Raw Politics

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: Who to believe over the state of the nation's books, and why the public might not even care; Plus What's eating the Act Party as its historic highs in the polls fade at a critical time? Both major political parties used the opening of the books this week to claim that their theories on the state of our economy and their solutions deserve your vote. Things are...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: Lame attack ads, how the infiltration the Labour campaign launch backfired, who's got all the money and how are they spending it - and why did Christopher Luxon discard his ceremonial Pasifika necklace? One week down in the election campaign proper, and the Raw Politics panel looks at who's got off to the best start. The two main parties got diverted almost f...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: Tax, fiscal holes, and disinformation. Plus: With just 43 days until the election, how is the campaign shaping up? Raw Politics ponders how National’s $14.6 billion tax plan landed both politically and in real terms for those who will benefit from the proposed tax relief. Then we cast forward to the campaign launches this weekend in Auckland where Labour and...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: The latest 1News poll confirms Labour really is the underdog now. Plus: Will National's 'diverse' party list lead to a diverse caucus after the election? Raw Politics tries to make sense of a wild political week in which a senior National MP threw in the towel with some glancing blows and faint praise, one of his colleagues was found guilty of being "objectiv...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: What's wrong with Labour governing by focus group, if its GST and parental leave policies help it win back support? And National is about to release its party list for the election with little room to diversify its team. Raw Politics pulls back the curtains on Labour's blitz of populist policy announcements - to discover that while they're 'in it for you', th...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: Why is it so hard to believe any party when they promise tens of billions of spending in NZ over many decades? And, we ask if it really matters to get to 100 percent renewable energy in this country. Raw Politics takes on two big, bold but unlikely spending goals outlined by the Government this week - the multi-billion dollar plan for cross-harbour tunnels in...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: National rolls out its tried, trusted – and a bit exaggerated – spend-up on roads, Labour promises to patch things up, and the polls reflect a new reality with NZ First. Raw Politics drives over National's future roads of national significance and analyses why the party keeps going back to that policy well, election after election. There must be polling data...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: What are the longer-term ramifications for Labour of minister Kiri Allan's arrest and resignation? Plus a big reversal on climate policy, and how to handle opinionated public board members. Raw Politics examines how the Kiri Allan saga leaves Labour this close to the election. Newsroom co-editor Tim Murphy suggests it might be a point where a shapeless campai...

Raw Politics examines how our political leaders responded to the highly public tragedy in central Auckland and how long they will be able to refrain from arguing about blame and recriminations. The Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition and party leaders in the House concentrated, correctly, on condolences to those who had lost family in the double killing and shooting of seven others. They expl...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: Two polls show different fortunes for the major parties but still a tight election, and Labour steps away from the ledge on a wealth and capital gains tax. Raw Politics is out a day early for the long Matariki weekend, with in-depth discussion on the latest polling and the impacts on Labour of its half-hearted dalliance with a wealth and capital gains tax. Wh...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: Can the Greens save Labour and the left bloc between now and the election, and Mr Hipkins goes to Brussels. On the eve of the Green Party's annual meeting, the Raw Politics team looks at its leader James Shaw, its policies so far and what it might do to bolster the left bloc's chances of retaining power. This time a year ago Shaw faced an effective vote of no...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: Another week, another two ministerial issues for Chris Hipkins, plus: is Labour's funding for universities too little, too late, and are there votes in National's criminal sentencing plans? Political editor Jo Moir is in China and national affairs editor Sam Sachdeva is in Europe, so this week Tim Murphy is joined by senior political writer Marc Daalder and T...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: Are the wheels falling off the Labour light rail car, is the government's battery running low or is a fatalism at work leading to the run of ministerial errors and embarrassments. The Raw Politics team tries to fathom the strange cases of Michael Wood, Stuart Nash and their errant colleagues who have inexplicably started to drag down their new leader and gove...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: Has National and the country given up on farm emissions? When does Labour throw a punch? And more from the whiny, wet, negative land called NZ. The Raw Politics team is joined by Newsroom senior political writer Marc Daalder this week, just in time to discuss National's big call to delay making farmers pay for agricultural emissions and to weigh up whether NZ...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: Whatever did Chris Hipkins do to deserve the absent-minded, busy, superior minister Michael Wood, and which electoral reforms deserve to be adopted. The Raw Politics team shakes its collective head at Transport Minister Michael Wood and wonders what he could possibly have been thinking to land his leader in a political bushfire so close to an election. Wood's...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: National struggles to deal with race relations and Labour and National fall out over housing density - plus the risk of a caucus breakdown for ACT. The Raw Politics team takes a look at how National's leader and MPs are dealing with questions at public meetings that have a race relations element to them and whether it's a problem for other parties too. We als...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: The leaders front up - Chris Hipkins to his party's annual congress for the first time, and Christopher Luxon to a nationwide 'back on track' roadshow; Plus the risks of AI in political advertising. The Raw Politics team marks a couple of election year milestones: the governing party's annual meeting and the start of the National Party leader's national speak...

Labour rebrands as 'The Chris Hipkins Government', Christopher Luxon faces a tired old rumour mill - and a Budget that makes small points well. Every Friday, Jo Moir, Sam Sachdeva and Tim Murphy talk through the big issues and scrutinise politicians’ performances in a lively 25-minute show aiming to take viewers and listeners inside the actions and motivations of our elected leaders. Moir is Newsr...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: Grant Robertson's eye-of-a-needle Budget narrow political options, plus Act's disciplined caucus amid chaos. The politics is raw and so is the pre-Budget analysis this week - as we take a Budget-adjacent look at what lies in store for the country and the parties next week. The Finance Minister Grant Robertson is already signalling a uniquely difficult setting...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: How the defection of a minister changes political equations for the election and coalition building, the endless nothingness of the republican debate and a futile Act in Tamaki. Meka Whaitiri's waka jumping from Labour to Te Pāti Māori was a political play in two acts. Act 1 was her dramatic and emotional announcement at her home marae, signalling in great ha...

This week on the Raw Politics podcast: What's eating the Greens, in what should be a big year for them? And Jo Moir tells us how Chris Hipkins came across as our chief statesman on his Aussie trip. The Green Party was supposed to be releasing its final party list on Friday, but it's riven with caucus dissension and gossipy emissions to media. Raw Politics this week hears what's going wrong and how...

On this week's Raw Politics video and podcast: Why the flurry of activity by the Government on school achievement and education reforms? And how does National ever get control over its scandal-prone candidate list? All of a sudden, Labour is changing its policies on schools and student achievement. The Raw Politics panel analyses its two announcements to recruit more teachers for Years 4 to 8, and...

It's six months exactly until New Zealanders go to the polls. We've heard a lot this year about Chris Hipkins' Labour Party, with National largely shaded. But how prepared, in policy and capability, is Christopher Luxon's team to possibly take power after October 14? The panel also weighs whether renaming and renumbering the entities in the water reform programme will help the Government shift the...

This week the team reflect on Jacinda's valedictory speech, break down the OCR changes and examine whether the recent changes to lobbying rules actually make a difference. Raw Politics is Newsroom's election year weekly video podcast, with Tim Murphy, Jo Moir and Sam Sachdeva. Every Friday, near the end of the political week, the three will dissect the big issues and put politicians’ performances...

Welcome to Raw Politics. Today Newsroom launches our new, election year weekly video podcast, with Tim Murphy, Jo Moir and Sam Sachdeva. Every Friday, near the end of the political week, the three will dissect the big issues and put politicians’ performances under the microscope in a lively 20 minute show aiming to take viewers and listeners inside the beltway. This week we discuss Stuart Nash's p...