Only 64 more days of tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax
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?
04 Sep 2026
More about the episode
This just in: we have nine more weeks of this. Can National's indefatigable campaign manager Simeon Brown sustain the unremitting tax focus all the way to election day, can Labour move the discussion to somewhere that suits it better, and with politicians across the board shrugging off requests for factual corrections and apologies have we waded into a post-truth, alternative-fact mire? Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire convene to tackle these question. Plus: Is Chris Hipkins hugging National close or spooning them? Is Te Pāti Māori's policy to entrench te tiriti as radical as some have suggested and how did Willie Jackson do in outling his own party's Māori campaign?
