The advent of Jacindamania has prompted hopeful comparisons between Ardern and other photogenic, likeable liberal leaders, including Canada’s Justin Trudeau and France’s Emmanuel Macron. If that turns out to be true, the NZ left is going to be sorely disappointed, argues Branko Marcetic. It’s a good time to be the centre-left. The seemingly dreary Andrew … Read more
What will National do if the wheels start to come off its campaign? How will Jacindamania cope with Labour policies that are not progressive? And what about those head-to-head leader debates? Simon Wilson looks at potential turmoil to come. 1. Jacinda Ardern will have to explain Labour’s immigration policy Did everyone forget Labour’s record on immigration? … Read more
Has the Labour Party finally found the leader it’s been longing for? Simon Wilson thinks the answer just might be yes. I wanted to like Andrew Little. I thought most of the policies he presided over were pretty good. I admired that he united a fractious caucus and never faltered in his desire to take … Read more
Following Andrew Little’s resignation, Jacinda Ardern has been unanimously elected as Labour leader, with Kelvin Davis as her deputy. Here’s a quick survey of the pros and cons. At her first press conference as leader of the Labour Party, Jacinda Ardern has promised to run “the campaign of our lives”. She and new deputy Kelvin … Read more
Jacinda Ardern? Kelvin Davis? Why stop there? Simon Wilson plays fantasy politics and surveys a world of people who could lead the Labour Party. Labour desperately needs a leader to excite our passions and lead the people to the promised land. So who’s the best person to do that? Not sure if they’ve got anyone … Read more
Andrew Little poured petrol all over himself yesterday and now he’s standing there with the lighter in his hands, screaming at us, ‘Is this what you want?’ If he burns, though, who will replace him? Well, maybe he’s not screaming it at all of us, but when he said he and his senior team had … Read more
The centre-left bloc just went up in the polls, but the conversation is all about the viability of Andrew Little as Labour leader – and it’s a conversation he started, writes Toby Manhire Andrew Little’s decision to tell New Zealand he has been contemplating resigning the Labour leadership has proved a success by one metric … Read more
Andrew Little just talks naturally to New Zealand in the party’s first ad ahead of the election. Toby Manhire dives deep and scrawls captions on top of their captions. The National Party had its “Let’s Get Together” jingle, which we deconstructed using science yesterday. Today it’s Labour turn, with their “Fresh Approach” debut video ad. First, the video as … Read more
If they want to move the dial and mobilise young people, Labour and the Greens could jettison the budget rules they signed up to, writes former National Party cabinet minister Wayne Mapp, in the first of his new series of columns for The Spinoff. The election is now just over two months way. It comes … Read more
Loaded to the eyeballs on performance enhancing mint chocolate, the Gone By Lunchtime beat combo pick over the remains of a momentous week in New Zealand politics. As the election build-up lurches through the gears, Toby Manhire is joined by Annabelle Lee, executive producer of The Hui, and Ben Thomas of Exceltium to discuss the scandal that led … Read more
In her third candidate diary for the Spinoff, Kiri Allan writes about the emotional rollercoaster after chucking in the day job, growing a layer of skin to deal with the scrutiny, a gathering of women who get shit done, and rugby as a metaphor. The boxes were full of random papers I’d accrued over the past few … Read more
It demands a Herculean effort to shift the spotlight from a scandal engulfing a government MP, but New Zealand Labour’s shonky intern scheme might just have done it, writes Toby Manhire. Campaign for Change is a pithier title, but the universe has today revealed that the full name of Matt McCarten’s initiative to deliver a Corbyn-esque youth … Read more
In a little over three months, New Zealand goes to the polls. Recent months have seen shock and volatility in elections around the world. Will we see something similar? Here we assess the contenders’ status as the clock counts down to September 23. A big day for lovers of democracy and arbitrary round numbers: there are one hundred sunsets … Read more
Wait, Jeremy Corbyn could actually become the prime minister? How might the Labour Party in New Zealand copy its British counterpart and lessen the electoral despair, asks Hayden Donnell in a dispatch from somewhere or other in the UK Read more: Grant Robertson, Judith Collins, Jacinda Ardern, Metiria Turei, Jim Anderton and more on what … Read more
Labour candidate Rohan Lord announced yesterday that he was withdrawing from the East Coast Bays race, blaming his low placing on the party list and the barrier to progress which is being a white middle-class man. So much for party loyalty, writes Ben Thomas. Rohan has pulled out of East Coast Bays. That’s bad news … Read more
Oh the drama! The suspense! The daggers at each other’s throats! While Labour Party stalwarts mop up the blood after last night’s ’emergency discussions’ to review the importance of Willie Jackson, Simon Wilson takes a scalpel to the outcome. So Willie wasn’t going to die wondering, was he? Didn’t think 21st on the Labour list … Read more
Danyl Mclauchlan agrees with most of the ideas in an acclaimed and bestselling new book by Max Harris about New Zealand politics, yet the What Must Be Done tome leaves him feeling even gloomier about the immediate prospects for the progressive left. Max Harris’s book The New Zealand Project is an urgent attempt to confront the … Read more
Andrew Little may have largely succeeded in uniting his party caucus since becoming Labour leader in late 2014, but he’ll need to find an extra gear or two to have a serious chance of becoming prime minister after September 23. In the third of The Spinoff’s election year interviews with party leaders, Simon Wilson talks to Little, … Read more
For the second of RNZ’s ‘9th Floor’ series of interviews with ex-PMs, Guyon Espiner talks to Mike Moore about his short spell in the top job, getting rolled by Helen Clark, and his hopes and fears for Labour today – including some advice on the party’s leadership rules. Moore also rejects the idea that Roger Douglas’s … Read more
In her debut candidate diary for the Spinoff, Labour hopeful Kiri Allan explains why she decided to return to the East Coast and stand for parliament, and the devastating impact of flooding on Edgecumbe and the region. Ko Mauao te maunga Ko Tauranga te moana Ko Ngāti Ranginui, ko Ngāi Te Rangi ko Tūwharetoa ngā iwi Ko Kiri … Read more
A week-long case starring the leader of the opposition has come to an end with a mixed bag of a verdict from the jury. Observing from the Wellington High Court, Asher Emanuel was left wondering why it was happening at all This afternoon just before 5pm 12 jurors – three women and nine men – … Read more
From the Māori-Mana deal to the Labour no-list gambit, short-sighted strategies risk excluding Māori voters from the conversation about Māori aspirations, writes Graham Cameron The popular analogy for the Māori seats in the last year has been Game of Thrones. However, outside the number of kingdoms and the genuine dislike people seem to have for … Read more
Māori need more than just loud voices and ‘colourful characters’ – we need thought leaders, writes Haimona Gray Imagine you are the child of two famous political dynasties. Now imagine one of these families has been responsible for reducing cigarette smoking in your community at a world leading rate. Imagine someone from this same family … Read more
After the Mt Albert byelection and with Labour stuck in polling doldrums, the case for Jacinda Ardern’s elevation to the deputy leadership had become irresistible. But what happens when she overtakes Little in the preferred leader polling, wonders Toby Manhire The politics gods’ simmering fury with the New Zealand Labour Party was evidenced again on … Read more
The National leader’s mana-enhancing approach was as impressive as the Labour leader’s ‘not kaupapa’ outburst was depressing, says Carrie Stoddart-Smith. Bewitched by a glass (or two) of smooth red merlot, intoxicated by the ambience of festoon lights nestled among the grapevines in the Hawkes Bay, I sputtered out to the universe (via Twitter) that I … Read more
The run up to the Mt Albert by-election might seem quiet but the results are likely to have a huge impact on the NZ political year. Meanwhile, over in Maungakiekie, Green wunderkind Chlöe Swarbrick has been demoted to humble foot soldier. Strange days in Auckland politics, writes Simon Wilson. Did you know there’s a candidate … Read more
Labour leader Andrew Little this morning chastised the Māori Party for its deal with Hone Harawira’s Mana Party, and dismissed the Māori Party as ‘not kaupapa Māori’. We invited co-leader Marama Fox to respond and defend the Mana-Māori deal. Here is a transcript of her handwritten response (see below). In my heart I believe that … Read more
Watch an abridged version of The War for Mt Albert By-election Candidates Debate and read why the candidates think you should vote for them. Last night at Satya Chai Lounge, the most whispered-about bar in Sandringham, The Spinoff held a debate between the three leading candidates in the Mt Albert by-election – Jacinda Ardern of … Read more
Political internet memes played a controversial role in the US election and now they’re taking hold here, just in time for the election campaign. Carys Goodwin reports on the rise of meme warfare in New Zealand. The NZ election campaign is under way, and Andrew Little is bae, according to this: We’ll return to the … Read more