As the government announces an end to new extraction on conversation land, Sefton Darby – whose position on the debate has shifted over the years – says the crucial issue is how we decide at all A lazy no. Then a full-hearted they’re all corrupt, no. Then yes. Then maybe. Then it depends. Those are, … Read more
Radical populism arises on the left, the right and in the centre. In this essay, from the newly published Journal of Urgent Writing, Simon Wilson makes a radical proposal for New Zealand. It was a time when New Zealand was sick of being New Zealand. It was the 1980s, a high old time, a time of … Read more
Set by the previous government, a one-size-fits-all proficiency target simplifies a complex picture of school success. Martine Udahemuka of market-oriented think tank the New Zealand Initiative explains how the new education minister can improve on the current system. With a new government comes opportunities to shake up a long-entrenched status quo. Nowhere is this more … Read more
The Spinoff has obtained the email which prompted TOP leader Gareth Morgan to tell one of his candidates to resign for being a ‘pain in the arse’. Don Rowe looks back on another chaotic week for TOP. Illustration by Toby Morris. Gareth Morgan, currently holidaying in Cuba, has still managed to live in the news … Read more
Branko Marcetic asks around to see if the new government can keep both its trade promises and its climate change commitments. Jacinda Ardern melted the anthropogenically warming hearts of many an environmentalist when she declared during the 2017 election campaign that climate change was her “generation’s nuclear free moment,” and that she was determined to “tackle … Read more
David Bennett, National MP for Hamilton East, stood yesterday in the House of Representatives and intoned: ‘This country has embarked on a socialist experiment in the last few weeks’, and then basically just said socialism a lot.
Holly Walker, former Green MP and author of a memoir of being a mother in parliament, says this week’s images of babies in the debating chamber indicate a new attitude to working mothers in politics. But there’s still a long way to go. When I was an MP and pregnant with my first child, people … Read more
New Zealand has been living a lie. The Washington Post today revealed that Jacinda Ardern’s Labour-led government is in fact a facade for the “far right agenda” of Winston Peters. Duncan Greive details the shocking revelations – and the legislative programme of this terrifying coalition. “A shadow is poisoning Middle-earth,” the Washington Post tells us. … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens and luminaries making the news. Today, National MP Simon Bridges celebrates an epic practical joke at the swearing in of parliament. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
Twenty days after Winston announced it shall be Labour, the Gone By Lunchtime trio (plus one) size up the debut of Ardern, the blazing of National parliamentary guns and a goodbye to a good cat. Annabelle Lee, Ben Thomas, Toby Manhire and the land’s favourite baby podcaster discuss an embarrassing start for the new government … Read more
The 52nd New Zealand Parliament was sworn in this week. Many things were on display but it would have taken an eagle eye to spot everything that was happening and all that was said. We’ve taken pity on the novices out here and compiled this annotated video guide to the proceedings.
From fending off the GFC and Canterbury earthquake recovery to social investment and addressing child poverty, the last government has a lot to be proud of, writes National MP Chris Bishop. As the dust settles on the election and the new super-sized Labour/NZ First/Greens ministry gets to work, it’s worth looking back on nine years … Read more
It’s one thing for Winston Peters to snarl and threaten the press as an opposition MP, but taking legal action to force media to reveal their sources as deputy PM is quite another, writes Toby Manhire. Towards the end of the morning, a serious man in a polo shirt appeared at Spinoff headquarters, sweating a … Read more
The giant dairy co-op says it wants to play a positive role in cleaning up waterways. To test that pledge, the government must urgently change the rules so Fonterra is no longer obliged to pick up milk from new dairy conversions, argues Russel Norman of Greenpeace NZ This year, amidst all the raucous noise about … Read more
While TOP only managed 2.5% of the vote in the recent election, Gareth Morgan’s political ambitions are far from over. He’s just dropped $430,000 more into TOP while putting his think tank on long-term hiatus, writes Duncan Greive. The Morgan Foundation, the charitable trust set up by economist Gareth Morgan and his partner Jo, is … Read more
When you watch your cat attempt to derail your partner’s phone call with Donald Trump, it’s hard to avoid the word ‘surreal’, writes Clarke Gayford. Write us a diary, the Spinoff asked. What do I call it? Diary of a plus one? Hello from the other side? First-man musings? Prince Philip or bust? I’m sitting … Read more
Over the weekend PM Jacinda Ardern reiterated the government’s offer to take 150 asylum seekers imprisoned on Manus Island. But we can’t stop there, writes Jessie Dennis. Now it’s time to swap compassionate words for life-saving action. The situation for refugees on Manus Island is a humanitarian crisis. The New Zealand government’s response to this … Read more
The new government’s attempts to soften up public opinion for the return of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is a masterclass in spin, writes ActionStation’s Laura O’Connell Rapira. As outgoing RNZ news director at Brent Edwards recently said, we need to stop treating the goings-on of our democracy as a carnival or sport. Too often we … Read more
In New Zealand and around the world, modest boosts to the minimum wage have failed to trigger the catastrophic effects detractors prophesy, writes Branko Marcetic No sooner was the new government’s minimum wage hike announced than the land speed record was broken to denounce it. The Employers and Manufacturers Association went first, complaining that it … Read more
Jacinda Ardern’s programme offers real hope for the issues Mum fought so passionately for, from labour law and cannabis reform to forestry and Pike River, writes Dylan Kelly A little over a year ago, my mother Helen Kelly passed away, aged 52. She’d been diagnosed with terminal lung cancer 18 months earlier, and had resigned … Read more
Abolition would be a step too far. Jacinda Ardern should retain the Social Investment Agency, but reshape it so it is truly about people’s lives, argues Simon Chapple. Social investment in the welfare system was the flagship policy for the National-led government, and specifically for Bill English’s – an approach which links welfare reform with improving … Read more
Attempts to renegotiate the TPP provide the immediate task, but defence also looms as a big challenge for a government with three key internationally focused positions filled by NZ First MPs, writes the director of the Centre for Strategic Studies, David Capie One of the biggest surprises to emerge from talks to form a new … Read more
If you’re anything like the Herald’s readers, you’ve spent most of the last week weeping about Labour’s fuel tax. Hayden Donnell provides some good reasons to rein in your grief. Labour has announced it will raise taxes on fuel in Auckland by roughly 10c a litre, and everyone is freaking out. People are screaming that … Read more
The arrival of a new government offers the chance to reset the often heated immigration debate. So where should we start? Immigration policy expert David Hall has some ideas. There are few better ways to fuck up a society than to stoke the coals on immigration. It is easy to do, but hard to retract … Read more
Will Bill English’s new caucus adopt a scorched earth, US-style approach, or a more traditional style of opposition, asks former National Party minister Wayne Mapp Over the next few months National has a choice that will shape both the perception of itself, and of the new government. It has to decide what kind of opposition … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens and luminaries making the news. Today, a peak behind the screens of real internet commenters with strong opinions about the new PM. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
As it adjusts to life in opposition, National needs to focus on defending capitalism against a coalition of socialists and populists, writes former National ministerial adviser Zach Castles. It’s less than a week ago that Winston Peters appointed a Labour government. I’m still gutted. And while I don’t need a lecture on the dangers of … Read more
More than a quarter of those who voted gave their electorate vote to someone from a different party than the one they backed for their party vote. Chris McDowall breaks it down. View Chris McDowall’s incredible interactive mapping every booth’s votes from the 2017 general election here Last Friday the Electoral Commission released detailed statistics on how … Read more
Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters yesterday signed an agreement establishing a governing coalition. In the service of democracy and brevity, we’ve chiseled it, roughly, to its core. Read the agreement proper here. Read the digested Labour-Green deal here. Winston Peters and Jacinda Ardern. Photo: Labour Party It’s a coalition but not a bloody merger, get … Read more