Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor in the country. By contrast, …

Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. As part of a new …

Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the government – works in the …

The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will cut “red and green tape”, …

Two-thirds of the country think that “New Zealand’s economy is rigged to advantage the rich and powerful”. They also believe that “New Zealand needs a strong leader to take the country back from the rich and powerful”. These are just two of a handful of stunning new survey results released today that indicates the high …

New Zealand is said to be suffering from ‘serious populist discontent’. An IPSOS MORI survey has reported that we have an increasing preference for strong leaders, think that the economy is rigged toward the rich and powerful, and political elites are ignoring ‘hard-working people’.  The data is from February this year.  There is no earlier …

Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the actions and inactions of governments, …

The media is in crisis, as New Zealand audiences flee from traditional sources of news and information. The latest survey results on the public’s attitude to the media shows plummeting trust. And New Zealand now leads the world in terms of those who want to “avoid the news”. But who or what is to blame …

Did vested interests prevent New Zealand from establishing a world-leading environmental marine reserve? There are strong signs that in killing off the proposal for a Kermadec Islands Marine Sanctuary, Shane Jones has been doing the bidding of several industries and groups that he’s closely connected with. As Oceans and Fisheries Minister, Jones announced that the …

Increasingly the New Zealand Parliament is becoming a place for the affluent. New research out today on the socioeconomic and occupational backgrounds of those in the current Parliament shows that MPs are becoming more and more homogenous. Despite diversifying demographics in terms of gender, ethnicity, sexuality and so forth, our central democratic institution is narrowing …

Although there’s now more farmers than teachers in the in the 54th Parliament, office work, politics and humanities education are the dominant backgrounds of MPs. Research released today by Blackland, a PR consultancy, finds that the six most popular careers for MPs are (in descending order) managers, elected representatives, analysts, lawyers, business owners and farmers …

New Zealand’s biggest-ever political donations scandal is finally at an end. But what is the conclusion? No one can really be sure. The Court of Appeal released its judgement on Tuesday about the Serious Fraud Office case against the NZ First Foundation. On the face of it, the court found in favour of the NZ …

“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s wife “in a relaxed setting …

For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus of the first political scandal …

Golraz Ghahraman’s resignation as a Green MP was the inevitable outcome after more than a week of speculation following several allegations of shoplifting. However, her resignation has left many unanswered questions about how the Green Party handled this first political scandal of 2024. Yesterday following Ghahraman’s resignation, Green Party co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson, …

Regardless of the outcome of the investigation into alleged shoplifting by Green MP Golriz Ghahraman, it seems likely the damage is already done. It is going to be hard for Ghahraman and the Green Party to recover quickly from this political scandal, the first for 2024. Unfortunately for both the party and Ghahraman, the timing …

With the new conservative government well into its first 100 days, there’s been rising anguish from liberals about what all this means. As they come to terms with the various repeals and reforms, political commentator Liam Hehir suggests that liberal New Zealand is currently going through the “classic five stages of grief – denial, anger, …

To understand who it is that runs a country, it’s always useful to focus on the top legal figures. Usefully, the annual list of New Zealand’s most powerful law figures has just been released – compiled by the Lawfuel website. See: The Power List 2023. The annual law Power List always provides an insight into …

The role of lobbyists, interest groups and advocacy campaigners is in the spotlight a lot at the moment, especially with the new government forming, which always changes the dynamics of who has the ear of those in power. The ongoing question is whether certain campaigners and vested interests have an outsized or unexamined influence on …

Commentators are still evaluating Nicola Willis’ mini-budget and the opening of the Treasury books. Most provocatively, Herald columnist Matthew Hooton, is calling today for the Treasury Secretary Caroline McLiesh to resign over how woeful the state of the New Zealand economy is. He points out that the Treasury boss says that any growth this year …

The mini-sausage budget was launched by Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday with her argument that “What New Zealanders care about is the size of the sausage, not how it’s delivered”. But commentators haven’t been so wowed by the Government’s latest plans. 1News analyst Garth Bray summed it up as “more sizzle than sausage” and that …