The Spinoff

Chlöe Swarbrick with former Auckland mayors Phil Goff and Len Brown at the opening of the City Rail Link (Photo: Phil Walter/Getty)

Chlöe Swarbrick and the weight of expectations

A decade into her career, the former political prodigy is knocking on the door of cabinet – and trying to manage her intensity.

‘So let down’: Complaints of children’s commissioner whose term was cut short revealed

Lyric Waiwiri-Smith

‘So let down’: Complaints of children’s commissioner whose term was cut short revealed

Lyric Waiwiri-Smith

East of Dunedin: The NZ locations behind Netflix's new hit series

East of Eden. Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames in episode 103 of East of Eden. Cr. Kirsty Griffin/Netflix © 2026

East of Dunedin: The NZ locations behind Netflix's new hit series

Act’s fiscal plan: Deeper cuts, earlier surplus, but no income tax cuts

Hayden's New Cool Pics - 12

Act’s fiscal plan: Deeper cuts, earlier surplus, but no income tax cuts

We asked disrupted businesses if the City Rail Link has been worth the wait

Rose Hope from Crushes.

We asked disrupted businesses if the City Rail Link has been worth the wait

Love, actually, at 29: 'Her parents absolutely hate me'

a purple sky background with clouds, a paper heart in the centre and a cutout of hands crossing over each other to signal no

Love, actually, at 29: 'Her parents absolutely hate me'

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Meet Aotearoa's new queen of crime fiction

The Spinoff Review of Books

Chlöe Swarbrick and the weight of expectations

We asked disrupted businesses if the City Rail Link has been worth the wait

A retired nurse who thinks Chris Luxon gets far too much flak

Characters of the Campaign Trail

The election takes a conservative turn

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The poet who's in it for the money

The Spinoff Review of Books

Pierre and Henry Beasley, the brothers behind Balu Brigada.

Why doesn’t anyone know anything about Balu Brigada?

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Meet Aotearoa's new queen of crime fiction

The Spinoff Review of Books

A black and white photo of two women and three children with an old Buick.

'This one's yours': On being raised by a nanny

Venetia Sherson

a black and white background collage of hospitality shopfronts. in the front, a portrait of a man with a large grey beard, blue eyes and wearing a black cap

Where to eat in New Plymouth – an insider's guide

Charlotte Muru-Lanning

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The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending October 9

The Spinoff Review of Books

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How do you make this election funny?

Toby Manhire speaks to comedian James Nokise about politics, comedy and travelling the length of the country to perform a show about both.

At Large with Toby Manhire08 Oct 2026

Were we watching the same debate?

Gone By Lunchtime: Were we watching the same debate?

To the windows, to the wall – our hosts debrief after the first televised debate between the two Chrises.

Gone By Lunchtime07 Oct 2026

A political lobbyist on ‘rephrensible’ tactics in NZ democracy

A political lobbyist on ‘reprehensible’ tactics in NZ democracy

Toby Manhire speaks to Holly Bennett, founder of government relations agency Awhi, about the reality of lobbying in Aotearoa, and to Spinoff deputy editor Alice Neville about the very best of canned margaritas.

At Large with Toby Manhire06 Oct 2026

The army of indies igniting election 2026

The army of indies igniting election 2026

Toby Manhire looks at the independent creators attempting to address the problems with youth enrolment, before speaking to Shanti Mathias from Policy.nz and Jean Donaldson from On the Fence about how their respective tools can help voters find clarity during a hectic election campaign.

At Large with Toby Manhire05 Oct 2026

The debate explosion

Gone By Lunchtime: The debate explosion

Reuniting IRL in the Spinoff podcast studio, our hosts dissect the first action-packed week of the 2026 election campaign.

Gone By Lunchtime02 Oct 2026

A retired nurse who thinks Chris Luxon gets far too much flak

The election takes a conservative turn

The fiscal holes of New Zealand politics, ranked

A retired nurse who thinks Chris Luxon gets far too much flak

Mary Tahiwi admits the PM isn’t a natural politician but says he’s the right person in the right job.

Characters of the Campaign Trail

The election takes a conservative turn

The fiscal holes of New Zealand politics, ranked

Latest video

A cut-out black-and-white image of Robbie Nicol and a small plastic bag of cocaine.

NZ's cocaine use has nearly tripled since 2017

An abstract orange background with cut-out black-and-white images of Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon in front, and then Robbie Nicol in front of that.

Chris v Christopher: Round one

A collage of black-and-white images including: Brooke van Velden, Robbie Nicol, the Equal Pay Act 1972 and historical photos of New Zealand in the 1970s.

The history of pay equity in Aotearoa

A cut-out black-and-white image of Robbie Nicol holding a jar of diesel fuel, and Donald Trump. Text on top of the image reads, "How diesel is about to make the cost of living worse".

How diesel is about to make the cost of living worse

Cut-out black-and-white images of incumbent Labour MP Helen White, list MPs Melissa Lee of National and Ricardo Menéndez March of the Greens, Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong, NZ First’s Sheldon Eden-Whaitiri and Act’s Alex Price over an orange background. Text on top reads, "Why is the Mt Albert electorate so important this election?"

Why is the Mt Albert electorate so important?

Our writers

Alice Neville

Alice Neville

Politics

Kai

Articles by author

Election 2026: Here's how the first leaders' debate unfolded

Government officials think scrapping the BSA is a really bad idea

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Emma Gleason

Emma Gleason

Culture

Business

Kai

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Pay equity's back in the spotlight for the election – here's what you need to know

Nocturnalists: Sophie Gilmour has a genius tip for a great night out

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Joel MacManus

Joel MacManus

Politics

Business

Kai

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Chlöe Swarbrick and the weight of expectations

New Zealand is falling behind on tech regulations

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Hayden Donnell

Hayden Donnell

Politics

Society

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Walking with Winston: The NZ First leader takes his campaign to the streets (and malls) of the North Shore

Act preaches free market economics in a literal echo chamber

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Toby Manhire

Toby Manhire

Politics

Culture

Sport

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One man and his wild, windmill-tilting mission to make this election funny

Do the polls one month out foretell the election result? Here’s what recent history tells us

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Liam Rātana

Liam Rātana

Ātea

Politics

Sport

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The battle for Te Tai Tonga: Four candidates, one enormous electorate

Why are so many Māori voters turning to the Greens?

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Chris Schulz

Chris Schulz

Society

Music

Business

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We asked disrupted businesses if the City Rail Link has been worth the wait

Why doesn’t anyone know anything about Balu Brigada?

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Madeleine Chapman

Madeleine Chapman

Politics

Culture

Sport

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Rage against the machine: I refuse to join any supermarket rewards programmes

Madeleine Chapman

NZ’s retirement village population is almost entirely white. Where is everyone else?

Madeleine Chapman

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Tara Ward

Tara Ward

TV & Film

Politics

Society

Articles by author

East of Dunedin: The NZ locations behind Netflix's new hit series

From rosettes and pamphlets to promotional condoms: Inside the world of election ephemera

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Henry Oliver

Henry Oliver

Politics

Business

Music

Articles by author

Act’s fiscal plan: Deeper cuts, earlier surplus, but no income tax cuts

The election takes a conservative turn

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Lyric Waiwiri-Smith

Lyric Waiwiri-Smith

Politics

Ātea

Culture

Articles by author

‘So let down’: Complaints of children’s commissioner whose term was cut short revealed

Lyric Waiwiri-Smith

One Candidate, One Pint: Labour's Te Pūoho Katene wants the mandate to carry the mana of the people

Lyric Waiwiri-Smith

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Claire Mabey

Claire Mabey

Books

Culture

Articles by author

Meet the tiny indie publisher behind the New Zealand novel of the year

It’s the year of the horse book

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Alex Casey

Alex Casey

TV & Film

Culture

Society

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Review: Big Girls Don’t Cry captures the endless ache of adolescence

Buyer beware: New pineapple Fruju found cosplaying as grapefruit

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Veronica Schmidt

Politics

Culture

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The reason Jack Tame kept saying 'to the waaaall' during the TVNZ leaders' debate

Veronica Schmidt

Welcome to The Spinoff’s brand spanking new website

Amber Easby & Veronica Schmidt

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Calum Henderson

Calum Henderson

Culture

Sport

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Sky Sport’s Betcha ad shocker – what actually happened?

Calum Henderson

How to keep watching football now the World Cup is over

Calum Henderson

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