Both Sides Now

This week on Both Sides Now, we’re breaking down the election debates, the latest policy drops, and whether strategic voting could shake up the election.

We kick things off with the debates: did Winston Peters come out on top in the kingmakers’ showdown and was a relatively uneventful performance actually a win for Luxon? Plus, the NZ Herald’s Future of NZ debate gets a big tick from us — if you watch one debate this election, make it this one.

On the policy front, National wants to drug test beneficiaries and tighten the rules around Jobseeker, ACT wants to scrap tax on KiwiSaver earnings, Labour is promising a 10% student loan write-off, and the Greens are pitching cheaper public transport and a return of passenger rail. Meanwhile, Winston Peters is back stirring the pot on conversion therapy and abortion.

And finally, could strategic voting change the game on the right? With National and Labour polling much closer than we’ve come to expect, the old rules around electorate and party votes might not apply this time around. We unpack what it means, who could benefit, and whether voters will need a strategy of their own come election day.

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We’ve talked tax with Brad Olsen. Now we’re hearing it from a different angle.

This time on Both Sides Now, we’re joined by Simplicity economist Shamubeel Eaqub to ask some pretty basic questions that somehow get very complicated very quickly.

Is our tax system actually fair? Are we taxing the right things? Should we be taxing wealth differently? And is government debt really the ticking time bomb we’re often told it is?

Shamubeel has a different way of looking at the problem — and he’s not afraid to challenge some of the assumptions that sit underneath the political debate.

Because when politicians talk about tax, there’s usually a lot they don’t tell you.

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Tax is everywhere in this election — but how much are politicians actually telling us?

This week on Both Sides Now, we sit down with economist Brad Olsen to spill The Tax Tea and get into the stuff that tends to get left out of the campaign slogans.

Is our tax system actually fair? What taxes should we have — and what shouldn’t we be taxing? Is debt really the big problem politicians make it out to be? And what does a good tax system actually look like?

No “tax cuts good, tax hikes bad” soundbites here — just an adult conversation about where the money comes from, where it goes, and what voters should actually be thinking about when politicians start talking tax.

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We kick things off with the Hager book — the latest political bombshell making waves in Wellington. We get into what’s in it, the reaction it’s sparked, and what it all means with the election just around the corner. To give the book some context Eve shares her experience of working at the Taxpayers Union.

Then it’s another big week of policy drops, starting with Supermarkets 3.0 — Labour's plan to shake up the grocery duopoly, including new independent wholesalers, a crackdown on unfair contracts and junk fees, and more options for smaller supermarkets.

The Greens want a fairer deal for small businesses, Labour has a tax cut for landlords — was this the right decision in a cost of living crisis?

Plus screen-free early childhood education and limits on screens in primary schools, TPM’s proposed $200m independent LGBTQ+ commission, and the Greens’ latest push on lobbying.

Then it’s the last week of Parliament: goodbye RMA, hello Planning Act and Natural Environment Act; the BSA is scrapped; council amalgamation and LNG are delayed; and we look at the MPs who’ve been kicked out along the way.

We also get into the latest Ipsos Issues Monitor — what are actually the issues voters care about right now?

And, of course, Social Media Moment of the Week: Nicola Grigg reminds us of the abuse politicians cop online, while Tamatha Paul and Max Key provide the political interaction that was not on our bingo car for the year.

Finally, the Stuff Kingmakers debate is on this Thursday night — so we’ll be watching. Tune in online.

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This week on Both Sides Now, we’re joined by Freshwater Strategy's Dr Mike Turner, International pollster and political researcher, for a chat about pretty much everything you could want to know about politics and campaigning.

We start with where the NZ election is at, what the latest polls are telling us and, perhaps more importantly, what they aren’t telling us. Mike takes us through how polling actually works, why polls can get it wrong and how much we should read into those numbers that dominate the headlines.

We also go well beyond the election — talking about AI and what it could mean for the future of work, whether Gen Z and Gen Alpha are engaging with politics differently, and what younger voters might mean for the future of political engagement.

Basically, if you’ve ever looked at a poll and wondered “how do they actually know this?” — we’ve got you covered.

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This week on Both Sides Now, we kick things off with Ed Sheeran vs Macklemore, has Ed made the right call?

Then we get into the big policy stories of the week: National entering the supermarket chat. Labour taking aim at supermarket price gouging, the Greens putting $200m behind Te Reo Māori, and Te Pāti Māori’s plans for New Zealand’s energy system.

And we get into ACT’s small business policy, including a proposed freeze on the minimum wage and a new youth training wage for under-20s, set at 60% of the minimum wage for up to a year. ACT says the policy is about making it easier for businesses to take on and train young people — but what does it mean for young workers?

We also look at National’s plan to put more police on public transport — will it actually make people feel safer, and what would it look like in practice?

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This week on Both Sides Now, we’re doing a political whistlestop tour because all the parties decided to do a policy dump this week.

We start with the Green's KiwiMart. We then run through Labour and ACT's climate change and policies. TPM and ACT’s plans for the Waitangi Tribunal, what do these policies surpassingly have in common?

We then go into Labour's AI policy, National’s first-home buyer announcement, and NZ First’s push around superannuation for citizens — plus the latest twist on immigration. We finish with Opportunity’s IERF policy.

It’s a lot, but we’re breaking down what’s actually being proposed, why the parties are pushing it, and what it could mean if they ever make it into government.

Another week, another nine things to have an opinion about. Welcome to election year.

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This week on Both Sides Now we kick things off with National’s student loan policy. What is National actually proposing, who stands to benefit, and does it meaningfully change the picture for young New Zealanders trying to get ahead?

Then we turn to health, with a particular focus on women’s health and the latest announcements in this space. We look at what the parties are promising and why young people should care about the health system.

And finally, we get into climate change. We unpack ACT’s proposed scrapping of the Climate Change Commission, what that could mean for the way New Zealand approaches emissions and climate policy, and National’s position on the Paris Agreement.

We also have some tax chats coming up! As mentioned on the show, if you have anything you want the experts to answer please email us at [email protected] (no question is a silly question!)

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We sit down with Rewiring Aotearoa's Mike Casey for a wide-ranging conversation about one of the biggest costs facing New Zealanders: energy.

We get into power and petrol, and ask what can politicians actually do to make your power bill and petrol bill cheaper? We talk about the practical policy changes that could make a difference, what’s getting in the way, and whether politicians are making energy more complicated than it needs to be.

Mike isn’t a politician, and that’s part of what makes his perspective so refreshing. He has a genuine focus on policies that actually work for New Zealanders — and he’s not afraid to give credit where it’s due or call out bad ideas, regardless of which side of the political spectrum they come from.

In a political world that can sometimes feel very tribal, it’s refreshing to hear someone who can see both the good and the bad in parties across the political spectrum.

A practical conversation about energy, politics and, ultimately, how we can make some of the biggest household bills a little cheaper. 

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 This week on the podcast, we get stuck into Te Pāti Māori’s decision to campaign for the candidate vote only and what it means for MMP, the Māori electorates and the wider election campaign.

Then we attempt something that seems increasingly difficult in politics: having an adult conversation about tax. What should we actually be taxing, why do we tax it, and what does a fair tax system look like? We look at how the major parties are communicating their tax messages, what is getting lost in the political spin, and whether voters are being given enough detail to properly judge the choices on offer.

And with the leaders’ debates being announced, we discuss what we actually want to see debated and, more importantly, what matters to young people. Are the issues that affect younger generations getting enough attention, and what questions should the party leaders be forced to answer before we head to the polls?

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