The best interview of the election happened today on Morning Report, when Guyon Espiner made Winston Peters look like his race was already run. Duncan Greive recounts the 10 greatest hits. Winston Peters is the most reliably unflappable interview in New Zealand politics. He should get royalties every time someone brazenly answers a completely different … Read more
If bullshit and bluster could make the trains run, Northland would be full of railroads. Still, when politicians gathered in Whangārei on Monday night, they did have some good things to say, writes Simon Wilson, who was up on the stage alongside them. “We need to be doing a lot more large joints in Northland,” … Read more
Branko Marcetic talks to current and past members of Young NZ First about their role in a party usually linked to the old, about rivalries, radicalism and alt-right infiltration. For the longest time, the idea of a New Zealand First youth wing seemed like an oxymoron. “Who qualifies?” went the joke; “Anyone under 50?” How … Read more
A memoir by Dave Armstrong about how he got it into his head to jump in his rusting Japanese car and spend six weeks covering the 1996 election campaign – and then wrote a book about it. During the first part of 1996 I had a job writing comedy sketches for a Wellington television company. … Read more
This week NZ First released their full list of candidates. Sam Brooks took a deep dive into the trenches of the internet to find out who these people are, where they came from, and what they bring to Team Winston. Like many people, I see New Zealand First as synonymous with Winston Peters, much in … Read more
Winston Peters wants to move the cars from the Auckland waterfront to the port near Whangarei in just two years, and the whole container port within ten. Is he nuts? Simon Wilson reports. How do you decide on the future of the ports of the upper North Island? We now have three clear ways to … Read more
Was this the feted mother of all scandals? Is it the bastard son of Dirty Politics? How many of Bill English’s children were on the stage at the National launch? Is Bob your uncle? This and more in NZ’s top genealogy-based election podcast. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee and Ben Thomas take a moment’s pause from … Read more
The Winston Peters superannuation affair has put National’s ‘no surprises’ rules for government ministries and departments in the spotlight. Good, says Ben Thomas: everyone should know just how rotten the policy has become. We can only imagine how the National Party would have reacted if it was Helen Clark’s office. A crisis meeting would be held … Read more
The New Zealand First leader is paid almost $200,000 a year in public money. Shouldn’t he be leading the conscientious objectors rather than claiming superannuation, asks Duncan Greive. This column was written in 2017, before Winston Peters was in government. As deputy prime minister, his salary is now $334, 734. The “mother of all scandals” … Read more
Against a new challenger, Bill English will need to lift his game, while Winston Peters as PM becomes a real proposition, writes former National Party cabinet minister Wayne Mapp. The dramatic elevation of Jacinda Ardern to the leadership of the Labour Party instantly raises the question of whether she is ready to be prime minister in just … Read more
Will the appeal to regional New Zealand and a pitch centred on reviving the economically interventionist state bear fruit for NZ First, asks former National Party cabinet minister Wayne Mapp. Is this going to be the year of Winston Peters, just as it was in 1996? The New Zealand First leader increasingly looks as though … Read more
Noelle McCarthy and John Daniell talk about the challenges – eg Winston Peters – they confronted in creating their new series for RNZ, Slice of Heaven. There are few more vexatious issues than immigration. Particularly in the wake of recent political ruptures around the world. Particularly in an election year. In a new podcast for … Read more
Winston Peters battled Duncan Garner to the death in a live TV interview this week. Spinoff body language expert Hayden Donnell scoured the footage for hidden secrets. It’s been eight long months since the last installment of the New Zealand Herald’s groundbreaking interview series with body language expert Suzanne Masefield. In the series, Masefield revealed … Read more
In a followup to his report as an embedded NZ First member at the party’s conference, Branko Marcetic looks at how the Winston Peters bus is going through the gears and gives his take on the party’s prospects. The New Zealand First Party tends to be more associated in the public mind with mobility scooters and … Read more
The headlines don’t quite capture the core message of Winston Peters’ party, finds Branko Marcetic when he attends their pre-election conference. Midway through the first day of the New Zealand First conference, the 300 or so assembled party members considered a remit put forward by the party’s South Hutt branch. It proposed that the party … Read more
The New Zealand First leader is promising two referendums if his party is in government. One is daft and the other is daft and dangerous, writes Andrew Geddis If we believe Winston Peters’ speech to the New Zealand First party conference – admittedly a pretty risky thing to do, given past precedent – any future Government … Read more
The Greens had their annual conference this weekend: the perfect opportunity to provide the bold leadership and arresting policy they’ve been missing. Simon Wilson was there to find out if they took it. It’s about leadership. Political parties can have the best policies in the world but if we don’t believe their leaders are trustworthy, likeable … Read more
After the best thing about Gone By Lunchtime gets tied up with actual work, three white men finally sit down to talk politics and when and how some of them should be allowed to talk politics. Toby Manhire is joined by Ben Thomas of Exceltium and Guy Williams of televised comedy to discuss the Greens’ attack on … Read more
You’ll never believe it, but the election race is heating up and people are fighting over whether the NZ First leader has made racist statements. Hayden Donnell comes out in Winston’s defence. The hottest debate in New Zealand politics right now is one we could never – not in a million years – have seen … Read more
He was plucked in 2014 from the Labour caucus by National’s Murray McCully and made Pacific ambassador. Now, sporting a “Put New Zealand First Again” cap, the ego has landed in Camp Winston, becoming leader-in-waiting. Toby Manhire asks whether Shane Jones’ reinvention is a brilliant idea or a disaster in the making. The interminable prelude to Phil Goff’s … Read more
Pollwatch: Reid Research survey suggests a fourth National term remains easily the likeliest scenario, though NZ First is climbing, and their likely recruit is planning an announcement – after the rugby. Grim viewing for Labour on Three tonight. The 100-days-to-go Neswshub/Reid Research poll puts the party down 4.2% on 26.4%, within sniffing distance of their dismal 2014 … Read more
We need a new law to plug the big gap in our regulation of health products, argues Mark Hanna Winston Peters has decided that we don’t need an incoming anti-quackery bill. He’s wrong. In a press release earlier this week, Peters called for the poorly named Natural Health Products Bill to be scrapped: “This Bill is regulatory … Read more
Gone By Lunchtime stumbles on a new theme tune to accompany Annabelle Lee, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire’s sleepy reflections on weird court rumbles, Māori places on the Labour Party list, Gerry Brownlee’s clumsy start as foreign minister, and Winston Peters bursting out of the electoral traps. Wait. That’s not it. Try this. To listen either download (right click … Read more
Winston Peters’ contemptible race-baiting rhetoric has hit a new low, but he’s able to go further than usually thanks to the party that gave us ‘Chinese-sounding names’ having already climbed half way, argues Keith Ng. You can try to have a sensible debate about immigration – and you can say it’s not about race – but inevitably, … Read more
Gone By Lunchtime meets The Breakfast Club as leading NZ politics podcasters Annabelle Lee, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire splinter desperately into millennial solidarity. In the historic first ever Spinoff Gone By Lunchtime podcast since the arrival of LifeDirect as sponsor of the politics section, we discuss a range of important topical issues, before eventually … Read more
Winston Peters is up in arms about fake meat products, accusing them of ‘ripping off’ names traditionally associated with the real thing. Instead of quibbling about labelling, why not seize the opportunity presented by non-meat alternatives, writes Kathryn van Beek. Most of us have our own ways of trying to make the world a better … Read more
As Bill English sounds the horn for a September polling day, Toby Manhire take a deep breath and speculates on what to expect in the months to come. Plus: the key dates in the leadup to the election And they’re off. Bill English has announced that the election will fall on September 23, a date … Read more
John Key’s shock resignation has spawned a cottage industry for pundits convinced they alone know the hidden reason for his decision. Hayden Donnell ranks their theories. Even in his final speech, John Key was relatable. At the press conference following his resignation yesterday, he explained to media that he simply had “nothing left in the … Read more
This time next week John Key will be jetting to Hawaii, while a replacement measures the drapes on the Beehive ninth floor. But who are the likely contenders to succeed him? A thumbnail introduction, by Toby Manhire Amy Adams: Selwyn, 45 Pros: Unblemished by scandal, First on the alphabetical roll. New generation, signalling renewal. Cons: … Read more