We discuss our issues.
With an election about 15 months away, there are few better ways to get a sense of the political terrain than the Ipsos Issues Monitor, a survey that tracks the issues of greatest concern to New Zealanders, the parties they consider best equipped to deal with those issues, and how all of that has changed over time.
In a new episode of Gone By Lunchtime, The Spinoff’s politics podcast, Toby Manhire, Annabelle Lee-Mather and Ben Thomas assess the latest edition of the study. Cost of living had been subsiding in recent surveys, but the line has now poked back upward, with 55% picking it as one their three chief concerns. At the same time, respondents have, by a narrow margin, nominated Labour as the party better equipped to deal with the problem. Health, meanwhile, is second on the list of concerns, underscoring the challenge being taken on by Simeon Brown as health minister.
Also on the agenda for discussion: Shane Jones is promoting a bill that would oblige Ngāpuhi to undertake a single commercial treaty settlement; does he have a point? And we reflect on the formidable legacy of Takutai Tarsh Kemp, Te Pati Māori MP for Tāmaki Makaurau since 2023, who died suddenly last week at the age of 50.
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