Since her shock resignation announcement, Jacinda Ardern has been at pains to point out that she isn’t leaving because of the toxicity directed at her on social media and elsewhere, rebutting journalists who suggested misogyny and hate may have driven her from office. Yet there have been dozens of columns and articles, both domestically and …

RĀTANA, CO-GOVERNANCE, THREE WATERS Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): After Ratana Thomas Manch (Stuff): Could Three Waters be on the chopping block? Here’s what Prime Minister Chris Hipkins could do Ted Greensmith-West (Stuff): Co-governance is less controversial than Christopher Luxon makes out John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Luxon’s done Rātana. Is Rātana done with him? Brent Edwards …

Items of interest and importance today RĀTANA AND CO-GOVERNANCE Luke Malpass (Stuff): Rātana mission complete for Christopher Luxon, but outshone by Chris Hipkins Felix Desmarais (1News): Analysis: Co-governance casts shadow over PM’s exit at Rātana Thomas Cranmer: Luxon talks co-governance at Rātana Pā Tova O’Brien (Today FM): All political parties have failed NZ on co-governance …

Items of interest and importance today GOVERNMENT, PARLIAMENT Simon Wilson (Herald): Chippy vs the donors de Luxe (paywalled) Rachel Smalley (Today FM): The power of vulnerability – Can Chris Hipkins heal our country? Henry Cooke: Nine thoughts on Prime Minister Chippy Branko Marcetic (Jacobin): Jacinda Ardern’s Leadership Was a Cautionary Tale of Liberal Inaction Henry Cooke …

The days of the Labour Government being associated with middle class social liberalism look to be numbered. Soon-to-be Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni are heralding a major shift in emphasis away from the constituencies and ideologies of liberal Grey Lynn and Wellington Central towards the working class politics of West …

Get ready for a major political reset once Chris Hipkins is sworn in as Prime Minister this week. Labour’s new leader is likely to push the Government to the right economically, and do his best to jettison the damaging perceptions that Labour has become “too woke” on social issues. Overall, Hipkins’ goal will be to …

By the end of 2019, Jacinda Ardern was a political superstar heading towards an election defeat. She was an icon, internationally beloved, on track to be an ex-prime minister before the age of forty. It was the year of the Christchurch terror attack when Ardern’s response to the atrocity saw her celebrated around the world. …

Should New Zealand have a snap election? That’s one of the questions arising out of the chaos of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s shock resignation. There’s an increased realisation that everything has changed, and the old plans and assumptions for election year have suddenly evaporated. So, although Ardern has named an election date of 14 October …

Items of interest and importance today PARLIAMENT Thomas Coughlan (Herald): National reshuffle awaits, Labour and Nat MPs descend on Napier for awkward week (paywalled) Felix Desmarais (1News): Analysis: The three Government announcements pundits expect next week Will Trafford (Whakaata Māori): No guarantee Māori-stacked cabinet will continue – Ardern Stuff: Wealthy donors set National and ACT up …

Christopher Luxon’s National Party are the odds-on favourites to win the general election this year. They have been consistently ahead of Labour in the polls in recent months, and have a firm coalition partner in Act, which is often polling about 10 per cent. Betting agencies can’t take bets on politics in New Zealand, but …

Items of interest and importance today PARLIAMENT Gordon Campbell. On National’s fraught journey back to the centre Duncan Garner (TodayFM): Could National lose it from here? Simon Wilson (Herald): The 2023 election is a choice between the best Government yet, and the worst (paywalled) Peter Bale (North & South): Home, and Away Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Efeso Collins among list …

Items of interest and importance today HEALTH, COVID Rachel Thomas (Stuff): Move to police financial interests in healthcare desperately needed, radiologists say Rachel Maher (Herald): 90-year-old left bleeding on bathroom floor with head injury for two hours while waiting for ambulance Selah Hart (Herald): Empowering communities to effectively combat alcohol harm Richard Prebble: Red tape …

Items of interest and importance today PARLIAMENT Henry Cooke: Who are Labour’s lost voters? Anna Whyte (Stuff): Green Party lay down priorities for 2023 – ‘more influence over the next government’ Anna Whyte (Stuff): Summer off politics: James Shaw wants to make it past chapter one Glenn McConnel (Stuff): Summer off politics: ACT’s Karen Chhour’s …

Items of interest and importance today PARLIAMENT Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Te Pāti Māori plans for a big 2023, but happy to stay cross bench Toby Manhire (Spinoff): In which we earnestly predict the date of the 2023 New Zealand general election Anna Whyte (Stuff): Summer off politics: Marama Davidson heads to Hokianga and the ‘Hawaii …

One of the most popular moves Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ever made was the pay freeze her government imposed on politicians back in 2018. The freeze may have only been grudgingly agreed to by other MPs and parties, but it had universal public support. The pay freeze is due to end this year, and new …

Items of interest and importance today PARLIAMENT Claire Trevett and Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Predictions: The NZ Herald politics team predicts the next year in politics (paywalled) Thomas Manch (Stuff): Party to shore up its position for the 2023 election Sasha Borissenko (Herald): ‘Now that’s what I call legislation vol. 1′ (paywalled) Rachel Sadler (Newshub): How Jacinda …

The Green Party has a habit of sabotaging their election-year campaigns, risking electoral oblivion. Could the same thing happen in 2023? The last two election campaigns were particularly painful for the party. In 2017 then co-leader Metiria Turei had her story about her past as a welfare beneficiary unravel during the campaign, raising questions about …

Pundits have been making their political forecasts for the year ahead. Here are some of their predictions about what we can expect in 2023. The Big issues of 2023: Economy and ethnicity There’s a consensus that the political year, and especially the election campaign, will centre around the economy, with inflation, the cost-of-living crisis, and …

Political commentators and journalists have nominated their politicians of the year, and it’s telling that the three main nominees are all from the political right: Christopher Luxon, Nicola Willis, and David Seymour. The brickbats, in contrast, are almost universally for Labour Government Ministers – especially Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, deputy Grant Robertson, Nanaia Mahuta, Willie …

Items of interest and importance today PARLIAMENT, YEAR IN REVIEW Henry Cooke: 23 predictions for 2023 Morgan Godfery (Stuff): Top-performing minister, but you wouldn’t know it Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): The way the NZ Political Left must reframe the 2023 Election Russell Palmer (RNZ): A dozen quirky soon-to-be laws flying under the radar in 2022 RNZ: …

Items of interest and importance today PARLIAMENT, POLITICS, 2022 IN REVIEW Damien Grant (Stuff): Even contrarians deserve a happy Christmas Jane Clifton (Listener/Herald): The political farces of 2022 (paywalled) Richard Prebble (Herald): Shuffling the deck chairs but ministers responsible for worst problems likely to stay put (paywalled) Phil Pennington (RNZ): What Amazon wanted from New Zealand’s prime …