Gone By Lunchtime

Toby Manhire is joined by the three leading candidates in the race for Auckland Central: sitting MP Chlöe Swarbrick of the Greens, National’s Mahesh Muralidhar and Labour’s Oscar Sims. What do they have to say about transport in the city? Housing? Crime? And will Toby storm out of the studio and leave them to debate without him?  This is an excerpt from our day-long Election 2023 Megapod, recorded...

Labour MP Michael Wood talks to Toby about the impact of his resignation as a minister three months ago (“It was really awful to be honest”), the campaign to date, and what he hopes to do next. Plus: we enquire about his redemption animal (clue: it’s not a yak). This is an excerpt from our day-long Election 2023 Megapod, recorded on September 20. Watch the full megapod livestream here. Learn more...

Toby Manhire is joined by Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman, Bulletin editor Anna Rawhiti-Connell and founder Duncan Greive to critique the performances of Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon in the 1News debate, and critique the critiques. 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....

Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas size up the big first clash of Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon under the hot studio lights at 1News. What were the flashpoints, would have emerged the happiest, and is this going to change people's votes? Plus: the angry fence man disrupts Act's campaign launch and the latest from the campaign trail with 24 days to go. Plus: the latest Ipsos Is...

David Seymour has led the Act Party from the edge of extinction to a major force in the NZ parliament and stands today on the brink of bringing multiple MPs to the cabinet table. In a wide-raning conversation with Toby Manhire, he talks about why he doesn't want to talk about Winston Peters, the reasons behind the party seeing five candidates withdraw within two months, and defends his assertion t...

With the first leaders' debate less than a week away, Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire ask if the National leader is staging an epic hustle. Does mounting pressure on National over purported numbers for a foreign buyer property tax offer hope that Chris Hipkins and Labour can reclaim some of the lost ground, or do a succession of polls that put them in the 20s mean they're in furn...

A big day in the 2023 campaign as Treasury opens up the books and sets out the pre-election fiscal update. Toby Manhire is joined by When the Facts Change host, Kākā pilot and sage of the political economy Bernard Hickey to explain what the Prefu reveals, how New Zealand's numbers compare internationally and what it means for the financial scrap playing out between National and Labour. Learn more...

Toby Manhire sits down with the co-leaders of the Green Party to discuss the successes and failures of the last six years, how they're approaching a crowded, antagonistic campaign, the electorate seats they're taking seriously and the great dance of rulings out and bottom lines. Plus: what was going through their heads as they stood a few metres away from Elizabeth Kerekere when she denounced an "...

As the campaign kicks into full ice-cream-and-robotic-hands mode, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire size up the state of play. On the agenda: National's tax plan and the complaints of "heroic" assumptions; Labour's dental pledge and the promised land of 2026 (and memories of the old days when kids were bussed off to the "murder house"); the Labour and National campaign launches, th...

The state of the campaign, the struggling Chrises and the electorate battles to watch are all on the agenda as Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas take the stage at the Word Christchurch festival. Joining the trio is Lianne Dalziel, former cabinet minister and Christchurch mayor, to share her thoughts on the Labour campaign, the Christchurch electorates to watch and the local-central...

A new poll lays bare National's ascendancy and the scale of Chris Hipkins' challenge. Is it about Labour's strategy, the state of the economy, or Christopher Luxon polishing his act? Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas assess the state of play with just over 50 days to the election. Plus: David Seymour's Guy Fawkes fantasy and Te Pāti Māori candidate Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who is...

Will all the good polling in the world make up for the lampooning of Labour's big policy on GST and fruit and vegetables? Will Ben Thomas's coconut with a straw be exempt? Ben, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire discuss Chris Hipkins' launch into campaign mode, Grant Robertson's Damascene moment, and whether the initiative was seized back with a kindergarten launch of paid partner parental leav...

The man who managed five National election campaigns joins Toby Manhire to talk about his new book, about going from Mr Fix It to Phone-a-friend, the National meltdown, the secrets to campaigning and working with the public service, and his encounters with fiscal holes, Eminem, a phallic squeaky pecker, and an MP who made headlines for talking about his testicles.  Learn more about your ad choices...

Chris Hipkins sits down with Toby Manhire for a wide-ranging interview spanning his political foundations, the record of the Labour government after two terms, coping with a string of ministerial scandals, and what to expect in the campaign to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire in a deep dive into the holes of the emerging campaign. Is it time for a costings unit to stop the fiscal squabbles? Is Labour on the brink of reviving its GST-free fruit and vegetable policy, what does that mean for boondoggles and beetroot? What sticks out in the freshly announced Labour list, and how can Chris Hipkins halt the party's bad m...

New Zealand woke to news this morning that cabinet minister Kiri Allan had resigned and will face charges for careless driving and resisting arrest after crashing her car last night. Toby Manhire recounts what we know so far, and reflects on Allan's extraordinary political story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Hipkins has dashed the hopes of some of his most senior colleagues and Labour progressives by burying the prospect of a wealth tax or new capital gains tax under his leadership. Is that a surprise, and what does it say about the state of the party and the campaign, wonder Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire. Also on the list in a busy patch of pre-campaign activity: Labour laun...

Kiri Allan is under pressure over her relationships with staff – what exactly is she accused of and does it add up to a serious controversy? Toby Manhire, Ben Thomas and Annabelle Lee-Mather size up the pressure on the minister, and the poly-distractions confronting Chris Hipkins. Also this week: the National Party doubles down on law and order as it targets 45%; the prime minister walks the tight...

The Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman has just returned on the NZDF workhorse from covering Chris Hipkins' big week in China. She sits down with Toby Manhire to describe the scene in the Great Hall of the People, how Hipkins managed the tricky political challenges from Xi Jinping to Kiri Allan, and the prime minister's suboptimal approach to snacking. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...

As PM Hipkins leads a big delegation for a big week in China, Toby Manhire is joined by Newsroom's national affairs editor Sam Sachdeva (author of The China Tightrope: Navigating New Zealand's relationship with a world superpower) to discuss the state of the relationship, the shifting fault lines and the tripwires Chris Hipkins needs to avoid as he prepares to meet President Xi Jinping. Learn more...

Nothing says election year quite like writ day, rosettes and pledges to crack down on gangs. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire look at the debate around the influx of gang members and police to Ōpōtiki. Also on the agenda: it's officially a recession - what kind of political weight does that carry? National embraces GMO and abandons He Waka Eke Noa as it attempts to wrench the rura...

The review of electoral laws calls for wide-ranging changes, across the voting age, thresholds and donations. It also prompted derision from the likes of Mike Hosking, David Seymour and Winston Peters. Panel chair Deborah Hart joins Toby Manhire to explain the thinking behind the recommendations, and responds to the critics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Teenager Michael Wood's purchase of Auckland airport shares, and his failure to get rid of them as transport minister, have left Chris Hipkins with another big headache. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas assess the mess and its implications. Plus: Simeon Brown and the many intersections of the National Party position on te reo and road signs; a Voyager media award for the Birkenhea...

Toby Manhire crosses live to our correspondents in Wairoa and Ponsonby, Ben Thomas and Annabelle Lee-Mather, for an assessment of Grant Robertson’s attempt to thread the needle in the so-called no-frills budget and a National Party response that had a hint of artificial intelligence about it. Plus: is the $140 million being handed to foreign-owned NZ Steel for an electric furnace money well spent?...

With the political and economic gravities pulling in various directions, the finance minister was tasked with providing support for the hardest hit by the cost-of-living crisis without heaping sugar in an already high-inflation sauce. And on top of that, it's an election year. To assess whether Grant Robertson managed to thread that needle, Gone By Lunchtime’s Toby Manhire sits down with When the...