Episode
Diesel, Debt and Democracy
- Podcast
- Cross Party Lines
- Published
- Mar 23, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2931
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- https://crosspartylines.substack.com/p/diesel-debt-and-democracy
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Summary
Hosted by Phil Goff and Chris Finlayson with Sam Collins , Cross Party Lines returns with an episode that moves from the kitchen table to the Crown balance sheet — and takes in the rise of populism across the Tasman along the way. Thanks to our foundationa partner, Frank Risk Management. In this episode: * Cost of living — With diesel up 67% in under a month and food prices running at 4.6% annually, the Iran crisis has stopped being abstract. The panel takes aim at fuel companies potentially pricing ahead of their costs, asks why a one-way flight to Auckland now costs $500, and grapples with what honest political leadership looks like when a crisis is going to hurt for years, not months. Phil paints a sobering picture of families at the supermarket checkout — and argues the government needs to direct support to those genuinely in need rather than spread it thin. Chris notes that Reagan’s misery index question — are you better off than you were three years ago? — is about to become the defining frame of the election campaign. * Treasury’s prescription: sell more, tax more, spend less — A speech by Treasury’s chief strategist laid out a bleak fiscal picture and called for hard choices. The panel digs in. Chris makes a case for asset sales — Landcorp farms to iwi, Air New Zealand to Singapore — and calls for a mature conversation about a capital gains tax. Phil pushes back on selling assets to cover day-to-day spending, drawing on the cautionary tales of NZ Rail, Thames Water and Air New Zealand’s own privatisation disaster. Both agree the early tax cuts were a mistake, that the interest bill is now crowding out meaningful public investment, and that New Zealand needs a serious debate about what the state should own — not argument by slogan. * South Australia and One Nati…