Duncan Garner Podcast

National and Labour have a problem, and it is bigger than each other.

The latest 1News Verian poll has Labour on 32 percent and National on 29. Combined, the two parties that have dominated New Zealand politics for 30 years are sitting at just 61 percent, while TOP has climbed to 4.6 percent and is suddenly within touching distance of Parliament.

That is not a minor wobble. It is a warning.

Voters are tired of cautious leadership, recycled promises and being told to wait while the country goes nowhere fast.

As I said on yesterday’s podcast: “You’re both utterly uninspiring and not doing enough.”

I took a proper look at why the big two are losing their grip, why smaller parties are benefiting, and why TOP now deserves serious scrutiny rather than a free ride.

Watch the episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_ed0...

I’m also opening up another Team Duncan AMA.

What do you want to ask me? Politics, media, the election, the podcast, behind the scenes, or anything else. Drop your question in the comments and I’ll answer the best ones in the next members’ edition.

5 hours ago | [YT] | 5

Duncan Garner Podcast

Auckland’s waterfront should be pumping on a Sunday. Instead, it looked abandoned.

Empty tables. Food stalls with no customers. Businesses wondering how they’ll survive winter.

That’s what a weak economy looks like in the real world.

Meanwhile, the election campaign is already filling up with the same tired answers. The Greens want a wealth tax. Labour wants a capital gains tax. National is reviving KiwiSaver policies it once scrapped. New Zealand First wants the Government to buy a bank.

Everyone has a plan to tax, spend or own more.

Hardly anyone is talking seriously about the one thing New Zealand desperately needs: growth.

Real business growth. Higher productivity. More investment. Better jobs. More wealth being created before politicians start fighting over how to divide it.

You cannot tax a country into prosperity. You cannot redistribute wealth that was never created.

New Zealand doesn’t need another argument about slicing up the pie.

We need leaders capable of making the bloody thing bigger.

2 days ago | [YT] | 7

Duncan Garner Podcast

Labour is ahead in the poll.

But here’s the problem.

It still doesn’t have the seats to govern.

National, ACT and NZ First are still in front as a bloc, and Duncan reckons Labour’s latest transport policy shows why: the numbers don’t stack up, and the trust isn’t back.

So is Labour really winning?

Or just leading a poll?

watch the video here: https://youtu.be/yicpxdL9pj8?si=uVXiN...

1 week ago | [YT] | 36

Duncan Garner Podcast

I got it wrong.

I drove while my licence was still suspended. I genuinely believed it had ended, but I was 12 days short.

I have accepted the conviction and the punishment. No excuses.

This is the full story.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 11

Duncan Garner Podcast

Is this really the most racist government New Zealand has ever had?

Come on.

That’s the claim from Tukoroirangi Morgan, but it falls apart the moment you put it beside actual history.

Land confiscations. Māori kids punished for speaking te reo. Labour’s foreshore and seabed law shutting Māori out of court.

That was real. That mattered. That changed politics in this country.

So here’s the question: when every political disagreement gets called racism, does the word still mean anything?

Because this Government may be unpopular with Morgan. It may be wrong on parts of Treaty policy. Argue that all day.

But “the most racist ever”?

That’s not history. That’s theatre.

👉 Check the episode here: https://youtu.be/4L-syhnVknY

And tell me honestly: has the word “racist” become too easy to throw around in New Zealand politics?

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 76

Duncan Garner Podcast

Labour got addicted to spending.
National got elected to stop it.
So why is the bill still going up?

This week’s Budget will show the truth: National talked tough in opposition, but in government it has kept the same giant machine running.

More borrowing. More spending. More taxpayer money out the door.

And here’s the bit no politician wants to say: New Zealand isn’t just run by a big-spending government. New Zealand has become addicted to government money.

So who’s actually worse? Check the full episode here: https://youtu.be/fouZoBpm35A

4 weeks ago | [YT] | 103

Duncan Garner Podcast

🚨 HALF A BILLION DOLLARS? FOR A PORT EXPANSION?

This is where New Zealand is now.

A Tauranga hapū connected to Ngāti Kuku and Whareroa Marae is seeking compensation and revenue-sharing arrangements reportedly worth $335 million to $475 million over 35 years over the Port of Tauranga expansion.

The port says it has offered $1 million upfront plus $25,000 a year ongoing.

Shane Jones joined me and did not hold back. His view is simple: major infrastructure cannot be held to ransom every time New Zealand tries to build something important.

And this is not just about Tauranga.

It is about roads, ports, dams, mines, pipelines, energy projects and whether this country can still get anything done without being dragged into endless payouts, delays and cultural vetoes.

So here’s the question:

Is this fair compensation, or has consultation become economic blackmail?

👇 Have your say below.

1 month ago | [YT] | 13

Duncan Garner Podcast

Do you back cutting 8,000 public service jobs?

We asked this across YouTube and Facebook, and the result was pretty blunt.

Around 7 in 10 broadly back cuts.

But here’s the part that matters.

Are we cutting waste, or are we cutting services people actually need?

Cut the consultants?
Cut the layers?
Cut the meetings about meetings?

A lot of you say yes.

But what about the people answering phones, processing cases and keeping the system moving?

That’s where it gets tricky.

So tell us below:

Where should the Government cut first?
And what should be completely off limits?

Full episode link here: https://youtu.be/hrgg_IraSB8

1 month ago | [YT] | 237

Duncan Garner Podcast

Do you back the Government cutting 8,000 public service jobs?

Duncan’s asking this on the show tonight.
The Government says 8,000 public service jobs need to go.

Some say it is long overdue.

Some say it will hit real people and their families.

Some say it does not go far enough.
So where do you land?

Vote below and tell us why in the comments. We’ll pull the best responses into the show.

https://youtu.be/xB7-I-xB_g4

1 month ago | [YT] | 99

Duncan Garner Podcast

"NCEA is broken and can't be fixed." — Minister of Education Erica Stanford.

She's moving fast to replace it with a knowledge-rich, internationally benchmarked curriculum. But is the "pace" she mentions too much, or exactly what NZ schools need right now?

👇 What's your experience with the current system? Let’s talk below.

1 month ago | [YT] | 5