Auckland has made painstaking progress toward becoming a functioning modern city. Now its councillors may put that in jeopardy for a proposal that will save ratepayers an average of 47 cents a week. Hayden Donnell reports. In the depths of the Covid-19 lockdown, Auckland’s councillors started coming under pressure from a familiar antagonist. It was … Read more
In the second of our pre-election events, a collaboration between Spinoff Members and Verb Wellington, Danyl Mclauchlan talks to Chlöe Swarbrick, the MP seeking to tip the table of politics from inside parliament. Chlöe Swarbrick first leapt into the spotlight with an audacious, cynic-defying and unsuccessful run for the Auckland mayoralty. After being courted by … 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 chair of a watchdog group on why she’s determined to stop a new mine waste dump near Waihi on the Coromandel peninsula. Just outside the town of Waihi there are two enormous artificial mountains of toxic waste from gold mining. Now the multinational mining company wants to buy more land and build another one, leaving … Read more
While the announcement that nobody in managed isolation will be allowed out early on compassionate grounds might sound reassuring, its legal basis appears extremely shaky, writes law professor Andrew Geddis. As recounted by The Spinoff’s own Justin Giovannetti, there’s no doubt that last week’s Covid-19 traipsing travellers omnishambles caught the government unawares. Indeed, I think … Read more
Seven days ago New Zealand was basking in a Covid-free glow. But over the week, holes sprung in the managed isolation system, with a scramble to assert authority seeing the military called into an oversight role. Spinoff political editor Justin Giovannetti recounts an extraordinary few days in NZ’s Covid-19 response story. A sense of victory … Read more
In the 2020 election, first term MP Chlöe Swarbrick will be one of just two Greens explicitly running to win an electorate. She spoke to Alex Braae about how she rates her chances of taking down National’s deputy leader. After four frantic years in politics, Chlöe Swarbrick has finally been forced to slow down. Since … Read more
The Mana Movement has effectively ceased to exist as an independent party as it turns all its resources over to the Māori Party. But in a strange twist, Mana could still be on the ballot. One of the most decisive political rifts over the last decade has finally come to an end with Mana Movement … Read more
Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire on efforts to resolve the failures exposed in the self-isolation system. As the saying goes, a week is a long time in the response to an unprecedented global pandemic, and so it has proved, with the military called in to fix the issues in border control following the … Read more
In a massively ironic piece of timing, international research group The Economist Intelligence Unit declared the New Zealand’s government response to Covid-19 the best in the OECD on the same day that massive health ministry failings were revealed. The Economist Intelligence Unit has ranked 21 countries throughout the OECD on how well they’ve responded to … Read more
Gina Dao-McLay from the Make it 16 campaign on how lowering the voting age could make all the difference. My 18th birthday is eight days after September’s general election. I want to vote. I’m ready to vote. But the law currently stops me from doing so. As co-director of Make it 16, a campaign launched … Read more
After the great working from home experiment, Flick Electric Co. is now trying to find the best of both worlds as staff return to the office. People and capability advisor Claire Blood examines how to achieve flexibility and productivity at the same time. On the afternoon of 23rd March, as I stood in The Warehouse … 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
Todd Muller has been criticised for posing in front of an upside down tino rangatiratanga flag. Hayden Donnell deploys high-level investigative journalism to find out who’s responsible. Todd Muller’s speech at Te Puna Rugby Club was designed as a reset for his troubled leadership. He’d spent his first days as National Party leader defending a … Read more
The government says it’s providing an essential service as the country emerges from Covid-19; the opposition says it’s election propaganda in disguise. Which side is right about Unite for the Recovery? Being the opposition to a first-term New Zealand government simply isn’t fair. Voters historically appear minded to give whoever is in charge the benefit … Read more
Days after she arrived in the country, a woman with mild symptoms was given an exemption to leave managed isolation. She wasn’t tested and may have never been given a full health check, writes Justin Giovannetti, who has first hand experience of how the system should work. “Are you OK” was never the question a … Read more
Facebook has unveiled tougher rules to control political content posted on its main platform and Instagram in the months before the September election, reports Justin Giovannetti. As of next month only New Zealanders who have provided Facebook with a form of government-issued identification will be able to post ads that make references to political figures, … Read more
The Simpson report into the health and disability sector has finally been released, proposing major changes to the way the health system is organised and governed. Alex Braae reports on the most important bits. What’s all this then? About two years ago, Heather Simpson was tasked with leading a massive review into the health and … 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
Labour has announced the party list they’ll take into the 2020 election, and there are a few surprises. What’s all this then? Labour have put forward the 84 people who will be on their list for the 2020 election. If the party gets its way, those names will basically be a list of who’s who … 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
The health arguments are sound, and the economic and cultural imperatives are clear. The Pacific islands need to be prioritised post-Covid over the trans-Tasman bubble, writes public health expert Collin Tukuitonga. Much has been made about the need to open a trans-Tasman travel bubble as a priority. This is despite the fact that Australia continues … Read more
Down in the polls and facing the risk of oblivion, New Zealand First has had a very busy Friday. Justin Giovannetti looks at the start of an NZ First electoral strategy focused on being tough. There’s no surer sign that it’s election time than the blitz of news coming out of New Zealand First. With … Read more
Our elected representatives are being worryingly complacent about the Public Service Bill, writes Tony Burton, but it’s part of a trend that should concern them. Public management systems determine what really happens when governments make policy decisions. It’s the boring, process-between-bureaucrats bit, of issues like education and health. Despite the Public Service Bill proposing to … Read more
With 100 days till polling day, campaigners on both sides of the two big referendums tell RNZ’s Yvette McCullough how their plans have been affected by the recent crisis, and the risks of misinformation in a largely online battle. In 100 days time, New Zealanders will wake up on a Saturday and be asked to … Read more
A peace group has raised furious concerns about the government spending $1.5 billion to buy five new Hercules planes. Do they have a point? Alex Braae argues with himself about it. With defence minister Ron Mark strapped in and leaning out the back of a military plane, the announcement was made that the fleet of … 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
The biennial Rimpac military exercises in Hawai’i devastate the environment and disregard the rights of its Indigenous people. New Zealand should not participate, writes Emalani Case. When I was growing up, I learned the 3 Rs. Yes, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, and lessons in how to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle were part of my school’s … Read more
Longitudinal studies have a huge amount to teach us about the impacts of using cannabis, writes Joseph M Boden, director of the Christchurch Health and Development Study. In 101 days, New Zealanders will determine whether or not cannabis should be legalised. In making that decision, there is plenty to learn from the Christchurch and Dunedin … Read more