Tova

A year ago this week, Tova talked to James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. Amid wars in Europe and the Middle East, she wanted to assess the chances of a nuclear war breaking out and how it could start, play out and affect New Zealand. Safe to say the world's not got any calmer. So, in case you missed it first time round, here's Tova's arguably more-relevant-than-ever interview with James Acton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The F#$%ing News flips the script on the news - short, upbeat, inspirational and f%$#ing good fun journalism with the nation’s favourite everyman reporter, Paddy Gower. TFN sees Paddy talking to Kiwis who are the good, the great and the brains of our nation. This podcast is hosted by Paddy Gower and Executive Produced by Jon Bridges. It's made in partnership between Stuff and Believer Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

National once called him the “wokester” commissioner, now they’ve secured him a plum new job heading up the government’s new social investment agency. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster is leaving the job of top cop early and joins us to discuss gangs, guns, police pay and being called names by politicians. Plus, it’s the hot topic of the week thanks to a Nicola Willis directive. To work from home or not, that is the question. A chief executive and a prominent researcher debate the pros and cons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the Government ramps up its war on crime, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith joins us to talk anti-gang laws and why the Attorney-General made no “specific statements” on whether late changes to them further breach human rights. Also on the agenda, the possible unintended consequences of tougher sentences, boot camps and keeping coalition promises to New Zealand First. Plus, we continue our coverage of the state of the health service, with the exclusive results from a new survey of junior doctors about staff shortages, the hiring freeze and their impact on the frontline. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ACT’s push for a Treaty Principles Bill was a lightning rod throughout last year’s election campaign and has never been far from the headlines since. This week has seen significant developments - the principles released with changed wording, the select committee ‘debate’ period set for six months and official advice criticising the plan revealed. But ACT leader David Seymour is unmoved. On this week’s pod he tells us why - and why he maintains the Prime Minister could still support the bill. Then, Te Pāti Māori Treaty spokesperson Tākuta Ferris explains the depth of opposition from te iwi Māori, and forecasts an escalation in protests. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Hipkins was our very first guest one year ago. He was Prime Minister then - a lot’s changed. After leading Labour to electoral defeat, he and the party have regrouped and started formulating the platform they hope will return them to the Beehive. On his birthday (as well as ours), Hipkins joined us for a candid interview. We talked policy, policy bonfires, health, our ageing population, the economy, Winston Peters and tax, tax, tax. Plus, from Tūrangawaewae Marae, Julian Wilcox on the new Māori Queen, Kuini Ngā Wai hono i te po, and what she means for the kotahitanga movement her father, Kīngi Tuheitia, inspired. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Retail spending is lower than during the GFC. Retailers are going to the wall more than any other business and Retail NZ’s latest survey shows 43% of businesses are unsure they’ll survive another year. In hospo, a swathe of high-profile restaurants have shuttered and last year - for the first time in two decades - the number of cafes and restaurants was lower than the year before. We assembled some of the sectors’ most brilliant brains to work out what went wrong, how we fix it and the prognosis for the future. They are fashion icon Kate Sylvester, hospitality legend Luke Dallow and designer Jessie Wong - a member of the Wellington Mayor’s new business advisory group. On the agenda: skyrocketing rents, transport woes, how the Government can help, the power of big events and whether New Zealand should become a tipping economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Zealand First's de facto deputy is a self-proclaimed champion of the regions and unashamedly pro-mining, fishing and forestry. His hobbies include waging war on supermarkets, banks and - this week in particular - energy companies. We wanted to speak to him after the fiery showdown at Tūrangawaewae Marae, where the Government was accused of throwing Māori under the bus and running them over. Also on the agenda: the foreshore and seabed, the equally contentious fast-track consenting bill, why he called a High Court judge a "communist", and the future of his party and its leader, Winston Peters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In an exclusive interview, perhaps the most famous health figure in Aotearoa takes aim at talk of a failing system and bloated bureaucracy - but doesn’t dispute that both staff and patients are at risk. He talks hospitals without doctors, how the reforms have been handled, funding, patient equity - and has strong words about the tobacco industry and its newly-gained tax breaks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After losing confidence in the leadership and financial acumen of Health New Zealand-Te Whatu Ora, the Government has parachuted in an all-powerful specialist to fix the broken service. Health Commissioner Lester Levy has his work cut out - long waiting lists, budget woes, staff shortages, protests, doctorless hospitals, ramping ambulances, police pulling out of some mental health call outs ... Can he fix it? “I will do whatever I have to that's ethical and legal to get patients what they need and deserve,” he promises in an extended interview. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The welfare of children, particularly the at-risk and vulnerable, is rarely far from the headlines. The Royal Commission report on abuse in care, the opening of the Government’s pilot youth justice facility (AKA military-style academy) ((AKA bootcamp)), cuts to Oranga Tamariki community providers … we had a lot to ask the Children’s Minister. We ran out of time and the interview ended rather abruptly, but there’s plenty to chew on, whatever your politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the fallout from an acrimonious pay dispute continues, frontline cops told the Tova pod this week that the Government had “destroyed morale”. The minister responsible fronts to talk about rebuilding the relationship, how the gang unit is shaping up, delivering 500 extra cops and who’ll attend mental health callouts if not the police. Plus, in the week the Royal Commission released its mammoth report on abuse in care, a survivor tells us that sorry - on its own - won’t be enough. WARNING: For 24/7 support and advice around mental health, call or text 1737. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tova offers her thoughts on the outcome of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in care. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wow. They say a week is a long time in politics. In the United States, the last two have seen the political landscape change perhaps forever. Bullets, conventions and nominations on the Republican side; presidential gaffes, Covid and calls for a new leader in the Democrat corner. Rolling Stone magazine political reporter Nikki McCann Ramirez joins the pod from Washington D.C. to dissect an incredible fortnight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The first US presidential debate of 2024 was at once historic, agonising, painful and deeply troubling. Have your toes unfurled? Your stomach un-knotted? Your wince de-winced? Joe Biden and Donald Trump putting the fear of god into the free world in what was a truly tough watch with, unfortunately, such incredibly high stakes. To discuss what on earth happened, the fallout and what it all says about the US political system, our special guest on the Tova podcast is Brian Tyler Cohen, avowed liberal, political commentator and host of one of the top political podcasts in the United States, No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2024 has been tough for the Greens. Multiple MPs - Golriz Ghahraman, Darleen Tana, Julie Anne Genter - have been making headlines for the wrong reasons and there have been heartbreaking challenges, including the death of Fa'anānā Efeso Collins and Marama Davidson’s breast cancer diagnosis. On her birthdfay, co-leader Chloe Swarbrick makes time for an extended interview. She talks handling the pressure, where she wants to take the party - and the latest on those major controversies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The battle lines are being (re)drawn in the world of geopolitics: wars in Europe and the Middle East, tension over Taiwan, Putin visiting North Korea. So, more than three decades after the Cold War ended, what are the chances of a nuclear war? How could it start, play out - and how would New Zealand be affected? And, with Aussie politicians procuring nuclear-powered subs and proposing nuclear power stations, are we ready for a conversation about our identity-defining nuclear-free stance? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No one knows exactly how much fraud costs New Zealand each year, but it runs into the billions. Yet significantly fewer people are being convicted than two decades ago. Why? And is the system - an alphabet soup of agencies with a range of responsibilities - fit for purpose? In a specially extended investigation, victims share stories of devastating loss, a leading investigator explains why he thinks too few people are getting justice, and the Minister charged with scam-busting acknowledges the need for better coordination - and promises a plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Budget Day! The Tova pod takes you behind the scenes at Parliament as Nicola Willis unveils the Government's first bash at the books. We bring you expert reaction from inside the lock-up, the zingers and stingers from the debate, reaction from our panel of everyday Kiwis and, in an interview with Stuff, the Finance Minister explains how she got one crucial number so wrong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With the cost of living crisis hitting hard, we assemble a panel of Kiwis doing it tough or feeling the pinch in what politicians love to call the squeezed middle. We ask how they're coping and what they're hoping for in next week's Budget. And, with rising food prices the great unifier, we check out the work of the Grocery Commissioner - the man charged with easing the challenge at the checkout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices