Bridges will be licking his wounds right now, but don’t count him out for good, writes Liam Hehir. Simon Bridges is no longer the leader of the New Zealand National Party. He never hit it off with the public but strong party vote polling kept him in the job. When that melted away in the … Read more
The National Party caucus has come to a decision and Simon Bridges is finally no longer leader. So who is this Muller chap it’s got in to replace him? You’d be forgiven for not being able to pick Todd Muller out from a lineup. Much like approximately half of the National Party caucus, its new … Read more
Proposed reforms to the RMA would see local communities’ place in the decision-making process replaced by appointed ‘Expert Consenting Panels’. That’s a real risk when now, more than ever, we need open debate on the future of this country, argues Amanda Thomas. My bubble has been my partner and me, and our geriatric dog. Through … Read more
The prime minister discusses the crunch decisions as the coronavirus threat spread, what comes next, and the ‘transformational’ idea, with Spinoff political editor Justin Giovannetti. Jacinda Ardern was watching coronavirus in China with growing concern in January as developments were still largely limited to foreign news reports. The scale of the virus and its speed … Read more
Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire on Simon Bridges’ fight to hang on to the top job in National. On Friday National MPs gather in Wellington to vote on the future of Simon Bridges and Paula Bennett. After miserable poll results a challenge has been launched, with Todd Muller and probably Nikki Kaye angling … Read more
The divisions roiling National might be forgivable if they resulted in a newly invigorated party. That seems highly unlikely now, writes Liam Hehir. The challenge to Simon Bridges’ leadership has damaged the National Party and its election chances. This is true whether Bridges or his challenger, Todd Muller, prevails. Nobody is indispensable and leadership tensions … Read more
Who will lead the National Party into the next election? It wasn’t the “mind blowing” poll, delivering a massive 27 point swing towards Labour, leaving National at just over 30%, that landed the body blow. It was the final, excruciating instant when Bridges, asked about his post-lockdown haircut, admitted he had had a trim but … Read more
We need an overhaul of our social safety net, with more of us needing help than ever before, writes Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. A genuinely transformational overhaul of our social safety net would mean supporting everyone to live the life they want with dignity. A fit-for-purpose set-up means prompt, kind, understanding support when you … Read more
The ‘spend local’ mantra should apply to our biggest infrastructure projects too. Yet trade and investment agreements curb the government’s freedom to use procurement for a range of economic and social objectives, argues Jane Kelsey. The government has a limited number of ways to kick-start the economy in the wake of a crisis like Covid-19. … Read more
The hugely successful coronavirus response means New Zealand is well-placed for an export-led recovery, writes Charles Finny in this paper for the SSANSE Commission for a Post-Covid Future at the University of Canterbury. New Zealand’s response to Covid-19 has come at an enormous economic cost. If we don’t move very fast that cost will increase … 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
Covid-19 has demonstrated what resolute government leadership can achieve to address a serious problem. Now let’s do the same to improve our justice system, writes former Parole Board member Rhonda Pritchard. I’ve spent time in every prison in New Zealand. It was part of my job in a previous career, making repeated visits to each … 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
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: 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
The shortcomings seem to reflect a broader problem with how Māori have been overlooked in the plans to move to level two. On Tuesday and Wednesday, parliament raced into law the “new normal” framework for our lives until Covid-19 is finally vanquished. That sounds dramatic, but it’s true. The now in force Covid-19 Public Health … 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 three – 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
A willingness to see health and economy as interwoven, as part of something larger, is at the core of thinking around wellbeing, and it is strikingly absent in the White House, writes David Hall. It was a bleak event. The conference title was “Averting Systemic Collapse” but, truth be told, there wasn’t much talk of … Read more
The legislation soon to be signed into law allows the government to keep doing what it’s done so far – while also giving it controversial new powers, writes political editor Justin Giovannetti. The government is currently attempting to quickly push through legislation that provides ministers and police with sweeping powers to battle Covid-19 for years … 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
It’s election year, but thanks to the not insignificant matter of a global pandemic, we’ve barely heard from the minor parties. So we decided to give them a chance to explain how they would have handled the Covid-19 response had they been in parliament. Getting attention from the opposition benches is hard enough in politics. … Read more
The prime minister has announced a staged, and adjusted, shift from alert level three. Here is what she said. I want to start today by acknowledging the sacrifices New Zealanders have made over the six and a half weeks we have been in alert levels four and three in order to beat Covid-19. Be it … 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
As the question of whether the lockdown notices were lawful continues to fester, Andrew Geddis takes a deep dive into the issues at play. Now that the threat of Covid-19 has been vanquished like The Beast in Krull – apparently struck down, but always threatening to rise again – we can pause and take stock … Read more
Jacinda Ardern, Ashley Bloomfield and thousands of anonymous comms workers just accomplished what we all would have thought impossible just weeks ago. Duncan Greive looks back at the historic lockdown, and how it was achieved. It came in the early evening of Wednesday March 25 – an angry, violent buzzing, all around the nation. The … Read more
When we appointed Justin Giovannetti as our first press gallery journalist, it meant an adventure from Canada to New Zealand. When Covid-19 ripped around the world, the trip took on an altogether different dimension. Justin picks up the story from his temporary home in mandatory isolation in Auckland. The world as I knew it came … 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
The public policy response to the Covid-19 crisis has been a great and instructive success, and Jacinda Ardern has proven herself a class above all predecessors as a communicator, writes former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC. Plus: a note on the legal questions. The global phenomenon Covid-19 poses challenges for New Zealand public policy. … Read more