OpenBrief
Log in Sign up
What the picker changes
  • Top topics digest — the cards score the selected period against the prior 4 weeks.
  • 12-week heatmap & outlet matrix — show the 12 weeks ending at the selected week (they slide back with the picker, they aren’t a fixed snapshot).
  • Per-topic volume / alias drift — same 12-week trailing window, anchored on the selected period.
  • Coverage gap quadrant — scores the selected period against the 12 weeks before it (not including it).
  • Anomaly cards — only show alerts the detector fired during the selected period. Quiet weeks legitimately show none.
What stays as-is
  • Outlet orientation strip / lean colours — context-only, drawn from the last 12 weeks of activity regardless.
  • Co-occurrence graph — recent-activity anchored, not picker-driven.
  • Source & topic profiles — all-time data for the topic; the picker doesn’t affect them.
Rolling 7 days is a sliding live window for “current vibes”; switch to Weekly to compare specific weeks side-by-side.
live window
Topic

Public Sector Cost Pass-Through

3 items · 3 aliases · peaked week of 3 May 2026 · first seen 9 May 2026

A political podcast critiques the cost and management failures of the CRL project, calls for stronger leadership in policy reform, and raises concerns about global geopolitical tensions, immigration enforcement, and rising operational costs in transport and maritime sectors.

Volume by source orientation Methodology →

Stacked weekly counts; colour by lean. “n/a” covers government and iwi-Māori sources where lean isn't applicable.

Alias drift

How this topic has been named, week by week. A new alias winning out is usually a framing shift.

Free account Watch this topic with a free account — get alerted when framing shifts, when an MP adopts new language, or when discourse and press diverge. Create a free account Log in

In the press Methodology →

How the news corpus has covered this same topic over the last 12 weeks. 1 article from RNZ, Stuff, NZ Herald, ODT, 1News, Newsroom and The Spinoff. Click through to the press view for the full panel.

12-week press volume 1 article
Free account Create a free account to see every headline on this topic — plus alerts when framing shifts or discourse and press diverge. Create a free account Log in

Heard on radio

Verbatim segments from politicians speaking on podcasts and radio shows about this topic. Sourced via the voice-reference library — each speaker has been confirmed manually from their voice clip. Click play to stream the original audio from the publisher, pre-seeked to the moment the quote starts.

  • Mike Hosking mike-hosking-breakfast Full Show Podcast: 08 May 2026 7 May · 137s
    Morning and welcome today. The Finance Minister on the OECD's ideas for our economy. David Kirk from the Rugby Union on his new president, his new CEO and a loss, or was it? Tim McCaddy after eight, Simon Marks in the States and Murray Olds in Australia. We're into a Friday morning. Welcome to Why Now, Sean? Eh? Why Now, Sean? I had COVID vibes yesterday when I read Sean Sweeney's Thinking About the CRL. COVID vibes because during that period I cannot tell you how many people I know and regularly dealt with, people in the media, people from business who said one thing about the government and their handling of lockdowns and the economy and they did that in private and something completely different in public. So Sean, having left the CRL to head to Ireland, now having left Ireland but has stopped. Stop by long enough to tell us we don't scope or price major projects that well. Well, who knew? The CRL at well over $5 billion is a gargantuan waste of money. I mean, yes, it will improve things and on paper it makes sense because it joins up some rail lines so you can go round and round and round. But like most things in life, convenience or improvement or efficiency comes at a cost. What's a terrific idea at $50 is a waste at $200. And for something that started out at about $2 and will come in at about $6. As in billion, the CRL has reached the stage where no one really wants to accept responsibility anymore for the price and delays because it got so embarrassing a long time ago and tipped over into that, well, let's just make the most of it and hope it works. It won't, of course, not to the extent they dreamed because what they dream of is New York or London and we've never been that, never will be. Anyway, part of where Sean is right is ideology blinds common sense. Too many people want to say. And before you know it everything is a combination of delayed and expensive. And yes, the fast-track RMA reform will help, less legal action will help, fewer opportunities for review will help, and God forbid cross-party support would help as well. But what would also help is some backbone, people who say what they believe whether it gets them attention or into trouble or not. There are too many pussies in places of influence, basically, too many spineless scaredy cats who want the job or the title or the reputation or the pay packet and just grin and bear it or defend it or lie about it. Little babble nonsensical rubbish instead of being honest. As much as I appreciate Sean telling it like it is and he's right, and possibly someone in charge might take notice, oh the irony of Bishop yesterday launching a review, what I would appreciate more was the same commentary before he filed the resignation letter and scarpered.
Free account Create a free account to unlock the full set here — plus alerts when framing shifts or an MP adopts new language. Create a free account Log in

Sample framings

Up to 12 framings spread across orientations. Each framing is a short phrase the topic extractor generated to characterise the piece's stance — not a quote from the source. Click through to read the original.

mike-hosking-breakfast Government / N-A

protecting margins amid inflation

Full Show Podcast: 08 May 2026
7 May
Free account Create a free account to unlock the full set here — plus alerts when framing shifts or an MP adopts new language. Create a free account Log in

Spotted something wrong on this page? Report a correction.