Salient’s Covering the Election!

It’s election season, and Salient is bringing you the coverage you need to keep informed about the candidates, key student issues, and more!

You’ll find our coverage of Wellington’s Electorates, Wellington Central and Rongotai, as well as national issues for the party vote, here. We’re talking to the local candidates, asking about how they’ll respond to issues students face in Aotearoa and Wellington specifically.

Additionally, we’ll be speaking to party leaders about their policy and what they aim to do in government following the election in October. Watch this space for our Election 2023 Issue, a student voter's one stop shop for election coverage.

The Leaders

Featured

Oct 2, 2023

Candidate Kōrero: Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (Labour Party)

Oct 2, 2023

We met the Prime Minister at his office in the Beehive—Chippy was 15 minutes late, largely due to a tray of sausage rolls being wheeled into his office (Fair enough).

Oct 2, 2023

Candidate Kōrero: Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (Te Pāti Māori)

Oct 2, 2023

When it comes to Te Pāti Māori’s political ideology, co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says it’s complicated. While the party was formerly “comfortable with National”, she says they now “lean left” in the “Western-centric sense”. But Ngarewa-Packer thinks they’re best described as simply “indigenous”.

Oct 2, 2023

Candidate Kōrero: Nicola Willis (The National Party)

Oct 2, 2023

Nicola Willis says she was never “a Young Nat or anything” during her time at Victoria University of Wellington. It's been a huge turn around for the MP vying to be New Zealand’s next Finance Minister, who says she “wasn’t even into politics” while studying a BA in English Literature in the early 2000s.

Oct 2, 2023

Candidate Kōrero: Winston Peters (NZ First)

Oct 2, 2023

Winston kindly came along to the Salient office for a robust and hostile 30-minute chat peppered with personal insults, including calling me ignorant, a hypocrite, and saying I need to find a new job.

Oct 2, 2023

Candidate Kōrero: James Shaw and Marama Davidson (The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand)

Oct 2, 2023

The Green Party have hit the ground running this election, being the first party to release their full suite of policies, which they say are unapologetically student focused. The Party’s policies include a free universal student allowance, reforming student accommodation, and working towards a student debt write-off.

Oct 2, 2023

Listen to The Interviews

WELLINGTON CENTRAL CANDIDATES

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEWS

News 2023

Ethan Manera

Candidate Kōrero: Scott Sheeran

Ethan Manera

Dr Scott Sheeran has lived many lives before throwing his hat in the ring for Wellington Central. He went from being “famous for not turning up at school”, and sporting dreadlocks while in a university band, to becoming a published author on human rights law and working multiple stints at the UN.

Ethan Manera

Zoe Mills

Candidate Kōrero: Ibrahim Omer

Zoe Mills

During his three years at Victoria University, Ibrahim Omer had a strict ritual every Friday afternoon: getting a coffee from Vic Books and a packet of sushi from MakiMono. Omer looks back at this time with fondness, and expressed immediate concern at the lack of students on campus before we even stepped foot into the Salient studio - “it's so quiet!”

Zoe Mills

Ethan Manera

Candidate Kōrero: Tamatha Paul for Wellington Central

Ethan Manera

Tamatha Paul (Waikato Tainui, Ngāti Awa) was in Bunnings trying to find a new light for her flat when her phone “started blowing up” with the news that Labour Party MP Grant Robertson wasn’t standing for Wellington Central this year. After receiving a phone call from Chlöe Swarbrick urging her to “just do it bro” and being pestered around Wellington by Green Party Councillor Thomas Nash, Paul said “the stars just aligned” and she decided it was the right time to run for Parliament.

Ethan Manera

RONGOTAI CANDIDATES

Featured

Niamh, News2023

Candidate Kōrero: Fleur Fitzsimons

Niamh, News2023

Fleur Fitzsimons is the picture-perfect Labour Party candidate—black blazer, red scarf, and all—with The Spinoff crediting her look to a Labour MP ‘laboratory’. Fitzsimons has been a Wellingtonian for 26 years, ever since she first moved to study Politics and Law at VUW. She joined the VUWSA executive, alongside the current Prime Minister, then VUWSA President, Chris Hipkins.

Niamh, News2023

Ethan, News2023

Candidate Kōrero: Karunā Muthu

Ethan, News2023

Karunā Muthu describes himself as a “political animal”. He's not lying; rocking up to our interview in his royal blue National Party branded jacket, he jokes that he’s going to be the Prime Minister of New Zealand. The National Candidate for Rongotai is optimistic he’s able to turn Rongotai blue, despite it being a safe Labour seat since 1996.

Ethan, News2023

News2023, Maia

Candidate Kōrero: Julie-Anne Genter

News2023, Maia

Julie-Anne Genter regularly braves the cold for a swim in the South Coast’s marine reserve, Taputeranga. “It’s really magic,” she says. So it was an easy choice to film a campaign video there—until a whale visited Island Bay the day of their filming, disrupting their plans. Genter wasn’t disappointed. What a better sign, she thought, for a Green campaign than a whale visiting.

News2023, Maia

LISTEN TO THE INTERViews

LAtest election news

Featured

Grant Robertson Votes, Eats Sausage, and Ignores Protesters on Campus

VUW has become a hotspot for politicians heading to cast their vote, with Labour’s Grant Robertson and Ibrahim Omer voting in the Hub last Wednesday, and the Greens’ Tamatha Paul and James Shaw, alongside Wellington mayor Tory Whanau, voting here last Monday. Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni showed up in support, but didn’t cast her vote.

OPINION: Not Keen on Either Chris? That’s Fine, You Still Have Options

Whether you're a politics nerd like me, or someone who can't stand it, I think that we can all agree that this election has been one of the most dry, bland, and uninspiring contests of recent years. We’ve got a choice between Chris and Chris for PM; one with hair, and one with considerably less hair; a seasoned politician and a seasoned businessman. The same lines are recited and the same pandering becomes easy to see through. ‘Does it really matter which Chris gets my vote?’

Election 2023: Pasifika Decisions

With the upcoming 2023 election only weeks away, it is extremely important for us as Pasifika to play our part and vote. Voting ensures that we are represented in Parliament and that we are at the head of the table when it comes to decision making that impacts Pasifika people.

Kiritapu Allan

Many of you may have heard of Kiritapu Allan's accident, which led to her resignation, and further statement to not seek re-election in the upcoming election. Honourable Kiri Allan, East Coast MP, Minister of Regional Development and Justice Minister, has been in the political sphere since 2017 when elected through the Labour Party list.

Fair Pay Agreements: What to Know

In November of last year, the Fair Pay Agreement Act passed its third reading in Parliament, supported by Labour, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori. Fair pay agreements (FPA) allow employees and unions to negotiate with employers on what a fair level of pay within an industry is.

GOVERNMENTALITY

Governmentality, hosted by Hollie and Xandi, takes you on a journey into the world of electoral politics in Aotearoa. With a General Election coming up in October, the pair race to bring you interviews with candidates, policy breakdowns, and budget bashing!

Episodes are released every Friday, and include conversations with party leaders, MPs and candidates, along with explainations for all the issues up for debate in this year’s election.