Gone By Lunchtime

A ferry grounded, a power pylon upended thanks to missing bolts, the prime minister's plane borked again. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire assess sticky-taped, short-term New Zealand and what to do about it. Plus: a bright solution to a messy situation on cancer drug funding and the first ever scrutiny week at parliament. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We thought you might like a wee taster of our brand new #1 series, Juggernaut: The Story of the Fourth Labour Government, hosted by Toby Manhire. Click here to follow Juggernaut so you get every episode as soon as it's released! 1. I love you, Mr Lange Fuelled by brandy and fury, Sir Rob Muldoon calls a snap election, sparking a 1984 campaign of contrasts – the menacing, protectionist National PM against the fresh, upbeat Labour leader, David Lange. The pretext for the election is the decision by Marilyn Waring, a young, gay MP, to back an anti-nuclear bill and quit the National caucus, prompting an earful from Muldoon. Lange, meanwhile, is joined at the hip by a hungry would-be finance minister, Roger Douglas. They are about to confront a profound crisis, and launch a revolution. Includes previously unheard interviews with David Lange from the 84 campaign trail, and new and exclusive interviews with Marilyn Waring, Roger Douglas, Geoffrey Palmer, Richard Prebble, Peter Harris, Margaret Wilson, Bob Harvey and Gary McCormick. Click here for full details of archive material used in this series Juggernaut was made with the support of NZ On Air. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eleven agencies were summoned for a meeting on Friday to discuss “action” to address a series of allegations involving Manurewa marae and Te Pāti Māori, the most serious of which is misuse of census data ahead of the last election, at which TPM’s Takutai Moana Natasha Kemp – then CEO of the marae – defeated Labour’s Peeni Henare by just 42 votes. Kemp and John Tamihere, president of TPM, strenuously reject the allegations and “baseless innuendo”. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire convene their own summit in an attempt to get their heads around the claims and counter-claims, and why they’re so serious. Plus: The enduring newsline for Nicola Willis’s debut budget was meant to be tax cuts and a tightening of belts. Instead it’s something else: a failure to deliver promised funding to 13 cancer drugs. We assess the severity of the backlash, the response, and the reception to the 2024 budget more broadly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nicola Willis has delivered tax cuts in her first budget, largely as promised. But has the coalition government managed to square the circle of relieving cost of living pressures while avoiding the quicksand of encouraging inflation? In a special crossover episode of Gone By Lunchtime meets When the Facts Change, Toby Manhire quizzes Bernard Hickey on all that, plus: Is Willis right to say the tax cuts are not paid for by borrowing, and can she reasonably blame Labour for the bleak fiscal outlook? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special episode of GBL, recorded before a sell-out audience at the Auckland Writers Festival on May 18, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire haul the KPIs out of the cabinet and assess the first six months of the National-led government, the performances of Prime Minister Chris Luxon, Winston Peters and David Seymour, along with the efforts from the parties of opposition. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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