Few people outside of her campaign team gave Chlöe Swarbrick any chance of winning in Auckland Central this year – but the Green Party MP was too busy to listen. Here’s how they turned the electorate green. First published November 12, 2020. Three Ticks Chlöe is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by … Read more
Summer reissue: In the 2020 election, first term MP Chlöe Swarbrick will be one of just two Greens explicitly running to win an electorate. She spoke to Alex Braae about how she rates her chances of taking down National’s deputy leader. First published June 20, 2020 Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious … Read more
The Greens won a sizeable share of the party vote, and Chlöe Swarbrick took Auckland Central. But the cannabis referendum campaign she championed, as captured in Three Ticks Chlöe, failed. For all the glorious victory, the final note is one of frustration, writes Justin Giovannetti. Three Ticks Chlöe is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries … Read more
Few people outside of her campaign team gave Chlöe Swarbrick any chance of winning in Auckland Central this year – but the Green Party MP was too busy to listen. Here’s how they turned the electorate green. Three Ticks Chlöe is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff. There … Read more
For a whole lot of Auckland notables, the hottest ticket in town this week has been a trip to see the unveiling of Waiheke Island’s new electric buses. Alex Braae was there to see it. For dignitaries around Auckland, ribbon cuttings this year have been few and far between. And who wouldn’t want a morning … Read more
Forest and Bird’s Kevin Hague recently wrote that the Greens and Labour should work together for the benefit of the environment. Here Justine Sachs argues that a seat at the table isn’t worth selling out the party’s soul. As a Green Party member, I am wary of the Greens being subsumed by Labour’s historic majority … 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
The woman who won Auckland Central for the Alliance in 1993 had some words of wisdom for the Green Party’s Chlöe Swarbrick on Sunday’s post-election episode of Gone By Lunchtime. “I always thought you could do it,” former cabinet minister Sandra Lee told Chlöe Swarbrick the morning after a dramatic election night had the Green … Read more
All around the country, New Zealanders are screaming: ‘Election 2020: Who are the winners, losers, big losers, and gigantic losers?’ Hayden Donnell is here to respond to their cries. The election is over. We probably know the makeup of the next government. We know we won’t see a capital gains tax for the rest of … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Wildly different caucus meetings loom for National and Labour, new case of community transmission announced, and anger mounts over wage subsidy piss-taking. The mood in the room will be very different when the Labour and National caucuses meet this week. For Labour, it’ll be a crowded … Read more
The Green Party last night represented a new era: the kids aren’t just all right, they’re in charge. Josie Adams and Sherry Zhang were there. A very small child met us at the doors to GridAKL. “Are you here for the Green party?” she asked. Her name was Melanie and she followed protocol to a … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to a special election edition of The Bulletin, by Alex Braae for The Spinoff. You’ll probably have heard by now, but the country is waking up this morning to a crushing Labour victory in the 2020 election. Labour has the numbers to govern alone, with a provisional count of 49% of the … Read more
An internal Green Party poll suggests that advance voters are more likely to oppose cannabis legalisation. Alex Braae reports. Internal Green Party polling provided to The Spinoff suggests that the massive number of advance votes are running against legalising cannabis, but it’s likely to be close. The poll, conducted between October 9-12, asked people if … Read more
Labour has its eyes set on taking the Auckland Central seat from National, but Green supporters are anxious their party won’t make parliament without the safety of an electorate win. Justin Giovannetti investigates the division. Auckland Central is an electorate of contrasts. The central neighbourhoods of Auckland represent one of the most expensive collections of … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Fonterra gets back into the black, National’s economic plan derailed by accounting blunder, and Air NZ boss questions continuing with elimination strategy. To lead off today, one of the most important single numbers for the rural economy. Fonterra has announced a payout for the season of … Read more
It’s one of the most high-profile, and marginal, electorates in the country, and is jam-packed with hospitality and retail businesses. So which Auckland Central haunts do the three front-runners like to frequent? This story was originally published by Ensemble What do your favourite things say about you? Where you buy your regular coffee? Where you … Read more
Two lockdowns have meant businesses in a beloved central Auckland food court have struggled to pay their rent. They’re getting no relief from their former soap star landlord. Struggling businesses in the Elliot Stables building in central Auckland have been served Property Law Act notices from their landlord, demanding that they pay the shortfall in … Read more
The first Auckland Central debate took place last night, despite the lack of a National candidate. Josie Adams went along to watch Helen White, Chlöe Swarbrick and the rest. The Auckland Central electorate stretches from the depths of Grafton across the Hauraki Gulf to Aotea (Great Barrier). Its residents are Waiheke’s hippies and vintners, the … Read more
All around the country, people are asking ‘what’s going to happen in the 2020 general election campaign?’ That’s because they haven’t read this guide, which reveals exactly what will happen in the 2020 general election campaign. Someone has finally put this term of parliament out of its misery. We’ve had three years of scandals, sex … Read more
A once thriving, globally acclaimed business says it faces an expensive death, wedged between punitive commercial law and government inaction. Most New Zealanders will have never heard of it, but if you were a young international traveller it was the place to be – the first stop and bustling home base for thousands of tourists … Read more
Things with Todd Muller made sense. He was cautious and bland. National would fight the election over who had the best ideas. Jacinda Ardern would avoid getting dirty and debate those ideas. Then Muller left. And a firecracker was lobbed into the campaign. The dawn of a Judith Collins led National Party has upset election … Read more
In the second of our pre-election events, a collaboration between Spinoff Members and Verb Wellington, Danyl Mclauchlan talks to Chlöe Swarbrick, the MP seeking to tip the table of politics from inside parliament. Chlöe Swarbrick first leapt into the spotlight with an audacious, cynic-defying and unsuccessful run for the Auckland mayoralty. After being courted by … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: New case amid capacity concerns at isolation facilities, police mourn colleague who was killed, and vibrant weekend of party politics as election nears. Quarantine and managed isolation facilities are continuing to dominate the news, after a weekend of new developments. The news broke last night on Radio … Read more
In the 2020 election, first term MP Chlöe Swarbrick will be one of just two Greens explicitly running to win an electorate. She spoke to Alex Braae about how she rates her chances of taking down National’s deputy leader. After four frantic years in politics, Chlöe Swarbrick has finally been forced to slow down. Since … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Muller settles into National leadership after brutal coup, government issues concern over Hong Kong, and parties reveal election candidates. National has rolled the dice on changing their leader several months out from an election. Our political editor Justin Giovannetti arrived in Wellington just in time to see it … Read more
Will the door be open to a new National leadership, and does the party need to flex its muscle to get noticed in the coming months? Suddenly it’s election year again. The National Party has jettisoned Simon Bridges in favour of Todd Muller, a sensible man with a firm handshake. Over the weekend Jacinda Ardern … Read more
The government has announced the shape of the cannabis legalisation bill that we’ll vote on in September’s referendum. So if the country decides to vote yes, what will the new rules be? What’s all this then? When New Zealand goes to the polls in September, we won’t just be voting on local MPs and who … Read more
Over the past month, we became deeply aware that we were all only as safe as our most marginalised and at-risk. Nobody was immune. We need to channel that knowledge to the core of how we do politics, writes Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick. Yesterday, Aotearoa New Zealand cautiously toned down the world-leading, robust safeguards designed … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: MFAT advice to NZers overseas changes, parliamentary scrutiny to continue amid adjournment, and an essential piece to read on the shutdown rules. As of yesterday, the message to New Zealanders overseas has changed. Last week, foreign minister Winston Peters warned those who wanted to return that … Read more