Alex Braae 
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Defence Force outlines what they say are complex and emerging threats, cochlear implant funding effectively cut, and there’s a public service strike today. The Defence Force is warning about increasingly complex threats, including from Russia and China, in their strategic policy statement released on Friday. Newshub reports that both those … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Renewed call for a Māori seats referendum, Russel McVeagh report released, and the stoush between two leading NZers over a charity concert escalates. Acting PM Winston Peters has renewed and updated his call for a two part referendum on the Māori electorates. Radio NZ reports his comments made … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Huge interest in Kiwibuild houses as registrations open, Fonterra and Greenpeace find themselves on the same side of a dairy issue, and GCSB report comes out. Registrations of interest for the Kiwibuild ballot has boomed, after it was opened yesterday morning. As of the last figures being … Read more
The buyer eligibility rules for the government’s marquee house building programme have just been released. Do you qualify? Alex Braae has the skinny What’s all this then? Remember when the housing crisis became a real thing for the commentariat of New Zealand, because their sons and daughters were being priced out of the market? Well … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. And to all of our mates in the USA, happy Independence Day. In today’s edition: Teachers have voted to go on strike, Kiwibuild eligibility criteria out today, and former PM says not in my backyard to charity concert. Primary teachers have rejected a pay offer from the ministry of … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Probe into appointment of top cop who made Louise Nicholas comments, tolls considered for Transmission Gully, and nurses may be at odds with their union. There’s going to be an inquiry into how Wally Haumaha came to be appointed Deputy Police Commissioner, after an outcry over … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. It is now the second half of the year. In today’s edition: Families package comes into effect, but meanwhile, so does the regional fuel tax. Plus, the NZ Defence Force is waging war against political graffiti. From Sunday, the government’s Families Package took effect. Passed in the mini-Budget at the … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Battle rages over dumped health targets, Dairy NZ condemns milking shed cruelty, and a spotlight on an important NZ Herald series. A major story that has been bubbling away this week that hasn’t really been covered here is the government quietly ditching National’s health targets, that were … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government moves to address construction worker shortage, data on regressiveness of fuel tax released, and Sir John Key pops up as a lobbyist. It’s been a big 24 hours of news about the logistics of the Kiwibuild programme, in which the government intends to build 100,000 … Read more
The number of South African born cricketers contracted in New Zealand has now cracked the required number for a full team. So if they were put up against the Black Caps, who would win? The number of South African born sportspeople who have left their country to pursue their dreams continues to increase, and cricket … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: ASB data paints very different foreign buyer picture, fuel tax passes into law, and a battle is brewing on the West Coast over grazing rights on heritage land. ASB has come out with significantly higher rates of houses being bought by foreign owners, in a recently released … Read more
Needles may be scary. But do you know what’s worse? The flu. Alex Braae got over his fear and got the flu shot, for the greater good. I haven’t had a flu vaccination in a couple of years. In that time I’ve also had the flu a couple of times. When I let this slip … Read more
It’s a bold claim from Simon Bridges, but has his office pulled a bit of a swifty on the numbers? Alex Braae checks the maths. Here’s the claim: National Party leader Simon Bridges says in the nine months of the Labour government, there has been more industrial action than under nine years of the National … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Phil Twyford talks up prefab housing industry, massive alleged money laundering scheme uncovered, and all the latest in strike news. Housing minister Phil Twyford is looking to prefab housing to make the Kiwibuild plan possible. Under the Kiwibuild plan, Labour has promised 100,000 homes over ten years. … Read more
NZME journalist Georgina Campbell has created a new podcast about the #metoo movement. She speaks to Alex Braae about how media coverage of sexual harassment and abuse has changed in the months since the Weinstein stories broke In the first episode of Speaking Secrets, a new podcast series about the Me Too movement, journalist Georgina … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Gang violence decreasing across the country, government ends public servant cap, and the country’s largest private education provider could be about to sell up. Gang violence is decreasing across the country, in some areas dramatically, according to new figures released to Newshub. Incidents of gang related violence are … Read more
You’re probably using the term clickbait wrongly, explains Alex Braae. A shocking abuse of language is taking place in media every day, and experts are completely lost on how to deal with it. One word has been so brutally abused, overused and mangled that it is now completely unrecognisable. Do you know this word? Click … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Attempt to get foreign buyers ban exemption ruled out, Auckland Council needs volunteers for homeless census, and PM Jacinda Ardern becomes a mother. Speaker Trevor Mallard has intervened on procedural grounds to prevent an exemption to the foreign buyers ban for a single luxury property development, … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Winston Peters is now officially acting PM, minister signals big policy shift for kids in state care, and David Seymour wants to abolish some public holidays. In breaking news, PM Jacinda Ardern has gone to hospital to deliver her first child. Deputy PM Winston Peters is … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: SIS connection to spy firm Thompson and Clark probed, effect of capital gains tax debated, and yet another small town bank closing down. The SIS is internally investigating concerns around bias towards security firm Thompson and Clark, reports Radio NZ. The concerns relate to emails, uncovered under … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Workers prepare to walk off the job, Nicky Hager gives his account of police harassment, and a march in Tauranga against the proposed begging ban. A wave of strikes are set to hit the public sector, while private sector workers are also taking action. The latest on … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Pike River case could be reopened, public service workers to vote on strike action, and police accused of behaving like a private security force. Police could reopening the Pike River mine case, and criminal charges may follow, reports Newshub. The government’s top investigator has been in Greymouth, … Read more
A scrap with Facebook over a copycat Stuff page reveals how fine the line is between combating fake news and straight up censorship. Fans of the meme page NZ Stuffed would have probably noticed over this week that the content had vanished from their Facebook feeds. Why? It had been shut down by Facebook, at … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Green Party members furious at ministerial decision, China’s rubbish ban starts to bite, and what was really in that letter signed by Auckland councillors? Green Party members are outraged at a ministerial decision to allow a Chinese water bottling and exporting company to expand, reports Stuff. The … Read more
In today’s Cheat Sheet, what exactly turns a prison into a mega-prison? And how do the just-announced plans for Waikeria Prison fit in? What’s all this then? Plans have finally been released for what’s going to happen at Waikeria Prison, the lockup near Ōtorohanga in the middle of the North Island. Under the previous government’s … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government will unveil plans for Waikeria Prison, Nicky Hager vindicated after unlawful police raid, and Auckland councillors getting restless about Goff. The government’s new plans for Waikeria Prison are set to finally be revealed today,reports Radio NZ. There has been endless back and forth on this since … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Winston Peters makes moves ahead of top job tenure, Afghanistan deployment extended, and Christchurch mulls AirBnb rates. It could be days, it could be weeks, but regardless, NZ First leader Winston Peters is about to take on the role of acting Prime Minister. And he appears to … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Donald Trump behaves like Donald Trump overseas, National wins Northcote by-election, and PM Ardern reassures nation about imminent reign of Lord Winston of Whananaki. It’s been a massive weekend of news for international politics, centred around the US President Donald Trump. The photo above of Trump … Read more
They might have rebranded, they want us to know they’ve changed. And yet the party now known as New Conservative say they have the same values as when they were just the Conservatives. Is there any chance they’ll be taken seriously? The most important thing to get across about the New Conservative Party is that … Read more