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…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
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…
Geoff Andrews, Kiwi Connector in the Big Apple
Geoff Andrews, a leader and organizer of the New Zealand community in New York City, died on December 30, 2021, at his home in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, aged 76. He lived in New…
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
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…
Booker Prize Winner Keri Hulme Always a Storyteller
Keri Hulme, the New Zealander whose 1984 novel The Bone People won the Man Booker Prize, has died at her home in Waimate, South Canterbury. She was 74. Hulme worked as a tobacco picker,…
Newsreader Oriini Kaipara Presents World-First
Newshub broadcaster Oriini Kaipara has made the headlines herself in Britain with the Evening Standard reporting the Whakatane-born journalist is the first person to present a prime time news programme with a moko kauae. Kaipara,…
Predator Free 2050 a Force for Nature
“Across the world conservation groups, researchers and volunteers are working to combat the key drivers of biodiversity loss identified by scientists,” Max Benato writes for The Guardian in a story that looks at “five…
On the Hunt for Lost South Island Kōkako
Birdwatchers around the world are being called on to turn detective and help in a search for some of the rarest birds on Earth, including New Zealand’s South Island kōkako, last seen in 2007. The…
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
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
“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…
Haast’s Eagle’s Hunting and Eating Habits Examined
For more than a century, scientists have wondered whether New Zealand’s huge carnivorous Haast’s eagle, that went extinct around 600 years ago, was more of a predatory eagle or a gut-raiding vulture. Now we…
Antarctic Explorers’ Logbook Found at MetService
“Priceless” artefacts linked to Antarctic explorers Ernest Shackleton and Captain Robert Falcon Scott have been unearthed in a surprise discovery within a dark storage room of New Zealand’s meteorological service, Eva Corlett reports for…
Naming NZ Aotearoa Meaningful Step for Travellers
The Māori Party has launched a petition to revert to the country’s original name of Aotearoa. In an opinion piece for Condé Nast Traveler, Māori authors Stacey and Scotty Morrison say travellers don’t need…
Rare Sea Lions Are Back and Crashing Sports Games
After their populations were decimated by hunters, New Zealand’s sea lions are returning to the coasts – sometimes surprising locals by turning up in unexpected places, Charlotte Graham-McLay reports for The New York Times. They…
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…
Victory for Bat in Bird of the Year Competition
The winner of New Zealand’s Bird of the Year 2021 contest has been announced and it’s the country’s only native land mammal – the pekapeka-tou-roa long-tailed bat. The UK’s Independent newspaper reports. The bat stole…
UK Reaches Agreement on New Zealand Trade Deal
The UK has brokered a trade agreement with New Zealand that will cut tariffs on clothing, buses and wine, and, it hopes, lay a foundation for joining a trans-Pacific economic bloc of 11 countries,…
Revitalising Te Reo Māori Via Music
When musician and producer Dame Hinewehi Mohi, one of the primary engines behind the musical Māori revival, performed the New Zealand national anthem at the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Māori rather than English,…
Rēnata West Searches US for Spirit of His Ancestors
When Rēnata West moved from New Zealand to the US in 2016, he discovered something unexpected: the path of his great grandmother, who had travelled the same route more than 100 years ago. West…
How the Motunui Epa Returned to Rightful Owners
Throughout its reign, the British Empire stole a lot of stuff, Marc Fennell and Simon Leo Brown report for ABC Radio National. Stuff the British Stole podcast is a series about the not-so-polite history…
New Zealanders Struggling to Find a Home
New rules to curb investment took effect this month, but our Human Rights Commission says successive governments have failed us. Sasha Borissenko spoke to some New Zealanders about their experience of finding a home…
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…
John Edwards Named UK’s Information Commissioner
British MPs have approved New Zealander John Edwards as next Information Commissioner for the UK, Jamie Harris reports for the Evening Standard. Edwards faced questions from the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee early in…
Long-Legged Penguin Fossils Add to Rich Record
The discovery of a complete fossilised ancient giant penguin skeleton in the upper Kawhia Harbour, Waikato is helping scientists fill in some gaps in natural history, Sofia Quaglia reports for The Guardian. Scientists have concluded…
RBNZ Turning Heads Around the Globe
“New Zealand is tiny by economic standards, but it’s a giant in central banking circles,” Forbes senior contributor William Pesek writes. “While working in Washington in the mid-to-late 1990s, I was struck by how…
Billy Apple® a Transformative Pop Artist
Born in Auckland, Barrie George Bates, aka Billy Apple, was “a pioneer in the conceptual art movement whose influence spanned art scenes in London, New York, and New Zealand”. Apple died on 5 September…
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…
Labour Giant Michael Cullen Committed to NZ
Sir Michael Cullen, Helen Clark’s deputy prime minister and the father of New Zealand superannuation, has died in Whakatāne aged 76, Ben McKay reports for a story published in The Canberra Times. Prime Minister Jacinda…
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…
Chunk of Ancient Supercontinent Found Under NZ
As the California heat blazed outside in the summer of 2018, Rose Turnbull sat in the cool confines of a windowless basement sorting through grains of fine sand. A geologist based at New Zealand’s…
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
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…
Pounamu Jade Aikman Wins Fulbright Award
Pounamu Jade Aikman, who finished his PhD on racism and police violence against Ngāi Tūhoe, is this year’s recipient of the Fulbright-Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga Scholar Award and will spend five months at…
England Football Looks to Owen Eastwood
In a Guardian article, UK-based lawyer turned performance coach New Zealander Owen Eastwood (Ngāi Tahu), who has been working with the England football team, explains his role in building a sense of belonging and…
Integrating Mātauranga into UNESCO’s Work
“Like many Indigenous peoples around the world, Māori have developed their understanding of their environment through close observation of the landscape and its behaviours over the course of many generations,” Vogue Business sustainability editor…
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…
We Show Australia How to Tackle Housing Dilemmas
“While the debate about house prices is stuck in a holding pattern in Australia (with governments too scared to do anything too radical for fear of upsetting homeowners, and regulators averse to dealing with…
Celebrate Astronomically-Based Matariki
A story about Māori New Year, when the constellation Matariki is first visible in the morning sky, features in Forbes this week. The date of the inaugural Matariki public holiday has been announced by…
Insect Tracking Drones Boost Rare Bug Conservation
A “swarm” of bug-tracking drones and tiny radars are being developed at the University of Canterbury to help conservation of rare insects in New Zealand, Phil Mercer reports for Voice of America. Researchers hope it…
Economist Adulation Has Auckland Residents Puzzled
It boasts beautiful beaches, a temperate climate and a multicultural population that has fostered an eclectic mix of food, music and arts. But is Auckland, a remote outpost in the South Pacific, really the world’s…
New Zealanders Flock Home to the Edge
More than 50,000 New Zealanders who have returned home during the pandemic, offering the country a rare opportunity to win back some of its best and brightest, Charlotte Graham-McClay writes in a feature published…
Study Suggests Māori First to Encounter Antarctica
Māori explorers could have been the first humans to set eyes on Antarctica as far back as the 7th century, a new study suggests, even though for the past 200 years, tales of discovering…
Zealandia a Nature Reserve with a 500-Year Plan
“In the past 30 years, a wilderness has grown up in the heart of New Zealand’s capital – so successfully its neighbours now complain about the raucous racket of rare birds. But this is…
He Poroporoaki mo Carl Meredith Bradley. BA. MA Ph.D
Carl Bradley died suddenly last week. Just 52 years of age. He was a friend and colleague. Carl was an Aikido 4th Dan black belt and on an upward trajectory in his sport. He…
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…
PM Tops Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders List
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, 40, takes the number one spot on Fortune magazine’s annual world’s greatest leaders list. The magazine’s editors write: “Jacinda Ardern had already sealed her position as a great leader early in her…
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…
Biden Backs NZ’s Stance Against Online Extremism
The United States “will join the Christchurch Call to Action” to stamp out violent extremism online, the White House has said, two years after the Trump administration declined to do so. The Biden administration spokeswoman…
Ottawa Could Use a Leader like Jacinda Ardern
“Jacinda Ardern just keeps getting it right. Since being elected as New Zealand’s prime minister almost four years ago, the young politician has been leading a progressive policy with an impressive combination of determination,…
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
“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…
New Zealand Approves Paid Leave After Miscarriage
New Zealand’s Parliament has unanimously approved legislation that would give couples who suffer a miscarriage or stillbirth three days of paid leave, putting the country in the vanguard of those providing such benefits, journalist…
New Zealand Renews Laos UXO Response Funding
New Zealand will provide an additional four years of funding for the UXO sector in Laos through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) from 2021 to 2024. New Zealand will continue its support to UXO…
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…
