Don Rowe (Ngāi Tahu) is a staff writer at The Spinoff. He was the 2015 Canon Media Awards student journalist of the year and the 2017 junior long form feature writer of the year. Email him on don@thespinoff.co.nz
Who is the political operative giving advice to the rogue National MP?
As the number of New Zealand citizens deported from Australia grows, so too does the death toll. Don Rowe reports on the rising human costs of Australia's immigration reforms.
Genetic modification offers space-age healthcare, booming agriculture and a new weapon in the war on invasive species – if we choose to use it.
Ngāi Tahu spent 150 years in poverty, dispossessed of the vast majority of their whenua and mahinga kai. Today, 20 years on from their landmark settlement with the Crown, they're sitting atop a billion dollar pūtea.
When Hinewehi Mohi was asked to sing the anthem before New Zealand's 1999 quarter final versus England, she made a choice that would change the pregame ritual for good.
After ten years of public fallout, New Zealand's favourite Nu-Metal band are back. Don Rowe talks to Blindspott.
Jacinda Ardern flies to Nauru this week for the Pacific Islands Forum, and the host is already making headlines way beyond the official agenda
The acclaimed Hunt for the Wilderpeople is the main attraction on a new line of Instant Kiwi scratchie cards, raising concerns among actors, artists and anti-gambling activists.
Critics claim the controversial Auckland Shooting Club is pulling a fast one on the community by filing a resource consent that doesn't represent what's actually going on in this sleepy rural glen.
A horror week for intensive farming continues as the government promises action on slack regional councils following the release of concerning footage, writes Don Rowe.
Pressure is mounting to ban the intensive farming practice found in feedlots. What are they, and why are they such a problem?
Whitebait season is here, and Forest and Bird are steaming mad about it. Why are we serving endangered fish in kitchens and cafes alike?
Since 2016, the department has partnered with Kiwibank to develop the conservation dog programme and, by proxy, raise the profile of conservation as a whole.
SkyCity want to open an online casino. What makes them any different from the sharks already here, asks Don Rowe.
'Burners' around the country will have to look elsewhere for their collectivist fix, after Kiwiburn 2019 was cancelled by event organisers.
Youth of New Zealand rejoice: Apple has become the most valuable company to ever exist, and we're all investors.
In a world replete with generic knives, Auckland chefs are moving towards something a little more special.
Stuart Nash says it was just 'a metaphor', but that's not good enough: for too long the drug debate has been blighted by wild and counterproductive hyperbole, writes Don Rowe Police …
Welcome to the Cheat Sheet, a clickable, shareable, bite-sized FAQ on the news of the moment. Today, the results of more than 400 drug tests from across the festival season are in. Who is eating what?
Joseph Parker’s future in boxing demands a career-high performance this weekend, writes Don Rowe.
As winter passes and new life takes hold in New Zealand, indigenous guests from far abroad have arrived to exchange cultural knowledge.
Nothing goes better with cheap food than cheaper wine drunk quickly. Here are the 10 best BYO spots in New Zealand, as submitted by you.
Whangārei architect Jade Kake has made a career changing behaviour through design, decolonising Māori thought patterns and outcomes through altering the environment in which they take place.
Teens have smoked weed from the side of a can for decades, and probably always will. But doesn't that give you Alzheimer's?
A Kiwi reporter took a pint of lager to the face live on the AM Show as England fell to Croatia in extra time this morning.
New research from the University of Auckland reveals startling disparities in the ways communities are targeted by junk food retailers. Don Rowe speaks to the study's author.
