LUXON, NATIONAL AND THE FAILED COUP: COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Luxon leadership challenge: In the end, they didn’t have the numbers (paywalled)
Jenna Lynch (Stuff): What just happened? A total mess is what
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): National’s in a worst of all worlds situation now
Janet Wilson (Post): National is now marooned in the worst of all political worlds (paywalled)
Richard Harman: How not to organise a coup (paywalled)
Anneke Smith (Post): Rebellion in the ranks leaves National firmly on back foot (paywalled)
Jo Moir (RNZ): Christopher Luxon’s leadership victory: You come at the King, you best not miss
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Can National put the leadership questions behind them?
Anna Whyte (Interest): Luxon’s leadership: What on earth just happened and what happens next?
The Post: Editorial: A circus controlled by clowns (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Post): Christopher Luxon’s very downcast victory (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): Christopher Luxon leadership challenge: Did the Prime Minister do the right thing? (paywalled)
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Yesterday Luxon won, again. Who lost?
Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): Nothing to see here: Christopher Luxon has the full support of his caucus
Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): What will voters take away from Luxon’s chaotic two-day caucus crisis?
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Luxon remains National Party leader
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Hang in there, Chris Penk!
Ani O’Brien: Chris Penk took the fall, but here’s what I know
Brent Webling (Herald): Luxon’s comms team need to step up, and the PM needs to listen to them (paywalled)
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): The limits of the CEO Prime Minister (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Luxon wins second confidence vote as plotters can’t count (paywalled)
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Confidence only gets you so far: Undefeated, PM Christopher Luxon is still on the ropes
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Luxon is born again, again – but can he resurrect National?
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Labour’s dream and National’s nightmare: Luxon down but not out
Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): All the times Christopher Luxon said ‘fix the basics and build the future’ in one 76-second press conference, ranked
Mandy Te (Interest): National MPs probably weighed up opportunity vs risk in leadership vote, political commentator says
Grant Duncan (The Conversation): Luxon survives. But why do National and Labour both struggle with effective leadership?
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): Those trying to roll Luxon are a pack of fools
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): What does National hope to achieve?
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Here’s what the National Party needs
Peter Williams: National’s Bad (Really Bad) Day
The Overhang: Putsch comes to shove
Steven Cowan: Christopher Luxon is just a symptom of a much deeper problem
NATIONAL PARTY LEADERSHIP: REPORTING
Justin Hu (1News): Luxon wins confidence vote, claims his caucus is united
Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira (RNZ): PM Christopher Luxon survives another confidence vote with ‘full support’ of caucus
Stuff: Luxon survives second caucus challenge as Penk stripped of portfolios
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Luxon clings on as PM after surviving second confidence vote
Post: ‘A big mission and purpose’: Luxon turns focus to election after winning confidence vote (paywalled)
Julia Gabel, Thomas Coughlan, Jamie Ensor and Adam Pearse (Herald): PM Christopher Luxon sacks Chris Penk from Cabinet, strips portfolios after leadership challenge
Henry Cooke and Nick James (Post): Christopher Luxon sacks Chris Penk, says he mounted campaign against him (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): National MP Chris Penk announces retirement after failed leadership plot against Christopher Luxon
RNZ: Chris Penk says he will not seek re-election after losing ministerial portfolios
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): The scene inside the National caucus room
ELECTION 2026, POLLING AND THE CAMPAIGN
Justin Hu (1News): Poll: Opportunity Party surges as NZ First slides amid Luxon saga
Zeb Tupa’i (Herald): Labour leads National as Opportunity Party hits 8% in new poll
RNZ: The Opportunity Party could decide next government, new poll shows
Nick James (Post): New poll shows Opportunity rising to kingmaker position (paywalled)
Julia Gabel (Herald): Poll: Christopher Luxon drops in preferred Prime Minister rankings
Adam Pearse (Herald): Labour’s ‘door open’ to Opportunity, senior roles for Te Pāti Māori ‘unlikely’ as Chris Hipkins clarifies vague remarks
Kelly Makiha (Herald): Chris Hipkins’ regret over Rotorua’s emergency housing crisis (paywalled)
Emma Ricketts (Stuff): Make it make sense: Fact-checking National’s tax claims
Fox Meyer (Newsroom): National uses nonsensical AI website to attack Labour’s tax policy
Anneke Smith (Post): Labour quietly ditches promise to set out who it could work with (paywalled)
Sam Sherwood (RNZ): Rakesh Naidoo told police boss two weeks before his Labour Party candidacy selection
Tara Ward (Spinoff): Eight parties vie for students’ votes in raucous Dunedin election debate
The paywall now starts partway through all Democracy Project newsletters. Please take out a paid sub if you want to support this service and access the full content, including the following sections: DEFENCE, SECURITY AND SPACE; ENERGY AND ELECTRICITY; HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS; ECONOMY, TAX AND THE COST OF LIVING; BANKING, FINANCE AND THE FMA; DATA CENTRES, TECHNOLOGY AND AI; BUSINESS, MEDIA AND APPOINTMENTS; LOCAL GOVERNMENT, COUNCILS AND INFRASTRUCTURE; WATER, ENVIRONMENT AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT; HEALTH, DISABILITY AND SOCIAL SERVICES; CARTOONS
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Democracy Project to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.