At Large with Toby Manhire
by The Spinoff
Latest episode
Big questions that linger after election day
Big questions that linger after election day
About this podcast
Bringing the insight, wit and energy of The Spinoff to your podcast feed, At Large with Toby Manhire dives into a story in the news, drawing on Spinoff talent and newsmakers to cast light on the issues of the moment. Each episode centres on an illuminating but unstuffy interview that helps the listener get their head around a subject, followed by How Good, a short, unashamedly exuberant celebration of something new = anything from a live band to a biscuit.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 93 episodes
- Big questions that linger after election day · 40 minWhich way will the special votes go, who cast them, and what does the surprisingly low turnout tell us? Lara Greaves, associate professor of politics at Victoria University of…
- Gerry Brownlee on 30 years in politics and the last campaign · 39 minThree decades of parliamentary life is coming to an end for Gerry Brownlee. He joins Toby to revisit a career that has spanned roles including deputy National leader, a range of…
- ‘She would have been: are you insane?’ Qiulae Wong on her new job · 19 minThe Opportunity Party has made history by breaking into parliament. Three years ago, Qiulae Wong couldn’t have fathomed the idea of leading such a project.Her team broke out the…
- Election 2026! The last-gasp hot-take shootout · 39 minAs the campaign hours tick down, a pantheon of the Spinoff’s brightest gather at the roundtable to sum it all up. What were the most memorable moments, the characters, and the…
- Can we really trust the polls? · 34 minThe opinion polls are coming thick and fast in the final days of the 2026 NZ election campaign. But when two emerge at the same time delivering markedly different results, should…
- The blockbuster seat and the Māori vote, with Te Aniwa Hurihanganui · 37 minThe Māori electorates are always exciting but this time it’s really edge-of-the-seat. TVNZ Māori affairs correspondent Te Aniwa Hurihanganui joins Toby to walk through the…
- Chris Hipkins: in defence of incrementalism · 31 minWith just over a week to the election, the Labour leader is in with a shot of becoming the first New Zealander since Keith Holyoake to serve non-consecutive terms as prime…
- Chlöe Swarbrick on being cast as ‘bogeyman’ of 2026 election · 38 minIn March 2024 Chlöe Swarbrick became co-leader of the Greens – right in the middle of what can only be described as a crisis year for the party. Today, they’ve jumped to around…
- David Seymour on division, ‘dropkicks’ and working with Winston · 34 minAcross 12 years as Act leader, David Seymour has taken the party from 0.5% to two terms with a decent sized caucus and 18 months in the role of deputy prime minister. He goes…
- Qiulae Wong on the backlash and the bottom lines · 28 minAt its fourth time of trying, the Opportunity Party is on track for something unprecedented: making it to parliament. And a massive part of that is down to its new leader: Qiulae…
- The bizarre story of the Kiwibank sheep that conquered the world · 25 minAdvertising campaigns are meant to capture the popular imagination, just not like this. A bank called Kiwi, a green sheep called Buck and giddy humans combined over recent days…
- Ali Mau on Tika, and the experiences that built it · 54 minAli Mau first appeared on New Zealand screens more than three decades ago. She went on to run, for five years, the #MeTooNZ project for Stuff. Last year she published No Words…
- Winston Peters on a life in politics – and the moment that ‘cost me psychologically’ · 44 minWinston Peters is contesting his 18th election this year; if you count a couple of by-elections, it’s his 20th campaign. He’s been giving ‘main character’ energy since he first…
- Jacinda Ardern's media man on five seismic years · 49 minAndrew Campbell was chief press secretary to prime minister Jacinda Ardern through crisis after crisis: the March 15 massacre in Christchurch, the Whakaari (White Island)…
- ‘Looming disaster’: Andrew Geddis answers your questions on enrolment and voting · 42 minWith the numbers of young people registered to vote at less than two-thirds, and an enrolment period coming to a close a fortnight earlier than recent elections, there is cause…
- How do you make this election funny? · 26 minIn a campaign that sometimes feels like wading through wet cement, James Nokise is attempting the Everest of stand-up challenges – finding the comedy in the election. He’s doing…
- A political lobbyist on ‘reprehensible’ tactics in NZ democracy · 35 minThe influence and ethics of political lobbying is under the spotlight in the 2026 campaign. What do lobbyists really do, what rules do they play by, and why has NZ failed time…
- The army of indies igniting election 2026 · 25 minIn the face of a slump in youth enrolment and a campaign that is leaving many people cold or curled up cringing, an army of independent outfits are prodding the cattle and…
- Winners and losers in debate for Mt Albert, the box-office contest of election 2026 · 27 minThree MPs, one party leader and two first-timers met last night at the Spinoff Great Mt Albert Debate. Toby Manhire is joined for a postmortem by Hayden Donnell and Lyric…
- The pre-election books are open – is Nicola Willis right to cheer? · 33 minIt’s a milestone day for election 2026, with the pre-election fiscal update – Prefu, to you – staged in Wellington. Bernard Hickey emerges blinking from the lockup to assess the…
- Jack Tame on getting ghosted by Luxon and hosting the first big debate · 38 minThe host of Q+A is typically the Q guy, but here he does the A. Jack Tame sits down with Toby to explain how he’s prepping for next week’s big debate, why Christopher Luxon has…
- Nicky Hager and Dirty Work: the author responds to his critics · 21 minAfter a flurry of speculation, Nicky Hager last night launched Dirty Work: The Taxpayers’ Union and the New Zealand Hard Right, which he called a sequel of sorts to The Hollow…
- NZ is spending millions to lure the big acts. Is it working? · 28 minThe government today published a review of its approach to funding events across NZ. That includes $40m for concerts, in a programme launched a year ago like a Robbie Williams…
- Is the recovery finally here in the NZ economy? · 34 minEconomists and commentators across New Zealand have their calculators out and their fingers in the air trying to tell whether the recovery is really, finally on. The latest GDP…
- OK so is AI really about to wipe out the humans? (And what is NZ doing about it?) · 39 minEstimates of the potential for artificial intelligence to make humanity extinct are everywhere, and not just in the sci-fi dystopias. Exiles and employees from the AI giants are…
- The coalition v the Māori language: how has Te Reo fared this term? · 35 minIt’s been a bumpy few years for the Māori language in New Zealand (or is that Aotearoa?). Liam Rātana, Ātea editor at the Spinoff Ātea, joins Toby to walk through the various…
- The kingmaker myth, and the hill Qiulae Wong and Opportunity must climb · 24 minOpportunity is pitching itself as an alternative kingmaker to Winston Peters and New Zealand First for the 2026 election. But is the kingmaker scenario really that common across…
- Labour falls under 26% – one bad poll or time to change course? · 27 minThe Labour Party has registered just 25.9% in a new poll for the Taxpayers’ Union by Curia. That’s lower than their calamitous result in 2023, and lower than National, who…
- How National ankle-tapped Labour on KiwiSaver, with Sam Stubbs · 34 minSam Stubbs once looked a lot like a finance bro – he’d made a small fortune at places like Goldman Sachs in London and Hong Kong. But 10 years ago, the gamekeeper turned poacher…
- ‘Freaking bizarre’: NZ’s former man in Washington on trade, Trump and a whole lot more · 43 minTim Groser was posted to Washington by John Key on the basis that the trade minister turned ambassador would likely be engaging with a US administration led by President Hillary…
- Simeon Brown is a no-show at the senior doctors’ conference. What is their message for him? · 29 minThe annual conference for senior doctors and dentists is about to start but one person is missing: the minister of health has pulled out. In an election year, with health ranked…
- The electric election: Mike Casey on a solar revolution · 35 minSuddenly politicians of almost every stripe are jumping on board the rooftop solar train. But does the argument for a transformation in our energy mix really stack up? Mike…
- Luxon vs Brown, and how the govt fell so violently out of love with localism · 33 minChristopher Luxon sailed into NZ politics six years ago as a champion of localism. Since becoming prime minister, his government has fallen deeply out of love with devolution…
- How will NZ’s under-16 social media ban work? (And why do NZ First and Act hate it?) · 30 minA new law has been drafted to ban social media for under-16s in New Zealand. Robbie Nicol joins Toby to answer all the big questions. Which platforms meet the definition of…
- Where in NZ is basking in economic recovery, where is not – and why? · 27 minAfter years of malaise, the economy is bouncing back – or it is, at least, in some pockets of the country. Shamubeel Eaqub joins Toby to crunch the numbers that tell us which…
- From Ooshie-itis to Smeg-mania, supermarket promo fever grips NZ · 23 minWhether it’s Woolworths’ little plastic Disney Ooshies or New World’s fancy Smeg knives, supermarket promotions have seeped into the national consciousness, prompting secondary…
- Flu season overdrive in NZ – how bad is it and what can we do? · 22 minSchools and elderly care centres are getting smashed, health providers are splitting at the seams thanks to a late seasonal surge in respiratory illness. Emma Gleason joins Toby…
- Think hot, think deep: The odds on a geothermal silver bullet for NZ’s energy future · 34 minFormer National minister Tim Groser joins Toby to explain why they’re plunging a drill into the magma beneath the Taupō volcanic zone – and how supercritical geothermal success…
- Tiki Taane on a life in music, quitting Spotify and doing it different · 37 minTiki Taane has been making music since the last decade of the last millennium in Christchurch. From the early successes of Salmonella Dub through some really dark days and on to…
- Luxon on the brink: emergency caucus meeting countdown · 29 minA nightmarish fortnight has ended with the prime minister summoning MPs to Wellington for an urgent in-person National Party caucus meeting. On the agenda, not for the first…
- Election 2026: State of the race with three months to go · 32 minAs we count down the days to a knife-edge election, where do the parties stand? Spinoff parliamentary reporter Lyric Waiwiri-Smith joins Toby for a stocktake: the headline…
- CRL opening date is go – is it really a gamechanger? · 28 minAt last we’ve got a date for the opening of the City Rail Link – is it really going to transform Auckland? Hayden Donnell joins Toby to talk through the decade-long, multibillion…
- Unemployment hits 11-year high – with Bernard Hickey · 38 minNew Zealand has not seen jobless numbers like this for a decade. Bernard Hickey of the Kākā joins Toby to talk through the latest quarterly numbers, the reality they reflect…
- Christopher Luxon’s communication problem · 29 minThe prime minister got a shock when he saw the media coverage of his breakfast meeting with Rotorua businesspeople – it talked of him scolding them about a “parent-child…
- Where is NZ’s Count Binface, with Ben Uffindell · 23 minNigel Farage faces a stern challenge in a Clacton byelection from an alien space warrior with a bin on his head and a manifesto packed with nonsense. New Zealand has its own…
- It’s harder to vote in 2026 – with Andrew Geddis · 31 minAt the last election, you could enrol on election day. This time the deadline is 13 days before. University of Otago professor Andrew Geddis joins Toby to talk through the…
- NZ v Australia: the economy Bledisloe Cup, with Shamubeel Eaqub · 20 minSome say the case for moving to Australia is dimming – Shamubeel Eaqub works through the data with Toby Manhire to assess the arguments for and against. Plus: In How Good, Tara…
- How the Māori seats hold the key to election 2026, with Lara Greaves · 36 minThe Māori electorates are always fascinating, but this time there’s an extra edge-of-the-seat quality. Lara Greaves, associate professor at Victoria University of Wellington…
- How’s that under-16 social media ban going for you, Australia? · 34 minAs Christopher Luxon declares he’ll “die trying” to get something done in banning social media for New Zealand children under 16, it’s a good time to ask: how is the pioneering…
- Is the Reserve Bank’s blunt tool just too blunt? With Bernard Hickey · 35 minSince 1990 the Reserve Bank has been tasked with taming inflation independently from the government of the day. But is the tool it uses today, the official cash rate, with its…
