Gone By Lunchtime (Image: Tina Tiller)
Gone By Lunchtime (Image: Tina Tiller)

Politicsabout 11 hours ago

Gone By Lunchtime doesn’t know how to be any clearer, guys

Staff writers
Gone By Lunchtime (Image: Tina Tiller)
Gone By Lunchtime (Image: Tina Tiller)

After a horror week, what next for Luxon?

It was Christopher Luxon’s worst week as prime minister, beginning with flubbed attempts to explain New Zealand’s position on the war on Iran and ending with a nightmare poll that put National at 28.4% and sparked headlines suggesting he was considering his position.

In a new episode of the Spinoff politics podcast Gone By Lunchtime, we step through those painful days, assessing the official response to the strikes launched by the US and Israel, the criticisms levelled at Luxon, and whether he has put the matter to bed by rubbishing those suggestions he was thinking of quitting and delivering a markedly improved performance this week.

Plus: as the shockwaves of the Middle East conflict are felt as far away as the New Zealand consumer economy and an election creeps closer, is National best to lean into crisis mode?

Annabelle Lee-Mather, Ben Thomas and Toby Manhire also take a look at the High Court ruling that Mariameno Kapa-Kingi’s expulsion from Te Pāti Māori was unlawful: what next after her “repatriation”? And the second Royal Commission on the Covid response has been issued, and swiftly subject to some high-velocity spin.

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Politics