#BHN Big Hairy News

The Homosexual Law Reform Bill, which decriminalized consensual sex between men aged 16 and over, passed by just four votes on July 9, 1986. It transformed the lives of generations of rainbow New Zealanders and paved the way for reforms that followed, including civil unions, marriage equality and greater representation across public life. The much-hyped Roads of National (Party) Significance have...

Labour has announced their SolarSaver policy looking to make access to solar panels easier and more affordable. National has claimed Labour is copying them, but we wonder if this new policy by Labour is "GST off fruit and veggies Mark 2" leading to a pretty insignificant improvement in the weekly finances of those hit the hardest with the cost-of-living crisis. Christopher Luxon fronted...

Qiulae Wong, the leader of the Opportunity Party joins us for round two of conversations about the party she hopes to take into parliament. Are they a left-wing party trying to pretend to be centrists? Is what they are saying "trust me bro" when it comes to having the ability to make either Chris PM? And moreChris Hipkins was on NZ Herald this morning talking Chinese missiles in the Sout...

Green Party MP Lan Pham joins us Live to discuss the party's "Drink Swim Fish" policy announced today, tackling water quality and strengthening environmental protections for our oceans. Paul Barlow co-hosts tonight, and gives an update on the state of politics and this weekend's top headlines. NZ First campaigning to limit voting to citizens only, and Winston Peters is out of the country during In...

Tonight Emz is away so Magenta will be joined by Brie Elliot. Consumer NZ is targeting the aviation sector and the power imbalance held over kiwis. The ministry of educations phonics curriculum has been embarrassed after it labelled made up words as real and real words as made up! Brie will speak on this further. Finally, Magenta has done a deep dive and collated the last month of news headlines i...

Ricardo Menéndez March joins us live at 9pm to talk about the "good Samaritan" member’s bill which aims to give legal protection to those experiencing an overdose and the people helping them. Disabled people and their families have delivered a petition to Parliament today calling for the Government's Support Services Bill to be scrapped, saying the legislation shifts responsibility f...

Ryan Bridge went full gangsta mode against Brian Tamaki making it clear of the hypocrisy that Tamaki is involved with and how any normal New Zealander would see his actions as concerning for someone who have numerous firearmsChloe Swarbrick and David Seymour clashed this morning over school lunches and lazy beneficiaries who fall asleep during the work afternoon "because of the P"The Omb...

Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki says police have revoked his gun licence and carried out a seizure of his firearms following his recent inflammatory comments on immigration. Alarm bells are ringing over the coalition's school lunch programme, with the Auditor-General warning the Government has not been able to clearly show the scheme is delivering its aims. Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins...

Labour strategists are hoping for a return to government just three years after one of their worst-ever election results. Campaign chair Kieran McAnulty set out why he believes there could be a one-term National government on Q&A with Jack Tame in the weekend. ACT's new deputy leader Nicole McKee spoke with the NZ Herald about her party's plan for smaller government, and criticism of h...

AI related news is dominating today; warnings and actions to prevent the harm caused by generative AI on one hand, and the Prime Minister disappointed with the slow uptake of AI on the other. Education system a shambles. The cancellation of rural school buses is causing absences for students, the Ministry has been scrutinised for choosing an Australian company to re-write the NZ curriculum, and th...

Conservation Minister Tama Potaka has spent recent weeks hitting back at critics of his Conservation Amendment Bill, who have accused him of wanting to sell off precious conservation land but today, while speaking at the Environmental Defence Society conference, Potaka confirmed he would change the bill to remove the provision for the disposal of the conservation estate. Senior Minister Chris Bish...

The ACT Party has introduced a new campaign policy which it says will stop professional regulatory bodies - like the Medical Council, or Real Estate Agents Authority - from policing workers' privately-held beliefs. ACT says these regulators are increasingly overstepping their statutory roles and enforcing ideological views across their industry. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has put a dampe...

The latest poll has just been released. Let's look at the standings and trends thus far for 2026. Opportunity Party support is steadily growing, ACT has seen a trending decline. Te Pāti Māori are back in the game, laying out their election strategy for the 2026 election. Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke speaks to continuing to stand this election under the TPM banner. Winston Peters is prodded by a &...

Green Party Co-Leader Marama Davidson joins us live to discuss the Green's election year tax policy released over the weekend. We also get her live reaction to UK Labour Leader and, now Former, UK Prime Minister Keir Starma's resignation. ++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com/BigHairyNetwork Follow us on Twitter.com/@bighairynetworkFollowing us on TikTok.com/@bighairynetworkSupport u...

Green Party Co-Leader Marama Davidson joins us live to discuss the Green's election year tax policy released over the weekend. Luxon revealed another election promise at National's annual conference in Wellington on Sunday, with KiwiSaver changes that include auto enrolling babies with a $1500 starting boost. NZ First have called them out for stealing their homework. Helen Clark reacts the...

Alika Wells joins us live. They are the Green Party candidate for Henderson 2026, a strong advocate for the Rainbow community and joins us to discuss the impact of the "What is a woman" Bill and how that will also affect Intersex people. Scrutiny week was full of questions, accusations, drama and fiery exchanges. Let's look at some of the best moments and perhaps some revelations. No...

How can we simultaneously have "record investment in health", while feeling like we're falling behind?  Why will anything less than an additional $1.4B in the Health NZ budget move health backward? How can it be that unmet need, population growth, and inflation are not properly accounted for in our official budget numbers? Kaitiaki Hauora is a new organisation made up of many groups...

Paul Barlow of The Collective, political journalist and commentator, joins to co-host for the evening. Scrutiny week has been full of surprises, with just about every Ministry having some skeletons in their closet: Immigration blunder, Shane Jones' limo bills, social housing vibe-ing rent price increases and more. Labour's next health related election promise - free prescriptions to be rei...

Youth advocate Ruby Love-Smith co-hosts tonight! Education Minister Erica Stanford has confimed some kind of crack-down on social media for young people is on its way, with some kind of policy addressing the issue on its way. In a rare moment, parliament have almost unanimously agreed on a 30-year infrastructure plan to address NZ's incredible infrastructure defect. New polling shows a big sur...

Advocate Katy Thomas joins live to discuss the impact of the Disability Support Services Bill which will overturn a long fought legal battle to recognise legal guardians and family members as full-time careers that should be compensated like any other employee. Labour have announced their latest election policy, free maternity scans for pregnant individuals. It would address another cost pressure...

National comes out swinging with a full report which suggests there is a big fiscal hole in Labour's election promises. Tangi Utikere was interviewed on Q+A this weekend, questioned extensively on Labour's latest election campaign promise to cap public transport fares across the country to help ease the cost of living. James Meager has been labeled a future National Party leader, a possibl...

The New York Times' latest expose reveals the extent to which Trump's top white house officials including VP JD Vance, Pam Bondi and Kash Patel colluded on how best to shelter Trump from the fallout of the Epstein Files. Labour have welcomed further investigations into how the PM's office handle OIA requests and documents that led to legislation change direct interference with a court...

What is the return on a dollar spent saving a youth from suicide or reversing their diabetes? We speak with Rachel McGillan, a Youth Health Nurse Specialist about her role helping teens navigate some pretty tough stuff.

Kieran McAnulty and Chris Bishop on Breakfast this morning debating the feasibility of Labour's capped public transport election policy. RNZ have found expert advice contracted by the govt was redacted which showed an LNG terminal to meet extra demand on the energy grid was not needed. All parties have made an appearance this week at Fieldays, gunning for the rural and farmer vote, not without...

Labour has announced it's first election promise of 2026, capping public transport costs nationwide in a bid to ease the cost of living for everyday people. Qiulae Wong, leader of the Opportunity Party sits down with Guy Espiner to break down some of the party's policies, including full tax system overhaul, citizens income and wanting to be the new 'Kingmaker' and overthrow Winston...