It has become obvious that the government’s consultation with councils over putting their assets into four regional water entities was a sham. Graham Adams asks how long the Prime Minister can float above the fray when she knew that Nanaia Mahuta’s promise they could opt out was false.   Jacinda Ardern was very happy to …

The Prime Minister is increasingly looking like a political hostage as Nanaia Mahuta presses on with the Three Waters reforms. Graham Adams sees history rhyming as her powerful Maori caucus flexes its muscles.   David Lange is one of the most tragic figures of our modern political history. Highly articulate and entertaining, he was ushered …

Judith Collins may have led the New Zealand National Party to a catastrophic defeat in 2020. But the election result was not of her making. The real turning point for National came twelve weeks before Collins’ elevation to the leadership. In those days the Opposition could still boast of having more MPs than the Labour …

The tragic terrorist attack at an Auckland shopping mall on Friday has led to a lot of debate about how it could have been prevented. It turns out authorities were well aware of Ahamed Aathill Mohamed Samsudeen’s severe mental health problems and his capacity for violent extremism if not dealt with appropriately. Much of the …

Mothers are aggrieved by what some say is a racist policy instituted by New Zealand’s most cherished parenting organisation. Graham Adams argues it is just one example of growing dissatisfaction over preference granted on grounds of ethnicity.   In terms of the nation’s traditional iconography, it’s hard to decide whether Sir Edmund Hillary or Plunket …

A statement issued by the New Zealand Government alleging Chinese state involvement in hacking goes much further than a simple, pro forma endorsement of the views of New Zealand’s allies. Geoffrey Miller explains the significance.   New Zealand joined Western allies on Monday by issuing a statement that called out alleged Chinese state involvement in …

Criticism of the government funding gangs and the media followed hard on the heels of nationwide protests by farmers   It should have been a weekend of media adulation to further burnish the Prime Minister’s international reputation as a consensus-builder. Late on Friday night, Jacinda Ardern hosted a virtual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting attended by …

At the end of another tumultuous week for National, two former senior staffers for Judith Collins have spoken out in savage terms about the state of the party. First Matthew Hooton argued that the party could be in mortal decline: “National has been in intensive care. It’s now moving to the hospice.” And today, former …

Should anyone have trust in politicians, given the manner in which they solicit money from the wealthy? Probably not, since virtually every party in Parliament in recent times has been found to be involved in flaunting the law or accepting dodgy donations from the rich. News reports of questionable donations and fundraising have been building …

Jacinda Ardern can essentially say “kia kaha” as much as she wants to those at the bottom of the housing market, but it won’t help their plight. Eventually her government is going to have to take state housing seriously as a tool for helping solve the housing crisis – especially for low-to-average income earners, who …

The Government has made a litany of mistakes over Covid, and we have been more than willing to forgive Labour these missteps and give them some leeway. Branko Marcetic says that when members of the public also make mistakes, we should be focusing on designing a wider system that insulates the rest of us from …

  According to epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker, the decision to end the second Auckland lockdown after just three days was a ‘calculated risk’. The possibility of undetected community transmission cannot be ruled out. In the United States, modelling by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that the virus is mostly spread by …

The landmark 2020 New Zealand general election is going to be discussed and analysed for many years to come. for an early attempt at making sense of the results, VUW hosted a panel discussion on 4 November for Alumni to watch and participate in. The panel was chaired by Bryce Edwards, and involved Maria Bargh, …

We would like to congratulate Nanaia Mahuta on her promotion to the role of Foreign Minister – an important historic move. We are delighted both to see some stability in the local government portfolio holder and to see it held by someone senior in the cabinet rankings. For once we do not have a new …

How determined are Labour to take the necessary steps to fix inequality and poverty? Will electoral calculations triumph over their principles and stated ambitions? These are some of the questions being asked on the political left, as the Government looks determined to stand by while social problems continue to get worse under their watch. During …

Is the private health system impacting negatively on the public health system? Health commentator Ian Powell evaluates a recent NZ Herald article by Natalie Akoorie (“Public v private healthcare: Moonlighting, skimming, duplication – should NZ do better”), and looks at how the dual system works, and concludes that the answer is a better-resourced public sector. …

Many New Zealanders take a strong interest in US politics, with the death of Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg being the latest example. Liam Hehir wonders if it very wise for New Zealanders to get so worked up about it.   Many politically engaged New Zealanders are now furiously invested in the death of …

Over the last three years there have been growing calls for the government to provide dental services under the health system – universal free dental care. This is because at the moment there’s an anomaly in which teeth are regarded as different from the rest of the body which means all adults need to get …

New Zealand First is facing a difficult struggle to get re-elected, but Josh Van Veen, who was once a researcher for Winston Peters, argues that there is still a very significant section of cultural conservatives who oppose mass immigration and political correctness and might yet be won back over to the party’s warnings about “woke …