Articles from ‘elocal magazine’ in ‘Opinion’

Most people won’t notice it straight away. · You’ll still be able to book a flight. Planes will still be flying. Air New Zealand says the changes are “minor.” · But if you live outside the main centres — you’ll feel it. · A flight you used to take isn’t there anymore. Or it’s at a worse time. Or it suddenly costs a lot more than it did a few months ago. · And just like that, something small changes. · This Is How It Starts · Nelson loses…

In March 2022, at the height of New Zealand’s COVID response, a documentary was produced that told a very different story to the one dominating the nightly news. · It featured ordinary New Zealanders — not politicians, not commentators — but people who said they had been harmed following vaccination. Families. Workers. Young people. Parents. Within a short time, that documentary was effectively pushed off mainstream platforms. Removed.…

New Zealand’s economic narrative is shifting. · According to the latest insights from Kiwibank’s Kiwi Economics commentary, the country is emerging from a difficult period — with signs of recovery beginning to appear across housing, employment, and consumer activity. Lower interest rates are starting to “do their job,” easing pressure and lifting confidence. ([Kiwibank][1]) · On paper, the outlook looks encouraging. · But beneath the surface,…

Arguments about the current energy crisis have shifted. It is no longer just about what ministers are doing now. It is also about what they chose not to do when they had the chance. This morning brought the clearest accountability journalism to this debate. Kate MacNamara in the Herald and Edward Miller in The Post both zero in on the same issue: New Zealand was left more exposed than it needed to be, and ministers were warned about the…

In this episode of Duncan Garner, Editor-in-Chief, we dive into the mounting pressure on Labour leader Chris Hipkins. · Read my full take here: https://www.rova.nz/articles/opinion-... · Duncan argues that the case for his resignation is now black and white following revelations about COVID vaccine advice for 12 to 17-year-olds. We break down the timeline of a March cabinet paper that referenced health risks for teenagers, which Hipkins told…

The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Flights through the Middle East have been cancelled. Petrol has surged well past $3 a litre. · Four thousand shipping containers of New Zealand meat and dairy sit stranded on rerouted vessels. Tourism operators are fielding mass cancellations. The Reserve Bank Governor gave an emergency speech to business leaders on Tuesday. · The national conversation, understandably, is about issues such as fuel prices,…

The first four parts of this series traced the hollowing out of New Zealand from structure to consequence. We began with a country that was once highly sovereign in practical terms — productive, internally anchored, and comparatively resilient. We followed the monetary shifts, the capital liberalisation, the foreign banking dominance, the housing-led financialisation, the deindustrialisation, and finally the shock exposure of recent years. Par…

New Zealand did not simply “transition” its fuel system. · It restructured it. · And the blueprint for that restructuring—its logic, its drivers, and its consequences—is laid out plainly in the Cabinet paper authored by then Energy Minister Megan Woods. · What follows is not conjecture. · It is the system, described in its own words—and understood in full. · The System Before: A Country That Still Had a Stake · Before 2022, New Zealand…

Latest figures show an increase in national fuel stocks, with officials maintaining that supply remains stable — for now. · New data released by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) indicates that New Zealand’s fuel reserves have strengthened slightly, easing immediate concerns following recent warnings of potential supply disruption. · As of the latest update: · Petrol: 59.3 days of cover Diesel: 54.5 days of cover Jet…

A year ago, breaking up the electricity gentailers was protest-chant politics. Consumer advocates pushed it. So did some unions and the odd contrarian academic. It sounded too “radical”, too “anti-market”, too likely to be swatted away with the ritual phrase “investor confidence”. !Image Text · Over the past week, the proposal to break up New Zealand’s gentailers — splitting the big four power companies into separate generators and retailers —…