Now to decide final election outcome

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern welcomed 22 new Labour MPs to the Beehive yesterday and also held preliminary talks with Green Party co-leaders James...

Barrington declaration not so great

After eight full months of the global pandemic, the pressure to keep economies open and let the chips (or rather, the elderly) fall where they may is...

‘Local world’ lacks contest of ideas

This general election has been called a “Covid election”, as voters have the important task of figuring out and choosing between different...

Don’t you dare get political now . . .

About seven out of 10 voters this year have bravely cast their votes amidst the crossfire of political argy-bargy, before today’s election day...

Why cannabis ‘Yes’ vote is crucial

by Briar Dunn Let’s be real — the current illegal status of cannabis is not stopping anyone from using it. In fact, 80 percent of New Zealanders...

Now for election and counting day

We’ve had the final poll, the final leaders’ debate and this is the final day of campaigning; all that is left is for the minority who did not...

Canada’s legalisation experience

by Matthew Elrod, Victoria, BC, Canada It’s been fascinating to watch the debate over cannabis law reform in New Zealand from Canada, especially the...

Price hikes show need for action

Rapidly-escalating house prices are having severe consequences for prospective first-home buyers and the many others who can’t even see a prospect...

Boldest and most forward-looking

Sitting here trying to add my bit to the election campaign, unfortunately policy-low and leadership-high as the major media make it, I try to think...

Make sure your votes count

New Zealanders have been voting early in droves in this year’s general election. By the end of Monday 1.28 million had voted, up from 549,260 at the...

Matai institute open for research

Four years in the making, including national and international collaboration and the successful raising of $10 million to turn vision into reality,...

Trump with Covid-19: The odds

Now is when it gets interesting. When it was announced last Friday that US President Donald Trump had fallen ill with Covid-19, it was hardly a...

Much more than a view on cannabis

Many people who oppose the legalisation of cannabis do so because they disapprove of this widely-available drug which about 80 percent of New Zealand...

Keen to apply RMA reform handbrake

On the home stretch in election 2020, and with record early voting minimising the impact of any final-week scandal, the latest political poll shows...

Hopes of Maori and nation behind her

Glenis Philip-Barbara is not one to shy away from a challenge, in fact she seems to relish them, and this key unifier in our community now faces...

GHL shares annual update with public

Gisborne Holdings Ltd took its annual meeting to the public yesterday in an informative presentation that was appreciated by those attending, who...

A break after reporting on the last 18 elections

The 2020 election will be an unusual one for me — for the first time in 54 years I am not involved in the election coverage. That is a period that...

Festival ‘full of uplift and joy’

After stamping a bold new mark on the Aotearoa arts scene with a stellar inaugural festival last year, and bravely proceeding this year in the face of...

Morals aside, doors swing two ways . . .

Labelled “iconic” from the moment it came off the drawing board, the new Gisborne Airport terminal building has been completed and was blessed at...

Sir Ivor didn’t see it coming . . .

by Max Wallace In the New Zealand Law Journal of April 7, 1959, Ivor Richardson, later Dean of the Law Faculty, Victoria University, Judge of the High...

On those debates, addiction services

It was a fiery, no-holds-barred leaders’ debate last night that . . . no, hang on a minute, for those who watched the chaotic, angry and...

Poll suggests new hue for electorate

The East Coast has been a reliably blue electorate since 2005 when Anne Tolley defeated Moana Mackey, daughter of the previous MP Janet Mackey who had...

Let’s legalise and control cannabis

Whether arguing for or against legal regulation of cannabis, you will have noticed commentators consistently working to belittle the opposing position...

Stage set for next leaders’ debate

It is a small amount of momentum but Judith Collins and her National Party will take it and look to build on the tick-up in recent polling —...

New approach to rates allocation

It's fantastic that The Gisborne Herald has finally extended contribution to this column to the five new councillors. I look forward to regularly...

Left to see how big Labour’s win will be

With less than a week to go until advance voting starts, the latest political poll suggests the main outcome to watch for at this year's general...

Let’s make tiny house concept work locally

So good to see Joe McClutchie's Ngati Porou Whare Moe initiative. With all the noise from the bigger centres about how unaffordable housing is, I have...

For democracy, against electoralism

Child poverty claim was misleading

External funding a huge GDC tailwind

The latest chief executive's report for today's council meeting illustrates just how much external funding has been driving and enabling GDC...

Collins needed to impress in debate

Most commentators have called the first leaders' debate as a win for National's Judith Collins, and she needed that after the 1 News Colmar Brunton...

PGF goodwill could swing electorate

The announcement that Labour would scrap the Provincial Growth Fund if re-elected is a perfectly reasonable and unsurprising reaction to the prospect...

Great to return to Level 1 freedoms

Relieved retailers around the country will have been removing spaced queuing stations, perspex screens and registration books this morning — to a...

Why we must protect and promote indigenous languages

If I forget my native speech, And the songs that my people sing What use are my eyes and ears? What use is my mouth? If I forget the smell of the...

‘No’ to legalising cannabis monster

As I read the front-page article on September 10 about the cannabis shops, I was horrified at the thought of so many of these places around our region...

Proud of recent GDC commitments

In 2015, I had the honour of meeting with Senator John Lewis at Capitol Hill in Washington DC. John grew up in an era of racial segregation. Inspired...

Let’s fight back against anti-vaxxers

Nobody wants to argue with anti-vaxxers. It's draining and leaves you rocking in a corner with clumps of your own hair between your hands. Not really...

GDC’s proposed rates shake-up

How rates are allocated among different groups of ratepayers is up for adjustment with the release this week of five proposed changes to the council's...

Alternative has not been developed

In July 2016 a two-year-long effort to amalgamate the district's economic development and tourism agencies was facilitated by excluding a third leg of...

Tough years ahead for New Zealand

Treasury's Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update (Prefu) yesterday revealed a lesser impact from Covid-19 than had been feared but “profound...

Time for common sense, pragmatism

The old adage that “a week is a long time in politics” was never more true than when applied to our beloved Tairawhiti in the middle of two major...

Barging facility back on agenda

News at the weekend that the remaining $45 million allocated to this region from the Government's Covid Recovery infrastructure fund is attached to a...

To resist change is to resist life

“Every worm, every insect, every animal is working for the ecological wellbeing of the planet. Only we humans, who claim to be the most intelligent...

Steering NZ to safer roads

Calls by the Automobile Association for roadside testing to be ramped up should be heeded by the government as the country's death toll from road...

China’s ‘residential schools’

“Residential schools” were a common feature of European settler societies (except New Zealand) until quite late in the 20th century, and their...

‘Complete control’ emerging here

Thank you, Jeremy and Aimee, for giving us a platform to share our concerns and gain more publicity. The minor-party candidates are not given the same...

Uneducated tool of deep state replies

“You are being named now Jeremy — you ‘left-leaning uneducated' tool of the deep state . . .” So, that's the take on your editor now by NZ...

Help GDC prepare its 10-year plan

Local government in New Zealand operates on annual, three- and 10-year planning cycles, with a great deal of emphasis, consultation and...

Damaging trust, causing harm

by Aimee Milne Supporters of Jen Brown’s Advance NZ Public Party defend “freedom of speech” as a strawman argument. I am not challenging freedom...