The Bulletin: Time right to borrow and spend, says Robertson

Grant Robertson at the Labour Party annual conference in Whanganui

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Robertson signals big borrowing to boost infrastructure, discarded e-scooters spark concern, and a big week coming for Auckland’s port.  The screams of joy from Keynesians echoed out across the land, after a government announcement that the purse strings would be loosened to fund infrastructure. The NZ Herald reports … Read more

Girl on a train: to the edge of the world on the Interislander and Coastal Pacific

In the second instalment in a three-part series on the Great Journeys of New Zealand, Madeleine Chapman travels from Wellington to Christchurch on the Interislander and Coastal Pacific. Read part one here The young man behind the counter on the Interislander laughed at me when I asked for a glass of red wine. He turned … Read more

‘We need to help it die’: the beautiful, shocking first chapter of Auē

Becky Manawatu’s first novel is published by Mākaro Press and it’s a blinder. Dedicated to her cousin Glen Bo Duggan, who was 10 when he was killed by his mother’s boyfriend, it’s a story about kids and gangs and curdled masculinity. About serendipity, and taniwha, and resilience. It begins with Taukiri dropping his little brother … Read more

The Bulletin: Painful testimony at abuse in state care inquiry

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Painful testimony at abuse in state care inquiry, student loan generation in focus, and hoiho breeding season wrecked. This week, public hearings for the Royal Commission into abuse of children in care have finally got underway. This is a useful backgrounder on it from Radio NZcontributor David … Read more

Was the octopus-seal vs kayak viral video a set-up? A Spinoff investigation

Together with a team of crack UK investigators, Hayden Donnell investigates the origin story of one of New Zealand’s most successful viral videos. It was the perfect viral moment. Kyle Mulinder was innocently paddling his kayak in the deep blue water off the coast of Kaikoura. The water was calm. Tranquil. Suddenly a seal erupted … Read more

Print’s not dead yet: A community newspaper empire expands

Can newspapers based in tiny towns be profitable? A publisher based on the sparsely populated West Coast believes it can, and is expanding as a result.  As the so called death of journalism gathers momentum, media companies are increasingly looking to consolidation for survival. More content syndication, covering a bigger geographical area with single titles, … Read more