Category Archives: New Zealand

Can New Zealand’s National party reinvent itself under Todd Muller? | Jennifer Curtin

Posted on by

The new opposition leader must win back centrist voters, just four months out from the election

It was never a foregone conclusion, but with three poll results in the last three weeks putting National’s support at around 30%, the chances of Bridges remaining as leader were increasingly slim. By 1pm on 22 May, the parliamentary National party had sealed his, and deputy Paula Bennett’s, fate.

The new leader, Todd Muller, now faces the unenviable task of clawing back the centre right voters who appear, for now, to have deserted National in droves.

Continue reading...

Jacinda Ardern’s global renown is great, but she must do more for women | Jennifer Curtin

Posted on by

International praise for Covid response and her rebuilding of traditional Labour support has been astute, but PM must address women’s wellbeing

The gendered dimensions of political leadership during the Covid-19 crisis has achieved global proportions, with headlines claiming that women are doing things differently, and with better results. Much of this is assertion, given Vietnam and Georgia, amongst other countries with male leaders, have also seen successful containment. We have also witnessed some pushback against the policy decisions taken by Belgian prime minister Sophie Wilmès.

Nevertheless, the novelty of women political leaders remains newsworthy, and the media’s go-to international “face’” of those women who have managed this crisis exceptionally well is Jacinda Ardern.

Continue reading...

Four-day weeks could be key to New Zealand’s Covid-19 recovery, says Ardern – video

Posted on by

New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has suggested employers consider a four-day working week and other flexible working options as a way to boost tourism and help employees address persistent work/life balance issues.

Ardern said people had suggested everything from the shorter work week to more public holidays as a means to stimulate the economy and encourage domestic tourism, while the borders remain closed to foreign nationals

Continue reading...

Jacinda Ardern flags four-day working week as way to rebuild New Zealand after Covid-19

Posted on by

Prime minister says flexible working options can boost productivity and domestic tourism and improve work/life balance

New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern has suggested employers consider a four-day working week and other flexible working options as a way to boost tourism and help employees address persistent work/life balance issues.

In a Facebook live video Ardern said people had suggested everything from the shorter work week to more public holidays as a means to stimulate the economy and encourage domestic tourism, while the borders remain closed to foreign nationals.

Continue reading...

Bathing bears and bungee-jumping mayors: the week’s most uplifting clips – video

Posted on by

As countries around the world adjust to life with Covid-19, people are finding new ways to enjoy themselves responsibly. From the restaurant using plush pandas to help with social distancing, to a drive-in rave in Germany, these are the week’s most cheering clips

Continue reading...

The budget has given New Zealand an opportunity it can’t afford to squander | Brad Olsen

Posted on by

By taking out a mortgage against the economy, the government is investing in jobs and our economic recovery

With the economic storm of the Covid-19 pandemic raging on, the government has opened the umbrella to shield New Zealand from an even worse economic fate and set the foundation for its recovery. Although the finance minister, Grant Robertson, has accepted that the government can’t save every job, Thursday’s announcements show he is doing everything he can to save as many as possible.

Overall, New Zealand’s 2020 budget was one of the most comprehensive economic packages seen around the world, walking the fine line between responding to the crisis and keeping up economic momentum, while setting down the conditions for recovery and rebuilding.

Continue reading...

New Zealand budget: housing shortfall puts vulnerable people at risk, say advocates

Posted on by

Eight thousand new houses promised but 15,000 are on wait lists; experts worry mental health not a focus, one year after ‘Wellbeing’ budget

New Zealand’s most vulnerable people have been neglected by the government as it desperately attempts to kickstart the economy following a seven-week lockdown, advocates say.

The country of 5 million has been in strict lockdown for seven weeks and the International Monetary Fund is predicting the economy could contract by as much as 8%, while thousands have joined the dole queue during the pandemic.

Continue reading...

‘Stay out of my moist breath zone’: Covid-19 anthem takes the drool out of school

Posted on by

New Zealand school principal writes tune to help children returning to classes after lockdown

It is regularly cited as the most hated word in the English language and even Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has visibly struggled while using it. But now the word “moist” is being deployed for good – in a song written by a New Zealand school principal that aims to helps children observe social distancing guidelines.

Shirley Șerban of Lake Brunner school in the South Island penned the song Moist Breath Zone as a health and safety message for students returning to school after the Covid-19 lockdown.

Continue reading...

Jacinda Ardern outlines requirements for trans-Tasman travel bubble with Australia – video

Posted on by

After joining a meeting of Australia's national cabinet, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern explains the reasoning behind possibly easing travel restrictions between the two countries in a future trans-Tasman bubble. While Australia and New Zealand have both had success in slowing the spread of Covid-19, Ardern adds there remains a lot of work to be done before travel between the countries can recommence 

Continue reading...

Legalising cannabis: what will New Zealanders be asked to vote on in September?

Posted on by

More than 50% of voters must say yes to the proposed changes for parliament to consider the changes

New Zealanders will be asked at September’s national election whether they want to pass a bill that would legalise cannabis and regulate how it is used and sold. This will include producing and selling fresh and dried cannabis, including plants and seeds – for people over 20 years old. The change would impose more stringent restrictions than the rules around sales of alcohol and tobacco.

Continue reading...

If Australia and New Zealand restart travel, they should include the Pacific in their bubble | Michael Rose

Posted on by

Many Pacific nations are Covid-free and their economies depend on tourism. Cautiously restarting travel there could be an important move

As Australia and New Zealand tentatively celebrate successes in their battles to bring Covid-19 under control, Winston Peters, New Zealand’s deputy prime minister, has raised the possibility of the two nations opening up travel to one another.

The mooted “trans-Tasman bubble” would allow travel between these two countries, which seem – for now – to have brought infection rates under control, while keeping their borders with the rest of the world closed or tightly managed.

Continue reading...

Why do female leaders seem to be more successful at managing the coronavirus crisis?

Posted on by

Plenty of countries with male leaders have also done well. But few with female leaders have done badly

On 1 April, the prime minister of Sint Maarten addressed her nation’s 41,500 people. Coronavirus cases were rising, and Silveria Jacobs knew the small island country, which welcomes 500,000 tourists a year, was at great risk: it had two ICU beds.

Jacobs did not want to impose a strict lockdown, but she did want physical distancing observed. So she spelled it out: “Simply. Stop. Moving,” she said. “If you don’t have the bread you like in your house, eat crackers. Eat cereal. Eat oats. Eat … sardines.”

Continue reading...

New Zealand nurse: I treated Boris Johnson like any other patient

Posted on by

Jenny McGee says British PM ‘absolutely’ needed to be in intensive care and tells of surreal experience of swapping emojis with Jacinda Ardern

The New Zealand intensive care nurse thanked by British prime minister Boris Johnson has revealed he was treated like “any other patient” – and originally thought his praise was a prank.

Jenny McGee said she had not been told of the public praise in advance. “My first reaction was that it was a joke. I thought my friends were playing a joke on me … it was totally out of the blue,” she told TVNZ.

Continue reading...

The Covid-19 crisis creates a chance to reset economies on a sustainable footing | James Shaw

Posted on by

New Zealand climate minister says governments must not just return to the way things were, and instead plot a new course to ease climate change

James Shaw, New Zealand’s climate change minister, has asked the country’s independent climate change commission to check whether its emissions targets under the Paris agreement are enough to limit global heating to 1.5C. He explains why he’s prioritising the issue during a strict national lockdown to stop the spread of Covid-19, which could send New Zealand’s unemployment rate soaring.

To say that we find ourselves in an unprecedented moment is so obvious and has been so often repeated it’s almost become white noise. What is less obvious, however, is where we go from here.

Continue reading...

New Zealand lockdown releases charity spirit as Ardern ‘be kind’ mantra kicks in

Posted on by

Volunteers in the Wellington tap micro-grant scheme to ensure vulnerable people are not left left without essentials

When Lauryn Miller was forced to stay at home during New Zealand’s stringent Covid-19 lockdown, which has barred everyone but essential workers from leaving their houses, she jumped at the chance “to do something for anyone”.

Miller, 34, who usually works as a librarian in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington – and lives in the quiet, beachfront suburb of Lyall Bay – has been helping, along with her friends, to deliver food parcels to people nearby who have been left vulnerable during the four-week national shutdown.

Continue reading...

A strict Covid-19 lockdown gave New Zealand a key ingredient to recover – solidarity | Morgan Godfery

Posted on by

Pulling together in a time of crisis, where the burden falls so unevenly, is just what will help us to rebuild in a post-Covid-19 world

I feel like a New Zealand patriot.

I’m hardly a nationalist, and as a leftist, my dominant mode is bitter defeat, expecting it in almost every circumstance. But as the country prepares to move from alert level four to alert level three – meaning from a major lockdown to a moderate lockdown – patriotism seems irresistible. In the prime minister, yes, in the public service, for sure, and in the essential-service workers stocking the supermarket shelves, staffing the ports and distribution centres, and caring for Covid-19 patients in hospitals and the community. It almost feels detaching, especially as countries like the US and UK hit their peaks, that life in these islands could resume as normal, as if the virus were only a four-week nightmare.

Continue reading...

The exit strategy: how countries around the world are preparing for life after Covid-19

Posted on by

As Australia makes plans to gradually lift its coronavirus lockdown, we look at what the rest of the world is doing

Australia has a road out of its coronavirus lockdown, long and winding though it may be.

Having warned repeatedly that this pandemic response was taking Australia into “uncharted territory”, the prime minister, Scott Morrison, has leaned again on a navigational metaphor for our subsequent recovery.

Continue reading...

Boom time for New Zealand’s rats as lockdown gives them free rein in cities

Posted on by

With pest controllers in lockdown and a population surge last year, the vermin are free to wreak havoc in populated areas, and on native wildlife

Surrounded by ancient rimu trees and the sound of chirping pīwakawaka, Tame Malcolm brings in his second rat of the day from the dense undergrowth of his Auckland backyard. That’s four pests for his tally today – with only a few hundred thousand or so to go.

“It’s the first time my whānau [family] have got to see me doing pest control. I’ve been teaching the whānau that we do this to protect the birds,” says Malcolm, director of Māori-oriented biosecurity business Puna Consultants.

Continue reading...

New Zealand TV presenter ‘deeply sorry’ for her disturbing Jacinda Ardern cake

Posted on by

Laura Daniel experimented with baking during the national lockdown, and regretted it

A tribute to the prime minister of New Zealand has gone horribly wrong, after a television presenter attempted to render Jacinda Ardern in cake form, and failed spectacularly.

Laura Daniel said the common wisdom was “don’t bake your heroes” but she wanted to try anyway as the coronavirus lockdown dragged on.

Continue reading...

‘It’s about leadership’: Ardern takes 20% pay cut over coronavirus – video

Posted on by

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern has announced she and her ministers along with public service CEOs will take a 20% pay cut for six months. ‘If there was ever a time to close the gap between different positions, it's now,’ Ardern said during a coronavirus press update. She said the the move was to acknowledge New Zealanders who have lost jobs, taken pay cuts or who were reliant on wage subsidies during the Covid-19 outbreak. ‘And while it in itself won’t shift the government’s overall fiscal position, it is about leadership’, she said. The pay cut will not affect frontline public-sector workers such as nurses, police and health care professionals.


Continue reading...