About Us

InsideWellington is a comprehensive government monitoring and reporting service designed to keep subscribers up-to-date on government policy issues. It has four components, as described below.

InsideWellington newsletter

Published every Friday at 3pm and distributed by email. It includes:

  • Policy discussion papers from central government - these are identified and the core proposals briefly explained. A link to a copy of the document on the agency website is provided. The closing date for submissions and contact details are included.
  • Schedule of policy discussion papers – includes a link to all current policy papers, closing dates for submissions and contact details. It is updated every Friday.
  • Bills and SOPs Introduced – provides links to all the Bills and Supplementary Order Papers introduced during the week.
  • Progress of Bills – this is a schedule of what progress has been made through the House by each of the Bills for the past week.
  • Schedule of Bills before the House - updated every Friday, including a link to each bill on the Legislation NZ website; closing dates for submissions; the date by which the Committee must report back to the House; status in the House (1st reading, 2nd reading, committee of the House stage, or 3rd reading).
  • The coming week in Parliament – identifies the Bills scheduled for debate; plus a link to select committee schedules for the coming week.
  • Regulations promulgated during the week are listed with links to each regulation on the Legislation NZ website.
  • Links to Papers Presented to the House during each week are listed.
  • Links to Select committee reports returned to the House during the week are listed.
  • Select committee reports delayed – if the report-back-date of a select committee report is delayed, the new date is identified.
  • Appointments & Departures – lists all the senior government appointments announced during the week, along with resignations, or retirements.
  • Papers, Reports & Speeches – identifies and provides links to agency “think pieces” and reports published during the week, along with links to any speeches by senior government officials.

Media Links

  • A daily service which provides the headline (a URL) and the first paragraph of articles published in the online media on central and local government issues plus business news. Subscribers then follow the link to the article. Media Links is delivered by about 8.00am.

Media Releases

  • All government media releases are categorised (according to government agency) and emailed to subscribers as they arrive. It is an opt-in service. Subscribers decide whether they want the service, then choose which Ministerial or agency releases they want to monitor.

Legislation Alert

  • Bills - a link is provided (generally within about ten minutes) to Bills when they are introduced.
  • Select committee reports - a link is provided to Bills when they are reported back to the House. Links are provided each Friday for all reports returned to the House during the week.

The cost of InsideWellington is $150 per month (+GST).

It is published from the second or third Friday in January (depending on whether 1 Jan is a Friday). Media Links resumes publication from the Monday of that week. InsideWellington ends on the second-to-last or last Friday of the year, depending on when Christmas Day occurs.

There is no restriction on internal distribution, or publication on Intranets. However, InsideWellington cannot be forwarded beyond your organisation.

InsideWellington is produced by David Nicholson MBA, a journalist previously with the NZ Herald, Australian Broadcasting Commission, United Press International (London) and TV One News. He has been Public Affairs Manager for Tasman Pulp & Paper Ltd and Corporate Affairs Manager for TVNZ Ltd. He is an associate member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery.