Greens: KiwiSaver for Kiwi Kids

Posted 11:32am Sunday 24th May 2015 by Henry Napier

The Green Party has revealed a new savings scheme aimed at tackling child poverty. The proposed scheme aims to enrol all children in a Kiwisaver fund when they are born. The proposed fund would operate similarly to the current Kiwisaver scheme, with the government contributing $1000 for each Read more...

Super-City Gets Super Rates

Posted 11:08am Sunday 17th May 2015 by Henry Napier

Auckland Mayor Len Brown revealed last week that Aucklanders should expect rates increases as part of a new budget aimed at tackling transport congestion. The transport levy passed by the Auckland Council has rates increasing by an average of 9.9 percent throughout the supercity.  The Read more...

UK Labour Party: Worst Result in 28 Years

Posted 11:12am Sunday 17th May 2015 by Henry Napier

On 7 May the UK Labour Party experienced a dismal defeat at the hands of the Conservative Party in the general election. The party had its worst result in 28 years, winning only 232 of the 650 seats in parliament. New Zealand Labour leader Andrew Little said he was disappointed at the result, Read more...

In My Opinion: Henry’s word | Issue 12

Posted 11:15am Sunday 17th May 2015 by Henry Napier

Rumours of Prime Minister John Key’s potential departure from the leadership were sparked after #ponytailgate came to life and ended very quickly. However, almost immediately, speculation flew over who might rise to the top of the party if the prime minister were to step down. Last week, Read more...

Opinion: New Zealand Becoming a Republic

Posted 11:18am Sunday 17th May 2015 by Tim Lindsay

Over the last few weeks, we have seen the birth of a royal baby, Prince Harry visiting our shores and a formal process to decide whether to change New Zealand’s flag. In light of these events, it may be worth considering the state of New Zealand’s constitution and whether we are making a Read more...

James Shaw Interview

Posted 11:38am Sunday 10th May 2015 by Henry Napier

Greens MP James Shaw is currently travelling New Zealand in his bid for the Green Party co-leadership following the resignation of Russel Norman earlier this year. He has a different perspective on politics than would be expected of a typical Greens MP. Last week, Critic sat down with Shaw to see Read more...

In My Opinion: Henry’s word | Issue 11

Posted 11:41am Sunday 10th May 2015 by Henry Napier

National’s treatment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) will eventually hurt the party. The TPPA is a multilateral investment agreement between twelve states. In short, this means a bunch of countries get together and make up some rules that they’ll all abide by and, in Read more...

Greatest hits / Greatest shits | Issue 08

Posted 4:31pm Sunday 13th April 2014 by Carys Goodwin

Greatest hitsOn Tuesday, Tau Henare, National MP, announced that he will retire at this year’s election. This is not the greatest hit; rather it’s Tau himself, who has a twenty-year political career that can be characterised by witty retorts and an “I will say whatever I want” mentality. Starting Read more...

Young Politician | Issue 07

Posted 4:50pm Sunday 6th April 2014 by Curwen Rolinson

A great man once said that just because you might not care about politics ... was no surefire guarantee that politics doesn’t care about you. Regrettably, if you look around our politics today, it seems *exactly* like Kiwi politics doesn’t care about us. I mean, look at the choices. Labour Read more...

Money Buys Happiness, But Not Elections

Posted 7:07pm Sunday 1st April 2012 by Callum Fredric

It’s a common myth that money buys elections – in New Zealand at least, this is simply not the case. Evidence from several NZ elections has shown no real link between party spending and votes received. In the 2011 election campaign, the six biggest spenders were (in order): National, $2.3m; Read more...