The economic impacts of the Israel-US war on Iran continue to be felt in New Zealand, with more concern over how fuel prices could impact New Zealand’s economy in the coming weeks (or months).
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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, the main story this week has been the US-Israel war on Iran and the subsequent Iranian strikes on Israel and US assets in the region. The domestic response from the coalition government has been marked by a muddled endorsement from Luxon at a press conference earlier this week, and fears that a prolonged war could greatly affect the New Zealand economy through energy and supply chain disruption.
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The coalition government announced on Monday nationwide plans to give police the power to issue "move on" orders, forcing rough sleepers and beggars out of public spaces with the threat of a $2,000 fine or 3 months prison.
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Housing Minister Chris Bishop has announced a long-rumoured U-turn on Auckland's upzoning policy after pressure from Cabinet, slashing the number of dwellings Auckland Council must plan for from a (potential) 2 million down to 1.6 million.
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This week Australia was rocked by protests against the state visit of Israeli president Isaac Herzog, with Australia's new anti-protest laws being tested and a police response that is now being investigated by the NSW cop watchdog.
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Waitangi Day fell on Friday this year, with a rough reception for the coalition parties at Te Tii marae. Luxon attended after skipping last year, trying to brush off heckles and accusations that the government is "anti-Maori".
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Common Sense Newsletter for 25/01/2026
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We’re back for our first newsletter of 2026! All your progressive leaning news, commentary and actions in Aotearoa gathered in one place.
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This may be the last newsletter for the year depending on who is around, but we’ll be back in 2026 to continue bringing you a range of links and events!
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Kia ora all, welcome to the first issue of the (rebooted) 1/200 Common Sense newsletter. This newsletter aims to collate the important Aotearoa news of the previous week, and any upcoming events or actions across the motu for the next.
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In the 53 years since the term entered the lexicon, the social terrain of politics has radically changed. The median voter today is very different from the median voter of 1969.
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As we settle into the current Red Light setting and as the cases of Omicron climb each day, the hospitality sector in Auckland has had its life support switched off.
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The centre-left will fail to deliver for working-class people if it doesn't embrace universal basic services. We can only tackle the housing, inflation and inequality crises by decommodifying and guaranteeing the essentials of life for all.
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Here are the ways working-class people fought back in 2021. There are many examples, I've only picked my favourites; the thing about something like a global pandemic is it exposes how the system works and whose labour makes the world go round
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I think it is fair to say that 2021, like 2020, was an awful year globally, and sadly there is no reason to believe that 2022 will be any better.
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Fair Pay Agreements (FPAs) offer Labour the chance to live up to their promise of being a transformational government. It is vital they forge ahead with FPAs in spite of bad faith criticism from the right and business interests.
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Listening to Christopher Luxon’s maiden speech I got the impression I had somehow discovered time travel. It appeared I had managed to go back to the halcyon days of 2007. This 2007 was very similar to the one I remembered, it was a period of business as usual.
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