Free Kiwis!

About Free Kiwis!

A podcast focussing on freedom and free speech in a New Zealand context, hosted by two Wellington-based academics, Drs. Michael Johnston (VUW Education) and James Kierstead (VUW Classics).

Publisher

James

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

6 Aug 2021

Latest episode

19 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

62 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   19 Jun 2026

   Grant Robertson and South American dictators

   In their latest dialogue, Michael and James discuss whether an email sent by Grant Robertson in his capacity as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago breached the institutional neutrality provision introduced into the Education and Training Act just last year. Michael also asks James about the second rounds of the Peruvian and Colombian presidential elections, as well as both countries' troubled political pasts. Mario Vargas Llosa: Una Vida en Palabras: https://youtu.be/WiHzTF4W_SY?si=5E...

2. 

   18 May 2026

   Frederick Attenborough

   James talks to Fred Attenborough, Research Manager at the UK Committee for Academic Freedom, about the recent ruling in a landmark academic freedom case, University of Sussex vs. Office for Students. Will the ruling fatally weaken the Office for Students, which the new UK academic freedom legislation empowers to regulate universities, before the the new academic freedom regime even gets going? Freddie has a number of pieces on this case up on the CAF website: https://afcomm.org.uk/author/fred...

3. 

   16 May 2026

   Mitchell Palmer

   Mitchell Palmer is an economist at the Adam Smith Institute. We talked to him about his journey from Auckland to London via Singapore and Oxford; how to reform the UK student loan system; and the recent past and near future of the ACT Party. Mitchell's report on student loans: https://www.adamsmith.org/research/credit-crunch Peter Ainsworth's IEA report on student loans: https://iea.org.uk/publications/shares-in-students-a-new-model-for-university-funding/

Who has been a guest on Free Kiwis!

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Doug Elliffe
• Steph Martin
• Peter Boghossian

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 25 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

19

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

76

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