About Juggernaut: The story of the fourth Labour government
After the tempestuous 80s, New Zealand wanted that cup of tea and a lie down. Instead, the Juggernaut was reborn for the 1990s with fresh crisis, brutal cuts and a blizzard of reforms, including a historic new chapter in Crown-Māori relations, a Beehive coup and the gravity-defying advent of an entirely new electoral system.
Includes new and exclusive interviews with Jim Bolger, Ruth Richardson, Jenny Shipley, Helen Clark, Doug Graham, Don McKinnon, Bill Birch, Sandra Lee-Vercoe, Tau Henare and many more.
Made with the support of NZ On Air.
The future diplomat who let down Muldoon’s tyres the night he called a snap election
On the evening of June 14 1984, Sir Robert Muldoon called a snap election. Then he got drunk. But when the prime minister went to drive his own car home to Vogel House in Lower Hutt, he was stymied: his beloved Triumph 1500 had a flat tyre.
Who was it that took the air out of the tyre?
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8 Dec 2025
Episode 6: The Prime Minister Is Not a Person
New Zealand’s first MMP government gets off to a rocky start, beset by boxer-short scandals and lousy poll numbers. Jim Bolger declares “springtime for New Zealand”, but the economic weather won’t play ball. He leaves for Europe oblivious to the plans being cooked up by a small, secretive group of MPs called “The Te Puke Bypass Committee”.
When Bolger returns from overseas, Doug Graham is there to deliver the news – Jenny Shipley has the numbers; the game is up. Many are relieved, many distraught. Winston Peters is furious. The frost between Peters and Shipley never thaws, and before long an almighty, unprecedented cabinet conflagration ensues.
The final episode of Juggernaut 2: The Story of the Fourth National Government goes beyond the end of that term, to explore questions of legacy – how did this period in our history change New Zealand, for better or worse, and how will Jim Bolger, who died in October 2025 at the age of 90, be remembered?
Includes new and exclusive interviews with Jim Bolger, Jenny Shipley, Ruth Richardson, Rob Eaddy, Doug Graham, Tau Henare, Helen Clark, Sandra Lee-Vercoe and more.
Click here for full details of archive material used in this series
Juggernaut 2 was made with the support of NZ On Air.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 Dec 2025
Episode 5: The Seven Generations Fight
The 1990s in New Zealand have dawned with images of harmony projected to the world, but longstanding divisions still acute at home. The Bolger government comes to power promising to uphold the Treaty and provide redress for injustice.
Negotiations over the Sealords fishery quota and with two of Aotearoa’s largest iwi, Waikato Tainui and Ngāi Tahu face pushback from all directions: in cabinet and the National Party base, from the public, and within te ao Māori, where the concept of the “fiscal envelope” is widely considered anathema.
Plus: how Jim Bolger outmanoeuvered Ruth Richardson on Te Papa.
The fifth episode of Juggernaut 2: The Story of the Fourth National Government includes new and exclusive interviews with Jim Bolger, Anake Goodall, Doug Graham, Tau Henare, Jenny Shipley and more.
Click here for full details of archive material used in this series
Juggernaut 2 was made with the support of NZ On Air.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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