We all know who’s going to come in 1st and 2nd place in the election. But what about 11th or 12th? Minor party correspondent Alex Braae predicts where every party will finish. Elections are fought on close margins, and sometimes the difference between winning and losing can be just a few hundred votes. That’s true … Read more
The parties are diverging as the campaign grinds into its final days. Labour hosted a massive rally in Wellington today while National told a small room about a big new road and blamed the obese for being obese, Justin Giovannetti reports. Hundreds of students packed Victoria University’s hub today and cheered on Jacinda Ardern as … Read more
An urgent message from our sponsors, Unity Books. ‘Twas two weeks til Christmas and all was amiss, a pandemic had struck and put book stocks at risk. Our books were all coming by cargo ship, because air freight from Aussie was given the snip. So those stockings you hang by the chimney with care, might … Read more
As the election draws closer, Daniel Vernon aka @yeehawtheboys goes home to Paeroa to talk about the issues with his grandmother – and learns a bit about himself in the process.
She is rebuilding National’s support and is determined her political career as leader will not end on October 18, writes Jennifer Curtin I first met Judith Collins in a media green room somewhere in Auckland midway through 2015. She is renowned for her ambition and dogged determination. But meeting her in person, I found her … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for October 13, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.20pm: The day in sum … Read more
The government has signed its first binding agreement to secure a Covid-19 vaccine. But what exactly is the vaccine, who’s likely to get it and when? Siouxsie Wiles talks us through it. This week the New Zealand government announced it has signed its first binding agreement to secure a Covid-19 vaccine. If everything goes according … Read more
A thousand native trees were planted in Queenstown to create a National Welcome Forest – Te Waonui a Tāne – as a symbol of manaakitanga for new migrants. Former race relations commissioner, Joris de Bres, explains the origins of the initiative. The name Te Wāonui a Tāne (the Great Forest of Tāne) derives from the … Read more
Labour has its eyes set on taking the Auckland Central seat from National, but Green supporters are anxious their party won’t make parliament without the safety of an electorate win. Justin Giovannetti investigates the division. Auckland Central is an electorate of contrasts. The central neighbourhoods of Auckland represent one of the most expensive collections of … Read more
Too much news? Welcome to the only round-up you need. We’re so close. We’re so close that I voted on Saturday thinking I’d be smart and check out early but forgetting that I still have this column. If you haven’t voted yet, what are you doing? You could be free! If you haven’t voted because … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Major purchase agreement in race for Covid-19 vaccine, compelling documentary on Billy TK Jr, and small town teens speak out about difficulty of getting drivers license. The first Covid-19 vaccine purchase agreement has been made by the government. Radio NZ reports the agreement is for 1.5 million … Read more
It is not too late for Jacinda Ardern to show real leadership on cannabis law reform, writes criminologist Liam Martin. Jacinda Ardern won’t reveal how she voted on the cannabis referendum or take a public position on the issue either way. She leads a party that came to office promising sweeping changes in criminal justice, … Read more
The Act Party’s number four candidate is being criticised for promoting climate change denial at a Nelson high school. Stewart Sowman-Lund reports. A Nelson-based candidate for the Act Party, who’s all but certain to be in parliament after the election, rallied against the local council for its position on “so-called ‘climate change’”, convened “Climate Hysteria … Read more
The facts are simple: mammograms save lives. But what’s it like to have one? Emily Writes talks to Dr Monica Saini about keeping your breasts at their best. Today, nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. As you read this, at least nine women will be grappling with a new diagnosis. Whether they survive … Read more
Bernard Beckett is a brainy, elegant writer, best known for his young adult novels Genesis, August and Lullaby. Here, with a new book in the offing, he shares his rule for stacking up stories that work. Like most who dabble in writing, I’ve tried my hand at a few different formats: play scripts, screenplays, novels … Read more
At a nondescript rural intersection in Waikato lies the site of a near-forgotten massacre, the subject of a new show by artist and writer Bob Kerr, who tells the story of Rangiaowhia here. At daybreak on Sunday 21 February 1864 Colonel Marmaduke Nixon led an attack on the undefended settlement of Rangiaowhia. The inhabitants took refuge … Read more
Ahead of the election, The Spinoff spoke to marginalised communities about the barriers they face to voting, and why it is so important they make sure their voices are heard.
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for October 12, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7pm: The day in sum … Read more
The nineties gameshow Sale of the Century may be all but forgotten, but host Steve Parr’s trademark stage-left entrance will live on forever. Sale of the Century was the most glamorous game show ever made in New Zealand. It burst onto our screens back in 1989, when broadcaster and former What Now presenter Steve “Star … Read more
Hirini Kaa, an Anglican minister and historian who’s worked in the health and social services sectors, explains why he’ll be voting no on the End of Life Choice referendum. I’m voting no on the End of Life Choice (EOLC) referendum. I have many concerns about this legislation, including around the technical aspects and operation of … Read more
The peerless Policy tool returns for its third edition, and it’s better than ever – fully geared to easily compare both parties and candidates across all the important issues. “The stand-out success of the 2017 election is the Policy tool published on the Spinoff website,” said political commentator Bryce Edwards three years ago. Now it’s … Read more
In 1967 I changed my mind on another referendum, about six o’clock closing, writes Roderick Aldridge. I am an 80-year-old Pākehā male who has never smoked or used cannabis in my life. And I will be voting to legalise cannabis in the coming referendum. This might seem absurd. My instinctive reaction, I expect like most people’s, … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Advance voting surges ahead of final week, poll shows John Tamihere in with a chance at Tāmaki Makaurau, and insights into modern drug smuggling revealed. With a week to go before election day, hundreds of thousands of people have already got their vote done and … Read more
In her final election 2020 column, Laura O’Connell Rapira argues that progressive voters hold more power than they may think. In the recent TVNZ young voters debate, Kiritapu Allan defended Labour’s decision not to implement a capital gains tax by saying that “what New Zealanders want is stability”. In a recent op-ed Labour Party candidate … Read more
Hayden Donnell continues his campaign to lose friends and alienate people with a calumnious review of New Zealand’s great capital city. On my last night in Wellington, I went to see Hollie Fullbrook and Nadia Reid play a show at The Opera House. As the encore wound up, Fullbrook announced they were going to finish … Read more
Disclosure are an act whose huge success comes from their sheer unpredictability. Andrew Drever talks to half of the duo to get the story behind their new album. In the long lead-up to Disclosure’s latest album, Energy, the UK dance music duo have been releasing standalone singles and EPs that are experimental, sample-heavy and strongly … Read more
Farmers across the country are turning their attention to an environmentally friendly crop with myriad uses, reports the NZ Herald’s Jamie Gray in this Herald Premium article. More and more New Zealand farmers are planting a crop that they were banned from growing for eight decades or so. They are setting aside land to raise … Read more
History has repeatedly exposed the dangers of blind conformity, to which former attorney-general and Archibald Baxter Memorial trustee Chris Finlayson asks: where are the dissenters of today? There are many things I admire about Archibald Baxter but what I admire most of all was that he had the courage to dissent. Dissent is what I … Read more
After two unsuccessful petitions in 2019, Labour is finally promising to ban conversion therapy in the upcoming election. Sherry Zhang talks to Anna* about what conversion therapy was like and what a ban on its practise would mean. “It makes me want to cry. It makes me feel seen, like I’m not just making shit … Read more