Cross Party Lines

<p>Hosted by <strong>Phil Goff</strong> and <strong>Chris Finlayson</strong>, <strong>Cross Party Lines</strong> goes live for the first time — recorded on stage at the Featherston Booktown Festival, with Sam Collins moderating one final time before he heads to the campaign trail as Labour’s North Shore candidate.</p><p>All thanks to our foundational partner <a target="_blank" href="http://frankrisk.co.nz">Frank Risk Management</a>, the 100% Kiwi owned insurance brokerage.</p><p><strong>In this episode:</strong></p><p>* <strong>Council amalgamation — good idea, terrible process</strong> — The government’s three-month ultimatum to councils to amalgamate or be reorganised from Wellington draws a forensic dissection from both Phil and Chris. Phil draws on his experience overseeing the Auckland supercity — broadly a success, but built on a Royal Commission, proper legislation, and time. Chris notes the Local Government Act 2002 is long overdue for reform, and that no minister in recent memory has been willing to do the unglamorous work of actually fixing it.</p><p>* <strong>Policy by press release — BSA, citizenship tests and the art of bad lawmaking</strong> — A slew of government announcements prompts Chris to lay out what good lawmaking actually looks like, drawing on the intelligence legislation reform he led under Key — two years, bipartisan support, no urgency, proper select committee process. The proposed scrapping of the Broadcasting Standards Authority gets short shrift from Phil: abolish something, fine, but replace it with something that works better, not voluntary self-regulation with 1.25 staff members and eight meetings a year.</p><p>* <strong>Populism, Farage, One Nation and the Iran quagmire</strong> — The live audience gets the full international picture. Reform UK’s surge in the UK local elections gives Chris the heebie-jeebies. Phil traces the money: Gina Rinehart bankrolling Pauline Hanson with a $1 million donation and a $1.5 million plane; a British tech expat dropping £5 million on Farage; Elon Musk contributing $251 million to Trump. These are not insurgents — they are billionaires buying political movements that claim to fight elites.</p><p>Along the way: the mayor of South Wairarapa’s legendary gravy, Trevor Mallard spotted in the audience, the CIA being politely addressed for the benefit of anyone listening.</p><p><em>Cross Party Lines exists to lift political literacy and create space for calm, good-faith political conversation. New episodes every Tuesday. If you value thoughtful debate, follow the podcast and share it with someone who might too.</em></p><p><em>🎙 This was our first ever live show. If you were there — thank you. If you weren’t — follow us so you don’t miss the next one.</em></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://crosspartylines.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">crosspartylines.substack.com</a>

<p>Hosted by <strong>Phil Goff </strong>and <strong>Chris Finlayson</strong>, <strong>Cross Party Lines </strong>returns with an episode that moves from a coalition-shaking email leak to the demographic time bomb nobody in government wants to defuse — and closes with a verdict on King Charles III’s Washington masterclass. All thanks to our foundational partner, <a target="_blank" href="http://frankrisk.co.nz">Frank Risk Management</a>, the 100% Kiwi-owned insurance brokerage.</p><p><strong>In this episode:</strong></p><p>* <strong>The Peters email — deliberate sabotage or massive inadvertence?</strong> — The release of emails showing Christopher Luxon privately pushing for a different stance on the US strikes on Iran has cracked the coalition open. Phil is unequivocal: this was deliberate. Peters saw the emails, knew they would damage Luxon, and released them anyway. Chris is slightly more measured on process, but equally clear that this kind of behaviour simply never happened in his time as a minister, or Phil’s.</p><p>* <strong>New Zealand’s demographic time bomb — and the politicians who won’t touch it</strong> — The Koi Tū population report lands with a stark set of numbers: fertility at 1.55, well below the 2.1 needed for replacement; a workforce-to-retiree ratio collapsing from seven-to-one in the 1960s to two-to-one by 2065; and a superannuation and healthcare bill that simply cannot be funded without sustained quality immigration. Phil and Chris ask the question neither Peters nor Seymour will answer: if you’re against immigration, what exactly is your plan?</p><p>* <strong>King Charles in Washington — a masterclass, nine out of ten</strong> — Last week Phil predicted Charles would do well. This week, the verdict is in. Multiple standing ovations from Congress. Subtle but unmistakable defences of constitutional democracy, checks and balances, NATO and Ukraine — delivered with wit, warmth and an Oscar Wilde quote. The final score: Charles one, Trump nil.</p><p>Along the way: Chris getting a telling off from Marion Hobbs for using the word “excrescence” in Parliament, Phil revealing Helen Clark used to ring him at half past midnight from two floors up, Singapore recycling wastewater through 150 kidneys before it reaches your hotel tap, and Chris announcing the winner of his warship competition — a copy of his book is on its way to Whanganui.</p><p><em>Cross Party Lines exists to lift political literacy and create space for calm, good-faith political conversation. New episodes every Tuesday. If you value thoughtful debate, follow the podcast and share it with someone who might too.</em></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://crosspartylines.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">crosspartylines.substack.com</a>

<p>Hosted by <strong>Phil Goff</strong> and <strong>Chris Finlayson</strong>, <strong>Cross Party Lines</strong> returns with an episode that moves from caucus chaos to media warfare — and lands on the most delicate diplomatic mission of the year: King Charles III heading to Washington to deal with Trump.</p><p>Thanks to our foundational partner, <a target="_blank" href="http://frankrisk.co.nz">Frank Risk Management</a>. The 100% Kiwi owned insurance brokerage.</p><p><strong>In this episode:</strong></p><p>* <strong>Luxon’s confidence vote — solved or deferred?</strong> — Christopher Luxon won his caucus vote, but Phil and Chris are divided on what it actually means. Chris thinks a line has been drawn and the malcontents should now knuckle down. Phil is less convinced: you only call a confidence vote when confidence is in doubt, the handling was untidy from start to finish.</p><p>* <strong>Don’t bash the media — and other lessons politicians never learn</strong> — Simeon Brown’s complaint against TVNZ and Luxon’s decision to pull out of his weekly Breakfast slot prompted a forensic and at times hilarious discussion about the eternal folly of politicians going to war with journalists.</p><p>* <strong>King Charles goes to Washington</strong> — What can King Charles III realistically achieve on his US visit? Phil draws on multiple personal meetings with Charles — including a 45-minute bilateral at Government House where Charles arrived fully briefed, asked exactly the right questions, and left Phil giving him ten out of ten as a diplomat. Whether he can move the dial on a man Chris describes as a three-year-old trapped in the body of an 80-year-old is another question entirely.</p><p>Sharp, wide-ranging and willing to call things exactly what they are, this episode is a reminder that in politics, the words you use in public — whether you’re a minister, a king or a coalition partner — always end up meaning more than you intended.</p><p><strong><em>Cross Party Lines exists to lift political literacy and create space for calm, good-faith political conversation. New episodes every Tuesday. If you value thoughtful debate, follow the podcast and share it with someone who might too.</em></strong></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://crosspartylines.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">crosspartylines.substack.com</a>

<p>Hosted by <strong>Phil Goff</strong> and <strong>Chris Finlayson</strong>, <strong>Cross Party Lines</strong> returns without Sam for the first time — and the boys don’t miss a beat. In a wide-ranging Anzac week episode, they move from wartime gallantry to National Party treachery, and from All Blacks in Parliament to the politics of immigration dog-whistling. All thanks to our foundational partner <a target="_blank" href="http://frankrisk.co.nz">Frank Risk Management</a>, the 100% kiwi owned insurance brokerage.</p><p><strong>In this episode:</strong></p><p>* <strong>Haane Manahi and the Victoria Cross that never was</strong> — Phil opens with a moving account of an event he attended in Rotorua the night before recording: a film celebration of Sergeant Haane Manahi, who was recommended for a Victoria Cross by Field Marshal Montgomery himself — only for the British War Office to scratch it out and replace it with a lesser medal.</p><p>* <strong>National’s leadership crisis — five rebels, or twenty-five?</strong> — With the National Party caucus meeting looming and the media in full speculation mode, Phil and Chris take forensic stock of where things stand. Chris is blunt: changing a leader in April of election year is lunacy, the five alleged plotters are losers, and Luxon deserves more sympathy than he gets for inheriting a poisoned chalice with no apprenticeship.</p><p>* <strong>All Blacks in Parliament and the Taine Randall question</strong> — New Zealand First has selected former All Black captain Taine Randall to stand in Tukituki, prompting a tour through the graveyard of sporting superstars who have tried and failed at politics — from David Kirk to Chris Laidlaw to Graham Thorne. Phil and Chris are unconvinced the profile will translate. But the deeper question is what policies Taine is actually signed up to — including New Zealand First’s rhetoric on immigration.</p><p><em>Cross Party Lines exists to lift political literacy and create space for calm, good-faith political conversation. New episodes every Tuesday. If you value thoughtful debate, follow the podcast and share it with someone who might too.</em></p><p><em>🎟 Tickets for the live show at Featherston Booktown Festival — Saturday 9 May. Get in at booktown.org.nz</em></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://crosspartylines.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">crosspartylines.substack.com</a>

<p>Hosted by <strong>Phil Goff </strong>and <strong>Chris Finlayson</strong> with <strong>Sam Collins</strong>, <strong>Cross Party Lines</strong> marks a milestone this week — Sam Collins signs off as moderator after announcing he is standing as the Labour candidate for North Shore. Thanks to our foundational partner, <a target="_blank" href="http://frankrisk.co.nz">Frank Risk Management.</a></p><p><strong>In this episode:</strong></p><p>* <strong>James Christmas and the Tāmaki question</strong> — The panel turns to Tāmaki, where James Christmas — described by Chris as the smartest person he ever worked with — has defected from National to ACT, setting up one of the most intriguing three-way candidate contests of the election. Phil asks the uncomfortable question: what does it say about the National Party when talent walks out the door?</p><p>* <strong>Judge Aiken </strong>— The Judicial Conduct Panel found Judge Emma Aiken in serious breach of comity for calling out a false statement she overheard at the Northern Club — but stopped short of recommending her removal. Phil and Chris broadly agree the panel got it right on both counts.</p><p>* <strong>Orbán, the Pope and Trump </strong>— Three international stories dominate the second half. First, the stunning scale of Hungary’s election result — Fidesz reduced to 55 seats, the new centre-right government holding a two-thirds majority despite active interference from both Trump and Putin. Second, Pope Leo XIV’s sharp Easter address — “enough of the idolatry of self and money, enough of war”. Finally, the Iran peace talks in Islamabad: 20 hours of negotiations, Iranian framing throughout, and a Trump administration that has now openly floated threats Phil and Chris both read as implying nuclear weapons. Neither is laughing it off.</p><p><strong>Cross Party Lines</strong> exists to lift political literacy and create space for calm, good-faith political conversation. New episodes every Tuesday. If you value thoughtful debate, follow the podcast and share it with someone who might too.</p><p><em>🎟 Last chance for tickets to the live show at Featherston Booktown Festival — Saturday 9 May. Get in at booktown.org.nz</em></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://crosspartylines.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">crosspartylines.substack.com</a>