It has existed since the 4 November 2019,[1] and started as part of the news site's "New Zealand at 5 million" project.

[3] There was also growing interest in news from the country from outside New Zealand, which meant an increasing contact with resident journalists.

From that, The Guardian recruited their previous freelance correspondent, Dunedin-based Eleanor Ainge-Roy and placed her under a full time contract, and kept in touch with The New York Times' New Zealand correspondent Charlotte Graham-McLay.

[4] Unlike The Guardian Australia, which started though a one-off grant from businessman Graeme Wood,[5] the bureau has no further external funding and so it is entirely dependent on readers and advertising revenue.

[6] The online publication relies on digital advertising and voluntary reader donations or subscriptions for revenue, eschewing enforced paywalls implemented by other news websites like The New Zealand Herald online.