Q+A with Jack Tame

Willie Jackson: Labour's record on Māori issues Labour lost all but one of the seven Māori seats at the 2023 general election. This year, to rival a controversial tactic from Te Pāti Māori asking voters to engineer an overhang in Parliament, Labour says they want to win them all back. Willie Jackson, a front bench Labour MP and leader of the party's Māori campaign, joins Jack Tame to make his bid for the Māori vote. Should NZ break up the gentailers? Energy boss responds In an election year marked by energy policy, both New Zealand First and the Green Party are campaigning on breaking up the country's four gentailers, citing soaring household energy bills. Malcolm Johns, the CEO of gentailer Genesis Energy, joins Q+A, and previews the potential effects on bills if the government goes ahead with its promised LNG terminal. Election 2026: The new electorate that's 'got issues' Wellington Bays is the new name for what was the second-most left-voting electorate in the country in 2023. In the redrawn lines for Green MP Julie Anne Genter's electorate, residents are grappling with big water bills and a visible spike in homelessness. Reporter Whena Owen meets the candidates vying to take those issues on in parliament in this year's election. War in Iran: NZ must reset foreign policy - expert By some estimates, the war with Iran has now cost the United States more than 180 billion dollars. After peace talks broke down, US President Donald Trump this week announced a complete change in strategy: economic, rather than military, action. Professor Robert Patman from the University of Otago joins Jack Tame six months on from the start of the conflict. Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

Wellington Bays is the new name for what was the second-most left-voting electorate in the country in 2023. In the redrawn lines for Green MP Julie Anne Genter's electorate, residents are grappling with big water bills and a visible spike in homelessness. Reporter Whena Owen meets the candidates vying to take those issues on in parliament in this year's election. Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

Labour lost all but one of the seven Māori seats at the 2023 general election. This year, to rival a controversial tactic from Te Pāti Māori asking voters to engineer an overhang in Parliament, Labour says they want to win them all back. Willie Jackson, a front bench Labour MP and leader of the party's Māori campaign, joins Jack Tame to make his bid for the Māori vote. Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

Economist and former Productivity Commissioner Ganesh Ahirao wants to see the way Governments plan borrowing and spending completely turned around: replacing the duty to return to surplus with a duty to provide every citizen with the basics they need to thrive. He describes this central principle as 'being a good ancestor', and says it's the only way New Zealand will face down its biggest challenge: paying for the infrastructure the country will desperately need in the future. He joins Jack Tame. Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

New Zealand knows that flu season can overwhelm frontline health services and still fails to plan for it. Rob Campbell says the country needs a new, 'all-of-health' approach, including housing, education, and nutrition - something successive governments have failed to provide. The former Health New Zealand chair and current chair of health alliance Ngā Kaitiaki Hauora joins Jack Tame. Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

In less than a year, Opportunity have gone from sub-one percent support to eight percent in the latest 1News Verrian poll. On those numbers, leader Qiulae Wong would be entering Parliament joined by eight of her peers from the Opportunity party list come November. She joins Jack Tame to launch Opportunity's Clean Up Politics policy, which would strengthen lobbying transparency and political party donations - and to explain why, in Opportunity's flagship Citizen's Income policy, 500,000 adult New Zealanders wouldn't be eligible for $19,400 a year, but would still pay a higher income tax rate. Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

Simeon Brown: Energy prices, hospital pressures, and National's polling With power prices in the spotlight, Energy Minister Simeon Brown has become one of the key figures in Christopher Luxon's cabinet. He joins Jack Tame to explain why the Government isn't moving to break up the gentailers, the cost of maintaining frontline health services, and whether National's caucus backs Christopher Luxon. The last hold-outs against housing development With just one new housing development, the town of Prebbleton, on the outskirts of Christchurch, could increase its total number of households by over 25 percent. Birchs Village would bring 530 new houses to Prebbleton. After facing difficulties getting resource consent, the development has been listed with the Government's fast-track legislation. Q+A reporter Whena Owen meets the development's would-be neighbours, who are fearful of what their future in the town holds if it goes ahead. New laws: Will voters be turned away? In late 2025, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith celebrated the passing of a new law which he said would speed up the voting count after a general election: unlike previous elections, in 2026, no one will be allowed to enroll once early voting starts, 13 days before election day, November 7. It's driving Electoral Commission Chief Executive Karl Le Quesne to make sure as many New Zealanders as possible are aware of the changes and enrolled before they miss out. But even with no disruption to people's ability to vote, Le Quesne says this change won't deliver the efficiency savings the Government advertised. He joins Jack Tame to share the Commission's election plan, including changes to the way EasyVote cards will be sent. Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

With just one new housing development, the town of Prebbleton, on the outskirts of Christchurch, could increase its total number of households by over 25 percent. Birchs Village would bring 530 new houses to Prebbleton. After facing difficulties getting resource consent, the development has been listed with the Government's fast-track legislation. Q+A reporter Whena Owen meets the development's would-be neighbours, who are fearful of what their future in the town holds if it goes ahead. Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

Outspoken former Children's Commissioner cut short in role Dr Claire Achmad was given around five weeks' notice that she would be exiting her role of Children's Commissioner. First appointed to a five-year term to advocate for young people in New Zealand, that became a one-year term in 2025, and when she signed off on Friday July 31st, she left office two years earlier than she’d expected. She says that she has been a "fair and balanced critic" of Government policy when it comes to child poverty, and that she has not been told by the Minister for Social Development, Louise Upston, why she wasn't brought back. Dr Achmad sat down with Jack Tame in her final week in the role. Spy allegations: NZ's relationship with Russia in focus Russia's principal security service says a Russian citizen has been detained in the country's far East. The man is accused of spying for New Zealand's SIS. Jack Tame sits down with Russia's Ambassador Stanislav Krans at the Russian Embassy in Wellington to ask more about the case. And nearly four and a half years into the military invasion of Ukraine, and following 35 rounds of New Zealand sanctions against Russia, he asks about the relationship between Russia and New Zealand. Most people want fewer cars, Dutch academic says Twenty years from now, people will look back on high speed limits we have in cities now and find them just as unbelievable as smoking indoors - a relic of the past. That's the dream of a visiting Dutch academic. Professor Marco te Brömmelstroet holds the Chair on Urban Mobility Futures at the University of Amsterdam and spoke at the Public Transport Association conference at Te Papa this week. While there, he caught up with Jack Tame. "Discriminatory" law focus of Green MP's bill Migrant families can be split apart when family members are denied visas on the basis that their disability would be a burden to New Zealand's health system, a Green MP says. Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan's members bill would remove the ability to discriminate and carve out a way for affected families to challenge these decisions: by making a complaint to the Human Rights Commission. Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

Twenty years from now, people will look back on high speed limits we have in cities now and find them just as unbelievable as smoking indoors - a relic of the past. That's the dream of a visiting Dutch academic. Professor Marco te Brömmelstroet holds the Chair on Urban Mobility Futures at the University of Amsterdam and spoke at the Public Transport Association conference at Te Papa this week. While there, he caught up with Jack Tame. Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

Russia's principal security service says a Russian citizen has been detained in the country's far East. The man is accused of spying for New Zealand's SIS. Jack Tame sits down with Russia's Ambassador Stanislav Krans at the Russian Embassy in Wellington to ask more about the case. And nearly four and a half years into the military invasion of Ukraine, and following 35 rounds of New Zealand sanctions against Russia, he asks about the relationship between Russia and New Zealand. Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.

Anthony FitzGerald served as a judge for 27 years and has seen first-hand the fortunes of Auckland's homeless caught in the justice system. This week he appeared before a parliamentary select committee to oppose the Government's move-on orders legislation. He joins Tova O'Brien to explain why he thinks communities and businesses are being misled about move-on orders as a solution to antisocial behaviour. Join Jack Tame and the Q+A team and find the answers to the questions that matter. Made with the support of NZ on Air.