In this bonus shortcast, we break out our package on the latest in the police pay dispute. We hear from cops on the frontline, put their stories to the PM and reveal exclusive new details about how many Kiwi officers are desperate to skip the Ditch for more lucrative roles in the Aussie force. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It’s the full story of Chumbawamba-gate, including an exclusive interview with a founding member of the band on the prospect of legal action against New Zealand First and their ongoing fight for control over which politicians can - and can’t - use their music. Plus - the police pay dispute and perception among officers that they’re being taken for granted by the Government. We put questions to the PM and get the feeling from the frontline. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc...
This week we received an eleventh-hour opportunity for a short interview with the Prime Minister. On the agenda during his visit to Central Districts Field Days: police pay, tax cuts, Ruby Tui and his political value judgements. Oh, and we heard his verdict on the conversation too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week we had a long conversation with ACT leader David Seymour about his ideological position on wealth and tax. That was for a specially themed episode of the podcast, coming very soon. We also took the chance to ask him some policy questions - about the tax rebate for landlords, whether the Government is on track to keep its tax cut promises and how they might incorporate ACT’s tax policy into that plan. Because that’s been in the headlines this week, we thought we’d share that section as ...
Super Tuesday supercharged Donald Trump's drive for another term in the White House. Anthony Scaramucci, the White House communications director Trump fired after just 11 days, joins us from New York to explain why he’s backing Biden in America’s “hour of peril”. And CNBC senior political correspondent Kevin Breuninger analyses the primary results. Plus, back home, Andrea Vance and Luke Malpass assess the Government's first 100 days. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This week's podcast investigates our emergency housing crisis. As promised at the end of the show, here's Tova's full interview with the mother who gave us a frontline perspective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Almost 6500 people live in emergency motels, nearly half of them children. One mother, who needs short-term help through no fault of her own, offers a frontline perspective after rejecting a filthy motel, and questions whether vulnerable people are expected to settle for whatever they’re given. We track down the motelier and get the inside running from the Government on their plans for emergency housing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It’s 20 years since Kiwi cinema’s greatest night, when the final film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy won 11 Oscars. Two decades on, the film sector contributes more than $3.5 billion to the economy each year and directly employs almost 14,000 people. But is it still one industry to rule them all? On this week’s pod we talk to industry powerbrokers and learn the fate of the government’s screen rebate scheme. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
There's criticism that the tails are wagging the big dog in the coalition Government. And, with $1.2 billion wasted on Three Waters, and an influx of other infrastructure issues in the Government in-box, is it time to consider a different way of doing things? Could a grand coalition between National and Labour pave the way for better planning and stop smaller parties wielding disproportionate power? We learn the lessons of history from an international expert and see if ex-ministers from the big...
With Māori leaders' distrust of the government at levels unseen since the Foreshore and Seabed legislation two decades ago, the leaders of the coalition faced a fierce examination at the annual commemorations of the signing of Te Tiriti O Waitangi. From the wonderful winterless north, Tova brings you the full story of one of the most significant Waitangi weekends for many years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The pod returns next week with a very special episode from Waitangi - and Māori distrust of the government higher than at any point since the foreshore and seabed legislation 20 years ago. We'll be bringing you the latest from the commemorations of the signing of Te Tiriti O Waitangi, including interviews with key political players, expert analysis and, of course, celebrating Te ao Māori. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We're easing into the holiday period by asking some of our political heavyweights what they're giving Kiwis for Christmas. Plus, Tova recaps the tumultuous year that was, and Stuff political editor Luke Malpass predicts what to expect in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The relationship between Māori and the Government is at its most strained since the Foreshore and Seabed dispute two decades ago. In a week marked by protests across the country and controversy on day one of the 54th Parliament, we talk to Waitangi National Trust chair and iwi leader Pita Tipene, and new Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith, about the Government's Māori policy agenda. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
To smokefree or not smokefree? That is the question our guests grapple with on the pod this week, as the world reacts to the shock decision by our new Government to repeal legislation that would have phased out cigarette sales in New Zealand. We talk to a public health professor who offers an evidence-based debunking of the justifications offered by the new National-led Government - and the consultant involved in a report that rejected Labour's case for introducing the laws in the first place. P...
The speeches of Christopher Luxon, David Seymour and Winston Peters at the ceremony to confirm New Zealand's first coalition government featuring three partners in Cabinet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The wait for a coalition agreement goes on. But whatever the deal, the major sticking points cut to the heart of what makes our modern democracy. From tax and the Treaty to the relationship between the PM and their Deputy, even judicial independence, this is big picture stuff. So we invited some big brains to explain why it all matters - and point out some potential pitfalls for Christopher Luxon and co. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
With all three coalition partners railing against bloated bureaucracy, more than 60,000 core public servants might well be wondering what the new government means for job security. In this episode, exclusive news of looming redundancies in one department, an interview with someone working at another large agency about what it’s like being a political football and invaluable insights from our former top public servant Iain Rennie. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When you want to predict the future, sometimes it pays to look to the past - especially when Winston Peters continues to be one of our most influential political figures, more than four decades after entering Parliament. So, we talked to Jim Bolger and Helen Clark - two Prime Ministers who worked with Winston in Government. We wanted a steer on what he’s like, how he negotiates - and what Christopher Luxon should be wary of. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
During a late-night call to Toronto, Tova gets the former three-time Prime Minister's take on Labour's 2023 drubbing - and whether Chris Hipkins is the right person to take on National at the next election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Who needs the oh-so-quiet leaders of the political parties vying to form a government? After some intense negotiations (completed in a day or two - just saying), we’ve summoned our very own official unofficial alternative coalition of National, ACT and NZ First former leadership to give you the inside running, the scoop, the tea - or at least the most informed outsider takes we could find - on the coalition talks. Powerhouse political panellists Simon Bridges, Heather Roy and Ron Mark join Tova ...
Last week's pod focused on the situation in Israel and Palestine. We spoke to former CNN correspondent Arwa Damon and historian and former Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren. This is a bonus, previously unreleased excerpt from our interview with Michael - a kind of potted history of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, or what he called “about 3000 years in a nutshell”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this episode, we're turning our focus to the war in Israel and Gaza. Tova is joined by former CNN senior international correspondent Arwa Damon who urges all of us (especially the media) not to oversimplify what is an extraordinarily complicated story. Tova also speaks with Michael Oren, a renowned historian who is also a former Israeli Ambassador to the United States. He joins us from Tel Aviv, where he is living out of a bomb shelter. A warning - this episode contains discussion about war, ...
At last, the moment some of you may have been waiting for, Aotearoa’s most potentially prestigious political ceremony: The first of at least one Poli Awards. Or, as they’re affectionately known in Poliwood, The Polis. Join host Tova O'Brien and a cast of national treasures, including Sir John Key, Helen Clark, Paddy Gower and Tom Sainsbury, for a glittering extravaganza honouring those who made a lasting impact on 2023's battle of the ballot box. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone...
With the dust settling on election night, National and ACT are still weighing up whether they need Winston Peters and New Zealand First to confirm an durable coalition. Tova talks to big hitters from the six key parties and hears fears over civil unrest amid the celebrations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Still weighing up where to stick your ticks? Allow Tova's resident audio wizard Connor Scott to assist. He's compiled some highlights - and quite possibly lowlights - from the campaign trail. Happy voting! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
With Winston Peters timing his race down the home straight like a political thoroughbred, all bets appear off for those hoping for a decisive election result on the night. Labour campaign chair Megan Woods and her National counterpart Chris Bishop discuss their parties' efforts on the trail, and how Peters was able to get back in the saddle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Tova talks to National Party candidate Greg Fleming about JH Aotearoa, the Christian camp/adventure experience he founded, and the views of its original founding organisation JH Ranch California. The US organisation's statement of faith now says homosexuality is a “sinful perversion”, listed alongside sex with animals or a relative. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Race-based allegations, more candidate Twitter woes and a "bonkers" coup conspiracy theory rebutted. After talking to National's possible coalition partners last week, it's the turn of the Greens and Te Pāti Māori. Respective co-leaders James Shaw and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer also explain why they're confident of getting a wealth tax past Chris Hipkins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Comments by New Zealand First candidate Rob Ballantyne were described as racist by both Chrises in the Newshub leaders' debate. In his only interview since, Ballantyne told Tova the comments were taken out of context. Here's the full interview, and the speech they were from. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
With polls predicting that Winston Peters will - once again - hold the whip hand after election day, ACT leader David Seymour and NZ First's Shane Jones are pushed on how the parties could possibly work together in government - given they can’t stand each other - and what they're doing about conspiratorial candidates. Warning: A short section discusses mental health and suicide. For free help, text or call 1737, 24 hours. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
