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PODCAST

Gone By Lunchtime

A New Zealand politics podcast hosted by The Spinoff"s Toby Manhire with Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas.

news politics

All Episodes

40:32

The force majeure election

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2026/04/09

Donald 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

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29:26

Special ep with Anna Fifield on the US, Iran, and...

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2026/04/08

The 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

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69:00

Is NZ getting the fuel crisis right? Here's your...

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2026/03/26

Covidesque 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

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59:08

We don't know how to be any clearer, guys

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2026/03/11

It 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

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55:03

10th birthday special: Live with Wayne Brown and...

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2026/03/03

The 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

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58:38

Ben Thomas reports from the shitstorm

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2026/02/10

A 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

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47:57

Are Peters and Luxon on a collision course?

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2026/01/27

As Christopher Luxon announced an election date of November 7, a strip of the North Island was under siege from another bout of brutal weather. As the clean-up and recovery continues, and families and communities grieve the loss of nine lives, questions swirl around the response.In the first Gone By Lunchtime for 2026, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire assess that response, and ask whether the bigger picture around climate adaptation and mitigation will filter through the

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45:40

Summer Reissue: Bonus ep - Thoughts on the Jacinda...

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2026/01/13

Gone By Lunchtime is taking a break over summer. We’ll be back soon with new episodes but, until then, here’s one of our favourites from 2025:Hot on the heels of the publication of A Different Kind of Power comes Prime Minister, an enthralling new film that applies a genuinely gobsmacking lens on Jacinda Ardern's time in power. In this special edition of Gone By Lunchtime, Madeleine Chapman, editor of the Spinoff (and author of Jacinda Ardern: A New Kind of Leader), joins Toby Manhire to talk

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51:02

Summer Reissue: Juggernaut 2

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2026/01/06

Gone By Lunchtime is taking a break over summer. We’ll be back soon with new episodes but, until then, here’s one of our favourites from 2025:After the breakneck reforms of the 80s, Jim Bolger’s promise of a calmer, more inclusive New Zealand hits the spot. Emerging from the shadow of Muldoon and shaking off the nuclear baggage, Bolger leads the National Party to a landslide victory under the “decent society” banner. But even before the celebrations are done, the hangover hits: the state-owned BNZ

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22:50

New Year special: 2026 in NZ politics

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2025/12/30

Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire take a quick break from partying atop the Sky Tower to discuss the highlights from the political year that was, before sharing their predictions for 2026. Happy new year!Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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39:22

Summer Reissue: Emergency politics Toddcast - The...

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2025/12/23

Gone By Lunchtime is taking a break over summer. We’ll be back soon with new episodes but, until then, here’s one of our favourites from the vault:At 7.30am, just 53 days after he replaced Simon Bridges as leader of the National Party, Todd Muller announced his immediate resignation from the job. How did it come to this, and who is likely to emerge as the new leader, with less than 10 weeks to an election? Will deputy Nikki Kaye be promoted by caucus tonight? Is it Judith Collins' time? Can Simon

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52:26

Breaking: everything is good now

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2025/12/10

His summer break may only be 20 minutes long, but Christopher Luxon goes into it grinning, on the back of a poll that saw a swing to the right, boosted economic confidence data, maybe staring down a maybe-coup, and most crucially, snipping the ribbon on the big green, yellow and blue shoot: Ikea. Just how confident must he feel going into Christmas? Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas chew it over, plus: poor poll numbers for the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, as TPM limp through an AGM

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64:26

The Luxon conundrum

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2025/11/26

There’s a lot of talk about challenges to Christopher Luxon’s leadership. Toby, Ben and Annabelle do as they must and talk about the talk and whether there’s more to it. First on the agenda, however, is a reform trailed as the biggest overhaul of local government since 1989 – just how will this new Galactic Senate setup work, and can it fix the resource management mess? Plus: all the reasons, mostly involving Winston Peters, that it is very clear we’re in election season, and a revelatory new

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52:22

The Police and the bad apple thesis

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2025/11/12

A shocking report by the Independent Police Conduct Authority has revealed a litany of serious failings in the handling of complaints relating to the disgraced former deputy commissioner Jevon McSkimming. Not only were the complaints from a former lover diverted from the appropriate channels by senior leaders including former police boss Andrew Coster, the woman involved was arrested and prosecuted for harmful digital communications.The new commissioner and the police minister insist that it is a

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51:26

Good news: NZ is back on track

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2025/10/30

In his first face-to-face encounter with Donald Trump, Christopher Luxon has exchanged hair jokes and golf banter. Does that confirm that back on track level has been achieved? Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas deliver their verdicts on the latest from the PM, Winston Peters getting angsty about pronouns and Labour solving the challenges of how to define the capital gains tax it will take to the next election by defining it as: three free GP visits for all. Plus: is Te Pāti Māori on

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53:01

Meltdown in Te Pāti Māori

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2025/10/15

A 10pm email to members blew apart the reset mood in Te Pāti Māori on Monday night with a litany of allegations and appendices dating back years, as part of a “transparency” effort in response to claims of bullying and a “dictatorial” leadership by Eru Kapa-Kingi of the Toitū Te Tiriti movement. Just what, ask Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire, is going on? And what are the implications from here?Plus: a trio of new polls paints a consistent picture, and it’s not great for Chris or

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41:54

Peters delivers Palestine decision in New York

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2025/09/30

After a protracted process and plenty of speculation, Winston Peters has announced the cabinet decision on acknowledgement of Palestinian statehood in his address to the general assembly at the United Nations. Not now, he said. “We are not ready to make that gesture.” Variously received as a laudable assertion of independence in avoiding “performative” politics and a “day of shame” for New Zealand, what does the announcement tell us about New Zealand’s foreign policy, our position on Israeli

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54:04

Te Pāti Māori wrenches defeat from the jaws of victory

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2025/09/18

Celebrations for a big and bodacious Oriini Kaipara byelection victory were shortlived for Te Pāti Māori thanks to Tākuta Ferris's decision to double down on a social media post aghast at a multicultural group of Labour supporters for Peeni Henare on the campaign trail. That was compounded by party president John Tamihere entering the breach, and a mysterious reollaction of the role of party whip. Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire talk through the fallout and ask what it means for

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63:24

Pulse check, pub quiz & predictions: live from WORD...

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2025/09/02

In a special live edition of GBL in Ōtautahi, Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas complete a stocktake of the governing and alternative coalitions with a little over a year to election time. There is heckling, there are pub questions from politicians, and there are piping hot takes. Recorded at the Piano on August 30.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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44:46

Bonus ep: Thoughts on the Jacinda Ardern film and book

Gone By Lunchtime ·

2025/08/08

Hot on the heels of the publication of A Different Kind of Power comes Prime Minister, an enthralling new film that applies a genuinely gobsmacking lens on Jacinda Ardern's time in power. In this special edition of Gone By Lunchtime, Madeleine Chapman, editor of the Spinoff (and author of Jacinda Ardern: A New Kind of Leader), joins Toby Manhire to talk about the film, which has just had its New Zealand premiere at the NZ International Film Festival, and the autobiography, what they tell us about

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