Karl du Fresne: The sad, ignoble decline of Frog City

On a recent Monday morning, my wife and I had breakfast at Bordeaux Bakery on Thorndon Quay, Wellington. I expressed surprise that the place was empty. A couple of years ago it would have been humming.We sat by the window with a view over the street. What we saw was a forest of traffic cones and red-and-white posts designating the cycle lanes that have spread like a cancer all over the city (a city, it should be noted, whose topography makes it singularly unsuited to cycling because many of its main thoroughfares are narrow and winding).

Dr Bryce Edwards: Wellington's winter of discontent

Dissatisfaction with the Wellington City Council has hit new highs. The Council has just released the results of its annual survey of residents, which shows just how much discontent there is in the city. Overall, Wellingtonians seem to feel that the city is broken and its political leaders are dysfunctional or not interested in making the right decisions for the city.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: Census 2023 reveals Wellington is the only city in NZ that shrunk

Census 2023 reveals Wellington is the only city in NZ that shrunk. Why drag the whole of NZ down by pouring money into its problems? Let it go.

Its official. Wellington's population shrunk between 2018 and 2023. Now most right-wing bloggers & think-tanks in NZ are based in Wellington, like Farrar's Kiwi Blog, the Tax Payers Union, NZ Initiative, and more. Though they're loudly opposed to big government spending big money to fix our country's problems, when it comes to sorting out Wellington City's problems, they're quiet. What are those problems? Where to start?

Oliver Hartwich: How Wellington has become a NZ tragicomedy

I would not usually devote a column for The Australian to problems with a New Zealand local council.

Nevertheless, the city in question is the capital, so I will make an exception. Also, Wellington’s problems are indicative of the state of New Zealand’s local government more generally.

A decade ago, in 2013, then-Prime Minister John Key declared Wellington a “dying city.” It was controversial enough that Key had to retract his statement shortly afterwards. Today, however, many New Zealanders might agree with Key.