Thursday's Early Bird: A national cancer test funding scandal; PM uses RNZAF plane to fly from National fundraising dinner 'at no cost'; Jones eyes banning foreign
A New Zealand health scandal has emerged involving the failure to send cancer test notifications to nearly a million women due to budget constraints and staffing freezes. Journalist Bernard Hickey criticizes the government's long-term fiscal policies for eroding public health infrastructure.
Why it matters
The report highlights the human cost of austerity measures in public health systems and the potential for systemic failure in preventative care.
Playback speed × Share post Share post at current time 0:00 / Paid episode The full episode is only available to paid subscribers of The Kākā by Bernard Hickey Subscribe to watch Thursday's Early Bird: A national cancer test funding scandal; PM uses RNZAF plane to fly from National fundraising dinner 'at no cost'; Jones eyes banning foreign-born citizens as MPs My Picks n' Mixes of today's news, scoops, deep-dives, commentary, front pages, charts & cartoons, including: PM says jobless should move; More Auckland construction firms collapse Bernard Hickey Aug 05, 2026 ∙ Paid 94 27 11 Share Here’s my curation of the day’s top news, analysis, commentary, charts and cartoons from around Aotearoa and elsewhere about our political economy on housing, climate and poverty. This is only published in full for paying subscribers.
Firstly and briefly, here’s my summary of this morning’s top news:
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