Three years after its debut, Chris McDowall releases an updated version of his epic graph view of our national political history. Prior to the 2017 general election, I worked with Tim Denee to create a graphical history of New Zealand’s parliaments. It was an attempt to map parliamentary representation back to the first election in … Read more
The first people in the UK will be getting a Covid-19 vaccine on Tuesday, while in New Zealand, the wait could be for several more months. Here’s the government’s plan to vaccinate Aotearoa. Mass vaccination efforts against Covid-19 are underway around the world, but in New Zealand the government is asking for patience as the … Read more
The declaration of a climate emergency tells the people of New Zealand, and the international community, that this is who we are and this is where we are going, writes James Renwick, a climate scientist and member of the NZ Climate Commission. Last week Jacinda Ardern tabled in parliament a motion to declare a climate … Read more
Today’s official unveiling of the tunnel boring machine (TBM), named after one of New Zealand’s most iconic civil rights leaders, wasn’t just for ceremonial purposes, but a sign of the genuine relationship City Rail Link (CRL) wants to forge with Māori. It would be easy to become bogged down by the plethora of “boring” puns … Read more
New technology could transform the lives of thousands of New Zealanders with type 1 diabetes, but the lack of government funding leaves much to be desired, writes Nicholas Agar. I’m a type 1 diabetic writing this with a sense of excitement about a breakthrough in the treatment of my disease. When I was diagnosed in … Read more
Experts have made the case for tax and interest rate adjustments to address the housing crisis in recent times. Hayden Donnell makes another, highly technical suggestion. There are as many ideas for fixing New Zealand’s housing crisis as there are houses in New Zealand. Political advisor Clint Smith has proposed limiting the tax benefits extended … Read more
Bronwyn Hayward has her reservations about climate emergency declarations. Can today’s win her over? Today New Zealand became the 33rd country to declare a Climate Emergency. Around the world, more than 1,800 cities and local governments have already declared climate emergencies, including 16 New Zealand city and district councils. “Climate Emergency” was the Oxford Word … Read more
Today in parliament, Jacinda Ardern will move a notice of motion declaring a climate emergency and a series of other steps including ‘becoming a carbon-neutral government by 2025’. Here is the full text of the motion. To move that this House: declare a climate emergency, following the finding of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change … Read more
Threads of a political career, woven together: climate change, child poverty and global leadership. Within weeks of a history-making victory, Jacinda Ardern and the Labour party face a growing list of demands. Local government is in disarray, the housing market is out of control and the spotlight is once again on children being removed from … Read more
Pill testing at New Zealand’s festivals will be legal this summer as the Labour government prepares to rush legislation through parliament. And, as Justin Giovannetti writes, the new law could signal more significant changes next year for the country’s drugs. Most of parliament is supporting Labour’s move to make pill testing legal, taking it out … Read more
We’re the generation who’ve been there and done that and earned the right to what we’ve got, but the flip side to the freedom that comes with being the boss of me is selfishness, writes NZ Herald’s Simon Wilson in this Herald Premium article. At a business conference in the Aotea Centre earlier this month, … Read more
New Zealand will see some last-minute governing as Labour plans to rush through a legislative agenda before the summer break. Jacinda Ardern’s government is about to undertake a parliamentary sprint before Christmas, with plans to legislate a number of campaign promises and declare a climate emergency in only a few sitting days. The list of … Read more
The fallout continues from the post-election leadership change in the New Conservatives, with deputy leader and firearms spokesperson Victoria O’Brien quitting after less than a week in the job. Alex Braae reports. On Thursday last week, new New Conservative leader Elliot Ikilei was hailing the rise of his deputy Victoria O’Brien. But as of this … Read more
Donald Trump has grudgingly accepted that preparations for a White House transition should commence, after weeks of crying fraud, mounting spurious legal challenges and attempting, in effect, a coup d’état. However hapless and distant it might seem, is there the potential for a similar breakdown in New Zealand? Duncan Greive examines our defences and our … Read more
The New Zealand housing crisis, and how to tackle it, took epistolary form yesterday in letters from the finance minister and the Reserve Bank governor. We read between the lines. Yesterday the finance minister, Grant Robertson, penned a letter to the governor of the Reserve Bank, Adrian Orr, on the subject of the housing market, … Read more
The government has conceded that soaring house prices are increasing inequality and poverty, and the finance minister wants the Reserve Bank to do something about it. Justin Giovannetti writes from parliament. There’s been an invisible wall down the centre of Bowen Street in Wellington for a generation. On one side is parliament and elected officials, … Read more
On the eve of the opening of the 53rd parliament of New Zealand, Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas dress up as Black Rod. As 120 familiar and fresh faces swarm upon the tropical paradise of Wellington for a brand new parliament, the Gone By Lunchtime trio ruminate on the politics to come. What … Read more
Some observers are questioning whether there are sufficient Facebook livestreams to support the goal, writes chief caring correspondent Danyl Mclauchlan Jacinda Ardern has responded to a surge in house prices, concerns about carbon emissions and calls for action on child poverty by pledging to care more about these issues. The pledge comes after a week … Read more
After a disappointing election result, Leighton Baker is out as the leader of the New Conservatives, with former deputy Elliot Ikilei taking over. Alex Braae reports. After a review of the election campaign, the board of the New Conservative party has voted to “relieve” Leighton Baker of the leadership, opting to promote deputy Elliot Ikilei … Read more
There comes a time in every successful politician’s career when their Twitter accounts are ruthlessly trawled through by a combination of political activists, bemused bystanders and, yes, bored journalists. Somehow it’s taken three years for prime minister Jacinda Ardern to experience the same treatment. Over the past few days, Twitter has been alight with decade-old … Read more
The US president is promoting unfounded allegations of voter fraud. Now, New Zealand’s election is being called into question on Twitter. Posts on social media reveal that New Zealand is no more immune to claims of voter fraud than the United States. And while the allegations may not be coming from any of our politicians, … Read more
Donald Trump has promised it’ll be free. So has Justin Trudeau. But the New Zealand government hasn’t yet decided whether we’ll have to pay for a Covid-19 vaccine. There’s a glimmer of hope in recent announcements from drugmakers Moderna and Pfizer that their vaccines are highly effective at preventing Covid-19 – but the pandemic’s end … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for November 17. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day in sum There were four new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation Act leader David Seymour called on Chris Hipkins to apologise after the Covid-19 response minister labelled Taiwan an “authoritarian regime”. Taiwan is a multi-party democracy. The government … Read more
Analysis suggests the campaign for cannabis reform in NZ will outlive the generation that voted against it, writes Jack Vowles. Reactions to the result of the cannabis referendum were highly polarised. Some argued the majority verdict must be accepted. Others pointed to the narrow margin — 50.7% to 48.4% — as evidence that the issue … Read more
The usual way electoral results maps are presented can be deceiving, over-emphasising large but sparsely populated rural areas and under-emphasising densely populated ones. Here’s another way to make sense of 2020’s election results. This post was updated on 16 November 2020 to reflect the final vote share. In 2017, I debuted the hexamap: a way … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for November 16. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 4.10pm: Masks mandatory on Auckland public transport and domestic flights nationwide From Thursday morning, masks will need to be worn on all public transport in Auckland, in and out of Auckland, and on domestic flights throughout New Zealand, Covid-19 response minister Chris … Read more
That Mahuta’s appointment blindsided people speaks volumes about the way foreign policy is discussed in Aotearoa, write Erin Matariki Carr and Phoebe Matariki Carr of NZ Alternative. The appointment of Nanaia Mahuta as foreign minister should not have come as any surprise. There is no Labour MP with more ministerial experience. She’s been an MP … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for the weekend. Contact us on inof@thespinoff.co.nz Sunday November 15 7.00pm: Regional trade pact signed The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has been agreed in a virtual ceremony with 15 national signatories from the Asia-Pacific region –the 10 members Asean, plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. India … Read more
The masks are coming. New Zealand’s hard and early response to Covid-19 is finally adopting widespread mask use outside of lockdown. Justin Giovannetti writes about what changed in the halls of parliament to make it happen. Masks will become mandatory on Auckland transit and domestic flights next week following months of criticism by leading epidemiologists … Read more