In the latest from our pop-up podcast, The Spinoff Book Out Loud, Toby Manhire revisits the days of Jacindamania. Listen to episode one, Madeleine Chapman on life after those chip rankings, here, episode two, Alex Braae on Extinction Rebellion, here, and Alex Casey on Sensing Murder, here. It’s election year in New Zealand, so what better time … Read more
Former leader Gareth Morgan says The Opportunities Party’s remaining members are ‘grovelling, compromising political aspirants’ and that’s the least of new leader Geoff Simmons’ problems. Max Towle for RNZ In Depth asks: can Simmons rescue the party from itself – and does the party really hold any appeal to voters now its colourful founder is gone? … Read more
In this bonus edition of Gone By Lunchtime, the prime minister talks to Toby Manhire at the Auckland Writers Festival Last weekend at the Auckland Writers Festival, Jacinda Ardern spoke with Spinoff editor Toby Manhire about the extraordinary election campaign of 2017, and the book it inspired, Stardust and Substance, edited by Stephen Levine for … Read more
Massey University’s Sean Phelan and Leon Salter look at the role media played in of one the biggest controversies of the last election. Two months before New Zealand’s 2017 elections, which eventually installed the Ardern coalition government, then Green party co-leader Metiria Turei gave a speech on welfare reform. Many political commentators had predicted an easy victory … Read more
In one of her first interviews since she walked away from politics, Metiria Turei talks to Waveney Russ about her new life as an artist studying at the Dunedin School of Art. Metiria Turei and I sit across the table from one another in front of her most recent piece of art at Blue … Read more
The Green co-leader on fearing he might be the party’s last leader, why Jacinda Ardern was a boost to their electability, and the nine-dimensional chess of coalition negotiations This is the fourth in a series of extracts from the new VUP collection Stardust and Substance. Read Jacinda Ardern’s review of ‘the most extraordinary year of my … Read more
The former prime minister looks back on an enjoyable election that prompted massive public interest – an election which produced a unique result, and unique challenges for both the government and the new opposition This is the second in a series of extracts from the new VUP collection Stardust and Substance. Read Jacinda Ardern’s review … Read more
The NZ First leader defends his party’s approach to coalition negotiations, explains why they went with Labour and, of course, upbraids the media. This is the second in a series of extracts from the new VUP collection Stardust and Substance, which is published today. Read Jacinda Ardern’s review of ‘the most extraordinary year of my … Read more
In this first of a series of extracts from the new VUP collection Stardust and Substance, which is published tomorrow, the now prime minister recounts her unexpected elevation to the leadership and the remarkable events that followed. There is no doubt that 2017 will remain the most extraordinary year of my life. But a statement … Read more
The Māori electoral option results are in, but for now we have more questions than answers. The results from the latest Māori electoral option process tell us something about how Māoridom views the Māori seats. Unfortunately, they don’t tell us enough about what we really need to know. And given the ongoing political debate around the … Read more
Chris McDowall explains the origins of this epic graph view into our political history. This post was first published September 14, 2017. For months I’ve followed news about New Zealand’s upcoming general election. Revelations! Resignations! Leadership changes! Bold policy promises! Shock poll results! In this heightened political moment, I found myself wondering about the past. … Read more
Just how hard is it to win an election and successfully lead a government? Seems easy enough, but there’s only one way to find out for sure: simulate it in a computer game. This was originally published on September 1. No actual politics game measures up to the ideal politics game for which I yearn. … Read more
When you watch your cat attempt to derail your partner’s phone call with Donald Trump, it’s hard to avoid the word ‘surreal’, writes Clarke Gayford. This post first published November 6, 2017. Write us a diary, the Spinoff asked. What do I call it? Diary of a plus one? Hello from the other side? First-man … Read more
Jacinda Ardern has made an impressive start, leading a government of continuity. And for National, how serious is talk of a new conservative party springing up, asks former cabinet minister Wayne Mapp. Two months in shows a government, and in particular a prime minister starting to become more comfortable about the reality of governing. Without … Read more
The last National leader buggered off before it was cool. One year ago today then prime minister John Key stunned the living shit out of New Zealand by announcing his retirement from politics. And it turned out he was ahead of the curve, as illustrated by the SpinoffLabs™ infographic below. Party leaders in the NZ … Read more
When you watch your cat attempt to derail your partner’s phone call with Donald Trump, it’s hard to avoid the word ‘surreal’, writes Clarke Gayford. Write us a diary, the Spinoff asked. What do I call it? Diary of a plus one? Hello from the other side? First-man musings? Prince Philip or bust? I’m sitting … Read more
More than a quarter of those who voted gave their electorate vote to someone from a different party than the one they backed for their party vote. Chris McDowall breaks it down. View Chris McDowall’s incredible interactive mapping every booth’s votes from the 2017 general election here Last Friday the Electoral Commission released detailed statistics on how … Read more
One of the biggest surprises of the 2017 election was Tamati Coffey’s win in the electorate of Waiariki – unseating Te Ururoa Flavell and ushering the Māori Party out of parliament. Campaign chair Haydn Marriner takes us inside Team Tamati’s strategy. It was deemed by all political pundits, Māori and non-Māori (aside from Morgan Godfery) … Read more
Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters yesterday signed an agreement establishing a governing coalition. In the service of democracy and brevity, we’ve chiseled it, roughly, to its core. Read the agreement proper here. Read the digested Labour-Green deal here. Winston Peters and Jacinda Ardern. Photo: Labour Party It’s a coalition but not a bloody merger, get … Read more
The confidence and supply deal that Jacinda Ardern and James Shaw signed yesterday comes in at seven pages, or an appositely sized PDF of 4.20 MB (not kidding). Read the agreement proper here. And read the digested Labour-NZ First coalition deal here. Boiled down, this is pretty much how it goes: The MOU was actually … Read more
Another gold medal for the green-and-gold in the contest for the worst media opinions on New Zealand’s electoral outcome. Toby Manhire reads them so you don’t have to. The latest addition to the pantheon of Bad Takes In The International Media On The New Zealand Election comes from USA Today. In a post explaining how … Read more
Is it OK for the second biggest party to take the reins of power? Former governor-general Sir Jerry Mateparae answers this and other questions about post-election government-making. In New Zealand it falls to the governor-general, as the Queen’s representative, to formally swear in a new government. Given the ballyhoo around the sight of Jacinda Ardern … Read more
As Treaty commentator Joshua Hitchcock prepares to return home from London, he is optimistic for the new Labour government, but argues that reflecting on past mistakes will help them regain Māori trust. Ka mua, ka muri. This rather elegant Māori proverb reminds us that to move forward, we must keep one eye on our past. … Read more
I’d forced myself not to think about it, but now the incredible has happened, writes Spinoff candidate diarist and new star of the Labour caucus Read all the candidate diaries from election 2017 here It’s 6.42am and I’m on a flight to Wellington. About 12 hours ago, in a press conference in the Beehive Theatre, … Read more
On the evening of the 19th of October 2017 a new government was anointed. Change might have been in the air, but a whole lot of men were still talking over women.
The Gone By Lunchtime team chews over the new government, what it means for Labour, NZ First, the Greens and where it leaves National – and how we got there. Guest starring an exciting new podcasting talent. With a showmanship to put Dominic Bowden to shame, Winston Peters yesterday took the fate of the next … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens and luminaries making the news. Today: The stars of Election 2017 react to new PM Jacinda Ardern – in rhyme. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
Andrew Geddis assesses the shape and viability of the new Jacinda Ardern led government. And sings the praises of two individuals, one from the Greens, the other National. So, very late yesterday afternoon (let’s be charitable) Winston Peters lifted the box’s lid and out wandered a cat with a black head, red body and green tail. Whereupon … Read more
Simon Wilson does a little dreaming, because why not? I’m looking forward to the world celebrating our new prime minister – because what a magnificent thing for us to be known for. I’m looking forward to all the interthings – the intergenerations and genders and ethnicities and urban/provincialities and all the rest – that the … Read more