Taking MIQ to court was meant to be something of a reckoning for New Zealand’s contentious border control policy. In the end it may be only a footnote to the bigger story.
Government modelling projects a mere 0.3% increase on current GDP when the NZ-UK free trade agreement comes into full force. Does that justify the concessions the deal makes?
New Zealand can expect more days above 25℃, the threshold for heat stress in livestock, and fewer frost days, which will affect crops like kiwifruit that need winter chilling.
The sudden death of one of the country’s greatest sportsmen has come as a shocking blow because in Shane Warne we found a brilliant but flawed character we couldn’t help but love.
Globally, about a billion people living in coastal cities are at risk of climate hazards. The impacts go well beyond the coast and could affect us all, with disruptions to supply chains and trade.
New Zealand has a high concentration of extremist alt-right groups relative to similar countries. The challenge now is to head off hate crime and violence.
There is a difference between ‘negative liberty’ and ‘positive liberty’. Real freedom involves unavoidable trade-offs between the two.
With access to testing limited and without other ways of measuring likely infection rates, New Zealand’s confirmed COVID cases are likely to be just a fraction of the total.
Political activists on both the left and right have long appropriated the rhetoric and symbolism of Nazism and the Holocaust, a tactic usually based on ignorance and false equivalence.
International law has been breaking down for over two decades, meaning New Zealand must find new ways to promote peace and security.
As the impacts and costs of climate change increase over time, New Zealand’s financial systems could become less stable and the government less able to support those affected.
Not everyone voicing suspicion of mainstream media is a conspiracy theorist – we need to guard against the far right monopolising the terms of media criticism.
The prime minister and police have asked that children be removed from the protest at parliament – but the situation is legally and logistically complex.
Now that Omicron infection is widespread, the government could improve trust by phasing out travel restrictions and border isolation and reviewing vaccine mandates to ensure they are proportionate.
What Nato and its allies do next will be vital to the future security of Europe and the rest of the world.
The construction sector has long suffered from lack of co-ordination, poor planning and vulnerability to shocks. If the country’s building and infrastructure needs are to be met, that has to change.
Imagine if every meal you ate included food previously chewed by someone else. That’s what’s happening to the air we breathe in shared indoor spaces.
The tertiary sector’s air miles may be dominated by a small number of hyper-mobile senior academics, but studies show virtual conferences can improve diversity, career development and emissions.
Each layer of COVID-19 protection available to adults has significant gaps for children. We need a family-centred approach to protect their well-being in this outbreak.
Disruption at each stage of supply chain – production, transportation and distribution – is forcing New Zealand to ‘import’ more inflation. There will be no quick fix in 2022.
