News Briefing: 10 July 2025

PARLIAMENT, PUBLIC SECTOR
Bryce Edwards (The Integrity Institute): Government decisions favour political donor’s business
No Right Turn: “There is no corruption in New Zealand…"
Nicholas Jones (Stuff): Private health record for NICU baby found by bus stop
Brent Edwards (NBR): A clearer rationale for ownership might help struggling SOEs (paywalled)
Anna Whyte (Post): Focus on Public Service leadership as Roche orders action plans (paywalled)
Alice Peacock (Newsroom): Treasury warned barring union from Budget lock-up ‘looks politically motivated’
Mark John (ODT): ‘Not welcome here’: dozens protest Seymour visit
Tim Scott (ODT): Deputy PM ‘in awe’ of work done at city tech firm (paywalled)
Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira (RNZ): Te Pāti Māori meeting tonight to decide candidate for upcoming Tāmaki Makarau by-election
Jack McDonald (Post): Tough shoes to fill for Kemp’s successor (paywalled)
David Harvey (Listener): Law & society: Does MMP need a tweak? (paywalled)

KIRI ALLAN
Mellissa Nightingale (Herald): Kiri Allan crash: Then-Justice Minister claimed charges were a ‘political stunt’ and that she wrote the law, say new police documents
Poppy Clark (Stuff): ‘A political stunt’: What Kiri Allan told police on the night of her arrest
RNZ: What ex-politician Kiri Allan told police on night of arrest
David Farrar: This is a Labour Justice Minister

COVID-19
Peter Dunne: It is reasonable for New Zealanders to expect Ardern, Hipkins and Bloomfield to appear before the Royal Commission
Luke Malpass and Kelly Dennett (Stuff): Dame Jacinda Ardern says she will give evidence at Covid-19 Inquiry
David Williams (Herald): Covid-19 Royal Commission: Jacinda Ardern says she will provide evidence
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): Labour hits back at Seymour's claim NZ is still 'digesting' Covid-19 pandemic 'hangover'
Victor Walters (RNZ): 'Paranoia and misinformation spread faster than Covid', inquiry told
RNZ: Royal Commission of Inquiry into New Zealand's Covid-19 response public hearing
Paul Jarvis (Post): Long Covid is continuing to linger in the workplace, and businesses struggle to cope (paywalled)
John Weekes (Herald): Union explains support for pilot sacked over Covid-19 vaccine (paywalled)

CLIMATE CHANGE
Kate Newton (RNZ): Climate adaptation assistance cuts would leave NZers 'on their own' - expert
Kate Newton (RNZ): No climate change buy-outs in future, expert group tells government
Rob Stock (Post): NZ under-prepared for climate risk, bailouts unsustainable – expert group (paywalled)
Stuff: One of Aotearoa’s oldest burial sites at risk from flooding, in latest sea level rise modelling

REGULATORY STANDARDS BILL
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): Regulatory Standards Bill hearing, day three: ‘Pissing on people and telling them it’s rain’
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): Regulatory Standards Bill hearing, day one: Former PM says ‘no chance’ of bill working
Anne Salmond (Newsroom): A flawed bill

EMPLOYMENT
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Unions tell Supreme Court Uber imposes ‘intensive’, ‘unrelenting’ control over drivers fighting to classed as employees
Bill Hickman (RNZ): Uber court case: 'What we want is minimum entitlements'
Tom Pullar-Strecker and Roeland van den Bergh (Post): Union lawyer says unwritten contracts between Uber drivers and passengers ‘a fairy story’ (paywalled)
RNZ: Government wants unemployed people to help with flood clean-up

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
Andrea Vance (Post): Campaign group’s dossier on Labour candidates labelled ‘dirty tactics’ (paywalled)
Ruby Shaw (ODT): No risk of interference: mayor (paywalled)
David Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): South Island Assembly mooted to get better deals from Wellington
Matthew Rosenberg (ODT): Council amalgamation: Southland mayor ‘stoked’ for investigation
Matthew Martin (Waikato Times): How much do your mayors and councillors get paid? (paywalled)
Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): Rates rises are due to people voting against rates rises
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Western Springs project abandoned by billionaires, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown learns while holidaying in Fiji (paywalled)
RNZ: Ponsonby Rugby Club chair unsurprised Auckland Arena deal falls through
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Watercare blames suppliers for catastrophic failure of its own controls
Torika Tokalau (Local Democracy Reporting): More detail revealed on plans for south Auckland water treatment
Richard Hills (Herald): More housing is not just about the City Rail Link but also floods (paywalled)
Tracey Roxburgh (ODT): Shotover issues spur Rewi to enter mayoral race
Matthew Martin (Waikato Times): ‘Maverick mayor’ Ash Tanner looks to ride again (paywalled)
Madeleine Powers (Waikato Times): Council boots elderly campers from car museum lot (paywalled)

HEALTH
Ella Scott-Fleming (ODT): Dementia patients sedated due to bed lack: GP (paywalled)
Ian Powell: ‘Slash and burn’ increases poor health system decision-making: witness maternity and gynaecology
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Fears for son if Wakari ward removed (paywalled)
Jimmy Ellingham (RNZ): Physical and verbal abuse at hospitals becoming routine - doctors
Tracy Neal (Open Justice Reporting): Woman found dead in Auckland home four hours after calling 111
RNZ: Pharmac makes asthma inhalers, IUDs more accessible
Amanda Gillies (RNZ): The Detail: A win-win-win over medical waste

PRIMARY AND EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES
Andrea Graves (Listener): Why NZ may raise glyphosate limits – and who’s pushing back (paywalled)
Maiki Sherman (1News): Hundreds of jobs at Otago gold mine in doubt over ‘business critical permit’
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): Titanium could double value of Taranaki seabed mine
Keiller MacDuff (RNZ): More work needed to protect prime horticultural land, says industry
Brent Edwards (NBR): Foreign investment rules unfair to farmers, says top agent (paywalled)
Julie Asher (ODT): Decision to sell station to miner not easy, family says (paywalled)
1News: Farming company fined $49k after effluent spills in Waikato

HOUSING
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): Kāinga Ora to sell prime Wellington sites despite shortage of houses
Julie Jacobson (Post): Gun threat and abuse leave Kāinga Ora tenant fearing for life
Mildred Armah (Stuff): ‘I understand how it feels to freeze on the streets’: Youth leaders fear for homeless peers
Stuff: Wellington rents fall to lowest level since 2022, Trade Me data shows

ECONOMY, OCR
Michael Daly (Stuff): Have we hit the bottom of the OCR cycle at 3.25%?
Michael Daly (Stuff): The Reserve Bank stopped the drop on the OCR. Is it now the time to go long on your mortgage?
Gyles Beckford (RNZ): Reserve Bank holds Official Cash Rate at 3.25%
1News: OCR held at 3.25% by Reserve Bank
Kelly Dennett (Post): Stats NZ will resume household inflation data release ‒ six months behind schedule (paywalled)

BUSINESS
Nicholas Pointon (NBR): More studios claim video game rebate in 2025 (paywalled)
Chris Keall (Herald): Video game sector jobs up 20.5% with tax rebate, but half of funds unclaimed (paywalled)
John Weekes (Herald): Two Pak’nSave operators plead guilty to unfair trading after ‘specials’ were not so special (paywalled)
RNZ: Family appalled after 99yo's landline disconnected for days
RNZ: Are the days of brunching over? Popular Auckland cafe KIND closes amidst economic pressures

AI, TECHNOLOGY
Chris Keall (Herald): Government’s AI strategy criticised for lack of detail, timelines (paywalled)
Will Mace (NBR): Govt’s AI ’strategy’ is nothing of the sort, says tech sector (paywalled)
RNZ: Government unveils its first-ever national artificial intelligence strategy
Will Mace (NBR): Govt’s ‘light touch’ AI strategy aims to boost private investment (paywalled)
RNZ: Conservation land use applications processed faster with help from AI
Peter Griffin (BusinessDesk): The ID verification arms race: Are we ready?

MEDIA
Shayne Currie (Herald): Top RNZ executive resigns as broadcaster tackles budget cuts, voluntary redundancies (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): NZ Film Commission chief executive Annie Murray on the future of Kiwi moviemaking, and finding the next Boy or Tinā (paywalled)
Shayne Currie (Herald): Taxpayer-funded Jacinda Ardern movie ‘Mania’ scrapped (paywalled)
Mark Broatch (Listener): Kiwis flock to Jacinda Ardern memoir, smashing local sales records (paywalled)

RAINBOW WARRIOR SINKING
Helen Clark (Spinoff): ‘Storm clouds are gathering’: 40 years on from the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior
Teuila Fuatai (RNZ): Rainbow Warrior bombing 40th anniversary: Advocates warn of expanding nuclearism in Pacific
John Daniell and Noelle McCarthy (Herald): Rainbow Warrior: 40 years on – why France sank Greenpeace flagship in Auckland harbour
Margaret Mills (Newsroom): The cook who survived the Rainbow Warrior bombing
Laurence Beau (Post): Reflections on reconciliation, 40 years after Rainbow Warrior sinking (paywalled)

OTHER
RNZ: More enforcement powers to combat money laundering unveiled by government
Greg Hurrell (BusinessDesk): Open banking reforms risk giving too much power to banks (paywalled)
Ellen O’Dwyer (RNZ): 'No evidence' to show reduction in gambling harm from $81m industry tax
Gill Bennett (RNZ): Refugee support programme ends with no clear future
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff):What went wrong with MethaneSat – and who should answer for it?
Gabi Lardies (Spinoff): What is Rocket Lab launching into space and why are people angry about it?
Sheridan Waitai (Post): Aotearoa’s silence on ocean protection is deafening (paywalled)
RNZ: Hefty reward for information leading to sea lion killer in The Catlins
Raphael Franks (Herald): Auckland K Rd restaurant Atelier defends poor treatment allegations from ex-MP Golriz Ghahraman
Stuff: Auckland restaurant rejects Golriz Ghahraman’s accusation of hostility