News Briefing: 2 July 2025
YOUTH PARLIAMENT
Russell Palmer and Giles Dexter (RNZ): Youth MPs accuse government of 'censoring' them, ministry says otherwise
Russell Palmer and Giles Dexter (RNZ): Youth MPs told to remove criticisms of government from speeches
Janhavi Gosavi (Re:News): Youth MPs claim censorship over Govt criticism in speeches
Pretoria Gordon (RNZ): Youth MPs renew call to lower voting age
No Right Turn: National is afraid of kids
PARLIAMENT, PUBLIC SERVICE
Roy Morgan: In June, support for National-led Government surges to highest level so far this year
Simon Wilson (Herald): David Seymour and James Baldwin: The fire this time (paywalled)
Gordon Campbell: On what our Labour Party could learn from Zohran Mamdani
Anna Whyte (Post): Secrecy surrounds possible triple ministry merger (paywalled)
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): Left and right question mega-merger of MfE, MoT, and MHUD (paywalled)
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): Science sector merged but funding gaps remain
Mary Argue (RNZ): Six Crown Research Institutes merge into Public Research Organisations
Juha Saarinen (Interest):Job losses at DIA with experienced staff leaving spark concerns for government's anti-scam drive
TAKUTAI TARSH KEMP
Julia Gabel (Herald): Takutai Tarsh Kemp: Hundreds travel to Taihape to mourn ‘peaceful leader’ gone too soon
Māni Dunlop (Te Ao Māori News): Final farewell for Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Moana Tarsh Kemp
Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira (RNZ): Te Pāti Māori MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp laid to rest
Pokere Paewai (RNZ): 'Indescribable loss': Takutai Tarsh Kemp remembered at tangi at Opaea Marae
Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira (RNZ): Son of late Takutai Tarsh Kemp calls for Māori to register for voting
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): ‘Tarsh, sister, I bid you goodnight’: Te Pāti Māori MP laid to rest
HEALTH
Melissa-Jade Gregan (The Integrity Institute): How the alcohol industry continues to get a seat at the policymaking table
Louise Ternouth (RNZ): Free clinic opens at Auckland City Mission to tackle dental crisis
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Delays add $40 million to build cost: Hodgson (paywalled)
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Children’s wing concerns (paywalled)
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Number of beds ‘unethical’ (paywalled)
Pete Hodgson (ODT): Has the government finally come to its senses?
Katie Todd (RNZ): Wānaka residents grill government ministers over healthcare shortfalls
Olivia Caldwell and Rawan Saadi (ODT): Population growth ‘has got ahead of public services’: minister
Anna Sophia (Spinoff): The odds of the new suicide prevention action plan succeeding are slim to none
Bridie Witton (Stuff): ‘Legacy of hope’: New $88m mental health facility breaks ground in Lower Hutt
RNZ: Government urges Pharmac, Medsafe to embrace artificial intelligence
Kelly Dennett (Post): AI could soon help Medsafe, Pharmac make faster medicines decisions (paywalled)
1News: Rising rate of type 2 diabetes in young Kiwis 'becoming crisis'
Serena Solomon (RNZ): Wegovy weight loss medication costs $500 monthly. Should we fund it?
PRIMARY AND EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES, CONSERVATION
1News: West Coast job seekers graduate from new Govt-funded mining course
Andrea Vance (Post): ‘Bedwetters from overseas’: Shane Jones slams Greenpeace’s trawler protest tactics (paywalled)
Andy Brew (Stuff): Greenpeace rebrand second bottom trawler off coast of New Zealand
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Australian miner expects $3.8b pre-tax profits from NZ gold mine at current prices (paywalled)
Brad Olsen (Infometrics): We’ve passed Peak Tractor
Michael Mansvelt (Stuff): How to lose a century in one day
CENSUS
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Stats NZ confirms experts’ take on scrapping Census: ‘Permanent reduction’ in quality of some data
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Count Down: Getting rid of the census is such a dumb idea
1News: Scrapping the Census: Questions raised over Māori data, trust
BANKS
Susan Edmunds (RNZ): Bank failure compensation scheme begins - what does it actually mean?
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Bank deposit insurance scheme starts
Joanne Naish (Press/Post): Protesters demand ANZ stops banking services for mining company (paywalled)
Jamie Ensor (Herald): Nicola Willis reveals former acting Reserve Bank Governor Grant Spencer as new board member
RNZ: Former Reserve Bank acting governor Grant Spencer appointed to its board
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): New Reserve Bank board line up revealed (paywalled)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT, WATER
Jeffrey McNeill (The Conversation): Memo to Shane Jones: what if NZ needs more regional government, not less?
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Council claws back thousands in water project savings
Deborah Morris (Post): Final vote on new water entity as another ageing pipe bursts in Wellington (paywalled)
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Calls to ban private helicopters after Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray’s flights approved
RNZ: Approving helipad build at Auckland home sets 'worrying precedent' - community group
Paddy Gower (Stuff): I liked the Bezos wedding and I don’t care about the Williams-Mowbray helipad - I just want more billionaires
RNZ: Auckland Council plan to use Takapuna Golf Course to prevent flooding risks 'hurts the game' - Ryan Fox
Sam Smith (RNZ): Auckland local board set to ban Run It Straight events from council facilities
Mary Afemata (Local Democracy Reporting): Fauono Ken Laban: first Pacific candidate for Lower Hutt mayoralty
RNZ: League veteran and councillor Ken Laban to run for Lower Hutt mayor
Tom Hunt (Post): From Wellington community centre to ‘safety hub’: What’s the difference? (paywalled)
Harriet Laughton (Post): Green MP wants to strip heritage status from colonial monuments (paywalled)
JUSTICE
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Prison populations are set to spike — but at what cost?
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): PM defends boot camps after teen appears in court, removed from scheme
Emily Ansell (Herald): Continued rise in legal self-representation adding to justice delay concerns
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): Opposition reacts to shoplifting crackdown as retailers celebrate overdue changes
RNZ: Instant fines, tougher sentences for shoplifters on the way
Katie Ham (Post): Government crackdown on shoplifters includes on-the-spot $1000 fines (paywalled)
EDUCATION
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): ACT Party tried to get Treaty of Waitangi clause removed from education legislation
Lillian Hanly (RNZ): How good have school lunches been in term two?
Katy Jones (Stuff): School 'devastated' funding axed for former refugee study programme
Cate Macintosh (Press): Fledgling French school in Christchurch's east urges parents to put prejudice aside (paywalled)
EMPLOYMENT
Ganesh R Ahirao: Unemployed, on the dole, or jobless?
Susan Hornsby-Geluk (Post): Law change risks tilting playing field against employees (paywalled)
Cathy Hendry (Post): The pay equity conversation can't end here (paywalled)
ECONOMY, COST OF LIVING, PERSONAL FINANCE
Amy Williams (RNZ): Foodbanks struggling with demand ahead of winter surge
Russell Palmer (RNZ): FamilyBoost changes expected to increase access to scheme
RNZ: Some Kiwis considering ditching insurance due to rising costs
Mandy Te (Interest): Insurance premiums increase 51% over three years, comparison website figures show
Jamie Gray (Herald): NZ economy struggles as firms report weak demand, cautious hiring
Luke Malpass (Post): The July interest rate cut that’s slipping away (paywalled)
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): Business confidence nixes July RBNZ cut, eyes turn to August (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Business survey could keep fading hopes for July rate cut on life support (paywalled)
Mandy Te (Interest): How accountants, bankers and public systems could be unknowingly facilitating economic abuse
HOUSING
Sharon Brettkelly (RNZ): The Detail: Kainga Ora cuts new developments as the housing crisis escalates
Arena Williams, Stuart Smith (Stuff): This isn’t leadership, it’s overreach
MEDIA, SOCIAL MEDIA
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Humans vs robots: Stuff winning early audience battle
Shane Currie (Herald): RNZ Morning Report faces shake-up - longtime executive editor Martin Gibson retires
David Harvey: Controlling the Narrative - Part 7
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): MP seeking under-16 ban on social media welcomes ‘broader’ inquiry (paywalled)
SPACE
RNZ: Permanent test flight space will make Canterbury global aerospace innovation leader - Minister for Space
Chris Keall (Herald): Canterbury unveils $1b aerospace plan with workforce and diversity goals (paywalled)
Fiona Rotherham (NBR): Kea Aerospace is targeting $15m to build larger aircraft (paywalled)
Greg Hurrell (BusinessDesk): Govt funds $5.6m for joint NZ-Nasa Earth observation projects (paywalled)
ENERGY
Jessica Walker (Consumer NZ): Why is the electricity market failing people?
Katie Todd (RNZ): Contact Energy seeks to dip deeper into Lake Hāwea
Jamie Gray (Herald): Transpower warns NZ needs more power generation amid gas decline
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Transpower sees ‘increasing urgency’ for more power generation (paywalled)
OTHER
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Electronic monitoring of asylum seekers and new rules for dawn raids being considered
Graham Adams (Centrist): Trans ‘No Debate’ policy collapses
Anna Whyte (Post): Whānau Ora ‘2.0’ launched with new commissioning agencies
Shanti Mathias (Spinoff): Why the TAB now has a monopoly on sports betting in New Zealand
Joseph Los’e (Herald): Time is ticking for Millie Elder-Holmes to pay her $5k fine for promoting online gambling
1News: Returning Kiwis urged to use digital declarations amid low uptake
Rob Stock (Sunday Star Times): ‘Discrepancies, contradictions, false claims’: Experts clash over Waikato waste-to-energy plant
Bryan Bruce: Social Investment or Social Responsibility?
Neil Sands (Law News): New public infrastructure bill unconstitutional, tramples on basic property rights, critics say
Damien Grant (Stuff): How an author and billionaire changed the lives of thousands of Kiwi kids
ODT Editorial: Fearing the next big rain (paywalled)
Nick James (RNZ): More support for flood-affected farmers and growers as Motueka residents pick up the pieces
Richard Phillips (World Socialists): Pike River movie undermined by glaring omissions
Indira Stewart (1News): Many NZ sex workers start as children: What's being done to stop it?
Alice Peacock (Newsroom): DoC and Treasury arm wrestle over visitor levy funds and ‘high-value’ investments
Any Williams (RNZ): Cyclone Gabrielle inquest: Council opposed red weather warning
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