Government arts spokesperson Todd Stephenson’s inability to name a New Zealand author for 20 minutes in an interview has rightfully raised eyebrows

Politicians are used to being asked tough questions – and voters are, by now, used to their stalling in response. Still, you might not imagine that “name a New Zealand author” could ever be one of them – especially for a New Zealand politician, holding an arts portfolio.

Yet that’s exactly how the ACT party’s arts spokesperson, Todd Stephenson, has surprised us, taking 20 minutes to name a single Kiwi author – or even a book – in an interview with Newsroom . In the quite remarkable exchange with Steve Braunias, Stephenson was blithely forthcoming about his limited experience of his portfolio: “It’s an area I’m wanting to learn more about.”

Elle Hunt is a freelance journalist and writer

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One of New Zealand’s most beloved actors continues to challenge expectations put on women in hit series she also co-created, After the Party

When Robyn Malcolm did a recent shoot for a magazine, they sent her through the proposed cover. She called them immediately. “I said, can you not do that to my face?”

Pushing against expectations for women to look and act a certain way – young, carefree, likable – has driven Malcolm her whole career, but especially since menopause. “They took notice, and they put me on the cover with everything as is. They said ‘We just thought everyone liked that’. Well, no, because I’m not here to make other women feel like shit.”

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More than 350 jobs to go after Warner Bros. Discovery closes all its Newshub news operations and TVNZ cuts programs and bulletins

New Zealand’s news media has been dealt a major blow after two of its primary news outlets announced programme closures and hundreds of job losses between them on the same day, leaving the country with just one state-owned news television service and many senior journalists out of work.

On Wednesday morning, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed it would close all its Newshub news operations , including the news website, the morning television show and the 6pm television bulletin, resulting in roughly 300 job losses.

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New Zealand did not follow the US and UK in imposing financial restrictions after accusing Beijing of links to cyber-attacks

Politicians, journalists and critics of Beijing were among those targeted by cyber-attacks run by groups backed by China, western intelligence services said this week.

The separate cyber-attacks hit the US, UK and New Zealand – all members of the Five Eyes alliance. The network of five countries, which also includes Canada and Australia, share security related intelligence.

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From facial tattoos to TV stations, young Māori are enthusiastically embracing tribal cultural identity in Aotearoa New Zealand. Now a new wave of Indigenous architects are making their mark

A bright red ribbon of metal buckles out of the ground in suburban Auckland, ramping up at a sharp angle before cranking over in a lopsided arc. It frames a big glass wall, folded in a diagonal crease, whose striped surface is covered in a riot of patterns, with abstract motifs of waves, fish and stars swirling together in a polychromatic frenzy.

This is Taumata o Kupe, a new Māori meeting house and education centre for the Mahurehure community, and one of the brightest beacons of Aotearoa New Zealand’s burgeoning contemporary Māori architecture scene.

“It’s quite hard to miss,” says Wayne Wharepapa Asher, an elder member of the community. He recently moved into an apartment in a new terrace next to the building, where the homes open on to a pedestrian mews and a shared deck faces a lush babbling brook. “It feels like a different world here now. It has given us a fabulous place to share our culture with visitors from all walks of life.”

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Exclusive: Surge in nurses originally from outside the EU moving overseas prompts concern Britain is a ‘staging post’ in their careers

Almost 9,000 foreign nurses a year are leaving the UK to work abroad, amid a sudden surge in nurses quitting the already understaffed NHS for better-paid jobs elsewhere.

The rise in nurses originally from outside the EU moving to take up new posts abroad has prompted concerns that Britain is increasingly becoming “a staging post” in their careers.

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Polyfest, held this week in Auckland, New Zealand, saw thousands of high school students gather to compete in music, dance and speech performances

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Lead guitarist Boff Whalley says band does not share views of Winston Peters, who recently compared co-governance to policies of Nazi Germany

British anarchist punk band Chumbawamba has demanded New Zealand deputy prime minister Winston Peters stop using its number one hit Tubthumping at his rallies and events because the band opposes the populist politician’s agenda.

Peters, a veteran politician whose party New Zealand First is part of the country’s coalition government, has used the song at his public events and cited the 1997 song’s lyrics “I get knocked down, but I get up again” in his speeches.

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Five years on from the massacre, the government is preparing to roll back gun reforms and progress to make New Zealand safer is faltering

The day before the fifth anniversary of a terrorist attack at my mosque , New Zealand’s prime minister Christopher Luxon sent an email to the bereaved and survivors of the massacre in Christchurch, including me. Fifty-one Muslims were killed at Masjid al-Noor and at Linwood Islamic Centre during Friday prayers on 15 March 2019, and 40 were injured. In his note on Thursday, Luxon praised our strength, courage, compassion and dignity.

“The government is committed to keeping New Zealanders safe and secure,” he wrote. “We will ensure that lessons learned from these attacks continue to inform how we keep New Zealand safe.”

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