Kate Newton 
A handful of polling stations throughout New Zealand have an uncanny ability with picking general election winners. RNZ’s Kate Newton visits Birkdale on Auckland’s North Shore to meet the voters at one such bellwether. For the inside running on who might win the 2020 election, forget the polls. Instead, consider Birkenhead Baptist Church. Not for … Read more
Tonight New Zealand marks the halfway point of alert level four. Assuming, that is, it ends on schedule. What will determine the decision to lift the strictest restrictions, and what comes next? Kate Newton of RNZ asks the experts. Covid-19 researchers in New Zealand are optimistic that the level four restrictions could be lifted in … Read more
Why do so many dogs in New Zealand end up with the same name? And is there anything that explains the remarkable continued popularity of big bounding labradors? Radio NZ’s Kate Newton investigates. Our dogs are diversifying as rapidly as we are, and greyhounds, schnauzers and shih tzus are all on the rise. But clinging … Read more
Seven years on from his arrest, the extradition battle between Kim Dotcom and the United States reached New Zealand’s Supreme Court this week. RNZ‘s Kate Newton went to court to find out whether anyone seems to be winning. Ron Mansfield – bearded and bespectacled – stood at a blond wooden lectern in the centre of … Read more
Lightning strikes about 190,000 times a year in New Zealand – one strike every 167 seconds, on average. So what does it feel like to get hit? Kate Newton reports for RNZ. Tucked under a large bush on a rainwashed coastal hillside, Martin Williams was watching the sky above Sponge Bay get darker and darker. … Read more
Those who got a foot on Auckland’s property ladder in the nick of time have reaped the benefits since 2008. But has anything improved for the growing number of long-term renters? Kate Newton reports, as part of RNZ’s series Is this the Brighter Future?, which examines the government’s record since 2008. Gareth Shute remembers the … Read more