CSB - Jason Walls - Newstalk ZB’s Political Editor based in the Press Gallery

Week in politics. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
From the cricket field to the cowshed.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
It's the Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on gold Sport.
Well this time last week, I think Jason Wolves was
sunning himself on a cruise liner in summer. But he's
back home now. Morning, Jason.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
It was way too rainy to be stunning myself and
I was working, I'll have you know, thank you very much.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Oh, it's tough at the top. Tough at the top,
but talking about Samaha, and there's still the argument goes on.
Labor's Ginny Anderson in a bit of stock really, after
she said, shared a social post of social media post
mocking King Charles's trousers.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah, I mean it was a pretty outrageous thing. I
remember seeing it and thinking, well, hang on a second.
This is a senior Labor MP and a former police minister.
What on earth are you doing sharing this? So I'll
try and describe what happened in the best way I
can without getting kicked off the radio, because.

Speaker 3 (00:53):
She basically the post described the fold in King Charles's
pants and around the cross cheria and compared it to
female genitalia.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
And I think that's about as far as I can
go and then it combined the word King with this
other vulgar word and kind of put it all together
and won and she for whatever reason decided this would
be something that she was going to share on her
social media page. I mean, it didn't even really have
much to do with Chris Luxton under the fact that
he was in the photo. And she came out yesterday

(01:26):
and said basically she wasn't thinking and apologized and it
was a stupid thing to do. And she's right, it
was completely stupid. I can't believe that she did it.
I think probably what happened she had no idea what
she was sharing and she didn't read it properly and
then just kind of shot from the hip with it.
Just a really really silly thing to do. So she's apologized,
but it really brings into question the discipline of the party.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Yeah, you're right there, and also a bit of argument
now with Mike King and Labor have come out and said,
you know, they should stop funding his charity, which is
pretty pretty crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Yeah. Well, I mean, the will's question being raised around
the funding of I Am Hope in terms of there
is a usual procurement process that various different organizations have
to go through to get government money, and the Labor
Party has basically alleged that this wasn't followed when it
came to Mike King's I Am Hope, they said it
was an election issue and they circumvented the process to

(02:22):
just get the money to the charity as a political stunt,
essentially because the National Party made the point on the
campaign trail. And then they pointed out that this week
he made some really alarming comments on head at du
plus Yellen show about alcohol and how it's actually can
be a solution for mental health issues, and they say

(02:43):
because of that, he's not really fit to get this
government money. So I was quite alarmed when I heard
my King talking about this, and I thought that, you know,
the Labor Party would come out strongly on this one,
and they have.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
All right, we'll see what develops with that one. And
on a positive note, and this is really exciting for
New Zealand. We're getting a leg into the competitive market
of global exports with a free trade agreement in the
Golf States.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yeah, and this is a big one. And before I
go for I'll apologize for my croaky voice. I've been
a bit under the weather this week, So that is
why I sound a little bit more croaky than usual.
But it's the golf. The trade deal with New Zealand.
It's something Todd McLay has been working on for a
number of years. I mean successive governments have and I
remember the last time he was Trade Minister in the

(03:30):
last era of government. I remember interviewing interviewing him about
this very issue and him saying that, oh, yeah, we
were close to trying to get it across the line.
So it's been in the works for a long time.
And he says that it's going to make the three
billion dollars of two way trade between the two countries
increased quite a lot. And he's really really talking this up.
I mean, it's a trade deal between New Zealand and

(03:52):
the likes of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates and a few others. So it's a really big
deal for New Zealand exporters in the region. And it
also has various different other little subparts of the deal
as well to terms in terms of climate change and
in terms of various different deals that help empower women economically.

(04:13):
So he's talking it up, saying it's a really really
good deal and a really really big thing for New
Zealand exporters.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
We look forward to a big week next week where
the US election results. It's going to be absolutely huge, really,
isn't it.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Oh, it's going to be really big. I mean, you know,
there are some implications to New Zealand either way. I
think the Donald Trump trade tariff long current countries would
be the biggest one that would import impact New Zealand.
But either way, I mean, just watching this sort of
thing play out, it's just quite fascinating, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
It's like a soap opera really, and yeah, that is
There's more to come. All right, we'll let you go
and risk your voice. Jason, thank you for joining us.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Take it easy, Thanks, Matte talk next week.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Jason Wall's news talg z'b's chief political reporter based in
the Beehive here