The Waipareira Trust is taking the Department of Internal Affairs to court in a bid to stop its deregistration as a charity, following a years-long investigation into hundreds of thousands of dollars funnelled into John Tamihere’s political campaigns.
The trust’s spending on Tamihere’s failed 2019 Auckland mayoral bid and the 2020 Te Pāti Māori campaign, which he co-led, was later reclassified as a no-interest, related-party loan.
Wellington mayoral candidate Ray Chung has admitted sending a tawdry email making unsubstantiated claims Mayor Tory Whanau took part in a drug-fuelled New Year’s Eve sex orgy.
The story, which Whanau flatly denies, was passed to three councillors and included graphic descriptions such as “tempestuous sex” and “pendulous soft breasts.”
New Zealand First has surged past both ACT and the Greens in the latest Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll, placing Winston Peters’ party just shy of 10 percent and possibly signalling a shift in political leverage within the governing coalition.
The poll, conducted July 2-6, shows NZ First jumping 3.7 points to 9.8 percent. ACT remains stagnant on 9.1 percent, while the Green Party trails slightly at 9.4.
Pseudonymous writer SpiderCatNZ questions the widely repeated claim that New Zealand’s COVID response “saved” 20,000 to 30,000 lives, arguing the figure is “a narrative” built on speculative modelling rather than hard data.
“Claiming that a given number of lives were saved implies a counterfactual scenario,” they write. “But since we cannot directly observe this alternate timeline… we must simulate it.” These simulations, SpiderCatNZ argues, depend on assumptions about virus severity, health system strain and public behaviour, often reflecting the modeller’s worldview.
Waikato Regional Council has voted to leave Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ), joining a growing list of councils withdrawing from the peak body. Councillors voted 6–5 to exit, citing a $122,000 annual membership fee, concerns over LGNZ’s relevance to regional councils, and its perceived “left-leaning” political stance.
Strategy and Policy chair Warren Maher said LGNZ focused too much on district issues and took a “left-leaning” approach that hindered cooperation with central government. “Every time the government puts something out … LGNZ seem to take the road against it,” Maher said.
Newly released police documents show former Justice Minister Kiri Allan verbally abused officers, physically resisted arrest, and called her prosecution a “political stunt” after crashing her car in July 2023 while over the drink-drive limit.
Despite the behaviour described in the documents, then Prime Minister Chris Hipkins did not sack Allan. She was allowed to resign her ministerial portfolios the next day and later quietly exited politics.
Dame Jacinda Ardern has confirmed she is willing to give evidence to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into New Zealand’s COVID response.
A spokesperson said the former prime minister, now based in the United States, “has every intention of providing evidence, if asked,” and is in discussions about how best to do so. She agreed to share her previous testimony.
