National's unveiled a 26 point plan for its first 100 days if re-elected.

The first pledge will be introducing KiwiSaver changes to parliament, including $15,000 for every newborn, and making the scheme compulsory.

Other promises include cutting student loan repayments, extending paid parental leave, boosting Pharmac funding for cancer medicines and capping council rates increases.

Nicola Willis says the party's been campaigning hard on these issues and voters should know what to expect.

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National's unveiled a 26 point plan for its first 100 days if re-elected.
The first pledge will be introducing KiwiSaver changes to parliament, including $15,000 for every newborn, and making the scheme compulsory.
Other promises include cutting student loan repayments, extending paid parental leave, boosting Pharmac funding for cancer medicines and capping council rates increases.
Nicola Willis says the party's been campaigning hard on these issues and voters should know what to expect.
LISTEN ABOVE

Nicola Willis: National Finance Spokesperson on the party's plan for first 100 days of re-election

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/d83486f9-a60c-4cc9-8b76-b4ee00317cef/transcript

Opportunity is moving to try and end the cycle of short-term political thinking.

The party is pledging to establish a Future Generations Commissioner - appointed through Parliament for five years, to hold Governments and public bodies accountable for the long-term consequences of their decisions.

Leader Qiulae Wong says they've followed international modelling - and New Zealand needs to think more about the long-term.

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Opportunity is moving to try and end the cycle of short-term political thinking.
The party is pledging to establish a Future Generations Commissioner - appointed through Parliament for five years, to hold Governments and public bodies accountable for the long-term consequences of their decisions.
Leader Qiulae Wong says they've followed international modelling - and New Zealand needs to think more about the long-term.
LISTEN ABOVE

Qiulae Wong: Opportunity Party leader on the party's pledge to establish Future Generations Commissioner

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/a46ab675-b956-40b8-853b-b4ee002f49e0/transcript

Gangs remain a contentious topic during this election campaign, following another week of high-profile incidents.

Labour's Kerrin Leoni has resigned after a video emerged of her campaigning at a whanau event, with gang members present.

A photo recently emerged of National's Tama Potaka standing next to patched members of the Mongrel Mob., prompting Labour's Chris Hipkins to accuse Luxon of 'double standards'.

Former Minister and commentator Peter Dunne says these events have slowed down Labour's political momentum, and the damage has been done. 

LISTEN ABOVE

Gangs remain a contentious topic during this election campaign, following another week of high-profile incidents.
Labour's Kerrin Leoni has resigned after a video emerged of her campaigning at a whanau event, with gang members present.
A photo recently emerged of National's Tama Potaka standing next to patched members of the Mongrel Mob., prompting Labour's Chris Hipkins to accuse Luxon of 'double standards'.
Former Minister and commentator Peter Dunne says these events have slowed down Labour's political momentum, and the damage has been done.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE

Peter Dunne: former Minister and commentator on the political fallout from this week's gang saga

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/ce09132a-7e04-4fd5-acd9-b4ed016dbf2f/transcript

There's hope for a last minute rush tonight, as a significant number of Kiwis still aren't enrolled to vote in the election yet.

The deadline to enrol to vote is midnight tonight, with voting starting from Monday until election day on November 7.

Chief Electoral Officer Karl Le Quesne says they're hoping 100 percent of eligible people will enrol to vote.

"We want to see that rise, and we're getting a lot of enrolment transactions coming through at the moment - so we know it'll keep going up."

LISTEN ABOVE

There's hope for a last minute rush tonight, as a significant number of Kiwis still aren't enrolled to vote in the election yet.
The deadline to enrol to vote is midnight tonight, with voting starting from Monday until election day on November 7.
Chief Electoral Officer Karl Le Quesne says they're hoping 100 percent of eligible people will enrol to vote.
"We want to see that rise, and we're getting a lot of enrolment transactions coming through at the moment - so we know it'll keep going up."
LISTEN ABOVE

Karl Le Quesne: Chief Electoral Officer on the state of enrolment figures ahead of tonight's deadline

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/00dff127-d34b-4e51-aed9-b4ed0163cecf/transcript

If you were feeling a little election fatigue before this week, you may now be reaching for the remote, the mute button and possibly something stronger than a cup of tea.

We’ve had the policies, the debates, voting strategies and enough political point-scoring to qualify as an Olympic sport. Voters have listened patiently to arguments about the cost of living, health, education and the economy. All important stuff, of course. But even the most devoted political tragic can only take so many announcements before wondering whether anyone has actually come to fix anything.

Then along comes the gangs controversy. Suddenly, the campaign had a fresh lease of life - although not the sort any party leader, or voter, wanted.

Photographs of Green and Te Pāti Māori politicians at a Mongrel Mob gathering sparked fierce criticism. Labour leader Chris Hipkins condemned their judgement and ruled those parties out of police and corrections portfolios in a potential Government. Then Labour candidate Kerrin Leoni appeared in footage campaigning alongside gang members in Labour-branded clothing. She resigned on Friday.

And just when National may have thought it had a comfortable position from which to criticise its opponents, and boy did they, a photograph emerged of National minister Tama Potaka with Mongrel Mob members at a public hui. Potaka said one gang member was a former schoolmate who had asked for a photo. Christopher Luxon insisted the circumstances were quite different.

Today, photos of Luxon and Erica Stanford at an event around the Abuse in Care report have surfaced.  

Welcome to election campaigning, where every photograph has a backstory, every backstory has a rebuttal, and every rebuttal creates more questions.

The trouble for leaders is that voters expect, and deserve, consistency. It is erratic and suspect to declare a standard non-negotiable on a Wednesday, and on Thursday the following week announce that applying it to your own team requires a more sympathetic interpretation of the evidence.

There are genuine distinctions between attending a public event, maintaining family connections and actively campaigning for votes alongside gang members. Politicians should be able to explain those distinctions. Equally, voters are entitled to question the judgement involved, given gang violence causes real harm to families and communities.

We should also remember that contact with gang members does not automatically mean endorsement of criminal behaviour. Politicians sometimes need to engage with difficult people and difficult communities. The challenge is knowing where engagement ends and political promotion begins.

But the timing is brutal. With the campaign already well advanced, leaders have found themselves defending decisions, distancing themselves from colleagues and answering questions they would much rather avoid. The important conversations have been elbowed aside by gang patches and political photographs.

For voters, the weariness is understandable. Shall we have an amnesty on photos with gang members and be done with it? Come on - let's lay them all out on the table and be done with it. Voters want solutions, not another week of political theatre in which everyone claims the moral high ground while checking whether their own footprints are visible.  

Thankfully, the election will ultimately be decided by more than one controversy. The campaign is entering its final stretch. Perhaps the best promise any politician could make now is a simple one: leadership and positivity. Or as National would say - Stick to the Plan.  

LISTEN ABOVE

If you were feeling a little election fatigue before this week, you may now be reaching for the remote, the mute button and possibly something stronger than a cup of tea.
We’ve had the policies, the debates, voting strategies and enough political point-scoring to qualify as an Olympic sport. Voters have listened patiently to arguments about the cost of living, health, education and the economy. All important stuff, of course. But even the most devoted political tragic can only take so many announcements before wondering whether anyone has actually come to fix anything.
Then along comes the gangs controversy. Suddenly, the campaign had a fresh lease of life - although not the sort any party leader, or voter, wanted.
Photographs of Green and Te Pāti Māori politicians at a Mongrel Mob gathering sparked fierce criticism. Labour leader Chris Hipkins condemned their judgement and ruled those parties out of police and corrections portfolios in a potential Government. Then Labour candidate Kerrin Leoni appeared in footage campaigning alongside gang members in Labour-branded clothing. She resigned on Friday.
And just when National may have thought it had a comfortable position from which to criticise its opponents, and boy did they, a photograph emerged of National minister Tama Potaka with Mongrel Mob members at a public hui. Potaka said one gang member was a former schoolmate who had asked for a photo. Christopher Luxon insisted the circumstances were quite different.
Today, photos of Luxon and Erica Stanford at an event around the Abuse in Care report have surfaced. &nbsp;
Welcome to election campaigning, where every photograph has a backstory, every backstory has a rebuttal, and every rebuttal creates more questions.
The trouble for leaders is that voters expect, and deserve, consistency. It is erratic and suspect to declare a standard non-negotiable on a Wednesday, and on Thursday the following week announce that applying it to your own team requires a more sympathetic interpretation of the evidence.
There are genuine distinctions between attending a public event, maintaining family connections and actively campaigning for votes alongside gang members. Politicians should be able to explain those distinctions. Equally, voters are entitled to question the judgement involved, given gang violence causes real harm to families and communities.
We should also remember that contact with gang members does not automatically mean endorsement of criminal behaviour. Politicians sometimes need to engage with difficult people and difficult communities. The challenge is knowing where engagement ends and political promotion begins.
But the timing is brutal. With the campaign already well advanced, leaders have found themselves defending decisions, distancing themselves from colleagues and answering questions they would much rather avoid. The important conversations have been elbowed aside by gang patches and political photographs.
For voters, the weariness is understandable. Shall we have an amnesty on photos with gang members and be done with it? Come on - let's lay them all out on the table and be done with it. Voters want solutions, not another week of political theatre in which everyone claims the moral high ground while checking whether their own footprints are visible. &nbsp;
Thankfully, the election will ultimately be decided by more than one controversy. The campaign is entering its final stretch. Perhaps the best promise any politician could make now is a simple one: leadership and positivity. Or as National would say - Stick to the Plan. &nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE

Francesca Rudkin: The timing of the gangs saga is brutal

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/3ab3918d-e33a-4de3-a40e-b4ed015e097a/transcript

Oh, I tell you what, I cannot see Chris Hipkins winning the election now.

I mean, if you thought that Mongrel Mob fiasco was bad before, it's got so much worse for Labour. Their candidate has quit and Chris Hipkins himself now looks like he's been fibbing to the public.

It turns out, now that we've seen the video of Kerrin Leoni at the Mongrel Mob event, that it wasn't at all the family gathering Labour told us it was. She was there in her red Labour jacket with a placard featuring a picture of herself and Chippy, telling gang members to enrol and change the government.

That doesn't look like a family barbecue, does it? I don't know how many family barbecues you turn up to wearing your work jacket.

I also don't know how many voters are going to believe Hipkins when he says he didn't know about it and that Leoni misled him. Anyone paying attention would have seen Labour doing a fair bit of misleading themselves.

When Leoni was first accused of meeting the Mongrel Mob the week before the Green and Māori parties had, Labour said it wasn't true. They said she hadn't met the gang the week before. But she had. It was nine days before, not seven, and that looks very much like Labour playing silly buggers with the timeline so we'd never know the event had happened.

If they were prepared to mislead us on that, do you really believe they didn't try to mislead us when they said, "Hey, it's just a family event," when it was actually a political event?

This is devastating for Labour because it's no longer just about whether you share Labour's values or what you think about criminals and gang members. It's now also about the integrity of the party leader and whether he and the party tried to hide this from voters.

My suspicion is that, yes, they very much did.

And that, with only two weeks until election day, is, in my view, unsurvivable for Labour short of a miracle.

LISTEN ABOVE

Oh, I tell you what, I cannot see Chris Hipkins winning the election now.
I mean, if you thought that Mongrel Mob fiasco was bad before, it's got so much worse for Labour. Their candidate has quit and Chris Hipkins himself now looks like he's been fibbing to the public.
It turns out, now that we've seen the video of Kerrin Leoni at the Mongrel Mob event, that it wasn't at all the family gathering Labour told us it was. She was there in her red Labour jacket with a placard featuring a picture of herself and Chippy, telling gang members to enrol and change the government.
That doesn't look like a family barbecue, does it? I don't know how many family barbecues you turn up to wearing your work jacket.
I also don't know how many voters are going to believe Hipkins when he says he didn't know about it and that Leoni misled him. Anyone paying attention would have seen Labour doing a fair bit of misleading themselves.
When Leoni was first accused of meeting the Mongrel Mob the week before the Green and Māori parties had, Labour said it wasn't true. They said she hadn't met the gang the week before. But she had. It was nine days before, not seven, and that looks very much like Labour playing silly buggers with the timeline so we'd never know the event had happened.
If they were prepared to mislead us on that, do you really believe they didn't try to mislead us when they said, "Hey, it's just a family event," when it was actually a political event?
This is devastating for Labour because it's no longer just about whether you share Labour's values or what you think about criminals and gang members. It's now also about the integrity of the party leader and whether he and the party tried to hide this from voters.
My suspicion is that, yes, they very much did.
And that, with only two weeks until election day, is, in my view, unsurvivable for Labour short of a miracle.
LISTEN ABOVE

Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: I cannot see Chris Hipkins winning the election

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/4e96b42c-5bb7-4500-a482-b4ec006238a2/transcript

Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he wasn't told the full truth about the gathering that led to Kerrin Leoni's resignation as Tāmaki Makaurau candidate. 

At a debate this week, Te Pati Māori's Oriini Kaipara accused Leoni of visiting a gang pad a week before she did - which Leoni denied. 

Footage surfaced yesterday of her campaigning this month at a family event including gang members, wearing a Labour Party jacket. 

Hipkins told Heather du Plessis-Allan that Labour didn't know the extent of the event. 

He says it was working off the information she provided - that she had not visited a gang pad, and hadn't done what was alleged in the debate. 

LISTEN ABOVE

Labour leader Chris Hipkins says he wasn't told the full truth about the gathering that led to Kerrin Leoni's resignation as Tāmaki Makaurau candidate.&nbsp;
At a debate this week, Te Pati Māori's Oriini Kaipara accused Leoni of visiting a gang pad a week before she did - which Leoni denied.&nbsp;
Footage surfaced yesterday of her campaigning this month at a family event including gang members, wearing a Labour Party jacket.&nbsp;
Hipkins told Heather du Plessis-Allan that Labour didn't know the extent of the event.&nbsp;
He says it was working off the information she provided - that she had not visited a gang pad, and hadn't done what was alleged in the debate.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE

Chris Hipkins: Labour Party Leader responds to resignation of Kerrin Leoni

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/55ccb92e-9692-4055-b916-b4ec0047d673/transcript

This week's Politics Friday Election Special focused on the Wigram electorate.

The candidates, Labour's Dominik Yanzick and National's Tracy Summerfield made their pitch to become the next local MP.

They discussed their backgrounds before entering politics and outlined how they would tackle the key issues facing the newly redrawn Wigram electorate.

LISTEN ABOVE

<p style="border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); box-sizing: border-box; --tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / .5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: -0.16px; font-weight: 400; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Poppins, 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This week's Politics Friday Election Special focused on the Wigram electorate.
<p style="border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); box-sizing: border-box; --tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / .5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; margin: 1.5em 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: -0.16px; font-weight: 400; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Poppins, 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The candidates, Labour's Dominik Yanzick and National's Tracy Summerfield made their pitch to become the next local MP.
<p style="border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); box-sizing: border-box; --tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / .5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; margin: 1.5em 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: -0.16px; font-weight: 400; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Poppins, 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">They discussed their backgrounds before entering politics and outlined how they would tackle the key issues facing the newly redrawn Wigram electorate.
<p style="border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); box-sizing: border-box; --tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / .5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; margin: 1.5em 0px; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.5; letter-spacing: -0.16px; font-weight: 400; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Poppins, 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><strong style="border: 0px solid rgb(229, 231, 235); box-sizing: border-box; --tw-border-spacing-x: 0; --tw-border-spacing-y: 0; --tw-translate-x: 0; --tw-translate-y: 0; --tw-rotate: 0; --tw-skew-x: 0; --tw-skew-y: 0; --tw-scale-x: 1; --tw-scale-y: 1; --tw-scroll-snap-strictness: proximity; --tw-ring-offset-width: 0px; --tw-ring-offset-color: #fff; --tw-ring-color: rgb(59 130 246 / .5); --tw-ring-offset-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-ring-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow: 0 0 #0000; --tw-shadow-colored: 0 0 #0000; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(17, 24, 39);">LISTEN ABOVE

Election 2026: Dominik Yanzick and Tracy Summerfield on the race to win Wigram

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/ef012da2-e8b9-49cd-bb6a-b4ec0002fcae/transcript

The gangs, as we know, create wholesale damage and destruction in our society through their drug trafficking. Now it looks like they're causing wholesale damage to Labour.  

After roundly criticising members of the Greens and Te Pati Māori for visiting a mongrel mob gang pad and posing for photos, putting it on your social media, Labour leader Chris Hipkins ruled out his coalition partners holding the justice or police portfolios in any government he was in charge of. He was talking tough. Now it transpires one of his own MPs was campaigning with gang members, with a video circulating of Kerrin Leoni in a Labour jacket handing out Labour Party flyers to mobsters.  

Te Pati Māori's Orinii Kaipara, who appeared with Leoni in a Whakata Māori debate this week, threw the Tamaki Makaurau opponent under the bus during the debate by saying Leoni had recently been campaigning with gang members too. She did it too, miss. It wasn't just me. Kaipara said Leoni had since deleted a social media post about it after the kaka hit the fan over her posing with gang members. Leoni during the debate said, I have never been to a gang pad campaigning. I've got whanau who are gang members. I've never been campaigning at a gang pad. And then sought to clarify the situation in a Facebook post last night. "To be clear, I have not attended a gang pad at all during this campaign. I said at the debate, I have close whanau who are gang members. In early October, I attended a whanau function where some of those present were whanau gang members."  

If you've seen the video, it's a funny old whanau function. I mean, who am I to say how other people should hold their barbecues? But Leoni is clearly campaigning for Labour at the function. If she hadn't posted the video to social media, I'd say perhaps her case is different. You can't pick your relatives. For many families, you can have one brother who's a detective and another who's a senior gang member, and they all have to be able to still function as a family. I'd have sympathy if someone had taken a video or photo of Leoni in a T-shirt, shorts and jandals, having a BBQ with her brother at a whanau function. But she's in a Labour Party jacket, handing out Labour Party flyers, telling people to vote Labour and then posting it to social media. Apparently it's since been deleted.  

What kind of family function is that? It doesn't sound like a real thigh slapper to me. Not a guitar insight. Can it really be a family function if there's no singing and dancing around the BBQ? You're in your Labour Party jacket. You're handing out the flyers, you're saying vote Labour to get rid of this government. Is that a family function or is that campaigning just like a Orinii Kaipara and Hūhana Lyndon were doing? Sounds like campaigning to me. Yeah, nah. I'm sorry. I mean, Chris Hipkinson can talk tough, and I do have sympathy when you've got people who, I mean, you can't pick your relatives as my poor cousins know. I remember saying to a departed aunt, at a whanau function. She had very poor eyesight. I said, "it's me, Kerre." And she said, "yes, I know exactly who you are." In clipped tones. I said that little catch up with my aunt. She's never been a big fan and that's okay.  

You can't pick your relatives, but to say you're not campaigning, it sounded, come on, Kerrin Leoni, come clean. You might have a brother or whanau who are in the gangs and that's fine. But to say that you were just catching up at a family function, I don't buy it. Not in the Labour Party jacket, not handing out the flyers, not saying get rid of this government. That is not a family catch up, that is campaigning. 

The gangs, as we know, create wholesale damage and destruction in our society through their drug trafficking. Now it looks like they're causing wholesale damage to Labour. &nbsp;
After roundly criticising members of the Greens and Te Pati Māori for visiting a mongrel mob gang pad and posing for photos, putting it on your social media, Labour leader Chris Hipkins ruled out his coalition partners holding the justice or police portfolios in any government he was in charge of. He was talking tough. Now it transpires one of his own MPs was campaigning with gang members, with a video circulating of Kerrin Leoni in a Labour jacket handing out Labour Party flyers to mobsters. &nbsp;
Te Pati Māori's Orinii Kaipara, who appeared with Leoni in a Whakata Māori debate this week, threw the Tamaki Makaurau opponent under the bus during the debate by saying Leoni had recently been campaigning with gang members too. She did it too, miss. It wasn't just me. Kaipara said Leoni had since deleted a social media post about it after the kaka hit the fan over her posing with gang members. Leoni during the debate said, I have never been to a gang pad campaigning. I've got whanau who are gang members. I've never been campaigning at a gang pad. And then sought to clarify the situation in a Facebook post last night. "To be clear, I have not attended a gang pad at all during this campaign. I said at the debate, I have close whanau who are gang members. In early October, I attended a whanau function where some of those present were whanau gang members." &nbsp;
If you've seen the video, it's a funny old whanau function. I mean, who am I to say how other people should hold their barbecues? But Leoni is clearly campaigning for Labour at the function. If she hadn't posted the video to social media, I'd say perhaps her case is different. You can't pick your relatives. For many families, you can have one brother who's a detective and another who's a senior gang member, and they all have to be able to still function as a family. I'd have sympathy if someone had taken a video or photo of Leoni in a T-shirt, shorts and jandals, having a BBQ with her brother at a whanau function. But she's in a Labour Party jacket, handing out Labour Party flyers, telling people to vote Labour and then posting it to social media. Apparently it's since been deleted. &nbsp;
What kind of family function is that? It doesn't sound like a real thigh slapper to me. Not a guitar insight. Can it really be a family function if there's no singing and dancing around the BBQ? You're in your Labour Party jacket. You're handing out the flyers, you're saying vote Labour to get rid of this government. Is that a family function or is that campaigning just like a Orinii Kaipara and Hūhana Lyndon were doing? Sounds like campaigning to me. Yeah, nah. I'm sorry. I mean, Chris Hipkinson can talk tough, and I do have sympathy when you've got people who, I mean, you can't pick your relatives as my poor cousins know. I remember saying to a departed aunt, at a whanau function. She had very poor eyesight. I said, "it's me, Kerre." And she said, "yes, I know exactly who you are." In clipped tones. I said that little catch up with my aunt. She's never been a big fan and that's okay. &nbsp;
You can't pick your relatives, but to say you're not campaigning, it sounded, come on, Kerrin Leoni, come clean. You might have a brother or whanau who are in the gangs and that's fine. But to say that you were just catching up at a family function, I don't buy it. Not in the Labour Party jacket, not handing out the flyers, not saying get rid of this government. That is not a family catch up, that is campaigning.&nbsp;

Kerre Woodham: That wasn't a family gathering, that was campaigning

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/16d7b619-67dc-4a01-971f-b4eb01817085/transcript

David Seymour says he won't shy away race relations, despite previous backlash. 

The ACT Leader championed the Treaty Principles Bill to its first reading this term, sparking nationwide protests. 

This election ACT's promising to “end race-based hiring requirements”, prohibit cultural or spiritual practices in the public service, and to abolish the Waitangi Tribunal once historic claims are settled. 

Seymour told Kerre Woodham the idea New Zealand is divided by its treaty is not sustainable. 

He says he doesn't resile to not having the conversation, no matter how painful it may be. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

David Seymour says he won't shy away race relations, despite previous backlash.&nbsp;
The ACT Leader championed the Treaty Principles Bill to its first reading this term, sparking nationwide protests.&nbsp;
This election ACT's promising to “end race-based hiring requirements”, prohibit cultural or spiritual practices in the public service, and to abolish the Waitangi Tribunal once historic claims are settled.&nbsp;
Seymour told Kerre Woodham the idea New Zealand is divided by its treaty is not sustainable.&nbsp;
He says he doesn't resile to not having the conversation, no matter how painful it may be.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

David Seymour: ACT Party Leader takes talkback, talks race relations, education, taxes

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/4c7a54d6-bcde-41cd-9f4a-b4eb017455ae/transcript

Newstalk ZB brings you comprehensive coverage of Election 2026 - the policies, the issues, the debates, the personalities, and the results of New Zealand's general election.

Newstalk ZB brings you comprehensive coverage of Election 2026 - the policies, the issues, the debates, the personalities, and the results of New Zealand's general election.

Newstalk ZB and NZHerald.co.nz bring you comprehensive coverage of Vote 2020 - the policies, the issues, the debates, the personalities, and the results of New Zealand's general election.

Election 2026

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