The Elephant

In the final episode of The Elephant for 2025, we ask should the workplace reward fairness or flawless performance?

DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusioin) promises opportunity for all. MEI (Merit, Excellence says only the best should rise. Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell bring together Alexia Hilbertidou, Kara Smith, Dr Oliver Hartwich, Katie Bhreatnach, and Yaron Brook to debate the clash dividing bosses, employees, and the culture of success itself.

Who wins, who loses,  and what really makes someone succeed?

The Elephant is made with support from NZ On Air

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Proud to be Pākehā? Or carrying the baggage of history? From Kiwi grit and humour to the legacy of the past, what does it really mean to claim this identity today?

Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell tackle the tough questions with Eliza McCartney, Tamati Rimene-Sproat, Dr Ella Henry, Andrew Judd, and Don Brash.

The Elephant is made with support from NZ On Air

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Where’s the line between free speech and hate speech, and who gets to draw it? After years of cultural shouting matches, The Elephant asks the question at the core of it all.

Free-speech defenders say cancel culture is killing debate, while others argue some of this so-called “speech” is really just bullying with bigger words.

Joining Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell to break it down are filmmaker and actor Awa Puna, Free Speech Union and PILLAR’s Nathan Seiuli, Rights Aotearoa head Paul Thistoll, and Professor Simon Keller, co-author of Victoria University’s free-speech guidelines.

The Elephant is made with support from NZ On Air

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The question “What is a woman?” ignites one of today’s fiercest cultural clashes.

Join Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell as they tackle this charged topic with former squash player and Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy, psychologist and Women’s Rights Party member Linde Rose, teacher and journalist Debbie Hayton, and transgender advocate Mary Haddock-Staniland.

From sport to safety, no viewpoint goes unchallenged

The Elephant is made with the support of NZ On Air.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiwi travel to the United States has dropped by 10%, and it’s not just about airfares. With phones being searched and politics at the border heating up, Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell are joined by expert guests to explore why so many New Zealanders are suddenly uneasy about visiting America.

The Elephant is made with the support of NZ On Air

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a winter of discontent, The Elephant asks the question everyone’s thinking... is New Zealand broken? Prices have soared, unemployment’s at a five-year high, and even with falling house prices, home ownership feels further away than ever. So what’s really driving the national mood, and what would it take to turn things around? 

Joining Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell to unpack the issues are scientist Michael Bunce, economist Shamubeel Eaqub, community advocate Dave Letele and Psychologist Jacqui Maguire. 

The Elephant is made with support from NZ On Air

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Drug busts are breaking records. Meth, coke, MDMA, you name it. But no matter how tough the crackdowns get, the flow just doesn’t stop.

Now, the Drug Foundation says it’s time to ditch punishment and focus on health. This week a new survey from the Helen Clark Foundation and Otago University shows half of Kiwis agree: we should shift the money from policing to healthcare.

Join Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell as they speak to Dr Rose Crossin from Otago University, former police officer and National MP Mike Sabin and journalist Russell Brown for a powerful conversation on whether or not we should legalise recreational drugs in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

The episode also features a kōrero with Tricia Walsh, who has lived experience as a drug user on the receiving end of a policing approach. 

The Elephant is made with support from NZ On Air.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ADHD’s having a moment, on TikTok, in doctors’ offices, and in nearly every conversation. Once written off as a kid’s disorder, it’s now being diagnosed in record numbers of adults, especially women. But is this a long-overdue reckoning, or the latest mental health fad gone too far?

Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell dive into the hype and the backlash with Dr Sami Timimi, Dr Greg Finucane, Anika Moa and Guy Williams.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A growing international movement is calling for New Zealand to ban children under 14 from playing contact sports, amid mounting evidence of long-term brain damage caused by repeated head knocks.  Join Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell as they thrash out the risks, rewards and realities of kids in contact sport with world champion boxer Mea Motu, former WWE pro wrestler Dr Chris Nowinski,  David Graham of the Champions Initiative, and former New Zealand Sevens rep Reverand Onosai Auva'a. 

The Elephant is made with support from NZ On Air

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s one of the most charged, taboo, and divisive words in the English language, four letters that can stop a room cold. Join Miriama Kamo and Mark Crysell, along with guests - broadcaster Bree Tomasel, women's advocate Jackie Clark, and sociolinguist Dr Julia de Bres - to they dive headfirst into the C work. Where did it came from? Why does it shocks us? And can it ever truly be reclaimed?

The Elephant is made with support from NZ On Air.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.