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Image: Opportunity Party leader Qiulae Wong speaks to media as she pitches a centrist election run ahead of the 2026 general election, challenging the red-blue divide and courting voters outside the major-party camps. (File. / Opportunity Party)

Sam Hudson
Jun 29, 2026

OPINION: Opportunity Party leader Qiulae Wong has committed the greatest sin of New Zealand politics. She has refused to kneel before the red team or the blue team. Newsletter Banner…

Image: Fire trucks awaiting deployment in Auckland. The prolonged delay in getting the vehicles into frontline service has drawn criticism from professional firefighters. (Brooke van Velden MP / Facebook)

Sam Hudson
Jun 17, 2026

OPINION: Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden has announced a review into how Fire and Emergency New Zealand is funded, questioning whether the long-standing insurance levy model remains…

Image: National Minister Chris Bishop addresses an audience. The minister's criticism of Labour over an empty Fieldays site later unravelled after it emerged Labour had never booked the space. (Chris Bishop / Facebook)

Sam Hudson
Jun 12, 2026

OPINION: Chris Bishop’s attempt to embarrass Labour at Fieldays backfired because it was based on a claim that was not true. The National Minister used a photograph of an empty…

Image: The Waihopai satellite communications station in Marlborough. The facility sits at the intersection of intelligence sharing, international security cooperation, and New Zealand's role within the Five Eyes partnership, themes that increasingly overlap with the strategic direction outlined in the Government's $12 billion Defence Capability Plan. (Supplied / Daniel Town)

Sam Hudson
Jun 11, 2026

The Government says New Zealand is facing its most challenging and dangerous strategic environment in decades. It is a warning and one that appears repeatedly throughout the Defence Capability Plan…

Image: Maiki Sherman shared photographs from the 2026 New Zealand Media Awards, where she was named Political Journalist of the Year. One image shows her posing with the award following her win. (Maiki Sherman / New Zealand Media Awards)

Sam Hudson
Jun 5, 2026

OPINION: Maiki Sherman is continuing to live her best life. Just weeks after her departure from TVNZ dominated headlines and sparked fierce debate across the media landscape, she has returned…

Maria Strathern, Sam Hudson
Jun 4, 2026

Video: Matthew Tukaki has questioned whether Government ministers and staff are being held to the same standards they once demanded of others, raising concerns over transparency and accountability. (The Bradbury…

Image: Associate Health Minister Casey Costello during a funding announcement for ambulance services and NZ Customs. (Supplied / New Zealand First / Casey Costello)

Sam Hudson
May 31, 2026

OPINION: The Government was quick to celebrate new investments in ambulance services and Customs. Associate Health Minister Casey Costello described it as a “big day” for frontline workers. But for…

Image: Labour shared a social media post from New Zealand Parliament in Wellington, saying the party was "ready to hold National to account for cutting the services your family relies on" and claiming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's plan "is hurting - and it's not working", as MP Barbara Edmonds and Labour leader Chris Hipkins walked through Parliament. (Supplied / Facebook / March 8)

Mereana Patuwai
May 31, 2026

OPINION: As the next general election approaches, New Zealand voters are watching a coalition government that promised discipline and delivery but has too often become bogged down. Newsletter Banner Weekly…

Image: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon takes a phone call in his office at Parliament's Beehive in Wellington. (Supplied / File.)

Anne K. Rutherford
May 30, 2026

OPINION: If the phone rang tomorrow and the voice on the other end belonged to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, I’d let it go straight to voicemail. Newsletter Banner Weekly Newsletter…

Image: Maiki Sherman, pictured after being appointed TVNZ Political Editor in March 2024, becoming the first wāhine Māori to lead 1News political coverage. (File. / TVNZ)

Sam Hudson
May 23, 2026

OPINION: There is something deeply telling about the timing of Maiki Sherman’s latest award. After a wave of smear attacks, political pile-ons and online commentary aimed at Sherman’s credibility as…

News

Qiulae Wong is saying the quiet part out loud, and the political tribes hate it

Why did it take public scrutiny for Brooke van Velden to act?

Chris Bishop’s Fieldays attack against Labour collapsed the moment the facts arrived

Exposé: Behind New Zealand’s $12b Defence Plan lies a quiet strategic realignment

Matthew Tukaki questions Government’s transparency over email and document handling

The Government keeps finding money, just not for Firefighters

Chris Hipkins and Barbara Edmonds are making the strongest case against a coalition losing its way

If Christopher Luxon called me tomorrow, I wouldn’t pick up

Maiki Sherman’s win is bigger than the Substack smear campaign against her journalism