#BHN Big Hairy News

Mihingarangi Forbes and a panel on Mata took a look at where and who Māori are voting for on the Māori and General rolls. They also had a quick go over the battle for the Māori seatsBarb Edmonds was on the NZ Herald this morning talking about the narrative that National is running on pointing to holes, as they claim, in Labour's financial pledgesNicola Willis spoke with Tova O'Brien this morning on losing her seat via a low party vote and demonstrated how the #blameLabour theme continues three years on for National++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com...

Chloe joins Ollie Neas on Public Interest's podcast to discuss her career as a politician and how this election is shaping up for the Green Party.In an interview with Guyon Espiner, David Seymour revealed his desire to see cabinet papers written using AI and possibly already being used in his Department of Regulation formed this term.Are the memes created by Labour and National making cut-through this election? Are they reaching young people or turning them away from politics?++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com/BigHairyNetwork Follow us on Twitter.com/@bighairynetworkFollowing us on TikTok.com/@bighairynetworkSupport us on...

Paul Barlow joins us to talk about the Green Party poll surge - what does the data tell us about the reaction to Mondays polls.The right is now going all out to create an overhang with literal billionaire backings, we have to ask the question again...if an overhang helps decided an election, is it right for Labour to still play (what they think) is the moral game of not engendering an overhang to help the left.The Press 'Kingmakers' debate is on at 7.30, we will have a recap on what has happened, at least as much as...

A mighty Totara has fallen as former Speaker of the House Adrian Rurawhe passes away.Chris Hipkins keeps baring is teeth, this time with Mike Hosking.Nicola Willis defends her PREFU report while Chloe is painted as the boogeyman++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com/BigHairyNetwork Follow us on Twitter.com/@bighairynetworkFollowing us on TikTok.com/@bighairynetworkSupport us on Patreon www.patreon.com/c/BigHairyNewsCheck out our merch https://bhn.nz/shop/Donate to our work https://bhn.nz/shop/donation/

Apologies for the delay, Pat was stuck in Wellington and there was no one else who could upload the podcast

Craig Rennie joins us LIVE to discuss today’s PREFU and what it means for the Coalition and the campaign.Opportunity knocks with 5 bottom lines they will bring to the Coalition discussions if they’re over the threshold in November.Media have been playing out a Chloe vs Chippy Narrative all day , why might that be?++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com/BigHairyNetwork Follow us on Twitter.com/@bighairynetworkFollowing us on TikTok.com/@bighairynetworkSupport us on Patreon www.patr...

Apologies for the delay, Pat was stuck in Wellington and there was no one else who could upload the podcast

Labour's Tertiary Studies spokesperson Shanan Halbert joins us to explain Labour's new policy on wiping up to 10% from student loans.National and Labour spent Sunday launching the election campaigns that have been going on for months - and it looks like Chris Hipkins is baring his teeth on the trail.And Marama Davidson sits down with Jack Tame on the first election one-on-one Leaders discussions for Q&A.++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com/BigHairyNetwork Follow us on...

This month's Ipsos Issues Monitor tracks the big issues facing NZ and the populations perceptions on which of the parties are best to handle them with Labour continuing to lead on just about all of the top 10 issues.Health NZ have promise extra funding to increase staffing across the sector, but comes a little too late for some healthcare workers.Education Ministry whistleblower has claimed intentional actions by Ministry staff to subvert OIAs by not recording some communications with the Minister.++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com/BigHairyNetwork Follow us on Twitter.com/@bighairynetworkFollowing us on TikTok.com/@bighairynetworkSupport us...

Pal Barlow joins us tonight with his weekly segment about what he found in OpenBrief this week and with all the coverage in the news about Nicky Hager’s new book, it makes sense we look at the TPU and see what it shows about their activities.Labour pledges billions to build more social housing, fix hospitals in a promise of almost $3 billion to build 6000 new social houses, plus hundreds of millions more to upgrade schools and repair hospitals.Kieran McAnulty and Chris Bishop sparred on Breakfast this morning over revelations in Nicky Hagers book and why Labour have pu...

Jordan Williams appeared on any media source that would have him this morning to reply to Nicky Hager’s new book. He seemingly wanted to mostly refute the accusations that TPU paid out a former worker for sexual harassment, a claim that takes up one line in Hager's 129 page book.Nicky Hager spoke to the NZ Herald this morning after Jordan Williams stated that many of the claims that Hager made are false. We'll take a look at what Harger had to say in response to Williams.Marama Davidson and Daid Seymour appeared on a panel this morning to ta...

Investigative journalist Nicky Hager is about to release his latest book with just seven weeks until the election. At the time of writing these notes we don't know what the book is about but Hager is known for books including 2014’s Dirty Politics and 2002’s Seeds of Distrust, which sent shockwaves through election campaigns, is set to reveal his work at 6pm at an event held at Unity Books in Wellington.Many on the left are struggling with Labour's decision to continue on with Nationals tax laws for landlords as Labour has been very clear this election cycle that Luxo...

Jordan Williams was on Q&A this weekend talking CGT and Wealth Tax so we thought we'd bring on a former Senior lecturer in taxation, and current Labour spokesperson for revenue Deborah Russell on to unpack what was said about the left's tax initiativesChristopher Luxon spent time with bestie Mike Hosking this morning explaining why they have failed with their election promise to have 500 new police officers and how the reason public servants were getting treated well when it came to salary increases was they are "deeply, deeply unionised"...but he was using that as a negative...go figureEd...

Artist and Activist Bruce Mahalski joins live to promote a series of upcoming public talks across the South Island asking a straight-forward question: Is climate change really an emergency? And if it is, what does that mean for ordinary people and their families?Chris Hipkins answers listeners questions on NewsTalk ZB. The host, Kerre Woodham, refused to accept Hipkins' claim that National have put the country in a worse fiscal position, so I did some fact checking on her behalf to share with you. Healthcare services and short staffing is once again on the agenda. The family of a...

The Leader and Deputy of Trust NZ, the latest party to put their hat in the ring this election, joins tonight to promote their campaign to get people to enroll to vote... no, un-enroll to vote..?GDP numbers were released today showing an abysmal 0.2% increase. Other OECD countries have been largely unaffected by global oil shocks, but Nicola Willis is adamant global events are to blame for our slow economic recovery.Paul Barlow gives his weekly Open Brief Debrief. This week we’re choo choo choosing to see how the opening of Auckland’s CRL was presented in media and...

Paul Barlow joins tonight for the weekly news.Supermarkets, price gouging and anti-competitive behaviour was the hot topic today with both National and Labour revealing policies to tackle the rising cost of food in New Zealand. Bishop tries to talk his way around National's latest "levy". 1News doing an excellent job of explaining the difference between a levy and tax but their definition calls into question whether Labour's CGT is in fact a tax after all...Ed Sheeran has been blasted for caving to demands to kick Macklemore from his tour after saying "Free Palestine" on stage. This has...

Brie Elliot joins tonight to co-host and discuss the latest news in the lead up to the election.Latest polling data shows major parties continue to slump in the polls and struggling to get above the 30% threshold, giving way for the minor parties to rise.ACT release a campaign policy to stop further increases to the minimum wage and reduce the wages of employees doing on-the-job training.++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com/BigHairyNetwork Follow us on Twitter.com/@bighairynetworkFollowing us on TikTok.com/@bighairynetworkSupport us on Patreon www.patreon.com/c/BigHairyNewsCheck out our merch https://bhn.nz/shop...

Sean Ackland co-hosts tonight to debrief the education debate from Dunedin this weekend and get his thoughts as our resident industry expert.The hottest topic from this weekend and today was the opening of Auckland's City Rail Link. PM Luxon joined John Campbell on Morning Report this morning to share his completely out-of-touch perspective on what this upgrade to the city's public transport means for the average person and commuter.ANZ's outgoing CEO Antonia Watson spoke with Jack Tame over the weekend to discuss the state of banking in NZ, and reviews her previous comments about implementing a CGT...

Willow-Jean Prime, Labour Party's spokesperson for Social Development & Employment, joins us LIVE to discuss the MSD report findings regarding missed benefit payments.Paul Barlow joins us for the weekly Open Brief Debrief: Who needs the Kiwimart? Now here’s the tricky part, finding out who’s dominating the conversation about it and trying to steer public perception on the Green policy announcement. We’ll take a look into tonight with Open Brief.Anthropic former and current employees have raised the alarms again on the safety of unregulated AI and super intelligence development claiming a more than 10% possibility of wiping out hu...

Labour's Ayesha Verrall was rushed by anti-vaxxers and protected by her fellow candidates at a Wellington event last night.ASA have upheld, in part, a complaint against National Party flyers spreading misinformation about Labour's tax policy.PSA workers picketed today after pay negotiations have stalled, the govt calling out the union for politicising the issue in promoting a change of govt.++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com/BigHairyNetwork Follow us on Twitter.com/@bighairynetworkFollowing us on TikTok.com/@bighairynetworkSupport us on Patreon www.patreon.com/c/BigHairyNewsCheck out our merch https://bhn.nz/shop/Donate to our work https://bhn...

The NZ Herald does not do their own polling, preferring to take everyone else's polls and make what has become NZ's "official" poll of polls and if you look at that, which shows trends rather than a specific data set and that trend looks terrible for LabourMore information on One News tonight about the MSD 'admin error' telling people that food was not an essential need. One very clear decision for both the Minister, Louise Upstong, and MSD itself is that they refuse to apologize for minimizing and declining their clients' needs when food was desperately needed.Christopher Luxon...

Act Party leader David Seymour isn't against Act voters giving their electorate vote to National, but the desired overhang is easier said than donePM Christopher Luxon is spinning that fewer NZ's are leaving for Australia, which is true, but still won't look how overall we continue to bleed talent to our Tasman brothers and sisters as there was a net migration loss of 28,500 people from New Zealand to Australia in the December 2025 year.A "shock poll results" has both our major parties under 30% and see's Opportunity out of parliament reigniting the conversation of "is a vote for Opportunity a...

The politicians arrived at Koroneihana today, with many Māori leaders calling out the Govt and previous Govts for degrading Te Tiriti and Māori/Crown relations.A report commissioned as part of the CoC agreement didn't give the conclusion that David Seymour wanted, that the Māori and Pacific Admissions Scheme for health students is a "clear case of racial discrimination".TVNZ unveil their upcoming election "vodcast" with Jack Tame and Tova O'Brien, as well as scheduled leaders debates and more.++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com/BigHairyNetwork Follow us on Twitter.com/@bighairynetworkFollowing us on TikTok.com/@bighairynetworkSupport us...

Aaron Hendry from Kick Back joins us live to discuss a letter written to the PM last year warning them of the potentially fatal risk of the Government’s Emergency Housing policy, now calling on the govt to follow the UK’s leadership and make the bold commitment to end rough sleeping by xmas. Kieran and the Bish on Breakfast: Can we get political consensus to fix our water infrastructure this time?Paul Barlow joins for the weekly Open Brief Debrief: The public is really upset with the way the health sector is being treated by the government but is o...

Marytn 'Bomber' Bradbury joins us live tonight at 9pm to give us an update on how he is, and to share his experience of being in the public health system, as it is functioning today, under this governmentMethanex to close Taranaki plant, citing 'decline' in gas supply. The country's largest gas user Methanex has announced it will close its Taranaki plant after more than three decades of operation, saying New Zealand's declining natural gas supply has made continuing operations unsustainable.Ryan Brodge spoke with Act Party leader David Seymour and Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson on an Instagram post...

Willie Jackson's made contact today saying we were unfair and a bit harsh last night in our critique of his appearance on Q&A so, as is appropriate, Willie is coming on tonight to correct what he says we got wrong and allows us to seek some clarity on some questions we had that came from the interview.Ryan Bridge hosted Chris Bishop this morning to find out is we about to borrow $1b to fix potholes? Let's look at that.Trouble in paradise? Winston Peters has taken another crack at the Christopher Luxon's political experience, after the Prime...

Willie Jackson joined Jack Tame on Q&A in the weekend explaining why Chris Hipkins called Te Pati Māori's election tactics a "rort" and why it doesn't seem like Jackson, or Labour, have been actively encouraging Māori to get onto the Māori role.National have backed tracked on the fuel tax that was suppose d to be coming back on January 1st in an obvious ploy to not make voters angry at them in the lead up to the election.Nicola Willis tells NZ Herald that students have "chosen" to lean NZ and so National is now...

Nicola Willis joins Ryan Bridge Today to plead her case that the economic recovery is still on its way.Kieran and the Bish have their weekly panel with Tova O'Brien discussing the latest child poverty report and the U16 SM ban bill.Paul Barlow joins us for our weekly OpenBrief report, we look at the loudest voices on banning social media for under 16s, and the different ways they’re saying the same things.++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com/BigHairyNetwork Follow us on Twitter.com/@bighairynetworkFollowing us on TikTok.com/@bighairynetworkSupport us on Patreon www.patreon.com/c/BigHairyNewsCheck ou...

David Seymour sits down with Moana Maniapoto to discuss a number of party and govt policies and why he has such disdain for everything Māori.There has been cross odd party consensus on two major policies of the week - the rates cap and social media ban. Labour have said they may support these two National-led bills through to select committee to have the issues fully discussed and considered.Te Pāti Māori have entered the tax game, announcing their Kiwi tax plan. Good news for National, I guess? How does TPM's plan align with other parties pro...

Clint Smith joins us to talk about new analysis argues that reverting to the old pay equity regime might cost the Government about half as much as previous estimates. Does this therefore mean that a Labour led government could find it easier to restart the pay equity conversationThe Government has confirmed plans to cap council rates at 4%. Under the proposed system, first mooted late last year, annual rates increases would remain within an initial target range of 2% to 4%. This range will be reviewed every six years and updated "where necessary to reflect costs outside councils' control".David Seymour was...

Christopher Luxon moves to ban social media for under 16-year-olds a problem for him is that Act and NZ First disagree making this dead in the waterFinance Minister Nicola Willis refuses to rule out an increase to the ACC levy if she's returned as Finance Minister. She is calling for "no new taxes" but won't commit to other areas where NZers may face increases in already established fees, levies and taxes.Economist and former Productivity Commissioner Ganesh Ahirao wants to see the way Governments plan borrowing and spending completely turned around: replacing the duty to return to surplus with...

Paul Goldsmith and Willie Jackson's weekly panel with Ryan Bridge was dominated by National's obsession with election campaign tax promises.Greg Flemming broke ranks this week saying clearly he does not believe his Govt made the right move in removing tax rebates on charity donations over $100,000 - not the first time we've seen Greg put his head up to speak out about something he hasn't agreed with.Climate change is here, and NZ needs a plan to increase our resilience to devastating weather events, but is cross-party consensus possible in this current political climate? ++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com...

Health system in crisis because of National’s choices. Ayesah Verrall joins us to talk about how National has spent the last two years pretending they’ve hired thousands of new nurses but yesterday, they admitted the real number is just 54 FTE across the country, and a decrease in Auckland.Quick, it’s an emergency!  Paul Barlow joins us to take a look at how Open Brief tracks responses to stories involving emergency services and responses to acute incidents like fires, natural disasters and life-threatening events and explore the differences between the way left and right leaning media frame unfoldi...

Despite repeated denial there was a hiring freeze at Health NZ, documents uncovered through the PSA's OIA request have revealed the Health Minister knew vacancies were left open to meet the govt's explicit cost-cutting expectations and stay within budget.Luxon has shown once again he is out of touch with the people, blaming cycle ways and Labour Party / Green Party aligned council members for Wellington's downer-vibes and people leaving the city. Chris Hipkins in the house also claims Luxon once called National's front bench nothing more that AirNZ middle managers.Labour's Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni defends Labour's CGT Tax...

Helen Clark sat down for a chat with Moana Maniapoto to discuss Winston Peters' role in govt over the decades, and what has changed in politics since she was PM.Te Pāti Māori have released their election 2026 strategy, abandoning the party vote to focus on winning all of the Māori seats.Thousands of beneficiaries missed a winter energy payment because of a legislative change made using the fast-track system.++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com/BigHairyNetwork Follow us on Twitter.com/@bighairynetworkFollowing us on TikTok.com/@bighairynetworkSupport us on Patreon www.patreon.com/c/BigHairyNewsCheck out our mer...

We're going to go over the weekends 'debate' and we're going to look into the pull out by both David Seymour and Casey Costello and will highlight, in particular, the nonsense that Seymour is spouting over why he pulled out. BHN has also been featured in a few spaces in the press this weekend, we'll take a look at that as well.Paul Goldsmith on Q&A on move on orders, citizen's arrest and changing the way NZers enroll to voteQiulae Wong spoke in the weekend about TOP's board overruling the caucus and the hole there seems to be...

Kieran McAnulty and Chris Bishop on their weekly sit down with breakfast discuss the big news of the week - the attempted coup, putting Luxon's leadership and the party's unity into question.RNZ reveals each party's ad spend on social media going into this election, of note National has targeted 90 of it's ads solely at men, and just 1 solely at women but lasted only 24 hours.How does media and commentary frame what happened in National this week? Are there differences or was this an example of media driving the public response? We’ll take a look at what Open Br...

Ginny Andersen joins to discuss National's decision to keep Chris Luxon as leader to going into the 2026 election. How is Labour feeling about the drama?Chris Penk was ousted as the leader of the attempted coup, and portfolios taken from him.Latest 1News Verian Poll released, showing small parties are holding a lot of power going into the 2026 election.++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com/BigHairyNetwork Follow us on Twitter.com/@bighairynetworkFollowing us on TikTok.com/@bighairynetworkSupport us on Patreon www.patreon.com/c/BigHairyNewsCheck out our merch https://bhn.nz/shop/Donate to our work https://bhn.nz/shop...

At the time of setting up the show we have heard there is an unscheduled National Party caucus called for tonight with much speculation over Christopher Luxon leadership so as we write this we genuinely don't know if we will be talking about PM Christopher Luxon, or someone else at the head of the tableMariameno Kapa-Kingi spent some time with Moana Maniapoto talking the difference in leadership style in her new party and if she was at all disappointed that no other wahine followed her out of TPMChris Hpkins did the rounds this morning talking about why he finally...

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has categorically ruled out working with New Zealand First if elected in November, unfortunately for Labour and Mr Hipkins the response from the media and many voters is "why did this take so long?"Simeon Brown faced off against Jack Tame on Q&A over the weekend where he struggled to firmly back leader Christopher Luxon and couldn't explain why one of the targets for the health service is to increase staffChristopher Luxon was on RNZ this morning where he had to explain Nicola Willis' "no new tax on working people" when they are going...

The latest Curia Poll is in with a few surprises that could be outliers or a changing trend ahead.Councils around the country have sat around the table and put forth their preferred options for the Govt's demand to amalgamate. Whether the Govt will agree to their proposals is another story.Nicola Willis has announced a claw back of a loan made to Chorus to fund the roll out of fibre across the country, which will see $700m come back into the Govt coffers, but was not originally agreed to be paid back until 2036.++++++++++++++++++++Like us on Facebook.com...

Paul Barlow joins us LIVE to tell us what he learned from OpenBrief this week. "Sorry, what were you talking about? Each month OpenBiref gives us a monthly discourse report to see how Kiwis talked about politics across news, commentary, radio and socials - and in July there was one organisation that drove conversation more than any other - tonight we’re going to explore what we disagreed on, what we all agreed on and who is driving the things we talked about."Former National Party Cabinet Minister Chris Finlayson just called out Christopher Luxon's National Party saying that "Th...