This year’s crop of local election signs range from the inspired to the utterly terrifying. Professional illustrator Toby Morris delivers his analysis of the best and worst designs. The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here. Faces, faces … Read more
Most election meetings are by turns angry and boring. On Thursday, Alex Braae went along to a debate in the foothills of Wellington’s Mt Victoria and discovered that local democracy can be… nice? The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s … Read more
John Tamihere opposed gay marriage and once called homosexual sex ‘unhealthy and violating’. Now he wants us to ‘move on’. Hayden Donnell follows him to a Rainbow Auckland debate. The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here. The afternoon … Read more
In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Josie Adams looks at those who would dare oppose Tim Shadbolt’s record reign. The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here. Where? At the bottom of … Read more
Tensions have flared around the Wellington Council table, with one councillor accusing her colleagues of engaging in a form of climate change denial in how they approach related issues. Alex Braae reports. The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click … Read more
In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Hayden Donnell dips his toe into the extraordinary battle for the Tron. The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here. Where? Hamilton! You know the one: … Read more
You may think you’re not interested in the local elections. But did you know the candidate pool is a smorgasbord of celebs, oddballs, and otherwise interesting people? Hayden Donnell reports. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here. There’s so much at … Read more
More than 75 candidates across the country have already succeeded in their local election races, taking office unopposed. Thankfully The Spinoff is committed to saving our democracy. We challenged high-profile default winner, Whanganui mayor Hamish McDouall, to fight for his job in a political debate against local elections editor Hayden Donnell. The Spinoff local election … Read more
Over the course of the local elections period, The Spinoff will be publishing primers on some of the most interesting races around the country. Today, Alex Braae casts his eyes over the race for the Waitaki District mayoralty. The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting … Read more
Turnout in our local elections has long been in decline, particularly among the young. Alex Braae looks at what’s being done to improve those stats, and find a lack of centralised funding and strategy. Our local elections coverage is fully funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here. This … Read more
Over the course of the local elections period, The Spinoff will be publishing primers on some of the most interesting races around the country. Today, Alice Webb-Liddall looks at the Gisborne District Council election. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here. … Read more
After the success of the Policy tool in the 2017 general election, this time we’re going local – making it easy to compare the rival candidates in your area. In May 2017, a small group of young people from Wellington approached The Spinoff with an idea. “Proposal: interactive election content,” read the subject header. Their … Read more
Some people say it’s confusing. Others think it’s boring. But running all its elections under an STV system could be the single most effective way for local government to fix its lack of diversity and woeful voting turnout, argues Hayden Donnell. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about … Read more
John Tamihere’s rates freeze proposal was criticised from all sides yesterday, but does it have any political support? We contacted Auckland’s councillors to find out. On the bright side for John Tamihere, his latest announcement wasn’t boring. The mayoral contender’s promise to freeze rates for three years drew dozens of headlines, as journalists and commentators … Read more
Among the hundreds of local government races under way, just over a dozen could have an outsize impact on environmental issues. Alex Braae explains why Regional Council elections matter. At the start of this month, aerial surveys showed more than 100 farms around the Waikato were a long way away from complying with environmental rules. … Read more
Meng Foon has been a fixture in Gisborne local government for more than two decades. Today he starts a new role, as race relations commissioner. Alice Webb-Lidall heads over to his Gisborne home for dinner, to find out what he’ll miss as mayor, and how he’ll approach his new job This feature is made possible … Read more
Phil Goff’s rival has already pledged an 0800-Jacinda homeless hotline and an 18-lane harbour bridge. What’s next? The two most important people in the 2019 campaign for the Auckland mayoralty faced each other down on Wednesday night across the desk in the NZME debate: Bernard Orsman and Simon Wilson. Correction: it was of course mayor … Read more
Over the course of the local elections period, The Spinoff will be publishing primers on some of the most interesting races around the country. Today, Alex Braae casts his eyes over the Otago Regional Council contest. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s … Read more
Phil Goff has kept a low profile compared with his headline-grabbing opponent in the early stages of the Auckland mayoral campaign. Hayden Donnell heads along to see if the mayor can win back the spotlight at his campaign launch. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming … Read more
On the good days, riding a bike is the best. But in Auckland there aren’t nearly enough of those days, and unless decision makers take urgent action, that’s not going to change. This piece originally appeared on Bike Auckland My first bike crash in central Auckland happened on Symonds Street. I was biking downhill towards … Read more
The Spinoff is covering local elections across the country with a new pop-up section. To kick things off, Hayden Donnell went to a mayoral debate at Grey Power on the North Shore of Auckland. This feature was made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click … Read more
Participating in some of New Zealand’s local government elections can be a challenge, thanks to their unusual voting methodologies and heavy use of ‘the postal system’. Thankfully your friends at The Spinoff are here to hold your hand every step of the way, from enrollment (do it now!) through to voting in an STV system. … Read more
Two months of sustained coverage of the local elections, all around New Zealand – brought to you by The Spinoff Members. Plus, a week concentrating on climate change. A month ago, we launched The Spinoff Members – a new initiative to enable our readers to contribute to our work both financially, and with editorial guidance. … Read more
For Auckland is a Spinoff podcast of civic conversations with people working to create and sustain a better Auckland for all. In episode seven, host Timothy Giles speaks to Penny Hulse, longtime Auckland councillor and former deputy mayor, about her time in council, why she’s stepping down and her hopes for the future. There’s never … Read more
There is an increasing class division in Auckland, defined by access to the democratic system. Where does this leave our young people in the future, asks Shehara Farik? This is a condensed version of an extremely long story about democracy. I want to show how the history of democracy has defined the crisis we are … Read more
Spoiler: it’s New Zealand. Julienne Molineaux explains the strange relic in the local body electoral system. The principle of one person, one vote doesn’t apply for local elections. In fact, you don’t even need to be a person to have voting rights. Welcome to the ratepayer roll. While the ratepayer roll accounts for less than … Read more
This week’s emergency declaration by Auckland Council is a welcome development in the fight to save the planet, says 17 year old Rebecca Kerr. But there’s still so much to be done. On May 24th, thousands of students marched down Queen St to call for New Zealand to wake up and declare a climate emergency. … Read more
The president of the Vic Uni students association is leading a ‘youthquake’ as five leaders under 25 try to follow Chlöe Swarbrick into the halls of power, writes Peter McKenzie. It wasn’t a conventional campaign launch. Someone’s laptop cycled through a Spotify playlist of grungy music. The oldest person present looked to be in their … Read more
Whether it’s anti-science sentiment or outright bigotry, Hamilton councillors keep making the news for all the wrong reasons. But that’s only part of the story, writes veteran Hamilton councillor Dave Macpherson. Is Hamilton City run by a bunch of rednecks and nutters? If you only judged The Tron and its city council by the off … Read more