Politics

National is planning to launch a new scheme if elected into government that will offer cash incentives for New Zealanders who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19 to start their own businesses. The BusinessStart policy would give successful applicants $30,000 through KiwiSaver savings, tax credits a

Potentially thousands of UK-based New Zealanders are in a race to get back to New Zealand, with their visas set to expire in the coming days. The UK’s Home Office granted all overseas nationals an extension to their visas until 31 July – but with that date just a week away, New Zealanders in the UK

The Prime Minister’s plan to announce a roughly $100 million recovery package for Southland, in the wake of the likely closure of the Tiwai Smelter, was scuppered by New Zealand First at the eleventh hour.   RNZ understands, as a result, there will not be any specific amount of money allocated to th

Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway has been sacked from Cabinet and will not stand again at the election following revelations of a relationship with a former staffer. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it became clear his position as a minister was untenable as it opened up allegations of impr

Analysis – It appears New Zealand First and the Greens have given up trying to hide their true feelings. The unofficial campaign has well and truly kicked off with the party leaders taking the gloves off and going at each other at Parliament today. Green Party co-leader James Shaw has described New

The National Party has elected Judith Collins as its new leader to replace Todd Muller. deputy is Gerry Brownlie. Collins, 61, was first elected as an MP for Clevedon in 2002 and has been part of six Parliaments. The MP for Papakura has been the shadow Attorney General since May and holds the Nation

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched an investigation in relation to donations made to the Labour Party in 2017. In a statement, the SFO said it was conducting four investigations in relation to electoral funding, and a fifth was now before the courts. “We consider that making the current ann

Todd Muller has resigned as the National Party leader. In a statement Muller said he had taken time over the weekend to reflect on his experience over the last several weeks as leader of the opposition. “It has become clear to me that I am not the best person to be Leader of the Opposition […]