Both Sides Now

This week on the podcast… the election is OVER! After months of campaigning, debates, political promises and a whole lot of political drama, it's time to unpack what actually happened. We break down the results, who should be celebrating, who might be licking their wounds, what the numbers tell us about the state of New Zealand politics, and what happens next as we look towards the formation o...

This week on Both Sides Now, it's the final countdown. Just ONE WEEK until E day, and we're wrapping up the campaign with a look at where things stand, how we're both feeling and whether we're ready for election day (or a lie down). We get into the big political stories dominating the final week of the campaign: Harry Mowbray and the latest developments surrounding his campaign, TH...

This week on Both Sides Now, we’re talking political attacks, debate drama and the electorates that could decide E night. We discuss the attack on Helen Haines and the wider issue of attacks on politicians in New Zealand, particularly women, and what it means for anyone putting themselves out there in public life. Plus, we break down the final round of leaders’ debates, what stood out and how the...

This week on Both Sides Now, we’re kicking things off with a bit of international chaos, from Shane Gillis’ monologue to Trump reportedly giving his press secretary just five days in the job. Back home, the clock is ticking for young voters to get enrolled, with the deadline hitting midnight on 25 October. We chat about the enrolment changes, why youth turnout matters, and why politics affects pre...

This week on Both Sides Now, we’re breaking down the election debates, the latest policy drops, and whether strategic voting could shake up the election. We kick things off with the debates: did Winston Peters come out on top in the kingmakers’ showdown and was a relatively uneventful performance actually a win for Luxon? Plus, the NZ Herald’s Future of NZ debate gets a big tick from us — if you w...

We’ve talked tax with Brad Olsen. Now we’re hearing it from a different angle. This time on Both Sides Now , we’re joined by Simplicity economist Shamubeel Eaqub to ask some pretty basic questions that somehow get very complicated very quickly. Is our tax system actually fair? Are we taxing the right things? Should we be taxing wealth differently? And is government debt really the ticking time bom...

Tax is everywhere in this election — but how much are politicians actually telling us? This week on Both Sides Now , we sit down with economist Brad Olsen to spill The Tax Tea and get into the stuff that tends to get left out of the campaign slogans. Is our tax system actually fair? What taxes should we have — and what shouldn’t we be taxing? Is debt really the big problem politicians make it out...

We kick things off with the Hager book — the latest political bombshell making waves in Wellington. We get into what’s in it, the reaction it’s sparked, and what it all means with the election just around the corner. To give the book some context Eve shares her experience of working at the Taxpayers Union. Then it’s another big week of policy drops , starting with Supermarkets 3.0 — Labour's p...

This week on Both Sides Now, we’re joined by Freshwater Strategy's Dr Mike Turner, International pollster and political researcher , for a chat about pretty much everything you could want to know about politics and campaigning. We start with where the NZ election is at, what the latest polls are telling us and, perhaps more importantly, what they aren’t telling us. Mike takes us through how po...

This week on Both Sides Now, we kick things off with Ed Sheeran vs Macklemore, has Ed made the right call? Then we get into the big policy stories of the week: National entering the supermarket chat. Labour taking aim at supermarket price gouging, the Greens putting $200m behind Te Reo Māori, and Te Pāti Māori’s plans for New Zealand’s energy system. And we get into ACT’s small business policy, in...

This week on Both Sides Now, we’re doing a political whistlestop tour because all the parties decided to do a policy dump this week. We start with the Green's KiwiMart. We then run through Labour and ACT's climate change and policies. TPM and ACT’s plans for the Waitangi Tribunal, what do these policies surpassingly have in common? We then go into Labour's AI policy, National’s first-home buyer an...

This week on Both Sides Now we kick things off with National’s student loan policy. What is National actually proposing, who stands to benefit, and does it meaningfully change the picture for young New Zealanders trying to get ahead? Then we turn to health, with a particular focus on women’s health and the latest announcements in this space. We look at what the parties are promising and why young...

We sit down with Rewiring Aotearoa's Mike Casey for a wide-ranging conversation about one of the biggest costs facing New Zealanders: energy. We get into  power and petrol, and ask what can politicians actually do to make your power bill and petrol bill cheaper? We talk about the practical policy changes that could make a difference, what’s getting in the way, and whether politicians are maki...

 This week on the podcast, we get stuck into Te Pāti Māori’s decision to campaign for the candidate vote only and what it means for MMP, the Māori electorates and the wider election campaign. Then we attempt something that seems increasingly difficult in politics: having an adult conversation about tax. What should we actually be taxing, why do we tax it, and what does a fair tax system look...

This week on the podcast:  leadership coup round two. And somehow, it was even more of a mess. If you are feeling overwhelmed by it all, don't worry, so are we! We unpack what actually happened inside National, why Chris Penk decided to make a move, who knew what and when, and what the whole saga says about Christopher Luxon’s leadership heading into the election. Luxon survived his second le...

This week on Both Sides Now we sit down with ACT MP Laura McClure for a wide-ranging conversation about her journey into politics and some of the issues she’s been pushing since entering Parliament. We chat about her bill tackling AI-generated deepfakes, why she thinks the law needs to catch up with rapidly developing technology, and what should happen when AI is used to create misleading or harmf...

It's a slightly longer episode this week, but there was no shortage of topics to cover. We start by briefly discuss Winston Peters' latest remarks before turning to one of the biggest challenges facing New Zealand: youth unemployment. We discuss why more young people are struggling to find work, whether our education system is preparing people for the jobs of the future, and how AI is already chan...

Another busy week in politics, and we're unpacking the stories behind the headlines. We start with the fallout from Stuart Nash's comments suggesting women who take time off to have children are "lazy". Were his comments taken out of context, or do they reflect a wider attitude towards unpaid care and parenting? We discuss why the comments have generated such a strong reaction and what they tell u...

This week we're talking celebrity politicians after Paul Henry announced he's standing for ACT. Is this the start of a trend, or just another reminder that politics and entertainment are becoming harder to tell apart? We also look at the UK's Count Binface, who might be a joke candidate on paper but ends up making some surprisingly sharp points. With the regulated period just around the corner, we...

This week on Both Sides Now, we unpack two similar approaches to making solar power more accessible by National and Labour. Despite being from opposite sides of the spectrum we discuss the importance of seeing the two main political parties largely in alignment on New Zealand's energy future. We also discuss the government's proposed social media ban for young people and the role of VPNs. We share...

This week on the podcast we're unpacking the Conservation Amendment Bill and separating the facts from the politics. There's been plenty of debate about what the Bill actually does, so we take a look at what's changing, why it's causing such a stir, and whether the concerns being raised stack up. We also dive into the Government's KPIs for emergency housing. What are they trying to achieve, are th...

Ever wondered how New Zealand's voting system actually works? In this episode, we're joined by our old university lecturer, Professor Andrew Geddis, for a deep dive into MMP – the system that shapes every election and every government. We unpack how MMP works, why New Zealand adopted it, what your party vote and electorate vote actually do, and clear up some of the biggest misconceptions about our...

This week on the podcast, we begin by discussing our episode with Q Opportunity Party leader. We then unpacked the government's proposed Definition of a Woman Bill and looked at the legal, political, and social debates surrounding it. We discussed what the bill would actually do, why it has generated so much attention, and whether it has any realistic chance of becoming law. We also took a look at...

She's the woman hoping to pull off one of the biggest upsets in New Zealand's MMP history. Qiulae Wong — known as 'Q' — is the new leader of the Opportunity Party, and she joins us on Both Sides Now to talk about what needs to change in NZ politics, why the left-right divide is holding the country back, and her mission to get Opportunity into Parliament for the very first time. We talk about her c...

In this weeks episode we examine the Government's new stalking legislation, which will create a standalone stalking offence for the first time in New Zealand. We discuss why existing laws have often failed to adequately capture patterns of obsessive and threatening behaviour, what conduct the new offence will cover, and whether the proposed penalties and protections strike the right balance. We th...