August 13, 2026 • 6 mins
The Prime Minister joins us for the first time on Newstalk ZB since you know when.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
For the first time since you know, when the Prime
Minister appears on news talks there'd be Christopher Luckson welcome back,
And I'm still glad you got the job.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good to be with you, Jamie. How are you today?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Well, we might talk about you know what a wee
bit later, but I want to talk about some of
the announcements you've made this morning at the South Island
election conference.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
There's some good stuff in there. For farming.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Federated Farmers have come out and said they're very pleased
about national standards for river gravel extraction and on farm quarries.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'll come back to that one.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
But having spent a few days in Queenstown at the
beginning of the week, thank god you're doing something about
the traffic there.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah. Look, I mean basically, you know, we're the only
party in town that has a minister for the South Island.
We're the only party today that's launched a plan for
the South Island and what we want to say is, look,
you know it's a critical part of the big powerhouse
and a driver of the New Zealand economy, and you
know we've got to get in behind and back that
growth and continue to accelerate that growth, and so yeah,
that's why we want to you know, we're putting some
(00:59):
big focus on infrastructure, putting about more support for key industries,
certainly a big focus on energy and also frontline services,
whether it's health and education.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
And you're trying to make life easier for farmers around
the river gravel extraction and the on farm quarries. And
we really do need to do something about the rival
river gravel extraction, get it right, because it's just causing
untold damage. We need to get some of that gravel
out of the rivers to stop them flooding.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Absolutely, Jamie, and I think that's the point that's been made.
You know, I've seen it up close and you know
Ashburton was flooding there. I've seen it up in Tasman
as well, and you know across the country actually, and
it's just like we've had these ridiculous regional council rules
that have just stopped common sense from coming through and
you know, we just need more common sense in the place.
And so you know, that's one of the things we
(01:45):
heard directly from farmers. And you know a lot of
what we try and do is put policies together that
we actually hear directly from the people impacted by it,
and I think that's a really good move forward.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
The farmers have had battles, long running battles in many
cases with regional councils, particularly in the province that you're
at the moment, how are you going? Well, how are
you and Shane Jones going getting rid of regional councils?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, we now said before Christmas last year they're going
because we've got a new RMA that'll be law next
month and the benefit of that is that we expect
to have forty five percent less consent and we want
people to be able to use their property rights and
to be able to do what they need to do
with their property without interference from people who have no
interest in all, no impact on what they're doing. And
(02:28):
as part of that, it makes sense if you got
a new Resource Management Planning Act you need to simplify
the layers of government because all we've been doing is
shunting paper between each other and that's not leading to
getting things done and built or people getting on and
growing their businesses and growing their farm businesses.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Is the timing of bit off with us?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Wouldn't you have been better to have done this after
re winning an election, because what happens if you lose.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
This has all been a wasted effort.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Well, today we're down in christ Chech because you know,
the eight Chambers of Commerce have come together and I
actually really admire what they've done. They've come forward with
the manifest of what they think as a combined business
community across the South Islanders to know what they think
the South needs to do to continue to be the
powerhouse that it is in our economy. And you know
we're responding to that and it's really great because you know,
(03:14):
when eight counts, you know, eight chain has come together
with a plan, you're not dealing with eight different views.
You're dealing with one single view of the South Island.
It's pretty clear. It's very much align with the things
that we want to do and it makes it easy
for us to partner with the South Island.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I know you're a teetotaler, but do you think you'd
feel like pouring yourself a stiff gin tonight? Have you
had a tougher week in politics?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Well, every week is a tough weeks in politics. It's
been a challenging one for sure, but look, you know,
we dealt with our issue on Wednesday. We dealt with
it decisively as a team and you know the bottom lineers,
We come out of that pretty focused to say, look,
there's a lot of stake at the selection in November seventh,
and you know you've got an opposition that just wants
to spend more, tax more, borrow more. That's not the
(03:56):
way forward for New Zealand. We've got to grow the
country result that makes life more affordable and that sets
it up better for our kids and our grandkids. And
that's a pretty stark choice and that's what we're focused on.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Does Mark Mitchull get danger money for being your minder?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
What do you mean?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Well he's your minder, isn't he? What do you mean
that he's the protector?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
He's a great police minister there and he's a good mate.
And there's an example right there. You have it. Who
do you want to be Police Minister New Zealand? Do
you want it to be Martin Mitchell or do you
want to be someone else? Who do you want to
be any Take any of my minister's on my front
bench and line them up against the opposition and I'm
telling you we've got a great team and we have
got some serious, common sense, hard working ministers that know
(04:41):
how to take the Zland forward. And that's the only
option from His Zealand. Don't waste your party vote. The
party vote shapes governments and we need everyone to party
vote national.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Hey, just a final word on law and order the
Opportunity Party and we're going to have Daniel eb On
their deputy leader next week on the show. People wanted
to hear their agg policy. We'll find out what it is.
But this law and order policy, I think they may
have done this about not being able to be charged
literally for anything until you're twenty five.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
What nonsense like?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I mean, let's be clear whether you know it's Labor,
the Greens, Opportunity or whether it's to Party Mari. All
those four parties are not as soft on law and
order and that was a big problem for this country
two and a half years ago. Mark Mitchell, myself, Paul Goldsmith,
we took that very seriously. We made a commitment to
New Zealand people to restore law and order. Yes we've
been tough on gangs. Yes we've been making a message
(05:30):
to young people about their rights and responsibilities and we've
sent a message to our judges that they need to
be getting making sure the Senate seems reflect what the
crimes are. And so yes, we've smashed up the gangs.
And for the good news is we've got forty six
thousand fewer victims of violent crime. We've got twenty two
percent reduction and youth offending, and we've sent we've just
you know, we've actually given a hard caps as to
(05:51):
how much judges can discount sentences so we don't see
some of the ridiculous situations we're seeing. So proud of
the progress we've made. And the other side, I'm telling
you that it's go back to where we were.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Christopher Luckson Prime Minister once again or reconfirmed this week.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Thanks for your time.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I'm looking forward to your speech tonight the z B
one hundred, keep it.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Short now, looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I'll see you there, Jam you take care.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Thank you,
For the first time since you know, when the Prime
Minister appears on news talks there'd be Christopher Luckson welcome back,
And I'm still glad you got the job.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Good to be with you, Jamie. How are you today?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Well, we might talk about you know what a wee
bit later, but I want to talk about some of
the announcements you've made this morning at the South Island
election conference.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
There's some good stuff in there. For farming.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Federated Farmers have come out and said they're very pleased
about national standards for river gravel extraction and on farm quarries.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'll come back to that one.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
But having spent a few days in Queenstown at the
beginning of the week, thank god you're doing something about
the traffic there.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Yeah. Look, I mean basically, you know, we're the only
party in town that has a minister for the South Island.
We're the only party today that's launched a plan for
the South Island and what we want to say is, look,
you know it's a critical part of the big powerhouse
and a driver of the New Zealand economy, and you
know we've got to get in behind and back that
growth and continue to accelerate that growth, and so yeah,
that's why we want to you know, we're putting some
(00:59):
big focus on infrastructure, putting about more support for key industries,
certainly a big focus on energy and also frontline services,
whether it's health and education.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
And you're trying to make life easier for farmers around
the river gravel extraction and the on farm quarries. And
we really do need to do something about the rival
river gravel extraction, get it right, because it's just causing
untold damage. We need to get some of that gravel
out of the rivers to stop them flooding.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Absolutely, Jamie, and I think that's the point that's been made.
You know, I've seen it up close and you know
Ashburton was flooding there. I've seen it up in Tasman
as well, and you know across the country actually, and
it's just like we've had these ridiculous regional council rules
that have just stopped common sense from coming through and
you know, we just need more common sense in the place.
And so you know, that's one of the things we
(01:45):
heard directly from farmers. And you know a lot of
what we try and do is put policies together that
we actually hear directly from the people impacted by it,
and I think that's a really good move forward.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
The farmers have had battles, long running battles in many
cases with regional councils, particularly in the province that you're
at the moment, how are you going? Well, how are
you and Shane Jones going getting rid of regional councils?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, we now said before Christmas last year they're going
because we've got a new RMA that'll be law next
month and the benefit of that is that we expect
to have forty five percent less consent and we want
people to be able to use their property rights and
to be able to do what they need to do
with their property without interference from people who have no
interest in all, no impact on what they're doing. And
(02:28):
as part of that, it makes sense if you got
a new Resource Management Planning Act you need to simplify
the layers of government because all we've been doing is
shunting paper between each other and that's not leading to
getting things done and built or people getting on and
growing their businesses and growing their farm businesses.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
Is the timing of bit off with us?
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Wouldn't you have been better to have done this after
re winning an election, because what happens if you lose.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
This has all been a wasted effort.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Well, today we're down in christ Chech because you know,
the eight Chambers of Commerce have come together and I
actually really admire what they've done. They've come forward with
the manifest of what they think as a combined business
community across the South Islanders to know what they think
the South needs to do to continue to be the
powerhouse that it is in our economy. And you know
we're responding to that and it's really great because you know,
(03:14):
when eight counts, you know, eight chain has come together
with a plan, you're not dealing with eight different views.
You're dealing with one single view of the South Island.
It's pretty clear. It's very much align with the things
that we want to do and it makes it easy
for us to partner with the South Island.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
I know you're a teetotaler, but do you think you'd
feel like pouring yourself a stiff gin tonight? Have you
had a tougher week in politics?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Well, every week is a tough weeks in politics. It's
been a challenging one for sure, but look, you know,
we dealt with our issue on Wednesday. We dealt with
it decisively as a team and you know the bottom lineers,
We come out of that pretty focused to say, look,
there's a lot of stake at the selection in November seventh,
and you know you've got an opposition that just wants
to spend more, tax more, borrow more. That's not the
(03:56):
way forward for New Zealand. We've got to grow the
country result that makes life more affordable and that sets
it up better for our kids and our grandkids. And
that's a pretty stark choice and that's what we're focused on.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
Does Mark Mitchull get danger money for being your minder?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
What do you mean?
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Well he's your minder, isn't he? What do you mean
that he's the protector?
Speaker 2 (04:19):
He's a great police minister there and he's a good mate.
And there's an example right there. You have it. Who
do you want to be Police Minister New Zealand? Do
you want it to be Martin Mitchell or do you
want to be someone else? Who do you want to
be any Take any of my minister's on my front
bench and line them up against the opposition and I'm
telling you we've got a great team and we have
got some serious, common sense, hard working ministers that know
(04:41):
how to take the Zland forward. And that's the only
option from His Zealand. Don't waste your party vote. The
party vote shapes governments and we need everyone to party
vote national.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Hey, just a final word on law and order the
Opportunity Party and we're going to have Daniel eb On
their deputy leader next week on the show. People wanted
to hear their agg policy. We'll find out what it is.
But this law and order policy, I think they may
have done this about not being able to be charged
literally for anything until you're twenty five.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
What nonsense like?
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I mean, let's be clear whether you know it's Labor,
the Greens, Opportunity or whether it's to Party Mari. All
those four parties are not as soft on law and
order and that was a big problem for this country
two and a half years ago. Mark Mitchell, myself, Paul Goldsmith,
we took that very seriously. We made a commitment to
New Zealand people to restore law and order. Yes we've
been tough on gangs. Yes we've been making a message
(05:30):
to young people about their rights and responsibilities and we've
sent a message to our judges that they need to
be getting making sure the Senate seems reflect what the
crimes are. And so yes, we've smashed up the gangs.
And for the good news is we've got forty six
thousand fewer victims of violent crime. We've got twenty two
percent reduction and youth offending, and we've sent we've just
you know, we've actually given a hard caps as to
(05:51):
how much judges can discount sentences so we don't see
some of the ridiculous situations we're seeing. So proud of
the progress we've made. And the other side, I'm telling
you that it's go back to where we were.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Christopher Luckson Prime Minister once again or reconfirmed this week.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Thanks for your time.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
I'm looking forward to your speech tonight the z B
one hundred, keep it.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Short now, looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
I'll see you there, Jam you take care.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Thank you,
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