At a chaotic Act campaign launch, an assault and a very unwelcome guest
His name is Karl, he's a Freedoms NZ candidate, and this was the third election event he's disrupted in less than a month.
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Monday, September 18, by Catherine McGregor. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: Goodbye recession, hello economic stagnation?; Hard times for Kiwis in London; Wild weather continues for Wellingtonians. But first, David Seymour probably wasn’t expecting this sort of drama at his big campaign launch event.
The scene onstage at the Act campaign launch, and ‘angry fence man’ Karl Mokoraka.
A chaotic afternoon at the Civic
Act’s campaign launch drew headlines this weekend, though probably not the sort leader David Seymour was hoping for. His speech was interrupted by the now-familiar Karl Mokoraka, who previously heckled Chris Hipkins on a South Auckland walkabout and famously climbed over a wall to disrupt a standup with Chris Luxon and Simeon Brown, accidentally gifting us with the meme of the campaign so far. As detailed in an on-the-ground report by Toby Manhire on The Spinoff, Mokoraka extemporised on “everything from South Auckland underrepresentation to morality to BlackRock Investments” while for 10 minutes security tried in vain to reach his position in the Civic Theatre stalls. How did Mororaka make it past security in the first place? A deep dive by Newshub’s Jamie Ensor reveals he was wearing a fake moustache made from “eyelash adhesive”. The drama wasn’t over yet. “A handful of overzealous Act supporters lashed out at media” recording the scene, writes Manhire, with one Newshub camera operator reporting he had been struck in the face. Seymour says he is “really sorry” about the “totally unacceptable” incident, and the party is investigating.
Seymour plays the hits
As for the campaign launch itself, Seymour reiterated Act’s opposition to co-governance, ethnicity-based rights, and what it sees as "revisionist interpretations" of the Treaty of Waitangi. Act wants its own interpretation of the Treaty, emphasising a “colour-blind” approach to equity, put to a public referendum. As The Spinoff’s Tommy de Silva writes in a comprehensive explainer on Act’s approach to the Treaty and co-governance, many Treaty experts believe it’s impossible to reduce the Treaty to digestible tidbits for a referendum while maintaining its meaning, and that the public isn’t sufficiently educated on the Treaty to make an informed decision. Meanwhile across town, Labour launched its women’s health manifesto, including a commitment to raise the free breast screening age to 74 years old from its current maximum of 69. Glenn McConnell from Stuff notes that this was originally a 2017 Labour and NZ First coalition commitment, “which hasn’t been actioned despite calls from the Opposition and Breast Cancer Foundation”. The manifesto also includes a promise to create an endometritis action plan under which medical professionals will be better trained to recognise and treat the often-misdiagnosed condition.
NZ First releases its list, Greens and Labour court the unions
That was Sunday. The day before it was NZ First creating headlines – more specifically its Tauranga-based candidate Kirsten Murfitt, who has voiced enthusiastic support for a number of conspiracy theories regarding chemtrails, vaccines and the 9/11 attacks, among others. She scored a pretty decent 11th place on the party list, meaning she’d be an MP if NZ First achieved around 8% of the vote. Also on Saturday both PM Chris Hipkins and Greens co-leader Marama Davidson spoke at an election event organised by the E Tū union. Both had worker-friendly policies to plug: Hipkins said Labour would ensure the minimum wage is raised every year, “closing the gap between the minimum and living wages”, while Davidson confirmed a manifesto commitment to five weeks statutory annual leave by the end of 2025. As reported by RNZ, the current four-week minimum entitlement has been in place since 2007. Before that it was three weeks, and prior to 1974, just two weeks.
The debate countdown is on
Both major party leaders have a relatively light schedule today, no doubt to allow clear air for prep ahead of tomorrow’s TVNZ debate. Toby Manhire has an excellent piece this morning on how the Chrises will be preparing (campaign chairs Chris Bishop and Megan Woods are both staying mum on who from their team is standing in for their opponent, sadly), what they want to achieve from the debate, and how the whole event has changed since the first televised debate in 1969. Legal challenges, memorable moments, moderator controversies and The Worm (RIP) – it’s all here. Highly recommended reading before you settle down in front of the box at 7pm tomorrow.
How to communicate climate change
Climate change is discussed every day, but how do we keep people interested in that discussion? Nikki Wright of Wright Communications works with clients like Toyota and Urgent Couriers in the sustainability space, and David Robertson runs Hardwired, a consultancy which deploys behavioural psychology to nudge consumers toward the desired behaviour. They joined The Fold with Duncan Greive to discuss the art of keeping audiences engaged with these big, gnarly issues.
Listen to The Fold episode now. (Sponsored)
Goodbye recession, hello economic stagnation?
The recession might already be over, reports Susan Edmunds for Stuff. GDP data released this Thursday is expected to show a small amount of growth in the June quarter, pulling NZ out of technical recession. Some industries would have seen more growth than others, according to Kiwibank economists. “Some would benefit from the end of weather disruption, while others would be boosted by migration.” Thanks to the big population increase this year, it’s likely that on a per capita basis, the economy still shrank over the quarter, said ASB’s Nat Keall. “So while we may no longer be in recession, it could still feel like one for a lot of households and businesses.” Still, the end of the recession is good news – though maybe don’t get too used to it. “Our view is that the economy will re-enter a recession in the third or fourth quarter,” said BNZ chief economist Mike Jones.
Wild weather continues for Wellingtonians
The worst of the weather may be over, but Wellington residents are being warned to expect strong winds to continue for their morning commute. Yesterday saw gale force winds batter eastern and southern parts of the North Island, and the top half of the South Island. The worst of the weather was in the Wellington region, where high winds “forced the closure of a major state highway, lifted roofs, smashed windows, felled trees, blew vehicles from roads and cut electricity to thousands of homes,” the NZ Herald reported. Flights were halted at Wellington Airport yesterday evening, and this morning all departing Air New Zealand flights have been cancelled. Most of those who lost power last night are now reconnected, but residents in Plimmerton and Whitemans Valley in Upper Hutt are still waiting. The Remutaka Hill road, which was closed last night, has now reopened although strong wind warnings remain in place.
Hard times for Kiwis in London
As someone who first arrived in London on a short-term visa that ballooned to a decade-long stay (and who’s now back living in the city, really temporarily this time), I couldn’t not read the Sunday Star-Times’ cover story (paywalled) on the changing face of the London OE. To spare the feelings of any London-based readers, I’ll not mention how little I paid for my Zone 2 flat back in the day. But even in the past few years rents have skyrocketed, Alice Peacock reports. One Wellingtonian paying an already eye-watering £850 (NZ$1791) a month for a room in a four-bedroom flat in Clapham just received notice of a rent increase of around £250 ($523) a month. Others are moving out of the city to towns within commuting distance, or giving up on the London dream entirely and starting again elsewhere in the UK. Meanwhile the economic downturn is making job hunting harder than it has been in years. The best way into employment right now? Being a chartered accountant.
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Click and Collect
Why do you have to pay to listen to your voicemail? It’s not really clear, but here’s what each mobile provider charges for the privilege.
It’s one of the least-loved public transport providers in the country, but ferry service Fullers360 is a finalist in an excellence in tourism award.
Jacinda Ardern has been filmed being heckled in Toronto by alt-right “news “ outlet Rebel Media
Click and Elect
The National Party candidate favoured to win in Hamilton East has spread misinformation on flouridation for years, RNZ’s Anusha Bradley reports.
Quit fixating on Winston Peters, David Seymour tells Toby Manhire (and the rest of the media)
Has there been a duller election campaign in recent memory, asks The Post’s Andrea Vance (paywalled)
The Wellington Central electorate is on a knife edge, with three candidates almost tied in the polls.
Campaign trail update: Both Hipkins and Luxon are in Auckland today.
Shanti Mathias meets Lan Pham, the Christchurch MP-in-waiting who loves native fish and hates politics. Heidi North reflects on how her mother influenced her body image – and how that all changed when her mum got cancer. Ignore the haters, says Sam Brooks: this season of Drag Race Down Under is good, actually. Alison Cutler writes about the emotional fallout of being sucked into a romance scam.
Sporting snippets
What a result! Fiji have beaten Australia 22-15 in the RWC – the island nation’s first victory over Australia in 69 years.
Warrior Shaun Johnson says his calf injury is healing well and he’s confident he’ll be good to go against the Broncos next weekend.
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