Podcast
Gone By Lunchtime
Hosted by The Spinoff · EN
A New Zealand politics podcast hosted by The Spinoff's Toby Manhire with Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas.
27episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Jane Wrightson on Super squabbles, Seymour and the state of the media
1w ago00:43:04Tap to summarizeIn a special edition of Gone By Lunchtime, Toby talks to Jane Wrightson, who is retiring after two terms as retirement commissioner. She shares her thoughts on the political football around Superannuation and KiwiSaver, the reforms to retirement-village legislation. Reflecting on a career that includes senior roles as chief censor, at the BSA and NZ on Air, and as an RNZ board member, Wrightson responds to recent remarks by David Seymour, the plan to dismantle the broadcasting regulator, and the debate over merging NZ on Air and the NZ Film Commission. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →The book everyone, politicians especially, should read in 2026
2w ago00:39:16Tap to summarizeIn a bonus episode of Gone By Lunchtime, Toby Manhire talks to Asher Emanuel, author of The Valley: Crime and Punishment in a New Zealand City. A gripping, true story of a group of people whose lives keep winding back to the Hutt Valley District Court, it offers an eye-opening insight into the human impacts and systemic fractures at the heart of the New Zealand criminal justice system. https://www.unitybooks.co.nz/products/valley-1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →The deepest breach in the Luxon coalition, and a National reboot
3w ago00:56:15Tap to summarizeMessages suggesting the prime minister sought to support the US-Israel attacks on Iran landed with more than one explosion. Not only did it undermine Luxon’s position on the war and its impact, it delivered the deepest fissure yet in the coalition, with the PM saying his foreign minister had put politics ahead of the national interest. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire peer into that chasm to assess the severity of the wound and work out just what Winston Peters is playing at as the election draws closer. Plus: Is a new, rebooted, freshly assertive National Party strategy becoming clear? How wrong were we about Luxon’s pledges to secure a free trade deal with India? And a new, grumpy-parent style ultimatum has been issued to local councils: sort out your amalgamation or we’ll do it for you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Luxon stares down rebel moan squad across 100 white-knuckle hours
Apr 2200:47:48Tap to summarizeOn Friday morning a bombshell report revealed a group of unnamed National MPs questioning Christopher Luxon's leadership, with the chief whip, Stuart Smith, said to have been "ghosted" by the PM. One hundred hours later, Luxon called their bluff and put a motion of confidence in himself. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire step through that extraordinary period, taking on a string of questions. Including: Who are the moany five MPs and what do they actually want? How bad was the Sunday night poll for him and his party? How did the prime minister manage in response? What was Stuart Smith up to and where did he disappear to? Did Luxon show tactical nous by calling the vote? How about that broadside against the media? Do Labour want him in or out? Does this draw a line under the speculation? And if you aren't yet shattered by this endless procession of question marks, is it possible to have a political soap opera without the matinee idol and grandmaster of the great New Zealand political story, Winston Peters, stepping in and stealing the scene? Oh, and also: was it ever really a coup? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →The force majeure election
Apr 900:40:32Tap to summarizeDonald Trump has gone within hours from genocidal threats against Iran to talking about a joint venture with Tehran tolling the Strait of Hormuz. A fragile ceasefire is very good news, but the havoc is set to continue to flow down into the New Zealand economy. Now with the perilous Cyclone Vaianu bearing down on New Zealand, perhaps the government should just declare it a force majeure election. Toby, Annabelle and Ben gather to discuss the swirling crises, Winston Peters' encounter with Marco Rubio at the State Department in Washington, and whether the government is getting its response right. Plus: is it "overthinking" to detect some retribution in Christopher Luxon's decision to strip the roles of leader of the house and campaign chair from Chris Bishop, how might Simeon Brown adjust the campaign rudder, and did the PM really just forget about Tama Potaka? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Special ep with Anna Fifield on the US, Iran, and Winston in Washington
Apr 800:29:26Tap to summarizeThe NZ foreign minister was in DC to meet Marco Rubio just as Donald Trump raged about destroying Iran's civilisation. Mercifully, within hours the US president had announced a two-week ceasefire in the conflict. To help us get our heads around it all, Anna Fifield talks through the latest developments, assesses whether Winston Peters sent the right messages at the State Department, and shares her expertise on Iran, Lebanon and North Korea. Anna, who writes the members-only World Bulletin Weekly for the Spinoff and the Between Giants newsletter, has reported for the Financial Times and Washington Post from the Middle East, Asia, Europe and America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Is NZ getting the fuel crisis right? Here's your timely, targeted and temporary analysis
Mar 2601:09:00Tap to summarizeCovidesque in crisis-mode, but anti-Covid in substance, the government response to the economic shockwaves released from the war on Iran is playing out in New Zealand this week. Have Nicola Willis and Christopher Luxon got it right with a $50 weekly payment that will help many, but miss out many more? Has a small-target-fixated Labour Party missed an opportunity? Are we all Hormuzologists now?Winston Peters, meanwhile, is pulling the crowds and playing the hits with a big speech in Tauranga that emphasised gentailer breakup and social conservatism, and unveiled, a little awkwardly, a new party candidate in former minister Alfred Ngaro. Has he nailed the in-power and in-opposition challenge, or is it just the populist-nationalist global winds blowing his way? And just what, by the way, is going on with the U-turn on commercial fishing size limits that everyone seems to be claiming credit for?Plus: how the claims about Chris Hipkins, made on Facebook by his ex-wife, made its way to the tiles of parliament. And Brooke van Velden is resigning from politics to spend more time with the public sector. What legacy does she leave, and what does it mean for the yellow-blue paradise of Tāmaki? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →We don't know how to be any clearer, guys
Mar 1100:59:08Tap to summarizeIt was Christopher Luxon's worst week as prime minister, beginning with flubbed attempts to explain New Zealand's position on the war on Iran and ending with a nightmare poll that put National at 28.4% and sparked headlines suggesting he was considering his position. We step through those painful days, assessing the official response to the strikes launched by the US and Israel, the criticisms levelled at Luxon, and whether he has put the matter to bed by rubbishing those suggestions he was thinking of quitting and a delivering a markedly improved performance this week. Plus: as the shockwaves of the Middle East conflict are felt as far away as the New Zealand consumer economy and an election creeps closer, is National best to lean into crisis mode? In this episode, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire also take a look at the High Court that Mariameno Kapa-Kingi’s expulsion from Te Pāti Māori was unlawful: what next after her "repatriation"? And the second Royal Commission on the Covid response has been issued, and swiftly subject to some high-velocity spin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →10th birthday special: Live with Wayne Brown and Andrew Little
Mar 300:55:03Tap to summarizeThe mayors of Wellington and Auckland join Toby, Annabelle and Ben for two very special live events in recent days at the Embassy and Q Theatres. Discussion ranges from the state of the two cities to dealing with the Luxon government, from the last decade of politics to the stakes in the 2026 election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Ben Thomas reports from the shitstorm
Feb 1000:58:38Tap to summarizeA catastrophic failure at the Moa Point wastewater plant in Wellington has laid bare a short-term crisis and a crisis of short-termism. Fortified by nothing but the balm of poo jokes, Ben Thomas relates the mood in the city and the measures under way in response. But does it say something deeper about the country and the state of its piping? Plus: a review of events of Waitangi, where the spotlight fell more directly on the parties of opposition than those of government. Just days after its divisions played out in the High Court, Te Pāti Māori's internal struggles manifested on the paepae, while a show of unity from Labour and the Greens was overshadowed by the announcement of Peeni Henare's exit from politics, and the sense of a story not being fully told. We discuss Henare's legacy, and where it leaves Labour's Māori caucus, as well as another big political departure, Judith Collins. What were the highs and lows of her remarkable parliamentary career, and is the step into the Law Commission presidency entirely legit? And finally: Energy minister Simon "Mega" Watts has announced the government will commission a billion-dollar import facility for liquefied natural gas to plug the gap in New Zealand's energy mix. But is the levy to fund it really a tax, and is this even the right question to be fixating on? Get your tickets to the Gone By Lunchtime 10th Birthday Party now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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