Alex Braae 
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Two deaths have now taken place in the renewed outbreak of Covid-19, Plan B group criticised for misleading scientist quotes, and new numbers show many taking up a benefit. After no Covid-related deaths in months, two have taken place in quick succession in Auckland. They were … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Family support looms as election policy battleground, warm winter heralds climate change fears, and warnings of insolvency cliff looming for government supported businesses. National has launched a policy package around support for new parents, reports Stuff. The headline announcement in it is a package of $3000 to … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Alert level one still a long way away, parliament once again closes for the term, and thousands of primary health workers to strike today. Alert level one could still be a long way away, according to the country’s top health official. Dr Ashley Bloomfield fronted the … Read more
It’s one of the most remarkable political documentaries ever made, and it was produced with a single camera and next to no budget. More than two decades on, it was a key reference point for the Spinoff series Youth Wings. The Spinoff speaks to director Tony Sutorius about the legacy and message of Campaign, and … Read more
Former Auckland mayoral candidate John Palino has joined a fledgling party in a bid to make it into parliament, 13,000 km away from his current home, reports Alex Braae. Former Auckland restaurateur and mayoral candidate John Palino is mounting a bid for parliament this year, from the unlikely campaign base of the US state of … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Green school controversy drags on for James Shaw, head of volunteer firefighters association being investigated, and wharfies speak out after worker death. I’ll be honest, I really thought this story would be basically wrapped up by the weekend. And yet somehow it’s Wednesday, and it’s still … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Reports show diverging outcomes from Covid-relief benefit, Aucklanders head off at end of lockdown, and police quietly setting up facial recognition system. We’re starting to see a wide divergence in outcomes from the Covid-19 Income Relief Payment benefit, introduced at the start of the pandemic. At … Read more
Over most of last week, the NZX had to pause because of persistent cyber attacks. Similar attacks have today been reported against news websites. So how did they come through basically unscathed? The NZX stock exchange is a critical piece of financial infrastructure, yet persistent cyber attacks have caused website crashes that led to trading … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Auckland drops down to alert level two, poor government communications create huge queues for testing, and eyebrows raised at US ambassador dodging quarantine facilities. Ready or not, the country’s largest city is as of this morning at alert level two. It’s fair enough to ask whether … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Christchurch mosque shooter sentenced to life without parole, hundreds of millions set aside for Covid-19 vaccine, and the diverging inequalities of the economic recovery. The Christchurch mosque shooter will never leave prison for the rest of his natural life. Yesterday afternoon, a sentence of life without … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Mixed messages on freshwater regulations, Christchurch gunman won’t address court, and an important story about what happens after a positive Covid-19 test. National leader Judith Collins has told a Facebook live chat that the government’s freshwater regulations will be “gone by lunchtime” if National wins. As Stuff’s Henry … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Changes rippling through architecture of local government, ‘yellow flag’ case causes concern about Auckland outbreak, and health select committee to reconvene. To lead us off today, a roundup of a few stories taking place at local government level. It keeps going while the rest of the … Read more
The political party has accused the Policy election information website of inaccurately presenting its views to the voting public. The New Conservative party has accused election-information website Policy of misrepresenting its views. In social media videos and posts published over the weekend, the party attacked Policy.nz, saying it showed bias in the way it presented … Read more
The president of the Howick-Pakuranga branch of Grey Power has sent out a newsletter packed full of conspiracy theories about Covid-19, accusing the government of ‘brainwashing’ and trying to create a ‘potential medical/police state’. Alex Braae reports. In the “President’s Page” column of the latest newsletter from the Howick-Pakuranga branch of Grey Power, president Peter … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Alert levels extended until next Monday with new rules put in, managed isolation worker still hasn’t got test results, and Peters has new connection with Bad Boy of Brexit. The current alert levels will remain for another week at least, and even after that, things … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Sentencing begins today for Christchurch mosque shooter, cabinet to decide on alert level moves, and polling shows public still largely behind government Covid response. Sentencing will begin today for the perpetrator of the terrorist attack committed on March 15 at two Christchurch mosques last year. In … Read more
The people behind a widely shared quiz on the End of Life Choice referendum say they’re presenting the facts, but the leading advocate of law reform says it’s misinformation. An online quiz related to the assisted dying referendum has been described as a “very clever piece of misinformation” by the End of Life Choice Act’s … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National firmly commits to elimination strategy with new border policy, Greens call for doubling of sick leave entitlements, and Indian migrant exploitation in focus. We’ve had a glut of border policies announced in recent days, as parties look to explain what they’d do differently in … Read more
As much of the world is brought to its knees by Covid-19, tens of thousands of New Zealanders are coming home. Alex Braae investigates what it could mean for the country. At this stage, all we really have is raw numbers. We don’t know exactly who the returning New Zealanders are, or what skills they’re … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government under real pressure over testing system, thousands currently behind on mortgages, and a remarkable interview about that vile managed isolation rumour. The question of testing dominated exchanges in parliament yesterday, with the government under pressure to account for the managed isolation systems. As the NZ Herald reports, … Read more
A new Christian party is touring the country, vowing to reshape politics in the image of their interpretation of Christianity. Alex Braae went to Marton to find out what the One Party had to say. “Maranga mai!” called One Party leader Stephanie Harawira to the congregation in front of her. “It’s time.” There is always … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Reaction to the election delay, questions continue over the information given over testing, and Watercare CEO resigns amid drought. As you’ve no doubt heard by now, the election will be delayed by four weeks. Here’s a report on that from Justin Giovannetti, who writes that it follows consultation … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Questions over testing of border workers, decision on delaying election to be made today, and concerns for educational progress with new lockdown. The first point to note about managed isolation facilities – we don’t necessarily know that was where this latest outbreak came from. Alternative theories … Read more
When the National Party talks about renewal, their East Coast candidate Tania Tapsell (Te Arawa) is a potent symbol. Alex Braae went to Whakatāne to find out what drives her to push so hard for political success. She was the youngest person in the room by far. Admittedly, that room was the Whakatāne Bridge Club … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Timeline for decision on alert levels released, updates on new cases and testing, and a failure of testing at the border has potentially severe consequences. Right now, we don’t know what the situation around alert levels will be at the end of the day. There was … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins calls for a delay in the election, an update on community transmission and testing, and businesses fearing the fallout of another lockdown. At this stage, the election is still scheduled to take place on September 19. But with the country’s largest city currently in level … Read more
The health workers and contact tracers are out on the front lines, but in the backrooms teams of mathematicians are running scenarios to figure out exactly what needs to be done, and how bad things could get. In big picture terms, fighting a pandemic is a numbers game, but with real world consequences. To succeed, … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Resurgence plan triggered by Covid-19 community transmission, questions about what it will mean for the election, and Christchurch rest home lockdown appears to be unrelated. The first new cases of Covid-19 outside of managed isolation have been announced, triggering a resurgence plan from the government. There … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Concern from the Cook Islands over travel bubble, inquiry clears Iain Lees-Galloway of any spending impropriety, and Oranga Tamariki facing further damaging report findings. A draft agreement on a travel bubble with the Cook Islands is close to being finalised, the PM revealed yesterday. Stuff reports it … Read more