Hosted by Phil Goff and Chris Finlayson with Sam Collins, Cross Party Lines closes out 2025 by stepping back from the weekly headlines and taking stock of a year that felt frenetic, unsettled and politically revealing.This episode is a wide-ranging end-of-year review — part reflection, part reckoning — as the panel looks at what genuinely mattered in politics over the past twelve months.In this episode:* The biggest surprise of 202...
Hosted by Phil Goff and Chris Finlayson with Sam Collins, Cross Party Lines closes out 2025 by stepping back from the weekly headlines and taking stock of a year that felt frenetic, unsettled and politically revealing.
This episode is a wide-ranging end-of-year review — part reflection, part reckoning — as the panel looks at what genuinely mattered in politics over the past twelve months.
In this episode:
* The biggest surprise of 2025 — Why the long-awaited economic recovery never quite arrived, how cost-of-living pressures reshaped political sentiment, and why Labour’s rebound under Chris Hipkins defied early expectations.
* Australia’s election shock — What Anthony Albanese’s decisive re-election says about modern centre-left leadership, and how Peter Dutton’s collapse offers a warning to conservative parties drifting away from liberal democratic principles.
* The best political performers — From rising stars across Labour to standout operators on the National benches, with a strong consensus on who earned credibility through competence rather than noise.
* The worst performers — and why — Shameless populism, incoherent positioning, and policies that shifted week-to-week without principle. A blunt assessment of New Zealand First, political opportunism, and the cost of saying one thing and doing another.
* Policies that hurt — and policies that mattered — From heated tobacco tax cuts and climate retreat, to Treaty-related law changes that inflamed division. Balanced against RMA reform, the India FTA, and Labour’s renewed push for a capital gains tax in the name of tax fairness.
* Migration, trade and social cohesion — Why demonising migrants is both morally wrong and economically short-sighted, and why bipartisan cooperation matters most on issues that shape the country’s long-term future.
Plus: Air New Zealand’s declining service, the limits of marketing over performance, reflections on political decency after tragedy and book recommendations for the summer break.
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