Good morning and welcome to the Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins outlines the plan forward for National, no spread of Covid spotted yet in Northland, and students return for climate protest. In front of a Rotary Club at the Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, National leader Judith Collins yesterday set out her party’s priorities for the … Read more
Good morning and welcome to the first regular season Bulletin of 2021. In today’s edition: High alert as woman in Northland tests Covid-positive, house price inflation races ahead unabated, and schools grappling with new year after last year’s disruptions. Ministers and health officials were keeping their options open yesterday afternoon after a new case in … Read more
The chief executive of Oranga Tamariki is quitting, leaving behind an agency she’s admitted suffers from structural racism. Justin Giovannetti looks at the future of Oranga Tamariki. Grainne Moss’s tenure as head of Oranga Tamariki has been untenable since November when the government’s senior Māori minister wouldn’t express any confidence in her. Today she bowed … Read more
Coffee habits. Waiheke ferries. Hair straighteners. The scoops were served up faster than a midsummer beachside dairy when Jacinda Ardern spoke to Gone By Lunchtime’s Toby Manhire to recap the year. The prime minister phoned in to the Spinoff Gone By Lunchtime studio for an end-of-year interview last week that spanned all the essential subjects: … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Swag of briefings to incoming ministers released, government outlines summer Covid resurgence plan, and Port Hills fire comes amid scorching week. A whole lot of papers around the end of one term of government and the start of the next have been released. The briefings to … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Australia welcomes travel bubble talk, no new public info about Ihumātao, and speaker Mallard proactively arranges meeting with select committee. There’s still some water to go under the air bridge, but a trans-Tasman travel bubble could become a reality early next year. At her post-cabinet press … Read more
Threads of a political career, woven together: climate change, child poverty and global leadership. Within weeks of a history-making victory, Jacinda Ardern and the Labour party face a growing list of demands. Local government is in disarray, the housing market is out of control and the spotlight is once again on children being removed from … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Soldier with far-right ties on spying charges, bright line test could be extended, and Oranga Tamariki boss Grainne Moss will not be resigning. A soldier with strong ties to the far right fringe has been charged with multiple counts of espionage. As Florence Kerr and Thomas … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Shocking incidents show prison culture, exchange of letters over monetary policy more exciting than it sounds, and Auckland locations close over Covid warning. A shocking story from Auckland Women’s Prison that raises questions about whether prisoners are being treated humanely. Radio NZ’s Guyon Espiner reports that … Read more
A second review by the Children’s Commission has made four key recommendations, including the transfer of power to iwi, hapū and whānau. A new report from children’s commissioner Andrew Becroft is calling for an immediate overhaul of Oranga Tamariki – largely through a transfer of power to Māori. The report, released yesterday, found Māori were … Read more
At the National Library on Wednesday, Lyttelton poet Ben Brown delivered the 2020 Read NZ Te Pou Muramura Pānui. He spoke powerfully about Aotearoa’s incarceration of young people, and the extraordinary book he edited last summer as part of a writing workshop at Rolleston’s Oranga Tamariki youth justice residence, Te Puna Wai ō Tuhinapo. This … Read more
The Oranga Tamariki Waitangi Tribunal inquiry rests on one underlying issue: who should retain power? Claimant evidence in the Waitangi Tribunal inquiry in to Oranga Tamariki concluded last week. It is the final chapter, but perhaps the most important one, in a series of reviews following widespread protests against the organisation in 2019. In an … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: What we know – and what we don’t – about the Covid-19 community cases; an America’s Cup spat threatens how Aucklanders can watch; and late election donations are revealed. It’s now been five days since we learnt that Covid-19 was back in the community, and the missing … Read more
Whoever is successful on October 17, there is urgent work that needs doing to meet obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Laura O’Connell Rapira offers five to begin with. In 1840, Māori rangatira and representatives of the British Crown signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi. The Māori text, which is the version of the Treaty recognised … Read more
Rebuilding and healing broken communities can be a slow and frustrating process. But as Max Rashbrooke writes, it starts with listening to the powerful stories of those with lived experience. Just before lockdown, in Porirua’s Te Rauparaha Arena, a reversal of fortunes took place. At the People’s Voices conference, organised by Wesley Community Action, the … Read more
Listening and hanging out are small acts that make a huge difference for young people facing challenges. Dietrich Soakai has 15 years’ experience working in youth services, and doesn’t think children are our future leaders… he thinks they’re leaders in their own right, here and now. “I genuinely believe in young people. I believe in … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Questions over testing of border workers, decision on delaying election to be made today, and concerns for educational progress with new lockdown. The first point to note about managed isolation facilities – we don’t necessarily know that was where this latest outbreak came from. Alternative theories … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Concern from the Cook Islands over travel bubble, inquiry clears Iain Lees-Galloway of any spending impropriety, and Oranga Tamariki facing further damaging report findings. A draft agreement on a travel bubble with the Cook Islands is close to being finalised, the PM revealed yesterday. Stuff reports it … Read more
The Waitangi Tribunal inquiry into Oranga Tamariki kicked off in Wellington last week, while at the same time the agency released new data showing that perhaps it is doing better for Māori than many perceive. But do the numbers tell the full story? The first two days of the Waitangi Tribunal urgent inquiry into Oranga … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. Clark out and Bridges back in, Chinese embassy warns NZ politicians to not speak out on Hong Kong, and terrible new revelations about Oranga Tamariki culture. It has been a day of reshuffling at parliament, with both major parties making significant moves. We’ll start with Labour, because theirs involves … Read more
A Children’s Commission report released this week shows that entrenched attitudes at Oranga Tamariki are still endangering whānau Māori. This is what colonisation looks like, writes former Oranga Tamariki employee Luke Fitzmaurice. Children’s Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft yesterday released the first of two reports into the removal of Māori babies by the Ministry for Children … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: What comes next after level one move, trade minister takes aim at Europe over deal offer, and harsh report into Oranga Tamariki released. Good morning, and welcome to the strange sense of unbridled freedom that you might have woken up with. The announcement that we would … Read more
Research released by justice advocacy group JustSpeak shows that racist, structural bias is still a huge problem in New Zealand Police. We have the tools to make things better, writes Laura O’Connell Rapira. Last week lawyer, children’s rights advocate, and my go-to karaoke friend, Julia Whaipooti, delivered a hard and heartbreaking truth on national television: … Read more
Findings of the Māori-led inquiry into Oranga Tamariki highlight the trauma and heavy-handed state approach behind New Zealand’s appalling child care and protection statistics. Teuila Fuatai looks at the key findings and reaction to it. Dame Naida Glavish: ‘The treatment of Māori women has been inhumane’ Dame Naida Glavish led the governance group which oversaw … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Former PM Mike Moore mourned, travel ban put in place in attempt to prevent Coronavirus, and Greens break government ranks over transport spending. Former PM Mike Moore has passed away at the age of 71, a few days after his birthday. A wide range of tributes … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government passes flagship climate change legislation, former minister Anne Tolley admits Peters disclosure, and changes coming at Oranga Tamariki. The Zero Carbon bill, one of the most difficult pieces of legislation of this government’s term, has finally passed a third reading. It came in more than … Read more
Oranga Tamariki’s review into their own practices of uplifting newborn babies, spurred by a Newsroom investigation from June, has been released today. Here’s why it happened and what it says. Why was there a review? In June, Newsroom released a video showing the attempted uplift of a Māori newborn from his 19-year-old mother in the … Read more
Distressing evidence from children and young people living in ‘locked-in care’ features in a newly released report from the children’s commissioner, who has repeatedly called for the facilities to be shut down. A new report paints a grim picture of life for children and young people in secure residential care facilities, and has prompted the … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Winter grazing in the spotlight, teens smoking much less weed than they used to, and stats show big acceleration in Auckland house building. To lead us off today, a look at a relatively long running farming issue which has burst into the spotlight in recent … Read more