Tova

After our bumper mortgage episode 'Home discomforts: living on the edge', all about the people affected by interest rates hikes and the cost of living, we wanted to explore the issue even further. We drill into the state of the property market with a property economist and find out what the change of government could mean for first-time buyers and investors. We also sit down with former Reserve Ba...

Interest rates and mortgage misery - the number of people falling behind on their payments has hit a four-year high. With the Government promising to help the so-called squeezed middle in its looming first Budget, we explore the issue from every angle: the property owners forced into life-changing decisions; a money adviser; the Finance Minister in charge of that Budget; and an extended interview...

This is an audio version of Tova O'Brien's analysis piece titled Claims that Winston Peters hadn’t been given media cabinet paper “bullshit” - source, from stuff.co.nz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Off the back of our exclusive interview with former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, which featured on the podcast this week, we caught up with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to get his view on whether New Zealand should review our nuclear-free policy to ensure it’s fit for purpose after Morrison suggested it’s worth a look. Tova also grilled the Prime Minister on the mystery surroundin...

In Wellington for meetings of a powerful global group of centre-right politicians, former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison talks New Zealand’s possible admission to the elite Aukus alliance, our nuclear-free policy, China versus the US, Donald Trump, his relationships with Christopher Luxon and Dame Jacinda Ardern - and just how angry the 501 deportations made her. Learn more about your ad...

How much money is too much? We talk to the political philosopher who says Limitarianism - essentially a cap on the rich - is the way to a better world. Internationally, critics have dismissed the idea as “claptrap” and avowed Libertarian David Seymour agrees. He offers the counterview in this fascinating debate. Plus, the incredible numbers that demonstrate how little police pay has kept pace with...

In this bonus shortcast, we break out our package on the latest in the police pay dispute. We hear from cops on the frontline, put their stories to the PM and reveal exclusive new details about how many Kiwi officers are desperate to skip the Ditch for more lucrative roles in the Aussie force. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s the full story of Chumbawamba-gate, including an exclusive interview with a founding member of the band on the prospect of legal action against New Zealand First and their ongoing fight for control over which politicians can - and can’t - use their music. Plus - the police pay dispute and perception among officers that they’re being taken for granted by the Government. We put questions to the...

This week we received an eleventh-hour opportunity for a short interview with the Prime Minister. On the agenda during his visit to Central Districts Field Days: police pay, tax cuts, Ruby Tui and his political value judgements. Oh, and we heard his verdict on the conversation too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we had a long conversation with ACT leader David Seymour about his ideological position on wealth and tax. That was for a specially themed episode of the podcast, coming very soon. We also took the chance to ask him some policy questions - about the tax rebate for landlords, whether the Government is on track to keep its tax cut promises and how they might incorporate ACT’s tax policy in...

Super Tuesday supercharged Donald Trump's drive for another term in the White House. Anthony Scaramucci, the White House communications director Trump fired after just 11 days, joins us from New York to explain why he’s backing Biden in America’s “hour of peril”. And CNBC senior political correspondent Kevin Breuninger analyses the primary results. Plus, back home, Andrea Vance and Luke Malpass as...

This week's podcast investigates our emergency housing crisis. As promised at the end of the show, here's Tova's full interview with the mother who gave us a frontline perspective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Almost 6500 people live in emergency motels, nearly half of them children. One mother, who needs short-term help through no fault of her own, offers a frontline perspective after rejecting a filthy motel, and questions whether vulnerable people are expected to settle for whatever they’re given. We track down the motelier and get the inside running from the Government on their plans for emergency h...

It’s 20 years since Kiwi cinema’s greatest night, when the final film in the Lord of the Rings trilogy won 11 Oscars. Two decades on, the film sector contributes more than $3.5 billion to the economy each year and directly employs almost 14,000 people. But is it still one industry to rule them all? On this week’s pod we talk to industry powerbrokers and learn the fate of the government’s screen re...

There's criticism that the tails are wagging the big dog in the coalition Government. And, with $1.2 billion wasted on Three Waters, and an influx of other infrastructure issues in the Government in-box, is it time to consider a different way of doing things? Could a grand coalition between National and Labour pave the way for better planning and stop smaller parties wielding disproportionate powe...

With Māori leaders' distrust of the government at levels unseen since the Foreshore and Seabed legislation two decades ago, the leaders of the coalition faced a fierce examination at the annual commemorations of the signing of Te Tiriti O Waitangi. From the wonderful winterless north, Tova brings you the full story of one of the most significant Waitangi weekends for many years. Learn more about y...

The pod returns next week with a very special episode from Waitangi - and Māori distrust of the government higher than at any point since the foreshore and seabed legislation 20 years ago. We'll be bringing you the latest from the commemorations of the signing of Te Tiriti O Waitangi, including interviews with key political players, expert analysis and, of course, celebrating Te ao Māori. Learn mo...

We're easing into the holiday period by asking some of our political heavyweights what they're giving Kiwis for Christmas. Plus, Tova recaps the tumultuous year that was, and Stuff political editor Luke Malpass predicts what to expect in 2024. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The relationship between Māori and the Government is at its most strained since the Foreshore and Seabed dispute two decades ago. In a week marked by protests across the country and controversy on day one of the 54th Parliament, we talk to Waitangi National Trust chair and iwi leader Pita Tipene, and new Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith, about the Government's Māori policy agenda. Learn...

To smokefree or not smokefree? That is the question our guests grapple with on the pod this week, as the world reacts to the shock decision by our new Government to repeal legislation that would have phased out cigarette sales in New Zealand. We talk to a public health professor who offers an evidence-based debunking of the justifications offered by the new National-led Government - and the consul...

The speeches of Christopher Luxon, David Seymour and Winston Peters at the ceremony to confirm New Zealand's first coalition government featuring three partners in Cabinet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The wait for a coalition agreement goes on. But whatever the deal, the major sticking points cut to the heart of what makes our modern democracy. From tax and the Treaty to the relationship between the PM and their Deputy, even judicial independence, this is big picture stuff. So we invited some big brains to explain why it all matters - and point out some potential pitfalls for Christopher Luxon...

With all three coalition partners railing against bloated bureaucracy, more than 60,000 core public servants might well be wondering what the new government means for job security. In this episode, exclusive news of looming redundancies in one department, an interview with someone working at another large agency about what it’s like being a political football and invaluable insights from our forme...

When you want to predict the future, sometimes it pays to look to the past - especially when Winston Peters continues to be one of our most influential political figures, more than four decades after entering Parliament. So, we talked to Jim Bolger and Helen Clark - two Prime Ministers who worked with Winston in Government. We wanted a steer on what he’s like, how he negotiates - and what Christop...

During a late-night call to Toronto, Tova gets the former three-time Prime Minister's take on Labour's 2023 drubbing - and whether Chris Hipkins is the right person to take on National at the next election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices