Duncan Garner - Editor In Chief

National is at war with its own biggest donors. Businessman Harry Mowbray joins Duncan to explain why the Split Your Vote campaign was pulled, why National complained to the Electoral Commission, and how MMP math could either hand the centre-right eight extra seats or cost them the entire election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Labour wants 5% of government contracts locked in for Māori businesses. That is nearly a billion dollars of taxpayer money allocated by ethnicity rather than merit. Chris Hipkins refuses to come on the show and front up. Duncan breaks down why picking winners by race divides the country instead of backing every Kiwi business to succeed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...

With days to go before the election, the pressure is on, and the gloves are off. Paul joins Duncan Garner to break down what is really going on behind the campaign slogans. National continues to fight the split vote, but is the party putting its own survival ahead of locking in a center-right government? Paul and Duncan tackle the realities of MMP, why voters are still confused after thirty years,...

One week out from polling day, voters are being asked to hand over their power without seeing the fine print. We dig into whether Chris Hipkins can actually manage a four-party beast, what happens if Nicola Willis is out and David Seymour wants Finance, and why National has only themselves to blame for leaving the door wide open. Ashley Church and Maurice Williamson join Duncan in the studio. Lear...

National just dropped 25 percent in the latest poll, and politicians are spinning flat-out. Duncan sits down with veteran pollster David Farrar to rip past the talking points, break down the rogue numbers, and look at the real coalitions that could govern. We also hear from a Christchurch parent who says the basics are still slipping through the cracks at school. Learn more about your ad choices....

Ten days out from the election, neither major party has moved the dial. Millions have been spent, debates have been endless, and National is flatlining in the high 20s, with some of its biggest names facing political execution. Duncan breaks down our latest rolling poll of polls, why Luxon is struggling to pull away, and whether Chris Hipkins can actually stitch together an untried four-party gove...

Erica Stanford joins Duncan to warn that the hard-won gains in our classrooms could be wiped out if Labour gets the chance to roll back school reforms. Chris Hipkins will not front to debate it, leaving parents in the dark on structured literacy, curriculum rollouts, and regular testing. Plus, Duncan breaks down the Leone gang scandal fallout and the voter enrolment deadline debacle. Learn more ab...

The Mongrel Mob scandal has exploded right into the Labour Party, forcing candidate Kieran Leone to resign after misleading leader Chris Hipkins about her gang ties. With polls opening in 48 hours, this timing couldn't be worse for the left. Duncan Garner, Maurice Williamson, and Ashley Church break down whether this massive political mistake has handed the election to National, and why Hipkins' e...

The country's top business leaders have delivered a brutal verdict, leaving Christopher Luxon outside the government’s top 10 ministers again. These are his people, and they do not rate him. Plus, if Luxon refuses to pick up the phone to Keeler Wong post-election, will National MPs axe him? We look at the mounting pressure on the Prime Minister. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm...

Chris Hipkins is rewriting history to cover his back after Labour MPs met up with the Mongrel Mob. Trying to pin $2.75 million of gang funding on John Key is cobblers when Labour ministers signed off the paperwork. Plus, NZ First’s Shane Jones joins us after visiting the Santana gold mine site to explain why fast-tracking growth matters and why DOC needs a complete shake-up. Learn more about your...

Christopher Luxon came out firing in the third leaders' debate, delivering a surprisingly dominant performance against Chris Hipkins. Joined by Taxpayers' Union director Jordan Williams and commentator Annie O'Brien, Duncan Garner dissects the key moments from the night, including the latest 1 News-Verium poll showing National at 32%. We break down the fiery exchanges over health workforce numbers...

To vote in this election, you need to be enrolled by midnight this Sunday, October 25th. Miss the deadline, and you cannot vote; you will be completely shut out. Chris Hipkins is calling National reckless, accusing them of changing the rules to disenfranchise thousands. Is it sour grapes, or has the government made it harder for regular Kiwis to exercise their democratic right? Learn more about yo...

We are in the final stretch of the election and it is looking like the tightest race in decades. ACT leader David Seymour joins us live to break down his party's $400 million health policy, primary care funding, cutting the public service, and why he refuses to hand over Epsom. Plus, Ashley Church and Maurice Williamson join the panel to crunch the numbers on our latest poll of polls. Learn more a...

Mike King sits down with Duncan Garner for a deeply personal, wide-ranging yarn about where he has been and where he is headed. From his early years in a gang to navigating late puberty, school failure, and complex family dynamics, Mike opens up about the moments that shaped him. We dive into why so many Kiwi kids feel lost today, the truth about youth mental health, and what Gumboot Friday is rea...

Green and Te Pati Māori MPs visited a South Auckland gang pad to meet senior Mongrel Mob members and posted the photos online. With the election on a knife-edge, the judgment of these politicians is under heavy scrutiny. Chris Hipkins has called the photos abhorrent and completely unacceptable. We ask what on earth they were thinking and whether this error hands the election to their opponents. Le...

Christopher Luxon looked stronger. Then Chris Hipkins found his weak spot and kept hitting it. Duncan Garner, Ani O’Brien and Jordan Williams deliver their verdict on the NZ Herald leaders’ debate. Luxon gets the edge overall, but his minimum wage answers come under fire, while Hipkins faces tough questions over COVID decisions and trust. Plus, the panel tackles government spending, the Greens’ Mo...

Four weeks out from the election, Wellington is telling schools how to manage uniform costs. Is this really how we tackle a massive cost of living crisis, or is it just a cheap distraction? We dig into why central government needs to butt out of local decisions and start answering the big questions about who will actually run the country and how families are going to get ahead. Learn more about yo...

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The election is so close we could be looking at a completely hung parliament, leaving the major parties scrambling for votes. Kylee Wong joins us to lay down a challenge on how kingmaker negotiations should work, while National and ACT push tough welfare calls to rally their bases. We dig into whether these policies show true strategy or sheer desperation, and ask if MPs should face the same drug...

Would Qiulae Wong put National or Labour into power? And what would she demand in return? The Opportunity Party leader joins Duncan Garner to explain her five bottom lines, why tax reform isn’t a condition of a deal, and where she stands on Winston Peters. Duncan presses her on the cost of living, supermarket competition, power bills and how much a minor party could actually deliver. Then Ani O’Br...

Opportunity Party leader Qiulae Wong joins Duncan Garner in the studio as TOP surges in the polls and positions itself to potentially hold the balance of power this election. With the party sitting around the key 5% threshold, Qiulae breaks down TOP's five non-negotiable bottom lines, including cracking down on supermarket competition, regulating lobbying, reforming health, and recommitting to cli...

The government has officially stripped non-elected members of voting rights on Auckland Council committees, including the Auckland Māori Statutory Board. It brings us back to a basic democratic principle: if you want the power to vote, you should have to stand for election and face the voters. But while the core principle makes sense, the process behind it has been messy and rushed. We break it do...

Our latest rolling poll of polls averages out the numbers and hands this election to the left. National is narrowly ahead in the party vote, but MMP arithmetic means Labour, the Greens, Te Pāti Māori, and TOP could have enough seats to form a government. Last night's debate showed just how tight this contest really is, even if most voters have already made up their minds. Learn more about your ad...

A snarky debate, rehearsed answers and plenty of missed opportunities. Did either leader give New Zealanders a reason to feel confident? Duncan Garner, Ani O’Brien and former National minister Maurice Williamson give their verdict on the TVNZ leaders’ debate between Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins. Where did Luxon let Hipkins off the hook? Was Hipkins better at debating than answering the hard...

Nicola Willis has used nuclear political language, calling Chris Hipkins a liar over Labour's alternative budget. She claims there is a $10 billion-plus hole in their pay equity promises. We break down the biggest takeaways from our interview, including her warnings about Winston Peters, supermarket competition reforms, and why Chris Hipkins refused to front up on the show. Learn more about your a...