Juggernaut 2: The Story of the Fourth National Government
Episodes
Episode 6: The Prime Minister Is Not a Person
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
New Zealand’s first MMP government gets off to a rocky start, beset by boxer-short scandals and lousy poll numbers. Jim Bolger declares “springtim...
Episode 5: The Seven Generations Fight
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The 1990s in New Zealand have dawned with images of harmony projected to the world, but longstanding divisions still acute at home. The Bolger governm...
Episode 4: One for a Party, One for a Person
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It took an extraordinary cocktail of events to bring proportional representation to New Zealand – everything from political cock-ups to public screa...
Episode 3: Bugger the Pollsters
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After some of the most hectic months in the history of New Zealand politics, Jim Bolger faces a white-knuckle byelection in Tamaki. In the seat vacate...
Episode 2: The Mother of All Budgets
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A mood of protest sweeps New Zealand in 1991, sometimes spilling over into violence, as the reform machine powers on. Benefits are slashed, the Employ...
Episode 1: A Decent Society
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After the breakneck reforms of the 80s, Jim Bolger’s promise of a calmer, more inclusive New Zealand hits the spot. Emerging from the shadow of Muld...
Juggernaut 2: Out now
19 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The award-winning podcast returns to tell the story of a Juggernaut reborn for the 90s in National blue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap...
Season 1, bonus episode: Ross Vintiner - The Lange I Knew
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ross Vintiner was right by David Lange's side in opposition and in government as his head of press. If you enjoyed the Juggernaut series on the fourth...
Season 1, Episode 6: Breakup
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Lange-Douglas relationship frays further as the prime minister unilaterally pulls the pin on a flat tax package signed off by cabinet. A furious D...
Season 1, Episode 5: Nine Day Wonder
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At the urging of the gay community, Fran Wilde takes the homosexual law reform bill to parliament in 1985. The campaign encounters fierce resistance f...
Season 1, Episode 4: Quantum Leap
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Roger Douglas’s radical overhaul of the NZ economy kicks through the gears. A new investor class gets high on champagne and shares. What could go wr...
Season 1, Episode 3: Uranium on Your Breath
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a tense and divided cold war world, David Lange emerges as an anti-nuclear champion, despite being out of contact, deep in the Pacific when the cri...
Season 1, Episode 2: The Nation Is at Risk
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Victory for Lange in 1984 comes with a cluster of crises – economic and constitutional. In a pair of spellbinding TV interviews, the bellicose outgo...
Season 1, Episode 1: I Love You, Mr Lange
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Fuelled by brandy and fury, Sir Rob Muldoon calls a snap election, sparking a 1984 campaign of contrasts – the menacing, protectionist National PM a...
Juggernaut Season 1: Out Now
10 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Spinoff presents Juggernaut, hosted by Toby Manhire. When a brandy-fuelled Rob Muldoon called a snap election in 1984, the dam burst on a period o...