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

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

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

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

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

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

The Bulletin: After winning brutal coup, Muller’s National looks ahead

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Muller settles into National leadership after brutal coup, government issues concern over Hong Kong, and parties reveal election candidates. National has rolled the dice on changing their leader several months out from an election. Our political editor Justin Giovannetti arrived in Wellington just in time to see it … Read more

The Bulletin: High noon showdown for National

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Showdown today for the leadership of National, climate change commissioner lashes budget failings, and Fonterra picks up earnings amid uncertainty. It’s all going down in the National caucus today, and we’ll see later on who will emerge victorious. The party again suffered a very poor polling … Read more

The Bulletin: Who has the numbers in National?

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Coup definitely on in the National party, government has had enough of the Epidemic Response Committee, and two worryingly large sets of job losses indicated. The coup attempt is definitely on in the National party, and it’s going to happen fast. The NZ Herald reports a challenge has … Read more

The Bulletin: Bridges on the brink

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Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Rumblings grow of a coup against Bridges, police dogs being set on people in mental distress, and government’s contact tracing app ready early. The long-threatened coup attempt at National leader Simon Bridges seems to be finally here. Many times over his tenure there have been murmurings … Read more

The Bulletin: A poll that means nothing and everything

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Dramatic swing to Labour in latest poll, funding package to incentivise ECE teachers to get qualified, and diplomatic ground shifts at World Health Organisation. The first public poll that takes in the period of lockdown has been released, and it has some dramatic top line … Read more

The Bulletin: Religious groups struggle with level two limits

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Religious groups struggle with level two limits, many more kids going back to school today, and further cellphone tower attacks over the weekend. Another weekend has passed with strict attendance restrictions on religious gatherings, despite the country moving into level two. The vast majority of worship … Read more

The Bulletin: Wrapping Robertson’s rainy day budget

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: How the budget has been received, Auckland light rail on hold, and more media merger shenanigans. So that’s what it looks like when Grant Robertson decides to open the purse strings. The relatively cautious spending of his previous budgets has been replaced by an absolute … Read more

The Bulletin: A day of concern about police overreach

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: A day of concern about police overreach, budget to be announced today, and rules on tangi changed after pressure. Plenty of concerns have been raised about the powers that police will hold under enabling legislation for alert level two. The bill to make level two possible … Read more

The Bulletin: What kind of budget will we get?

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Previewing the budget we’ll get tomorrow, tangihanga rules further clarified, and Peters doesn’t believe Taiwan war of words will harm China relationship. We’re increasingly getting a sense of the sort of budget Grant Robertson will deliver tomorrow. The country is facing an economic downturn which could … Read more

The Bulletin: Clarifying the rules of level two

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: level two is coming but some of the rules have changed, Work and Income could be facing class action suit, and China issues strong warning to NZ over Taiwan. So we got the announcement yesterday – we will be moving to alert level two this … Read more

The Bulletin: Why does the Friday afternoon document dump matter?

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Mass of documents dumped by government on Friday afternoon, pre-Budget announcements start rolling out, and Work and Income accused of not following the law. On Friday afternoon, at the moment of the week the longest possible time away from the next scheduled press conference, the … Read more

The Bulletin: Peters throws NZ into battle between China and Taiwan

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Peters throws New Zealand into the fray over Taiwan’s WHO inclusion, more detail emerges on legality of lockdown, and a potentially major decision for the courier industry. The government wouldn’t frame it in such a way, but they’ve made several recent moves which indicate they’re … Read more

The Bulletin: Questions swirling about legality of lockdown 

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Questions swirling about legality of lockdown, Microsoft moves towards much bigger presence in NZ, and Transmission Gully in turmoil. On one level, it’s quite a bizarre question – was it legal for the whole country to be ordered to go into lockdown? The question feels strange … Read more

The Bulletin: Disconnect between unemployment and rural worker needs

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Challenges loom in matching unemployed with rural jobs, trans-Tasman travel bubble agreed in principle, and Greens push for urgent Fair Pay Agreements. It is increasingly becoming clear that one of the country’s biggest economic challenges over the rest of the year will be matching people … Read more

The Bulletin: The prospect of a trans-Tasman travel bubble

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Ardern to zoom in to Australian cabinet meeting today, concerning situation arises at Waitākere Hospital, and a Zero Day finally achieved. Jacinda Ardern will make a rare appearance by a New Zealand PM at the Australian government’s cabinet meeting this morning. It’s a big moment as … Read more

The Bulletin: RMA changes please opposition, worry Greens

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government unveils fast-tracking of RMA for infrastructure, shape of cannabis law reform announced, and Fish and Game in disarray. In what seems like one of the most unlikely headlines of the year, the government has made RMA changes that are broadly palatable to the other … Read more

How an army of students is helping to feed vulnerable New Zealanders

Delivery services for supermarkets across the country are filling up weeks in advance, leaving immunocompromised people without options. Students up and down the country have been stepping up, through the Student Volunteer Army, to help those in need. If anyone had said at this point last year that a smile from a stranger passing on … Read more

The Bulletin: Queenstown crushed by Covid-19, recovery deeply uncertain

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Economic collapse of Queenstown looms, trade minister warns of over-reliance on China, and a must-read new edition of The Side-Eye. For a lead today, we’re going to focus on a part of the country that could end up wearing the Covid-19 downturn hardest. Before this, Queenstown … Read more

The Bulletin: Peters pushes his way back into the spotlight

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Peters captures political initiative with pair of speeches, future shape of unemployment in the spotlight, and second set of anti-semitic tagging at Auckland maunga. Over each of the last two years, PM Jacinda Ardern has been at the centre of coverage of an epoch-defining news … Read more

The Bulletin: How Covid-19 has affected the Pacific

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Spotlight on the Pacific and Covid-19, health minister in yet another spot of bother, and schools reopening to very limited numbers. For a lead today, I thought it would be useful to check in on our nation’s neighbours in the Pacific, and how they are … Read more

The Bulletin: Risks and rewards of moving to level three

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: What it means now that we’re at level three, contact tracing app on the way, and Vic students in halls protest resumption of fees. Well, we made it. The first – and hopefully only – stint of level four restrictions has come to an end, and … Read more