Swarbrick confirms a beer with Wong behind the Beehive

The NZ Herald panel moves from a post-election catch-up to disagreements over budgets and voter registration.

Channel:

nzherald.co.nz Story of November 11, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 71,870 views a day, 27 times a normal first day on this channel (2,672).

‘We had a beer last night’: Chlöe Swarbrick tells Ryan Bridge about her meeting with Qiulae Wong

Things we can learn from the video

Press to jump

1:11Seymour describes welcoming new MPs and meeting Luxon to reflect on the election campaign.
2:23Swarbrick confirms she met Wong for a beer, later naming Huxley's behind the Beehive.
4:01Seymour discusses coalition formation while final vote counts are awaited.
6:24The guests disagree over balancing the budget, healthcare staffing and government deficits.
7:07Swarbrick argues registration barriers hinder voters; Seymour subsequently defends advance enrolment rules as integrity safeguards.
10:35The closing exchange concerns tactical voting campaigns and third-party advertising.

Huxley's, behind the Beehive, was the setting for Chlöe Swarbrick's catch-up with Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong. Asked by Ryan Bridge about their contact, the Greens co-leader gave a straightforward answer: "Yeah, we had a beer last night."

That detail supplies the title of an NZ Herald interview drawing an unusually large audience: about 41,000 views in nine hours, already well beyond the channel's usual first-day turnout for regular videos.

Wong had said she wanted to speak to National first about forming a government, as we reported here. Swarbrick's account adds a separate meeting to the post-election picture, but the beer itself is not an announcement of an agreement.

ACT leader David Seymour joins Swarbrick on the Ryan Bridge TODAY panel. He describes meeting Christopher Luxon to reflect on the campaign and discusses coalition formation while final vote counts are awaited.

The conversation soon leaves the social catch-ups behind. Swarbrick challenges the economic outlook behind a possible Seymour finance appointment, and the pair disagree over budget balancing, healthcare staffing and deficits.

Their clearest divide concerns voting rules. Swarbrick argues that legislation created unnecessary obstacles to registration; Seymour defends advance enrolment requirements as safeguards for electoral integrity and rejects rhetoric about stolen elections. By the closing exchange, Bridge is reminding his guests that the voting, at least, is over.

Published on Trari

Where next?

Also in News networks and broadcastersVideo taking off 49x its usual first dayWomen in ITV's Power and Silence say David Walliams pursued them as teenagersTwo of the women were 15 when they met him. Walliams denies all wrongdoing, saying in a statement: "I am not a sexual predator".Channel: ITV News · Story of November 11, 2026

A different discovery todayA video worth knowingKurzgesagt asks when, exactly, a person diesIts animated explainer follows the body after the heartbeat stops, from failing neurons to immune cells still fighting near the ten-minute mark.Channel: Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell · Story of November 11, 2026

Or follow us on Telegram

The facts

Channel: nzherald.co.nz
Subscribers: 223,000 ▲ 1,000 this week
Channel views, last 7 days: 2,281,242
Channel views, pace per day: 83,292 (on a normal day: 265,730)
Video published: November 10, 2026
Video views so far: 40,602 (less than a day online)
Video views, pace per day: 71,870

The numbers

The interview passed the channel's usual full-day audience within its first nine hours. Comments also reached more than twenty times the usual first-day total.

the video's first day

usual first day here

2,672

this video

71,870

subscribers

223,000

▲ 1,000 in the last 7 days

total views

118,959,631

views per day

83,292