Irony alert: International researchers declare NZ’s Covid-19 response best in the world

In a massively ironic piece of timing, international research group The Economist Intelligence Unit declared the New Zealand’s government response to Covid-19 the best in the OECD on the same day that massive health ministry failings were revealed. The Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked 21 countries throughout the OECD on how well they’ve responded to … Read more

The Bulletin: An avalanche of incompetence in quarantine system

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Repeated blunders shake faith in quarantine system, report finds ministry was unprepared on PPE, and trade negotiations with Britain begin.  New measures will be taken around the border quarantine system after a series of idiotic failings. Our live blog has the details, including the news that the health … Read more

The Bulletin: Two new Covid-19 cases, serious questions about border

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Failings around Covid-positive visitors who were allowed to travel, massive new report on health reform unveiled, and police executive redesign proposed. There are two new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand, breaking a long streak of zero days. Our live updates page from yesterday has the details of … Read more

End to DHB elections, new agencies proposed in major health system review

The Simpson report into the health and disability sector has finally been released, proposing major changes to the way the health system is organised and governed. Alex Braae reports on the most important bits. What’s all this then? About two years ago, Heather Simpson was tasked with leading a massive review into the health and … Read more

The Bulletin: Fast-tracked projects aimed at job-creation announced

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: List of infrastructure projects for fast-tracking announced, Labour releases list for election, and concerns raised about police firearms vetting process. Get your shovels out – 11 projects have been announced to start imminently after being included in an infrastructure fast-tracking bill. As Stuff reports, the inclusion is aimed … Read more

The Bulletin: Muller makes his pitch for the middle

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Todd Muller makes pitch for the middle, further BLM protests take place, and two pieces to illustrate the importance of science in public life. The opposition leader gets precious few chances to try and define themselves in the public eye, and Todd Muller has had … Read more

The Bulletin: A dozen stories to wrap the week

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Review finds rest home with Covid outbreak breached care obligations, Coster clarifies rubber bullet comments, and Otago University forecasts heavy losses. Something slightly different today: Rather than a lead story with lots of detail, today’s Bulletin will be about rounding up a whole lot of news … Read more

The Bulletin: Billions needed to fix hospital infrastructure

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Billions needed to fix poor state of hospital infrastructure, colonial era statues in the spotlight, and major problems emerge in modem rollout to students. Dozens of hospital buildings are in a poor condition, a new stocktake has found.Radio NZ’s Phil Pennington has a detailed report on … Read more

The Bulletin: How Australia sees the trans-Tasman bubble

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: How Australia sees the trans-Tasman bubble, police Armed Response Teams scrapped for good, and cheese in the spotlight in Europe trade stoush. Today’s main story comes from a reader suggestion, who had spotted a gap in news coverage. Dan wrote in to ask how Australia was … Read more

Minor parties furious at low allocation for TV and radio campaigning

Five minor parties have joined forces to challenge the big two parties – and the Electoral Commission – about their low allocation of public funding for election broadcasts. Alex Braae reports. A coalition of minor parties has emerged to challenge the allocation of public funding for election broadcasts, the majority of which has been locked … Read more

The Bulletin: Level one, zero cases. Now what?

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: What comes next after level one move, trade minister takes aim at Europe over deal offer, and harsh report into Oranga Tamariki released. Good morning, and welcome to the strange sense of unbridled freedom that you might have woken up with. The announcement that we would … Read more

NZ gyms cut ties with CrossFit over founder’s George Floyd comments

An Auckland gym has joined a growing rush of CrossFit branded gyms to cut ties with the international fitness brand, over comments from the founder about the killing of George Floyd in the US. Alex Braae reports. The world of CrossFit is being shaken by comments from founder Greg Glassman connecting Covid-19 to the death … Read more

The Bulletin: Can Shane Jones reclaim Northland and save his party?

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Shane Jones confirms run in the crucial seat of Northland, Kiwifruit sales soar amid global pandemic, and questions on colonial monuments erupt around the world. The course of politics over the last five years was arguably set during the tumultuous Northland by-election of 2015. After the … Read more

While central government spends up large, councils face an age of austerity

Amid the economic downturn caused by Covid-19, local government is under serious financial pressure. Alex Braae reports.  During his speech to announce the 2020 budget, finance minister Grant Robertson made it clear that there would be no return to the politics of austerity.  Central government would borrow huge sums, blowing out debt levels. The massive … Read more

The Bulletin: Winners and losers from sport’s spending spree

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Millions of dollars divvied up by Sport NZ, MSD’s problem with wrongly denied payments grows, and internal coalition battles emerge in time for election. It’s Friday, and there hasn’t been a lot of it recently, so we’re going to start with sport today. Don’t worry, it’s … Read more

Should we get more than five days’ sick leave a year?

The union movement launched a push earlier this week to double the legal minimum of sick leave from five days a year to 10. Is a change likely? What’s all this then? In light of the recent global pandemic putting the focus on health in the workplace, unions have called for changes to how much … Read more

The Bulletin: Normality beckons at level one

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Decision coming soon on move to level one, housing market in a weird place, and manslaughter charges laid against officers after custody death.  As has been the way with these moves, we got an announcement of what the new alert level will be like, before … Read more

The Bulletin: Apprenticeships to be free, skills shortages targeted

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Significant new support announced for trainees and apprenticeships, more level one detail coming, and long-delayed changes made to ETS. Significant new support has been announced for trainees and apprentices, with thousands of dollars worth of costs being removed for each student. The funding, announced yesterday by education minister … Read more

Trump just threatened to deploy the US military against Americans. Is he serious?

The US president has warned he could to send thousands of ‘heavily armed soldiers’ into the streets. Can he do that, and what will it mean if it happens? What’s all this then?  Protests have been raging across the US for almost a week now, after the suffocation of Minneapolis man George Floyd by a … Read more

The Bulletin: US police violence and New Zealand protests

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Thousands of NZers join solidarity protests, increasing questions about alert level move, and Muller pushes hiring bonus policy. Protests have taken place in New Zealand cities in solidarity with the Black Lives matter movement in the US. All up thousands of people attended the various events, … Read more

Here’s how much public money each party will get for the election

National and Labour have once again dominated the Electoral Commission’s broadcast allocation, reports The Spinoff’s minor party correspondent Alex Braae. The pot of money for political parties to spend on election advertising on radio, television and the internet has been divvied up for 2020, with Labour and National securing more than a million dollars each … Read more

The Bulletin: Farmers fairly comfortable, ecologists angered by freshwater rules

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Mixed views on freshwater rules, pay equity settlement for teacher aides, and concerns raised about new internet filtering proposal. The final form of a major package of freshwater reforms was announced yesterday, and it was notable how little anger came from certain quarters. Throughout this process, … Read more

Te Mana O te Wai: What’s in the government’s new freshwater cleanup package?

The government has just announced a whole lot of new rules and policies for freshwater with the aim of urgently stopping degradation and cleaning up rivers over the long term. What’s all this then?  A massive package of work on freshwater quality has just been announced in an attempt to halt further damage and start … Read more

The Bulletin: The sad farce of Kiwibuild is back

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Kiwibuild buyers left facing years of delays, calls for relaxation of alert levels and travel, and new details emerge in NZ First Foundation saga. Despite a reset of the policy last year, Kiwibuild is still proving to be problematic. A disastrous new story has emerged from One … Read more

The Bulletin: Political divisions rage as election looms

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Political divisions rage as election looms, economic forecasts considered too optimistic, and travel routes start to move again. They had all been doing so well at getting along, but that’s all over now. A cross-party consensus is emerging that it’s time to get back to the … Read more

Sold for a buck: Why Stuff and other huge businesses change hands for $1

When Stuff’s parent company Nine sold up in a management buyout, the sale price for the whole business was $1. So what does it actually mean when businesses are sold for a buck? When local media giant Stuff was sold earlier this week to CEO Sinead Boucher, one of the biggest talking points was the … Read more

The Bulletin: Criticism over new ‘two-tier’ welfare payments

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Criticism over new ‘two-tier’ welfare payments, National announces reshuffle, and a day of differing fortunes in the media world. The government has announced a brand new income support scheme for those who have lost work – but in many ways, it immediately became notable more … Read more