Nikki Macdonald
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Stuff journo, dog-lover. I write about anything, but especially science, environment and health. DMs open. Opinions my own
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Articles by Nikki Macdonald
Builders, bright sparks and high flyers - who are the Kiwis crossing the Tasman?
Lynnaire Odell and Aaron Magill have just moved with their two young children from Wellington to Queensland, where Magill can earn double as an electrician.Supplied Kiwi migration to Australia is a data black hole. In The Post’s most in-depth look yet at the skills leaving New Zealand, Nikki Macdonald tries to tally the trans-Tasman movers, state by state, and profession by profession.
How Central Otago’s solar boom could help fix NZ’s ‘broken’ power grid
Paul van Klink has just had 15 solar panels and a battery retrofitted to his Wānaka home. Central Otago has the highest solar uptake in the country.Nikki Macdonald / The Post Central Otago has the country’s highest uptake of rooftop solar. Sure it’s sunny, but what else is driving the boom? And could generating energy where it’s actually needed help fix New Zealand’s “broken” electricity system? By Nikki Macdonald. Paul van Klink’s base isn’t an obvious candidate for rooftop solar.
From Las Vegas to Tokoroa: Have international imports fixed the teacher shortage?
Joy Victoriano moved to New Zealand from the Philippines, via Las Vegas, to teach maths at a high school in the Waikato town of Tokoroa.Supplied In the past five years, 13,000 internationally trained teachers have been registered by the Teaching Council. So have immigrants fixed the teacher shortage? Nikki Macdonald finds the figures aren’t all they seem. As gambles go, Vegas to veges in Tokoroa has to be up there.
Health NZ begins to republish adverse event data, the results expose gaps in care
The review was of adverse events within hospital and specialist services.Kelly Hodel / Waikato Times Workforce shortages, infrastructure bottlenecks, and growing waitlists are directly contributing to preventable patient harm across the country, according to the latest Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora Serious Adverse Event Report.
Goosebumps over cross-party support to scrap good-character references for paedophiles
In Australia, abuse survivor Harrison James led the Your Reference Ain't Relevant campaign to stop paedophiles using good-character references.Supplied When the last confirmation came in, Sarah* got goosebumps. She chokes up just talking about it. For two years, the single mum has been fighting to fix the only thing she can change about what happened to her daughter. Nothing can undo the two years of abuse she endured at the age of six, or the anxiety and self-harm that followed.
7000 more injured Kiwis denied support as ACC rejections rise
ACC claim rejections are rising, leaving more injured Kiwis without support.Kelly Hodel / Waikato Times Cost-cutting ACC is rejecting more injury claims, denying 7000 more Kiwis cover in the past year. An advocate said the human impact of denying support was “off the charts”, with desperate people calling in tears and facing losing their homes because they could not work to pay the mortgage.
Is this the end of the great, grape goldrush?
Under the Vine director Mark Geuze is converting a former Gisborne vineyard to kiwifruit.Photo: Supplied A wine glut and a drop in drinking has grape growers converting to other crops. Nikki Macdonald asks, is this the end of the great grape gold-rush? On Gisborne’s Riverpoint Rd, new vines are settling in to the fertile Poverty Bay soils. By 2030, their fruit will hit the export market. But it won’t be in bottles of red or white, but in fuzzy hues of green and gold.
The growing gulf in autism diagnosis rates ‒ regional hotspots or postcode lottery?
Hotaia Mafileo and son Talanoa live in an apparent autism hotspot - the Hutt Valley.David Unwin / Sunday Star-Times When someone suggested Hotaia Mafileo’s young son Talanoa might be on the autism spectrum, she didn’t want a bar of it. His behaviour was sometimes challenging, but he was clever and learnt to read before his older twin brothers. The old-school Tongan view would have been that the boy “had no listening ears” and needed a good telling off.
Immigration nation - the changing face of NZ
Filipino immigrant Jayson Zulueta was one of hundreds of bus drivers brought here to end the 2022 bustastrophe. He wants to stay, but is struggling to pass the English test for residency.Photo: BRUCE MACKAY / The Post Immigrants now make up about half of NZ’s doctors and nurses. They drive trucks and buses, milk cows, and care for the country’s elderly. And with record-low fertility rates, NZ is likely to become still more dependent on those not born here. Nikki Macdonald investigates.
What does the tourism growth strategy mean for Queenstown? A new model has answers
Queenstown’s roads, sewerage system and single electricity line are already buckling under the strain of visitor and population growth.Photo: Ollie Bourguignon An innovative new Queenstown tourism modelling tool predicts everything from new jobs to litres of sewage generated by the government’s tourism growth strategy. In a week where the region’s best hope of tourism infrastructure funding was ruled out, the numbers are eye-opening. By Nikki Macdonald.
Family fights for inquest into death of Wellington Hospital mental health patient
The family of mental health unit patient Warwick Birdsall are in disbelief that the coroner thinks his death does not warrant a public inquest.DAVID UNWIN / The Post The family of a Wellington mental health unit patient who died after going AWOL via a known escape risk are in disbelief that the coroner thinks a public inquest is unnecessary. The move comes as the number of coroner’s inquests has plummeted, despite the previous chief coroner saying they are more effective.
Last rites for the bunny hop
One of those symbols being slowly relegated to history.Supplied Nikki Macdonald is a senior writer for The Post and Sunday Star-Times. As the little red Renault 5 lurched forward then cut out, my stomach did its own sickly somersault. As public embarrassments go, stalling at an intersection as the light flicks to green has to be up there. At least the irate drivers on your tail can’t see your panicked stabbing at the pedals as you try to pretend everything’s fine.
Healthcare harm report still unpublished, a year on from Ombudsman’s ruling
Health NZ says its first national summary of serious incidents in the health system will be published by the end of the year.Kathryn George / Stuff Health NZ has yet to publish a national summary of serious incidents in the health system, a year after the Ombudsman instructed them to restart reporting. Ombudsman John Allen told Health NZ in July 2025 to restart its axed reports of serious and fatal healthcare harm.
More than 250 offenders let off family violence crimes
A woman abused and strangled by a former partner now wears a safety alarm. Since 2018 when the charge was introduced, 82 people have been discharged without conviction for strangulation. (File photo)KAI SCHWOERER / THE PRESS More than 250 Kiwis were let off without a conviction for family violence crimes in 2025, including 13 for strangulation or suffocation, new data show.
Health assessments farmed out to private sector
X-ray, xray, scan, bones, spine, surgery, doctor, radiographer, generic. Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator on UnsplashUNSPLASH Health NZ is farming out some assessments to private specialists to cut waiting times that doctors say are driving patients to desperation. The move comes as documents show outsourcing of treatment to the private sector in Northland prompted some senior doctors to reduce their public system hours to pick up more private work.
Families in crisis: ‘Unacceptable’ waits for ADHD and autism assessments
Long waits for diagnosis and support can shut children out from education and have long-term impacts. (File photo)123rf Children are waiting years for potentially life-changing neuro-developmental assessments. Thousands more can’t even get into the queue. Nikki Macdonald investigates. Mariah was barely one when her parents started noticing quirky behaviours. She liked to arrange things in piles, and sort by colour. Then they found their sandals all lined up in a row.
Families in crisis: ‘Unacceptable’ waits for ADHD and autism assessments
Long waits for diagnosis and support can shut children out from education and have long-term impacts. (File photo)Photo: 123rf Children are waiting years for potentially life-changing neuro-developmental assessments. Thousands more can’t even get into the queue. Nikki Macdonald investigates. Mariah was barely one when her parents started noticing quirky behaviours. She liked to arrange things in piles, and sort by colour. Then they found their sandals all lined up in a row.
Auckland Transport apology for slow official information response arrives eight months late
Ombudsman John Allen told Auckland Transport to apologise after it unreasonably delayed a response to an official information request. The apology took eight months to arrive.Supplied Auckland Transport (AT) has apologised for its delayed official information response, by sending a letter eight months after it was written.
A community of connection, runaway dogs, and lost mail
Facegroup groups can be sewers of anonymous filth. But they can also build communities and rekindle the spirit of the neigbhourly cup of sugar across the fence.Supplied OPINION: A stranger came to my front door yesterday with a paper bag of hazelnuts. I handed over some cash and we chatted about the excellent new village green, and the ins and outs of hazelnut growing in this dry climate. Bruce had been cracking hard out to meet demand, after he’d offered the nuts on a local Facebook page.
Health NZ U-turns on plan to stop publishing waiting list detail
Health NZ said Kiwis would have to make OIA requests for detailed hospital waiting list data that it previously published every quarter. Then we asked the minister for comment.Photo: Supplied Health NZ has U-turned on a plan to stop publishing detailed hospital waiting list data, after the minister objected. The waitlist extracts spreadsheet is routinely published as part of Health NZ’s quarterly performance reporting.
Cause for concern: OT failing to keep up with reports of at-risk kids
Investigations into the 2021 death of Malachi Subecz were meant to strengthen child protection, but the number of at‑risk children waiting to be assigned a social worker continues to rise.(File photo)Christel Yardley / Waikato Times Plans to introduce mandatory reporting of child safety worries will inevitably increase reports of concern to child protection agency Oranga Tamariki. But new data shows the agency is failing to cope with the reports it already receives. Nikki Macdonald investigates.
The mysterious case of the missing waiting list data
When I asked Health NZ where its detailed waiting list data had disappeared to in the last quarter’s reporting, they said it was accidentally left off. And then it happened again.Kathryn George Nikki Macdonald is a senior writer for The Post. Read her story about Health NZ’s data u-turn here. OPINION: Since the demise of district health boards, with their regular open board meetings and published board papers, detailed local health information can be hard to find.
Go low or no-go? Why is no-alcohol wine a tougher sell than zero beer?
One winery that has gone big on zero-alc wines is Marlborough’s Giesen.SUPPLIED Low- and zero-alc beers have taken off, so why are worry-free wines harder to find? By Nikki Macdonald. Temperance is back, in hipster clothing. Even as Kiwis drink less, one section of the supermarket beer and wine aisle just keeps growing - low-alcohol offerings. Practically every craft brewery has a low or zero-alcohol brew, and many are remarkably drinkable.
Delays, missed treatment opportunities in boy's death at Wellington Hospital ED, review finds
Four-year-old Sebby Chua died in Wellington ED in 2022, after doctors failed to suspect sepsis.Neil Arvin Chua Pre-schooler Sebby Chua died of probable sepsis in Wellington Hospital’s emergency department after “significant delays” in diagnostic tests and missed opportunities for potentially life-saving treatment, a review has found. Four-year-old Sebby died eight hours after arriving at ED at 11am on September 26, 2022, groaning in pain, in distress with swollen limbs and reduced, dark urine.
The life and times of Mr Fixit, Sir Brian Roche
Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche’s ability to work on both sides of politics has earned him the label Mr Fixit. But what does that really mean?Rob Kitchin When Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced Sir Brian Roche’s appointment as tsar of the public service, he celebrated the fact he’s been endorsed by the leaders of every political party.
The doctor, the bedroom attack and the discharge without conviction
After a reporting process so re-traumatising she had to re-start counselling, the assault victim had to listen as the judge called the gravity of her husband’s offending low and let him off with no conviction and name suppression. (File photo)Federico Marsicano He was a women’s health doctor; she was a lawyer. After he seized her throat and thrust her head against the pillow in the supposed sanctuary of their bedroom, it took two years for her to summon the fortitude to report it.
Have we lost the sound of silence?
What happened to tuning out of the world and listening to nature? OPINION: As we slogged up a pig of a hill towards the Kahurangi karst country made famous by Lord of the Rings, something unprecedented happened - the bush erupted into song. In all my years of tramping, I’d never heard it - a pounding beat filling the air behind me.
Not so swell messaging - a homeowner's perspective
MetService issued a heavy swell warning for the south coast from midnight Tuesday morning to midday Wednesday, leading to a state of emergency and evacuation of coastal properties.supplied OPINION: The first heavy swell warning arrived in my inbox at 11.29am on Sunday, June 7. I was out and about so didn’t see it until later. But when I did, I was nervous. Having owned a house in Ōwhiro Bay since 2005, I’ve had two decades to learn to read the ever-changing sea.
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