Every three years we go to the polls, after weeks of watching politicians perform the same ritualistic dance of hand-shaking, baby-kissing and making too many promises to count (or keep).
Then on election night, the results roll in thick and fast, and New Zealanders are left to untangle what that means for their families, their jobs, their businesses, and their future.
This year’s results are expected to be delivered with record speed thanks to an unprecedented level of advanced voting. By Thursday, 1.5 million early votes had been cast; 45 percent of enrolled voters had already made their decision and put it into writing.
Join us here at Newsroom.co.nz on election night from 6.30pm.
As the polls close, and television (and computer) screens across the country start to flash red, blue, green and yellow, Newsroom.co.nz will launch a different kind of election coverage.
In true Newsroom style, we’ll be going beyond the what, and digging into the ‘why’ and the ‘what next’.
Our rolling live blog will be curated by Newsroom Pro editor Jonathan Milne and senior political reporter Laura Walters.
But because you don’t just want to hear our hot takes, we will be sharing insights from more than a dozen experts, including former political leaders and household names in business, community and economic analysis.
Former leaders like Helen Clark, Jim Bolger, Sandra Lee-Vercoe and Russel Norman will share their analysis of the night’s events, what the results mean for New Zealand, and – in such tumultuous times – what they mean for New Zealand’s place in the world.
Plus, political scientists including the University of Auckland’s Dr Mark Boyd, Otago’s professor Andrew Geddis and Victoria’s associate professor Dean Knight will bring the more complex aspects to life, with constitutional, political and foreign affairs knowledge, as well as some historical context.
For more information on our contributors, read on …
Elections are about so much more than politics: elections are about real issues that affect real people.
So Newsroom’s also hearing from those working with communities – at the coalface, if you like – how the election results impact on a range of the most important issues facing our country. They’ll be talking recession, recovery, business, housing, infrastructure, and other challenges that emerge on the night.
Incisive and wide-ranging: We will deliver on our readers’ expectation for the sharpest analysis, first here on Newsroom.co.nz
Join us here at Newsroom.co.nz on election night from 6.30pm.
CONTRIBUTORS
Aliya Danzeisen is the lead coordinator of the Women’s Organisation of the Waikato Muslim Association (WOWMA) and served as the assistant national coordinator of the Islamic Women’s Council for five years. Aliya chose to leave a high-powered legal career in the US to focus on education and community, and has become a household name due to her advocacy in the wake of the March 15 terror attack.
Dr Andrew Geddis is professor and co-ordinator of external affairs at the University of Otago’s Faculty of Law.
Brad Olsen is a senior economist at Infometrics. Often described as a boy wonder, Olsen has become a well-known economics commentator, with a focus on housing and infrastructure. When he’s not talking economics, he’s serving on the Wellington Youth Council or helping out as the country’s youngest JP.
Dr Bronwyn Hayward is a professor at University of Canterbury’s Department of Political Science and International Relations, and the director of the Sustainable Citizenship and Civic Imagination Research group. Her research focuses on the intersection of sustainable development, youth, climate change and citizenship.
Dr David Capie is associate professor and the director of the Centre for Strategic Studies, based at Victoria University.
David Cormack is a PR guy, writer and “all-round opinionated dude”. He spent two years writing mean things about Simon Bridges in the Herald and now peddles his writing via a patreon account so people can read his left wing rants. When not seething about politics, he spends time with his wife and their young daughter.
David Slack is an Auckland author, columnist and commentator. He’s also been a speechwriter in the prime minister’s office, a breweries executive, and a kitchen hand at KFC.
Dr Dean Knight is associate professor in the Faculty of Law at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.
Finlay Macdonald is the New Zealand editor in charge of politics, business and art at The Conversation. He is a writer, editor and publisher, who has been working in NZ media since 1986, including as editor of the NZ Listener and commissioning editor at Penguin.
Ganesh Nana is research director at BERL. Nana has over 35 years of economics experience, ranging from business consulting, research, tutoring, lecturing, media commentary, and conference presentations. These years of experience have taught him economics is more than numbers.
Helen Clark is a former New Zealand prime minister (1999-2008) and former head of the UN Development Programme. She’s now a global leader on sustainable development, gender equality and drug policy reform.
Jacqueline Paul (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga) is a landscape architect, part-time lecturer at the School of Architecture, housing researcher at Ngā Wai a Te Tūi Māori and Indigenous Research Centre at Unitec, and an urban development and planning specialist. She’s currently doing her masters in land economy at the University of Cambridge.
James Elliott is a lawyer and a Newsroom contributing writer and columnist. If he wrote this bio it would be far more witty and insightful.
Jane Kennelly is the founder of Frog Recruitment, and is an expert in the latest methodologies of social communications and employment branding. She’s also a media commentator, blogger, conference speaker and writer.
Jim Bolger was prime minister from 1990 to 1997, and was elected on the promise of delivering a “decent society” following the previous Labour government’s economic reforms. He led the National Party for 12 years and was the first prime minister elected under MMP. More recently, Bolger led the last government’s working group on fair pay agreements.
Dr Jin Russell is a developmental and general paediatric registrar at Starship Children’s Hospital, and a previous member of the NZ Policy and Advocacy Committee within the Royal Australasian College of Physicians. Her PhD is in epidemiology and population health.
Josiah Tualamali’i is a Pacific youth advocate from Ōtautahi Christchurch with lived experience of depression. He’s a former panel member of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction (2018), mental health policy advisor & board member you can find him on Twitter @JosiahT_NZ
Kathy Errington is the Executive Director of the Helen Clark Foundation, a public policy think tank based at the Auckland University of Technology.
Kirk Hope is the Wellington-based chief executive of business advocacy group, BusinessNZ. Kirk was previously head of the NZ Bankers’ Association, and has been a member of a range of government working groups on tax, fair pay agreements and the future of work.
Dr Mark Boyd is a journalist and academic at the University of Auckland. His doctoral thesis analyses television news coverage of New Zealand election campaigns 1993-2017.
Matt McCarten (Ngāpuhi) is the Auckland director for the Labour Party. He is the former president of the Alliance party, former Labour chief of staff, and longtime unionist. McCarten is often described as an all-round master strategist.
Mike Williams is a former Labour Party president and an experienced political commentator. He is now the chief executive of penal reform organisation the Howard League.
Neale Jones is managing director at lobbying firm Capital Government Relations. Before that he was chief of staff for Jacinda Ardern and former leader Andrew Little.
Richard Wagstaff was elected NZCTU President in 2015. He was previously CTU vice president and PSA national secretary. Wagstaff is a member of the last government’s future of work forum.
Ron Mark (Ngāti Raukawa, Te Arawa, Tuwharetoa, Ati Awa, Ngāti Porou, Whakatohea, Rangitane and Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa) holds the portfolios of defence minister and veterans affairs minister, as a New Zealand First list MP. He served in the military and was mayor of Carterton.
Ross Bell is the outgoing executive director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, a position he had held for 16 years. Bell is heading to the Ministry of Health, where he will take up the role of manager of public health capability.
Russel Norman in the Greenpeace NZ executive director. He was formerly co-leader of the Green Party, where he was spokesperson for climate change and finance.
Sandra Lee-Vercoe (Ngai Tahu) was the first Māori woman to win a general electorate seat and the first person to lead a kaupapa Māori party – Mana Motuhake – into Parliament. She was minister for conservation, local government, and associate minister of Māori affairs in the Labour-Alliance coalition.
Shamubeel Eaqub is an economic at Sense.Partners who makes economics easy. He is also an author, media commentator and a thought leading public speaker. Eaqub lives in Auckland with his wife and son.
Dr Siouxsie Wiles is an Associate Professor and head of the Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab at the University of Auckland. Wiles is a microbiologist, a gifted science communicator, and has been on the frontlines of NZ’s fight against Covid-19.
Sophie Handford was one of the leaders of the New Zealand branch of the School Strike for Climate. And in 2019, at 18 years old, she was elected to the Kāpiti Coast District Council in the Paekākāriki-Raumati ward councillor.
Tania Sawicki Mead is the director of JustSpeak, a youth led movement for transformative change in the criminal justice system. Mead was born in Te Whanganui-a-Tara and has worked in international human rights policy in government, with former refugees in the community sector, and on migration, justice and social policy at Parliament.
Join us here at Newsroom.co.nz on election night from 6.30pm.
