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Recent episodes
ICYMI: Going nuclear - ‘We are entering an era of a new global arms race’
Jun 25, 2025
24m 46s
Introducing: TFN - The F#$%ing News with Paddy Gower
Sep 29, 2024
0m 40s
Politicising the Police: an interview with “wokester” Police Commissioner Andrew Coster
Sep 26, 2024
52m 47s
Goldsmith on gangs
Sep 19, 2024
53m 11s
Democratic or dangerous: What you need to know about developments with the Treaty Principles Bill
Sep 12, 2024
1h 12m 19s
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| Date | Episode | Description | Length | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6/25/25 | ICYMI: Going nuclear - ‘We are entering an era of a new global arms race’ | A year ago this week, Tova talked to James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. Amid wars in Europe and the Middle East, she wanted to assess the chances of a nuclear war breaking out and how it could start, play out and affect New Zealand. Safe to say the world's not got any calmer. So, in case you missed it first time round, here's Tova's arguably more-relevant-than-ever interview with James Acton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 24m 46s | ||||||
| 9/29/24 |  Introducing: TFN - The F#$%ing News with Paddy Gower | The F#$%ing News flips the script on the news - short, upbeat, inspirational and f%$#ing good fun journalism with the nation’s favourite everyman reporter, Paddy Gower. TFN sees Paddy talking to Kiwis who are the good, the great and the brains of our nation. This podcast is hosted by Paddy Gower and Executive Produced by Jon Bridges. It's made in partnership between Stuff and Believer Media. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 0m 40s | ||||||
| 9/26/24 |  Politicising the Police: an interview with “wokester” Police Commissioner Andrew Coster | National once called him the “wokester” commissioner, now they’ve secured him a plum new job heading up the government’s new social investment agency. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster is leaving the job of top cop early and joins us to discuss gangs, guns, police pay and being called names by politicians. Plus, it’s the hot topic of the week thanks to a Nicola Willis directive. To work from home or not, that is the question. A chief executive and a prominent researcher debate the pros and cons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 52m 47s | ||||||
| 9/19/24 | Goldsmith on gangs | As the Government ramps up its war on crime, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith joins us to talk anti-gang laws and why the Attorney-General made no “specific statements” on whether late changes to them further breach human rights. Also on the agenda, the possible unintended consequences of tougher sentences, boot camps and keeping coalition promises to New Zealand First. Plus, we continue our coverage of the state of the health service, with the exclusive results from a new survey of junior doctors about staff shortages, the hiring freeze and their impact on the frontline. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 53m 11s | ||||||
| 9/12/24 | Democratic or dangerous: What you need to know about developments with the Treaty Principles Bill | ACT’s push for a Treaty Principles Bill was a lightning rod throughout last year’s election campaign and has never been far from the headlines since. This week has seen significant developments - the principles released with changed wording, the select committee ‘debate’ period set for six months and official advice criticising the plan revealed. But ACT leader David Seymour is unmoved. On this week’s pod he tells us why - and why he maintains the Prime Minister could still support the bill. Then, Te Pāti Māori Treaty spokesperson Tākuta Ferris explains the depth of opposition from te iwi Māori, and forecasts an escalation in protests. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 1h 12m 19s | ||||||
| 9/5/24 | Talking tax - and the rest - with Labour leader Chris Hipkins | Chris Hipkins was our very first guest one year ago. He was Prime Minister then - a lot’s changed. After leading Labour to electoral defeat, he and the party have regrouped and started formulating the platform they hope will return them to the Beehive. On his birthday (as well as ours), Hipkins joined us for a candid interview. We talked policy, policy bonfires, health, our ageing population, the economy, Winston Peters and tax, tax, tax. Plus, from Tūrangawaewae Marae, Julian Wilcox on the new Māori Queen, Kuini Ngā Wai hono i te po, and what she means for the kotahitanga movement her father, Kīngi Tuheitia, inspired. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 1h 14m 53s | ||||||
| 8/29/24 | SOS - Save Our Stores: Behemoths of fashion, retail and hospo join forces to solve the sectors in crisis | Retail spending is lower than during the GFC. Retailers are going to the wall more than any other business and Retail NZ’s latest survey shows 43% of businesses are unsure they’ll survive another year. In hospo, a swathe of high-profile restaurants have shuttered and last year - for the first time in two decades - the number of cafes and restaurants was lower than the year before. We assembled some of the sectors’ most brilliant brains to work out what went wrong, how we fix it and the prognosis for the future. They are fashion icon Kate Sylvester, hospitality legend Luke Dallow and designer Jessie Wong - a member of the Wellington Mayor’s new business advisory group. On the agenda: skyrocketing rents, transport woes, how the Government can help, the power of big events and whether New Zealand should become a tipping economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 53m 06s | ||||||
| 8/22/24 | Champion or showman: An extended interview with Shane Jones | New Zealand First's de facto deputy is a self-proclaimed champion of the regions and unashamedly pro-mining, fishing and forestry. His hobbies include waging war on supermarkets, banks and - this week in particular - energy companies. We wanted to speak to him after the fiery showdown at Tūrangawaewae Marae, where the Government was accused of throwing Māori under the bus and running them over. Also on the agenda: the foreshore and seabed, the equally contentious fast-track consenting bill, why he called a High Court judge a "communist", and the future of his party and its leader, Winston Peters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 51m 27s | ||||||
| 8/15/24 | Sir Ashley Bloomfield on the health of our health service | In an exclusive interview, perhaps the most famous health figure in Aotearoa takes aim at talk of a failing system and bloated bureaucracy - but doesn’t dispute that both staff and patients are at risk. He talks hospitals without doctors, how the reforms have been handled, funding, patient equity - and has strong words about the tobacco industry and its newly-gained tax breaks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 1h 04m 58s | ||||||
| 8/8/24 | Can he fix it? How new health kingpin plans to resuscitate a system in crisis | After losing confidence in the leadership and financial acumen of Health New Zealand-Te Whatu Ora, the Government has parachuted in an all-powerful specialist to fix the broken service. Health Commissioner Lester Levy has his work cut out - long waiting lists, budget woes, staff shortages, protests, doctorless hospitals, ramping ambulances, police pulling out of some mental health call outs ... Can he fix it? “I will do whatever I have to that's ethical and legal to get patients what they need and deserve,” he promises in an extended interview. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 1h 08m 35s | ||||||
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| 8/1/24 | ‘These questions are revolting’ - an interview with Children’s Minister Karen Chhour | The welfare of children, particularly the at-risk and vulnerable, is rarely far from the headlines. The Royal Commission report on abuse in care, the opening of the Government’s pilot youth justice facility (AKA military-style academy) ((AKA bootcamp)), cuts to Oranga Tamariki community providers … we had a lot to ask the Children’s Minister. We ran out of time and the interview ended rather abruptly, but there’s plenty to chew on, whatever your politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 52m 59s | ||||||
| 7/25/24 | Money, morale and mobsters: An extended interview with Police Minister Mark Mitchell | As the fallout from an acrimonious pay dispute continues, frontline cops told the Tova pod this week that the Government had “destroyed morale”. The minister responsible fronts to talk about rebuilding the relationship, how the gang unit is shaping up, delivering 500 extra cops and who’ll attend mental health callouts if not the police. Plus, in the week the Royal Commission released its mammoth report on abuse in care, a survivor tells us that sorry - on its own - won’t be enough. WARNING: For 24/7 support and advice around mental health, call or text 1737. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 1h 10m 30s | ||||||
| 7/25/24 | Bonus opinion: 'This is the worst of us' | Tova offers her thoughts on the outcome of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in care. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 2m 46s | ||||||
| 7/18/24 | Despatch from D.C. - a game-changing fortnight in US politics | Wow. They say a week is a long time in politics. In the United States, the last two have seen the political landscape change perhaps forever. Bullets, conventions and nominations on the Republican side; presidential gaffes, Covid and calls for a new leader in the Democrat corner. Rolling Stone magazine political reporter Nikki McCann Ramirez joins the pod from Washington D.C. to dissect an incredible fortnight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 44m 49s | ||||||
| 7/4/24 | Red, White and Bruised. The diabolical debate. | The first US presidential debate of 2024 was at once historic, agonising, painful and deeply troubling. Have your toes unfurled? Your stomach un-knotted? Your wince de-winced? Joe Biden and Donald Trump putting the fear of god into the free world in what was a truly tough watch with, unfortunately, such incredibly high stakes. To discuss what on earth happened, the fallout and what it all says about the US political system, our special guest on the Tova podcast is Brian Tyler Cohen, avowed liberal, political commentator and host of one of the top political podcasts in the United States, No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 35m 33s | ||||||
| 6/27/24 | An extended interview with Chloe Swarbrick | 2024 has been tough for the Greens. Multiple MPs - Golriz Ghahraman, Darleen Tana, Julie Anne Genter - have been making headlines for the wrong reasons and there have been heartbreaking challenges, including the death of Fa'anānā Efeso Collins and Marama Davidson’s breast cancer diagnosis. On her birthdfay, co-leader Chloe Swarbrick makes time for an extended interview. She talks handling the pressure, where she wants to take the party - and the latest on those major controversies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 41m 04s | ||||||
| 6/20/24 | Going nuclear: Weapons, war and whether to debate our nuke-free stance | The battle lines are being (re)drawn in the world of geopolitics: wars in Europe and the Middle East, tension over Taiwan, Putin visiting North Korea. So, more than three decades after the Cold War ended, what are the chances of a nuclear war? How could it start, play out - and how would New Zealand be affected? And, with Aussie politicians procuring nuclear-powered subs and proposing nuclear power stations, are we ready for a conversation about our identity-defining nuclear-free stance? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 1h 08m 50s | ||||||
| 6/13/24 | Scams, fraud and deception: Are we tough enough on white collar crime? | No one knows exactly how much fraud costs New Zealand each year, but it runs into the billions. Yet significantly fewer people are being convicted than two decades ago. Why? And is the system - an alphabet soup of agencies with a range of responsibilities - fit for purpose? In a specially extended investigation, victims share stories of devastating loss, a leading investigator explains why he thinks too few people are getting justice, and the Minister charged with scam-busting acknowledges the need for better coordination - and promises a plan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 1h 22m 13s | ||||||
| 5/30/24 | Big Budget Special | Happy Budget Day! The Tova pod takes you behind the scenes at Parliament as Nicola Willis unveils the Government's first bash at the books. We bring you expert reaction from inside the lock-up, the zingers and stingers from the debate, reaction from our panel of everyday Kiwis and, in an interview with Stuff, the Finance Minister explains how she got one crucial number so wrong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 38m 46s | ||||||
| 5/23/24 | Bills, bills, bills and the Budget | With the cost of living crisis hitting hard, we assemble a panel of Kiwis doing it tough or feeling the pinch in what politicians love to call the squeezed middle. We ask how they're coping and what they're hoping for in next week's Budget. And, with rising food prices the great unifier, we check out the work of the Grocery Commissioner - the man charged with easing the challenge at the checkout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 56m 41s | ||||||
| 5/16/24 | TikTok: The antisocial network? | What started as the home of song and dance videos is beset by claims of spying by the Chinese government and fears about the mental health of young users. A cybersecurity authority whose company cracked the TikTok code reveals how much data it collects and what it does with it. And, if you’ve noticed kids behaving differently after too much screen time, public health expert Dr Samantha Marsh explains why in a sobering but must-hear interview. Plus the PM on whether he restricted his kids’ access to social media, where he stands on the proposed US TikTok ban and how he’s TikToking so furiously around the Beehive if the app’s gone from all parliamentary devices. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 58m 41s | ||||||
| 5/9/24 | Not Three Waters | This week a deep dive into water. We all need it - clean drinking water, working sewerage systems and somewhere for stormwater to go. But with buggered pipes and faeces at the beach, we’ve been getting it woefully wrong for far too long. In the wake of Three Waters, will we really pay less for better services? We tap the man leading the Government’s water reforms, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown, and the man who drove them under Labour, Local Government Spokesman Kieran McAnulty, for answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 1h 06m 49s | ||||||
| 5/3/24 | The week politics completely blew its gasket | This is an audio version of Tova O'Brien's analysis piece titled The week politics completely blew its gasket, from stuff.co.nz Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 5m 35s | ||||||
| 5/2/24 | The return of the alternative coalition | In the white heat of last year’s coalition negotiations, when none of the party leaders would talk about their top-secret meetings, we convened an alternative. We brought together a senior figure connected with each of the three parties poised for power. You loved the show, and they were prescient in their predictions, so, six months into the Government’s term, and with its first Budget looming, we’re bringing it back, albeit with a reshuffle in personnel. Chris Finlayson (National), Heather Roy (ACT) and Tau Henare (NZ First, and National) analyse the PM’s performance, policy priorities and party dynamics - including some surprising takes on whether the coalition can survive. Then Andrew Little (Labour) offers the view from the left. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 1h 04m 37s | ||||||
| 4/25/24 | ‘Children will be worse off’: Oranga Tamariki and the Treaty | Section 7AA: A small part of a big law causing an enormous legal and political fracas. Former Children’s Minister Tracey Martin oversaw the introduction of the Oranga Tamariki Act. She explains why it remains enlightened legislation and why children will suffer if the Government completes its plan to repeal it. She also talks job cuts at the child protection agency, having her work undermined by her old boss Winston Peters and the prospect of a political comeback. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices | 47m 10s | ||||||
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