Last week Treasury hosted a ‘social lab’ which used decks of cards to explore ideas around wellbeing. Danyl Mclauchlan went along Fiona Ross is a thought leader in the public service; an articulate and engaging public speaker. She stands at the front of the room: a seminar space on the third floor of Treasury. The … Read more
The capital gains tax capitulation is just the latest triumph for the most powerful voting bloc in New Zealand history. Duncan Greive details the Boomers’ most pivotal victories. This post was published in April 2019. Wednesday’s shock announcement around capital gains tax marked the first major government acquiescence to the power of the baby boomer … Read more
1000 Words is a new series talking to the photographers behind our most iconic political images. In the first instalment, Don Rowe speaks to Peter Meecham, photographer of the David Cunliffe log pictures. In 2014, David Cunliffe led Labour to their worst election defeat in almost 100 years. It was a brutal affair. Forced up … Read more
The Auckland mayoral campaign features more candidates than just Phil Goff and John Tamihere. Alex Braae sat down with repeat candidate John Palino, who is having another crack at the top job. John Palino is doing it tough right now. He’s facing an extremely strong field in the Auckland mayoral elections. He’s struggling to get … Read more
If Donald Trump believes yesterday’s release of the long-awaited Mueller report is the end of his troubles, he’s in for a rude awakening, writes a former investigator into Reagan’s Iran-contra scandal. The release on April 18 of a redacted version of the Mueller report came after two years of allegations, speculation and insinuation – but … Read more
And she’s the only elected leader in the top 10. Jacinda Ardern has been widely praised for her leadership following the Christchurch attacks last month, but now one American magazine has put a number on it, ranking the New Zealand prime minister second in a list of the “world’s greatest leaders”. The accolade for Ardern, … Read more
Emily Writes was disappointed by yesterday’s capital gains tax news – but after years of government inaction on housing inequality, she wasn’t surprised. I found out that Jacinda Ardern had chucked plans to impose a capital gains tax through my group chat. Each day, my girlfriends and I chat throughout the day about various things … Read more
True, Jacinda Ardern has faced a few criticisms for ruling out a new capital gains tax now and for as long as she leads. But a lot of people are very, very happy. Two million dollars and a tax working group later, Jacinda Ardern has dumped the Capital Gains Tax forever, saying she still believed … Read more
Jacinda Ardern’s government has abandoned the idea of a capital gains tax, and it’s a victory for self-interest and disingenuous debate, writes Jesse Mulligan Well that was fun. The Capital Gains Tax “debate” (let’s call it that, though it often felt like we were only hearing from one debating team – the one dropped off … Read more
Economist Eric Crampton on the primary school maths and abuse of the official information act underpinning Shane Jones’ provincial growth fund. It seemed a simple enough question. It was, really. So why did it take more than two months to get an answer under the Official Information Act? On 5 February, MBIE’s head of the … Read more
Just after 2pm today, the capital gains tax proposal was pronounced dead by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. It’s just the latest in a run of bad news for the government’s much-vaunted policy projects, writes Danyl Mclauchlan. At the start of the year Jacinda Ardern declared that 2019 was her government’s ‘year of delivery’. Last year … Read more
Madeleine Chapman interrogates Andrew Falloon as to how he managed to go so viral on Twitter. You may not recognise his name, or know he exists, but Andrew Falloon – rhymes with balloon – is the most popular New Zealander in the world this week. Falloon was never meant to be popular, and never asked to … Read more
The question is: could another National MP do better, writes Guyon Espiner for RNZ Simon Bridges isn’t running out of luck. He never had luck. It’s his caucus that is running out, running out of reasons to keep him on. The job description for Leader of the Opposition has only one KPI. Actually, it’s a … Read more
A whistlestop tour of the case for the National caucus to give Simon Bridges the boot in favour of JuCo, and the case for doing no such thing. Suddenly the National Party is an issue again. When One News unveiled the results of its latest Colmar Brunton poll last night, attentions were focused less on … Read more
John Tamihere has launched his first policy slate ahead of the Auckland mayoralty election, making a pitch for the conservative vote. Alex Braae was at Chamberlain Park golf course for the launch. John Tamihere has picked a side on some of Auckland’s most contentious issues around parks and facilities. Depending on your point of view, … Read more
The Spinoff is proud to debut a major new musical work by singer-songwriter Hayden Donnell. After National Party leader Simon Bridges last month misled The Spinoff over the post-15/3 removal of a controversial petition, the deletion was blamed on an “emotional junior staffer”. The emotional junior staffer was later revealed to have worked for National … 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
Ten days after the terrorist shooting in two Christchurch mosques took 50 lives, Jacinda Ardern speaks to Toby Manhire in her Beehive office. ‘I’ll show you something,” says Jacinda Ardern. We are sitting on sofas in her office on the ninth floor of the Beehive. It is just 10 days since a terrorist attack in Christchurch … Read more
This week, Alex Penk found himself agreeing with David Seymour when he said that there’s been “a constant misinformation campaign” about the End of Life Choice Bill. It’s just that the chief culprit was Seymour himself, he argues. MPs and the public should be very sceptical about what they’re hearing from David Seymour, who is … Read more
A new movement that quantitatively measures charitable causes is sweeping the world of philanthropy. But does Effective Altruism necessarily have better answers to the problems the world is facing? And can it bring people with it? Danyl Mclauchlan writes. In June of 2018 I went to a protest outside the US Embassy in Wellington. It … Read more
Following a terrorist attack targeting NZ’s Muslim community, Scott Morrison has been keen to hug his NZ counterpart, and talked of a ‘bright stream of light to come from the darkness’. Until he overhauls Australia’s immigration and deportation policy, it’s nothing but platitude, writes Janet McAllister Ostensibly, the Aussies were there to support the Kiwis, … Read more
With the possible exception of Phil Twyford, no minister has generated more headlines over the current government’s term than Shane Jones. And a lot of them aren’t good headlines at all. So how does he keep surviving? The charmed career of Shane Jones continued on breezily this week. Despite opening up yet another target around … Read more
New Zealand’s insistence on changing its clocks twice a year doesn’t make sense, and it needs to stop, argues Hayden Donnell. This Sunday morning, New Zealanders will dutifully carry out a great collective act of self-destruction. As is tradition, we will ensure every clock in the country goes back an hour at 2am, from our … Read more
Might PM Jacinda Ardern’s visit to Beijing have meant more to China than we in New Zealand realise? Former Washington Post Beijing bureau chief John Pomfret, who is currently visiting New Zealand, thinks we have misunderstood the importance of the trip. The recent tensions between China and New Zealand were almost always framed in terms … Read more
Acting PM Winston Peters did the rounds this morning and nobody was safe. We present a list of Winnie’s sassiest zingers. AM SHOW Winston joined Duncan Garner by video link to cover China and guns. Things got off to a cracking start, and went downhill from there. Duncan Garner: I tend to disagree with you … Read more
When 60 CEOs signed up to the Climate Leaders Coalition in July 2018, much was made of the presence of the big players like Air New Zealand, Spark, Fonterra and Vector. The Spinoff caught up with the nimble smaller companies leading from the back. Since the launch of the Climate Leaders Coalition last year, … Read more
Following the terrorist assault on two Christchurch mosques on March 15, the Gone by Lunchtime team discuss what happened, and its political implications. Topics discussed include the impact on an often-marginalised community, the move to change our gun laws, the response from Jacinda Ardern and what the event says about the performance of our intelligence … Read more
The Opportunities Party is in the midst of a sweeping transformation, with founder Gareth Morgan stepping away and a new group around Geoff Simmons taking over the leadership. When The Opportunities Party launched ahead of the 2017 election, it was all but synonymous with Gareth Morgan. After years of high-profile ventures and acerbic interventions into … Read more
We should think very carefully before making changes to laws that will affect civil liberties, writes Thomas Beagle As the initial shock and horror of the Christchurch mosque massacre begins to subside, people naturally turn to the question “How could this happen?” How did the perpetrator become radicalised? And how did our intelligence agencies miss … Read more