Farmers rallied against Labour and the Greens in Jacinda Ardern’s hometown Morrinsville yesterday. Simon Wilson went along to see what they had to say for themselves. The farmers stood around like cows outside the milking shed, pressed together, mostly all facing the same way, and the journalists moved among them like jackals, notebooks open, mics … Read more
In the 36 Questions Project, Meg Williams takes a politician on a date and asks them the 36 Questions, a series of conversation starters designed to make two people fall in love. In this episode, Williams meets brand new United Future leader, 33-year-old Damian Light, for Japanese food. Previously on the 36 Questions Project: The … Read more
Max Harris reports on the mood of the country during his nationwide book tour of his best-seller The New Zealand Project – and sees the start of ‘a new movement’. In the lead-up to the election, there’s been a lot of talk of a shift in the political mood – and a generational change in … Read more
Five days out from the election, Kiri Allan writes about being both a first-time candidate and first-time mum in the latest instalment of her campaign diary. Read more candidate diaries for the Spinoff here It’s been about 17 days since I’ve had a good night’s sleep. Well, actually, perhaps a little longer than that. But given … Read more
In 2011 and 2014, the National Party leader was pictured considerably more frequently and prominently in newspapers. This year, Claire Robinson, professor of communication design at Massey University, is repeating her study and brings an interim report. At great risk to my own sense of worth I have studied visual image bias in the New … Read more
Why did Bill English raise the prospect of slaughtering the dairy herd yesterday? As farmers prepare to protest in Jacinda Ardern’s hometown Morrinsville, Simon Wilson wants to know why we are suddenly being asked to believe there is a deep urban/rural divide. I’ve driven through quite a bit of the North Island in the last … Read more
A range of politicians from across the New Zealand spectrum have valiantly agreed to read out brutal tweets. Here’s the video, and, below, Luke Sweeeney of the University of Auckland Public Policy Club explains why they produced it. How did you hit upon the idea of NZ Politicians Read Mean Tweets? At one of our exec … Read more
Duncan Greive spends an extraordinary two days with Gareth Morgan – and his comms sidekick Sean Plunket – as he tries to will TOP back into relevance amid the chaos of the 2017 election. Gareth Morgan is not happy. He’s in a converted garage deep within the bowels of the Mediaworks organism, sandwiched between two … Read more
The only thing more volatile than the polling is the commentary around the volatile polling. Statistician Richard Arnold tackles some of the critical questions. We love them, we hate them, and they have a greater impact on our political system than many would like to acknowledge. The problem is, polls are statistics, and people as … Read more
The property investors’ lobby group says a change in government would hurt tenants, but they certainly don’t speak for all of us, counters Alicia Young There are two major problems with yesterday’s New Zealand Herald story, “73.6% of landlords plan rent rises if Labour wins.” The first is the suggestion that the survey is representative … Read more
Finally, an election column we can all agree with! Hayden Donnell argues the election sucks now and is driving us all to the brink of madness and beyond. Most election columns are biased or sensational. They’re tainted by people’s political preferences or psychosexual need to be at the centre of electoral drama. The supply of … Read more
Pollwatch: Labour continues to thrive and the Memorandum of Understanding lurches back into life, if the numbers in tonight’s Colmar Brunton poll are a guide, writes Toby Manhire The helter-skelter experience of watching the New Zealand election 2017 continues, with the just revealed Colmar Brunton survey for 1News, showing Labour holding its lead over National. … Read more
The best interview of the election happened today on Morning Report, when Guyon Espiner made Winston Peters look like his race was already run. Duncan Greive recounts the 10 greatest hits. Winston Peters is the most reliably unflappable interview in New Zealand politics. He should get royalties every time someone brazenly answers a completely different … Read more
While mental health is an easy issue to campaign on, it’s hard to get right, writes Jess McAllen. This story first appeared on The Wireless. Read the rest of the series here. Ten years ago, when Labour was in charge, I was 14 and losing grip with reality fast. My parents took me to a counsellor and … 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: farmer Duncan makes a plea for the upcoming election. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
As the campaign enters its final weekend, Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson have attempted to lance the boil, pledging Labour won’t introduce new tax changes before 2021. Now the attacks will switch from tax to leadership, writes Toby Manhire It was a “captain’s call” to push open the door to significant changes in the tax … Read more
Your indispensable guide to counting the numbers on election night. Simon Wilson explains the official way they do it and offers a cheat’s alternative. You vote for a party that doesn’t make it into parliament and your party vote is just discarded? Sorry, it’s true. Your vote is set to one side and not considered … Read more
Chris McDowall explains the origins of this epic graph view into our political history. 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. How does this election fit into New Zealand’s … Read more
The Spinoff presents its exclusive poll of the opinions of Annabelle Lee, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire as New Zealanders flock to vote in chilled out Election 2017. Toby Manhire welcomes Annabelle Lee of The Hui, Ben Thomas of Exceltium, and the spirit of Newstalk ZB legend Leighton Smith into the penultimate Gone By Lunchtime pod … Read more
The 36 Questions Project is a series in which Meg Williams takes a politician on a date and asks them 36 Questions, a series of conversation starters designed to make two people fall in love. In this episode, Williams dates The Opportunities Party leader Gareth Morgan. Previously on the 36 Questions Project: Māori Party co-leader … 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: Paula Bennett responds to the fresh Newshub poll that has National out in front by 10 percent. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
In a strange collision of wrestling and electioneering, Joel MacManus talks to ‘Mr. Burns’, the pro wrestler behind the parody billboards taking the internet by storm. Billboards bearing the name ‘Young Nats’ started popping up around Auckland and Hamilton this weekend and immediately began stirring up controversy online. Slogans like “It’s Probably Your Fault” … Read more
Pollwatch: National open up lead of almost 10 points in a poll that lives up to the hype. And the Greens, on these numbers, are finished. Incredibly explosive, Volatile and telling, and now from the Patrick Gower poll hype machine we have Dramatic and devastating. Hard to argue he’s exaggerating, however, given the numbers from … Read more
Donna Eden is a teacher with 20 years’ experience and a mother of two, currently working at a kindergarten in Wellington. Here she shares with parents her personal guide to voting for education, a topic close to our hearts at The Spinoff Parents. We’re running three pieces on The Spinoff Parents this week about education. … Read more
Frustration within the Greens over perceived disregard for their Memorandum of Understanding partner is increasingly coming to the surface. Will it aid or enfeeble the smaller party, wonders Toby Manhire. At the Back Benches debate in Auckland last month, a Green Party supporter held aloft a sign that declared, on a green background “Campaigning against … Read more
Let’s address that ‘Chinese-sounding’ panda in the room, writes Ally McCrow-Young. I woke up today to eagerly download my voting papers; it’s finally time to cast my overseas vote, which, as a nerd who teaches political engagement, I always find to be both fun and a real privilege. But this year I have to say … Read more
The Spinoff Review of Books salutes the unbylined New Zealand Herald correspondent who filed this fantastically arse-licking report from the election campaign trail on November 7, 1935. During the present election campaign probably no man connected with politics has been busier than the Minister of Finance, Mr Coates, who, after a week of campaigning, is now in … Read more
Last week a kindergarten in Wellington wrote an open letter to the Minister for Education, pleading for their children with special needs to get the support they need. As part of a Spinoff Parents series on early childhood education in New Zealand, Michaela Harris went to the kindergarten to talk to teachers and parents. Newtown … 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: we asked some everyday New Zealanders who they’re voting for, and why. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos