Summer reissue: The president of Young Act loves the freedom his party’s youth wing has to speak out and advocate for radical policy ideas. But are there certain lines that need to be drawn within the youth wing itself? First published August 20, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. … Read more
Which parties spent the most on Facebook and Google, and was it really all worth it in the end? The election is over and the results are in: Labour swept the polls, National lost big, and the Greens and Act are set to return to parliament with an even bigger cohort of MPs than they … Read more
Headquarters in the Viaduct is where many National MPs go to celebrate. On Saturday night Act took it over, and with it the energy and vision of the right, reports Duncan Greive. David Seymour’s six year vigil as Act’s leader and sole MP has been the political version of Nigel the Gannet. Even the party’s … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Major purchase agreement in race for Covid-19 vaccine, compelling documentary on Billy TK Jr, and small town teens speak out about difficulty of getting drivers license. The first Covid-19 vaccine purchase agreement has been made by the government. Radio NZ reports the agreement is for 1.5 million … Read more
The Act Party’s number four candidate is being criticised for promoting climate change denial at a Nelson high school. Stewart Sowman-Lund reports. A Nelson-based candidate for the Act Party, who’s all but certain to be in parliament after the election, rallied against the local council for its position on “so-called ‘climate change’”, convened “Climate Hysteria … Read more
David Seymour’s meteoric rise over the past six months is well documented. But what caused it? Stewart Sowman-Lund sat down with the Act Party leader. Back in February, the Act Party was polling below 2%. Last year, below 1%. Now, it’s sitting at around 8%, with David Seymour on track to bring eight or nine … Read more
All it took was a laser focus on gettable centre-right voters, writes Ben Thomas. Act has previously called itself the “party of the individual” and, since 2011 with only a single MP, that has been quite literally true. Luckily for its long-time – and long suffering – supporters, this year that individual is the rising … Read more
Each week in the lead-up to the election, The Side Eye cartoonist Toby Morris is going to teach us how to draw a different New Zealand politician. This week, it’s the leader of the Act Party. Click here for the rest of the How to draw series. The Side Eye is a monthly non-fiction comic by … Read more
The Māori Party’s time in government with National proves the impact of minor parties isn’t always measurable by the number of bills they pass or the amount of funding they secure, but also its impact on the political tone, argues Ben Thomas. After Tuesday’s lacklustre leader’s debate, one question hung in the air: where were … Read more
Yesterday’s Colmar Brunton poll for TVNZ had Act inching toward its best-ever election result, on 7%. With that, the one-man Act band would become a Seymour-led club of nine. So who the hell are they? By now, David Seymour must be among our most recognisable political figures. Entering parliament fresh-faced in 2014 as the MP … Read more
The fourth episode of Youth Wings discusses sexual harassment. Here, Young Act’s former vice president describes her experience – which includes an account of misogynist and sexual messages – and why she quit the group. It’s only August, but Young Act has had a big year. There was its O-week drug legalisation policy announcement, its … Read more
The president of Young Act loves the freedom his party’s youth wing has to speak out and advocate for radical policy ideas. But are there certain lines that need to be drawn within the youth wing itself? Watch the previous episodes of Youth Wings here. Felix Poole was a Green Party supporter in high school. … Read more
The Spinoff’s new six-part documentary series Youth Wings goes behind the O Week stalls to get to know some of the youngest and most passionate members of New Zealand’s main political parties. It may be hard to imagine, but every single member of New Zealand’s parliament was once young. And when they were young, many … Read more
Gone By Lunchtime’s Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas denounce new poll results that very slightly contradict their opinions. The height of the summit for the National Party? A poll came out last week with Labour at 53%, and that was considered good news for Judith Collins and the Strong Team. Annabelle, Ben and … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins wins and loses in new poll, investigations into managed isolation guards napping on the job, and Heron report damns Walker and Boag. The latest poll for National is much better than how they started the week, but they’re still down in a couple of … Read more
In the second in the Spinoff’s Last on the list series, Dave King explains what inspired him to stand for the Act Party in Manurewa. At 20th spot on the list, if David Seymour’s party can win around 16% of the party vote, King is parliament bound. It wasn’t that long ago that a move … Read more
National has a new leader and it could upend parts of the political map that previously looked much more stable. So how could things change as a result? Under Simon Bridges, National needed to get exceptionally lucky to win the next election. While the party’s polling at the start of the year was strong enough … Read more
On Wednesday night, Young Act’s vice president announced her resignation, citing ongoing harassment. The executive is now promising a cultural overhaul, reports Josie Adams. Young Act, the youth branch of right-wing political party Act, has been accused of fostering a culture of sexual harassment and slut-shaming, leading to the resignation of its vice president in … Read more
The ACT leader has unveiled his ‘Freedom to Speak Bill’. But the case law makes it clear that the laws he seeks to reform are not the terrifying, freedom crushing beasts he has made them out to be, writes Cameron Walker ACT leader, David Seymour, has promised to introduce a “Freedom to Speak” private member’s bill, … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: ACT looks to the past with new policies, unions recommend new pay offer to teachers, and spies keeping oversight watchdog out in the cold. It was probably fitting Richard Prebble was there for the relaunch of the ACT Party over the weekend. After all, much of what … Read more
This week, Alex Penk found himself agreeing with David Seymour when he said that there’s been “a constant misinformation campaign” about the End of Life Choice Bill. It’s just that the chief culprit was Seymour himself, he argues. MPs and the public should be very sceptical about what they’re hearing from David Seymour, who is … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Submissions show euthanasia campaigners have tough fight ahead, flooded dump causes environmental disaster, and Gareth Morgan cuts all ties with TOP. Heavy opposition has come in against changes to the laws on euthanasia, which signals the tough fight ahead for both sides. The NZ Herald reports submissions to the … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Major US decision on weedkiller has NZ implications, ACT wants to abolish the Māori seats, and NZ and Saudi Arabia strengthen trade ties. Here’s a story from overseas that could have big implications for New Zealand. A jury in California has awarded a former school groundskeeper $289 … Read more
The ACT Party wants to abolish the Māori seats, and lower the number of MPs wholesale. Do they have any chance of getting it through? At the 2017 election, out of about 13,000 party votes the ACT Party picked up nationwide, 239 came from Māori seats. It’s fair to say from those numbers that the … Read more
National might be the largest polling party, but they’re sorely lacking any serious parliamentary sidekick. ACT clearly isn’t the solution, so how about contriving a new splinter-party? Good luck getting that past the electorate, writes Alex Braae Voters are a strange group of people to lump together. By and large they have little in common … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Eradication, not containment chosen for m. bovis outbreak, National eyes up new allies, and welfare working group disappoints activists. The government has decided to press ahead with eradication of cattle disease mycoplasma bovis. Radio NZ reports the eradication plan will cost close to a billion dollars, with the … Read more
News that Pharmac is to fund the HIV drug Truvada for an estimated 4000 at-risk New Zealanders has been widely welcomed by the LGBTQi community. But with the plan set to cost the taxpayer millions in subsidies, there’s got to be a better way, argues Act’s Stephen Berry. As a gay man, HIV Aids has … Read more
ACT’s party vote dropped to a record low of 0.5% this election, and leader David Seymour will again be ACT’s sole representative in parliament. So is there still a place for a right-wing, classically liberal party in New Zealand? Somewhat unsurprisingly, Seymour argues there is. The Spinoff asked me to write a sober reflection on … Read more
TV3 has a new poll out tonight. Simon Wilson unpicks what it will mean for the different parties if that poll reinforces the trend to Labour revealed in TVNZ’s poll three days ago. Warning: this story contains some outrageously unprovable assumptions. Here’s an interesting proposition about the election outcome, based largely on one big assumption: … Read more