Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Wild Wellington Council meeting sparks controversy, managed isolation cleaners being paid minimum wage, and major new report on tourism’s environmental footprint released. The Wellington City Council has made a dramatic series of votes, in a bid to come to grips with their current budget crisis. Many … Read more
Wellington will be home to up to 80,000 more people by 2050, and the question of where they’re going to live is becoming increasingly pressing. Should the look of the central suburbs really take priority over warm, dry, affordable housing? To say there’s animosity towards Wellington’s housing stock among young people like myself would be … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Self-inflicted story puts National on the defensive, another escape attempt from managed isolation, and a series of party events ahead of election. There’s a convention in journalism called Betteridge’s law of headlines. Basically what it means is that headlines that end in a question mark can … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: How Australia sees the trans-Tasman bubble, police Armed Response Teams scrapped for good, and cheese in the spotlight in Europe trade stoush. Today’s main story comes from a reader suggestion, who had spotted a gap in news coverage. Dan wrote in to ask how Australia was … Read more
Summer reissue: The $800 per ticket, council-funded festival of ‘creative collisions’ has been cancelled and the company behind it has gone bust. Alex Casey reports. This story was first published on 17 June, 2019. The first problem was that nobody knew how to say it. Without any discernible vowels, pronouncing WLG-X, the name of a … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Shane Jones says the quiet bit out loud to forestry industry, massive marches take place against climate inaction, and pharmacists fear Chemist Warehouse wipeout. Cabinet minister and NZ First MP Shane Jones has allegedly been caught saying the quiet bit out loud again. The NZ Herald’s David Fisher … Read more
Voting papers are being sent out today, and lots of people say they won’t fill them out because they don’t know anything about the candidates. Respected website ‘The Spinoff’ is trying to fix that through its Policy Local tool. But it’s not the only one. Catherine Jeffcoat talks to the rest of the watchdogs. The … Read more
It’s a hard road getting attention for outsider candidates in local elections. Alex Braae, writer of The Bulletin and stout defender of the political little guy, thought he’d lend a hand by moderating a rebel Wellington mayoral debate. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting … Read more
Tensions have flared around the Wellington Council table, with one councillor accusing her colleagues of engaging in a form of climate change denial in how they approach related issues. Alex Braae reports. The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click … Read more
Six things councils can do right now to make the ’emergency’ worth more than the paper it’s written on. Councils are declaring climate emergencies across the country, but with only a decade to cut carbon emissions in half, it’s time for them to act like this is an emergency. So, what can our cities be … Read more
The president of the Vic Uni students association is leading a ‘youthquake’ as five leaders under 25 try to follow Chlöe Swarbrick into the halls of power, writes Peter McKenzie. It wasn’t a conventional campaign launch. Someone’s laptop cycled through a Spotify playlist of grungy music. The oldest person present looked to be in their … Read more
Councillor Chris Calvi-Freeman has called for an end to tooting in Wellington’s Mt Vic Tunnel. Over the coming days many will discuss this important issue. But what does the Tunnel think? Emily Writes sat down with them to find out. I’ll say it right now, at this point in my life, I’m a huge fan … Read more
A tale of a Wellington City Councillor, a plaque celebrating a famously compassionate Wellingtonian, and 32 people living in cars in the councillor’s ward. “Apparently there are now 32 people living in cars in the unrestricted parking area directly below X Road*” the flyer from Wellington City Councillor Nicola Young said. Shockingly, what followed next … Read more