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www.thepost.co.nzAcross New Zealand, water infrastructure is a multibillion-dollar fiasco of epic proportions, writes Andrea Vance.
Is it me, or does something stink here?
OPINION: While Wellington drowns in raw sewage, contractors cash in and rest of us are left holding the toilet brush.
"This is a serious situation, and we anticipate the plant will be shut down for an extended period."
Raw sewage spewing into sea off Wellington’s south coast, public warned to stay away
Multiple floors of the plant have been inundated with sewage, meaning it is likely to be shut down for an extended period. “This is a serious situation.”
“They spent all that money to make sure they are legally covered, but are not prepared to spend money on keeping people safe.”
Paid, promised, then paused: Hefty waterfront death inquest cost questioned
Wellington City Council spent nearly $200,000 on lawyers and expert witnesses for a coroner’s inquest into a fatal fall at Queens Wharf ‒ only to backtrack on the safety measures it promised in court.
"When flood velocity is included in the assessment, the areas classified as high risk for people walking increased by more than 80%. Medium-risk pedestrian areas, including for children and older people, more than tripled."
Dangers of shallow, fast-moving flood waters highlighted
Researchers warn that Wellington Hospital and other essential services in the capital are in increasing danger of being cut off during heavy rainfall, and call for cities across NZ to rethink flood pl...
“It would have been a bit of a stomach-drop moment for the staff member that discovered it.”
Wellington City Council's blowout: Oversight leaves $56m hole in housing budget
A large gap was discovered in the council’s social housing upgrade programme after it emerged GST was never built into the budget.
“It is a busy street. I don’t expect it to be quiet anyway – it is life in the city ... it is going to be what it is.”
Homes in the path of Wellington’s proposed new tunnels revealed
Newly released ‒ and still heavily redacted ‒ documents on Wellington’s State Highway 1 changes show, for the first time, exactly which houses will be tunnelled beneath.
The council argues information available when it wrote its submission did not "adequately demonstrate" how NZTA's roads would integrate with the council's own networks and how much integration would cost the city.
Council blasts ‘critical gaps’ in $3.8b Wellington SH1 proposal
Wellington City Council has delivered a politely critical assessment of the Government’s $3.8 billion State Highway 1 plans, warning that key information gaps and rushed engagement make it impossible ...
Documents obtained by The Post show the ferry terminal project was rated an “extreme” financial risk, with residual risk remaining “very high” across 2024 and 2025.
Ferry terminal timeline strained as government rejects ‘extreme’ risk warnings
Wellington’s ferry terminal rebuild is racing a 2029 deadline even as Winston Peters talks up the prospect of early ship delivery.
“Nobody disputes the merit of getting across the city fast and efficiently. The argument is are there better ways of spending that money to get the outcomes we want?”
Counting Wellington highway improvement promises
Will the Government’s Wellington roading plans deliver as promised? The only thing that is certain is that there is no consensus.
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Cuba St Tavern's Richard Walshe on a tough 2025: “I think we managed to scrape through it, definitely scraping through.”
‘We’re feeling optimistic’: Hospo businesses plot bold moves for 2026
The Post spoke with five Wellington businesses about their hopes for the year ahead, following a difficult few years for hospitality.
This is just ... science...
Wellington’s swimming pools, rated: One family’s verdict
OPINION: Wellington in summer. The beach, like the weather, is rubbish. There’s only one thing for it.
Papakura offers a corrective path. Yet there is a counter-theory: that the seat could fall victim to the old “rule of leaders”, writes Andrea Vance.
The names on everyone’s lips to succeed Judith Collins
ANALYSIS: From an establishment favourite to billionaire aspirants and long-time agitators, the Papakura contenders are circling.
"Things have steadily worsened. It feels like the frog in boiling water analogy, except now people are finally realising how hot it is."
‘Genuinely dangerous’: NZ-based Americans fear for the US
As their compatriots are killed and protests break out, Americans living in New Zealand say loving Aotearoa doesn’t mean they stopped caring about the people they left behind.
“Everyone was sad that we’re going, but it’s just our time.”
In pictures: Last orders for Leuven as Belgian beer bar taps out of hospitality
The Post dropped in to experience Leuven Belgian Beer Cafe’s last day on Wednesday.
"It’s really easy for a brand to put your name on the side of a building and walk away and never do anything. You’re looking for a partner who’s going to leverage the opportunity."
New name for Wellington’s stadium revealed
From March, Wellingtonians will be watching sporting events and big music gigs at Hnry Stadium after the sole trader accountancy firm sealed a five-year deal.
"For one child our bill came to $400 before you add the rain jacket, shoes, bag, or the 'optional but strongly encouraged' extras. I have three."
After the war on gang patches, we need to tackle the school uniform shakedown
OPINION: This is one of the easiest education problems a government could fix, yet it’s the one they consistently avoid.
“There’s a reason why NASA wants to do research with us, they’re interested in what we have here, which is technically quite good.”
Victoria University’s AI programme enters world top 50
Graduates from Te Herenga Waka Victoria University are stepping straight from university into specialist AI roles — and global rankings have taken notice.
"While this isn’t how we hoped this chapter would end, we are endlessly grateful for the love, support and loyalty you’ve shown us over the years."
Spruce Goose to close, the latest Wellington cafe to run out of road
Lyall Bay’s Spruce Goose cafe will close in a fortnight, hot on the heels of the official last day at another capital institution, the Chocolate Fish cafe.
"We are all going to need a funeral director sooner or later."
Surprise! It’s a funeral parlour on Tinakori Rd
The arrival of a funeral parlour has upset residents, but the owners say legal restraints stopped them explaining what was happening until days before the doors opened.
Code red is the fourth and final step in a traffic light system that matches staff availability and patient demand. Red is defined as a “critical care capacity deficit”.
Hospital ED hits ‘code red’ 575 times in 10 months
Nurses have to ration care to just one or two minutes for the patients they are juggling, patients can wait more than a day in Wellington’s ED to get on a ward and some are waiting so long to be seen ...
"We have always been supportive of appropriate and respectful development. We don’t believe this is appropriate or respectful."
Neighbour driveway stoush threatens to stall luxury apartment project
A narrow strip of asphalt and 27,000 truck movements in a leafy suburb have become the unlikely flashpoint in a much bigger battle over how Wellington grows.
"When 5-year-olds and 70-year-old couples [are sitting listening to] one of your songs, it’s a good reminder that you don’t need to box yourself into a certain space. It’s special."
What Gardens Magic tells us about Wellington
For more than half a century, Gardens Magic has been a fixture of Wellington summers ‒ a free, family-friendly celebration of music, light and community. As rising costs reshape the live music landsca...
"No-one is denying that rising rates is an issue across the country ... but before coming up with a solution, we need to properly identify what’s causing the problem."
Rates capping won’t fix what’s really driving costs
OPINION: Rates capping sounds simple, but it won’t stop rates rising.
Green MP Julie Ann Genter: "For a city like Wellington it just make sense to have trains to the planes."
Tunnel vision leaves Wellington a projected 17,400 homes short
The cost of the capital’s move away from mass rapid transit has been revealed, with new transport plans leaving a housing deficit compared to the beleaguered and eventually abandoned Let’s Get Welling...
Nell on her mum watching her act in horror film Evil Dead Rise: “She had read the scripts, so she knew when all the bad bits were coming. Basically, she watched two minutes of it.”
www.thepost.co.nz/culture/3609...
How a NZ teen became Stranger Things’ breakout star
“I’m very good at Scared Blonde Girl,” jokes Nell Fisher.
“National have to do something because unless they hold Auckland, [the coalition government] is f....ed.”
Controversial Auckland intensification plans to be watered down
Christopher Luxon is understood to have made a captain’s call on his housing minister’s key policy after a backlash from the supercity’s MPs.
The new faces and the blank spaces in the public service
As Wellington eases back into work after summer, the Public Service Commission is juggling a wave of senior vacancies.
The national museum’s chief executive Courtney Johnston says the options were presented to provoke a wide-ranging discussion and demonstrate the significance of the financial challenge Te Papa faces.
Radical Te Papa cuts rejected as funding pressure mounts
New documents show the national museum’s leadership were presented with stark options to address a growing financial crisis, including abandoning physical visitors and closing its Wellington site.
The first Articulate episode of 2026 is live, featuring
@vicciho.com discussing the power of visibility and stereotypes.
Articulate Episode 10: Vicci Ho
WATCH: What does real representation look like ‒ and when does it slip into tokenism or queerbaiting? Film festival consultant and programmer Vicci Ho talks queer curation, visibility, and the tension...
"It is just time for me to let it go, live my life."
Wellington about to lose long-running Belgian beer cafe
“After 25 wonderful years our lease has come to an end,” the Featherston St bar and restaurant posted on Facebook.
“We said would you be able to consider the rent in line with market conditions but their answer was no. We were a bit sad, so we thought we’d have a look at what was available.”
Landlords warned: Negotiate your rents or risk losing tenants and money
After being refused a modest rent reduction, Motu Research economist Stuart Donovan is moving on — only to see his former rental reappear online at a lower price.
"I just want to sell scooters. I never thought it would involve the fear, the sleepless nights, the obsessive security camera checking."
How one district is fighting back against retail crime
After repeated crimes, including one that got violent, Kevin Grimes’ store now features nine security cameras, two alarm systems, metal bollards behind a reinforced roller door and a fog cannon. And t...
“They knew if I went to use a phone for anything other than communicating with them, and I was asked not to use the phone at all while they were trying to catch the scammer.”
Trust, fear and $80,000: 26 days in the clutches of scammers
“They said it was Westpac fraud division phoning,” the businessman says.
“The citizens of Invercargill can be proud of the enormous legacy leaves.’’
Sir Tim Shadbot dies at 78
“He was a champion of the underdog.”
"The PM has been catching up on work from home this week, planning for the year ahead."
The ‘summer shutdown’ is wrapping up ‒ so where is the prime minister?
Christopher Luxon said he’d be back at work in early January. So The Post checked in to see if he had switched his out-of-office off.
John and Penny Pennington are still looking at other sites, despite both being in their 70s. The cafe is their retirement nest egg.
Popular cafe enters final weeks after decades serving Wellington
After first opening in Scorching Bay in 1997, Chocolate Fish Cafe’s time in Shelly Bay is coming to an end. But owners John and Penny Pennington are hopeful it’s not the end of their time in hospo.
Local Government Minister Simon Watts: "I am closely monitoring the situation to ensure the integrity of the electoral process is upheld."
Fresh scrutiny over Independent Together election campaign spending
What appear to be leaked bank statements raise questions about whether expenses from the group running Ray Chung’s controversial Wellington mayoral campaign were properly declared.
NZTA expects to complete the bridge project early in the new year - pouring the rest of the concrete surface, fencing, lighting, planting, landscaping, and installing artworks and utilities.
New walking and cycling bridge soars over Wellington rail line
A new walking and cycling bridge beside State Highway 2 has been fully assembled, marking a major milestone in the $348m Te Ara Tupua coastal resilience project.
“As with Auckland, a cautious attitude seems to be pervading the Wellington housing market.”
NZ property prices: Wellington, Auckland plunge from 2022 peak
The median price for a Wellington property is 25.4% lower than 2022, while Auckland is also down 23.4%. Christchurch is a different story.
"People are looking for some reassurance [that] there is a plan, there's a strategy for the city that is inclusive, and also that it's about getting the council spending under control."
Andrew Little’s warning: Hard choices are coming
Wellington’s new mayor has enjoyed a strong start, inheriting a city on the cusp of long-awaiting openings and riding a commanding electoral mandate. But, with 2026 approaching, so do tough calls.
For those keen on a real book, Tania Roxborogh has a suggestion: Charlie Tangaroa and the Creature from the Sea.
A Christmas book even the ‘author’ has never seen
It was a flattering nod for Tania Roxborogh to be included in the list of 10 books that would be a “gift to last a lifetime” ‒ except the book credited to her seemingly doesn’t exist and award-winning...
“There’s not too many sales, but I’m buying stuff anyway cause we’re here.”
Wellington shoppers brave sideways rain for Boxing Day sales
The weather, in contrast to Christmas, unleashed on the capital ‒ but it didn’t deter committed shoppers from getting the deals.
“It would be difficult to move them now and without attracting any attention."
The midnight kauri swap that fooled royal souvenir hunters
The trees planted by Princess Diana and Prince Charles during their 1983 tour were nearly taken by royal souvenir hunters — until a council gardener intervened under cover of night.
Luke Pierson: "What we don’t have here is perfection. But what we do have, is a chance to fix a longstanding transport challenge for Wellington."
Wellington needs real solutions, not selective outrage over tunnels
OPINION: With 45,000 vehicles using the Mt Victoria Tunnel daily and strong public support for a second tunnel, the city faces a choice between practical fixes and political posturing.
What’s on in Wellington this weekend and beyond
Two major exhibitions have opened in the city at Te Papa and Tākina and Whairepo Lagoon and Courtenay Place will be the places to be to celebrate New Year’s Eve.
Happy Christmas everyone. The Post printed edition is back Boxing Day, as well as a heap of great content on
www.thepost.co.nz
You can’t beat Wellington on a Christmas Day
From Santa-clad parkrunners to icy wharf jumps and windswept beach picnics, Wellingtonians marked Christmas Day with exercise, community and a healthy dose of classic capital weather.
While there is no printed edition of The Post on Christmas Day, there will still be plenty of great stories to read at
www.thepost.co.nz 🎅
Thanks for supporting us this year. Stay safe.
Or … flop on the sofa and embrace the holiday coma. No judgment from us.
Xmas survival guide: What’s open when everything closes?
Christmas Day in Wellington may seem like a barren oasis, but burgers, golf, and the great outdoors are still wide open for festive fun.
“Comparing apples-to-oranges like this calls into question the validity of the conclusions in the report.”
Wellington over-staffing report counts empty desks
A report that triggered job-cut fears at Wellington City Council is being questioned after councillors discovered it counted dozens of unfilled roles.
