Andrea O'Neil

Journalist, copywriter, editor, history specialist

New Zealand

Writer and editor, specialising in news, profiles, business, features and history. Publications include The Dominion Post, Stuff.co.nz, Sunday Star-Times, Kapi-Mana News, The Hutt News, Shanghai Daily, DefiningNZ, IN-Business Media. Contact: andrea dot oneil @ gmail dot com

Twitter Icon LinkedIn Icon
Portfolio
The Hutt News special publication
Highlights Lower Hutt

A potted history of Lower Hutt, published to celebrate the 90th anniversary of The Hutt News.

Stuff.co.nz, Dominion Post
Combating online scam artists

Online scams are becoming more sophisticated than ever, costing Kiwis an estimated $400 million each year. What do businesses and individuals risk by maintaining lax digital security - and how can they protect themselves against a rising tide of cyber crime? Andrea O'Neil reports.

Stuff.co.nz, Dominion Post
The men on a mercy mission

Rescue helicopters hover behind countless headlines, such as the man who got an angle grinder stuck in his chest this week. But few of the reluctant heroes who work on the aircraft make the news themselves. That's no coincidence, says Wellington Life Flight Trust crewman and winch operator Julian Burn.

Stuff.co.nz, Dominion Post
Here comes the bride ... and baby

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage - except the last two happened almost simultaneously for Liz Shlimon, who gave birth on her wedding day. She and groom Mario Shlimon booked a registry office wedding for June 6, 11 days before their first baby was due.

Stuff.co.nz, Sunday Star-Times
Minister for beauty pageants

She might be the new minister for women but don't call Louise Upston a feminist. The Taupo MP is under fire for singing the praises of beauty pageants, which she says give contestants confidence. Upston became a fan of pageants at a Miss Tokoroa contest after being impressed by the talent and self-possession of the contestants.

Stuff.co.nz, Dominion Post
Hands off our treasures

Treasured works of art are being regularly damaged at Te Papa, mostly by visitors to the museum. Members of the public have poked, cut holes in, kicked and stolen bits of art, and marked them with lipstick kisses, stickers, smiley faces and graffiti.

Stuff.co.nz, Kapi-Mana News
Gang headstone ban

Gang insignia could be banned from Porirua cemetery headstones after a woman had her husband's body disinterred and moved when a Mongrel Mob member was buried next to him. However, a Mongrel Mob spokesman says such a move would be intrusive and disrespectful.

Stuff.co.nz, Dominion Post
How cute is that prince?

For Prince William it was the buzzy bee, for his son Prince George the Mary-Lou doll. When a much younger William visited New Zealand with his parents in 1983 there was great moment when he played with the iconic buzzy bee on the lawn of Government House.

Stuff.co.nz, Dominion Post
What can CCTV see?

Hundreds of of crime-spotting cameras may be illegally prying into bedrooms and lounges. The privacy commissioner is to question all councils on how they collect and store CCTV footage, after it was discovered that cameras in Lower Hutt had been able to film inside private homes for years.

DefiningNZ
In Pastures Green

Forget the finance sector, forget tourism, forget The Lord of the Rings - New Zealand's economy will stand or fall on the merits of its agriculture, says Chris Kelly, New Zealand’s most influential figure in agriculture.