Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: False alarm sparks tsunami alert concerns, new development in story haunting NZ First, and unaffordable housing problem getting worse.

A false alarm tsunami alert has resulted in changes to fix mistakes in the warning systems. Radio NZ reports a siren sounded on the Bay of Plenty coast, from Tauranga to Waihi, late on Sunday evening. The tone of the sirens matched that of a tsunami warning. The Bay of Plenty Times spoke to people in the area who moved immediately when they heard it, and it’s clear from one family’s account of leaving their campground, everyone else was thinking the same thing. There was no corresponding text alert to go with the siren, but people left regardless.

It’s still not clear what triggered the sirens, but Fire and Emergency do not believe their systems were hacked, reports Stuff. They briefed media on the event, and didn’t rule out human error, but it appears to be the result of a legacy system that unintentionally survived various rounds of organisational reorganisation, and was then forgotten about. A patch has been put in place over what has been found, but with similar systems in 23 other places around the country, it could happen elsewhere. As Fire and Emergency’s Rhys Jones put it on Morning Report, “we don’t want to get into a ‘cry wolf’ situation where too many false alarms come through.” This story from the NZ Herald goes into more detail about tsunami warning systems.

In terms of something going wrong with a disaster alert system, it’s sort of the best case scenario. It’s effectively a false positive, rather than being an actual disaster in which warnings failed. As well as that, the public by all accounts moved when they felt they were being told to, an instinct which could be a lifesaver in the future. But with these systems now under the control of the National Emergency Management Agency, it will be a test for the new organisation to see if everything is working properly.

A new development in a story that dogged NZ First last year, that appears to contradict what minister Shane Jones has told the public. Radio NZ’s Guyon Espiner reports that the forestry company at the heart of it all – NZ Future Forest Products, which has close links to NZ First – have declared a meeting with Jones that took place months before Jones said he first heard of the company. In turn, Jones said that meeting never took place, flatly denying that he had any conversations with the company over any Provincial Growth Fund applications.

Housing unaffordability is getting worse across the country despite a flatter Auckland market, according to new figures reported on by Stuff. The stats show that Dunedin, Wellington, Tauranga and Hamilton price rises are driving up the national average. The eight largest centres of New Zealand are now all rated as “severely unaffordable” for house prices, with only Christchurch slipping towards more affordability because of a big increase in supply coming onto the market.

The government is under pressure over their handling of Whānau Ora, reports the NZ Herald. Five Māori women leaders, including former Māori Party co-leader Dame Tariana Turia, have taken a claim to the Waitangi Tribunal alleging that the programme is being “destroyed by stealth.” Of particular concern is new funding for the programme bypassing the main commissioning agency for Whānau Ora. The claim also attacks the minister Peeni Henare, who noted in response that the Waitangi Tribunal claim was politicised through the heavy involvement of other figures who were part of the Māori Party.

The issue of Southern Response and the settling of outstanding Canterbury earthquake claims to settle rumbles on. One News reports that the state insurer says there are only around 200 left to settle, but an advocate for claimants reckons the actual number is potentially hundreds higher. There has also been a lot of anger over the offer of an apology from Southern Response’s new boss Casey Hurren, for those who weren’t treated well in the process. Advocate Ali Jones says it’s too little, too late.

Laptops have been stolen from a National Party office in Epsom in a burglary, reports Newshub. Deputy leader Paula Bennett said she understood three computers had been nicked, and suggested that the building would be an unlikely target for a purely opportunistic crime, so may be politically motivated. The NZ Herald had an update yesterday afternoon, in which a staffer confirmed that the laptops were encrypted. I’m sure those of us who enjoy conspiracy theories will have a lot of fun with this, but hopefully the laptops get returned intact and un-tampered with.

An interesting idea from the farming world for tackling forest fires, which are expected to become a bigger problem over time.One News reports Otago farmer and regional councillor Gary Kelliher has chucked fire hose fittings on his irrigation pipes, so that if a fire does break out in the bone-dry region the job of getting water to fight it will be quicker and easier. Already it has come in handy, with the equipment helping firefighters knock off a small blaze. Others around the region are very supportive of the idea, and hope more farmers will set it up as well.

Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Drop us a line at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz

Right now on The Spinoff: David Larsen bemoans the decision by the National Library to purge an enormous swathe of overseas-written books. Morgan Godfery says atrocities in West Papua demand attention, and New Zealanders should take note when considering visiting Indonesia. Alice Webb-Liddall compares two academic views on cannabis legalisation, written decades apart.Richard Macmanus writes about the rise of ‘digital humans’ in health insurance.I write about some of the history of Kiwi Wealth, the firm formerly known as Gareth Morgan Investments. Emily Writes and her young lad Eddie review Wellington’s best swimming spots. James Renwick asks the hard questions on sustainability and climate change for the tourist industry. And Cate Owen writes a remarkable and honest piece about learning to love yourself and Lizzo.

I know, I know, you say you don’t want to read about the Royals, even if the click metrics of major websites say otherwise. But I think this piece from the Guardian’s former editor Alan Rusbridger is an insightful look into a reporting phenomenon that has relevance beyond the comings and goings of various members of the firm. In the piece, he questions whether the most vociferous critics of Harry and Meghan should be more upfront about their potential conflicts of interest, in relation to a massive UK press scandal that still hasn’t been fully cleared up. Here’s an excerpt:

Publicly available court documents detail the alleged involvement of Rupert Murdoch’s son James and the reinstated CEO of News UK, Rebekah Brooks, in suppressing or concealing the true extent of wrongdoing within the Murdoch titles. The Sun’s official position is to “not admit” any unlawful activity, while simultaneously shelling out enormous sums so that this position can never be tested.

Over at the Mirror Group, there is a similar shyness about allowing daylight into the activities of past executives. Former Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan, one of the most vehement critics of the royal couple, does not find time or space to let his readers or viewers know that his name crops up very many times in the generic phone-hacking litigation particulars of claims in front of Mann. Morgan may be entirely innocent, but if you spend your time pouring venom over a claimant in a case that might touch on your own conduct, you’d think there was at least an interest to declare – every single time you do it.

In sport, the Silver Ferns have put in a dominant performance to beat England in their Nations Cup opener. Stuff reports the star turn of the match came from young shooter Maia Wilson, who is one of several emerging players in the squad in a position to make a mark, with a group of senior players either retiring or being rested. South Africa and Jamaica are also involved in the four team tournament.

And the Auckland Tuatara have been enjoying huge improvements in the Australian Baseball League. After a hugely difficult opening season, they’re now right up the top of the Northeast Division, which provided they hold on will mean a home playoff game. Their final 4-match series of the regular season is taking place this weekend against the Brisbane Bandits, and basically, the equation is simple – one win and a playoff spot is assured, and three wins will guarantee they maintain top spot. If you’ve ever been curious about this team, now would be a great time to get on the bandwagon.

That’s it for The Bulletin. If you want to support the work we do at The Spinoff, please check out our membership programme.

Good morning, and welcome back to The Bulletin for 2020. In today’s edition: A collection of news stories you probably wisely ignored over the last month.

The Bulletin is The Spinoff’s free daily newsletter of the most important news and analysis from across New Zealand. To get it in your inbox every morning, sign up here.

To start off today, a strange update on a story that started last year. There was an edition of The Bulletin that covered National leader Simon Bridges’ trip to China, in which he met with senior government official Guo Shengkun (who runs China’s secret police) and gave an interview to Chinese state TV. The update was reported by Stuff’s Harrison Christian, who found that the trip wasn’t organised by MFAT (though they it was subsequently revealed that they had some awareness of the trip) and rather that it was entirely arranged by National MP Jian Yang, who in a former career trained Chinese spies.

The weirdness of the story comes mostly from the fact that it breaks established conventions on diplomacy. Bridges of course has every right to travel wherever and meet whoever he wants. But as this follow up story reported, former PM Helen Clark said “when I was NZ Leader of Opposition, provision was made for an annual overseas mission, always organised through [the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade], one assumes because of the potential for impact on NZ foreign relations.” The danger of such a trip is that it raises the perception of the National Party conducting parallel or competing diplomatic efforts to the government, with the government of another country.

The role of New Zealand’s soldiers in Iraq has been a constant concern, since brief hostilities between the USA and Iran. The story has been developing over several weeks, but in general terms, they will be staying until the end of their scheduled deployment. The latest comes from Radio NZ, who have covered the responses of various parties to the decision – most parties are in favour of seeing the deployment out, with the Greens the sole party in parliament in favour of withdrawing now. No injuries among NZDF personnel have been reported. Meanwhile, the NZ Herald (paywalled) reports the Defence Force is under pressure to find financial savings wherever possible.

Public transport fares in Auckland are set to rise, and advocates aren’t happy about it, reports Newshub. The Public Transport Users Association says they want central government to step in to make more money available to cover Auckland Transport’s shortfall, which has led to the rise being needed. It is the first story in a year that is likely to be dominated with transport stories. The NZ Herald’s (paywalled) Simon Wilson has looked at the respective plans of the two major parties heading into election year, and argued that both plans seem like attempts to not get punished by voters.

Many people right now are saying Wellington’s rental market is broken – well, it’s working pretty well for landlords. Supply is extremely tight, and there have been many stories (covered here) about how much prices are rising, and how difficult it is for renters to find new places. A fascinating development on it all was announced earlier this month, and reported on by One News. The Council will partner with a developer, to provide affordable apartments specifically targeted at key workers like teachers and nurses.

Meanwhile, Stuff reports the social housing waiting list is at yet another new high. And in response, Newsroom reports the government has quietly but significantly raised the debt limit for Kainga Ora – their social housing agency – so that it may build several thousand more state houses on top of the 6,400 already planned.

Also in Wellington, the sewage pipe problem that began near the end of last year continues. Part of Willis St will be closed until March or later while necessary repairs are identified and made, and overflow into the harbour caused spikes in dangerous bacteria levels. The latest story on this all comes from Stuff, who report bacteria levels at Ōwhiro Bay are many times higher than what would be safe to swim in.

Every year, there are summer stories about something going down at a rodeo, but normally they’re mainly focused on animal rights. This year’s have included an incident in Wānaka, involving an apparent neo-Nazi saluting and shouting abuse towards protesters, reports the Wānaka Sun. They followed up by publishing a letter from the event’s organisers, and responded in turn.

Religious education in state schools will soon require explicit parental permission, reports the NZ Herald (paywalled.) It would mark a change from the existing, opt-out system. This isn’t always a topic that gets a lot of attention, but has really rumbled away for years now, and a case is likely to be heard in the High Court later this year which could set down a real marker on the future of religious education in state schools.

Staying with schools, the first big argument around climate change of the year has focused on a teaching resource on the subject. The non-compulsory resource encourages students to consider eating less meat, and consider other ways they can turn climate-anxiety into action. Farmers groups are furious about it, contending that facts in the resource are wrong, and Federated Farmers have launched a petition, reports Stuff. An alternative perspective comes from Gordon Campbell at Scoop, who argues that it would be bizarre for the classroom to ignore an issue that will be hugely influential on the lives of kids. One thing seems ominously likely – it looks like we’re going to have another year of climate change politics that focuses obsessively on symbols and messaging, rather than how to actually cut emissions.

It was pretty bloody warm in 2019. Radio NZ reports that several places around the country experienced their hottest year on record, in part because of marine heatwaves. That in turn is having a serious impact on marine life. Exacerbating it all is climate change, which according to scientist Dr Jim Salinger means in future further temperature records are likely to be broken. Meanwhile, central Otago and Northland in particular are very dry right now, and a moderate forest fire took place earlier in January north of Napier.

And finally for this section, The Spinoff’s absolute must-read piece of the summer is David Farrier’s triumphant return to the story of Zach, a medical AI system that seemed a bit too good to be true. The father and son team behind it have been savaged in a report from Internal Affairs, even though a DIA investigator appears to have been rather sucked in by the claims of the Terrible New Zealand Charitable Trust. It’s full of increasingly bizarre details about the inner workings of Terrible, including, for example, a side-business carbon offsetting scheme that consisted of growing strawberries at the office.

Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Drop us a line at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz

Right now on The Spinoff: There was a lot published over the summer, so the following is a huge list of a whole lot of things you might want to read. It’s also incomplete – over the next few days, there will be a few more summer pieces mixed in with our latest stories.

In politics: Joe Nunweek looks askance at the Australians who want the Queen to fire their PM Scott Morrison. Rosemary Williamson contrasts Morrison’s reaction with that of PM Ardern when tragedies have happened during her tenure. A group of us pick the issues to watch for the election. Danyl Mclauchlan pleads for politics-watchers to devote far less energy to worrying about the USA. I profile lawyer Sue Grey, who has taken over the co-leadership of The Outdoors Party. And Toby Manhire has put his cards on the table, nailing down exactly when the election is most likely to be held.

In business and food: Maria Slade writes about a Wellington-made sunscreen startup who wants to stop the damage done by many sunscreens to ocean life. Terry Baucher writes about tax avoidance, and why he feels he has no choice but to boycott Uber. Business is Boring speaks to the brewers behind Urbanaut. I look into why the prices of limes (citrus, not scooters) spiked so alarmingly. Alice Webb-Liddall writes about co-housing, and how it can increasingly be a solution to property unaffordability. Samuel Scott writes about convenience stores, and how they contain the true essence of travel eating.

And in a collection of great writing with no other unifying theme: Ollie Neas investigates the increasing involvement of New Zealand forces in war games around the militarisation of space. Emily Writes explores the difficult discussions parents have been having with children about the Australian fires.Michael Andrew writes about his internship with a far-flung West Coast newspaper. Madeleine Chapman demolishes criticism of the parenting of tennis star Serena Williams. Nadine Anne Hura writes about the lessons of te ao Māori for those wondering how to respond to climate change. Alex Casey writes the cultural history of the lolly scramble, a venerable and peculiar pastime of New Zealand. Tara Ward pays tribute to the Shortland St Christmas cliffhanger. And Sam Brooks went to FOMO to see Lizzo, but came away with much more.

One of the biggest stories in local sport over December and January has been the astonishing recovery of the Wellington Phoenix. They enjoyed a nine-game unbeaten streak to move right into playoff contention, a run that came to an end in a 1-0 defeat to Brisbane over the weekend. You might recall last year some idiot wrote a piece called ‘See the Wellington Phoenix now, because this magic won’t last’ – well, look at them go.

And it has been a dream summer for cricketer Sophie Devine, who has been in rampant form across both the Australian and New Zealand domestic summer. Already in January she’s scored two domestic centuries, and in December was named the WBBL Player of the Tournament. A rapid half-century in a rain shortened game delivered victory for Devine’s Wellington Blaze yesterday, in the final of the T20 Super Smash competition. The achievements were capped off by the announcement that Devine will take over the White Ferns captaincy, with her first major test the Women’s T20 World Cup in February.

That’s it for The Bulletin. If you want to support the work we do at The Spinoff, please check out our membership programme.