News Briefing Top 10 for 24 October 2026
1. Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): The real reason Kerrin Leoni had to go is not about the gangs
Kerrin Leoni kept quiet about her own meeting with Mongrel Mob members for nine days while Chris Hipkins condemned the Green and Te Pāti Māori MPs’ gang pad visit, Newsroom’s Jonathan Milne writes. He argues Labour’s problem is not meeting gang members but “the hypocrisy and hush-up afterwards”. Milne reports Leoni had apparently withdrawn from the pad visit on the advice of Labour’s leadership, and others in her campaign team knew and stayed silent. He suspects more Labour heads will fall before election day.
2. Andrea Vance (Post): The Post/Freshwater Strategy poll: Party loyalties fray as late-deciding voters hold cliffhanger election in their hands (paywalled)
Almost two-thirds of voters (65%) believe fundamental change is needed to the way the country is governed, the Post’s Andrea Vance reports from the latest Post/Freshwater Strategy poll. Another 62% say political parties are not being straight with the public about the challenges facing the country, and 52% say politicians are offering easy answers to problems that require hard choices. Nearly half (46%) say their vote is mainly about stopping a particular party or coalition from taking power. Party loyalty is fraying too: just 14% always back the same party, 15% were still undecided, and 48% of minor-party voters are fed up with National and Labour. The poll, funded by Infrastructure NZ, has Labour on 28.7% and National on 27.6%.
3. The Post: Editorial – A deadline on democracy (paywalled)
An estimated 321,973 eligible New Zealanders were still off the roll days before enrolment closes on Sunday, and just 68.6% of 18- to 24-year-olds are enrolled, a Post editorial notes. The Government’s own regulatory impact statement warned that ending enrolment during voting would disproportionately affect Māori, Pacific, Asian and younger voters, and then Attorney-General Judith Collins found Paul Goldsmith’s law an unjustified limit on the right to vote. The paper calls the change “a troubling trade-off”.
4. Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Why the Kerrin Leoni scandal might not hurt Labour as much as you think (paywalled)
The Kerrin Leoni scandal is clearly a disaster for Labour but “may not exactly hurt the left’s chances” of forming a government, argues the Herald’s Thomas Coughlan. He says it almost guarantees Oriini Kaipara will hold Tāmaki Makaurau, helping Te Pāti Māori trigger an overhang of one to perhaps four seats, so the right must win well to stay in power. Coughlan credits Hipkins with handling it well, and says the talk in Wellington is that Opportunity is losing momentum.
5. David Fisher (Herald): Ex-NZSAS commander blasts current NZDF leadership – and NZ First’s Ron Mark says he’ll get rid of them (paywalled)
Former NZSAS commander Bernard Isherwood says the Defence Force cannot perform its core function because of inadequate leadership and a lack of accountability, the Herald’s David Fisher reports. NZ First’s Ron Mark backs him and says he would remove the current leadership if he becomes Defence Minister again: “We have wood rot.” The NZDF disputes Isherwood’s attrition figure of about 14.5%, putting regular force attrition at 7.9%, and Fisher establishes that Tony Davies and his predecessor did serve in high-risk zones.
6. Jamie Ensor (Herald): Chief of Defence Force Tony Davies resigns after ‘errors of judgment’, having ‘inappropriate relationship’
Chief of Defence Force Air Marshal Tony Davies has resigned, admitting an inappropriate relationship while he held unit command that he did not disclose when he had the opportunity, the Herald’s Jamie Ensor reports. Defence Minister Paul Goldsmith agreed Davies’ position was “no longer tenable”, and the matter has been referred to the Inspector-General of Defence. Davies, appointed in 2024 on the recommendation of then minister Judith Collins, had 42 years of service.
7. Ernie Newman (Post): Don’t let the mobile duopoly sneak back in (paywalled)
One NZ and 2degrees want to merge the radio equipment on their mobile towers into a joint company, RANCo, and former TUANZ chief executive Ernie Newman argues in the Post that the Commerce Commission should say a resounding no. He warns customers would be left with “three brands, two networks”, and that savings would flow to dividends rather than lower prices. Newman says One NZ owner Infratil looks the winner, and that telecommunications is the big industry where competition was actually fixed.
8. Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (Spinoff): Labour has a gang problem. But not in the way you might think
Chris Hipkins called Labour’s $2.75m funding of a Mongrel Mob-led addiction programme “a mistake” without mentioning that reports found a significant number of participants stayed off methamphetamine, writes the Spinoff’s Lyric Waiwiri-Smith. She says Kerrin Leoni was at worst dishonest to her party and the electorate, and at best showing up for whānau. Labour has spent about nine days in gang headlines instead of on the cost of living, she argues, and risks alienating loyal Māori voters in favour of centrist swing voters.
9. Brian Easton: Fitting Lobbying Into Democracy
The Taxpayers’ Union is a nonprofit company “much less transparent than a conventional union”, writes Brian Easton on Pundit, reviewing Nicky Hager’s Dirty Work. He highlights its shared office and leadership with The Campaign Company, which lobbies for commercial interests, and Hager’s chapter on Big Tobacco lobbying, which notes links to ministers Casey Costello and Chris Bishop. Easton stops short of calling the TPU racist but says it is opportunistic, and asks whether lobbying biased towards those who can afford it is enhancing democracy.
10. Jenna Lynch (Stuff): How one MP torpedoed the left’s election campaign into chaos
Kerrin Leoni turned up to a whānau function attended by gang members in Labour Party kit, with a campaign sign of herself and Chris Hipkins, and told them to enrol to change the government, writes Stuff’s Jenna Lynch. That’s campaigning, she argues, and Leoni had little choice but to stand aside after misrepresenting the event. Lynch acknowledges the state-care roots of gang culture, but says it is “rich” for Te Pāti Māori to complain about the politicisation of its own gang photos.
Below the paywall are 23 more synopses and 11 further links. They cover the fallout from Kerrin Leoni’s resignation, Opportunity and the post-election coalition maths, the enrolment deadline, the Te Tai Tonga and Wellington North races, the parties’ AI policies, the Fire and Emergency chief’s resignation, Andrew Little’s first year as Wellington mayor, and new essays on poverty and race relations. And today’s cartoons. Paid subscribers get the full briefing every day, and keep the Democracy Project going.
