Podcasts about National Party

No regrets from National's Leader, as he backs down on new taxes this election. It's a sudden switch up from recent weeks with the National party discussing both a bed tax and bank tax as potential prospects. Christopher Luxon says the party's unable to deliver either without creating cost for New Zealanders. He told Mike Hosking that he stands by that decision, saying 'no new taxes, no new levies, that's our position going in to the election'. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Simeon Brown has written a letter. It's this sort of thing, I think, that frustrates a lot of potential and actual National Party voters. There is an argument to be made, and power prices is one of them, where you can say that National talked a big game, but I don't see any real results. The letter is to the Electricity Authority (EA). They oversee the power market and whether everyone is playing by the rules. Simeon wants them to check on the forward pricing for power, which is down, and why it is we aren't seeing our prices tumble. We have already covered this so Simeon is a bit slow out of the box. Renewables are in play, it's rained a lot so there's plenty of resource and the cost of making power is going down. Large commercial users are already seeing prices drop. In our houses though? Not so much. As always there are a myriad of excuses, some of which will be legit and some of which will be polished up for PR spin. But we're at the stage of electricity reform where our patience for the so-called "dividends of the renewable age" are not really appearing as were promised. Obviously, Simeon wants an answer because he also wants your vote. But ask yourself – why does he need to write to the EA? If their job is to oversee this stuff either there is nothing to see, and therefore they are doing their job, or they are useless and need sacking. My guess is their rules of engagement mean the system is actually working, so the rules of engagement are the problem, and/or the gentailer problem, which has been jawboned to death, is really an issue holding back better competition hence lower prices. Either way writing a letter is not delivering and this is from a party that has jawboned supermarkets, petrol stations, electricity companies and banks. And for what real, in-my-back-pocket result? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lara catches up with Rosetta and Milly to chat about what happened with the National Party last week, how TOP is doing in the polls, and Te Pāti Māori's new strategy. Whakarongo mai nei!

Neale Jones was Chief of Staff to Labour Leader Jacinda Ardern, and prior to that was Chief of Staff to Andrew Little. He is the director of public affairs firm Capital. Andrew Ketels was the Act Party's chief of staff from 2020 to 2025 and has worked as an advisor to the National Party. He is currently head of government relations for corporate affairs firm Sherson Willis. [picture id="4JJWSRK_Image_13_jpg" crop="16x10" layout="full"] Andrew, Neale and Kathryn discuss recent events in politics including the failed National leadership coup. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Lara catches up with Rosetta and Milly to chat about what happened with the National Party last week, how TOP is doing in the polls, and Te Pāti Māori's new strategy. Whakarongo mai nei!

Chris Luxon insists Chris Bishop and Erica Stanford played no part in the leadership challenge against him. MP Chris Penk was removed from Cabinet and has announced his retirement from politics, after leading an unsuccessful coup against Luxon. Both Bishop and Stanford have denied any involvement in the leadership challenge, or any interest in taking Luxon's job. Luxon says both Bishop and Stanford have given him assurances, both publicly and privately, and he believes them. He's confident Chris Penk was acting on his own. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week saw the National Party go through a period of suspected internal conflict, after a leadership challenge was mounted against Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Following a multi-hour long caucus meeting, Luxon spoke to media, claiming he has the full support of his caucus. National MP and former minister Chris Penk was subsequently stripped of his portfolios. The incident has raised concerns over Luxon's ability to lead both his party and the country, especially as this is not the first leadership vote this year.  Also last week, the ACT Party proposed two new policies they would campaign on in the leadup to this year's election. First, thanks to calls for a bed levy in Auckland, ACT has instead posed a local tourism dividend that would come directly out of central government funding. They say this dividend would be better suited to address the problem of local government funds for tourism and arts/culture, though some have been sceptical.  The second ACT party proposal is to make student services fees at universities voluntary, so that students can choose the services they'd like to pay for from a checklist.  To discuss each of these issues News Director Castor spoke with the ACT Party's Simon Court, beginning with the National Party leadership. 

This week on the Monday Wire... For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party, News Director Castor spoke to MP Simon Court about tensions in the National Party leadership, and ACT Party proposals for a local tourism dividend and voluntary student services fees. Also on voluntary student services fees, Castor spoke to president of the Victoria University of Wellington's Students Association, Aidan Donoghue, about what such a policy could do to student life on campus.  This week, Producer Pranuja spoke to University of Otago public health researcher Dr John Kerr about medical misinformation, distrust in the health system, and how social media and generative AI can shape treatment decisions. She also spoke to University of Auckland marketing lecturer Katherine Jensen about how AI and platform algorithms influence who sees political advertising, and what that could mean for voters heading into the election.

Hastings District Council has just appointed five unelected iwi representatives to every single council committee, giving them full voting rights and payment. We ask where Local Government Minister Simon Watts is hiding while co-governance rules are blatantly ignored. Plus, Maurice Williamson and Ashley Church join Duncan to break down a chaotic week of National Party leadership drama and its implications for the upcoming election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What a whirlwind week it's been for the National Party .. and it's only Thursday! Yesterday Christopher Luxon survived his second confidence vote in four months, then sacked Chris Penk for launching the challenge. Today the party says it's united .. but how can National make sure the public believes them? Charlotte Shipman is a former NewsHub journalist and now a senior partner at communications company AM and Co. She chats to Perlina.

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It's Friday, which means Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson are back with Mike Hosking to Wrap the Week that Was. They discussed National's leadership challenge and the coup that wasn't, the podcasts covering 100 Years of ZB, and tonight's party celebrating the occasion. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So that's it then, at least until the next time. Christopher Luxon and his camp stared down the would-be challengers to his leadership, and he lives to fight another election. What happens after that is anybody's guess – win or lose. Chris Penk, the stalking horse, paid the price for calling a confidence motion, stripped of his ministerial portfolios, kicked down to the bottom of the backbenches to sit in purgatory, and he's announced he'll retire from politics at the election. There are all sorts of reckons about who he was acting for, who was really behind the coup, why it failed, and no doubt that will keep the political journos and the Wellington cabal in a lather for the next few weeks to come. But the end result is, despite all the fevered speculation, another challenge to the Prime Minister's leadership was mounted and another challenge was bested. What a sorry, sorry state of affairs. Credit to the Prime Minister for having the cojones to stare down the perfidious ne'er do wells within his own caucus. He doesn't have to do the job, he doesn't need to do the job, yet he was determined to stick it out and finish the job in his own time and in his own way. Credit too to him for keeping excellent ministers where they are doing good work, when surely a dark deep recess of his heart must wish there was still the ability to hang, draw, and quarter traitors. Would have taken a big deep breath and then move on. The ministers are doing good work for New Zealanders while undermining their boss and their party, and to be able to set aside an entirely understandable desire for vengeance shows real maturity and leadership. But where does it leave erstwhile National voters? Quite clearly the caucus is full of liars and traitors and grasping opportunists, no different I suppose to most other political parties, but it doesn't make me feel great voting for them. I know I should accept that this is politics, but why? You wouldn't put up with that in friendships, you wouldn't put up with that in your own workplace. Why do you have to accept undermining, duplicitous, two faced, pledging loyalty with one hand, hugging with one hand while the other hand holds the knife? I find it despicable. Is loyalty an old-fashioned virtue? I wouldn't have thought so. Anyway, why should people be able to get away with pledging their loyalty, telling the public, “Oh yes look, we're absolutely behind the leader," only to be found to be actively undermining both the leader and the party? And what sort of thinking are you getting if a significant cabal within National thinks it's a great idea to roll a leader who is leading a party that could form a government 90 days before the election? It hardly shows the brains trust, does it? To have a group of people going, “Hey, I know, why don't we roll the leader of our party and the Prime Minister 90 days before an election? That'll really get people on side." What a waste of time, what a waste of money and what an absolute bloody gift to Labour. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christopher Luxon is in a hell of a bind. Because he is dreaming if he thinks sacking Defence Minister Chris Penk is going to be enough to get National back on track. But if he did what I think he should do after that shambles of a leadership challenge yesterday, things would come to a complete standstill. Because he's not just running a party. He's also running the government and there's stuff the government has to keep on doing. And you need ministers, capable ministers, to do that. But if Christopher Luxon wants us to come anywhere close to believing that he has a caucus capable of holding itself together and not falling apart at the next hurdle, then he needs to go further than just sacking the Defence Minister. If he wants us to believe that, after what happened yesterday, he's anything more than a lame duck leader, he has to sack Chris Bishop and Erica Stanford too. Because with those two still lurking around, he's talking out of his backside telling us that they're all happy and united and stable. He's also talking out of his backside saying that Chris Penk has been given the heave-ho because he was the one who wanted to be party leader and prime minister. It's nonsense. Chris Bishop and Erica Stanford were the ones who wanted Luxon gone. But they were so pig-headed about it and were fighting against each other as much as they were fighting against Christopher Luxon. Stanford wanted to be boss. And so did Bishop. The person who has come out of this looking like the good guy is Mark Mitchell. There was talk that he was another one wanting Christopher Luxon gone. But he told Newstalk ZB this morning that that was nonsense. He also said he was 110 percent certain we won't see this happening again and seems very confident that National will recover from this, saying the party isn't “mortally wounded”. Obviously, he isn't going to say anything otherwise. But there's no way we can look at National now and think they're anything close to stable, with Chris Bishop and Erica Stanford still sitting around the Cabinet table. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Taking stock of Wednesday's National Party leadership challenge; Electricity Authority on falling wholesale power prices; Security Service says security challenges have intensified; Wellsford GP on Auckland ambulance patients sent to Whangarei; First Table CEO on health of New Zealand's hospitality sector

Liam Hehir is a National Party member and commentator and Janet Wilson was formerly the Chief Press Secretary to Todd Muller and Judith Collins. They joined Ingrid Hipkiss to discuss the fallout from Wednesday's emergency caucus meeting, including Chris Penk's announcement that he won't seek re-election.

Palmerston North-based lawyer, a National Party member and a former activist Liam Hehir joins Jesse to discuss the fallout from today's National caucus meeting.

Mark Mitchell is sorry about the whole situation the National party caucus found itself in. Christopher Luxon stared down yesterday's challenge to his leadership, coming from Chris Penk. He's paid the political price, being stripped of his portfolios, before announcing last night he won't run for re-election in November. Senior colleague Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking Penk's challenge was a surprise. He says he considers him a friend, and he hasn't had a chance to talk to him about what he was thinking. Mitchell says any speculation he was involved in a challenge is false – and he was sure Luxon's supporters were in a strong position. He says he was quietly confident they had the numbers and that people would realise there was no upside to a coup. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Time's ticking for National to rebuild itself as a united front after putting Christopher Luxon's leadership to the test a second time. The Prime Minister survived a confidence vote launched by Chris Penk - at yesterday's three hour caucus meeting in Wellington. He's now dumped Penk from his ministerial portfolios and the former Defence Minister has announced he'll quit politics in November. Political Commentator Peter Dunne told Mike Hosking Luxon should be commended for surviving the challenge, but a third one would be a stretch too far. He says this has to be the end of it through to the election, and all the sentiments about the party being “100% united” have to be demonstrated if National's to come through this unscathed. Dunne was sceptical of the idea that Penk had launched the challenge to put himself forward for the job, saying he felt it was "a bit far-fetched", and that Penk was more likely testing the waters for others, namely Chris Bishop and Erica Stanford. "I don't think he necessarily was actively working with Bishop and Stanford, although he was clearly touting their cases," Dunne told Hosking. "[Luxon] can't really run a credible government without those two, so they have to be there, they have to be [kept] in senior roles, and they have to be seen to be treated as senior ministers." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Not for the first time have too many people read what happened yesterday completely incorrectly. "It was over", they told us. "The numbers were done", they told us. "Tuesday night was it", they told us. "There wasn't a caucus meeting required". Wrong. "Mark Mitchell was Erica Stanford's deputy". Wrong. "The idea that Luxon could do this twice was impossible". Wrong. One of the great sadnesses of the modern media and its lack of institutional knowledge is too many people talk to themselves, or don't recognise when their sources are stitching them up, or they put too much of their own agenda into the coverage. This is not to say Luxon didn't have trouble and that members of the National caucus weren't whining. But it is to say that that doesn't mean when push comes to shove you pull a trigger on what almost certainly was a gargantuan political mistake. To repeat from yesterday; the polls are fine, Luxon's issues are not sackable, and the economy is turning. The S&P just upgraded our GDP for God's sake. This is no time to panic, and this is no time to put your burgeoning aspirations as a backbencher to the test. I'm thrilled for Christopher Luxon. He deserves a lot better than he has got. The foibles, if you want to put them like that, are not sackable offences. The fact Peters last time, and Seymour this time, spoke well of what he has done in a tricky first-of-its-kind coalition deal is not to be underestimated. Oh the irony that opponents can see what his backbencher moaners can't. This is not and was not a crisis. This was a self-centred, naval gazing, bitchathon from National MPs who should know how to behave better. Remember where you heard it first – when National win and the Coalition enter the second term, and the Luxon era of leadership issues vanishes, because that's what happens with victory, it will be a moment to savour. The easy thing for Luxon to do would have been to walk, and a lot would have. Belief is a sadly rare, but powerful trait and whatever you say about him he clearly has it. Staring them down for a second time might just be the nail in their coffin. He is a better man than they. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join Wallace for New Zealand's most explosive 30 minutes of politics. He is joined by panellists Andrea Vance, Chris Carter and Corin Dann. Tonight on The Whip we look at the continuing saga of Christopher Luxon's leadership of the National Party, he's survived another challenge, but can the party reconstruct itself leading into the election? Then, the Whip looks at the latest polls and what they say about where the vote will go. Wallace and the panellists also discuss Chris Hipkin's ruling out of NZ First as a governing partner and, apparently, not ruling out Opportunity. Then, Stuart Nash says he thought Chris Findayson was a friend, Findlayson says that's not the case? How do you work out who is actually a friend in politics?

Chris Luxon stared them down and survived again. Now, it sounds like both contenders, or at least both people who thought they were contenders, Erica Stanford and Chris Bishop, were reasonably confident they had the numbers to roll Luxon yesterday afternoon. But then things swung Luxon's way early in the evening. About 8pm, I got a text suggesting the coup was falling apart and Luxon was shoring up his numbers. The people who had defected from him were defecting back to him. By this morning, the confidence had shifted back to Luxon's camp. It looks like, if I can put this really simply, the coup fell apart because of egos. Neither Chris Bishop nor Erica Stanford was prepared to go second on the ticket. They needed to work together if they wanted the numbers. They needed to coalesce around one candidate but they couldn't because both wanted to be leader. So, in the end, neither of them became leader. Now, I can't say the caucus has made the wrong call by backing Chris Luxon because, as I said, either choice was risky and difficult. But the situation the National Party finds itself in is the worst of all worlds. For a second time, the party has signalled to the country that it does not fully back its leader, and then left him there to do the job anyway. No one is going to believe the false show of unity that saw them standing behind Chris Luxon for 75 seconds while he told us his caucus was unified. It doesn't take three hours in a caucus room to establish unity. It takes five minutes. Three hours is what it looks like when there isn't enough unity. The people behind this coup, and this time it appears to be Erica Stanford rather than Chris Bishop, should reflect on what they've done. They have effectively blown the arms and legs off their Prime Minister, then pushed him out there to try to win the election for them again because they couldn't get past their own egos long enough to execute a coup properly. There's only one thing worse than a coup against a Prime Minister, and that's a failed coup. You do all the damage and end up with nothing shiny and new to show for it. This is going to hurt National. Mark my words, this is going to hurt National. The party will probably bleed votes to its coalition partners in the next three months. I'm still not convinced it will cost National the election but it certainly makes that outcome more likely. They only have themselves to blame for what comes next. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and Child Fund CEO Josie Pagani joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day, and more! Luxon's held on as Prime Minister after this latest leadership challenge - but what does this all mean going forward? Why couldn't Luxon's opponents get this across the line? Does this put them in better or worse shape for the election? Is the whole leadership kerfuffle good for Labour? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The National Party caucus is currently meeting following renewed speculation over Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's leadership.

Former National Minister Wayne Mapp and former National Party chief press secretary Janet Wilson joined Morning Report this morning for the Weekly Political Panel.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Wednesday 12th of August, former National MP Wayne Mapp and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour talk about the damage to the National Party as the Luxon leadership speculation rolls on. We break down all the rumours and likely outcomes of the National Party caucus meeting – who supports Luxon, who doesn't, and if there will be a vote. Mark Mitchell gets put into some tough positions on Politics Wednesday while Ginny Andersen looks on gleefully. Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Say it's Erica Stanford as leader, does she swing your vote? What about Bishop? Do things materially change because he is suddenly the leader? This is the madness of what National are up to. There's the panickers in the back, some of whom might lose their jobs, because when they arrived as the tide pulled in in 2023, they didn't work out some of them have to lose three years later, because that's what tides do. They turn. National of course have form in Bill English and Judith Collins. We all remember the calamity that seems to grip the party when they put self-interest first. But this time things are different. Polls have them returning for another term. And even if you're angsty about that, replacing Luxon does not change a thing. Direction doesn't change, policy doesn't change and the coalition doesn't change. Do the optics change? Maybe. Is that what the majority of people vote on? The optics? This election is about whether the country is going in the right direction, or not. Your mind will not be changed based on Stanford, Bishop, or Luxon. The work they have done to get us here has already got your vote, or it hasn't. As for Chris Penk and his dirty work in this whole exercise – what a doofus. How did he get sucked into this? Being disloyal is one of human nature's lowest traits and National seem to be comfortable with it. Even if you argue Luxon never quite fired, and a lot do, he is not individually holding National back from winning an election. Given all the polling this should not be happening. That's how mental it all is. If they were on 22% and losing, if it was Andrew Little and Labour, if it was English in 2002, then maybe. But it isn't. The Opposition is barely alive, one of their three parties is imploding, and the Poll of Polls has little, if any, path to Government. So the good old Nats decide to put their best self-interest foot forward and shoot themselves in it. As one senior Nat put it to me yesterday; "you can't write this stuff". See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A senior National MP's throwing cold water on the idea the Prime Minister will be voted out of his job as National party leader today. Mark Mitchell says there's been a lot of speculation from media commentators about what will happen, but there's no confirmation. He told Mike Hosking everyone's getting ahead of themselves. Mitchell says he sat with Luxon until late last night to make sure he's in the "strongest possible position today and supported for the caucus meeting". He said he'd seen media reports claiming Chris Penk had been hitting the phones to shore up support for Erica Stanford, but stressed there would be no discussions until the 9.30am meeting. Affirming his loyalty to Luxon as leader, Mitchell described himself as "very old-fashioned" and said he took "great offence" to people who work outside that operandus. "If you've got someone that's not been loyal to the leader inside the caucus, you can't do it publicly. You actually front up and sit down and say, 'These are what the issues are'," he said. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Deputy Prime Minister won't make a prediction on the outcome of today's National leadership challenge, but says a Prime Minister leading a coalition that's ahead in the polls should be supported. Christopher Luxon called an emergency caucus meeting for this morning in response to the growing speculation over his ability to lead the party into the election. David Seymour told Mike Hosking he's not going to sit there and bag Luxon, who is doing the best he can, given difficult circumstances. He says the National party leader has foibles just like everyone else, but he's managed to unite his own party and the Coalition. Seymour said the leadership challenge was “not helpful” and was a distraction from policy – specifically replacing the RMA, which he claimed was "the only thing that really matters" for New Zealand's future. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A former National MP believes Christopher Luxon's decision to call today's emergency caucus meeting was a mistake. The Prime Minister announced the meeting on social media yesterday, saying the speculation about his leadership needs addressing. With Parliament in recess, MPs have had to fly in from around the country. Mapp told Mike Hosking Luxon could have dismissed the speculation as the work of a few dissident MPs. He says Luxon's constructed the stage for his own execution. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First up, Christopher Luxon has called for an 'urgent in-person" caucus meeting to stamp out speculation about his leadership. The Prime Minister went to social media to announce the stare down saying media reports about the potential end of his role as leader of the National Party were distractions that need to be "resolved quickly". The panel talks to Dr Michael Swanson from Otago University about what this may mean for National's election campaign. Then, a new group says a creeping acceleration toward privatisation should be resisted. Public futures Aotearoa is a coalition of unions, community groups and researchers and they support keeping assets and services under public ownership and control. The panel and Public Futures Aotearoa researcher and spokesperson Edward Miller discuss the issue.

A nightmarish fortnight has ended with the prime minister summoning MPs to Wellington for an urgent in-person National Party caucus meeting. On the agenda, not for the first time: his own leadership. Spinoff editor Veronica Schmidt joins Toby Manhire to trace the path to Christopher Luxon's moment of truth and ask: what will the MPs be weighing as they make their way to that 9.30am showdown?Plus: Liam Ratana on an unprecedented, pulsating, potent haka at the Warriors.At Large with Toby Manhire is produced by Te Aihe Butler, Jin Fellet and The Spinoff. Read more at ⁠thespinoff.co.nz⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tonight, on The Panel, Wallace Chapman is joined by panellists Chris Clarke and Georgie Stylianou. First up, the National Party's new rules for fiscal responsibility have come under quick criticism from some, including economist Cameron Bagrie. Then, demand is increasing for faith-based schools. What's driving the rise? NZ Catholic Education Office chief executive Kevin Shore shares his reckons.

How weird was National's re-announcement of its Budget Responsibility Rules? It was very weird. Essentially, National made exactly the same announcement that it made three years ago before the 2023 election. First, it would strive for a surplus. Second, it would reduce debt. Third, it would cut Government spending. Here's the question: has National achieved any of those things? Not really, has it? We don't have a surplus, even though National promised we'd have one worth $2.9 billion this year. In fact, we're still years away from any kind of surplus. Has it reduced debt? No. If anything, debt has increased by roughly another $41 billion. And when it comes to Government spending, we basically have the same number of public servants now as we did when Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins left office. So National hasn't even made much of a dent there. In that case, I'm sorry to say it, but you'd have to be either naive or foolish to believe National's promise this time around. In fact, I'm probably being too generous by even calling it a promise. Last time, National explicitly promised a surplus. It didn't deliver one, which makes that a broken promise. This time, however, it's merely "prioritising" a surplus. That change in language says everything you need to know about how confident Nicola Willis herself is about the chances of getting New Zealand back into surplus. I reckon Thomas Coughlan in the Herald absolutely nailed it with one line in his analysis: "Why has National drawn attention to its own failure?" Because that's really all it did. It simply reminded those of us who are concerned about the Government's finances that the National Party has failed to get the books back in order. I think the answer to Thomas' question is that National believes voters will still trust it and that it's trying to force Labour to make the same commitments, commitments National knows Labour may struggle to make. If Labour can't make those same promises, National hopes voters will see it as the more fiscally responsible option. And maybe that's true. Labour may not be able to make the same commitments, given its spending plans and the even more ambitious spending proposals of some of its potential coalition partners. So strategically, this may well work for National with some voters. But for many others, all the announcement did was underscore how little difference there is, in practice, between the way Labour and National manage the Government's books. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brigitte Morten is the Managing Director of public and commercial law firm Franks Ogilvie and a former senior ministerial advisor for the previous National-led government, a National Party member and currently volunteering for the Hutt South MP, Chris Bishop. Tracey Martin was a New Zealand First MP. From 2017 to 2020 she held the roles of Minister for Children, Seniors, Internal Affairs and Associate Education. She is currently the chief executive of the Aged Care Association. Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The National Party have laid out a set of economic rules they promise to follow if re-elected. Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira reports.

This week on the Sunday Panel, Newstalk ZB host Kerre Woodham and Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! Newstalk ZB celebrates 100 years today. What are our favourite memories of the station? What stories do we remember? What role does radio serve in a changing market. So Chris Luxon hasn't been having a good week - with new polls and the MMP announcement raising some concerns. There's growing calls for some new leadership in the National Party - do we see Luxon bouncing back? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's a critical juncture in the run up to November's election. National will set its party list, meaning those MPs who either aren't standing in an electorate or are unlikely to win an electorate seat will be keenly waiting to see the numbers next to their names. If the current polling trends don't improve, National's in line to lose something in the vicinity of ten or eleven MPs from its caucus. Perhaps even more concerning to the party than the total number of MPs who'd be lost, is the experience under threat. MMP maths always makes this a bit of a tricky equation, but even if the party loses several of the electorate seats it currently holds, very few MPs are likely to get in on the list. Perversely, the party might find itself quietly hoping to lose more electorates in order to protect some of its most senior ministers. In an absolute worst-case scenario, any or even all of Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop, Gerry Brownlee, and Paul Goldsmith could be gone. A result like this would be devastating for National, even if the party is returned to government. Just consider for a moment the influence ACT and NZ First have been able to exert in the coalition this term, and now imagine a significantly smaller National caucus without some of its most senior and experienced Cabinet ministers. The list rankings are surely a bit of a penny-drop moment for members of the caucus. Unlike many of my media colleagues, I haven't thrown myself into frenzied speculation over Christopher Luxon's future at every opportunity, but as many have already noted, this was among his worst weeks as Prime Minister. Some will say his patronising comments to the Rotorua business audience and his off-the-cuff musings in this studio over the future of MMP were simply communication gaffs from a Prime Minister who by his own admissions, isn't always as strong a communicator as some of his predecessors. The problem with that of course, is that communication is such a big part of the job. Not just speaking to media, but speaking to voters, and being aware of how your communication is received. The thing I found most interesting about the Rotorua comments was that the PM apparently lacked the EQ to see that his bland, empty corporatese-riddled answer wasn't landing. Not only that, but his office doubled down. They released the transcript. And only when that garnered even more of a backlash did they pull back and apologise. The same thing could be said of his MMP referendum. It's hard not to be left with the impression that at times he lacks an instinct for understanding how his comments will land. And in an election campaign where those skills are going to be continuously tested, it constitutes a not insignificant liability. As National confirms its list rankings, the question isn't simply if Christopher Luxon can lead the party to an election result that allows them to form a government, it's what that government looks like. And whether the party risks being so diminished in coalition that it's a win in name only. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yeah, well, if Chris Luxon's week wasn't already bad, it's not much better. Not after he apparently announced off the cuff on ZB Mornings with Kerre that he's going to hold an MMP referendum if he wins the election. Now, where do I start with the problems with him doing this? The first is that it looks incredibly desperate. No one was asking for a referendum. It's not a topic of discussion. I mean, sure, we can all see that MMP is giving Chris Luxon heaps of trouble because he can't fire his Foreign Minister for being racist without ending the coalition and forcing a snap election. But that has not led to a clamour for a return to FPP. In that context, him suddenly announcing that he wants to get rid of MMP, which is basically what he said by calling for a referendum on the thing, looks like he just wants to get rid of the system that's to blame for his party polling around 30 percent and sometimes below 30 percent. That just looks incredibly desperate. Now, I'm not saying that he is desperate because I actually think what happened here is that Chris Luxon fell into the trap of doing what Chris Luxon often does: agreeing with the person he's talking to. And because Kerre really liked the idea, all of a sudden he liked the idea and off he went on a tangent. But for people who didn't hear the whole exchange and just see the headlines, this looks desperate. The second problem is that this is now dominating what should really be a very good news day for the National Party. Their star minister, Erica Stanford, has just released the new subjects for students in Years 12 and 13. Chris Bishop has finally revealed the date for Auckland's new train system. We should be talking about that but instead we're talking about the Prime Minister saying the second weird thing in a week. For the record, if there were a referendum, and there will not be a referendum, which is why this idea is cooked, it would fail. Look at how many people vote for parties that are only there because of MMP: the Greens, ACT, New Zealand First and The Opportunity Party, if you believe the polls. Meanwhile, the two old FPP parties, National and Labour, can't get themselves out of the low 30s. So it's going to fail and that is the third problem. A Prime Minister should never, if they can avoid it, back an idea that is destined to fail. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christopher Luxon is digging in over his use of an Air Force flight after attending a National Party fundraiser, saying he has a "busy job". Labour's Chris Hipkins says it's unjustifiable for the Prime Minister to use the Defence Force as a "personal taxi service" for campaigning purposes. Deputy political editor Craig McCulloch spoke to Melissa Chan-Green.

A predecessor of Chris Luxon is unconcerned about his non-emergency use of Defence Force aircraft. Luxon's justifying taking dozens of military domestic flights this term - including twice between Auckland and Waikato. He says he only uses them when necessary. Former Prime Minister Sir John Key says the aircraft are there to be used, and doing so can make practical sense at virtually no cost. "The pilot is already being paid for by the Air Force, the plane is being depreciated whether he uses it or not - in fact, actually, if you don't fly them, then their parts just get ripped out, unused." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister says a late night meeting was why he recently used a military aircraft, but it's now been revealed it was a National Party fundraiser dinner. That was a flight in July, when Chris Luxon flew from Whanganui. He initially said he had a late night meeting, now his office says former National MP Bill Birch's funeral required a last-minute travel change. Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper unpacked the backlash further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, I've come back from holiday to find Christopher Luxon having the week from hell, haven't I? The small business comments, the Winston Peters "go back to where you came from" comments and now Choppergate. The latest with Choppergate, by the way, is that the event Chris Luxon was telling Mike Hosking about on Monday, where he finished up in Whanganui at 10:30 and then had to get back to Auckland, was in fact a National Party fundraiser. Now, that would be a big no-no if he were using a Defence Force flight to get to a National Party fundraiser because you can't use Defence Force aircraft to get yourself re-elected, can you? But it is not a no-no because that is not what he was doing. He was using the flight not to get to the fundraiser but to get from the fundraiser to an event in Auckland the next day. His office says that was a prime ministerial event and that makes it acceptable. As far as I'm concerned, prime ministers should be allowed to use the Defence Force, within reason, to get around the place. The Defence Force has to keep those aircraft flying. They have to complete a certain number of flying hours and surely, if the choice is between flying for the sake of it or flying for an actual reason, the practical option is to choose the actual reason. That's what this is. Also, come on, we've got to stop nitpicking legitimate uses of things like Defence Force flights, for God's sake. Whether you like Christopher Luxon or not, whether you vote for him or not, he is the Prime Minister. That is the most senior elected position in New Zealand. It is a job that requires constant travel and work. The Defence Force should be flying him around the place to cut down his travel time, simply so he can use that time for something more productive. It is neither novel nor new that this happens. Go and watch the Jacinda documentary on Netflix. She gets picked up from Clarke's parents' holiday home in Gisborne in a Defence Force chopper. Prime ministers have been flown around the country, and around the world, by the Defence Force for decades. It says more about us, I think, than it does about Chris Luxon that this is an issue. Now, the other two issues Luxon is dealing with this week are proper problems that do warrant debate: his small business comments and Winston Peters' racist comments. But this, Choppergate, is just nitpicking. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Wednesday, 5 August, 2026, former Prime Minister Sir John Key defends Christopher Luxon's use of a Defence Force flight after a National Party fundraiser. A disability advocate tells us why she's not happy about guide dogs getting ID. A marketing expert on whether Jetstar charging for carry-on baggage is a good move. And on The Huddle, Jack Tame and Nick Mills discuss whether women taking weight-loss drugs are enhancing their chances of getting jobs. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Everybody's talking about the Opportunity Party and I'm not quite sure I believe they're anything more than a bit of a sideshow. They haven't cracked 5 percent yet but anyway, there we go. Sir Ian Taylor wrote an opinion piece that was published by Stuff. In it, he said that throughout his life he's been a centre-left voter. That's been his political home. But during the whole Covid period, with the Labour Party's response to Covid and the way it wasted its supermajority when it had, you know, all the power in the House, he became disillusioned. He started talking to people from the National Party and saw that they were having conversations. They were talking to business as well and he says that's what he wanted. He didn't want a party telling him what to do in the way he felt Labour did. So he changed his allegiance, after a lifetime, to the National Party. But now he's becoming disillusioned with National as well, because he believes the tail is wagging the dog. He thinks that, on issues such as the Treaty Principles Bill, pay equity, school lunches and so on, ACT and New Zealand First have too much power. He even suggests that Winston Peters has more influence in the coalition Government than Christopher Luxon and the National Party. So he's disillusioned with them too, and he's starting to say, "I'm flirting with Opportunity because they want to have a conversation." That's what their leader has said: "I want to get away from tribalism." Sir Ian has found himself hacked off with the Labour Party, hacked off with the National Party and hacked off with the whole MMP system. He's been quite beguiled by Opportunity, which says it wants to have a conversation. Now, the problem I have with that is that you don't vote for a party simply because it isn't one of the other two parties that have dominated politics for the past 40 years. You don't vote for someone because you don't want to vote for someone else. You vote for them because of the policies they have. And with Opportunity, as soon as they mentioned a universal basic income, I thought, "Well, I'm out." I've been reading about universal basic income for 30 years. I don't believe it's going to work. Many economists say it's not going to work. Then they added a land tax and I thought, "Well, that's not going to work either." In fact, as we've seen in the costings, all of this is going to cost the country an enormous amount of money. So I'm not voting for Opportunity. It's a sideshow. Sure, it's getting some publicity but I was amazed that Sir Ian Taylor, like too many New Zealand voters, seems to vote for people simply because they're not the people he doesn't like anymore. And that's his only reasoning. Crazy. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Tuesday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Looking Wishy Washy/Broken Promises Stacking Up/Remembering a RegularSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris Luxon's standing by his comments telling struggling business owners to take more responsibility for themselves. The National Party leader told a Rotorua business function on Friday to not rely on the government and "be adult, be adult, be adult", responding to a question about the city's struggling economy. He says the previous Labour government had treated business with a "parent-child mentality" - and that he didn't wait for the Government when he was a business leader. Luxon told Mike Hosking that his government's trying to empower businesses. He says they've partnered with businesses through the fuel crisis, which is different to Labour's approach of dictating to businesses through Covid. LISTEN ABOVE Below is the transcript of the prime minister's full response to the question at the event, provided to Newstalk ZB by his office. "I think that's a negative view, to be honest. Like we're entrepreneurs and business people, and I get it. You know, if you're not retooling and radically disrupting your business, you ain't doing the job. "You know, you have to disrupt yourself aggressively before you get disrupted by global events, and if you keep thinking you want the same business model, the same customer mix, the same margin structure, you know you've got to be retooling and refinancing and rehoming, and that's just the reality of business people all around the world. "So, my job is to make sure I'm setting up the conditions for you to be able to go create that growth. And I think some of the subtext and assumption in your question is that...I think in New Zealand I'll be honest with you as a business person who was... I sat in Illinois for six years in Chicago, and the last person I wanted to ever talk to as a CEO was the government. I didn't sit there in Chicago saying I wonder what the government thinks and I wonder what they're doing to help me for my business? Can I get some grant money to do something? No, no, I'm a business person. "I'm building a kick-ass company that actually has commercially superior returns, great customer experience, and awesome internal culture. That is the job of what makes a great company, not a good one, a great one. And so that was my mentality. "Come home to New Zealand, and there's a parent-child mentality. I have literally sat in boardrooms across New Zealand, and the conversation goes: 'I wonder what the government's going to do? I wonder what the government's going to think?' "Who cares what the government thinks or does? Our job is to be adult, adult, adult. The business leaders, the political leaders, and the community leaders working together, doing things differently. I set up the operating system. You go out there and smack it and go create the road, and the community leaders see the pain, the hurt, the need, and the frustration, and the three actors do different things but complementary things to deal with the challenges and the opportunities. "So I still think there's a little bit of.... okay, so in this chamber, how many of you are actually using Claude or Claude code? Okay great. How many sessions has the chamber run to help you understand that? Is that your number one focus right here, right now? Because that is going to disrupt your businesses, and it's a huge opportunity for you to do exceptionally well off the back of it. "So how do we collectively lift our SME literacy on something like AI as a result? So I'm just pushing back to say my job is to set the conditions up. We're getting spending under control. We're getting inflation back into the band. We're at 2.9 percent, strip out the fuel pieces. We've got growth coming in. And that creates opportunity."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fourteen years ago, on August 30th, 2012, the Republican presidential nominee gave his acceptance speech. But before Mitt Romney addressed the convention that night — there was another big-name speaker. Clint Eastwood! Well, I know even some of the people in your own party were very disappointed when you didn't close Gitmo. And I thought, well, closing Gitmo — why close that? We spent so much money on it. But I thought maybe as an excuse. Oh, what do you mean shut up? OK, I thought it was just because somebody had the stupid idea of trying terrorists in downtown New York City. Maybe that was it. Wait — Who was Clint Eastwood talking to? And who tells Clint Eastwood to shut up? The answer: A chair! And it's one of six big convention moments you'll hear in this week's episode of C-SPAN's podcast "Extreme Mortman." Why talk about conventions now? Consider it a therapeutic service for fellow political junkies who have gone two years without a national party convention — and have to wait an unbearable two years before the next one. And who chose those 6 memorable moments? CBS News' top political junkie – Major Garrett! Which convention moments did Major Garrett pick? Why did he pick them? How is Major Garrett himself holding up having gone two years without covering a convention – and having to wait two more years for the next one? And why was Clint Eastwood talking to a chair? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Finance Minister says changes to paid parental leave weren't in the coalition agreement for the current government. The National Party is promising to extend paid parental leave to 30 weeks by 2029 if re-elected, with further increases possible if finances allow. It would also allow parents more flexibility to share, or take leave at the same time. Nicola Willis told Mike Hosking that the change would be a priority for a National-led government. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speech on campus is the defining issue of higher education today. Many call for a return to the past when nearly anyone was received with respect. So, this week we look back to a moment in 1965 when the National Party of America, an openly fascist and anti-semitic political party was invited to speak at Reed College in Portland Oregon.Read Seth's writing: https://rightlandia.ghost.io/For a transcript of this episode: https://bit.ly/campusfiles-transcripts