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October 4, 2025 9 mins

This week on the Sunday Panel, Chelsea Daniels from the Front Page podcast and TV producer, journalist and commentator, Irene Gardiner, joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! 

From Monday, the starting age for bowel cancer screenings will be lowered from 60 to 58 in Northland, Auckland, and the South Island. The rest of the North Island will follow in March 2026. Do we think the Government could have done more with this?

Do we need to loosen up royal traditions?

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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News TALKSTB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It is time for the panel and joining me today
we have hosts of the front Page podcast Chelsea Daniels,
Good morning, Chelsea, good morning, and TV producer, journalist and
commentator Irene Gardner.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Hi, Irene, good morning.

Speaker 4 (00:24):
Right.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Can we please start off with the announcement this weekend
about the government and what they are doing with our
bow screenings, which of course is going to be lowered
from sixty to fifty five. Now, this is good news,
We're starting to lowre it that it's great, But I
do have an issue with the messaging because we were
told that this is kind of the first step to
the government lowering the bow screening age to match Australia.

(00:47):
We are absolutely nowhere near Australia. Who is you know
in Australia, at age forty five, you can request your
first free bow cancer screening kit. Irene, I mean, is
the messaging wrong?

Speaker 1 (01:00):
Am I?

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Am I losing the point here? Should we be pleased
that we're reducing the screening or are we just not
doing enough?

Speaker 3 (01:06):
I'm sort of it with you, but I can see
kind of what's happened because the PM kind of backed
himself and his government into a bit of a corner
because he made it as an election promise on the
fly in an election debate, when asked by a person
you know going through this and so obviously an emotional moment,

(01:29):
but it then became a promise to you know, a
vulnerable group of people, and now it kind of just
looks really bad. I mean, we all know that the
economy is tight, and that we can never put enough
into health, and that everything is difficult, and what you
put somewhere you don't put somewhere else and all of that,
but as you pointed out, we are so far off

(01:52):
where Australia is and this is a prevention thing rather
than a cure thing, which to me is where you
always should be putting the effort.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Because Chelsea, we're all adults, right, we can we can
accept the fact that you know, it's going to take
us a wild potential to get to we're Australia's at.
You know, maybe it's maybe instead of just trying to
pretend that we're not going to see the elephant in
the room, we should actually just be a bit more
honest and go, okay, it's going to take us some time,
but we're trying to We're trying to get there. This
is what we can do, This is what we've got
capacity to do. You know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
That it's absolutely atrocious that both chris Is could, well,
we don't know what Hipkins would do, but would look
into the eyes of a woman who's well under the
screening age. At that election debate, I think it was
news Harwartivins that or something when Paddy Gower asked, will
you commit to lowering the age to match Australia's Both

(02:46):
of them said yes. He went on to say are
you sure yes? And now we're not getting it's it's
it's atrocious. I mean, most of these situations do you
don't see symptoms with bow cancer half of the time,
so these screenings really do catch those that really need
the help and that early prevention. I think it was

(03:08):
something like forty percent of those cancerous you know, when
they catch it in the screenings, forty percent are actually prevented.
And why would you fiddle with those odds. It's it's
unbelievable because.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
I rean I like this idea about this fit test.
You can test your own pubet home basically see if
there's any blood of it. And I like this idea,
but actually it shouldn't be being used to prioritize colonoscopies.
It should be used to find people who have no
symptoms and catching that, catching bill cancer really early, just
like chess to sit and using it as a preventative measure.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
Absolutely, And of course I am in the age group,
so I have done the thing and you know it's
totally simple and easy and home based, and yeah, I
mean in Chelsea's right that you know that they made
a promise and yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
What's really worrying me is that we are hearing a lot,
you know, more and more about young people, people to
fifty getting bow cancer. And of course it is already
New Zealand's second biggest cancer. Keillor terrible and the statistics
are terrible, and there's a lot of research out there.
Some of them are saying, look, it's got to do
with ultra process food, like they're trying to work out
why we're suddenly seeing this, and there's a lot going

(04:22):
into it and things. But what really concerned me about
what doctor Frank Frazelle said to me earlier was he said,
it's really hard for younger people to get into the system.
You know, he says, it's really important that we're educating
them about the symptoms and that they're aware of it.
But then it's also really hard for them to get
into the system, which just seems a bit crazy to me, Chelsea.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
Oh, and the absolute bare minimum should be lowering it
further for Maldi and Pacific peoples as well, mind you.
I mean, they are more than likely to die from cancer.
I think it's something like one point five times more
likely to die from cancer. Anyway, why would you not?
And obviously we know this government doesn't particularly like race

(05:04):
based health outcomes or how based health initiatives, but I mean,
when all the evidence is there, why not the absolute
bare minimum lower lower for Multi and Pacific peoples. And
try and get a twenty year old to the doctor anyway,
you have to pay what like eighty bucks for the
privilege to get some antihstamines these days. Imagine you know,

(05:26):
they're not going to be out there doing preventative measures
and preventative tests on their own accord either.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
A very good point, right, Let's move on to something
a little bit lighter. Royal traditions, and of of course,
Prince William did an interview with a TV host and
sort of said, look, I think that they're going to
be some changes. I'm really looking forward to making changes
when I become king, and people have been reflecting on
what those changes might be, and some people have suggested
that actually it's time that we got rid of some

(05:53):
of the sort of the pomp and the ceremony, the
plumed hats and the kilts and things like that, and Irene,
I'm going to going you take that away. They're just
ordinary people. I think if you take it, you know
what I mean, Like, if you take away all the
kind of ridiculous sort of tradition and costumes and things
like that, what are your left with?

Speaker 3 (06:11):
It gets a balance. I really loved it. William too,
by the way, he came across incredibly well. He seems
very smart, restrategically likable, and of course he's going to
be a modern monarch whenever this time comes, and you
would sort of know that without him saying that. But
I think even he got if you listen to what
he was saying, I think even he got that you've
got to have a reasonable amount of the pomp and

(06:34):
ceremony and the color and the tradition, because that's what
people like, that's what makes tourism money, et cetera, et cetera.
But I think what he was saying was he'd liked
up the sort of good work side of what he does,
which is already big for him, and you know, maybe
just modernize a few of the more basic things. I

(06:56):
don't think they'd even take away all of that, but
I think he himself might ease it back for himself,
because I have noticed that when he needs to wear
all of that stuff with the funny how you know,
and all the what it looks, I kind of gets bag.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
I mean, Chelsea, I totally understand why you probably you know,
he's probably thinking, you don't need to put your royal
cipher on every paper napkin like his dad does, the
king does. He's probably a lot of a lot of
little places, a lot of behind the scenes bits and
pieces that you could probably sort of save a bit
of time and money on.

Speaker 4 (07:33):
Oh and if you've ever organized a wedding, you know
how expensive personalized napkins are as well. So I mean
you've got to cut back on that. But I know
he's never really liked wearing the big jackets and the
medals and things like that. I totally get that, but
I do like, you know, they're allowed to take selfies
with people now, which is quite lovely to see, you

(07:54):
know that those kind of small tweaks. You know, on
the day of Catherine's cancer diagnosis and that announcement, the
Cancer Research UK had more than two hundred thousand visits
to its website and in the UK alone there were multiple,
you know, record number of people seeing their GPS about
cancer diagnoses and getting checked out and stuff. So that

(08:16):
kind of part of it I can see is a
real good for the community people, you know, them being
more real in a sense. But in terms of the
pomp and the hats and the colors and the parades,
I mean, that's that's what That's why the UK pays
them so much money. I think it was something like
eighty six million pounds last fiscal year alone of funding

(08:38):
for the monarchy's official activities, and goodness knows what that
brings in with that tourism venue, revenue and all that
kind of stuff.

Speaker 2 (08:46):
So no, I like the small tweaks.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
Let them have the selfies, Let well wear some corduroy
pants while he's out and about shaking hands and kissing
babies and see how it goes.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Thank you so much, Chelsea Daniels and Iron Gardener very
much appreciate your thoughts this morning.

Speaker 1 (09:01):
For more from the Sunday Session with friand Jessica Rudgin,
listen live and news talks. It'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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