The Frontline with Dr Gary Payinda

Māori health ‘privilege’ starts in childhood with a 30X higher risk of rheumatic fever, continues in adulthood with later diagnosis, fewer treatments, and worse outcomes, and ends with an overall death gap that is a remarkable 7 years earlier than Pākehā. In this episode we talk with Health Policy Specialist Gabrielle Baker about whether current health policies will fix this, or make this woeful s...

The Frontline spoke with a maths education researcher about international test scores, smartphones in classes, bullying and behavioural problems in students, streaming in classrooms, teacher defunding, charter schools, and the stripping of professional education funding from teacher's aides. Plus the introduction and rollout of the 3rd curriculum for schools in the past 3 years.  There's a...

Ivor Popovich, the young ICU doctor who wrote  A Dim Prognosis , gives us an insider's look at the best and worst of medicine and healthcare in NZ. He balances stories of bullying, abuse, corruption, overwork, and understaffing, with inspiring stories of seeing lives saved, deep connections with patients and whanau, and growing as a person during the approximately 14 years between starting med...

Did you know that the growth in New Zealanders' life expectancy, increasing since basically forever, has finally fizzled out? That our levels of untreated youth mental health problems have shown a staggering increase? And that our lack of access to GPs has perfectly mirrored our blown-out numbers of ED presentations?  Economist Andrea Black and I talked about data trends and a decade of econom...

Today Elliot Crossan, author and activist with System Change Aotearoa, is talking with The Frontline about neoliberalism's original grandparents: Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson. They destroyed our social safety net 40 years ago, and started the movement that saddled us with ACT and David Seymour, and they ain't done yet. Like our current government, they were the worst of their generati...

Clinical psychologist and public health expert Dave (Bear) Hookway-Kopa tells us about a problem, FASD, which currently affects more than 1 in every 65 people in New Zealand. FASD is associated with problems reasoning, considering consequences, and controlling one's emotions. FASD increases the chance of ending up in prison by 2,000%. Yet corporate-favouring governments continue to side with t...

Tax consultant Terry Baucher takes us through Sir Roger Douglas's recent proposal to 'save' the NZ economy. We touch on issues of wealth inequality, the retirement age, the potential collapse of superannuation, housing unaffordability, privatisation, and regressive taxes that hit the poor and spare the rich. If you think taxes are boring, think again.

Melissa Ansell-Bridges, the National Secretary of the CTU, spoke with me about the far-reaching impacts the destruction of the Pay Equity laws will cause. It's not just about the 150,000 women immediately affected. It's about the 300K people whose incomes will be impacted. And it's not just about 2025, it's about financial injuries that will literally continue on for a decade. It&#...

Justine Sachs is a healthcare trade unionist based in Tamaki Makaurau. Speaking about the need for Labour to be bold to save our public health system.

NZ found literally billions of tax dollars for weapons systems, property investors, and tobacco companies. But $3,000 for a colonoscopy to prevent colon cancer? Sorry, there's no money. "You're on your own." Malcolm Mulholland of Patient Voice Aotearoa takes us through the ins and outs of public bowel cancer screening in NZ. It's shittier than you might think.

Lawyer, scholar, author and social advocate Dr Max Harris talks about how those in progressive political movements can win without selling their souls.

I speak with Andrew Galloway of Alcohol Healthwatch, and Dr Rose Crossin, a public health researcher, about the changes being made to alcohol laws that will make it much harder for local communities to fight back against the multibillion-dollar alcohol industry. It's a simple matter of People vs Profits. This is NZ's David vs Goliath story, and Goliath is winning.

Dr Aniva Lawrence is a Samoan Kiwi GP and educator and advocate for rural, Maori and Pacific communities. A leader in primary healthcare, she talks about the way forward for underserved communities, and all of New Zealand healthcare, during a time of heightened challenges.

In this Frontline interview, I talked with Whangarei Mayoral candidate Ken Couper for an hour...all about local government. But don't wander off, because it was a conversation not just for Northlanders--we covered issues are of nationwide importance: poverty, co-governance, pollution, dairy farming, rising rates, the role of central government, the repeal of 3 waters, the collapse of chronically u...

Alison McDougall is helping lead a citizen-run group called Protect Public Healthcare (PPH). They're publicising changes to the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act which is travelling a little under the radar at the moment even though submissions are open and some of what the government are 'amending' in this bill could cause serious issues for many in the public health system.

Turns out it's not really true. 99.7 percent of them will stay. And the money they pay in taxes will help build our society up. A conversation on the Millionaire Migration Myth, with researcher Ed Miller of CICTAR.org. 

Fleur Fitzsimons and the PSA (Public Service Administration) have served as the voice and conscience of the NZ worker in the fight against unjust government policies and at times scandalous politician rhetoric and behaviour. Today on The Frontline, we talk about both as we discuss the government's demolition of the Pay Equity Act, affecting 130,000 New Zealand working women and the families th...

Organising a resistance to the coalition can't wait until the next election. It's got to start now, locally. With strong resolve, and a fierce determination to avoid being divided-and-conquered by a government of, for, and by the rich.

Ian Powell spent 35 years in healthcare policy as head of the public (salaried) doctors' union. He's seen it all, and has some surprising thoughts about the privatisation of healthcare. Read more of Ian's work at https://otaihangasecondopinion.wordpress.com/2025/07/14/who-benefits-from-outsourcing-planned-surgery-follow-the-funding/

An interview with Dr Marcus Lee, a Northland cardiologist who, along with dozens of other doctors, penned an open letter to Simeon Brown, the Minister of Health, and other top politicians, asking them to put their money where their mouth is: To pause their private health insurance plans while they're in office, and to live with the same public healthcare system that the majority of New Zealand...

Taupo's ED understaffing woes and close-down risk is making news again. A bit of good science news on the gut microbiome's effect on heart attacks. And a piece on the alcohol industry doing the right thing when forced to, by (gasp!) legal regulations: Ireland accurately labels wine as a known carcinogen. Will NZ follow?

Paul Spoonley is a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Massey University and an expert on how nations counter violent extremism. This episode of The Frontline, Prod Spoonley tells us whether the Christchurch Massacre was a wake-up call for New Zealand, or an unheeded warning.

The Frontline talks with Odie Matson, an experienced nurse and NZ Nurse's Organisation delegate, about Simeon's latest Facebook lash-out. How can a Health Minister who just got 4 annual pay rises in a row, find himself attacking nurses on Facebook for their attempts to negotiate safer working conditions?  Nurses who are offered a pay rise that is less than the cost of inflation... and who...

Hiding 98% of your NZ profits in an offshore tax haven? Totally illegal. Unless you are a corporation like UBER, in which case it's totally legal.  But should it be? Join me for a conversation with researcher Ed Miller, of CICTAR.org,  on THE FRONTLINE.

NZNO Delegate and Emergency Nurse extraordinaire Rachel Thorn RN talks about retention of nursing staff, the challenges of nurse understaffing, pay offers that don't keep up with the cost of inflation, and other challenges that face the people who work days, night, weekends, and holidays to keep us alive and cared for.