News Briefing: 11 July 2025
PARLIAMENT, POLLS, PUBLIC SECTOR
Bruce Curtis and Bryce Edwards (The Integrity Institute): Trump’s corruption – A Cautionary tale for NZ
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): Winston Peters finds his sweet spot as NZ First enjoys polling surge
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): NZ First now third most popular party - Taxpayers' Union-Curia Poll
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): New poll sees NZ First surge to become third most popular party
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Winston Peters’ campaign for reelection in 2026 has a running start as new polls show growing support
Thomas Manch (Post): NZ First edges ahead of ACT, Greens in new poll (paywalled)
Ryan Bridge (Newstalk ZB): Winston just keeps going
Matt Nippert (Herald): Waipareira Trust goes to court to block charity deregistration (paywalled)
RNZ: Law change prompts spike in Māori electoral roll registrations
Metiria Stanton Turei (ODT): The case for Māori moving on to the Māori electoral roll (paywalled)
Stuff: Oriini Kaipara will represent Te Pāti Māori in Tāmaki Makaurau by-election
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Former broadcaster Oriini Kaipara to contest Tāmaki Makaurau by-election for Te Pāti Māori
Audrey Young (Herald): Committee members stay home for Regulatory Standards Bill hearings; Trevor Mallard gets last laugh on moa revival (paywalled)
Allan Brent: Having something to say
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
David Fisher (Herald): Exclusive: Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung’s sex and drugs gossip about Tory Whanau (paywalled)
Matthew Hooton (Herald): The case for abolishing regional councils in NZ (paywalled)
RNZ: Southern councils suffer setback in partnership plan to deliver water services
Julie Asher and Richard Davison (ODT): Two district councils vote to join CCO (paywalled)
Ruby Shaw (ODT): Non-resident rate payer votes give ‘disproportionate power’ (paywalled)
Peter de Graaf (RNZ): Far North Mayor Moko Tepania undecided on future as Parliament calls grow
Maxine Jacobs (Press): Selwyn council to pay $1m to correct holiday pay errors (paywalled)
Katie Townshend (Press): Former ACT MP standing for Nelson City Council as independent (paywalled)
REGULATORY STANDARDS BILL
Gordon Campbell: On Why The Regulatory Standards Bill Is A Hot Mess
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Analysis: Where next for Regulatory Standards Bill?
Bryce Wilkinson (Herald): A response to sincerely held concerns about the Regulatory Standards Bill (paywalled)
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): Regulatory Standards Bill hearing, day four: The grand finale
ENVIRONMENT, MINING
1News: 'Declined too quickly': DOC to process Oceana Gold mine application
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Doc U-turns on application, will process it ‘swiftly’ (paywalled)
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): New carbon forestry land restrictions only ‘palliative’ – watchdog
Sally Wenley (RNZ): Australian mining company Santana Minerals buys Otago land for $25 million
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): As Shane Jones says, do we want lizards or jobs?
No Right Turn: Gas is still dead
Rob Stock (Post): Waste plant hearings close amid firestorm of concern (paywalled)
CLIMATE CHANGE, WEATHER-RELATED EVENTS
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): Homeowners warned weather-event buyouts may cease in 20 years
Eloise Gibson (RNZ):Almost 15,000 properties could be damaged by floods in next 35 years - report
Mandy Te (Interest): 'Financial bomb for the country': Who will pay for the climate adaptation measures?
Jimmy Higgins (Post): The information home owners need to prepare for climate change (paywalled) 98
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Do we have a moral obligation to help flooded homeowners?
COVID-19
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): Inquiry hears from Covid response critics in tense session
RNZ: Former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern to give evidence to Covid response Inquiry
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Boris Johnson fronted-up to a Covid inquiry - Chris Hipkins should too
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): What Chris Hipkins is doing to the Covid Inquiry
Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): Hipkins needs to front up and face the heat
EMPLOYMENT
Evie Richardson (RNZ): Rise of the underemployed: New Zealanders struggle to find full-time work
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Cheap fares remain Uber’s trump card in the court of public opinion (paywalled)
Neil Sands (Law News): Rideshare giant Uber is spinning ‘fiction’ and ‘fairy stories’, union lawyer tells Supreme Court
Alice Peacock (Spinoff): NZ Post ordered back to drawing board on merger to slash 750 jobs (paywalled)
Paul Penfold (Stuff): If you're accused of being a Gloriavale slave, this is what you say
GOVT-BUSINESS ANTI-SCAM ALLIANCE, ONLINE CRIME
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): New government 'alliance' formed to combat online scammers
Juha Saarinen (Interest): Govt launches New Zealand Anti-Scam Alliance with industry
ODT Editorial: Stopping fraudsters worthy investment (paywalled)
MĀORI-CROWN RELATIONS
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Revealed: The four people charged with reviewing every significant Treaty clause (paywalled)
Peter de Graaf (RNZ): Sovereignty 'red line' in any future Ngāpuhi settlement message at Whangārei hapū hui
Denise Piper (Northern Advocate): Ngāpuhi reaffirms sovereignty, despite it being a likely deal-breaker
Peter de Graaf (RNZ): Sovereignty 'red line' in any future Ngāpuhi settlement message at Whangārei hapū hui
MIGRATION
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): What’s so wrong with New Zealand that 30,000 people would rather live in Australia?
Thomas Manch (Post): More people leaving than arriving as young Kiwis flee NZ for jobs and OE (paywalled)
Greg Ninness (Interest): Migration numbers slump as fewer migrants arrive in this country, more depart long term
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): The brain drain is on: 30,000 Kiwis wing it to Australia in a year
EDUCATION, TRAINING
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Polytech bail-outs lie ahead, Te Pūkenga warns
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Apprenticeship and training changes 'fundamentally flawed', industry groups warn
Brent Edwards (NBR): Vocational education bill needs ’substantial changes’ (paywalled)
Richard Harman: National gets a warning from its friends (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: FamilyBoost Fizzer (paywalled)
Jean Edwards (RNZ): Gloriavale school faces possible closure after second audit failure
Yolisa Tswanya (Northland Age): School lunches: $130 million saved, complaints drop 92%, Government says
Cate Macintosh (Press/Post): Millions of aluminium school lunch trays heading to landfill (paywalled)
RNZ: Move to increase Māori participation in school board elections
Paul Ellis (Post): Re-setting NZ’s education system for success (paywalled)
HEALTH
Renee Liang (North &South): The Inconvenient Truthers: doctors speaking out
Robert Beaglehole (Herald): NZ is on the cusp of smokefree history, we should celebrate (paywalled)
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): What is the Ministry of Health spending its problem gambling fund on?
Mariné Lourens (Press/Post): ‘Always in crisis mode’: Why psychiatrists are leaving NZ's public health system (paywalled)
Louisa Steyl (Southland Times/Press): More industrial action over safety at Southland Hospital (paywalled)
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Needle exchange ‘saved’ life (paywalled)
HOUSING, FAST-TRACK, HERITAGE
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Night shelters say they're bearing brunt of emergency housing clamp down
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Fast-track friction: Auckland Council, Watercare oppose Ōrewa housing development (paywalled)
Joanne Naish (Press): Government called ‘hypocritical’ for sitting on ‘prime’ Christchurch real estate (paywalled)
Marie Laufiso (ODT): There but for the grace of God go I
Christine McCarthy (Newsroom): An unseemly hatred for one building
Madeleine Powers (Waikato Times): Councillor pushes for ‘creative’ solution for Classics Museum car park campers (paywalled)
DEFENCE, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TRADE
Stephen Hickson (The Conversation): Defence spending is like insurance – how will NZ pay the higher premiums?
Max Harris (Post): International court ruling should prompt action from New Zealand (paywalled)
Alka Prasad (Post): Trade mission to Europe helps Kiwi cannabis firms meet potential partners (paywalled)
MEDIA
Shayne Currie (Herald): NZ brings in former news boss to review radio operation; Stuff editor leaves amid staff tears (paywalled)
RNZ: Magazines Listener, NZ Woman's Weekly put up for sale by owner
Liam Rātana (Spinoff): Listener and Woman’s Weekly publisher Are Media is up for sale
Sam Smith (Stuff): One of two Jacinda Ardern films set for 2025 release scrapped
RAINBOW WARRIOR SINKING
1News: 'So unexpected, so wrong': Investigators reflect on Rainbow Warrior bombing
1News: Dawn service held 40 years on from Rainbow Warrior bombing
OTHER
RNZ: Government changes to anti-money laundering laws aim to cut red tape for small businesses
1News: Crypto ATMs to be banned in money laundering crackdown
Brent Edwards (NBR: Access to capital a constraint on non-bank lenders FSF says (paywalled)
Dana Johannsen (RNZ): Sport Integrity Commission fields hundreds of complaints in first year
Kaya Selby (RNZ): Census overhaul sparks Pasifika 'invisibility' fears
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): Meth consumption still high, no evidence of related spike in crime
Terry Baucher (Interest): Is the student loan scheme still achieving what was intended?
Sam Sherwood (RNZ): Mt Eden inmate death was second double-bunked killing in nine months
Roeland van den Bergh (Post): New Zealand within reach of a 100% green power generation (paywalled)
David Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): North Canterbury locals get say over huge solar farm
Jack Riddell (Hawkes Bay Today): Napier council road’s speed limit jumps from 50km/h to 70km/h, council says ministry to blame
Karanama Ruru (Stuff): West Coast community given helping hand as Government funds new $1.6 million bridge