National was firmly and rightly opposed to such an anti-democratic piece of legislation. But Jami-Lee Ross’s volte-face on quitting parliament means they’re more than entitled to invoke it to throw him out of parliament, writes Liam Hehir Jami-Lee Ross has reneged on his stated to intention to resign from parliament and run as an independent … Read more
In an astonishing interview on Newstalk ZB, Jami-Lee Ross has taken the principled stance of not resigning to fight a by-election he has no chance of winning. Will Simon Bridges now look to the waka jumping law? Throughout this week, rogue National MP Jami-Lee Ross has shown himself accomplished at the marathon press conference. Tonight, … Read more
If there’s one takeaway from the donations controversy that sparked the National Party Meltdown, it’s that we ought to start taking such influence campaigns seriously, writes Branko Marcetic To read the Chinese Embassy response, scroll to end. It’s a story about intraparty conflict and political ambition. It’s a story about potential electoral finance lawbreaking. It’s … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Ross saga flies off in half a dozen different directions, Wellington bus drivers vote on indefinite length strike, and a tragedy for DOC. It’s not really clear what you’d call this story any more, because it’s now about half a dozen different stories. That follows another wild … Read more
Allegations raised today by four women about the conduct of rogue MP Jami-Lee Ross, and the response to complaints, send a bleak message to women in Aotearoa, writes Morgan Tait. Remember that time a senior political figure was the subject of a long and sustained pattern of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse of women … Read more
The mother of Maureen Pugh, the National MP whom Simon Bridges called ‘fucking useless’, has rounded on the party leader, calling him a ‘dumb arse’ in return. Good on her, says Emily Writes: all power to mummy warriors, of all ages. I was at Chipmunks – sometimes it feels like I live there – when … Read more
Jami-Lee Ross’s ever-changing story about the $100,000 donation originating from businessman Zhang Yikun makes it hard to assess precisely what Police would be investigating. Either way, we’re all the poorer for the way it’s played out, writes writes law professor Andrew Geddis When Jami-Lee Ross re-enacted the Joker’s “everything burns” scene from The Dark Knight … Read more
The brain-melting mind warp of the week in politics has just got even more sordid, with four women speaking to Newsroom on the conduct of rogue MP Jami-Lee Ross. Just how damaged is everyone involved now? There were whispers, there were rumours. On Tuesday, Jami-Lee Ross took them head on, saying he had been falsely … Read more
The casual ethnic calculations of National leader Simon Bridges and the rebel MP Jami-Lee Ross are just the latest example of the marginalisation of Kiwi Asian voices in our politics, writes Sudhvir Singh One of the many spectacular revelations from the National Party saga this week is the shameful and tokenistic way Jami-Lee Ross and … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Secretly recorded tape raises huge questions for National, Austrian company gets oil exploration extension, and govt won’t close ‘back door’ for Nauru refugees. The question was asked yesterday – what fresh horrors await National? Well, we got our answer, with the release of a taped phone conversation … Read more
Whatever the truth of the rebel MP’s claims about Simon Bridges, it shines a light on electoral finance laws that are not fit for purpose, argues Leroy Beckett For the past 48 hours our political headlines have been drenched in scandal. A high ranking member of parliament admitted to electoral finance fraud, and claims it … Read more
Jami Lee-Ross’s secret recording may not contain a smoking gun on party donations, but the comments about ethnicity and his own MPs leave National’s leader on shaky ground, writes RNZ’s political editor Go here to read or listen to the recording released by rebel MP Jami-Lee Ross Don’t worry about the allegations about electoral fraud, … Read more
In a post on Facebook Jami-Lee Ross has published audio which he says “confirms Simon Bridges and I discussing a $100k donation on 25 June. Simon Bridges says I’m lying – this is part of the evidence I gave to police today.” Jami-Lee Ross: Good thanks, buddy, how are you? Simon Bridges: Good, buddy, good. What’ve … Read more
Editor’s note: this post was removed pending an update to take in new information from Jami-Lee Ross’s latest press conference. New version is here.
Every great political moment births a thousand not-so-great political memes. Madeleine Chapman gets the ball rolling on the Ross-Bridges saga Politics is happening! Jami-Lee Ross began his Tuesday as the National MP for Botany and Simon Bridges’ “numbers man”. He ended the day having called Bridges a “corrupt politician”, guilty of criminal activity, and not … Read more
The developments at parliament yesterday are almost without precedent, as renegade National MP Jami-Lee Ross threw astonishing accusations at his party leader Simon Bridges. In this post drawn from this morning’s Bulletin, the Spinoff’s daily email newsletter, Alex Braae takes on the crucial what-next questions. What did Ross allege? The Botany MP claimed that Simon … Read more
To have a hope of surviving the fallout from Jami-Lee Ross’s extraordinary attacks, a lot of things have to go right for the National leader – and they have to go right at the right time, writes RNZ’s Guyon Espiner For Simon Bridges, emerging unscathed from the Jami-Lee Ross saga is the political equivalent of … Read more
The ballistic exchanges at parliament as Jami-Lee Ross took on Simon Bridges left even veteran Press Gallery journalists astonished, writes RNZ political editor Jane Patterson Even the most long serving of Press Gallery reporters say they’ve seen nothing like the extraordinary political events that exploded at parliament yesterday. You’d have to go to back to … Read more
Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire assess an extraordinary 24 hours in NZ politics, as the leak saga culminates in Jami-Lee Ross quitting parliament, accusing the National leader of corruption on the way out. Guest starring Sam Brooks with a critique of Ross’s incredible dramatic monologue. A relatively unspectacular expenses leak has transmogrified into the biggest … Read more
So remember how there was a bit of a battle going on between National leader Simon Bridges and Botany MP Jami-Lee Ross? It has just stepped up about 16 million notches. Jami-Lee Ross has gone absolutely all-in against the National party leadership of Simon Bridges, in a way that has no obvious precedent in New … Read more
Even a unanimous vote by the National caucus to give the rebel MP the boot may not be enough to save the leader, writes Toby Manhire As he isn’t shy to remind us, Winston Peters rightly predicted Brexit and rightly predicted President Trump. He probably predicted the kayak octoslap and Lotto history being made by … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Brutal day looms for National amid Jami-Lee Ross saga, serious allegations made by Nicky Hager against NZDF, and damning indictment of MSD culture. The National Party has found itself plunged into a crisis over MP Jami-Lee Ross. He was named in a report as the most likely … Read more
The party’s best hope of returning to power is to stay high in the polls while knocking NZ First under the threshold. Bridges is under huge pressure today after the Jami-Lee Ross saga, but his MPs would be foolish to start apeing Labour’s approach to leaders in opposition, writes Liam Hehir The question of Simon … Read more
Political leaders and their advisers know that the kind of disunity evidenced by the Jami-Lee Ross attacks is uniquely toxic with the public, writes Danyl Mclauchlan It was such a reasonable assumption. When someone leaked Simon Bridges’ travel expenses the National leader did what politicians always do when assigning blame: he asked himself the timeless … Read more
In a dramatic turn of events, the National Party expenses leak has suddenly turned about a thousand times more toxic. What the hell is going on? In a series of four tweets, National MP Jami-Lee Ross has detonated a bomb under the leadership of Simon Bridges. Just a few minutes before the National leader began … Read more
To have a leadership challenge, you need a challenger. And there’s no evidence whatsoever that is happening in the National Party right now, writes editor of The Bulletin Alex Braae. It dominated political conversations last week, and has stretched into the news this morning. Is Simon Bridges losing his grip on the leadership of the … Read more
Is Simon Bridges working out as National leader? Probably not, says Danyl Mclauchlan, but where is the alternative to catch the caucus eye? “I’m at the ‘intriguing stranger’ stage of the breakup,” a friend once said to me, while contemplating the terminal phase of an unsatisfactory relationship, explaining, “I have no immediate plans to end … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Anger rises along with petrol prices, abortion rights group claims law discriminates against women, and fury at govt’s encouragement of water bottling company. There’s a significant amount of anger out there at high petrol prices, as shown by the planned buying boycott for October 26. A facebook event around … Read more
We won’t stop fearlessly holding the government to account, but on this we decided that together we could put forward legislation that would improve the lives of children, writes opposition leader Simon Bridges There’s a fine balance to strike when you’re in opposition. Your number one job is to hold the government to account. It’s difficult … Read more