News Briefing: 5 March 2025
FERRIES, TRANSPORT
Jo Moir (RNZ): Government's iRex ferry cancellation costed at $300 million - for now
Thomas Manch (Post): Breaking Cook Strait ferry contracts to cost Govt $300m (paywalled)
No Right Turn: A complete fiasco
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Nicola Willis told to renegotiate with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard three months after cancelling mega-ferries (paywalled)
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Ministerial advisory group pushed for urgency on Cook Strait ferry decisions (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Post): KiwiRail has ‘too many layers’ between ship crew and CEO, ministers told (paywalled)
Maia Ingoe (RNZ): Traffic congestion could cost Auckland $2.6 billion a year, report commissioned by mayor finds
Thomas Manch (Post): Congestion charging gets bipartisan support in Parliament (paywalled)
Brent Melville (NBR): Auckland traffic congestion costed at $2.6b per year (paywalled)
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): Congestion charging inches closer as bill passes first reading
WELLINGTON WATER
Tom Hunt (Post): 2074 days to Wellington Water meltdown (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Post): Commerce Commission investigating ‘potential unlawful conduct’ by Wellington Water contractors (paywalled)
Nick James (RNZ): Councillors threaten legal action against Wellington Water
Tom Hunt and Thomas Manch (Post): Calls for legal action against Wellington Water (paywalled)
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop points finger at council for Wellington's water woes
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): Chris Bishop backs Wellington Water board chair
GOVERNMENT, PARLIAMENT, FOUR-YEAR PARLIAMENTARY TERM PROPOSAL
Richard Shaw (Conversation): NZ governments enjoy an ‘executive paradise’ – a longer parliamentary term won’t change that
Gordon Campbell (Scoop): On Why Having Elections Less Often Is A Bad Idea
Karanama Ruru and Jenna Lynch (Stuff): Andrew Bayly’s official resignation didn’t go to governor-general for three days
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Christopher Luxon says National MPs aren’t raising communication style concerns with him, faces Andrew Bayly questions
Edward Miller: Government doesn't exist to extract a return from its people
Anna Whyte (Post): Enter Seymour: Meet the Government’s fiscal Grinch (paywalled)
Richard Harman (Politik): Taking the politics out of government (paywalled)
Jem Traylen (BusinessDesk): Business of Government: is infrastructure funding really sorted, AI lessons from across the Tasman, and more (paywalled)
Joe Hendren: PM Luxon breaches the cabinet manual
Rodney Hide: Chris Luxon is done
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Use of Aotearoa in House 'not a matter of order', Brownlee tells MPs
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Gerry Brownlee shuts down concerns about use of ‘Aotearoa’, Winston Peters says he’s ‘wrong’
SCHOOL LUNCHES, EDUCATION
1News: Education Minister waiting for answers on school lunches scheme
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): The prime minister sides with David Seymour, while Erica Stanford shows concern over school lunches
Bridie Witton, Glenn McConnell and Jenna Lynch (Stuff): David Seymour misses school lunch please explain meeting
RNZ: Education minister's school lunches meeting with David Seymour delayed
Claire Trevett (Herald): School lunch saga: Marmite sandwiches and ‘girls doing the cooking’ as David Seymour, Christopher Luxon, Winston Peters debate school lunches (paywalled)
Julia Gabel (Herald): David Seymour hopes school lunch issues solved by next term, but won’t hand over responsibilities if they aren’t
Russell Palmer (RNZ): School lunches: David Seymour aims to fix issues by term 2, starting in 'tip top shape’
Louise Ternouth and Samantha Gee (RNZ): Luxon's Marmite sandwich suggestion leaves bad taste with school principals
Mark John (ODT): PM cops flak over Marmite comment (paywalled)
1News: Luxon: 'If you don't like the lunches, just go make a Marmite sandwich'
Stuff: Not happy with school lunches? Make a Marmite sandwich - PM
RNZ: Christopher Luxon on school lunches: 'Go make a Marmite sandwich'
Nicky Park (RNZ): Is a Marmite sandwich and an apple good enough for a child’s lunch?
Kelly Dennett (Post): The ‘positive’ emails David Seymour has received about school lunches
Elspeth McLean (ODT): Choking on a scorching lunch, at $3 a portion (paywalled)
Anna Rawhiti-Connell (Spinoff): Mite-y rift revealed within the highest ranks of government
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Anna Whyte (Post): How much it costs to build a classroom in NZ revealed (paywalled)
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Students left 'demotivated and dejected' by NCEA exam results
Herald Editorial: NCEA literacy and numeracy test results at NZ’s poorest schools pose challenge (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Stop dumbing down our education system (paywalled)
Aaron Smale (Listener): We can’t afford to fail Māori children (paywalled)
David Farrar: The Marsden Fund changes will boost university rankings
BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Conflict means grocery regulation off limits for new Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson (paywalled)
Paul McBeth: Simpson, eh?
Katie Bradford (1News): Charges filed against two Pak'nSaves for 'misleading specials'
Catrin Owen (Stuff): Two Pak’nSave supermarkets facing charges of misleading customers
Herald: Commerce Commission files charges against two North Island Pak’nSave supermarkets
Gregor Thompson (BusinessDesk): ComCom files criminal charges against two Pak’nSaves (paywalled)
David Burton (Post): Echo of US public service layoffs in planned employment law changes (paywalled)
Alexandra Muthu and Adrienne Edwards (Public Health Communications Centre): Beautiful benchtops: How should we protect our workers?
Brent Edwards (NBR): Companies face greater public scrutiny of tax transparency (paywalled)
Garth Bray (BusinessDesk): Taxing lunch: Corporate Taxpayers Group lobbies for rule changes on entertainment (paywalled)
Chris Keall (Herald): Peter Thiel now the richest New Zealander after double-whammy wealth surge
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): ANZ NZ quarterly profit after tax nudges $677 million
HEALTH
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Censured’: New concerns over Lester Levy’s razor gang
Rachel Thomas (Post): Nurse pay parity ‘not my job’, health minister says (paywalled)
John Lewis (ODT): Med student lift hailed; could take more
RNZ: Government boosts medical school intake numbers
Rachel Thomas (Post): More doctor training places and new plan to tackle GP shortages - minister (paywalled)
Angus Chambers (Post): GP changes heartening, but don’t expect too much from them (paywalled)
Martin Johnston (NZ Doctor): Unwrapping package: New capitation review timeline from Te Whatu Ora (paywalled)
Ke-Xin Li (RNZ): Health insurance: Is it worth the cost?
Kate Green (RNZ): Wellington City Mission cafe gets funding boost
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): There are no new headlines in health
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE
Robert G Patman and Alexander Gillespie (Newsroom): US-Putin ‘peace’ deal could be dire for NZ
Dan O’Brien: Terence O'Brien on Five Eyes; Trumpian Convulsions, & Tit for Tat
Tim Selwyn (Daily Blog): Helen Clark’s global wisdom on NZ/Cook Islands/China/US is the voice we need right now
Ellen O’Dwyer (RNZ): NZ navy may need to work with Australia to grow capability - experts
RNZ: Ukraine must be at the negotiating table, Christopher Luxon says
1News: 'Tough watch': PM Luxon says of Trump-Zelensky argument
Gabi Lardies (Spinoff): From karaoke machines to horses: New Zealand’s most delightful diplomatic gifts
TREATY OF WAITANGI
Derek Cheng (Herald): ‘Turning the Treaty into a socialist manifesto’: Richard Prebble resigns from Waitangi Tribunal
Richard Prebble (Herald): Why I’ve resigned from the Waitangi Tribunal (paywalled)
Laura Walters (Newsroom): What happens now we’ve discussed the Treaty Principles?
PRIMARY AND EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES, ENVIRONMENT
Alka Prasad (Post): Climate adaptation legislation better late than never, says minister
Mary Argue (RNZ): Restore Passenger Rail protest trial: Jury hears climate change defence
Dita De Boni (Post): A natural hazard rating for each and every home: insurers face the climate reckoning (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Fonterra among firms linked to illegal palm plantations, claims Greenpeace (paywalled)
Peter de Graaf (RNZ): Bream Bay sand mining 14,000-strong protest petition to be given to Parliament
Sally Rae (ODT): Peta claims addressed by merino firm
Eric Frykberg (Interest): Pāmu solidly in the black
CRIME, JUSTICE
1News: 'Significant informal control': The unseen power of gangs inside prisons
Catherine Hutton (Open Justice Reporting): Gang patch ban challenged, lawyer cites Nazi Germany, Taliban comparisons
Post: Gang insignia ban an ‘absurd’ limit on freedom, lawyer says (paywalled)
1News: Q+A: 'You don't have to use it' - citizen's arrest rights advocate
Sunny Kaushal (Herald): Citizen’s arrest powers: Our retail crime laws must protect the victims, not the offenders
MEDIA
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Trump threats not deterring NZ from consultation on ‘Netflix’ change (paywalled)
Hūhana Lyndon (Herald): Crisis as media ecosystem faces collapse
Shayne Currie (Herald): Media Insider: Omnicom Group (OMG) and Interpublic (IPG) advertising agency merger to be subject to Commerce Commission approval - their official argument for a marriage (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): Media Insider: TVNZ musical chairs - Carol Hirschfeld’s new role; sport head Melodie Robinson’s new reporting line as rugby rights hit crunch point (paywalled)
HOUSING, PROPERTY MARKET
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Number of pensioners needing rent help nears 50,000
Miriam Bell (Post): New tools to fund infrastructure? Here’s what developers think (paywalled)
David Hargreaves (Interest): Mortgage arrears reach an 8-year high, Centrix says
Greg Ninness (Interest): Real estate buyers' market continued in February with stock for sale at a 10-year high
Liam Dann (Herald): Inside Economics: Why is the housing recovery taking so long? And what’s shrinking NZ’s current account deficit? (paywalled)
Miriam Bell (Sunday Star Times): ‘Crazy’ post-Covid housing market boom repeat unlikely, say experts (paywalled)
Ethan Manera (Herald): Wealthy townhouse developer Kurt Gibbons linked to ‘premier’ Karori site in Wellington (paywalled)
Deborah Morris (Post): Planned demolition for old Wellington teachers’ college campus (paywalled)
Greg Ninness ((interest): A total of 15,668 fewer new homes a year are being consented compared to two years ago
KIWISAVER
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): KiwiSaver employer contributions shown to vary across industries and employers
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): KiwiSaver's gender gap shrinks, but long way still to go
Ella Somers (Interest): Early KiwiSaver withdrawals hit $143 million in January
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): What is NZ's biggest KiwiSaver balance?
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Councils to pull trigger on water consultation
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Council document gets adverse audit opinion
Zita Campbell (Local Democracy Reporting): Gisborne local body election: Mayor to run again, three councillors confirm they won’t be seeking re-election
Max Frethey (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘Getting out of hand’: Personal info requests costing Nelson council
DESTINY CHURCH
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Weasel words aren't the way to respond to Destiny's hate speech
Sam Smith (Stuff): Auckland Council ‘monitoring’ Destiny Church’s use of their venues
Sinead Gill (Press): 'Homophobia is getting worse': Council asked to apologise after Destiny Church protest (paywalled)
Russell Brown (Listener): Brian Tamaki’s date with Destiny (paywalled)
Anton Blank (E-Tangata): Unintentionally complicit
CHCH MOSQUE ATTACKS
Victoria Meakin (Press/Post): Documentary about honouring mosque attack victims set for release (paywalled)
Delphine Herbert (RNZ): Imam Gamal Fouda leaving Al Noor Mosque
Anna Leask (Herald): Inspirational Muslim leader, mosque terror attack survivor announces move to Australia
OTHER
Tony Burton: An experience of the limits of the state
Jesse Mulligan: What does the word 'woke' mean?
Diane McCarthy (1News): Gambling still rising in Kawerau despite sinking lid policy
Kyle Matthews (Spinoff): InternetNZ shouldn’t be the battleground of a ‘free speech’-inspired culture war
Mary Argue (RNZ): Quake strengthening: NZers work on modular bracing with Japanese scientists