News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Labour Giant Michael Cullen Committed to NZ

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?

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…

Nine News Legend Brian Henderson Will Live On

Nine News Legend Brian Henderson Will Live On

Television and radio pioneer Dunedin-born Brian Henderson, who presented Nine’s evening news in Sydney for 46 years, has died, aged 89. Nicole Douglas, of Daily Mail Australia, looks back on his illustrious career. Karl Stefanovic…

Chunk of Ancient Supercontinent Found Under NZ

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

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…

Pounamu Jade Aikman Wins Fulbright Award

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

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

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

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…

Jamie Beaton’s Online High School Gains Traction

Jamie Beaton’s Online High School Gains Traction

More and more Australian students are signing up to study at Crimson Global Academy, a new private, online high school founded by New Zealander Jamie Beaton, that is offering British school-leaving qualifications to students…

We Show Australia How to Tackle Housing Dilemmas

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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…

In WWII on Crete Ned Nathan Fell in Love

In WWII on Crete Ned Nathan Fell in Love

Eighty years ago, soldiers from New Zealand and Australia were in Greece fighting the Nazis during the Battle of Crete. It would lead to New Zealander Evan Nathan’s parents meeting and starting a relationship…

PM Tops Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders List

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

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

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

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

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…

New Zealand Approves Paid Leave After Miscarriage

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 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

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…

Manaakitanga Behind Our Strong Covid Response

Manaakitanga Behind Our Strong Covid Response

There is a deeper reason why New Zealand has “fared so much better”, than say, the United States in combatting Covid-19, and it’s manaakitanga, according to New Zealanders Matthew Milner and Richard Ngata, who…

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…

German Publication Has High Praise for PM

German Publication Has High Praise for PM

For its January 2021 issue, the German magazine View has declared Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern the “best politician in the world” and features the 39-year-old on the cover, with the words: “She defeated coronavirus…

Trapped in Museums for Centuries, Maori Ancestors Are Coming Home

Trapped in Museums for Centuries, Maori Ancestors Are Coming Home

Writing for Atlas Obscura, Ye Charlotte Ming has taken an in-depth look at the ongoing process of repatriation of Maori remains from international museums, quoting poet and musician Hinemoana Baker, researcher Amber Aranui and…

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta Charts a Course

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta Charts a Course

The first Māori woman to be foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta is an experienced lawmaker known for her deep roots in Māori tribal diplomacy, Charlotte Graham-McLay writes for The Washington Post. Mahuta has her work…

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…

Manukura a Blessing and a Unifying Symbol

Manukura a Blessing and a Unifying Symbol

Manukura, a rare, snow-white kiwi that inspired a children’s book and was the first of its kind ever hatched in captivity has died at the Pūkaha National Wildlife Centre after multiple surgeries to remove…

Learning Te Reo Māori Is Where It’s At

Learning Te Reo Māori Is Where It’s At

New Zealanders of all stripes are signing up to learn te reo Māori, according to Amy Gunia reporting for TIME magazine. Gunia writes that experts say over the last five or so years, the…

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…

Harvard Activist Award for PM Jacinda Ardern

Harvard Activist Award for PM Jacinda Ardern

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has received a Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership Gleitsman International Activist Award, which was presented at a virtual ceremony on 1 December. According to the Harvard Kennedy School, the…

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…

With Pandemic Australia Has New Lens on NZ

With Pandemic Australia Has New Lens on NZ

“New Zealand’s response to the coronavirus is just the latest reason Australians have sometimes looked wistfully, or at least with interest, across the Tasman,” ABC-TV’s 7.30 chief political correspondent Laura Tingle writes in Quarterly…

Haere Rā Midnight Oil Bassist Bones Hillman

Haere Rā Midnight Oil Bassist Bones Hillman

Midnight Oil’s bassist and backing vocalist, New Zealand-born Bones (Wayne) Hillman has died in Milwaukee in the US at the age of 62. His fellow band members said they were “grieving the loss of our…

New Zealand emerges as global leader and “beacon of light” in era of Covid-19

New Zealand emerges as global leader and “beacon of light” in era of Covid-19

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, New Zealand has emerged as a global leader. However there’s more to this leadership than New Zealand’s efforts in developing a world-renowned best-practice pandemic response, says London-based…

Nanaia Mahuta “blazes new trails” as foreign minister

Nanaia Mahuta “blazes new trails” as foreign minister

Nanaia Mahuta entered New Zealand’s Parliament as the youngest Maori woman to ever gain a seat. More than two decades later, she has become the country’s minister of foreign affairs, another trailblazing first. Ms…

Kākāpō Claims 2020 Bird of the Year Victory

Kākāpō Claims 2020 Bird of the Year Victory

The esteemed kākāpō has soared past its competition to claim victory in New Zealand’s Bird of the Year contest, a tense race marked by attempted voter interference during a divisive month of campaigning, Jennifer Hassan…

Kai Ika Model for Reducing Hunger and Food Waste

Kai Ika Model for Reducing Hunger and Food Waste

Papatūānuku Kōkiri Marae has been distributing two tons of fish a week – the parts often discarded in commercial and recreational fishing – to families affected by New Zealand’s sputtering economy. Sam Woolford, founder…

Gender Pay Equity an Experiment for an Entire Society

Gender Pay Equity an Experiment for an Entire Society

“New Zealand is pursuing a century-old idea to close the gender pay gap: not equal pay for equal work, but equal pay for work of equal value,” American journalist Anna Louie Sussman writes in…

Auckland on World’s Best Covid-era Cities List

Auckland on World’s Best Covid-era Cities List

Auckland is among the top 100 cities in the world to live in or visit during the Covid-19 era, according to a new Resonance Consultancy global ranking. The annual best cities report ranked cities with…