ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on April 24, 2026.
No power, all influence: How One Nation gets what it wants
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ashlynne McGhee, Head of Editorial Innovation, The Conversation One Nation has never held government, nor has it ever been in opposition. Yet it’s managed to influence public policy in Australia for three decades. From borders to immigration, Indigenous affairs to multiculturalism, it’s moved the needle on each
No diesel, no power: why the global oil shock is hitting NZ’s small Pacific neighbours hard
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sione Fanga Taufa, Associate Dean Pacific and Professional Teaching Fellow, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau When Tuvalu recently moved to declare a state of emergency, it laid bare a major vulnerability long faced by New Zealand’s small and far-flung Pacific neighbours. That is their heavy reliance
More shearwaters are washing up dead on Australian beaches. It’s not due to ‘natural’ causes
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jennifer Lavers (Métis Nation ᓲᐊᐧᐦᑫᔨᐤ), Lecturer in Ornithology, Charles Sturt University You might know the short-tailed shearwater and sable shearwater by the common name “muttonbirds”. These two species of seabird breed on islands off southeastern Australia. Both undertake a breathtaking two-week, non-stop flight across the Pacific to
The AFL’s Anzac Day game: how a shared tradition became a two-club monopoly
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mathew Turner, Associate Teaching Fellow, Deakin University On Anzac Day, Collingwood and Essendon will meet at the MCG for their annual blockbuster in front of more than 90,000 people. The clash, first staged in 1995, honours those who served in the Australian forces. It is the biggest
The ABC’s new workplace comedy about a theatre, Bad Company, simply mocks from the outside
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Graffam-O’Meara, Tutor in English & Theatre, The University of Melbourne There’s a line in the opening moments of Anne Edmonds’ Bad Company that announces the show’s premise: “Money is the death of creativity”. Delivered by Margie Argyle (Edmonds), the wildly self-assured artistic director of the Argyle
Anzac then and now: as trans-Tasman defence relations get closer, NZ must be on guard
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Gillespie, Professor of Law, University of Waikato Anzac Day 2026 arrives in tumultuous times: unresolved conflict in the Middle East, the erosion of the old international order, the famous Doomsday Clock set closer to midnight than ever before. Without doubt, this brings New Zealand’s defence relationship
Scientists finally know how old the Twelve Apostles are – and they’re much younger than anyone thought
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gallagher, Associate Professor, School of Geography, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, The University of Melbourne Every year, millions of visitors stand at the clifftop lookouts along Victoria’s Great Ocean Road and gaze out at the Twelve Apostles. These towering limestone stacks, rising up to 70 metres above
The carbon tax debate damaged Julia Gillard’s leadership – and good climate policy for years to come
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wallace, Professor, School of Politics Economics & Society, Faculty of Business Government & Law, University of Canberra Carbon pricing and the Gillard government are fused together like molten glass in the memory of all those who witnessed the traumatic and consequential policy and political drama surrounding
After 110 years of Anzac Days, new research shows Australians remain convinced of its importance
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nicole Townsend, Lecturer in War Studies, UNSW Sydney 110 years ago this week, Anzac Day was held for the first time. It has been observed annually ever since. Today, Anzac Day has emerged as an unofficial national day. But what do Australians think about the most significant
States have driven climate action until now. It’s time for the Australian government to step up
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Wright, PhD Candidate in Environmental Policy, Macquarie University For more than a decade, Australia’s emissions reductions have been driven not by the federal government but by the states and territories, often in relative obscurity. State governments took the lead in driving rapid uptake of renewable energy,
Taking your child to an Anzac service? Prepare for loud noises and big questions
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marg Rogers, Associate Professor in the Early Childhood Education, University of New England Tens of thousands of Australians are expected to attend Anzac Day marches and services over the weekend. Many children will also be there with their families or school groups. Anzac events are often very
Why the world’s banks are so worried about Anthropic’s latest AI model
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Toby Walsh, Professor of AI, Research Group Leader, UNSW Sydney The legendary American bank robber Willie Sutton spent 40 years robbing banks because, as he claimed in his autobiography, he loved doing it. And when asked why he chose banks of all places to rob, he allegedly
The first Anzac Day was marked by women wearing mourning black
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tanja Luckins, Historian, Department of Archeology and History, La Trobe University Even before the first world war, a high mortality rate from disease, accident and death during infancy meant that Australians were familiar with mourning black. During a period of mourning, for example after the death of
The theatre of war: how the Anzac story has been retold through dance for 80 years
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yvette Grant, PhD Candidate in Dance and Dance History Tutor, The University of Melbourne The story of the Anzacs has been represented through art from the beginning. The film Hero of the Dardanelles (1915) recreates the landing at Gallipoli. Official war artists were commissioned to document the
How scientists changed their view of insomnia
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Iuliana Hartescu, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, Loughborough University Insomnia may have been torturing humanity since ancient times, but over the last 20 years scientists have made progress in their understanding of chronic sleep deprivation. Today, sleep deprivation is one of the most widespread reported psychological problems in
Middle East conflict looks increasingly like a war nobody can win
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bamo Nouri, Honorary Research Fellow, Department of International Politics, City St George’s, University of London Let’s begin with a simple question that rarely gets a straight answer: what would victory over Iran actually look like? In Washington and Jerusalem, the answers tend to sound definitive: eliminate Iran’s
David Malouf was a writer of wisdom, grace and generosity
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brigid Rooney, Associate Professor (Affiliate), Australian Literature, University of Sydney David George Joseph Malouf AO, one of Australia’s most accomplished, internationally renowned and beloved writers, has died aged 92. Malouf’s novels are cherished by readers – from Johnno (1975), An Imaginary Life (1978), Child’s Play (1981) and
Chernobyl at 40: the lies, the loss and why we can’t let go
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Cantrell, Senior Lecturer in Humanities, University of Southern Queensland Some historical events are so catastrophic they resist comprehension. And yet they compel us to try to understand them, again and again. Chernobyl is one of them. On April 26, 1986, at 1:23am, Reactor No. 4 at
Seismic ‘whiplash’ – new research shows what happens when earthquakes stop suddenly
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jesse Kearse, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington The magnitude of an earthquake depends on how far a rupture travels along a fault line before it stops. For the first time, we have now directly observed how a large earthquake comes to
Targeted Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil bombed and left to die by Israel
By Jeremy Loffredo of Drop Site News Prominent Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil has been killed in what appeared to be a targeted attack by the Israeli military in the town of Tyre in southern Lebanon. Her employer, Al-Akhbar, confirmed the death of their correspondent on Wednesday evening. Khalil and Zeinab Faraj, a freelance photojournalist, were
