The Seven Sharp host has sneered at a regulator ruling that he misled viewers over the Māori Party. Here the Māori Party leader responds, via a letter to the guy in the red suit. A few months back, as New Zealand sweated in the election campaign sauna, Mike Hosking told it to his Seven Sharp co-host Toni … Read more
Even what should be straightforward requests under the Official Information Act now risk getting kicked into the long and prickly grass. Sam Warburton recounts his latest painful experience. How many public servants does it take to change a lightbulb? Hopefully fewer than the 50 it takes to process an Official Information Act request. Researchers and … Read more
An incredible year, or the second half of it at least, for NZ politics. The Gone By Lunchtime bus parks up for one last time before going in to the garage, and settles all the matters. Jacinda Ardern! Bill English! Metiria Turei! Winston Peters! Those are the names of some people who were in the … Read more
In the first instalment of our annual year-end pundit-fest, we asked for the three chumps and the three flops of 2017. Then we sought a one-sentence summary of the year. Today, the question is this: What are the issues upon which 2018 is likely to hinge? Graham Cameron Climate Change. The clock has run out. We, … Read more
The current trans-Tasman tensions have nothing on the decades of covert and overt collaboration between the Liberals, National and the Crosby Textor strategists. After less than three months into the new government, Trans-Tasman relations seemed to have plunged to their lowest point in years. First, during the campaign, Labour MP Chris Hipkins, at the behest … Read more
The fiery rhetoric of campaigns gone by has been replaced by a more pro-China stance in a recent speech. Despite expectations in some quarters that Winston Peters might take a harder line on China during his tenure as the new NZ Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, he firmly put that idea to bed last … Read more
It started as a fictional country on Reddit, and remains a fictional country on Reddit. But New Zanada has some really committed fans. The nicest country in the world is planning a renaissance. It’s not New Zealand. It’s also not Canada (sorry). Welcome to the Dominion of New Zanada: a fictional country borne of Reddit, sprouting from … Read more
NZ’s tradition of political summer camps stretches back to 1949. Organisers of an Ōtaki event in January explain why they’re reviving it. After the political chaos of 2017, a bunch of disparate individuals have come together to organise an event which will start the new year with an optimistic bang. Drawing on a long history … Read more
Jacinda Ardern has made an impressive start, leading a government of continuity. And for National, how serious is talk of a new conservative party springing up, asks former cabinet minister Wayne Mapp. Two months in shows a government, and in particular a prime minister starting to become more comfortable about the reality of governing. Without … Read more
Fifteen politics watchers attempt the impossible. In part two of our politics year in review (part one, the champs and the flops, is here) we ask our pantheon of pundits: how would you describe the world in 2017, in one sentence? Graham Cameron Running screaming from climate change, wealth inequality and a worldwide refugee crisis, … Read more
The government yesterday introduced a new winter energy payment for everyone over 65, no matter how well off they are. If Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson are serious about alleviating hardship in New Zealand, this is the very last group they should be splashing cash on, argues Eric Crampton. According to every existing assessment of … Read more
16 top politics watchers name their winners and losers from a tumultuous political year. Today we launch the Spinoff’s political year in review with a collection of the champs and flops. The question: Who would you rank as the best performing individuals (or parties/institutions/whatever) in NZ politics for 2017? (And why, if you like.) To … Read more
Opinion: Green MP Golriz Ghahraman recently came under fire over a selective biography on the party site. Branko Marcetic dives into a bunch of other members’ bios. Did Golriz Ghahraman and the Green Party mislead New Zealand voters about her work on the defence teams of alleged war criminals or didn’t they? It’s the question … Read more
After a 10-week hiatus, Colmar Brunton’s poll for TVNZ is revealed on Sunday morning, and mobiles are being surveyed alongside landlines for the first time. It seems a long time since those heady days of early spring, when we were drunk on polls. But after the enforced sobriety post-election – well, there was that one … Read more
The last National leader buggered off before it was cool. One year ago today then prime minister John Key stunned the living shit out of New Zealand by announcing his retirement from politics. And it turned out he was ahead of the curve, as illustrated by the SpinoffLabs™ infographic below. Party leaders in the NZ … Read more
The Labour PM has her work cut out for her with a pair of senior cabinet ministers hardly given to toeing the line, writes Toby Manhire. Jacinda Ardern spent her Monday morning hosing down the glowing embers across the lawn. No big deal there, particularly: fire-fighting is part and parcel of the breakfast-interview round with … Read more
New Zealand’s new government plans to create the world’s first humanitarian visa for climate refugees. If the policy goes ahead, 100 Pacific Islanders could be granted access to New Zealand on the basis that their lives are at risk from rising seas. Nina Hall writes that the commitment to tackle climate injustice should be applauded, … Read more
A startling story that appears to contradict John Key’s 2014 account of the abandonment of a surveillance scheme is a bombshell – and a depressing object lesson in delay tactics and attention spans, writes Toby Manhire. So the saying goes, three years, two months and a couple of weeks is a long time in politics. Back … Read more
A new Green MP is under fire over her past work as a legal intern in a team defending men accused of war crimes in Rwanda. Do the criticisms hold water, asks legal professor Andrew Geddis There’s a popular narrative around human rights. In this story, there is the good side and the bad side. … Read more
NZ Art Parallels is the Twitter account which reveals the previously hidden connections between world art history and New Zealand politics and media. Now NZ Art Parallels has joined The Spinoff for a monthly column, collecting the best parallels from Twitter and exclusive Spinoff-only content. The Spinoff Parallel of the Month Putting Winston Peters first … Read more
A brute force barrage of questions on a new and under-staffed coalition is not uniquely awful, argues Ben Thomas, but nor is it defensible. Is there such a thing as a stupid question? What about 6000 of them? Newsroom’s Sam Sachdeva noted on Friday that the National opposition had lodged 6254 written questions for government … Read more
As Christchurch approaches the seventh anniversary of the big quake, the challenge confronting the incoming minister is daunting, argues James Dann. At 2pm on Wednesday, in one of the dusty gravel carparks that plague the centre of Christchurch, Megan Woods, MP for Wigram, and the Greater Christchurch regeneration minister in the new Labour-led government, made … Read more
The New Zealand PM has dismissed reports that the American president confused her with the Canadian prime minister’s spouse. Such is the torrent of malapropism, muddle and casual offence that flows from the mouth of the US president, it would hardly be a surprise if Donald Trump’s response to seeing Jacinda Ardern at a leaders’ … Read more
In a powerful and acclaimed first parliamentary speech, the new Labour MP pledges to give a voice to the voiceless Kiri Allan was elected to parliament via the Labour list. She wrote a candidate’s diary for the Spinoff during the recent campaign. Read her entries, and those of fellow new MPs Erica Stanford and Chlöe … Read more
Peter Dunne was bloody good at parliamentary business. But building a sustainable political party is about building a political movement, writes Alex Braae The purple corflute was stacked up next to the wall, slogan side up. In the courtyard of a cottage in the heart of Botany, enclosed by a fence, they were invisible to … Read more
In a passionate parliamentary debut, the new National MP says concern for the environment must not be seen as the preserve of the left, and hails the impact of generational change Erica Stanford was elected to parliament as member for East Coast Bays. She wrote a candidate’s diary for the Spinoff during the recent campaign. … Read more
In her first parliamentary address, the new Green MP reveals her personal history of anxiety and depression, and her overriding ambitions for NZ. Chlöe Swarbrick was elected to parliament as a list member for the Green Party. She wrote a candidate’s diary for the Spinoff during the recent campaign. Read her entries, and those of … Read more
Jacinda Ardern has described herself as a ‘pragmatic idealist’. In her early forays abroad, the new PM has started to indicate what form that might take – and those hoping to see a new radicalism in NZ politics are likely to be disappointed, argues former National minister Wayne Mapp. After two international trips, New Zealand is … Read more
Jacinda Ardern has had a busy debut as New Zealand prime minister on the international stage. And so has Jacinta Ardern. Also making a big impact have been Jacinda Arden and Jacinda Adern. Although, come on now, to be fair these are easy mistakes to make. And it’s just the latest in a fine tradition. … Read more