Only six people have paid fines for car window washing in five years
On the corner of Manukau Station Rd and Great South Rd in south Auckland is a busy intersection flanked by Rainbow’s End on one side, and a residential high-rise on the other.
In the middle of the intersection are two slight men, ducking between cars with a big soapy plastic bottle in one hand and a squeegee brush in the other.
They only have one brush between them – so while one makes the money, the other stops to talk to us.
He’s not keen on being named or photographed, but he does want us to know that window washing on the busy streets of Manukau is his choice.
“I don’t know what freedom is, but this is more freedom,” he said.
This window washer has been working his brush for about two years. Before that, he had a couple of shifts a week at an international mail company.
But doing this, he’s averaging $300 a week, cash-in-hand, and sometimes he really wins – once a man handed him $700, just like that.
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Poll: 🤖 What skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
The Reserve Bank has shared some pretty blunt advice: there’s no such thing as a “safe” job anymore 🛟😑
Robots are stepping into repetitive roles in factories, plants and warehouses. AI is taking care of the admin tasks that once filled many mid-level office jobs.
We want to know: As the world evolves, what skills do you think give a CV the ultimate edge in a robot-filled workplace?
Want to read more? The Press has you covered!
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52.6% Human-centred experience and communication
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14.8% Critical thinking
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29.8% Resilience and adaptability
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2.8% Other - I will share below!
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
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