Items of interest and importance today LOBBYING BY KRIS FAAFOI Thomas Cranmer: Political lobbying in New Zealand David Farrar: From Cabinet straight to lobbying Giles Dexter and Russell Palmer (RNZ): Faafoi rejects criticism over new lobbying boss role No Right Turn: Close this revolving door POLITICAL DONATIONS HIGH COURT TRIAL Tim Murphy (Newsroom): The dragon …

The “No Confidence” vote in local body elections could be as high as 60 per cent by the end of this week. That’s essentially what it is when only 40 per cent of the public choose to vote, which is what is happening at the moment. In fact, voter turnout is trending lower, meaning New …

Items of interest and importance today LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS Josh Van Veen (Democracy Project): Efeso vs. Wayne: A different kind of mayor? Mike Yardley (Stuff): Who will lead Christchurch into the future? Phillip Mills (Herald): A healthy city runs on hope, not hostility (paywalled) 1News: New Zealand’s youngest local councillors inspiring change David Williams (Newsroom): …

Voter turnout in local body elections is traditionally low and now, more than halfway through this year’s election period, this trend looks likely to continue. Turnout has been below 50 percent since 2004 and in 2019 was 42 percent – around half the turnout for national elections. Voter turnout is inconsistent across the country with …

The 2022 local elections have failed to excite Aucklanders. Early voting returns suggest turnout won’t be much different to 2019, when only 35.3% of eligible voters cast a ballot. But the contest for mayor is a fascinating case study in political leadership and the role of ideology. For the first time since 2010, the election …

The Opportunities Party (TOP) is putting other political parties to shame with its bold and innovative policies. Yesterday TOP announced their latest tax, housing, and income policies, and they were the sort of bold and transformative innovations that supporters of parties like Labour and the Greens have been desperately wanting to see from their own …

Controversial Māori politician and president of Te Pāti Māori, John Tamihere, is in hot water over large financial donations relating to his 2019 Auckland Mayoral campaign and Te Pāti Māori’s 2020 election campaign. For him and his supporters, the allegations are “inherently racist”. For others, they illustrate that there are a lot of vested interests …

Public service bosses earn mega-salaries, yet oversee bureaucracies that frequently undermine transparency and frustrate public and media scrutiny. The obvious answer is to start docking the pay of chief executives for the failures of their agencies. This is the upshot of an investigation by the Chief Ombudsman’s Office into the performance of government departments in …

When the Intelligence and Security Act was passed in 2017, it required that every five to seven years, that the Intelligence Agencies and the Act itself be reviewed. Following from the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain, the review was moved up. The Royal Commission made a …

The New Zealand Herald has released the results of its annual “Mood of the Boardroom” survey today. Should we care what businesses think of politics, the economy and society? There’s a good argument that we should be more concerned with the “Mood of the Foodbank” or “Mood of the workers”. Nonetheless, it’s always interesting to …

What will it take for this Labour Government to start paying attention to the worsening state of economic inequality in New Zealand? The evidence is mounting that, under Labour’s watch, the problem of wealth and income inequality is spiralling. But the signs are that Labour ministers have put this crisis into the “too hard basket”. …

Pressure is increasing on the Auditor General to undertake an inquiry into numerous contracts, appointments and grants awarded to members of Cabinet Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s family by various government departments she has had official responsibility for. Allegations and revelations are mounting up, meaning this issue can no longer be ignored. As economist and political commentator …

It’s hard to have confidence in the National Party’s supposed exoneration of MP Sam Uffindell over allegations of ethical violations as an adult. The party’s processes have been far too opaque, which means there will always be a cloud over the integrity and character of their new MP for Tauranga. And, perhaps even worse for …

Wellingtonians are desperately unhappy with the politicians running their city, and a new poll out yesterday shows they’re not very impressed with their mayoral options either. The Wellington City Council’s own annual Residents Monitoring Survey shows plummeting levels of confidence in the politicians and the state of the city. When asked about satisfaction with council …

Labour’s poll results are trending down. Yesterday’s Curia poll put the party down two points to just 33 per cent, while National is up three points to 37 per cent. When it comes to next year’s election, a key constituency for Labour will be Māori voters, especially in the Māori seats which are facing a …

From this week the public can provide input into the Government’s review of electoral laws – a process which is supposed to make elections cleaner and fairer. Hopefully, public submissions and pressure applied to both the electoral review experts and the Government will force the consideration and implementation of progressive reforms. The Independent Electoral Review …

The death of Queen Elizabeth and the ascension to the throne of King Charles has reignited the debate on whether New Zealand should become a republic. But despite strong arguments in favour of shifting to a republic, such a move is unlikely to occur anytime soon. What will stop the republican movement from gaining ground …

Items of interest and importance today COVID Luke Malpass (Stuff): PM Ardern’s last Covid live update draws a curtain down on a miserable couple of years Claire Trevett (Herald): PM bids a relieved farewell to Covid-19 rules (paywalled) Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Government seeking advice on ‘what form’ any Covid-19 inquiry should take, Jacinda Ardern says …

MONARCHY Kevin Norquay (Stuff): Parting ways with the monarchy ‘an eventuality that will happen’ now Queen has gone Richard Harman: This could be the last time (paywalled) Liz Gordon (Insight Aotearoa): A proud and independent nation, Aotearoa Calida Stuart-Menteath and Hamish McNicol (NBR): Does King Charles represent New Zealand? (paywalled) Christine Kearney (Guardian): Jacinda Ardern …

QUEEN ELIZABETH HAS DIED Isaac Davison (Herald): Queen Elizabeth is dead – what does it mean for New Zealand? Charlotte Graham-McLay (Guardian): New Zealand in period of mourning as Jacinda Ardern pays tribute to ‘extraordinary’ Queen Stuff: Queen Elizabeth II dies: Commonwealth leaders debated abolishing role of head Katie Pickles (The Conversation): From evolving colony …