The surge in student fees for those living across the ditch is just the latest one-way curbing of trans-Tasman privileges, but it’s more about political incompetence and indifference than cultural loathing, writes Barnaby Bennett, a New Zealander resident in Sydney. I grew up in New Zealand but have spent around six years living, working, teaching … Read more
The new foreign minister is lucky that so little fuss was made when he unilaterally abandoned the government line on Israel, writes Toby Manhire. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, Bill English voiced an age-old axiom of international relations: “In this world of diplomacy, each word matters.” He was answering a question about the newly … Read more
The shorthand used in The 9th Floor insinuates that Jenny Shipley’s prime ministership was somehow less legitimate than that of her successor, and that’s just not true, argues Paul Brislen. I’ve really enjoyed Guyon Espiner’s The Ninth Floor series of interviews for RNZ with former prime ministers of New Zealand. I’ve learned a lot about Mike Moore that … Read more
From Don Brash to Helen Clark to the latest media spiel, the ‘debate’ is one of the great bogeymen of NZ politics. And it needs to get in the sea, writes Ben Thomas. It’s probably a little too cute to observe that the foreshore and seabed “debate” in New Zealand is built almost entirely on … Read more
In the fifth and final part of The 9th Floor, Guyon Espiner talks to Helen Clark about her three terms in power as she sought to draw a line under Rogernomics, unleash new social reforms and rethink New Zealand’s place in the world. In an hour-long conversation, Clark, Labour PM from 1999 to 2008: Discusses the “turning … Read more
Prime Minister Bill English made his big pre-Budget speech in Wellington yesterday. He mentioned Auckland exactly zero times. Is this a deliberate election-year strategy, asks Simon Wilson. It’s three weeks till Budget Day. Three weeks until the government sets out the financial framework for the programme it will take into the election in September, now … Read more
Sabre-rattling between North Korea and the US has prompted a wave of apocalyptic panic. But there are two relationships pivotal to international security, and for the moment they look stable, writes Nicholas Ross Smith Last Saturday, Pope Francis said he feared that the rising tension between North Korea and the United States has the potential to … Read more
The foreshore and seabed debate is back for the umpteenth time with a claim for customary rights lodged in the High Court. And right on cue Māori are cast as seeking to destroy the Kiwi dream holiday. How about starting with some less stupid questions, suggests Morgan Godfery. And here we are, the foreshore and seabed debate, … Read more
Oh the drama! The suspense! The daggers at each other’s throats! While Labour Party stalwarts mop up the blood after last night’s ’emergency discussions’ to review the importance of Willie Jackson, Simon Wilson takes a scalpel to the outcome. So Willie wasn’t going to die wondering, was he? Didn’t think 21st on the Labour list … Read more
Max Harris’s new book on NZ politics has had a striking impact, selling out its first print run in weeks and sparking a vigorous debate, with responses at the Spinoff and elsewhere. We invited Max to respond in turn, and elaborate on his call for a values-based politics Writing my book The New Zealand Project, and having the book released … Read more
The leaking of previously unseen footage from within the mine drift shortly after the explosion only adds to the overwhelming case for re-entering the mine and bringing justice to the bereaved, writes Stephanie Rodgers, a volunteer on the families’ Stand With Pike campaign. It’s one of those “can’t beat Wellington on a” good days, and I’m sitting in a … Read more
In the fourth of Guyon Espiner’s extended interviews with former prime ministers for RNZ, Jenny Shipley mounts a robust defence of the welfare reforms she oversaw as minister under Jim Bolger, assesses the strengths and weaknesses of Winston Peters, and points to sexism in political commentary. In the hour-long conversation, Shipley, who was PM from 1997 … Read more
The minister of finance just announced a multi-billion dollar spend up – and Auckland should be very worried. Simon Wilson explains how the government’s traffic plans are badly stuck. Congestion for motorists on Onewa Rd isn’t any better than it ever was, Cr Richard Hills told his colleagues on the Auckland Council today. Despite all … Read more
Auckland Transport wants a rail line from the CBD to the airport. Council does too. So why does a start date seem further away than ever? Simon Wilson examines what’s gone wrong and how to make it right in the dispute over rail to the airport. Light rail is trams and heavy rail is trains … Read more
With a snap election amid a divorce from the European Union, there’s plenty afoot in Britain. Toby Manhire sits down with the UK high commissioner, Jonathan Sinclair, to find out what it means for him, along with his thoughts on NZ rugby crowds, dossing with the Australians post-earthquake, and how many Pitcairn Islanders he knows by name. The British … Read more
Winston Peters’ contemptible race-baiting rhetoric has hit a new low, but he’s able to go further than usually thanks to the party that gave us ‘Chinese-sounding names’ having already climbed half way, argues Keith Ng. You can try to have a sensible debate about immigration – and you can say it’s not about race – but inevitably, … Read more
Just like his spaghetti pizza, Bill English has served up another mostly predictable – but also a little surprising – cabinet reshuffle, writes Ben Thomas. One of the more surprising elements of today’s announcement was that the Prime Minister resisted the temptation to use the media attention on the event to campaign. He failed to … Read more
Danyl Mclauchlan agrees with most of the ideas in an acclaimed and bestselling new book by Max Harris about New Zealand politics, yet the What Must Be Done tome leaves him feeling even gloomier about the immediate prospects for the progressive left. Max Harris’s book The New Zealand Project is an urgent attempt to confront the … Read more
In the third of Guyon Espiner’s extended interviews with former prime ministers for RNZ, Jim Bolger, who led the National Party to power in 1990 pledging to return the ‘decent society’ to New Zealand, criticises the prevailing economic orthodoxy, saying it has led to a dangerous gap between rich and poor. Bolger defends the record of Ruth Richardson, who as finance … Read more
By the logic of politics the real surprise was that the UK prime minister hadn’t called a snap election earlier, writes the Guardian’s Richard Adams. In the end Theresa May’s decision to call a snap election was a surprise but not a shock. A surprise because May herself had repeatedly and unambiguously ruled out calling … Read more
The debate around concessions negotiated by the Māori Party in the resource management bill has seen the ‘Māori tribal elite’ slur rears its head again. It is all part of a long history, writes Carrie Stoddart-Smith, of attempts to colonise tangata whenua. Kōtahi te kākaho ka whati, ina kapuia, e kore e whati. A lone reed will … Read more
Theresa ‘I’m not going to be calling a snap election’ May has called a snap election. And Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn must be crapping himself, writes Jonathan Hutchison from London. If there’s one thing journalists and commentators ought to have learnt from the past year in politics, it is this: never ever ever predict anything … Read more
When Morgan Godfery saw the advertisement for a communications and engagement assistant vacancy at the Taxpayers’ Union he immediately started scrawling an application in his own union-clotted blood. Here we exclusively publish Godfery’s emotional plea. To whom it may concern, As an aspiring middle-aged white man, I’m the perfect candidate for the job. As communications and engagement assistant, I’ll “fight the good fight”. … Read more
In her first candidate diary for the Spinoff, Chlöe Swarbrick recounts a mad few weeks, getting 13th on the Greens’ initial list, and the thorny question of what our country stands for. Read candidate diaries for the Spinoff by Erica Stanford (National, East Coast Bays) and Kiri Allan (East Coast) here. In 2017, what does Aotearoa New … Read more
Saturated with Trump commentary, Danyl Mclauchlan’s brain felt like a tiny teacup with a firehose gushing into it. Here he explains why he decided to refocus his attention away from the floods of content and the ‘ludic loop’ of social media, where, more than ever, the audience is the product. I keep a large stack of books … Read more
Andrew Little may have largely succeeded in uniting his party caucus since becoming Labour leader in late 2014, but he’ll need to find an extra gear or two to have a serious chance of becoming prime minister after September 23. In the third of The Spinoff’s election year interviews with party leaders, Simon Wilson talks to Little, … Read more
Andrew Little wants Phil Goff close to him in cabinet, he has revealed in an interview with The Spinoff. Not actually in cabinet, but as an important part of Wellington’s decision-making processes about Auckland. If the Labour Party gets to form the next government, Auckland can expect some big changes. During an in-depth interview with … Read more
Instead of backing US bombs in Syria and feeding perpetual war, we should be applying our energy to the underlying issues, writes the Iran-born human rights lawyer and Green candidate Golriz Ghahraman. I lived under American (and American sponsored) missiles for the first eight years of my life. Every day since Donald Trump was elected president I’ve … Read more
At last, a new Gone By Lunchtime podcast, in which Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee and Ben Thomas chew over the politics of spagh-apple pizza, the Hit and Run claims and relate a harrowing This New Zealand Life story of southern isolation. In this overdue and mildly anticipated podcast, we traverse the vast savannah of topical political happenings. Bill English’s pizza? Yes. … Read more