The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

1. 1
   Number 1: Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Who really believes Labour won't give us more taxes?

   Hands up - who believes Labour when they say none of their political mates will be allowed to introduce their taxes in a future Labour-led Government? This started on Mike's show, with Ginny Andersen on Politics Wednesday saying, "Nah, the Greens aren't going to be allowed to introduce their wealth tax, and nah, Te Pāti Māori isn't going to be allowed to introduce its land tax." A few hours later, on Kerre Woodham's show, Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick replied: "Nah, we're going to be fighting tooth and nail for the wealth tax." Now tell me, after hearing that, whether you're absolutely, absolutely, absolutely sure Labour won't say yes to the Greens if they're sitting in that coalition negotiation room after November 7, and Chlöe and Marama are sitting on the other side of the table, and everything else has been agreed, and the wealth tax is the only thing standing between Chris Hipkins becoming Prime Minister again or not. And tell me he doesn't say, "Bugger it. All right, you can have your wealth tax," and then decide to deal with all of our outrage later. I think we've seen too many of these concessions to be sucked in now. Just look at the last set of coalition negotiations. Christopher Luxon made it very clear he would not support ACT's Treaty Principles Bill, yet in negotiations he gave ACT the debate and two-thirds of the journey through Parliament anyway, then dealt with the outrage later. Or take National's plan to fund its tax cuts with a levy on foreign buyers purchasing homes here. Winston Peters wouldn't allow it. He wouldn't let foreign buyers back into the market, so Christopher Luxon went, "Okay, bugger it, fine, you can keep your ban," and dealt with the outrage later. The major parties nowadays aren't big enough to dictate to the minor parties what will or won't happen after an election. The Greens are polling at only around a third of Labour's size, yet they're going to have a lot of power. In fact, the power increasingly lies in the hands of the minor parties. So I don't think Labour can say with complete confidence that a wealth tax or a land tax won't happen. And I don't think any of us should believe them when they do. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

   August 19, 2026·3min
   Play
2. 2
   Number 2: The Huddle: Does Paul Goldsmith have too many portfolios?

   Tonight on The Huddle, Auckland Councillor Maurice Williamson and former Auckland mayor Phil Goff joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! Is it right that Opportunity's biggest donor should also be involved in party strategy and governance? What do we make of the whole issue of political donations? Paul Goldsmith recently cancelled a high-profile defence meeting appearance with Japan and Australia. Is this a sign he's overwhelmed with portfolios? Should the Warriors play at Mt Smart or Eden Park in the NRL playoffs? LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

   August 18, 2026·11min
   Play
3. 3
   Number 3: Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Here's why I'm more optimistic about the social media ban

   I think I'm probably more optimistic about the social media ban than most people. I do accept that the thing is not going to work, according to the accepted definition of what it means to work, but I think it will work for enough people for it to, in my mind, work - if you follow what I'm saying. Let me explain: I have a friend who has a 13-year-old at a private girls' school in Auckland and she's desperate to get her daughter off social media. But she can't, because the girl belongs to a house at school and the senior girls, who are 17 and 18 years old, run the house. They organise activities and communicate through Instagram. So she can't get her daughter off Instagram because her daughter needs to be on Instagram for school. This ban would put a stop to that, because the school would be forced to acknowledge that it's unlawful for younger girls to be on Instagram. The older girls would then be forced to stop using Instagram for school-related organising. There is a practical way in which it would help parents get their kids off social media. Australia is being used as an example of the ban not working. That fails to acknowledge that somewhere between 20 percent and 40 percent of young people in Australia have come off social media. Sure, 60 percent to 80 percent are still on it, but 20 percent to 40 percent are off and that is a success for those families. My bet is that those numbers would be concentrated in clusters: clusters within a school, a suburb, or friendship groups where parents are actively engaged and banding together to enforce the ban. That is already happening in certain schools, suburbs and friendship groups in New Zealand, where parents are taking it upon themselves to do this. The best-case scenario here in New Zealand is that, over time, this may become like the anti-smacking legislation. It gradually became socially unacceptable to do the thing. Smacking your child? Socially unacceptable. In the future, perhaps letting your underage child use social media will be socially unacceptable too. Now, I'm not Pollyannaish about this. I know it's not going to work for all kids, largely because the Facebooks of this world want kids on social media, and they cannot be forced to follow every rule in every country because they're now bigger and more powerful than many Governments. But it will work for some kids if their schools and parents want to use this as a tool to get them off social media. And 20 percent to 40 percent of kids is better than 0 percent. What's the saying? Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

   August 25, 2026·3min
   Play
4. 4
   Number 4: Erica Stanford: Education Minister on the Government moving ahead with social media ban for under-16s

   Instagram and Tiktok could soon become off-limits for under-16s. A new Online Safety Bill introduced to Parliament today requires a range of social media platforms to block teen accounts. It establishes a regulator to monitor compliance, and fines for companies not following the law. Education Minister Erica Stanford says it builds on lessons from Australia's ban. She says our legislation will be different in explicitly ruling out check-box age verification to make accounts. "Lots of children were using that to get around it, so that's why you saw in the beginning that it wasn't having the same level of effectiveness." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

   August 24, 2026·6min
   Play
5. 5
   Number 5: The Huddle: Is Harry and Meghan's return to the UK an admission of failure?

   Tonight on The Huddle, Tim Wilson from the Maxim Institute and artist and local Government politician Oscar Kightley joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! What did we make of the Independent Police Conduct Authority's ruling on the Tom Phillips shooting? Could this have ended any other way? Te Pati Māori is trying to engineer an overhang, and Don Brash is suggesting it by saying National should campaign for electoral seats, while ACT and NZ First go for the party vote. Is this in the spirit of MMP? What do we make of this? Is Harry and Meghan's return to the UK an admission of failure? LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

   August 20, 2026·11min
   Play