Around the world, the flames of aggression and instability are burning. As Christopher Luxon arrives in China his immediate challenge is to douse the alarm from several former politicians and ensure that the relationship with leaders in New Zealand’s biggest export market are sweet. From there, the New Zealand prime minister is off to Europe and another guest spot at Nato, who are meeting in the Hague. In a new episode of Gone By Lunchtime, Toby Manhire, Ben Thomas and Annabelle Lee-Mather chew ...
Jun 18, 2025•44 min
We're officially in the second half of the term, a milestone marked by the historic handover of the hallowed deputy prime minister amulet from Winston Peters to David Seymour. The moment comes with pageantry, a flurry of interviews and a pair of new polls, which deliver intriguing, and sometimes divergent results. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas pore over the results and what they mean for the parties and the politicians in the post-budget, post-pay-equity-reshape wash-up. Plus...
Jun 03, 2025•43 min
In the year of growth, Nicola Willis has presented a growth budget. But does the Investment Boost initiative, which speeds up depreciation for businesses, promise the kind of growth that the economy needs? In this special Spinoff pod for budget day, Toby Manhire asks Bernard Hickey for his take on the headline changes, and whether or not David Seymour’s earlier commentary that his colleague Brooke van Velden had “saved the budget” through its controversial and hurried changes to the pay equiry s...
May 22, 2025•29 min
Unprecedented punishments imposed on Te Pāti Māori MPs, and the scramble to avoid banning them from the budget debate, is top of the agenda this week. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire assess the fallout, before rewinding to last week’s theatrical parliamentary controversy, all of which stemmed from a C-word in a newspaper column, and led Winston Peters, doyen of parliamentary decorum, to deplore a “House of Chaos” (by which he did not mean the popular monthly techno night at Fir...
May 21, 2025•55 min
An overhaul of the pay equity process has been whisked through parliament under urgency. The changes, which tighten the criteria for making a claim for workers in female-dominated sectors and summarily halt 33 existing claims in the pipeline, have prompted a major backlash, in part for their substance and in part for the decision to push the reform through without the usual consultation under a select committee process or regulatory impact statement. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Man...
May 07, 2025•53 min
This Saturday Aussies will (compulsorily) head to the polls. At the start of the year, Labor under Anthony Albanese was staring down the barrel of defeat and the first one-term government for almost 100 years. But with a few days to go, the pollsters are all picking that he'll return to power. What changed? Where did Peter Dutton's makeover go wrong? What happened to the Coalition campaign? Did Donald Trump play a role? To tackle these questions, complete with yarns about salmon and wallabies an...
Apr 30, 2025•38 min
The PM’s speech and free-trade phone tree with like-minded leaders in response to Trump’s tarrif binge impressed many commentators, but not all of them: leading pundit and deputy prime minister Winston Peters was indignant and he said so. Christopher Luxon said it was media beatup, but was he right? Should he have consulted more thoroughly with his foreign minister? Should his foreign minister have slapped him down in public? Was Peters right that it was too early to be assembling pro-free-trade...
Apr 23, 2025•42 min
At a sold out Q Theatre on Wednesday night, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire grapple with the new Trump world order, preview the Peters-Seymour handover and assess the state of play ahead of the term halfway mark. With special guest Rebecca Wright. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 10, 2025•51 min
After a drum beat of conjecture about his job security, the prime minister enjoyed something of an elixir in the investment summit and a trip to India that began with a breakthrough announcement: the launch of talks on a comprehensive free trade agreement. A big moment in itself felt bigger given the emergence of a US-led trade war, but also a confidence boost for Luxon. Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire discuss the import of those developments, and whether Luxon's good time abro...
Mar 18, 2025•45 min
The Labour spokesperson for foreign affairs joins Toby Manhire for a special podcast casting a view across a turbulent world. New Zealand, like pretty much every country in the world, is suffering from geopolitical whiplash in processing the torrent of activity emanating from the Trump White House. A postwar order cemented across eight decades is crumbling as a newly expansionist, protectionist United States emerges under Trump’s second presidency. In a discussion spanning everything from Ukrain...
Mar 14, 2025•56 min
Ambiguity surrounding the precise nature of the "animated" behaviour by Andrew Bayly towards a staffer, which led to his resignation as commerce minister, seeped into the prime minister's media response. Speaking to Mike Hosking, Christopher Luxon danced around the question of whether he would have sacked Bayly had he not quit, then danced around it again, and again, to the audible displeasure of the ZB superstar. Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire try to get their heads around th...
Mar 03, 2025•47 min
The leader of the Act Party has been in plenty of headlines in the last two weeks, ranging from a controversial (and historic) letter written on behalf of constituent Philip Polkinghorne to an attempt to drive a Land Rover up the steps of parliament. Remarkably, he had a pop at an "ill-advised" Christopher Luxon. And that's just scraping the surface; there are the questions around the response to Tim Jago, the teacher-only days, the school lunches. Across the board, he is steadfast in insisting ...
Feb 19, 2025•51 min
The Cook Islands prime minister, Mark Brown, has provoked the wrath of NZ's foreign minister with his decision to head to China to sign a new strategic deal. By failing to consult on the pact, says Winston Peters, the Cook Islands was in breach of commitments made as a member of the New Zealand realm. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas put on their geopolitical goggles to assess the strain in relations, which comes as the tussle between China and the United States for influence in...
Feb 09, 2025•37 min
A passive protest at the pōwhiri. A prime minister avoiding the Treaty Grounds. A “very interesting” idea about a possible te Tiriti Commissioner. In case you haven’t noticed, it’s been a pretty full on Waitangi week, and The Spinoff’s unofficial Māori unit has been there to witness it all. Recorded on the sandy shores of the mighty North, guest hosts Liam Ratana and Lyric Waiwiri-Smith (along with regular producer Te Aihe Butler) discuss the problem of David Seymour, Tama Potaka’s messy kūpapa-...
Feb 06, 2025•26 min
The political year kicked off with a dramatic reshuffle that sees Shane Reti removed from health in favour of Simeon Brown, James Meager made minister for the South Island and Nicola Willis in the renamed role of minister for economic growth. Alongside a caucus retreat and a state of the nation speech from prime minister Christopher Luxon, it's all part of an effort to reset the agenda. Fresh from their own exhausting retreat, Toby Manhire, Ben Thomas and Annabelle Lee-Mather regather to assess ...
Jan 21, 2025•50 min
Gone By Lunchtime is taking a break over summer. We’ll be back soon with new episodes but, until then, here’s one of our favourites from 2024: In a special crossover edition of Gone By Lunchtime meets Juggernaut, Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas take the stage at a packed Hannah Playhouse in Wellington, joined by NZ broadcasting legend Kim Hill. Exactly 40 years after the 1984 election that saw David Lange and Labour derail the Muldoon train and sweep to power, unleashing a head...
Jan 07, 2025•1 hr 2 min
In this bonus, snackable festive pod, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire point their goggles at 2025. Which issues will dominate, who will we be keeping an eye on, and just how unhinged are the predictions we're willing to make? Happy new year! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 30, 2024•22 min
Twelve months after the coalition government torpedoed the new ferry plan it had inherited, along with a wild cost blowout, from the previous government, a much heralded announcement finally arrived, and it was not the decision were hoping for. What does the latest instalment in the great ferry saga tell us about the state of the coalition, with David Seymour getting tutted by the new minister for rail Winston Peters? What kind of ferries will we end up with? And will they ro-ro or won't they ro...
Dec 12, 2024•35 min
After an acclaimed maiden speech, the new National MP for Rangitata faces his biggest test in politics yet: chairing the committee hearing Act’s controversial bill. He sits down with Toby Manhire to discuss the hearings ahead, and his own path to politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 05, 2024•51 min
Normally on The Fold, we discuss events in the wider media, but today, the subject is us and the future of The Spinoff. Published on site today is an open letter from Duncan, The Spinoff’s editor Madeleine Chapman, and its CEO Amber Easby. It toplines where The Spinoff is right now as a platform – this paradoxical place where our audience is the strongest it has ever been, outside of events like Covid or elections – but that the stagnant ad market, and a hard drop in public funding for our work,...
Nov 27, 2024•51 min
Today marks the first anniversary of the National-led coalition's swearing in. Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire parse the prime minister's sit-down interviews to mark the occasion, from the lessons to the communications to the big rocks and boiling of the ocean. How has he performed, is David Seymour right about the "disproportionate" impact Act has achieved and why is Winston Peter talking about being married to the Act leader? Plus: last week witnessed a huge turnout as the Hī...
Nov 27, 2024•47 min
As the Hīkoi mō te Tiriti streams through Auckland, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Toby Manhire and Ben Thomas assess its impact, and the state of the Treaty Principles Bill. Plus: the day of apology for abuse in state care: what it did and didn't achieve. And at last the GBL decision desk is ready to make a call on who has won the US presidency (and speculate on what it means for New Zealand). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Nov 13, 2024•41 min
Annabelle Lee-Mather reveals why she doesn't care who wins next week in the US, while she, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire all pick who they think will win. Then it's back to Aotearoa and a whistlestop tour of recent headlines: Darleen Tana is bounced out of parliament by peg-nosed Greens, Richard Prebble is appointed to the Waitangi Tribunal, Andrew Bayly's chilled out entertainer routine backfires dramatically, and Mike King says some puzzling stuff about mental health and booze as a "lifejacket"....
Oct 31, 2024•44 min
The once leader of the National Party these days pays minimum attention to NZ politics and spends as much time as possible watching the American election campaign. Here he talks to Toby Manhire about the state of the race, why Kamala Harris's momentum has ebbed, whether Donald Trump's former chief aide saying he's a fascist will impact things, and what it all means for New Zealand. Oh, and where he'd put his money if forced to bet on a winner. Todd Muller is host of the podcast What's the Story,...
Oct 25, 2024•39 min
Twelve months after an election that delivered New Zealand its first three-party coalition, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire cast their minds and hearts back, recall those heady early days and seek to assess the opening stanza of the Christopher Luxon government. How has he fared with two noisy partners? How are the opposition doing? Which politicians have impressed and surprised? And what are the tripwires and opportunities in the year ahead? Learn more about your ad choices. V...
Oct 15, 2024•56 min
The capital gains tax debate has lurched back on to the agenda thanks to the boss of our biggest bank and the housing issues faced by Christopher Luxon. Is it a good idea, and can Labour ever avoid getting electorally squashed by trying to push the rock up the slope again? Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas chew it over. Plus: did the government underestimate the strength of feeling in Dunedin over its long promised new hospital? Is the swap of a teacher te reo programme for more ...
Oct 01, 2024•43 min
The treaty principles bill continues to attract criticisms - from the leaders of churches, from the leaders of political parties including National. In revising it, is David Seymour stumbling, or is it all playing out as he'd wish? Annabelle Lee-Mather, Toby Manhire and Ben Thomas chew it over. Plus: the crime statistic puzzle and the power-blasted mill closures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sep 18, 2024•39 min
Tens of thousands have gathered at Tūrangawaewae Marae over recent days for the tangi of Kīngi Tuheitia, who died on Friday morning after 18 years on the throne. Fresh from a visit to Ngāruawāhia, Annabelle Lee-Mather joins Toby Manhire and Ben Thomas to describe the mood on the ground, Tuheitia's legacy, and the role of the Kīngitanga in New Zealand politics. Plus: infrastructure, meta-infrastructure and a rethink on the fast-track bill, and Shane Jones' remarks about the judiciary, which have ...
Sep 04, 2024•49 min
The prime minister travelled to the Māori King's Koroneihana this week, where he was assailed for government policies that had, according to Tuku Morgan of Tainui, hit tangata whenua with a wrecking ball and thrown them under the bus. Christopher Luxon seized the moment to declare unequivocally that National would not support the Treaty Principles Bill beyond first reading, while Act leader David Seymour was a centre of attention despite being absent. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Ma...
Aug 21, 2024•43 min
A walkout at the Iwi Leaders' Forum, a call from John Key to turn down the temperature, and protests at parliament. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire test the air on the coalition government relationship with iwi Māori as former minister Tracey Martin urges National to back down on its coalition commitment with Act to repeal Section 7aa of the Oranga Tamariki Act. Plus: is Karen Chhour right that the pressure she's facing in parliament crosses the line? Should MPs in the house we...
Aug 07, 2024•33 min
