Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins showed their true colours in the first leaders’ debate, and they were pretty pale. Last night I settled in on the couch with a beer and takeaways, and watched an engaging, rambunctious and focused political debate. It was entertaining but also challenging and informative, and covered the critical issues facing … Read more
Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee Mather and Ben Thomas discuss last night’s raucous, robust and entertaining debate… and also the one between Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins. Election debate season is finally upon us, and the Gone By Lunchtime trio are here to talk Tuesday night’s two big debates. The Hui’s livestreamed Waiariki candidate debate between … Read more
Uncertainty is an unavoidable part of healthcare at the edges of life, writes Colin Gavaghan of Yes for Compassion. Read more perspectives on the assisted dying referendum here. You’ve probably seen the adverts. Parents are taking their offspring to buy their first car. But the salespeople, instead of bigging up their products, are emphasising all … Read more
Who came out on top in tonight’s leaders’ debate? Here are our debate watchers’ verdicts. Toby Manhire: Everyone is knackered Given that most of the country, most of the Covid-battered world, is basically just knackered, is it any surprise that tonight’s opening debate felt a bit knackered, too? Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins walked down … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 22, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz Recap: Ardern and … Read more
The first leader debate begins at 7pm on TVNZ 1. Ready your pencils. Judith Collins, Jacinda Ardern and John Campbell all want you to have a good time during tonight’s first leader debate for election 2020. And so do we. That’s why we (well, Toby Morris mostly) have conjured up a bingo card. If you’re … Read more
On Thursday night the arts, culture and heritage spokespeople from Labour, National and the Greens will have a conversation on arts policy, facilitated by Miriama Kamo. We’ve got all their policies here, so you know who stands for what. Earlier this year, Ben Thomas wrote for The Spinoff about why politicians find it hard to … Read more
The National Party leader tells Duncan Greive what conviction means to her, and why she thinks she gets treated differently to Jacinda Ardern. The first time I saw Judith Collins at close quarters, she was moving through what was inelegantly billed as the “National stakeholder party” held at parliament last year. It was a fun … Read more
Too much news? Welcome to the only round-up you need. The election was supposed to be over by now. We were all supposed to be free but instead we’re back talking about fiscal holes and house prices. Bit of housekeeping: there’ll be no more yes, no, huh? in this column as politics isn’t binary. Unlike … Read more
John Campbell hosts Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins on a crunch evening in the campaign. Here are 11 things Toby Manhire reckons you might see. Tonight at 7pm the 2020 election campaign will – with a bit of luck – spring into life. A triangle of Js will take the stage at TVNZ’s central Auckland … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 21, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7pm: The day … Read more
This week sees the first televised leaders debate between Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins. What are the techniques and tricks Jacinda and Judith will need to win the nation’s love? José Barbosa has watched a podium-load of old debates and thinks he has the answers. By golly gum I love TV election debates. There’s a … Read more
The lockdowns have required significant sacrifice, but Covid-19 has served us with a timely reminder of how interconnected we all are, writes Chris Farrelly of the Auckland City Mission. Amid this global pandemic, we witness the power and importance of community. Put simply, we have seen that our own efforts are futile without the efforts … Read more
Let’s put tax at the core of this election. Sharing wealth is how we share care and responsibility for this land and all of the people in it, writes Laura O’Connell Rapira. It’s election season in the middle of a pandemic and global economic crisis. These are strange times we find ourselves in, and looking … Read more
Judith Collins’ hopes of kicking the National 2020 campaign into gear were stalled by an embarrassing accounting error, writes Justin Giovannetti from the Hutt Valley. Today was the day the National Party’s election campaign was finally going to start rolling with momentum after a belated campaign launch. Instead, festivities were overshadowed by a Labour press … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 20, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. 6.00pm: The day in sum There … Read more
It’s one of the most high-profile, and marginal, electorates in the country, and is jam-packed with hospitality and retail businesses. So which Auckland Central haunts do the three front-runners like to frequent? This story was originally published by Ensemble What do your favourite things say about you? Where you buy your regular coffee? Where you … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 19, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on aliceneville@thespinoff.co.nz 6.30pm: The day … Read more
Labour says this will be the Covid election. National says it’s about the economy. There’s something big being missed in the middle, writes Justin Giovannetti. It was the week the economy took centre stage. The scene was set in the pre-election fiscal update, which on Wednesday offered a sobering snapshot of what’s happening under the … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 18, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 4.00pm: NZ First … Read more
They might agree on a lot, but the minor party scene is being roiled by conflict around the emergence of Advance NZ. And as Alex Braae reports, the Outdoors Party has suffered many casualties. With the election rapidly approaching, the Outdoors Party has been hit by a wave of candidate defections. But it’s not just … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 17, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7pm: The day … Read more
Te reo Māori is a taonga and the government of this country is compelled under the Treaty of Waitangi to protect it. So how do the campaign policies of our political parties stack up? In 1985, the Waitangi Tribunal report on the Wai 11 te reo claim found that article two of the Treaty of … Read more
Campaign groups are trying to get issues around the welfare system, housing and poverty onto the election agenda. Alex Braae was in Wellington to see a deeply frustrating debate play out. Many election forums give politicians plenty of room to speak about whatever they want. But at a forum on inequality, the onus was reversed, … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 16, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.30pm: Update on … Read more
The tweak to the top tax rate was hardly a surprise given NZ voters’ continuing acceptance of a distortionary system that leaves capital gains largely exempt, writes Geof Nightingale. Labour tax policy, announced last week, was pretty brief: a new 39% marginal tax rate on income over $180,000 to raise $550m of new tax revenue. … Read more
Despite the cartoonish ‘Crusher’ label, the National leader has always been a policy wonk. Right now, she’s doing her best to present a palatable idea of a government in waiting, writes Ben Thomas. It may be hard to fathom but, approximately 17,000 months into 2020, National has not yet officially launched its election campaign. After … Read more
Welcome to The Spinoff’s Election Live for September 15, bringing you the latest on election 2020 and other NZ news. The essential campaign dates are here. For all you need to know about the cannabis referendum click here. For the assisted dying referendum click here. Explore the parties’ pledges at Policy. I’m on stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.00pm: The day … Read more
Annabelle Lee Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire debate the renaming of the nation as the campaign races to the middle. Ben Thomas never attends a party without a whakataukī in his pocket, and he does not disappoint in this week’s edition of Gone By Lunchtime. Along with Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire, Ben sprinkles … Read more