Liam Hehir

Liam Hehir is from Rongotea, a small village in the Manawatū hinterland. He was formerly active in the National Party and writes about politics, religion and popular culture. He really hates it when people put cute or quirky references in their online bios.

Politics

Nov 11, 2020

After a year of acrimony, Shane Reti is the nice guy National needs

The elevation of Dr Shane to the deputy leadership may not set the world on fire, but his calm capability will be a balm for the wounded political party, writes Liam Hehir.

Politics

Oct 27, 2020

One big idea for the National Party to show it's up for fresh thinking

The case for a dramatically different way of distributing benefits.

Politics

Aug 6, 2020

Jacinda Ardern, conservative

The prime minister is no free-market ideologue, but there is a conservative streak to her leadership, and that delights committed conservative Liam Hehir.

Politics

Jul 19, 2020

The National Party is not an ideological movement

Why being a conservative party isn't the same as being a party with conservatives.

Politics

May 22, 2020

Simon Bridges was brought down by his own shortcomings – and by terrible luck

Bridges will be licking his wounds right now, but don't count him out for good.

Politics

May 21, 2020

National needs the leadership challenge to be a clean kill. It won’t be one

The divisions roiling National might be forgivable if they resulted in a newly invigorated party. That seems highly unlikely now.

Society

Mar 23, 2020

‘Rongocare’: How a small NZ village is helping its people through the pandemic

Rongotea has created a pandemic support network with not much more than a cellphone, an email address and goodwill.

Politics

Mar 3, 2020

A step by step guide for compulsory anonymity in political donations

Keep politicians in the dark about who pays for their campaigns.

Politics

Feb 4, 2020

More than just electoral logic, ruling out Winston was the right thing to do

The decision to rule out working with NZ First was more than just cold hard electoral calculus from Simon Bridges.

Politics

Dec 9, 2019

Integrated schools have leaky roofs too

Liam Hehir makes a plea to education minister Chris Hipkins not to discriminate against integrated schools when it comes to school funding.

Politics

Nov 27, 2019

The very young Nat: Does the 17-year-old stand a chance in Palmerston North?

And how did William Woods, who is still at school, with the National Party candidacy in the first place?

Politics

Jul 29, 2019

National’s path to victory in 2020

The just completed party conference confirmed a widespread unity under Bridges, while Ardern is under more pressure than ever

Politics

May 28, 2019

The National Party needs a new Big Bad

With a capital gains tax off the political agenda, the opposition needs to find the government's achilles heel

Politics

May 23, 2019

Take it from a Christian conservative: a Ngaro splinter party is a terrible idea

The last thing we need is for the place of Christianity in the public square to become ghettoised and weird.

Politics

Mar 14, 2019

Sorry but Shane Jones is Chris Finch from The Office

This man is full of himself, makes vulgar jokes and often blunders over the line of acceptable professional decorum. For all his awfulness, however, Finch never seems to get in trouble

Politics

Feb 28, 2019

Does Cameron Slater’s departure from Whale Oil signal the end of an era?

After news of Cameron Slater's departure from Whale Oil, Liam Hehir reflects on the fading influence of New Zealand's politics blogs.

Society

Feb 7, 2019

If Jacinda doesn’t know the Treaty, what hope is there for the rest of us?

When even the 'woke' are ignorant about Te Tiriti o Waitangi, it's clear we need to make teaching its history compulsory in schools, writes Liam Hehir.

Politics

Jan 30, 2019

Nick Smith is the latest cheerleader for a four-year term. Here’s why he’s wrong

Compared with other democracies, New Zealand has relatively few checks on its parliament

Politics

Nov 4, 2018

The impossible situation for Iain Lees-Galloway

In the case of Karel Sroubek, the immigration minister can insist on his blamelessness but seems denied the means of proving it

Politics

Oct 27, 2018

The case for anonymous political donations

In the aftermath of the Jami-Lee Ross saga many have called for increased transparency around political donations, saying it's better for a healthy democracy. But what if that's completely backwards?

Politics

Oct 19, 2018

Bridges slammed the waka jumping bill. Now he can, and should, use it on Jami-Lee Ross

Jami-Lee Ross's actions mean they're more than entitled to invoke it to throw him out of parliament

Politics

Oct 16, 2018

Is National really so stupid as to jump on a Shearer-Cunliffe-Little-esque carousel?

Bridges is under huge pressure today after the Jami-Lee Ross saga, but his MPs would be foolish to start apeing Labour's approach to leaders in opposition

Politics

Sep 27, 2018

Is feel-good symbolism really worth the cost of this oil and gas ban?

If it's all for symbolic reasons, that's fine, but let's be clear that's what it is

Politics

Sep 17, 2018

Why are the woke set not battling to de-platform Winston Peters?

There has been a growing effort in NZ to silence those who feed racial division. So where's the clamour from the Greens and the rest on the deputy PM?

The Spinoff is made possible by the generous support of the following organisations.
Please help us by supporting them.