News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Former All Black Campbell Johnstone Speaks Out

Former All Black Campbell Johnstone Speaks Out

In January, former All Black Campbell Johnstone, 43, made headlines around the world by speaking publicly about his sexuality for the first time. It was a watershed moment for the game and a deeply…

Without Frank Worsley the Endurance Story Would Likely Have Been Very Different

Without Frank Worsley the Endurance Story Would Likely Have Been Very Different

Ernest Shackleton gets credit for rescuing his doomed Antarctica voyage – but it’s his navigator New Zealander Frank Worsley’s leadership that saved their lives, Daniella McCahey and The Conversation editors write in an article…

Time to Rethink the Ideal of the Indigenous

Time to Rethink the Ideal of the Indigenous

“Many groups who identify as Indigenous don’t claim to be first peoples; many who did come first don’t claim to be Indigenous. Can the concept escape its colonial past?” Manvir Singh asks in an…

How Quake Survivors Must Deal with Lasting Trauma

How Quake Survivors Must Deal with Lasting Trauma

Research has confirmed that natural hazards such as the magnitude 7.8 temblor in Turkey-Syria lead to acute trauma and an increased risk for chronic conditions such as anxiety and depression in survivors. Psychiatrist and…

Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger Danny de Kek Speaks Up

Crypto Ponzi Scheme Avenger Danny de Kek Speaks Up

From his home in New Zealand, the YouTuber Danny de Hek assails what he calls a dangerous and deceptive scheme, one rant at a time. David Segal interviews de Hek for The New York…

NZ Bans Cigarette Sales for Those Born After 2009

NZ Bans Cigarette Sales for Those Born After 2009

New Zealand has adopted a steadily rising tobacco-purchase age and mandated the near-elimination of nicotine from all cigarettes sold in the country, pushing forward on a plan to create a smoke-free nation as other…

Auckland Couple with New Baby Looks Ahead

Auckland Couple with New Baby Looks Ahead

Tuesday 15 November 2022 marked the day that the global population reached 8 billion, according to the United Nations. The impact of this is far-reaching, putting additional pressure on already stretched resources and challenging…

Four Day Week’s Charlotte Lockhart Speaks to CNN

Four Day Week’s Charlotte Lockhart Speaks to CNN

In a recent CNN Audio podcast from the series, Downside Up, New Zealander Charlotte Lockhart, founder of the non-profit 4 Day Week Global, joins Americans Anne Helen Petersen, author of Out of Office…

Cultural Champ Ken Gorbey Relishes Ninth Decade

Cultural Champ Ken Gorbey Relishes Ninth Decade

Arts alumnus Ken Gorbey tells Megan Fowlie, reporting for Auckland University’s Ingenio magazine, that he is treating his ninth decade as he would a museum exhibition: he’s determined to make it an engaging experience. The…

Diary of Polar Explorer Clarence Hare Published

Diary of Polar Explorer Clarence Hare Published

Early explorer New Zealander Clarence Hare, who survived being lost in Antarctica long before retiring to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, has had his famous diary published for the first time, 55 years after his death,…

Descendants of Moriori Call for More Recognition

Descendants of Moriori Call for More Recognition

“Of all the peoples in the world who suffered during the course of the spread of English across the globe over the last 400 years, one of the groups that suffered the most were…

Even in Liberal-Leaning NZ Anglican Church Divided

Even in Liberal-Leaning NZ Anglican Church Divided

Divisions over the acceptance of homosexuality have raised doubts about whether the Anglican Church can remain united, a conflict that has played out both on a global level and inside even liberal-leaning countries like…

How the World’s Most Spongy City Tackles Floods

How the World’s Most Spongy City Tackles Floods

Auckland was recently named the most spongy global city in a report by multinational architecture and design firm Arup, thanks to its geography, soil type, and urban design – but experts warn it may…

Support for Aotearoa Name Change Gathers Momentum

Support for Aotearoa Name Change Gathers Momentum

As the people of New Zealand confront their nation’s troubled past with colonisation and denying rights to Māori, a name change is being considered as a part of its own reckoning, NPR correspondents report. A…

Natural History Museum Returns Moriori Remains

Natural History Museum Returns Moriori Remains

London’s Natural History Museum has returned 111 Kōimi T’chakat Moriori (Moriori skeletal remains) to New Zealand, as part of the largest single repatriation of such remains to date. The remains of the indigenous people of…

New Zealand’s Borders Open for Business

New Zealand’s Borders Open for Business

After more than two years, New Zealand is fully reopening its borders and welcoming back all international travellers, Charmaine Jacob reports in a CNBC story. The country is reopening on 31 July, some three…

Helen Clark Co-Chairs New Global Health Commission

Helen Clark Co-Chairs New Global Health Commission

A new global health commission established by London think tank Chatham House, co-chaired by former prime minister Helen Clark and former president of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete, seeks to strengthen worldwide medical systems to ensure…

Allbirds to Support US Staff Seeking Abortions

Allbirds to Support US Staff Seeking Abortions

New Zealand-American company Allbirds says it will cover the costs of any US-based staff who need to travel for an abortion after a Supreme Court ruling led to bans in some states, New Zealand…

Innovative New Zealanders on Forbes Under 30 List

Innovative New Zealanders on Forbes Under 30 List

Four young New Zealanders have made this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list. They are: founder of the Conversion Therapy Action Group Shaneel Lal, 21; Emily Au-Young, 29, co-founder of period social enterprise,…

New Zealand’s Young People Taking Flight

New Zealand’s Young People Taking Flight

New Zealand has reported a net loss of migrants for the second year in a row as more residents, particularly young adults, decided to leave the country amid the rising cost of living, the…

Climate Risk Potential for New Zealand Hydropower

Climate Risk Potential for New Zealand Hydropower

With climate change set to bring more severe and frequent storms to some parts of the world and an increased risk of drought to others, for countries like New Zealand which relies on hydropower,…

Blue Plaque to Honour Margaret Scott Hawthorne

Blue Plaque to Honour Margaret Scott Hawthorne

Trailblazing Irish campaigner Margaret Scott Hawthorne who made “an outstanding contribution” to women’s rights in New Zealand has been recognised with a ‘Blue Plaque’, which was unveiled on the Main Street in her birthplace,…

Temel Ataçocuğu Walks for Peace Back to Mosque

Temel Ataçocuğu Walks for Peace Back to Mosque

It’s been three years since Christchurch faced a horrifying attack – and now survivor Temel Ataçocuğu has finally returned to the scene of the crime, Mehek Mazhar reports in a story for CBC Radio. Ataçocuğu…

Hundreds Held After New Zealand-Led Investigation

Hundreds Held After New Zealand-Led Investigation

A two-year investigation led by the Department of Internal Affairs in New Zealand has resulted in the arrests of hundreds of people around the globe on charges of possessing and sharing child sexual abuse…

Thinking Differently with Alice Boyes

Thinking Differently with Alice Boyes

Greymouth-born former clinical psychologist, writer Alice Boyes, speaks with the UK’s New Statesman about the value of thinking differently, border restrictions in New Zealand and her experience of IVF. Boyes, who is now the…

New Zealanders in Vietnam Thrive Despite Covid

New Zealanders in Vietnam Thrive Despite Covid

As Covid continues to cut a disruptive swath through Asia, expatriate communities have been hit hard. In the unique situation of living far from home in Vietnam, a trio of New Zealanders shared their…

2-Metre Peter Poster Makes London Museum

2-Metre Peter Poster Makes London Museum

Two years ago Christchurch medical radiation technologist Peter Dooley loaned his 2-metre body to a Covid-19 social-distancing campaign, Cecile Meier reports for Stuff. Now the posters – featuring him lying down or spreading his…

Commentator Niki Bezzant Writes on Menopause

Commentator Niki Bezzant Writes on Menopause

An edited extract from New Zealander Niki Bezzant’s book This Changes Everything: The Honest Guide to Menopause and Perimenopause, was recently published in The Guardian. “For centuries the symptoms of menopause were documented, but women…

Revival for Moriori Pushed Close to Cultural Death

Revival for Moriori Pushed Close to Cultural Death

On the windswept coast of Chatham Island stands a statue of a thick-jowled, cheerful man, his gaze fixed on the endless sea stretched before him, Pete McKenzie writes for The New York Times. The memorial…

Should the World Follow NZ in Banning Tobacco?

Should the World Follow NZ in Banning Tobacco?

“If you’re a smoker who wants to indulge your habit while gazing over the mountains of the South Pacific, you’d do well to move fast. New Zealand has announced plans to become the first…

Political Activist Rewi Alley Remembered

Political Activist Rewi Alley Remembered

The 124th anniversary of the birth of Rewi Alley was marked on 2 December, a New Zealand man who first stepped foot on China’s mainland nearly 100 years ago. “His birthday is still significant…

Civil Liberties in the Covid Age Discussed

Civil Liberties in the Covid Age Discussed

“Vaccines, their mandates and certificates have ignited heated debate about civil liberties in New Zealand. Add MIQ, climate change, the government’s Three Waters policy and proposed hate speech legislation, and it’s easy to see…

How New Zealand Used Humour to Reform Police

How New Zealand Used Humour to Reform Police

“Every year, American police officers kill roughly 1000 people. By comparison, New Zealand police officers kill, on average, about eight people per decade. Even if you adjust for the differences in population size, the…

New Zealanders Overseas Talk Being Behind Borders

New Zealanders Overseas Talk Being Behind Borders

When Jacinda Ardern closed New Zealand’s borders, chasing a zero-Covid policy, many New Zealanders were effectively locked out of their own country, Molly Codyre writes, having interviewed “those left behind” for an article published in the…

Koru Kids CEO Says UK Childcare Needs Rethink

Koru Kids CEO Says UK Childcare Needs Rethink

Women have borne the brunt of the pandemic both at work and home. Fact. But now, with spiralling childcare costs and lack of effective government support for childcare services, parents and carers are under…

Aoraki Mt Cook Reveals Last Images of a Mountaineer

Aoraki Mt Cook Reveals Last Images of a Mountaineer

Two decades ago Richard Stiles escaped an avalanche on Aoraki Mount Cook, but friend Steve Robinson wasn’t so lucky. Now the mountain has given up some of its secrets, Tory Shepherd writes for The…

Is NZ the Best Place to Survive Global Collapse?

Is NZ the Best Place to Survive Global Collapse?

Two English researchers have found that New Zealand is best poised to stay up and running as climate change continues to wreak global havoc, Heather Murphy writes for The New York Times, but other…

New Zealand Ships Covid Vaccines to Tokelau

New Zealand Ships Covid Vaccines to Tokelau

Tokelau, one of the most inaccessible atolls in the world, has just received 12 precious boxes of vaccine delivered by the New Zealand Defence Force, Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson writes for The Guardian. Inside the boxes…

Older New Zealanders Join Climate Change Fight

Older New Zealanders Join Climate Change Fight

On his early morning bike rides to school, David Yockney would deliberately seek out the crunch and splash of the ice-hardened puddles. It was a winter joy he loved, and one he took for…

Ambassador to Korea Philip Turner Backs Diversity

Ambassador to Korea Philip Turner Backs Diversity

New Zealand Ambassador to Korea Philip Turner, the first openly gay ambassador to Korea whose same-sex spouse is recognised by the Korean government, was interviewed recently by Korea Times journalist Kwon Mee-yoo about New…

Jenny McGee Resigns from NHS Citing Disrespect

Jenny McGee Resigns from NHS Citing Disrespect

Invercargill-born nurse Jenny McGee, who cared for Boris Johnson when he was gravely ill with Covid-19, says she has handed in her resignation, such is her disillusionment with the “lack of respect” shown by…

Why Billionaires Are Snapping up Second Homes in NZ

Why Billionaires Are Snapping up Second Homes in NZ

While the rest of us may have to wait until 2022 to be allowed in to New Zealand, when the majority of the country has been vaccinated and its success rate has had a…

Drug Testing in New Zealand Without the Penalties

Drug Testing in New Zealand Without the Penalties

New Zealand has enshrined into law a one-year experiment allowing drug users to have illegal substances tested without penalty to ensure their authenticity and to weed out dangerous chemicals, journalist Natasha Frost reports for…

New Zealand’s Emphatic Covid-19 Approach

New Zealand’s Emphatic Covid-19 Approach

“In New Zealand, investigators traced an outbreak to a 50-second window of exposure. The case might be a lesson for countries contemplating a future with no Covid-19,” WIRED’s science editor Matt Reynolds reports. “Authorities investigating…

A Portal Into a Universe Without Covid

A Portal Into a Universe Without Covid

“Concerts, beaches, crowds: Videos of New Zealand enjoying its summer feel like peering into an alternate reality,” Dublin-based New Zealander Brian Ng writes in a story published by The New York Times. “While much of…

Victorian Government Appoints Sir David Carruthers

Victorian Government Appoints Sir David Carruthers

Former chair of the New Zealand Independent Police Conduct Authority and judge of New Zealand family and youth courts, Sir David Carruthers, has been appointed by the Victorian government to oversee the implementation of…

Christchurch Has Come Long Way Since Deadly Quake

Christchurch Has Come Long Way Since Deadly Quake

Christchurch had survived earthquakes before, but the seismic jolt that hit on February 22, 2011, had a shallow epicentre of just 5km on a previously unknown fault that lay directly under the city. The…

What If the UK Had Shut as Quickly as NZ?

What If the UK Had Shut as Quickly as NZ?

“The UK’s physical isolation sets it apart from its continental neighbours, but could its island status have protected it from the full horror of Covid-19, had it closed borders in early 2020, as New…

New Zealanders in Wintry Berlin Cope with Covid

New Zealanders in Wintry Berlin Cope with Covid

Artist Ruth Buchanan is one of a number of New Zealanders “holed up” in Berlin, “in the middle of a long, dreary Covid winter”. Former DJ Emma Jean Gilkson, writing for The Spinoff, is…

New Zealand Tops Lowy List with Covid Response

New Zealand Tops Lowy List with Covid Response

New analysis undertaken by Australian think tank the Lowy Institute has found that New Zealand has handled the coronavirus pandemic more effectively than any other country in the world, Stephen Dziedzic reports for ABC…

Our Covid Response the Best of a Bad Year

Our Covid Response the Best of a Bad Year

Covid may have made 2020 a year to forget, but amid the gloom there were plenty of positive moments, with countries like New Zealand and led by women having “systematically and significantly better” Covid-19…

Time to Reimagine Symbols of Identity

Time to Reimagine Symbols of Identity

“What’s with those jandals, hokey pokey ice-creams, buzzy bees, Swanndris and gumboots? Far from being random and unrelated objects, these icons of so-called Kiwiana tell a story of late 20th-century nostalgia at a moment…

US TV Host Stephen Colbert Revisits 2019 NZ Trip

US TV Host Stephen Colbert Revisits 2019 NZ Trip

Stephen Colbert, host of US television’s The Late Show, has shared footage from his 2019 travels to New Zealand on a recent episode, including a Lord of the Rings-themed adventure and bungee jumping off a…

Kiwi YouTube gaming comedy trio levels up

Kiwi YouTube gaming comedy trio levels up

New Zealand-based YouTube comedy trio Viva La Dirt League – which is behind popular video game skit series like Epic NPC Man and Game Logic – has signed with Creative Artists…

Unilever NZ to follow lead of Perpetual Guardian to Trial 4-day Work Week

Unilever NZ to follow lead of Perpetual Guardian to Trial 4-day Work Week

Unilever New Zealand will be trialling a four day workweek for one year, representing a fundamental change in the way the company views their workforce, reports Azi Paybarah for The New York Times. All 81…

Turn Disappointments of 2020 into Forest of Hope

Turn Disappointments of 2020 into Forest of Hope

To say 2020 has been a year full of disappointments is an understatement, but New Zealand is hoping to inspire some positivity for this coming year with its Forest of Hope campaign, Jessica Poitevien…