Navigation for Ideas
Influential Kiwis talk about their Influences
Prominent New Zealanders talk about the individuals, writers and thinkers who have shaped their outlook.
Collection items
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Ideas for 20 September 2009: Moana Jackson
20 Sep 2009Lawyer Moana Jackson is well known as an advocate of constitutional change and the rights of indigenous people both here and abroad. Chris Laidlaw talks to Moana about the people, writers and… Audio
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Ideas for 25 October 2009: Roger Kerr
25 Oct 2009Business Roundtable executive director, the late Roger Kerr (1945-2011) spoke about the people and thinkers who influenced his ideas with Chris Laidlaw in 2009. The list is a mixture of the… Audio
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Ideas for 6 December 2009: Sandra Coney
6 Dec 2009Sandra Coney is probably best known as the co-author of an investigative Metro article which ultimately led to the Cervical Cancer Inquiry. An award-winning journalist and editor of the feminist… Audio
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Ideas for 14 February 2010: Jeanette Fitzsimons
14 Feb 2010Jeanette Fitzsimons retired from Parliament in February 2012 after 13 years as an Alliance and then Green MP. Despite having never sat on the Government benches there would be few if any commentators… Audio
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Ideas for 28 March 2010: Sir Robert Jones
28 Mar 2010When businessman and politician Sir Robert Jones was asked to nominate three or four individuals and three or four writers and philosophers who influenced his own ideas, he came back with a… Audio
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Ideas for 13 June 2010: Tony Simpson
Historian Tony Simpson is the author of 14 books including probably his best known work The Sugarbag Years - a collection of oral histories documenting the depression. A former trade unionist and… Audio
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Ideas for 17 October 2010: Matt McCarten
17 Oct 2010Matt McCarten is the secretary and founding member of the Unite Union - one of the few unions anywhere in the world to have successfully unionised McDonald's restaurants. A founder of both the New… Audio
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Ideas for 28 November 2010: Colin Tukuitonga
Colin Tukuitonga was born on Niue - or 'the rock' as it's affectionately known. In his early teens he went to Fiji to further his education, eventually graduating as a medical doctor. His has been a… Audio
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Ideas for 20 February 2011: Claudia Orange
20 Feb 2011Claudia Orange is the author of the (updated in 2011) book: The Treaty of Waitangi (Bridget Williams Books). A work that has shaped the way many people understand the place of the treaty in New… Audio
This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions.
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Ideas for 8 May 2011: Sir Paul Reeves
In August 2011 Sir Paul Reeves (1932 - 2011) was given a truly memorable send-off at a state funeral in Auckland. His was an extraordinary life by any standards. Ordained a deacon in 1958, Sir Paul… Audio
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Ideas for 26 June 2011: Professor James Belich
Professor James Belich was known for his revisionist histories of the New Zealand wars and his two-volume history of New Zealand. But his 2011 work, Replenishing the Earth, took on a much larger… Audio
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Ideas for 27 November 2011: Dame Anne Salmond
27 Nov 2011Dame Anne Salmond speaks to Chris Laidlaw about her influences including: kaumatua Eruera and Amiria Stirling; economist Joseph Stiglitz; and Patrick O'Brien's novels about eighteenth century… Audio
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Ideas for 5 February 2012: Gareth Morgan
5 Feb 2012Chris Laidlaw talks to Gareth Morgan - economist, author, philanthropist, adventurer, Phoenix Football Club co-owner, and father of Sam 'TradeMe' Morgan. From the Ideas collection: Influential Kiwis… Audio
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Ideas for 8 April 2012: Bob Kerridge
8 Apr 2012From hobnobbing with Hollywood moguls as a child to championing the rights of pets as the SPCA’s executive director, Bob Kerridge has, by anyone’s standards, had an extraordinary life. Here he is in… Audio
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Ideas for 20 May 2012: Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi
Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi began her teaching career relieving for Sylvia Ashton-Warner and went on to help found the kohanga reo movement. Chris Laidlaw talks to Dame Iritana, who is of Ngati Porou… Audio
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Ideas for 24 June 2012: Justice Joe Williams
24 Jun 2012Joe Williams will be known to some as the lead singer of the staunchly radical Maori 1980s reggae band, Aotearoa, and to others as a High Court Judge. A former chair of the Waitangi Tribunal, Justice… Audio
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Ideas for 12 August 2012: Jim Flynn
12 Aug 2012Jim Flynn is arguably New Zealand’s foremost moral philosopher. His pioneering work on IQs has changed the way we think about intelligence. Professor Flynn reflects on his life and influences and… Audio
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Ideas for 14 October 2012: Trevor Grice
Trevor Grice, the founder of the Life Education Trust tells Chris Laidlaw about the people, thinkers and events that have shaped his life. From a malnourished childhood and struggles with alcoholism… Audio
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Ideas for 18 November 2012: Mai Chen
Constitutional lawyer Mai Chen, along with her former partner in law Sir Geoffrey Palmer, is widely credited with setting up the country's first US-style public law firm - Chen Palmer. So what drives… Audio
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Ideas for 23 December 2012: John Barnett
We speak to pioneering movie and TV producer John Barnett. There could hardly be a single New Zealander who hasn't enjoyed one of the many Kiwi culture-defining projects he's been involved with. These… Audio
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Ideas for 17 February 2013: Melissa Clark-Reynolds
17 Feb 2013Serial entrepreneur Melissa Clark-Reynolds tells Chris Laidlaw about her start-up, MiniMonos.com – a website that aimed to harness the power of social media to raise a generation of eco-conscious… Audio
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Ideas for 28 April 2013: Jim Bolger
Prior to becoming New Zealand's 35th Prime Minister, James Brendan Bolger was first elected to Parliament as the MP for King Country in 1972. The Honourable Jim Bolger speaks to Chris Laidlaw about… Audio
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Ideas for 7 July 2013: Bridget Williams
7 Jul 2013Bridget Williams has published everything from The Oxford History of New Zealand and The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography to Judith Binney's Encircled Lands and the just-published Inequality: A New… Audio
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Ideas for 18 August 2013: Rick Fala
How did a company that had spent more than a century supplying New Zealand homes with utilitarian tapware morph into a company exporting luxury showerheads to some of the world’s most exclusive… Audio
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Ideas for 20 October 2013: Hamish Keith
Self-described arts odd-job man Hamish Keith talks about the individuals, writers and thinkers who have influenced him.
A former chair of the New Zealand Arts Council, author, curator, television… Audio
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Chris Laidlaw Says Goodbye
22 Dec 2013In the last hour of Chris Laidlaw's last programme on Radio NZ, Chris - with guest interviewer Ian Johnstone - becomes the latest subject in our occasional series where prominent New Zealanders talk… Audio
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Ideas for 23 February 2014: Martin Phillipps of The Chills
Martin Phillipps of The Chills is one of our leading songwriters and a pioneer of what became known as the 'Dunedin Sound' - the sound that helped the Flying Nun label build an international… Audio
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Historian Jock Phillips
8 Jun 2014Jock Phillips is one of those rare breed of historians with an ability to fuse an academic approach with a more populist take on culture and history. His books have offered an insight into who we are… Audio
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Garth McVicar and Kim Workman
In the latest of our occasional series Influential Kiwis Talk About Their Influences, Garth McVicar and Kim Workman reflect on the individuals, books and events that have shaped them. Kim Workman and… Audio
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Influential Kiwis talk about their influences: Helen Kelly
CTU president Helen Kelly tells us about the individuals, books and events that have influenced her. Audio
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Influential Kiwis talk about their influences: Phil O'Reilly
Business New Zealand chief executive Phil O'Reilly tells us about individuals, books and events that have influenced him. Audio
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Wystan Curnow - Life and Influences
In the latest of our occasional series, Influential Kiwis talk about their Influences, Wystan Curnow reflects on 50 years of writing about art. He discusses his abiding love for Herman Melville and… Audio
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Alan Gibbs - life and influences
Alan Gibbs, businessman, amphibious motorcar inventor, founding member of the ACT Party, and creator of the world-class Gibbs Farm sculpture park, is the latest guest in our occasional Influential… Audio
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Sir Tipene O’Regan : Life and Influences
29 Mar 2015Straddling both the Pakeha and Māori worlds it's fair to say his influence on Māoridom has been profound. Sir Tipene O'Regan has been described as the architect of the Maori economic model, who… Audio
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Bunny McDiarmid - Life and Influences
Bunny McDiarmid is the outgoing head of Greenpeace New Zealand. Her life as an environmental activist began in earnest with her joining the crew of the anti-nuclear protest ship The Fri in the early… Audio
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Sue Bradford: Life and Influences
8 Nov 2015Former Green MP, Mana Party candidate and long-time activist who is possibly best known for the passing of her so-called "anti-smacking" bill in 2007. Audio
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Dame Jenny Shipley - Life and influences
13 Dec 2015The right honorable Dame Jenny Shipley talks about her life and influences. Audio
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Geoff Chapple - Life and Influences
14 Feb 2016Geoff Chapple is probably best known for being the prime mover behind Te Araroa - The National Walkway. But he's also a composer of operas, an author of numerous books and a keen musician. In the… Audio
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Roger Hall - Life and Influences
At one point in his 40-year career as a playwright, one of Roger Hall's plays was being staged somewhere every 11 days. He's won many awards and packed out theatres with plays such as Glide Time,… Audio
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John Kirwan - life and influences
John Kirwan is one of the most prolific try-scorers in All Black history. He's a former coach of the Italian and Japanese national rugby teams, and of course, the Blues. He talks to Wallace about… Audio