The Labour Party used to advocate for a properly-funded, multi-platform public broadcaster. There was real merit in the proposal to set this up when Labour campaigned for it in 2017. After all, New Zealand lacks a public broadcaster along the lines of the BBC or the ABC. And the idea of merging RNZ and TVNZ …
The pressure on Jacinda Ardern to sack Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta is building. But Mahuta is too powerful within the Labour Party to get rid of easily. The Three Waters reforms have become one of the Labour Government’s greatest liabilities. While there is widespread consensus on the need for significant reform of water infrastructure, …
Items of interest and importance today THREE WATERS Thomas Manch (Stuff): Make no mistake, Labour knew it was passing controversial Three Waters entrenchment clause Thomas Cranmer: A government humiliated Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Three Waters entrenchment: Jacinda Ardern, Nanaia Mahuta at odds, David Parker says he was always opposed David Farrar: The irony is that Labour …
Items of interest and importance today 1NEWS KANTAR POLL, PARLIAMENT 1News: Poll: National and ACT strengthen, Luxon closes gap on Ardern 1News: Poll: Economic pessimism soars to 10-year high Toby Manhire (Spinoff): This new poll delivers one clear message – and a clutch of other clues Claire Trevett (Herald): The trifecta of troubles buffeting Labour in …
New Zealand is becoming a less socially cohesive country. And the driver of this division is worsening inequality. That’s the view of most New Zealanders according to a survey conducted for the New Zealand Herald. It shows that inequalities of wealth and housing access are tearing the country apart. The survey of 1000 people run …
The taxpayer is short of billions of dollars that were overpaid to businesses during Covid according to Christchurch philanthropists Grant and Marilyn Nelson. They are taking legal action against state agencies to push them to recoup up to $7bn that was wrongly paid out to wealthy employers who didn’t need it or use it for …
Do New Zealand state spies unlawfully surveil the government’s political critics? Do they spy on critical journalists? Unfortunately, the answer is yes. And yesterday the government domestic security agency was forced to apologise for one instance when they were caught spying on investigative journalist Nicky Hager. The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (SIS) has paid …
Items of interest and importance today THREE WATERS Jane Patterson (RNZ): Three Waters anti-privatisation blunder adds to storm of controversy Jo Moir (Newsroom): The chaos behind the Greens’ controversial Three Waters amendment Emile Donovan (RNZ): The problem with entrenching party policy Thomas Cranmer: Mahuta ditches ‘no surprises’ policy Anne Salmond (Newsroom): Fresh water is beyond …
Items of interest and importance today POLITICAL FINANCE, PARLIAMENT, VOTING AGE Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Big money donors get access to PMs and party leaders – report Anna Whyte (Stuff): Political donations: Identity over $1,500 should be disclosed, new report recommends Brent Edwards (NBR): Research reveals influence bought through political donations Jem Traylen (BusinessDesk): Reform political donations …
When governments become tired and lose their popularity – usually in their third term – they often become desperate to get their way and prone to misusing their power. This is currently in evidence with the Labour Government’s push to lock in elements of their Three Waters reform programme by sneaking in a rule that …
Catching up on constitutional developments while I’ve been deep in the marking cave. And this one is a doozy — and perhaps concerning? An SOP entrenching a point of policy (ownership/control of water assets) was agreed, ie 60% majority needed to repeal.https://t.co/GRRXrmr6ZW pic.twitter.com/sm4MCOD85w — ᴅʀ ᴅᴇᴀɴ ᴋɴɪɢʜᴛ (@drdeanknight) November 25, 2022 Yesterday, @drdeanknight …
The Labour Government is currently fighting on multiple fronts that threaten its popularity in the run-up to next year’s election. Therefore, when a call had to be made about whether to push through divisive and poorly-designed hate speech laws, there really was no decision for Justice Minister Kiri Allan to make – the reforms had …
Wayne Brown has been Mayor for a month, and already he has done more to change Auckland than Phil Goff did in six years. The changes began even before Brown was sworn in. Only hours after the election results were announced on 8 October, the Chair of Auckland Transport Adrienne Young-Cooper resigned. It set in …
Will the looming economic recession kill off Labour’s re-election chances? Is the Reserve Bank making things worse? And could a National Government do any better? These are some of the big political questions floating around after the full extent of the economy’s plight was made clear by the Reserve Bank yesterday. Authorities are now clearly …
New Zealand media have recently discussed two major representational milestones in politics. Firstly, New Zealand Parliament achieving 50% women’s representation with the induction of Labour list MP Soraya Peke-Mason. Secondly, Rishi Sunak becoming the UK’s first non-White Prime Minister. Major media outlets have been celebrating these events as watershed moments in history. Indeed, these are …
Items of interest and importance today VOTING AGE Henry Cooke (Guardian): New Zealand’s supreme court has forced voting age on to agenda, exposing absurd arguments for status quo Henry Cooke: The only reasonable argument for retaining the voting age Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Local election voting age looks set to change after poll of MPs reveals …
Sixteen-year-olds aren’t about to get the right to vote anytime soon. Despite yesterday’s Supreme Court declaration that a voting age of 18 violates the Bill of Rights, there are still many barriers to get over before the voting age could be lowered. In fact, as a best-case scenario, youth voting campaigners are now setting their …
As the FIFA World Cup gets underway in Qatar, it is worth looking at the state of New Zealand’s wider relationship with the host nation. While New Zealand often likes to think of itself as a small country, it comfortably outranks Qatar in both size and population. In terms of area, Qatar is just over …
The intelligence of the New Zealand population increased during the 20th century. Nutrition played its part but so too did education. Young people were taught the abstract knowledge of academic subjects and in the process developed secondary intelligence. Since the 1990s, the emptying out of prescribed academic knowledge from the national curriculum is likely to …
As Government politicians put the boot into National’s bootcamp announcement yesterday, Christopher Luxon would have been celebrating. His populist announcement wasn’t only designed to scratch an electoral itch, but to cynically trap his opponents into looking soft on crime. And it probably worked. Soon after announcing his policy for bootcamps and electronic bracelets for youth, …
Items of interest and importance today FOREIGN AFFAIRS Claire Trevett (Herald): Russia, China, a Trump comeback – PM Jacinda Ardern will face a big plate of troubles at Apec (paywalled) Thomas Manch (Stuff): Risky business: NZ seeks greater trade with Vietnam as China dependency causes concern Thomas Manch (Stuff): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to meet China’s …