Three Gals One Beehive

This week the Gals mark their 150th episode by talking about Paul Henry and other ‘celebrity’ candidates, the relationship between India and NZ, boring but more important announcements and the naughty sharing of paywalled articles.    Yass Queen to Sir Sam Neill and Beehave Mate to Japan.    Question Time: Is Opportunity Party right leaning or left leaning?

This week the Gals talk about money, money, money, election policies, bad behaviour in our backyard and an incoming visit from the Indian PM.    Yass Queen to German MP Kathi Gebel and Beehave Mate to FIFA/Trump.    Question Time: Why do a lot of government departments use offshore banks and fuel providers not local ones?

This week the Gals talk about Labour’s election year conference, ACT’s American-style campaign rally, emergency housing targets and an update on the controversial Conservation Amendment Bill.   Yass Queen to female CFOs and Beehave Mate to health officials for taking umbrage with the Stuff’s morning quiz.    Question Time: What are your thoughts on Pauline Hanson and what's going on in Australian politics? 

This week the Gals talk about KiwiSaver reform, tax, conservation land and serious failings in our mental health system.    Yass Queen to Smokefree Rockquest and Beehave Mate to the UK.    Question Time: What would happen after the election if no party could negotiate to achieve a coalition that delivered a majority in the House? 

This week the Gals debrief after Scrutiny Week, talk about new Labour Party policies, more on fiscal holes and tentative peace in the Middle East.    Yass Queen to a lovely kumbaya moment on infrastructure and Beehave Mate to David Seymour.    Question Time: could we have a Sinn Féin scenario where seats are won but there’s no representatives in Parliament? 

This week the Gals are feisty chatting about Labour’s policy announcement, Labour’s party list, Budget holes and gumboots and tractors.    Yass Queen to a practical health announcement for paramedics and a quasi Beehave Mate to some question marks over taxpayer funded contracts.    Question Time: how do polls represent NZ as a whole? 

This week the Gals discuss the aftermath of Budget 2026, a range of foreign policy bits and pieces, voting rights on local government committees and agreeing to disagree with Dame Lynda Topp.    Yass Queen to the beautiful game and Beehave Mate to the cluster that is Reform councillors across the UK.    Question Time: are our political donations undemocratic? 

This week it’s all about Budget 2026 in a special episode sponsored by Robert Walters.    The Gals break down what’s in the Budget, including key headlines, trade-offs, winners, losers, and wildcards.    Happy listening! 

In this episode Ginny Andersen, Labour party spokesperson for Education, Jobs and Incomes, Police, Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations talks about playing with play dough, staying classy and is Grant Roberson actually the weatherman?

In this episode, the Gals talk to 'boyfriend of the pod' Chris Penk, who is also the Minister of Defence, Minister for Building and Construction, Minister for Veterans, Minister Responsible for the GCSB and NZSIS, Minister for Space and Associate Minister for Emergency Management and Recovery.    Listen to hear a little exclusive on the episode - enjoy! 

In this episode, the Gals speak to Opportunity Party leader Qiulae Wong about why she put herself forward to lead a small political party, what she thinks about the state of politics right now and what policies Opportunity is running on this year.    We get stuck into a good debate about tax, universal basic income, balancing the books and citizens’ assemblies. 

This week the Gals talk about the PM’s Singapore trip, immigration, local government amalgamation and email-gate.   Yass Queen to the Singaporean PM for an emotional speech, Beehave Mate to David Seymour and Wayne Brown’s childish squabble.   Question Time: How do petitions become laws?

With over two thirds of this election term complete, the Gals take the opportunity to talk to politicians about how it is all going.   In this episode, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, MP for Te Tai Tokarau has a kōrero with the Gals about winning the her seat by about 500 votes in 2023, whānau, Te Reo Māori and that strange place called Parliament

This week the gals are talking about the outcome of National's marathon caucus meeting, Treaty Clauses, the politics of signing a free trade deal with India and the State of the Planet.   Yass Queen and Beehave Mate go to international contenders this week and a great question on the benefits of Single Transferable Voting (STV) versus the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting systems.

This week the Gals talk about our weather warning systems, the future of the Broadcasting Standards Authority and NZ First attracting some big guns.    Yass Queen to Hungary and Beehave Mate to our outdated sex offence laws.    Question Time: what should the government look to do in terms of the debt trajectory in the Budget? The Gals’ opinions may surprise you! 

This week the Gals discuss the evolving situation in the Middle East, a whole bunch of economic and polling numbers, another set of blunders from our PM and a stolen election.  Yass Queen to ceasefire negotiations and Beehave Mate to those who dislike feijoas. Georgie has been kicked out of the country as a result.

Half time talks: Laura McClure In this episode the gals talk to first term ACT list MP Laura McClure about deep fakes, Shakespeare, the parliamentary biscuit tin, and Education.

In this week’s episode the gals talk fuel relief and fuel levels, fishing u-turns and the Cabinet reshuffle winners and losers.  Esther shows off her impressive selection of National Party impersonations and Georgie defends the time she spent at the hairdresser.

In this episode the gals talk to Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick about the Greens chances to increase their vote, what she would do as finance minister and getting door knocked by David Seymour’s dad.

This week the Gals discuss fuel prices, diplomatic schmozzles in Samoa, a Labour Party reshuffle and the question of whether politicians’ private lives are fair game.    Yass Queen to Erica Stanford and Beehave Mate to the Labour Party for some social media trickery.    Question Time: are politicians’ private lives fair game? If so, what is the line?

This week the Gals were meant to be chatting to Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi but…. she had to reschedule waaaa.    So, we discuss the High Court ruling in Kapa-Kingi’s favour, the shocker poll and Luxon’s leadership, another Minister is goneburger and doing jumping jacks to fill up our cars.    No Yass Queen, no Beehave Mate, no Question Time. Enjoy! 

This week the Gals discuss the evolving situation in the Middle East, changes to the Census, welfare clawbacks and changes to KiwiSaver for farmers. Yass Queen to Spain and Beehave Mate to a Dunedin City councillor. Question Time: why do we treat family violence and child abuse as a social issue to discuss rather than a national emergency to act on?

This week the Gals discuss move on orders and Chuck and Mary, new road rules, Labour’s State of the Nation and the People’s Select Committee report on pay equity.   Yass Queen to a US company behind Trump’s tariff take-down and Beehave Mate to the UK Government for passport chaos.   Brigitte gets out-nerded in a lively Question Time: “dinner with two PMs - who would you pick?”

This week the Gals chat about shagging spiders, housing and infrastructure, $9 tolls and “sportsing”.   Yass Queen to Larry and Beehave Mate to the English Language Bill.   Question Time: how hard is bipartisanship planning really?

This week the Gals chat about the LNG announcement and tax vs levy, COVID spending is back in the news, some wee wobbles and the employment shake up. Yass Queen to the Ovarian Cancer Foundation and Beehave Mate to Turd City. Question Time: What is our favourite political scandal of all time?

This week the Gals chat about Waitangi, critical minerals and the unemployment rate.   Brigitte is fired from selecting Yass Queens and Beehave Mate to Peter Mandelson.   A thought provoking Question Time: How should each party approach election year?

Welcome to 2026 and Election Year! The Gals are back and this week they chat about the summer of politics, the tragic weather events we’ve seen in the  North Island and the dumpster fire that is global politics. Yass Queen to bipartisanship for making progress on modern slavery and Beehave Mate to a game of shag, shoot, marry. Question Time is all about Judith Collins!

In the second of our 'Chris Again' episodes we revist our 2023 interview with the then Labour leader and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who is now leader of the opposition. He talks about why he keeps his family out of the public eye, the importance of education and how he found being the front man for a global pandemic.

In 2023 the Gals spoke with the then leader of the opposition Christopher Luxon about what keeps him motivated in politics, pitched his party’s approach to climate change and outed himself as a Swifte.

In a 2025 bonus episode, the gals pick their pollie of the year, Brigitte causes controversy with her pick for 2025 Yass Queen and they all commit to political new year resolutions.  Special feature from Producer Andrew who has secretly collected bloopers from the year.

This week the Gals discuss the terror attack in Sydney, a new merged ministry, the state of the economy and their political Christmas wishes.  Yass Queen to the end of the road cone hotline and Beehave Mate to the Electoral Commission.  Question Time: who do you have your money on next year?

This week the Gals discuss the Resource Management Act replacement, and explosive interview from our former top cop and Richardson vs Willis. Yass Queen to striking a pay deal and Beehave Mate to the closing of our public gallery. Question Time: Will Labour repeal or reform the rates cap?

The gals are back this week and we’re talking about rates caps, pre-election announcements, regional council reforms and resignations.   It's the end of year and everyone is feeling a 'bit tired and a bit ratty' including our politicians.   Yass Queen goes to Matt Doocey for changes to the way we record stillbirths.   Beehave Mate goes to MSD for breaching the privacy of survivors of state abuse in care.

This week the gals talk ferries, Bishop’s bridge, new leaders new names, and not so clean cars. Yass Queen to Deborah Russell so we can stop lying to the government and Beehave Mate to those pesky young people.

Brigitte and Esther are back this week diving into the Police scandals, more funding for tackling meth and the next installment of the Te Pati Maori drama. The rewrite of the Arms Act is covered and the two gals dance around the asset sales debate.   Yas Queen goes to the unanimous support for congestion charging    Beehave Mate to the five senior cops who covered up abuse allegations at the highest level

This week the Gals talk about school boards and Te tiriti, a controversial Bill, supermarkets and the measles outbreak. Yass Queen to Parliament’s top animal lover and Beehave Mate also has an animal theme. Question Time: what are the black and white tiles?

This week the Gals talk about Labour’s tax plans, the new curriculum, a couple of Bills of interest, and, of course, more Te Pāti Māori drama!  Yass Queen to Sir Wira Gardiner and Beehave Mate to Kevin Rudd.  Question Time: why do regional councils have Chairs instead of Mayors?

This week Brigitte and Esther talk mega strike politics, Labour's various policies, and the MACA Bill. Incredibly, the two gals find common ground on education policy.  The Yass Queen goes to the emergency coalition of National, Labour and ACT who car pooled their way down to the Capital. Beehive mate goes to those who think it's okay to use violence to get their political points across. 

This week the Gals battle tech issues both in NZ and Bali to chat about local election results, Te Pāti Māori drama, emissions and reading. Yass Queen to Jim Bolger and a great question from a listener about Parliament legislating over judicial decisions. Happy listening!

This week Esther and Brigitte break down a week of data and numbers, analyse broken windows, stay optimistic on a peace deal in the middle east and give a shout out to Paddy Gower.

Welcome back to our Gal Esther! This week the Gals talk about earthquake strengthening changes, energy, letter gate and New Zealand’s stance on Palestine.    Brigitte is very aggrieved at the Electoral Commission, Esther volunteers as campaign manager for Judith Collins and Georgie weeps once more at the lack of bipartisanship in politics. 

This week the Gals chat about the economy, the mood of the boardroom, Palestine, Trump and the United Nations and NZ First invokes the agree to disagree clause.    Yass Queen to our first female Reserve Bank governor and Beehave Mate to some serious flip-flopping.    Question Time: what do you make of the growing online political scene in NZ? 

This week the Gals are joined by special guest Ranjani Ponnuchetty from Local Government New Zealand to talk all about local government and the current election round.    How do you vote? What does local government do? What role does central government politics play in local government? Bed tax and GST sharing?    Ranjani answers all these questions and more. Happy voting!

This week Georgie and Brigitte chat about a rather vulgar description of women, the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election,  superannuation and a Green Party resignation.    Georgie launches a call to action to save art history and Brigitte shows some love to community boards.    Yass Queen to cocktails and Beehave Mate to the former Samoan PM for refusing to concede power. 

This week the Gals chat about China and Ukraine, regional airlines, immigration and a whole lot of health sector bits and bobs.  Yass Queen to the ladies and Beehave Mate to a Kiwi Aussie.  Question Time: can you explain party affiliations in local government politics?

In this episode the Gals chat to Hon Nicola Willis - Minister of Finance, Economic Growth and Social Investment - about budgets and tax, misogyny and pay equity.

This week the Gals ventured out of the recording studio to a Women in Business event hosted by the Wellington Chamber of Commerce and Forsyth Barr and talked about Election 2026.

This week, Esther, Georige and blast from the past, former co-host Holly Bennett returns to talk NCEA, people’s select committee, Green ambition, Aussie visitors and what happened at the Marae?  Listener question: comes from a long time fan who's looking to be filled in on the past 7 weeks of political news. 

Halfway through the election term, the Gals take the opportunity to talk to senior politicians about how it is all going.   In this episode we speak to Hon Barbara Edmonds, MP for Mana, former Minister and now Labour Finance Spokesperson about whanau, taxation and budgets.

This week, Esther and Brigitte are talking about dropkicks, more doctors, homelessness and the UK Prime Minister’s ultimatum to Israel. Listener question: was the Finance Minister's meeting with Fonterra just a PR stunt?