Full Show Podcast: 19 October 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from news Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
It's Sunday. You know what that means.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Wikeles for
the best selection of great reads.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
News Talks EDB.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Good morning. How are you welcome to the Sunday Session.
I'm Francesca, rugging with you until midday. I have got
some lovely guests for you today. Coming up after ten,
the wonderful Trent Dalton is with us to talk about
his new book, Gravity Let Me Go. It is another
wickedly good page turner, this time about a journalist who
becomes obsessed with a murder case and neglects what's going

(00:49):
on in his own home. Once again, this novelism makes
a real life in fiction, so he joins me to
talk about his obsession with journalism and chasing the story
and the impact it's had on his marriage. After eleven,
Jay Ryan is with me. Jay's acting career took off when,
at the age of nineteen, he was signed to NAY.
Since then, he's worked in Australia, the US, Canada and

(01:09):
the UK. He's also appeared in many local shows. Recently
he started to work more in New Zealand. There was
the comedic Turn and Creamery, a tense performance in Muru,
and now he's starring in this new psychological thriller. It's
called The Ridge. I am very excited to have him
in the studio after eleven. I have been a fan
for many years. And Minister Judi of Collins will be

(01:30):
with me shortly regarding her open letter in The Heroine
Sunday about this week's planned strikes. And of course, as
always you are most welcome to text anytime throughout the morning.
On ninety two ninety two the Sunday Session. So Prince
Andrew has finally relinquished his royal titles. So after decades
of dodgy self sabotage and greedy and naive behavior, he

(01:53):
should have been stripped of them, but that would signal
some kind of accountability. Instead, he's been allowed to release
a statement to make it sound as if he's doing
the right thing for the royal family. But there is
no doubt he has been forced into this position. Recent
revelations about the duration of his and Sarah Ferguson's relationship
with Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew's association with a prominent

(02:15):
figure involved in a China spying case in the UK
see the couple continue to be in the headlines for
all the wrong reasons. In a statement, he said, in
discussion with the King in my immediate and wider family,
we have concluded the continuing accusations about me distract from
the work of His Majesty and the royal family. I
have decided, as I always have to put my duty

(02:36):
to my family and country first, I stand by my
decision five years ago to stand back from public life.
Andrew's ex wife, Sarah, the Dutchess of York, will no
longer use her title and will simply be known as
Sarah Ferguson. Historian and author Andrew Lowney called it here
on the Sunday Session. When I spoke to him in
early September, he joined me to talk about his joint

(02:58):
memoir on the Prince of York and Sarah Ferguson, called
entitled The Rise and Fall of the House of York.
And this is a very well researched book. It's filled
with decay, decades of sexual and financial scandals and examines
Prince Andrew's time as the Special Trade Envoy. The lack
of moral boundaries and control on the couple is extraordinary,
as has been the Royal family's willingness to protect and

(03:22):
cover up their mistakes. When I asked Andrew Loney if
there was a way back for the Prince, he said
there were still many more revelations to come.

Speaker 4 (03:31):
Now. We've got Virginia Jeffrey's book, We've got possibly the
Epstein the files coming out. We've got possibly the victims
speaking up. We've got Chris talking about him being in handcuffs. So,
I mean, you know, I'm part of I suppose a
mixture of pressures. I mean, I think he was pretty
finished beforehand.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Loney was bang on material lawyers had taken out of
his book and now coming to light. If the Royal
family wants to protect the good work of the working Royals,
they must stop protecting Prince Andrew. Loney hopes that this
isn't the end of it, though, and that we will
see things like the creation of the Royal rest Register
of Royal Interests more parliamentary scrutiny. In a parliamentary inquiry

(04:10):
into Prince Andrew's time as a special Trade Envoy. Twenty
years ago, MPs were calling for the National Crime Agency
to look at his activities as Trade envoy, and they
should be looking at them again, he told me so.
The myth that Prince Andrew is an asset to the
Royal family has finally been broken. I think well and truly.
But is it a case of too little, too late.

(04:31):
Prince Andrew may be tucked away to live a quiet
life now, but the consequences of his actions aren't going anywhere.
This story is far.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
From over the Sunday Session.

Speaker 3 (04:42):
You know, I know everyone loves to hate on Meghan
and Harry. They have not behaved well towards the Royal family,
but kind of in comparison to Sarah and Andrew, they
don't look so bad. At least they've been really honest
and transparent about all their actions and issues as opposed
to these two. Honestly, the book is fascinating anyway. It's
about time we tucked Andrew away in a corner of
in vernice. I think your thoughts ninety two ninety two.

(05:05):
Public Service Minister Judith Collins is going to join us
next to talk about the planned strikes this week. It
is twelve past nine year with news Talks FB keep.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
It simple, It's Sunday.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
It's a Sunday session with Francesca, Rudgatt and Wig calls
for the best selection of great readings.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
News Talks eNB.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
It is fourteen past nine. Public Service Minister Judith Collins
has fired a shot ahead of the mega strike planned
for Thursday. The strike will see an estimated one hundred
thousand public sector workers walk off the job as they
seek better pay and conditions. And an open letter in
The Herod on Sunday this morning, Minister Collins has acknowledged
the impact the strike has on the community and take
an aim at what she calls politically motivated unions. Minister

(05:48):
Collins joins me, now, good morning, Judith.

Speaker 5 (05:51):
I've got more in Francesca.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
Thank you for your time. I believe you are out
of the country, so I appreciate it. This tell me
why have you released this letter?

Speaker 5 (06:00):
Well, I think it's important for everyone who's affected to
know the facts about what's goinging on. And what's very
clear to me is that the unions have not told
all of their members quite what is actually going on,
and we need to get the information out there.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
Okay, so is this aimed at the unions or those
who are striking, Oh.

Speaker 5 (06:23):
This letter is actually aimed at everybody who's affected, and
particularly those patients who will not be able to get
their surgery, for those parents in school, students who are
not going to be able to operate as usual, and
given that we are coming up to very serious exams

(06:43):
for our students, particularly those in the latter years of
their schooling, this is very important that people understand what's
really going on.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
Do you believe do you think that they're not being
informed well by whether it's the doctors, the nurses, the
teachers explaining to their community what's going on.

Speaker 5 (07:02):
Well, we've certainly aware that not everybody has been to
and we also know, for instance, that you cannot have
agreement if you can't get some dialogue rather than disruption.
And when we've seen that the primary teachers are collective

(07:23):
bargaining union, that they've been able to reach a settlement
and that's hundreds of primary school principles, they've been able
to reach a very good settlement both staying at the
bargaining table. And this seems to be very much focused
on politics rather than the actual outcomes.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Do you think this letter will encourage that dialogue, and.

Speaker 5 (07:43):
I hope so, I hope people understand that this sort
of mega strikers they're calling it, that that is actually
just hurting the people who are, in many cases the
most vulnerable people, those needing operations, those needing to be
in hospital, those school students who have already missed out,

(08:03):
are an awful lot of their education. And when I
look at some of the office on the they're actually
very good, particularly when you consider that the public sector,
in terms of a public sector wages have gone up
two point eight percent in the last year on average,
while the private sector's gone up two point three percent

(08:23):
of the last year. And it's the public sector that's striking,
not the private sector.

Speaker 3 (08:28):
Minister, and the letter, you claim the number one item
on the agenda for the PPTA was Palestine. Can you
talk me through that.

Speaker 5 (08:36):
Yes, well, it's an email from the union to the
minister's office saying these are the issues that they wanted
to discuss and number one on that was Palestine. And frankly,
that's got nothing to do with the education of our students,
nothing to do with better outcomes for teachers in New Zealand,

(08:57):
it's all to do with politics, and I think it
shows exactly what's going through the heads of those making
those decisions.

Speaker 3 (09:04):
So do you think that that came from unions? Do
you think that represents the teachers?

Speaker 5 (09:12):
Obviously, because the email came from the union, not from
the teachers themselves. I don't think the teachers would know
that this was happening. They would be thinking that the
union should be there trying to get a fair and
reasonable settlement for them with the least amount of disruption,
And instead they've got this sort of behavior from a

(09:33):
union that should know better, and they're just playing politics.
I mean, what's the teachers arrangement's got to do with Palestine?

Speaker 3 (09:43):
In the letter, it says there's no room to pay,
there's no room to move and pay negotiations. The government,
you know, has a limit. As we all know, there's
only so much money to go around. So are you
basically saying there is no more room to move when
it comes to money? In these within this dialogue.

Speaker 5 (10:04):
Were very clear is that these offers are actually, in
many ways quite generous given what the private sector is
dealing with, and given that all the money comes from
to pay anything comes from tax payer dollars or borrowed money.
It's really clear that we need to be very careful.
So if I look at primary school teachers, the offer

(10:28):
on the table is a sixty six percent of them
will be paid a base salary of at least one
hundred thousand dollars within twelve months of ratification. At the moment,
forty percent of them are, so it's a pretty significant increase.
If I look at the secondary school teachers, that offer
last offer is seventy six percent would be paid a

(10:49):
base salary of at least one hundred thousand dollars by
twenty ninth of October this year. So that's up from
sixty percent currently. When these are increases at a time
when a lot of other people are really doing it
tough when it comes to jobs. And you know, the
latest offer is on top of the fifty three million

(11:10):
dollars that the government is spending now on teachers pay
registration levies. So that's everybody. That's five hundred and fifty
dollars per teacher. That wasn't even part of the negotiations.
The government just did that to help teach us out.

Speaker 3 (11:25):
What about the hair of horse?

Speaker 5 (11:26):
Sorry, Karen and teachers continue to enjoy very generous annual
leave provisions, which most people don't have, so I actually
think it's a reasonable situation.

Speaker 3 (11:37):
When we look at the health system, retention and recruitment
seems to be the overwhelming message I get from people
who work in it. On Friday I spoke to a
senior and neesietist who works it and just in the
public system in one of our Auckland hospitals, who said
that if we don't address this now, we're going to
end up with a substandard public service because we are
nowhere near what they are paying in Australia. Nobody wants

(12:00):
to come to New Zealand when they can come from
the UK and the US and head to Australia and
work in the conditions, get the pay and things they want.
Their people are leaving to go to the public sector,
which is going to be thriving, so and the public sect,
the private sectors, private sector is going to be thriving,
and we've got to And they're standing there, well, this
is someone who's working on the front line, who's very experienced,

(12:21):
who's standing there going I don't know how much longer
I can keep doing this, you know, this is someone
who hasn't run off to the private sector or gone
to Australia, and so you know, there are serious concerns
about the workload and being understaffed, and we do not
as New Zealanders, want to end up with a subject,
you know, to see this health service decline any further.
There is an issue with retention and recruitment and it

(12:44):
might come down to money.

Speaker 5 (12:47):
Well there isn't really if you look at nurses for instance.
So we've got an average salary now for both a
senior and registered nurse is one hundred and twenty five
six and sixty few dollars including overtime, professional development allowance
and penal rates. And under this offer, nurses on the
top step would have a two percent increase in June

(13:08):
which has already gone past, an extra two one thirty
five dollars per year, with another one percent increase in
June next year. And under that a graduate nurse, so
someone who's come out with no experience absolutely graduated seventy
five thousand, seven hundred and seventy three thousand and get
a two percent increase, an extra but also their salary

(13:31):
would be increased to eighty three thousand three hundred and seventeen.
I mean this is these are reasonable office and then
also when you say you know they're leaving, well, no,
we've actually don't have enough places for graduate nurses to
all of them, so around eighty percent of them will
expect to get jobs in the public sector. So it's

(13:53):
actually not true because what we're seeing when you look
at say New South Wales, which is where we were
losing a lot of people too, at these levels, they're
actually finding the cost of living there is so much
higher because of housing costs. But also these pay rates
are way up there with the New South Wales ones.
When we talk about senior doctors, senior doctors like anestus

(14:16):
are also able to get work in the private sector
as well, in many cases depending on their contracts. But look,
we don't have the great shortage that people expect because
actually there have been increases in those numbers. So I actually,
you know, it's all right, well something involved in its safe.
But I'm also fully aware of other people in the

(14:38):
private sector and public sector who will tell me quite
the opposite. So look, they're still in the public sector.
Senior doctors are on average of about three hundred and forty
thousand a year. That's not chicken feed.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
Oh and they'll say that a lot of them will
say it's not about the money, it's about ensuring the
future of the service. Minister, very much, appreciate your time
this morning. Thank you so much. That was due to
Collins the Sunday session. There's so secondary teachers are one
of the groups holding nationwide strokes on Thursday. The union
representatives is PPTA President Chris Abercrombie. He is with me now.

(15:14):
Good morning, Chris, good morning. Okay, So your union is
specifically mentioned in the open letter. We've just been talking
about what do you make of the best year.

Speaker 6 (15:24):
It's a bit disappointing. There's definitely some I think I'm
going to charitably say misunderstandings from the Minister in this
in the open letter, So I'm going to be charitable
to her because otherwise the other options she's deliberately misleading people.
So I think she's just a misunderstanding about what well,
in fact, she said the Minister didn't want to talk

(15:44):
about cleftand bargaining. I can read the email from her
office to me, we would like to discuss what we
need to ensure no overlap with issues that relate to
active claims as part of the bargaining process. So the
minister's office said we can't talk about bargaining in the
meeting that she canceled. So it's a bit dishonest to
say we didn't want to talk about bargaining when the

(16:05):
Minister's office said we could have talk about bargaining?

Speaker 3 (16:08):
Was Palestine top of the agenda going into a meeting
with the Education minister?

Speaker 6 (16:12):
Palestine was on the agenda along with NCAA changes at
AI marketing and curriculum changes.

Speaker 3 (16:17):
Why was Palestine there?

Speaker 6 (16:19):
Our membership passed a paper at annual conference last year
called Pieces Union Business, and we wanted to raise our
concerns around the destruction of the education system in Gaza.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
Do you think the unions are too politically driven?

Speaker 6 (16:33):
Well, I think the unions are political and anyone who
thinks otherwise doesn't understand unions because what we're dealing with
the government, so it has to be political. The government
makes the decisions about NCAA, they make the decision about curriculum,
they make the decision about AI marking, they make all
these decisions, so it has to be political.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
Yeah, So that the conversation about Palestine. There's something that
you know, you'd gone to your members about it had
been voted on. They're aware of it.

Speaker 6 (16:57):
Oh, well, they are aware that they'd passed the paper,
so yes, they're aware of it.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
Do you think schools are communicating with parents and students
well about what's happening?

Speaker 6 (17:06):
So I'm Facebook for some reason because I've visit a
lots of school things. I love schools, and so it
regually shows me school Facebook pages, and there's a lot
of communication on there about the upcoming industrial action, how
the impacts, and any options available to parents.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
If there's one thing I've learned, Chris, from having kids
at school, you know, is that parents generally don't hold
back when it comes to going and giving their opinions
to their teachers and princes about the way they think
they're doing the job.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
So I agree with that.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
So I imagine a lot of people have already, you know,
that this is the sort of urging people to go
and talk to the teachers and tell them, you know,
what's really going on. And I'm like, I'm sure a
lot of parents have already who are concerned and want
to know what's going on, have already had those conversations.

Speaker 6 (17:49):
Absolutely. Look, I've had communication from parents. I'm not curryingly
in the classroom for this role, but I've had communication
with parents, and parents aren't happy about us taking industrial action.
I need to really be clear with that. I'm not
happy about us taking industrial action. Teachers aren't happy about that.
But nearly every parent who's communicated with me agrees with
the aims, the goal. They want subjects, specialist teachers in

(18:09):
front of their young people, but they don't like industrial action,
which is fair enough. I don't like industrial actions.

Speaker 3 (18:16):
In terms of money, do you believe the government isn't
in a financial position to meet your demands?

Speaker 6 (18:21):
Well, it's a really interesting some of the discussion, you know,
talks about as meeting inflation. It's not on the government figures.
Fourteen percent of teachers as a recent survey and International
serviy will tell us that said, fourteen percent of teachers
feel valued by policymakers. So this is a workforce that
feels really under pressure. The highest level of stress in
our sector right now. Seventy percent of teachers reported dealing

(18:43):
with government changes is the biggest cause of their stress.
And so we've got this significant change program coming from
the government and they're not meeting the teachers in a
way that we can deal with that.

Speaker 3 (18:53):
What's going to end these negotiations Because at the end
of the day, you can write all the letters and
you can point fingers and you can you know, throw
blame around as to why we haven't come to an agreement.
But I think everybody would like to in agreement, put
in unions and the government to put their big girl
and big boy pants on and get the sorted. What's
it going to take.

Speaker 6 (19:14):
Well, absolutely we want that. That's the point of negotiations
is to have a settlement, but we also have to
be able to meet the bargain. We don't have any
bargaining dates till after until November. That's the ministry have
to agree to those bargaining dates. Our bargaining teams will
meet this week coming it will meet on Monday if
they wanted to, because we want to get this resolved.
And yeah, absolutely, it is about getting getting in the

(19:37):
room and getting that's sorted. But both sides have to
be in the room. We are willing to meet at
any time to deal with us and actually have our
bargaining teams to deal with it. We've got the authority
to bargain and so we can get a resolution, so
we can get back to the teacher and learning.

Speaker 3 (19:51):
Any chance to strike from members could be potentially called
off on Thursday.

Speaker 6 (19:57):
Absolutely every opportunity for that, but it does rely on
the government coming to the table. Was an offer that
deals with a really significant unmet need in our secondary sector.
You know, the ministers can talk about classrooms and talk
about these other things, but without quality teachers, without subject
specialist teachers to fill those classrooms, then there's kind of pointless. YEP.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
I tend to agree with you. I spoke to both
my children, Chris, one who's finished school last year and
one who's finishing this year, and we talked a lot
about changes to NCA and things. I said to them,
what is the most important thing, and they said, the
decent teacher doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what the system is.
I just need a decent teacher, So that support needs
to be there. Chris, really appreciate your time as well
this morning. Appreciate that. Very keen to hear from you.

(20:39):
Ninety two ninety two. I know that the strikes have
been rolling for a little while now and affecting a
lot of you how you're feeling about that. At the
end of the day, I just think, yeah, I don't know.
They've just got to get in a room and they've
got to get this sort of, don't they. I'm not
really interested in all the pointing at fingers in the
blame game and the trying to hold the you know,
control the narrative on this story. We just need to

(20:59):
move forward, and I'm pretty sure the government does not
want these issues rolling into twenty twenty six as well.
Two ninety two. It's a text. It's nine point thirty.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks
at Bay.

Speaker 3 (21:18):
I'm going to get through a few of your text here.
A Francisca public service union seeking pay settlements to bring
salaries up to Ossie levels. I wonder if unions tell
their members to back mining to pay for it all. Francisca,
this makes me so cross. Judith is a bareface liar.
I work in health. My honors grad niece has been
told there will be no graduate jobs advised by the
Auckland UNI. A friend's nurse grad daughter has not yet

(21:40):
obtained a job physio. Friend at Auckland Hospital has said
staff for leading and no replacements have been provided. Thank
you for that. Yes, I do believe it's not called
the wage freeze. But there is a quota as to
how many people you're allowed to hire. So if the
nurse leads, you don't necessarily replace the nurse. The hospital
has to lock at everyone who's left and make a
decision as to who they want to hire. This is
from I was told from someone who worked in hawks
By Hospital and you were given a quota of the

(22:02):
number of people you're allowed to hire. So that's why
we have an abundance of nurses, because we're not actually
providing the jobs or as many jobs we need. This
is exactly why I left the union after twenty five years.
It's appalling. Please put children first. Good on you, Judith.
Another one reads a question do the Collins Why is

(22:22):
the top pay for nurses so much more than teachers.

Speaker 5 (22:24):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (22:24):
Look, it goes on and on and I'll get to
more of your text. But joining me now to talk
about this is New Zealand Herald Deputy Political editor Adam Pierce.
Good morning, Adam, I've got more fired up this morning.
This letter that Judith has written. Is this about winning
and owning the narrative and taking and pointing fingers as
to who to blame for the fact that there's potentially

(22:45):
one hundred thousand people striking on Thursday.

Speaker 7 (22:48):
Oh, certainly they're looking to get ahead of this mega
strike that we're looking at on Thursday and really trying
to let you say, set the narrative, explain or try
and convince people that it is the unions wanting to
rely on their political motivations. That seems to be the

(23:09):
kind of catchphrase here that these strikes and the inability
to get around the negotiation table is around their political motivations.
But it's interesting to see the the engagement on this
and I think you're right where, you know, people just
want to get it sorted. When you've got disruption at schools,

(23:31):
when you've got disruption in the hospitals, and you know
from from other sectors as well, that's when it really
starts to inconvenience people. And I think you know there
will be there will be a lot of sympathy. You know,
you're just hearing you read those texts. There are there
are some reasons there that people can see the pressure
points in different industries and health for example, and but

(23:55):
it will be really interesting to see the public opinion
once the government goes really hard on this, and they
will be going hard this week. How the public see
what the strike is all about and who they side with.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
Are you expecting to hear more from what you I
think brilliantly named the anti strike Squad.

Speaker 7 (24:14):
I think so, I think so, And it is it's
a pretty emotive issue. We've heard from the Health Minister
Sime and Brown. He went pretty hard last week talking
about the senior doctors crossing an ethical line, which is
a pretty significant thing thing to say. You know, I
don't think many people would suggest that doctors you know,

(24:38):
are going into work or you know, going on on
the strike and neglecting their role which is obviously a
very critical role in society. But you know, Simmy and
Brown is fired up. He's really keen to make sure
that he's trying to show that they're doing what they
can to resolve the strike action. But yes, we'll also

(25:01):
hear from America Stanford due to the Collins will be prominent.
Of course, we've just heard from her. The government will
be very very keen to try and win the narrative
on this one.

Speaker 3 (25:11):
Hey, this week, Labor is going to redo its economic policy.
What do we know about this?

Speaker 7 (25:17):
Yeah, well it was supposed to come on on Thursday,
but of course we had the passing of former PM
Jim Bulger, so they've delayed that because they had to
curciplans had to get back in the House for the
tributes that we that we heard on Thursday. So I mean,
obviously we have been waiting a very very long time

(25:40):
for some labor policy. We know that we have a
tax plan in coming. It doesn't sound like that's going
to be next week's announcement, but it will just be
the start of how Labor wants to pitch how it's
going to address the economy if it was in government.
And I think you know, there will be many many

(26:02):
of your listeners will you know, have views on how
Labor addressed the economy when it was in government, how
to address debt, that kind of thing borrowing. So it
will be really interesting to see the tone that they strike,
how they look to create a path for prosperity in
New Zealand, which I think everyone would probably quite quite

(26:26):
desire at the moment.

Speaker 3 (26:27):
Adam, thank you so much for your time this morning.
Appreciate it. That was Adam Pearce. Trent Dalton is in town.
He's got a new book out, it's really good. And
of course the theater adaptation of his book Love Stories
has been playing in Auckland final night tonight. He is
in the studio with me after ten this morning.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
It is twenty one to ten the Sunday Session Full
Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by newstalksb.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
Okay. A new organization launched on Friday to advocate for
New Zealand's screen industry on a global stage. Screen new
Zealand International has been formed by leading screen businesses and
industry professionals, aimed to make New Zealand a competitive screen
destination of choice. Executive Chair of Screen new Zealand International
is Mal Turner and she joins me now, good morning.

Speaker 5 (27:13):
Mal, Good morning, How are you good?

Speaker 3 (27:16):
Thank you? Tell me why have you set up this
new organization.

Speaker 8 (27:21):
Well, it's just something that really came out of a
noticeable need. We've sort of set it up with screen
businesses in particular in mind and particularly the international sector.
We've got industry professionals as well, and we're looking at
focusing on the long term interest in ensuring New Zealand

(27:43):
is globally competitive. It's a fierce global market out there
for international productions, you know, coming into New Zealand. So
we want to focus on the industry becoming more sustainable
and future focused and certainly New Zealand becoming a screen
destination of choice.

Speaker 3 (28:00):
How does this differ from the likes of organizations like
Sparta or local government organizations that promote New Zealand as
a destination of filming destination.

Speaker 8 (28:10):
I think more of at the moment we're focused on
sort of I suppose firstly more internally and speaking, I
suppose more to represent the voices of the businesses that
work in the industry, which, of course, you know, they
all have to have very big shoulders to shoulder the
you know, the changes within, you know, the landscape of
when we're when we're not working. So the guilds certainly

(28:34):
all have their own place and they you know, have
a very important role to represent all of their members.
We're actually focusing on looking at slightly different members, which
is which is really the screen businesses who are investing themselves,
you know, in their in their business, but they are

(28:54):
quite reliant because they've maybe built themselves quite specifically around
you know, screen production. So we're really looking to support
screen businesses and then also those leading professional within the
industry which also are focused on that international sector and
international investment to bring productions into New Zealand and get

(29:17):
our international sectorm moving, which a little quiet you know,
throughout this twenty twenty five we've know there's been a
reasonable amount of struggles, so we're just looking to sort
of put the lesser known's story out there.

Speaker 3 (29:32):
Really it's often either all on, isn't it mel and
we're shooting things all over the place.

Speaker 5 (29:36):
Or.

Speaker 8 (29:40):
It's a big market out there. It's a large, global,
changing sort of environment as well.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
So what is New Zealand's potential when it comes to
the international screen industry. Are we meeting it or is
there more we can do?

Speaker 9 (29:54):
Well?

Speaker 8 (29:54):
I think that there's look the potential New Zealand has
producers and studios that like to come to New Zealand
to produce their content. Mean, I love working in New Zealand.
So we actually have a huge reputation on the world stage.
And so there's you know, obviously many many people that

(30:15):
have come before today that have shown that what we
really have is the potential to be a lot busier
and a lot more stable. Excuse me. So you know,
focus for us, I think is really just to the
potential of us having a consistent and constant and stable
and regular working industry so that we can that stabilization

(30:39):
will actually you know, support the New Zealand and economy,
of course, because we know that, you know, when investment
comes in, that gets spread around nationwide to many businesses
and many people and certainly a lot of wages.

Speaker 3 (30:53):
How do we get more productions down here? You know,
we're watching Hollywood very closely. They have been struggling for
a while. Do you think that they might make moves
that helps keep productions in California? You know, which that
of course could potentially impact New Zealand.

Speaker 6 (31:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (31:07):
There's definitely a lot of things that you know, are
going on in the global environment, and we certainly are
keeping a close eye on it. But at this stage,
you know, it's quite hard to tell how much that
may affect us. But I do know that international studios

(31:28):
and streamers worldwide look to many many countries to create
their product and so that is in New Zealand, it's
just one of those countries. And so we do need
to compete on a global level, and we do need
to be competitive, which at the moment we're not particularly competitive,
so we're not really being looked at, you know, where

(31:52):
we could be and where we have before. And so
I think that ultimately some of these other pressures that
are going on a definitely headwinds. But I don't think
that ultimately we're going to be seeing national productions suddenly shrink.
Just back to the US because you know what's going

(32:12):
on on there to try and get some of the
incentives within California, for example, working because there's a lot
of content needs to be made for the world.

Speaker 3 (32:21):
Well, really good to talk to you, best of luck.
Great to see the industry kind of doing something about it.
So looking forward to seeing what happens there. That was
Mel Turner, who was executive chair of Screen New Zealand International.
It is thirteen to ten. I'm going to get back
to some of your feedback.

Speaker 1 (32:37):
Next the headlines and the hard questions. It's the mic
asking breakfast now.

Speaker 10 (32:43):
I can't work out a way round this.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
So I mean the horse has bolted when it comes
to jurisdiction and online hasn't it.

Speaker 9 (32:48):
If you're wanting to go after the actual online provider
for defamation, say, for example, a reasonable period of time
after they receive notice to take down the offending content.

Speaker 11 (32:58):
Obviously, a platform like TikTok Facebook, how are they going
to know what they're You know, people who are on
those platforms are posting if it's true or false, right, they.

Speaker 9 (33:05):
Need to receive noticed before they can take it down.

Speaker 11 (33:08):
And as you said, the horse has already bolted to
some extent because it's already been up for a period
of time and probably shared by various people.

Speaker 7 (33:17):
Back tomorrow at six am the Mike Hosking Breakfast with
the Defender, News Talk.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
Zed B Relax, It's still the weekend.

Speaker 1 (33:24):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudgin and Wiggles for
the best selection of great reads used talk zed Bee.

Speaker 3 (33:43):
Hit him with a lie Adams for you might have
seen him in the news.

Speaker 12 (33:47):
He was.

Speaker 3 (33:49):
He's on a global world tour. It is the Heartbreak
of twenty five, the celebration of twenty five years since
he released his album Heartbreaker. It's the world tour. He's
at the end of the world too. He was in
Australia this week. Things didn't go well people thought he
was weird. They came away very concerned about his well being.
I mean, it was all bit of a disaster. And

(34:09):
then he made some pretty funny comments about Australia and
the continent. He came to New Zealand and I went
to see him last night. And here's the thing. I've
seen him about three times, and he has never performed
a concert without throwing a tantrum. He is quite temperamental.
It is part of the package of his musical genius.
That's what you expect. Look, I went into it pretty nervous,

(34:30):
and I do feel like I watched an artist sort
of gently unravel on stage. He is a very messy,
complicated man. He is far from perfect. He's been in
trouble from his relationships and the way he treats women.
He is very funny at times. He does not there's
nothing woke about him. He just says what comes into
his mind and he puts it out there. But he's
also not well and he's been having these sieges and

(34:53):
he plays pretty much in the dark now. But he
just puts all his fragility and his vulnerability up on
that stage and he performs. And I think some people
would have walked out last night going what a temperamental,
self indulgent brat. Others would have walked out gong. That
was because you cannot deny that his guitar playing was incredible.
His voice sounded amazing. He created this very unusual but

(35:14):
really intimate and incredible atmosphere at the Bruce Mason Theater.
It was it was really something quite stunning. He refused
he would stop a song if he saw a phone.
We all put our phones away. We were all in
the room and all present for this acoustic three hour set.
It was yep, look it was. It was crazy, It

(35:35):
was polarizing, it was real. It was nerve wracking at
times because oh, someone's phone rang and we all just gasped,
is he going to lose the plot? But an incredibly
beautiful night. So if you saw managed to see Ryan Adams,
I hope you enjoyed it. Back to the text, goodness,
may wi shall I start lind text? Never heard such
damn rubbish Palestine on a new union agenda for pay

(35:58):
claims here unions will have to weather the backlash which
is coming, and not just from those unions. And look, Lynn,
I tend to agree with you. I think the unions
have dug themselves a little bit of whole there. They've
just handed one the government. There just a bunch of
greedy fools teachers, especially as they have been failing students
for years. It's all political. Eighty to ninety percent of
ward nurses and other text reads where I work in

(36:20):
public hospital too stress to work full time, young and oldest,
so don't get the benefit of higher salary more like
half that high Franchi has got. Honestly, the strikes are
just about money, and money does not make good teachers.
As for needing more teachers that don't grow on trees,
so that could take years. At the end of the day,
teacher to just suck it up and get back to work,
thank you, Brad. Francesca. Teachers are doing really well, with

(36:44):
seventy six percent now earning at least one hundred thousand
k AD on all those summer and winter holidays. What
more that I want peace in Palestine, says David little
tongue and check there. Yeah, I mean, I'm gonna be
honest with you, David. A lot of the teachers I
know work a lot in the holidays. They're expected to
go on their conferences in their holidays, they go back
a couple of weeks before schools go back, they start
working in the classroom. I've no teachers who are working

(37:05):
all through labor weekend. I've got a friend who's an
art teacher. She'll be getting all those art portfolios in
for her senior students. So it's not always quite you know,
it's very easy to count the weeks that your kids
have on holiday, but that doesn't necessarily translate directly to
what a teacher gets. I'm just trying to throw a
different perspective in there, and Fredisca, my question to the

(37:25):
union is why won't they accept finding arbitration. I work
in the private sector and have to navigate through change
and work pressures every day. This is about greed and
politics and my view. So thank you very much for
all your feedback. You can keep it coming throughout the morning.
On ninety two ninety two.

Speaker 1 (37:42):
The Sunday Session Full Show podcast on my Heart Radio
powered by News Talks, I'd be.

Speaker 3 (37:50):
Up next. Trent Dalton is in the studio. Trent is
the author of Voice Follows Universe, which is of course
now a very popular Netflix show. Love Stories. Lola in
the mirror in his latest book is called Gravity Let
Me Go. We're going to talk about the Dalton Empire, oh,
this play, and all sorts of things going on, his
obsession with a good story, and why he's so keen

(38:10):
to mind his own life for fictional purposes. Trent Dalton
is with me.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
Next, You're a glass.

Speaker 4 (38:26):
And that.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
You're a glassy.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
Welcome to the Sunday Session with Francesca, Rudkin and Wiggles
for the best selection of great reeds ex.

Speaker 3 (39:15):
This is a Sunday session. I'm Francesca with you until midday.
Good to have you with us. Q one is taking
place in the Formula one and Austin, I'm going to
keep an eye on this for you. There's a red
flag up at the moment. The session has just been stopped.
Somebody has had a bit of a crash and I'm
trying to get a grip on who it is, and
I'm really hoping it's not Liam Lawson, but I will

(39:35):
confirm that for you in just a moment. Thank you
also for your texts. Steven Texas a Francesca, I agree completely.
Ryan Adams is a hard watch with the best of times,
but that's a small price to pay for the achingly
beautiful songs he performs live. One thing for sure, he
ain't Taylor Swift. Thank you very much, Steven right Osie.
Author and journalist Trent Dalton is a favorite of ours

(39:58):
here on the Sunday Session. We like to think of
him as a friend of the show. Many of you
will be familiar with his smash hit Boy Swallows Universe,
a story based on Trent's childhood that was adapted into
a Netflix show. Trent is the master of telling the
stories of everyday people, and his new book is no exception,
drawing on his own life. Gravity Let Me Go has

(40:19):
been called one of his more personal books to date.
He's in Auckland for the stage adaptation of his book
Love Stories in Trent Dalton, thank you so much for
coming in.

Speaker 13 (40:28):
Welcome, Francesca. I am a friend of the show and
it's so good to be back.

Speaker 14 (40:33):
And thank you for having me.

Speaker 13 (40:35):
It's so great to just sit in here and have
a chat with someone I really admire.

Speaker 14 (40:38):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (40:39):
You are so busy. I mean you're in town for
Love Stories, You're releasing a book. It's kind of like
you've turned into the Trent Dalton Empire.

Speaker 13 (40:46):
Yeah, well, it's kind of what my latest book's about. Actually,
it's amazing. It's funny I wrote this meta book about
a guy in crisis because he keeps focusing on his
storytelling addiction. And like, it's so funny that as I'm
as I'm talking about a book that is all about that,
that I am inside the busiest period of my life.

(41:06):
You know, the whole book of the whole story of
gravity let Me Go. Is this journal who keeps obsessing
about the story of his lifetime and he's in danger
of missing an even bigger scoop and that's something that's
involving his wife and kids, and it's just like, well,
that's the story of my life, Francesca. Like it's like,
you know, I'm here always knowing that at home, my

(41:29):
daughter's got a literature exam that she's got to be
getting bright. I've got to be helping out with Fiona,
my wife, you know, a million things at home, you
know what I mean. It's sort of like this empire
needs to just take a pause for a bit. But
it's so funny that, Yeah, it's so amazing you say that,
But you're right, I am. I'm incredibly busy.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
What keeps bringing you back to your own life. For
these works of fiction.

Speaker 13 (41:53):
It's I don't know, it's sick, isn't it, Like it's like,
what's wrong with me? Like I really wish I could
write a Scottish time travel tale.

Speaker 14 (42:01):
I wish I could write about romans.

Speaker 13 (42:03):
You know, there's so many things I want to write
about vikings and I sometimes sit down and I started,
Francesca with this book.

Speaker 14 (42:11):
I want to write a.

Speaker 13 (42:11):
Story about two sisters who are the daughter of a
hit man. And I'm really excited about that story. I
really want to write that book. But then I thought, nah,
I want to write about my marriage. I want to
write about long term relationships. And I just if something
like that speaks to me, and I get a little
voice in my head that goes, no, you need to
honor that truth. Essentially, Like I've been a journal for

(42:34):
twenty five years now, and I spent twenty of those
years going into the living rooms of just ordinary, ordinary strangers.
And they sat down with and they let me sit
in their living rooms Francesca for like four hours, as
we both you know, sometimes wept over their lives and
they shared the most personal things, and sometimes I lost

(42:56):
sleep at night about how I treated those people in print,
like I would actually really worry about how did I
leave those people better than? How better or worse than
how I found them? And sometimes I got it wrong,
particularly in my early ambitious twenties when I was trying
to make a name for myself as a journal or whatever.

Speaker 14 (43:14):
I was trying to do.

Speaker 13 (43:16):
And it really made this pact that if I ever
got a chance to write stories about myself, then it's
all in, you know, like they get a lot of me,
and I'm honoring like literally a thousand people who gave
who wanted me with their stories. And so that's sort
of why I can't help but keep coming back. And
there were so many things to say in gravity about

(43:37):
I wanted to write a story about a marriage in crisis.
And I'm not saying my marriage is in crisis, but
it's come close, to be honest, it's come close at times,
and I really wanted to kind of go there and
go I'm so proud of my wife and either way,
we've overcome any difficulties because of all my stuff, you know,
And yeah, I wanted to put that in a book.

Speaker 3 (43:56):
That I think is going to resonate with people because
relationships are roller coaster.

Speaker 13 (44:00):
Well aren't they you know, yeah, they're the couples. I
really love talking to those ones who have been at
it for you know, twenty years, forty years, and I
meet them sixty years. You know, I just go hats
off because you imagine the evolution that that's taken in
a relationship to go that far, you know, with all
of the difficulties of life that come in. And that's
true love. You know, I'm fascinated by you know, I

(44:22):
thought I loved my wife when I was twenty.

Speaker 14 (44:24):
When I met her.

Speaker 13 (44:24):
January ten, two thousand, it's like she's ten times more
interesting than she was when I was twenty. You know,
it's like that's that's brilliant, that's really exciting.

Speaker 3 (44:33):
Well, it's beautiful. Who's who was the first person to
read this book or read a chap when you've completed it?

Speaker 13 (44:38):
Aughie, Yeah, mobilee fie. And it's horrific. Like she's she's
a journo herself, Francesco. So she puts on it things
like she'll write little I print it out at office
works and then I give her the big manuscript and
then she put on this one things like no no, no, no, no,
no no, or there's a scene in it like it's
so the whole thing is this. It's about this journal

(45:01):
who gets this scoop of a lifetime literally lands in
his letterbox. It's a message from a killer leading him
on a trailer breadcrumbs to a body. And it's almost like,
how far.

Speaker 14 (45:11):
Will you go?

Speaker 13 (45:11):
Mate, Like for the story of a lifetime? Would you
go so far as to endangering your family? And would
you actually go so far as endangering your own life?
And in the meantime, he's missed this incredible thing that's
happening with his wife at home and won't sort of
spoil that. But it's such a sort of metaphor for
my life, which is why FEE had to read it.

(45:32):
I just go, look, you are in this and you're not,
but you are, you know. And so she reads it
and she goes, why do you have to go there?
And I just go, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.
But there's power in it.

Speaker 2 (45:45):
You know.

Speaker 13 (45:45):
My favorite writers are people who mine a little bit
of themselves, like and be a bit truthful with their fiction,
you know, And I just think that's such a powerful
thing to do. And so I have to, and this
amazing wife of mine says, yeah, it's awkward, it's awful
in parts, but go for it, you know what I mean?
Like what a what an ultimately loving thing that she
lets me do? You know, it's an actual sort of

(46:06):
active love that she says, go for it because I
know you need to in your head, you know. And
it's all tied back to Boyce Swallow's universe stuff. It's
all one big spirograph, Francesca, where I'm trying to explore
all what's it like being married to the kid from
Boyce swallows universe? Basically is what gravity is about? You know,
That's ultimately what it ends up being about.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
Yeah, it's like you explored your younger self in the
previous book and now we're doing we're doing it again
with the adult version.

Speaker 14 (46:34):
Right, that's right, that's right.

Speaker 3 (46:36):
Tell me a little bit about the obsessiveness that Noah
has with the story. As you say, we've got this
journalist who's just wondering how far he can go. Tell
me a little bit about that and where that's come from.
Wire you like that as a journalist?

Speaker 13 (46:48):
Oh, completely, there was a period. I've still got it.
I've still got it. I would do anything for copy,
like I did, you know.

Speaker 14 (46:56):
I went on.

Speaker 13 (46:56):
I remember I had no right to be in Afghanistan
with Australian soldiers, but I went and I was on
a village walk with a guy who was looking after
me with a grenade law and if you need a
guy looking after you on a you know, it.

Speaker 14 (47:10):
Was a patrol.

Speaker 13 (47:11):
It was a patrol in Afghanistan with a guy who
was looking after And I was just like, what.

Speaker 14 (47:16):
Am I doing here. I'm not a war correspondent.

Speaker 13 (47:18):
I have nothing to offer the national record on Australia
on the importance of this mission.

Speaker 14 (47:24):
But I did it for copy, you know.

Speaker 13 (47:26):
And I remember I walked into the basement of this
really well known serial killer in Australia, his brother who
was implicated in his brother's crimes. I remember distinctly going
down into that guy's basement right with him. He said,
I want to show you something in my basement. And
we walked down the back of this guy's staircase. We
crept under, we got into this basement, Francesca, and he

(47:48):
goes go further, further, deeper, deeper, and he took me
to the end of this basement. I remember just going
this is dangerous, Like this guy hasn't been where. We
don't know whether this guy did or didn't do these
crimes he's been accused of. And I'm going down there
for copy because I knew on Saturday it's going to
make a great read on the Saturday weekend magazine, you know.

(48:11):
And it's like, and I was a new dad at
that point. I was just like, how far would you go?

Speaker 14 (48:17):
You know?

Speaker 13 (48:17):
And it's like, that's that's that's a journal thing, and
it's terrifying.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
Okay, do you think it's about assisting risk and you're
just not very good at desisting risks?

Speaker 15 (48:25):
Yes?

Speaker 13 (48:26):
Yeah, putting storytelling over risk. That's something journals do all
the time. You see it, you see it. I remember
I was with I wanted to get I wanted to
jag an interview with this head of an outlaw motorcycle
gang in Australia. It was really impossible to get. This
guy just was about to get out of prison, and
his lawyer took me out on a boat on the
Brisbane River. And I remember I was on this sort

(48:47):
of speedboat with the lawyer and us like a sergeant
at arms from this famous outlaw motorcycle gang.

Speaker 14 (48:53):
I remember going, what am.

Speaker 13 (48:54):
I doing out on the water with these known criminals
just in order to possibly show that I'm going to
be trustworthy enough to be granted this interview, you know
what I mean? And You're just going, are they you know,
they could some rocks to my legs and just throw
me down in the river, but you're there for copy
And it's like, yeah, I just think it's a journo.
It's a blank spot. It's a dark spot in a

(49:16):
journal's life. They can't see risk because they're so blinded
by the power of that story.

Speaker 14 (49:20):
And the scoop.

Speaker 13 (49:21):
Were so driven by the scoop sometimes and I had that,
I had that, and now I've.

Speaker 14 (49:25):
Got different scoops that I'm chasing.

Speaker 13 (49:27):
It's the scoop of ideas really, you know, like I
get hooked on an idea and I'll be standing in
the kitchen Francesca and Fees.

Speaker 14 (49:34):
Talking to me, and she knows.

Speaker 13 (49:36):
She goes, ah, damn it, you're doing it again. You're
thinking about the story, and she's like book Week, Book Week.
Remember we've got to get the book week costume, you know,
And it's like, don't forget that book Week costumes are
actually why you're here. You're not here to dazzle readers.
You're here to be a dad and you're here to
be your husband, remember that, mate?

Speaker 2 (49:53):
You know.

Speaker 13 (49:53):
So that's that's what Grabby's about.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
Do you see that? Are you worried about your your
children and they ablity to assists risk? Can you sing
it in them?

Speaker 6 (50:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 14 (50:02):
It's like, please don't. My My youngest daughter's got the bug.

Speaker 13 (50:05):
So you know, my favor character and Gravity is this
is this guy, Noah Corks who's the lead sort of
journal sort of hero of the story or anti hero,
but he's got this incredible daughter who wants to be
a journal too. And that's just my youngest daughter. I
see it in her. Francesca worryingly she's got the story bug.

(50:25):
But this kid clam in in Gravity. She does journalism
for all the right reasons. She wants to talk about
the light, she wants to go interview the strangers in
her street and remind them why they're amazing. And it's like,
that's why actually I did get into journalism. That's my
favorite type of journalism.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
And we should touch on that too, because I think
that this is something which we see in all your books.
You have this beautiful balance of light and dark.

Speaker 14 (50:47):
Oh yeah, you know there's.

Speaker 3 (50:48):
That hopefulness, that joy. It's always there. Just when you
think you're going down a bit of a dark hole,
there's just whether it's a moment of humor or a
reflection or something, there's just that there's that lightness there
as well, isn't there.

Speaker 14 (50:59):
Oh that's from my life.

Speaker 13 (51:01):
That's you know, the Dalton Boys are on a train
to go visit our mum in Boggo Road Women's Prison,
you know, and we're telling jokes to each other, you know,
because we all know how sad it's going to be,
you know, like it's it's I think that's beautiful.

Speaker 4 (51:16):
You know.

Speaker 13 (51:16):
That absolutely comes from my childhood, you know. And I
so admire New Zealand kids, Aussie kids who face the
worst traumas and they're living in the cracks and those
little little little beams of light are coming down through
humor and and and love, you know, and they're the
beams that they cling to. And I just think that's

(51:37):
so powerful. You can, really, you can really make that
light bright if you show people how dark things can get. Yeah,
but you've got to go down into the darkness to
let that stuff shine so bright in town.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
Because of course, Love Stories is on our stage at
the moment, a very special book which has come to life.
And this theater piece. How exciting is that been.

Speaker 13 (51:59):
Civic Theater in Auckland might be the greatest I know
it is. It's not even my I mean, I've been
in London theaters and that matches anything seen in the world.
It's the most beautiful, isn't it gorgeous? Like I just
am so honored that this story had this idea to
take a typewriter to a corner and ask two hundred
people to tell me about love. They turned it into
a play and now that thing's playing in the Civic theater.

(52:21):
It's like, are you kidding? It's amazing, it's the great
I wanted to honor my best mate's mum who handed
me this typewriter. It was her best friend, this nineteen
seventy sky blue Olivetti typewriter, and she said, do something
with it. I wrote a book, went out to a street,
asked people all these stories, and now it makes its
way to Auckland.

Speaker 14 (52:38):
Somehow. It's just incredible again.

Speaker 3 (52:40):
I think it's going to go a little bit further
than that. I think the empire is going to keep sprinting,
isn't it. It's just going to keep going. I mean,
love stories are so important, right everyone's you know, life's
a bit tough at the moment. Everyone's finding things a
little bit hard. And at the end of the day,
if you've got some love in your life, you know,
you can see that glimark, can't you. You can see
the life.

Speaker 13 (52:58):
That's the whole message of the story. There's you know,
the whole play eventually ends up being a revelation of
why I was on the corner anyway. It's the same
stuff I'm exploring, and gravity is that there were things
I actually needed to fix in my marriage that all
these wonderful strangers reminded me of. And the greatest thing
you'll ever take from that play, if you go see it,
is to drive home and go, yeah, I am so lucky.

(53:18):
I've got five people in my life who love me.
You know, I'm so lucky. I've got one person in
my life still, you know what I mean? And to
remember also the people who don't have love. You know
that there are a lot of people in this city Auckland.
I know you know who have fallen through the cracks.
And you ask anyone the toughest thing to do in
life to live without his love forget. Yeah, yep, Food's

(53:40):
tough and shelts is tough, but love's still the one
that makes life really rough if you don't have it,
you know, So that play sort of speaks to that
as well.

Speaker 3 (53:48):
Trench, thank you so much for your vulnerability, for your
brilliant writing, and for just putting out so much goodness
and gorgeousness. And to the world, thank you so much.

Speaker 14 (53:56):
Right back at you.

Speaker 13 (53:57):
That's what you do. Thanks Francescas. What an honor that was.

Speaker 3 (54:00):
Trent Dalton. His new book Gravity Let Me Go as
in stores now and today is the last day for
Love Stories at the Civic in Auckland and look, don't forget.
Actor Jay Ryan is with me. After eleven I mentioned
Q one was taking place in Austin and that there
was a little bit of a crash. I was worried
it was Lawson. It was actually his teammates, and that
is unfortunate. With good news William Lawson. There is about

(54:26):
six minutes left in this quarter and were was Liam
sitting about ninth, So I will just keep you up
to speed with what is happening there throughout the morning,
Right News Talks at b What are we on? Twenty
two past ten back shortly.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
There's no better way to start your Sunday.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin and Wiggles for
the best selection of Greg Breaths News Talks.

Speaker 2 (54:51):
At the.

Speaker 3 (54:53):
Wickles has a terrific selection of new cookbooks and if
you're feeling like trying something new this spring or summer,
or thinking about cookbooks as a Christmas gift, now is
the time to get them, as Wickles currently have twenty
percent of all cookbooks. There are new books and recipes
from Nadia Limb, Chelsea Winter, Jamie Oliver and A Cameron
and many many more, all with great ideas and all

(55:15):
with twenty percent saving. And then, of course there's the
whik Calls, Top one hundred, Kids, Top fifty and Jones
Picks to help with your decision about what to read next.
These books have all been loved by literally thousands of readers,
which is the best recommendation to check them out in
store or online with the Kids one hundred Kids, Top fifty,
Jones Picks, Games, puzzles, gorgeous stationary toys, and twenty percent

(55:38):
of all cookbooks. There really is something for everyone at
Wikkels the Sunday session, Right, we're just trying to find Steve,
so we thought we'd talk wellness now eron Ohara. Good morning,
good morning.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
Right.

Speaker 3 (55:55):
You know, we're all hoping that summer is on the
way and we're outside a little bit more in the sunshine.
And we hear so much these days about sunscreens and
which work, and which ones work as they say they work,
and for truns don't. Where do we start with sunscreens?

Speaker 16 (56:12):
Yeah, sunscreens are really complicated product that we use, and
I think that social media actually hasn't made it any
easier because on social media you'll hear claims about sunscreen
being toxic, or sunscreen causing disease, or sunscreen, you know,
not being good for your health, or that we don't

(56:33):
need it because we need more sunlight or we're not
getting enough vitamin D. There's a lot of controversy around sunscreen,
and I feel like it's been more recently, especially in
the media, around types of sunscreen and how while they
work and what is in your sunscreen is another big
thing to be asking yourself. The interesting thing though, is

(56:53):
like there's mixed views on this, although you know, we
need to get some good foundations of how to look
after our skin because if we are going in the sun,
the more sun exposure with UV rays will cause more
sun damage. Also, we're more likely to affect the firmness
of the skin, the elasticity as well as long term
if we're going to be causing skin cancer if we're

(57:13):
not getting the right sun protection on our skin. And
when you're looking at sunscreens, building up a tan is
not like wearing sunscreen, because I hear that one a lot,
people like, I'm just gonna slowly build up my tan
and then I won't get sunburn and then I won't
need to wear sunscreen. But actually that's not really the

(57:35):
whole truth. If you do build up a tan, you
will get a minimal amount of sun protection through your
skin and having the melanocytes producing the UV absorbing melanin
in your skin. And actually it's like wearing a sun
protection factor of three or four if you have a
bit more of a tan. So it's not something I
think we should all start looking at as going out

(57:57):
and slowly building up tans to get better sun protection
because if you love being outside, a three or four
sun protection is not going to be enough. Sun protection
factor should we use well, Ideally, if you're outside a lot,
you want to be looking at the type of sunscreen.
If you're wearing a sunscreen that has UV protection AMB
so there's different types of UV rays, but also you

(58:19):
want a minimum of thirty some sunt protection factor because
it's going to help you prevent from burning. And I
think the other thing is how often you're putting on
your sunscreen because it's.

Speaker 3 (58:30):
Important to read that pineprint on the back.

Speaker 16 (58:32):
Yeah, because people quite often put sunscreen on and be like,
I'm done for the day. The whole day, I'm going
to be protected from the sun. But actually the truth
is most sunscreens will only last about two hours and
then you need to be reapplying when it comes to
looking at the sunscreens themselves and whether they are toxic
for the body. Like researchers found that, you know, there's

(58:53):
different types of ingredients and sunscreens, particularly the ones to
look out for things like oxy ben zones, which actually
have links to causing the hormone disruptors the endocrine disrupt
it is so not very good for your health, a
lowering fertility rates. I think it's something to look at
when you're buying a sunscreen is what is in it,

(59:15):
because we really want to be mindful what we're putting
on our skin is then going to absorb into our
body and into our sunscreens. Some of my favorite ingredients
to really look out for that going to give you
the sun protection but also not be so toxic for
the body is things like zinc oxide and titanium dioxide
because these are more inorganic compounds and they're going to

(59:37):
be a lot better healthier for your body. Some countries
are getting a lot better at regulating sunscreens, particularly Australia
in their TGA requirement they don't allow sunscreens to have
oxybenzones in them.

Speaker 3 (59:50):
In New Zealand, we're not.

Speaker 16 (59:52):
Great at regulation, as we've talked about before, so it's
something that we also have to self regulate ourselves. So
look at what is in your sun's screen when you're
choosing a sunscreen. Try to stick to the zinc oxide
or the titanium dioxide because going to be a bit
safeer for your body.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
Bring on, Thank you for clearing that up for us
erin appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:00:14):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks
at B.

Speaker 3 (01:00:20):
Joining me now with her science study of the Week,
Doctor Micheldikinson, Good morning, Good morning. Okay, we're going to
clear up the myth around. We're going to get to
the bottom of why onions make us cry today because
it's something that we all know that happens, and we
have little techniques for preventing it, whether it's putting water
on the risk and some people wear those funny glasses.

(01:00:42):
But science has just discovered all about why cutting onions
makes you cry.

Speaker 17 (01:00:48):
It has and more beautiful than that, there's a bunch
of cool slow mode videos that are totally ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (01:00:53):
To go with them.

Speaker 17 (01:00:54):
And then my favorite type of science videos when I'm
looking for topics for the week, what is what is fun?
And I'm like, oh, yeah, people chopping onions and somebody
like spending hours taking a video of it. That's what
this is. So this is recent from Cornell University and
it's just been published in the Proceedings of the National
Cady of Sciences, and it's called drop Outbursts from Onion cutting.

(01:01:17):
And what they've done is they've gone, well, we know
that there's a chemical that comes out of onions when
you cut them, and that's been well known. It's called
propa an FBLs oxide, and we know that it's selfur
based and it triggers your eyes to your reflex. Okay,
so we all know that when you cut in and
you start to cry, and it's pretty horrible, and people
try and cut them at water, people try and cut

(01:01:37):
them with goggles on. But what we didn't know is
how that chemical escapes from the onion and how does
it get to your face so quickly, like within one
slice you are crying, So how does it happen? So
what they did is they use some high speed cameras
and some computer modeling and they just watched an extreme
slow motion what happens with their knife slices to the onions.

(01:01:59):
So they've got a person to cut from onions, different knives,
different speeds, different everything, and they found something that is
really school. I think if you are one of the
people who cuts onions because I love onions, Do you
love onions ranches?

Speaker 3 (01:02:11):
I do, yes?

Speaker 17 (01:02:13):
But do you cry when you cut them?

Speaker 5 (01:02:15):
No?

Speaker 3 (01:02:15):
Not always? And I cannot work out why sometimes I
do and sometimes I don't. Might you do with the
kind of onion?

Speaker 17 (01:02:25):
Maybe kind of onion, but it might be your knife.
And reason why I say this is because I'm ridiculous.
I have the most blunt nose in my house and
it is what it is, right. But when I read this,
I'm like, oh, I have to buy knife sharpener. So
here's what happens. As your knife presses down on the onion,
it creates pressure, and so the onion cells are tightly
packed inside the onion. And you know that an onion

(01:02:47):
has layers, and each layer is trapped between these two skins.
So if there's a top skin and a bottom skin, and
so you imagine you've got all this onion juice inside
these two skins. So as you start to push down
with your knife, it creates this massive, pressurized sort of
chamber area. So when you and I finally break through
the top layer, all of that pressure releases. So the
onion juice, including this horrible kepical that makes you cry,

(01:03:09):
shoots a fine mist of droplets into the air. Now,
the researchers, because they measured it with this high speed camera,
saw that this can actually come out of your onion.
Its speeds of one hundred and forty three kilometers per hour.

Speaker 15 (01:03:24):
So basically you've.

Speaker 17 (01:03:25):
Cut it and it's in your face.

Speaker 3 (01:03:27):
That's so interesting, But it is also interesting why it's
it's because it can aggravate your eyes quite for long.
I mean, you know it's arising. It doesn't aggravate our
skin or something else.

Speaker 17 (01:03:37):
Yeah, No, it's the chemical actually has something to do
with your tear. That's and it's that reaction there. But
what they discovered in not only how fast this is going,
which is why you're on your first cut you've already
start weeping, They said that your choice of knife makes
a difference. So when they used a very sharp knife,
it created a cleaner, slower cut and far fewer droplets

(01:04:00):
were released. And you can imagine if you've got these
two layers and you're creating a pressurized chamber. The more
you push down in your onion because you're on knife
is blunt, the faster it's going to shoot out when
you actually open that top layer. So trick number one
is make sure your blades are really sharp if you're
cutting an onion, because it's less likely that more droplet's
going to get to your face with a sharp knife.

(01:04:21):
So I've literally gone and sharpened all my knives now
because I've realized that I have terribly bloot knives. And
then the other one is to slice your onions slowly.
So don't put too much pressure on your onion, which
is going to create this pressure ized pressure coming up.
But slice it slowly with a really loose sharp knife
and then there's not going to be as much mist
coming up, and it's also not going to be as

(01:04:42):
bad for your eyes. And so those are the two
suggestions from the science. They said, you know, sharp knives,
cut slowly, and they said, oh, just cover your onion
in oil. And cover your onion in oil before you
cut it. It traps the mist. And if you're going
to cut it, if you're going to cook it in
oil anyway, then it doesn't matter. So so that was
trick number three using signs, and yes, it's going to

(01:05:06):
help you stop crying. But also it's been a really
cool way that they modeled it to help people understanding
fluid dynamics and also food safety because if there was
bacteria on that onion, they were looking at how bacteria
might fly in to somebody's face on food products, and
so it's a cool little physics story with an onion.
But actually something's really helpful that I like.

Speaker 3 (01:05:25):
Well, you've totally answered a question for me. Thank you
so much, Michelle, because yes, I'm too his terribly blunt
knives and my brother gave me a beautiful one for
my birthday about a year ago, and actually it's probably
the last year that I haven't hit the problem, so
I believe that. Well, I do like the idea of
sort of mindfully slowly cutting an onion. We are going
to talk to Mike lender Elson next. He's got a

(01:05:47):
recipe for us for the week. But very quickly we've
sort of gett into that kind of time in the
year where a lot of us are just getting tired.
Our attention and our focus is starting to wane a
little bit. Cognitive function might not quite be firing the
way we'd like it too. We've got a great podcast
with Gloria Marx and Gloria is a professor from the

(01:06:11):
University of California, and she has been researching focus and
attention for about twenty years. She's been doing this for
ages and back in around two thousand and four, she
worked out that we average about two and a half
minutes on a screen before people would switch to something else.
Starting from around twenty sixteen, we're averaging forty seven seconds
on a screen. Might be going from screen to screen

(01:06:32):
forty seven seconds. So if you're thinking to yourself, your
attention span isn't quite what it used to be, it
probably is not, and that's because we have created wonderful
distractions for ourselves and we love to multitask and do
all these things. So we've great podcast with her which
talks about basically what's kind of happened, why it's not
entirely all our fault, why our attention spans have got worse,

(01:06:53):
but how we can improve them and things. So you
can catch that podcast. It's called The Little Things. I
do it with my mate Lueri. She's we She really
does have an attention and focused problem she's working on.
We all are. It was one of my things this
year actually that I decided to try, and we're going.
I'm getting there slowly, but if you too were just
starting to think, gosh, it would be something I could
probably just got some nice little tips for you as

(01:07:16):
to how you can adjust your day and get that
focus and attention back so you can find the little
things where you get your podcasts. You know, iHeart Spotify,
Apple and that kind of thing. And it's nineteen to eleven.

Speaker 1 (01:07:27):
The Sunday Session Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by
News Talks.

Speaker 3 (01:07:32):
It be second round and qualifying is taking place in Austin.
Lem Lawson has made it strew to Q two. I
will keep an eye on that for you over the
next eight minutes or so. It's been a lot. It's
been very stop starty. You're telling you what they had
to get the cars out and the flags out and things,
so we'll see how that unfolds. Mike vander Allison is
with us now our residence chief.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
Good morning, Good morning.

Speaker 3 (01:07:53):
How was the half marathon? I believe you've been running
the Mirror Eye Half Marathon this morning.

Speaker 18 (01:07:58):
Mike, Yeah, I am certainly not running it. I could
potentially mountain bike it, but no, no, no. We're on
the aid station, so our aid station where I think
we're at about twelve k of twenty one, so you
will hear it in the background a bit noisey. And
we've got we have electro lights, we have Coca Cola,
we have lollies and we have chips.

Speaker 3 (01:08:17):
Have you flashed to the coke?

Speaker 18 (01:08:20):
Yes, we have actually, good man.

Speaker 3 (01:08:22):
Now you have to do that. And if you've got
good salt, soltal sold vinegar chips, get that.

Speaker 18 (01:08:27):
Chips and it kind of looks more like a kid's
party than a marathon.

Speaker 3 (01:08:31):
Yeah, yeah. Do you know what when I did when
I did the Tara where a trail marathon, there was
the final checkpoint before the end was extraordinary. When you
arrived there were scones with jam and whipped cream like
the community had gone to town. It was incredible and
it was this looks so good. But it's the last

(01:08:52):
thing I feel like right now.

Speaker 13 (01:08:54):
Care we go.

Speaker 3 (01:08:55):
Someone's hit the someone's hit the station. I love it.

Speaker 18 (01:08:59):
I think it sounds like my wife actually pretty louder
than anyone. But it's pretty cool because we're as you,
we're raising funds for the mirrle A pest control and
with the aim of reletting Kiwi into Goldies Bush at
the beginning of next year.

Speaker 3 (01:09:13):
Oh fantastic. I mean even you, isn't it. Your dog's
even been Kiwi trained.

Speaker 18 (01:09:17):
He has he has old hector, he's been zapped by
a zapping collar and he won't be going anywhere near them.

Speaker 14 (01:09:22):
Because he didn't like.

Speaker 18 (01:09:25):
He did not like it at all. And those on
the electric fancy only did it once.

Speaker 3 (01:09:29):
Oh blessed Hector. Okay, what have you got for us
this week?

Speaker 18 (01:09:32):
So this week we've got ekamata. We actually made this
in a class yesterday and the first time I've made
it for a long time, and it was delicious and
piffage at this time of year because it uses lots
of citrus. So it's a traditional Polynesian dish of raw
fish that's been marinated in citrus and coconut cream. So
the fish that you want to use for an ekimata
is something that's firm, something like a travali snapper or tuna,

(01:09:57):
and then you cut those in little bite sized pieces
and you marinate them in either lime or lemon or
a combination of both. And what happens is the acid
literally cooks the fish by DNA during the protein and
the fish and turning it OPAQ and making it quite firm.
Once that's underway, then you just add coconut cremon and
a various degree of coriander or onion or anything along

(01:10:17):
those lines. So I've got three hundred grams of white ferm,
white fish cut laid into like five to one centimeter cubes,
and then over the top you've got the juice of
two limes and two lemons. You basically want the fish
to be just sitting in that juice. Pop those into
the fridge, leave them in there for up to three hours.
You say, we left it for an hour, and that

(01:10:39):
like one centimeter cubes was just perfect for that hour.
While that's marinating or cooking in the fridge, small red
onion that's just been die, small cucumber diced. I put
in some chili, so a cup of chilies. Dice those up,
a cup of corient. It delicious, and if you could
chuck in a capskin, they are slowly coming down in price.
After an hour. Just take your fish out of the fridge,

(01:11:00):
drain out the excess lemon and lime juice. You're still
watch some in there. You need that acid, and then
add in the all important two coconute cream and then
your vegetables. They go in a good amount of salt
and some cracked pepper. Let that sit for another half
an hour and walla, it has done. And for people
like yesterday, that weren't that. They went there keen on

(01:11:21):
raw fish. They tried this echimata and they were like,
this is delicious.

Speaker 3 (01:11:26):
I think raw fish gets a bit of a rough
deal sometimes. I mean, if it's beautiful fish. I had
some sashimi recently at an orphand restaurant and I was like,
where did you get this salmon? And I think it
came from very down the bottom of our country and
it was absolutely amazing.

Speaker 18 (01:11:43):
It has to be fresh. And we actually did schaeshmi
yesterday of snapper. And what I did is I sliced
it and then we actually cold smoked it. So we
put into a cold smoker for half an hour and
that and the smoke settled on top of the shashimi,
on the top of the raw fish and gave it
that background smoke flavor.

Speaker 3 (01:11:59):
Where was it? Was it a Stuart Island salmon farm.
I got it from that They got lamp. Yeah, yeah,
I wish I could remember the name and give them
shout out because there's salmon was absolutely divine. But I'm
loving this recipe too. You might get back to your job.
Please back to you making sure that everyone manages to
get to the end in one piece. That was Mike
vander Elsend and you'll be able to get that recipe

(01:12:19):
good from scratch dot co dot n Z or of
course you can head to news talk z'b dot co
dot nz ford slash Sunday all our interviews and information
from the show and everything will be put up there
throughout the day. It is eleven to eleven.

Speaker 2 (01:12:33):
Grab a cover.

Speaker 1 (01:12:34):
It's the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudgin and Wiggles for
the best selections used.

Speaker 2 (01:12:40):
Talks' be.

Speaker 3 (01:12:45):
Use up down bread.

Speaker 10 (01:12:48):
On the stem where.

Speaker 2 (01:12:53):
Broken.

Speaker 12 (01:12:55):
I just want you to know.

Speaker 3 (01:13:00):
Right The Intrupid British and Irish Film Festival is back
for its third edition. It's going to be screening across
New Zealand from October twenty ninth to November the nineteenth.
It goes everywhere this festival. It has an incredible lineup
of titles and plenty of past star power, with films
featuring the likes of Emma Thompson and Bill Nihy and
Ray Fines Look full disclosure. I'm the ambassador for this festival,

(01:13:22):
so I get to watch a lot of these films
in anticipation and I can I just make a couple
of quick recommendations for you. If you love to hike,
if you love to walk, then you must see the North.
It is absolutely stunning. It follows these two friends who

(01:13:43):
reunite after sort of ten years and they set off
on a six hundred kilometer hike through the Scottis Highlands,
so that they do the West Highland Way and the
Cape Wrath Trail. It's like thirty days together in nature
and the film just totally captures that routine that you
get into when you're walking day after day after day,
and the scenery is stunning that they capture is also

(01:14:08):
just adds to it. You just get transported and then
you watch these two go on this sort of transformative adventure.
Not a lot of dialogue, not a huge amount of action,
but it is absolutely stunning and if you do like
to spend time in nature, you're going to love that.
And look, there's another film I want to point out
to you as well. It's called Christy and it's directed
by Brendan Canty, and I think that he is my

(01:14:30):
new favorite young director to have discovered. The film won
the Grand Prix at this year's Berlin International Film Festival.
It won the Best Irish Film as well at Galway.
What I loved about this film is it's set in
Cork and a small town that's pretty rundown, pretty depressing,
pretty gritty. It's sort of a social realist film. And

(01:14:52):
this character returns there, this young boy who's been in
foster care to live with his half brother and he
kind of gets broad into this community. And while it
is very gritty and quite raw and a bit but grim,
there's this beautiful hope in this film. Like cant, he
has managed to just balance it beautifully that it's the

(01:15:13):
kind of a tribute to the small town and the
good people who live there who created community, as well
as being a message of hope for this young kid
who's had a very very traumatic life that he can
find a place where he belongs. So Christy is the
other film. If you like that social realism that you
get out of the UK, then there's two recommendations for you.
But look, if you want to win a double pass

(01:15:35):
of the Intrepid British and Irish Film Festival, all you
have to do is head to Newstalk zb dot co
dot mz Ford slash win. But you need to be
quick because the competition closes tonight. There's heaps of other
great films for you to be able to pick from
as well. Right, it is six to eleven here on
News Talks. Here beak back.

Speaker 1 (01:15:54):
Shortly the Sunday Session Full Show podcast on iHeartRadio powered
by News Talks.

Speaker 7 (01:16:00):
EDB.

Speaker 3 (01:16:03):
Did you see that article about Taylor Swift? The power
of Tay Swift strikes again. So she wore this vintage
Monterey Bay Aquarium Otter Conservation T shirt. She wore it
in her release party movie for her new album, The
Life of the Show Goal, and it just sent fans
absolutely crazy. Of course, so she wore it. They have

(01:16:23):
to have it. There's this weird obsession these days, isn't it,
with having to have what you know your favorite musician has. Anyway,
the aquariums flooded with so many calls about buying the
T shirt that shows these two otters floating on their back.
They decided to re release the garment and they have
raised three point five million in a couple of days
for Sea utter conservation. I meant the end of the day,

(01:16:45):
the otters of the winner, I mean, the T shirt
is on moving. Great about the T shirt. It's kind
of curate, it's kind of vintage, I suppose, but really
the Otters are the winner of the day. Three point
five million in a couple of days. That's how to
run a conservation campaign. Well done to them, right, turn
on the telly these days and can we acted? Jay Ryan,
he is everywhere. He's appeared in scrub Lands and Escape

(01:17:07):
Creamery North of North He's appeared in films like It
and Murdu. You might remember him from Years Ago and
Neighbors and Go Girls. But Jay is one of those
quiet achievers. He's one of our most internationally successful actors
working today, hugely talented and I never know what he's
going to do next. Well, it turns out it's a
psychological thriller, a Scottish New Zealand co production called The Redge.

(01:17:28):
It's really good and he is with me to talk
about that and his career. Next here on needs took
zeb back joy to see.

Speaker 2 (01:17:53):
It's Sunday. You know what that means.

Speaker 1 (01:17:55):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkins and Wiggles for
the best selection of great reeds used talk set.

Speaker 3 (01:18:01):
Be good to have you with us. It is seven
past eleven coming up this our Megan is still convorting
around ra Ra Tonga giving us all some fomo. She's
gonna let us know why she will never wear flippers
snorkeling again. Joan shares with us what she learned about

(01:18:21):
Seawn Johnson from his memoir Perspective, and Jason Pine is
with us to talk sport.

Speaker 2 (01:18:27):
It's the Sunday Session.

Speaker 3 (01:18:31):
We first saw Keewi acting star j Ryan as a
nineteen year old playing Jack Scully on Neighbors. He's gone
on to appear in many local shows, Go Girls, Jane
Champion's Top of the Lake Creamery, or films like Muru.
But these days Jay is making an impact overseas, picking
up international recognition for Roles and Beauty and the Beast
and the film It's Chapter two. Jay's new film brings

(01:18:53):
him back to New Zealand. It's a psychological thriller. It's
called The Ridge.

Speaker 2 (01:18:57):
Cassie's dead. She fell off a cliff and she's dead
on the other side of the world, and I.

Speaker 14 (01:19:06):
Don't know what to do.

Speaker 15 (01:19:07):
It's an accident that happens here.

Speaker 17 (01:19:09):
It just doesn't make sense to me.

Speaker 3 (01:19:11):
My sister postponed Dad at the bottom of the hill
that she could have claimed in her sleep.

Speaker 2 (01:19:15):
So you're questioning whether she fell, no questioning how.

Speaker 6 (01:19:17):
And why she fell.

Speaker 3 (01:19:20):
Jay Ryan joins me in the studio. Good morning, good morning,
so lovely to meet you. I'm very excited to meet
you because I feel like every time I flick on
the tally at the moment you're in a show, whether
it's Scrublands or No Escape or of course there was Creamery,
I feel like you're all over the place.

Speaker 2 (01:19:36):
I am.

Speaker 10 (01:19:37):
I've been very fortunate to you know, go to different
parts of the world and film and now the world's
much smaller, you know, as we're just discussing before you
can be anywhere. Now you can live in a small
part of New Zealand and still you know, have your
foot in the door for Hollywood. So yeah, I've been
really lucky. Australia has been good to me, the UK

(01:19:58):
America when there's no tariffs, they'll let me in. But yeah,
it's been wonderful. But it looks like I'm working all
the time. But I'd still an actor's life, you know,
there's still a lot of downtime and a lot of
nail biting thinking when the next job is going to come.

Speaker 3 (01:20:13):
So even though it looks like you've shot three shows
in one year. You might have only shot one in
one year, but then all of a sudden, they're all
released at the same.

Speaker 10 (01:20:20):
Time, all released at the same time. Yeah, just kind
of happens. If I get one show a year, I'm happy,
and one show in one film, that's perfect, and then
I can have a good life here as well.

Speaker 3 (01:20:33):
I've only seen two episodes of this new series, The
Roach so far, and I have no idea what to
think of your character, and I think, yeah, this is
something I think that you're really good at. It happens
quite a few times when my watch shows that you're
in I don't know whether you're a complete psycho. We're
just a normal, sort of complex person. How would you describe.

Speaker 10 (01:20:54):
You in well, he is he's kind of in the
gray area between those things. I think he's trying to
figure out who exactly he is, still in his early forties,
but he also a bit of a chameleon. He plays
to his audience, and in his audience he has the
small town, the rural people, the farmers, environmentalists who he

(01:21:15):
kind of is leading the pack. He's sort of the
only heir to a big est state which was sort
of purchased by his Scottish parents some years ago. So yeah,
he's a bit of a leader in town, but he
has many different masks. And once Mia Beaton, who is
the Scottish sister of Ewan's fiance, enters New Zealand for

(01:21:36):
the wedding, she begins to uncover that she's got the
grit to sort of figure out who he is.

Speaker 3 (01:21:43):
Do you like that in a character characteres that leave
you guessing?

Speaker 10 (01:21:46):
Yeah. I mean they're really hard to play because you're
constantly I mean I am anyway, I sort of think
about the edit, which I shouldn't be as the actor.
It's got nothing to do with me, but I do
think about I wonder how they will cut this scene
because I don't want to give too much away here
or here. I want to give away, you know, the truth.

(01:22:06):
So for me, it's like a puzzle piece that I
get to, you know, be part of. It's more of
a collaboration when the character is hiding many things.

Speaker 3 (01:22:15):
This is a New Zealand and Scottish co production. It's
going to be screened here on Sky and on BBC
Scotland and BBC two. You mentioned before that you have
had quite a bit of work in the UK. But
will this be sort of you know, off, maybe provide
more opportunities in that neck of the woods.

Speaker 10 (01:22:30):
Possibly, I mean hopefully. It's always been like the know.
In fact, you know, the UK is the hardest to
break into. Okay, where the real work happens, I guess.
But I've been lucky, you know. I did Neighbors many
years ago, so that kind of gave me a bit
of a you know, a show in there, even though

(01:22:51):
it was soap, but it's beloved by the Brits, you know.
And then I've had a little bits, even did a
panto in the UK some some time back. So I've
been lucky to have little pieces. And then scrub Lands,
which you mentioned before, which co production that was on
the BBC. So now they keep coming back.

Speaker 3 (01:23:11):
Oh they're quite familiar with you now. Interesting you mentioned Neighbors.
Do you get sentimental about shows? I mean, obviously that
was at the beginning of your career, I think you
were nineteen and things, and that that's finally come to
an end. Do you get a bit sentimental? It's that
the series that that show was coming to an end.
Are you actually quite impressed it last as long as
it did.

Speaker 10 (01:23:28):
I am impressed, especially once Prestige TV came in, you know,
with HBO and the like, because soap opro was kind
of getting pushed back. But there's a familiar kind of
love for it that audiences have, I guess. But yeah,
it's coming to an end, you know. I'm really proud
that Shortland Street it's still hanging on because a lot
of the other international shows are dropping off. But yeah,

(01:23:50):
it was sad to hear that it was no longer
because it still has a big audience in the UK
and it's such a great training ground for young artists.

Speaker 3 (01:24:00):
It's really interesting that you because you what did you give?
You said, notice something to do neighbors, You turn things
down to do names Hower arrangers, right, Yeah, so that's
interesting because that could have made you big in the
US at that point. And do you think were you
thinking strategically like that when you're that young one?

Speaker 10 (01:24:15):
I was, Yeah, I was thinking strategically And I had
a lot of advisers at the time as well, and
they were great and they sort of said, you know,
power rangers may push you in a direction for your
teen years, but maybe not a longer career. But you know,
for me, it was just any opportunity to get on
screen and sign a contract and say yeah, I got

(01:24:37):
a job, was was worthy. And I remember I did
have the contract for Power Rangers, and I was so
kind of, you know, eagerly wanted to sign it. But yeah,
all the advice was to go to neighbors, and it
was good advice.

Speaker 3 (01:24:51):
That's really interesting. Has that strategy remained with you? If
I look at your career, I imagine that that's You've
been quite strategic throughout mostly.

Speaker 10 (01:25:01):
Yeah. Mostly, sometimes you just kind of got to take
what is a available and on offer. But it's often
been pretty good. And even when I've thought, oh no,
this is going to be a dud, it hasn't been
so much that case. And it's given me many different facets.
And now I'm lucky because I get asked to do
comedy drama rilla. Yeah, I haven't been pigeonholed. And you know,

(01:25:26):
now I'm in my early forties, so I think I'm
going to be Okay.

Speaker 13 (01:25:30):
You made it.

Speaker 3 (01:25:31):
Are you able to pick and choose now?

Speaker 10 (01:25:34):
Yes, But I still have a family to support, so
you know, the industry has become really tight at the moment,
and things have dropped off. So I just feel grateful
every time I get a job basically, and with the
looming AI threat that we have upon us, especially within
you know, the acting world. Now I'm just like, I'll

(01:25:57):
do pretty much anything because AI can too. So if
I get the opportunity, I will do it within reason,
of course, But there is that kind of thing in
the back of my head.

Speaker 3 (01:26:10):
It feels unfair. Right, You've put so much, You've put
all this hard work into your career. You are at
this point I think, I think you're at a peak
of your career. I mean, some incredible performances over the
last decade or so with Muru and things like that,
and then all of a sudden something comes along that
kind of you know, puts you back to almost square one, saying, yeah,
I'll do what, I'll do whatever I can.

Speaker 10 (01:26:32):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's just I don't know how
much time we've got, probably years and years and years,
and that won't be doomsday. But to me, that's always
a worry, you know, even like SAG after the equity
in the US for actors and artists, I can tell
they're a bit worried too, you know, after the strikes
and now they're sort of promoting vertical dramas, which is

(01:26:55):
micro dramas, which is because we all watch our phones now,
you know, we can handle thirty seconds of a story.
So that's the new thing in Hollywood is filling the
app and it's sort of low budget drama and it's
made very quickly and it's very simple storytelling. So you know,

(01:27:16):
there's many new things happening, but we just got to
kind of pivot and adapt.

Speaker 3 (01:27:20):
And I imagine why. I imagine that's why these kind
of collaborations are really good for New Zealand that we
see this this sort of UK New Zealand collaboration and
they have been happening for a while, but it just
helps us. It enables us to create good.

Speaker 10 (01:27:36):
Drama, it really does, and bringing everyone together and it
makes sense, you know, because the world's become so small
in terms of accessing entertainment. So you know, with the
joint forces of the BBC and Sky and Neon, they're
going to drop you know, on the same day, so
October twenty first, the UK can see it and New

(01:27:57):
Zealand can see it at the same time, which is great,
especially for me as the artist trying to promote it
and because everything goes out to everyone globally and saying well,
you guys get to watch next year or so. Yeah,
so were those are positive things that are happening that
bring us all together.

Speaker 3 (01:28:12):
At the same time, you mentioned your family before, and
I know that you've got a twin daughter and things.
How does this kind of you're back here in New Zealand,
based back here in New Zealand after being in Canada
for quite a while on things, How does this kind
of job? You know, how do you manage the family
and traveling and work and things?

Speaker 10 (01:28:30):
Well, I mean jobs locally here in New Zealand. Work
a treat because I can be a normal person, leave
home in the morning and go home in the evening.
So it works great. That was part of the reason
why we came home because we were in Canada for
fifteen years on and off, and the facts. I've always

(01:28:50):
wanted to be a full time actor in New Zealand,
you know, go to work, working on beautiful locations and
go home. So yeah, that was a real draw card
for the Ridge for me and my family. They love
it when I can come home at the.

Speaker 14 (01:29:05):
End of the day.

Speaker 10 (01:29:07):
Yeah, because my daughter has really been a trooper. She
has traveled all over the world with me and even
up to the Arctic in Canada on a show called
North of North on Netflix, which is shot in the Arctic,
so she's been up there.

Speaker 3 (01:29:20):
She spent a week with that one. That was delightful.
That was really beautiful.

Speaker 10 (01:29:26):
Yeah, and made by Inuitt creators, so really authentic about
what it's like to live up there, which is a
true experience. So yeah, she got to come up and
I was like, oh, this is going to be a
disaster because it's minus thirty outside and I'm getting her
to be an extra in the back of this two

(01:29:47):
day shoot of the end of the Arctic tundra. But
she was a trooper, so she loved it, and yeah,
that's that's a a good life for all of us.

Speaker 3 (01:29:57):
Oh, it's amazing. Okay, So what haven't you done that
you'd love to do.

Speaker 10 (01:30:01):
More New Zealand film. Yeah, I'm just always very impressed
with what we create here, but it's just very few
and far between, so the opportunities are, you know, harder
to get back here. But yeah, New Zealand Film. We
when we had it right, we had it so well
and it would be great to see a bit more

(01:30:21):
output from that department.

Speaker 3 (01:30:23):
Over about thirty years of talking about New Zealand film,
I've done it a very unscientific survey and it generally
takes the New Zealand film makers seven years to make
a film, So you know, yeah, yes.

Speaker 10 (01:30:33):
Seven years at least of grind and sweat and going
through different commissions and funding rounds. It's yeah, it's tough
as the creator, but we are very lucky that we
have in New Zealand Film Commission New Zealand on here
because in places like you know, the States and many
other countries, it's just not possible. It's all private.

Speaker 3 (01:30:55):
So Ryan, thank you so much for popping in Love
the Ridge. I cannot wait to see. Thank you just
how this character turns out very much. Appreciate you popping in.
Thanks Francesca definitely dodgy Ewan, but I am interested to
see how that all pans out. The Ridge is on
Sky Open this Tuesday, with all episodes available to stream

(01:31:15):
on Neon. Coming up next, we have got the panel
It's twenty past eleven.

Speaker 1 (01:31:20):
Sunday with Style The Sunday Session with Francesca, Rudkin and
Wiggles for the Best selection of Greg Reeds.

Speaker 2 (01:31:28):
Please talk savy.

Speaker 3 (01:31:30):
Planning a holidays can sometimes feel overwhelming. There's the flights, meals, visas,
accommodation site, seeing the list goes on. That's where Wendy
Woo Tours makes things simple. They include everything in one
complete package so you can relax and enjoy every moment.
Flights from New Zealand, visas, meals, accommodations, sight seeing and

(01:31:51):
expert guides, all taken care of. Their guides are worth
you throughout your journey, sharing insights and making sure the
experience is seeing this. Wendy Woo Tours offers more than
forty destinations worldwide, from Japan, China and Vietnam to Africa
and beyond. And right now, there's a fantast pastic bonus.
Wendy Woo has teamed up with Hong Kong Tourism Board
to offer a free two night stopover in Hong Kong

(01:32:13):
when you book a group tour so enjoy panoramic views
from Victoria Peak, ride the world's longest outdoor covered escalator,
and explore the vibrant food scene and shopping. It's valued
at over eight hundred dollars per person, absolutely free. Find
out more. Visit Wendy Woo Tours dot co dot m
Z or contact your local travel.

Speaker 2 (01:32:35):
Professional for Sunday session.

Speaker 3 (01:32:39):
Panel time now, and I'm joined by Coast Day host
Lorna Riley. Good Morning, Launa Morning and partner at Freebahn
and heir Liam here.

Speaker 19 (01:32:47):
Hi, Liam Marina.

Speaker 3 (01:32:49):
Right, Let's talk about this open letter that was in
the Herald on Sunday today from Judith Columns. I wonder
if I is start with you, Liam, what was your
take on that letter.

Speaker 19 (01:32:59):
I would say defensive readiness rather than panicking, but a
recognition that they're going to have a fight for a
message on their hands and they want to get out
in front of it. Really crucial for any national government
when confronted with any sort of strike action to make
clear that it's a contest between not between the workers

(01:33:23):
or the professionals and the government, but between the unions
and the government and so like. That fight for the
message was very, very important for the government because while
people generally they tend to trust professionals and like professionals,
especially for example, the healthcare sector, trust there very consistently
show that that unions are much more distrusted like politicians,

(01:33:47):
journalists and lawyers, and so you don't want to make
sure that you're picking your battles and framing it as
well as you new code. So it was just I
think it was. I wouldn't call it panic. I'd caught
defense of readiness.

Speaker 3 (01:33:57):
Yes, I couldn't quite work it outly and when I
first read it, and of course this is a head
of Thursday, with this estimated to be one hundred thousand
public sector workers walking off the jobs. I got the teachers,
the doctors and everyone like that. So I couldn't quite
work it out. Liam. I couldn't work out whether it
was a bit desperate, whether it was a bit full
of fear, whether it was I think defensive is probably
a good word, because Lorna, this is very much about

(01:34:18):
trying to own the narrative around this very large strike
which is going to potentially happen this week.

Speaker 20 (01:34:24):
Absolutely, and I think Liams hit the nail on the head.
It is about the unions rather than the professionals that
are actually shoring up those unions. I'm not sure that
firing shots like this is helpful to successful mediation. It
makes it a very much us in them situation. And
this comes of course on top of Simeon Brown, who
accused doctors of crossing an ethical line and threatening changes

(01:34:47):
to the law to prevent them striking, really really unhelpful.
Like you, Francesca, I have a child still at school.
I've got a daughter who's a primary school teacher. She'd
moved to Australia in a heartbeat if it went for
a shed custody arrangement she's got. And I've spent a
lot of this year in and out of public hospital.
A great deal of comm tech was nursing professionals, district nurses.

(01:35:11):
I spoke to one district nurse who was her fourth
day in a row, working double shift because they just
don't have the staff. I suspect MP's tend to go
private hospitals. Maybe they don't have enough contact with the
public hospitals. But there is a real problem there and
I can see why the strike action is taking place.

Speaker 3 (01:35:31):
Are we at an impast, do you think, Liam?

Speaker 19 (01:35:35):
Yes? I mean, well, you know it's you always are.
What the sides want are irreconcilable. Uh, And you know
one side is going to have to back down eventually,
or you know there have to be a compromise.

Speaker 6 (01:35:49):
That's that's reached.

Speaker 19 (01:35:51):
But what you know reading that letter though again you know,
just I just want to emphasized, how often do you
have colins use the word unions right? You know, you
know as you as you ask your teachers why they
are union has, you know, like why the union has
done this? Why the unions have done this? So yeah, there,

(01:36:12):
I mean, if they weren'ted an empast, we wouldn't be
at this at this at this thing. But the way
through the impass is often going to be, you know,
who wins the public narrative, who can hold out against
the public right and so you know, government wanted to
be government rescus Union's not government versus nurses and teachers.

Speaker 3 (01:36:31):
It's a very good point. I I was. I think
that the union did not help themselves the when we're
talking about we're talking about the teachers, the PVTA, with
the Palestine issue being raised. I feel like that was
an own goal.

Speaker 6 (01:36:48):
Launa.

Speaker 3 (01:36:49):
I don't think that that was going to advance. That
is a very easy thing and it comes I think
in the third paragraph of that letter. It was a
very easy thing to throw out there and go see
the unions are not on task. They're throwing all this
random wild stuff and look at them. They're getting involved
in politics, and I think they help themselves there. I
think they dug themselves a little whole there.

Speaker 20 (01:37:09):
I think most of us would read that and go,
you know, that's ridiculous that that was the first point
that was raised by the PPTA. But I see that
as a big red hearing the fact that you know,
Judis Colins really focused on that. I think she said
plaster and several times, almost as many times as she
said union. And we're supposed to get outraged by that,

(01:37:30):
but it is actually deflecting from the biggest issue. And
you've got to remember too that you know, this comes
on top of the budget where the government made that
controversial enlast minute change making industrial pay equity claims more difficult,
halting thirty three current claims.

Speaker 15 (01:37:46):
So there is a big.

Speaker 20 (01:37:49):
Picture behind what is happening on Thursday.

Speaker 3 (01:37:53):
This is turning into the double D letter deflecting and defensive.
I think we've got two very good words there, Liam.
They the government will not want these issues hanging over
them heading into twenty twenty six.

Speaker 19 (01:38:03):
Will they were not fair on the wrong side of
public sympathy for them. Actually, you know, the history is
is that national parties do well often when there's conflict
with the unions, as long as unions are perceived as
being the enemies of order and progress. And that is
why the Palestine thing is actually quite a powerful message

(01:38:26):
for the government to go back to, right, because that
is there has nothing to do with the priorities of
patients or or or parents of teachers, and so, you know,
it's not a good thing for any government to deal with.
It's not good for the for the country, but it's
not necessarily politically damaging as long as they are in
front of the message and they're able to choose their

(01:38:46):
target wisely. And so yeah, maybe it is a red hearing,
but you know who's who's who's to blame for that?
It's not the government.

Speaker 3 (01:38:55):
Yeah, okay, I don't believe that this letter is going
to create the dialogue that is needed. I don't. I
don't think it's step forward. I think it's purely just
a little bit of it's it's just more polti politicing
and things have just Yeah, everyone put them as I
said earlier, they're big girl and big boy pants on
and get into a room and get it sorted for
all of our sake. I think I would like to

(01:39:16):
talk about someone who finally has put their big boy
pants on, and that is Prince Andrew, who has finally
acknowledged the fact Norna, that really you cannot behave appallingly
for several decades with terrible behavior and really think that
you can maintain your position within the royal family.

Speaker 21 (01:39:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 20 (01:39:33):
I don't think he's had he's put his big boy
pants on so much as someone has held him down
and forced him to put them on.

Speaker 3 (01:39:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 20 (01:39:42):
They pretty much stripped him of title, status and dignity.
So the life he was born to has been replaced
by a life that he is absolutely absolutely going to hate.
I guess the Royal family are hoping this is going
to bring an end to the awful saga. Of course,
we've got Virginia Dufre's memoir posthumously being published this week,

(01:40:03):
so I don't think this is going to go away
in time soon. I was interested too that he hasn't
formally lost his titles the Duke of York, the Baron
of wherever it was, because apparently to do that requires
an act of Parliament and no one wants.

Speaker 15 (01:40:18):
To go there.

Speaker 20 (01:40:18):
But he is going to be prevented from using them
publicly or privately. And I just I take some comfort
in the fact that he's rattling around in that thirty
room Royal lodge with plain old Sarah Ferguson fairly friendless
at the moment.

Speaker 3 (01:40:34):
Well wait and see how long he's you know, can
afford to live there and no, I Liam, I think
that it's slightly appalling that it has taken this long
for the royal family to act upon, like tucking him
away in a corner and things. Obviously it just had
to wait, you know, they just got to a point
where they could no longer the King could no longer

(01:40:56):
ignore this. I think this should have been done a
long time ago, and I think they've missed the boat yet.
I don't think they're going to be able to own
the narrative on this. I think that the damn has
burst and were just going to get more and more
information about Prince Andrew coming forward.

Speaker 19 (01:41:10):
Yeah, you're totally right, and I'm just to you know,
fear this is a variety's point. You know, he hasn't
He's still the Duke of York, you know, like doesn't
look like he's owned that. It looks like he's been
a compromise, which is a right. Well, we're not going
to take the nuclear option of of the actual titles,
which by the way, don't necessarily require an extra parliament.

(01:41:30):
It could be done by the king by unless your
letters of royal patient, which would be more of a humiliation.
But he's sort of jumped before he was pushed and
taking sort of the lesser option. He's still the Duke
of York. He's you know, he's just not going to
refer himself to himself that way, you know, for the
time being. And look, the thing is is that you know,

(01:41:52):
in some ways I feel for Prince for King Charles,
and King Charles is going through you know, cancer himself,
and for we can reasonably surmise that for for a
long time. You know that Prince Andrew was prepicted by
the mother, you know, yes, and not not the king.
And you know, for all her great you know, a

(01:42:12):
strengths is a monarch. The Queen was still a loving
mother to Prince Andrew and some sort of a favorite
of hers. And so look, you know, I say this
is a royalist, is that not a royalist but a
constitutional monarch. And that's support of the royal family. It's
it's it's far fu lay and it's not nearly enough
and so you know that the hawk has bolted. It's
too late to close the barn door.

Speaker 3 (01:42:33):
When you're relinquished, you're not taking any accountability, are you.
Thank you so much to Lorna Riley and Liam here
for joining me today on the panel. Jason Pine is
up next with Sport.

Speaker 1 (01:42:46):
It's the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin on News Talks.

Speaker 2 (01:42:50):
At b.

Speaker 15 (01:42:54):
A IF.

Speaker 3 (01:43:09):
Coming up at midday here in New storog z B
Jason time of weekend Sport and he joins me, Now,
good morning, good morning. Have you got lou Vincent on
the show today?

Speaker 12 (01:43:18):
Indeed just after midday? It's a wide ranging story. Yeah,
a very interesting story. A guy who played a lot
of cricket for New Zealand, got a one hundred on
Test debut against Australia in Perth, over one hundred one
day internationals, then got lured into match fixing, was given
a life ban eleven life bands actually for eighteen breaches

(01:43:41):
of the Integrity guidelines, and then had that band relaxed
slightly a couple of years ago and is now using
his time and energy to help others not fall into
the same traps. He this week addressed a conference in
Melbourne help by the Victorian Police around integrity in sport.
It's quite the journey that lou Vincent has been on.

(01:44:02):
So yeah, looking forward to an extended chat after mid day.

Speaker 3 (01:44:05):
But I think really interesting time to had this conversation
because the online gaming and the you know, the marketing
towards young people with it and the things around sport
is massive, huge, huge, huge, so oh fascinating. Okay, I
can't wait for that. Have you been watching any of
the Black Caps?

Speaker 12 (01:44:22):
I did well, I mean until it rained. Yeah, and
the same with the White Ferns until it rained. I
feel like our cricket teams can't catch a break at
the moment.

Speaker 3 (01:44:29):
Well, that's because we're playing in October.

Speaker 12 (01:44:31):
There is that, there is that, although it shouldn't rain
on the subcontinent, should have But that's what's happening to
the White Ferns at the moment. They probably need to
win their last two games to have a chance of
making the Semis. As far as the home summer, if
we can call it that is concerned, it's been it's
been a pretty tough.

Speaker 6 (01:44:45):
Watch.

Speaker 12 (01:44:45):
Let's hope for better weather for the rest of October
and beyond. But yeah, it was look a big crowd
there at Hagley last night. I was hoping. I tuned
in and I thought this would be great, and then
it kind of started to look a bit grim weather wise.
And yeah New Zealand didn't even get the bat, did they.
So yeah, that was a shame. But much more to come,
hopefully in this White Paul series.

Speaker 3 (01:45:05):
I feel like we've just finished the football season. I
feel like we've just wrapped up Auckland esc and you know,
everything around that in the Phoenix everything, and we're back
now playing Melbourne victory. It was a nil all draw.
But I've been told by my show's resident football expert,
my producer Carrey, wasn't that they weren't playing great.

Speaker 12 (01:45:24):
It was a typical first game of the season game
for Auckland see last season. Of course, it was all
fresh and new and they hit with a bang and
they won their first game and they went on a
winning run of six or seven games to start the season.
Look this time, it's look is it second season? Syndrome?
Hart to know after one game they just looked a
bit clunky to me, and they got a couple of
new players who they're trying to integrate. They're missing a

(01:45:45):
couple of key players for injury. Like a point away
at Melbourne victory is not a bad way to start
the season. Then I start up and watched the Phoenix.
They were terrible, absolutely abysmal for twenty minutes and I
thought I just need to go to bed, but I
thought I'll box through to halftime. Just before halftime they
scored and the second half they were tremendous, really really good.
So in fact, of the two New Zealand sides, the

(01:46:06):
Phoenix were better than Auckland FC in their game last night.
So yeah, they got a two wall drawer against Perth.
So yeah, we've got football back again and like I say,
game one of twenty six and then hopefully some playoffs
for both of these teams. So yeah, we go again, franchise.
Oh that's wonderful.

Speaker 3 (01:46:20):
It means we get a little bit more of you
in the Auckland studio, which we love. Piney. What else
have you got on the show today?

Speaker 12 (01:46:26):
Paul Coles with us after one o'clock. Our top squash
player had a win at the Qatar Masters last week.
He's in the US for the US Open and a
quite busy time ahead for him. We'll cover off the rugby,
of course, canna bring into the MPC final and the everest.
This is this twenty million dollar race at Randwick yesterday
which was won by a horse with really close Kiwei

(01:46:46):
ties ka Ying Rising, bred here in New Zealand by
Fraser Auret, who's going to join us Freeyana as well.

Speaker 3 (01:46:52):
Fantastic looking forward to it. Thanks so much, poney. Jason
Pine will be back with you at midday.

Speaker 1 (01:46:57):
It's a Sunday session full show podcast on iHeartRadio, powered
by News Talks FB Travel with Windy wo Tours Where
the world is yours for now?

Speaker 3 (01:47:10):
Joining me now is Meghan Singleton.

Speaker 15 (01:47:12):
Good morning, Good morning.

Speaker 3 (01:47:14):
Now tell me we know you're in Raratonga. We all
were all feeling the fomo, but I want to hear
about the snorkeling. I believe you're never going to put
on a pair of flippers ever again.

Speaker 21 (01:47:27):
I am so now convinced that sea scooter snorkeling is
the way to go. We just tried it out yesterday
and it was so good. So you just hold these
little devices not much bigger than a firmous flask, and
you hold them sort of under your tummy and you
can zoom along the water. You can either have your
face out or you've got your goggles half under the water.

(01:47:50):
You can go down and have a look. And it
was absolutely brilliant and so yeah, you don't even have
to kick. We had flippers on because you basically you
have a trigger, so you pull the trigger and then
when you let the trigger go.

Speaker 15 (01:48:04):
You suddenly stop.

Speaker 21 (01:48:05):
But it's quite heavy, kind of go oh oh, and
you need your flippers to kind of treat a little bit.
Otherwise you doom past the turtles and not see anything.

Speaker 3 (01:48:14):
Just see all these like little people like missiles firing
in all different directions instead of stopping and running around.
It wouldn't feel right not to hemphoopers.

Speaker 15 (01:48:21):
Yeah, yeah, oh no, you need them because you're in
the channel.

Speaker 21 (01:48:24):
And the great thing is that you've got the power
to boost away, so you could go quite out when
the current was really still yesterday. You can go right
out to the edge of the reef to the channel,
which is pretty dangerous if you're you know, if it's
a big tide. And then you just turn on your
booster to level three and you come hurrying back then.
I mean it was the we go with the guide.
It's a guided tour unless you own one of these things.

(01:48:45):
Apparently they cost about two thousand dollars. I'm like, you
guys should sell these. I think you'd sell them really
well over here.

Speaker 15 (01:48:51):
That Yeah, they're good fun.

Speaker 3 (01:48:53):
Can you take I don't worry about dropping them.

Speaker 21 (01:48:55):
Yeah, no, it's attached on your wrists. Yeah, so yeah, definitely.

Speaker 3 (01:49:00):
Where was this second?

Speaker 21 (01:49:02):
This was part of Areaky Sea Scooter's tours. But there's
another company that does them as well. It might be
Mowana if you just look up seas Goods. In fact,
I've pushed my blog post or Raratonga to my front
page today so people can have a look at that.
And just today at the Punanganui market where I was
at last time I spoke to you, because it's Saturday here,
they opened a brand new market hall that can take

(01:49:25):
seventy stare holders who now no longer have to stand
in any weather. And it was so much excitement in
there today that they just really is it just great?

Speaker 15 (01:49:33):
It just brings it all under cover in an eight.

Speaker 21 (01:49:35):
Million dollar building that the new Zealand government paid for
so were you.

Speaker 15 (01:49:40):
We should all go and visit it.

Speaker 3 (01:49:44):
Arza Tachy has an amazing reputation. I know that some
of the women on your tour went and had a
day trip. How was that.

Speaker 15 (01:49:51):
They loved it? They absolutely loved it.

Speaker 21 (01:49:53):
So you fly out, get picked up quite early, like
seven thirty or something, come back here to the airport
where I'm standing right now, apologize for all the perfuffles.

Speaker 15 (01:50:02):
Then you fly over to Ida Tucky.

Speaker 21 (01:50:04):
You join a beautiful going cruise to it, get a
chance to snorkel, visit a few islands, and then you're
back on the plane and you're home by about five thirty.

Speaker 15 (01:50:14):
So it's a long day. They absolutely loved it.

Speaker 21 (01:50:17):
It's a taster, right, Like my advice would be stay
a couple of nights, but if that's all you've got,
go over, snorkel the lagoon, see the giant clamshells and
stand on one foot island and do all that sort
of stuff, and then snorkel in the crystal clear water
and then come back.

Speaker 3 (01:50:34):
Sounds amazing. Meghan, Thank you so much. Travel home safe.
If you want to check out Meghan's blog about Raratonga,
you can find it at blogger at large dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:50:45):
Books with Wikles for the best election of Greek Reads.

Speaker 3 (01:50:50):
John McKenzie, good Morning, Hello. Sally hip Worth has a
book out called Mad Mabel.

Speaker 15 (01:50:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 22 (01:50:56):
Sally is an Australian writer. This I Think from Memory
is set in Melbourne and it's the story of her
name is Elsie, Elsie Mabel Fitzpatrick. She's eighty one years
old and she's living a quiet life in a small
suburban street. And when she discovers that one of her
neighbors has died in his house, and he's a guy
who was never particularly nice to her, but she reports

(01:51:18):
it and no one thinks anything too sinister about it
until it's revealed that Elsie, who as I said, is
eighty one, as a child was known as Mabel and
she was the youngest person ever convicted in Australia for murder,
at which point, of course, she becomes a person of
interest to the police with this dead neighbor. And when
you hear the story of what she did back in

(01:51:39):
the day and why, it's very hard not to feel sympathetic.
And now that she's been outed and the media have
discovered where she lives, and of course they're camping on
her doorstep. She decides to tell her story for the
first time, and she lets a young couple who are
podcasters into her living room and they come along and
conduct a series of interviews and they produce a YouTube

(01:52:00):
documentary which goes Mad, in which she gets the chance
to tell her side of the story. They call it
maca Magnificent Mabel. This is a I found it a
really human story. The small community, the little street that
she lives in which she's a part of. They're very
disparate people that she lives amongst, but it turns out
there are some surprises amongst them. And this is one

(01:52:21):
of those books that has beginnings and endings and it
all ties up together in a very satisfying, qu kind
of way. I really enjoyed it.

Speaker 3 (01:52:29):
I think it's a great premise. I love the premise.
I'm going to be honest, I can kind of see
the TV show with a film holding in front of
my eyes when you were sort of explaining it, I
was like.

Speaker 22 (01:52:37):
This sounds like a great and some of the conversation
and the humor is quite cinematic in a way.

Speaker 3 (01:52:42):
Okay, brilliant Mad Mabel. Sean Johnson perspective.

Speaker 22 (01:52:47):
Yes, who would have thought that I would be one
to commentate on a rugby league book.

Speaker 3 (01:52:52):
Well, look, the other day you were telling me how
much you love the Ozzy Osbourne memory, which I memoir,
which I wasn't expecting either.

Speaker 22 (01:52:58):
Yeah, And I loved Tiger Woods's memoir and I loved
Lebron James. So yeah, I'm always interested in the people
behind the fame, and this is a really readable and
relatable story about the determination to become the best and
the work that it took to get there. Of course,
everybody listening will know that he's a rugby league legend,

(01:53:18):
and like all of those guys his career, his story
started at a very young age. He's retired now and
he's still only thirty five. And in the early days,
he really felt it was all stacked against him because
he only weighed sixty eight kilograms and he was determined
to be able to get on the field and be
the best amongst some very heavy blocks.

Speaker 3 (01:53:38):
I could have taken him out.

Speaker 22 (01:53:39):
So do you know what his wonderful dad did. He
put a fridge in his car and he stocked it
up with food and protein, drinks and things, and Sean
and his family lived up at Gulf Harbor for people
who know Walkton, that's up at the end of the
fung up A peninsula. And he had to drive from
either school or work all the way to Mount Smart
Stadium for trainings. So he had his fridge in his

(01:54:00):
car and he could bulk up as he went, which
I thought was really lovely. And there's some really lovely
script of passages in this book, like when he writes
about making that trip and how he felt transformed on
the journey from where he started as he slowly got
close to the stadium which was going to be his place.
There's some really lovely bits in here. And it's a

(01:54:22):
book about the expectations that he put on himself and
of course everybody else put on him. And in the
end he realized that he was being judged on eighteen
minutes of game time a week. And as I said,
he's still only thirty five. What that could do to
a person, to your well being and the way you
see yourself and have to manage yourself with all of
that expectation. So I really like this and a great

(01:54:44):
He's a great package. You get the sports story, but
you also get the story of a man who was
brought up with his brothers by his dad, who comes
across as a fantastic character. And they're very, very close.
And now that Sean has his partner and two little
girls of their own, he's a guy who really respects
and revers his family as much as he does the

(01:55:05):
career that he took on. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Speaker 3 (01:55:08):
I think this sounds fantastic and I'm king to pack
it up and flick through it myself. But it also
sounds like a great book for teenagers to read. Yeah,
especially ones who are thinking of maybe having a career
in sport. Yes.

Speaker 22 (01:55:18):
And she doesn't make any effort to hide how hard
it is to put in the work to.

Speaker 3 (01:55:25):
Get to where you want to be.

Speaker 15 (01:55:27):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:55:27):
Thank you so much, Joan so Mad, Mabel by Sally
Hepworth and Perspective by Sean Johnson. We'll talk next week.

Speaker 1 (01:55:34):
See you then the Sunday Session full show podcast on
my Heart Radio powered by.

Speaker 2 (01:55:39):
News Talks I'd buy.

Speaker 3 (01:55:44):
Thank you so much for joining me today on the
Sunday Session. Thank you so much to Kirie for producing
the show. Next week, Bill Bailey is going to be
in the studio I just love Bill Bailey. He has
just had the most interesting varied career and entertainment. Of course,
he's got a stand up comedy, he's got all the
TV shows that he's worked on, he's got the Quest Show.

(01:56:06):
He can sing, he can play millions of instruments. He's
just really interesting and what I really love about him
is that when it comes to New Zealand, he goes everywhere.
He doesn't do three main centers, and then you know,
heap to Australia, he does the whole country. So he's
really coming to share the love with us. So looking
forward to having him in the studio next week. Enjoy
the rest of your afternoon, have a fabulous week. Take care.

(01:56:30):
See next Sunday run Away.

Speaker 1 (01:56:48):
For more from the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin. Listen
live to news Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

Crime Junkie

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Full Show Podcast: 19 October 2025

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

Crime Junkie

Stuff You Should Know

All Episodes

Full Show Podcast: 19 October 2025

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist