The Post

Last chance for Scott Watson?

What could be Scott Watson’s last chance to quash his convictions for killing Ben Smart and Olivia Hope begins in the Supreme Court today. Watson has spent 28 years in prison for the murders, which are at the centre of one of New Zealand’s most...

Consultant spend up again

Consultant and contractor spending across the public sector is rising again, surpassing the Government’s savings target and climbing $57 million in a year. In the past financial year, $1.303 billion in operational expenditure was spent on consultants...

Exodus to Oz: Who are the Kiwis crossing the Tasman?

Trying to offload all your worldly belongings with an 8-week-old baby probably isn’t in the Zen guide to stress minimisation. But at 34 and 33, Wellington couple Lynnaire Odell and Aaron Magill just weren’t getting ahead. They already had 3-year-old...

Reprogrammed

From inside the imposing concrete tower in Lower Hutt, television programmes that became part of the country's collective memory were made, broadcast and beamed into homes. The Lotto balls rolled. Fair Go held people to account. Wheel of Fortune spun....

Āta for art's sake

After a two-year hiatus, City Gallery Wellington has finally reopened – and its interconnecting cafe has returned too. But things look a little different this time. Āta cafe now fills the space occupied for more than 25 years by Nikau, joining a...

A bitter harvest for vines

Wairarapa vines are being pulled out as growers grapple with rising production costs and uncertain returns from grape sales. Industry representatives say the pressures are making it harder for some growers to turn a profit, although vine age, disease...

For art's sake

Wellington City Council is handing responsibility for its art collection to specialist curators in a bid to get more of the city’s artworks out of storage and in front of the public. The council holds about 590 artworks, including mayoral portraits,...

Crunch time for Chrises

The praise was so perfect the journalists suspected a plant. In a West Auckland mall, retail worker Vasuki came up to Christopher Luxon and told him she felt crime had declined since he became prime minister. “We feel much safer. Being in retail, we...

NZ links

Leaked confidential files from Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) reveal how the world’s biggest bank – with a New Zealand subsidiary led by former National Party leader Don Brash – bent its own rules to advance Beijing’s global...

This means war

The opportunity to “scoff chocolate” and “wear expensive suits” was just part of the attraction for War stars Dominic West and Sienna Miller. The pair play tech billionaire Morgan Henderson and movie star Carla Duval, a high-profile couple whose...

Flower power

One morning recently, I spotted one single vivid-purple petunia flower peeking out from the high wooden boundary fence between my place and the neighbour’s. It looked so cute that I suddenly burst into song. “I’m a lonely little petunia ...” When I...

‘Very difficult cuts’: Council

The council has released its latest round of cost-cutting measures – with targets ranging from teaching kids to swim to a Te Papa funding cut – but warns we aren’t even halfway there. Wellington deputy mayor Ben McNulty, who heads the council’s...

Big questions for first debate

Fiscal integrity and leadership credibility will be top of the agenda when the current prime minister and his predecessor – and would-be successor – face off tonight in the first of three election debates, on state broadcaster TVNZ. The debate at 7pm...

Seismic risk flagged at arts hub

The Te Whaea complex in Wellington – home to Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School, the New Zealand School of Dance and the Tāwhiri Warehouse arts venue – is quake-prone and requires strengthening, although continued occupation of the buildings is considered...

Tom Cruise takes control in dark comedy

Digger (R13, 129 mins) Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett **** We’re a few years – or maybe 30 – into the future. Earth looks more or less as it does today, unless you start to really notice the details, or try to open...

Criminal charges filed over Moa Point disaster

Criminal charges have been laid against the Wellington City Council and Tiaki Wai for alleged failings in the Moa Point sewage catastrophe, meaning Wellington ratepayers could be on the hook for millions in fines if the charges are proven. The outcome...

Microclimate collection

Not only do Daryl and Linda Rowan love growing plants, but they also spend their holidays hunting out specimens in remote locations off the usual tourist routes. Last year, the couple visited Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and in 2024 they spent seven...

Rates overhaul now at risk

Wellington’s biggest rating overhaul in decades is about to go out for consultation, with proponents of land-based rating saying now is not the time to back down. Councillor Diane Calvert, who will chair tomorrow’s meeting where the shape of...

ACC cuts ‘off the charts’

Cost-cutting ACC is rejecting more injury claims, denying 7000 more Kiwis cover in the past year. An advocate said the human impact of denying support is “off the charts”, with desperate people calling in tears and facing losing their homes because...

Cracks in housing system

For 10 years, Campbell Lurch has lived in the middle of New Zealand’s capital without light or hot water. He is 66 years old, lives in a unit managed by Wellington’s biggest social housing agency Te Toi Mahana (TTM) and spends his nights in near-total...

Underutilised

The kids are not all right. They are unoccupied, directionless. Youth unemployment hit 17.3% in March, before slipping to 17.2% in June. Those are the highest rates since the post-global financial crisis days of 2011. Narrow the youth category down...

Mayors’ amalgamation anger

Wellington mayor Andrew Little says the Government’s decision to pause council amalgamation plans until after the election shows it was never serious about the costly Head Start process. As co-chair of the Wellington and Wairarapa Mayoral Forum, he...

Lobbyists focus of Hager book

Race-based politics, the influence of “unscrupulous groups” and a high-profile lobby group’s alleged attempts to shift New Zealand to the “hard right” are the focus of a new investigation by author and journalist Nicky Hager. His book, first revealed...

Long-haul flight plans on ice

Wellington’s long-haul flight dreams have been put on ice due to the multiple crises in the Middle East. It is six months since the airport opened its engineered materials arresting system (EMAS), using absorbing blocks to slow aircraft at the end of...

Caribbean kaleidoscope

I’ve never been a fan of the Beach Boys: too commercial, too cheesy, too uncool for my Gen-X ears. But stepping off the Seven Seas Mariner in Aruba, the first stop on a 16-night luxury Caribbean cruise with Regent Seven Seas Cruises, the Beach Boys...

Life in politics

It started in a council flat in Paddington, London. A toilet shared with other homes, a grandmother loading the boiler with coal to heat the water. It couldn’t metaphorically or physically be further from where Celia Wade-Brown, for a few more days at...

Shock poll on economic trust

Chloë Swarbrick is now more trusted to manage the economy than Nicola Willis. The Green Party co-leader, whose party sits firmly on the far left of the mainstream political spectrum, has proposed some $88 billion in new taxes and has little chance of...

Blunt verdict on leaders

The verdict from Kiwi voters on their political leaders? A pretty emphatic “yeah, nah”. Every party leader tested in the latest The Post/Freshwater Strategy poll with Infrastructure New Zealand is more disliked than liked, with Christopher Luxon...

Second chance for Chippy?

Half of voters believe it is time to give Chris Hipkins and Labour a chance to govern, while more expect Labour to win the election than National. The latest The Post/Freshwater Strategy poll with Infrastructure New Zealand found 45% expect Labour to...

Major party slump deepens

Support for both major political parties has again hit unprecedented lows, with Labour and National both sitting under 30% for the second time this month, according to a new poll. The latest The Post/Freshwater Strategy poll with Infrastructure New...

A glow-up for WOW

This year’s World of WearableArt show is being billed as more immersive and more diverse than ever before. The show’s director, Malia Johnston, says to expect comedy, fire and beautiful aerial work when WOW opens on Thursday.

Social media use

Slowly and then suddenly, the world changed its mind about teenagers and social media. Australia led the way, with age restrictions requiring users of 10 social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, to be 16 or older. The...

$690m health underspend

Health New Zealand says “timing changes” have stopped $690 million from going out the door in the nine months to March 2026 and being spent on high-profile projects, such as the new Dunedin Hospital and Christchurch Hospital’s tower 3 building. The...

Labour v National

The debate over the number of nursing hires has become a political flashpoint over the past month, following revelations by The Post that the workforce increased by just 54 nursing fulltime-equivalents (FTEs) in the past two years. To put the current...

10k public servants on strike

Nearly 10,000 public servants will hit the picket lines this afternoon in more than a dozen town centres from Northland to Dunedin to demand pay rises that keep up with the cost of living. Public Service Association (PSA) national secretary Duane Leo...

Historic poll

For the first time since New Zealand’s Labour-National political duopoly emerged in the 1930s, a credible nationwide poll has both below 30% public support. September’s Taxpayers’ UnionCuria poll, released yesterday morning, has National down to...

Lady Liz cuts ‘don’t stack up’

A report into staffing cuts on Wellington’s police launch has found a paucity of documented evidence for the change, with a man in the water off Queens Wharf on Tuesday, giving opponents timely ammunition. Marco Zeeman of Fairview Consulting, who has...

Question of loyalty

Imagine the neighbour you’ve known for 20 years. You’ve chatted over the fence and watched their children grow up. They have always seemed perfectly ordinary. Then war comes. Somebody mentions the neighbour’s mother was German. Or they belonged to the...

Transport pledges shrink

Elections are normally a time of big hopes and dreams for political parties. They make bold claims to try and entice voters to give them a tick at the polling booth. But after some high profile transport project failures – Auckland Light Rail, the...

NZ's voice of rugby

Just where has New Zealand’s ‘voice of rugby’ gone? Grant Nisbett has been the man behind the microphone in so many of the All Blacks’ greatest moments, but not only is the veteran commentator not calling Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series in South...

Tens of millions to pay unlucky bidders

The Government has set aside tens of millions of dollars to pay out unsuccessful bidders for big public-private infrastructure projects. The new policy, introduced at the end of last year, aims to improve the quality of bids for major infrastructure...

Spring TV essentials

NZ crime drama's return among September highlights

Walking Ireland

The Dog Stars

The Dog Stars (R13, 118 mins) Directed by Ridley Scott Reviewed by Graeme Tuckett The Dog Stars is set in North America, not too far from Denver, Colorado, after a flu pandemic has wiped out pretty much all of humanity. Anyone who’s walked around...

Fears grow over Nepal disaster

The scale of devastation from the flash floods in Nepal is becoming increasingly clear, with officials warning the loss of life in both Nepal and China is likely to be severe. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade last night...

New Deloitte report scrutiny

Wellington ratepayers spent $435,000 on a report that claimed the city council had hundreds of surplus staff – but which is now under further scrutiny for allegedly including a $21.5 million error and being partly based on out-of-date data. The Post...

PLANNING Fast-track ‘working well’: Bishop

Housing and Resource Management Act (RMA) Reform Minister Chris Bishop doesn’t believe he’s out of step with the public when it comes to the Government’s fast-track consenting scheme, which he helped to design. It follows the Sunday Star-Times...

Hospital cuts fund GP boost

The Government’s headline $95million-a-year boost for general practice is being funded through a corresponding reduction in the budget for hospital and specialist services, documents show. The healthcare “boost”, announced by Health Minister Simeon...

Soaking up huge win

The All Blacks have drawn first blood in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series against the Springboks. Dave Rennie’s side was on the wrong side of many numbers in yesterday’s first test in Johannesburg, but still managed to outscore South Africa...

Parallel universe

Afootpath in front of a Golden Bay cafe was painted in a chequered fashion earlier this year. Black and white tiles adorned with psychedelic details covered the pavement. However, Tasman District Council claimed what the business owner did could...

Ex mayor: City’s water woes fault of everyone

Andy Foster – a long-time Wellington City councillor, former mayor and part of the Government that passed water reform – has joined a protest opposing new water entity Tiaki Wai, saying “everyone” is equally to blame for the current mess. Foster, now...

Te Papa chief executive steps down

Courtney Johnston first worked at the national museum 25 years ago as a visitor host, and the institution has been a huge part of her life since then.

Lid remains on Moa Pt report

Government suppression of an interim Moa Point report came after the chairperson of the investigation warned of potential “adverse” findings about the Wellington City Council – proving the prediction of an advocate who called for...

Law blunder punishes pensioners

Thousands of pensioners and veterans lost their Winter Energy Payment this winter after an error in a law passed under urgency last year, The Post can reveal. Social Development Minister Louise Upston will be forced to return to the House to fix the...

Tiaki Wai boss defends his $645k pay packet

Tiaki Wai’s boss Michael Brewster, while defending his pay packet, has confirmed he is renting a home and therefore won’t get a bill from the rate payer-owned company paying him $645,000 a year. Brewster’s salary puts him on a better wicket than New...

Back to work

On Wednesday the prime minister emerged from a leadership challenge saying he wanted to get back to work. On Thursday, that meant shaking an endless stream of hands and posing for continuous photos following a public meeting at the Annesbrook Centre...

Flurry of Nursing Council departures sparks concern

The chief executive, two deputy registrars and a senior education leader have resigned from the Nursing Council, amid allegations of bullying, intimidation and a deterioration in workplace culture. Current and former staff have described the council...

Get set for spring

Spring will soon be in the air and we need to start planning for the coming growing season. Yes, it is time to make a plan. Now is the time to peruse new seed catalogues, which have just been released, to see which new varieties you can plant for...

Potential Stanford leadership ticket?

If Christopher Luxon fails to secure the backing of his caucus in a crunch meeting today, National MPs are expected to turn to a leadership contest – with a ticket of Erica Stanford as leader, Mark Mitchell as deputy and Chris Bishop as finance...

Ferry company’s $14.6m consultant spend revealed

The state-owned company responsible for replacing New Zealand’s Cook Strait ferries has committed more than $14.6 million to external consultants and contractors, including $3.4m to a firm whose strategic adviser is one of the company...

Fiscal rules dismissed as more of the same

Economists have poured cold water on National’s proclaimed fiscal rules, dismissing them as more of the same from a parade of politicians unwilling to make hard choices. National’s three “fiscal guardrails” – a 2028/29 surplus, debt below 40% of GDP...

Wild takeover

Two decades ago, wilderness photographer Anne Dowden stopped on her Miramar Peninsula street because she heard something she wasn’t used to. Walking her daughter to school in Seatoun, she looked up to see a chortling tūī. It was enough to make the...

Crunch time for mayors

Now for the hasty conclave. Months of hand-wringing, public meetings and public consultations have come to this: A behindclosed-doors meeting on the future of Wellington. In the Hutt City Council chambers today, mayors from around the region will meet...

Royalties low as Jones defends status quo

New Zealand’s mining royalty system is among the lowest internationally and leaves the Crown with limited ability to capture windfalls from commodity booms, a government-commissioned review has found – but raising rates could come at an economic...

Inflation fight stays centre stage

Concerns are mounting that unemployment may have risen to an 11-year high, but Reserve Bank Governor Anna Breman says parts of the economy remain resilient and insists that reining in inflation is still essential to restoring jobs and growth. Most...

Small-screen highlights

This month offers a bewildering array of viewing options. For free-to-air fans, there are fresh seasons of The Great Australian Bake Off (August 13, TVNZ 1), Paddy Gower Has Issues (August 4, Three) and Documentary NZ (TBC, TVNZ 1), a new local foodie...

The charm of Charleston

West Coast town's new gold-rush

Fishing fight reignites

Snapper deaths 'significant'

August's movie picks

Chef biopic and Adam Sandler's daughter

Golden girl

The tears flowed as Kiwi sprint queen Zoe Hobbs soaked in her dramatic, historic and emotional Commonwealth Games gold medal for the 100 metres at a rain-swept Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow yesterday. Finally, stunningly, in record-breaking fashion,...

Key roles for lobby figures

A former chairperson of the Free Speech Union (FSU) – who lobbied Health Minister Simeon Brown over proposed changes to how doctors are regulated – has been appointed to the Medical Council. Roderick Mulgan, who remains a board member of the FSU, was...

FSU attacks reporter for asking questions

The Free Speech Union – which exists to defend free speech – has attacked a journalist for asking Health Minister Simeon Brown questions over email, after it obtained questions sent by a Post reporter about one of his appointments. Yesterday, The...

Frontline worker sees shift on city streets

Grahame Hanns has been at the front line of Wellington’s homeless saga. He has cleaned up dirty syringes, been beaten, seen the chaos. And he has good news: Things are getting better. The usually private central city facilities manager is speaking up...

Opportunity closes the gap

New poll shows party in kingmaker spot

‘We can no longer agree’

Thirty-five years after helping shepherd the Resource Management Act into law, Simon Upton says New Zealand has lost the consensus that underpinned the country’s environmental laws – warning the Government’s replacement leaves too much power in the...

Cafe stalwarts fight for survival in squeezed sector

The owners of a celebrated Wellington cafe say the city’s hospitality sector is being squeezed to exhaustion and are calling for more support from local and central government, as successive crises threaten its reputation as New Zealand’s coffee...