A New Zealand politics podcast hosted by The Spinoff's Toby Manhire with Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas.
Reuniting IRL in the Spinoff podcast studio, our hosts dissect the first action-packed week of the 2026 election campaign.
The latest Ipsos Issues Monitor has revealed the big issues New Zealanders are concerned about, and which parties they think are best equipped to deal with them. And how alarmed should we be about the OIA mischief at the MoE? TBC.
Our hosts reconvene to digest the latest political headlines, including (but not limited to): National’s pledge to “pursue” a breakup of Foodstuffs, the Department of Internal Affairs’ report on the Phillips children and Act’s commitment wind down the Waitangi Tribunal.
Like spring saplings emerging from the sodden earth, our hosts reconvene to assess the state of our politics. Is Chris Hipkins hugging National close, or is he in fact spooning them? And can Simeon Brown answer a question without mentioning the opposition's love of taxes?
Toby Manhire speaks to Spinoff staff writers Joel MacManus and Hayden Donnell about how (and why) the prime minister went from being a champion of localism to leading the most profoundly anti-localist government in living memory.
