This morning ex-Xero MD Victoria Crone announced a strong response to the housing crisis, one which squarely targeted the land-bankers and ‘property investors’ holding Auckland to ransom. This is a big deal, writes Duncan Greive. Auckland is, as everyone but the National cabinet acknowledges, in the grips of a diabolical housing crisis, with effects running from … Read more
Less than a week out from the Brexit vote, the ‘leave’ side is in the ascendant. But it’s hard to find much to admire in either camp, writes David Hall. Plus: a word on Jo Cox If the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, it deserves everything that comes to it. Perhaps what comes will … Read more
Once Bill Ralston was the baddest man in New Zealand journalism. Now he’s running for council. Over a long lunch at Prego Tim Murphy asks him why. I tried to warn Bill Ralston not to stand for the Auckland Council. ‘Don’t do it Bill’ I tweeted when talk grew late last year of his interest … Read more
Teina Pora has been given the thing he said he wanted most – a formal apology for the 22 years he wrongly spent behind bars as an innocent man. He also has been offered $2.5 million in compensation. Applying the Cabinet’s own principles, it ought to be a minimum of $4.5 million, writes professor of … Read more
A conversation between Damaris and Renee Coulter, the women behind Coco’s Cantina, about their endless struggles with the Auckland Council. First, a long caveat: It’s popular in many Auckland circles to malign the council, but most of the time it’s not deserved. The Auckland Council is vast and complex and has an incredibly important job to … Read more
Opinion: Murdoch Stephens of Doing Our Bit unpicks the announcement of a modest increase in NZ’s refugee intake, and the immigration minister’s suggestion that campaigners ‘care a little less’ about new arrivals’ resettlement There is a familiar arc that is meant to be respected when responding to disappointing news from a disappointing government: cautiously challenge … Read more
Maureen Pugh is National’s newest MP, having replaced the new US ambassador, Tim Groser, from the list. Prompted by news that Pugh “doesn’t believe in pharmaceutical drugs”, Siouxsie Wiles drops her a line Dear Maureen Congratulations on becoming the National Party’s newest MP! I’ll have to admit, though, that I’m a little nervous about your … Read more
With an increased emphasis on our immediate neighbourhood and non-traditional defence activities, the White Paper strikes a refreshing balance, writes the Centre for Strategic Studies’ David Capie The immediate media response to the 2016 Defence White Paper suggests we are all vulnerable to being mesmerised by high-tech toys. Even before the paper was officially launched … Read more
When John Key flies out to Fiji today, one journalist who won’t be joining the delegation is old Pacific hand Michael Field, who is banned from entering the country. He explains how he got added to Bainimarama’s blacklist. I’ve a long history of being banned in the Pacific. The reason why I’m unable to join … Read more
On the second anniversary of her migration to the Lucky Country, Di White is moved to tears by Chasing Asylum, an acclaimed new film about Australian refugee policy. It’s been two years since I moved to Australia. I arrived on a plane on 4 June 2014. I remember the day well. I was moving between … Read more
Who better to critique the controversial new post-Clarkson series of Top Gear than a renowned New Zealand car lover and car crusher? The Spinoff asked me, as a bit of a petrolhead, to write about the new Top Gear. So I watched it. I sort of love cars. To me, they are the ultimate in … Read more
Constitutional law expert Andrew Geddis examines whether the NZ First leader could really become prime minister, with the help of political nerds’ favourite TV show Could life be about to imitate art, with Winston Peters reprising the lead role in what should be every true political nerd’s favourite television series? No, I’m not suggesting Winston … Read more
Could the NZ First leader really get the top job after the next election? Here are some alternative designations Turns out when you mix red and green the colour many see is black – a bumptious, puckish, pin-striped, double breasted sort of black: the black of Winston Peters’ New Zealand First Party. This morning’s column … Read more
In the latest Ika Table Talk, Jessica Mutch, Grant Robertson and Suzanne Snively join Guy Williams to discuss the impact of the Panama Papers in NZ. Comedian, broadcaster and tall man Guy Williams led a lively discussion at Ika restaurant on Tuesday evening on the subject of Politics, the Press and the Panama Papers. Reporter … Read more
The prime minister told reporters yesterday there are plenty of (relatively) affordable Auckland homes on TradeMe. Madeleine Chapman searched the site to see if he was right. Asked yesterday about Auckland’s average house price nearing the $1 million mark, John Key was as upbeat as ever: “If you go on Trade Me this afternoon and … Read more
Labeen? Grabour? The marriage of the two main parties of the left makes sense, but the course of true love never did run smooth. Shortly after the Labour Party’s calamitous defeat at the election in 2014, the soon-to-be-former leader David Cunliffe admitted that they had erred in rebuking an offer made by the Green Party, … Read more
Heather du Plessis-Allan sparked controversy this week with a column calling the Waikato town ‘rotting’. In fact, Ngāruawāhia is the epitome of uplifting small-town NZ, writes former resident Tainui Stephens. In 1998 I fled Herne Bay in Auckland to live in Ngāruawāhia. It was one of the best things I ever did. I lived there … Read more
We’re in the middle of the single biggest democratic act in the land and there’s hardly been a ripple about it. Paul Brislen issues a clarion call to New Zealanders – or at least those with kids at school Every three years we, as a nation, get to make this decision and what we decide … Read more
Bill English just delivered his eighth budget, and the opposition as ever had pre-cooked epithets to denounce it. Here’s how his budgets have been defined – heroically or hopelessly – by his enemies (and ACT) in the parliamentary budget debate since 2009. 2009 Labour leader Phil Goff said it was the Dishonest Budget Greens co-leader … Read more
The Spinoff asked a bunch of clever people to give us one sentence they’d like to see magically written into the finance minister’s Budget speech. These are the words they’d put in his mouth … “Inequality in New Zealand has increased dramatically in recent years, and we need to urgently address it, particularly in the … Read more
The Minister of Transport chided Generation Zero yesterday for urging a place for rail on a new harbour crossing. Here, two Gen-Zeroers hit back, saying his remarks lay bare an absence of strategic thinking. The story of Auckland is too often one of missed opportunities. And there is little cause to hope that the current … Read more
Spoiler: Almost certainly it doesn’t. The most remarkable thing about John Key and his government’s support is how rock-solid it remains in the middle of term three. The poll result on housing, mind you, is striking. True to the digital-first mantra, Newshub has published its latest Reid poll online, eschewing the usual path of unveiling … Read more
Opinion: National gets away with mixed messages over tax cuts because Labour has failed to grasp the nettle and frame tax as both a fairness and patriotism issue, argues Simon Louisson The left’s failure to frame the tax debate since the last election has put it firmly on track to spend three more years in … Read more
Believe it or not, it is possible that Helen Clark is both the best option for the job of Secretary General, and that she is an important candidate because she is female The first thing I heard on Tuesday morning: “Helen Clark is not running to be Secretary General of the UN because she is … Read more
Opinion: An illicit market has emerged for on-selling plane tickets, but instead of suffocating the idea, the airlines should be running it themselves, writes Wellington student Jack Close. My time as a student away from home at the University of Otago can be summarised simply: $500 return flights. Motivated by the “beauty of the price … Read more
On the final day of the Tripartite Economic Summit, Tim Murphy discovers how a talk fest can get real-world results – and gets a lesson in American-style positive thinking. Read Tim’s recap of day one of the summit here. The United States Ambassador to New Zealand, His Excellency Mark Gilbert, has a three word family … Read more
Nick Smith was totally right to crack down on a politician who pandered to his rich, elderly voting base at the expense of sensible housing policy. Now, about National pandering to its rich, elderly voting base at the expense of sensible housing policy. Nick Smith, a sentient turnip acting undercover as New Zealand’s Housing Minister, launched … Read more
It sounds like a bureaucratic bore, but Auckland’s Tripartite Economic Summit, with guests including a British YouTube superstar and an American political “rock star”, is the hottest ticket in town. Tim Murphy reports from day one. YouTuber Tom Cassell – who is globally famous as Syndicate Tom – has been walking and talking around Auckland, … Read more
Michael Field, whose book The Catch helped expose the labour and human rights abuses in New Zealand’s fishing industry, says a report out today reveals a decades-long abuse of our much-vaunted quota system, with more than twice as many fish caught as declared. New Zealanders know the power of national utterances; we live by “clean and green” … Read more