A range of politicians from across the New Zealand spectrum have valiantly agreed to read out brutal tweets. Here’s the video, and, below, Luke Sweeeney of the University of Auckland Public Policy Club explains why they produced it. How did you hit upon the idea of NZ Politicians Read Mean Tweets? At one of our exec … Read more
Duncan Greive spends an extraordinary two days with Gareth Morgan – and his comms sidekick Sean Plunket – as he tries to will TOP back into relevance amid the chaos of the 2017 election. Gareth Morgan is not happy. He’s in a converted garage deep within the bowels of the Mediaworks organism, sandwiched between two … Read more
The property investors’ lobby group says a change in government would hurt tenants, but they certainly don’t speak for all of us, counters Alicia Young There are two major problems with yesterday’s New Zealand Herald story, “73.6% of landlords plan rent rises if Labour wins.” The first is the suggestion that the survey is representative … Read more
Finally, an election column we can all agree with! Hayden Donnell argues the election sucks now and is driving us all to the brink of madness and beyond. Most election columns are biased or sensational. They’re tainted by people’s political preferences or psychosexual need to be at the centre of electoral drama. The supply of … Read more
Pollwatch: Labour continues to thrive and the Memorandum of Understanding lurches back into life, if the numbers in tonight’s Colmar Brunton poll are a guide, writes Toby Manhire The helter-skelter experience of watching the New Zealand election 2017 continues, with the just revealed Colmar Brunton survey for 1News, showing Labour holding its lead over National. … Read more
The best interview of the election happened today on Morning Report, when Guyon Espiner made Winston Peters look like his race was already run. Duncan Greive recounts the 10 greatest hits. Winston Peters is the most reliably unflappable interview in New Zealand politics. He should get royalties every time someone brazenly answers a completely different … Read more
While mental health is an easy issue to campaign on, it’s hard to get right, writes Jess McAllen. This story first appeared on The Wireless. Read the rest of the series here. Ten years ago, when Labour was in charge, I was 14 and losing grip with reality fast. My parents took me to a counsellor and … 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: farmer Duncan makes a plea for the upcoming election. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
As the campaign enters its final weekend, Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson have attempted to lance the boil, pledging Labour won’t introduce new tax changes before 2021. Now the attacks will switch from tax to leadership, writes Toby Manhire It was a “captain’s call” to push open the door to significant changes in the tax … Read more
This week ‘The Beerhive’ launched, a podcast which sits comfortably between the not-unrelated worlds of between beer and politics. Host Shane Cowlishaw explains the pod to Duncan Greive. Wellington has become essentially the unquestioned home of craft beer in New Zealand, helped by its weather, its geography and sensibility. The nature of their jobs means … Read more
Your indispensable guide to counting the numbers on election night. Simon Wilson explains the official way they do it and offers a cheat’s alternative. You vote for a party that doesn’t make it into parliament and your party vote is just discarded? Sorry, it’s true. Your vote is set to one side and not considered … Read more
Chris McDowall explains the origins of this epic graph view into our political history. For months I’ve followed news about New Zealand’s upcoming general election. Revelations! Resignations! Leadership changes! Bold policy promises! Shock poll results! In this heightened political moment, I found myself wondering about the past. How does this election fit into New Zealand’s … Read more
The Spinoff presents its exclusive poll of the opinions of Annabelle Lee, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire as New Zealanders flock to vote in chilled out Election 2017. Toby Manhire welcomes Annabelle Lee of The Hui, Ben Thomas of Exceltium, and the spirit of Newstalk ZB legend Leighton Smith into the penultimate Gone By Lunchtime pod … Read more
The 36 Questions Project is a series in which Meg Williams takes a politician on a date and asks them 36 Questions, a series of conversation starters designed to make two people fall in love. In this episode, Williams dates The Opportunities Party leader Gareth Morgan. Previously on the 36 Questions Project: Māori Party co-leader … 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: Paula Bennett responds to the fresh Newshub poll that has National out in front by 10 percent. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
In a strange collision of wrestling and electioneering, Joel MacManus talks to ‘Mr. Burns’, the pro wrestler behind the parody billboards taking the internet by storm. Billboards bearing the name ‘Young Nats’ started popping up around Auckland and Hamilton this weekend and immediately began stirring up controversy online. Slogans like “It’s Probably Your Fault” … Read more
Pollwatch: National open up lead of almost 10 points in a poll that lives up to the hype. And the Greens, on these numbers, are finished. Incredibly explosive, Volatile and telling, and now from the Patrick Gower poll hype machine we have Dramatic and devastating. Hard to argue he’s exaggerating, however, given the numbers from … Read more
Frustration within the Greens over perceived disregard for their Memorandum of Understanding partner is increasingly coming to the surface. Will it aid or enfeeble the smaller party, wonders Toby Manhire. At the Back Benches debate in Auckland last month, a Green Party supporter held aloft a sign that declared, on a green background “Campaigning against … Read more
Let’s address that ‘Chinese-sounding’ panda in the room, writes Ally McCrow-Young. I woke up today to eagerly download my voting papers; it’s finally time to cast my overseas vote, which, as a nerd who teaches political engagement, I always find to be both fun and a real privilege. But this year I have to say … 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: we asked some everyday New Zealanders who they’re voting for, and why. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
New Zealand’s top talkback host has been listening to the new leader of the Labour Party. She calls herself a progressive. There is evidence of her having said ‘comrade’. And she speaks very quickly. Leighton Smith has been dispatching stone cold common sense to ZB listeners between breakfast and noon for three decades. Following this … Read more
What would you do if your political allies were about to form a government but your party was in danger of not being part of it? Simon Wilson goes to Sunday’s Green rally, where the sole remaining co-leader launched the battle that will determine the party’s future, and may also define the shape of the … 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: David Seymour sets out his ‘performance pay for teachers’ policy. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
Branko Marcetic talks to current and past members of Young NZ First about their role in a party usually linked to the old, about rivalries, radicalism and alt-right infiltration. For the longest time, the idea of a New Zealand First youth wing seemed like an oxymoron. “Who qualifies?” went the joke; “Anyone under 50?” How … Read more
The sight of a small party going to the courts to seek a place on a television debate has become a regular sight in our election campaigns. Andrew Geddis walks us through the debate about the debates. No Gareth, you shall not go to the debate tonight In what is becoming a somewhat predictable election … Read more
At the start of the week the National Party took aim at gangs, prompting a debate around human rights. It all underlines how New Zealand would benefit from a written constitution, argues constitutional lawyer Andrew Butler It’s not about gangs. It’s about all of us. Human rights are about making sure that every individual is … Read more
Following a poll of readers, the tireless team behind the Spinoff Policy tool have added a bunch of extra categories. Close to 100,000 people have in the last few weeks visited our interactive tool Policy to compare key policies from all major political parties for election 2017. But are the team behind the thing, led by Asher … Read more
Yesterday on RNZ’s Morning Report journalist Guyon Espiner brought finance minister Steven Joyce together with Labour’s finance spokesperson Grant Robertson, and asked them both about Joyce’s accusation that Labour has a $11.7 billion hole in its spending plans. Here’s the transcript. In the interview, Guyon Espiner is sitting between the two politicians, with a laptop … Read more
Ben Thomas watched the Stuff Leader Debate and, unlike The Spinoff’s editor, calls an emphatic win for English. If the ghost of any of Canterbury’s rugby greats had appeared to Jacinda Ardern as she prepared for tonight’s debate it would have reminded her, “You can’t win without the ball”. Yet the Labour leader found herself … Read more