A few things are changing around here... but all in a good way. Just check out our new pundits

Dear loyal readers (and any fickle folk floating by),

The observant amongst you may have noticed that yesterday our list of contributors on the left hand side of the page changed. Some of the folk who have written for Pundit in the past have moved onto other things and, happily, a bunch of new folk have agreed to share their expertise with you.

And expertise is what it's all about. The threshold for Pundit has always been that the writers, while still flawed and imperfect in many ways, have some level of expertise or particular experience of what they're writing about. These are not people who got up in the morning, had some random thoughts in the shower and wrote down to rant.

This is an important distinction in these times where expertise is often mocked and experience labelled as elitism and a false equivalency given to those with expertise and those who shout loudly and pretend to know more than they do.

Pundit also remains dedicatedly non-partisan. We value smart views from across the spectrum. So we are, frankly, honoured to have in Wyatt Creech a former Deputy Prime Minister in a National government, and in Steve Maharey, a former fourth-ranked minister in a Labour government.

We have Wayne Mapp, another senior minister, and Sue Bradford, who's often called one of the most effective Opposition MPs in history, thanks to her success with private members bills.

Also new to our pages are two journalists. New Zealand Herald writer David Fisher has twice been named New Zealand's 'Reporter of the Year' and is one our most respected newshounds. Nicola Kean provides a millenial's voice amongst all the boomers and Xers. A graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism, Nicola is a producer on TV3's The Nation and therefore consumes vast amounts of political research every week and is full of facts.

In the next week, I'm pleased to announce, Sir Wira Gardiner – a founding director of the Waitangi Tribunal, the founding Chief Executive of Te Puni Kokori and now Chair of Te Papa's board – will be joining the Pundit mix, as will Vic Crone, the former Xero executive-turned Auckland mayoral candidate-turned CEO of Callaghan Innovation.

To be honest, it's an embarrassment of riches. And that's without mentioning those who have been around for a while now.

These are all people of substance and insight, and they'll be sharing all that with you, for better or worse, and for free.

You don't have to like us or what we say. But our goal is to offer rich, expert analysis of what's going on around us in a way that makes you think and from a variety of different angles. You can't say fairer than that, can you?

In this election year, especially, we hope for some lively discussion. As always, we welcome your comments, your support and your willingness to tell you friends and family about us. And, as always, we ask you to debate the issues, not attack the people. Pundit tries to be an antidote to that all too common trend.

So thanks for coming to visit, we hope you enjoy the buffet.