Reports & Media

Some policies cut through logjams. Canada, a nation known for its lumberjacks and log drivers, might have found one that would break New Zealand’s refugee policy logjam. During last year’s Syrian refugee crisis – a crisis that has not yet ended – community groups, churches and Kiwis who care rallied to help. Read more

With the dust on the failed Wellington mega-merger process having only just settled, it is a disappointing turn of events to see a new merger proposal back on the agenda, albeit in a smaller form. That is because the previous merger - which would have amalgamated the Greater Wellington Regional Council with district councils in Wellington, Porirua, Kapiti Coast, Hutt, Lower Hutt, South Wairarapa, Carterton and Masterton into a unitary authority - offered so few benefits and such high costs that it never got out the gate. Read more

There are a few things that New Zealand and Panama have in common. Both are home to about four million people. Read more

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, an admired African novelist, once said ‘show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become’. It sounds like a cliché but it applies neatly to the portrayal of our schools and students. Read more

If there is one lesson I have taken away from high school English, it is that all movies have deep and hidden meanings that were embedded by the director to reward smart people. Well, at the risk of making others feel inferior for not observing this, I would like to point out the political brilliance of Hunt for the Wilderpeople. Read more

Any discussion around foreign direct investment in New Zealand is guaranteed to provoke hearty debate. More often than not, public uproar over the issue tends to be spurred on by media reports of an impending sale of New Zealand land to overseas interests. Read more

Last month Local Government Minister Peseta Sam Lotu-Iiga provided the first peek at the latest round of Local Government Act reforms, dubbed the Better Local Services package. The announcement was not a surprise, particularly as it came in the wake of failed council amalgamation proposals in Wellington, Northland and Hawke’s Bay. Read more

Over at the Christchurch Press, I went through the current controversies about an Ashburton water bottling plant. New Zealand allocates water drawing rights through a consenting system. Read more

Chef and television personality Jamie Oliver was a major proponent of a sugar tax in the UK. You would think, then, that a sugar tax would be a real triumph for the chef turned lobbyist. Read more

A few years ago, The New Republic held a contest for most boring news headline. “A Worthwhile Canadian Initiative” won. Read more

Todd Treweek’s had a bad week. As the Herald reported on Wednesday, the Dunedin chef’s just been busted for his tenth parking offence. Read more

Most people would agree that fairness means that equal things get treated equally and different things get treated differently. In the schooling sector, the current funding system by deciles is one such attempt to be fair. Read more