The clandestine campaign to dismantle Jacindamania
- Grant McLachlan
- 5 days ago
- 31 min read
The conventional wisdom about political popularity suggests that leaders rise and fall with natural electoral cycles—public favour waxes during times of prosperity and wanes when challenges mount. But the precipitous declines in support experienced by New Zealand’s two most successful Labour prime ministers, Helen Clark and Jacinda Ardern, tell a different story. Their falls from grace were not the result of democratic whim or policy failure, but rather the outcome of sophisticated, coordinated campaigns orchestrated by a network of right-wing political operatives who maintained the illusion of independent action while working in concert. This investigation reveals how the same cast of characters—pollsters, bloggers, lobby group directors, and political strategists—systematically dismantled two popular prime ministers over two decades, refining their tactics with each iteration while the public remained largely unaware that what appeared to be grassroots opposition was, in fact, a carefully choreographed performance by a small group of interconnected actors.
Hardball politics: The playbook for destroying “nice” leaders
American political strategist Lee Atwater once said that in politics, “perception is reality.” For those who master the dark arts of political warfare, the challenge isn’t just defeating an opponent—it’s destroying their greatest strength and turning it into a liability. When your opponent’s greatest asset is likability, empathy, and public approval, the playbook writes itself: relentless character assassination, manufactured scandals, and a sustained campaign to make the public question everything they once admired.
Helen Clark and Jacinda Ardern both faced this brutal reality. Two of New Zealand’s most popular prime ministers, both women, both Labour leaders, both targeted by sophisticated smear campaigns that would ultimately erode their political capital and force them from office.¹ The tactics evolved over two decades, but the architects remained largely the same—a network of right-wing activists, bloggers, pollsters, and lobby groups who perfected the art of political destruction while maintaining plausible deniability.
This is the story of how New Zealand’s right-wing political apparatus systematically dismantled two popular prime ministers, not through superior policy or democratic debate, but through astroturfing, coordinated attacks, and the weaponization of public discourse. It’s a story that begins with Don Brash and “Helengrad,” evolves through the revelations of Dirty Politics,² and culminates in Jacinda Ardern’s resignation after facing unprecedented levels of abuse and harassment.³
Astroturfs and the theory behind them
Astroturfing—the practice of creating fake grassroots movements that appear spontaneous but are actually orchestrated by political operatives and funded by wealthy donors—has become one of the most effective tools in modern political warfare.⁴ Unlike genuine grassroots movements that emerge organically from community concerns, astroturfs are manufactured from the top down, designed to give the impression of widespread public opposition while masking their true origins and funding.
The beauty of astroturfing, from a political operative’s perspective, is its ability to create multiple pressure points simultaneously. A single network of activists can operate numerous seemingly independent organizations, each targeting different audiences and issues, all while coordinating their messaging behind the scenes. When done successfully, astroturfing creates an echo chamber effect—the same talking points appear to emerge independently from farmers, taxpayers, small business owners, and “concerned citizens,” lending false credibility to manufactured outrage.
In New Zealand, the astroturfing playbook would be refined over decades. What began with relatively crude efforts in the early 2000s would evolve into a sophisticated network of interconnected organizations—the Campaign Company, Taxpayers’ Union, Free Speech Union, and Groundswell—each with its own public face but sharing personnel, office space, and often funding sources.⁵ As I revealed in 2021, these weren’t independent movements at all, but coordinated campaigns designed to give political parties like Act and National the cover to attack popular policies and leaders without getting their own hands dirty.⁶
“Helengrad”: The blueprint for destroying a popular prime minister
When Helen Clark became Prime Minister in 1999, she inherited a country weary of the free-market reforms that had dominated the previous decade. Her government’s early successes—repealing the Employment Contracts Act, establishing Kiwibank, introducing interest-free student loans, and overseeing sustained economic growth—made her increasingly popular with voters.⁷ By the mid-2000s, Labour had won three consecutive elections, and Clark appeared unassailable.
This popularity posed a problem for National and its allies. How do you defeat a prime minister who is widely respected, economically successful, and enjoys strong public support? The answer, as Don Brash and his strategists discovered, was to attack not her policies but her character, her style of governance, and ultimately her right to rule at all.
The term “Helengrad”—a portmanteau of Helen and Stalingrad—was crafted to paint Clark’s competent, hands-on leadership as authoritarian overreach. Australia’s The Australian newspaper ran a feature in 2000 titled “Siege of Helengrad,” describing Clark’s “uncompromisingly autocratic and pervasive leadership.”⁸ The term stuck, becoming shorthand for a narrative that cast every Labour policy as evidence of a “nanny state” intent on controlling New Zealanders’ lives.
The attack lines were coordinated. As Nicky Hager’s book “The Hollow Men” would later reveal, Don Brash’s leadership of the National Party from 2003 to 2006 relied heavily on advice from far-right strategists, including members of the Business Roundtable and Act Party figures.⁹ Email correspondence showed how attack bloggers, party strategists, and corporate backers coordinated their messaging to undermine Clark’s government.
The 2005 election represented the peak of this coordinated assault. Despite Brash’s controversial Orewa speech attacking “special treatment” for Māori and National’s sudden surge in the polls, Labour won the election—but only narrowly.¹⁰ The campaign had been vicious, marked by leaked emails designed to embarrass Brash, and equally damaging personal attacks against Clark, including unfounded rumours about her husband Peter Davis’ sexuality.¹¹
Clark later described the attacks as unprecedented, saying
“I think the National Party has stooped to new levels with his leadership. I think we’re seeing the absolute desperation of, actually, the far Right in politics, which feels it has a right to rule, couldn’t cope with losing three elections in a row and there’s a desperation and nastiness about it and it will stoop to anything.”¹²
The Helengrad narrative, while ultimately unsuccessful in defeating Clark in 2005, established a template that would be refined and weaponized against future Labour leaders. It demonstrated that sustained character assassination, even against a popular leader, could erode public support over time. By the time Labour lost the 2008 election, the once-unassailable Helen Clark had been successfully painted as out of touch and authoritarian.
The attack engine: Williams, Farrar, Lusk, and Slater
The infrastructure for systematic political attacks didn’t emerge in a vacuum. In the years following the 2005 election, a network of right-wing activists built an increasingly sophisticated apparatus for political warfare. At its centre were four key figures: Jordan Williams, David Farrar, Simon Lusk, and Cameron Slater.
David Farrar, a former National Party pollster, founded the political blog Kiwiblog, which became a hub for right-wing political commentary.¹³ His polling company, Curia Market Research, would later contract with both the National Party and the New Zealand Herald, giving him unique influence over how political narratives were shaped through selective release of polling data.
Cameron Slater’s Whale Oil blog became the attack platform—a place where dirt on Labour politicians could be published with less regard for journalistic standards or legal consequences. As Nicky Hager’s “Dirty Politics” revealed, Slater worked closely with National Party figures, including then-Minister Judith Collins, to publish damaging information about political opponents.¹⁴
Simon Lusk, a political strategist who worked with both National and Act, provided the strategic coordination. His approach, learned from Republican Party operatives in the United States, emphasized negative campaigning, voter suppression, and the use of front groups to attack opponents while maintaining plausible deniability for the candidates he supported.
Jordan Williams would prove to be the most entrepreneurial of the group. In 2013, he co-founded the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union with David Farrar—an organization that, despite its name, was not a union representing taxpayers but a lobby group funded by wealthy donors and corporate interests, including tobacco companies.¹⁵ The Taxpayers’ Union became a vehicle for attacking government spending, particularly on programmes favoured by Labour and the Greens.
Williams also founded The Campaign Company, a digital agency that would come to manage campaigns for various right-wing causes. As revealed through investigative journalism, The Campaign Company created astroturf websites like “Save Our Stores,” which appeared to be a small retailer campaign against tobacco regulations but was actually funded by British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands.¹⁶
The Campaign Company’s client list would eventually include Groundswell NZ and Don Brash’s Hobson’s Pledge, demonstrating how the same operatives managed multiple seemingly independent movements.¹⁷ This infrastructure of interconnected organizations, all run by the same small group of activists, created the appearance of broad-based opposition to progressive policies while masking the coordinated nature of the campaigns.
The Free Speech Union, co-founded by Williams in 2018, followed a similar pattern. Initially formed to oppose Auckland Mayor Phil Goff’s decision to cancel an event featuring alt-right speakers Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux, the FSU positioned itself as a defender of free expression.¹⁸ In reality, it became another tool in the arsenal for attacking progressive politicians and policies, particularly those championed by Jacinda Ardern’s government.
Manipulating the political news cycle: Polling and media coordination
One of the most sophisticated aspects of this network was its ability to manipulate the political news cycle through coordinated polling releases and media amplification. David Farrar’s dual role as both a political blogger and pollster created unique opportunities for shaping narratives.
Through Kiwiblog, Farrar could promote narratives supported by polling that his own company, Curia, had conducted. When Curia released polls showing Act gaining support or Labour declining, Farrar’s blog would amplify these results, creating a self-reinforcing media cycle. Mainstream media often treated Curia’s polling as independent data, despite the company’s contracts with both the National Party and the New Zealand Herald.
The timing of poll releases became a crucial weapon. As documented my book “Unleashed,” there was a discernible pattern: Curia polls would be released during periods when other polling organizations were also in the field. This created a cascade effect—negative polls about Labour would generate negative media coverage, which would influence public perception during the very period when other pollsters were surveying voters.¹⁹
The result was a downward spiral. A strategically timed Curia poll showing Labour support declining would generate headlines about the government’s troubles. This negative coverage would then influence voters being surveyed by other polling companies, whose results would confirm the initial trend, generating more negative coverage. The perception became reality.
This manipulation of the political news cycle proved devastatingly effective during the 2020 election campaign. Curia polls showing Act gaining ground were released at strategic moments, generating media coverage that likely influenced other polling and voter perceptions. Whether this represented deliberate manipulation or fortunate timing, the effect was the same: Act emerged from the 2020 election with 10 MPs, its best result in years.²⁰
The Taxpayers’ Union provided additional fuel for this cycle. When the organization issued press releases attacking government spending or releasing its own commissioned polls, friendly media would cover these as legitimate news events, creating additional negative coverage for Labour while boosting Act’s profile as a fiscally responsible alternative.
The art of the false allegation: Weaponizing rumours against Ardern and Gayford
Perhaps no tactic proved more insidious than the systematic campaign of false allegations and rumours directed at Jacinda Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford. The pattern followed a familiar playbook: anonymous sources spread salacious rumours, the rumours circulate on social media and through “word of mouth” networks, the targets suffer reputational damage regardless of truth, and the perpetrators face no consequences.²¹
For seven months beginning in late 2017, Gayford became the subject of an “unprecedented assault of baseless rumour and false innuendo” about alleged criminal activity and police investigations.²² The rumours were so pervasive and damaging that Police Commissioner Mike Bush took the extraordinary step of issuing a public statement in May 2018:
“While in general we do not respond to enquiries which seek to confirm if individuals are under police investigation, on this occasion we can say that Mr Gayford is not and has not been the subject of any police inquiry, nor has he been charged in relation to any matter.”²³
The Herald’s investigation found the rumours had been circulating for months, describing “what appears to be an organised campaign to drive and spread rumours about Clarke Gayford,” identifying “a small group of connected people who have put a great deal of energy into driving the spread of the rumours—effectively weaponizing gossip.”²⁴ The apparent intent was clear: to damage the Prime Minister by attacking her partner.
The false allegations resurfaced repeatedly throughout Ardern’s time as Prime Minister. In 2022, during the Parliament occupation, new iterations of the same baseless claims circulated on social media and Telegram groups, this time alleging Gayford was in prison, under home detention, or had used diplomatic immunity to avoid prosecution.²⁵ Again, police were forced to issue a statement confirming no investigations existed.
The pattern mirrors cases documented in my article “Politics101: The art of the false allegation,” where politically timed rumours and false allegations cause as much damage as if the allegations were true.²⁶ The investigation period becomes the weapon—during the months between allegation and resolution, careers are damaged, public perception shifts, and political opponents benefit.
In Gayford’s case, the false allegations served multiple purposes: they created ongoing stress for the Prime Minister and her family, they generated a constant background noise of scandal that mainstream media felt compelled to address, and they provided ammunition for Ardern’s critics who could point to “controversies” surrounding the government without ever needing to prove the underlying claims.
The perpetrators of these false allegations faced no consequences. Despite making demonstrably false statements that caused significant harm, no prosecutions were pursued. This created a moral hazard where the potential political benefits of false allegations far outweighed the realistic risk of criminal consequences—a pattern that would repeat itself throughout Ardern’s tenure as Prime Minister.
How money flowed: From donors to front groups
One of the most crucial aspects of this network was its funding structure. While public attention focused on the organizations’ stated missions and campaigns, the flow of money told a different story about who was really pulling the strings.
The Taxpayers’ Union, despite claiming to represent ordinary New Zealanders, received funding from tobacco companies, corporate donors, and wealthy individuals with clear ideological and financial interests in right-wing policy outcomes. Jordan Williams admitted in interviews that tobacco and alcohol industry funding made up approximately 3% of the organization’s revenue—a significant amount given the Union’s vocal opposition to tobacco taxes and regulations.²⁷
Sir Bob Jones, a property developer and long-time supporter of right-wing causes, provided rent-free office space in Wellington, giving the Taxpayers’ Union prime real estate without the expense appearing in their public accounts.²⁸ This kind of in-kind donation allowed the organization to appear more grassroots than it actually was.
The Campaign Company operated even more opaquely, with Williams as sole director and no requirement to publicly disclose client lists or funding sources. Only through investigative journalism were some of its clients revealed—including the tobacco-funded “Save Our Stores” campaign and its work for Groundswell.
Groundswell NZ, which emerged in 2021 to oppose Labour’s environmental and agricultural policies, presented itself as a spontaneous farmers’ movement. However, the Campaign Company’s involvement in its operations suggested a more orchestrated origin.²⁹ The group’s rapid growth, professional messaging, and ability to coordinate nationwide protests pointed to significant financial and organizational backing beyond what a grassroots movement could typically muster.
According to connections traced through company records and reporting, this network received support from the Atlas Network, a US-based organization that funds free-market advocacy groups worldwide. Jordan Williams attended Atlas Network training sessions and received a fellowship grant to support the Taxpayers’ Union’s growth, placing New Zealand’s right-wing activism within a broader international network of similarly structured organizations.³⁰
This funding model allowed the network to maintain the appearance of popular support while actually representing a narrow band of ideological and financial interests. When the Taxpayers’ Union claimed to speak for “hardworking Kiwi taxpayers,” it was actually channelling the priorities of its wealthy donors and corporate backers.
Jacindamania and the problem of popularity
When Jacinda Ardern became Labour leader in August 2017, just seven weeks before the general election, she faced a party polling at historic lows. What happened next shocked political observers: “Jacindamania” swept the country.³¹ Ardern’s empathetic leadership style, her youth (at 37, she became the youngest female head of government in the world), and her message of relentless positivity resonated with voters tired of negative politics.
Although Labour didn’t win the most seats in the 2017 election, Ardern successfully formed a coalition government with New Zealand First and the Green Party. Her government’s early successes—particularly her response to the March 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings and her initial handling of the COVID-19 pandemic—cemented her status as one of New Zealand’s most popular prime ministers.³²
This popularity posed an existential threat to the right-wing network that had spent years building its attack infrastructure. During a national emergency like COVID-19, traditional opposition parties couldn’t be seen overtly attacking a prime minister whose approval ratings regularly exceeded 50%. National and Act needed to maintain some semblance of responsible opposition while the pandemic raged.
The solution was to outsource the attacks to the network of supposedly independent organizations that had been carefully constructed over the previous decade. While National leader Judith Collins (and later Christopher Luxon) offered measured criticism of government policies, the Taxpayers’ Union, Free Speech Union, and newly formed Groundswell movement launched relentless attacks on Ardern’s government.
Alternative media platforms emerged to amplify these attacks. Reality Check Radio and The Platform, fronted by former TVNZ presenter Sean Plunket, provided friendly venues for anti-government messaging that mainstream media wouldn’t touch. These platforms gave voice to anti-vaccination activists, COVID conspiracy theorists, and others willing to attack Ardern with a viciousness that would have been politically toxic for elected officials.
The 2022 Parliament occupation—when protesters occupied the grounds of Parliament for 23 days—represented the culmination of this strategy.³³ While the protest ostensibly focused on COVID-19 vaccine mandates, it featured participants with signs calling for Ardern’s execution, harassed MPs and staff, and created an atmosphere of menace that previous protests had not reached. The occupation ended only when police moved in, with protesters setting fire to tents and property and throwing bricks at officers.
The Taxpayers’ Union and Act’s rise
One of the most significant impacts of this network was its role in boosting Act’s political fortunes. Under David Seymour’s leadership from 2014 onwards, Act had struggled to gain traction, polling well short of the 5% threshold required for list MPs. The party’s libertarian economic message had limited appeal in post-GFC New Zealand, and it seemed destined to remain a minor player.
The Taxpayers’ Union changed that calculus. By conducting regular polling through Curia (David Farrar’s company) and feeding results to sympathetic media, the organization kept Act in the news and shaped narratives about government waste and excessive spending. When Curia polls showed Act gaining support, media coverage increased, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy as voters saw the party as viable.
David Farrar’s dual role—as both a political blogger and pollster—created unique opportunities for manipulation. Through Kiwiblog, he could promote narratives supported by polling that his own company had conducted, while mainstream media treated Curia’s polling as independent data. The Herald’s decision to publish Curia polling gave these results added legitimacy, even though Curia also worked for the National Party.
The timing of poll releases became crucial. During the 2020 election campaign, Curia polls showing Act gaining ground were released at strategic moments, generating media coverage that likely influenced other polling and voter perceptions. Whether this represented deliberate manipulation or fortunate timing, the effect was the same: Act emerged from the 2020 election with 10 MPs, its best result in years.
The Taxpayers’ Union also provided Act with policy cover. When Act wanted to oppose popular programmes like KiwiBuild or the Public Interest Journalism Fund, the Taxpayers’ Union would issue press releases and publicity stunts attacking the same initiatives, creating the appearance that opposition extended beyond a single political party. This allowed Act MPs to claim they were simply reflecting broader public concern documented by “independent” watchdogs.
Groundswell and New Zealand First’s resurgence
While the Taxpayers’ Union helped boost Act in urban and middle-class constituencies, Groundswell NZ targeted rural New Zealand, helping to resurrect New Zealand First’s political fortunes after the party’s elimination from Parliament in 2020.
Groundswell emerged in July 2021, ostensibly as a spontaneous farmers’ movement opposing Labour’s environmental regulations, Three Waters reform, and agricultural emissions policies.³⁴ The movement organized two major nationwide protests—the “Howl of a Protest” in July 2021 and the “Mother of All Protests” in November 2021—that saw tractors and utes block city streets in a show of rural anger.
The protests appeared organic, but the infrastructure behind them told a different story. The Campaign Company’s involvement in Groundswell’s operations, combined with the movement’s sophisticated messaging and ability to coordinate simultaneous protests across dozens of towns, suggested professional organization rather than grassroots spontaneity.
More significantly, Groundswell became a pipeline for political recruitment. Andrew Hoggard, who resigned as Federated Farmers president in May 2023, immediately appeared high on Act’s party list for the 2023 election.³⁵ He was subsequently appointed Associate Minister of Agriculture. Mark Cameron, a Northland dairy farmer associated with Groundswell messaging, entered Parliament as an Act MP and became the party’s spokesperson for rural issues.³⁶
Meanwhile, New Zealand First—which had been wiped from Parliament in 2020—successfully rode rural discontent back into government. The party’s positioning on Three Waters, co-governance, and agricultural regulations aligned perfectly with Groundswell’s messaging. Former Groundswell-aligned figures found their way into New Zealand First’s orbit, with Mark Patterson (who had been a New Zealand First MP from 2017-2020) being re-elected in 2023.
Casey Costello, who was chair of the Taxpayers' Union, became a New Zealand First MP and Associate Minister of Health and Police, had no obvious connection to traditional New Zealand First constituencies, but fit the pattern of activists recruited from oppositional movements. Her appointment to oversee tobacco policy—given the tobacco industry’s funding of opposition to smoke-free initiatives—raised questions about the alignment between lobby group activism and ministerial appointments.
The Free Speech Union’s attack machine
While Groundswell focused on rural voters and the Taxpayers’ Union maintained a broader economic focus, the Free Speech Union became the primary vehicle for attacking Ardern personally during the pandemic.
The FSU’s origin story—forming to defend the right of alt-right speakers Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux to speak in Auckland—set the tone for its future activities.³⁷ While claiming to defend free expression across the political spectrum, the organization consistently intervened in controversies that aligned with right-wing political objectives.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the FSU became a prominent critic of government health measures, positioning vaccine mandates and public health restrictions as free speech issues. This framing allowed the organization to present opposition to pandemic response as a civil liberties concern rather than political opposition, attracting support from people who might not otherwise identify with right-wing politics.
The organization’s close relationship with the Taxpayers’ Union—sharing office space, overlapping leadership (Jordan Williams served on both boards), and similar funding models—demonstrated how the supposedly independent free speech advocacy group fit within the broader right-wing network.³⁸ When the FSU criticized Ardern’s government over pandemic policies, it amplified talking points that aligned perfectly with Act’s and National’s political interests.
By early 2023, the FSU had become part of an ecosystem of organizations all attacking Ardern from different angles: the Taxpayers’ Union on fiscal policy, Groundswell on agricultural and environmental policy, and the FSU on civil liberties and free expression. Together, they created an impression of widespread, multi-sector opposition to Ardern’s government that extended well beyond traditional political parties.
The dismantling of Jacindamania
The sustained attacks on Jacinda Ardern reached levels of vitriol unprecedented in New Zealand politics. Research from the University of Auckland’s Hate and Extremism Insights Aotearoa (HEIA) found that between 2019 and 2022, Ardern was mentioned in over 18,000 posts on “dark corners of the web”—between 50 and 90 times more than any other high-profile political figure.³⁹ Of these, 93% of strongly negative, angry, sexually explicit or toxic posts mentioned Ardern.
The online abuse translated into real-world harassment. In January 2022, protesters surrounded Ardern’s van during a work trip to a beach town, calling her a “Nazi” and chanting “shame on you.”⁴⁰ The Parliament occupation in February 2022 featured explicit calls for her execution. A truck driver confronted her with misogynistic insults. Throughout 2022, threats against Ardern tripled compared to previous years.
But the most telling incident occurred during the Christmas/New Year holiday period of 2022-23. Ardern and her partner Clarke Gayford holidayed in Tairua in the Coromandel, seeking a brief respite from the intense pressure of leadership. When political activists discovered her location, they pitched tents nearby, hurling abuse and letting off fireworks to disrupt her holiday. Her family could not escape the harassment even in what should have been private time.
Shortly after returning from this disrupted holiday, on January 19, 2023, Ardern announced her resignation.⁴¹ Fighting back tears, she told the country:
“I know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice.”
While Ardern insisted her decision was personal—”I am human, politicians are human. We give all we can, for as long as we can. And then it’s time”—many observers pointed to the sustained campaign of abuse as a major factor. Former Prime Minister Helen Clark said that “Jacinda has faced a level of hatred and vitriol which in my experience is unprecedented in our country.”⁴²
The far-right response to Ardern’s resignation was jubilant. Tucker Carlson on Fox News called it “some rare good news,” labelling Ardern “the lady with the big teeth who tormented her citizens” and “an appalling abuser of human rights.”⁴³ His comments were widely circulated among right-wing and conspiracist networks, celebrating the departure of a leader they had spent years demonizing.
The campaign had worked. An extraordinarily popular prime minister, who had led Labour to its first outright majority in the MMP era in 2020, had been driven from office not primarily by policy failures or electoral defeat, but by a sustained campaign of abuse, harassment, and political warfare that made the job untenable.
The alternative reality: Reversing truth
One of the most insidious aspects of the coordinated campaign against Ardern was the complete inversion of economic and fiscal reality. The Taxpayers’ Union, Act, and National consistently attacked Ardern’s government as profligate spenders who had saddled New Zealand with unsustainable debt and wasteful programmes.
The irony was profound. It was John Key’s National government (2008-2016) that had increased GST from 12.5% to 15%—a regressive tax increase that hit lower-income New Zealanders hardest. Key’s government also significantly increased New Zealand’s debt, and presided over wasteful spending on pet projects including the failed Auckland City Rail Link delays and the Saudi sheep farm deal.
Under Bill English as Finance Minister, government spending increased while much-needed infrastructure investment was deferred, storing up problems for future governments. The rosy economic picture National presented was built largely on the Christchurch earthquake rebuild, record immigration that temporarily boosted GDP while putting pressure on housing and infrastructure, and a property bubble that enriched existing homeowners while pricing out first-home buyers.
Yet by the time Ardern’s government began responding to these accumulated challenges—investing in housing, infrastructure, and health after years of underinvestment—the narrative had been successfully flipped. The Taxpayers’ Union’s constant press releases about “wasteful spending,” amplified by sympathetic media coverage, created an impression that Labour’s spending was uniquely irresponsible.
Similarly, Ardern and Finance Minister Grant Robertson were painted as incompetent economic managers, despite New Zealand’s economy performing relatively well compared to international peers. The careful fiscal management that saw New Zealand enter the COVID-19 pandemic with low debt levels—allowing for significant support during lockdowns—was ignored in favour of cherry-picked statistics about rising costs of living and housing affordability challenges that predated Labour’s government.
This inversion of reality—where the profligate spenders accused the careful managers of waste, and those who had failed to address housing and infrastructure for nine years attacked those trying to fix the problems—demonstrates the power of coordinated messaging over truth. When the Taxpayers’ Union, Act, National, sympathetic media, and social media echo chambers all repeat the same false narrative, it becomes difficult for even well-informed voters to resist.
From lobby groups to Parliament: The mercenary pipeline
Perhaps the most concerning aspect of this network is how it has become a direct pipeline into Parliament. Activists who spent years attacking Labour governments from supposedly independent lobby groups seamlessly transitioned into elected office, bringing their oppositional training and connections with them.
Nicole McKee, formerly spokesperson for the Council of Licensed Firearms Owners (COLFO), entered Parliament as an Act MP in 2020 and is now Associate Minister of Justice with responsibility for firearms policy—exactly the area where she had previously lobbied.⁴⁴ Her transition from lobbyist to minister exemplifies how Act has effectively outsourced policy development to activist organizations.
Andrew Hoggard's journey from Federated Farmers president to Groundswell ally to Act MP and Associate Minister of Agriculture happened with remarkable speed. His May 2023 resignation from Federated Farmers was followed almost immediately by his high placement on Act's party list, suggesting the move had been long planned. He now helps set the agricultural policy he previously criticized from outside government.
Mark Cameron's path from dairy farmer and rural activist to Act MP specializing in agricultural issues fits the same pattern. Casey Costello's journey exemplifies the entire pipeline: former chair of the Taxpayers' Union, spokesperson and trustee for Hobson's Pledge, and a 2011 Act candidate before joining New Zealand First.⁵⁴ She resigned from both the Taxpayers' Union board and Hobson's Pledge to stand for Parliament in 2023, entering as New Zealand First's third-ranked list MP. Her appointment as Associate Minister of Health overseeing tobacco policy—despite the tobacco industry's funding of the Taxpayers' Union's anti-regulation campaigns—raises the starkest questions about regulatory capture.
Even Mark Patterson, who served as a New Zealand First MP from 2017-2020, appears to have maintained connections with rural protest movements during his time out of Parliament, positioning him for re-election in 2023 when rural anger at Labour's policies peaked.
But the revolving door doesn't just connect lobby groups to Parliament—it also connects the Press Gallery to ministerial offices and back again, creating relationships that blur the lines between journalism and political advocacy. The Wellington political bubble is notoriously small, and these interconnections raise questions about media independence and conflicts of interest.
Jenna Lynch, Newshub's Political Editor since January 2022, is married to Andrew Ketels, Chief of Staff to Act Party leader David Seymour.⁴⁶ The relationship has generated controversy, particularly during critical political moments. When Winston Peters' superannuation overpayment was leaked to media in August 2017—just before the general election—investigative analysis suggested Ketels and his network may have played a role in spreading the story.⁴⁷ Lynch's coverage of political events affecting Act's coalition partners has been scrutinized for potential conflicts of interest, though she maintains complete editorial independence.
Perhaps most significantly, Claire Trevett—the New Zealand Herald's long-serving Political Editor who covered Parliament for nearly two decades—left journalism in May 2025 to become the Police's Chief Media and Communications Adviser.⁴⁹ The newly created role reports directly to Police Commissioner Richard Chambers and was announced while Police Minister Mark Mitchell spoke at Trevett's farewell function at Parliament. Her appointment came at a crucial time for Mitchell, whose relationship with the Police has been a defining feature of his ministerial tenure.
Trevett's move is particularly notable given her role in shaping political narratives for years. As Political Editor, she wrote extensively about Police matters, the Parliament occupation, and law and order issues that became central to National's 2023 campaign. Now she oversees how Police communicate with the very journalists who were once her colleagues—effectively managing the media profile of the minister who attended her farewell.
The problem is bipartisan. Labour's Neale Jones (Ardern's former Chief of Staff) and Mike Jaspers (Ardern's Chief Press Secretary) formed Capital Government Relations with National's Ben Thomas, later adding New Zealand First's Fletcher Tabuteau as director.⁵⁰ Capital's client list—revealed through Official Information Act requests—includes Google, Countdown supermarkets, pharmaceutical companies, and Hollywood film studios.⁵¹ Jones used encrypted Signal messages to lobby ministerial advisors, asking on behalf of Google "just wondering...if there's any indication when Minister Tinetti's paper on the review of online content regulation (is going to Cabinet)?"⁵²
This cross-party collaboration demonstrates that when it comes to monetizing political connections, partisan differences disappear. No party is genuinely interested in fixing the revolving door because all benefit from it. The supposed ideological battles of Parliament reveal themselves as performative theatre masking a shared interest in maintaining access to power and profit.
The revolving door extends into media as well. Lobbyists like Matthew Hooton contribute regular columns to major New Zealand newspapers while simultaneously representing corporate clients.⁵³ Hooton, who has worked as a lobbyist for National and Act, writes opinion pieces for the New Zealand Herald. When a lobbyist with active clients shapes public opinion through media columns, readers have no way of knowing whether the positions being advocated serve the public interest or the lobbyist's paying clients. These columnists don't just report on political trends—they actively create them, using media platforms to advance narratives that benefit their clients while maintaining the appearance of independent commentary.
The implications extend beyond individual cases. When political journalists marry political staffers, when reporters become MPs who then work for ministers, when the nation's most prominent political editor becomes the chief communications officer for a government department—the traditional separation between media and politics dissolves. When staffers from all parties form lobbying firms together, it reveals that attack dogs and dirty tactics are condoned across the political spectrum because everyone shares the same interest in cashing in on their connections.
These aren't isolated cases of individuals inspired by political events to run for office—a normal and healthy part of democracy. Rather, they represent systematic pipelines where lobbyists build profiles attacking government policies, then leverage those profiles into Parliament to implement the agendas they previously advocated from outside. Meanwhile, journalists covering these politicians find themselves working alongside them or married to their staff, creating webs of relationships that make genuine independence impossible.
The implications are troubling. When lobby groups become training grounds for future ministers, the line between independent advocacy and political party operation dissolves. When those ministers then oversee policy areas where they previously lobbied—often funded by industries affected by that policy—the potential for conflicts of interest becomes acute. And when journalists seamlessly transition into government communications roles or marry political operatives while continuing to cover politics, the fourth estate's role as independent watchdog is fundamentally compromised.
The cost to democracy
The machinery described in this investigation—the network of supposedly independent organizations, the coordinated campaigns, the pipeline from lobbyist to parliamentarian—represents a fundamental challenge to democratic governance.
Democracy depends on informed debate between genuinely independent voices. When what appears to be a diverse array of organizations all share the same office space, personnel, funding sources, and political objectives, that diversity is illusory. When polling that appears independent is conducted by firms working for political parties, that independence is compromised. When lobby groups funded by tobacco companies campaign against tobacco regulation while claiming to represent small retailers, that’s not advocacy but astroturfing.
The personal cost has been equally profound. Two of New Zealand’s most accomplished prime ministers—Helen Clark and Jacinda Ardern—faced unprecedented levels of character assassination and abuse. While political criticism is normal and healthy, the coordinated campaigns against both women went far beyond legitimate policy debate into personal attacks, misogyny, and harassment that would have been unthinkable in earlier eras of New Zealand politics.
Helen Clark faced rumours about her husband’s sexuality spread through coordinated whisper campaigns. Jacinda Ardern faced death threats, protests outside her holiday home, and online abuse at levels that shocked researchers studying extremism. Both women spoke of the toll this took, and both left office earlier than they might have otherwise.
The broader impact on New Zealand’s political culture has been corrosive. When attack organizations can operate with impunity while maintaining facades of independence, when pollsters can selectively release data to shape narratives rather than inform them, when lobby groups become parliamentary training grounds—the foundations of democratic debate erode.
Perhaps most concerning is how this machinery has normalized a level of vitriol and dishonesty in New Zealand politics that would have been shocking a generation ago. When Tucker Carlson can call a New Zealand prime minister “the lady with the big teeth who tormented her citizens” and have his comments celebrated rather than condemned, when protesters can call for a prime minister’s execution without widespread outrage, when coordinated campaigns can invert economic reality and have those inversions accepted as fact—something fundamental has broken.
Conclusion: A warning for the future
The clandestine campaign to dismantle Jacindamania succeeded in its immediate goal: Jacinda Ardern resigned as Prime Minister on 25 January 2023. But the infrastructure that accomplished this feat remains in place, more sophisticated and better funded than ever.
The Taxpayers’ Union continues to operate, now with over 200,000 claimed members. The Free Speech Union has established itself as a permanent fixture in New Zealand politics. Groundswell remains active in rural communities. The Campaign Company continues to provide services to undisclosed clients. And the pipeline from these organizations into Parliament continues to deliver new MPs and ministers with each election cycle.
It has all become some sick joke. As an April Fool's joke, Jordan Williams announced his departure from the Taxpayers’ Union to join government as head of the Department of Government Efficiency and Accountability (DOGEA)—a new agency designed to “rein in waste.”⁴⁵
The question New Zealand now faces is whether this machinery will be allowed to continue operating in the shadows, shaping political narratives while concealing its true nature and funding. Or whether transparency requirements, lobbying regulations, and media scrutiny will finally expose the coordinated nature of these supposedly independent movements.
What is clear is that the tactics that destroyed Jacindamania are now part of New Zealand’s political toolkit. Future Labour leaders—and indeed any politician who becomes too popular or too effective at implementing policies opposed by wealthy donors and corporate interests—will face the same coordinated campaign of character assassination and astroturfed opposition.
The infrastructure is in place. The playbook has been tested and refined. And the actors who perfected these techniques over two decades—from undermining Helen Clark to driving Jacinda Ardern from office—have shown no indication they intend to abandon methods that have proven so successful.
Unless New Zealanders demand greater transparency about who funds political campaigns, who operates lobby groups, and how supposedly independent organizations coordinate their activities, the clandestine campaign will continue. The only question is who the next target will be.
ENDNOTES
Helen Clark, Wikipedia. “She was accused of having a ‘nanny state’ approach to social issues, a perception captured by the pejorative term ‘Helengrad’.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Clark)
Nicky Hager, Dirty Politics (Nelson: Craig Potton Publishing, 2014). The book exposed collaboration between National Party figures and attack bloggers including Cameron Slater.
“Resignation of Jacinda Ardern,” Wikipedia. “Many expressed their view that Ardern’s resignation was caused in part by the abuse she had suffered, which reached levels unprecedented for a New Zealand prime minister.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resignation_of_Jacinda_Ardern)
Grant McLachlan, “Astroturfs: Act three of Dirty Politics,” Klaut Media. (Link: https://www.klaut.media/single-post/astroturfs-act-three-of-dirty-politics)
“Jordan Williams (New Zealand lawyer),” Wikipedia. “He is a founder and current Executive Director of the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union...a New Zealand Free Speech Union co-founder and Council Member, and the Chief Executive Officer and sole director of the Campaign Company.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Williams_(New_Zealand_lawyer))
“Ex-ACT staffer Grant McLachlan says party created fake grassroots groups,” RNZ, 5 March 2021. (Link: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/439960/ex-act-staffer-grant-mclachlan-says-party-created-fake-grassroots-groups)
“Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand,” Wikipedia. Clark’s government “pursued a number of reforms” including repealing the Employment Contracts Act, creating Kiwibank, and introducing interest-free student loans. (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Labour_Government_of_New_Zealand)
“Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand,” Wikipedia. “In a 2000 feature article ‘Siege of Helengrad’, The Australian newspaper wrote that Clark’s ‘uncompromisingly autocratic and pervasive leadership has seen New Zealand dubbed Helengrad’.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Labour_Government_of_New_Zealand)
Nicky Hager, The Hollow Men (Nelson: Craig Potton Publishing, 2006). The book exposed Don Brash’s reliance on advice from Business Roundtable members and other far-right strategists.
“2005 New Zealand general election,” Wikipedia. Despite National’s surge under Brash, “Labour secured two seats more than its nearest rival.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_New_Zealand_general_election)
“2005 New Zealand general election,” Wikipedia. “This included the surveillance of Prime Minister Helen Clark and her husband, Peter Davis, which coincided with what Clark called a ‘smear campaign’ of rumours about Davis.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_New_Zealand_general_election)
“Newspaper photos highlight New Zealand PM’s husband’s friendship with gay doctor,” guillermoponte80, 3 May 2013. Clark’s statement on the smear campaign. (Link: https://guillermoponte80.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/newspaper-photos-highlight-new-zealand-pms-husbands-friendship-with-gay-doctor/)
David Farrar founded Kiwiblog and operates Curia Market Research, which conducts polling for both political parties and media organizations.
Nicky Hager, Dirty Politics. The book revealed email exchanges between Cameron Slater’s Whale Oil blog and National Party Minister Judith Collins.
“New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union,” Wikipedia. “In 2013, Williams and David Farrar founded the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union as an incorporated society.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Taxpayers’_Union)
“Jordan Williams (New Zealand lawyer),” Wikipedia. “Another Campaign Company website, Save Our Stores, was designed to look like a grassroots campaign organised by small retailers against the Smokefree 2025 Act. It was found to be funded by British American Tobacco and Imperial Brands.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Williams_(New_Zealand_lawyer))
“Jordan Williams (New Zealand lawyer),” Wikipedia. “Williams is the founder, owner, and chief executive of the Campaign Company...The Campaign Company’s clients include Groundswell NZ and Don Brash’s lobby group, Hobson’s Pledge.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Williams_(New_Zealand_lawyer))
“New Zealand Free Speech Union,” Wikipedia. “The Free Speech Union was first established as the Free Speech Coalition in July 2018...formed out of the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union office by four colleagues, including lawyer, lobbyist and Taxpayers’ Union founder Jordan Williams.” (Link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Free_Speech_Union)
Grant McLachlan, Unleashed (2024). Documentation of coordinated polling release strategies and their impact on media cycles.
David Farrar’s Curia polling and strategic releases during the 2020 election campaign contributed to Act’s success in winning 10 MPs.
Grant McLachlan, “Politics101: The art of the false allegation,” Klaut Media, 4 August 2025. (Link: https://www.klaut.media/single-post/politics101-the-art-of-the-false-allegation)
“False Clarke Gayford rumours: Police and PM Jacinda Ardern respond to widely circulated fake slurs,” NZ Herald, 1 May 2018. (Link: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/false-clarke-gayford-rumours-police-and-pm-jacinda-ardern-respond-to-widely-circulated-fake-slurs/YTI2ZJ7PNPDAGAIG3EB7LKINME/)
“Police Commissioner addresses false Clarke Gayford rumours in statement,” 1News, 1 May 2018. (Link: https://www.1news.co.nz/2018/05/01/police-commissioner-addresses-false-clarke-gayford-rumours-in-statement/)
“Police Release Gayford Media Emails,” Newsroom, 26 December 2018. (Link: https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2018/12/26/125216/police-release-gayford-media-emails)
“The Clarke Gayford conspiracy theory that refuses to die is back, stronger than ever,” Number 8 Haywire, 24 March 2022. (Link: https://number8haywire.substack.com/p/wheres-clarke)
Grant McLachlan, “Politics101: The art of the false allegation,” Klaut Media, 4 August 2025. (Link: https://www.klaut.media/single-post/politics101-the-art-of-the-false-allegation)
“Jordan Williams on what the Taxpayers’ Union really is and who funds it,” RNZ, 22 May 2024. Jordan Williams stated: “The total industry money of our total budget is less than 3% of our revenue.” (Link: https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/30-with-guyon-espiner/story/2018938627/jordan-williams-on-what-the-taxpayers-union-really-is-and-who-funds-it)
“Jordan Williams on what the Taxpayers’ Union really is and who funds it,” RNZ, 22 May 2024. Williams acknowledged: “Sir Bob [Jones] is very generous, and cumulatively, he would be our largest donor because of the office in Wellington, which he donates [rent-free.]” (Link: https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/30-with-guyon-espiner/story/2018938627/jordan-williams-on-what-the-taxpayers-union-really-is-and-who-funds-it)
“Jordan Williams (New Zealand lawyer),” Wikipedia. The Campaign Company’s clients include Groundswell NZ. (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Williams_(New_Zealand_lawyer))
“New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union,” Wikipedia. “Executive Director Jordan Williams attended an Atlas Network training session in 2015, and later received a fellowship grant from Atlas in 2018 to support the growth of the Taxpayers’ Union.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Taxpayers’_Union)
“Jacinda Ardern,” Wikipedia. Following Ardern’s assumption of Labour leadership in August 2017, “Labour’s support increased rapidly after Ardern became leader.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacinda_Ardern)
“Jacinda Ardern,” Wikipedia. Ardern “was widely praised for the way she embraced the survivors and New Zealand’s Muslim community” following the Christchurch mosque shootings, and “was lauded globally for her country’s initial handling of the coronavirus pandemic.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacinda_Ardern)
“Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand prime minister, announces resignation,” Christian Science Monitor, 19 January 2023. “A protest last year that began on Parliament’s grounds lasted for more than three weeks and ended with protesters hurling rocks at police and setting fires to tents and mattresses as they were forced to leave.” (Link: https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2023/0119/New-Zealand-PM-Jacinda-Ardern-resigns-amid-growing-local-criticism)
“Groundswell NZ,” Wikipedia. “On 16 July 2021, Groundswell NZ staged a nationwide Howl of a Protest campaign in between 47 and 57 cities and towns throughout New Zealand.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundswell_NZ)
“The battle for NZ’s farming heartland: Groundswell, ACT and the changing face of rural politics,” The Conversation, 22 July 2025. “Andrew Hoggard’s resignation in May as president of Federated Farmers, followed swiftly by his appearance high on the ACT Party’s candidate list.” (Link: https://theconversation.com/the-battle-for-nzs-farming-heartland-groundswell-act-and-the-changing-face-of-rural-politics-213979)
“Mark Cameron,” ACT New Zealand. Cameron is ACT’s Primary Industries spokesperson. (Link: https://www.act.org.nz/mark-cameron)
“New Zealand Free Speech Union,” Wikipedia. The organization was “formed out of the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union office” and initially focused on defending alt-right speakers’ right to appear in Auckland. (Link: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Free_Speech_Union)
“Free Speech Union,” The Integrity Institute. “The close affiliation with the Taxpayers’ Union...The two groups share office space in Wellington and have overlapping personnel (co-founder Jordan Williams leads the Taxpayers’ Union).” (Link: https://theintegrityinstitute.substack.com/p/free-speech-union)
“Data reveals level of online hatred for Jacinda Ardern,” University of Auckland, 24 January 2023. HEIA research found Ardern “was mentioned in over 18,000 posts” on extremist platforms, “between 50 and 90 times higher than any other high-profile figure.” (Link: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2023/01/24/data-shines-a-light-on-the-online-hatred-for-jacinda-ardern.html)
“How covid affected Jacinda Ardern’s legacy as New Zealand prime minister,” The Washington Post, 20 January 2023. “Jacinda Ardern was on a work trip to a beach town in northern New Zealand almost exactly a year ago when her van was suddenly surrounded by anti-vaccine protesters.” (Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/01/20/jacinda-ardern-new-zealand-covid-resignation/)
“Resignation of Jacinda Ardern,” Wikipedia. On January 19, 2023, Ardern announced: “I know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice.” (Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resignation_of_Jacinda_Ardern)
“Jacinda Ardern’s resignation and the toll of burnout and abuse for women leaders,” Axios, 19 January 2023. Helen Clark stated: “Jacinda has faced a level of hatred and vitriol which in my experience is unprecedented in our country.” (Link: https://www.axios.com/2023/01/19/jacinda-ardern-politics-women-threats-government)
“‘Virulent Hatred’: Global Far-Right Celebrates Jacinda Ardern’s Resignation,” VICE, 27 July 2024. Tucker Carlson labeled Ardern “the lady with the big teeth who tormented her citizens” and “an appalling abuser of human rights.” (Link: https://www.vice.com/en/article/jacinda-ardern-resignation-new-zealand-far-right/)
“The new faces of New Zealand’s 53rd Parliament,” 1News, 21 October 2020. “McKee is a gun lobbyist, owns her own firearms safety training business, was a shooting champion and was the spokesperson for the Council of Licenced Firearms Owners (COLFO).” (Link: https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/10/21/the-new-faces-of-new-zealands-53rd-parliament/)
“Jordan Williams’ departure from the Taxpayers’ Union,” Taxpayers’ Union. Williams stated: “I am delighted to have been tapped on the shoulder to lead DOGEA.” (Link: https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/jordan_williams_departure)
"Newshub's Jenna Lynch 'Nothing could have prepared me for this!'" Woman's Day, 14 February 2024. Jenna Lynch is engaged to Andrew Ketels, Chief of Staff to Act Party leader David Seymour. (Link: https://www.nowtolove.co.nz/celebrity/celeb-news/jenna-lynch-new-baby-46494/)
"The Curious Case of Andrew Ketels," investigative analysis. Documents connections between Ketels, Jordan Williams, and the Winston Peters superannuation leak in August 2017. (Link: https://hakarl.wixsite.com/andrewketels)
Ibid.
"Media Insider: Former NZ Herald political editor Claire Trevett becomes a public servant, with a new senior police role," NZ Herald, 4 May 2025. Trevett became Police Chief Media and Communications Adviser, with Police Minister Mark Mitchell speaking at her farewell. (Link: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/media-insider/media-insider-former-nz-herald-political-editor-claire-trevett-becomes-a-public-servant-with-a-new-senior-police-role/4BUOWA6RJFGWPGQ3FWMQ2FCAPE/ )
"Popular pundit Ben Thomas joins Capital lobbying firm," NZ Herald, 25 July 2022. Capital Government Relations formed by Labour's Neale Jones and Mike Jaspers, later adding National's Ben Thomas, NZ First's Fletcher Tabuteau, and employing Act's Stuart Wilson. (Link: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/popular-pundit-ben-thomas-joins-capital-lobbying-firm/6H3GBSINMZ4S54L5PVTLKMJENE/ )
"How well-connected New Zealand lobbyists throw their weight around for corporate clients," Newshub/RNZ, 22 March 2023. Capital's clients include Google, Countdown, pharmaceutical companies, and Hollywood studios. (Link: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/486527/how-well-connected-lobbyists-ask-for-and-receive-urgent-meetings-sensitive-information-and-action-on-law-changes-for-their-corporate-clients )
"How well-connected lobbyists ask for - and receive - urgent meetings, sensitive information," RNZ, 22 March 2023. Neale Jones used encrypted Signal messages to lobby ministerial advisors on behalf of Google and other clients. (Link: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/486527/how-well-connected-lobbyists-ask-for-and-receive-urgent-meetings-sensitive-information-and-action-on-law-changes-for-their-corporate-clients )
Matthew Hooton website and NZ Herald columns. Hooton is a lobbyist for National and Act who contributes regular opinion columns to the NZ Herald. (Link: https://www.matthewhooton.co.nz/ )
"Casey Costello thanked for significant contribution to Taxpayers' Union mission," Taxpayers' Union. Costello was chair and board member of the Taxpayers' Union, spokesperson and trustee for Hobson's Pledge, and 2011 Act candidate before joining NZ First. (Link: https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/casey_costello_thanked )
