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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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 TPM and their relationship with Labour. Plus: a bigger-than-expected contraction in the economy has seen GDP shrink by 0.9%: is the government running out of time for the weather to change? In other defeat from the jaws of victory news, New Zealand First's new champion Stuart Nash enjoyed about 10 minutes of acclaim before putting his foot in it. And as Winston Peters gives David Seymour yet another dressing down, what explains the government's refusal to simply announce its position on a Palestinian state? Oh, and we issue a formal apology for propagating disinformation in last week's audiocast.

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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.

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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.

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Christopher Luxon took a short and sharp mindset into the National Party conference on the weekend and with good reason: there is much getting back on track still to be done. He arrived in Christchurch amid a blur of bleak headlines, focused mostly on an economic mood epitomised by butter, netball crowds, abrupt Trump tariffs, unemployment numbers, and so on.

Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire assess the state of play. But first: a trio who did school cert in fifth form look at the overhaul of NCEA and electoral reforms that would deny the vote to “deadbeats”, aka those who seek to enrol within a dozen days of the election.

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We rattle through the regulatory standards bill, its advocates, its dissenters, and the tension it has created within the coalition. How serious is the fissure it has prodded between Act and New Zealand First Party (amplified by a cameo appearance by a United Nations special rapporteur)?

Also on the agenda for Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire: the state of play in the Tāmaki Makaurau byelection, and the state of yuck in Wellington local body politics. You’ll never guess what we heard from the friend of a neighbour of a colleague about Ray Chung.

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With an election about 15 months away, there are few better ways to get a sense of the political terrain than the Ipsos Issues Monitor, a survey that tracks the issues of greatest concern to New Zealanders, the parties they consider best equipped to deal with those issues, and how all of that has changed over time. Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas assess the latest edition of the study, and the messages it sends on cost of living, health and more.

Plus: Shane Jones is promoting a bill that would oblige Ngāpuhi to undertake a single commercial treaty settlement; does he have a point? And we reflect on the formidable legacy of Takutai Tarsh Kemp, Te Pati Māori MP for Tāmaki Makaurau since 2023, who died suddenly last week at the age of 50.

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