Russell Brown goes off the grid on Great Barrier Island to see out what it takes to get the local community online and connected. In the lead-up to Christmas on Aotea Great Barrier Island, locals were bracing for the deluge. Every holiday season, the island’s permanent population of around 900 multiplies and this summer, with … Read more
Today’s official unveiling of the tunnel boring machine (TBM), named after one of New Zealand’s most iconic civil rights leaders, wasn’t just for ceremonial purposes, but a sign of the genuine relationship City Rail Link (CRL) wants to forge with Māori. It would be easy to become bogged down by the plethora of “boring” puns … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Tauranga’s “combative” mayor on ropes after texts revealed, former firefighters reveal multiple sexual assault and harassment complaints, and new report details serious climate risks to NZ. Tauranga’s mayor is embroiled in some chaotic infighting around the Council table, and it could get uglier now that … Read more
A comprehensive proposed shake-up of the Resource Management Act has gained support from the business community and multiple parties. Pattrick Smellie of BusinessDesk reports on what it might involve. After 29 years of argument and increasing complexity, the Resource Management Act needs to be split in two and the overlapping patchwork of competing of regional … Read more
In the 90s, the so-called information superhighway was more of a dirt road. Now it’s a multi-lane motorway. Vodafone NZ’s Sharina Nisha explains the technology that makes it all possible. They used to call it the information superhighway. Back in the heady days of the 1990s, the term was used to describe the burgeoning potential … Read more
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
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
This is a huge opportunity – and a wero – to demonstrate commitments to diversity, write sector engineers Troy Brockbank, Elle Archer, Sifa Pole and Sina Cotter Tait and Honor Columbus. Aotearoa is awash with discussion on how we might re-imagine our post-Covid future; what could and should our economy and society look like? The … Read more
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 ‘spend local’ mantra should apply to our biggest infrastructure projects too. Yet trade and investment agreements curb the government’s freedom to use procurement for a range of economic and social objectives, argues Jane Kelsey. The government has a limited number of ways to kick-start the economy in the wake of a crisis like Covid-19. … Read more
The new fast-track process for major projects will need careful drafting to balance the short-term gains with the long-term effects on climate change, writes planning expert Hamish Rennie. David Parker has announced that some large, “shovel-ready” projects will begin sooner than planned, bypassing public consultation processes under the Resource Management Act. The aim is to … Read more
Technology has helped Māori assert a strong, independent response to help stop the spread of Covid-19, but the crisis also exposes telecommunications vulnerabilities. The 1918 influenza epidemic hit Māori hard. Around 2,500 died in under two months at a rate of 50 per 1,000 people – eight times that of Europeans. So, when Covid-19 arrived, … Read more
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
After lockdown, we will need to take a hard look at how we rebuild. ‘Infrastructure’ means a lot more than motorways, writes Dame Anne Salmond. In the wake of Covid-19, as New Zealand gets ready to make a graduated exit from lockdown, ministers, officials and other leaders are thinking hard about how to kickstart the … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Questions over how environmentally friendly Covid-19 recovery will be, consistent daily updates of new cases, and repatriation flights from India organised. There has been an increasing amount of commentary about the state of the environment during and after the pandemic. Air quality in cities has improved dramatically, … Read more
The public health response to Covid-19 showed New Zealand at its best. What will the economic response reveal? Iain White, a professor of environmental planning, on the risks ahead. Crises reveal. They bring the nature of societies to light. From the differing attitude to experts between countries, to who really are the essential workers, to the … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Rising tide of hardship putting strain on services, big wage cuts coming at Fletchers, and fears many hospitality businesses won’t be viable after lockdown. We’re beginning to get a picture of how the Covid-19 economic shock will hit those living in the most hardship, and … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government approach to testing faces serious scrutiny, second Queenstown nurse tests positive, and PM rejects curfew call. The government’s approach to fighting the Covid-19 outbreak has faced a robust bout of scrutiny, both from MPs and experts. It only took one sitting day for the new … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Bridges gives signal of tax cuts, police under pressure over family violence problem, and condemnation rains down over Peters scandal. Expect plenty of news today about National’s economic manifesto to take into the next election. From Simon Bridges’ appearance on Q+A yesterday (welcome back to that show) it … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: NZ First Foundation referred to police, major campaign launched to close measles immunity gap, and emissions forecast rises again. The story around donations to the NZ First Foundation has become a lot more serious, and both the police and Serious Fraud Office will be involved. It … Read more
In a pointed op-ed for The Spinoff this morning, the Green Party’s transport spokesperson, Julie Anne Genter, voices dissatisfaction with the ‘NZ Upgrade’, calling the motorway focus ‘nowhere near what we need’. The first details of the huge $12 billion infrastructure spend-up came on Wednesday morning, ahead of the all-star announcement in Auckland. Some $200 … Read more
The Green Party transport spokesperson writes on the good, the bad and the ugly of the big infrastructure announcement. It is election year and it is time to decide where we are heading. The Green Party will be laying out bold plans this year for reducing our climate pollution, ensuring people have enough to thrive, … Read more
Can the Spinoff politics podcast’s tense coalition of Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas survive an election year in which each will be striving to carve out their own identity? And can Madeleine Chapman stay awake while they’re doing it? The political year has got off to a hiss and a roar and the … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Concerns grow in the public media merger information void, costs of school return being counted, and a charter flight arranged for Wuhan evacuations. A plan is in the works to transform state broadcasting in New Zealand, with some form of merger between TVNZ and Radio … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Business groups welcome big infrastructure spend, four charged by SFO in relation to election donations, and Pacific countries act against coronavirus. So, the massive infrastructure package has been announced. Here’s the top lines of the announcement in the form of a cheat sheet, and Stuff has a breakdown of … Read more
After the Zero Carbon Bill was passed into law last year, the climate change minister acclaimed Generation Zero for its critical role in the historic legislation. Today, two representatives of the young people’s organisation say the infrastructure spend announced yesterday gravely compromises those values. Following the passage of the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Announcements expected on infrastructure projects, Kiwis trapped in Wuhan speak out, and speaker Trevor Mallard being sued. Major announcements will be made on infrastructure spending today. It’s part of a $12 billion package announced last year, but with the details kept under wraps until now. However, … Read more
The National Party leader sits down with Alex Braae to talk political rhetoric, misinformation, and whether he’ll have any dance partners after next year’s election. How cynical is Simon Bridges? It’s a question that has dogged National’s leader over the past year. Being an opposition leader is, of course, a difficult job at the best … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Capacity constraints loom large in spending stimulus, pilot speaks out about slow Whakaari recovery efforts, and carbon monoxide levels are high. The fundamentally conservative approach of finance minister Grant Robertson has continued, even as he has moved to loosen the purse strings. The top lines of … Read more