Our mates across the ditch have also been busy at the ballot box, turfing out its Labour government in Saturday’s general election. Already on the slide under former PM Jacinda Ardern, it was a toughie for PM Chris Hipkins to win with cost of living pressures biting hard – but the almost halving of its representation to 34 seats has still gotta sting… The centre-right National Party, led by former Air New Zealand boss Christopher Luxon, picked up 17 seats, which is not enough to form government on their own. The likely outcome is that the Nats will form a coalition with the right-leaning ACT Party, although there’s also a chance that Winston Peters and NZ First are back… Also elected was 21yo Māori candidate Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke – she’s become the youngest MP in 170 years. And it wasn’t all bad for ousted Labour leader Hipkins: he’ll now have more time to spend with new partner Toni. Aww…