Reports & Media

A few years ago, the Prime Minister visiting foreign countries would have barely been news. However, after two years of borders closed because of Covid, Jacinda Ardern’s trip to Singapore and Japan is more than just noteworthy. Read more

At the general election in 2023, New Zealand will mark 30 years and ten elections since it adopted the Mixed-Member Proportional Representation (MMP) electoral system. A criticism of MMP is that the party list system allows party hierarchies essentially to appoint their apparatchiks to parliament. Read more

They may not know it, but unsuspecting Kiwis will soon be protected from unregistered log traders and forestry advisers. What a relief that should be. Read more

This government is teaching us many things. One is that it and its supporters have no quarrel with governments that steam-roll radical reforms through parliament. Read more

As Putin’s soldiers fight in eastern Ukraine, he is also involved in a battle much further west. Tragically, that western battle may even go his way. Read more

Governments like scapegoats. A good scapegoat can take the blame for something that is a government’s fault. Read more

For decades, newspapers’ business model was simple. Classified ads paid most of the bills. Read more

Is a van driver who delivers shopping ordered online a member of the transport industry or the retail industry? Either way, why would you want to know? Read more

Five hundred and twenty-five days. This is how long the Reserve Bank of Australia had kept its interest rate steady when Australian opposition leader Anthony Albanese was asked about it by a journalist on the campaign trail. Read more

Russia’s Embassy in Wellington includes some 20 officials and their partners. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s website tells us the Russian Embassy’s staff include Ambassador Zuev, a Deputy Head of Mission, a Second Secretary, another Second Secretary, a Third Secretary, four Attachés, and eleven “Administrative and Technical Staff.” It isn’t a small number. Read more