On October 17, voters called time on the Labour NZ First coalition government, sending the self-proclaimed “handbrake” of NZ First into the wilderness and returning Labour with enough support to govern alone. In this Herald Premium article, the NZ Herald’s Claire Trevett spoke to politicians and staff about the three years the two parties and … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: New report shows climate change already affecting New Zealand, new crop of managed isolation Covid cases, and National leader and ousted electorate MPs all staying on. As promised, today’s Bulletin will cover the government’s new climate change report, called Our Atmosphere and Climate. It was released … Read more
With the government set to take shape in the next few weeks, Labour and the Greens will have to decide on the nature of their relationship for the next three years. Andrew Geddis takes us through the options at hand. Without even knowing the final election result (there are about 500,000 special votes still to … Read more
We know Jacinda Ardern will be the PM, but what else needs to get sorted out in the coming weeks? Alex Braae runs down the questions we’ll get answers to soon, along with a few that you might be wondering about. The voters deliver the mandate, but then it’s up to the politicians to figure … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Fires devastate US West amid other catastrophes, academics call for protecting of Māori colleagues at Waikato, and Labour brings forward 100% renewable target. Remember the massive wildfires that swept through Australia, and how they turned the skies a deep and forbidding orange? It was less than … Read more
Just after 2pm today, the capital gains tax proposal was pronounced dead by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. It’s just the latest in a run of bad news for the government’s much-vaunted policy projects, writes Danyl Mclauchlan. At the start of the year Jacinda Ardern declared that 2019 was her government’s ‘year of delivery’. Last year … Read more
It’s being called the most pure MMP government in history. Does that just mean Winston Peters’ party gets to pull swifties on Jacinda Ardern whenever they feel like it? Coalition governments, by their very nature, require compromises and negotiations. But over 2018, it has seemed like NZ First have been doing a lot more negotiation, … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: With the PM away, the government’s support partners have been making waves, former Jehovah’s Witnesses speak out about chronic sexual abuse within the church, and some surprising data on Auckland rentals. To start the week, we’re going to take a look at the recent fortunes of … Read more
The compromises of the Labour-led government’s first budget was a sign of the consultation required in a coalition, says Grant Thornton’s Greg Thompson. MMP has bestowed a three-way coalition upon us and politics in New Zealand has now become a matter of consensus. This means that hard decisions are difficult to make and certain policies … Read more