Paddy Gower

Paddy Gower is a New Zealand journalist and is widely regarded as one of the best communicators in the business, with an irrepressible personality.

Paddy is a journalist at Newshub, where he covers issues of national and international significance, or in his words “getting out and about with real Kiwis doing stories about real issues”. He is host of the upcoming current affairs show, Paddy Gower Has Issues.

Paddy produced an emotional and informative two-part documentary Patrick Gower: On Weed in order to educate Aotearoa on the issue of legalising cannabis for both medicinal and recreational purposes. The success of this saw his documentary work evolve into the Patrick Gower: On... series which includes On Booze - a deeply personal insight into his own problems with alcohol.

Paddy has been a journalist for over 20 years, starting as the night shift reporter at the New Zealand Herald. He has unique insight into how the government works and New Zealand’s place in the world.

Previously the Newshub Political Editor, he spent ten years in the Parliamentary Press Gallery covering four different Prime Ministers and three different Governments. He was then Newshub's National Correspondent, covering stories like March 15.

He has moderated the Newshub leader’s debate at both the 2017 and 2020 elections, questioned Donald Trump multiple times during the US Election and has covered stories in places as varied as Afghanistan, Iraq and Kiribati.

As a speaker, Paddy can speak about the resilience and authenticity that have been crucial to his career and share intriguing insights and entertaining stories from his experience as a journalist - all with his classic witty humour!

As a polished MC, he has an authoritative and engaging style and is able to bring his skills in hard journalism to tackle any situation.