CoveragePost
January 6, 2020
The verdicts are in on how New Zealand’s politicians performed last year. The end-of-year columns evaluating the MPs have been almost unanimous in their praise for Jacinda Ardern, who is seen to have navigated a difficult year superbly. But there are also some surprising verdicts. The Spinoff website has compiled their pundits’ picks for the ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Evaluating NZ’s politicians" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2020/01/06/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-evaluating-nzs-politicians/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Evaluating NZ’s politicians">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
December 19, 2019
The Minister of Finance visited his local soup kitchen one night last month, and tweeted “Good to catch up with folk I worked with/helped over the years+remember how important it is to give every helping hand we can”. But are Grant Robertson and his colleagues giving enough of a helping hand to those in poverty? ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Is the Government doing enough to address poverty?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/12/19/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-is-the-government-doing-enough-to-address-poverty/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Is the Government doing enough to address poverty?">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
December 17, 2019
How rotten is New Zealand, given the state of poverty at the end of 2019? And why do politicians and the public allow it? These are the questions that might be asked in the lead up to Christmas this year, given the wealth of information we have on disadvantage and suffering at the moment. Auckland ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: How rotten is New Zealand?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/12/17/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-how-rotten-is-new-zealand/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: How rotten is New Zealand?">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
December 12, 2019
In his big-spending infrastructure announcement yesterday, Grant Robertson reinforced what many political commentators say about him – he’s electorally smart, but way too conservative to be a genuine leftwing minister of finance. Robertson does what is right for winning votes, but not necessarily what is in the interests of the country or even Labour’s own ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: The Govt’s smart but conservative spending announcement" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/12/12/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-the-govts-smart-but-conservative-spending-announcement/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: The Govt’s smart but conservative spending announcement">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
December 6, 2019
The latest allegations of a corruption scandal involving a Cabinet minister suggests this government is far too loose when it comes to providing access to power for friends and associates. Kris Faafoi is in trouble because of his alleged role in helping a mate with an immigration matter when he was the Associate Minister of ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Should Kris Faafoi be sacked?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/12/06/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-should-kris-faafoi-be-sacked/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Should Kris Faafoi be sacked?">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
December 5, 2019
What is it about reforming laws around money and politics that makes politicians so inclined to stuff it up and act undemocratically? From Helen Clark’s notorious Electoral Finance Act (2007) – which the party eventually voted to repeal, given it was so anti-democratic and unworkable – through to yesterday’s announcement of a so-called ban on ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: What’s driving the urgent clamp down on foreign donations?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/12/05/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-whats-driving-the-urgent-clamp-down-on-foreign-donations/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: What’s driving the urgent clamp down on foreign donations?">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
December 3, 2019
Labour chose a pākehā over a Māori as president at its annual conference in the weekend. Some believe this could have ramifications for a sector of the party and a demographic feeling ill-served by the party and the Government. Commentators have argued that this is symptomatic of bigger problems in the Labour-Māori relationship, which could ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Labour risks losing the Māori vote" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/12/03/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-labour-risks-losing-the-maori-vote/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Labour risks losing the Māori vote">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
December 2, 2019
Labour held a very successful annual party conference in the weekend, projecting a strong degree of unity, progress, and positivity. And perhaps most importantly, it showed it was willing to deliver a major dose of spending where it will yield results, reiterating that this is a government focused on traditional Labour concerns. This was all ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Labour’s successful reset conference" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/12/02/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-labours-successful-reset-conference/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Labour’s successful reset conference">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
November 29, 2019
There has been little real debate on an important Government announcement made last weekend. Justice Minister Andrew Little said the Government had decided to give the right to vote back to prisoners with sentences of three years or less. Perhaps it’s appropriate that there was no great reaction. After all, the change affects so few ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Should we care about prisoners voting?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/11/29/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-should-we-care-about-prisoners-voting/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Should we care about prisoners voting?">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
November 28, 2019
A thorn in the side of National, former MP Chester Borrows punctured his party’s “law and order week” before it even started, by framing its new crime and punishment stances as ignorant and dangerous. Appearing in the media early in the week, he painted National’s discussion document as populist, opportunist, and a knee-jerk response where ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: National’s law and order populism savaged" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/11/28/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-nationals-law-and-order-populism-savaged/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: National’s law and order populism savaged">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
November 25, 2019
A consensus is building around the need for reform of New Zealand’s rules governing political party donations and spending. Many commentators are asking whether our electoral laws are fundamentally broken and, if so, how they should be changed. Currently the leading ideas appear to be to clamp down further on donations, better regulate loans to ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Fixing the problems of money in politics" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/11/25/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-fixing-the-problems-of-money-in-politics/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Fixing the problems of money in politics">Read more</a>
CoveragePost
November 21, 2019
New Zealand is officially one of the least corrupt countries in the world. But it could be argued that our political system is still biased in favour of the wealthy. Here – as in other countries – wealthy individuals and businesses are able to disproportionately influence policy decisions and the distribution of resources in their ... <a title="Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: What’s going on with NZ First’s mysterious donations?" class="read-more" href="https://eveningreport.nz/2019/11/21/bryce-edwards-political-roundup-whats-going-on-with-nz-firsts-mysterious-donations/" aria-label="Read more about Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: What’s going on with NZ First’s mysterious donations?">Read more</a>
