The treaty principles bill is dominating 2024 political headlines. Is it really all about 2026?

Church leaders oppose it. Christopher Luxon is increasingly exasperated by getting asked about it. And David Seymour has reworded a critical part of it. Is the Act leader on the back foot over a treaty principles bill that is dead on arrival, or is this all playing out to his advantage, with a six-month select committee process that will keep the issue alive and his party accordingly defined as the next election roars into view?

And, ask the Spinoff’s politics podcast trio, Annabelle Lee-Mather, Toby Manhire and Ben Thomas, what risk does it present to the three-headed coalition? All that, plus a word on the crime statistic puzzle and the power-blasted mill closures.

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