For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members … Read more
Restaurants, cafes and bars have been allowed to reopen, with a whole lot of ever-evolving caveats. We check in on how the first few days have been. Inconsistent messaging and last-minute rule changes made the first weekend of alert level two “incredibly challenging” for hospitality businesses, says the Restaurant Association. The organisation worked with the … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Religious groups struggle with level two limits, many more kids going back to school today, and further cellphone tower attacks over the weekend. Another weekend has passed with strict attendance restrictions on religious gatherings, despite the country moving into level two. The vast majority of worship … Read more
Michael Andrew heads to the south Auckland amusement park as it returns to business. When I was maybe 10 or 11 years old, I used to dream about having Rainbow’s End to myself. What if the park was empty, and I could enjoy all the rides without having to compete with the crowds or the … Read more
With billions paid out through the government’s wage subsidy scheme, Vanessa Schouten asks if all that was claimed by businesses was actually needed, and if it should be paid back. When the government introduced the wage subsidy scheme back in March, it was on the basis that the money would “help keep people attached to … Read more
David Farrier looks at the way two conspiracy theories have merged into something very nasty online and into real world violence. Over the weekend we saw another suspicious fire at a cellphone tower, this time in South Auckland. This comes off the back of a string of arson attacks over the last six weeks: 10 … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members … Read more
Call it unity, or solidarity, or kotahitanga, Covid-19 made us realise something we’ve known all along: we are all responsible for one another. There is a chance we can now act with common purpose to address intergenerational inequality. For older people, this means curtailing some of our choices, writes public health expert Charlotte Paul. As an … Read more
These text conversations (warning: explicit content) with clients prove sex workers are surely New Zealand’s most under-acknowledged public health educators. Imagine you’re a physiotherapist. Hell, you might actually be one, in which case this will be easy for you. In this scenario, we’re still in level four. You can do phone consultations but that’s it. … Read more
When Te Papa reopens shortly, it’ll mark the end of the first big test of new tumu whakarae/chief executive, Courtney Johnston. Jeremy Rose spoke to Johnston about her vision for the museum, the impact of the pandemic, the return of taonga and making good on the Treaty. In 2016 a Hawaiian delegation came to collect … Read more
You might not know his face, but Māori Television’s Heta Gardiner has been one of the most valuable and memorable contributors to the daily Covid-19 briefings. Hayden Donnell spoke to him about what it’s been like covering a pandemic in a still Pākehā-dominated press gallery. The near-daily media briefings on Covid-19 often start out combative. … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members … Read more
There’s widespread appetite for domestic tourism, while public support for the alert level two shift is high. New Zealand tourism could be handed a lifeline if New Zealanders take the domestic holidays they say they will in the next three months. In a new Stickybeak survey, 42% said they intend to holiday in New Zealand … Read more
New Zealand moved into level two on Thursday, bringing on unexpected, overwhelming feelings for many of us. Kate Hicks has lived through this before. As we’ve navigated Aotearoa’s wild and unexpected lockdown, I, like others, have enlisted a few coping strategies: Skyping with friends, watching crap TV, consuming copious amounts of coffee and chocolate (though, … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff Members … Read more
Budget 2020: Although it was called “Rebuilding Together”, it’s hard to see what exactly yesterday’s budget is rebuilding. Budget 2020 was never going to be a transformational budget. Not for Māori. Not for Aotearoa New Zealand. It is easy to understand the disappointment of many across the country who hoped for something more and who … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Emily Miller-Sharma, general manager at Ruby. One of the nicest things to come out of lockdown is a … Read more
Regulation of online content has received little attention amid a global health crisis. But violent extremist activity has not stopped, and we need to get our response right, writes Anjum Rahman. Today marks the first anniversary of the Christchurch Call, a response to the mass murder at two Christchurch mosques last year, a massacre livestreamed … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: How the budget has been received, Auckland light rail on hold, and more media merger shenanigans. So that’s what it looks like when Grant Robertson decides to open the purse strings. The relatively cautious spending of his previous budgets has been replaced by an absolute … Read more
Budget 2020: The tourism sector was holding out hope for a lifeline to come in the form of yesterday’s budget. It didn’t come, and now its leaders say they’re drowning. Members of the beleaguered tourism industry say the support they’ve been offered is a drop in the bucket compared to what is necessary given the … Read more
Budget 2020: Yesterday $50b worth of financial measures were committed to protect jobs in the industries most affected by Covid-19. So what did small business owners make of it? For many business, perhaps the most anticipated and welcome measure in the Covid-19 response budget was the $4bn support package, which included an eight-week wage subsidy … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is funded by The Spinoff Members. To support this work, join The Spinoff … Read more
Budget 2020: What does this year’s budget mean for one of the hardest-hit sectors post-lockdown? Those in the industry give their initial reactions. As the country braces for the inevitable Covid-19 economic slump, today the government announced its “once in a generation” $50 billion budget. From that $50bn, $3.2bn has been set aside to extend … Read more
Budget 2020: No increase to benefits or wages, but investment in vocational training could future-proof New Zealand’s workers. The first major Covid-19 stimulus package, equivalent to $12.1 billion, was announced two months ago. It introduced the wage subsidy, a $25 per week increase to benefits, and financial support for leave taken due to Covid-19. At … Read more
Budget 2020: Simon Bridges led the critiques, while Winston Peters got personal. Grant Robertson’s budget spends too much money, delivers too little help to businesses struggling due to Covid-19 and will leave future generations swamped by debt, opposition leaders have argued. The finance minister and the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, faced enormous expectations before unveiling … 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
Budget 2020: The government has unveiled a massive $50bn spending package, including an eight week extension to the wage subsidy. Duncan Greive asks the business community: is it enough? The government this afternoon unveiled a massive new $50bn programme of spending – “much bigger than anyone expected”, according to Kiwibank senior economist Jeremy Couchman. The … Read more
Budget 2020: In the midst of a pandemic, and with New Zealand beginning the long road to recovery, today’s budget was heralded as potentially the most momentous in a generation. So what did the experts think? Generation Zero: Good, but not good enough Around the world, experts and multilateral institutions such as the World Bank … Read more
Grant Robertson has just published the 2020 budget, drawn up in what the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, calls ‘the most challenging economic conditions faced by any government since the Great Depression’. Here are the essential elements, via RNZ. A $50 billion rescue fund sits at the centre of 2020’s “once in a generation budget” as … Read more