Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Campaign grinds to the finish line, claims about overseas donations to NZ Public Party account, and scandal uncovered over single use plastic dumping. It’s almost over. The extended cut of the 2020 general election is winding down, with a massive advance vote already cast, and the … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Serious Fraud Office announces investigation into donations made to Labour, deportations from Australia to resume, and retail businesses up against it on rent. In a short statement released yesterday afternoon, the Serious Fraud Office made it clear that donations to the Labour Party in 2017 … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Robertson announces shape of Covid-19 economic response, National grabs matches for regulations bonfire, and land use change laid bare. Cabinet has approved a package of measures designed to take some of the economic pain out of the global Covid-19 outbreak. Around the world right now, markets are … Read more
The donations scandal looks very different if we see ourselves not as Labour supporters or National voters but as citizens of a country whose politicians are selling us all out, argues Danyl Mclauchlan in the conclusion to our series on electoral funding, Money Talks. This series is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join Members to … Read more
Max Rashbrooke makes the case for reforms based on the democratic principle that we should each have the same influence over politics. We could do worse than starting by looking at Canada, he argues. The Money Talks series explores the rot in our donations system and ideas to fix it. It is made possible thanks to … Read more
I have reason to believe that New Zealand’s reputation for being corruption-free and its sense of well-being don’t fully align with reality, writes Timothy K Kuhner. Read more from the special Spinoff series on electoral funding, Money Talks, here. This series is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join Members to support more of this important … Read more
All this week on The Spinoff, a series of pieces examine the crisis in our electoral funding rules. How did we get here? How might we fix it? Today, Elisha Watson proposes a completely different way to approach the problem, via ‘democracy dollars’. This series is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join Members to support more … Read more
We live, supposedly, in the most open era in New Zealand history. Yet right now scandal swirls around donations to National and New Zealand First. The other large party, Labour, also has form. As part of our week-long series on electoral funding, Money Talks, Max Rashbrooke asks: how has it come to this? This series … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: The latest on the coronavirus in NZ, political donations in the spotlight, and overhaul of fossil fuel investment in default Kiwisaver funds. To start today, an update to the story that has dominated conversations all weekend. At the time of writing, one person has been confirmed … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: NZ First Foundation referred to police, major campaign launched to close measles immunity gap, and emissions forecast rises again. The story around donations to the NZ First Foundation has become a lot more serious, and both the police and Serious Fraud Office will be involved. It … Read more
The Serious Fraud Office will investigate donations relating to NZ First and the NZ First Foundation. It sets a tone for election year, and the spotlight on her deputy prime minister is the stuff of nightmares for Jacinda Ardern. The course of election year in Aotearoa never did run smooth. And so it is in … Read more
A flurry of questions attend the Serious Fraud Office’s announcement it is charging four people in relation to donations, and the answers could have huge implications in election year, writes Andrew Geddis. The announcement by the Serious Fraud Office that it has filed criminal charges against four people “in relation to donations paid into a … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Pressure mounts over NZ First Foundation, range of changes made to overseas investment office, and accusations of bottom trawling destroying coral. The allegations swirling around the NZ First Foundation are serious enough to warrant going back to again today. Party leader Winston Peters has angrily denied … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Foreign interference fears rise around donations, anti poverty group disgusted at tobacco company approach, and Labour MP Clare Curran to depart in 2020. The National Party has denied MP Todd McClay facilitated a major party donation while he was the trade minister, reports Radio NZ. The allegation … Read more
New Zealanders are as parochial about charity as they are about sport, with only a fraction of the money we donate leaving our shores or even going outside our local areas. Less than 9% of private donations in New Zealand go to international charities because Kiwis prefer to give as close to home as possible. … Read more
Last year, everyone loved getting home, flicking on the telly and seeing beloved household names like Jami-Lee Ross and Simon Bridges night after night. Fans of this cult classic political drama rejoice: it’s been picked up for another season. Here we are, 2019, and it’s all go on the sequel to the smash political hit … Read more
Small business owner Heather Claycomb learned the hard way that donating till it hurts is not how to change the world. She offers some tips for making an impact. How many emails have you opened in recent weeks from companies telling you they donated to charity for the holidays? Corporate charitable giving at Christmas is … Read more
In the aftermath of the Jami-Lee Ross saga many have called for increased transparency around political donations, saying it’s better for a healthy democracy. But what if that’s completely backwards? Liam Hehir makes a case for mandatory anonymity. One thing the Jami-Lee Ross saga has stirred up is the issue of political finance in this country. … Read more
Whatever the truth of the rebel MP’s claims about Simon Bridges, it shines a light on electoral finance laws that are not fit for purpose, argues Leroy Beckett For the past 48 hours our political headlines have been drenched in scandal. A high ranking member of parliament admitted to electoral finance fraud, and claims it … Read more
In a post on Facebook Jami-Lee Ross has published audio which he says “confirms Simon Bridges and I discussing a $100k donation on 25 June. Simon Bridges says I’m lying – this is part of the evidence I gave to police today.” Jami-Lee Ross: Good thanks, buddy, how are you? Simon Bridges: Good, buddy, good. What’ve … Read more
Editor’s note: this post was removed pending an update to take in new information from Jami-Lee Ross’s latest press conference. New version is here.
So remember how there was a bit of a battle going on between National leader Simon Bridges and Botany MP Jami-Lee Ross? It has just stepped up about 16 million notches. Jami-Lee Ross has gone absolutely all-in against the National party leadership of Simon Bridges, in a way that has no obvious precedent in New … Read more