Articles in ‘Central Government’

Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has criticised Reserve Bank Governor Anna Breman for publicly backing US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell while he is subject to a criminal investigation in the United States. *Summarised by Centrist* Peters said the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is “statutorily independent” of government on monetary policy, but that independence does not extend to commenting on US domestic politics. *“We remind the…

In my previous column, I argued that the Manage My Health breach revealed a hollowed-out state. But there’s something even more damning than the structural failures I outlined. This wasn’t a bolt from the blue. It was foreseeable. And it was ignored. ***Previous column click here*** The most uncomfortable fact about the theft of 430,000 medical documents isn’t that hackers got in. It’s that someone tried to warn us six months earlier, and…

At the end of the year, commentators across the spectrum have crowned Chris Bishop as 2025’s “Politician of the Year”. It’s an almost unprecedented honour for someone who isn’t even a party leader, but he spent the year at the centre of most big political stories. He was, as The Post put it today, “the main character of New Zealand politics”, often making more headlines than the Prime Minister and driving the Government’s most ambitious reforms.

New Zealand First is regrettably opposed to the India Free Trade Agreement announced today, Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters says. “We consider the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement to be neither free nor fair,” Mr Peters says. “Regrettably, this is a bad deal for New Zealand. It gives too much away, especially on immigration, and does not get enough in return for New Zealanders, including on dairy." “New Zealand First urged its coalition…

Labour leader Chris Hipkins says voters will see a very different Labour Party at the 2026 election, arguing the country has “moved on” and claims that the party’s policies have shifted accordingly. His flagship economic pitch centres on a capital gains tax targeted at investment and commercial property, a long-debated Labour policy. Labour claims the proposed tax would fund three GP visits a year, a Future Fund, cervical screening and other…

Prior to the election in 2023 National promised to fix the economic disaster that the Labour Government had left behind and also promised to do away with all race based legislation and stop all talk of co-governance at any level. After seeing the latest figures released yesterday (18th Dec) it is obvious that the policies that the coalition government have implemented are starting to pay a dividend with the GDP figure for the 3rd quarter…

New documents released by Cam Slater of The Good Oil have intensified scrutiny of Willie Jackson’s handling of staff disputes inside the Manukau Urban Māori Authority, where his wife serves as CEO. The materials, which appear to support key parts of Matt McCarten’s complaint to Parliament, emerged after several days of silence from major news outlets. Slater, who first published the documents, said he released them because the public…