Shadowing Practice: Could TOP become New Zealand’s next kingmaker? | The Front Page - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Kia ora, I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is The Front Page, a daily podcast presented by the New Zealand Herald.
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Could now be the time to see a new party in government.
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Better yet.
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Is it time to see a new kingmaker?
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The Opportunity Party is nearing the 5 % threshold to get into Parliament for the first time in its 10 -year history.
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At the centre of that pitch is a bold tax reset policy, a universal citizen's income, a land value tax to pay for it,
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and a major rethink of retirement savings.
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But the real question now is whether voters
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Wellington or whether this is just another polling bump that will fade before Election Day.
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Today on the front page, Opportunity Leader Q Lay Wong is with us to talk about the party's momentum,
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the policies driving it and whether this is finally the year Top crosses the line into Parliament.
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So Q Lay, when you see a result like 4 .6 % in the latest poll, what's your first reaction?
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I mean, it's actually a little bit of disbelief because we've never been here as a party before.
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So it's really exciting.
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And very quickly, actually, my mind goes to Jess Hammond, who's one of our candidates, and she's been doing this since 2017.
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And I just, I cannot even imagine what it must be like for her to feel where we are now.
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So it's pretty awesome.
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But then my mind quickly goes back to, we've got a lot of work to do over the next four months.
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We need to solidify this and really just make it come to fruition.
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Thank you.
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Yeah, critics say that kind of minor parties enjoy these kind of little media bursts and,
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you know, different attention, a bit of curiosity from the public and all of that.
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And maybe someone might say, well, why would I go for a minor party that would be like throwing away my vote?
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You know, and that must be something that you hear constantly as well.
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How would you convince somebody that, no, it's not wasting your vote?
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lot.
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We've definitely seen a reduction in that pushback.
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People that, you know, on the doorstep at events, they're not asking that question as much.
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But for those that do, there's still some that are.
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I would say that a vote for any of the current parties is a wasted vote
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because we know what we're going to get.
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We've had it for the last 20 years and it's not making progress on our big issues.
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So, and I've spoken to people who have nearly voted for us
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and then voted for someone else and they feel like they wasted their vote.
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So this time it is going to count.
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I feel that we will get over that 5%.
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We absolutely have to keep working hard to do that.
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But, yeah, if ever there was a time to vote opportunity, it's this year.
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Yeah, and I feel as if like we've had a wee bit with the MMP system now as well, and people are kind of getting to grips,
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and especially with a three -way coalition that we've got at the moment, how it actually works.
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So, you know, something like your massive tax reset, for example, which we'll talk about in a second, you know,
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it probably won't go through as envisioned right but you can inject some of those ideas in whatever party you're working with.
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Yeah and I think what's most important for voters to know is how we approach problems
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because you're right we're not going to get all 15 of
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our policies across the line in a coalition even in our you know first term or first two terms in Parliament, but they need to know how we think and how we approach problems.
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And for us, that's long term thinking, addressing problems at their kind of systemic structural route,
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and being brave and not tinkering around the edges because we don't have time to waste.
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The Opportunity Party has never made it into Parliament before.
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And in terms of a new minor party as well,
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it's interesting that it hasn't been formed by an ex -Act MP or an ex -NAT or, or anything.
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So that's kind of uncharted territory, not only just for the Opportunity Party, but for New Zealand as a whole.
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How do you reckon that the time is now?
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Yeah, I think that that works in our favour, not having that political baggage, because people are really tired of the career politicians, of the back and forth.
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They kind of know what they're going to get with Labour and with National, and they don't really like the look of either of them.
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group of politicians to come to Wellington and challenge the status quo.
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But in saying that, I think, you know, we've got people working behind the scenes from both Labour
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and national camps who are helping to advise on how we do this thing
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and how we play the political game and get ourselves into Parliament, because we do have to play that in some way to be part of the conversation.
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You focus on being a centrist party and that's important, right?
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How do you explain that to someone?
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Yeah, I think the easiest way to explain it is that we don't really care where the ideas come from.
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They might come from a left wing ideology or a right wing ideology.
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For us, if the evidence makes sense and it's solving a problem that's going to make New Zealanders lives better, then it's worth backing.
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And I think it's really dangerous if we fall into this left right tribalism because you write off ideas, from the other side.
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And I think the reality is the solutions to our problems are a mixture of all of those things.
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Working in the business sector, that diversity of thinking is always really valued when it comes to problem solving,
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because you know that if you come at it with one very narrow mindset, then you don't necessarily have the best solution.
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So I think we need a bit more of that in politics, that diversity of thought.
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- Did you see what Luxon said about you guys the other day?
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- Yes, yep, yep.
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- I haven't given them any thought, they're not in parliament, but it does look very much like a Labor /Greens agenda.
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What are your thoughts on that?
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I think that it's a shame that they feel they have to be dismissive when we're trying to be constructive and say,
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look, we are willing to work with either Labour or National.
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And I think he said something like a vote for us is a vote for Labour Greens.
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But then we also had the Labour Party saying that a vote for us is a vote for National.
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So it clearly just demonstrates that tribalism in politics, that they'd rather talk about how bad the other team is than what are the policies
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that opportunities are bringing to the table.
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So on your policies, which one do you think, if we're looking at, you know,
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because Christopher Luxon said that the policy is a very labor green coded, out of all of your policies, which do you think if you,
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if we just painted it over and we couldn't see any colors of any parties, which one would be able to go up on the national website tomorrow, you know?
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I think international policy.
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a long -term energy strategy that's about making sure that New Zealand has consistency and stability over the coming decades.
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It's about energy sovereignty and I would say that that would be a national value.
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And it's about affordability for Kiwis.
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It's addressing the cost of living issue.
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You know, I feel confident that a policy like that could definitely work for national.
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They might just need us to nudge them a little bit in that direction, because I think they've been pulled astray by their coalition partners, particularly on energy. So, yeah.
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that would be one.
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And what about labour?
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I mean, actually, I think the energy one demonstrates, you know, both very well.
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For labour, I mean, our tax reset obviously does get painted as a left -wing policy sometimes,
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although I think there's elements of that that are appealing to the right.
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It's about, you know, reducing bureaucracy and MSD and a tax cut for working New Zealanders.
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But what Labour will like about that is broadening our tax base, making sure that we are looking after all people.
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You know, the citizen's income is about making sure
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that particularly our most vulnerable people in society have enough to live on and can actually contribute to society.
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And tell me about the citizen's income.
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So how would that work?
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Yeah, I think the first without introducing the land tax.
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Yeah, because you've got to pay for it.
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We've got to pay for it.
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And I think also at a personal level, it's about shifting some of the tax burden for me as an individual off what I earn
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and onto what I pay on any property that I own.
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So it's sort of like a tax switch at an individual level as well.
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Obviously, for those who are on lower incomes who don't own property, that will be a major boost to their back pocket because they will benefit from that citizen's income,
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And the studies overseas have proven that that supports people's mental health.
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It means that they can spend more time training and upskilling and investing in a meaningful career.
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It reduces so much stress, particularly on families who are doing it tough.
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And in this world where AI joblessness is right around the corner and we know that it's coming, it's already happening in many parts of the world.
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Our current welfare system is just too tangled and complex to manage that.
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we manage welfare in New Zealand.
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So it would be funded by the land value tax and you've included family homes in that.
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Now that's a real stickler of course for a lot of
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people as soon as we start talking about capital gains tax they you know everybody says no
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but the family home will be excluded.
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Why did you include it?
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Yeah I think yeah back to my point
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that it comes with the citizens income that this is a tax switch so it's not about putting
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a whole lot of extra burden on most Kiwis.
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If you're a median income earner and you own your own property, you would receive your citizens income and you would be paying a new land tax, so you'd be about net neutral.
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And people can go on our website and do the tax calculator to see where they would stand on that.
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But what the land value tax helps to do is it introduces a different tax revenue stream
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and we know that the government books are a real challenge,
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but we don't know how We have a really narrow tax base in New Zealand and this helps to broaden it.
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We've had reports from the OECD saying that we need to do this
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and most other countries in the world have some form of a property tax, whether that's capital gains or land value.
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So I think this is about modernising our tax system, helping to solve that housing affordability crisis and making sure we have a more resilient tax system for the long term.
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Yeah, so it's not as easy as saying, you know, the Opportunity Party wants to make everyone a beneficiary.
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I thought that was an interesting comment as well, given that all of our retirees of the age of 65 are a beneficiary and they are...
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awesome contributing members of our society that we shouldn't write off.
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Is the Opportunity Party centrist in your view to that end?
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No, no, the leftist.
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Seriously, seriously leftist.
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And you cannot believe, you can't even believe somebody who got their job in an advertisement
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and has never had a public meeting.
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It's getting all this coverage from the mainstream media.
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What a joke.
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Let's just say you get 5%, you're in parliament.
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What's the first major thing that you would demand in coalition talks?
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And this is probably something that you've been asked time and time again.
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I think it's a bit early to say what our bottom lines are
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because we really want to see particularly what Labour and National are bringing to the election.
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That will give us an indication of
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be will be with National we want to push them on environmental issues
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and I think it's great that actually we've seen some backing down on things like the fisheries amendment bill, even I think there's some talks of amending the conservation amendment bill
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which is coming through because of the vocal pushback against that.
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So we would want to be that kind of lever of accountability for them
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and for Labour it would be about making sure that we don't just sort of throw subsidies and money at everything, but how do we make the market work better?
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How do we invest in innovation so that we can grow the economy in a way that looks after the environment?
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So that's how we'd hold each side accountable.
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In terms of specific policies, I think we have to wait a little bit longer.
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It really does depend who you're speaking to.
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Yeah, yeah.
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I mean, obviously, with Labour, they've got a capital gains tax, so they're more open to a tax conversation.
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You know, with National, the whole shtick is growing the economy and we can we can bring our ideas there.
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to really complement what they're trying to achieve.
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So yeah, I think it depends on who we're talking to.
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Are you hoping to be included in the minor party debate and those televised debates?
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People would have seen them, they've known them, they've watched them, basically all of the minor parties.
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There's, you know, there's different rules every year.
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They change all the time.
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They do.
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But at the moment, is it, you know, in the last couple of polls, you have to be 3 % and above?
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Or if you have a leader that's an MP in the last two governments or something?
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I think it is more on polling numbers.
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Yeah.
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That's my understanding.
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particularly given the recent polls that have us over 4%.
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And I think it also helps that we're polling above Te Paati Māori.
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So if you're going to include, obviously they are in Parliament now, but yeah, to ignore a party that's polling above one of the ones in Parliament, I think would be a mistake.
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And so we're very hopeful that we'll be included.
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Because that would be a major win for you guys, hey?
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Yeah, it would be unprecedented for us and would make a huge difference because to get our message out there.
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So being part of those national conversations is really important to us.
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What did the next few months look like for you?
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A lot of hard work and probably not a whole lot of sleep.
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But the best part of this has been getting around the country and talking to Kiwis and communities.
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We've now got 43 candidates across the country as well, which is more than, you know, it's more than double what we've ever had before.
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So we're really leaning on our amazing candidates to get out there in the community, doing events, going to markets, knocking on doors.
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You know, I think that that traditional campaigning is still the best way to do it.
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And it helps us as well to, hear firsthand what's top of mind for Kiwis.
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Yeah, what's come as a, has anything come as a surprise to you, I suppose, when you're out there speaking to people?
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I think, I mean, we came into this obviously with our policy priorities and ideas,
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but the thing that's resonating the most is people being really tired of the flip -flopping.
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and they are all just tired of getting pulled in multiple different directions
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and then turning on the TV and seeing our politicians bickering with each other
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because it doesn't feel like they're working in our best interests.
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So I think that that's been, yeah, really illuminating to hear that commonality across the country.
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What do you think voters are still kind of misunderstanding about the Opportunity Party?
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Because a lot of people will just know the version that includes Gareth Morgan, and they'll be like, didn't they just want to kill everyone's cat or something?
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You know what I mean?
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Like that's the last big massive idea or controversy, I suppose, with the Opportunity Party.
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Well, maybe a couple of things.
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Thankfully, I think the cat thing is, we're closing the chapter on that part of the history book.
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left -right thing is really hard.
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We've got left -leaning voters who support us, we've got right -leaning voters that support us.
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And we do get criticism from both sides, more from the extreme, saying, how dare you work with the other side?
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How dare you say that you could work with the other, you know, leading party?
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And so I think it's just that mindset of getting out of left -right tribalism
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that is hard sometimes for us to change the narrative on.
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think that the polling shows that there are kiwis there are many kiwis out there
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that are sick of that and that they want to support a party
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that can genuinely hold both sides accountable so yeah yeah
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and it's just the political climate that we're in at the moment hey
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if you don't agree with something then you just yell
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that you know they're a racist or you yell
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that they're a fascist and it's just like that doesn't get anywhere
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or do anything for anyone right and you see
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that overseas as well australia you've got the uk as well at the far right you know Thank you.
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I've seen also instances of people being like, "No, I'm not far right anymore," and wanting to come over to the left, so to speak.
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Yeah.
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And nobody wanting to engage with them or welcome them back, I suppose.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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It's just this endless cycle at the moment.
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How do we break that, do you think?
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I actually think, I've been looking at a few...
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of those examples overseas.
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I think it is starting to change.
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I think people are realising that you can't beat extremism with more extremism from the other side.
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It's just tiring.
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Everyone has got rage fatigue, no matter what side of the debate they're on.
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And, you know, so in the Netherlands, there was a centrist party that came through and won, you know, they're now governing the country.
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Same happened in Wales.
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I even think with some of the shifts in the UK Labour Party, We're still with the early adopters here,
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but I do think, I hope that that's where we'll start to see politics go.
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If voters remember just one thing from you before Election Day, what would you like that to be?
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Well, either...
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If they want to change the status quo, then the Opportunity Party is the only way to do that.
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If we want to shake up politics in New Zealand and do things differently and actually tackle our big issues, then they have to vote for change and they have to be...
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brave enough to vote for change.
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That would be my key message to them.
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Thanks for joining us Kule.
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Thank you.
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That's it for this episode of The Front Page.
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You can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage at nzherald .co .nz.
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The Front Page is hosted and produced by me, Chelsea Daniels.
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Kane Dickey is our studio operator, Richard Martin, our producer and editor, and the producer is Jane Yee.
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Follow the front page on the iHeart app
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or wherever you get your podcasts and join us next time for another look beyond the headlines.
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About This Lesson
In this lesson, you will focus on improving your English speaking skills through the analysis of a podcast discussing New Zealand's political landscape. You will learn to identify key arguments and perspectives presented by a political party leader, enhancing your ability to engage in discussions about current events. This content, drawn from a recent episode, provides an excellent opportunity to learn English with YouTube while refining your listening and comprehension skills.
Key Vocabulary & Phrases
- Kingmaker: A person or group that has significant influence in the decision-making process, especially in politics.
- Threshold: The minimum level required; in this context, the percentage of votes needed to enter Parliament.
- Bold tax reset policy: A significant change in tax policy aimed at addressing financial issues.
- Universal citizen's income: A financial payment given to all citizens, irrespective of their circumstances.
- Polling bump: An increase in support for a candidate or party as reflected in public opinion polls.
- Long-term thinking: A strategy that considers the future implications of current decisions.
- Coalition: A temporary alliance between political parties for mutual benefit.
- Wasted vote: A vote that does not contribute to the outcome, often due to supporting a less popular candidate.
Practice Tips
To effectively improve English pronunciation and enhance your speaking skills, consider the following tips while engaging with this lesson:
- Shadow Speak: As you listen to the transcript, practice shadowing by mimicking the speaker. Pay close attention to their tone, pace, and inflection to better grasp conversational dynamics.
- Pace Yourself: The video’s speed may vary, so if some parts seem fast, replay them at a slower speed to catch every word before trying to match their rhythm.
- Record Yourself: After shadowing, record your voice while reading sections of the transcript. Listen to the playback to identify areas for improvement in your pronunciation.
- Engage with Content: Try discussing the policies mentioned, such as the tax reset, with a language partner or tutor. This practice can serve as valuable IELTS speaking practice by allowing you to articulate your thoughts clearly.
- Frequent Reviews: Regularly revisit challenging sections. Repetition will solidify your understanding and enhance your fluency over time.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | she's been doing · has been getting · I've been looking |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | we've never been · We've definitely seen · We've had |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | been formed · is always really valued · they've been pulled |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who have · those who are · somebody who got |
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.