevedore Pala’amo Kalati (paywalled)
1News: Q+A: Diversity is crucial to success — NZ tech entrepreneur Rowan Simpson
Rob Stock (Post): Why did the Commerce Minister warn Kiwis about Temu? (paywalled)
Paddy Gower (Stuff): James Cameron: why taxpayer cash for movies needs to keep coming
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): On the Money: Bishop's netball foray, NZME, Halbergs. woke wars, and more.. (paywalled)
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