There’s nothing quite like the drama of a good ministerial sacking. So who in this government will be the first to be shown the door, or walk through it all on their own? Alex Braae assesses the candidates. Ministers come and ministers go, but the first of a new government is always a major occasion. … Read more
Good morning, happy Friday, and welcome to The Bulletin. The Defence Minister is defending the use of Air Force for travel, the Police get pinged for checkpoint targeting activists, and the latest on the diplomatic saga over the spy attacked with a nerve agent. Defence minister Ron Mark has been accused of abusing the Air Force … Read more
Good morning and welcome to the Bulletin. In today’s edition: Britain calls on New Zealand’s support after alleged Russian attack, there’s been another sexual assault allegation at a Labour Party function, and Dr Lance O’Sullivan could be about to join TOP. Britain is calling on New Zealand to join diplomatic action against Russia, after British PM Theresa … Read more
If the Green Party leadership continues to undermine its hard-won integrity in supporting the Winston Peters driven law around disillusioned MPs, they could lose a number of their more thoughtful members and supporters, argues former Green MP Sue Bradford Last week the Electoral (Integrity) Bill passed its first reading in parliament with the support of … Read more
The fiery rhetoric of campaigns gone by has been replaced by a more pro-China stance in a recent speech. Despite expectations in some quarters that Winston Peters might take a harder line on China during his tenure as the new NZ Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, he firmly put that idea to bed last … Read more
The Labour PM has her work cut out for her with a pair of senior cabinet ministers hardly given to toeing the line, writes Toby Manhire. Jacinda Ardern spent her Monday morning hosing down the glowing embers across the lawn. No big deal there, particularly: fire-fighting is part and parcel of the breakfast-interview round with … Read more
As a journalist at a student magazine, Joel MacManus wrote a straightforward report on a media appearance by Winston Peters. In return, Peters called him a moron and questioned whether he deserved to be in university. Winston Peters is a man with many grudges. His desire for vengeance against those who wronged him is one … Read more
Unlicensed course materials and substandard teaching at a private tertiary institution connected to New Zealand’s education royalty have left students indebted and fuming. Don Rowe investigates. Take a look up any side street in any main city in New Zealand and you’ll find one: the ‘International College of This’, the ‘New Zealand National Academy of … Read more
New Zealand has been living a lie. The Washington Post today revealed that Jacinda Ardern’s Labour-led government is in fact a facade for the “far right agenda” of Winston Peters. Duncan Greive details the shocking revelations – and the legislative programme of this terrifying coalition. “A shadow is poisoning Middle-earth,” the Washington Post tells us. … Read more
It’s one thing for Winston Peters to snarl and threaten the press as an opposition MP, but taking legal action to force media to reveal their sources as deputy PM is quite another, writes Toby Manhire. Towards the end of the morning, a serious man in a polo shirt appeared at Spinoff headquarters, sweating a … Read more
New Zealand’s top broadcaster has been on a journey since Winston Peters went left. Madeleine Chapman charts the Hosk’s passage through Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief. The takes have been coming in hot since Winston Peters rose ceremony’d the entire country and chose to marry Labour (and adopt their large adult son called the Greens). But … 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: The stars of Election 2017 react to new PM Jacinda Ardern – in rhyme. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
Arise Prime Minister Ardern, arise Deputy PM Peters (tbc). Our hastily convened panel weigh in on what tonight’s announcement means. Duncan Greive: Hope battling with dread I’m writing this in my phone in the way to an R&B fest in Melbourne, having spent an agonising hour with my phone speaker pressed to my ear 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 Julie Anne Genter looks forward to Winston Peters’ big announcement. Click here for all our Kiwis of Snapchat videos
It might feel like we’re waiting forever, says Simon Wilson, but MMP is operating effectively right now. What exactly is the problem? We had an election that did not deliver an obvious majority government, so coalition talks have been required. They were delayed because there was a very high number of special votes and it … Read more
Just a collection of concluding sentences in recent political commentary. The last week or two have been an ordeal for people tasked with covering party politics. As New Zealand First’s negotiating team has shuttled between the National and Labour suitors, lips have remained uncommonly sealed, and there hasn’t been an awful lot to, well, say. … Read more
Wayne Mapp was there at the first MMP coalition negotiations in 1996, and watched from both government and opposition as subsequent deals were assembled. The former National cabinet minister writes about those years, and what the key dynamics will be in the coming days. In business and politics relationships are built on trust, just as … Read more
Pollwatch: what happens if you factor in NZ First voters’ preferences, asks Toby Manhire. To predict the thinking process of Winston Peters is clearly to skate on thin ice. But what does the most recent polling information tell us about the direction his voters might want to go? With the special votes in, the New … 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
If the Beehive were a US college, Winston Peters would be the It Girl with multiple suitors. Madeleine Chapman presents a guided tour through Peters’ relationship options as the Hot Girl on Campus. While New Zealand twiddles its collective thumbs and stares longingly at Beehive windows, Winston Peters is meeting with teams from Labour and … Read more
As the parties commence talks to form a coalition government, former NZ First MP Deborah Morris-Travers looks back at the 1996 coalition talks and the lessons today’s players can learn from NZ’s first MMP coalition agreement. The long 1996 coalition talks are remembered today mainly for the political theatre created by NZ First leader … Read more
As a nation awaits NZ First leader Winston Peters’ decision on which major party to support in government, we asked a gang of political experts and insiders for their predictions. Steve Braunias Which way do you think Winston will leap on October 12 or thereabouts? National. Why? Partly because he merely has contempt for ACT … Read more
Are Winston Peters and the big party negotiators going to do a smart deal on the future of the Auckland port, or will they succumb to reckless nonsense? Simon Wilson explains the biggest issue for Auckland in the talks to form a government. When a ship leaves the harbour, port is left (geddit). Except if … Read more
To find out which side Winston might swing toward, Branko Marcetic takes a hard look at what he did before – specifically the campaign and aftermath of the 1996 election. For the third time now in his career, Winston Peters is going to decide which party will govern New Zealand for the next three years. … Read more
Election Night 2017: Duncan Greive scrolls down the electorates in play – including some big name potential casualties. So far tonight I have drunk three low alcohol beers and clicked ‘refresh’ on the electorate status page of the election results website approx 1000 times. It’s a very, very bad way to consume the election, please … Read more
Every week Chartlander travels back through time, landing in a different year on the official New Zealand singles chart in the hopes of (re)discovering forgotten Top 40 gold. Today we continue our tour of classic general elections at the start of Winston Peters’ career in parliament. The date is May 24 1979, and today, six … Read more
In 1996, NZ First went into coalition with Winston Peters’ old party. In 2005 it propped up a Labour government. Branko Marcetic looks back at those examples and how they fared. Only a few months ago, with Labour in polling doldrums and an apparent mood of anti-establishment change in the air, New Zealand First seemed … Read more
Calum Henderson watches Face the Classroom, TVNZ’s two-night special that forced our politicians to confront their harshest critics yet – the children of NZ. Move over Mike Hosking, Paddy Gower, Lisa Owen – it turns out the best political interviewers of this election campaign might just be a classroom of 8-12 year old kids from Ellerslie … Read more
Farmers rallied against Labour and the Greens in Jacinda Ardern’s hometown Morrinsville yesterday. Simon Wilson went along to see what they had to say for themselves. The farmers stood around like cows outside the milking shed, pressed together, mostly all facing the same way, and the journalists moved among them like jackals, notebooks open, mics … Read more