Loud whispers in the wings as leaders prepare to debate

Social media comments create drama for Labour and National ahead of tonight's first debate, while National's potential supporting acts continue to pull focus.

Mōrena, and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, September 19, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.

In today’s edition: independent inquiry into historical abuse at Auckland's Dilworth boys school released; Auckland mayor issues manifesto ahead of election; clouds of dust are visible from kilometres away in Esk Valley as silt becomes airborne; but first, tonight’s leaders’ debate is the main event but sideshows continue to distract

Who has the harder job tonight?

On the main stage tonight, we have Labour leader Chris Hipkins and National leader Christopher Luxon participating in the TVNZ leaders’ debate. The Herald’s Claire Trevett offers a preview (paywalled), writing that all Luxon has to do is survive and “not give people a reason to believe he can’t handle the top job”, while Hipkins has to convince viewers that Luxon isn’t cut out for the top job. Trevett argues that on that basis, Hipkins has a harder job. The debate kicks off at 7pm on TVNZ 1 tonight. We’ll be liveblogging it on The Spinoff. As a former high school debate champion who was notorious for not doing any prep, I am Switzerland when it comes to ruling on the apparent debate preparation regimes of both leaders.

National and Labour both wading through candidate’s social media sludge

Ahead of the debates, the critical supporting acts and the side dramas are proving to be a distraction. Both National and Labour have had candidates outed for holding anti-vaccination and anti-science views. National’s Hamilton East candidate Ryan Hamilton has said he no longer holds his anti-fluoridation views and while Luxon says the comments made by Hamilton were “entirely inappropriate and wrong”, Hamilton would remain the party’s candidate. Labour list candidate Deborah Rhodes was found to have shared views about the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine. The vaccine is highly effective at protecting against multiple strains of HPV, several of which cause a range of cancers. Rhodes, who sits at 72 on the list and is unlikely to see the inside of parliament, made the comments on Facebook in 2019, describing the vaccine as “poison”, saying it sterilised boys, was “genetically engineered” and contained “altered DNA”. She has said she no longer holds those views. Hipkins said he is “happy” to look into social media posts.

‘Nah, I don’t want to be part of it’

While Christopher Luxon continues to rule out the hypothetical of needing NZ First to form a government, Winston Peters and Act’s David Seymour are attempting to one-up each other on relitigating the role of the country’s founding document. Peters says Act is too soft on treaty issues (paywalled), while Seymour reiterated the call for a referendum on the Treaty at his campaign launch. The Herald’s Audrey Young provides some salient analysis (paywalled) of the policy differences between National and Act, noting the parties’ differing positions on the Treaty as an area of difficulty. The re-emergence of race and treaty issues as a political football isn’t without democratic consequences. Speaking to Eugene Bingham, Iwi Chairs Forum spokesman Te Huia Bill Hamilton says the impact on Māori when they become the footballs again is simple. “They don’t vote,” says Hamilton. “Our people just say, ‘Nah, I don’t want to be part of it’.” 

‘We need to protest and participate’

If all this leaves you feeling uninspired, disenfranchised or shaking your heads, Nadine Anne Hura does a beautiful job of exploring the reasons people don’t vote this morning on The Spinoff, speaking to people and not experts or politicians. ​​Mike, a retail salesperson from Porirua told her “Politicians are all as bad as each other. I don’t want any of them. Politics is a load of crap. You can’t believe anything anyone says.” Hura offers hope, describing a duality and offering up a reason to vote, no matter how weary you might feel. “Participating in the election – voting – doesn’t mean that we don’t also continue to protest and resist. There is duality to everything. That’s the lesson. We need individual strength and collective strength. We need to protest and participate.”

Join a community of readers dedicated to supporting our work

We’ve recently shared some feedback from our members on what they appreciate about The Spinoff and why they support us. If you too value our work and want to help us do more of it, please consider joining The Spinoff Members. Every dollar donated exclusively funds our journalism and ensures we keep bringing you the kind of stories you want to read. Join now.

Ka nui te mihi to our members for their support and kind words.

A ‘catalogue of damage and injustice’ at Dilworth

Led by Dame Silvia Cartwright, an independent inquiry into historical abuse at Auckland's Dilworth boys school released yesterday has described a “catalogue of damage and injustice”. Police believe up to 233 Dilworth students were victims of sexual or physical abuse between 1950 and 2018. Of the 171 former students who provided information about sexual abuse for the inquiry, 126 reported being abused at the school. As the Herald’s John Weekes reports (paywalled), Steve Brown, a former Dilworth Old Boys’ Association president, attended many court hearings to show his support for abuse survivors. Brown says “he was often at odds with some in the school establishment as the scale of abuse became clearer and calls for justice louder.” He said the school for far too long was obsessed with money and reputation, to the detriment of survivors. The board of Dilworth School issued an apology yesterday.

Auckland’s wishlist and the possibility of shrinking Wellington’s

With the central government elections taking up a fair chunk of time and attention, it’s easy to forget local government rolls on. It’s also rolling in with agenda items for wannabe MPs and the next government. Just as the mayors of the Far North put their hands up for a justified slice of political attention last week, Auckland’s mayor Wayne Brown is taking his shot at getting Auckland’s wishlist on the agenda, releasing an Auckland Manifesto, which he has sent to political parties ahead of the election. Brown spoke to Q&A’s Jack Tame about it on Sunday. The manifesto sets out six points Auckland Council wants action on, arguing the city generates a huge share of New Zealand's growth but isn't correspondingly rewarded with greater autonomy. Brown is calling on competing political parties to offer the city more devolved powers in exchange for electoral support. Brown hasn’t had a great run with media, and I say this carefully as an Aucklander, but I do think it’s worth a watch.

Meanwhile, in Wellington, the Herald’s Georgina Campbell is reporting (paywalled) on mounting concerns about the health of Wellington city council’s finances as councillors assemble the city’s Long Term Plan.

🚨 Mega Gone by Lunchtime announcement 🚨

This Wednesday, from 9am, Toby Manhire will be hosting a 12-hour Gone by Lunchtime Megapod election special. Manhire will be recording for 12 hours straight, which is both very admirable and possibly chaotic. There will be plenty of guests and it will be streaming live on The Spinoff. We’ll have more details tomorrow, but block out your diary and join us from 9am on Wednesday.

Click and Collect

• “The valley is now a dustbowl” — following Cyclone Gabrielle, 20 million tonnes of silt and sand was dumped on Hawke’s Bay’s floodplains. The silt is now airborne and the clouds of dust are visible from kilometres away.

• Good report from Newsroom’s Emma Hatton on the success of the Kāinga Ora project to dramatically reduce public housing build times

• 6.4% of the $2.8bn of the Provincial Growth Fund has been spent in the Waikato. According to Stats NZ data, the region makes up 10% of the country’s population and is picked to be one of New Zealand’s fastest-growing regions

• Spring has definitely sprung - after the wild wind, some places may experience high temperatures and then a drop to single figures this week

• Australian government tells the online dating industry that its must improve safety standards or be regulated

Click and Elect

• Labour is promising up to $4000 per household to encourage the use of solar energy

• The Electoral Commission finalised this year’s list of parties and candidates over the weekend — some topline numbers here

• Campaign trail today: Chris Hipkins and Chris Luxon are in Auckland

Right now on The Spinoff

Charlotte Muru-Lanning speaks to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, co-leader of an invigorated Te Pāti Māori and front-runner in her electorate. Duncan Greive chats with the NBR’s Todd Scott about his daring but ill-fated citizen’s arrest. Tommy de Silva reports on Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei’s desire to initiate a conversation about changing the date of Auckland’s anniversary. Renters United's Éimhín O'Shea argues that no-cause evictions hurt everyone, including landlords. Alex Casey stays overnight on Celebrity Treasure Island and reviews her experience.

Sporting snippets

• At the request of several of his Spinoff colleagues (including me), Calum Henderson kindly explains how the NRL finals work and what the Warriors need to do to win.

• Naledaleda, Fiji would have had cause to celebrate whichever way yesterday’s Rugby World Cup match between Australia and Fiji went, with players from the village in both teams

• Speaking of…“they should be throwing baguettes, croissants at me. It was not good enough...” Eddie Jones on the Wallabies’ loss to Fiji at the Rugby World Cup

• Ryan Fox is the first New Zealander to win the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth

• “After falling asleep on the couch watching sport one time too often, my spine feels as fragile as a Jenga tower in the middle of a keg party” — Dylan Cleaver sacrificed his spine to watch a weekend of sport and offers his thoughts on all the above and more over on

  The Bounce

Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz.

If you liked what you read today, share The Bulletin with friends, family and colleagues.