The Good Oil

Welcome to Episode 36 of The Good Oil Podcast. Cam Slater sits down with Alon Roth, Israel's Ambassador to New Zealand, for a candid and insightful conversation.

Born in Haifa in 1961, Ambassador Roth shares his journey from engineering studies and IDF service to a 40-year diplomatic career spanning Cameroon, the European Union, Jordan, London, Norway, Iceland, and now New Zealand.

The discussion covers the transformative Abraham Accords, the psychological toll of decades of rocket attacks on Israeli civilians, the barbarity of the October 7 massacre, and the failure of much of the Western media — including in New Zealand — to present the full picture. Roth addresses double standards, antisemitism, and the resilience of Israeli society.

They also explore Israel's extraordinary innovation in water management, agriculture, health tech, and high-tech, and the potential for deeper cooperation with New Zealand and Pacific nations like Fiji through knowledge-sharing rather than aid dependency.

A must-listen for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of Israel, the Middle East, and why a positive agenda of cooperation offers the best path forward.

00:00 – Cigar review: Leaf by Oscar Valladares 10th Anniversary Crayola Toro

01:12 – Welcome and introduction of Ambassador Alon Roth 

02:17 – Roth's background: Born Haifa 1961, family, moving around Israel, IDF infantry officer 

04:46 – Entering the Foreign Ministry in 1986/87 

05:13 – Postings: Cameroon (most meaningful – aid & cooperation), EU/Brussels/Strasbourg, Jordan (peace experience), London, Norway/Iceland, now NZ (first Pacific posting) 

09:07 – Impressions of New Zealand after 18 months 

10:44 – Retirement plans and family 

11:55 – Abraham Accords, direct flights, new Middle East cooperation (trend vs point) 

16:10 – Hamas miscalculation on Oct 7; Abraham Accords held 

19:30 – Living under rocket fire for 20 years; Iron Dome; sheltered rooms 

23:13 – Psychological burden on Israelis, personal stories as a father 

26:26 – Kibbutz residents who helped Gazans but were massacred/kidnapped on Oct 7 

29:57 – No Gazans helped hostages; comparison to WWII resistance 

32:16 – Denials of atrocities; Hamas bodycam footage; double standards 

36:24 – Media bias in NZ; disregarding Israeli evidence 

41:58 – Antisemitism, Christchurch Call hypocrisy (Israel excluded) 

46:38 – Historical antisemitism and current trends 

58:59 – UNRWA, incitement in textbooks 

01:00:40 – Arab Israelis in society; no apartheid (judges, doctors, cafes in Jaffa) 

01:07:46 – Israeli innovation (water recycling, drip irrigation, desalination, medical tech) 

01:14:35 – Potential for NZ-Israel cooperation in tech & youth innovation 

01:18:02 – Opportunities in the Pacific (Fiji embassy, water-from-air, expertise transfer) 

01:27:05 – Fiji connection via peacekeeping and Christian affinity 

01:35:44 – Diversity in Israeli society (Orthodox & gay beaches side-by-side, melting pot) 

01:37:49 – Closing: Positive agenda of cooperation

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Professor Marewa Glover joins Cam Slater to expose the India-NZ Free Trade Agreement as colonisation by stealth. They break down weaponised racism smears, Auckland’s rapid demographic shifts, youth joblessness, incompatible values, and why Kiwis must protect their culture. Hard-hitting truth on bureaucracy, public health grift, and nicotine pouches. Episode 35 of The Good Oil Podcast. 

Key Moments & Timings (hh:mm:ss) 

00:00:03 – 00:01:40: Intro, theme, and cigar review (CLE Aura Classic Natural Toro) 

00:01:40 – 00:03:30: Welcome to Episode 35 with Professor Marewa Glover + submission on India FTA 

00:03:30 – 00:08:00: Racism redefined – biological inferiority vs weaponised smears to silence concerns 

00:08:00 – 00:13:30: Auckland’s visible changes, ethnic enclaves, and the fear of being “overrun” 

00:13:30 – 00:20:00: Three forms of colonisation (force, treaty, stealth) – FTA as stealth invasion 

00:20:00 – 00:28:00: Bureaucratic sabotage, fifth columnists, and public health lobby attacks 

00:28:00 – 00:35:00: Europe/UK warnings, rapid social change causing anxiety and loss of belonging 

00:35:00 – 00:42:00: Kiwi youth locked out of jobs, minimum-wage migrants, broken social contract 

00:42:00 – 00:50:00: Ethnic clustering (Long Bay, Dominion Rd), pace of change too fast for communities 

00:50:00 – 01:00:00: Incompatible values – child marriage stats (222 million girls in India), caste, low law compliance 

01:00:00 – 01:10:00: High-trust NZ vs competitive cultures, building code/bypass examples, Japan model 

01:10:00 – 01:25:00: Political infiltration risks, pro-rata immigration limits, protecting Kiwi culture 

01:25:00 – 01:35:00: Nicotine pouches/snus discussion, tobacco control failures and grift 

01:35:00 – 01:55:00: Call to wake up & speak up, final thoughts, outro

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Billy Brown is a Māori/Moriori man from North Canterbury who left school at 13 with dyslexia and built himself from the ground up on work ethic and accountability. He argues that New Zealand is a genuine meritocracy — not a racist country — and that the biggest thing holding Māori back in 2026 isn't colonisation, it's the victim politics of Te Pāti Māori. He calls out iwi elites extracting hundreds of millions in "taniwha tax" from mining and infrastructure projects as extortion, and argues National and Labour are functionally identical managers of managed decline. He backs NZ First as the only real alternative.

On the economy, Brown wants New Zealand to dig: coal, oil, gas, rare earths. He calls out Green hypocrisy on electrification — you can't power everything while blocking every dam and mine — and points to the Think Big era as proof that long-term infrastructure investment works. He's scathing about the red tape strangling construction and the political class of career politicians who've never used their hands.

The conversation ranges wide: New Zealand needs a bigger Pacific footprint or China fills the vacuum; Bainimarama's Fiji has lessons for us on constitutional reform and one-nation politics; the civil service blob is the real government and changing the party in power changes nothing until ministers are willing to appoint and sack their own people. On COVID, another inquiry won't get anywhere — the system prevents it.

He closes with a simple pitch: voters are sick of being lied to. Any politician promising to fix New Zealand in three years is lying. The honest message is we're fixing it for our grandkids, not ourselves. Plain speakers, not riddle speakers.

CHAPTER TIMINGS

00:02:00 Prosperous NZ = good for Maori

00:03:14 Background — dyslexia, left school at 13

00:04:29 Upbringing in Kaiapoi

00:05:31 His father's work ethic

00:07:25 The only person who will save you is yourself

00:08:52 Free speech — it's not 2020 anymore

00:09:22 Racist abuse from Maori toward Maori

00:11:22 Is NZ racist? Two Maori Deputy PMs

00:12:39 The only thing holding Maori back is themselves

00:13:02 Te Pāti Maori's victim business model

00:15:02 Leadership is sitting at the table

00:15:45 The Treaty — three articles, no principles

00:16:58 Property rights vs holding NZ to ransom

00:17:16 The taniwha tax — $350M, $150M, $100M

00:18:46 Billy T. James was ahead of his time

00:20:07 Ngai Tahu — settlement should draw a line

00:21:14 Santana mine — opposed only when demands weren't met

00:23:09 If it's so tapu why is it $150M?

00:24:01 Extortion is extortion

00:25:01 Better model: royalties, equity, labour hire

00:25:43 Sea Lord — are Maori on the boats?

00:26:41 Iwi corporates — no long-term people plan

00:28:09 Hapu farm — gates used as hangi pits

00:30:51 Moriori — not Maori, completely different

00:31:45 1835 — stolen ship, genocide at the Chathams

00:33:05 Rewriting Moriori history

00:33:22 Maori are not indigenous

00:34:26 Cultural evolution — can't be stuck

00:37:12 We're just Kiwis

00:37:20 Coming back after COVID — a divided country

00:39:22 National and Labour — a tissue's worth of difference

00:40:07 Labour has abused Maori votes for 100 years

00:41:02 Ardern split the country

00:41:39 Why Billy backed NZ First

00:41:54 NZF at 20% changes everything

00:42:25 National's hatred of Peters — 30 years in the DNA

00:42:51 National manages the decline, nothing more

00:43:15 Dig the coal

00:43:36 Waitaha Dam — the treaty or the frog?

00:47:58 Electrify everything, build nothing — Green hypocrisy

00:48:28 EVs — expensive, grid can't cope

00:49:47 NI-SI cable at capacity — $2B to fix

00:50:19 EVs export our problems overseas

00:50:55 Ditch net zero — dig oil, gas, rare earths

00:51:16 Real wins: clean water, ban microplastics

00:52:05 Lake Rotorua nitrates — a fixable problem

00:53:14 Not feeling good. Feeling smug.

00:53:27 Who votes Green?

00:53:48 NZ was an economic powerhouse in the 50s

00:55:08 Kiwi innovation killed by red tape

00:55:26 Road cones — 15% of a tender is compliance

00:56:36 Whangaparaoa tollway: 6 years for 5km

00:57:05 Otiha Valley busway — moved the bottleneck 4km

00:58:32 Think 12-24 years, not election cycles

00:59:06 Think Big — all opposed, all essential

00:59:41 Without Think Big: $10 a litre

01:00:31 NZ's Pacific footprint — stop lecturing

01:01:01 China filling the vacuum

01:03:29 Bainimarama — NZ boycotted, China moved in

01:06:28 Fiji's income: remittances and UN soldiers

01:15:06 One nation, one people

01:16:40 Frank's downfall — AG corruption

01:18:55 Should NZ become a republic?

01:19:42 The treaty blocks a republic

01:20:21 Bill of Rights should be primary legislation

01:21:01 Another COVID inquiry won't get anywhere

01:21:47 River of filth — we remember

01:22:00 We're changing managers, not government

01:22:44 The blob in action: the vape ban

01:25:08 Drain the swamp or nothing changes

01:25:54 Ministers need to appoint and sack

01:26:28 The mandarins — never held accountable

01:27:35 Willis's advisors were Robertson's advisors

01:28:57 The PSA — two messages, one Labour candidate

01:29:50 Labour: 40,000 more civil servants, worse services

01:30:20 Whanau Ora — Maori health didn't improve

01:30:52 Cigars, nicotine, strong men

01:31:38 Strong men, strong families, strong economy

01:32:27 Labour tells Maori they're feeble

01:33:40 National: remove Maori seats and I'll lose mine

01:35:02 Labour now represents elites, not workers

01:35:29 Winston rode a horse to school. Hipkins went to Wellington.

01:36:12 Everyday Kiwis back in Parliament

01:38:12 Luxon — rehearsed, empty

01:39:30 Plain speakers not riddle speakers

01:40:38 Fixing it for your grandkids

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Cam Slater finally sits down with legendary political journalist Barry Soper for a wide-ranging, no-holds-barred conversation about Barry’s new book, the 12 Prime Ministers he’s covered, and what politics really looks like from the inside.

Barry opens up about the catastrophic loss of his personal archives (a staff member “tidied” several thousand pages of notes going back to Roger Douglas) and how that forced him to write the book as pure memory. They then dive deep into the characters:

Key timestamps:

• 00:05:49 – Muldoon: the little grunter, Think Big, the schnapps election, and why Barry has revised his opinion of him

• 00:19:50 – Jacinda Ardern: five years of close observation, “kindness,” the performative nature of her leadership, and the movie that confirmed everything

• 00:24:00 – Chris Hipkins: the man trying to distance himself from the very government he was central to

• 00:26:00 – Helen Clark: despised her politics, admired her ability and leadership style

• 00:34:38 – Jim Bolger: the man who came to Barry’s wedding and quietly rolled Jim McClay

• 00:43:00 – Winston Peters: the most consummate politician Barry has worked with, his coalition strategy, and why small parties usually get smothered

• 00:49:00 – The Trevor Mallard wine prank and the Annette King flowers saga

• 00:51:30 – Why Luxon is largely misunderstood and what he actually needs around him

It’s funny, blunt, and full of the kind of stories you only get from someone who has been in the room for decades. No political tome — just two old hands telling it straight.

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Cam welcomes Tameem Barakat, founder of The Centrist, for a deep and personal conversation.

The episode opens with the ritual humidor check — this week featuring the La Ora Family Creed Foete Sol Toro from Canteros.nz — before Tameem tells his story. Born and raised in Vancouver, BC, Tameem has Egyptian and Italian-Jewish heritage. His parents married in 1960s London when class and education mattered more than religion. He recounts watching hours of CNN Headline News as a child, his early obsession with politics, and how his mixed background gave him a unique lens on the Middle East.

Tameem explains why he chose music with a political edge early in his career (inspired by Bob Dylan, Public Enemy, and others) rather than love songs, and how he eventually transitioned into writing and founding The Centrist. The pair discuss the backlash he’s received, including Martyn Bradbury calling the site a “hate blog,” Tameem’s view that the Overton window has shifted dramatically left, and why centrism is now treated as extreme.

The conversation moves into COVID-era New Zealand — Tameem’s move from Canada during the pandemic, MIQ experiences, the wage subsidy, vaccine passes, and his view of Jacinda Ardern as a “shabby little dictator.” They also cover media propaganda, free speech, the difference between criticising governments and antisemitism, and why Tameem believes ideas should matter more than identity.

A candid, wide-ranging interview that gives listeners the full picture behind one of New Zealand’s most discussed new platforms.

Key sections include:

• 01:52 – 09:55 – Tameem’s background and family story

• 10:00 – 15:12 – Music career and early political writing

• 22:00 – 29:10 – The move to New Zealand and MIQ experience

• 32:00 – 45:00 – COVID policies, vaccine passes, and a direct assessment of Jacinda Ardern

• 55:00 – 01:08:00 – In-depth discussion on Israel/Palestine and the Overton window

• 01:09:20 – 01:19:00 – How The Centrist was founded during lockdown

• 01:34:00 – 01:45:00 – Racism accusations from the left and closing thoughts

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