Former prime minister Sir John Key has revealed that were he in America and able to vote in the 2016 election he would’ve voted for Donald Trump. And in the 2022 Brazil election he would’ve voted for Jair Bolsonaro.

The revelations came in an interview on the Both Sides Now show, a new online series hosted by members of the Labour and National youth wings. At the end of Key’s interview, the hosts conducted a speed round of 20 quick questions, and Key answered them all with ease.

A range of topics were covered: Sugar tax (“not a fan”), compulsory te reo in schools (“don’t mind that, actually, funnily enough, but only in primary school”), whether alcohol sponsorship of sports should be banned (“no”), whether police should permanently carry handguns (“if they want to”), whether prisoners should have the right to vote (“no, definitely not”), someone from the opposite side of the political aisle he most admires (“Michael Cullen”), person living or dead he’d most want to have dinner with (“Nelson Mandela”).

The big question was left until last. In the United States in 2016…Clinton or Trump? “Oh, Trump,” Key responded quickly. “But I mean, you know, I’m a right wing voter and I’m never voting left,” he elaborated.

“I’m not saying it would’ve been the right decision but I’m just saying it’s what I would’ve done.”

What about in Brazil? Would Key have voted for Bolsonaro, the newly-elected far-right president? Key answered a bit more hesitantly this time. “Well, yeah that’s right wing as well, um, yes I think so.”

After thinking for a moment, Key softened his position. “Some of these people are getting pretty crazy on the right so even I might not wanna vote there…. but philosophically I’ve never voted anything other than right so I’m not going to start arguing about voting left now.”

A late surge of ballots on Saturday, plus special votes, suggests the total turnout in Tāmaki Makaurau will overtake that of the last local election – just. In 2019 the turnout of eligible voters was 35.3%. This time, when you add the 6,500 special votes that the council has today advised remain to be counted (and assuming they’re valid), the figure is 35.6%. 

Here’s how turnout has ranged since the councils were merged into the “super city” structure in 2010.

The highest turnouts in the Auckland election were in Aotea/Great Barrier (55.2% on the preliminary count), Warkworth (51.9%), Waiheke (50.4%), Wellsford (46.5%) and Ōrākei (45%). 

The lowest turnouts were recorded in Ōtara (21.9%), Papatoetoe (23.9%), Māngere-Ōtāhuhu (25.3%), Manurewa (26%) and Papakura (26.9%).

Both the prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, and the leader of the opposition, Christopher Luxon, have expressed concern about the turnout in the local elections. Local Government NZ has called for “short, sharp and independent review”. 

Most special votes are sent to the Electoral Commission to be validated on the electoral roll before being added to the final count. Even were half of them to be ruled invalid, however, last election’s turnout would still be pipped. The final count is expected on Friday.

See also: A 10-step plan to reverse the ‘absolute shambles’ of collapsing local turnout

The image of the day, brought to you by the world’s 43rd best suburb.

Today’s image of the day features a rather forlorn looking Ralph Hotere looking out over the central Auckland suburb of Kingsland. He’s thinking “is this really the 43rd coolest suburb in the whole world? Seriously?” (According to Time Out, it is).

Six people have been charged following a disruptive climate change protest on a Wellington motorway this morning.

Police were called to the Terrace Tunnel at about 7.35am following reports of people blocking the road. It was reported by some media that it included a person who had attempted to superglue their hands to the road in an effort to stop traffic.

Wellington area commander inspector Dean Silvester said the protest was lawful, but the actions on the motorway were not. “Being on foot on the motorway is incredibly dangerous, not only for those individuals, but for motorists,” he said.

“We will not hesitate to take action in cases where safety is threatened.”

The six people have been charged with wilful trespass and criminal nuisance.

Nine new cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in New Zealand – all identified as community transmission from within the country.

Of the new cases, seven were detected in Auckland and the remaining two in Wellington. It brings the total number of cases, both active and recovered, up to 20.

“An increase in cases over the last week was not unexpected and the growth in monkeypox case numbers in New Zealand reflects overseas trends,” said the Ministry of Health.

“While anyone can get monkeypox, overseas it has mostly impacted the MSM (men who have sex with men) community and people who have sex with MSM. The general risk of contracting MPX in New Zealand remains low.”

Disgraced former TVNZ host Kamahl Santamaria has issued an apology for “any and all behaviour that may have made anyone feel uncomfortable” – but signalled that additional allegations are due to be published.

Santamaria was briefly the co-host of Breakfast, before disappearing from the airwaves in May. It was later revealed he had been accused of workplace harassment both at TVNZ and his former employer Al Jazeera.

Today’s apology, shared directly to his own website, is only the second time Santamaria has acknowledged the claims levelled against him. He also suggests that further allegations about his behaviour will soon be revealed.

“The allegations are broad and with no particulars – making it difficult for anyone to respond to – so I will be as interested as anyone to read the article when it is published,” he said. “The fact however that it is ‘a story which includes several allegations’ against me makes me wonder if the alleged behaviour of other people at Al Jazeera will finally be attributed to named individuals, or if I will remain the apparent face and name behind every alleged wrongdoing that happened there.”

Santamaria said that he had come to understand that what he previously thought was “flirtatious, over-friendly, ‘just a bit of banter’, or simply within the bounds of acceptable in the prevailing newsroom culture was, in fact, not. As a journalist, and a person, I should have done better.  I should have been better.”

The past few months had been “humbling”, said Santamaria. “I’ve had to confront a lot of uncomfortable things about myself, and my family has been forced to look at me in a different light. They have also had to endure a lot of invasive and unwanted attention from members of the news media.”

Auckland Theatre Company has announced the six shows that will make up its 2023 programme, the 30th since the company launched in 1993. The programme includes three works by New Zealand playwrights, two shows brought back from the ashes of Covid, a big budget Shakespeare, and some crowd-pleasing favourites.

Reuniting for the first time in a decade, and dropping new music as well, Blink-182 have announced a New Zealand tour for early 2024 (yes, we’re at that point of the year where even 2023 is too soon for new gigs).

The iconic 90s group will play one show at Auckland’s Spark Arena on February 23 before heading to Christchurch on February 26. It’s part of a massive global tour that’s kicking off this coming March.

The band will be joined for their local shows by Rise Against. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, with the first single from the band’s upcoming 10th album due the following day.

The climate change minister has defended the plan to charge farmers for emissions, saying it comes down to one simple reason: “we want to stop climate change”.

The government yesterday released its proposed agricultural emission scheme. As detailed in today’s Bulletin, that involves charging farmers for methane and fertiliser emissions, using a levy that will be set by cabinet, with advice from the Climate Change Commission either every one or three years.

James Shaw, who admitted he was overruled on his desire for a cap and trade system, told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking this was about being a world leader. “This isn’t just about what we’re doing here in New Zealand, but if we can develop a system that’s functional, and it works, and allows food production to work without higher emissions,” he said.

After Hosking queried whether the proposal was simply an “experiment” – and one that could cause devastating results for our economy – Shaw said it wasn’t the biggest experiment going on at the moment. “We’re currently conducting the largest experiment in human history by pumping gigatons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and seeing what happens as a result,” said Shaw. “That’s the biggest experiment I can ever imagine.”

While some farmers have gone public with their concerns about the proposal, Shaw said the plan was built in consultation with the sector (although admitted that nobody likes to be told their taxes are going up). “The modelling we released yesterday was actually on the numbers we were provided [by the sector] in July,” he said. “There are some modifications that will inevitably happen, but we adopted almost entirely the proposal that the sector gave us.”

The plan for an emissions charge is set to go through cabinet next year and be in place by 2025.

Newsroom’s Jono Milne has a comprehensive read on the news that Ruapehu Alpine Lifts (RAL) has appointed voluntary administrators. RAL employs about 196 staff and has operated the Whakapapa and Tūroa ski areas in the central North Island since the 1950s. RAL released a statement saying the past three years had been difficult dealing with the pandemic and poor weather this ski season.

Speaking to RAL’s financial difficulties last week, climate scientist James Renwick said that skiing will become more untenable as temperatures increase and that he’s “told the North Island ski operators more than once that things are going to become marginal fairly quickly”.

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