ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on November 5, 2025.
Confidential documents reveal Pacific Ministry raised concerns over NZ census overhaul
By ‘Alakihihifo Vailala, PMN News The Ministry for Pacific Peoples (MPP) repeatedly warned its minister that replacing the traditional population-wide survey with administrative data would have negative consequences for data on Pasifika communities. They cautioned that this change would undercount Pacific people and lead to poor policy decisions, yet the changes proceeded. In records obtained
Earning more doesn’t lighten mothers’ mental loads – they do more regardless
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, Podcast at MissPerceived, The University of Melbourne Pexels/Kampus Production You work a full day, drive the kids to various after school activities, make a mad dash to the supermarket to pick up something
Do you speak cat? Take this quiz to find out
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julia Henning, PhD Candidate in Feline Behaviour, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide Katelyn G/Unsplash While often miscast as mysterious or hard to understand, cats are actually excellent communicators. In fact, in free-ranging cat colonies, physical fights are kept to a minimum through clever
Vaping has slowed progress in cutting teen smoking in NZ – new study
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Waa, Associate Professor in Public Health, University of Otago Getty Images Smoking rates among adults have declined in Aotearoa New Zealand over recent decades, from 18% smoking regularly in 2011/12 to 8% in 2023/24. However, marked inequities persist for Māori and Pacific peoples. Consequently, these populations
Lonely? Here’s how to connect with old friends – and make new ones
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, Lecturer and Research Supervisor, Graduate School of Health, University of Technology Sydney Shannon Fagan/Getty Loneliness is quietly emerging as one of the most significant health issues in Australia, and it can affect people of all ages, backgrounds and life stages. Long-term survey data
Yes, you can be intolerant to fruit and veg
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lauren Ball, Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing, The University of Queensland Any Lane/Pexels For most people, eating a wide variety of fruit and vegetables is the cornerstone of a healthy diet. But for people with hereditary fructose intolerance, even a couple of bites of juicy watermelon
Ancient Greeks and Romans knew harming the environment could change the climate
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Konstantine Panegyres, Lecturer in Classics and Ancient History, The University of Western Australia Universal History Archive / Contributor/Getty Humans have known about, thought about and worried about climate change for millennia. Since at least the fourth century BC, the ancient Greeks and Romans recognised that the climate
The ABC gives true crime the comedy panel show treatment – with expectedly mixed results
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xanthe Mallett, Criminologist, CQUniversity Australia ABC ABC’s new offering is a new take on true crime, where comedian host Julia Zemiro is joined by criminologists Professor Danielle Raynold and Dr David Bartlett and a changing lineup of comedians to unpick key crime issues. I was intrigued when
Dick Cheney dies: giant of the US conservative movement whose legacy was defined by the Iraq war
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natasha Lindstaedt, Professor in the Department of Government, University of Essex Dick Cheney, one of the most important figures in America’s neo-conservative movement, has died at the age of 84. Cheney had a long career in government and was considered by many as one of the most
Australia is facing an ‘AI divide’, new national survey shows
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kieran Hegarty, Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making & Society, RMIT University Pixabay/Pexels In the short time since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in November 2022, generative artificial intelligence (AI) products have become increasingly ubiquitous and advanced. These machines aren’t limited to text – they can
After 2 years of devastating war, will Arab countries now turn their backs on Israel?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Burgis-Kasthala, Professor of International Law, La Trobe University The Middle East has long been riddled by instability. This makes getting a sense of the broader, long-term trends in the aftermath of the Gaza war particularly challenging. The significance of Trump’s 20-point peace deal that has (hopefully)
The threat of space terrorism is no longer science fiction, but we’re ill-prepared to combat it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anna Marie Brennan, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Waikato Getty Images As satellite technology surges ahead and space becomes increasingly accessible to private and state actors alike, the new and unsettling threat of space terrorism looms above Earth’s atmosphere. Once the domain of science fiction, the
Papua New Guinea’s population tops 10 million, census data reveals
The average household in PNG was five people, according to the 2024 Census final figures. Image: RNZ Pacific/Koroi Hawkins RNZ Pacific Papua New Guinea’s population has passed the 10 million mark, according to the final figures from the 2024 Population Census released by the country’s statistics office. The PNG census began on 16 June 2024
ASIO boss warns of ‘realistic possibility’ foreign government could attempt to kill a dissident in Australia
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Australia Security Intelligence Organisation believes there is a “realistic possibility” a foreign government will try to assassinate a “perceived dissident” in Australia, ASIO’s boss Mike Burgess has revealed. Delivering the 2025 Lowy lecture on Tuesday, Burgess said: “This threat
View from The Hill: fractured Liberals drown net zero and themselves in a torrent of verbiage
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Here is a statistic that tells you what a self-defeating funk the federal opposition is in. On Monday alone, as it wallowed in the crisis over energy policy, its parliamentarians indulged in more than 35 media appearances. Opposition members can’t
Politics with Michelle Grattan: Niki Savva and David Solomon on The Dismissal
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Tuesday November 11 will be the 50th anniversary of the dismissal of the Whitlam government by the then Governor-General Sir John Kerr. It was a dramatic day in our federal political history, with Malcolm Fraser appointed prime minister. Fraser then
Eugene Doyle: Venezuela and Trump’s war to save the Ancien Régime
William Faulkner was right: past events continue to inform and shape our world. With powerful forces gathering to reassert US dominance over not just Venezuela but the entire Western hemisphere, the vexed issue of local elites, for example Venezuela’s Maria Corina Machado and her backers, enlisting an imperial power in domestic broils, is again top
RBA keeps interest rates on hold, leaving borrowers looking further ahead for relief
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stella Huangfu, Associate Professor, School of Economics, University of Sydney As expected, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has kept the cash rate steady at 3.6%. Its board unanimously agreed it was better to “remain cautious” on interest rates. While borrowers may have been hoping for rate
Jamie Morton joins The Conversation New Zealand as Deputy Editor
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Finlay Macdonald, New Zealand Editor, The Conversation Former New Zealand Herald journalist Jamie Morton has joined The Conversation New Zealand as Deputy Editor. Jamie comes to The Conversation with 20 years of experience in newsrooms, including 14 years at The New Zealand Herald, where he covered science,
