Political editor Justin Giovannatti reports from Te Papa, where the prime minister today addressed Labour’s 2020 Congress. Jacinda Ardern looked to slap a Labour sticker on the team of five million with the launch today of the party’s Covid-19 recovery plan, at an event which serves as the unofficial kickoff to the election campaign. In … Read more
Sacked cabinet minister Clare Curran speaks for the first time about the brutal end to her political career – and what she calls the toxicity and bullying that marked her years in parliament. By Donna Chisholm. Of all the humiliations – often self-inflicted – that Clare Curran endured during her 12-year parliamentary career, the one … Read more
With Covid-19 raging overseas but quiet at home, the view at the Beehive is that it was time for a health minister less prone to gaffes, reports Justin Giovannetti. New Zealand’s coronavirus response has been lauded around the world and yet, in the midst of a worsening global pandemic, the country’s health minister has resigned … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Battle over whether opening the borders is tenable, Christchurch mosque shooter interview concerns, and Paula Bennett leaves politics. The first thing to note about the opening of the borders is that it is unlikely to happen any time soon. The PM declared yesterday afternoon that the prospect was … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: New poll sets tone for election campaign, new testing criteria for Covid-19 outlined, and weirdness occurs around prisoner voting bill. We’re now three months out from the election, and the latest poll has returned to something approaching a balanced state of play. The One News Colmar Brunton survey … Read more
A new survey by Stickybeak for The Spinoff shows the popular assessment of the government response to the Covid-19 crisis at its lowest level yet. A week that saw the government on the back foot in its Covid-19 response, with the prime minister acknowledging failures in the self-isolation and quarantining system and calling in the … Read more
Seven days ago New Zealand was basking in a Covid-free glow. But over the week, holes sprung in the managed isolation system, with a scramble to assert authority seeing the military called into an oversight role. Spinoff political editor Justin Giovannetti recounts an extraordinary few days in NZ’s Covid-19 response story. A sense of victory … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Repeated blunders shake faith in quarantine system, report finds ministry was unprepared on PPE, and trade negotiations with Britain begin. New measures will be taken around the border quarantine system after a series of idiotic failings. Our live blog has the details, including the news that the health … Read more
Fifth survey by Stickybeak for The Spinoff shows support for the government response solid as we enter level one – and the highest number yet give top marks. Popular support for the response to the coronavirus crisis is undimmed as New Zealand enters its second week of a mostly restriction-free alert level one, a new … Read more
Over lockdown, the daily Covid-19 update became appointment viewing. As the country returns to normality, Fiona Rae looks back on how the 1pm briefing became a nationwide ritual. It was a low-budget show that screened every day at lunchtime. There were only two starring roles and about the same number of camera angles. The scripts … Read more
The Bay of Plenty is synonymous with kiwifruit. With a large contingent of new workers moving in this season from Covid-displaced industries, Josie Adams asked what life is like for those who’ve been there for years. Under a very heavy tree in Tom French’s orchard waits a very heavy hedgehog. About a metre above the … Read more
It’s a return to (nearly) normal as New Zealand moves to alert level one and the country is declared free of known cases of Covid-19. Justin Giovannetti reports from parliament as the decision was made. New Zealand will end nearly all Covid-19 restrictions at midnight while maintaining strict controls at the border, making it one … Read more
This afternoon, on the same day New Zealand recorded zero active cases for the first time since the pandemic began, the prime minister announced the country would move to alert level one at midnight, signalling the end of all domestic Covid-19 restrictions. This is the speech she gave. Today is day 26 of alert level … Read more
An exclusive interview with Steve McSteverson about his traumatic and tragic ordeal this week. Many New Zealanders are struggling with the news that a children’s book not commissioned or authorised by Jacinda Ardern was advertised in a newsletter for children’s books. This horrific attack on New Zealanders whose ears are permanently fused to Magic Talk … Read more
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo (Penguin Classics, $24) Winner of the 2019 Booker Prize. The other day, Evaristo tweeted: … Read more
The biggest danger facing New Zealand under level one will be the border. Justin Giovannetti looks at what the government is doing to increase border defences and prevent another influx of Covid-19. As the elimination of coronavirus appears imminent in New Zealand, the country’s attention turns to its border and the conflicting need to keep … Read more
The country’s coronavirus restrictions might be coming to an end sooner than you think. Justin Giovannetti looks at what level one rules mean for you. Crowded stadiums and restaurants filled to capacity could be reality in New Zealand as soon as next Wednesday as the government eyes an early move to eliminating nearly all remaining … Read more
For all The Spinoff’s latest coverage of Covid-19 see here. Read Siouxsie Wiles’s work here. New Zealand is currently in alert level two – read The Spinoff’s giant explainer about what that means here. For official government advice, see here. The Spinoff’s coverage of the Covid-19 outbreak is made possible thanks to donations from Spinoff Members. To support this work, … Read more
Debt has been a bad word in Wellington for decades. All of a sudden the government is planning to spend billions of dollars we don’t have because of Covid-19. Justin Giovannetti on the new appetite for debt, and how it compares with the rest of the world. New Zealand is about to embark on a … Read more
What’s the best way to get adults reading? Get them reading when they’re children – and there’s no better place to start than the Unity Children’s Bestseller Chart. AUCKLAND 1 The Noisy Book by Soledad Bravi (Gecko Press, $25, 0-2) An unusually long board book. What this means is it’ll take your toddler an entire … Read more
The prime minister yesterday announced a package including $25m to ‘provide artists whose projects are funded by Creative NZ with jobs.’ An even more substantial investment in the creative arts will help drive our post-Covid recovery, argues Paul Millar. When Covid-19 forced the postponement of the popular international literary festival WORD Christchurch, director Rachael King … Read more
National has a new leader and it could upend parts of the political map that previously looked much more stable. So how could things change as a result? Under Simon Bridges, National needed to get exceptionally lucky to win the next election. While the party’s polling at the start of the year was strong enough … Read more
The prime minister often invokes the former Labour leader and prime minister, Norman Kirk. Margaret Hayward, former parliamentary secretary to Kirk and author of Diary of The Kirk Years, compares their careers and their qualities. On 8 April, I sent my first email to Prime Minister Ardern with the heading, “Norman Kirk couldn’t do it, … Read more
The prime minister discusses the crunch decisions as the coronavirus threat spread, what comes next, and the ‘transformational’ idea, with Spinoff political editor Justin Giovannetti. Jacinda Ardern was watching coronavirus in China with growing concern in January as developments were still largely limited to foreign news reports. The scale of the virus and its speed … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Dramatic swing to Labour in latest poll, funding package to incentivise ECE teachers to get qualified, and diplomatic ground shifts at World Health Organisation. The first public poll that takes in the period of lockdown has been released, and it has some dramatic top line … Read more
At under 5% in the preferred PM stakes, the National leader’s response to the Covid crisis is going to the talk of his caucus, writes Toby Manhire. The maxim goes that there is no harder job in politics than leader of the opposition, but that could use a refinement. There is no harder job in … Read more
Following a meeting of the full cabinet, Jacinda Ardern has announced New Zealand will begin a phased move from alert level three to level two on Thursday. Bubbles can be broken, but there is one major condition. Read Ardern’s speech in full here. New Zealand will move to alert level two in phased stages, Jacinda … Read more
Jacinda Ardern, Ashley Bloomfield and thousands of anonymous comms workers just accomplished what we all would have thought impossible just weeks ago. Duncan Greive looks back at the historic lockdown, and how it was achieved. It came in the early evening of Wednesday March 25 – an angry, violent buzzing, all around the nation. The … Read more
Jacinda Ardern will announce today if and when we go down the ladder to alert level two. If anything, the decision is even pricklier this time. Just as it did 19 days ago, cabinet meets today to decide whether, and when, to loosen the shackles. So encouraging are recent days’ Covid-19 new case numbers that … Read more