Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Tough week looms for National, PM congratulates president-elect Joe Biden, and community case acts as another reminder to use the Covid app. Not an awful lot of attention has been paid to them since the election defeat, but National is about to be back in … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Assessing some of the bizarre recent international interventions on NZ’s Covid policy, documents reveal what ministers knew about border staff testing, and Gerry Brownlee under pressure for deputy spot. Apologies in advance, because I don’t normally make a habit of using the Bulletin to magnify … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: New report shows climate change already affecting New Zealand, new crop of managed isolation Covid cases, and National leader and ousted electorate MPs all staying on. As promised, today’s Bulletin will cover the government’s new climate change report, called Our Atmosphere and Climate. It was released … Read more
We know Jacinda Ardern will be the PM, but what else needs to get sorted out in the coming weeks? Alex Braae runs down the questions we’ll get answers to soon, along with a few that you might be wondering about. The voters deliver the mandate, but then it’s up to the politicians to figure … Read more
All around the country, New Zealanders are screaming: ‘Election 2020: Who are the winners, losers, big losers, and gigantic losers?’ Hayden Donnell is here to respond to their cries. The election is over. We probably know the makeup of the next government. We know we won’t see a capital gains tax for the rest of … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to a special election edition of The Bulletin, by Alex Braae for The Spinoff. You’ll probably have heard by now, but the country is waking up this morning to a crushing Labour victory in the 2020 election. Labour has the numbers to govern alone, with a provisional count of 49% of the … Read more
The country’s two main parties are trading shots after a poll was leaked showing Labour ahead in the East Coast. National’s deputy leader called it a push poll only for Labour to release the details of a poll without any sign of push. Labour is hitting back at allegations from the National Party that it … Read more
As Auckland faced the resurgence of coronavirus, misinformation proliferated, and a lot of people encountered it, according to the latest Stickybeak poll for The Spinoff. Plus: What is Facebook’s impact on NZ society? With a third of New Zealand under alert level three lockdown, recent weeks have seen false claims around the source of the … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Timeline for decision on alert levels released, updates on new cases and testing, and a failure of testing at the border has potentially severe consequences. Right now, we don’t know what the situation around alert levels will be at the end of the day. There was … Read more
What the deputy leader of the opposition has been implying lately is more than ‘nonsense’ – it represents a threat to one of New Zealand’s most powerful and undervalued assets, writes Duncan Greive. Things started getting interesting last Friday. National’s deputy leader Gerry Brownlee appeared on RNZ’s Morning Report to discuss the new government mask … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins calls for a delay in the election, an update on community transmission and testing, and businesses fearing the fallout of another lockdown. At this stage, the election is still scheduled to take place on September 19. But with the country’s largest city currently in level … Read more
And is he about to launch a coup against Judith Collins? Just asking questions here. Jacindamania was meek by comparison. Just as Ardern captured a nation from the role of deputy leader of the opposition in 2017, so it is with Gerry Brownlee in 2020. Relentlessly grouchy, Gerrymania is in full flow, as most recently … Read more
At lunchtime yesterday, Jacinda Ardern was easing into full campaign mode on the main street of Whanganui. Just a few hours later, news from Auckland turned her plans, and an election campaign, on their heads. Justin Giovannetti reports from Whanganui and Wellington. Jacinda Ardern’s first day on the campaign trail outside the friendly confines of … Read more
Everyone in politics is talking about rogue polls, after a Newshub Reid Research survey put the National Party on just 25%. Statistician and University of Auckland professor Thomas Lumley explains whether we can see this as one of them. “Even with the most rigorous methodology, one in 20 polls will always be a rogue and … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National dismisses horror poll as a “rogue”, new populist party draws huge crowd in Auckland, and family attempts managed isolation escape to see father’s body. There are two possible explanations for an astonishing political poll that came out last night. Conducted by Reid Research for Newshub, it … Read more
Judith is the youngest of six. Gerry is the oldest of five. Jacinda and Grant? Youngest of two and three, respectively. But where are the misunderstood middle children in our parliament? Linda Burgess investigates. If my younger sister – the cute-as-a-button baby of the family – smoked, which she doesn’t, she’d have inhaled, nostrils tightening, … Read more
Both major parties now want people returning to the country to pay for mandatory managed isolation. Our fellow New Zealanders don’t deserve such cruelty, argues Alex Braae. Sarah has been trying to get home to New Zealand for months now. The eastern European country she is in locked their borders before MFAT started sending out … Read more
People have been writing about what diversity can add to an organisation for literal decades, and yet we find ourselves with two major political party leaders that either can’t or won’t accept some very easy-to-grasp concepts. Gerry and Judith, this is for you. New National Party leader Judith Collins announced on Wednesday that she would … Read more
A party in crisis has chosen a leader with experience and profile. The challenge is daunting, writes Justin Giovannetti from parliament. The National Party has turned in its moment of crisis towards a battle-hardened and pugnacious leader in Judith Collins to guide it towards an election that is only 66 days away. Todd Muller’s unexpected … Read more
With just over two months to go before the election, National suddenly, shockingly finds itself in need of a new leader. Who are the potential candidates? Late leadership changes before an election aren’t unheard of in politics. The current prime minister is living proof of that, taking over from Andrew Little as Labour leader just … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Biggest ever boost to minimum wage announced, Gerry Brownlee was well aware spy firm had been hired in CHCH, and Andrew Little talks about Google meeting. The minimum wage will jump by the largest single increase in history, from April 1 next year. The NZ Herald reports … Read more
When Lianne Dalziel first ran for Christchurch mayor, she said it would be one time only. Then she said she hadn’t finished the job, and would serve a second term. And now she’s announced she wants a third. But has she achieved enough to warrant it, asks James Dann. This week, Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Banks under review escape serious sanctions despite spotlight, allegation of police brutality at Defence Expo, and Speaker slammed for rugby junket. The banks have been under the spotlight after the release of a report from the Financial Markets Authority and Reserve Bank. 11 banks were looked at … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Another political intervention from new Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr, government considers shared equity for first home buyers, and the best coverage of the hikoi at Parliament. Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr says he “gave up” on trying to invest in the Christchurch rebuild, while he … Read more
Another one bites the dust, with Northcote MP Jonathan Coleman deciding to retire from politics. He follows Bill English and Steven Joyce out the door, as the party’s cleanout continues. So, who’s next? The trickle is fast becoming a flood. In the space of about six weeks, the National Party has lost three of their … Read more
The Southern Response spying scandal is just the latest in a string of post-earthquake disasters in the Garden City – and many of them can be traced back to one man, writes James Dann. Almost as soon as the ground stopped shaking on February 22, criticism began about the National government’s handling of the response … Read more
Neale Jones and Jenna Raeburn are partisan lobbyists, doing their clients’ bidding at opposing ends of the political divide. But, as Asher Emanuel explains, they have a surprising amount in common. Three framed Labour Party posters hang in Neale Jones’ new office at the parliament-end of Lambton Quay. Two are items of affectionate nostalgia: anti-nuclear … Read more
James Dann goes to a candidates meeting in a tightly fought seat. And the event’s biggest star, Gerry Brownlee, isn’t even standing there. Meet the candidate sessions are a wonderful opportunity for us to come together for two hours, ask our representatives and potential representatives important and meaningful questions, listen patiently to their responses, then … Read more
It’s just been a very bad start to the week from the government when it comes to statements on transport and housing, weeps Hayden Donnell. National has a long and proud tradition of being wrong about everything when it comes to Auckland. Its ministers have consistently had to be dragged screaming out of the 18th … Read more