Podcasts about luxon

Today on the show…  - It's a pre-election dance, bit of shadow boxing, a fight over who is the most credible party and person to run the NZ economy.  - Chris Luxon says his approach is so successful and he's so confident in what he's doing that he's doubling down on it - meanwhile Chris Hipkins says Luxon ran his victory lap too early.  - So why is Hipkins refusing to say what he'd do? Right now who knows what Labour stands for - is he all mouth and no trousers?  - Plus some Letters to the Editor! Website: https://www.rova.nz/home/podcasts/duncan-garner---editor-in-chief Instagram: @DuncanGarnerpodcast  TikTok: @DuncanGarnerpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and former Labour minister Stuart Nash joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! The Government is banning retailers from charging credit card surcharges - but banks are still allowed to charge the retailers. What do we make of this? Is this unfair for retailers? Prime Minister Chris Luxon got booed at the ANZ Premiership grand final yesterday. Is this a bad sign? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A frosty reception for the Prime Minister at the ANZ Premiership grand final in Auckland yesterday - with booing from the crowd. Chris Luxon is brushing it off, and says he was well-looked after at the event. Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says Luxon's taken the backlash in his stride, and acknowledged the backlash that comes with politics. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Attorney-General Judith Collins says the government's proposed electoral law changes clash with constitutional rights. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spoke to Corin Dann.

Today on the show…  - It's time for my political panel. Former Labour Party MP Stuart Nash and Political Commentator Ashley Church join me. We look at the latest poll which sends National into opposition after just one term. And Labour the Greens and Te Pāti Māori would govern if an election was held today.  - And Chris Luxon is neck and neck with Chris Hipkins as preferred PM. Luxon has never been popular so if he can't get National a second term, should they roll him? I'll ask the panel.  - Plus some Letters to the Editor! Website: https://www.rova.nz/home/podcasts/duncan-garner---editor-in-chief Instagram: @DuncanGarnerpodcast  TikTok: @DuncanGarnerpodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Government are in trouble in a couple of areas: 1) FamilyBoost. What they said would happen, numbers wise, didn't. 2) Police recruits. What they said would happen, will not. 3) The ban on foreign buyers for houses now looks farcical. Yesterday's attempt by the NZ Herald to make some Winston Peters' comments look like news was a beat up, because he said the same thing to me two months ago. Saying the same thing, with nothing new or any change in between, is not news. It's the status quo. What makes the Peters' stance, and therefore the Government damage, unusual is Peters' stance is inexplicable. FamilyBoost got messed up because IRD gave the Government poor advice. The police recruit issue is bad because being a cop is hard, a lot of cops leave, and Australia offers sunshine and beaches, and they are actively making offers. But on the upside, the golden visa is working. People with money have applied and there are hundreds of millions, heading towards billions, in play. But we still want them to rent or use Airbnb. The level of stupidity in that is inescapable and inexcusable. National had a policy of $2 million a house – anything over that a foreigner could buy. Peters didn't like it, fine. National moved that to $5-6 million. Locals here aren't buying those houses. Peters still won't move. He says a deal is coming. But the critical questions are, why would you burn goodwill inside a coalition and why would you risk reputational damage internationally? The same bloke who is holding us to ransom is the same bloke who has travelled the world telling said world we are open. And yet, we are not. If this Government is to survive, and possibly prosper, the simple stuff cannot afford to be an issue. We need money and we need investment and the jobs and growth that brings. It must be part of a package, and the package comes with a home. Peters gets that, I know he does. And yet, nothing. Small word to National and Luxon – how about some hardball? How long do you want to look like the weak guys, the dog being wagged by the tail? National's biggest problem, apart from Peters, is time. Next year, the country makes a decision on all this. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Labour Leader has responded to Luxon's heated comments in response to their jabs about the cost of living. The Opposition has criticised the Government's flagship cost of living policy, raising a red flag over only 153 families getting the maximum credit across all four quarters. Luxon says Labour's crying crocodile tears, and that he's not taking any lectures from "frickin Chris Hipkins" about not supporting working Kiwis. Hipkins told John MacDonald that Luxon is focused on attacking other people and blaming everybody else, rather than speaking up in favour of his own government's track records. “Show me the money” is the Opposition's call over the Government plan for the new Waikato Medical School. It'll get $83 million in taxpayer funding and more than $150 million from the university and investors. The Labour leader told MacDonald we need to train more doctors, but this could take longer than just increasing intakes at existing medical schools. He says the Government should be transparent about this decision. Hipkins says Labour won't stop the project if construction's already under way if it gets into Government. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The government says billions in new infrastructure projects will boost the economy and create thousands of jobs. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

Chris Luxon says New Zealand needs to change its thinking on flooding risks. Latest official data projects up to 14 and a half thousand homes will face damage from extreme events in the next 35 years. NZ Herald political reporter Adam Pearse says it's likely the Prime Minister is looking at eventually setting up additional resources for people in flood-impacted regions. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

FIRST WITH YESTERDAY'S NEWS (highlights from the weekend on Newstalk ZB) We All Lose, Apparently/Cone-ageddon Continues/Start With Nurses, Work Your Way Down/Keeping Our Heads Down/Not That Honest, Or That GoodSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dame Susan Bagshaw is a primary care specialist focused on adolescent health. Dr Philip Bagshaw is a general surgeon and the founder of the Canterbury Charity Hospital. The pair were on Q&A in the weekend talking about the growing privatisation of health services and a warning that we are on the way to having a US style health system. Lucky enough to have Dr Gary Payinda joining us to talk this over as well.Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick joined Chelsea Daniels on NZ Herald's The Front Page talking fair distribution of taxesPrime Minister Christopher Luxon says the government won't be able to keep bailing out flooded homeowners. It's more evidence of the Government struggling when they empty the piggy bank with landlord reimbursements and tax cuts=================================Come support the work we're doing by becoming a Patron of ⁠⁠#BHN⁠⁠ www.patreon.com/BigHairyNews⁠=================================Merch available at www.BHNShop.nz Like us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/BigHairyNews Follow us on Twitter.@patbrittenden @Chewie_NZFollow us on BlueskyPat @patbrittenden.bsky.socialChewie @chewienz.bsky.socialEmily @iamprettyawesome.bsky.socialMagenta @xkaosmagex.bsky.social

Dozens of people remain in emergency accommodation and hundreds of flood-damaged properties still have to be assessed after Friday's devastating floods in Nelson and Tasman. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spoke to Corin Dann.

Winston's done it again. The old political workhorse of the Pacific just keeps getting more popular. New Zealand First has overtaken ACT in the latest Taxpayer's Union Curia Poll - it's now the third most popular party. I'll give you a break down of the numbers shortly, but this has got to be ego bruising for Seymour. He's just got his feet under the Deputy's desk and he's been overtaken in the polls by the bloke he's replaced. Not that simply being the Deputy PM gets you votes, but he's trying to make a good fist of it. Seymour's holding press conferences left, right and centre. Yesterday, a stand-up reacting to no change in the OCR. Today, a stand-up on Stats NZ numbers. Luxon's overseas on holiday. Winston's East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Kuala Lumpur. Seymour's been bogged down with Regulatory Standard's Bill, the Treaty bill and school lunches. Winston's been flying around the world keeping us in line with China and staving off Trump's tariffs... all while celebrating his 80th birthday. And to top it off, he's keeping cash in circulation. Winston is popular because he speaks his mind and knows what he's talking about. He commands respect. When he speaks, people listen. He's a good example of a man who keeps it simple. Do your job and do it well. Work hard and stay focussed. It's a pretty simple formula that's seen him through the last 40+ years in politics and ion these numbers will see him through atleast a couple more yet. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A promise the Government's focusing on delivery this quarter, as it gives itself a shorter list. The Prime Minister has released his Q3 action plan - laying out goals of repealing the oil and gas ban, banning prisoner voting, as well as passing changes to the RMA and looking into supermarket competition. This plan has 28 key points,10 less than the last one. NZ Herald political editor Thomas Coughlan unpacks the list further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The award for most press releases and announcements on a single issue must got to National this week. Law and Order was front and centre - announcements about everything from first responders to coward punches. It was an assault of announcements. Now, announcements don't make streets safer. Announcements don't fix problems on their own. This was a targeted campaign to reinforce the idea their tough on crime. That they're on the side of the victim. Why are they doing this? Because it's one of the now minority of issues on which they outpoll Labour - from the last Ipsos survey. So, they've been going health for leather on law and order. Meanwhile, Labour's overtaken the right for the party most trusted to fix the economy. I know for a lot of you listening, this is laughable. They got us into this mess, etc, etc. And I agree with you - I think it's like a protest vote against the incumbent when cost of living is high. Would you actually go and vote for that person tomorrow? Or are you just sending a signal of unhappiness? You never truly know, but National's clearly alive to the fact it's becoming an Achilles' heel. The actual numbers are in range: OCR nearly neutral at 3.25%, inflation at 2.5%. But there's a politically painful time lag between numbers getting into band and voters feeling it in their pockets. Luxon's team have identified this problem. Their short-term solution is to bash the supermarkets. Hard. And repeatedly. It's almost like they've finished with the mongrel mob so now they're taking on the other gangsters - Woolworths. An announcement on "next steps" is already being touted, months out. So, Labour bashes National on cost of living, National will bash the supermarkets. And guess what? Nothing will happen to the prices you pay at the weekly shop.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister is introducing new laws focused on protecting first responders and prison officers. Luxon told Mike Hosking that no ambulance driver, firefighter or police officer should face aggression and assault while trying to help people. Also in discussion is the new IKEA store, which has faced trouble during the planning phase. Luxon said that he has more concerns about the planning than IKEA do, and blames the struggles on ‘Māorification'. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ACT leader David Seymour's had to step up over the last few days, as Prime Minister Luxon spends time working on relationships overseas. Luxon's been in China and Europe, meaning Seymour's had to address the media as part of a post-Cabinet press conference - and answer questions. Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls says Luxon's taken all the necessary steps to ensure both Deputy Prime Ministers were prepared for the role ahead of the next election. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christopher Luxon says New Zealand is determined to continue to put pressure on Russia over the war in Ukraine. Correspondent Jamie Tahana spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has arrived in the Hague where he will join more than 30 world leaders, including US president Donald Trump, for what is expected to be one of the largest and most expensive NATO summits in history. Reporter Jamie Tahana spoke to Lisa Owen from the Hague.

World leaders, including our Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, are in The Hague for the NATO Summit. Correspondent Jamie Tahana spoke to Corin Dann.

The Acting Prime Minister is warning against rushing to judgment on the United States' airstrikes on Iran, saying the rest of the world is not waiting to hear New Zealand's position. David Seymour has stepped in for Christopher Luxon at this week's post-Cabinet press conference, and he was pushed for a response on the strikes. Mr Luxon is in Europe for the NATO summit this week, where the Middle East is likely to dominate proceedings. Political reporter Giles Dexter spoke to Lisa Owen.

New Zealand says the Middle East crisis is extremely concerning and there are worries over the consequences of further actions. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spoke to Corin Dann.

On the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast for Sunday 22 June 2025, comedian Chris Parker on embracing being dramatic and the new edition to his family. Pharmacist turned author AA Dhand opens up about using his experience with drugs, drug dealers and addicts as the premise for his new novel The Chemist. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon heads from China to the NATO Summit and International Relations Professor Robert Patman discusses Luxon's progress. Francesca talks the legacy of 'Jaws' as it turns 50. And - want to improve your manus? Dr Michelle Dickinson has the latest science on getting the biggest splash. Get the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast every Sunday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister says New Zealand has a proper, comprehensive relationship with China. Christopher Luxon is keeping tight lipped about what he talked about behind closed doors with Chinese leaders after his three-day trip drew to a close. Otago University International Relations professor Robert Patman says the trip appears to have been a successful one, based on the reactions from both sides. "The two sides signed 11 agreements, including agreements in food safety, customs and also tourism. And also, I think he gave Mr Luxon a chance to plug New Zealand as an educational destination for post-graduate Chinese students who may be considering switching from the United States." Prime Minister Luxon and his officials are set to visit Europe, where Luxon will attend the annual NATO summit. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister has wrapped up a whirlwind three-day trip in China. Jason Young, the director of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre dissects it.

Around the world, the flames of aggression and instability are burning. As Christopher Luxon arrives in China his immediate challenge is to douse the alarm from several former politicians and ensure that the relationship with leaders in New Zealand's biggest export market are sweet. From there, the New Zealand prime minister is off to Europe and another guest spot at Nato, who are meeting in the Hague. In a new episode of Gone By Lunchtime, Toby Manhire, Ben Thomas and Annabelle Lee-Mather chew over the shifting global dynamic he'll encounter, with escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, Trump quitting G7 early and ongoing devastation in Ukraine and Gaza. More prosaically, will Luxon welcome a chance to stride the international stage after a bit of a media flub on sick pay just before he left? Plus: a word on a sweary scrutiny week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Prime Minister is pushing for diplomacy and trade in China - as he visits with ministers and senior business leaders. Discussions will be held on boosting education and tourism, including attempting to attract more international students to New Zealand. NZ Herald political editor Thomas Coughlan says the Government could look at making visa changes to make it easier on Chinese tourists. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One expert has warned China has lost trust in New Zealand as a trading partner - and it could impact the current FTA. Prime Minister Chris Luxon is leading a trade delegation to China, with a meeting with China's President Xi Jinping set to take place this coming Friday. Mahon China Investment Management CEO David Mahon says Luxon's sending over a modest delegation over a short timeframe - and it's sending the wrong message to China. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister has laid out his goals ahead of his visit to China. Chris Luxon is about to leave for Shanghai with a business delegation, before making his way to Beijing to meet with President Xi Jinping. Luxon says he also wants to broaden the countries' trade relationship with a focus on red meat, tourism and education. LISTEN ABOVE OR WATCH BELOW See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister says his upcoming trip to China is about more than bolstering trade links. Chris Luxon will be meeting with President Xi Jinping and other key members of the Chinese Government while in Beijing next week. After meetings wrap up in Shanghai, Luxon will be heading to the NATO summit in Europe. NZ Herald political editor Thomas Coughlan explained why Luxon's carrying out these trips - and what they could mean for New Zealand. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An open letter has been written to the Prime Minister urging Luxon to ease the ban on foreign house buyers. This letter comes after multiple NBR Rich Listers told NBR that making it easier for foreign investors to buy homes here would make New Zealand a better place to do business. Luxury property real estate agent Anthony Morsinkhof provided the open letter - and he says he has clients looking to invest in New Zealand. "I've got clients there that want to invest into big land developments for residential houses, I've got a biotech company that wants to come to New Zealand - I've got a lot of different sorts of people who want to invest here in New Zealand and they want to buy properties." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From September, parents of citizens and residents will be able to get a five-year visa allowing them to come and go, with an option to extend for a further five. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spoke to Corin Dann.

Mike Hoskings and Prime Minister Chris Luxon sat down in the studio this morning for a discussion on electricity and gas in New Zealand. “The oil and gas ban was one of the dumbest, most insanest moves I've seen happen.” said the PM this morning. According to Luxon, New Zealand must steer back away from coal in favour of gas as a source of energy. “We're the only country I'm aware of in the world that's actually transitioning from gas to coal.” Which Luxon said is “twice as bad as gas.” The PM says his plan for future-proofing New Zealand's energy grid is essential for supporting planned datacenters and other high-energy usage projects. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The polling industry, whose only answer to fairly obvious questions seems to be “this is just a snapshot in time”, may have trouble explaining the past week of polling in this country. There was one on Tuesday night and one on Wednesday morning. They have completely different results. One has Luxon as the most popular leader. One has Hipkins as the most popular leader. One has National leading Labour. One has Labour leading National. One has the current Government as the current Government. One has a new Government, with the current Government out. It doesn't get a lot more contrasting than that. Even if you accept a lot of the numbers are tightish, some of the numbers aren't even within the margin of error. It's almost as though the polls aren't accurate. It's almost as though you could ring up 1000 people and get one answer, then ring up another set of 1000 people and get a completely different answer. If you can do that, why would you pay money to people who will tell you these things mean anything? At least TVNZ use commercial money to pay for this stuff. Radio New Zealand, who seem to have taken over from TV3, use our money. And given they have just had a budget cut and given they are losing their audience at a rate of knots, I'm not sure this can be classed as quality expenditure. I went to their website yesterday. The headline was "What the polls are telling us in 7 charts". And there they were. There was lots of colour, lots of lines up and down, and squiggles. But I already knew, given I had seen the charts from the night before, that either their charts meant nothing, or if they did mean something, then the other guy's charts weren't up to much. Or quite possibly if we did this charade for a third time, they would both be exposed as having shonky numbers. But remember: "they are only a snapshot in time". Except given they were done at the same time, they aren't, are they? So what are they, other than a very large waste of time and money? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prominent New Zealand leaders are coming together to express their concern about the country's foreign policy direction. In an open leader, Kiwi figures including Helen Clark, Sir David Carter and Dr Don Brash are warning the Government against taking an adversarial stance against China as part of an alignment with the US. It comes ahead of the Prime Minister's upcoming trip to China. Former Prime Minister Helen Clark talks to Heather du Plessis-Allan about the letter. LISTEN ABOVE.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

North Otago farmer and award-winning environmentalist supports Luxon’s response to the climate scientists. She also comments on the Federated Farmers Banking Survey.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The government's making big changes to WorkSafe, the agency tasked with keeping workers safe including shifting in priorities from enforcement to giving advice. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

Over 25 international climate change scientists have written an open letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, calling out the Government for "ignoring scientific evidence" and urging it to "deliver methane reductions that contribute to the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees." Climate change correspondent Eloise Gibson spoke to Corin Dann.

Christopher Luxon says the Government's making its expectations clear when it comes to behaviour in social housing. Kāinga Ora is formally warning seven times as many tenants as it was last financial year. It's evicted 63 tenants in 10 months for disruptive behaviour. The Prime Minister told Mike Hosking the enforcement action is sending a clear message about what is and isn't acceptable. He says it's a privilege to be in a state house funded by the taxpayer, and unruly behaviour isn't okay. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Call me superficial, but to watch the Reserve Bank heavyweights lined up, as I did Wednesday post their cash rate decision, I did not see dynamism. These people outwardly do not fill you with any sense of excitement. The Reserve Bank is in a spot and, as a result, so are we as a country. A couple of semi-interesting things happened and also one very interesting thing. They voted 5 to 1 to cut. They don't vote that often. They also offered alternative scenarios, which they haven't done for five years. Alternative scenarios are not a good sign. If you have enough of them, you are literally making stuff up. Anyone can drum up alternative scenarios. What I want to hear more of from experts is what is actually going on. The important stuff is they have no bias on further cuts. A lot of people thought we would get a cut yesterday, followed by one, possibly two, more. The so-called "neutral rate", that's the cash rate settling at 2.75% or 2.5% – that now seems to be off the table. Why? They argue inflation, which is what drives them. That's their mandate. The trouble with that is inflation is only just in the band. It's heading more towards the top of the band and here is the really big part – growth, or large dollops of growth, are not driving this inflation. We are barely growing, if growing at all. Yet inflation is still a thing. That's not good for an economy and it's not good for the Government. The Government, namely Willis and Luxon, leap, and have leapt, on each announcement talking about the money coming back into the economy as the interest rates drop. If the bank isn't cutting, then rates aren't dropping, and we aren't spending or feeling remotely bullish. The Reserve Bank doesn't care that much because they are fixated on inflation, whether it's driven by factors beyond our control —like insurance, shipping or councils— or growth. Yes, we had growth in Q1. It was quite good growth too. The live GDP tracker has Q2 up a bit, but not much. But it has annual numbers negative and inflation trending up. What we need is help. We are in a quagmire we need to extricate ourselves from. The Reserve Bank doesn't look like they are that interested. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, says public servants who leak to the media are undermining the government, and the public's trust in it. Luxon spoke to Corin Dann.

The Prime Minister's brushing off criticism from Wellington's mayor. Speaking to Newstalk ZB today, the PM hit out at the city's cycleway rollout and water management - saying other cities are moving forward. Tory Whanau says Luxon should focus on coalition issues and the problematic Government's school lunch roll out, not punching down on the capital. Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls unpacked Tory Whanau's response. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It is suggested Peter Dutton in Australia lost the election because of his nuclear issue and work from home policies. I personally think he lost because they ran a hopeless campaign. But it is more than possible that he floated a couple of ideas that the voter simply could not stomach. I am wondering if Chris Luxon is heading in a similar direction here with superannuation. Nuclear makes sense. Working from home hinders productivity. But the voter is always right and being a voter beats logic. Will the voter be right here on superannuation? Are there enough New Zealanders who have landed on the simple truth that 65-years-old, as a pension age, is no longer sensible, nor affordable? $28 billion is the bill each year, and growing. That seems worse now because we are broke. But even in good times it's a stunning amount of money. National will take it to the vote next year. They may be saved from themselves by NZ First, if they are still in the mix, because it will be a bottom line. But we reach the interesting point where logic and emotion collide. For many, superannuation is untouchable. It's a lifetime's worth of work. "i paid my taxes" they say, even though that line isn't actually real because we spent your taxes years ago and then borrowed a bit more to keep the lights on. 65-years-old is the new 50-years-old and, post-Covid, older workers have never been in more demand. The days of being out to pasture are increasingly gone. 65-years-old is not old. Imagine a day where you enter the workforce knowing you need to take care of yourself. Yes, if you strike trouble the pension is a welfare payment, not an entitlement. But we either have to change the narrative and mindset from entitlement to welfare, or we need to up the age. In upping the age over time, even giving years worth of notice, it's still a very big call. It underlines our desire for free stuff, or perceived free stuff. Once you set a precedent with money it is fantastically hard to undo. But Luxon, apparently, is keen to give it a crack. He calls it a no brainer. First clue - there aren't many who think it's a no brainer. Labour learnt the hard way over the capital gains tax. Luxon may be about to learn something similar.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Matt Fallaize speaks to former deputy Paul Luxon, who is bidding for a return to island politics at this election. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Benjamin Luxon, the esteemed Cornish baritone who died at the age of 87 last July, had one of the most wide-ranging repertoires of any singer of the past century, from the classical repertoire (including opera, oratorio, art song over the course of at least four centuries and in a host of languages, including work written expressly for him) through Victorian parlor song, to traditional folk. Additionally, in the early 1980s he recorded a trilogy of crossover albums for British RCA, all three of which are sampled on this episode. The first, Some Enchanted Evening, features show tunes; the second, As Time Goes By, a broad spectrum of movie-related songs; and the third, Something Else Again, highlights folk rock arrangements as well as original compositions by singer-songwriters of the period. In addition, I read from a particularly perceptive 2009 interview with Luxon in which he candidly discusses his hearing loss and how that impacted his singing career and his life as a performer. Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel's lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody's core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody's Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

The Parliamentary debate of unprecedented suspensions handed down to three Te Pāti Māori MPs has the potential to bring the House to a grinding halt ahead of Thursday's Budget. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

The Prime Minister says his Government is calling out bureaucrats falling foul of the government's expectations. It comes off the back of Winston Peters expressing his criticism of Māori targeted hires, after a government job was advertised as a “tikanga lead” to promote Māori customs, principles and values in the Māori policing unit. Luxon discusses whether the reason NZ First is seeking changes to the regulatory standards bill is because they have problems internally. The Government is officially announcing its budget on Thursday, after a series of pre-budgets announcements have been made, including multi-million-dollar funding to the film industry and urgent care facilities across the country. Mike Hosking questions where the money's coming from. Prime Minster Christopher Luxon and Mike Hosking talk all this and more. LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Pacific Waves today: Pacific parents react to Luxon's proposed social media ban; Auckland schools work to put an end to 'confession pages'; Pasifika rugby teams look to secure strong standings. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

National has announced it is stepping up its commitment to pursue a ban on social media for under-16s. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon spoke to Corin Dann.

An overhaul of the pay equity process has been whisked through parliament under urgency. The changes, which tighten the criteria for making a claim for workers in female-dominated sectors and summarily halt 33 existing claims in the pipeline, have prompted a major backlash, in part for their substance and in part for the decision to push the reform through without the usual consultation under a select committee process or regulatory impact statement. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire discuss the unexpected announcement, the rationale for urgency, whether it's plausible to claim it's not primarily motivated by the billions that will be saved ahead of a tight budget, and what impact, if any, it might have on the women's vote. The trio also discuss Christopher Luxon's enthusiastic backing of a bill that would follow Australia in banning social media for under-16s. What is with the surge in member's bill as mechanisms for party campaigning, what is the polling telling politicians about young people and social media, and does Luxon know he's the prime minister? Plus: Australians have returned Labor and Albanese to power in what is being called a “bloodbath”, hot on the heels of Mark Carney's big comeback in Canada. How big is the Trump effect, is it good news for the left or good news for incumbents, and how might New Zealand politicians look to seize upon the Trumpy moment? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices