For the second of RNZ’s ‘9th Floor’ series of interviews with ex-PMs, Guyon Espiner talks to Mike Moore about his short spell in the top job, getting rolled by Helen Clark, and his hopes and fears for Labour today – including some advice on the party’s leadership rules. Moore also rejects the idea that Roger Douglas’s … Read more
The increasing impact of South Pacific cyclones on our own weather systems are the latest evidence that ‘kick the can down the road’ global warming policies aren’t enough. Lisa McLaren of youth-led climate change organisation Generation Zero explains why they’re campaigning for a legally binding target of net zero carbon by 2050. New Zealanders are … Read more
To be honest it would be weird if someone else revealed our campaign plans, but still, writes Spinoff politics editor Toby Manhire. Many are counting the days. But what about the hours? There are now fewer than 4,000 of them till the polls close on September 23, and what better arbitrary unit of distance to … Read more
In her first entry for our new Election 2017 Candidate Diary series, National candidate Erica Stanford recounts the decision to stand for East Coast Bays, the mounting pressure with just over five months to go and the struggle to remember names and faces. The last time I kept a diary it was 1995. I was 16. Barkers’ … Read more
In her debut candidate diary for the Spinoff, Labour hopeful Kiri Allan explains why she decided to return to the East Coast and stand for parliament, and the devastating impact of flooding on Edgecumbe and the region. Ko Mauao te maunga Ko Tauranga te moana Ko Ngāti Ranginui, ko Ngāi Te Rangi ko Tūwharetoa ngā iwi Ko Kiri … Read more
A week-long case starring the leader of the opposition has come to an end with a mixed bag of a verdict from the jury. Observing from the Wellington High Court, Asher Emanuel was left wondering why it was happening at all This afternoon just before 5pm 12 jurors – three women and nine men – … Read more
Facing a growing tension between a security alliance with the US and economic links with China, the idea of independence for New Zealand looks increasingly strained, writes international relations lecturer Reuben Steff. In what was dubbed a “farewell speech”, the outgoing minister of foreign affairs Murray McCully last week repeated the oft-stated claim that New Zealand has an “independent” foreign policy. … Read more
Just when you thought transport planning in Auckland was beyond all hope, here’s a plan to save us all. Or something close to it. Welcome to the Congestion Free Network, version 2.0. Do you have to be a nerdy traffic analyst to fall in love with a map? Probably. I like to think I’m not … Read more
The government is about to push through a plan to build the most expensive road in New Zealand history – without declaring an up-to-date business case or providing any good evidence of the need. Simon Wilson asks why it wants to waste so much of our money. Boy did it rain last week. In that … Read more
Watch the first in RNZ’s big new series of interviews, The 9th Floor, and read our slightly shorter interview with their interviewer – on the contrast with Morning Report, Jim Bolger’s surprise attack on neoliberalism, and why John Key isn’t involved. RNZ this morning launched an ambitious new series of filmed interviews with former New Zealand prime … Read more
Bill English made pizza for tea last night, igniting widespread internet debate over the leader of the nation’s culinary abilities. We asked one of the world’s best pizza chefs for his thoughts. An award-winning chef from one of Auckland’s best Italian restaurants has slammed the prime minister’s attempts at making pizza. “You can’t even call … Read more
The prime minister has said there will not be an independent inquiry into the allegations around Operation Burnham, which according to the Hager-Stephenson account killed six civilians. These are his key justifications, and the author’s reaction There was only one subject covered in Bill English’s post-cabinet press conference this afternoon: the allegations contained in the … Read more
The first manifesto of the election has been declared and it doesn’t even belong to a political party. ‘Manifesto 2017: What the next New Zealand government should do’ is the work of think tank the New Zealand Initiative. Simon Wilson, worried as ever about Auckland, searches for some goodness within. They’ve got well organised minds … Read more
The ‘initial’ Greens list for the election is a bit light on Auckland, strong on women and insufficiently regenerative, argues Simon Wilson. Update, May 30: The Greens have published their final list; these are the top 20, with any change from initial list. 1 Metiria Turei 2 James Shaw 3 Marama Davidson +1 4 Julie … Read more
The Greens now have a warmer relationship with the NZ First leader, and are ready to work together whatever their disagreements, says co-leader Metiria Turei. She also reveals, in an interview with the Spinoff, how close she came to quitting, and what Greens in government would do if Donald Trump were to visit. With less than six … Read more
The NZ Green Party has been in parliament in its own right since 1999, yet never in government. They hope a pact with Labour and a pledge of financial prudence will change that at last. But there are detractors, some of the most critical among their own membership. Co-leaders Metiria Turei and James Shaw tell … Read more
The actions described in the book Hit & Run could constitute war crimes under the Geneva Convention. The case for an independent inquiry is now becoming overwhelming, writes geopolitical analyst Paul Buchanan. Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson make serious allegations in the book Hit and Run. Among other claims, the authors argue that the New … Read more
The former defence minister says civilian death suggestions are plausible, and that NZ needs to ‘find out what really happened’ in Operation Burnham. Wayne Mapp, the New Zealand defence minister at the time of the Tirgiran Valley raid at the heart of the claims in Hit and Run, has admitted in a blog post at … Read more
Residents of the Afghan area where NZ forces undertook Operation Burnham in 2010 say the NZ Defence Force claim it took place in Tirgiran Village is a nonsense, like describing an attack on ‘Otago City’. Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson have meanwhile conceded that they were out by 2km in locating the villages, but argue it … Read more
You could be forgiven for thinking support for a Universal Basic Income comes only from Gareth Morgan and the more radical parts of the left. But as financial adviser Michael Warrington points out, the UBI has a lot to recommend it whatever your political outlook. Gareth Morgan’s proposals around tax and the Universal Basic Income (UBI) … Read more
The Chief of NZ Defence has dismissed Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson’s book, pointing to ‘major inaccuracies’, saying Operation Burnham took place not in the villages they identify but instead in Tirgiran Village, 2km south. And it turns out Stephenson himself said, in a 2014 report, that the raid occurred in Tirgiran Village. We asked … Read more
Following a remarkable press conference by the Chief of the Defence Force, we point to the critical disputes about what took place during the 2010 NZ-led raid in Baghlan Province, Afghanistan. Starkly differing versions of events over what took place in a 2010 NZ-led raid in Afghanistan have been put forward by the authors of … Read more
In an interview with The Spinoff, Bill English said that he didn’t claim to be a feminist, because to do so amounted to ‘virtue signalling’. Former mayoral contender and current Greens candidate Chlöe Swarbrick says it is part of a wider problem Doom and gloom. The world’s getting hotter, relative inequality is rising, housing is … Read more
Spinoff editor Duncan Greive looks back at rent week, a pop-up campaign which laid bare the numerous and vicious problems with renting in New Zealand. We first mooted a Spinoff ‘rent week’ in late 2016. It was based on the idea that the stories of home ownership were being told constantly, but the challenges and … Read more
The Chief of the NZ Defence Force, Lieutenant General Tim Keating, has wholesale rejected Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson’s account of events in their book Hit & Run (read a summary of its contents here), saying NZ troops have never operated in the villages where, according to the book, at least six civilians were killed. Hager … Read more
Rent week: a reader shares the story of her struggles to buy a house. She’s done everything you’re supposed to do as an aspirant home-owner – yet the banks won’t lend to her. Here she shares her story. I’m one of what I presume are many embittered twenty-somethings who feel like Stuff and NZHerald are … Read more
Economist Shamubeel Eaqub’s ‘Generation Rent’ helped quantify the massive changes to the way New Zealanders owned and rented in 2015. Here he looks at what can be don to fix the problems that created. The statistics are clear: fewer Kiwis are living in their own home – more Kiwis are renting. The home ownership rate … Read more
From the Māori-Mana deal to the Labour no-list gambit, short-sighted strategies risk excluding Māori voters from the conversation about Māori aspirations, writes Graham Cameron The popular analogy for the Māori seats in the last year has been Game of Thrones. However, outside the number of kingdoms and the genuine dislike people seem to have for … Read more
The government response to the revelations contained in Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson’s Hit and Run have so far amounted to a collective shoulder shrug. Barrister Felix Geiringer explains why that’s simply not good enough. Now that the lie about civilian casualties in Afghanistan is well and truly exposed, the anti-inquiry spin appears to be … Read more