Articles from ‘elocal magazine’ in ‘Opinion’

The local government election donation returns are in, and they tell a familiar story. Money talks in local government, and it speaks loudest on behalf of those with the most to gain from council decisions. The 2025 campaigns in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin were awash with cash from property developers, corporate magnates and other vested interests. Big money in the big city · Nowhere was the money gap starker than in…

Te Tai Tokerau MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi has insisted her electorate overspend was authorised, saying her office had an agreement to provide support to Tāmaki Makaurau MP Takutai Tarsh Kemp (who passed away in June) while Kemp was unwell. · Party president John Tamihere flatly rejects that such an agreement ever existed. · In High Court filings, the party states there was no approval from Kemp for Kapa-Kingi to draw on Tāmaki Makaurau resources,…

Andrew Coster’s interview on Q+A has blown the police integrity scandal wide open again. It’s now obvious the public has been left with a mess of clashing accounts, shifting explanations, and gaps that the existing investigation was never designed to resolve. If the Government wants any hope of restoring confidence in the Police, it needs to authorise an independent inquiry with proper powers. Coster went on television insisting he’d “acted…

With the release of its new National Security Strategy (NSS), the United States — the world’s most powerful nation — has officially abandoned the global-hegemony doctrine that defined the post-Cold War order. · For the first time since 1945, Washington is no longer claiming the mantle of global policeman, architect of the “rules-based international order,” or moral crusader for universal liberal democracy. Instead, the U.S. has accepted —…

The RMA is important. It is New Zealand's biggest regulatory tax and the most significant handbrake on our country's economic prosperity and living standards. · Yesterday 100 journalists and analysts worked through the Government’s just-released replacement to the RMA. · Planning law is inherently difficult, detailed, and technical. Having only had the material for a few hours, we don’t pretend to have our head around all the detail – but I…

For years, governments insisted they were “following the science.” But science does not stand still, and it certainly does not bow to political pressure. Now, as new studies challenge the assumptions that drove the global COVID-19 response, the world is being forced to confront an uncomfortable truth: many of the policies that reshaped economies, societies, and democracies were based on data that is no longer standing up to scrutiny. What was…

The Labour Party faithful gathered in Auckland this past weekend for their annual conference, and for any progressives watching from outside the hall, there were two possible reactions. If you’re excited by the prospect of a change of government next year, then you’ll be buoyed by what you saw. If you’re excited by the prospect of progressive change actually occurring under that new government, you might well have your head in your hands. Becaus…

As Labour convenes in Auckland this weekend for its annual conference, the political atmosphere is almost unrecognisable from the despondent aftermath of the 2023 election defeat. The party that won just 26.9% of the vote less than two years ago now sits between 32-38% in recent polls. One-term governments are no longer unthinkable. Chris Hipkins, improbably, remains secure in his leadership without any meaningful challengers circling. Yet this…

New Zealand is in the midst of a debate over a single word: “corruption.” The explosive police cover-up scandal involving former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming and then-Commissioner Andrew Coster has rattled public trust. But is it corruption? In a country that prides itself on being “least corrupt”, many leaders are tripping over themselves to avoid the term. This reluctance at the top is now part of the scandal’s fallout, raising deeper…

The late Bruce Jesson captured something essential about New Zealand politics when he observed in the 1980s: “The National Party governs for capitalists. The Labour Party for capitalism”. Jesson was writing for Metro Magazine at the time, as their politics writer. What he meant was simple: National tends to hand out favours to their mates in business, cutting deals that keep the rich happy one by one. Labour, on the other hand, steps in during…