This week we are delighted to have the newest voice of the Iron Duke Podcast with us, Ben Craven. His soothing voice and hot, sometimes justified, takes fit in well.

In this episode we discuss peace talks, RUCs, electorates, education and the removal of te reo from easy reading books, more building and construction reform and New Zealand’s funky control towers.

This week on the Iron Duke Podcast we talk about the end of modern learning environments, some positive progress on NCEA results, the announcement of the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election date, the for some reason spicy topic of gene technology, further severe weather events and how we are responding to them and the not-so-good unemployment rate for younger people.

This week on the Iron Duke Podcast we discuss our peaks of the week, including the Government’s newly amended Family Boost for childcare policy, the revolutionary AI plan, and the charities that receive funding from crime proceeds. Our pits of the week include Oriini Kaipara seeking the TPM candidacy in Auckland’s Tāmaki Makaurau electorate, Chippy having a crack at the media for being biased, and how little the powers are for our bravest security guards.

We love to complain about New Zealand — the rent, the wages, the price of whatever the media is fixated on at the time — but stacked against the places we flee to in our 20s and 30s, it quietly holds its own.

Back after a little a post-Live Podcast hiatus. Our highs of the week are the new 24/7 telehealth service, Gensis energy looking to build another peaker plant and the harsher penalties for those who assault first responders. Our lows of the week include the Government banning all international online betting sites, potential removal of regional councils and who is pooing in school water supply? 

This week, we bring to you the live recording of the Iron Duke Podcast. Jesse, Maddy, and Henry dive into an interactive discussion with a live audience at the Wellington Club, tackling some of today’s big public policy challenges: the New Zealand energy system, social media, and superannuation.

Note: Our mics couldn’t catch everything, so some audience questions and comments may be a little faint.

This week the team takes you through their peaks and pits of the week. This week we discuss Karen Chhour’s advocacy of safety measures for pets living in households with domestic violence, New Zealand’s first private Building Consent Authority and the post Budget 2025 polls, facial recognition in supermarkets, the future of hydrogen and a potential ban on fireworks.

The Iron Duke Podcast takes you through Budget 2025. The goods, the bads and the uglies.

This week on the Iron Duke Podcast we take you through our peaks including the Government’s new public EV charging infrastructure programme, the Australian election and the Crown now covering the fee to renew licenses for teachers. Our pits are Trump cutting off the universities/colleges, the conclusion of the Early Childhood Education review and the striking of 5000 doctors across the country.   

We should be thinking about this new Government spending as a big opportunity to effectively involve New Zealand industry and build our own private-sector defence industry capability. This should be done in such a way as to enable Kiwi businesses to engage, not just with our New Zealand Defence Force upgrades, but also those that will be taking place in neighbours and allies such as Australia, Singapore and further afield.

This week the Iron Duke team take you through Luxon’s speech on free trade, the shopping list for New Zealand’s new defence spending, Andrew Little entering the race for the Wellington Mayoralty, local government amalgamations, an update on Trump tariffs and this week’s spicy content – pregnant people…

It is instructive to note that on the day President Trump announced his tariffs against Mexico and Canada, every single major US business organisation made public statements opposing the tariffs and proposing alternatives. Those statements were constructive, sober and based on evidence.

All three of your favourite podcasters are back in the studio this week. Making us smile this week are the (marginally) improved education attendance stats, Nicola Willis threatening to drop the hammer on our uncompetitive supermarket duopoly and the King of Rail Winston Peters announcement regarding the Cook Strait ferries. The not so good include Trump breaking records with his approval ratings, LIBERATION DAY and Tamatha Paul’s comments about the poor old beat cops.

Welcome back! This week the team discuss HealthNZ running their financials through a singular spreadsheet, the initial outcomes of Luxon’s Investment Summit, how New Zealand is ascending the rankings in best places to live as an expat, Labour’s continuous flip flop in view on public-private partnerships, the cat fight between Mayor Tory Whanau and Luxon and the the latest results of the Performance of Services index.

We also give you the inside scoop on our first LIVE PODCAST event – listen in to see how you can get yourself some free tickets.

After a patchy start to the year, the Iron Duke podcasters are back in the studio giving you a run down on the latest in the world of policy and politics. We discuss Luxon’s mighty Investment Summit, the new Government Procurement Rules, school lunches, the wild west of online gambling and the not so flash looking polls for the Nats. See you next week!

After an unintended hiatus, Jesse and Henry are back with another episode of the Iron Duke Podcast. Given it seems like so much has happened in the last few weeks, we run you through the latest and greatest with Trump, Germany’s 2025 election, the Cook Islands, Chinese warships and (ex)Minister Andrew Bayly. A big episode today to get you all back on track with what is happening in the world of policy and politics. 

Happy New Year listeners and welcome back to another season of the Iron Duke Podcast. It’s good to be back. 

We kick the year off with a download on Trump’s first week back in power, how DeepSeek has taken the AI world by storm, political chat around a potential privatisation of state assets, how the Government’s push to get digital nomads visiting New Zealand, the reversal of speed limits and the 80th  Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz.

The trio also pose a question to listeners around whether there would be interest in a monthly 45min deep dive into a single policy and politics topic – let us know!

The question now is how can the Government and businesses collaborate over the next year to transform this hopeful confidence into tangible results - faster business growth, improved infrastructure, more jobs, and increased prosperity?

To wrap up the year, the Iron Duke Studios team unravel all that was the year of 2024.

Many countries that compete with us for investment are busy developing industrial policies that heavily favour their domestic sectors. They are subsidising investment in things like green technology, electric vehicles, hi-tech manufacturing, digital, and much more besides.