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Illegal dumping continues to plague Auckland streets, parks and neighbourhoods, costing ratepayers millions of dollars every year while leaving residents frustrated and communities blighted by mountains of rubbish. By elocal News Desk · New figures obtained by RNZ reveal Auckland Council workers collected 1,926 tonnes of illegally dumped waste during the last financial year, making Auckland by far New Zealand's largest dumping problem. The…

Auckland households are facing another significant increase in living costs, with Watercare announcing a 7.2 percent increase in water and wastewater charges from 1 July, just days after Auckland Council approved an average rates increase of 7.9 percent. By elocal News Desk · The combined increases will add further pressure to household budgets already stretched by higher mortgage costs, insurance premiums, food prices and general inflation. · …

For years New Zealand First has been politically underestimated. Written off. Declared finished. · Told its support base was ageing out. · Yet somehow, election after election, Winston Peters keeps proving political commentators wrong. Now, as New Zealand heads toward the 2026 General Election, a growing number of voters are beginning to ask a serious question: · What if New Zealand First is no longer simply a coalition partner? · What if it…

For years, New Zealanders have been told that giving unelected representatives voting rights on council committees was about inclusion, partnership, and better decision-making. This week, the Government effectively said something many ratepayers have been saying for a long time. · Advice can be appointed. · Power should be elected. · The Government has announced that voting rights on council committees will be restricted to elected councillors.…

This morning the Children's Commissioner and a cross-sector coalition called on the Government to build an independent online-safety regulator. They are too late to ask. The Government is already building one, and it has not waited for a law. Budget 2026 allocated $30.7 million to the Department of Internal Affairs over four years to "develop policy and possible regulatory options to improve children's online safety, subject to future policy…

The Free Speech Union has backed the Crown's bid to lift the permanent name suppression of a member of a wealthy New Zealand family convicted of possessing and importing more than 11,000 files of child sexual abuse material. He was sentenced in August 2025 to two years and five months' imprisonment, with his name, his family's name, and the family company all permanently suppressed. The High Court heard the Crown's application on 2 June and…

The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance has slammed the Government for exempting the Independent Māori Statutory Board (IMSB) from a law change to ban unelected members from voting on council decisions. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE · Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesman Josh Van Veen said: · "This morning on Newstalk ZB, Simon Watts said, quite rightly, that it is wrong for unelected members to have voting rights. So why should Auckland's local democracy be the…

According to independent journalist Greg Reese, some of humanity's oldest monuments, myths and calendars may contain warnings about recurring global catastrophes and the cyclical rise and fall of civilizations. By INR International Desk · In his latest presentation, Ancient Warnings to Survive the Great Reset, Reese examines a collection of historical, astronomical and esoteric traditions that appear to point toward a repeating cycle of…

Economist and former UN adviser Jeffrey Sachs says the conflict with Iran has evolved far beyond a regional war and is now a struggle over the future shape of the international system itself. By INR International Desk · Speaking with Lena Petrova on the World Affairs In Context podcast, Sachs argued that Washington's objectives in the conflict extend well beyond Iran and are rooted in a broader effort to preserve American global dominance at a…

Russia has issued one of its strongest warnings yet about the future of the international order, arguing that the world is moving dangerously close to a global confrontation as the post-World War II security framework comes under increasing strain. By INR International Desk · Addressing the United Nations Security Council during a debate on upholding the UN Charter, Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia,…