The Front Page

A battle is underway for the future of one of New Zealand’s biggest media companies.

Auckland-based Canadian billionaire Jim Grenon has in the last fortnight emerged as one of the biggest shareholders in NZME – the owner of the NZ Herald, Newstalk ZB and many music radio stations.

And next month, he hopes to vote out the company’s current board members and install himself and three others at the company’s sh...

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is heading to India, taking with him one of the largest delegations a New Zealand PM has ever travelled with. 

And, the fanfare makes sense, given we currently export $718 million worth of goods to India annually, but we don’t have a formal free trade agreement.  

With the world’s largest population and on track to become the world’s third largest economy by 2030 – ...

A brainchild of the previous Labour Government, the Healthy School Lunches Programme provides free lunches to about 242,000 students in greatest need.

Since its initial launch in 2019, the programme has often been a target by politicians and commentators over the cost involved in the scheme.

It’s now under the supervision of associate education minister David Seymour, and a cheaper alternative to it launched this year.

It alo...

New Zealand Police continue to monitor knife crime trends worldwide while other jurisdictions introduce tough new laws, getting ahead of the curve before it’s too late.

What they’re monitoring is reported offending involving knife crime – the likes of serious assaults and aggravated robberies.

Between December 2023 and December 2024, there were 1,639 incidents involving a stabbing or cutting weapon – a 1.7% ...

The Government’s focus on economic growth and foreign investment is back in the spotlight this week.

Later this week, the much-anticipated Investment Summit will take place in Auckland.

Businesses from over 14 countries, with six trillion dollars of capital, will be in attendance across Thursday and Friday, with Government Ministers and Labour representatives in attendance.

It comes at a critical time for the Government, with...

It may not have felt like we had much of a summer this year – but a cold snap in Auckland has signalled that the seasons are changing.

Temperatures dropped in our biggest city, as a cold front passed over much of New Zealand last week.

It comes as cyclone season continues in the Pacific, with Cyclone Alfred last week on Australia’s east coast.

With those hot summer nights fading into memory, today on The Front Page we&r...

French exchange student, Eloi Rolland, was last seen five years ago, today.

The then-18-year-old's disappearance has baffled authorities ever since... Was it a murder, kidnapping, an accident, did he get lost in the bush, commit suicide or plan an escape. Is he still alive, does he want to be found?

He searches Google Maps for directions to Piha about 5am the morning he vanished. He catches a train. He walks for nearly two hours. H...

In the new science fiction film Mickey 17, Robert Pattinson’s character Mickey Barnes is killed and each time he dies, a new copy of his body is printed out.

It’s a classic far-flung sci-fi premise -- but the technology it’s based on is far more science than fiction.

3D bioprinting is a technology that uses 3D printing to create tissues and organs from living cells and biomaterials.

The technology has been evolvin...

Anybody watching the Oscars would have noticed a common theme...  

It was probably about when host Conan O'Brien mocked streaming culture with a sketch introducing the idea of a 'building for movies' and getting people to 'stream movies in a theatre.'

And it wasn’t the first, or the last, reference to brick-and-mortar cinemas...  

Anora director Sean Baker used his acceptance speech for Best Director as a battle cry...

The Government plans to change laws to allow victims the right to choose whether a convicted sex offender gets permanent name suppression or not.

Now, automatic name suppression applies to protect witnesses and complainants under the age of 18 and those where certain sexual offences are alleged.

It’s a law that garners a lot of criticism from the general public – there is constant commentary on the perceived reasons why...

It’ll come as no surprise to anyone that meth is a serious problem in New Zealand.

Wastewater Testing results show the consumption of the drug in New Zealand more than doubled in the second half of 2024 to the highest levels ever recorded.

At the same time, the New Zealand Drug Trends Survey (NZDTS) 2024 showed the average price of a gram of meth declined from $563 in 2017/18 to $360 in 2024.

Meanwhile, Wastewater testing in ...

March Madness is upon us – which means it’s the busiest time of year for anyone trying to get anywhere.

It usually marks the end of the summer holiday period – school and university is back in session, and most people are back at work.

So whether you’re biking, driving, or taking a train or bus – it's nightmarish.

But it does lead back to that age old question – how do we solve our traffic proble...

The Government’s announced it’s giving businesses more power to make ‘citizen’s arrests’. 

Up until now, citizen’s arrests could only happen between 9pm and 6am, for crimes with a maximum punishment of at least three years in prison.   

But the changes mean people can intervene and stop any offence at any time of the day, by using restraints and ‘reasonable’ force.

Reta...

A few years ago, commentators and analysts often raised the idea of a ‘youthquake’ - young, first-time voters coming in and shaking up the political landscape.

It was after events like the School Strikes 4 Climate showed the power of youth mobilising around a common goal.

Yet those youthquakes never happened – at least, not for left-leaning politicians.

Instead, there’s been a shift to more conservative view...

The appearance of three Chinese warships so close to our borders has surprised and confused Australian and New Zealand officials.

The ships issued a live-fire warning off Australia’s east coast – forcing commercial flights to change course.

Then, on Saturday afternoon, sailors on a New Zealand Navy frigate saw live rounds being fired from a Chinese vessel's main gun.

Beijing’s now under scrutiny for not warning Au...

Warnings of a ‘city killer’ asteroid hurtling towards earth have been filling news feeds over the last month.

The space rock, dubbed ‘2024 YR4', had a 3.1 percent chance of hitting earth in the year 2032. That made it one of the riskiest asteroids ever, according to NASA, but they have since lowered their assessment again – to 0.28%.

That hasn’t stopped news of this asteroid sparking a social media and...

It has been three years since Russia invaded eastern Ukraine, a dramatic escalation in the conflict between the two countries that has been raging for over a decade. 

And for three years, Ukraine has fought hard to defend itself. Over 12,000 civilians are believed to have died, a similar number captured or detained, while estimates on the military deaths range from the tens to hundreds of thousands.

During this war, most of th...

It’s well known that New Zealand has a huge problem with keeping our children safe, fed, and housed.   

Reports over the years show how low New Zealand ranks for child wellbeing outcomes compared to other developed countries.  

Government stats show 23.5% of children born in 1998 had been the subject of a report of concern to Oranga Tamariki by the age of 17. That’s more than one in five kids. 

One P...

If you ever feel like you’re always being asked to donate money to some cause or another, you probably aren’t wrong.

In New Zealand, there are more than 28,000 registered charities – with an annual income of more than $21 billion – on top of over 110,000 not for profit organisations.

Legislation leaves the definition of a charity pretty broad – if you say you’re tackling poverty, advancing educat...