ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on August 29, 2025.
Polls open in Samoa’s 2025 general election with one seat declared
Voting commenced in Samoa’s general election today, with more than 100,000 eligible voters heading to the polls to decide the country’s next government. A total of 187 candidates will contest 50 seats in Parliament, representing six political parties and 46 independents. The governing FAST Party leads the field with 58 candidates, followed closely by the
Why endurance events like marathons should have weight divisions for heavier runners
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Dean (Academic), Faculty of Arts and Education, Charles Sturt University In sports such as wrestling, boxing, rowing, weight lifting and the martial arts, athletes are grouped by weight to make things fairer. It wouldn’t make sense for someone who weighs 60 kilograms to fight
Trump isn’t the first US politician to pick a fight with the Smithsonian. But this time could be different
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kylie Message, Professor of Public Humanities and Director of the ANU Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University United States President Donald Trump first signalled his intention to target the Smithsonian Institution in March, when he signed an executive order titled Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.
Gender-affirming surgeries may be added to Medicare – but the evidence is still being reviewed
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ada Cheung, Professorial Fellow in Endocrinology, The University of Melbourne Brit Worgan/Getty For the first time in Australia, an independent committee is considering whether Medicare should fund gender-affirming surgery for trans adults (those aged 18 and over). Gender-affirming surgery is any surgical procedure that helps trans and
The climate case for planting trees has been overhyped — but it’s not too late to fix it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pep Canadell, Chief Research Scientist, CSIRO Environment; Executive Director, Global Carbon Project, CSIRO Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images The climate benefits of planting trees may have been greatly overestimated, but swift action could ensure reforestation meets its potential to curb dangerous emissions, new research has found. Reforestation –
The governor of California is in a high-stakes battle with Donald Trump. It’s not yet clear who will win
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bruce Wolpe, Non-resident Senior Fellow, United States Study Centre, University of Sydney The last governor of California who became president of the United States was Republican Ronald Reagan. Democrat Gavin Newsom wants to be the next one. To get there, Newsom is in a knife fight with
No more card charges: how Australians can switch to fast, fee-free payments right now
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vibhu Arya, PhD Student, UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney Proxyclick Visitor Management System/Pexels, CC BY Every day, when Australians tap their card at a cafe checkout or hit pay on an online order, there’s often an unpredictable, frustrating extra cost: the card surcharge. Australians pay
Grattan on Friday: Mike Burgess, the spycatcher who gives ASIO a very public face
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra If the intelligence community had its Logies, ASIO chief Mike Burgess would be chasing gold this week. The director-general of security, who is better known than some junior ministers, appeared beside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday as they revealed
French Overseas Minister pushes ahead with Bougival deal despite FLNKS snub
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific Correspondent French Pacific desk French Minister for Overseas Manuel Valls has ended an extended seven-day visit to New Caledonia with mixed feelings. On one hand, he said he was confident his “Bougival deal” for New Caledonia’s future is now “more advanced” after three sittings of a “drafting committee” made up
Bus seatbelts can save lives. How do we get more people to wear them?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Associate Professor and Principal Fellow in Urban Risk and Resilience, The University of Melbourne The recent Stonehaven school bus rollover in Victoria, in which 12-year-old Milla Killeen was killed and many others were injured, reminds us that bus crashes, though uncommon, can have devastating consequences.
Treacherous terrain: the search for alleged police killer Dezi Freeman
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Terry Goldsworthy, Associate Professor in Criminal Justice and Criminology, Bond University A large-scale hunt is underway for Dezi Freeman, the so-called sovereign citizen who allegedly killed two Victorian Police officers while they were attempting to execute a search warrant. Freeman fled into the bushland surrounding the Porepunkah
NZ media workers call for ‘decisive action’ by Luxon over Gaza journalists
Asia Pacific Report About 120 journalists, film makers, actors, media workers and academics have today called on Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and two senior cabinet ministers in an open letter to “act decisively” to protect Gaza journalists and a free press. “These are principles to which New Zealand has always laid claim and which are
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Health Minister Mark Butler on everything from Thriving Kids to aged care funding
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Medicare, aged care and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are all key parts of Australians’ lives. But for the federal government, each of these areas – especially growing demand and rising costs – remains a challenge. In a bid
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Health Minister Mark Butler on kids on the NDIS through to aged care funding
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Medicare, aged care and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) are all key parts of Australians’ lives. But for the federal government, each of these areas – especially growing demand and rising costs – remains a challenge. In a bid
Mitch Brown’s bravery can change the score for LGBTIQA+ people – and the AFL’s fight against homophobia
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ryan Storr, Research fellow, Swinburne University of Technology It has been a challenging few weeks for both the AFL and LGBTQIA+ communities, with a sixth incident of homophobia in the men’s competition since the league’s crackdown on this damaging language. Read more: Australian sports media is compounding
Australia’s small business shipments are caught in the US-China trade war crossfire
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicola Charwat, Senior Lecturer, Business Law and Taxation and Associate Dean of Learning and Teaching, Monash Business School, Monash University Until this week, thousands of Australian small businesses that exported to the United States relied on a simple system that had worked for decades. Parcels worth less
