Gone By Lunchtime

Victoria University of Wellington political scientist, Lara Greaves, talks about changes to how the Māori roll works, online harassment and the pros and cons of polling. This is an excerpt from our day-long Election 2023 Megapod, recorded on September 20. Watch the full megapod livestream here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Green Party co-leader James Shaw joins Toby Manhire to explain how he’s striving to get climate change on the agenda in a cost-of-living campaign, the “ultimate threat multiplier” and the agony of rewatching The West Wing. This is an excerpt from our day-long Election 2023 Megapod, recorded on September 20. Watch the full megapod livestream here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fresh from a poll that puts her second in Te Tai Hauāuru, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer talks with Toby Manhire about her prospects, the party’s priorities, and how the party has changed from the days of Tariana Turia. This is an excerpt from our day-long Election 2023 Megapod, recorded on September 20. Watch the full megapod livestream here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Toby Manhire is joined by the three leading candidates in the race for Auckland Central: sitting MP Chlöe Swarbrick of the Greens, National’s Mahesh Muralidhar and Labour’s Oscar Sims. What do they have to say about transport in the city? Housing? Crime? And will Toby storm out of the studio and leave them to debate without him? This is an excerpt from our day-long Election 2023 Megapod, recorded on September 20. Watch the full megapod livestream here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Labour MP Michael Wood talks to Toby about the impact of his resignation as a minister three months ago (“It was really awful to be honest”), the campaign to date, and what he hopes to do next. Plus: we enquire about his redemption animal (clue: it’s not a yak). This is an excerpt from our day-long Election 2023 Megapod, recorded on September 20. Watch the full megapod livestream here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Toby Manhire is joined by Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman, Bulletin editor Anna Rawhiti-Connell and founder Duncan Greive to critique the performances of Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon in the 1News debate, and critique the critiques. This is an excerpt from our day-long Election 2023 Megapod, recorded on September 20. Watch the full megapod livestream here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas size up the big first clash of Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon under the hot studio lights at 1News. What were the flashpoints, would have emerged the happiest, and is this going to change people's votes? Plus: the angry fence man disrupts Act's campaign launch and the latest from the campaign trail with 24 days to go. Plus: the latest Ipsos Issues Monitor and a new poll on Te Tai Hauāuru. This is an excerpt from our day-long Election 2023 Megapod, recorded on September 20. Watch the full megapod livestream here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David Seymour has led the Act Party from the edge of extinction to a major force in the NZ parliament and stands today on the brink of bringing multiple MPs to the cabinet table. In a wide-raning conversation with Toby Manhire, he talks about why he doesn't want to talk about Winston Peters, the reasons behind the party seeing five candidates withdraw within two months, and defends his assertion that Nelson Mandela would back his party. Plus: Is Act's housing policy a Nimby's charter, why he's not interested in the baubles of office, and would Mary Poppins vote for Act? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the first leaders' debate less than a week away, Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire ask if the National leader is staging an epic hustle. Does mounting pressure on National over purported numbers for a foreign buyer property tax offer hope that Chris Hipkins and Labour can reclaim some of the lost ground, or do a succession of polls that put them in the 20s mean they're in furniture-saving mode? Plus: how is the energy on the campaign trail, do the numbers of the Prefu change things, and why Winston Peters' claim that Māori are not indigenous to New Zealand amounts to much more than a quirky academic exercise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A big day in the 2023 campaign as Treasury opens up the books and sets out the pre-election fiscal update. Toby Manhire is joined by When the Facts Change host, Kākā pilot and sage of the political economy Bernard Hickey to explain what the Prefu reveals, how New Zealand's numbers compare internationally and what it means for the financial scrap playing out between National and Labour. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Toby Manhire sits down with the co-leaders of the Green Party to discuss the successes and failures of the last six years, how they're approaching a crowded, antagonistic campaign, the electorate seats they're taking seriously and the great dance of rulings out and bottom lines. Plus: what was going through their heads as they stood a few metres away from Elizabeth Kerekere when she denounced an "epic failure of leadership" and the latest on the incident in which Davidson was struck by a motorcycle during the Posie Parker counter-protest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the campaign kicks into full ice-cream-and-robotic-hands mode, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire size up the state of play. On the agenda: National's tax plan and the complaints of "heroic" assumptions; Labour's dental pledge and the promised land of 2026 (and memories of the old days when kids were bussed off to the "murder house"); the Labour and National campaign launches, their slickness and protester interruptions; and which other historical figures would have voted Act? Plus: an important update on Annabelle's pigeon situation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The state of the campaign, the struggling Chrises and the electorate battles to watch are all on the agenda as Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas take the stage at the Word Christchurch festival. Joining the trio is Lianne Dalziel, former cabinet minister and Christchurch mayor, to share her thoughts on the Labour campaign, the Christchurch electorates to watch and the local-central balance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A new poll lays bare National's ascendancy and the scale of Chris Hipkins' challenge. Is it about Labour's strategy, the state of the economy, or Christopher Luxon polishing his act? Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas assess the state of play with just over 50 days to the election. Plus: David Seymour's Guy Fawkes fantasy and Te Pāti Māori candidate Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, who is on course to become the youngest MP since James Frederick Stuart-Wortley in 1853. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will all the good polling in the world make up for the lampooning of Labour's big policy on GST and fruit and vegetables? Will Ben Thomas's coconut with a straw be exempt? Ben, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire discuss Chris Hipkins' launch into campaign mode, Grant Robertson's Damascene moment, and whether the initiative was seized back with a kindergarten launch of paid partner parental leave. Plus: Are we on the cusp of something special (in 2026)? Has Act revealed its worry about NZ First with a weird Winston Peters attack ad? Does the Robertson-Willis "liar" stuff point to a relentlessly belligerent campaign? How about those Greens? How about National's pledge to ban cellphones in schools? And should Sam Uffindell be appointed groceries commissioner? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The man who managed five National election campaigns joins Toby Manhire to talk about his new book, about going from Mr Fix It to Phone-a-friend, the National meltdown, the secrets to campaigning and working with the public service, and his encounters with fiscal holes, Eminem, a phallic squeaky pecker, and an MP who made headlines for talking about his testicles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Hipkins sits down with Toby Manhire for a wide-ranging interview spanning his political foundations, the record of the Labour government after two terms, coping with a string of ministerial scandals, and what to expect in the campaign to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 momentum. And why is Christopher Luxon refusing to state clearly whether National would work with NZ First to form a government? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 launch a slogan and a week of law and order policy; National growls at potholes and offers KiwiSaver solutions to rental bonds; the Greens pledge to return stolen Māori land; the Dawn Raids report that made the apology ring hollow; and the major parties on course for their worst combined result since 2002. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 tightrope in China before setting off for a Nato summit in Lithuania; and what is the mood on the ground in one of the most exciting electorate battles, Ikaroa-Rāwhiti? Plus: your plucky political podcasters debate who has correctly counted the number of days to the election – Toby Manhire or Mike Hosking? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 rural vote back from Act - does it risk alienating voters in the middle? Plus: the Green Party's tax policy, the resignation or not of Meng Foon and the question that goes to the zeitgeist: have we, as Christopher Luxon says, really become a "very negative, wet, whiny, inward-looking" country? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Birkenhead Bowling Club interrogators; Christopher Luxon snookered on contraception fees while Labour goes full panto with Handmaid's Tale allusions; and all the big calls from the electoral review panel – are they right, and to they stand a chance of coming to pass? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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? Was Chris Hipkins’ whistlestop visit to Papua New Guinea time well expended? And is there anything more absorbing than the moody upheavals of Mayor Ben Bell and the Gore District Council? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Facts Change’s Bernard Hickey to discuss their Budget 2023 reactions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 of Charles III, king of New Zealand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 that she has quit Labour, doesn't the waka jumping law dictate that she should no longer be an MP at all? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Foon and donations; candidate selection, deep scrolls and the dangers of poetry to politicians. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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/adchoices

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 policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 the National Party in trouble? We break it all down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 the cards? How did the first clash of the Chrises at parliament go? A word on Maureen Pugh. Vale Chester Borrows. And the politics inside and outside Te Matatini. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 ramifications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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' historic win to Mike King's villainous turn on Celebrity Treasure Island, we cover the incredible highs and lows of what has been a terribly special year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What is the current state of our political parties as 2022 grinds to a spluttering halt? On the eve of election year we ask; can Labour rejuvenate? Will National survive the spotlight? How did Act and the Greens keep their polling so strong, and how do they play 2023? Plus: Te Pāti Māori, NZ First and even TOP. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr paints a gruesome picture for the year ahead, Ben Thomas, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Toby Manhire ask what it means for the election ahead. Plus: National kills its tax cut darling, Christopher Luxon stumbles on super numbers, the boot camp brouhaha, Winston Peters’ break from tradition, and an extended constitutional corner in which the GBL team impersonate public law intellectuals and assess the entrenchment malarkey and the supreme court ruling on the voting age. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five years ago, three would-be MPs accepted invitations from The Spinoff to write diaries chronicling their efforts. Five years on, in a special live event made possible by Spinoff Members, Kiritapu Allan, Erica Stanford and Chlöe Swarbrick talk candidly with Toby Manhire about that incredible 2017 campaign, and their extraordinary first five years in parliament. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As Labour lurches from upbeat conference to buzzkill poll, Ben, Annabelle and Toby look at how they’re changing their tactical approach to National. Plus: Jacinda Ardern’s verbal salvo at the banks, the Adrian Orr war of independence and David Parker launches a ream raid on the RMA. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Labour Party gathers in Auckland for its annual conference, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire assess the impact of the just-passed fair pay agreement legislation, the likely fate of three waters, and the great National repeal agenda, as well as whether National's own tax cut plans will survive to the election. With a byelection in Hamilton West less than a month away, what do the lineups tell us, and who has most to lose? Plus: All the juiciest gossip about precisely when, where and why Jacinda Ardern maybe definitely will resign. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this year, former Christchurch councillor Raf Manji became the third leader of the Opportunities Party. In this GBL special, fresh from the unveiling of a tax overhaul policy, Manji tells Toby Manhire why he took on the new job, how he hopes to win the seat of Ilam, why he doesn’t want to be part of government, and just how he feels about cats. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To cap off a tremendous Escape Festival in Tauranga, Minister Jan Tinetti and the incoming mayor of Rotorua, Tania Tapsell join the GBL trio of Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas before a live audience. On the agenda: the meaning of the local elections, the kind of election to expect in 2023, some wild predictions and which hat will Jan Tinetti wear? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A whistle-stop tour of the biggest and most surprising results in the 2022 local body elections, from south to north, with The Spinoff’s local election squad of Toby Manhire, Shanti Mathias and Stewart Sowman-Lund. Plus: what message do they send as a whole to Jacinda Ardern and the Labour government, the role three waters played, and what to do about another dismal turnout. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices