Episode
Wasted Millions, Starmer Sacrificed and Cross Party KiwiSaver (?)
- Podcast
- Cross Party Lines
- Published
- Jun 22, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3156
- Processing state
not_requested
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Summary
Hosted by Phil Goff and Chris Finlayson , Cross Party Lines returns for a policy-heavy episode — a weekend of conference announcements, party platforms and pre-election positioning gives Phil and Chris more material than they can get through in an hour, and they try anyway. All thanks to Frank Risk Management, our foundational partner and the 100% kiwi owned insurance brokerage. In this episode: * $32 million, nothing to show and the eternal curse of government IT — Immigration New Zealand’s biometric system has consumed $32 million and produced precisely nothing. Phil and Chris trace the familiar pattern: INCIS in the nineties, Novopay, and now this. Chris wants a centralised specialist IT contract unit in government rather than every department reinventing the wheel. Phil adds a sharper question: if the public service can’t get biometrics right, what on earth makes anyone think it can safely replace 9,000 workers with AI? * KiwiSaver, Green taxes and the election’s big policy weekend — National’s conference in Lower Hutt produced the headline announcement: compulsory KiwiSaver contributions rising to six percent. Chris calls it a seismic and welcome shift — one of Cullen’s great legacies, finally being taken seriously. Phil agrees in principle but worries hard about low-income workers living week to week, and raises a troubling allegation from a trade union that some employers are substituting KiwiSaver contributions for wage rises, meaning workers are effectively funding both sides. The Greens launched a sweeping tax package — inheritance tax above a million dollars, wealth tax, higher corporate rates, bank levies, tech company withholding tax. * Starmer’s last days, reform’s wobble and the UK’s revolving door — Three British by-elections dominate the international…