The Post

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staff – but which is now under further scrutiny for allegedly including a $21.5 million error and being partly based on out-of-date data.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...

Pay gap push ‘not political’

An avowedly “non-political” group of business leaders are using the election as a springboard to push a long-standing demand for mandatory pay gap reporting – and hope political parties across the spectrum will get behind the call. Global Women,...

More power to overrule councils

The Government will rip up existing iwi participation agreements with local councils and give ministers extended powers to approve of developments that breach environment limits, in a series of changes to its planning law reforms that have now lost the...

NZ First promises $1b oil search

NZ First will campaign on spending $1 billion next term exploring offshore oilfields. Leader Winston Peters said it was possible New Zealand was sitting on “Norway-scale energy prospects” in offshore basins that had never been accurately...

Who wrote the new curriculum?

‘Goldie’ disappears from sale

A painting labelled a fake by an art expert, and previously pulled from the market by a prestigious auction house, has once again resurfaced for sale. Or has it? Advertised by New Zealand Art Broker as a “comprehensively authenticated” and...

High-spec hopes

Stuart Shutt, managing director of Sentinel Homes, wants to make architectural homes “genuinely affordable for regular Kiwi families”. Sentinel Homes has 13 franchises across the country. Shutt, who is in his 50s, shares his experience and advice from...

Treasury signals project risks

Treasury has flagged “major risks” with both the Lower Hutt Melling Interchange upgrade and Resource Management reform in an independent review of the projects. It is unclear what prompted Treasury to give the two projects an “amber/red” rating in...

Sir Sam Neill: Activist

Sir Sam Neill, who died in Australia aged 78, is being remembered for speaking up about issues he cared passionately about, particularly those affecting his beloved Central Otago. Neill remained steadfast in his mission to halt the fast-tracked...

Kayaking Antartica

Out-of-space adventures on earth

Matariki bonanza

Pressure? What pressure? If anybody embodies the opportunity, and the expectation, that hovers over Dave Rennie’s All Blacks early this evening at the Cake Tin in Wellington, it’s home-town hero Billy Proctor. And the slick centre was as cool as the...

Mānawatia a Matariki mā Puanga

It’s Matariki weekend, and the region is alive with celebrations marking the Māori New Year – from drag theatre and pottery festivals to waterfront fire installations, waiata, storytelling and whānau activities. Alongside the Matariki programme, the...

Nature restored

Black Teal Bay on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, nestled against an expansive blue lake and mountain in the background, is simply breathtaking. Over 10 years, an enterprising couple have transformed what was once a weedfilled wilding pine forest into...

Why Kiwibank economist opposes OCR rise

If the Reserve Bank decides to raise the Official Cash Rate to 2.5% today, it will face few fiercer critics than Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr. The Auckland-born, Massey-trained economist is far from alone in arguing the central bank should...

'Oppressive'

The Government is looking to ban or restrict the use of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) as part of its proposed under-16 social media ban, The Post understands. Such a ban would make the social media restrictions far harder to evade, but would also...

Let’s ‘fill the tin’ again for the All Blacks

Wellington may not be able to “raise the roof” for the All Blacks, but the city can still show its support for a national team playing entertaining if not yet flawless rugby. Italy may not quite be France or Ireland, but Wellingtonians ought still to...

NZ need not fear nuclear ‘bogeyman’

The new United States ambassador to New Zealand, Jared Novelly, wants to get in a time machine and return to the 1980s to get a nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier into Auckland harbour and stage a basketball game on its flight deck. “You need to see...

$350k-plus sewage review still under wraps

The first take of a $350,000-and-climbing ratepayer-funded Crown review into the Moa Point sewage catastrophe remains under wraps, with the four-member team already having been paid about $230,000. Local Government Minister Simon Watts ordered the...

On the food map

Bookings are pouring in for the three Wellington restaurants awarded Michelin stars, with diners rushing to secure tables after Tuesday night’s star-studded Michelin Guide award ceremony in Auckland. Ortega Fish Shack, Logan Brown, and Jano Bistro...

Health and safety overhaul delayed

Tiaki Wai officially swings into action today and the unglamorous issue of what to do with number two is high on the agenda for Wellington’s new water entity. Be it a failed sewage plant at Moa Point that is discharging 70 million litres of untreated...

$25m spent and counting ROADING

Wellington’s mega highway project has already cost $25 million for contractors and consultants, while the minister in charge claims spades are already in the ground – partly due to purchases made long before he was born. In response to questions from...

Two-year trades boost pledge

Labour will campaign on restoring its Apprenticeship Boost scheme to two years of funding and expanding the range of professions eligible for support. The scheme, first introduced under the Ardern-Hipkins Government in August 2020, gives employers...

NCEA lesson

The years after Caitlin Gribble fell ill with Covid in year 9 were a struggle as she patched together the subjects she could tackle. Now in her final year of college, the determined 17-year-old credits the flexibility of NCEA for helping her to be on...

10 reasons to go for Hayu

Expanded offering

Southern comfort

When architect Sharlene Browning and family came home to New Zealand after 10 years in Brisbane, she started to house hunt but was shocked by the “ridiculous cost and process” to get on the property ladder. “We tried to navigate the post-EQC...

Coriander comfort

CASHEW NUT CURRY with coriander chutney Sri Lankan in origin, this unusual and delightful vegan curry, packed with creamy cashew nuts, is loved by vegetarians and omnivores alike. The fresh coriander chutney makes a wonderful accompaniment to any...

Big yes for compulsory super

Voters have delivered a resounding endorsement of compulsory KiwiSaver, with fresh polling showing overwhelming support for requiring all workers to contribute to the retirement savings scheme. The latest The Post/Freshwater Strategy poll with...

POLITICS KiwiSaver changes pitched

National will campaign on making KiwiSaver compulsory for all workers – including the self-employed. The party will also introduce KiwiSaver accounts for the newborn with a $1500 kick-start from the Government, introduce Government-paid KiwiSaver...

'Totally broken'

There had been many times in Lucy Adlam’s life when, overwhelmed by rage, depression and exhaustion, she contemplated taking her own life. Speaking from the Greytown home she shares with her two children, two cats and rescue dog Meg, one occasion in...

Golden Mile vote shows council’s impotence

If there is one moment that underlines just how impotent, how buffeted by outside forces, the Wellington City Council is, it came just before lunchtime yesterday. That was the moment, by a vote of 14 to three, the decade-long dream to rejuvenate the...

Water assets

Two Wellington councils have hugely hiked the rates charged for water assets in the lead-up to handing them off to a new water entity – one by 304% in a year – but it appears the situation is down to oddities of the rating system. When pipes and other...

U-turn

The Wellington City Council has confirmed it is looking to spend $1.5 million, partly undoing work on the one part of the Golden Mile project ever completed. The long-debated $139m project took a big blow with the release of a paper yesterday showing...

World Cup fever

With New Zealand’s first Fifa World Cup match kicking off at 1pm against Iran, Wellington football fans are gearing up for an exciting month of the beautiful game. Sports bars are readying themselves for an influx of fans over the next few weeks,...

Poll brings post-Budget blow

National has failed to secure a post-Budget lift in support, with a new poll revealing Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s party remains locked below 30%. In the latest The Post/Freshwater Strategy poll with Infrastructure New Zealand, National has...

Kiwi teachers lured to Australia

Struggling to make ends meet as a primary teacher in Auckland, Joseph Lloyd turned to the internet. “I put into Google, ‘where can I earn the most money as a teacher with two years’ experience?’” The results: Qatar, Kuwait, and remote Western...

INSIDE: YOUR FIFA WORLD CUP WALL CHART

More questions over new library website WELLINGTON CITY COUNCIL

An independent review will be held into the procurement of Wellington City Council’s sleek new $600,000 library website, as new questions are raised about why a link to a commercial business based in the Bay of Islands – now removed – was being...

Solve the clues and uncover the benefits of life at a Ryman village, where it's all taken care of.

Across 3 Furry friends frequently spotted out for walks on village grounds (4) 5 Social activity that gets residents moving to the music (7) 7 A cosy place in the village to enjoy the silver screen (6) 10 The NZ city where Ryman was founded in 1984...