Gone By Lunchtime

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...

Christopher Luxon has ruled out working with te Pāti Māori, lambasted the “coalition of chaos” and invoked “separatism”. Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire assess the strategy, the timing and the rhetoric. Plus: the latest on Meka Whaitiri and the reasons for her defection, the resignation of Elizabeth Kerekere and what it means for the Greens, and important discourse on the oiling...

Big news: The MP for Ikaroa-Rāwhiti and government minister, Meka Whaitiri, has jumped from the Labour Party to the Māori Party. Were Toby Manhire, Ben Thomas, and Annabelle Lee-Mather as blindsided as Chris Hipkins, as he lived it large in London ahead of the Coronation? What exactly were her reasons for defecting? How damaging is it to the government? And, if she has really notified the Speaker...

Is the report on tax paid by the wealthiest New Zealanders valuable data or political stunt, and does David Parker's campaign for a wealth tax stand a chance against Chris Hipkins' no-frills crusade? Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire discuss potential future Labour tax policy, relocating the podcast to Australia to take advantage of the new citizenship pathway; Kiri Allan, Meng Foo...

As Chris Hipkins rebrands water reforms, making four entities into 10, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire ask whether the changes will be enough to mollify the critics. Plus: Jacinda Ardern's valedictory speech, reviewed; the Covid-19 settings decision, assessed; crybabygate; and the confiscation of lobbyists' swipe cards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...

Stuart Nash is goneburger and Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas are here to file through his laundry list of infractions to decide whether or not Chris Hipkins should take further action. Could Nash end up in NZ First? Will he be snapped up by Ben and his lobbyist comrades? Plus: Marama Davidson calls out cis white men and Erica Stanford delivers the National Party's education poli...

Fresh from round two of Chris Hipkins’ “reprioritisation” (but pre-Stuart Nash’s resignation as police minister), Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas wade through the long list of culled policies to discuss the hottest topics in New Zealand politics. What is the meaning of the ever-shrinking government programme? Have the Greens been shafted? Is Christopher Luxon's role as leader of...

After an online excoriation of National's Three Waters policy, Rob Campbell has insisted he will not be "politically neutered" and has been sacked as Te Whatu Ora chair. Was that fair, ask Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire. And was he right about National's policy? Plus: Grant Robertson says it's too early to decide how to pay for the Cyclone Gabrielle rebuild. Is a flood tax on th...

A week after the cyclone ravaged swathes of the North Island, the northern Hawke's Bay community of Wairoa is still assessing the damage and slowly, piece by piece, reconnecting to the world from which it was isolated. Ben Thomas, who has been in Wairoa since before the storm hit, calls in to talk with Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire about the experience, the response and the political ramif...

How has Chris Hipkins performed in his first big tests as prime minister? Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas debate the deluge aftermath, as well as assessing Wayne Brown's emergency response, and a pair of polls that show an election year in the balance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the blink of an eye we'll have a new NZ prime minister. Annabelle, Ben and Toby assess the coronation, the reset and what it all means for election 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An out-of-gas Jacinda Ardern is standing down as prime minister. What prompted the decision, what legacy will she leave, who is in the running to succeed her, and what does it all mean for election year? Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas race from their own caucus retreat into the studio for this emergency episode. Get tickets for Morningside Block Party here. Learn more about your...

It's election year! In the coming weeks Jacinda Ardern will reveal the date of the upcoming general election. Toby Manhire uses his superior deduction skills in an attempt to predict the date before its announcement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From the occupation at parliament to disruption within the National party, Toby Manhire flips through the calendar, circling key dates as he waves goodbye to a year that felt like it would never end. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SUPERPOD is back! And for 2022, we're bigger than ever! Hosted by Gone By Lunchtime's Toby Manhire and featuring Jane Yee and Alex Casey from The Real Pod, Duncan Greive from The Fold, Leonie Hayden from Nē?, Simon Pound from Business Is Boring, The Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman and The Spinoff Podcast Network's Te Aihe Butler, SUPERPOD 2022 is our multiverse of madness. From the Black Ferns' h...