January 26, 2026 • 8 mins
Labour's trade Spokesman discusses the India FTA, roads, trucks, and the latest RNZ Reid Research poll.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is called Way Out West by James Rain Australian crawl.
And a man who's not way out West anymore is east.
He's living in Dunedin. Damien O'Connor, Labour's trade spokesperson, Damien,
you've had to say you've got a how are you?
You've had to servertize I guess because of your geographic
location with your West Coast, your beloved West Coast.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Oh yeahs my terrang wise my home and then are
coming off of farm people to understand that, you know,
it's it's hard to kind of disconnect and I will
never be disconnected, but people want presents in an electric
MP and you know, being away and doing trade. I
guess I'm I wasn't on in West Coast. Heasman enough,
and that's part of the reason. I guess I got
voted out. So I have to accept that and and
(00:43):
you know, make way for some new person who'll come
in and you know, do their best from a labor
perspective for West Coast Hasman.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah. Now, I did say to in the last break
that I might have to be nice to you just
in case you do end up as the minister. As
the Minister of trade Damien, but you won't have done
You can't.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Don't commit to things that you can't deliver.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Well, I probably can't. The thing is the guy he's
taken over from you, Todd McLay has done a good job,
because I haven't spoken to you since this Indian free
trade agreement was announced and he's come out and said this,
he's rubbish. Claims that New Zealand could have got a
better free trade deal with India if it had prolonged negotiations.
(01:21):
He said there was basically a window. If we didn't
take it, then the next opportunity could be years. He
said he was a bit critical the EU deal. He
thought it might have been concluded a bit early. That
was under your leadership, I think, or was it? And
the other thing was it was EU under you?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yes it was. Yeah, we negotiated the U Trade agreement
in spite of what he might say, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Okay, And you know what he did say and we
probably already know this. This is going to be very
advantageous for the likes of sheep, meat, keyw fruit apples.
The deal's not so good for dairy. It was never
going to be good because they'd never wanted to do
a dairy deal fair and try and be bipartisan here, Damien,
you'd have to give Todd McLay a bit of a
pat on the back, wouldn't you.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Look, Look, you know, it is good that we have
concluded an agreement. I guess the question around the Prime
Minister setting a three year deadline and probably given the
Indians a bit of leverage on that. But the other
reality that we accept is that Donald Trump's been stirring
up the world. India and many other countries have seen
the value in bilectoral trade agreements. India has taken a
(02:28):
slightly different approach to its expectations around migration and you know,
wanting to build their own economy. So I guess the
combination of those factors, along with you know, a lot
of effort from negotiators and Todd certainly visited the country
on a number of occasions, meant that we've got the
deal in front of us. Now, if we said no,
you know, then it might not occur, or the chances
(02:49):
of it might not occur for a long time. So
you know, we're working through that. We've just had a
meeting in Caucus. We've got a few things that we
want a request of government, and so Christopher Higgins Chris
going to be talking to Chrystal Reduction about the final
conclusion and agreement.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
With so in other words, you'll support it because Winston won't.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
No, that's not at all no. I mean Winston can
choose to do what ever likes, as he always does
based on his own logic, and we will be looking,
as you know, a party that has always supported trade.
We negotiated the Trying to Free Trade Agreement in two
thousand and eight at the UK EU. We've always supported
progress in that area CPTPP. We need it as a country.
(03:30):
We understand that. We've just got to make sure that
we evolve the conditions of the agreement as we kind
of progress as a country. We have to have provisions
around treaty of white honey, and disagreement includes those. It
isn't as good for dairy. India has a huge dairy industry.
They're very protective. There are some opportunities in there, and
(03:52):
I've spoken with industry, some industry leaders to get their
summary of it, and I guess on balance most of
them think this is good.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Okay, Well, I hope bipartisan politics prevails and you get
around the table with Luxon and co. And get this
voted for Winston. Of course, by day he's almost daily
he's getting into a stronger position preferred PM. He's now
sitting at twelve point six. Your manship, he's at twenty
(04:21):
one point one. Christopher Luxen languishing really at nineteen point four.
Do you think Winston might say to the pair of them,
I want to be Prime Minister.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Look, I can't apre judge what Winston might say, but look,
Chris Hopkins is way ahead and we'll be focus focusing
on maximizing the Labor vote right across the country.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Well, he's not way ahead, he's ahead by less than
two percent. But to be fair, this is only one poll.
Labor's on thirty five percent, Nationals on thirty two. So
you've got a handy lead and that seems to be
consistent across the polls. But your problem to getting to
getting across the line is obviously your coalition partners. The
Greens have fallen again to party Maori continue to slide,
(05:04):
and I think Labor might have a crack at those
Mailori seats.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Well, DADU be good. We'll certainly be contesting them and
we'll have some great candidates, so you know, there's a
lot of time between now and polling day. As you said,
we're just going to focus on maximizing the vote for
ourselves and putting forward some ideas that will make a
difference to people. They voted for a change and for
a better outcome that most of them have been very disappointed.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Hey, just to finish on you wanted to comment briefly
on roads and trucks.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
What's that about? The point I was making? And you
know clearly the terrible situation up on these coast again,
and you know went around there a couple of months ago.
These are fragile roads, and we have the high efficiency
or heavy vehicles that are running around the country on
every road now. They were never intended for some of
those other fragile roads, and we're going to be chasing
(05:57):
our tail trying to fix up these roads with events
and as long as we've got these heavy trucks on them.
And I know it's a dilemma. I'm not saying that
we can turn it there around overnight, but it's a
bit of an issue. Anyone who spends a long time
on the roads like I do, can see the degradation
of our roading network. It's in part probably because of
the standards that Wakakati are specifying contracts, but also because
(06:21):
we've got heavier trucks traveling faster and the roads up
in the East Coast and other parts of the country
is simply not built for that.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Do we go back to the future and just limit
the tonnage of trucks on the road.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I think we have to align the tonnage with the
engineering specifications, and I think that's out of kilter and
for our sectors, across the rural a country, you know,
in our areas, we need to get that right. It's
vital that we have those roading links, not just for
you know, people in communities, actually to shift the stock
and commerce.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Okay, damn well that was all rather time really because
the punters are wanting an argument. Surely we can go
about something before you disappear.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Well, you know, I guess there's something that we could
pick on, and I guess climate change. This government has
its head in the sand over climate change, and every
single week we're seeing examples of weather events that are
driven by changing global warming and changing climatic patterns. We're
going to have to address it, and trying to ignore
it and step back from international agreements is crazy stuff.
(07:28):
But we've seen it's not the only crazy thing that
the government's done. Of course, Oh, of course not.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Okay, Well, we've already offered a solution on the show today,
Jeff Ross Lake harwe a station. You'll know, Jeff, he's saying,
it's just simple, change the rules and we can sell
carbon credits to the highest bidder around the world, and
we can make money out of the Paris Climate Agreement
rather than cost us money.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Look, I think there's some truth in that. But you
know the fact that this government has screwed up the
etes and sent mixed signals to people participating as well
as landowners is not helping you know, us us go forward.
And we had you know, the billion tree man Shane
Jones out there. I'm now trying to deny the reality
that you know, he has encouraged tree planting in areas
(08:11):
where it shouldn't be.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Okay, Daven, thanks for your tom. Good to have you
back in twenty six.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Thanks very much.
This is called Way Out West by James Rain Australian crawl.
And a man who's not way out West anymore is east.
He's living in Dunedin. Damien O'Connor, Labour's trade spokesperson, Damien,
you've had to say you've got a how are you?
You've had to servertize I guess because of your geographic
location with your West Coast, your beloved West Coast.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Oh yeahs my terrang wise my home and then are
coming off of farm people to understand that, you know,
it's it's hard to kind of disconnect and I will
never be disconnected, but people want presents in an electric
MP and you know, being away and doing trade. I
guess I'm I wasn't on in West Coast. Heasman enough,
and that's part of the reason. I guess I got
voted out. So I have to accept that and and
(00:43):
you know, make way for some new person who'll come
in and you know, do their best from a labor
perspective for West Coast Hasman.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Yeah. Now, I did say to in the last break
that I might have to be nice to you just
in case you do end up as the minister. As
the Minister of trade Damien, but you won't have done
You can't.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Don't commit to things that you can't deliver.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Well, I probably can't. The thing is the guy he's
taken over from you, Todd McLay has done a good job,
because I haven't spoken to you since this Indian free
trade agreement was announced and he's come out and said this,
he's rubbish. Claims that New Zealand could have got a
better free trade deal with India if it had prolonged negotiations.
(01:21):
He said there was basically a window. If we didn't
take it, then the next opportunity could be years. He
said he was a bit critical the EU deal. He
thought it might have been concluded a bit early. That
was under your leadership, I think, or was it? And
the other thing was it was EU under you?
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yes it was. Yeah, we negotiated the U Trade agreement
in spite of what he might say, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Okay, And you know what he did say and we
probably already know this. This is going to be very
advantageous for the likes of sheep, meat, keyw fruit apples.
The deal's not so good for dairy. It was never
going to be good because they'd never wanted to do
a dairy deal fair and try and be bipartisan here, Damien,
you'd have to give Todd McLay a bit of a
pat on the back, wouldn't you.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Look, Look, you know, it is good that we have
concluded an agreement. I guess the question around the Prime
Minister setting a three year deadline and probably given the
Indians a bit of leverage on that. But the other
reality that we accept is that Donald Trump's been stirring
up the world. India and many other countries have seen
the value in bilectoral trade agreements. India has taken a
(02:28):
slightly different approach to its expectations around migration and you know,
wanting to build their own economy. So I guess the
combination of those factors, along with you know, a lot
of effort from negotiators and Todd certainly visited the country
on a number of occasions, meant that we've got the
deal in front of us. Now, if we said no,
you know, then it might not occur, or the chances
(02:49):
of it might not occur for a long time. So
you know, we're working through that. We've just had a
meeting in Caucus. We've got a few things that we
want a request of government, and so Christopher Higgins Chris
going to be talking to Chrystal Reduction about the final
conclusion and agreement.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
With so in other words, you'll support it because Winston won't.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
No, that's not at all no. I mean Winston can
choose to do what ever likes, as he always does
based on his own logic, and we will be looking,
as you know, a party that has always supported trade.
We negotiated the Trying to Free Trade Agreement in two
thousand and eight at the UK EU. We've always supported
progress in that area CPTPP. We need it as a country.
(03:30):
We understand that. We've just got to make sure that
we evolve the conditions of the agreement as we kind
of progress as a country. We have to have provisions
around treaty of white honey, and disagreement includes those. It
isn't as good for dairy. India has a huge dairy industry.
They're very protective. There are some opportunities in there, and
(03:52):
I've spoken with industry, some industry leaders to get their
summary of it, and I guess on balance most of
them think this is good.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
Okay, Well, I hope bipartisan politics prevails and you get
around the table with Luxon and co. And get this
voted for Winston. Of course, by day he's almost daily
he's getting into a stronger position preferred PM. He's now
sitting at twelve point six. Your manship, he's at twenty
(04:21):
one point one. Christopher Luxen languishing really at nineteen point four.
Do you think Winston might say to the pair of them,
I want to be Prime Minister.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Look, I can't apre judge what Winston might say, but look,
Chris Hopkins is way ahead and we'll be focus focusing
on maximizing the Labor vote right across the country.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
Well, he's not way ahead, he's ahead by less than
two percent. But to be fair, this is only one poll.
Labor's on thirty five percent, Nationals on thirty two. So
you've got a handy lead and that seems to be
consistent across the polls. But your problem to getting to
getting across the line is obviously your coalition partners. The
Greens have fallen again to party Maori continue to slide,
(05:04):
and I think Labor might have a crack at those
Mailori seats.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Well, DADU be good. We'll certainly be contesting them and
we'll have some great candidates, so you know, there's a
lot of time between now and polling day. As you said,
we're just going to focus on maximizing the vote for
ourselves and putting forward some ideas that will make a
difference to people. They voted for a change and for
a better outcome that most of them have been very disappointed.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Hey, just to finish on you wanted to comment briefly
on roads and trucks.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
What's that about? The point I was making? And you
know clearly the terrible situation up on these coast again,
and you know went around there a couple of months ago.
These are fragile roads, and we have the high efficiency
or heavy vehicles that are running around the country on
every road now. They were never intended for some of
those other fragile roads, and we're going to be chasing
(05:57):
our tail trying to fix up these roads with events
and as long as we've got these heavy trucks on them.
And I know it's a dilemma. I'm not saying that
we can turn it there around overnight, but it's a
bit of an issue. Anyone who spends a long time
on the roads like I do, can see the degradation
of our roading network. It's in part probably because of
the standards that Wakakati are specifying contracts, but also because
(06:21):
we've got heavier trucks traveling faster and the roads up
in the East Coast and other parts of the country
is simply not built for that.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Do we go back to the future and just limit
the tonnage of trucks on the road.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
I think we have to align the tonnage with the
engineering specifications, and I think that's out of kilter and
for our sectors, across the rural a country, you know,
in our areas, we need to get that right. It's
vital that we have those roading links, not just for
you know, people in communities, actually to shift the stock
and commerce.
Speaker 1 (06:53):
Okay, damn well that was all rather time really because
the punters are wanting an argument. Surely we can go
about something before you disappear.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Well, you know, I guess there's something that we could
pick on, and I guess climate change. This government has
its head in the sand over climate change, and every
single week we're seeing examples of weather events that are
driven by changing global warming and changing climatic patterns. We're
going to have to address it, and trying to ignore
it and step back from international agreements is crazy stuff.
(07:28):
But we've seen it's not the only crazy thing that
the government's done. Of course, Oh, of course not.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
Okay, Well, we've already offered a solution on the show today,
Jeff Ross Lake harwe a station. You'll know, Jeff, he's saying,
it's just simple, change the rules and we can sell
carbon credits to the highest bidder around the world, and
we can make money out of the Paris Climate Agreement
rather than cost us money.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Look, I think there's some truth in that. But you
know the fact that this government has screwed up the
etes and sent mixed signals to people participating as well
as landowners is not helping you know, us us go forward.
And we had you know, the billion tree man Shane
Jones out there. I'm now trying to deny the reality
that you know, he has encouraged tree planting in areas
(08:11):
where it shouldn't be.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Okay, Daven, thanks for your tom. Good to have you
back in twenty six.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Thanks very much.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Bleep! with Ana Navarro
Fear thrives in silence and confusion. Ana Navarro rejects both. Her voice is an antidote to today’s chaos. Her new podcast, Bleep! with Ana Navarro, takes on today’s most pressing issues with the voices most connected to it: decision-makers, political leaders, cultural shapers, and people on the frontlines of the story. The conversations acknowledge the emotions we all feel—despair, sadness, fear— but emerge with knowledge, perspective, and hope. The belief is simple: fearless dialogue can transform fear into courage, and courage into change. When fear dominates the headlines, this show digs deeper. Because information, debate, and conversation don’t just ease fear, they give us power to shape the future.
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.