The Panel

The Pre-Panel for 23 February 2026

Wallace Chapman and producer José preview tonight's instalment of The Panel.

Photo: RNZ / Jeff McEwan

The Panel with Penny Ashton and Peter Field, Part 1  

Tonight, on The Panel, Wallace Chapman is joined by panellists Penny Ashton and Peter Field.  

First up, the government has just announced a policy to give more power to Police to move on rough sleepers. The Panel talks to Paul Gilberd, CEO of Community Housing Aotearoa.

Then, Parliament says it will no longer post on X (former known as Twitter). What does this mean for official communications from the government? Is X just simply dead? The Panel talks to social media strategist Anna Rawhiti-Connell.

Photo: Nick Monro

The Panel with Penny Ashton and Peter Field, Part 2  

In part two, columnist Martin van Beynen says it's a national disgrace that after 15 years Cathedral Square is still a building site.

Then, Wellington Volunteer Fire Support has offered to help clean the outside of houses affected by the recent storms. The Panel hears more about this lovely community imitative to help people who can't do the cleanup themselves.

Photo: Frank Film

The Panel Plus  

An extra half hour of The Panel with Wallace Chapman, where to begin, he's joined by Nights host Emile Donovan.   Then: the new BBC adaptation of William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies got Alexander Howard thinking. The senior Lecturer at the University of Sydney says the original book took its lessons from Hitler's Germany and sasy it has resonances for us today.

Lord of the Flies was going to be shot in Australia, until director Marc Munden relocated the production to Malaysia. Photo: Stan