The National Party has removed an Instagram video after being instructed to do so over copyright reasons.

According to Newshub, the party released an Instagram reel that included the Katy Perry tune “Did Somebody Say” (the song used in the MenuLog ads).

“Our social media team adapted a TikTok trend for Instagram reels, which used Menulog’s audio out of context. Menulog asked us to remove the video, which we did immediately,” a party spokesperson told Newshub.

It’s not the first time National has been pulled up over its choice of music. Famously, the party breached copyright in 2017 over its use of an “Eminem-esque” tune that then-party campaign manager Steven Joyce described as “pretty legal”.

The taxpayer bill for the legal proceedings between former speaker of the house Trevor Mallard and the ex-deputy prime minister Winston Peters has been revealed: and it wasn’t cheap.

About $55,000 in bills were footed by the public after Mallard trespassed Peters from parliament following his attendance at the illegal occupation earlier this year. That trespass order was eventually revoked, but not before Peters had commenced legal action.

Ultimately, the court determined that the trespass was indeed “unreasonable and irrational” and Mallard, who recently stepped down as speaker to take up a diplomatic posting, apologised.

According to the Herald, the bill comprises over $45,000 in legal costs spent by the government on the case against Mallard – and another $10,000 used to cover Peters’ legal costs.

As the Labour Party gathers in Auckland for its annual conference, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire assess the impact of the just-passed fair pay agreement legislation, the likely fate of three waters, and the great National repeal agenda, as well as whether National’s own tax cut plans will survive to the election.

With a byelection in Hamilton West less than a month away, what do the lineups tell us, and who has most to lose? Plus: All the juiciest gossip about precisely when, where and why Jacinda Ardern maybe definitely will resign.

Listen below or wherever you get your podcasts

It’s probably going to be the biggest film of the year (if not all time), and we’re just a month away. The full trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water was released this morning.

Shot in New Zealand, it’s the first of several planned sequels and comes about 13 years after the groundbreaking original landed in cinemas.

Much like its predecessor, Avatar 2 promises astonishing special effects, exciting action, and some of the most two dimensional 3D characters on screen.

In the same week that Celebrity Treasure Island wrapped its incredible third season, the show’s primary host has revealed he won’t be returning for another round.

Matt Chisholm has hosted CTI since 2019 and fronted Survivor NZ prior to that. However, in a lengthy Instagram post shared just hours ahead of last night’s season finale, Chisholm divulged that he’d been “let go” from the show.

“I’ve been told I can control the narrative and say ‘I’ve decided to stand down from the role to spend more time with family’, or something similar, but that would be dishonest,” he wrote. “I’ve been let go from the job… none of us are indispensable… remember that when you choose to spend your limited amount of spare time working hard for an employer… instead of spending it with your family.”

The Spinoff approached Chisholm for further detail but he chose not to comment.

Read more: CTI’s champion talks us through his win

The finance minister has defended the government’s decision to dip into the Covid-19 recovery fund to help top up plans for water amalgamation.

It was revealed this morning that about $70 million set aside for the pandemic had been redirected to the controversial three waters proposal. The opposition called it “sneaky” and said it was “verging on dishonest”.

But Grant Robertson told Newstalk ZB that wasn’t the case. “The work that needs to be done to upgrade our water system is not only important for our longterm economic prospects but also [it] was an area we thought could provide jobs in the regions,” he said.

That meant, said Robertson, the reallocation of funds came under Covid-19 “recovery” – even though it was not directly linked to the pandemic itself.

On the broader economy, Robertson reiterated that had a “lot of confidence” in its resilience following new figures out yesterday showing unemployment remained near historically low, while wage growth was on the up.

One of the primary buy now, pay later platforms – Afterpay – has welcomed the government’s moves to regulate providers. 

It was yesterday announced that services like Afterpay will be brought under existing legislation in place for credit cards and other loans. However, the new regulations will be less stringent, only applying to loans over $600 (with credit checks in place for purchases under this amount).

In a statement, an Afterpay spokesperson said the service had taken “an initial review” of the government’s moves. “New Zealanders have voted with their feet for Afterpay because it delivers far better outcomes than traditional high-interest credit cards,” the spokesperson said.

“Afterpay has always advocated for regulation that drives strong consumer outcomes, is fit-for-purpose, and proportionate. We welcome the government’s recognition that [buy now, pay later] is distinctly different from traditional credit and that different regulation is appropriate.”

The service express concern about consumers being “driven back” towards credit cards and other loans that profit from people “revolving in debt”. Afterpay said it would continue advocating for the right regulatory balance.

Yesterday, health minister Andrew Little visited the University of Waikato to make an announcement about mental health support for students, where he became the target of a protest by Tertiary Education Union (TEU) members. Standing among protestors was Labour’s new Hamilton West candidate Georgie Dansey. Dansey left the protest after she was approached by Stuff. Little told the Herald last night that Dansey wasn’t there to protest him and had been told by the TEU that Little was going to speak in support of the protest.

In a Facebook post last night, Dansey said “I wasn’t there to protest the minister and when it became clear the minister was being ambushed I left”.

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The government’s dived into its Covid-19 response fund to help boost work on the controversial three waters proposal.

According to the Herald, about $70 million of pandemic support money was redirected to three waters in April this year. That’s despite a promise from the finance minister Grant Robertson only to use the fund for responding to the pandemic (though this isn’t the first time it’s been used for other costs).

Robertson defended the decision, saying the reallocated cash would be spent across a number of areas. That included more than $20 million for policy and communications work, $14.6 million to increase iwi understanding of the changes and almost $33 million to cover councils’ costs in working with a “transition unit”.

The opposition have lunged at the opportunity to further criticise the government for wasteful spending. National’s deputy Nicola Willis told Newstalk ZB that when you hear it’s from the Covid-19 fund, you expect the money to be used for dealing with the impact of Covid-19.

“You think nurses, you think hospital – but instead this government has treated the Covid fund like a petty cash account for their sneaky projects,” she said. “This latest one is wasteful and verging on dishonest.”