Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: What we know so far about the Andrew Falloon scandal, finance minister shuts purse strings on billions in spending, and Cameron Slater before the courts. The National party has lost yet another MP to scandal, with the latest casualty being first term representative for Rangitata … 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
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National announces its plan to charge returnees $3,000 and the government indicates a policy is coming soon, Judith Collins’ first weekend as National leader, and Northland reels from flood damage. The days of free hotel stays for all returning New Zealanders appear to be drawing … Read more
Things with Todd Muller made sense. He was cautious and bland. National would fight the election over who had the best ideas. Jacinda Ardern would avoid getting dirty and debate those ideas. Then Muller left. And a firecracker was lobbed into the campaign. The dawn of a Judith Collins led National Party has upset election … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Collins announces major reshuffle after two leading MPs quit, horror story of migrant worker abuse revealed, and Auckland’s emergency budget passes. So, there was a bit of incorrect information in yesterday’s Bulletin about departures from National. It turns out Amy Adams will also be quitting, meaning … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Dramatic leadership change for National, government rolls out millions more in business support, and several police raids ruled unlawful by IPCA. If you didn’t pay attention to the news yesterday from about 7.15am onwards, there’s a bit to catch up on. The big story is this: … Read more
So-called dirty deals have been roundly denounced over the years. Hayden Donnell argues that they need to be normalised, and even embraced, in September’s election. Just before the 2011 general election, Patrick Gower was confronted with a political act so stomach-churning, it forced him to abandon his trademark reserve. John Key was building up to … Read more
How did the bizarre story of Hamish Walker leaking confidential Covid details to media all play out? Radio NZ’s Jo Moir dissects the latest alarming episode in NZ politics. In an extraordinary move National Party leader Todd Muller has had one of his own MPs, Hamish Walker, lawyer up over his leaking of private details … Read more
One of National’s most prominent MPs has pulled the pin on her career just months before the 2020 election. Alex Braae was there to see Paula Bennett say farewell. In the end, it was a somewhat muted departure for an MP who spent 15 years demanding to be heard. Paula Bennett, former deputy PM, former … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Todd Muller makes pitch for the middle, further BLM protests take place, and two pieces to illustrate the importance of science in public life. The opposition leader gets precious few chances to try and define themselves in the public eye, and Todd Muller has had … 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
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Muller settles into National leadership after brutal coup, government issues concern over Hong Kong, and parties reveal election candidates. National has rolled the dice on changing their leader several months out from an election. Our political editor Justin Giovannetti arrived in Wellington just in time to see it … Read more
The National Party caucus has come to a decision and Simon Bridges is finally no longer leader. So who is this Muller chap it’s got in to replace him? You’d be forgiven for not being able to pick Todd Muller out from a lineup. Much like approximately half of the National Party caucus, its new … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Showdown today for the leadership of National, climate change commissioner lashes budget failings, and Fonterra picks up earnings amid uncertainty. It’s all going down in the National caucus today, and we’ll see later on who will emerge victorious. The party again suffered a very poor polling … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Coup definitely on in the National party, government has had enough of the Epidemic Response Committee, and two worryingly large sets of job losses indicated. The coup attempt is definitely on in the National party, and it’s going to happen fast. The NZ Herald reports a challenge has … 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
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Creative accounting around the ETS explored, Ardern goes to ground on Peters, and ACT criticised for keeping donation from extremist. Often when reporting on technical and thorny pieces of legislation, it helps to have a specialist reporter looking into it. Stuff’s Charlie Mitchell has come out with … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Bridges gives signal of tax cuts, police under pressure over family violence problem, and condemnation rains down over Peters scandal. Expect plenty of news today about National’s economic manifesto to take into the next election. From Simon Bridges’ appearance on Q+A yesterday (welcome back to that show) it … Read more
The decision to rule out working with NZ First was a demonstration of more than just cold hard electoral calculus from Simon Bridges, writes former National party activist and commentator Liam Hehir. As we all know, Simon Bridges has vowed not to work with Winston Peters after the 2020 election. This means that New Zealanders … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Business groups welcome big infrastructure spend, four charged by SFO in relation to election donations, and Pacific countries act against coronavirus. So, the massive infrastructure package has been announced. Here’s the top lines of the announcement in the form of a cheat sheet, and Stuff has a breakdown of … Read more
It’s a huge call for the National leader: should he rule out working with NZ First after the 2020 election? Alex Braae speculates on the options. Updated February 2: Simon Bridges has made the call, ruling out working with not just Winston Peters, but NZ First as a party. He says he doesn’t trust them, or … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National closes year with policy blitz, fund announced for small businesses affected by tourism disasters, and a record worker exploitation fine handed down. Perhaps it’s meant to be a counterpoint to the government’s year of delivery. The National party promised eight policy discussion documents this year, and … Read more
The National Party leader sits down with Alex Braae to talk political rhetoric, misinformation, and whether he’ll have any dance partners after next year’s election. How cynical is Simon Bridges? It’s a question that has dogged National’s leader over the past year. Being an opposition leader is, of course, a difficult job at the best … Read more
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: National promises heavy crackdown on gangs, combined announcement puts ECE pressure on govt, and Samoa measles outbreak gets worse. National have set clear daylight between themselves and the government in their latest policy discussion document. The law and order policies are aimed at creating an overall … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Grappling with the aftermath of the Grace Millane murder trial, prisoner voting restoration proves controversial, and red meat prices way up. News broke on Friday afternoon that the man charged with murdering Grace Millane had been found guilty. He is now awaiting sentencing, and continues to … Read more
Why do we keep falling for politicians who promise that the latest crackdown on crime will work? Former National MP and justice reform advocate Chester Borrows weighs in. Removing the right of prisoners to vote is back on the agenda. The High Court found that the removal of the right of a prisoner, whose sentence … Read more
In this charged essay, Spinoff columnist Morgan Godfery takes stock of Treaty of Waitangi interpretations that pay lip service to values without honouring the core tenets of power. Illustration by Toby Morris. This feature is made possible thanks to the Spinoff Members Fund. We need your help to make journalism that matters. For more information, click here. … Read more
Our former prime minister secured a meeting with Chinese premier Xi Jinping outside all normal diplomatic channels. Interest’s Jenée Tibshraeny asks what it means for New Zealand’s evolving relationship with the superpower. This story was originally published on interest.co.nz and is reproduced with permission. Former prime minister John Key secured a meeting with Chinese President … Read more
Simon Bridges is considering a policy that would fine parents of high school dropouts who don’t go into further education or training. Here’s a few successful New Zealanders who would have been asked to cough up. National has released the first taste of the social policy they’re toying with taking to the next election, and … Read more