Labour has jettisoned its leader and overhauled its campaign – but National, too, is having to rethink its approach, writes Toby Manhire Look, it’s not as though it was Obama 2008. Labour’s new mantra, “Let’s do this”, sounded less stadium and more working bee. But there was no mistaking the buoyant mood at the launch … Read more
The Green co-leader today ruled herself out of a future cabinet role after admissions about lying to Winz and in her voter registration details. But how bad, really, was the breach of electoral law, asks Andrew Geddis While I can’t go so far as to claim Metiria Turei as a full friend, she certainly is … Read more
The Green co-leader’s confessions were snowballing, her position becoming untenable. But ultimately the decision seems to have come down to Jacinda Ardern. ’Tis the season for resigning, and there was plenty of speculation Metiria Turei was about to do that when she called a press conference for noon today. Her first words upon addressing the … Read more
Jacinda Ardern’s elevation to Labour leader has created a wave of unfamiliar enthusiasm on the political left. Now, writes Morgan Godfery, it’s time for policies that are just as game-changing. John Key, remember him? The bloke people reckoned they’d like to have a beer with, even though he minced down catwalks and might tug your … Read more
Against a new challenger, Bill English will need to lift his game, while Winston Peters as PM becomes a real proposition, writes former National Party cabinet minister Wayne Mapp. The dramatic elevation of Jacinda Ardern to the leadership of the Labour Party instantly raises the question of whether she is ready to be prime minister in just … Read more
Getting young voters engaged in political discourse is a challenge no NZ party has yet cracked. Could memes save the day? Madeleine Chapman leads a guided tour. At age five, most children are able to detect sarcasm and identify it as humour. By age ten, they’re able to differentiate between sarcastic and ironic humour. And somewhere … Read more
The Spinoff presents a roundup of Jacinda Ardern’s DJ appearances, plus the set list from her much-name-dropped appearance at the 2014 Laneway Festival, with our track-by-track commentary. Not only is Jacinda Ardern the new leader of the Labour Party (which, according to my social media feeds is going great – she’s already the next prime minister), every … Read more
‘On Monday night I was scratching my head about how to inspire Labour supporters. And then along came Jacinda. I’ve known her since I was a teenager, and we’re claiming her as an East Coaster’, writes Kiri Allan in the latest instalment of her candidate diary. Read more candidate diaries for the Spinoff here They say a … Read more
Has the Labour Party finally found the leader it’s been longing for? Simon Wilson thinks the answer just might be yes. I wanted to like Andrew Little. I thought most of the policies he presided over were pretty good. I admired that he united a fractious caucus and never faltered in his desire to take … Read more
The Spinoff’s Gone By Lunchtime trio frantically gather their thoughts following the exit of Labour leader Andrew Little, who has been replaced by Jacinda Ardern, with Kelvin Davis as her deputy, with just over 50 days to an election. Within seconds of watching Jacinda Ardern conduct her first press conference as Labour leader, Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee … Read more
Following Andrew Little’s resignation, Jacinda Ardern has been unanimously elected as Labour leader, with Kelvin Davis as her deputy. Here’s a quick survey of the pros and cons. At her first press conference as leader of the Labour Party, Jacinda Ardern has promised to run “the campaign of our lives”. She and new deputy Kelvin … Read more
After a tumultuous 36 hours of terrible polls and admissions from Andrew Little that he’s considered resigning as leader, the Labour caucus meets today. What to expect? This, definitely this … Let there be no doubt about it. Andrew Little is about to resign as leader (Mike Williams), and Andrew Little is safe in his … Read more
Jacinda Ardern? Kelvin Davis? Why stop there? Simon Wilson plays fantasy politics and surveys a world of people who could lead the Labour Party. Labour desperately needs a leader to excite our passions and lead the people to the promised land. So who’s the best person to do that? Not sure if they’ve got anyone … Read more
Pollwatch: the latest numbers, and Andrew Little’s response, have led to a welter of commentary on Labour’s predicament – including, on the Spinoff, here and here and here – but if only for a quick change of scenery, here are a few other observations worth noting. It is just possible you’ve noticed that the New Zealand Labour Party is not … Read more
Andrew Little poured petrol all over himself yesterday and now he’s standing there with the lighter in his hands, screaming at us, ‘Is this what you want?’ If he burns, though, who will replace him? Well, maybe he’s not screaming it at all of us, but when he said he and his senior team had … Read more
The centre-left bloc just went up in the polls, but the conversation is all about the viability of Andrew Little as Labour leader – and it’s a conversation he started, writes Toby Manhire Andrew Little’s decision to tell New Zealand he has been contemplating resigning the Labour leadership has proved a success by one metric … Read more
Pollwatch: Andrew Little admits he’s thought about standing down, after the latest from One News and Colmar Brunton shows a leap in support for the Greens. And how about that undecided number … During the 2014 election campaign, the Green Party gained a piffling 1% of media coverage, the party’s co-leader James Shaw told the … Read more
For the last fortnight the Green Party has found itself in the unfamiliar position of dominating campaign headlines. Chlöe Swarbrick takes a (brief) pause for breath to reflect on it all in her third candidate diary for the Spinoff. I’ve kind of lost all semblance of time. It turns out that crossing the threshold from … Read more
Will the appeal to regional New Zealand and a pitch centred on reviving the economically interventionist state bear fruit for NZ First, asks former National Party cabinet minister Wayne Mapp. Is this going to be the year of Winston Peters, just as it was in 1996? The New Zealand First leader increasingly looks as though … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens making the news. Today: Bill English and Paula Bennett have a plan to target the youth vote. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos. Want more politics? Check out the Spinoff’s Gone By Lunchtime political podcast, … Read more
Patrick Gower has slammed Metiria Turei for trying to ‘get attention’ and ‘win votes’ just ‘eight weeks out from an election’. Hayden Donnell lifts the lid on just how deep this rabbit hole goes. Most of the people criticising Metiria Turei for committing benefit fraud have been white, middle-aged men angry at the idea of … Read more
It is well-known that poverty and inequality have soared under National. Well-known – and unsupported by the evidence. What matters is at the extremities, writes Max Rashbrooke Yesterday’s Household Incomes Report, the annual record of inequality in New Zealand, is a confronting read for those who think everything is getting worse. Take the figures for … Read more
Following the Green co-leader’s admission about misleading WINZ, Nicola Gaston recalls her own upbringing on a benefit, and confesses to a fraud of her own. Metiria Turei’s recent announcement of Green Party policy on welfare in New Zealand has caught people’s attention, all right. But instead of focusing on the co-leader’s commitment to lift families … Read more
In the third of our series mining the truths from the political promos, Toby Manhire overthinks ‘Great Greens’. Already the Spinoff has turned its groundbreaking and vandalistic attention to the National Party’s “Let’s Get Together” and the Labour Party’s “Fresh Start”. Today it’s the turn of the Greens, whose first campaign ad was well ahead of … Read more
Andrew Little just talks naturally to New Zealand in the party’s first ad ahead of the election. Toby Manhire dives deep and scrawls captions on top of their captions. The National Party had its “Let’s Get Together” jingle, which we deconstructed using science yesterday. Today it’s Labour turn, with their “Fresh Approach” debut video ad. First, the video as … Read more
Already the internet is being bedazzled by political messages in the election leadup. Here Toby Manhire helpfully analyses National’s debut effort using the medium of captions. We’re still awaiting a ruling in the lawsuit against the National Party over their “Eminemesque” commercial – the one with the boats – from 2014, and already the first ad … Read more
In a followup to his report as an embedded NZ First member at the party’s conference, Branko Marcetic looks at how the Winston Peters bus is going through the gears and gives his take on the party’s prospects. The New Zealand First Party tends to be more associated in the public mind with mobility scooters and … Read more
The headlines don’t quite capture the core message of Winston Peters’ party, finds Branko Marcetic when he attends their pre-election conference. Midway through the first day of the New Zealand First conference, the 300 or so assembled party members considered a remit put forward by the party’s South Hutt branch. It proposed that the party … Read more
Fear not, Labour and the Greens: everything is possible. And here in one simple post, Simon Wilson sets it out: why life’s got so hard for them, who their enemies really are and what they can do to win. The first thing to say about elections is that sudden changes of mood are possible. Single events … Read more