Disinterpreted | Melanie Nelson

When conservation remains primary, but development becomes the instruction

The puzzle in the government’s own report

May 19 • Melanie Nelson

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19

March 2026

Poverty by design: Rebecca Macfie on justice, systems, and what needs to change

What if poverty in New Zealand isn’t accidental — but the result of how our systems are designed?

Mar 26 • Melanie Nelson

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53:46

January 2026

Tina Porou on RMA reforms: power, participation, and the future of environmental law

New Zealand’s biggest environmental law is being dismantled and rebuilt — and the stakes are not “technical”.

Jan 30 • Melanie Nelson

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1:09:13

Question gathering for Coherent interviews on RMA reforms

Kia ora koutou,

Jan 23 • Melanie Nelson

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Controversial Regulatory Standards Board vacancies closing soon

This time last year most New Zealanders had not yet heard of the Regulatory Standards Bill (RSB).

Jan 10 • Melanie Nelson

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December 2025

Stewardship Land on the West Coast: What Was Lost - Eugenie Sage

Eugenie Sage on reclassification decisions, missed National Park protections, and why much of the conservation estate remains at risk

Dec 20, 2025 • Melanie Nelson

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43:32

November 2025

Will the Regulatory Standards Act be a one year wonder?

The Regulatory Standards Act passed with less than 1% public support — and now two of the parties that passed it are floating a repeal. What…

Nov 27, 2025 • Melanie Nelson

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12

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September 2025

Is NZ First Digging Its Own Grave by Backing the Regulatory Standards Bill?

NZ First once promised to defend New Zealand from neoliberal experiments. Now, by backing the Regulatory Standards Bill, they may be helping to embed…

Sep 8, 2025 • Melanie Nelson

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August 2025

New Zealand’s Epstein Files

New Zealand’s Regulatory Standards Bill looks like tidy lawmaking. But OIA documents reveal decades of foreign influence — embedding Richard Epstein’s…

Aug 31, 2025 • Melanie Nelson and Ryan Ward

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Around the Treaty in 100 Pages: Ross Calman Makes History Accessible

Watch now | 🎧 #13: Weaving our Worlds podcast with Melanie Nelson: Ross Calman’s new book Te Tiriti o Waitangi distils centuries of history, debate…

Aug 22, 2025 • Melanie Nelson

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42:38

Modernising Conservation or Selling it Off? – Eugenie Sage on the Biggest Shake-Up in a Generation

Former Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage joins me to unpack the Government’s sweeping “modernisation” of conservation land management — a plan she…

Aug 15, 2025 • Melanie Nelson

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1:10:16

Two-Thirds of NZ’s Conservation Estate at Risk of Sale

Government proposal could open 5 million hectares of public land—about one-third of the South Island’s land area—to sale or exchange

Aug 8, 2025 • Melanie Nelson

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