Over the weekend, horrific false news about a teenage girl being “euthanised” due to mental illness was reported all around the world. The truth was almost as uncomfortable: a teenage girl dying by suicide from the impact of sexual abuse and assault. Emily Writes discusses the conversation we must have. Content warning: This post discusses … Read more
Times have changed, writes veteran sports journalist Trevor McKewen, and so should rugby. Steve Tew was a man for the ages in rugby. But that age is over. Tew’s quarter century of rugby administration is marked by strong success by the All Blacks. When it came to the shop window, he was the perfect administrator … Read more
A free, well organised event in Auckland is something to cherish. When it falls on a long weekend? All the more reason to spend a few of those extra hours among people far more talented than you. Alice Webb-Liddall went to Chromacon to browse the art and check out some of New Zealand’s hottest portrait … Read more
A ‘wake-up call’ has been issued to businesses and the health and safety sector. A system that puts the onus on victims to come forward and face an intimidating complaints process needs a fundamental overhaul After decades of preventable workplace accidents and deaths caused largely by the nation’s ‘she’ll be right’ attitude, New Zealand’s health … Read more
It’s Queen’s Birthday Monday, but it’s not the Queen’s birthday. Josie Adams explains her personal vendetta against this holiday and the monarchy in general. Queen’s Birthday celebrations will be held today, at Queen’s Wharf. This is not Queen Elizabeth II’s real birthday, nor do I believe she’s ever set foot on an Auckland wharf. However, … Read more
Christchurch resident Sara Green* reflects on what it was like growing up Jewish in New Zealand, and what it means to be an ethnic minority today. My initial intent with this essay was to give a personal perspective of how it felt to belong to an ethnic minority in New Zealand. Then the world as … Read more
Why would anyone go to a men’s summit, in an age of online self help videos and feminism, let alone bother to host one? Critic sent a reporter to find out by spending a day with Dunedin’s Men’s Rights Activists. Update, 10 June 2019: Hans Laven, the clinical psychologist who appears in this story, has … Read more
Hannah McGowan, who has lived on a benefit for most of the past 20 years, responds to the news that WINZ has been accessing the private communications of beneficiaries. Last month I outlined my situation as a welfare recipient and the ongoing effects of WINZ policies on my working and personal life. Essentially, if I … Read more
The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by Toby Morris, supported by NZ On Air. Read more comics here.
The Auckland Harbour Bridge turns 60 today. Don Rowe revisits some of its finest moments to celebrate. Sixty years ago today, then-governor general Lord Cobham was chauffeured into the Northcote Toll Plaza, walked past a Navy guard of honour in his big bowler hat, and officially opened the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Aucklanders lined the streets … Read more
What makes a piece of art ‘Indian’? What makes it ‘English’? Aarti Bajaj, director of new theatre production Meera, unravels our prejudices around art and what makes people put art into boxes. Every time I hear someone mention that our show Meera is an ‘Indian thing’, or just for an Indian audience, I have to ask: when they … Read more
The Minimum Wage Exemption scheme, has allowed New Zealand businesses to legally pay workers with a disability as little as 80 cents an hour for years. Amanda Thompson explains why change is well overdue. When I was a kid I came to my mum one day with a burning sense of injustice. I had seen … Read more
The government’s response to the mental health inquiry accepted 38 of its 40 recommendations – but opted against the introduction of a suicide reduction target. There’s a good reason for that, writes Kyle MacDonald. Does the idea of losing 534 people to suicide in New Zealand feel better than losing 668? Does it feel like success to … Read more
Yesterday the government announced it would take up almost all the recommendations of the Mental Health Inquiry. But where were the voices of those with lived experience of the mental health system? Here Scout, Emma and Lisa* fill the void. As young people from Dunedin with mental illness diagnoses on the more… complicated side, it’s … Read more
People are dying in a waiting line at the top of the world and that’s about typical of how we treat the last of our sacred spaces, writes Don Rowe. There are eleven more bodies on Everest – nine this month – and doesn’t that seem fitting? “For many people [climbing Everest] is a dream … Read more
Perceptions of Christianity in New Zealand get shaped by the most extreme voices. So who else could the media go to for comment? Quick, name the most prominent New Zealander you can think of who is a Christian. Chances are if you follow the news at all, that the first name that comes to mind … Read more
Because yet another layer of bureaucracy is just what education needs right now. Yeah right, says Jai Breitnauer. Whenever the issue of teacher pay comes up – which is quite a lot at the moment as New Zealand prepares for Wednesday’s massive strike action – there is always someone who says, ‘what about performance related … Read more
Ten million dollars worth of stock in a medicinal cannabis company goes on sale today as Cannasouth aims to be the first company of its kind to list on the NZX. But should you buy in? Don Rowe talks to Simplicity managing director Sam Stubbs. The country’s first medicinal cannabis initial public offering (IPO) launches … Read more
If you’re gay in the LGBT world, you’re part of the gang. If you’re straight, you’re on the outside. But where do those in between sit? A year ago I was planning my wedding. My fiancé and I had just celebrated our four year anniversary with an engagement party. To everyone who knew me, I … Read more
Organiser Hayley Coles explains why the time is right to launch New Zealand’s first union for legal workers. In 2018, Aotearoa’s legal profession received a wake-up call. The media broke stories of sexual harassment, bullying and other injustices throughout the profession. It was a call for change and it was long overdue. These problems have … Read more
Men need to put aside their discomfort and support New Zealand women in the wake of Alabama’s abortion ban, writes Zoe Deans. Kiwi bloke stoicism hasn’t really equipped anyone to deal with outpourings of pain. And right now, it’s all around. Your friends, your wife, your workmates, your sister – we’re shocked, scared, furious, hurt … Read more
David Farrier dives deep into the Hotel Bed Jumping Community on Instagram and is quickly told: ‘Should you pursue with your article and publish it we will be taking action’. He chose to pursue the article. I’m a big fan of Instagram, and an even bigger fan of what Instagram influencers are getting up to. And recently … Read more
A play teaching teens about consent and sexual harassment opens in Wellington this week, followed by Auckland next month. Co-creator Karin McCracken talks about why the show was necessary, and the generationally unique struggles kids face today. The current model of health education in New Zealand allows parents to opt their kids out of sex … Read more
Yesterday, Destiny Church rebranded their political arm as The Coalition Party, and Tim Batt bought their domains before anybody else could. He writes on the value of online trolling as political protest. Brian Tamaki is the burned soft tissue on the roof of New Zealand’s mouth. If we could only bring ourselves to completely ignore … Read more
This year’s International Comedy Festival was a roaring success, but some comedians have turned the spotlight on audiences. Are they too timid? Do our hecklers suck? Josie Adams sizes things up. When Netflix star James Acaster closed his last show of the Auckland International Comedy Festival, he ended with a confession: “This is only the … Read more
New Zealand’s binge drinking culture is notoriously bad, but could change be on the horizon for this little country of boozers? Booze, booze, everywhere, but what does it mean to drink? Alcohol consumption around the world is awash with stereotypes. In France, we might imagine, it’s allowing your stylish young child a glass of wine … Read more
Oppose the gender pay gap? You should be appalled by the wage exemption for disabled workers too, argues Michael Pulman. Disabled people, and others in marginalised communities, have long been exploited for cheap, even free labour. According to a NZ Herald report, a woman who is blind is being paid a grand total of $2.30 … Read more
If you’re put off by the concept of protests, you’re not alone. Josh Drummond explains why you should bite the bullet and go along to today’s climate protests anyway. Argh, protests! They make me cringe. Here’s the big secret: protests make nearly everyone cringe. Most people feel a bit goofy going along to a protest, especially … Read more
Alex Casey talks to the woman behind @trademebae, the Instagram account archiving the most bizarre items that Trade Me has to offer. Every detail is somehow funnier than the last. “Sex noveltys” the listing reads. $1 reserve. Condition: Used. Description: As is. Pick-up: Invercargill. Pictured: dildos, vibrators, a butt plug and various other “noveltys”, opaque … Read more