A conversation with Max Harris, lawyer, campaigner, and author, talking about Dental for All, a group that's got a national roadshow under way talking about the crazy idea that dental care should be a public service available to every New Zealander. Even the ones who are not 'wealthy and sorted'.

If you want to imagine where the current government's push to healthcare privatisation will lead us, look no further than adult dental care in NZ: with almost half of people locked out due to cost. Together, let's say No, fight back, and build a better nation. Please share this video with a friend.

For more, also check out my Substack @drgarypayinda.

Craig Renney (Chief Economist of the CTU and host of The Locked-In Podcast) is our guest this week on The Frontline, telling us about the $500 million dollars in the Health budget that didn't get spent, despite overwhelming need. 

This half-billion of taxpayers' dollars evaporated at the same time the government was telling nurses they must accept real pay cuts, because there was just 'no money' left. 

Māori health ‘privilege’ starts in childhood with a 30X higher risk of rheumatic fever, continues in adulthood with later diagnosis, fewer treatments, and worse outcomes, and ends with an overall death gap that is a remarkable 7 years earlier than Pākehā. In this episode we talk with Health Policy Specialist Gabrielle Baker about whether current health policies will fix this, or make this woeful situation even worse.

LINK to ASMS https://asms.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Maori-Health-Final.pdf

The Frontline spoke with a maths education researcher about international test scores, smartphones in classes, bullying and behavioural problems in students, streaming in classrooms, teacher defunding, charter schools, and the stripping of professional education funding from teacher's aides. Plus the introduction and rollout of the 3rd curriculum for schools in the past 3 years. 

There's a wrecking ball coming for public education that makes me wonder whether it's following the same model as public healthcare: "defund, destabilise, and privatise".

Have a listen as Dr Lisa Darragh shares her learnings about maths education and how best to maximise resources and positive impact in the public school sector.

Ivor Popovich, the young ICU doctor who wrote A Dim Prognosis, gives us an insider's look at the best and worst of medicine and healthcare in NZ. He balances stories of bullying, abuse, corruption, overwork, and understaffing, with inspiring stories of seeing lives saved, deep connections with patients and whanau, and growing as a person during the approximately 14 years between starting med school and leaving as a fully-qualified specialist. Along the way, there are insights into health policy, politics, poverty, and ethnicity that make this book required reading for everyone from patients to politicians. 

Did you know that the growth in New Zealanders' life expectancy, increasing since basically forever, has finally fizzled out? That our levels of untreated youth mental health problems have shown a staggering increase? And that our lack of access to GPs has perfectly mirrored our blown-out numbers of ED presentations? 

Economist Andrea Black and I talked about data trends and a decade of economic insights. How good did we have it, how bad are things now, are there any bright spots, and where has the money gone? And perhaps most importantly, can we fix it? 

Today Elliot Crossan, author and activist with System Change Aotearoa, is talking with The Frontline about neoliberalism's original grandparents: Roger Douglas and Ruth Richardson. They destroyed our social safety net 40 years ago, and started the movement that saddled us with ACT and David Seymour, and they ain't done yet.

Like our current government, they were the worst of their generation, and like this one too, they created social and economic damage that would go on to affect the average New Zealander for decades to come.

Clinical psychologist and public health expert Dave (Bear) Hookway-Kopa tells us about a problem, FASD, which currently affects more than 1 in every 65 people in New Zealand. FASD is associated with problems reasoning, considering consequences, and controlling one's emotions. FASD increases the chance of ending up in prison by 2,000%. Yet corporate-favouring governments continue to side with the alcohol corporations and against public health advice. Not surprising given that alcohol revenues are measured in billions of dollars. That kind of power and political influence doesn't sneak through the back door: it boldly walks in through the front.

Tax consultant Terry Baucher takes us through Sir Roger Douglas's recent proposal to 'save' the NZ economy. We touch on issues of wealth inequality, the retirement age, the potential collapse of superannuation, housing unaffordability, privatisation, and regressive taxes that hit the poor and spare the rich. If you think taxes are boring, think again.

Melissa Ansell-Bridges, the National Secretary of the CTU, spoke with me about the far-reaching impacts the destruction of the Pay Equity laws will cause. It's not just about the 150,000 women immediately affected. It's about the 300K people whose incomes will be impacted. And it's not just about 2025, it's about financial injuries that will literally continue on for a decade. It's cooked.