Bryce Edwards
- Columnist, New Zealand Herald
- Columnist, The Guardian
- Contributor, Daily Telegraph NZ
- Analyst, Victoria University of Wellington
Wellington
Articles by Bryce Edwards
Democracy Briefing: Lobbyist Watch – July 2026
Something new today. I’m starting a regular roundup of the people who shuttle between public office and private influence: lobbyists, former political staffers, former ministers, and the expanding class of insiders who make a living out of having once been on the inside. Lobbyist Watch. This month has produced plenty to work with. David Seymour’s former chief of staff has moved into supermarket lobbying. Two people with connections to the Free Speech Union have been appointed to regulate doctors.
Democracy Briefing: What’s wrong with the public service?
Erica Stanford is furious. Publicly, explicitly, on the record, at her own officials. That is not a normal thing for a minister to do. Normally the game is managed disappointment: a careful press release, an assurance that lessons will be learned. Stanford blew that up.
Democracy Briefing: NZ First’s special economic zone is a gift to corporate interests
Democracy Briefing NZ First has announced today that it will campaign on creating a “Special Economic Zone” at Marsden Point in Northland. It sounds bold, and exactly the kind of decisive, industrial-policy thinking our stagnant economy supposedly needs.
Democracy Briefing: Craig Stobo and the rot in NZ’s conflict-of-interest culture
Craig Stobo is gone as chair of the Financial Markets Authority. Not because of the rumours that swirled around him for months. Not because of the Estonia trip. Not even, formally, because he sat on the board of a mortgage-broking company that was using his FMA title in its marketing. He went because he could not do the most basic thing required of a Crown entity chair: stop behaving like a political commentator. Wendy Aldred KC cleared him on some of the more sensational allegations.
Democracy Briefing: A Country losing faith
New Zealand’s annual trust survey is out. The trust figures are not good. But this year, the most alarming finding in the 2026 Acumen Edelman Trust Barometer isn’t really about trust at all. It’s about hope. Only 17% of New Zealanders believe the next generation will be better off than today. That’s a nine-point drop from last year, a sharp collapse in optimism, and it puts us among the most pessimistic countries in the developed world.
Democracy Briefing: When the personal goes nuclear
New Zealand politics just got personal. On Sunday evening, Labour leader Chris Hipkins’ ex-wife Jade Paul posted a series of claims about him on her private Facebook page. The post was deleted. Hipkins issued a five-word denial: “I reject the allegations entirely.” He’s seeking legal advice. And just like that, we’re having a national conversation about the oldest and most uncomfortable question in political life: when does a politician’s private behaviour become the public’s business?
Democracy Briefing: Paul Eagle and the Chatham Islands integrity collapse
Paul Eagle has been found out. Not by the press, though journalists have been circling for months, but by the Auditor-General, whose inquiry report into the Chatham Islands Council was tabled in Parliament yesterday. It is one of the most damning official documents produced about a New Zealand public servant in years. And the man at the centre of it is not some anonymous council manager who got in over his head.
Baseball losing streak rises after loss against Bulldogs
Pierce College pitcher Daniel Campos (#8) warming up before their game against Allan Hancock College at the Joe Kelly Field at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif. on Feb. 26, 2026. The Pierce College Brahmas battled the Allan Hancock Bulldogs on Thursday, Feb. 26 with the Brahmas losing 7-1. Pitcher Tyler Sileo went in the 2nd inning and played four innings before being taken out at the top of the 6th inning by pitcher Dylan Adams.
Science-backed personality insights for you and your partner
Science-backed personality insights for you and your partner 14 followers Science-backed personality insights for you and your partner 14 followers Understand yourself better than a therapist would after 10 sessions. We take you through 28 research-backed assessments for personality traits, attachment style, mental health screening, neurodiversity, values, and more in under an hour.
Democracy Briefing: Luxon's Homer Simpson moment on Iran
Christopher Luxon had one job this week: explain to New Zealand where the country stands on the biggest geopolitical crisis in a generation. He blew it.
The Brits and French Want Ukraine To Go Nuclear Out Of Desperation To Hold Onto Donbass | Andrew Korybko
Andrew Korybko Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) reported on the four-year anniversary of the special operation that the Brits and French are plotting to help Ukraine go nuclear. The alleged plan is to provide it with relevant European components and equipment that would then be misrepresented to the world as proof of a domestically developed nuclear program. They’ll also give it at least one actual warhead and/or materials for a dirty bomb.
Bryce Edwards: What the Epstein scandal means for NZ politics
"New Zealand has an opportunity to get ahead of the global backlash . . . Or we can keep pretending that we are too small and too decent for this kind of corruption, and wait for the next scandal to prove us wrong." Image: Bryce Edwards ANALYSIS: By Bryce Edwards Politicians are under fire overseas. But New Zealand should take note too.
Democracy Briefing: Wellington’s politicians cannot escape the sewage blame
Nick Leggett’s resignation as Wellington Water chair yesterday was inevitable. After nearly a fortnight of 70 million litres of raw sewage a day pouring into the Cook Strait, somebody had to go. Leggett told The Post that “someone had to be accountable” and that “leadership carries responsibility.” Fair enough. But Leggett’s departure should not become a convenient endpoint on the question of accountability.
The Dangerous Precedent in Judith Collins’ New Role
When Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced that Judith Collins would become the next President of the Law Commission, he reached for familiar talking points about her “astute legal knowledge” and her service to the country. What he didn’t mention was far more significant: this marks the first time in the Law Commission’s 40-year history that a current serving politician has been appointed to lead this supposedly independent institution by their own government.
Bryce Edwards: NZ’s craven stance on the US invasion of Venezuela
And what about New Zealand’s own vested interests in staying quiet? Here the picture becomes clearer. Image: www.facebook.com/edwards.bryce ANALYSIS: By Bryce Edwards When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, New Zealand responded with unusual speed. Sanctions followed. Condemnations were issued. The language was unambiguous. We were told this was about defending the “rules-based international order” — a phrase our politicians have grown remarkably fond of.
Annual Audit of Political Donations
This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the $10.5 million in declared political donations received by New Zealand’s parliamentary parties last year. The findings reveal a political financing system under significant strain. While New Zealand maintains a global reputation for low corruption, the patterns of giving documented in this report point to a troubling disconnect between that perception and the reality of how political influence is sought and wielded.
Integrity Briefing: Calling the C-word in the Police cover-up scandal
New Zealand is in the midst of a debate over a single word: “corruption.” The explosive police cover-up scandal involving former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming and then-Commissioner Andrew Coster has rattled public trust. But is it corruption? In a country that prides itself on being “least corrupt”, many leaders are tripping over themselves to avoid the term.
Integrity Briefing: Can the Greens capture the “Broken New Zealand” Zeitgeist?
New Zealanders are in a restive mood. Across the country, there’s a growing sense that the system is broken. From outrageous supermarket prices to eye-watering power prices and rents. People are fed up with corporate profiteering and “broken markets” that seem rigged against the ordinary consumer. Surveys show trust in institutions plunging and a majority believing the economy is “rigged to advantage the rich”.
Integrity Briefing: This week’s landmark cover up scandal could have positive consequences well beyond the Police
The Independent Police Conduct Authority’s devastating report into how senior police protected Jevon McSkimming represents more than just another institutional failure. It may be the watershed moment that finally shatters New Zealand’s most dangerous delusion: that we don’t have a corruption problem. Public Service Minister Judith Collins didn’t mince words when asked whether the findings amounted to corruption: “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck”.
Integrity Briefing: Will Labour fix broken New Zealand?
The late Bruce Jesson captured something essential about New Zealand politics when he observed in the 1980s: “The National Party governs for capitalists. The Labour Party for capitalism”. Jesson was writing for Metro Magazine at the time, as their politics writer. What he meant was simple: National tends to hand out favours to their mates in business, cutting deals that keep the rich happy one by one.
Integrity Briefing: Can we trust the NZ Police not to cover up their own crimes?
Yesterday’s bombshell report from the Independent Police Conduct Authority has exposed what Public Service Minister Judith Collins starkly described as corruption within New Zealand’s police force. On the question of whether the IPCA findings amounted to corruption, Collins was blunt: “If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck”.
Integrity Briefing: Is Te Pāti Māori in a death spiral?
Te Pāti Māori’s decision to expel two of its six MPs, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Tākuta Ferris, represents not just a political crisis but a death rattle. What we’re witnessing is the culmination of structural weaknesses papered over by theatrical performances, viral haka videos, and the cult of personality. As I argued in a previous column, anyone looking for a hero or principled cause in this meltdown will come away empty-handed – see: The Emptiness of the Te Pāti Māori turmoil.
Measuring New Zealand’s misery
The nation’s discontent and malaise have been a central feature of my series of columns on the concept of “Broken New Zealand”. The series argues that we are witnessing a decline driven by an oversized corporate power that has produced broken, uncompetitive markets and poor government decision-making.
Integrity Briefing: The Lobbyist’s guide to fine dining
This is not a story about food. It is a story about money, access, and skewed priorities. The New Zealand Government’s decision to pay $6.3 million to bring the Michelin Guide to dining to our shores is being sold as a forward-thinking tourism investment. But in reality it looks more like a textbook case of pay-to-play corporate welfare. It was secured by a persistent, well-connected lobbying campaign and delivered by a political class that appears dangerously out of touch with public needs.
Integrity Briefing: Don't get fooled on climate change again
New Zealand’s landmark Zero Carbon Act was gutted this week, and hardly anyone even noticed. There’s not been a lot of media coverage of it, and even less debate. The winners of this, and other recent climate change reforms, are the powerful corporates who wanted an easier ride at the public’s expense. On Tuesday at 8pm, the New Zealand Government systematically demolished the nation’s climate change architecture. The instrument was not a parliamentary debate, nor even a ministerial speech.
News Briefing: 6 November 2025
CLIMATE CHANGE Science Media Centre: NZ’s climate law to change – Expert Reaction Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Greens accuse Government of late-night gutting of Zero Carbon Act (paywalled) Henry Cooke (Post): Government loosens range of climate rules, pushing out target for public sector by 25 years (paywalled) Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Price of releasing carbon emissions drops 10% after Government amends climate policies (paywalled) Kate Newton (RNZ): Decision to end some climate policy...
Integrity Briefing: The NZ left need to catch up with the Zeitgeist
Yesterday’s victory of “democratic socialist” Zohran Mamdani in the race for the New York mayoralty is fuelling debate amongst progressives around the world about the way forward. And this has significant implications and lessons for the political left in New Zealand, casting the Labour and Green parties as too tired and bland for the Zeitgeist of public discontent with the status quo. Mamdani’s startling victory in the financial capital of the world symbolises a broader shift in global politics.
News Briefing: 5 November 2025
TE PĀTI MĀORI Tova O’Brien (Stuff): Where to from here in the great Te Pāti Māori cluster fudge?
Integrity Briefing: Will NZ First make a populist pivot against corporate power in 2026?
Winston Peters has always known how to read a room. Right now, that room is full of angry New Zealanders who can’t afford their power bills, who watch oligopolies extract obscene profits from basic necessities, who see a political class captured by corporate interests. This should be New Zealand First’s moment. The party with the most overtly populist and anti-establishment history should be the natural champion against broken markets and crony capitalism. Instead, they’re absent without leave.
News Briefing: 4 November 2025
TE PĀTI MĀORI Bryce Edwards (The Integrity Institute): The Emptiness of the Te Pāti Māori turmoil Anneke Smith (RNZ): Iwi leaders step in as Te Pāti Māori tensions escalate Adam Pearse (Herald): Te Pāti Māori: John Tamihere’s call for MPs to quit ‘unhelpful’ to reconciliation attempts: Iwi leaders’ forum Glenn McConnell (Stuff): ‘White feeding frenzy’: John Tamihere launches attack against his Te Pāti Māori-supporting critics Giles Dexter (RNZ): ‘Greed, avarice, and entitlement’ - Te Pāti...
Integrity Briefing: The Emptiness of the Te Pāti Māori turmoil
Anyone looking for a hero or a just cause in Te Pāti Māori’s current meltdown will come away empty-handed. This is not a righteous struggle of good versus evil, but a messy brawl in which both warring factions are deeply flawed. Over the past few weeks, Te Pāti Māori has been tearing itself apart in an escalating feud that’s burst into public view.
News Briefing: 3 November 2025
Z ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT Bryce Edwards (The Integrity Institute): Z Energy’s greenwashing saga and what it says about corporate power Bill Hickman and Gyles Beckford (RNZ): Z Energy apologises for 2022 ad campaign after legal action Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Settlement gets Z Energy out of court – not ‘out of the petrol business’ Andrea Vance (Sunday Star Times): Z Energy apologises over ‘getting out of petrol’ ad as fossil fuel greenwashing faces global reckoning (paywalled) Ian Llewellyn...
Integrity Briefing: Z Energy's greenwashing saga and what it says about corporate power
This weekend, Z Energy did something rare in corporate New Zealand: it apologised. Sort of. After years of legal wrangling, the country’s biggest fuel importer settled a landmark greenwashing case with Consumer NZ, Lawyers for Climate Action, and the Environmental Law Initiative.
News Briefing: 2 November 2025 Weekend Edition
CAPITAL GAINS TAX Thomas Coughlan (Herald): It’s a National leader’s job to kill CGTs, is Christopher Luxon up to it? (paywalled) Luke Malpass (Post): Of capital gains and political losses (paywalled) Peter Dunne: Labour abandons policy soundness for symbolic gesture Tova O’Brien (Stuff): Is this the capital gains tax Labour finally gets across the line?
Integrity Briefing: The Act Party’s journey from market freedom to corporate capture
This is the fifth instalment in a series exploring a simple but uncomfortable premise: New Zealand is off the rails. As I have argued in previous columns, our economy is increasingly characterised by broken markets, our business elites have failed to steward the nation’s prosperity, and a creeping crony capitalism now poisons our politics.
News Briefing: 31 October 2025
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, TRADE Mandy Te (Interest): Unlicensed NZ insurer at centre of police probe related to alleged breaches of the Russia Sanctions Act highlights NZ’s ‘light touch’ regulation Reuters: Iran, Russia and the New Zealand insurer that kept their sanctioned oil flowing Tim Hunter (NBR): Police confirm raid on NZ-registered insurer (paywalled) Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Luxon’s Pepsi, Trump’s Coke, and the failure of daddy diplomacy Tova O’Brien (Stuff): Luxon and Trump: Just...
Integrity Briefing: The Pork lobby's stranglehold on animal welfare
When I wrote earlier this month about how the pork lobby had essentially written its own law, I thought we had witnessed the nadir of this Government’s capitulation to agricultural interests – see: How the pork lobby wrote its own cruel law. I was wrong. The subsequent weeks have revealed an integrity deficit that is deeper, more cynical, and more comprehensively orchestrated than even critics initially imagined.
Integrity Briefing: National’s crony capitalism problem
The National-led coalition government rode into power in 2023 on a wave of public dissatisfaction. Voters were fed up with soaring living costs, stagnant growth, and what felt like “broken” markets in essentials like groceries, housing, electricity, insurance and banking. The National Party, Act, and New Zealand First all tapped into this discontent during the 2023 election campaign – implicitly promising to fix what the previous Labour Government wouldn’t.
News Briefing: 30 October 2025
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, TRADE Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Will Luxon’s Trump card be a triumph?
Integrity Briefing: Labour's voter- and business-friendly CGT
It’s clever, moderate, and voter-friendly. By and large, that’s the verdict of most political journalists and commentators about Labour’s new capital gains tax policy. Perhaps, just as importantly for Labour, the policy also doesn’t upset business and the wealthy too much. That’s been Labour’s key concern during its 14-year debate about reforming the tax system: not to scare any wealthy vested interests too much.
News Briefing: 29 October 2025
LABOUR’S CAPITAL GAINS TAX Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Labour’s capital gains gamble: From leak to launch Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Labour’s CGT calculus: Taxing property to pay for healthcare (paywalled) Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Labour’s CGT: ‘the moderates have won’ (paywalled) Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Labour’s capital gains tax, health plan by the numbers (paywalled) Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Labour’s mini-CGT sets a small target but has big loopholes, including for the...
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Bryce
Contact Bryce, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack