Which of the mayoral candidates have the most effective hoardings, and what hidden meanings do they reveal? The Spinoff’s chief billboard semiotics correspondent, Toby Manhire, reports. It’s just like Christmas but without anything remotely joyful. All across the country, the mugs of the brave individuals hoping to represent their communities in local body politics have … Read more
There is good reason for reforming the student loan system, but the proposal to wipe debt for those who work in the regions doesn’t hold water, argues Eric Crampton. It’s hard to think of any problem solved by Labour’s proposed student loan policy that wouldn’t have better solutions. And I don’t think it is because … Read more
Senior ministers just want the assisted dying issue to go away. But for people like Rachel Rypma, legislation could not be more important, writes David Seymour. At first I thought the issue of legalising assisted dying would be a really big deal. One of those major culture war type battles like gay marriage or the … Read more
Deputy mayor and Unitary Plan hero Penny Hulse has told the Spinoff she is ‘vaguely uninspired’ by the candidates for the Auckland mayoralty, saying she’s waiting to hear some ‘genuine vision’. It is an irrefutable fact that the most exciting things to happen in the Auckland mayoralty race so far have been: first, the bizarro … Read more
On Sunday, the Herald ran a crazily racist opinion piece where an unnamed real estate agent criticised Auckland for being “unwholesomely Chinese”. Guy Williams went in search of the truth about the story, and ended up being sucked down a rabbit hole filled with intrigue, recriminations, and Winston Peters. Holy shit! I’m in too deep. … Read more
Privacy commissioner John Edwards assesses the newly drafted Intelligence and Security legislation, and responds to Kim Dotcom’s suggestion he’s a government lackey and ‘clown’ Until last night I was unfamiliar with the commissioning process for pieces for The Spinoff. Mine came in the form of a Twitter direct message. “John! fancy writing us a post … Read more
Obama wants to get the trade deal through Congress during the lame duck session, but both Trump and Clinton are vocally opposed. It is too early, however, to declare the battle lost, argues TPP advocate Stephen Jacobi Trade has been described as “war by other means”. That inspired the US Defence Secretary, in peak hyperbole, … Read more
Lumping together foreign investors, international students and immigrants isn’t about policy, it’s about class, writes Keith Ng. Immigrants are like teenagers. We spend a lot of time fitting in, and being hyper-aware of whether we fit it. When teenagers say “eeuuugghhh muuuumm”, they’re actually (kinda) articulating the idea that mum is unwittingly transgressing the social … Read more
Hallelujah! The Auckland Council has signed off the Unitary Plan, the crucial rulebook for the city’s future. But there remains plenty to fight for, write Hayden Donnell and Toby Manhire The biggest battle of the War for Auckland has been won with barely a teaspoon of blood spilled. In a stunning, gravity defying moment the … Read more
Straw poll results have been disappointing for NZ’s candidate. But the process is complex and the die not yet cast, writes former NZ ambassador to the UN Terence O’Brien The selection of the next United Nations secretary general is being conducted this year according to a new formula which extends a greater role to the … Read more
In just a few months, the new Philippines president has sparked outrage around the world with a vicious crackdown on the drug trade, targeting everyone from dealers to judges. But the approach is carefully crafted for a domestic audience, writes Rebecca Townsend “If this continues and you try to stop me, then all hell breaks … Read more
The Turkish president has brutally suppressed protesters and purged every branch of government of any opposition. We must stand up against him, writes Maria Armoudian. The test of a leader’s commitment to democracy is not in peaceful and agreeable times but in times of dissent and disagreement. And Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has failed … Read more
Canberra’s offshore detention camps can be seen as an example of ‘necro-politics’, argues Janet McAllister. This week, The Spinoff published Amnesty International’s piece calling for New Zealand to protest Australia’s offshore detention centres, and then The Guardian published mountains more evidence of abuse and atrocities on Nauru. It costs Australia billions of dollars every year to violate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so spectacularly. But simply … Read more
The Spinoff presents a beautiful way to see what the new rulebook provides for your street, neighbourhood, and the city as a whole The Spinoff’s War for Auckland bunker is shaking with excitement today as we publish a bold and beautiful bunch of accessible, zoomable maps to illustrate the Unitary Plan. Using data sets provided … Read more
We have rarely seen such a sustained, and successful, attempt to hide abuses from the outside world as the Australian government is perpetuating right now in its ‘offshore detention’ policy, writes Amnesty International’s Grant Bayldon There is a basic principle of human rights work: when lawyers, families, journalists, doctors and official monitors are prevented from … Read more
In the second scorching installment of the Spinoff’s War For Auckland podcast, we discuss the political responses to the revised Unitary Plan and take bets on whether the Auckland Council will vote it through The adorable old labrador we call the Unitary Plan moves closer to maturity on Wednesday this week as it arrives before … Read more
A mindset from the world of business may have spread out into culture and political life, steamrolling ideas of objective truth along the way, argues Campbell Jones There has been widespread discussion over the past month about the disappearance of truth in New Zealand politics. In an important opinion piece, TVNZ reporter Andrea Vance argued … Read more
Parliament may be enjoying the longest recess of all time but the Spinoff’s Gone By Lunchtime podcast is 100% sitting, friends. Joining Toby Manhire in the futuristic audio-pod are Annabelle Lee and Ben Thomas Among the fat being chewed: Auckland Unitary Plan adventure (but only briefly; if you like that sort of thing, there’s more … Read more
The $925,000 government payout is intended to close a long and messy chapter in the David Bain whodunnit, though it will only reiginte the eager Bainologists. Law professor Andrew Geddis explains how we ended up here. In a perhaps vain attempt to replicate Kang’s (in the guise of Bob Dole) solution to another intractable issue … Read more
Enough heeding a small group of angry residents, time to listen to the experts. That was the message yesterday at the launch of the pro-Unitary-Plan campaign group Coalition for More Homes, writes Tim Murphy. The rowdy hordes have had their say on the Unitary Plan. Now it’s time for the experts. So says the prosaically … Read more
NZ writer and election tourist Jessy Edwards travelled to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where she spent a day soaking up the highs and lows of a healthy democracy, smoking weed with Bernie Sanders supporters, walking in a Black Lives Matter march and pissing off a Fox News reporter – and left wondering if … Read more
New Zealand’s classiest economist, Shamubeel Eaqub, unleashes his first impressions on the Independent Hearings Panel review of the big rule-book for Auckland’s future. The War for Auckland is a Spinoff pop-up section devoted to the 2016 Unitary Plan and local elections. To support our journalism, click here.
The protracted and sometimes anguished birthing process for the Unitary Plan, the blueprint for Auckland’s future, passed a crucial milestone today. But you’d be forgiven for wondering what it all means. Here’s an attempt to explain, with some helpful pictures. First, a picture of a USB stick: What happened today? The Independent Hearings Panel recommendations … Read more
The Auckland Council has long been blamed for the myriad of issues facing the country’s largest city, in particular the housing crisis. It’s about time central government took some responsibility, argues AUT Pro Vice Chancellor Ian Shirley It is difficult to take the Government’s housing policy seriously when a central plank of that policy is … Read more
Following a military coup in 2014, high-level contacts between Wellington and Bangkok went into deep freeze. Why is that now beginning to thaw, asks David Capie Hot on the heels of the Hague Tribunal’s decision about the South China Sea, Foreign Minister Murray McCully is back in Asia. Meetings with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian … Read more
Five months after the infuriating marathon Auckland Council meeting on ‘upzoning’ comes a massive moment for the future of the city and its critical Unitary Plan. Between the two events, housing, and Auckland housing especially, has completely dominated the political agenda Five months and two days, so the adage goes, is a long time in … Read more
The government endorsement of a predator-free nation is cause for real cheer. But it’s only a start, writes Gareth Morgan. The Government has formally endorsed a bold vision for a Predator Free New Zealand by 2050. They are investing $28m over four years into projects that will remove rats, stoats and possums from around a … Read more
The National Party MP on the epic theatre of the GOP’s big event, why a President Trump remains a real prospect, and what he was doing in Cleveland. America! Jesus! Freedom! That was the all-important catchphrase for Will Ferrell’s satirical character in The Campaign. Cam Brady would have fitted right in last week at the … Read more
His supporters at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland and in comment threads around the world believe we’ll see a President Trump. But who else? Donald Trump has just finished his epic speech at a convention replete with mishaps and idiosyncracy. Despite the fact that he defied so many expert predictions that he stood almost … Read more