Gone By Lunchtime

The Spinoff has just launched a brand new series called Behind the Story, where site editor Madeleine Chapman sits down with a staff writer or contributor to gain more insight about a big story on The Spinoff from the week. We thought you might like to check out the first episode, and if you enjoy it please follow it wherever you get your podcasts! On Friday, Bulletin editor Anna Rawhiti-Connell sent her final newsletter, and took the opportunity to share what she’s learned about the news over two years of curating it for thousands of New Zealanders. Earlier in the week, she’d seen reports of Auckland dog owners discarding their pets’ turds on the ground after Auckland Council removed bins across the city. And so, the column “If you love a dog, you must also love disposing of its shit” was born. Anna joins Madeleine Chapman to talk about the power journalists have when framing a story and how to find the middle ground between boring and sensational. For The Spinoff editor’s thoughts on the week that was, as well as a handpicked collection of the week’s best reads, subscribe to The Weekend with Madeleine Chapman newsletter at thespinoff.co.nz/newsletters  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Six months in, and it's hardly been a honeymoon. A new poll would put National out of power and sees its leader, Chris Luxon, sliding in popularity. How much is it about policy, how much coalition management, and a how much just the persistent grey economic clouds. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas gather to stick their fingers in the wind. Also on the agenda: the two Winstons entwine as the foreign minister takes aim at former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr, who responds with a threat to sue. Did Melissa Lee and Penny Simmonds deserve to be demoted? Plus, what the Waitangi Tribunal said about the decision to scrap Oranga Tamariki's section 7AA, and what the High Court said about children's minister Karen Chhour's refusal to turn up to talk about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Winston Peters and Helen Clark are at loggerheads over New Zealand inching towards "pillar two" status in a pact geared against China. Is cross-party unity on our foreign policy status splintering, and what does "pillar two" really mean? Plus: public sector cuts are suddenly becoming very real. What are the implications for the public services and what is the political risk? How is Melissa Lee navigating the media inferno in a coalition cabinet? And a stirring defence of the history curriculum. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special edition of GBL, the former finance minister and soon-to-be vice-chancellor at the University of Otago chats with Toby Manhire from the nosebleeds at the Basin Reserve. On the agenda: tax reforms lost, the Covid legacy, the lure of Dunedin, and which White Fern Robertson most identifies with. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Despite a deteriorating economic outlook and inconvenient calculations, Nicola Willis and Chris Luxon insist that they can deliver promised tax cuts without new taxes or higher borrowing. Or that’s the intention, at least. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas chew over the fiscal predicament. Plus: is the new fast-track consenting law, which concentrates immense power in the hands of Chris Bishop, Simeon Brown and Shane Jones, a necessary circuit breaker or a lurch towards Muldoonism? What to make of Winston Peters’ ramblings about Nazism, DNA and co-governance? And while Chumbawamba have urged New Zealand's veteran tub-thumper to cease and desist, is a better template for his contribution one of the Gallagher brothers? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christopher Luxon can’t catch a break. His prime ministerial house is shabby. His prime ministerial plane is borked. But, ask Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas, how foreseeable was the blowback to his decision to take the $52k accommodation allowance to stay in his own mortgage-free Wellington apartment, how tin-eared was it to declare, repeatedly, that he was entitled to his entitlements, thank you very much, and the swift talkback-driven U-turn? It came hot on the heels of a whiplash week in parliament, with legislation to bin the Māori Health Authority, roll back smokefree legislation and unban pseudoephedrine. Is the government stretching the use of urgency to its legitimate limit? Elsewhere in a new edition of the Spinoff politics podcast Gone By Lunchtime: Warner Brothers Discovery has issued a death warrant for Newshub, all of Three’s news operations and a bunch of other local content. What does it mean for democracy, and how was the response from Melissa Lee and the rest? Plus: A word on Grant Robertson, who is leaving politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fa'anānā Efeso Collins, Green MP and former Auckland councillor, has died after collapsing while taking part in a charity run in central Auckland. He was 49 years old and is survived by his wife, Fia, and two daughters. The news reached Toby, Ben and Annabelle while a podcast recording was under way. At that point the planned recording halted and we shared reflections on his life and legacy. We have chosen to include the early part of the podcast; to skip past discussions that in the circumstances feel trivial, listen from approximately 22 mins. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Annabelle Lee-Mather returns from the cauldron of Waitangi to discuss with Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire the rhetorical flames and gently roasted marshmallows at the hugely attended commemorations. Did Christopher Luxon navigate a copy-paste path between his coalition partners and how many tails does it take to wag a dog? Also on the podcast this week, Ben explains why new minister Casey Costello's explanation for seeking advice on freezing tax on tobacco is consistent with the enigmatic NZ First school of biblical interpretation. Plus: James Shaw is quitting the Green co-leadership. What legacy does he leave and what difference might Chlöe Swarbrick, the favourite to replace him, make for the party? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The political year has begun with a sharp focus on the new coalition government and te ao Māori. In the first pod back for 2024, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire discuss the messages from the packed Kiingitanga hosted hui ā motu and an unusually politically barbed Rātana. How is Christopher Luxon dealing with questions – and fury – over the Treaty Principles Bill agreed to as part of the deal with Act? Should David Seymour have shown up? And what is NZ First – the third bonce of what was called a “three-headed taniwha” – looking to gain? Also on GBL: Is New Zealand’s deployment of NZDF to the Red Sea as part of the retaliatory action against Yemen’s Houthis a smart move, and is it plausible to say there is no link to the Israeli action in Gaza? And the resignation of Green MP Golriz Ghahraman returns questions around mental health, abuse and responsibility to the foreground. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the end of a long year and a hectic few weeks for the new government, Toby Manhire, Ben Thomas and Annabelle Lee-Mather ask: What is the story of the three-headed coalition so far? Plus: how do we rate the various parties' performance across 2023? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SUPERPOD is back! Hosted by Gone By Lunchtime's Toby Manhire and featuring Jane Yee and Alex Casey from The Real Pod, Duncan Greive from The Fold, Gone By Lunchtime's Annabelle Lee-Mather, Simon Pound from Business Is Boring, Bernard Hickey from When The Facts Change and The Spinoff Podcast Network's Te Aihe Butler and Samuel Robinson, SUPERPOD 2023 is the crossover to end all crossovers. From intense discussion of government policy to figuring out what the heck a skibidi toilet is, we celebrate the best and worst of what has been a rollercoaster year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first fortnight of the three-part coalition government has been anything but dull. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas review Christopher Luxon's performance as his deputy PM Winston Peters steals thunder, a 100-day plan lays out an ambitious programme of undoing, and Te Pāti Māori command attention in the house and on the streets as parliament gets back into business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christopher Luxon has scaled his Big Rock candy mountain and today the new National, Act and NZ First coalition has its ministers sworn in at Government House. Toby Manhire, Ben Thomas and Annabelle Lee-Mather rattle through the two coalition deals and ask: Who scored the big wins? Will there be further changes when the books are opened and a mini-budget published? What is the message to Māori? And what can we learn from the dynamics at play between Luxon, Winston Peters and David Seymour? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The special votes have confirmed a "worst case scenario" mélange à trois comprising National, Act and NZ First. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas assess the state of coalition talks. What are the, as Christopher Luxon's puts it, "big rocks", "additive things" and "things we've got variance in"? Plus: Te Pāti Māori triples its caucus, Chris Hipkins faces a leadership vote, and our predictions on when the new government will be announced. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

National has won the election, but what kind of victory is it? Will a coalition with Act be enough, or is Winston Peters’ phone about to ring? Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire sift through the results the morning after, sizing up Christopher Luxon’s achievement, the Labour plunge and the future for the Greens, NZ First and Te Pāti Māori. It was a night that produced some big surprises, in Auckland seats and across the Māori seats. Plus: what next for a wounded Labour, what kind of government would a National-Act coalition mean, and the task ahead for Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After months of living and breathing this year’s election campaign Gone By Lunchtime’s Toby Manhire, The Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman and The Bulletin editor Anna Rawhiti-Connell join together to discuss the events of election day. Toby arrives fresh from a whirlwind tour of various party events while Mad and Anna emerge from an evening spent devouring election coverage and reporting on results. Go here to watch this episode on YouTube, where it broadcast as a livestream on election night. Keep an eye on this feed later today (Sunday 15th October) for a morning-after-the-night-before deep dive with Toby, Annabelle and Ben. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the last pre-election pod, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire comb through the final polls and take stock after a hectic final few days in which panicked-looking National has gone really negative - on a government led by them. Meanwhile, Labour might have inched back up, but is it enough to give them even a distant hope? Plus: Thoughts on Act, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, and a not entirely fond farewell to the campaign of 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Labour leader has Covid-19, which means a campaign rejig and a protracted squabble with Christopher Luxon about who is quitting the Press debate and who isn’t. Meanwhile, Winston Peters has gone into bombastic overdrive, parts of the campaign have gotten ugly, and a clutch of new polls indicate tight races in Auckland Central, Tāmaki, and Hauraki Waikato. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas take the pulse. Plus: Christopher Luxon has declined to be interviewed by The Spinoff or on the pod. We extend again a warm invitation to the man who could be prime minister in a few weeks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the second leader debate, Chris Hipkins went full-mojo against Christopher Luxon. Did it work for him, or did he overdo it? The NZ First leader wasn't there and yet he really was, after Luxon ruled him in at the start of the week. "I don't know him," professed Luxon of Peters, but will that wash? And what was the thinking behind the ruling-in, and why now. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire tackle all of that, and pick the stars and the flops across other debates of the last week, including the powerbrokers clash on Newshub Nation, and the young voter and kaupapa Māori debates on TVNZ. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 12th and final hour of the Election 2023 Megapod, the Mount Rushmore of political podcasting returns and makes a desperate dash for the finish line. There is some discussion of polling and the campaign trail as it hits mid-point, but mostly it’s Annabelle pounding her chest and shouting, “there’s nothing left in here for you.”  This is an excerpt from our day-long Election 2023 Megapod, recorded on September 20. Watch the full megapod livestream here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices