Willie Jackson maintains he's not deliberately disseminating disinformation - but says everyone's having an election year biffo. During a debate last night, Senior Labour Minister Jackson incorrectly maintained ACT and National planned to abolish the minimum wage. Jackson later clarified he was being facetious. He said he was in the heat of the moment, though he also agrees Kiwis should be aware of what politicians are saying. Jackson explained that we're in a campaign - and everyone is having a...
Sep 06, 2023•8 min
An economic commentator says Labour's economic policy is big on aspiration, but lacks specifics and understanding. Their five-point election plan to grow the economy includes the PM heading to India in the first 100 days to foster relations. It would also invest $100 million in agri-tech and boosting tourism. Former Reserve Bank economist Michael Reddell says it doesn't deal with the big issues we're facing. "The word inflation appears once, never about bringing inflation down. The fiscal plan j...
Sep 06, 2023•3 min
Federated Farmers says it's concerned about the Ministry for the Environment handing out money to encourage participation in reform of the Resource Management Act. The advocacy group claims it's been offered $600,000 over three years to fund submissions and appearances at hearings. Spokesperson Mark Hooper says it's a high price tag and the timing doesn't make sense. "Why try and push this through in the six-week leadup to a general election, when we know that there's opposition parties that are...
Sep 06, 2023•5 min
Infrastructure NZ CEO Nick Leggett and Wellington Gold Awards Director John Dow join Nick Mills on the Business Panel. Together they discuss up the upcoming election and what businesses want from the next Government, National wanting to start construction on a second Mount Victoria tunnel in their first term, and the Shelly Bay development being gone with the wind. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Sep 06, 2023•33 min
National Party Leader Christopher Luxon is in Christchurch as part of the campaign and joined John MacDonald live in studio. They discussed the social investment fund, how will that help the likes of the homeless on Colombo Street. Is National's Tax Policy as transparent as it should be? And what will he do about the health system should he be elected into Government? LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Sep 06, 2023•18 min
As much as things change, the more they stay the same We have already witnessed one of the election's major lessons - Government's lose the vote, Opposition's don’t win them. We vote on the vibe, on a mood and the specifics are wasted on the engaged and the wonks. Labour and their mates have worked very hard since last week to try and undo National's tax policy, but they have failed. The evidence is in Thomas Coughlan's piece in the NZ Herald yesterday, a piece well worth reading because it's fu...
Sep 05, 2023•2 min
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sep 05, 2023•12 min
Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and Hauraki's Matt Heath joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more! The latest Roy Morgan poll has ACT shooting up to 18 percent and Labour down to 24 percent, giving a Nats/Act coalition the chance to govern. If true, this is a real downer to Labour, right? National is promising another tunnel through Mount Victoria for Wellingtonian motorists- to begin construction by their first term in Government. Wil...
Sep 05, 2023•10 min
A fiery start to the campaign season, as political leaders addressed prospective voters at a BusinessNZ-hosted conference. Luxon assured business leaders he would treat them 'like adults' as he criticised Labour's ongoing relationship with the sector. Hipkins, speaking after Luxon, defended the Government’s choppy economic record and claimed Labour's 'economic fundamentals were in good shape.' ACT's David Seymour took shots at Julie-Anne Genter from the Greens, saying he wouldn't even trust her ...
Sep 05, 2023•5 min
ACT and National are on track to govern while Labour slumps to a new low, according to a new poll. The latest Roy Morgan survey shows ACT has surged by 4 points to 18 percent, catching up to National's 31, down 2.5 percent. Labour's taken a fall- their support dropped a further 2 percent to 24. ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says the Roy Morgan poll is often dismissed in the lead-up to election night- but it's an accurate indicator. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...
Sep 05, 2023•7 min
There's renewed debate over whether an Independent Costings Watchdog is needed to verify election promises. Labour, National and the Greens have all shown support for the idea. The Taxpayers' Union's Jordan Williams says an office separated from the Government of the time is needed to verify each party's election promises for the sake of democracy. "So we don't end up like the situation where we used to have, where even with the big parties, there was just no questioning of costs." LISTEN ABOVE ...
Sep 05, 2023•5 min
ACT says it isn't taking anything for granted, despite a staggering leap in a new political poll. The Roy Morgan survey puts it up 4 points to 18 percent - their highest result since December 2021. National is down 2.5 points to 31 percent, but can govern with ACT - while Labour has slumped to a historic low of 24 percent. ACT leader David Seymour says Roy Morgan was the most accurate in the last election, but one of the least before that. "But what we do know is that people do actually want som...
Sep 05, 2023•5 min
National's promising shovels in the ground in its first term for a second Mount Vic tunnel- if it gets the top job after the election. Infrastructure spokesperson Chris Bishop says they'll get consents fast tracked. He says it's good for buses, cars, walking, cycling, and it will decongest Wellington. National says alongside upgrades to the Basin Reserve, it'll cost $2.2 billion dollars. The proposal differs to Let's Get Wellington Moving, which would use one tunnel just for walking and cycling....
Sep 05, 2023•2 min
Behind the List with Barry Soper is a weekly interview-based podcast that will get you behind the newsmakers of Election 2023. Newstalk ZB’s Senior Political Correspondent Barry Soper has been involved in political coverage since the 1970s, featuring as Newstalk ZB’s political editor for many years after joining the station and press gallery in 1980. Soper will use his years covering politics to give you the cutting-edge analysis only a commentator with his expertise can. Behind the List is your...
Sep 04, 2023•31 sec
03 September 2023: Last week Hamish Williams and psychotherapist Kyle MacDonald asked listeners what they wanted to know from politicians about their parties' mental health policies. This week, six of these questions are answered by the six major political parties. With thanks to NZ on Air. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sep 04, 2023•1 hr 25 min
ACT's new energy policy is being praised as a helpful solution for New Zealand's future. The party has reiterated its pledge to overturn the ban on oil and gas exploration, and revealed it will scrap the Lake Onslow pumped hydro project. ACT is also campaigning on cutting red tape for offshore wind power projects - and bringing in a regulatory framework for carbon capture technology. Energy Resources Aotearoa chief executive John Carnegie says ACT's policy announcement takes New Zealand a step c...
Sep 04, 2023•3 min
The Council of Trade Unions are defending their ad attack on National's leader. Their billboards and newspaper ads call Chris Luxon 'out of touch' and 'too much risk'. National's campaign chair Chris Bishop is accusing Labour of being behind it, but the CTU president says they're not in cahoots with Labour. President Richard Wagstaff says it's their job to call out someone who's 'going after working people'. "He's the leader, the buck stops with him. He's put out a set of policies that will unde...
Sep 04, 2023•3 min
The Finance Minister is defending the CTU's controversial attack ad, claiming it's a technique favoured by both sides. Billboards and newspaper ads from the Council of Trade Unions describe Chris Luxon as 'out of touch' and 'too much risk'. Finance Minister Grant Robertson says it's the CTU's right to highlight relevant issues in a democratic society. "And they wouldn't be alone in doing that, the Taxpayers' Union have done numerous screengrabs of me, unflattering photos- and they're a surrogate...
Sep 04, 2023•8 min
Every Monday until the election The Front Bench will take on the biggest talking points of the election campaign. Heather du Plessis-Allan, Newstalk ZB Senior Political Correspondent Barry Soper, former Business NZ CEO Phil O’Reilly and Auckland Councillor Richard Hills have the insight word and analysis. The attack ads are already being published, with the CTU going after Chris Luxon on the front page of the Herald and on billboards across the country. Could this be the most negative campaign i...
Sep 04, 2023•32 min
So we're off and running with an election 40-odd days away and both parties promising the world. Labour is out of the gate with their policy of free dental care for the under 30s. A policy they, themselves, said was unachievable just a month ago. A policy that needs more dentists, but we only train 60 a year and it takes 6 years for them to be in the workforce. Everything is against this policy and Labour knows it, which is why they won't even try to do it until 2026, and only if they get back i...
Sep 04, 2023•6 min
I seriously doubt that many of the promises being made by Labour and National will ever see the light of day. The minor parties are promising things too. But it’s Labour and National I’m focused on because it’s going to be either one of those parties that leads the next Government. The latest major party policy came out at the weekend with Labour’s promise to extend publicly-funded dental care to people under-30. At the moment, there's no charge to go to dentist up to the age of 18. On Saturday,...
Sep 04, 2023•5 min
So Labour and National kicked off their respective campaigns over the weekend to Labour's big wizz-bang attention-getter was the promise of free dental care for under 30s, but not until 2026. National, having already announced 37 different policies, decided to stick to a pledge card detailing the party's eight main commitments, if and when elected. Both took potshots at one another over the weekend, Hipkins said that National's tax plan was sneaky. He questioned the costings and he said National...
Sep 04, 2023•7 min
I suppose, officially, it's all underway. Parliament has finished and the two major parties have kicked off their campaigns. So far it is sooo depressing. New Zealand First over the weekend promised, in a “made it up on the spot” sort of way, to compensate the vaccine injured and the vaccine mandated. How they would do that, I don’t know. It will never come to pass because they need to get 5 percent, be on the right side of the ledger in terms of Government and then even if they were involved in...
Sep 04, 2023•2 min
Labour's number two Kelvin Davis is getting strong backing for the job of Deputy Prime Minister, even from those in other political parties. The Māori Party's Rawiri Waititi, who has very likely secured the party's comeback seat in Parliament, says he would expect "nothing less" than for Davis to be appointed Deputy Prime Minister. Speaking of the wider Labour caucus, he says Māoridom will be expecting nothing less than for those MPs to get senior ministerial roles inside Cabinet. "As te iwi Māo...
Oct 19, 2020•14 min
In this Spotlight on Wellington special, Georgina Campbell and Katrina Bennett dissect some of the more interesting results from the Wellington electorates, and discuss what they mean for the likes of Let's Get Wellington Moving, housing - and even the Johnsonville Mall. Wellington has voted overwhelmingly in support of Labour - the whole lower North Island has turned red. Stand-outs include Otaki where Labour newcomer Terisa in-go-be ousted National's Tim Costley - Wairarapa where Labour's Kier...
Oct 19, 2020•50 min
The pressure is on Jacinda Ardern to make use of her new mandate to affect real change. Labour has secured 49.1 percent of the vote in last night's election - with National on 26.8 percent, Act on eight percent and the Greens on 7.6 percent. Political commentator Shane te Pou told Kerre McIvor there will be huge expectations on Ardern, now that she isn't reliant on New Zealand First. "If a party is given a mandate like this, it needs to use it, otherwise there is no point to it." Political comme...
Oct 18, 2020•18 min
NZ First leader Winston Peters has thanked voters, volunteers and NZ First staff around New Zealand at the Duke of Marlborough in Russell. "Ladies and Gentleman elections are bout democracy and what the people wish and we should never stop trusting the people," he said. "We committed ourselves three year ago to be a constructive partner with government. "To provide certainty and stability in a fast-changing world. "To those who have been successful tonight - our congratulations," he said. "For 2...
Oct 18, 2020•4 min
The country's "unapologetic Māori voice" is returning to Parliament with Rawiri Waititi wresting the Waiariki seat off Labour's Tāmati Coffey. "The people have spoken and I am absolutely overwhelmed that they have put their trust in me to represent them for the next parliamentary term," Waititi said. "I cannot thank them enough for having the belief in us as te iwi Māori to champion our own mana motuhake and to return our authentically and proud Māori voice to Parliament, ka nui te mihi aroha e ...
Oct 18, 2020•8 min
Sir Cullen Michael says Labour's historic victory is a green light for much needed changes in climate action and transport infrastructure. But it is not a mandate for a lurch to the left in terms of tax or welfare reform, and any attempt to do so quickly could risk "middle-ground voters jumping off a cliff", the former Finance Minister told the Herald. Last night Labour secured a parliamentary majority with 64 seats, the party's best result under MMP and its strongest showing since 1946, when La...
Oct 18, 2020•7 min
A former National Finance Minister believes many of those who voted for Labour - will have been holding their noses as they did so. Steven Joyce told Kerre McIvor he believes a lot of people voted strategically. "With the discussions around the wealth taxes the past few weeks, I knew some people who are normally National voters saying they will vote for Labour, just to keep the Greens out." Joyce congratulated Labour on a historic win and said Ardern could be proud of her campaign. On Winston Pe...
Oct 17, 2020•10 min
