
Derek Cheng
Political Reporter, Senior Writer at New Zealand Herald
Journalist at Freelance
Travel, climbing, street food. Politics, from time to time.
Articles
-
5 days ago |
nzherald.co.nz | Derek Cheng
The Goverment had been keeping aside funding for court programme Te Ao Mārama pending a review. It has now banked that money as savings. Te Ao Mārama was launched in 2020 to improve District Court processes, while connecting offenders with local providers to tackle the drivers of offending. It was funded in Budget 2022 and has since been implemented in eight courts, with five more next in line. Last year the Government paused the funding for further rollout, pending a review.
-
6 days ago |
nzherald.co.nz | Derek Cheng
The International Visitor Levy (IVL) is paid by about 60% of foreign visitors, creating a money pot of about $190 million a year - more if the Government achieves the tourism growth it wants. By law, it has to be spent on tourism or conservation, but the Government has used it to improve the Crown account by swapping IVL money for Crown funding in those portfolios.
-
1 week ago |
nzherald.co.nz | Derek Cheng
Violent crime is dropping dramatically, according to the latest quarterly report from the NZ Crime and Victims Survey. The Government claimed the credit, even though many of its key law and order policies are yet to be implemented. Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has also pointed to the impact of the Government’s law and order message, or “vibe”. Ministry of Justice advice suggests the current trend is a return to what happened between 2018 and 2022.
-
2 weeks ago |
nzherald.co.nz | Derek Cheng
The Privileges Committee recommended suspending Te Pāti Māori MPs for a haka performed during the vote on the Treaty Principles Bill. Co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi face 21-day suspensions. MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke faces seven days. If adopted, they could be absent from the House on Budget Day on Thursday. The committee’s recommendations will be debated in Parliament today.
-
2 weeks ago |
nzherald.co.nz | Derek Cheng
Treasury estimated $2.5 billion will be needed in new funding in the coming year to maintain the existing level of services. This is almost twice the $1.3b the Government has set aside, half of which was raided last year to fund cancer medicines. Finance Minister Nicola Willis, in a pre-Budget speech, said the Government had ‘freed up billions of dollars’ to fund existing services. No lolly scramble. Billions of dollars in “reprioritisations”.
Try JournoFinder For Free
Search and contact over 1M+ journalist profiles, browse 100M+ articles, and unlock powerful PR tools.
Start Your 7-Day Free Trial →Coverage map
X (formerly Twitter)
- Followers
- 2K
- Tweets
- 2K
- DMs Open
- Yes

Pulling the Govt in the opposite direction it's heading in ... https://t.co/ARXM91Ejxc

RT @HelenClarkNZ: How do #NZ Govt’s law & order changes line up with the evidence: in short, @dchengnz’s devastating report shows they do…

RT @HelenClarkNZ: Some encouraging trends noted on diversion from prosecution on drug charges by police in this analysis by @dchengnz, bu…