August 6, 2025 • 34 mins
The Prime Minister's blaming New Zealand's rising unemployment on the last Government's economic management.
The rate's hit a five-year high of 5.2%, just shy of Treasury’s predicted 5.4%.
Christopher Luxon told Kerre Woodham when inflation rises, interest rates go up, the economy shrinks, and people lose their jobs.
He says Labour had a lovely big spend-up party, but it's left a significant hangover.
Luxon says we have to work our way through the economic cycle, which is what we’re doing now.
China's doubling down on its deal with the Cook Islands.
Ambassador to New Zealand, Wang Xiaolong says China wants to co-operate on seabed mining research, an inter-island cargo ship between the two countries, and infrastructure.
The partnership has prompted backlash from New Zealand, which has a special relationship with the Islands, including the withdrawal of aid.
Meanwhile, Luxon told Woodham the Governor-General is visiting the Cooks to celebrate our 60 years free association.
He says he's proud of the people, but has an issue with their Government's moves.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the carry Wood and Morning's podcast from
News Talk sed B.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
News Talk said, B Indeed, I am back with Prime
Minister Christopher Luxen for our third quarter catch up. If
you have a pertinent and you'll note that particular word
pertinent question to us the PM call us on our
eight hundred and eighty two and eighty Many of you
have texted through already to know two nine two, I, however,
will get us started.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Morning Prime Minister, Morning Carrie. You just that very good word.
You must be well educated.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I am quite well educated because I came through before
in Cea. You see I had an abcdes on my
on my numbers for school. That's right. You're just back
from Papua New Guinea.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Yeah, great trip actually shot out on Monday night and
Papa New Guinea fascinating place. There's about ten to fifteen
million people. Actually the census can't quite work out which
one is. It's three quarters the size of all the
Pacific Islands added together. And yeah, it's about two thirds
of the population. So it's a country celebrating its fiftieth
anniverse of independence from Australia in nineteen seventy five. We're
(01:08):
one of the original eight countries that acknowledge their independence,
and we've been good partners. So a lot of interesting
things happening. Militaries are working together up there. They're teaching
us jungle warfare, We're teaching them how to use mortars.
There's all sorts of things happening. So, yeah, a really
important relationship.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So they got a prime Minister to visit them, but
the Cooks did not.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
The Cooks did not. The Cook's got to Government General
are the highest office in the land, to visit them.
But as you know, we are very proud of the
Cook Islands people. But it's the Cook Island's government that
we've got an issue with.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
We've got a minor issue with, right, the economy. Let's
get cracking, Yeah, you it's the economy stupid. Basically, isn't
it that everything's about the economy, cost of living? And
you came in basically economy and law and order, so
Laura and health education, yep, yep. Economy. You said we've
got the Leavers to get things cracking. At the moment,
it doesn't feel like that. It feels like we're just
(01:56):
in the middle of an economic cycle and nothing you're
doing is making a blind bit of difference.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Oh look, I disagree. I think you know, we've got
a grip on the spending, which is actually broad inflation
down that's brought interest.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Think it as much, if not more than the previous adment.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Well, but we've moved the spending from the back office
to the front line, so we've added, like for example,
if you take healthcare, despite the media narrative that we're
making cuts there, there's nothing further from the truth. We're
actually spending a lot more money there. But importantly, we've
actually hired twenty one hundred extra nurses in the system
than what we had when we started. We've got six
hundred more doctors in the system and when we started.
(02:28):
All of that is a function of actually moving the
money around from the back office, as I said, and
reprioritizing it and putting it into the frontline services. If
you think about the seven hundred million dollars put into
learning support and education, those sorts of things as a
function of actually spending and using the money differently and
better by moving it out of the bureaucracy and into
the front line. So you know, there's you know, there's
(02:49):
there's two big challenges which is that we've got to
get economic growth into the joint and we've also got
to help people with the cost of living through the
cost of living. On the cost of living, you've really
got to make sure you run the economy well. Otherwise
lower middle income people lose their jobs and they get
purpose most right, That's that's the reality of it.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
And look at the unemployment figures.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
At five point two percent. And just so everyone understands,
because I think, you know, it's lovely being, you know,
having the big party and the big spend up, which
is what labor did. But actually the consequences of that
are quite the hangover after the party's quite big. And
because when you lose formation on spending up eighty four percent,
just think about our debt our dat has gone from
sixty to one hundred and eighty billion dollars. I paid
(03:28):
ten billion dollars an interest just in the interest each year.
Now that's ten billions of road schools, hospitals I can't build.
It will be a hell of a lot of those
things as a result. But when you lose formation on spending,
you drive up inflation. Inflation, the only thing you can
do is take interest rates up. When you take interest
rates up, you put the economy into recession and it shrinks,
and then the last thing that happens is people lose
their jobs because of all that pressure.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And as a result.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
So we've got to work our way through that circle cycle.
And that's what we're doing right now. But I just
don't think.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
It's happening quickly enough, because when you promise that it's
going to change when they elect a national government, but
that hasn't changed quickly enough. We've had one hundred and
twenty four than five hundred people leave New Zealand to
the year May twenty twenty five, forty three hundred New
Zealand citizens have said I haven't got a job, I
don't see the prospect of a job. I'm taking my skills.
(04:15):
I'm out of here.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
YEP, I get it. And the reason is because you've
got to build an economy where people can actually work
hard and get ahead. You've got to keep them safe
so they feel safe in their community. Our kids have
got a.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Good education, health, be sick of waiting.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
We've been yes, I get it, but we've been through
periods like this before. We've had twenty nine thousand net
migration to Australia this last year, same as twenty twenty three.
It's actually not as bad as it was through the
GFC crisis for four or five years at that period
of time. That's our job. Our job is to make
sure we're building out a country that people actually do
want to live and they can get ahead and they
can feel safe, and the kids are going to educate,
their parents, going to get healthcare. That's as simple as
(04:47):
it kind of gets. But be under no illusion, you know,
because I want people to really understand this, because that
simplest thing for me to do a bit to carry
on taxi more, borrowing more, spending more, and not worrying
about our kids and our grandkids having to pay off
one hundred and eighty billion dollars worth of debt. Equally,
I could go into full austerity mode and actually cut
the thing to the bone and do all that sort
of raiser gang stuff. That doesn't work either. We know
(05:08):
that's not the right case, and I've got to find
the midway through as the adult in the room to
try and navigate us through that.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Is it harder than you thought it was going to be?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
No, I think when you lose formation as badly as
we did on economics that we had understood and knew
how to manage well for the previous thirty five years.
We've just gone through the biggest recession we've had since
the early nineteen nineties. It's been worse than the GFC.
It's been tougher than anything we've experienced in a generation.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
Yep, And you.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Don't turn it around in eighteen months after six years
of that situation. But having said that, I would sooner
have two point five percent inflation in the band where
it should be then seven and a half that we
had for multiple years. I'd sooner have four percent food inflation,
still too high, but actually compared to the twelve to
fourteen percent we were getting two years ago. So I'd
sooner have interest rates coming down the way they have,
(05:53):
so that people have got three hundred and twenty dollars
a fortnite in their bought back pocket. But I acknowledged
still tough, but there's also some really encouraging things going on.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Okay, And we'll get to you as in a moment,
but we'd like to get to our corners. Mike, good
morning to you.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Good morning, How are you nice to talk to you?
Prime minister.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
You know, Mike, how are you?
Speaker 5 (06:10):
I'm good. I wouldn't want to do your job for
all the team China. What a hell of a job.
Speaker 6 (06:16):
You've got to jun to you, you know.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
And I will say this if I don't mind, before
I get to my question. Mate, you're doing You're doing
the best you can. And if people don't see that,
then let's get labor back in. They can drive us
into the ground. Okay, here's the question. I've got three children.
I came to New Zealand in twenty fourteen from the
UK and I moved here in twenty fourteen and this is,
(06:39):
in my opinion, the greatest country in the world, in
my opinion.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Thanks for coming.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Now, I'm an employer as well. I started a business.
I'm an employer. Here's the interesting thing. Three children, all
good qualified, well qualified kids in the twenties, and they've
all buggered off to Australia. Why well, there's just more opportunity.
And I don't mean opportunity. I don't think the streets
are paved with gold. But there's a chance there's a
(07:06):
chance you may become a homeowner. There there's a chance
you're going to get on and New Zealand just seems
just to lack that. What's your strategy to coax them back?
Because Australia they'll pay my middle daughter, they've agreed to
pay her student loan off to get her across within
a five year period. So you know, what are we
(07:27):
going to do and what can we afford to do?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah, Mike, you've hit the nail on the head. And
that's kind of why I came to politics four years ago,
because you can sort of sit on the sidelines and
say it's a great country, it's got a lot of
potential and we've got to set it up right for
our kids and grandkids. And that's exactly the reason I
came into politics frankly four years ago. But I just
say to you, you're exactly right. That's the job of
our government is that we have to say to people,
we have to build an economy where you can actually
(07:50):
work hard and get ahead. You have to be able
to live in a society where you're actually safe. You
have to be able to know that education is competitive
with kids overseas, and you've got to build out healthcare.
Now Australia is that New South Wales is thirty five
percent wealthier than New Zealand. Ireland is now twice as
wealthy as New Zealand per person, and so we have
that is the consequence of why you've got to focus
on good economic management, because you need a six cylinder
(08:13):
engine to be able to support six cylinder sort of
public service delivery and expectations.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
But Ireland has changed from a consumer economy to a
produce like export lead and we're still our export this
is what our exports are amazing and thank god for
our farmers. But we are still a consumer society putting
our money into houses and when we're not buying houses
and selling houses, we're not doing well.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
Yeah, but change.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Those are the things that you know in order if
you take a step back, and I've studied small advanced
countries for like for thirty years, and what do you
have to do to make a standard of living as
Mike's alluding to that you know as attract your dural Well,
you do a few things. One is you build a
world class education system, so you have more than half
your kids going to school regularly and more than half
being able to read with the time they get to
high school, and eighty percent are able to do maths.
(08:58):
You know, those are the sort of basics you got
to do. You've got to embrace more technology and innovation
like we're doing in some of our sectors so we
can get premium prices internationally. To get rid of red
tape and bureaucracy because it just slows the boat down.
You've got to make sure that you actually have modern,
reliable infratructure. And the last bit is trade and investment,
and that's why we're doubling our exports. That's why we're
trying to attract investment to New Zealand because it brings
(09:18):
knowledge and know how, it creates higher paying jobs, puts
capital into businesses, but also access to markets. So the
research would tell you after setting this stuff for a
long time, those are the five things that we have
to do. Because Mike's right, we're actually working really hard,
but we're still not able to get ahead because over
the last thirty years we haven't been able to lift
our collective living standards. Now those five things are what
(09:39):
those other countries have done, is they have actually raised
their standard of living and that's what the our long
term plan is.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I have a question from a exporter coming up in
a moment, Newstalk said, b remigration a text to makes
the point people don't just up and leave. There's a
lot of pain first. Then they have to plan and
it's not just I'm going and they hop on a
plane the next day. People leaving now we're already thinking
about it when the government came in. Rodney, good morning.
You sent me an email, but you you'd like to
(10:06):
have put a question to the Prime minister.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Yeah, that's fine, mister Luxeon. Hey Rodney, look, we're a
next border of machine parts in the last fifteen years. Now
we also wear closely with NZT, which they've been really good.
Speaker 7 (10:20):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Now with unemployment continued to rise. One of the things
I'm getting a little bit frustrated work is even then
saying what about moving my manufacturing overseas? Now we need
to keep manufacturing in this country. The government needs the
borders or else more jobs just will be lost.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
When you say support, do you mean subsidies to stay here?
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Probably make it easier to run a business.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Actually, subsidies do, but you can't in a global economy
these days. Sorry, that was to the primiers.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Think.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
I think what Rodney's saying is like, you know, we
actually want to see an advanced manufacturing sector in New Zealand,
and there actually has been over the last thirty years
a bit of a hollowing out where actual production has
moved off overseas. I think what's different Rodney nowur is
in the new World Order as we're sort of seeing
and the changes that have been taking place in the world.
We've gone from globally supply chain efficiency where you just
(11:16):
source the lowest cost product anywhere in the world and
COVID through that period, and subsequently, with all the tariffs
and other things going on, every country's acting in its
national interests and you've actually got to build some resilience
and some capability and in house capability closer to home.
So it's not just about efficient supply chain networks, it's
about actually resilient ones. But on your case, what we're
trying to do is make sure that businesses like yours
(11:36):
can that The trick for New Zealand small medium enterprises
is that the top ten percent are about seven times
more productive than the bottom ten percent, and the reason
is because they've adopted technology. And so what has tended
to happen in New Zealand is we've kept doing things.
Businesses run the same way, the same production process as
manufacturing processes, and then all of a sudden they add
more people to the same process rather than actually investing
(11:56):
in technology. And so one of the things we're doing
is with this Investment Boost, we're trying to say to
people like yourself producing things, actually, if you can, if
we can get you to write off twenty percent that
investment in that first year through accelerated depreciation through the
Investment Boost program, that will help you move to a
much more efficient place, in a much more productive place
where your business can generate more profit and more returns
and through adopting more technology. So we need our manufacturing
(12:19):
sector to definitely do that. And then from my point
of view, I'm spending a lot of time wanting to
double the exports internationally because that's a key part of
how we create more wealth in the country. And that's
about us opening up lots and new markets. And then
New Zealand businesses have to get on a plane and
they have to go learn these markets. Who are their partners,
who are their customers, who do they distribute their products through,
and why and how and how much money they make
(12:39):
in each of those different places, and I think that
literacy is improving amongst our exporters quite a bit over
even even in the last eighty months. I feel so yeah,
so we really want you to stay in New Zealand,
but you've got to build a great business, great culture,
great customer, great commercials and then you've got to be
able to We're going to do things like accelerating that
growth through investment boost and encourage you to adopt more technology,
plant capital, equipment, and then get into those overseas markets.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Well.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Kerrie Wood of Mornings in the Christopher Luxeen are stee
a question for the Prime Minister.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
Yeah, hi, Prime minister, Prime Minister, yea. I know you
you're between a rock and a hard place or the economy.
There's not really any more levers you can pull to
do much. And you guys are treading water and it's
a pr machine, just a gloss over while you pray
that somehow it's going to pick up.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Sounds so fatalistic, mate, Try and.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
You guys know the trips and the rest of it.
It's just a big glossy prt hoping for the best.
There's one lever you have yet to pull, and I
think you know that for the short term, sugar hit
that that will will bring something into this economy, and
that's a foreign biased ban. If that comes off, you know,
that will bring a bit of money in and that
will have a proper tangible effect rather than just being
(13:51):
all talk talk. The one other thing is that it's
not going to happen with Winston.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Of course, I was just going to say, the Winston
fact is a big one.
Speaker 6 (13:58):
There, all right, a thing boring me, Prime Minister. I
know you can't do much about that, so I don't
really care about that. The economy it'll do what's going
to do, regardless of what you guys say, right, But look,
what does bother me is that you have the ability
to do something about law and order, and we don't
hear enough about. Yeah, you've got these babies dying almost
on a weekly basis. Don't hear a thing from you?
Speaker 8 (14:20):
Mate?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Well, can I take the first one, which is and
I'll come to the second one on foreign buyers. That
is a conversation that Winston and I are having. So
watch the space. Let's see whether we can make some.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Progress through that one. How will you get him to
change his mind? What bauble are you able to offer
no no.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
I think actually both of us recognize that if people
are going to come to this country and make an
investment and partner with a New Zealand company. You think
about a technology person in San Francisco wanting to come
out here. They don't want to rent a house in Auckland,
that they want to be able to buy a house,
And you think about what's happening in places like Tara
Easy up the road for Auckland. You get massive investment,
one hundred and forty Americans here building twenty million dollar
(14:56):
plus homes, all that sort of stuff. So there has
to be a way through that. So we let, you know,
watch the space. It might be a bit more positive
than Steve thinks. I just say, on Steve, I think
they're there. If I started the day just thinking there's
nothing I can do on the economy, and this is
why I came to politics four years ago, just to
sort of window dress things, as you sort of suggest.
You know, we are fundamentally going to change the planning
system in this country, and that is a lot of work.
(15:19):
Fast track is it's our way initially of getting that
up and running and doing that stuff. But you know
it takes nineteen months to build a house. It's going
to get inspected fourteen times by the council and it's
fifty percent more expensive than Australia to build. We've opened
up overseas building products just in the last few weeks
so we can do that. We've got our investment boost
to get people to invest in technology so they can
write off twenty percent of those assets. We've got the
(15:39):
FDA's and the trade. You might think it's window dressing,
I'm telling you when actually your exports are up twenty
nine percent to Europe, twenty one percent to the UK,
six percent to the US. You've got dairy up, you know,
sixteen percent, You've got horticulture up nineteen percent, meet up
eight percent. Know, all of those things that is actually
really good, and our services and our technology and the
stuff we're doing in renewables in different parts of the world, infrastructure, investment, engineering,
(16:03):
there's some really good activity happening in that international US.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Something else that doctor Rosie Fennick has sent in an
email says New Zealand needs to be more productive, inovative
and competitive in fields other than agriculture. Correct to incentivize
businesses to grow a relocate ASC Island. Have you considered
changing the structure and size of the company tax rate
and matching or even undercutting Australia. Currently our rate is
of flat twenty eight percent. Australia's rate for businesses turning
(16:28):
over more than fifty million is thirty percent. The rate
is twenty five percent for companies with a lower turnover.
I propose a flat rate of twenty five percent with
companies for companies with a turnover of less than five
mil regardless of assets, seventeen to twenty percent for companies
with a turnover between five and forty million, and we
keep the current rate of twenty eight percent for companies
(16:49):
with a turnover greater than forty million.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yeah, so there's a real it's a really good challenge,
you know, because actually tax policy and attracting investment is
actually a key element of that's right, and that's but
that's something we're considering right now. But I certainly would
be open for looking why not corporate tax rate because
it's not something we could frankly off right now as
we sit in this part of the cycle. But what
we've got to do is be able to make it
much easier for people to actually come in from overseas
(17:13):
know that if they're going to invest in, a project's
going to get built. We've got a terrible reputation of
being a place that actually doesn't welcome foreign capital, doesn't
actually partner it up well with our big infrastructure we've
got after that infrastructure summit, you know, we had a
big Canadian infrastructure firm partner with Taynui to build out
the super hub at Rokura. We've got three consortium that
have come together. They're going to partner with the government
to build the road from Auckland to Fong Ray. Now,
(17:35):
if I just wait and do that all on my own,
it's going to be twenty eighty or something like that,
and we'll just keep talking about it for like the
we have for the last forty years, or otherwise, we
try and find a way to use funding and financing
from private sector and from international investors to get things
done quicker and faster. On the law and order fund front,
can I tackle that.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
We've done quite a bit on the Laura Road. You've
probably got a minute.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Well, just say we've gone after Gang's heart violent crimes
down this twenty eight thousand less people being impacted by
violent crime first time in a long time. The actual
numbers are down. Young offenders is down, RAM raids we
used to talk about everywhere every day, downs sixty percent.
And we've actually extended out for sentencing and yes we've
had to build out an eight hundred room you know prison,
(18:13):
but made sor judges actually can't discount sentences and actually
going to get serious time. And as a result, there's
more people in prison. But that is a function of
us actually getting on top of crime. Crime is for
real coming down. People are actually feeling it and there's
more to do for sure. But just think about three strikes,
the stalking laws, that all the other things that we've
been putting through the system on Laura, and I'm actually
(18:34):
really proud of the progress there.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
The abuse and family zone big issue still yep. Agree
and has family violence and has been for such a
long time.
Speaker 7 (18:42):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Everybody has a baby mine as dell Celia Whitaker. She
would be thirty six if her parents hadn't killed her.
Just before we go to Glenn on PHO funding for
rural GPS. The child abuse, I just.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Don't know, it's heartbreaking. I mean, it's a shameful record
in New Zealand family violence, and there is there is.
It's hard, it's really hard, but I just say there
there are some real pockets of organizations that are working
really well with some of these situations, the perpetrators of
family violence as well as the victims of it. And
we've got to get money through the social investment model
(19:16):
that we're talking about to really do things creatively and
differently and innovatively and do more of what works and
less of what doesn't work. I had a real, real
privilege s in the situation in christ Church recently where
all the government agencies actually work together on identifying families
that actually have you know, would have a propensity for
family violence and what interventions are actually needed, and they're
sharing information well between the of the agencies.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Wasn't that the bil English tarianaturia model.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Yeah, we call that Social investment is the bil English model,
which Nikola Willis is the Finance Minister is also Social
investment is trying to find a creative way to deal
with some of our intractable social problems, which are pretty
tough and pretty hard. Family violence is the one that
I'm most fixated on. But I saw some very good
work in christ Church where there have been a fifty
three percent reduction in family violence homicides for example, by virtue, yep,
(20:00):
by virtue of these agencies working incredibly well together, being
very data driven and sharing the information between the agencies
in a very formalized way as a combined team working
together each and every day on the thirty five cases
that will come through the system overnight. Typically in a
city like christ Stretch an area like Canterbury, there is
some hope.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
The meth use means that even decent people are going
to turn into monsters in some cases. You say, a
Texas says, you say, you've been tough on law and order,
but gang numbers are over ten thousand myths doubled in
the last twelve months.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, well, gangs, I mean the gangs are one quarter
of one percent of the population of New Zealand, driving
one quarter of twenty five percent of all our violent crime.
And yeah, I appreciate you've seen the gangless numbers go up,
But actually, when you think about the presence of gangs
and the communities, you're not seeing it as much as
you were the intimidating behavior. But that gang patch stuff
is enabling us to get into illegal guns or llegal
(20:52):
drugs because they are the organized crime distribution arms for
methamphetamine in New Zealand. And as you know, meth is
a major problem because actually other drug probably consumptions probably
come down. Myth has gone up because New Zealand is
fifteen times more expensive for meth than it is in
say the US. And as a result, for the first time,
we've seen a massive drive of Mexican North American crime
(21:14):
syndicate's coming in and bringing drugs into the Pacific and
then down into Australia, New Zealand. If you talk to
Tongua Fiji Sama, it's now evident all through there as well.
So we've got to do a better job of protecting
the border in the Pacific. It's pretty hard with all
that ocean. We've had submersible submarines come in from South America,
all sorts of things bringing in drugs as well as
obviously coming down through the other route through Malaysia through
(21:36):
the Golden Triangle. Then we've got to smash up the
gangs and the distribution and put real pressure. We are
doing that, I mean, actually violent crime is down, and
they were driving the vast majority of violent crime in
New Zealand, or a big part of it. And when
you think about our numbers being twenty eight thousand less
people now impacted by violent crime than there was, that's
a good start. We've got to keep pushing hard on
that and have zero tolerance on gangs. And then thirdly
(21:57):
we've got to be able to find a way to
get better people, better addiction and better healing services. Fundamentally, Yeah,
we really do. And every family in New Zealand has
been got a cousin, all got someone impacted through the
effects of myth you know, I know someone.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yeah, that's crosses all borders. Glenn, good morning to you.
Speaker 8 (22:13):
Good morning Kerrey, Good morning Prime Minister you glens very much.
Hey promised a question.
Speaker 9 (22:19):
About PHO funding Air One's well self and that's flowing
through to frontline GP services.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Yep.
Speaker 9 (22:25):
So now not I don't only did comment on specifics
of airthing, but last week last month sorry well Self
informed us they are harving.
Speaker 8 (22:32):
Air funding that they've been paying us since twenty sixteen,
and I'll take a look. In twenty sixteen their funding
is doubled from sixty two to one hundred and eighty million,
So that's great. They were spending eight million internal and
there they're spending.
Speaker 9 (22:43):
Twenty million internally and last year they run out.
Speaker 8 (22:45):
Of stuff to spend money and it's not three million
on the bank. And there's that cash past.
Speaker 9 (22:49):
So when you heard your kebinet meeting and.
Speaker 8 (22:51):
You were discussing the health budget and you heard yourself
at Minister sorry Brown.
Speaker 9 (22:57):
And yeah and the cee of Ti fatal Wara, was
it your intention that phos.
Speaker 8 (23:04):
Like well self would spend two and a half times
more internally and half the funding to.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
No no mate. And you've actually hit on the core issue,
which is that we have put more money into healthcare
than we've ever put in the history of New Zealand.
In fact, one out of every five dollars a government
expenditure is now in healthcare. We've actually hired more nurses
and more doctors. Yes, we've got challenges in regional New Zealand,
provincial New Zealand and specialist areas. We've got to get
the right people in the right places still, but we've
made some good progress in eighty months on that case,
(23:34):
and then we've got clear targets. But the inefficiency is
in health New Zealand. We've built massive bureaucracy in there. Yeah,
there's two and a half thousand extra managers and the
same thing's happening in PHOS. So that's why, Simeon, Yeah,
and so what's happened. We've got to break that mentality
because the money's got to flow through to the GPS.
Given the challenges we've got on GPS, we've got the
(23:54):
biggest increase in capitations, you'll be aware. But the PHO
model is a very good thing to question, and Simon
Brown is looking at it because we've made some changes
just recently for some of those big providers, for example,
GP Services to actually do almost standalone and go outside
the PHO process because they should not be doing that.
They need the money to flow through to the GPS,
(24:15):
not collect it in the bureaucracy of this of the
healthcare system. I think in health we've got money, we've
got people building, we've got targets, clarity, but we've got
we've got an organizational problem with bureaucracy, and that is
get where that is where we lose the money, and
that just cannot happen. And that's why I've got some
of and you know, really we've got. It's an organizational challenge.
Health new Zealand is the fourth largest organization in Australia
(24:36):
and New Zealand, so it's a big end, but it's
got a bit. It's a it's a good challenge for
a CEO to sit in there and actually sort it
out and make sure it's actually getting the money from
the government out to the front line where it's got
to get to.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
News talk said, be so frustrating with the ads. I'm
very disrespectful to the Prime Minister. I know, I'm really sorry.
I was saying the same thing. It'd be easier if
we were national radio.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
I actually really like this format because you do actually
get to discuss an issue a bit deeper than you
do on my three to six second grab on the
TVs D news. You know, I mean it's sort of
actually quite I know.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
But you know, if we had subsid then we could
all have We'd have fifteen producers out there and there'd
be three of me.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
We did pull back Radio new Zealand's budget this year, character.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
So you know, frustrating to hear money has been generously
spent in health and actual fact there's been huge starving
shortages where I am due to restrictions on replacing staff
who leave, and I've heard that from other nurses.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Yeah, it's interesting because we've put seventeen billion dollars extra
in last year. We've put another seven percent increase six
percent per capita in this in twenty twenty five budget,
so there is plenty of money going in. We actually
have hired twenty one hundred extra nurses, We've hired six
hundred more doctors into Health New Zealand. And actually, if
you think about nurse pay for examer's gone up seventy
four percent since twenty.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
But they're not replacing stuff.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
No, no, But the issue is then what you've seen
also though, is attrition people leaving the system is actually
coming down, so it's gone from fourteen down to eight percent.
But your point is a fair one where we've got
real challenges as in regional provincial New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
But it's my three nurses have said, yep, I can't
work harder.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
You know that an incredible job and do incredible job
with the doctors.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
The staff who leave are not being replaced, yep.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Well, the thing is they should be because there's plenty
of money in the system and there's plenty of extra
people in the system, and we've got to now try
and get the third medical schools, a desire to get
the provincial doctors out and the nurses out, and we've
got challenges and mental health and some specialist roles as well.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
So that's why aren't they being hired? If there's money,
there are nurses there, why aren't they being hired?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Well, they are, there is just not in this particular circumstances.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Three particular circumstances, get it.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
But I'm just saying to you, aggregate, there is now
twenty one hundred extra nurses in the system on top
of what we have when we start.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
And I think that's a real issue. It's a real
problem when you say we've got more nurses and you
go not next to me.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
And that's what I'm admitting.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Why the economy is doing better, not in my household.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
No, that's right, and so I get that. I really
understand that. I've got to try and solve initially from
where we were where we're losing fourteen percent of our
nurses every year out of the New Zealand healthcare system
to a place now where we're losing eight percent. Would
about sort of what normal attrition would be. I've got
to do everything I can to put the money in
at a system level. But I agree with you completely.
You know, we have big gaps of support and key
(27:15):
parts of our healthcare system, and we've actually got the
money going and we've got the people being hired, but
they're not being deployed in the right places, or there's
more work to do to get them perfectly deployed into
the right places.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
So who fixes that?
Speaker 9 (27:26):
Well?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Were so for example, you know, we know we've got
a challenge in provincial and rural health in New Zealand.
Right It's really hard because you get efficiencies in a
big city and you can end up with post code
lottery as a result. So what just done I've gone yep.
And so what we've done is said, look, if you're
a GP in a regional New Zealand area, will give
you twenty thousand dollars to go off and actually hire
that extra nurse that you might need. We're trying to
(27:48):
put four hundred and fifty more nurse places into what's
called nurse practition or nurse prescriber training to build out
the system that we're going to need for the future.
But you're also changing the wheel while you're driving. And
there are shortages and key places across New Zealand as
every day every day. And that is the reality of
the system right now. And that's why I keep coming
back to. You can put the money in, you can
(28:09):
put the people in, but if you've got a massive
bureaucracy that actually then isn't focused on getting that through
the bureaucracy out to the frontline to support our doctors
and asses are doing a kick ass job. That's what
we've got to work on.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Yeah. See, I'd rather see announcements than that that on
bloody payWave, that's for sure. That was disappointing. What do
you mean in terms of in terms of you know,
big thundering here, We're going to help the consumer and
we're going to do amazing things and you're going to
feel it and it's going to be incredible. And what
you're doing is putting the charges for using payWave on
to the small and medium business.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Know what happened there, just so you know, was the
Commerce Commission came out and actually lowered reduced the fees
that the banks and merchants that banks and Visa and
MasterCard can charge businesses by about ninety million dollars. We
also know that some retailers are charging more than what
the transaction actually costs a deliver by about sixty five
million dollars. And so what we've done and said lock,
we're going to take make sure that gets passed through
(29:02):
to the consumer, to the to the public, because actually
they're the ones that are they just put up the price. Well,
the little bit that they might have to pay, they
will have to build it into their price. But it's
not the same if you know, there's no I've seen
three and a half percent stick of charges on an
f POS terminal. Right, it doesn't cost three and a
half percent to do that transaction.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
I know.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
It just seemed to you know, that was very That's
a practical cost of living initiative that we should's common sense, right,
No you don't think so?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
No, why I don't because I'm going to end up
paying more. I swipe and other people who tap and
go are quite happy to pay for the privilege.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Yeah, but I think we should try and make sure
it's surcharge free and if businesses have got a legitimate cost,
they'll build it into their pricing. I get that. But
I just say to you, by the time the Commerce
commissioners ruled out and lower the fees that the banks
can charge those merchants, and we've also seen some excessive charging.
That's probably the cleanest, simplest way to get the right
behavior in the right and scent of someplace. Okay, Hikirie,
(29:56):
I just got the lucklesseners.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Good morning, Good morning.
Speaker 7 (30:05):
I'm I've been working forty five fifty hours a week
Monday Friday. I own a business and I run that
on the weekends. Christmas time, I am pulling the pin
of running my business because of all the tax that
I have to pay tax acc I mean, I'm sure
(30:25):
you know GST and everything else. My wife and I
who run the business in and out of hospital, left,
right and center because our bodies can't hack it anymore.
We've been doing this for ten years, and I know
you didn't put us into the situation.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
But I tell you what.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
People are sick and tired of hearing all the stories
that you and all your other guys say you're going
to do this, or we've done that, or the reason
why we're in this situation is because of labor. When
are thing's actually going to stop being talked about and
actually happen, because I'm going to run myself into a grave.
(31:03):
I've got grandkids who adore me and love me, and
what to be around. I am struggling, and I work
eighty to ninety hours a week.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
And that's that's what. That's exactly, that disconnect between hearing
that the economy is doing better, he's exhausted.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Yeah, no, I get it. It's really tough, it's really hard,
and this is the consequence of a recession that we've
had for three years that's been the toughest since the
early nineteen nineties. That is the reality of what's happened
in New Zealand. And you know, there, you've got a
situation where someone's working incredibly hard, cannot get ahead, and
is actually putting huge stress and pressure into their life,
into their family's life. And I get that, and I
understand that that is the consequence of not managing an
(31:43):
economy we.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Were told survived to twenty five. Here's twenty five. When
will people start to well feel better?
Speaker 8 (31:49):
Well?
Speaker 3 (31:49):
What I mean again, it doesn't help an individual circumstances
going through a really difficult and tough time, But at
the macro level. The economists are saying to us, we're
peaking with unemployment. We're expecting two point seven percent growth.
We're expecting to create two hundred and forty thousand jobs
in the next four years by virtue of the long
term play economic plan that we've put in place and
that we've been implementing. But you've got a challenge here.
(32:10):
One is we've got to run the economic stuff really well,
which is the big picture stuff which doesn't which all
sounds very numbers of trace. We've got a plan for
how we grow the future and get more wealth into
the country. But in the short term, you've got people
wrestling with the cost of living. They had three years
of inflation going through the reth of prices. Life is hard, right,
So we can support cost of living at best we
can and targeted ways, but we've got to get growth
(32:31):
into the economy so that people can get ahead. And
when well, we expect the growth too. We expect an
unemployment start trending down. It's supposed to peak now, come down,
and then we expect growth to be taking place two
point seven percent over the next four years on average
each and every year.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Thank you very much, News Talk said b Well, that's it.
I am sorry. If we didn't have ADS then there
would have been more time. And some people are saying
he talks too fast, But you've got so much that
you want to deliver. It has been you know, I'm
kind of with carry. It's a bit it still feels
a bit met and it's.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Hard because I'm trying to communicate a lot of context
for why we're making the decisions that we're making, or
what's actually happening is and how you're building and how
we're trying to build it up and how we're trying
to work our way through a difficult situation. So apologies
for talking too fast, but I'm trying to convey a
lot of information because actually people are asking really good
questions and it is difficult and tough dealing with the
(33:22):
cost of living and working their way through it. And
I'm trying to say, I've got to get the long
run stuff right for our kids and our grandkids. I've
got you know, I do believe we've got an awesome
future in this country. I honestly do. It's why I
came four years ago, because there are no excuses for
why we shouldn't be able to do really well for
ourselves and our kids and our grandkids. And we've got
example and that requires we do, and we've actually got
(33:43):
examples of it already happening in parts of New Zealand.
And we don't always tell the good news stories. And
I don't want that to be glib and to be
disingenuous to people doing it tough at all. But I
just want to encourage everybody. There are no reasons why
we can't build a great country here, and we can't
have the best damn small country on Earth period. We
just have to go to work though, and have some
ambition and aspiration and some positivities and can do and
(34:04):
some drive to make it happen years.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
And I suppose you know, your slogan could be, well,
you might think we're a bit shit, but the other
lot of worse labor Greens, Tapati Maori, anybody.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Well, it's just I don't really care about that. I
just want to get on and get the show sorted,
you know, get the country growing all.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Right, Max mcnowhon is your choice forever eight long enough?
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Yeah, great of Oregon's Prime Minister for a lot. That's
a great way to in the show.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
So twenty four year old out of Oregon.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
You living a Nashville great songwriter, doing some good stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Forever and long enough. Thank you for your time once again, private, Good.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
To see you, Kiurri.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
For more from Kerry Wooden Mornings, listen live to news
talks it'd be from nine am weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the carry Wood and Morning's podcast from
News Talk sed B.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
News Talk said, B Indeed, I am back with Prime
Minister Christopher Luxen for our third quarter catch up. If
you have a pertinent and you'll note that particular word
pertinent question to us the PM call us on our
eight hundred and eighty two and eighty Many of you
have texted through already to know two nine two, I, however,
will get us started.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Morning Prime Minister, Morning Carrie. You just that very good word.
You must be well educated.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
I am quite well educated because I came through before
in Cea. You see I had an abcdes on my
on my numbers for school. That's right. You're just back
from Papua New Guinea.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Yeah, great trip actually shot out on Monday night and
Papa New Guinea fascinating place. There's about ten to fifteen
million people. Actually the census can't quite work out which
one is. It's three quarters the size of all the
Pacific Islands added together. And yeah, it's about two thirds
of the population. So it's a country celebrating its fiftieth
anniverse of independence from Australia in nineteen seventy five. We're
(01:08):
one of the original eight countries that acknowledge their independence,
and we've been good partners. So a lot of interesting
things happening. Militaries are working together up there. They're teaching
us jungle warfare, We're teaching them how to use mortars.
There's all sorts of things happening. So, yeah, a really
important relationship.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
So they got a prime Minister to visit them, but
the Cooks did not.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
The Cooks did not. The Cook's got to Government General
are the highest office in the land, to visit them.
But as you know, we are very proud of the
Cook Islands people. But it's the Cook Island's government that
we've got an issue with.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
We've got a minor issue with, right, the economy. Let's
get cracking, Yeah, you it's the economy stupid. Basically, isn't
it that everything's about the economy, cost of living? And
you came in basically economy and law and order, so
Laura and health education, yep, yep. Economy. You said we've
got the Leavers to get things cracking. At the moment,
it doesn't feel like that. It feels like we're just
(01:56):
in the middle of an economic cycle and nothing you're
doing is making a blind bit of difference.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Oh look, I disagree. I think you know, we've got
a grip on the spending, which is actually broad inflation
down that's brought interest.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Think it as much, if not more than the previous adment.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
Well, but we've moved the spending from the back office
to the front line, so we've added, like for example,
if you take healthcare, despite the media narrative that we're
making cuts there, there's nothing further from the truth. We're
actually spending a lot more money there. But importantly, we've
actually hired twenty one hundred extra nurses in the system
than what we had when we started. We've got six
hundred more doctors in the system and when we started.
(02:28):
All of that is a function of actually moving the
money around from the back office, as I said, and
reprioritizing it and putting it into the frontline services. If
you think about the seven hundred million dollars put into
learning support and education, those sorts of things as a
function of actually spending and using the money differently and
better by moving it out of the bureaucracy and into
the front line. So you know, there's you know, there's
(02:49):
there's two big challenges which is that we've got to
get economic growth into the joint and we've also got
to help people with the cost of living through the
cost of living. On the cost of living, you've really
got to make sure you run the economy well. Otherwise
lower middle income people lose their jobs and they get
purpose most right, That's that's the reality of it.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
And look at the unemployment figures.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
At five point two percent. And just so everyone understands,
because I think, you know, it's lovely being, you know,
having the big party and the big spend up, which
is what labor did. But actually the consequences of that
are quite the hangover after the party's quite big. And
because when you lose formation on spending up eighty four percent,
just think about our debt our dat has gone from
sixty to one hundred and eighty billion dollars. I paid
(03:28):
ten billion dollars an interest just in the interest each year.
Now that's ten billions of road schools, hospitals I can't build.
It will be a hell of a lot of those
things as a result. But when you lose formation on spending,
you drive up inflation. Inflation, the only thing you can
do is take interest rates up. When you take interest
rates up, you put the economy into recession and it shrinks,
and then the last thing that happens is people lose
their jobs because of all that pressure.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
And as a result.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
So we've got to work our way through that circle cycle.
And that's what we're doing right now. But I just
don't think.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
It's happening quickly enough, because when you promise that it's
going to change when they elect a national government, but
that hasn't changed quickly enough. We've had one hundred and
twenty four than five hundred people leave New Zealand to
the year May twenty twenty five, forty three hundred New
Zealand citizens have said I haven't got a job, I
don't see the prospect of a job. I'm taking my skills.
(04:15):
I'm out of here.
Speaker 3 (04:16):
YEP, I get it. And the reason is because you've
got to build an economy where people can actually work
hard and get ahead. You've got to keep them safe
so they feel safe in their community. Our kids have
got a.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Good education, health, be sick of waiting.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
We've been yes, I get it, but we've been through
periods like this before. We've had twenty nine thousand net
migration to Australia this last year, same as twenty twenty three.
It's actually not as bad as it was through the
GFC crisis for four or five years at that period
of time. That's our job. Our job is to make
sure we're building out a country that people actually do
want to live and they can get ahead and they
can feel safe, and the kids are going to educate,
their parents, going to get healthcare. That's as simple as
(04:47):
it kind of gets. But be under no illusion, you know,
because I want people to really understand this, because that
simplest thing for me to do a bit to carry
on taxi more, borrowing more, spending more, and not worrying
about our kids and our grandkids having to pay off
one hundred and eighty billion dollars worth of debt. Equally,
I could go into full austerity mode and actually cut
the thing to the bone and do all that sort
of raiser gang stuff. That doesn't work either. We know
(05:08):
that's not the right case, and I've got to find
the midway through as the adult in the room to
try and navigate us through that.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
Is it harder than you thought it was going to be?
Speaker 3 (05:15):
No, I think when you lose formation as badly as
we did on economics that we had understood and knew
how to manage well for the previous thirty five years.
We've just gone through the biggest recession we've had since
the early nineteen nineties. It's been worse than the GFC.
It's been tougher than anything we've experienced in a generation.
Speaker 4 (05:31):
Yep, And you.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Don't turn it around in eighteen months after six years
of that situation. But having said that, I would sooner
have two point five percent inflation in the band where
it should be then seven and a half that we
had for multiple years. I'd sooner have four percent food inflation,
still too high, but actually compared to the twelve to
fourteen percent we were getting two years ago. So I'd
sooner have interest rates coming down the way they have,
(05:53):
so that people have got three hundred and twenty dollars
a fortnite in their bought back pocket. But I acknowledged
still tough, but there's also some really encouraging things going on.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Okay, And we'll get to you as in a moment,
but we'd like to get to our corners. Mike, good
morning to you.
Speaker 5 (06:06):
Good morning, How are you nice to talk to you?
Prime minister.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
You know, Mike, how are you?
Speaker 5 (06:10):
I'm good. I wouldn't want to do your job for
all the team China. What a hell of a job.
Speaker 6 (06:16):
You've got to jun to you, you know.
Speaker 5 (06:18):
And I will say this if I don't mind, before
I get to my question. Mate, you're doing You're doing
the best you can. And if people don't see that,
then let's get labor back in. They can drive us
into the ground. Okay, here's the question. I've got three children.
I came to New Zealand in twenty fourteen from the
UK and I moved here in twenty fourteen and this is,
(06:39):
in my opinion, the greatest country in the world, in
my opinion.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Thanks for coming.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Now, I'm an employer as well. I started a business.
I'm an employer. Here's the interesting thing. Three children, all
good qualified, well qualified kids in the twenties, and they've
all buggered off to Australia. Why well, there's just more opportunity.
And I don't mean opportunity. I don't think the streets
are paved with gold. But there's a chance there's a
(07:06):
chance you may become a homeowner. There there's a chance
you're going to get on and New Zealand just seems
just to lack that. What's your strategy to coax them back?
Because Australia they'll pay my middle daughter, they've agreed to
pay her student loan off to get her across within
a five year period. So you know, what are we
(07:27):
going to do and what can we afford to do?
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Yeah, Mike, you've hit the nail on the head. And
that's kind of why I came to politics four years ago,
because you can sort of sit on the sidelines and
say it's a great country, it's got a lot of
potential and we've got to set it up right for
our kids and grandkids. And that's exactly the reason I
came into politics frankly four years ago. But I just
say to you, you're exactly right. That's the job of
our government is that we have to say to people,
we have to build an economy where you can actually
(07:50):
work hard and get ahead. You have to be able
to live in a society where you're actually safe. You
have to be able to know that education is competitive
with kids overseas, and you've got to build out healthcare.
Now Australia is that New South Wales is thirty five
percent wealthier than New Zealand. Ireland is now twice as
wealthy as New Zealand per person, and so we have
that is the consequence of why you've got to focus
on good economic management, because you need a six cylinder
(08:13):
engine to be able to support six cylinder sort of
public service delivery and expectations.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
But Ireland has changed from a consumer economy to a
produce like export lead and we're still our export this
is what our exports are amazing and thank god for
our farmers. But we are still a consumer society putting
our money into houses and when we're not buying houses
and selling houses, we're not doing well.
Speaker 7 (08:36):
Yeah, but change.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Those are the things that you know in order if
you take a step back, and I've studied small advanced
countries for like for thirty years, and what do you
have to do to make a standard of living as
Mike's alluding to that you know as attract your dural Well,
you do a few things. One is you build a
world class education system, so you have more than half
your kids going to school regularly and more than half
being able to read with the time they get to
high school, and eighty percent are able to do maths.
(08:58):
You know, those are the sort of basics you got
to do. You've got to embrace more technology and innovation
like we're doing in some of our sectors so we
can get premium prices internationally. To get rid of red
tape and bureaucracy because it just slows the boat down.
You've got to make sure that you actually have modern,
reliable infratructure. And the last bit is trade and investment,
and that's why we're doubling our exports. That's why we're
trying to attract investment to New Zealand because it brings
(09:18):
knowledge and know how, it creates higher paying jobs, puts
capital into businesses, but also access to markets. So the
research would tell you after setting this stuff for a
long time, those are the five things that we have
to do. Because Mike's right, we're actually working really hard,
but we're still not able to get ahead because over
the last thirty years we haven't been able to lift
our collective living standards. Now those five things are what
(09:39):
those other countries have done, is they have actually raised
their standard of living and that's what the our long
term plan is.
Speaker 2 (09:44):
I have a question from a exporter coming up in
a moment, Newstalk said, b remigration a text to makes
the point people don't just up and leave. There's a
lot of pain first. Then they have to plan and
it's not just I'm going and they hop on a
plane the next day. People leaving now we're already thinking
about it when the government came in. Rodney, good morning.
You sent me an email, but you you'd like to
(10:06):
have put a question to the Prime minister.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
Yeah, that's fine, mister Luxeon. Hey Rodney, look, we're a
next border of machine parts in the last fifteen years. Now
we also wear closely with NZT, which they've been really good.
Speaker 7 (10:20):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (10:21):
Now with unemployment continued to rise. One of the things
I'm getting a little bit frustrated work is even then
saying what about moving my manufacturing overseas? Now we need
to keep manufacturing in this country. The government needs the
borders or else more jobs just will be lost.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
When you say support, do you mean subsidies to stay here?
Speaker 4 (10:46):
Probably make it easier to run a business.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Actually, subsidies do, but you can't in a global economy
these days. Sorry, that was to the primiers.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Think.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
I think what Rodney's saying is like, you know, we
actually want to see an advanced manufacturing sector in New Zealand,
and there actually has been over the last thirty years
a bit of a hollowing out where actual production has
moved off overseas. I think what's different Rodney nowur is
in the new World Order as we're sort of seeing
and the changes that have been taking place in the world.
We've gone from globally supply chain efficiency where you just
(11:16):
source the lowest cost product anywhere in the world and
COVID through that period, and subsequently, with all the tariffs
and other things going on, every country's acting in its
national interests and you've actually got to build some resilience
and some capability and in house capability closer to home.
So it's not just about efficient supply chain networks, it's
about actually resilient ones. But on your case, what we're
trying to do is make sure that businesses like yours
(11:36):
can that The trick for New Zealand small medium enterprises
is that the top ten percent are about seven times
more productive than the bottom ten percent, and the reason
is because they've adopted technology. And so what has tended
to happen in New Zealand is we've kept doing things.
Businesses run the same way, the same production process as
manufacturing processes, and then all of a sudden they add
more people to the same process rather than actually investing
(11:56):
in technology. And so one of the things we're doing
is with this Investment Boost, we're trying to say to
people like yourself producing things, actually, if you can, if
we can get you to write off twenty percent that
investment in that first year through accelerated depreciation through the
Investment Boost program, that will help you move to a
much more efficient place, in a much more productive place
where your business can generate more profit and more returns
and through adopting more technology. So we need our manufacturing
(12:19):
sector to definitely do that. And then from my point
of view, I'm spending a lot of time wanting to
double the exports internationally because that's a key part of
how we create more wealth in the country. And that's
about us opening up lots and new markets. And then
New Zealand businesses have to get on a plane and
they have to go learn these markets. Who are their partners,
who are their customers, who do they distribute their products through,
and why and how and how much money they make
(12:39):
in each of those different places, and I think that
literacy is improving amongst our exporters quite a bit over
even even in the last eighty months. I feel so yeah,
so we really want you to stay in New Zealand,
but you've got to build a great business, great culture,
great customer, great commercials and then you've got to be
able to We're going to do things like accelerating that
growth through investment boost and encourage you to adopt more technology,
plant capital, equipment, and then get into those overseas markets.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Well.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Kerrie Wood of Mornings in the Christopher Luxeen are stee
a question for the Prime Minister.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
Yeah, hi, Prime minister, Prime Minister, yea. I know you
you're between a rock and a hard place or the economy.
There's not really any more levers you can pull to
do much. And you guys are treading water and it's
a pr machine, just a gloss over while you pray
that somehow it's going to pick up.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Sounds so fatalistic, mate, Try and.
Speaker 6 (13:29):
You guys know the trips and the rest of it.
It's just a big glossy prt hoping for the best.
There's one lever you have yet to pull, and I
think you know that for the short term, sugar hit
that that will will bring something into this economy, and
that's a foreign biased ban. If that comes off, you know,
that will bring a bit of money in and that
will have a proper tangible effect rather than just being
(13:51):
all talk talk. The one other thing is that it's
not going to happen with Winston.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
Of course, I was just going to say, the Winston
fact is a big one.
Speaker 6 (13:58):
There, all right, a thing boring me, Prime Minister. I
know you can't do much about that, so I don't
really care about that. The economy it'll do what's going
to do, regardless of what you guys say, right, But look,
what does bother me is that you have the ability
to do something about law and order, and we don't
hear enough about. Yeah, you've got these babies dying almost
on a weekly basis. Don't hear a thing from you?
Speaker 8 (14:20):
Mate?
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Well, can I take the first one, which is and
I'll come to the second one on foreign buyers. That
is a conversation that Winston and I are having. So
watch the space. Let's see whether we can make some.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Progress through that one. How will you get him to
change his mind? What bauble are you able to offer
no no.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
I think actually both of us recognize that if people
are going to come to this country and make an
investment and partner with a New Zealand company. You think
about a technology person in San Francisco wanting to come
out here. They don't want to rent a house in Auckland,
that they want to be able to buy a house,
And you think about what's happening in places like Tara
Easy up the road for Auckland. You get massive investment,
one hundred and forty Americans here building twenty million dollar
(14:56):
plus homes, all that sort of stuff. So there has
to be a way through that. So we let, you know,
watch the space. It might be a bit more positive
than Steve thinks. I just say, on Steve, I think
they're there. If I started the day just thinking there's
nothing I can do on the economy, and this is
why I came to politics four years ago, just to
sort of window dress things, as you sort of suggest.
You know, we are fundamentally going to change the planning
system in this country, and that is a lot of work.
(15:19):
Fast track is it's our way initially of getting that
up and running and doing that stuff. But you know
it takes nineteen months to build a house. It's going
to get inspected fourteen times by the council and it's
fifty percent more expensive than Australia to build. We've opened
up overseas building products just in the last few weeks
so we can do that. We've got our investment boost
to get people to invest in technology so they can
write off twenty percent of those assets. We've got the
(15:39):
FDA's and the trade. You might think it's window dressing,
I'm telling you when actually your exports are up twenty
nine percent to Europe, twenty one percent to the UK,
six percent to the US. You've got dairy up, you know,
sixteen percent, You've got horticulture up nineteen percent, meet up
eight percent. Know, all of those things that is actually
really good, and our services and our technology and the
stuff we're doing in renewables in different parts of the world, infrastructure, investment, engineering,
(16:03):
there's some really good activity happening in that international US.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Something else that doctor Rosie Fennick has sent in an
email says New Zealand needs to be more productive, inovative
and competitive in fields other than agriculture. Correct to incentivize
businesses to grow a relocate ASC Island. Have you considered
changing the structure and size of the company tax rate
and matching or even undercutting Australia. Currently our rate is
of flat twenty eight percent. Australia's rate for businesses turning
(16:28):
over more than fifty million is thirty percent. The rate
is twenty five percent for companies with a lower turnover.
I propose a flat rate of twenty five percent with
companies for companies with a turnover of less than five
mil regardless of assets, seventeen to twenty percent for companies
with a turnover between five and forty million, and we
keep the current rate of twenty eight percent for companies
(16:49):
with a turnover greater than forty million.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yeah, so there's a real it's a really good challenge,
you know, because actually tax policy and attracting investment is
actually a key element of that's right, and that's but
that's something we're considering right now. But I certainly would
be open for looking why not corporate tax rate because
it's not something we could frankly off right now as
we sit in this part of the cycle. But what
we've got to do is be able to make it
much easier for people to actually come in from overseas
(17:13):
know that if they're going to invest in, a project's
going to get built. We've got a terrible reputation of
being a place that actually doesn't welcome foreign capital, doesn't
actually partner it up well with our big infrastructure we've
got after that infrastructure summit, you know, we had a
big Canadian infrastructure firm partner with Taynui to build out
the super hub at Rokura. We've got three consortium that
have come together. They're going to partner with the government
to build the road from Auckland to Fong Ray. Now,
(17:35):
if I just wait and do that all on my own,
it's going to be twenty eighty or something like that,
and we'll just keep talking about it for like the
we have for the last forty years, or otherwise, we
try and find a way to use funding and financing
from private sector and from international investors to get things
done quicker and faster. On the law and order fund front,
can I tackle that.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
We've done quite a bit on the Laura Road. You've
probably got a minute.
Speaker 3 (17:53):
Well, just say we've gone after Gang's heart violent crimes
down this twenty eight thousand less people being impacted by
violent crime first time in a long time. The actual
numbers are down. Young offenders is down, RAM raids we
used to talk about everywhere every day, downs sixty percent.
And we've actually extended out for sentencing and yes we've
had to build out an eight hundred room you know prison,
(18:13):
but made sor judges actually can't discount sentences and actually
going to get serious time. And as a result, there's
more people in prison. But that is a function of
us actually getting on top of crime. Crime is for
real coming down. People are actually feeling it and there's
more to do for sure. But just think about three strikes,
the stalking laws, that all the other things that we've
been putting through the system on Laura, and I'm actually
(18:34):
really proud of the progress there.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
The abuse and family zone big issue still yep. Agree
and has family violence and has been for such a
long time.
Speaker 7 (18:42):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Everybody has a baby mine as dell Celia Whitaker. She
would be thirty six if her parents hadn't killed her.
Just before we go to Glenn on PHO funding for
rural GPS. The child abuse, I just.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Don't know, it's heartbreaking. I mean, it's a shameful record
in New Zealand family violence, and there is there is.
It's hard, it's really hard, but I just say there
there are some real pockets of organizations that are working
really well with some of these situations, the perpetrators of
family violence as well as the victims of it. And
we've got to get money through the social investment model
(19:16):
that we're talking about to really do things creatively and
differently and innovatively and do more of what works and
less of what doesn't work. I had a real, real
privilege s in the situation in christ Church recently where
all the government agencies actually work together on identifying families
that actually have you know, would have a propensity for
family violence and what interventions are actually needed, and they're
sharing information well between the of the agencies.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Wasn't that the bil English tarianaturia model.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Yeah, we call that Social investment is the bil English model,
which Nikola Willis is the Finance Minister is also Social
investment is trying to find a creative way to deal
with some of our intractable social problems, which are pretty
tough and pretty hard. Family violence is the one that
I'm most fixated on. But I saw some very good
work in christ Church where there have been a fifty
three percent reduction in family violence homicides for example, by virtue, yep,
(20:00):
by virtue of these agencies working incredibly well together, being
very data driven and sharing the information between the agencies
in a very formalized way as a combined team working
together each and every day on the thirty five cases
that will come through the system overnight. Typically in a
city like christ Stretch an area like Canterbury, there is
some hope.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
The meth use means that even decent people are going
to turn into monsters in some cases. You say, a
Texas says, you say, you've been tough on law and order,
but gang numbers are over ten thousand myths doubled in
the last twelve months.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Yeah, well, gangs, I mean the gangs are one quarter
of one percent of the population of New Zealand, driving
one quarter of twenty five percent of all our violent crime.
And yeah, I appreciate you've seen the gangless numbers go up,
But actually, when you think about the presence of gangs
and the communities, you're not seeing it as much as
you were the intimidating behavior. But that gang patch stuff
is enabling us to get into illegal guns or llegal
(20:52):
drugs because they are the organized crime distribution arms for
methamphetamine in New Zealand. And as you know, meth is
a major problem because actually other drug probably consumptions probably
come down. Myth has gone up because New Zealand is
fifteen times more expensive for meth than it is in
say the US. And as a result, for the first time,
we've seen a massive drive of Mexican North American crime
(21:14):
syndicate's coming in and bringing drugs into the Pacific and
then down into Australia, New Zealand. If you talk to
Tongua Fiji Sama, it's now evident all through there as well.
So we've got to do a better job of protecting
the border in the Pacific. It's pretty hard with all
that ocean. We've had submersible submarines come in from South America,
all sorts of things bringing in drugs as well as
obviously coming down through the other route through Malaysia through
(21:36):
the Golden Triangle. Then we've got to smash up the
gangs and the distribution and put real pressure. We are
doing that, I mean, actually violent crime is down, and
they were driving the vast majority of violent crime in
New Zealand, or a big part of it. And when
you think about our numbers being twenty eight thousand less
people now impacted by violent crime than there was, that's
a good start. We've got to keep pushing hard on
that and have zero tolerance on gangs. And then thirdly
(21:57):
we've got to be able to find a way to
get better people, better addiction and better healing services. Fundamentally, Yeah,
we really do. And every family in New Zealand has
been got a cousin, all got someone impacted through the
effects of myth you know, I know someone.
Speaker 2 (22:09):
Yeah, that's crosses all borders. Glenn, good morning to you.
Speaker 8 (22:13):
Good morning Kerrey, Good morning Prime Minister you glens very much.
Hey promised a question.
Speaker 9 (22:19):
About PHO funding Air One's well self and that's flowing
through to frontline GP services.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Yep.
Speaker 9 (22:25):
So now not I don't only did comment on specifics
of airthing, but last week last month sorry well Self
informed us they are harving.
Speaker 8 (22:32):
Air funding that they've been paying us since twenty sixteen,
and I'll take a look. In twenty sixteen their funding
is doubled from sixty two to one hundred and eighty million,
So that's great. They were spending eight million internal and
there they're spending.
Speaker 9 (22:43):
Twenty million internally and last year they run out.
Speaker 8 (22:45):
Of stuff to spend money and it's not three million
on the bank. And there's that cash past.
Speaker 9 (22:49):
So when you heard your kebinet meeting and.
Speaker 8 (22:51):
You were discussing the health budget and you heard yourself
at Minister sorry Brown.
Speaker 9 (22:57):
And yeah and the cee of Ti fatal Wara, was
it your intention that phos.
Speaker 8 (23:04):
Like well self would spend two and a half times
more internally and half the funding to.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
No no mate. And you've actually hit on the core issue,
which is that we have put more money into healthcare
than we've ever put in the history of New Zealand.
In fact, one out of every five dollars a government
expenditure is now in healthcare. We've actually hired more nurses
and more doctors. Yes, we've got challenges in regional New Zealand,
provincial New Zealand and specialist areas. We've got to get
the right people in the right places still, but we've
made some good progress in eighty months on that case,
(23:34):
and then we've got clear targets. But the inefficiency is
in health New Zealand. We've built massive bureaucracy in there. Yeah,
there's two and a half thousand extra managers and the
same thing's happening in PHOS. So that's why, Simeon, Yeah,
and so what's happened. We've got to break that mentality
because the money's got to flow through to the GPS.
Given the challenges we've got on GPS, we've got the
(23:54):
biggest increase in capitations, you'll be aware. But the PHO
model is a very good thing to question, and Simon
Brown is looking at it because we've made some changes
just recently for some of those big providers, for example,
GP Services to actually do almost standalone and go outside
the PHO process because they should not be doing that.
They need the money to flow through to the GPS,
(24:15):
not collect it in the bureaucracy of this of the
healthcare system. I think in health we've got money, we've
got people building, we've got targets, clarity, but we've got
we've got an organizational problem with bureaucracy, and that is
get where that is where we lose the money, and
that just cannot happen. And that's why I've got some
of and you know, really we've got. It's an organizational challenge.
Health new Zealand is the fourth largest organization in Australia
(24:36):
and New Zealand, so it's a big end, but it's
got a bit. It's a it's a good challenge for
a CEO to sit in there and actually sort it
out and make sure it's actually getting the money from
the government out to the front line where it's got
to get to.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
News talk said, be so frustrating with the ads. I'm
very disrespectful to the Prime Minister. I know, I'm really sorry.
I was saying the same thing. It'd be easier if
we were national radio.
Speaker 3 (24:55):
I actually really like this format because you do actually
get to discuss an issue a bit deeper than you
do on my three to six second grab on the
TVs D news. You know, I mean it's sort of
actually quite I know.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
But you know, if we had subsid then we could
all have We'd have fifteen producers out there and there'd
be three of me.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
We did pull back Radio new Zealand's budget this year, character.
Speaker 2 (25:15):
So you know, frustrating to hear money has been generously
spent in health and actual fact there's been huge starving
shortages where I am due to restrictions on replacing staff
who leave, and I've heard that from other nurses.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Yeah, it's interesting because we've put seventeen billion dollars extra
in last year. We've put another seven percent increase six
percent per capita in this in twenty twenty five budget,
so there is plenty of money going in. We actually
have hired twenty one hundred extra nurses, We've hired six
hundred more doctors into Health New Zealand. And actually, if
you think about nurse pay for examer's gone up seventy
four percent since twenty.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
But they're not replacing stuff.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
No, no, But the issue is then what you've seen
also though, is attrition people leaving the system is actually
coming down, so it's gone from fourteen down to eight percent.
But your point is a fair one where we've got
real challenges as in regional provincial New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
But it's my three nurses have said, yep, I can't
work harder.
Speaker 3 (26:03):
You know that an incredible job and do incredible job
with the doctors.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
The staff who leave are not being replaced, yep.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Well, the thing is they should be because there's plenty
of money in the system and there's plenty of extra
people in the system, and we've got to now try
and get the third medical schools, a desire to get
the provincial doctors out and the nurses out, and we've
got challenges and mental health and some specialist roles as well.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
So that's why aren't they being hired? If there's money,
there are nurses there, why aren't they being hired?
Speaker 3 (26:29):
Well, they are, there is just not in this particular circumstances.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Three particular circumstances, get it.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
But I'm just saying to you, aggregate, there is now
twenty one hundred extra nurses in the system on top
of what we have when we start.
Speaker 2 (26:41):
And I think that's a real issue. It's a real
problem when you say we've got more nurses and you
go not next to me.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
And that's what I'm admitting.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Why the economy is doing better, not in my household.
Speaker 3 (26:53):
No, that's right, and so I get that. I really
understand that. I've got to try and solve initially from
where we were where we're losing fourteen percent of our
nurses every year out of the New Zealand healthcare system
to a place now where we're losing eight percent. Would
about sort of what normal attrition would be. I've got
to do everything I can to put the money in
at a system level. But I agree with you completely.
You know, we have big gaps of support and key
(27:15):
parts of our healthcare system, and we've actually got the
money going and we've got the people being hired, but
they're not being deployed in the right places, or there's
more work to do to get them perfectly deployed into
the right places.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
So who fixes that?
Speaker 9 (27:26):
Well?
Speaker 3 (27:27):
Were so for example, you know, we know we've got
a challenge in provincial and rural health in New Zealand.
Right It's really hard because you get efficiencies in a
big city and you can end up with post code
lottery as a result. So what just done I've gone yep.
And so what we've done is said, look, if you're
a GP in a regional New Zealand area, will give
you twenty thousand dollars to go off and actually hire
that extra nurse that you might need. We're trying to
(27:48):
put four hundred and fifty more nurse places into what's
called nurse practition or nurse prescriber training to build out
the system that we're going to need for the future.
But you're also changing the wheel while you're driving. And
there are shortages and key places across New Zealand as
every day every day. And that is the reality of
the system right now. And that's why I keep coming
back to. You can put the money in, you can
(28:09):
put the people in, but if you've got a massive
bureaucracy that actually then isn't focused on getting that through
the bureaucracy out to the frontline to support our doctors
and asses are doing a kick ass job. That's what
we've got to work on.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Yeah. See, I'd rather see announcements than that that on
bloody payWave, that's for sure. That was disappointing. What do
you mean in terms of in terms of you know,
big thundering here, We're going to help the consumer and
we're going to do amazing things and you're going to
feel it and it's going to be incredible. And what
you're doing is putting the charges for using payWave on
to the small and medium business.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
Know what happened there, just so you know, was the
Commerce Commission came out and actually lowered reduced the fees
that the banks and merchants that banks and Visa and
MasterCard can charge businesses by about ninety million dollars. We
also know that some retailers are charging more than what
the transaction actually costs a deliver by about sixty five
million dollars. And so what we've done and said lock,
we're going to take make sure that gets passed through
(29:02):
to the consumer, to the to the public, because actually
they're the ones that are they just put up the price. Well,
the little bit that they might have to pay, they
will have to build it into their price. But it's
not the same if you know, there's no I've seen
three and a half percent stick of charges on an
f POS terminal. Right, it doesn't cost three and a
half percent to do that transaction.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
I know.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
It just seemed to you know, that was very That's
a practical cost of living initiative that we should's common sense, right,
No you don't think so?
Speaker 2 (29:27):
No, why I don't because I'm going to end up
paying more. I swipe and other people who tap and
go are quite happy to pay for the privilege.
Speaker 3 (29:34):
Yeah, but I think we should try and make sure
it's surcharge free and if businesses have got a legitimate cost,
they'll build it into their pricing. I get that. But
I just say to you, by the time the Commerce
commissioners ruled out and lower the fees that the banks
can charge those merchants, and we've also seen some excessive charging.
That's probably the cleanest, simplest way to get the right
behavior in the right and scent of someplace. Okay, Hikirie,
(29:56):
I just got the lucklesseners.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
Good morning, Good morning.
Speaker 7 (30:05):
I'm I've been working forty five fifty hours a week
Monday Friday. I own a business and I run that
on the weekends. Christmas time, I am pulling the pin
of running my business because of all the tax that
I have to pay tax acc I mean, I'm sure
(30:25):
you know GST and everything else. My wife and I
who run the business in and out of hospital, left,
right and center because our bodies can't hack it anymore.
We've been doing this for ten years, and I know
you didn't put us into the situation.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
But I tell you what.
Speaker 7 (30:41):
People are sick and tired of hearing all the stories
that you and all your other guys say you're going
to do this, or we've done that, or the reason
why we're in this situation is because of labor. When
are thing's actually going to stop being talked about and
actually happen, because I'm going to run myself into a grave.
(31:03):
I've got grandkids who adore me and love me, and
what to be around. I am struggling, and I work
eighty to ninety hours a week.
Speaker 4 (31:12):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
And that's that's what. That's exactly, that disconnect between hearing
that the economy is doing better, he's exhausted.
Speaker 3 (31:20):
Yeah, no, I get it. It's really tough, it's really hard,
and this is the consequence of a recession that we've
had for three years that's been the toughest since the
early nineteen nineties. That is the reality of what's happened
in New Zealand. And you know, there, you've got a
situation where someone's working incredibly hard, cannot get ahead, and
is actually putting huge stress and pressure into their life,
into their family's life. And I get that, and I
understand that that is the consequence of not managing an
(31:43):
economy we.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Were told survived to twenty five. Here's twenty five. When
will people start to well feel better?
Speaker 8 (31:49):
Well?
Speaker 3 (31:49):
What I mean again, it doesn't help an individual circumstances
going through a really difficult and tough time, But at
the macro level. The economists are saying to us, we're
peaking with unemployment. We're expecting two point seven percent growth.
We're expecting to create two hundred and forty thousand jobs
in the next four years by virtue of the long
term play economic plan that we've put in place and
that we've been implementing. But you've got a challenge here.
(32:10):
One is we've got to run the economic stuff really well,
which is the big picture stuff which doesn't which all
sounds very numbers of trace. We've got a plan for
how we grow the future and get more wealth into
the country. But in the short term, you've got people
wrestling with the cost of living. They had three years
of inflation going through the reth of prices. Life is hard, right,
So we can support cost of living at best we
can and targeted ways, but we've got to get growth
(32:31):
into the economy so that people can get ahead. And
when well, we expect the growth too. We expect an
unemployment start trending down. It's supposed to peak now, come down,
and then we expect growth to be taking place two
point seven percent over the next four years on average
each and every year.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Thank you very much, News Talk said b Well, that's it.
I am sorry. If we didn't have ADS then there
would have been more time. And some people are saying
he talks too fast, But you've got so much that
you want to deliver. It has been you know, I'm
kind of with carry. It's a bit it still feels
a bit met and it's.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
Hard because I'm trying to communicate a lot of context
for why we're making the decisions that we're making, or
what's actually happening is and how you're building and how
we're trying to build it up and how we're trying
to work our way through a difficult situation. So apologies
for talking too fast, but I'm trying to convey a
lot of information because actually people are asking really good
questions and it is difficult and tough dealing with the
(33:22):
cost of living and working their way through it. And
I'm trying to say, I've got to get the long
run stuff right for our kids and our grandkids. I've
got you know, I do believe we've got an awesome
future in this country. I honestly do. It's why I
came four years ago, because there are no excuses for
why we shouldn't be able to do really well for
ourselves and our kids and our grandkids. And we've got
example and that requires we do, and we've actually got
(33:43):
examples of it already happening in parts of New Zealand.
And we don't always tell the good news stories. And
I don't want that to be glib and to be
disingenuous to people doing it tough at all. But I
just want to encourage everybody. There are no reasons why
we can't build a great country here, and we can't
have the best damn small country on Earth period. We
just have to go to work though, and have some
ambition and aspiration and some positivities and can do and
(34:04):
some drive to make it happen years.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
And I suppose you know, your slogan could be, well,
you might think we're a bit shit, but the other
lot of worse labor Greens, Tapati Maori, anybody.
Speaker 3 (34:16):
Well, it's just I don't really care about that. I
just want to get on and get the show sorted,
you know, get the country growing all.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Right, Max mcnowhon is your choice forever eight long enough?
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Yeah, great of Oregon's Prime Minister for a lot. That's
a great way to in the show.
Speaker 2 (34:35):
So twenty four year old out of Oregon.
Speaker 3 (34:36):
You living a Nashville great songwriter, doing some good stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Forever and long enough. Thank you for your time once again, private, Good.
Speaker 3 (34:43):
To see you, Kiurri.
Speaker 1 (34:44):
For more from Kerry Wooden Mornings, listen live to news
talks it'd be from nine am weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
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