The Detail

Join The Detail team six days a week as they make sense of the big stories with the country’s best journalists and experts.

A Newsroom production for RNZ, supported by NZ On Air

On air:

Monday - Saturday at 4.30am, encore on weeknights at 10.15pm on RNZ National

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For the love of Wellington

Despite the scandals and leaky pipes, Wellingtonians want the rest of the nation to know that their city is still unbeatable

Fake citations causing real-world damage

AI-hallucinated scientific research and legal precedents are making their way into academic papers and court cases, highlighting AI's real-world impact

Remote working from home with laptop, and pet cat.

Mayday call for New Zealand's sinking cruise industry

Cruise ship visits to Aotearoa are down, and industry insiders worry that the economic fallout for the tourism industry will be severe

Cruise ships (C) lie tied up at Auckland's Viaduct Harbour during the 2011 Rugby World Cup on October 14, 2011. Auckland in New Zealand's North Island has the largest urban area in the country with just over one million people living there. AFP PHOTO / Greg WOOD (Photo by GREG WOOD / AFP)

The industry-killing crisis

As the natural gas supply dwindles, a glasshouse grower fears for its future, and the future of growing food in New Zealand

NZ Hothouse managing director Simon Watson at one of two giant gas boilers that help fuel and feed thousands of tomato plants.

In an economic slump, tech startups are in hot demand

Inside the Auckland event where tech startups pitch to New Zealand's wealthiest investors, the economic outlook is sunny

Showcase, an annual event run by Icehouse Ventures - a big investor in start ups here in New Zealand

When protecting us from the evils of the internet backfires

When it comes to making the internet safer for children and better for society the devil is in the detail - and those details are often overlooked

France, young boy in his bed. (Photo by Philippe Turpin / Photononstop via AFP)

Bonus: Amanda Gillies speaks with Reverend Frank Ritchie on the re_covering podcast

Bonus episode

Bonus: Amanda Gillies speaks with Reverend Frank Ritchie on the re_covering podcast

Bonus episode

Amanda Gillies speaks with media chaplain and broadcaster Reverend Frank Ritchie on his podcast re_covering, to unpack the one story that most impacted her personally and professionally. Gillies was on the way to an interview when she got a call confirming Newshub’s closure. Despite the shock, she continued on – and in the telling of a brave Te Kūiti amputee’s story was reminded what had first drawn her to journalism.

Image of Amanda Gillies sitting down in a chair at a desk speaking into a microphone wearing headphones.

Rings fellowship making tracks to NZ

Lord of the Rings cast members still hold New Zealand close to their hearts after 25 years, and several are making plans to return

Downfall of the clueless, wannabe, soldier spy

New Zealand's first-ever conviction for attempted espionage has been handed down, but the solider at the centre of the case was less James Bond and "maybe more like a bumbling wannabe-spy"

A New Zealand soldier stands at a makeshift courtroom at the Linton Military Camp located near the city of Palmerston North in New Zealand on August 18, 2025. A military court found a New Zealand soldier guilty of attempted espionage for a foreign power on August 18 -- the first spying conviction in the country's history. The man's name, the country he attempted to spy for and the name of the undercover officer who snared him were all suppressed by the court. The soldier was the first person to be convicted of spying by a New Zealand court and only the second to be tried after a former public servant was acquitted of espionage in 1975. (Photo by Adele Rycroft / POOL / AFP)

On rate capping, lessons from across the Tasman

As rate payers feel the pinch, plans for rate capping offer welcome relief. But councillors here and across the Tasman have warnings.

Who's afraid of Aotearoa

A growing list of rollbacks of Māori language and culture beg the question: is the Government pushing New Zealand towards an identity crisis?

A city with a cashflow problem

Auckland's economy is falling behind that of the South Island and rural areas, and there's no government hero coming to the rescue

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown at the launch of the State of the City report.

Northland's unprecedented crime surge

Beautiful Northland should be New Zealand's paradise but a surge in violent crime, drugs and poverty is even putting off police from moving up there

Jess Sayer gives life to the author behind Frankenstein

The Queen of Goth - Frankenstein author Mary Shelley - is the inspiration behind a new play written by Jess Sayer

'Mary: The Birth of Frankenstein' starts its run at the ASB Waterfront Theatre from August 21.

The razzmatazz of a bullseye sport

It's gone from a boozy pub game to a mega millions sport - darts' world tour is on in Auckland this weekend

English dart player Luke Littler is credited with a resurgence in the sport's popularity.

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The Detail