Josie moderated a pre-election debate on aid, trade, and foreign affairs for the Council for International Development and the New Zealand Institute for International Affairs.

The panel comprised Dan Rosewarne MP (Labour Party), Hon Gerry Brownlee MP (National Party), Golriz Ghahraman MP (Green Party) and Brooke van Velden MP (ACT Party).

Watch below or view edited highlights on CID's YouTube page here.

Josie joined The Hoon to discuss Russia's war in Ukraine, the US Republican primary debate and the BRICS countries.

Listen here.

Group identity can bowl over a good idea just because the party line says so. Bad decisions get made, and no new information will change minds. You need parties to sort ideas into coherent packages, but if party activists cannot see that the other side sometimes has a point, they will stick to an unpopular policy on principle and lose elections.

A more serious problem with polarisation is the risk to democracy itself. The essential promise of democracy is that sometimes the other side has a point and voters can correct errors. The losing side accept the loss, knowing that they can try again in three years.

This transition of power is a sacred ritual, which is why it shocks to see it dismembered by Polariser-in-Chief Donald Trump. If, like Trump and his co-conspirators, you believe the other side are not just wrong, but evil, then logically they must be destroyed, not just beaten.

Josie's Post column on political polarisation is here. [Paywall]

Josie was on One news commenting on a new poll showing NZ First closing on the 5% threshold to re-enter parliament.

They've been hovering around the 5% mark, they usually go up even more in the campaign so I'm thinking we'll see NZ First back in Parliament. It looks like NZ First is back. I think partly that’s because you’re seeing Labour drop in the polls and you’re seeing some Labour voters wanting to reconfigure what might be a National/ACT government.”

Watch here.

Josie joined Heather du Plessis-Allan and Trish Sherson on the Huddle on Newstalk ZB to talk ACT's policy of putting public service chief executives on performance based pay.

Labour has announced a new batch of educational policies.

And New Zealand First's Shane Jones makes a viral Tik Tok video.

Listen here.

Josie joined Bernard Hickey and Peter Bale on the Hoon to talk the week's news.

Listen here.

The Government has done such a hapless job of replying to these critics, I am no longer surprised they won’t entertain a capital gains tax or meaningful restructuring of the tax system in favour of working people. Labour MPs simply don’t have the political skills to make arguments for things that are not already popular.

Tax purity is good, but it’s not everything. Fairness matters too. From each according to your ability to pay is a more important principle than “simplest possible tax system”, because the simplest system is none at all.

If you think there are better ways to help working people, you are probably right, but it means a tax switch to cut income tax, and make up the revenue with wealth taxes and capital gains taxes

Josie's column in the Post this week discussed GST off fresh fruit and vegetables.

Josie joined Heather du Plessis-Allan and Phil O'Reilly on Newstalk ZB's The Huddle to talk about Labour's plan to scrap the 15 percent GST from fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables and NZ First is gaining popularity in the polls.

Listen here.

Josie joined Bernard Hickey's The Hoon and talked about the themes in her Post column of big ideas for the future of New Zealand, which can be about building New Zealand instead of regrowth.

Listen here.

Josie's column in the Post looks at the international trend toward 'friend shoring' and other forms of 'place-based economics' and asks what we can do in New Zealand.

Remarkable people, and ideas that change the world, always emerge out of an alchemy of culture, patronage, and political conditions that promote innovation and the exchange of ideas.’ Who has an industrial policy for NZ?
National’s big education policy is to ban phones in schools. A policy so modern and technology savvy that iPads, smart watches and connected laptops will have to be banned next, so that kids can sit down at Bible studies class and practice their cursive script with a fountain pen.

Josie joined Mark Sainsbury and Nick Mills on Newstalk ZB's Friday Faceoff to talk about Winston Peters coming back, National wanting to ban phones in schools, Wellington mayor Tory Whanau's dog being evicted from council offices and her plan to stop going out for a drink.

Josie joined Trish Sheron and Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk ZB's The Huddle, to discuss Labour's plans for a second Waitemata Harbour crossing, the Green Party's plan for a New Zealand Dental Service offering free basic and specialist care to be paid for by a wealth tax, and tobacco companies supporting a campaign to "save" dairies from smokefree initiatives.

Josie joined Bernard Hickey's The Hoon to wrap the week in politics.

Listen here.

‘We can’t all take the bus, or use what the Wellington wonk set calls “Active Transport”, formally known as “walking” and “cycling”.

Josie's column on transport issues in The Post (paid).