If you ever feel like you’re always being asked to donate money to some cause or another, you probably aren’t wrong. In New Zealand, there are more than 28,000 registered charities – with an annual income of more than $21 billion – on top of over 110,000 not for profit organisations. Legislation leaves the definition of a charity pretty broad – if you say you’re tackling poverty, advancing education or religion, or beneficial to the community in any way, you c...
Feb 18, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast ‘Chaos’, ‘overstretched’, ‘a bloodbath’ -- these are just a few descriptions of New Zealand’s health sector in recent days. It’s as the sector faces its third resignation of its top brass... Director-General of Health Diana Sarfati will finish up Friday – ending her term two years earlier than expected. Her resignation came soon after Health New Zealand chief executive Margie Apa -- followed by Public Health Director, Nicholas Jones, who quit...
Feb 17, 2025•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Homelessness is one of the most visible signs of poverty in this country. Walk through the CBD of any of our major cities, and you are likely to come across someone living rough. But often what we may see on our streets is the tip of the iceberg for a much larger issue. This week, HomeGround in Auckland, one of the initiatives trying to tackle this crisis, turns three –but that’s just one location in one city trying to get on top of a national problem. Today on The Front Page, we tal...
Feb 16, 2025•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast A Bill which would give New Zealanders just one avenue to bet on racing and sports online is under the microscope. The amendments to the Racing Industry Act would make TAB New Zealand the sole legal domestic operator of online racing and sports betting. The TAB estimates Kiwis lose $185 million a year to offshore operators, with the changes expected to retain this money. It’s all while the TAB’s operator, Entain, faces allegations of not doing enough to combat money laundering and co...
Feb 13, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast It is Pride Month in New Zealand, with the LGBTQ plus community making the most of the summer sun to celebrate. But, at the same time it’s a celebration that feels increasingly under threat. The return of the Trump administration has seen a rise in laws attacking the trans community and limiting Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. It’s even seen one US state look at trying to overturn gay marriage. And while the US may be thousands of k's away, our connected world means att...
Feb 12, 2025•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast The latest Taxpayers Union-Curia poll and 1News Verian poll show the coalition Government is losing ground. Both show the left bloc of Labour, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori would have enough support to form the next government. It’s all while Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s first post-cab of the year was marred by questions about Act’s David Seymour – the man set to become Deputy PM in May. Opposition leader, Chris Hipkins, has gone as far to call for Seymour to be rem...
Feb 11, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tensions have emerged in recent weeks between New Zealand and several Pacific Island nations. Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown has been accused of ‘not properly consulting’ New Zealand on the country’s upcoming China deal – which is expected to be penned in Beijing this week. Meanwhile, NZ aid to Kiribati is under review – and Samoa has sought help from China in the aftermath of the Manawanui sinking last year. This all comes as the Trump administration has fr...
Feb 10, 2025•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the past, overseas investment in New Zealand has been seen as a privilege – rather than a right. But – could that all be about to change with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s latest push for economic growth? He kicked off 2025 by announcing the establishment of a foreign investment agency – similar to those seen in Ireland and Singapore. The Government’s holding a ‘global investment summit’ next month – with sovereign wealth and major asset ma...
Feb 09, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast For better or worse, house prices have been a cornerstone of our economy for decades. But a rise in prices now put home ownership out of reach for many Kiwis. Things could be changing though. Wellington City’s new rateable valuations show that, on average, house values have plummeted 24.4% since 2021. It comes as the city -- which once made headlines for its hotly contested rental market -- now sees landlords fighting to fill their homes. So, is this a nationwide phenomenon, and is the dre...
Feb 06, 2025•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast National has kicked off 2025 by diving headfirst into plans for economic growth – and it wasn’t long until Act threw in their two cents. Party leader David Seymour made privatisation a key focus of his State of the Nation speech. And while Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said he doesn’t want to sell anything off this term – he's suggested it could be campaigned on in next year’s election. It’s a road that New Zealand has gone down before, with the likes of Bo...
Feb 05, 2025•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Government wants to see tourism numbers increase as part of its economic growth push. As part of that push, the existing visitor visa scheme will be tweaked to include welcoming ‘digital nomads’. That will allow tourists from visa waiver countries up to nine months to travel around New Zealand while still working for their overseas employer. The scheme has already been greeted with expressions of interest from overseas, but the introduction of digital nomad visas in some countrie...
Feb 04, 2025•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mining has become a key part of the Government’s plans for economic growth. Resources Minister – and self-appointed ‘Matua of Mining’ - Shane Jones has unveiled a plan to double exports to $3 billion by 2035, alongside a list of 37-strong Critical Minerals List and a national minerals strategy. While the plan has been met with criticism from environmentalists and the opposition, there has been some positive feedback from academics, praising the plan for its commitment to ...
Feb 03, 2025•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast If the theme of 2024 was ‘cutting back’, then 2025 is all about ‘growth’. The word appears 31 times in Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s State of the Nation speech – and for good reason. Luxon said it’s the “key to brighter days ahead” after experiencing the “biggest recession since the early 1990s.” Finance Minister Nicola Willis has been handed a revised Economic Growth portfolio as part of that planning, working on thing...
Feb 02, 2025•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Silicon Valley’s been rattled by a low-cost Chinese AI – with the startup claiming their DeepSeek technology can emulate the performance of ChatGPT, at a fraction of the cost. Its launch shook share markets and spawned allegations from OpenAI that their Chinese rivals used its work and models to make their own artificial intelligence. This is all happening while the new US administration appoints an ‘AI and crypto czar’ so the online currency can ‘thrive’. So,...
Jan 30, 2025•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Students across the country are starting to head back to school, and there are some big changes coming from our youngest pupils. As well as 2025 marking the return of charter schools, primary school students will start to be taught structured literacy and maths this year, as part of a curriculum refresh instituted by Education Minister Erica Stanford. It comes as test results continue to show declines in achievement across all age groups. But are these changes enough to reverse falling standards...
Jan 29, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Meta – the parent company of Facebook and Instagram – has implemented some changes across its organisation since Donald Trump’s election win. The social media giant is set to remove independent factcheckers from its service, replacing them with community driven ‘notes’ similar to what X implemented after its rebrand from Twitter. The company has also ended various diversity, equity and inclusion measures, while chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has called for more &ls...
Jan 28, 2025•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast From the ongoing downfall of high-flying developers to promises of Swedish meatballs - this year is set to be one to watch when it comes to property news. Major developments are getting underway after the passing of the Fast Track Approval Act, while some projects that have been under construction for years are close to completion. But after a few years of a tough lending landscape and issues in the construction industry, are we closer to getting back on track? Today on The Front Page, NZ Herald...
Jan 27, 2025•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Security software used widely by retail staff is in the spotlight after an incident involving a former Green MP. Golriz Ghahraman quit politics last year after being caught shoplifting from boutique fashion stores, and news emerged earlier this month suggesting she had done it again at a PakNSave supermarket. But the former MP did not steal anything, and the store never reported the case to Police – yet as the incident was logged in the Auror security system, Police were able to access it,...
Jan 26, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast New Zealand's economic outlook for 2025 is expected to be a recovery from the previous two years of weakness. With inflation stagnant and the number of Kiwis leaving the country appearing to have peaked, economists are predicting we will see an uptick. Yet it could be a long road to get to the light at the end of the tunnel – with the Government’s books at the end of December painting a grim picture for the years ahead, and the impacts of job cuts likely to still be felt this year. B...
Jan 23, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast The political year is ready to kick off. While Prime Minister Christopher Luxon may have got an early start with his Cabinet reshuffle, over the next coming days we’ll see a flurry of party caucus retreats, state of the nation speeches, and the annual visit to Ratana as politicians return from their summer holidays. And while central government has plenty to tend to this year – local politicians are preparing for the country to return to the polls in October to vote for our councils ...
Jan 22, 2025•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast After 15 months and the deaths of around 47,000 Palestinians, the war between Israel and Hamas has ended – for now. A six-week ceasefire has begun in Gaza, after agreements were reached for the release of Israeli hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners and aid. The start of the agreement coincides with Donald Trump returning to the White House, with the US President taking credit for the deal – though so did his predecessor, Joe Biden. So, what will happen next in Gaza, and what...
Jan 21, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has kicked off the political year with the first major reshuffle of his Cabinet. Dr Shane Reti has lost Health to Simeon Brown and has been bumped down Cabinet rankings, while Melissa Lee has been stripped of all portfolios, in favour of first-term MP James Meager. Today on The Front Page, we’re joined by NZ Herald political editor Claire Trevett to discuss the big winners and losers. Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever...
Jan 20, 2025•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Donald Trump is set to be inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States. After four years out of office after losing in 2020, Trump is set to return to the White House with a vengeance – with his ‘Make America Great Again’ agenda front and centre. His administration has already raised eyebrows for some of his unusual Cabinet appointments, and Trump’s usual bluster has seen him make bold promises about what he’ll get done on day one – including being a...
Jan 19, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Do you ever get the feeling New Zealand just doesn’t know how to build houses properly? We had the leaky homes crisis – where timber-framed homes built from 1988 to 2004 were not fully weather-tight. And now, construction experts are warning that tens of thousands of Auckland families will suffer in overheating terraced houses unless designs change. Terraced houses are being built at pace in Auckland, with even more expected after the Government mooted 55,000 new ones to be fast-trac...
Jan 16, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Earlier this month, Justin Trudeau resigned as Canada’s Prime Minister, marking the end of his nine years in office. Trudeau was also one of the last leaders standing from an era of younger, left-leaning or liberal politicians, alongside the likes of Finland’s Sanna Marin and our own Jacinda Ardern, who garnered global attention for bringing a fresher approach to politics. That era seems well and truly over. Last year, more than 60 countries went to the polls, and many countries saw ...
Jan 15, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Growing concern about public safety has reignited the idea of arming our frontline police officers. The police union says 68% of officers support routine arming – and, our new police commissioner, Richard Chambers, is apparently ‘open’ to discussions around it – although he’s also said we’re ‘proud of having unarmed police’ and he’d like to keep it that way. This is all while, in the first hours of 2025, a car rammed into a police vehicle at ...
Jan 14, 2025•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Destructive. Devastating. Apocalyptic. That’s how the wildfires burning across Los Angeles over the last week have been described. The blazes have largely brought the US’ second largest city to a standstill, destroying thousands of buildings have been destroyed, and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate. It comes as officials declare 2024 the hottest year on record, with temperatures breaching the target of 1 point 5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first...
Jan 13, 2025•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Billionaire Elon Musk is not content with just having the ear of US President elect Donald Trump. Over the past few weeks, the world’s richest man has weighed in on European politics, first writing an op-ed backing Germany’s far-right AFD party. But the UK has become a particular obsession, with Musk frequently commenting on his social media platform, X, about child grooming and rape gangs, laying the blame squarely at the feet of the six-month old Labour Government. So why is the te...
Jan 12, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast While The Front Page is on summer break, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest news stories and top-rated episodes from the podcast in 2024. The 2023 general election was a battle between the two Chrises – Labour's Chris Hipkins, and National’s Christopher Luxon. It was a battle that Luxon ended up winning, thanks to the support of two coalition partners in Act and NZ First. But it’s a match-up that currently looks set to be repeated next year...
Jan 09, 2025•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast While The Front Page is on summer break, we’re taking a look back at some of the biggest news stories and top-rated episodes from the podcast in 2024. People respond to election losses in various ways, from protesting to legal action to considering moving country. But, what about adopting a vow of celibacy through something called the “4B movement”? That’s what some young women in the US promised on social media in protest of Donald Trump winnin...
Jan 08, 2025•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
