IPCA McSkimming Report Exposes another Police Cover-Up

In the dim corridors of power, where accountability is meant to be the bedrock of justice, a festering wound has been uncovered. The Independent Police Conduct Authority's (IPCA) 135-page report, released on 11 November 2025 after a protracted battle against suppression orders, lays bare the "significant failings" and "serious misconduct" at the highest echelons of the New Zealand Police.

This is no isolated lapse; it is the latest chapter in a grim saga of institutional protectionism that has shielded predators while revictimising the vulnerable. At its core lies the complainant, known only as Ms Z, whose desperate pleas for justice against a sexual predator and former Deputy Commissioner, Jevon McSkimming, were not just ignored but weaponised against her.

 

On Wednesday, 1 News reported:

Timeline: How the Jevon McSkimming scandal unfolded over nine years

A Facebook post in 2018. A LinkedIn one in 2023. 105 in 2024. Complaints against Jevon McSkimming surfaced for years but were never properly investigated. 1News traces the timeline of how police failed to act on allegations against one of their own, based on an explosive IPCA report.

The establishment's concerted effort to bury this scandal, through delayed investigations, manipulated protocols, and prosecutorial overreach, demands accountability. The fight to unearth the truth was itself a Herculean struggle. Ms Z's allegations, spanning years of emails and social media posts, documented sexual assaults, threats involving intimate recordings, and misuse of police resources to groom a junior employee, were largely ignored by authorities.

Suppression orders gagged the media and the IPCA, ostensibly to safeguard McSkimming's reputation as he vied for Police Commissioner. RNZ, NZME, and the IPCA opposed these in Wellington District Court, arguing public interest trumped the accused's career ambitions. Only on the report's release day did the veil lift, revealing how senior officers sought to narrow the IPCA probe's scope and timeline to spare McSkimming's promotion bid. This was no oversight; it was a deliberate cover-up, echoing the "culture of scepticism" Dame Margaret Bazley decried in her 2007 inquiry into police sexual misconduct.

Ms Z's ordeal perpetrated by a repeat offender exemplifies this rot. From 2018, she sent police hundreds of communications, emails to McSkimming's work address, anonymous posts, and 105 hotline reports, alleging rape, blackmail, and exploitation. But rather than probe these serious allegations, police dismissed her as a "fixated threat," charging her under the Harmful Digital Communications Act (HDCA) in May 2024.


On Thursday, The NZ Herald reported:

Jevon McSkimming case: Police defend decision to prosecute Ms Z over alleged abusive emails to the detective who arrested her

Senior police are defending the decision to prosecute the woman at the centre of the Jevon McSkimming scandal for emails she allegedly sent to the detective who arrested her and his wife.

This is despite Police Commissioner Richard Chambers apologising to the woman for how the previous police leadership mishandled her original sex allegations against the former deputy commissioner.

Earlier this week, the Herald revealed that instead of investigating whether the sex claims could be corroborated or not, the anonymous emails were used as evidence to prosecute her for a harassment campaign against McSkimming.

She was arrested and charged under the Harmful Digital Communications Act in May 2024, placed under restrictive bail conditions and silenced by wide-ranging suppression orders.

Crown Law even gave the victim an ultimatum. Discharge without conviction only if she recanted her claims against McSkimming, despite no investigation being undertaken into the alleged crimes at the time. This coercive bargain, tying absolution to false confession, reeks of abuse of process, undermining fair trial rights and natural justice. The charge was withdrawn in September 2025, not from ethical awakening, but because McSkimming balked at testifying.

However, another HDCA case still lingers against Ms Z for sending 10 emails to the detective in charge of her investigation, a vindictive pursuit that Police Commissioner Richard Chambers must halt forthwith. This isn't justice; it is revictimisation, a perversion of the law meant to shield the vulnerable.

Worse, the coverup extended to the Beehive. Police Minister Mark Mitchell's office fielded 36 such emails since December 2023; Prime Minister Christopher Luxon received 10 more in late 2023 and early 2024. Mitchell now claims that then-Commissioner Andrew Coster directed seconded police staff to forward these complaint emails to headquarters, discuss them with no one, including ministers. But is this true?

The IPCA report doesn't explicitly confirm such an instruction. The claim rests on a police memo reviewed by media and Mitchell's own statements. No secondee has publicly corroborated it. No verbatim directive has surfaced. Given the pattern of police secrecy, it may well be accurate, but without independent verification, we must treat the National Minister's claims with scepticism. Regardless, the emails were supposedly not properly escalated, and the No Surprises protocol was once again breached without consequence.

Mitchell claims ignorance until November 2024; Luxon cites "normal" triage. This strains credulity. With explicit subject lines such as "A complaint regarding McSkimming", we are meant to believe that no junior staffer, political advisor, or secondee felt obliged to flag them as important enough to bring to the Ministers attention? The No Surprises doctrine, enshrined in the Cabinet Manual, demands escalation for "matters of significance," especially scandals imperilling public trust. But here we have a government that ignores their directives, particularly when it is politically beneficial.

These emails were clearly not spam; they were screams for help from a systemically silenced young woman who had been abused by a man in a position of power the system was desperately trying to protect. The apparent protocol breach here, as in Mitchell's office, protected McSkimming, at the victim's expense, as well as those who should have acted in her best interests, namely those elected to represent the general public.

This pattern of secrecy is depressingly familiar. Recall the sexual deviant Michael Forbes, Luxon's former press secretary, whose 2024 filming of woman in private places and recording of prostitutes prompted police alerts to executives (including McSkimming) yet there was supposedly no ministerial knowledge until the media reported on details of his serious offending. Ministers feigned ignorance, police helped Forbes clean his devices and dithered on prosecution despite substantial evidence, mirroring the McSkimming inertia. Both cases reek of the old boys club and political insulation, where "no surprises" means keeping things hush hush so there's no inconvenient truths for the top echelon.

Former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster, who failed to disclose McSkimming's affair during his 2023 vetting process was clearly incorrectly appointed. He improperly pressured a rushed "quasi-investigation" to clear promotion paths for McSkimming, and lobbied the IPCA for premature closure of their investigation. Now on leave from the Social Investment Agency, he must be dismissed outright, no cushy payouts for one who subverted justice and the police's integrity. Not to mention his deputy commissioner Tania Kura, who dismissed the claims about McSkimming's impropriety as mere office gossip. 

Deeper still, buried beneath layers of institutional denial and public outrage, lies a profoundly historic plague of police-perpetrated sexual violence that has scarred New Zealand's law enforcement for generations. The infamous Louise Nicholas saga stands as a harrowing centerpiece: in the 1980s, she endured repeated rapes at the hands of serving officers Clint Rickards, Brad Shipton, and Bob Schollum, crimes that were systematically covered up for decades through a web of complicity, intimidation, and fabricated alibis among colleagues. This long-suppressed scandal eventually erupted into the public eye, triggering the damning 2007 Bazley inquiry, which laid bare "systemic flaws" in police handling of complaints and a deeply entrenched "culture of scepticism" that routinely dismissed and discredited victims, prioritizing the protection of officers over justice.

More recently, the 2022 conviction of Whangārei officer Jamie Foster, who was jailed for six years and nine months for raping a vulnerable female colleague in a secluded Northland motel room, serves as a stark reminder of the persistent “bad apples” rotting within the New Zealand Police. The victim, a fellow constable seeking safety after a work event, endured a “gross breach of trust” (as Judge Greg Davis ruled), yet the case exposed institutional failures: delayed suspension, a flawed internal probe, and a defence plea for home detention that echoed past leniency toward officers. Despite IPCA oversight and reform pledges, such abuses continue to fester, underscoring how judicial reluctance and police self-protection still shield predators and silence victims.

After McSkimming was found to have been accessing child and bestiality pornography on his work computers, the NZ Police were forced to conduct a wider investigation, but have been silent on how many other officers have been found to be exploiting vulnerabilities in internal systems to view objectionable material. The discovery of McSkimming's sexual deviancy, which emerged during Operation Jefferson, a probe into Ms Z's allegations of his sexual misconduct, uncovered thousands of pornographic searches on his police-issued iPhone, including 68 images of child sexual exploitation and 812 of adult bestiality material, spanning at least five years.

This led to an internal review of internet access controls, which revealed systemic weaknesses: unmanaged devices, limited monitoring, and the potential for staff to bypass filters and "exploit vulnerabilities to access inappropriate content." Documents from the review, obtained by RNZ, highlighted "urgent need" for policy changes, yet as of November 2025, Police Commissioner Richard Chambers has not disclosed exactly how many other officers the audit has implicated or if it has resulted in further disciplinary actions beyond McSkimming's admission of guilt and resignation. The opacity raises troubling questions about the extent of a wider culture of impunity within the force, where senior leaders' devices go unscrutinised until scandal forces accountability, potentially shielding numerous Officers at the expense of public trust.

Speaking of public trust, we cannot ignore the case of disgraced ex-ACT chair Tim Jago, who evaded charges for 1990s assaults on teen boys until a 2024 conviction, specifically delayed by the courts in 2023 until after the election to avoid political fallout for David Seymour and the ACT Party. Police's initial inaction also suggested political deference over justice. These are not anomalies; they signal entrenched corruption within our justice system, and give rise to a culture of indifference to sexual assault and a blame the victim mentality. Is it any wonder that many victims simply don't come forward?

This type of institutional corruption ensures most sexual assault victims, disproportionately women and Māori, find no justice. Only 9% of sexual assault offences are reported; of those, a mere 31% reach prosecution, with 42% convicting, yielding an under 5% rate for overall imprisonment for sexual assault. In New Zealand, lifetime prevalence of being a rape victim hits 23% for adults, yet systemic bias, doubting "desperate" complainants like Ms Z, still perpetuates impunity, and fosters an increased prevalence of offending.

How many more scandals simmer unseen? The IPCA's call for an Inspector-General is a good first step, but insufficient to clear the deep rot within the force. A widespread investigation and purge is imperative: mandatory reporting, independent probes, and leadership clean-outs to remove the old boys club mentality are clearly required.

Ms Z's bravery, commended by survivors like Louise Nicholas, has forced somewhat of a reckoning. But until the establishment prioritises victims over vested interests within the police and government, trust in our so-called guardians will erode even further.

New Zealand's Housing Crisis Needs a CGT Cure

The Labour Party has finally released it's long-anticipated capital gains tax (CGT) policy, and despite the resulting and predictable right-wing backlash, it's a thoroughly researched and measured approach, targeting profits from the sale of residential and commercial investment properties at a flat 28 per cent rate, commencing July 1, 2027, exempting family homes, farms, and inheritances.

The revenue, projected at $385 million in its first full year rising to $1.35 billion thereafter, would fund a "Medicard" granting every New Zealander three free GP visits annually. This is no radical upheaval, but a pragmatic alignment with global norms...a quiet assertion that untaxed windfalls from non-productive bricks and mortar should shoulder some burden for the public good.

On Wednesday, 1 News reported:

 

'Bring it on': Hipkins targets Luxon in capital gains tax debate

National has been poised to jump on Labour's long-awaited tax policy and has already pushed out a series of attack ads on social media.

Asked about those ads, Hipkins said he was more than happy to debate Christopher Luxon about his personal finances.

"Bring it on. He sold four houses last year and made more money, tax free, from doing that than he made in the prime minister's salary, which he paid tax on every dollar of.

"Why should he be able to make more than $600,000 in one year from flipping properties whilst the people who go out and work hard every day for a living pay tax on every single dollar that they earn?"

However, as with any whisper of equity in our overheated fiscal debates, the response from the governing coalition has been a cacophony of outrage, a theatrical overreaction befitting a Shakespearean farce. Christopher Luxon, from his perch in Malaysia, decried it as "a tax on every single business in New Zealand," a handbrake on growth that would inflate consumer prices. Finance Minister Nicola Willis echoed the Prime Minister's alarmism, branding it a "terrible idea" that burdens small enterprises. ACT's David Seymour invoked "tall-poppy politics," while New Zealand First dismissed the rollout as a "trainwreck."

The problem for the incumbents is that their fear-mongering, dressed as fiscal prudence, is being laughed out of the room. Their reflexive defence of the status quo where capital accrues to the few while the many scramble for scraps is clearly not supported by the majority of New Zealanders, particularly those who haven't secured a family home yet.

Labour Leader Chris Hipkins rightly countered those who want the housing crisis to get worse by succinctly pointing out that it's "the most progressive tax change in a generation," a simple mechanism to redistribute the fruits of speculation towards healthcare for all.

The right's hysteria ignores a plain truth: New Zealand stands anomalous among OECD peers in shunning a comprehensive CGT. Only Mexico joins us in this outlier status; the rest, from the United Kingdom to Canada and our trans-Tasman kin, levy such taxes on capital gains, often at rates exceeding 20 per cent, without precipitating economic Armageddon. Denmark tops the scale at 42 per cent, Norway close behind at 37.2 per cent, yet their economies hum with innovation and productivity those within New Zealand's current government can only dream of.

These nations prove that taxing unearned gains does not stifle enterprise; it channels investment from speculative housing towards ventures that build lasting wealth and safeguard society from the dysfunction of rampant inequality. In our own backyard, the absence of such a levy has fuelled a property obsession, distorting capital away from productive ends and into the hands of flippers who treat homes as mere commodities. Non of their hoarded wealth trickles down.

Worse still is the National Party's parade of disinformation, a deliberate sleight of hand to obscure the proposal's narrow scope. Luxon and Willis peddled the myth that it ensnares "every business," when Labour's design spares shares, KiwiSaver, and most commercial operations unless tied to property sales. This is not oversight; it is calculated distortion, echoing past disinformation campaigns where National accused opponents of "tax and spend" follies. The truth, as Deloitte's Robyn Walker affirms, is a "sensible middle ground" that mirrors the 2018 Tax Working Group's pragmatic recommendations.


On Tuesday, RNZ reported:

What you need to know: Seven questions about a capital gains tax

The minority view of the report said it agreed there was a strong case for extending taxes to untaxed capital gains.

But it said the comprehensive capital gains tax as proposed in the group's wider final report would outweigh the benefits.

"In our view a comprehensive approach would impose efficiency, compliance and administrative costs that would not be outweighed by the increased revenue, fairness perceptions, and possible integrity benefits of the broader approach. Instead we support a more moderate approach of extending current rules taxing gains, to property categories, only to the extent that benefits clearly exceed costs."

Robyn Walker, tax partner at Deloitte, said Labour's proposal was a sensible middle ground that mirrored that view.

"I think it's a good compromise, I guess, and it means that hopefully we're not like in the weeds on the details of capital gains taxes for the next 12 months, which even as a tax person, I don't want to do that."

 

The right-wing's fear tactics betray a deeper unease: the proposal unmasks the coalition's own indulgences. Consider Luxon himself, whose property portfolio has been a study in untaxed bounty. Before entering politics, he amassed seven Auckland holdings. Recent sales, a Grey Street, Onehunga unit for a tax-free gain potentially exceeding $250,000, and another Onehunga unit netting $295,000, have swollen his coffers, all shielded from capital levies. His on-paper gains topped $4.34 million last year alone, a sum nearly nine times his parliamentary salary.

Luxon claims transparency, yet his property flips evaded scrutiny under the old bright-line test. This is the man decrying a CGT as a growth-killer, while his government eases the very rules that once curbed such unproductive profiteering.

Under National's watch, the bright-line test, Labour's 2021 extension to 10 years, was slashed to two years from July 1, 2024, allowing quicker flips without tax. Interest deductibility for rentals, phased out by Labour to cool speculation, has been restored: 80 per cent from April 2024, full by 2025. These tweaks supercharge flipping as a "business," rewarding those who treat housing as a casino rather than a human right.

Many coalition MPs ledgers brim with numerous investment property assets. 33 National MPs command a whopping 117 investment properties, making their own personal interest, not the public good, their driving philosophy. National's coalition partners aren't much better. ACT's Parmjeet Parmar for instance lists seven Auckland holdings, making property value increases a paramount driver in all policy development. Scandals abound, from David Seymour lying about his three properties while claiming he couldn't afford one on an MPs salary to numerous National MPs in 2013 shielding rentals in superannuation schemes to recent trust-shuffles, like National MP Carl Bates' 25 properties tucked away pre-election, evading the pecuniary register. Trusts, those opaque veils, largely conceal Member's spousal assets and valuations, rendering parliaments so-called transparency a farce.

Flipping houses shouldn't masquerade as legitimate enterprise in a nation where shelter is a cornerstone of dignity and a requirement for survival. Speculating in property has birthed a deepening crisis: Stats NZ reports homeownership at only 66.0 per cent, with young Kiwis (25-29) at just 44 per cent, down from 61 per cent in 1991. The median multiple (house price to income) hovers at 7.7, "severely unaffordable", with Auckland at around ten times what the average household earns. Median prices linger at $761,000 nationally, $909,000 average value, while rents strain at $635 per week. 51 per cent of Kiwis cite high prices as the paramount barrier, 49 per cent the rental squeeze. Renters, 83 per cent aspiring to own, despair: 62 per cent deem it unattainable. They have given up on the Kiwi dream of owning a house and having a family or will be moving abroad.

A CGT is no panacea, but it is a vital corrective, curbing the frenzy that prices families out and starves public services, an issue compounded by those in positions of power, which is a vital step to safeguarding New Zealand's future. The coalition's propaganda, laced with Luxon's own gains and their asset-hoarding mentality, rings completely hollow. It's time to tax the flippers, not those who aspire to home ownership. Only then might we reclaim a housing market for the many, and not just the vested few.

Homeless People in New Zealand are Dying on the Streets

In the shadow of Auckland's most affluent suburbs, where wealthy people's indifference masks the fractures of inequality, two lives have slipped away in the most undignified of circumstances. These are not mere statistics, but stark indictments of a system that has abandoned its most vulnerable.

Consider the unnamed woman, recently discovered lifeless in the public toilets at Hauraki Corner shops, a grim sentinel of the streets, her body found by a cleaner amid the detritus of daily commerce.

 

On October 2, the Rangitoto Observer reported:

 

Homeless woman found dead in public toilet block

A woman was found dead in the public toilets at the Hauraki Corner shops last week.
Shocked and saddened shop-owners told the Observer a cleaner found her body.

Her death comes as the wider Takapuna area grapples with increasingly visible homelessness, as was covered in an Observer backgrounder last issue.

With more people living on local streets, some with complex needs and mental health issues, community and church groups are attempting to raise funds to employ a “navigator” to help them connect with services.

Just months earlier, in a parallel tragedy, an elderly man, Jules Turk, died in the cold near a bus stop in Remuera where he often slept, his frail form a haunting reminder of how exposure to the elements takes a terrible toll on the homeless.

Through tragic circumstances, they both hailed from the swelling ranks of rough sleepers in New Zealand, their ends not in the warmth of care but in the cold anonymity of public infrastructure. Devonport-Takapuna Local Board chair Mel Powell captured the horror: "Imagine dying in a public toilet. What a terrible way for a precious life to end." These deaths are no anomalies; they are the foreseeable harvest of policy choices that prioritise fiscal austerity over human dignity.

This coalition of chaos government, led by the National Party since late 2023, bears direct culpability. In a move decried as heartless by frontline advocates, it has tightened eligibility for emergency housing, demanding applicants prove they have not "contributed" to their plight, a bureaucratic gauntlet that scrutinises desperation rather than alleviating it. From 26 August 2024, these changes have seen thousands of applications denied assistance, thrusting more souls onto the streets as motels, once a flawed but vital bridge, are shuttered.

Housing Minister Chris Bishop and Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka defend this as "firm but fair," yet their reluctance to link it to surging rough sleeping rings completely hollow. Potaka concedes "many" attribute the rise to these rules, but insists it's "not just down to one thing" a deflection that ignores the chorus of providers decrying the policy as "very, very harsh." Bishop, meanwhile, flatly denies any causal thread, citing official reports that deem attribution "not possible." Such denialism isn't mere oversight; it's complicity in the escalation...perhaps even an intentional cruel policy to punish the poor for being poor.

Ex-NZME Political Editor Jason Walls on TVNZ 1News allowed Luxon to lie about homelessness tonight -ignoring community feedback & months of news reports on Auckland homelessness caused by National #nzpol pic.twitter.com/AtUQof5Ai7

— Mountain_Tui (@Mountain_Tui) October 6, 2025

Compounding this failure, the government has slashed Kāinga Ora's pipeline, cancelling 60% of planned 2025 social housing projects, 1,019 units evaporated in a puff of fiscal review guided by the government's unrelenting pursuit for further cuts to the social safety net. This at a time when New Zealand's housing shortage gnaws relentlessly at the most vulnerable is not good policy making.

The coalition's vaunted "better social housing" rhetoric rings false when viewed against the reality: while emergency motel numbers have plummeted from 4,000 in September 2023 to under 500 by December 2024, rough sleeping has surged, 90% in Auckland alone since September 2024. Across the country, Stats NZ figures show that 112,000 New Zealanders are now severely housing deprived, roughly 2% of the population.

Nationally, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development's June 2025 insights report lays bare the crisis: nearly 5,000 people have been identified as now living without shelter, a marked increase from prior years, with 985 Housing First clients languishing on waitlists and unemployment, which is adding to people's housing insecurity, ticking up to 5.1%. The government cannot claim that their policies haven't contributed to this problem. The Salvation Army's State of the Nation 2025 echoes this: while tamariki Māori in state care dip slightly, overall homelessness swells, driven by a lack of government assistance and unaffordable private rents.

Lurking on the horizon is an even graver spectre: the plight of our elders, particularly in light of the government axing thousands of state house builds. Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson warns of a "potential disaster," with rising living costs and stagnant superannuation payments poised to propel pensioners into homelessness, a cohort already struggling to pay the bills. As one in five over-65s teeters on financial precipices, many driven to despair by the cost of living crisis, the coalition's housing retrenchment risks a further tsunami of evictions.

 

Yesterday, 1 News reported:

Retirement Commissioner worried more older people will end up homeless

More retirees could be out on the street unless there’s urgent Government intervention, according to the Retirement Commissioner.

Jane Wrightson is backing a petition organised by the Christchurch Methodist Mission that is calling for action to address the housing crisis facing older people.

"There's some levers Government can pull. One is getting a long-term housing plan that doesn't get tipped out every time there's a new government," Wrightson said.

Potaka and Bishop's steadfast refusal to own the fallout, dismissing links as "anecdotal" despite mounting evidence, even from official statistics, reveals a government more attuned to reading spreadsheets than seeing what's really happening in New Zealand. Their policies, cloaked in promises of market-led growth, instead entrench a vicious cycle: fewer homes built, stricter aid thresholds, and a housing market that devours the vulnerable.

Labour's Kieran McAnulty correctly laid the blame at the feet of the current government, saying: "We have known homelessness has been rising since National came into government but Christopher Luxon, Chris Bishop and Tama Potaka have consistently denied it."

New Zealand, a land of plenty for some, has become a graveyard for the forsaken. The Hauraki woman and the Remuera man did not choose their fates; the system chose their undignified deaths for them, through neglect masquerading as reform.

Until this coalition of chaos confronts its role, reversing cuts, rebuilding state housing, and restoring emergency lifelines, we court more such tragedies. A compassionate nation would demand better. It is time our leaders listened, before the streets claim yet another soul.

National’s Austerity Disaster is Plunging NZ into Recession

In the hallowed halls of New Zealand's Parliament, where grand visions are meant to translate into tangible economic relief, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has presided over a year of economic despair that would make even the most stoic Kiwi reach for the smelling salts.

Remember the halcyon days of the 2023 campaign, when Luxon, with the earnest zeal of a corporate retreat facilitator, pledged a "laser focus" on the cost-of-living crisis? "We'll get New Zealand back on track," he intoned, promising tax relief and a booming economy to ease the squeeze on households battered by inflation and stagnant wages.

Fast-forward to September 2025, and that laser focus appears to have been swapped for a funhouse mirror: distorting reality while delivering nothing but hot air. The latest Stats NZ figures paint a grim portrait: gross domestic product plunged 0.9 per cent in the June quarter, a sharper contraction than the paltry 0.3 per cent dip forecast by the Reserve Bank. Annual GDP is down 1.1 per cent, per capita output has nosedived 1.1 per cent, and the economy has now shrunk for three of the last five quarters. This isn't a blip; it's a full-throated recession, broader and deeper than the Global Financial Crisis in per capita terms.

Enter Finance Minister Nicola Willis, ever the loyal deputy, clutching at straws with the veracity of a rabid pit bull. In the wake of the June quarter's dismal data, having worn out National's usual blame Labour spin, she pinned the blame squarely on Donald Trump's tariffs, decrying them as the villainous force derailing New Zealand's fragile recovery.

Yesterday, RNZ reported:

Economy contracts sharply as GDP falls 0.9% in June quarter

The economy had a worse than expected slump in the middle of the year as weaker manufacturing, construction, and agriculture activity fell sharply, backing the case for further interest rate cuts.

Stats NZ data shows gross domestic product (GDP) - the broad measure of economic growth - fell 0.9 percent in the three months ended June, to be 1.1 percent lower than a year ago.

Expectations had been for a quarterly contraction of about 0.4 percent, although growth for the previous quarter was revised marginally higher to 0.9 percent.

"GDP has now fallen in three of the last five quarters," Stats NZ spokesperson Jason Attewell said.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis was pinning the blame for the economy's slump on global turmoil and uncertainty driven by the United States' tariff roll-out.

In a statement, she said the US announcement resulted in firms and households putting off spending decisions.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis cried foul, claiming Trump's tariffs "disrupted my momentum" as if U.S. protectionism single-handedly sank New Zealand's economy. But the facts paint a different picture. The 0.9% GDP contraction hit in the April–June 2025 quarter, with economic activity tanking well before the full impact of Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, announced on April 2, 2025.

While a 10% tariff on Kiwi exports took effect on April 5, with a hike to 15% delayed until August, the economic sting from these measures lagged, hitting exporters months later. Willis' attempt to pin the blame on Trump is just another dodge, sidestepping the harsh reality that her government's own policies have been the true wrecking ball.

Today, RNZ reported:

Nicola Willis rejects accusations she is doing nothing for a 'tanking' economy

An economist says the finance minister has not been a responsible manager for the country's finances.

But Nicola Willis is shrugging off calls to resign, saying Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confidence in her and the plan to revive the economy.

And at a media briefing on Friday, Luxon threw his full backing behind Willis to carry on as minister of economic growth.

"I don't think there's a single New Zealander that could do a better job than Nicola Willis," he said.

"Nicola Willis is the best finance minister New Zealand's ever going to have, she's an outstanding person, she's an outstanding person, she's an outstanding finance minister, economic growth minister, she's doing an exceptionally good job in a very tough situation.

"I totally back her. I'm very very proud to call her my friend, I'm very very proud to have her in the role that she is and she's outstanding."

Luxon blamed the dip in the economy in the June quarter on the global situation saying one in four of New Zealand's jobs were tied to trade.

"The good news is that that's in the past, we're growing now, we're projected to grow more strongly going into the next quarter."

Luxon said he had a very short conversation with Willis after the criticisms, telling her she had his full backing and that everything was "full steam ahead".

Willis was the best person to be finance minister and economic growth minister in the country, he said.

"Nicola's done an outstanding job of you know getting our fiscals in shape in terms of that's lead to low inflation, lower interest rates, it's going to get the economy growing, it's going to get people back into employment again which is fantastic, but we also keep talking all the time - what more can we do?"

Luxon called criticisms from former minister Sir Roger Douglas that Willis was not up to the job "absolute rubbish".

Since National slithered into power in late 2023, the coalition's austerity playbook has been as predictable as it is punishing. Public sector redundancies have ballooned to over 10,000 jobs axed, from Health New Zealand's 2,042 cuts (including 500 confirmed redundancies) to the Ministry of Education's 303 fewer full-time equivalents by July 2025. These aren't faceless figures; they're nurses, teachers, and administrators whose departures have hollowed out essential services.

Funding cuts have followed suit: baseline budgets frozen or trimmed across ministries, with the 2025 Budget delivering a $1.1 billion gouge in spending allowances. Add in the repeal of fair pay agreements, the cancelling of 3000 state house builds, the axing of the Clean Car Discount, and a bonfire of infrastructure projects like Wellington's public transport upgrades, and you've got a cocktail of downward pressure that's left the economy sputtering. Manufacturing and construction have shed over 18,000 jobs in the past year alone, while businesses shutter at the fastest rate in a decade.

Broken Promises, Broken Economy: Nicola Willis’ Fiscal Train Wreck

📍OPINION: Finance Minister Nicola Willis, who once promised to transform New Zealand’s economy with a surplus by 2027, has instead driven it into a mire of contractionary austerity and unfulfilled commitments.… pic.twitter.com/gjRTSaQ1sP

— Kelvin Morgan 🇳🇿 (@kelvin_morganNZ) September 18, 2025

And here's the rub: while Willis wails about Trump's tariffs, nations far more exposed to the U.S. trade bazooka aren't reeling like we are. Australia, our trans-Tasman twin, clocked 0.6 per cent growth in the same quarter despite similar tariff headwinds, buoyed by diversified exports and less draconian fiscal pruning. Japan and South Korea, slapped with 25 per cent duties, still project OECD growth above 1 per cent for 2025, their supply chains more resilient than our austerity-ravaged one. Even the U.S. itself, epicentre of the tariff storm, eyes 1.6 per cent expansion this year, per OECD forecasts, down from 2.2 per cent pre-tariffs, but hardly a nosedive. New Zealand's woes? Homegrown, courtesy of a neoliberal government more keen on tax breaks for the wealthy than actual stimulus.

The chorus of discontent is growing, even from the right's own choir. Commentators like Matthew Hooton and Roger Douglas, hardly the bastions of the left, have piled on, bewailing Willis' fiscal folly and Luxon's inertia amid self-inflicted recessionary headwinds. Whispers in Wellington's corridors suggest even insider Tories are fidgeting, with calls for Luxon to boot Willis before she drags the ship under. Small wonder: Luxon's approval ratings are in freefall, slumping to a net -7 in April's 1News-Verian poll, his preferred PM score dipping to 19.6 per cent in the latest RNZ-Reid Research poll, his lowest in two years. Labour's Chris Hipkins, for all his post-election torpor, now outpolls Luxon as preferred leader. Luxon doesn't have any solutions, just spin: National's propaganda machine churns out tales of "momentum" and "green shoots" while families ration the Weet-Bix and retailers bolt the doors.

Ah, but that "laser focus" on the cost-of-living crisis? What a joke, a punchline delivered with the straight face of a man who's never queued at a supermarket let alone stood in line at the food bank. National's FamilyBoost flagship, meant to hand 21,000 households $150 fortnightly, has flopped spectacularly: a year on, just 153 families have claimed the full whack. The rest? $7 a week, not even enough for a block of butter. Luxon's rhetoric ignores the shuttered shops, the tens of thousands of young Kiwi emigrants fleeing to Oz for a brighter future, the quiet desperation etched on people's faces from Kaitaia to Bluff. This isn't leadership; it's a sleight of hand that leaves Kiwis holding an empty wallet.

As the austerity deepens New Zealand's economic malaise, one can't help but ponder: if Luxon's plan is this threadbare, what hope is there for a recovery while National are in power? The emperor's wardrobe is in tatters, and the court jesters, Willis chief among them, are entirely out of valid excuses.

The Numerous Bad Takes About Tom Phillips' Death

The death of Tom Phillips, shot by police in a violent confrontation on 8 September 2025 in rural Waikato, is a heartbreaking chapter in a saga that has gripped Aotearoa for nearly four years.

Phillips, a fugitive father who vanished with his three children in 2021, met a tragic end after a shootout that also left one police officer critically injured. The loss of life, the trauma inflicted on Phillips’ children, and the pain endured by their whānau is nothing short of devastating.


Yesterday, RNZ reported:

 

Questions about the Marokopa children as Tom Phillips killed after four-year search 

 

The police shooting of a man after a burglary in Waitomo on Monday morning brings to an end one of the most unsettling incidents in recent New Zealand history: the disappearance of Tom Phillips and his three children from remote Marokopa.

For nearly four years Phillips lived in hiding, slipping in and out of sight across remote farmland and bush, while his children - Jayda, Maverick, and Ember - grew up in isolation from their friends, their family and community.

Their mother, Cat, described it as a living nightmare.

"They are who I am, and since they've been gone, I've lost my way. I'm not me. I'm lost. I'm lost without them."

 

Unfortunately, in the wake of this tragedy, a chorus of “cookers” and self-styled commentators have flooded the discourse with wild theories and baseless claims, showing a callous disregard for the families and children at the heart of this ordeal.

Among the most egregious voices is Cameron Slater, a blogger notorious for his inflammatory and false rhetoric. Slater has peddled the absurd notion that police deliberately laid a trap for Phillips, intent on gunning him down, ignoring the fact that only one police officer was initially involved. 

Slater's claims aren't only baseless but reek of the conspiratorial paranoia that has long defined his scribbling. But what makes these false claims even more telling is Slater's past posts, where he's defended the police shooting of Māori men, even in cases where the victims were unarmed, framing such incidents as necessary for public safety.

Cameron Slaters' selective outrage, cheerleading lethal force against Māori while crying foul over Phillips' death, exposes a hypocritical streak that undermines any shred of credibility the right wing propagandist once had.

The suggestion that police orchestrated a fatal ambush ignores the reality shown in the released photos: Phillips, armed with a rifle, shot a lone police officer in the head at close range, forcing the police officer to respond.

At time of writing, it appears that Phillips attempted to murder a police officer in a bid to escape and continue to hide in the bush with his three children, all of whom will be significantly traumatised by their ordeal. If Phillips' actions don't justify the Family Courts' initial decision to provide custody of the children to their mother, Catherine, I don't know what will.

Equally reckless is Martyn “Bomber” Bradbury, whose commentary on Twitter and The Daily Blog has veered into the absurd. Bradbury argues that the police were unjustified in returning fire, even after Phillips critically wounded an officer. This is lazy blogging at best, if not downright delusional.



On Monday, The Daily Blog posted:

 

The predictability of shooting Tom Phillips and the whitewash that will follow

The sad predictability of the shooting of Tom Phillips like a dog in front of his own child should surprise no one.

This Blog has predicted this very outcome for several years now.

The only blessing is the Police managed to not shoot the remaining children.

The current scramble by the cops in getting their story straight is helped by Journalists who never ask the hard questions.

We don’t even know how many shots were actually fired.

Bomber's claims defy logic. A man who appears to have initiated a shootout, endangering lives, including the lives of his children, cannot reasonably be painted as a victim. Bradbury’s fixation on the number of shots fired, demanding precise details as if they unlock some grand conspiracy, details that won't be available until forensics are completed, is particularly nonsensical. Such speculation fuels mistrust without evidence, distracting from the gravity of the incident and the trauma of those involved.

The media, too, has not escaped the trap of sensationalising this tragedy. Reports claiming Phillips “riddled” a police vehicle with bullets have been published by Stuff, yet only four bullet holes were found in the vehicle (five according to The Herald). The description of a “high-powered rifle” has also been reported, despite no specific details on the weapon’s model or calibre being released by police.


Yesterday, Stuff reported:

What the images tell us about Tom Phillips’ last moments

A police car riddled with bullets sits in the middle of a rural road, surrounded by bush.

Its driver and right passenger doors are wide open, the boot lifted. At least four bullets have pierced the front window.

Tom Phillip’s body lies on the tarseal of Te Anga Rd just metres away.

His quad bike is pulled to the side of the road, nestled against the bush. It’s loaded with what looks like buckets and supplies.

This sloppy reporting inflates the narrative, painting a picture of a one-sided gunfight that obscures the chaotic reality of the encounter. It's likely that the police officer, who is still in hospital for ongoing treatment, was shot before trying to retrieve his gun from the boot of his vehicle. That's the story the photos tell. The initial lone confrontation and critical injuries categorically show that this wasn't a police trap to gun down a fugitive.

Embellishments about Phillips' weapons or the police intending to shoot Phillips dead are clearly not required, and do a disservice to the public and, more critically, to the families grappling with the aftermath. Phillips’ children, now aged 9, 10, and 12, have endured years of isolation and uncertainty, only to lose their father in a violent clash, a tragic ending that the eldest child likely witnessed.

Their mother has spoken of her relief at their safe recovery but also her profound sadness. The whānau, already burdened by years of public scrutiny, deserve space to heal, not a barrage of conspiracy theories and exaggerated headlines. The officer’s family, too, faces an agonising wait as he undergoes multiple surgeries.

This tragedy underscores a broader failure: a society quick to sensationalise rather than reflect. The cookers, bloggers, and media outlets peddling half-truths and wild claims are exploiting other people's tragic events for clicks. Aotearoa deserves better...a discourse grounded in facts, empathy, and respect for those whose lives have been irrevocably altered.

National Government Gaslights over Economic Downturn

New Zealand’s economy is languishing, and the National-led coalition, with Finance Minister Nicola Willis at the helm, has been quick to point fingers at Labour’s Covid-19 spending.

The problem for the coalition of chaos is their narrative is a masterclass in gaslighting, deflecting blame from their own disastrous economic policies while misrepresenting the past. Let’s unpack their mess, because the truth is far uglier than the coalition’s polished spin.
 

Earlier this month, Stuff reported:

The $66 billion Covid spend up: Treasury asks if the Government went too far

Finance Minister Nicola Willis was quick to draw attention to the Tresuary’s conclusions. She has long blamed current economic challenges on the previous Labour Government.

She said this report proved that, as she has said previously, the Labour Government was fuelling inflation.

“Unfortunately, the Labour government ignored [officials’] advice. The consequence was undisciplined spending that pushed up inflation, eroded New Zealand’s previously low public debt position, and fuelled a cost-of-living crisis,” she said.

“The lesson from Labour’s mishandling of the Covid response is that while there are times when governments have to increase spending in response to major events, the fiscal guardrails should be restored as soon as possible,” she added.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Labour, under Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins, rolled out a lifeline to keep businesses afloat and workers employed. The Wage Subsidy Scheme alone, costing $18.3 billion, ensured millions of Kiwis kept their jobs, while the $70.4 billion Covid-19 Response and Recovery Fund (CRRF) propped up health, aviation, and small businesses.

This was no reckless spending spree; it was a calculated response to a global crisis, with Treasury initially urging broad-based support like wage subsidies to stabilise the economy. The result? New Zealand’s unemployment rate dropped to a 40-year low of 3.2% by December 2021, and GDP rebounded faster than in any other OECD country. Labour’s spending wasn’t perfect, but it kept the nation afloat when the world was drowning.

 

In 2021, Stuff reported:

NZ dollar tipped to head higher as economy rebounds from Covid

The New Zealand dollar is heading higher as the economy recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, which will make exports more expensive and imports cheaper.

Fitch Solutions on Wednesday lifted its forecast for the currency, and now expects it to average US74.34 cents over the remainder of this year, having averaged US71.84c over the first five months. The kiwi was at US72.52c around midday on Wednesday.

Economic growth would probably pick up by 3.6 per cent this year after a 1.2 per cent contraction last year, which would encourage investment flows into the country and tighter monetary policy, pushing the currency higher, Fitch said.

“We attribute the New Zealand dollar’s robust uptrend in recent months to the country’s strong economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic,” Fitch said.

Enter the National Party, clutching a Treasury report that claims Labour blew $66 billion. Sounds damning, right? Except it’s a sleight of hand. That figure includes general government expenditure, not just Covid-specific measures, inflating the narrative of Labour’s supposed recklessness while Willis has been borrowing even more than former Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson.

National’s comparison of New Zealand’s Covid spending to other countries while Labour was in power is equally dishonest, as those nations often exclude general expenditure from their Covid budgets. It’s a classic case of cherry-picking data to paint Labour as profligate while ignoring the global context. This isn’t analysis; it’s propaganda from a dishonest government that can only blame others for their own economic failures.

Meanwhile, the coalition of chaos has embarked on a slash-and-burn mission. Since taking office in 2023, they’ve axed 10,000 public sector jobs, including 2,000 in health, and imposed 7.5% cuts across ministries. Wellington, the public service hub, is reeling, with house prices down 6.8% and 19,500 jobs lost since January 2025. The downturn in the capital city is palpable.

 

In May, Reuters reported:

New Zealand's budget cuts punish public sector, business and workers

"We were told survive until 2025 and it will get better. Well, we're now in May 2025 and it doesn't feel better," said Thomson, who is currently doing paid freelance work.

New Zealand's conservative coalition government releases its annual budget on Thursday and is expected to continue to push fiscal discipline with many ministries not expected to see budget increases.

Spending cuts since December 2023 have been felt across the wider economy but perhaps most acutely in Wellington, a city of nearly 210,000 where the government has historically been a major employer.

House prices in Wellington have plunged 6.8% over the past year, far exceeding the national decline of 1.1%. Population growth stagnated in 2024, contrasting with a 1.7% increase nationwide. Consumer and economic sentiment in the city remains lower than in many other regions, with businesses and residents expressing concern over the city's prospects.

In Auckland, businesses are folding at twice the rate of last year, surpassing even the 2008 GFC failure rate. The coalition’s austerity obsession is sucking confidence out of the economy, leaving workers and businesses stranded and tens of thousands of young New Zealanders heading overseas to find a brighter future.

Worse, National’s policies are hammering the most vulnerable. Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden’s 1.5% minimum wage increase to $23.50, well below the 2.7% inflation rate, is in real-terms a pay cut. Welfare cuts and increases in the cost of living further erodes people's purchasing power, hitting the elderly and disabled hardest. Even for people with a little bit saved, nobody is spending because nobody feels confident in the current government's economic agenda.

With household costs up 5.4% in the year to June 2024, driven by a 9.0% rise in rent, an 8.7% increase in mortgage interest payments, and higher food and energy prices, Kiwis are struggling to keep up. These pressures, that even the RBNZ's tweaks are not addressing, compounded by a projected 5% rent increase and persistent inflation in 2025, are bleeding many households dry. This isn’t fiscal discipline; its economic sabotage, draining demand and ensuring an increase in business closures due to reduced cash flow.

 

Earlier this month, RNZ reported:

A boom in businesses going bust

New Zealand is riding its highest wave of company liquidations in more than a decade, with thousands of businesses folding and countless livelihoods caught in the crossfire.

Many more are holding on, but just.

In the first half of this year alone, 1270 businesses have shut their doors - a 12 percent increase on this time year.

It's now anticipated that the total number of liquidations for the year will surpass 2024's 10-year high, when 2500 companies folded. That was an increase of nearly 700 compared to 2023. 

Wellington economy shrinks as 177 businesses shut in a year – does Nicola Willis accept some blame?, via @nzherald https://t.co/TyMqKqrn3Y

— Jan Renwick (@nettieg3) August 26, 2025

Nicola Willis, the architect of this misery, has the gall to blame Labour while implementing austerity on the poor and pushing policies that fuel inflation. Treasury forecast inflation would be as low as 1.8% in 2025, but National’s policies have kept it at 2.7% and climbing.

National, and their coalition bedfellows, are becoming increasingly desperate, and are throwing everything they can to prop up their golden goose, the floundering housing market. Foreign buyers might make the numbers look good on paper for a while, but they'll do nothing to ensure New Zealanders quality of life improves through increased home ownership rates.

The coalitions much-touted Fast-Track Approvals Bill, now being spruiked as an economic saviour for families unable to afford basic food items, offers zero cost-of-living relief for everyday Kiwis. It’s a sop to developers, corporates and the existing supermarket duopoly, not families facing skyrocketing bills at the checkout.

Willis’ rhetoric about cleaning up Labour’s mess is pure gaslighting, obscuring the fact that her austerity is deepening the economic downturn.

The coalition of chaos is driving New Zealand into an economic abyss, while they attempt to cloak their failures in Labour-bashing and dodgy numbers. The Covid hangover is real, but it’s Willis’ heartless cuts and misguided priorities that are keeping the economy on its knees.