July 15, 2025 • 6 mins
The PM says he won’t hang the Tasman/Nelson region out to dry after the devastating flooding. He also denies that cracks are appearing in the coalition and is adamant we should not be pulling out of the Paris Agreement.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wednesdays on the Country, the PM kicks off the show.
I hope he enjoyed his week's break because they only
think he has two weeks holiday for the entire year.
Keep working hard, Prime Minister. The country desperately needs it. Hey, listen,
you said the government won't be able to keep on
bailing out flooded homeowners. Where do you draw a line
in the sand and will the Tasman district be hung
(00:21):
out to dry? No?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Absolutely not. I mean on the Tasman I just have
to commend everyone's effort's down there because they've had a
brutal two week period or three week period really with
two big weather events coming through there. I've spoken to
both mayors are Nick Smith and also Tim King. It's
particularly in Tasman and it's particularly in some of the
areas around apple hops in a little bit of forestry
as well. So you know, we'll continue to work with
(00:45):
them and if we've worked excepting well if at the
response to the z after I think has been very
very good. Now we move into the recovery phase and
you know we make an assessment to see where things
are at and what other supports needed. Tom mcclay's got
an announcement coming up to the bit more about that,
But the bigger point I was making was that, you know,
there's been a report recently just come through that says, look,
(01:05):
in twenty years from now, we just can't afford for
a government to keep bailing out and underwriting houses getting
written off. And that's an issue about what's called climbate adaptation,
is like, how do we build back much more resilience
infrastructure when roads and slips happen. You know, we're working
really hard on that to make sure it's much more
it's tough and more resilient sort of infrastructure that we've got,
(01:26):
But when you look down the road, you can't have
people building in flood zones. You can't obviously have you know,
what was the responsibility of councils, central government, the land
owner that themselves, the banks, insurers. How do we get
a framework in place that sort of says that these
things are going to keep happening. How are we going
to manage them in terms of the recovery side and
the compensation side and actually where we actually build back infrastructure.
(01:50):
How do we think about that Every country around the
world is wrestling with us. Jamie I've spoken to other
world leaders about it, and you know that's why we've
got a multi party by part of it as an
approach to this, because you know, under successive governments in
the future of different colors, you know that's going to
be an issue for everybody. So it's a New Zealand issue.
It's not a political issue. So we've got to work
(02:10):
our way through that. We don't have the answers yet,
but it's pretty it's obvious we's not going to be
able to afford to do it, or if it's one
hundred percent on government, we're gonna have to think about
how we manage that risk better.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
And hopefully Todd McLay very shortly on those Tasman flood
announcements right. A headline in the Herald yesterday cracks in
the coalition. There's Deputy Dave now the naughty boy and
who would have thought Prime Minister that Winston Peters would
get the prize for best behave pupil.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
We've got a great coalition. Think about what we've done
for your Secdale and you've got dairy meat, Horde of Culture, forestry, seafood,
ll pumpanything which is fantastic. No we've got a great
coalition and I know we're to pray about. Yeah, we
had a process issue. David, as was on the letter
that he sent to the UN in Winston, is coordinating
a government response. Because it's four or five issues raised
in that letter. You know that he will coordinate him
(03:01):
and send out intue course. So that's all that was.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, but Seymour was exactly right. Pius sold u n
lecturing us here in New Zealand got on Seymour for
sending off a missive We.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Don't disagree with the substance of that. I think you'd
find all of government in Winston, myself and David would
have very similar views around other substance and the content
of what we received. But the point is, you know
the process is that you know Whinston Peters, our feign
Affairs Minister, is the right person to coordinate our response
to those to that letter, and he'll do a great
job doing that.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
So it's Winston's job to tell the UN to go
and stick it up there where the sun doesn't shine. Anyhow,
Radio Winston's standing as a statesman seems to be growing
by the day, and that latest taxpayer Union Curier poll,
which came out while you were away, has them ahead
of the Greens and Act and the Greens for the
first time.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Although I think he's done an exceptional job. I think
you know, he's out and about in the world. You know,
between himself, my self, Todd McLay, Judith Collins, the four
of us are trying to lift with great urgency the
intensity and the quality of our relationships with international countries
and partners. And he's hugely respected across the world. He's
(04:14):
hugely our huge admiration for what he does in the
foreign affairs space for New Zealand, and we should be
grateful that he's out there doing the business. You compare
and contrast what's happened in our eighteen months versus the
previous six years. We're essentially no one went traveling from
New Zealand and we had a foreign Affairs minister that
didn't want to go do foreign affairs essentially, and the
(04:34):
whole play shut down and we lost a huge amount
of influence. And now we're building back our influence very strongly.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Just talking of Winston, Federated Farmers is joining other major
industry good bodies such as darien Z Beef and Lamb
New Zealand and not advocating for the government to withdraw
from the Paris Agreement. Now here's the question for your
Prime Minister. Do all the members of the coalition support
the stance?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, coalition government is really clear. Yeah, absolutely clear. We
will believe That's why we've you know, it's our position
of the government. I mean, it's a cabinet We make
those finy calls and we have good conversations in cabinet,
but you know, there's no doubt about it. This is
the government position. Yep. Sorry, it's pretty simple because you know,
as I said before and I said at Field Days,
you know, look, we're going hard on economic growth. We're
(05:19):
not putting farming at risk. We're not going to punish
our farmers. We're going to shut farms down. And frankly,
it wasn't Paris that did the damage to farmers. Farmers,
it was labor that did the damage to farmers. Be
really clear about that. And actually, as I said before,
I can tell you our global competitors, you know, countries
that sell similar products to US, and international multinational corporations
to be consumer goods companies, they would look, you know,
(05:42):
they'll kick us out in a heartbeat if you exit
of Paris. So let's be clear, there's I think Yemen, Libya,
one other country and now the US. But you've got
American governors of states are very committed to itself and
acting on its.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Libya, Yemen, Eritrea and South Saddan and the United States.
Let's not forget about it. The United States under Trump anyhow,
that's another discussion for another day. Prime Minister, thanks for
your time.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Great to be with you. Jamie
Wednesdays on the Country, the PM kicks off the show.
I hope he enjoyed his week's break because they only
think he has two weeks holiday for the entire year.
Keep working hard, Prime Minister. The country desperately needs it. Hey, listen,
you said the government won't be able to keep on
bailing out flooded homeowners. Where do you draw a line
in the sand and will the Tasman district be hung
(00:21):
out to dry? No?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Absolutely not. I mean on the Tasman I just have
to commend everyone's effort's down there because they've had a
brutal two week period or three week period really with
two big weather events coming through there. I've spoken to
both mayors are Nick Smith and also Tim King. It's
particularly in Tasman and it's particularly in some of the
areas around apple hops in a little bit of forestry
as well. So you know, we'll continue to work with
(00:45):
them and if we've worked excepting well if at the
response to the z after I think has been very
very good. Now we move into the recovery phase and
you know we make an assessment to see where things
are at and what other supports needed. Tom mcclay's got
an announcement coming up to the bit more about that,
But the bigger point I was making was that, you know,
there's been a report recently just come through that says, look,
(01:05):
in twenty years from now, we just can't afford for
a government to keep bailing out and underwriting houses getting
written off. And that's an issue about what's called climbate adaptation,
is like, how do we build back much more resilience
infrastructure when roads and slips happen. You know, we're working
really hard on that to make sure it's much more
it's tough and more resilient sort of infrastructure that we've got,
(01:26):
But when you look down the road, you can't have
people building in flood zones. You can't obviously have you know,
what was the responsibility of councils, central government, the land
owner that themselves, the banks, insurers. How do we get
a framework in place that sort of says that these
things are going to keep happening. How are we going
to manage them in terms of the recovery side and
the compensation side and actually where we actually build back infrastructure.
(01:50):
How do we think about that Every country around the
world is wrestling with us. Jamie I've spoken to other
world leaders about it, and you know that's why we've
got a multi party by part of it as an
approach to this, because you know, under successive governments in
the future of different colors, you know that's going to
be an issue for everybody. So it's a New Zealand issue.
It's not a political issue. So we've got to work
(02:10):
our way through that. We don't have the answers yet,
but it's pretty it's obvious we's not going to be
able to afford to do it, or if it's one
hundred percent on government, we're gonna have to think about
how we manage that risk better.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
And hopefully Todd McLay very shortly on those Tasman flood
announcements right. A headline in the Herald yesterday cracks in
the coalition. There's Deputy Dave now the naughty boy and
who would have thought Prime Minister that Winston Peters would
get the prize for best behave pupil.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
We've got a great coalition. Think about what we've done
for your Secdale and you've got dairy meat, Horde of Culture, forestry, seafood,
ll pumpanything which is fantastic. No we've got a great
coalition and I know we're to pray about. Yeah, we
had a process issue. David, as was on the letter
that he sent to the UN in Winston, is coordinating
a government response. Because it's four or five issues raised
in that letter. You know that he will coordinate him
(03:01):
and send out intue course. So that's all that was.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, but Seymour was exactly right. Pius sold u n
lecturing us here in New Zealand got on Seymour for
sending off a missive We.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Don't disagree with the substance of that. I think you'd
find all of government in Winston, myself and David would
have very similar views around other substance and the content
of what we received. But the point is, you know
the process is that you know Whinston Peters, our feign
Affairs Minister, is the right person to coordinate our response
to those to that letter, and he'll do a great
job doing that.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
So it's Winston's job to tell the UN to go
and stick it up there where the sun doesn't shine. Anyhow,
Radio Winston's standing as a statesman seems to be growing
by the day, and that latest taxpayer Union Curier poll,
which came out while you were away, has them ahead
of the Greens and Act and the Greens for the
first time.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Although I think he's done an exceptional job. I think
you know, he's out and about in the world. You know,
between himself, my self, Todd McLay, Judith Collins, the four
of us are trying to lift with great urgency the
intensity and the quality of our relationships with international countries
and partners. And he's hugely respected across the world. He's
(04:14):
hugely our huge admiration for what he does in the
foreign affairs space for New Zealand, and we should be
grateful that he's out there doing the business. You compare
and contrast what's happened in our eighteen months versus the
previous six years. We're essentially no one went traveling from
New Zealand and we had a foreign Affairs minister that
didn't want to go do foreign affairs essentially, and the
(04:34):
whole play shut down and we lost a huge amount
of influence. And now we're building back our influence very strongly.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Just talking of Winston, Federated Farmers is joining other major
industry good bodies such as darien Z Beef and Lamb
New Zealand and not advocating for the government to withdraw
from the Paris Agreement. Now here's the question for your
Prime Minister. Do all the members of the coalition support
the stance?
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, coalition government is really clear. Yeah, absolutely clear. We
will believe That's why we've you know, it's our position
of the government. I mean, it's a cabinet We make
those finy calls and we have good conversations in cabinet,
but you know, there's no doubt about it. This is
the government position. Yep. Sorry, it's pretty simple because you know,
as I said before and I said at Field Days,
you know, look, we're going hard on economic growth. We're
(05:19):
not putting farming at risk. We're not going to punish
our farmers. We're going to shut farms down. And frankly,
it wasn't Paris that did the damage to farmers. Farmers,
it was labor that did the damage to farmers. Be
really clear about that. And actually, as I said before,
I can tell you our global competitors, you know, countries
that sell similar products to US, and international multinational corporations
to be consumer goods companies, they would look, you know,
(05:42):
they'll kick us out in a heartbeat if you exit
of Paris. So let's be clear, there's I think Yemen, Libya,
one other country and now the US. But you've got
American governors of states are very committed to itself and
acting on its.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Libya, Yemen, Eritrea and South Saddan and the United States.
Let's not forget about it. The United States under Trump anyhow,
that's another discussion for another day. Prime Minister, thanks for
your time.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Great to be with you. Jamie
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