Southern Say

Wealth-tax attack could well persuade some

Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins in a TVNZ debate last month. PHOTO: REUTERS

Wealth-tax attack could well persuade some

SOUTHERN SAY: Tonight TVNZ hosts the final leader’s debate between Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins - a contest of wits in which the participants will have very different agendas.

Southern Say: Finish line finally within sight

Labour leader Jacinda Ardern meets supporters at Otara Market at the weekend. Photo:Getty Images

The finish line is finally within sight

As Monday dawned, the opening notes of The Final Countdown came to mind.

Visiting National leader not on a roll

Judith Collins had one publicly expressed mission on her Dunedin visit this week - to win Taieri for National.

City saturated with preening politicians

National Southland candidate Joseph Mooney with a non-Norwegian blue. PHOTO: FACEBOOK

City saturated with preening politicians

Dunedin has often felt neglected by politicians, but it can't make that complaint this week. In fact, the city is pretty much the centre of the political universe at the minute.

National pitches policy at both home owners and landlords

State Houses in Brockville. Photo: ODT files

National pitches policy at both home owners and landlords

Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean has been relatively low-key in her housing portfolio — barring an embarrassing slip-up concerning state housing numbers on live TV — but that changed yesterday with the...

Southern electorate seats hotly contested

At a meet the candidates meeting at the Musselburgh Baptist Church last month are Taieri...

Southern electorate seats hotly contested

Although under MMP it is, generally, really only the party vote that matters, that does not mean that parties do not want to win electorate seats.

Seymour finds plenty of support

ACT leader David Seymour, and MC Tova O'Brien. PHOTO: TRACEY ROXBURGH

Seymour finds plenty of support

Queenstown is right in the middle of one of the safest National electorates in the country, and few political leaders find their way there during campaign season.

Southern say: When does political art become an ad?

Posters by Dunedin artistic collective Toothfish. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON

Southern say: When does political art become an ad?

The law governing elections is absolutely riven with inconsistencies, implausibilities and impracticalities, as anyone who has had to grapple with the Electoral Act 1993 can tell you.

Party vote’s allure draws hopefuls south

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters’ bus tour of the country included a stop at the Tiwai...

Party vote’s allure draws hopefuls south

Back in the first-past-the-post era, campaigning politicians could have been forgiven for bypassing the southern seats — for several of those electorates it was literally a one-in-100 year event if...

Many hands on deck to get dross out of Mataura

New Zealand First MP Mark Patterson launching his Mataura dross petition in 2019, flanked by...

Many hands on deck to get dross out of Mataura

Speaking, as we were last week, of southerners wanting to see a speedy resolution to the many issues surrounding the future of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, the town of Mataura has the most...

Tiwai ‘just transition’ must move beyond talk

Grant Robertson speaks at a breakfast meeting of the Otago Southland Employers’ Association....

Tiwai ‘just transition’ must move beyond talk

As a rule, Labour finance ministers do not receive the warmest of welcomes from employers’ associations.

Wrangling ministry machinery a challenge

Director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield and then-health minister David Clark arrive at the...

Wrangling ministry machinery a challenge

Dunedin North MP David Clark is far too magnanimous a man to indulge in schadenfreude, but the former Health Minister could be forgiven for cracking a wry smile after his successor's troubling week.

Our most unconventional election

Even if this were a normal election University of Otago constitutional law specialist Andrew Geddis’ book Electoral Law in New Zealand: Practice and Policy would have been well-thumbed by politicians already.

Parting barbs urge change for media

Parting barbs urge change for media, elections

Dunedin South Labour MP Clare Curran has gone from Parliament and, as anticipated, she did not go quietly.

Greens determined in face of 5% threshold

Outgoing MP Gareth Hughes’ experience helped new cohorts of Green Party MPs acclimatise to life...

Greens determined in face of 5% threshold

For the Green Party, the political ground zero this election might just be the corner of King Edward St and Hillside Rd.

Opinion: Passions intensify in stoush over tahr cull

Opinion: Passions intensify in stoush over tahr cull

Tekapo and protest march are not words which often go together, but the backblocks of the Mackenzie Country saw a significant outpouring of anger last Sunday.

Southern say: Resignations, retirements in crazy week

New National Party leader Judith Collins and Michael Woodhouse were all smiles before Tuesday’s...

Southern say: Resignations, retirements in crazy week

The political merry go round continued to speed out of control this week, flinging another southern MP to the side in the process.

Rough week: another one bites the dust

Rough week: another one bites the dust

Another week, another southern MP steps down.

Dignified conclusion to fall from grace

David Clark, flanked by colleagues Grant Robertson (left) and Kris Faafoi, arrives at Thursday’s...

Dignified conclusion to fall from grace

Thursday was meant to be a good day for David Clark.

NZ First candidate could be decisive

The worst-kept secret in politics was finally confirmed this week, with the announcement that Mark Patterson will stand for New Zealand First in Taieri this election.

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Southern Say