Perhaps the timing was simply a coincidence. But not long after central government firmed up its intention to take water infrastructure away from local government, and its intention to shift planning up from local councils to regional bodies, Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta opened a review of local government. Read more

A rowboat drifts at sea, water seeping in from a hole in its side. Its captain has engineered all kinds of ingenious devices to bail out the boat and to dry sodden things. Read more

The Royal Commission announced this week will not help voters provide better-informed brickbats or bouquets in 2023. The inquiry will focus instead on lessons for future pandemics and will report back well after the election. Read more

There’s a fundamental arbitrariness to almost any voting age. Except one. Read more

Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence. Even still, it is hard to see how policy could be less friendly to entry by grocers like Aldi or Lidl if it were intentional. Read more

Last week, the government released the first parts of its proposed overhaul of the resource management system. If passed into law, the Natural and Built Environment Bill will, over a transition period, replace the Resource Management Act. Read more

The main legislation for the government’s proposed reform of the Resource Management System has over 850 sections and was released only three days ago. Critical parts of the framework are still missing. Read more

At about three in the morning, three days after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, our family got into the car. Power and water had been out at our South New Brighton home since Tuesday’s earthquake. Read more