The Front Page

Yet another fire has burnt through hundreds of hectares of vegetation on Christchurch’s Port Hills. It would’ve been deja vu for residents – for those who experienced the 2017 fire – as the blaze forced hundreds to evacuate their homes and required round the clock action by firefighters to try and contain it. The fire has largely been contained – but as the planet gets hotter, how common could the...

New stats out last week drove home the message that New Zealand is in a population boom. While a record number of us departed our shores, New Zealand still added an additional 145,000 people - the largest population growth we’ve seen this century. So what’s driving this influx of people, and is it sustainable for a country that seems to be running out of money to grow further? Today on The Front P...

Custody battles are always complex and require courts to balance the needs of the child with both parents’ wishes.   When different legal jurisdictions are in play, that process becomes far more complicated.   The Hague Convention is a powerful international treaty signed by over 100 countries, which assumes the courts in the country where the child usually lives are best placed to make decisions...

A horror half-year result has exposed major issues for Fletcher Building. One of/The largest construction companies in New Zealand reported a 120-million-dollar loss earlier this week, causing their share prices to plummet and forcing multiple key resignations. Fletcher Building is not the only organisation in the industry reeling from losses, as a grim outlook of declining consents and rising bui...

The country’s infrastructure woes became very clear for commuters in our biggest city earlier this week.   Aucklanders were stunned after dozens of trains were delayed or cancelled right at rush hour, due to speed restrictions enforced by KiwiRail to combat overheated rail lines.  It’s yet another example of our aging infrastructure, and the dire need for us to invest in replacing and upgrading fa...

2023 was a year of dashed hopes for sports fans, with New Zealand missing the mark at four separate world cups.   Now, with a new All Blacks coach, stadium proposals for downtown Auckland, and the Olympics on the horizon, our athletes will be dusting themselves off and looking towards the future.  So will Scott Robertson be able to make his mark on the All Blacks? Can the Up the Wahs phenomenon ta...

Later this year when Americans return to the polls for their next Presidential election, they are likely to experience a bit of deja vu.  Number 46 Joe Biden is likely to face Number 45 Donald Trump in a rematch of 2020, and as we slowly edge closer to election day, both men find themselves facing intense criticism for very different reasons.  So will Biden be able to overcome concerns about his a...

Tension between Auckland Council and the Government has flared up once again. Mayor Wayne Brown is unhappy with the coalition Government’s decision to axe the Auckland fuel tax, arguing that transport projects are going to have to be cancelled – as he has ruled out increasing rates to pay for the funding shortfall. It comes as Auckland Transport faces criticism for eye-watering costs for level ped...

Taylor Swift is the most famous person in the world right now.  Whether she is shattering records with her globe-trotting world tour and accompanying movie, or using award show wins for one album to announce another, Swiftmania is unavoidable.  And that’s not going to change in the next few weeks, with her expected appearance at the Super Bowl alongside her sports star boyfriend, Travis Kelce, bef...

Aotearoa’s model for stubbing out cigarette use became world-renowned in 2022 when the Government passed legislation banning the sale of tobacco to anyone born after January 2009. However, some fear that progress has gone up in smoke after the coalition Government announced late last year it would repeal the smokefree laws. The plan was labelled ‘completely backwards’ by some public health experts...

Buckingham Palace stunned the world this week by announcing that King Charles has been diagnosed with a form of cancer.   The King had already made headlines after being treated for an enlarged prostate, a procedure that has led to this new and more serious diagnosis.   Only 17 months into his reign, what does this health crisis mean for our Head of State, and for the wider monarchy that now has t...

Wellington has found itself at odds with the new Government.   Residents of the capital city last year voted to send two Green MPs to Parliament, joining Green Party-endorsed Mayor Tory Whanau in representing the city.  While National swept to power in a blue wave in other parts of the country, the election result in Wellington was not exactly an endorsement of the new Government’s policies.   So,...

Interpretations of the Treaty of Waitangi – or Te Tiriti o Waitangi – have been some of the most important discussions in Aotearoa's history, but tensions over the documents have reached a fever pitch in recent months after the coalition Government agreed to support a Treaty Principals Bill to the select committee phase. Friction over its meaning is expected to be front and centre today, as politi...

Dancing, DJs and day drinking... A classic summer festival combo. But hand in hand with the music and partying comes a lesser-known festival favourite – waste. Be it beer cans, empty chip pottles or portaloos, events have a habit of creating waste, and in some cases leaving the whenua in a bad state. This was laid bare last month when dozens of tents and piles of garbage was abandoned at the North...

For years, the last Government faced constant criticism and attack from National that it wasn’t doing enough to deal with an apparent crime wave spreading across the country. Now, the burden of keeping law and order in check rests with National and their coalition partners. This week, Police Minister Mark Mitchell has had to respond to smash and grab robberies and a supermarket stabbing, but also...

Defence Minister Judith Collins will be meeting with her Australian counterpart today as both sides of the Tasman look to move towards ‘interoperability’ and working as one.  This meeting comes after more details were revealed about the poor state of our military by the Herald this week.   The NZSAS and the wider Defence Force are losing people in droves, and officials are doing their best to thro...

Over the last three decades, six people have disappeared from the Piha area on Auckland’s west coast, all never to be seen again. While none of the bodies have been found, coroners have ruled most of the cases likely to be accidents or self-inflicted, and Police have treated them all separately. Yet for some, three men and three women vanishing from the same area feels like too much of a coinciden...

The cost-of-living crisis has come for the world’s biggest streaming services.  Neon earlier this month became the first service in New Zealand to include ads on the platform, after Netflix and Disney Plus kick started the trend internationally last year.   It comes as what was a major growth industry a few years ago slows, with the services starting to slash budgets, and in some cases wiping unde...

It’s a year on from the Interislander’s terrifying Kaitaki incident. The ferry lost power in Cook Strait with 864 people on board and issued a mayday call as it drifted towards Wellington’s rocky south coast. Luckily, disaster was narrowly avoided, and there was some comfort that KiwiRail had new mega ferries ordered and on the way to replace the ageing Interislander fleet. But fast-forward to tod...

Last year, Auckland was shaken by a weather event on the city’s anniversary weekend that seemingly no one saw coming. Four people lost their lives in the shock weather event, while countless other homes were flooded or destroyed, with those affected still picking up the pieces a year later. Auckland Council and then-freshly elected mayor Wayne Brown came under fire for their handling of the crisis...

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced this week that New Zealand is sending a six-person team to Yemen to provide maritime security in the Red Sea. It comes after weeks of attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial ships navigating the route, and subsequent retaliatory air strikes by the US and UK. All of this is unfolding against the backdrop of the ongoing Gaza conflict, with Israeli Prime Mini...

High inflation, job insecurity, and interest rates through the roof have been plaguing New Zealanders over the last few years. While it looks like we are turning a post-Covid corner, new threats are on the horizon as global conflicts continue, and questions remain over what the new Government's plans for fixing the economy actually are. From house prices and rental costs to migration woes, this ye...

The National-led coalition has only been in office for two months, but already its work around Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Te Reo Maori has prompted backlash across Aotearoa.  Last Friday a Ministry of Justice paper was leaked warning the Government’s proposed legislation to define the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi could be “highly contentious”.  Part of the document suggested this was due to th...

This week, our politicians are heading back to work... not that there has actually been much of a break. International crises like the Gaza conflict have needed the Government’s attention over the summer, and while we’ve been soaking up the sun, ministers have been back at their desks for a while now, sifting through reports and cancelled projects as the coalition looks to advance its 100 day plan...

Just when you thought Wellington’s water woes couldn’t get any worse, they have.   The city is facing severe water shortages with warnings residents may have to boil their drinking water and some suburbs could run completely dry.   People have queued for hours to get their hands on emergency water tanks.   It comes as the city is losing 44 per cent of its treated drinking water to leaks, making fo...