Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Storming economic figures defy gloomy predictions, govt considering volunteer rural cops, and Auckland to spread around Drury and Pukekohe. It was wholly, entirely unexpected. In fact, some are saying not a single economist predicted it. But data from Stats NZ out yesterday has showed something remarkable … Read more
This month sees a landmark moment in the economic approach of the Ardern government, with the first ‘wellbeing Budget’ unveiled. How is it different, and what can we expect? Maria Slade sits down with the finance minister, Grant Robertson Grant Robertson isn’t Peter Jackson and the Treasury can’t do Weta-Workshop-level special effects, but the finance … Read more
School projects weren’t complete without a meticulously selected WordArt title. Madeleine Chapman looks back at the fonts that shaped many children’s lives. Once upon a time the most important decision in life was choosing a font. Every school project needed the perfect font. Not for the body of text; Arial shmarial, who cares. No, every … Read more
As the Labour-led government approaches its first birthday, Max Rashbrooke attempts to divine whether there is a coherent ideological direction In a speech delivered in January this year, Jacinda Ardern promised to explain the “why” that motivates her government. This sounded exciting: a chance to understand her core reasons for entering politics and the basis … Read more
With a career that has taken her from Whakatāne to Otago, to the hallowed halls of Harvard, to the front line of Standing Rock, lawyer Natalie Coates has fought for Māori and indigenous rights wherever she’s been needed. She has appeared in the Supreme Court for the Urewera ‘anti-terror’ raids case, and volunteered in ‘war-like’ … Read more
‘I could fucking nail you up against the wall,’ says NZ novelist at Northcote appearance in support of candidate Shanan Halbert Novelist and outspoken commentator Alan Duff has unleashed a tirade at a Spinoff camera operator following an event on Wednesday evening at which he was the feature guest in support of Labour’s candidate in … Read more
UMR survey shows National largely resistant to the Labour surge, though Jacinda Ardern’s party has made inroads among centre voters, writes Stephen Mills Between June 2017 and February 2018 Jacinda Ardern has made Labour the dominant force on the left and much more competitive among centrist voters. National, however, has remained largely resistant to the … Read more
Whenever the media covers a high profile case of sexual assault or sexual harassment, there’s a chorus saying the survivor should have gone to the police or their parents. The latest example: the sexual assault allegations in relation to last month’s Labour Party youth camp. Writing anonymously, a survivor explains why such comments are so … Read more
New developments have emerged surrounding sexual assaults that took place at a Labour Party youth camp, how it happened in the first place, and how the party subsequently dealt with the allegations. Scroll to end for a timeline. Yesterday, when Newsroom broke the story about sexual harassment and assault taking place at a Labour Party … Read more
This year we had the most extraordinary election. Simon Wilson looks at where to now for the new government and the new opposition. Earlier this year Spinoff writer Simon Wilson scored an unusual double in the Canon Media Awards: he won the politics and business category awards for both long-form feature writing and opinion writing. … Read more
Jacinda Ardern has made an impressive start, leading a government of continuity. And for National, how serious is talk of a new conservative party springing up, asks former cabinet minister Wayne Mapp. Two months in shows a government, and in particular a prime minister starting to become more comfortable about the reality of governing. Without … Read more
The arrival of a new government offers the chance to reset the often heated immigration debate. So where should we start? Immigration policy expert David Hall has some ideas. There are few better ways to fuck up a society than to stoke the coals on immigration. It is easy to do, but hard to retract … Read more
Jacinda Ardern and Winston Peters yesterday signed an agreement establishing a governing coalition. In the service of democracy and brevity, we’ve chiseled it, roughly, to its core. Read the agreement proper here. Read the digested Labour-Green deal here. Winston Peters and Jacinda Ardern. Photo: Labour Party It’s a coalition but not a bloody merger, get … Read more
The confidence and supply deal that Jacinda Ardern and James Shaw signed yesterday comes in at seven pages, or an appositely sized PDF of 4.20 MB (not kidding). Read the agreement proper here. And read the digested Labour-NZ First coalition deal here. Boiled down, this is pretty much how it goes: The MOU was actually … Read more
As we await the puffs of white smoke from the Beehive, Simon Wilson offers the compelling arguments that National is unfit for office – and those that suggest they could still be a better option. Why National is unfit for office, reason #1: They lied to us It went like this. Policy analyst: Guys guys. … Read more
Labour has the policies and it’s closer now to having the numbers – but close enough? What will Winston do, and what will National do? The addition of two more seat to the centre-left bloc of Labour and the Greens – at the expense of National – definitely changes the dynamic of the talks to … Read more
In our video series Kiwis of Snapchat, comedian Tom Sainsbury sources exclusive Snapchat footage of Kiwi citizens and luminaries making the news. Today: Bill English and Jacinda Ardern ruminate on their campaigns so far.
Pollwatch: Labour continues to thrive and the Memorandum of Understanding lurches back into life, if the numbers in tonight’s Colmar Brunton poll are a guide, writes Toby Manhire The helter-skelter experience of watching the New Zealand election 2017 continues, with the just revealed Colmar Brunton survey for 1News, showing Labour holding its lead over National. … Read more
Frustration within the Greens over perceived disregard for their Memorandum of Understanding partner is increasingly coming to the surface. Will it aid or enfeeble the smaller party, wonders Toby Manhire. At the Back Benches debate in Auckland last month, a Green Party supporter held aloft a sign that declared, on a green background “Campaigning against … Read more
Let’s address that ‘Chinese-sounding’ panda in the room, writes Ally McCrow-Young. I woke up today to eagerly download my voting papers; it’s finally time to cast my overseas vote, which, as a nerd who teaches political engagement, I always find to be both fun and a real privilege. But this year I have to say … Read more
TV3 has a new poll out tonight. Simon Wilson unpicks what it will mean for the different parties if that poll reinforces the trend to Labour revealed in TVNZ’s poll three days ago. Warning: this story contains some outrageously unprovable assumptions. Here’s an interesting proposition about the election outcome, based largely on one big assumption: … Read more
Jacinda Ardern met a cute dog today and also faced up to questions about the environment. She did not say what some people might expect. The Green Party announced a plan today to help some farmers move out of dairying and assist others to operate more sustainably. The Greens’ plan would be funded by a … Read more
The SpinoffLab™ puts the Labour Party’s ad starring Jacinda Ardern through its captioning machine. View the first National Party ad, explained, here; the National Party teal-runners ad, explained, here; the first Labour Party ad, explained, here; and the first Green Party ad, explained, here. The leadership switcheroo meant plenty of things for the Labour Party, and among them … Read more
Political scandals are popping up everywhere but what the people really want is cold, hard stats. So Madeleine Chapman went along to the Labour and National campaign launches and crunched only the most important numbers. Campaign launches. How important are they in an election? This is a genuine question because, until recently, I’d never been to … Read more
Labour leader Jacinda Ardern visited Māngere and Ōtara on Saturday. Simon Wilson went along to see how big the wind is really blowing. What a storm in a shopping centre. Labour MP Aupito William Sio, who’s the big man in Māngere politics, introduced Jacinda Ardern in the Māngere Town Centre on Saturday morning. He said they’d had the Jacinda … Read more
Right now the polls suggest Labour and National are sharing about 80% of the vote. If they draw level at 40% each, who will get into parliament and who will get thrown out? And what about the Greens? We’re not saying they’re going to get 40% each. But that does seem to be the number … Read more
The Town Hall campaign launch underlined the startling turnaround for the party under Jacinda Ardern, and the palpable power of momentum, writes Toby Manhire. The understatement of the day came from Jacinda Ardern herself. “I can only say that when we booked the Town Hall for this event we did not expect this,” she said, … Read more
It was a dank but not very stormy night. The school hall was filled with people, and home baking. And some politicians. Simon Wilson was also there. There are things you can say in Titirangi that you wouldn’t dream of in some other parts of the city. Deborah Russell, Labour candidate for New Lynn, which … Read more
Lost in last week’s debate about light rail to the airport was another proposal: a Northwest Light Rail line. Harriet Gale from Greater Auckland explains. Just over a week ago Jacinda Ardern announced Labour’s new Auckland transport policy. All the talk was about light rail to the airport, but there were many other components, and … Read more