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Politics and Economics
New Zealand Swings to the Centre Right in Post-Ardern Era
New Zealand’s Labour party has suffered a humbling defeat after early election results suggested a halving of its parliamentary seats compared with Jacinda Ardern’s triumph in 2020, Nic Fildes…
ACT Leader David Seymour Pledges a Shift
New Zealand is ready for “real change”, David Seymour the leader of the country’s Libertarian ACT party has said after polling suggested it could be a possible kingmaker in…
Glen Johnson on Jacinda Ardern’s Resignation: Le Monde Diplomatique
New Zealand journalist Glen Johnson, who is currently in Ukraine, writes on the resignation of Jacinda Ardern, the international acclaim she received for her handling of Covid, and the…
Dissecting the Rhetoric of Jacinda Ardern
“There used to be a website devoted to pointing out examples of world maps that didn’t bother to include New Zealand. If we did make it, we were tucked…
Jacinda Ardern Gives the World a Lesson in Humility
“Jacinda Ardern and young female leaders – including Finland’s PM Sanna Marin and Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen – who have emerged in the last decade stand as a counterpoint to…
Chris Hipkins New Zealand’s Next Prime Minister
Chris Hipkins will become New Zealand’s next prime minister after MPs of the ruling Labour party made the 44-year-old their unanimous choice to replace outgoing leader Jacinda Ardern, Nic…
New Zealand’s Leader Jacinda Ardern Steps Down
Jacinda Ardern, who became a global liberal icon as New Zealand’s prime minister but faced deepening political challenges with an election looming at home, has said in a surprise…
New Zealand Part of Growing Wellbeing Network
For a small but growing network of countries, the world’s go-to metric of economic health is no longer fit for purpose, Sam Meredith reports for CNBC. Mostly led by…
New Zealand First to Try Taxing Cows’ Gas Emissions
In a nation with seven times more livestock than people, taxing farmers for herds’ greenhouse gas emissions is a controversial proposal, Hicks Wogan reports for National Geographic.
In October, Prime…
Supreme Court Rules Voting Age of 18 is Discriminatory
New Zealand’s Supreme Court has ruled that the country’s current voting age of 18 is discriminatory, meaning parliament must discuss whether it should be lowered, Alys Davies reports for…
Female Lawmakers Outnumber Male in Parliament
For the first time in New Zealand’s history, a majority of its lawmakers are women, Nick Perry writes for Associated Press in a story published by the Los Angeles…
PM Jacinda Ardern Recalls Queen’s Good Advice
In a September interview with the BBC, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the Queen told her she had to “just get on with it” when asked for advice about…
New Zealand Sees Greatest Jump in Wealth in World
New Zealand experienced the greatest increase in adult wealth in the world in 2021, according to a new report by investment bank, Credit Suisse. Brady Knox, writing for the…
Jacinda Ardern Implores Nuclear Weapons States
“Our world is at greater risk of nuclear catastrophe than at any time since the height of the cold war. Growing superpower tensions and two decades of stalled progress…
Melissa Lee Highlights Parliament’s Diversity
Melissa Lee, the first and only Korean-born member of the New Zealand Parliament, is a go-to person for Korean nationals living in New Zealand, Kwon Mee-yoo writes for The…
New Zealand Designating Two US Groups as Terrorists May Have Global Impact
“New Zealand recently designated two US far-right groups, the Proud Boys and the Base, as terrorist organisations. This puts them in the same category as groups such as the…
NZ Inflation Research Discussed in NY Times
“What’s worse, higher inflation or higher unemployment?” Peter Coy asks in The New York Times. “The answer is actually pretty straightforward: Higher unemployment is worse than higher inflation if…
National’s Christopher Luxon Looks to Lead
New Zealand has become fearful, inward and negative as a result of its Covid settings and owes its expatriates an apology for locking them out during the pandemic, Christopher…
Ketanji Brown Jackson Applauds New Zealand’s Assault Weapons Ban
Future Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson was seen applauding New Zealand’s assault weapons ban during Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s recent commencement speech at Harvard University as gun control…
Working with Assertive China a Must, Says PM
New Zealand has been aware for some time now of a “growing assertiveness” and a “growing interest” in its region – explicitly from China, according to Prime Minister Jacinda…
New Zealand Bans LGBT+ Conversion Therapy
New Zealand has passed legislation banning conversion therapy based on a person’s sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.
The Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill was passed almost unanimously with…
UK Reaches Agreement on New Zealand Trade Deal
The UK has brokered a trade agreement with New Zealand that will cut tariffs on clothing, buses and wine, and, it hopes, lay a foundation for joining a trans-Pacific…
New Zealanders Struggling to Find a Home
New rules to curb investment took effect this month, but our Human Rights Commission says successive governments have failed us. Sasha Borissenko spoke to some New Zealanders about their…
John Edwards Named UK’s Information Commissioner
British MPs have approved New Zealander John Edwards as next Information Commissioner for the UK, Jamie Harris reports for the Evening Standard.
Edwards faced questions from the Digital, Culture, Media…
RBNZ Turning Heads Around the Globe
“New Zealand is tiny by economic standards, but it’s a giant in central banking circles,” Forbes senior contributor William Pesek writes. “While working in Washington in the mid-to-late 1990s,…
We Show Australia How to Tackle Housing Dilemmas
“While the debate about house prices is stuck in a holding pattern in Australia (with governments too scared to do anything too radical for fear of upsetting homeowners, and…
Economist Adulation Has Auckland Residents Puzzled
It boasts beautiful beaches, a temperate climate and a multicultural population that has fostered an eclectic mix of food, music and arts. But is Auckland, a remote outpost in the…
New Zealanders Flock Home to the Edge
More than 50,000 New Zealanders who have returned home during the pandemic, offering the country a rare opportunity to win back some of its best and brightest, Charlotte Graham-McClay…
PM Tops Fortune’s World’s Greatest Leaders List
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, 40, takes the number one spot on Fortune magazine’s annual world’s greatest leaders list.
The magazine’s editors write: “Jacinda Ardern had already sealed her position as a…
Biden Backs NZ’s Stance Against Online Extremism
The United States “will join the Christchurch Call to Action” to stamp out violent extremism online, the White House has said, two years after the Trump administration declined to…
Ottawa Could Use a Leader like Jacinda Ardern
“Jacinda Ardern just keeps getting it right. Since being elected as New Zealand’s prime minister almost four years ago, the young politician has been leading a progressive policy with…
New Zealand Approves Paid Leave After Miscarriage
New Zealand’s Parliament has unanimously approved legislation that would give couples who suffer a miscarriage or stillbirth three days of paid leave, putting the country in the vanguard of…
German Publication Has High Praise for PM
For its January 2021 issue, the German magazine View has declared Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern the “best politician in the world” and features the 39-year-old on the cover, with…
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta Charts a Course
The first Māori woman to be foreign minister, Nanaia Mahuta is an experienced lawmaker known for her deep roots in Māori tribal diplomacy, Charlotte Graham-McLay writes for The Washington…
Harvard Activist Award for PM Jacinda Ardern
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has received a Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership Gleitsman International Activist Award, which was presented at a virtual ceremony on 1 December.
According to…
New Zealand emerges as global leader and “beacon of light” in era of Covid-19
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, New Zealand has emerged as a global leader. However there’s more to this leadership than New Zealand’s efforts in developing a world-renowned…
Gender Pay Equity an Experiment for an Entire Society
“New Zealand is pursuing a century-old idea to close the gender pay gap: not equal pay for equal work, but equal pay for work of equal value,” American journalist…
New Zealand Inc Reaps Benefit of Lockdown Response
When Covid-19 struck New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern’s government quickly closed the nation’s borders and imposed one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in a bid to eliminate the spread of…
New Zealand’s Political Debates Show What Changes When Two Women Lead
“New Zealand’s recent election, which ended up with an electoral landslide for the incumbent Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, says something about women in leadership roles. With the leaders of…
Morrinsville’s World Famous Takeaway Worker
It’s Friday night in the small town of Morrinsville and a handful of locals are waiting at the Golden Kiwi on the main street for a greasy parcel of…
Global Media Outlets React to Jacinda Ardern’s Win
Jacinda Ardern will serve a second term as New Zealand prime minister following Labour’s landslide victory in an election on 17 October, which delivered a major shift towards progressive…
OECD Nominee Liddell Helms White House Transition Planning
Whoever wins the U.S. Presidential race – Trump or Biden – New Zealand-born Chris Liddell will be holding the keys to the front door of the White House in…
Labour’s Priyanca Radhakrishnan Proud of Roots
In an exclusive interview with Indian news magazine, The Week, Labour list MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan, 41, talks about how the New Zealand Government is handling the pandemic and Prime…
Chlöe Swarbrick Makes Fortune’s 40-Under-40 List
In a year of “monumental challenges and change”, Fortune magazine has released its 40 Under 40 lists for 2020, the Government and Politics list of which features Aucklander Chlöe…
How New Zealand Is Beating the Coronavirus Pandemic
“The United States is a pandemic-policy mess, and the whole world is watching the meltdown,” Markos Kounalakis writes for the Washington Monthly. “How did such a small place [like…
Judith Collins Named National Party’s New Leader
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, widely known for her exhortations to kindness and compassion, will face Judith Collins – a combative, tough-talking conservative lawmaker who styled herself after Margaret Thatcher…
Todd Muller Plots Downfall of Jacinda Ardern
Todd Muller’s launch last week in the Te Puna rugby clubrooms was not flashy or digital; in one sense it was politics of the old school. But for those…
New Zealand “the New Leader of the Free World”
“When I say ‘new leader of the free world’, I don’t just mean Jacinda Ardern. I mean New Zealand. As a society,” London-based consultant, leading thinker and author Umair…
Why is New Zealand so Progressive?
She wasn’t the only mother checking in with their whānau that evening. But this woman was Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s prime minister, and the one who had decided –…
James Shaw on Our Economic Climate Post-COVID-19
Cheap, renewable electricity is one way of reviving economies and preserving New Zealand’s natural environment, Climate Change Minister and co-leader of the Green Party James Shaw argues in an…
What Next for New Zealand’s Economy?
“In New Zealand, a country of five million people, new COVID-19 cases have been in the single digits for most of the past week. Australia reported just seven new…
Jacinda Ardern “May Be the Most Effective Leader on the Planet”
Influential U.S. news journal The Atlantic says “Jacinda Ardern’s leadership style, focused on empathy, isn’t just resonating with her people; it’s putting the country on track for success…
New Zealand One of World’s Most Resilient Economies
Experts have already begun assessing how a recovery might look once the COVID-19 virus is contained, and which countries stand to bounce back best. According to the 2019 Global…
PM Jacinda Ardern Inspires Across Planet
March is National Women’s History Month in the US and Washington state newspaper, the Chinook Observer, salutes several outstanding women, including our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern.
The Observer’s Robert Brake writes:
“I extend…
New Zealand Eases Abortion Restrictions
Lawmakers have voted to liberalise New Zealand’s abortion law and allow unrestricted access during the first half of pregnancy, ending the country’s status as one of the few wealthy…
Jacinda Ardern Has the World’s Attention
History came fast at Jacinda Ardern. Just a few years ago, in 2017, having been a local Member of Parliament for a matter of months, she became a Hail…
