Nat's Problems Leading w/ the Green Party's Ricardo Menéndez March: 12th August, 2026

As we recorded our Green Party Catchup this morning, the National Party was just about to sit down for a Caucus Meeting to once again test the support for sitting party leader, Chistopher Luxon.. But what has motivated such a crisis in the party leadership? Was it the seemingly spur-of-the-moment captain calls by Luxon to rule out the Opportunity Party and put forward a third Referendum on MMP? Or was it the lack of pushback against comments from their coalition partner, NZFirst. Two weeks ago, NZFirst Leader directed comments in the House against Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan, targeting his Chinese heritage, suggesting everyone in China lied. This created a huge amount of criticism both locally and internationally, making headlines across the Globe, not least as Peters is the coalition's Foreign Minister. But consequences the minister who unleashed sho much damage? Nill. So for this week’s catch-up with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez March, we discuss the ructions within the National Party, the fallout from New Zealand First's racially charged comments targeting him and his colleague, Lawrence Xu-Nan, and changes to jobseeker that he’d like to see.