Looking back at the big stories, the newsmakers and villains of 2023 – The Front Page

Winston Peters kept popping up in this year's retrospective. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Tragic floods. Ministerial car crashes. An exploding submarine. World Cup highs and lows. The threat of AI. An active shooter at rush hour. A radio station that got effed live on air. Crime, the economy, trans rights, global conflict. The coronation of a new King, and the swearing-in of a new government.

The last 12 months have delivered a relentless news cycle of stories, revealing the complexity of the challenges facing New Zealand right now.

In the final full episode of The Front Page podcast for this year, NZ Herald editor at large Shayne Currie, political editor Claire Trevett, and business editor at large Liam Dann dig into the details of what’s happened and offer a glimpse at what could be headed our way in the coming year.

Starting at the Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, we look into how the realities of climate change rocked the North Island – and how this will continue to weigh on the economy.

It was also a big year politically, with Labour seeing its majority Government from the previous election completely overturned as a National-led coalition took over.

Cyclone Gabrielle devastated the North Island. Photo / Warren Buckland

But all is not well in that coalition. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon finds himself between two highly motivated and savvy political operators, who have already shown their proclivity to rock the boat.

Internationally, the news has made for depressing reading in 2023. The war in Ukraine has dragged on and the conflict in the Gaza Strip has already cost thousands of lives.

So how will this all shape up? Is there any hope of greater stability in 2024? Who were the villains, heroes and disappointments of the last year? And what impact will artificial intelligence have on our lives in the coming years?

Listen to host Damien Venuto’s last episode of The Front Page for a full breakdown of the year that was.

The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. It is presented by Damien Venuto, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in business reporting who joined the Herald in 2017.

You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.