Politics Central

Embattled British Prime Minister Boris Johnson suffered a new blow Saturday when a Cabinet minister resigned, saying she did not believe Johnson was sincere about getting a Brexit deal with the European Union. Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd said in a letter to the prime minister that she was resigning because "I no longer believe leaving with a deal is the government's main objective." Rud...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's decision to suspend Parliament for part of the run-up to the Oct. 31 Brexit deadline faces mounting legal and political challenges ahead of a weekend of planned street protests. There are three ongoing court tests to Johnson's plan, which he says is routine but which will shorten the time in which opponents in Parliament could seek to pass legislation blockin...

The Health Minister is paying tribute to the couple who led the massive outcry over inequalities in cancer care. The Government has today announced it's setting up an independent national cancer agency. Health Minister David Clark says the Cancer Control Agency will be fully established by December. It will have its own CEO,  but will be housed within the Ministry of Health. The cancer action plan...

A nightmare situation for hundreds of young people whose private details may have been compromised. Information around 300 young people gave to the Ministry of Culture and Heritage has been exposed because its web security wasn't up to scratch. It includes passports, birth certificates and drivers' licences, which had been used when those affected had applied to be part of Tuia 250 commemorations,...

The Government wants to take on the cost of petrol, but may have difficulty doing that.  The Commerce Commission last week delivered its draft findings into the retail fuel market. The 424 page report identified several factors affecting competition that are preventing the industry from being as competitive as it should be or could be. The watchdog says problems include regional differences in ret...

President Donald Trump is threatening to use the emergency authority granted by a powerful but obscure federal law to make good on his tweeted "order" to U.S. businesses to cut ties in China amid a spiraling trade war between the two nations. China's announcement Friday that it was raising tariffs on $75 billion in U.S. imports sent Trump into a rage and White House aides scrambling for a response...

We're being urged not to be passive bystanders in the upcoming local body elections. The vote takes place via postal ballot from the 20th of September until the 12th of October. However, just 38.5 percent of residents in our biggest city had their say in 2016. Actor, writer and comedian Oscar Kightley is working with Auckland Council, using his profile to encourage people to have their say. He tol...

A spokesman for China's ceremonial legislature condemned statements from U.S. lawmakers supportive of Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, as more protests were planned Sunday following a day of dueling rallies that highlighted the political divide in the Chinese territory. You Wenze called the lawmakers' comments "a gross violation of the spirit of the rule of law, a blatant double standard and a...

The Government is putting $54 million into support schemes aimed at preventing people from becoming homeless. Associate Housing Minister Kris Faafoi and Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni on Sunday announced new funding for a series of programmes aimed at keeping those at high risk of losing housing off the streets. About $31 million will be spent over four years on 67 intensive case mana...

New Zealand First is being given little to no chance of getting its abortion referendum. The party this week blindsided their coalition partners by revealing they were considering calling for a referendum on the issue. This is despite Justice Minister Andrew Little working closely with New Zealand First MP Tracy Martin on the legislation, which passed its first reading on Thursday. However, the pa...

John Tamihere says as Auckland's mayor he would create an 0800 JACINDA hotline to call if residents see rough sleepers or beggars. Anyone who called the number would find a "person all loving and caring that knows everything about your wellbeing" on the other end, he said. A social worker would then be sent to work with the beggar. Homeless people causing a "nuisance" by sleeping rough would be as...

The Government has unveiled the first tranche of its cancer plan, announcing a $25 million spend on 12 new radiation machines nationwide. But the plan, announced by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Health Minister David Clark at Wellington Hospital today, stops short of a commitment to setting up a National Cancer Agency. Ardern said the Government would be unveiling a further "major announcement...

Green co-leader James Shaw has told supporters that they can't always get what they want as the party comes under fire from some supporters.  High ranking Green Party member Jack McDonald, the party's policy co-convenor, is stepping down ahead of next year's election. In a Twitter post, he made the decision because of the party's centrist drift under James Shaw. He says we don't have time for cent...

National's promised to put $200 million towards fighting cancer - if the party makes its way out of opposition. Leader Simon Bridges has unveiled the plan today during the second day of their annual conference in Christchurch. He says a National Government will fund an independent Cancer Agency and set up a multi-million dollar fund dedicated to cancer drugs. He told the Weekend Collective that ev...

With Britain's departure from the European Union due in less than 100 days, new Prime Minister Boris Johnson is a man in a hurry. But he's not rushing off to Brussels. The U.K. leader has no meetings scheduled with EU officials. Instead, he was in central England on Friday, talking about his promise to recruit 20,000 more police officers. In the coming days he'll speak on other aspects of a packed...

The head of the Maori Council says the impasse at Ihumātao is a broader issue than a dispute over historic Maori land. Thousands of protesters have descended on the South Auckland site, buoyed now the Prime Minister's stepped in to pause planned housing development. Maori Council head Matthew Tukaki told the Weekend Collective we need to have a broader national discussion about the pressures of po...

A political commentator says it's over the top to claim the National Party is our biggest climate change threat Columnist Simon Wilson wrote this week that National's refusal to endorse the Zero Carbon Bill, among other things, is undermining the country's effort to address climate change. But Vernon Tava told The Weekend Collective this isn't true. "Labour and it's coalition partners could get th...

2:56pm NZ time today marks exactly 50 years since Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon and uttered those legendary words "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". We look at the celebrations around the world and how Apollo 11's moon landing changed space flight forever. A moonstruck United States celebrated the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's "giant leap" by Neil Armstrong a...

John Banks is seriously considering a tilt at the Auckland Mayoralty, saying if he stands and is elected he will chair the board of Auckland Transport. Banks has hired a team of political strategists and held focus groups to determine his chances, telling the Herald today he will make a final decision in the next two weeks. "Phil Goff's mayoralty reminds me of grandma's boiled cabbage. It never ge...

Will the refusal to build 12 major roading projects send the Coalition lose the 2020 election? The Business Advisory Council, chaired by Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon, last week presented a damning indictment of New Zealand's infrastructure regime saying there is "no overarching vision or leadership in New Zealand for infrastructure development". "This means there is no nation-...

One Canterbury gun owner says the atmosphere at the first gun buyback event had an interesting atmosphere.  Author Ray Berard was one of the 169 owners who attended the event at Riccarton Racecourse yesterday.  A total of 224 guns were handed in yesterday, the first of 258 that will run across the country over the next three months. On top of more than 200 guns, owners handed in 217 parts and acce...

The head of Customs has handed back $302,000 seized from a mysterious foreign diplomat after he failed to declare the vast sum of cash in his luggage. The experienced traveller, part of an official delegation invited to New Zealand, was let off with a warning instead of being prosecuted. They had claimed that they had forgotten they had the money in the bag.  The identity of the individual involve...

A small-town mayor is calling for the creation of a mayoral political party to contest parliamentary elections because of his difficulty getting a hearing in Wellington. Embattled Horowhenua Mayor Michael Feyen has pitched the idea to the mayors and chairs of New Zealand's 78 territorial and regional councils ahead of the Local Government NZ conference that starts in Wellington on Sunday. "My conc...

After a six month phase in, New Zealand's ban on single-use plastic bags takes effect tomorrow. Supermarkets made the switch by the end of last year. Associate Environment Minister Eugenie Sage says Kiwis really support the move. She says research found in April last year 56 percent of shoppers surveyed were bringing reusable bags, and that figure rose to 91 percent by September. "Banning these ba...

Is Jacinda Ardern a smiling assassin or a wimp unable to make the big calls? The Prime Minister unveiled her first ministerial reshuffle last week, with the biggest change the splitting of the housing portfolio role between three ministers. Kris Faafoi got the biggest promotion, moving into Cabinet and picking up one third of the new housing roles, while Phil Twyford lost control of KiwiBuild but...