Articles from ‘elocal magazine’

In politics, authenticity is currency — and in an election year, credibility can matter more than policy detail. As Opposition Leader Chris Hipkins delivered his State of the Nation address, questions lingered not just about Labour’s direction, but about its record in government and whether voters feel they’ve heard true accountability. Veteran broadcaster Duncan Garner has offered a sharp and provocative take — imagining the speech he believes…

New Zealand’s first National Infrastructure Plan, released last week, has already produced a flurry of headlines about leaky hospitals, mouldy barracks, tolled bridges and unaffordable mega-roads. It deserves that attention. But for my money, the most important thing written about the plan so far is Danyl McLauchlan’s Listener column this week, “All pitch, no policy”, which slyly turns the report into a takedown of how our whole political…

President Donald Trump gives his State of the Union address to a joint session of the 119th Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivers the Democratic response. WATCH: Trump delivers State of the Union address, Va Gov. Spanberger gives Dem response Fox News

New Zealand has not been invaded. Parliament still sits. Elections are held. The flag flies. And yet, as debt mounts, fuel is fully imported, banking profits flow offshore, and productivity falters, a harder question presses: Are we sovereign in name — but constrained in practice? To answer that, we must begin before decline. We must begin when sovereignty was structural. Part II Here... · The Post-War High-Sovereignty Era · In the decade…

Last week, New Zealand’s Parliament ceased using X. The Clerk of the House, David Wilson, unilaterally decided the institution would no longer have a presence on the platform formerly known as Twitter. His stated reason was that he “could no longer support” X because of its AI chatbot Grok and reports about deepfake imagery. “It didn’t feel right for my organisation to use a platform that allowed that to happen,” he told Stuff. This came…

Recent economic analysis from Kiwibank and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) shows that although the recovery is still in its early stages, the fundamentals are improving — and there are solid reasons to be optimistic. · 1. The Recovery Is Underway — With Supportive Settings · The RBNZ has held the official cash rate (OCR) at 2.25%, maintaining easy monetary conditions to help the economy build momentum. This reflects confidence that…

There is a difference between eyesight and vision. · Eyesight sees what is directly in front of it. Vision sees what lies beyond the horizon. · Chris Hipkins’ latest State of the Nation speech demonstrated clear eyesight. It catalogued rising grocery prices, soaring power bills, stagnating productivity, brain drain, housing speculation, and fragile business confidence. · But it did not demonstrate vision. · And in 2026, eyesight is not enough.…

Chris Hipkins delivered his State of the Nation speech this afternoon in Auckland, and the verdict is clear enough: there wasn’t much in it. No new policy. No surprises. No real detail on how Labour would govern differently. It was, by design, a low-key affair. The question now is whether voters see this as strategic discipline or something less flattering. The speech, delivered to the Auckland Business Chamber and hosted by former National…

The political landscape in New Zealand has just been turned upside down by a devastating new Freshwater poll. National has plummeted to 30 percent while Labor has climbed to 37, creating a nightmare scenario for the government just months out from the election. In this episode, Duncan and the panel break down the "shark-infested waters" National has entered. We look at the very real possibility that Finance Minister Nicola Willis could lose her…

The Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand is supposed to be the guardian of teaching standards. It registers and certifies teachers, vets who get to stand in front of a classroom, and enforces professional conduct. Right now it looks more like a case study in how public institutions go wrong. Over the past two weeks, two devastating reports have landed in public view, exposing an organisation riddled with conflicts of interest, procurement…