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The Spinoff
2 days ago
- General
- The Spinoff
The Weekend: Matariki is the perfect time to start afresh
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. Mānawatia a Matariki! Congratulations, you made it. Welcome to the Māori new year. I like the idea of starting fresh on the darkest day of the year. It makes sense that after weeks of feeling the heavy weight of dark and cold, there would be a clear marker for rounding the corner. It's like a reward for persevering and, in my opinion, should include at least one more statutory holiday (take it from January 2). Having our big holiday and new year celebrations in the summer is like being made to run a marathon without water, only to then be hit with a hose at the finish line. Way too late, excessive and not needed: the finish line (summer, daylight) is enough of a reward at that point. This week has been a freezing, dark week where there's nothing to do but sit in front of the heat pump (if you're lucky enough to have one) and contemplate every life decision you ever made. In other words, it's the perfect time for reflection and planning, and a couple of days off. The fact that people spend the Gregorian new year hungover, full of sun and often fresh from a two-week holiday, and then try to reflect on their life and decide what they want to do for the next 12 months is frankly unhinged. No wonder everyone sets ridiculous resolutions and then crashes out in winter when they realise 'morning runs' are hell on earth when there's ice on the ground and you can't see shit. Meanwhile, right there at the perfect moment is Matariki. There to say hey, we've been in the slog era but we're on the way out. Let's reflect on the past 12 months and plan for the next 12. Let's take time to connect with the whenua and reaffirm our place in it, remember those we've lost and plan for those still to arrive. That's the perfect time to be making realistic resolutions. Less 'run 23 marathons' and more 'spend more time with family', less 'lose 75kg' and more 'learn about my own history'. Because you know a desire is real when you want to do it even on the coldest, darkest days of the year. The stories Spinoff readers spent the most time with this week Feedback of the week 'Good on you for knitting socks; hand-knit socks are the best. I hope you enjoy your time here in Aotearoa and, if you choose to, get to stay permanently.' 'yikes. that's what Broadmore left me with here. big ole dirty YIKES.'
The Spinoff
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
What to watch over the long Matariki weekend
The Spinoff writers on what you should pop on your watchlist ahead of the long weekend. Matariki mā Puanga 2025 (Whakaata Māori, TVNZ+) Cosy up with a cuppa and a warm blanket to watch the Matariki celebrations beamed straight into your living room from 5.45am Friday, June 20. The mammoth five hour broadcast begins at dawn with a traditional hautapu ceremony at Tirorangi Marae in Ohakune, with hosts Stacey Morrison (Te Arawa, Ngāi Tahu) and Mātai Smith (Rongowhakaata, Ngāi Tāmanuhiri) inviting everyone across Aotearoa to explore the old traditions of Matariki – and create some new ones of their own. / Alex Casey Land of the Long White Cloud (TVNZ+) If you need an injection of Northland sand, surf and sun over the chilly weekend, not to mention some much-needed crack-up yarns, I highly recommend Florian Habicht's 2009 documentary Land of the Long White Cloud. Centred around the annual Snapper Classic fishing contest on Ninety Mile Beach, Habicht meets the competitors vying for the whopper $50,000 prize. But this is so much more than a documentary about a fishing contest – the sometimes staggering and frequently charming musings on love, life and death will have you falling hook, line and sinker. Habicht's equally excellent Kaikohe Demolition is also available on TVNZ+ for Matariki, plus there's an open air screening of James and Isey happening tonight in Kawakawa, and a couple of sessions in select Auckland cinemas over the weekend. / AC Runt (Neon) We stumbled across this charming and quirky Australian film last weekend, and had a delightful time watching it. Based on a book by Craig Silvey, Runt follows the lively adventures of 10-year-old Annie, who adopts a stray dog and enters him in an agility competition in the hope that the prize money will save their farm from drought and ruin. The trouble is, however, that Runt the dog gets stage fright when anyone other than Annie looks at him. With an impressive cast that includes Celeste Barber, Jai Courtney, Jack Thompson, Deborah Mailman and Matt Day, Runt is funny, heart-warming and full of sweet surprises. A wee gem for all the family. / Tara Ward Kōkā (in cinemas) Following a kuia named Hamo (Hinetu Dell), who picks up a wayward 20-something Jo (Darneen Christian) on her journey up the country, Kōkā follows a meditative and intergenerational road trip that traverses everywhere from boarded-up small towns to lush green bush to dripping caves. Director Kath Ahukata-Brown told The Spinoff that the film was 20 years in the making, and is an ode to her land and her people. 'I think the road movie genre shows a deeper connection to the land,' she says. 'I wanted the journey to tap into the collective desire we have in Aotearoa for finding those connections between each other, and protecting our land.' / AC Shrek: Kātahi Te Korokē (TVNZ+) From this week's New to Streaming: 'Shrek has been dubbed into more than 40 languages, but Shrek: Kātahi Te Korokē marks the first time a DreamWorks Animation title has been adapted into an indigenous language. Hot on the heels of several te reo Māori versions of Disney's beloved animated films, the adaptation is helmed by Tainui Stephens and stars the renowned musician and actor Maaka Pohatu as the titular gruff green ogre and Te Puaheiri Snowden as his wisecracking donkey sidekick. Experience the side-splitting, gross-out fairy tale like never before.' / Thomas Giblin Secrets Of The Octopus (Disney+) I loved My Octopus Teacher, but only recently recovered from its predictable but still heartbreaking ending. This series is completely mesmerising – it takes you under the sea all over the world to meet a cast of octopus who are shapeshifters, social networkers and masterminds (the three episode titles). One of the top searches related to the show is 'Is Secrets Of The Octopus real footage?' It is and it's otherworldly, like a high-def trip to outer space but you're in the ocean. The series strikes a nice balance between informative Paul Rudd narration, storytelling by scientists, and just letting you watch these cool creatures doing their thing. I felt compelled to take up snorkelling immediately, and had buzzy dreams afterwards. / Liv Sisson Kaleidoscope (NZ on Screen) If you want to see a few glimpses of good old Aotearoa in the 70s and 80s, look no further than this collection of eccentric little 90-minute documentaries. The title is fitting: all that holds it together is the 'arts' – all of them. There's profiles of artists like Francis Hodgkins and Rita Angus, a behind-the-scenes look of a film about the country's 'most controversial murder' and a handful of episodes about architecture. Other than the peep it gives us into the recent past, Kaleidoscope is charming for the way its subjects are somewhat candid and unsullied by a world where everything is content all the time. / Gabi Lardies Under the Tuscan Sun (Disney+) It's the season of new beginnings. Under the Tuscan Sun is a must watch for anyone going through a breakup or anyone looking to make changes in their life. Other than the fact we all want to vicariously buy a run-down villa in Italy and do it up, the movie is littered with loveable characters and the Gay and Away tour really sends it home. Uplifting. Lovely. Funny. A movie that could be described as a ray of sunshine. / GL Long Bright River (ThreeNow) Everyone is going on about Dept. Q but Long Bright River over on ThreeNow is way better. If you want a crime series written well and without unnecessary subplots and a predictable ending, then go for this excellent (if not pretty grim) series about a cop in Philadelphia who is struggling to cope with her sister's disappearance amid a spate of deaths. Amanda Seyfried is superb as troubled, solo mum who is sure that the deaths have more to do with murder than opioid overdoses. Well written, well acted, and nicely contained in a limited series. / Claire Mabey Code of Silence (TVNZ+) I've been on a crime binge recently (see above) and Code of Silence is one of the best I've watched. It stars Rose Ayling-Ellis who plays a Deaf woman recruited by the police to be a forensic lip reader. Ayling-Ellis (Deaf since birth) is absolutely riveting and the storyline is brilliant. For those after a good, solid crime story you can't get much better than this. / Claire Mabey
The Spinoff
4 days ago
- Business
- The Spinoff
Swears, spending and ‘making shit up': Inside scrutiny week, part one
A whole week dedicated to putting Budget 2025 spending under the microscope means a whole lot of bickering. Welcome to another edition of scrutiny week. Although our government is always supposed to be acting democratically or whatever, this relatively new process gives parliament's select committees the chance to put recent spending in Budget 2025 under a microscope, and really scrutinise where we put billions of dollars every year. The scrutiny job is really on the opposition MPs, who are allowed an arena outside of question time and regular committee hearings to debate with a minister (and ministry officials). For government ministers fronting the scrutiny, it can be an exercise in dancing around questions, playing with patsies from colleagues or casting their minds back to 2017-2023 – perhaps the name 'bickering week' might be a more apt title. There are heated back and forths, the odd revelation, and then the revolving doors of scrutiny spit out another minister. The Spinoff was there to witness at least some of these great moments on Monday and Tuesday. Social development Louise Upston appeared only slightly frazzled as she headed into the social services and community committee on Monday afternoon. She was joined by social housing minister Tama Potaka for the first 15 minutes of the hearing, and Labour MP Kieran McAnulty wasted no time trying to bait Potaka into tying rising homelessness to the government's recent changes to emergency housing gateways. No politician would willingly admit that, so Potaka didn't. Instead, the minister played into semantics. 'If you are talking about rough sleeping, [the census] also observes that the amount of rough sleeping between 2017 and 2023 increased,' Potaka said. Later, Labour MP Ginny Andersen questioned Upston on the rise of people on the jobseeker's benefit, and the minister leaned on a political debate classic: 'That's what we inherited 18 months ago, that's what we are dealing with.' It was a line Upston came back to later, when Andersen pressed her on rising unemployment. 'I accept the conditions that we have inherited,' Upston told her. And again: 'We are dealing with the circumstances that we inherited.' 'Oh, come on,' Labour's Willie Jackson muttered. 'You can't keep blaming us.' Disability support There was one revelation from Upston when she spoke as disabilities minister on Monday afternoon: that the Accessibility for New Zealanders Bill – which sought to improve systemic accessibility barriers for the disabled community – has been withdrawn, and that the minister will 'not focus on legislation in this term, but instead focus on practical terms'. These practical terms are the five areas of education, employment, health, housing and justice identified in the New Zealand Disability Strategy, and Upston promised a fully fledged version of that strategy, focused on these pillars, would be launched later this year. Regulation The finance and expenditure committee's Labour reps – Duncan Webb, Deborah Russell and Megan Woods – came into Tuesday morning's session with a bone to pick. Musings on the 'gradual eroding of our pioneering spirit' in regulation minister David Seymour's opening remarks made Russell mutter 'for fuck's sake' and scoff with her colleagues, and the Act leader made sure to end his speech with 'thank you to those who listened politely'. Suggestions from Webb that supposed ties between Seymour and the agriculture sector had impacted the regulatory reviews process led the acting prime minister (that's Seymour while Christopher Luxon is overseas) to claim that he was 'the most urban MP in New Zealand'. 'My main interaction with the dairy industry is with what we call a flat white, and when I go and visit farm animals – it's usually sheep in Cornwall Park.' There was a stumble when Seymour confused Green MP Francisco Hernandez with his colleague Lawrence Xu-Nan ('you're both studious and articulate'). Then on the topic of flour dust standards, after Webb asserted the minister was 'making shit up' by fudging numbers, Seymour had a different perspective: 'Well, I think you could argue that it's something that is not precise.' And on comments from Webb that the Act Party had been working too closely with 'lobby group' The New Zealand Initiative, Seymour replied 'actually, they're a thinktank'. It was a tense morning in Bowen House, but Seymour took it in his stride. 'We're going to make a great video on the behaviour of Labour Party MPs,' he warned, 'and I think people are gonna decide 'we don't want to make them the government next year'.' Te Tari Whakatau It was much more well-mannered in select committee room six, the Māori affairs room. Treaty negotiations minister Paul Goldsmith ummed, mmmed and ahhed his way through questions about job losses and Treaty commitments, but it was Te Tari Whakatau deputy chief executive Tui Marsh who had the most illuminating answer of the morning. When Ginny Andersen asked whether the ministry was finding it 'hard to attract Māori' workers given 'a number of decisions and positions your government is taking', Marsh said there was 'no doubt' that it was a factor. 'The current environment and the mahi itself is challenging, [as well as] being Māori in that mahi [Treaty settlements],' Marsh said. 'There are challenges in the way of thinking, there are challenges in the mahi that you have to do with your people.' On the lighter side, towards the end of the hearing, Goldsmith gave his pitch for a better Northland: 'a decent road, and making progress on the Ngāpuhi settlements'. Racing Racing minister Winston Peters largely discussed greyhound racing in the governance and administration committee on Tuesday afternoon. On the issue of racing infrastructure and rationalisation, Peters lamented the upkeep of some tracks around the country, and suggested that some local racing bodies should fire their boards and replace them with women. Why? Because 'women understand that it's all entertainment, that is the number one objective now', Peters explained. And asked about hurdles in the racing industry, Peters replied: 'they're all in parliament'. Foreign affairs Select committee room five was a crowded house on Tuesday afternoon – a small delegation from the Solomon Islands arrived behind foreign affairs minister Peters. He told newly minted Labour MP Vanushi Walters (who recently returned to parliament after David Parker's departure) that the problem with foreign affairs was that plenty of people had ideas on what should happen, instead of looking at what has happened, after she asked whether Aotearoa might join South Africa in forming a genocide case against Israel. It was a no to Walters, who frowned throughout the hearing, and when Greens MP Steve Abel suggested recognising Palestine could be a 'tool for peace', Peters responded that 'this would be an acceptance of a state of affairs which does not exist'. But, 'it's not my perception that matters'. Asked whether Aotearoa would strengthen its ties with China (as the prime minister is currently there), Peters encouraged the committee to 'think like the Chinese … [some people have] never read Chairman Mao's books, you don't survive all those thousands of years because you're not a clever people. 'The fact that some of us left there 5,000 years ago – or, two in this room, at least [referring to himself and committee member Peeni Henare] – is neither here nor there, although some people called me a commie when I first said that in 1996.'
The Spinoff
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Gone By Lunchtime: New polls, old PMs and a sacrificed goat
At the political half-time mark, we assess the ritual changeover, a brace of new surveys and a very New Zealand altercation at the music awards. We're officially in the second half of the term, a milestone marked by the historic handover of the hallowed deputy prime minister amulet from Winston Peters to David Seymour. The moment comes with pageantry, a flurry of interviews and a pair of new polls, which deliver intriguing, and sometimes divergent results. In a new episode of Spinoff politics podcast Gone By Lunchtime, Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas pore over the results and what they mean for the parties and the politicians in the post-budget, post-pay-equity-reshape wash-up. Plus: Jim Bolger and Jacinda Ardern have both been in the headlines in recent days. What do these returns tell us about the performance of their Chris-themed successors? And Chris Bishop found himself in a media moshpit after the Aotearoa Music Awards for calling the Stan Walker Toitū Te Tiriti parade 'crap' and earning the most painful denunciation imaginable: being called a dickhead by living legend Don McGlashan.
The Spinoff
30-05-2025
- Health
- The Spinoff
The Weekend: Might I suggest a walk?
Madeleine Chapman reflects on the week that was. There's something about a long weekend that somehow makes the week preceding it feel unfathomably long also. For that reason, and because we are entering into the darkest days of the year ahead of winter solstice, I am keeping this short and suggesting one simple tip. Go for a walk. This is not a revolutionary idea, in fact it might just be oldest idea in human history. But as each winter arrives, I understand more and more why my mum would drag me along on her daily walks when I was little. For those who are able to, a walk is the first step (ha) to solving every problem. Part of it is the walking, the movement, the forced breathing. The other part is the air, the space, the sun. Everyone goes through the same cycle when it comes to basic, trite advice such as 'go for a walk'. First, it seems fine and reasonable to try. Then it feels patronising, as if all of my very complex and unique problems could be solved with child's play. And then, after extensive and expensive therapy, the realisation that yes, going for a walk and eating a vegetable is in fact very important and useful in order to survive the dark, dreary days of June. So this long weekend, go for a walk. And while you're walking, listen to the first episode of Fury of the Small, our new narrative Dungeons & Dragons podcast. It's the perfect accompaniment to looking at trees and grass and even if you're unfamiliar with the game, you'll have the joy of listening to people do something they absolutely love and be really good at it. And if you really aren't convinced to walk, read some of our best essayists wax lyrical about their own relationships with walking (and swimming). If ever there was a time to reconnect with ourselves and nature, it's now. In her late 50s, Anna Sophia I discovered long-distance hiking – and woke up to a new life infused with the rhythms of nature. A mental health battle in 2020 led Shona Riddell to embark on an eye-opening journey of wild swimming – the kind that doesn't cease when the weather turns cold. Walking in isolation Dougal Rillstone wrote about walking while In MIQ, and how 'a good walk can save a person, now more than ever'. The art of the plod Anna Rawhiti-Connell finds freedom in being really shit at something, but doing it anyway. In praise of swimming I found peace by taking the plunge with Hinemoana, writes Leonie Hayden. The stories Spinoff readers spent the most time with this week A certain blue British dress inspires Anna Rawhiti-Connell to argue that it's twee to pretend that fashion and politics aren't intertwined Hayden Donnell braves an Auckland Council debate on upzoning to discover councillors trying to sabotage the City Rail Link An even grumpier Hayden Donnell threatens to emit a supersonic howl of despair if the superannuation eligibility age goes up Why is a proposed change to glyphosate (or Roundup) residue levels so controversial? Shanti Mathias explains A 45-year-old tech worker fights 'lifestyle creep' in this week's cost of being Feedback of the week 'On February the 6th I observe Bob Marley's Birthday' 'Super validating response, so undefensive, about the emotional unavailability of kiwis. The culture is emotionally repressed and shame-based, locking people into the most superficial and distancing ways of communicating. The evidence for this is the culture's alcoholism and high suicide rate (according to UNICEF recently the highest teen suicide rate in the OECD). Get thee to a psychotherapist Kiwis! Free yourselves from shame and fear of intimacy.' 'Your friendly festival driver here. My name's spelled with a J, but that's ok. That drive to stage door may have been one of the most thrilling adventures of my career – I won't be forgetting it anytime soon. – Jillian.'
