Harawira is back, and a Maori-Mana alliance over Te Tai Tokerau is on the cards

Posted 11:26am Sunday 7th August 2016 by George Elliott

Harawira lost his seat in the Maori electorate of Te Tai Tokerau to Labour’s Kelvin Davis by nearly seven percent of the vote in the 2014 election. It was a devastating loss for Mana, which had held the seat since it split with the Maori Party in 2011. Pundits chalked the de-crowning moment up Read more...

Plea for Policy: Why the government should devolve social services to iwi

Posted 11:13am Sunday 31st July 2016 by Henry Napier

The 21st century so far has offered some significant ebbs in New Zealand race relations. If one were to ask a New Zealand politics student what the major blows for bi-culturalism were in the last 16 years you would likely receive a list of the following; the passing of the Foreshore and Seabed Act Read more...

Clark V. Woodhouse | Issue 17

Posted 12:44pm Sunday 31st July 2016 by David Clark

David Clark I stood for Parliament because I want to play a part in making New Zealand a better place.  I believe the gap between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots' has grown too large. The role of an opposition MP is to hold the Government to account. On a good day we can Read more...

Political conventions are stupid, dumb, pointless, fun

Posted 11:04am Sunday 24th July 2016 by Joel MacManus

We are right now in the middle of the most meaningless, overhyped, expensive exercise in political cheerleading in the Western World ­—The Republican and Democratic National Conventions. National Conventions are to the US what the Monarch is to New Zealand – Formerly powerful Read more...

Emails reveal DCC deception over 2013 voting booth decision

Posted 10:55am Sunday 17th July 2016 by Joel MacManus

The Press Council has part-upheld a complaint from Dunedin City Council against this article. The PressCouncil decision is here http://www.presscouncil.org.nz/ Emails have been acquired by Critic between DCC Electoral Officer Pam Jordan and a number of Read more...

DCC accused of “active and wilful campaign to discourage student voters”

Posted 10:58am Sunday 17th July 2016 by Joel MacManus

The Press Council has part-upheld a complaint from Dunedin City Council against this article. The PressCouncil decision is here http://www.presscouncil.org.nz/ Negotiations have broken down between OUSA and Dunedin City Council over plans to place a special Read more...

Donald Trump is losing to himself

Posted 10:35am Sunday 10th July 2016 by Joel MacManus

Recent reporting on the financial and organisational state of the Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton campaigns show a historically unprecedented divide in resources and planning that could very well lead to a landslide election.  Hillary Clinton boasts 823 paid staff around the country, $42 Read more...

Clark V. Woodhouse | Issue 13

Posted 11:00am Sunday 29th May 2016 by David Clark

David Clark On the one hand, it does seem odd that the ability to become our head of state is genetically determined, a privilege reserved for a single inbred family of German descent. On the other hand, constitutional monarchies like New Zealand are amongst the wealthiest and healthiest Read more...

Leaders budget chat proves predictable

Posted 11:08am Sunday 29th May 2016 by Joel MacManus

Bill English promised that this year’s budget would be ‘predictable and boring’. As it turned out, that applied not only to the fiscal announcements, but to the traditional leaders remarks. Andrew Little stayed disciplined on his rhetoric, painting the government as ‘out of Read more...

Students to break free of third-world living?

Posted 11:04am Sunday 22nd May 2016 by Connor Fry

Nine months ago I pulled my bed out from the mildew and mould creeping along the walls, sent a few emails to my then landlord asking about fixing the leaking roof of questionable structural integrity and opened my window to help air what other damp belongings I had with me. For me dripping walls Read more...