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 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 Ardern and what they don't.

This episode was originally published on August 9 2025.

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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 is on the brink, and the government books are in a parlous state. Ruth Richardson wastes no time as finance minister in making the most of crisis mode, and within weeks is driving through some of the most dramatic social, economic and labour reforms New Zealand has ever seen. 

Picking up where the award-winning first season of Juggernaut left off, this first episode includes new and exclusive interviews with Jim Bolger, Ruth Richardson, Jenny Shipley, Don McKinnon, Bill Birch, Michael Wall, Rob Eaddy, Michael Laws and more. 

Juggernaut 2 was made with the support of NZ On Air.

This episode was originally published on November 11 2025.

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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!

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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 Bridges complete the great arc of redemption? What about Gerry Brownlee or Mark Mitchell? Or maybe just chuck a baby yak in charge.

This episode was originally published on July 14 2020.

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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 with their future in the balance. Another big reforming swing from Chris Bishop with two new bumper bills to replace the Resource Management Act; how will this look and what does it mean for iwi Māori? And how did former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster fare in his feature-length interview for Q+A?

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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 interview from Tākuta Ferris on the immolation in Te Pāti Māori.

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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 failure of a small group of senior leaders – “bad apples”, as Mark Mitchell put it – rather than something systemic or cultural. But, ask Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire, almost 20 years after the damning Margaret Bazley report that followed the Louise Nicholas case, is that explanation good enough?

Plus: Parliament has two newly independent MPs, following the Te Pāti Māori National Council expelling Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and Takuta Ferris “for breaches of Kawa (the Party’s constitution)”. As the implosion in the party deepens, a number of questions remain unanswered. Christopher Luxon and Winston Peters are exchanging blows over asset sales – is this a fracture in the coalition, an exercise in nostalgia, or two bald men (apologies Mr Peters, this is very much a metaphor) fighting over a comb? And changes to the Zero Carbon Act were announced with zero fanfare – what does it mean for New Zealand climate action and Paris commitments?

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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 the brink of a schism as a vote is taken to suspend Mariameno Kapa-Kingi? And Vale Jim Bolger, who has died at the age of 90.

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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 for Chris, but Don’t Know is showing real potential. And what’s up with the crackdown on 18 and 19 year olds’ access to the Jobseeker benefit?

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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 activity in Gaza and government decision-making processes? Annabelle, Ben and Toby gather to discuss the latest developments.

Plus: the fallout from an unexpectedly large GDP contraction continues, with Nicola Willis enduring a “battering” that included a scolding from the Mood of the Boardroom. And what to make of the results just released from the review of New Zealand’s struggling electricity market?

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