Few people outside of her campaign team gave Chlöe Swarbrick any chance of winning in Auckland Central this year – but the Green Party MP was too busy to listen. Here’s how they turned the electorate green. First published November 12, 2020. Three Ticks Chlöe is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by … Read more
Summer reissue: Greens MP Chlöe Swarbrick joins Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire to pick over the remains of election night in a special Sunday edition of Gone By Lunchtime. First published October 18, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members … Read more
As CEO of her iwi rūnanga, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer was on the frontline protecting her community during the first outbreak of Covid-19. Now that more virulent strains threaten to breach our borders, the Māori Party co-leader calls on the government to introduce much stricter measures. As we enter the New Year I think it’s important that … Read more
Summer reissue: Merv Lee-Mather, Merv Thomas and Merv Manhire gather to discuss the most pressing issues of election 2020. First published August 11, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members – click here to learn more about how you can support us from as … Read more
The government should hit the ground running in 2021, writes Pattrick Smellie of BusinessDesk. For anyone still looking for a transformational agenda from the cautious Ardern Labour government, there’s good news: if it’s going to happen, it will happen in the next six months. Of course, like most public policy, the acts of transformation will … Read more
To complete our series looking back at 2020 and gazing ahead to 2021, we asked our big political commentary brains to nominate the three issues that will loom large in the year to come. Read more from our political year in review here. Alex Braae Who owns the water infrastructure? And more importantly, will Councils … Read more
Summer reissue: The stars of Youth Wings brought the banter, and the party slogans, to the Auckland Town Hall earlier this month for a very special election year debate. First published 25 August, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members – click here to … Read more
Summer reissue: In October, New Zealand voted against legalising cannabis in a non-binding referendum. Law expert Khylee Quince explains how racism plays a big part in the way current cannabis laws are applied – and why it’s time for reform. First published 9 September, 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in … Read more
Summer reissue: In the 2020 election, first term MP Chlöe Swarbrick will be one of just two Greens explicitly running to win an electorate. She spoke to Alex Braae about how she rates her chances of taking down National’s deputy leader. First published June 20, 2020 Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious … Read more
Summer reissue: After a hard fought debate last night, Judith Collins returned to Auckland for a Ponsonby walkabout with local candidate Emma Mellow. Things didn’t quite go to plan, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund. First published on October 07 2020. Since her performance in the first leaders debate of election 2020, Judith Collins has been an energised … Read more
Despite the numerous setbacks and unexpected hurdles this tumultuous year brought with it, four pupils at South Auckland’s Māngere College say they’ve developed a resilience they didn’t realise they had. They sat down with Justin Latif. “A year of blessings.” That’s how Liona Vailea, 17, describes 2020. The Māngere College student isn’t deluded or ensconced … Read more
Three years after its debut, Chris McDowall releases an updated version of his epic graph view of our national political history. Prior to the 2017 general election, I worked with Tim Denee to create a graphical history of New Zealand’s parliaments. It was an attempt to map parliamentary representation back to the first election in … Read more
New Zealand will see some last-minute governing as Labour plans to rush through a legislative agenda before the summer break. Jacinda Ardern’s government is about to undertake a parliamentary sprint before Christmas, with plans to legislate a number of campaign promises and declare a climate emergency in only a few sitting days. The list of … Read more
The fallout continues from the post-election leadership change in the New Conservatives, with deputy leader and firearms spokesperson Victoria O’Brien quitting after less than a week in the job. Alex Braae reports. On Thursday last week, new New Conservative leader Elliot Ikilei was hailing the rise of his deputy Victoria O’Brien. But as of this … Read more
The US president is promoting unfounded allegations of voter fraud. Now, New Zealand’s election is being called into question on Twitter. Posts on social media reveal that New Zealand is no more immune to claims of voter fraud than the United States. And while the allegations may not be coming from any of our politicians, … Read more
Analysis suggests the campaign for cannabis reform in NZ will outlive the generation that voted against it, writes Jack Vowles. Reactions to the result of the cannabis referendum were highly polarised. Some argued the majority verdict must be accepted. Others pointed to the narrow margin — 50.7% to 48.4% — as evidence that the issue … Read more
The usual way electoral results maps are presented can be deceiving, over-emphasising large but sparsely populated rural areas and under-emphasising densely populated ones. Here’s another way to make sense of 2020’s election results. This post was updated on 16 November 2020 to reflect the final vote share. In 2017, I debuted the hexamap: a way … Read more
Few people outside of her campaign team gave Chlöe Swarbrick any chance of winning in Auckland Central this year – but the Green Party MP was too busy to listen. Here’s how they turned the electorate green. Three Ticks Chlöe is part of Frame, a series of short documentaries produced by Wrestler for The Spinoff. There … Read more
Soon after the proposed cannabis bill failed to gain majority support at referendum here, several conservative US states voted to legalise cannabis and decriminalise other drugs. So why is our supposedly progressive nation afraid of drug law reform? Americans may have been divided on a preferred president, but they were far more united in their … Read more
New Zealand’s public health infrastructure has swung wildly between comprehensive and chaos over the past century. Preventive and social medicine expert Dr Warwick Brunton says there’s never been a better time to learn from the past and reimagine public health in Aotearoa. Anxieties about significant rundown of public health capacity in the Ministry of Health … Read more
Which side spent more and why? Jihee Junn crunches the numbers and finds a few misleading claims along the way. Ahead of election day, a handful of interest groups took to Facebook and Google to lobby for their respective views on the assisted dying and cannabis referendums. In the end, New Zealanders voted decisively for … Read more
We knew Labour would be the government before the specials came in, but what’s changed in the final result? Alex Braae picks out some fun details. Read more: The special votes are in and it’s bad news for the cannabis referendum, and National 1) Chris Hipkins loses title of the largest electorate majority Education and … Read more
The final results of 2020’s general election have been released, with National losing two seats, the Māori Party gaining a seat and the referendum results not changing. Parliament has turned a little redder with the special votes as Labour has picked up an additional seat and become the first party since 1951 to win over … Read more
It is swearing-in day for the new cabinet. Sarah Austen-Smith, a former press secretary to prime minister Jacinda Ardern, has some advice for anyone looking to win sway with the top table team. Businesses, activists, organisations and public servants spend a huge amount of time (and money) trying to communicate effectively with ministers. In an … Read more
The tenure of Geoff Simmons as leader of The Opportunities Party has come to an end. Alex Braae reports from TOP’s annual general meeting. The first party leader resignation following the 2020 election has taken place, with Geoff Simmons stepping down from the leadership of The Opportunities Party. He made the announcement at the party’s … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for November 3. All the latest New Zealand news, updated throughout the day. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.45pm: The day in sum There were five new cases of Covid-19 in managed isolation, and another case in the Christchurch community linked to the Sudima managed isolation facility. In response to … Read more
Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee Mather and Ben Thomas return, electrolytes replenished after the election marathon, to assess the newly announced Labour cabinet and more. It’s been 17 days since the election, about 24 hours since Labour announced the composition of its new cabinet, and now Gone By Lunchtime is back, fully revitalised, ready to discuss … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for November 2. All the latest New Zealand news, updated throughout the day. Reach me on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 8pm: New Covid-19 case in Christchurch community announced The Ministry of Health has confirmed one new case of Covid-19 in the community. The case is a staff member working in a managed … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for October 31-November 1. All the latest New Zealand news, updated throughout the day. Reach me on aliceneville@thespinoff.co.nz 1.00pm: Two new Covid-19 cases in managed isolation There are two new cases of Covid-19 today, both detected in managed isolation during routine testing, says the Ministry of Health. On arrived … Read more