投稿者: Henry Cooke
New Zealand’s incoming government still has three years to show it stands for something other than clumsily undoing Labour policiesNew jobs are always hard, but most people get a day or two to find out just how bad they are going to be. As Christopher …
Housing, workplace and some benefit reforms on the chopping block as centre-right National-led coalition forms governmentThe most common and cutting critique of Jacinda Ardern’s Labour government was that it couldn’t get anything done.Transport was the…
Potential return of Winston Peters in any National-led coalition highlights electoral system where one party can rarely govern aloneWay back in 1979, when New Zealand prime minister Chris Hipkins was in nappies and his likely replacement was in primary…
With Jacinda Ardern gone, her party’s political capital has been squandered. But a turnaround is possibleIt looks like curtains for New Zealand’s Labour government.The party won its best result since 1946 just three years ago, as voters rewarded Jacind…
We have important Pacific relationships to maintain, which commercial flights cannot service, but spending money on travel for politicians looks badNew Zealand is a nation that generally likes to think of itself as classless, with any whiff of special …
The country depends overwhelmingly on secondhand cars from Japan, which makes barely any electric vehiclesNew Zealand has long been known for its high ratio of sheep to people. But really what stands out on various per-capita lists is just how much we…
Jacinda Ardern called climate change the ‘nuclear-free moment’ of her generation. Her replacement doesn’t seem so sureChris Hipkins loves to cycle.New Zealand’s newish prime minister, who stepped into the job after Jacinda Ardern’s shock resignation ea…
Chris Hipkins promises a ‘solid’ government that will focus on bread-and-butter issues, in the wake of the international stardom of Jacinda ArdernJacinda Ardern has a natural presence most politicians would sacrifice a kidney for.She spoke like a norma…
New Zealand needs a robust debate about the success of its elimination strategy in 2020, and the messy failure in late 2021It’s hard to describe just how good New Zealand felt as summer began at the end of 2020.Aotearoa had seemingly got through the pa…
The newly empowered supreme court has blown up the long-running debate on youth voting, but parliament has shrugged off its interventionNames can be deceiving. While many Kiwis might assume that our supreme court is in fact supreme – able to strike dow…
New Zealand and the UK both have top tax rates that raise little revenue but lie as potent political traps for parties on the rightGrant Robertson and Gordon Brown have quite a lot in common.Robertson, New Zealand’s finance minister and deputy PM, had …
The rules should not allow an MP to be reading cabinet papers in July and then lobbying former colleagues in OctoberEvery year, New Zealand’s headline writers get a chance to clap the country on the back.There is nothing we love more than being “first …
Republicans may think the Queen’s death means their moment has arrived, but they can’t just rely on New Zealanders’ appetite for reformNew Zealand has a strong habit of changing itself.Unlike countries with prescriptive written rules of play, the tangl…
Freshly appointed envoy to Ireland Trevor Mallard did much good in his time in parliament, but never shied from controversy – sometimes to his cost It is hard to find someone in New Zealand who does not have a strong opinion about Trevor Mallard.The ma…
The prime minister imposed peace on a party once riven by public bickering, but a rogue MP has threatened all of thatJust hours after electing Jacinda Ardern leader in 2017, an extremely bruised Labour caucus stood onstage trying to assure media the pa…