Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talk ZEDB joining me.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Now I have got senior per consultant and one plus
one Communications Damien Venuto.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Good morning, Good morning Francesca.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Also joined by a host of the Prosperity Project, Nadine Higgins. Heinadine, Marina,
good to have you both with us. You are both
journalists and you're in comms and things, and I know
that you've got a little bit of experience when it
comes to how to deal with the media. And after
listening to Ryan Bridge on ZB he was doing drive
(00:39):
on Friday afternoon and he spoke to Ray Chung about
this email fiasco that kicked off, and I did think
to myself, Ray could do with a little bit of
help when it comes to dealing with the media. And
I also thought to myself, Wellington deserves better from its counselors.
We're over the toxic culture, we're over the dirty politics,
we're over the dysfunction. Many people who can work together, Damien.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I listened to that interview and I was left wondering
what he thought he could gain by sharing that information.
That was the thing that struck me. I mean, any
piece of information that you share, there has to be
some benefit in you sharing that information if you are
going to try and be strategic with it. But there
was no strategy here. It was kind of like his
role playing a dirty politician more than anything else. It's
(01:24):
very bizarre, Nadine.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I don't even really care about the email. I was
more interested in how he handled it. And I would
have thought, if you've been talking about it all day,
by five o'clock, you would have the messaging tight, succynct
and you'd nail it.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
I do care about the email as well as how
he handled it when he'd been allegedly doing media and
been on the phone since for that morning, because doesn't
it just both instances say everything we need to know
about his level of judgment. I mean, is that the
kind of person that you want running the council as mayor?
Speaker 5 (01:58):
And I think you know media training, sure, But in
some way he's done voters of Wellington a favor by
revealing himself in that interview.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
But he didn't really did he. I mean, somebody's timed
the release of this email to to have an impact
on his campaign. Not everybody's looking good in this situation.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
No, it's horrible. That's fair.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
Sorry, Damien, It's okay, that's okay. That was absolutely horrible.
It's the timing everything. It's made everyone look bad.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
So I'm going to play a little clip and this
is from the end of the interview, and this is
this is an example where I think a little bit
of medie training could have come into play.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
You ever had any drugs or done on the orgy's ray?
Speaker 4 (02:42):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Never, sadly?
Speaker 4 (02:45):
Would you?
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Would you like to have?
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Well, the opportunity has never been there, so you know,
I've never been interested in taking drugs, so I haven't
taken of those.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So Damien, how would have you answered that question?
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I certainly wouldn't have pause for about thirty seconds before
answering it. I think I would have had a pretty
good response to something like I've never really been interested
in drugs orgies, Thank you very much. I mean, the
fact that he had this pause and that he was uncertain,
it just all feels very weird.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
What about you? What were your thoughts, Nadine?
Speaker 4 (03:21):
I mean, personally, I don't really care whether any merial
candidate has had an orgy as long as it's consensual.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
But I'm sure there are people who do care, and
he should have anticipated that a question like that was coming,
because of course he was breathlessly passing on that unfounded
gossip about Tory Farno, So of course someone was going
to ask him that, And so the fact he hadn't
thought about how he might respond again I thinks fixed
to his lack of judgment.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Do you think he should quit the race after this? Nadine,
I don't.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
Think there's any point, because I'd like to think that
he's given.
Speaker 4 (03:56):
Voters all the information they probably need about whether he's
the guy that's going to fix the pipes or bring
me in the city back to life, will fix any
number of Wellington's problems.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
What about your thoughts on that, Damon? Do you think
he should quit?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Definitely? I think that if he wants to save any
semblance of a face that he has left, quitting is
probably the most courteous thing that he can do to
Wellingtonian's right now. I don't think that Wellington needs this.
I think that there are some big problems in Wellington
that need to be solved. I think Raytong has shown
that he isn't the person you want solving those issues
(04:30):
because he's going to be distracted by random gossip that
isn't even true.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Guys.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
I want to move on to an issue which I
think is very timely. And of course we've just seen
such terrible impacts in parts of the country, especially tasmand
Nelson would the weather recently and the floods and things.
And this week we saw an independent reference group that
was set up by the Ministry for the Environment to
provide recommendations to help the government shape climate adaption legislation.
(04:58):
And basically they're trying to look at how we deal
with homeowners whose houses are flooded or damaged by weather
events in the future, and how also we you know,
invest in ways in measures to prevent these schemes happening.
And essentially, you know, one person's you know, read this
report and set well, basically they're saying to New Zealanders,
(05:20):
you're on your own, and you know there's going to
be a twenty year transition period. Then homeowners whose houses
are flooded or damaged by whether events should not expect
the buyouts. And also if you want to put measures
in place to stop flooding in things, those people who
will benefit from it most should pay the most. Sounds
really tough, Damien, but I understand we're in a really
difficult position where probably we cannot keep paying out for
(05:45):
every flooded property going forward indefinitely.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
I think we have to be really careful with anything
like this because it's about where we leave blame. Are
we blaming the homeowner for buying a property in a
certain area, or are we blaming the developers who have
chosen to build on floodplanes or building places are dangerous.
I mean, that's where the level of blame lies. And
I think that you also have to include local and
(06:12):
central government in that because they allow the developers to
build where they build. So if you're putting all the
blame at the end of the line on the home buyer,
I don't think that that's there because there have been
so many decisions made to get to that point that
then to kind of tell the homeowner that they're on
their own, that they're taking a gamble with buying a
house in a certain area, I don't think that's fair
(06:32):
at all.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Does it feel a bit harsh to unity?
Speaker 4 (06:36):
I agree with you, Francisca. It's a really tricky one,
and Damien makes a.
Speaker 5 (06:39):
Really good point about where does blame lie. And that's
true of anyone who's probably built or baught a house
up until today. But if we do provide people with
sufficient information about where the greatest risks are and they
still decide to build or buy a home in that location,
are we really going to say that that's the taxpayer's
(07:02):
responsibility if the inevitable happens and and that change comes
for their property.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
I think there has to be a point at which
we go.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
Once we have the information and we have communicated it
to people and they still can't make a logical decision,
then perhaps they are on their own.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Thank you both so much. Damian Venuto and Nadine Higgins
joined us today for.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
More from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin. Listen live
to News Talks a B from nine am Sunday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.