NZ Politics Daily: 13 December 2025
PARLIAMENT, PUBLIC SECTOR
Vernon Small (Sunday Star Times): Time for Labour to shrug off the shackles of election defeat
Max Rashbrooke (Post): The honeymoon’s over, but a hangover’s just kicking in (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Labour’s message for 2026: Are you better off?
Jane Norton (Newsroom): Charities no place for politics
Andrea Vance (Post): It’s the worst job in the country. Why does Ayesha Verrall want a second go at it? (paywalled)
The Standard: Labour’s Long-Sightedness and the Opposition’s Opprobrious Omniabsence
Cécile Meier (BusinessDesk): BusinessDesk’s 2024 OIA naughty list (paywalled)
David Williams (Newsroom): A door-knock and the death of the Official Secrets Act
Deb Te Kawa (BusinessDesk): Paint by numbers: Why the Kāwantanga needs to hand over the brush (paywalled)
Steven Joyce (Herald): Nikki Kaye and Tariana Turia shine amid the collapse of civility in politics (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Katie Nimon more frustrated than surprised by Parliament (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): The Act Party’s ‘accidental politician’ (paywalled)
Mountain Tui: Elon Musk adores Chris Luxon
TREATY PRINCIPLES BILL, MĀORI-CROWN RELATIONS
Andrea Vance (Post): Luxon’s not a ‘drop-nuts.’ He’s just got nothing to say at Waitangi (paywalled)
Kelly Dennett (Sunday Star Times): The true legacy of the Treaty Principles Bill (paywalled)
Sapeer Mayron (Sunday Star Times): ‘Never experienced in my lifetime’: Treaty Principles Bills draws unprecedented submissions (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Rough start for proposal for unified Māori deliberative body
Pokere Paewai (RNZ): Pan-Māori assembly debate is a start, Ngāti Kahungunu leader says
Elizabeth Rata (ODT): Ngai Tahu’s ambitions for the South Island
Ian Taylor (Stuff): Agreeing to disagree with Shane Jones, and what we agreed on at Dame Tariana Turia’s tangi
Damien Grant (Stuff): New Zealand is where we live. Not who we are
REGULATION STANDARDS, SOCIAL SECURITY AMENDMENT BILL, GOVT LEGISLATION
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): Regulatory Standards Bill slammed as 'dangerous' call for 'alarm bells'
Daniel Perese (Te Ao Māori News): Concerns for Te Tiriti as submission deadline looms for quiet bill
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): Rush to pass laws makes for bad government (paywalled)
Ryan Ward: My Regulatory Standards Bill submission
Hanna McCallum (Post): Concerns over tight time frames on ‘significant legislation’ (paywalled)
Hanna McCallum (Post): Midnight deadline looms for submissions on beneficiary bill (paywalled)
Mike Friend: Rejecting the Social Security Ammendment Bill
HEALTH
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Govt accused of withholding info on hospital
ODT Editorial: Why are we waiting? (paywalled)
Rachel Thomas (Post): What tops Health NZ Commissioner Lester Levy's to-do list heading into 2025 (paywalled)
Joanne Naish (Press): Health NZ abruptly ends deal for cost-saving surgeries at charity hospital (paywalled)
Maddy Road (Press): ‘Disappointing’: Canterbury mayors’ lengthy attempt to meet with Shane Reti (paywalled)
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Health New Zealand seeks chief executive (paywalled)
David Farrar: The Health Research Council
Lucy Xia (RNZ): Health New Zealand to increase security at Middlemore Hospital's Emergency Department
Megan Wilson (Rotorua Daily Post): ADHD: Appointment waiting times for children in Bay of Plenty, Lakes faster than most of NZ - charity
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TRADE
Geoffrey Miller (Democracy Project): Christopher Luxon’s important trip to the Middle East
RNZ: NZ-UAE trade deal to cut export tax by 98.5 percent - PM
Jem Traylen (BusinessDesk): Luxon off to UAE for signing of trade deal (paywalled)
Justin Wong (Post): PM heads for Abu Dhabi for trade deal (paywalled)
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Should Donald Trump simply buy New Zealand and ‘Make it Great Again’? (paywalled)
Hillmarè Schulze (NBR): New Zealand’s exports stuck in the past while world races ahead (paywalled)
Guy C. Charlton and Xiang Gao (The Diplomat): Sailing Chaotic Seas: New Zealand’s Foreign Policy in 2025
The Standard: Winston’s Next Job
Evan Jones (Newsroom): NZ can strengthen global solidarity over Afghanistan
Tom Peters (World Socialists): New Zealand government’s “foreign interference” bill prepares new attacks on democratic rights
HOUSING
RNZ: State landlord issues 553 warnings for unruly tenant behaviour
ODT Editorial: Whither house prices (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): These are the borrowers getting the biggest benefit from falling interest rates in 2025
1News: Wellington landlords offering incentives to potential tenant
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): No plan for Te Anau homeless
David Chaston (Interest): The pressure on bank funding. How likely are fixed home loan rate cuts?
Justin Wong (Post): Character restrictions could return to Waikanae’s garden precinct (paywalled)
Nadine Roberts (Post): 'Worst situation I've seen': Complaints of bullying, intimidation at retirement village
Anne Gibson (Herald): Ho Chi Minh to Northcote: ‘Southern Hemisphere’s largest modular housing project’ (paywalled)
ECONOMY
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Nicola Willis on 2024, this year’s flat Budget and why universal entitlements may need to be cut in the future (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): 10 reasons not to despair over state of the economy — and one word of warning (paywalled)
Sam Stubbs (Post): Our productivity paradox, and how to solve it (paywalled)
Ian Bellew (Post): Analysis: Desperately seeking reasons to be cheerful? (paywalled)
BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT
Shane Te Pou (Herald): Minimum wage: The workers who keep the country going (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Officials warned personal grievance shake-up ‘likely to lead to unjust outcomes’ (paywalled)
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): BlackRock gives foreign investment a bad name in NZ (paywalled)
Nona Pelletier (RNZ): Economic uncertainty primary concern for businesses
Chris Keall (Herald): Business outlook survey reveals a surging concern
CRIME
Katie Ham (Stuff): Stolen property ring kingpin may face Covid subsidy charges (paywalled)
Tara Shaskey (Herald): Prisoners on planes: Thousands of inmates flown commercially and privately in past five years
Edward Gay (Stuff): Survivor demands to know who sits on juries
Adam Pearce (Herald): PM Christopher Luxon to attend Nelson police officer Lyn Fleming’s funeral, cuts UAE trip short
David Farrar: Ginny blames baby murders on the Government
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Ke-Xin Li (Waikato Times): Waikato councils largely unfazed by Government’s call to return to office (paywalled)
Jonathan Killick (Sunday Star Times): Mayor Wayne Brown ‘fending off’ St James Theatre costing $250k a month, says developer (paywalled)
Crux: No paywall - our full Queenstown sewage investigation
1News: Hamilton mayor will not seek third term at upcoming local election
RNZ: Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate not running for re-election in October
Laura Smith (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘Trailblazer’ on upskilling Kiwis in AI: ‘We don’t have to be based in New York’
Sapeer Mayron (Sunday Star Times): How councillor Josephine Bartley got into her first ever home (paywalled)
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Woman distraught after ‘treasured’ cat, hit by car, was taken to rubbish dump by Auckland Council contractor
Grant Miller (ODT): Data tags on council kerbside wheelie bins not being used (paywalled)
Grant Miller (ODT): Change of officer unlikely to affect process (paywalled)
EDUCATION
Luisa Girao and Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Polytechs have work to do: Simmonds
Alice Peacock (Newsroom): Value of student loans written off at death triples over a decade
Hanna McCallum (Post): New NCEA resource bridges gap between classroom and industry (paywalled)
TRANSPORT
RNZ: Nearly half of public wants new Interislander ferries to be rail-enabled - poll
David Farrar: Not a useful question
RNZ: Frustration as Auckland buses replace trains... for the next month
OTHER
RNZ: Abuse in Care: Survivors calling for redress plans
RNZ: Fast track for new water supply in Otago community
Derek Cheng (Herald): Behind the scenes of the battle over transgender inclusion in community sports
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Mum of three told to pay $32,500 to IRD in two weeks
RNZ: Firefighters' union 'seriously concerned' as firetruck fleet faults continue
Brittany Keogh (Post): The changing face of Aotearoa – who is the ‘average’ Kiwi? (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): The forgotten protests of the 1970s, and how Labour PM Norm Kirk interfered in my arrest (paywalled)
André Chumko (Post): How likely is NZ to get wildfires like the ones in LA? (paywalled)
Brett Gartrell and Craig Johnson (The Conversation): Why community volunteers will be essential for how NZ handles the arrival of bird flu
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