Toby Manhire 
National MP Andrew Falloon has resigned from parliament following allegations he sent unsolicited pornographic material to young women. Here’s what we know happened and when. Tuesday July 14 9.45pm Judith Collins addresses the media after being elected the new leader of the National Party, replacing Todd Muller, whose shock resignation at breakfast time came after … Read more
The new National Party leader enjoyed a very short political honeymoon, with two MP resignations landing this morning. Her challenge now is to pull off a superhuman repair job on the party’s core reputational strength, writes Toby Manhire. It wasn’t quite a team of five million, but when Judith Collins took the stage in the … Read more
Just over seven weeks after he rolled Simon Bridges to become leader of the opposition, and with under 10 weeks to go to the election, Todd Muller has quit. Here’s a reminder of how it unfurled – and unravelled. May 21 A Colmar Brunton poll for TVNZ puts National at 29%. It’s just the latest … Read more
Ten points, two plans. Which points are whose? With an election within spitting distance, Aotearoa’s two biggest political parties are all about the plans. “You don’t have a plan!” says one party to the other. “Yes we have a plan, or certainly a plan to have a plan, or a plan to say you have … Read more
Because no one is as happy as Simon Bridges with a baby yak. Video by José Barbosa. For a very long time, human beings have been striving to answer a simple, vexing question: how can I be happy? From Plato’s moral gateways to Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness, the search goes on. Some look for happiness through … Read more
The controversial MP says his former party put a target on the minister’s back, but Melissa Lee insists there was no concerted campaign. The MP who exited the National Party in a tailspin attack on former leader Simon Bridges has publicly apologised to Clare Curran for his role in the treatment she received from the … Read more
If you’re looking for the politician of ‘crusher’ fame, you won’t find her here, writes Toby Manhire. In her new book Pull No Punches, Judith Collins pulls her punches. Just when you think she’s about to call out the politician who left secret documents on their desk for journalists, she stops short. She denounces two … Read more
After being rolled as deputy leader and losing the spot running the campaign, the National MP and former deputy prime minister is quitting parliament after 15 years. In August 2019, when it was announced that Paula Bennett would be going list-only and taking on the role of chairing the National Party campaign, it was a … Read more
A minister of health with a humility bypass creates a problem for Jacinda Ardern – especially when he’s contrasted with Ashley Bloomfield, writes Toby Manhire. With the cadence of a fingernail sliding down a blackboard, David Clark spent much of yesterday declining to accept responsibility. Speaking with Lisa Owen on Checkpoint, he spent several minutes … Read more
A new survey by Stickybeak for The Spinoff shows the popular assessment of the government response to the Covid-19 crisis at its lowest level yet. A week that saw the government on the back foot in its Covid-19 response, with the prime minister acknowledging failures in the self-isolation and quarantining system and calling in the … Read more
The system of managed self-isolation has failed in the case of the two women who arrived from the UK, David Clark said, and the government wants to ‘strengthen the oversight’ of the process. The “failing in the system”, which saw a recent arrival from Britain who later tested positive for Covid-19 being approved to drive … Read more
Fifth survey by Stickybeak for The Spinoff shows support for the government response solid as we enter level one – and the highest number yet give top marks. Popular support for the response to the coronavirus crisis is undimmed as New Zealand enters its second week of a mostly restriction-free alert level one, a new … Read more
In most of the world, the idea of gathering with thousands of strangers in a stadium is completely unthinkable. Many forests have been lost to internal reviews and newspaper columns diagnosing the plight of the Blues, and how to reinvigorate the fan base, but not one of them included “appalling global pandemic”. That 43,000 filled … Read more
Only one is really easy, but most of them make sense, in a bleak way. Envious of New Zealand progress in campaigns against things like viruses and armed police forces, Americans have been visiting the Immigration NZ website again, and alighting on enticing official messages on the Immigration NZ website newzealandnow.govt.nz. It turns out these … Read more
When approached by The Spinoff Jeanette Wilson denied having told participants in an online session that the product ‘lined the lungs’, despite clear evidence to the contrary. The Covid-19 crisis has sparked misinformation in every corner of the world. In New Zealand, a “psychic healer” whose fixations read like a conspiracy theorist’s crib sheet – … Read more
Will the door be open to a new National leadership, and does the party need to flex its muscle to get noticed in the coming months? Suddenly it’s election year again. The National Party has jettisoned Simon Bridges in favour of Todd Muller, a sensible man with a firm handshake. Over the weekend Jacinda Ardern … Read more
At under 5% in the preferred PM stakes, the National leader’s response to the Covid crisis is going to the talk of his caucus, writes Toby Manhire. The maxim goes that there is no harder job in politics than leader of the opposition, but that could use a refinement. There is no harder job in … Read more
Budget 2020: The centrepiece of the 2020 budget revealed today is a massive multibillion outlay for recovery from the pandemic. Here’s how it breaks down – and what the opposition makes of it. Fifty billion sounds like a lot. “This is the most significant financial commitment by a New Zealand government in modern history,” said … Read more
The rules for level two will be introduced in three phases. Here’s our bumper collection of the restrictions that will apply when we jump down from alert level three. When does New Zealand move into alert level two? Mostly on Thursday May 14. Or, more specifically, if you’re desperate to burst that bubble, at 11.59pm … Read more
Following a meeting of the full cabinet, Jacinda Ardern has announced New Zealand will begin a phased move from alert level three to level two on Thursday. Bubbles can be broken, but there is one major condition. Read Ardern’s speech in full here. New Zealand will move to alert level two in phased stages, Jacinda … Read more
Jacinda Ardern will announce today if and when we go down the ladder to alert level two. If anything, the decision is even pricklier this time. Just as it did 19 days ago, cabinet meets today to decide whether, and when, to loosen the shackles. So encouraging are recent days’ Covid-19 new case numbers that … Read more
Policy responses around the world are massive in scale and constantly changing. Covid-19 Policy Watch captures it in simple, easy-to-compare form. Click here to visit Policy Watch Yesterday New Zealand recorded zero new cases of Covid-19 for the second consecutive day. As almost everyone agrees, that is a tremendous achievement – albeit one that has … Read more
A global survey of the public relations industry puts the Ardern government top of the pile. As New Zealand records its second consecutive day of zero new cases of Covid-19, moving cautiously closer towards the goal of “elimination”, the government has received another international plaudit for the response – this time from public relations practitioners. … Read more
Under alert level three, school doors are open to students up to Year 10 who need to attend. Initial signs are that only a trickle are heading through the gates. Five weeks after they closed their doors as New Zealand went into the strict lockdown of alert level four, schools across the country are reopening … Read more
The lockdown shackles loosen as we move from alert level four. What changes under alert level three? Jacinda Ardern has called it a “recovery room”, and “a progression, not a rush to normality”. The goal of shifting down a notch through the alert level system is to keep enough of a thumb over the hose … Read more
Social media remains fertile ground for con artists as promoted tweets rip off the broadcaster’s image in a bitcoin swindle. It’s not unusual for New Zealand Twitter users to encounter the face of Mike Hosking as they scroll through their streams, but this morning, it hasn’t just been the usual of links to op-eds, uproar … Read more
The government decision to extend alert level four by five days has widespread public endorsement, according to a new survey. Overwhelming support for the measures taken by the Ardern-led government in response to the Covid-19 pandemic has remained intact despite the extension of lockdown, rising from 84% to 87%, according to those surveyed by Colmar … Read more
With the lion’s share of the spend going to support broadcasters, newspaper operators are likely to be ‘aghast’, says media analyst Gavin Ellis. The first round of a rescue package for New Zealand media has been announced, following government promises to “triage” its support measures for an industry in crisis. The majority of the funding … Read more
The prime minister has announced the lockdown status will come to an end in a week, with alert level three to remain in force for at least two weeks. Read Jacinda Ardern’s speech in full here New Zealand will exit alert level four in a week, at 11.59pm on Monday April 27, Jacinda Ardern has … Read more