Education Leadership: Former Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor Christian Hawkesby has been appointed acting chief executive of NZQA for six months, stepping in after Dr Grant Klinkum resigned for health reasons. Local Government Rates: Central Otago mayor Tamah Alley says the government’s proposed 4% rates cap is “pretty frustrating”, arguing councils can’t simply “not spend” while infrastructure backlogs grow. Rates Cap Maths Fight: The Taxpayers’ Union accuses Local Government New Zealand of misleading ratepayers, saying LGNZ’s “$34 a year” savings figure is cherry-picked and that official estimates point to much higher savings. Health Policy: Health Coalition Aotearoa’s Beehive forum saw Labour commit to restoring smokefree generation policies and a licensing regime for tobacco and vapes, while other parties outlined prevention priorities. Waste Law Delays: Zero Waste Aotearoa says long-awaited updates to the Waste Minimisation and Litter Acts won’t reach Parliament this term, calling it stringing people along. Youth Online Safety: New Zealand is moving to restrict social media access for under-16s, with platforms facing heavy fines for non-compliance. Energy: Meridian Energy bounced back to profit after drought-hit losses, promising below-inflation power price increases. Tech & Connectivity: 2degrees has opened a satellite ground station in Marton to test direct-to-device voice and broadband on standard smartphones. Business & Housing Tech: Trade Me Property launched an AI conversational search tool to help Kiwis describe what they want in plain language. Sports: All Blacks coach Dave Rennie praised character after a Lions scare, while Anton Segner has been ruled out for the rest of the tour.