Dunedin’s new mayor Aaron Hawkins is the first official Green Party mayor in NZ and, arguably, the first to represent the city’s student population as much as its older residents. Josie Adams, who guessed he would win, asked him some questions about it. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff … Read more
Dunedin’s local election race has broken out into a symphony of front-stabbing, back-stabbing, and general mud-slinging. But then, doesn’t a good politician need a bit of bite? Josie Adams consults The Spinoff’s Snake Rating Machine. The Dunedin local politics scene has long been a mudslinger’s paradise, but this year’s election has been filthier than a … Read more
In our latest local elections 2019 race briefing (read the rest here), Josie Adams assesses the bastion of progressive virtue that is Dunedin/Ōtepoti. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here. Where? Dunedin, or Ōtepoti, is also known as “the Edinburgh of … Read more
This year’s crop of local election signs range from the inspired to the utterly terrifying. Professional illustrator Toby Morris delivers his analysis of the best and worst designs. The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click here. Faces, faces … Read more
Some people say it’s confusing. Others think it’s boring. But running all its elections under an STV system could be the single most effective way for local government to fix its lack of diversity and woeful voting turnout, argues Hayden Donnell. The Spinoff local election coverage is made possible thanks to The Spinoff Members. For more about … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Fears for cities with loss of trees, competitive battle looms for Dunedin mayoralty, and teacher strike talks to take place amid new secondary strike action. New Zealand’s urban environments are losing worryingly high numbers of irreplaceable mature trees, reports Charlie Mitchell at Stuff. It comes a decade after … Read more
Aaron Hawkins recalls his childhood love for quiz shows, and calls for the return of Dougal Stevenson’s Herculean all-rounder competition The Krypton Factor. “They’ve been very popular, in fact they’ve been a hit: Tubular Bells. But we don’t need our contestants to hit them tonight, merely to assemble them, in the proper order.” – Dougal … Read more