Remember back in 2018 when seniror RNZ manager Carol Hirschfeld lost her job after it was revealed she'd had a secret meeting with Broadcasting Minister Claire Curran. Who was later sacked from Cabinet by PM Jacinda Ardern after a second downlow meeting was revealed.

"The fact we’re being secretly signed up to black-box billion-dollar deals for projects that don’t even stack up by the flawed metrics of a flawed business case, should shock us." It does me!

Try and find some time to read @connorsharp.bsky.social's excellent work here on the ways the government is trying to make its $22,000,000,000 Northern Expressway fantasy real – including refusing to release its own cost estimates. It's just reckless. www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2026/03/03/2...

*should*

Helen Clark tells me New Zealand must clearly reject the 'slippery slope' into war, after the UK found itself involved. She says Luxon appears to have endorsed the strikes this morning and it seems he would have invaded Iraq had he been PM in 2003. www.thepost.co.nz/politics/360...

Government ‘kicked the tyres’ on solar subsidies but went with ‘minor’ tweaks instead Anyone might think they don't really want to solve the country's energy affordability issues - if it comes at the cost of reducing the dividend from the power companies...

This is where I YET AGAIN encourage people, especially creators, to have, develop and actively maintain their own websites where people can find you, away from the social media sites you don't own and/or can't control and/or whose discoverability algorithms are at the whim of billionaire weirdos.

In today’s NZ Herald

Tax billionaires out of existence.

Just your daily reminder that Chris Bishop is both the chief fundraiser for the National Party election campaign and needs major donations, and the decision maker giving businesses access to the fast track process. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

I hate the messaging about “providing reassurance” to parents and the community, given by the school and police. I don’t want to “feel better” about kids getting hit by cars, I want school streets, blanket lower speeds around schools, and harsher penalties for drivers.

Totally not of this government's making... #nzpol

Ngāti Ruanui hand-deliver trespass notice to a mining company in Sydney following Trans-Tasman Resources’ sudden withdrawal from the fast-track process. TTR's move coincided with the Government’s announcement of $80 million in funding for critical minerals, raising suspicion of a backroom deal.

"It seems the left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing, leaving Aucklanders stranded in the middle." In which I attempt to tease out why AT shelved a plan that supports new housing AND solves a key part of the 'Bike Bermuda Triangle'. 👽💀💡 I reckon they can dust it off again though, eh?

The guy who staged a failed coup last time is building a massive personal militia staffed with lawless thugs. At this point it’s just naïve not to see where this is going.

These are not unrelated conversations In fact I would argue the more technocratic policy discussion of this RNZ post is inherently intertwined with this wider international politics push from the US in the Reuters piece. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

"New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) refused to clarify what safeguards were being considered to protect New Zealanders' private information or if it was aware of any ICE personnel stationed in New Zealand at present."

NZ is an international outlier in that more than half of those experiencing homelessness are women, often with dependent children. A "housing first" approach makes a huge difference to their lives (and men's), writes @universityofotago.bsky.social's Brodie Fraser theconversation.com/new-police-p...

This is a "papers please" "English is the official language" "eat slop and be grateful" "disappear the unhoused" "women are second class" "don't learn real history" "local FBI office" government and we really cannot afford to be smug about other countries' slide to open fascism, Aotearoa

Is this even satire?

Haha! So many in government are constitutionally incapable of putting money aside for maintenance. They want the photo op project and that’s it. Chuck in the zero rate rise bandwagon in local government which useless people ride to get elected and you have our current disaster.

Auckland Councillor confirms National cut social housing, accommodation in Auckland from 890 places to 39 in one year, and cut emergency housing grants by 70-80% ($20m). Since then, individuals rough sleeping in our city have increased by 100%. #NZPOL #auckland www.reddit.com/r/nzpolitics...

Brainwashing, 2026 edition. This paper shows how X's algorithmic feed shifts people's views rightwards. It's a sophisticated, highly effective form of reorientation. And it is utterly chilling. If you're still on that platform, unhook yourself now. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Voyager 1 is currently more than 24 billion kilometres from Earth and getting 17km farther every second and hilariously it is not as out of touch with New Zealand as our Prime Minister

A government that doesn’t allow its prisoners to vote has a vested interest in imprisoning those who would vote them out of power

And we have a programme that does this in NZ already! Housing First exists and it works and it needs more funding. Govt (and others) fund it now! And building more houses generally so everyone is housed. It’s easier to type than do, but we do know what works. (Hint: not move on nonsense)

"The timeline has exposed what one submitter referred to as an 'orchestrated subterfuge'." A huge scandal: how the wealthy & sorted Luxon/ Seymour/ Winston Class (with help from Willis, van Velden & Collins) pulled the rug out from under historically exploited workers newsroom.co.nz/2026/02/20/p...

"I’ve been told this is not really a shipwreck, but the remains of a gravel barge that crashed some fifty years ago. I still call it a shipwreck, because you still call this a government, and that crashed some fifty years ago too." sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/shipwreck-...

i want to feel hope for people but it's not looking good

#nzpol The Employment Relations Amendment Bill has passed. This is a dark day for working New Zealanders. Our Government has let Uber and the ACT Party set the agenda for employment law in this country. They need to grow a backbone and stand up for the interests of New Zealand workers.

A commitment to $33 billion of private investment over 15 years? How the holy hell is that supposed to work? How on earth do you make such a significant commitment to something you have no functional control over with negative consequences if you fail to make it happen.

Oh look it’s the supposed terrible at business Labour Party going through the alleged Party of business’ rushed Indian trade deal with a pen highlighting all the actually terrible for business sections. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Free Trade Agreement with India must protect migrant workers - Labour

"Sovereignty is not the ability to opt out of reality. It is the ability to choose how you engage with it." Helen Petousis-Harris: WHO membership doesn't threaten NZ's sovereignty - walking away from it would

Put solar panels on state houses. You could probably do the lot for $1.5b, would reduce energy costs for those least able to afford it, increase our grid resilience and save about the same amount in energy costs overall. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/...

Honestly, I think this government has set back workplace relations and safety by a century: More than 700 Education Ministry staff to try to win back lost pay following partial strike

How about when politicians start blathering about keeping rates down as first priority people with job descriptions that include the word 'editor' interrogate that political project with the same vim they apply to say, 'capital gains tax'

This is a cool story: This central Auckland cottage tells a remarkable tale of the city's bicultural history

Thank you, that's terrific news.

Its not mine, I found it online and this is the source.

Seymour is squeamish about the truth & the media keep repeating his lies despite knowing: "Never spread the lie in the headline" should be a hard rule of 21st century journalism. Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories. #nzpol

Research shows 97% of NZ central gov't spends on natural disasters is spent on recovery, only 3% on risk reduction. Gisborne businesses says need prevention not reaction. Each $1 invested in risk reduction would save $4+ in response and recovery. Why No? #NZpol www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3609...

For >10 years I’ve been on an admissions committee for a prominent science journalism fellowship. We always have around 150 applications from around the world to review for 6 spots. This year we only had 32 applications. And several we can’t review because they’re visa restricted now.

Colleagues keep repeating the claim rates are households’ largest expense. How??? Rent, mortgage, transport, power, childcare, FOOD - these are all real things.

Apart from [reads press release] all this bonkers shit, this now means that NASA partner SpaceX is the official owner of Grok, the non-consensual porn generator, a sentence you’d have trouble explaining to almost everyone throughout almost all of history. www.spacex.com/updates#xai-...

While this Government desperately pushes through legislation to make voting as difficult as possible for our communities. Myself and the Mt Roskill Labour Party are planning a Day Of Action focused on enrolling as many people to vote as possible - and we need your help! (1/2) #nzpol #nz #newzealand

I genuinely have no idea how to convey this to the American people, but I think the biggest impediment to any kind of immigration reform is that people are convinced that "legal" and "illegal" are immutable, intrinsic categories instead of a rapidly-shifting arbitrary constellation of regulations.

Both firefighter unions need to support this firefighter. FENZ is just desperate for any distraction from its many many other crises and screw-ups...

Very cool to see work starting on the 3rd Drury rail station. Labour funded these along with rail electrification to Pukekohe as part of the NZ Upgrade programme. Takes awhile, but will mean new communities with access to the rail network from day 1. #nzpol #nz #politics #aotearoa #newzealand