Gone at lunchtime: disgraced National MP Hamish Walker resigns from politics

Gone at lunchtime: disgraced National MP Hamish Walker resigns from politics
Pattrick Smellie
The National Party has had its second MP for Clutha-Southland in a row withdraw their candidacy ahead of a general election, following the decision by the sitting MP, Hamish Walker, not to contest the Sept. 19 vote. His decision was conveyed ahead of a meeting this afternoon of the National Party's board, which party leader Todd Muller had demanded last night after Walker admitted he was behind the leak of private health information about covid-19 sufferers to news media. The bombshell acknowledgement reverberated politically all the more...

More Election 2020

Did Ardern just hand the election to Luxon?
Opinion

Pattrick Smellie: Did Ardern just hand the election to Luxon?

It's hard to see how Jacinda Ardern hasn't just handed National an unobstructed 2023 election win.

Pattrick Smellie 19 Jan 2023
Holding your nerve: a guide to 2023
Economy

Pattrick Smellie: Holding your nerve: a guide to 2023

Coping with covid required stoic compliance. Coping with inflation and a recession will require different attributes: mainly nerves of steel.

Pattrick Smellie 20 Dec 2022
Government to force Big Tech to pay for news
Law & Regulation

Government to force Big Tech to pay for news

News media lobbying has convinced the government to introduce a mandatory negotiation process for big tech platforms to pay for news.

Daniel Dunkley 04 Dec 2022
GAVIN EVANS: Climate change: announcements or action?
Election 2020 Best of BusinessDesk

GAVIN EVANS: Climate change: announcements or action?

The closure of the Marsden Point oil refinery may show whether NZ is genuinely interested in reducing emissions - or just exporting them.

Gavin Evans 24 Dec 2020