April 12, 2025 • 10 mins
This week on the Sunday Panel, Newstalk ZB Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills and TV producer and commentator Irene Gardiner joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!
Labour MP Kieran McAnulty has introduced a bill set to change rules around alcohol sales on ANZAC Day morning, Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Christmas. The bill recently passed its first reading. Do we need to change the current laws? How will these changes help the hospitality industry?
Trump's tariff turmoil continues - with the administration exempting smartphones, computers and some other electronic devices from the extra costs involved. What do we make of this? Are we still concerned about how this will impact New Zealand?
Will we watch the Phillip Polkinghorne documentary? Do we think it will be done well?
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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 Talk ZEDB all the highs and lows talking
the big issues of the week, the panel on the
Sunday Session.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And on the panel today. I'm delighted to have news
Talk zb Wellington morning host Nick Mills. How are you, Nick?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I'm fantastic. And it's a beautiful day in the cabinet today,
Absolutely glorious.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good to hear. And we're also doined by TV producer
and commentator Irene Gardner. Hi, Irene, Hi there.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
It's also a very beautiful day in Auckland.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Wonderful, excellen right now. This happened quite quietly this week.
Labour MP Karen mcinnaughty's bill to change drules around alcohol
sales on our public holidays Anzac Day, Good Good Friday, Easter,
Sunday and Christmas was voted through its first reading. It's
going to try and make the laws simpler and fairer
for businesses to operate on Easter. Nick, I just think
(01:01):
let's just get on with this and get this done.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Oh well, this is a story during the week and
I didn't realize that Ireland, you know, such a religious
country right, they actually voted through and I think nineteen
so twenty seventeen, I think it was so like nearly
ten years ago. We are so behind the times. I'm
going to celebrate. This is a huge winner that carries on.
And the fact that it's a conscience vote, I think
(01:26):
it'll get through. I don't think it could have got
through otherwise, but the fact that everyone can vote independently,
I think it will get through. This is bizarre. Next
week we have one of our restaurants. We have an
act that we've had booked for months, and you know
we can't even sell alcohol for them, well unless they're
having a meal. It just doesn't work financially for hospitality.
(01:47):
Tourists absolutely hate and laugh at us have done for
forty years. So this is great news and let's hope
it goes through. And for those of you that want
to go to church on Good Friday or want to
go to church today and be religious, I get it
and I support you one hundred percent. This won't affect you.
And I can promise you that working in hospitals over
the years, which I have, it won't stop. If you
(02:09):
want to have Good Friday or for your own reasons.
No one's going to stop you from having it all.
So I think this is common sense prevailing.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I mean, we're talking about four days, right, We're talking
about four days where if you want to have a
drink you have to buy a meal, and it gets
really confusing as to what those days are and things
I do. I do think it does simplify things. Yeah,
you know, and you can all make your own decision
whether you want to go out in socialize. You know
you don't have.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
To, and you know, if you are a religious and
moderate person, I suppose just because you can buy a
drink when you have to, it's not compulsion compulsory to
drink on these days. I mean, look, I don't actually
have strong feelings about it. I'm you know, I'm neither
a religious person nor someone who drinks so much as
I really particularly notice the day is when you come.
(02:56):
But I think it's just you know, as next year.
It kind of just makes sense from a kind of
business perspective. I mean, thinks it's tough out there, it's
really really tough, and society sat up. I suspect not
that people are going to a jeck. I noticed MacNulty
saying you know, if people feel strongly they'll in see
(03:17):
Christmas Day. I thought, yeah, maybe that would sort of
make sense. I don't know, but I agree with it.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I agree with you on that Christmas Day too, if
you ever had to give up one day where you said, like,
you know, Christmas Days, Christmas Day. But once again, you know,
there's hundreds of thousands of travelers, they're traveling through in
the middle of out summer. They just want to go
out and have you know, a beer or maybe someone
the weep. But as soon as you've finished your meal,
you've got to slip up and get out. So if
(03:46):
it had to be one rule, Christmas Day would be it.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah. Look, I think there's there's two completely different conversations
when it comes to alcohol that you can have. You
can have the conversation about alcohol, our culture of alcohol,
the abuse of alcohol, and things like that. But it
doesn't fit with me when it comes to talking about
four days. Look, it doesn't doesn't feel like it makes
you know, like, I don't see that as a reason.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
You know that we should be talking about with drinking.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
We should be able to have a day where you
don't necessarily have, you know, have to have a drink
and you know, but I mean, the thing is you're
still allowed to drink, it's just you have to buy meal.
And it just gets really confused.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I just think let's just get on with it and
move forward, and everybody can make up their own mind
and spend their Easter in the ndset, do everything exactly
how they want to and be happy. Uh Trump and
the tariff turmoil continues, or the game of chicken as
it's sort of turning turning into now in America, there
are people irene who are doing their Christmas shopping out
(04:44):
of fear, the prices on goods on their you know,
the T shirts they want and the sleekers they want,
and well, up until last night the iPhone that they wanted,
all of a sudden was going to increase so dramatically.
I mean, you at that point in the panic or
you just you know, like our Prime minister taking a calm,
measured approach.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
I think I think New Zealand needs to keep our
head downs, keep our heads out, and be very calm
because it's such a moving face. You know, initially it's
everybody and now there's a ninety day pause and it's
just ten apart from China because they bought back, and
then it's all electronics. They're excluded because you know that, So,
honest to goodness, by Christmas, we could all be square one.
(05:25):
I mean absolutely anything could happen, So I don't know
that it's worth attempting to predict to anything with your
shopping or your money. And I wouldn't seriously advise people
who have shares not to be looking at them on
a tapic bace.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
No, I just don't look at the care we save
it right now.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yeah, give it some time, definitely, But I think New
Zealand could be a winner out of this. I mean,
I think this is two things, and I've been obviously
following and covering it all week. There's two things. One,
it's absolute proof you never ever want an entrepreneur to
be president and Prime Minister of your country because they
just that's how they think. What's happening through Donald Trumpsky.
(06:04):
It's exactly like every other entrepreneur. They come up with
an idea and might not be a good idea. Change
that idea. So that's the first thing. The second thing
is for New Zealand, I think possibly we could buy
Jags and messids and Chinese battery powered evs a hell
of a lot cheaper in six or twelve months than
we do now. I mean, just think about that. If
(06:26):
they're not going to be able to go into America
or have to pay that teriff tariff to go into America,
imagine how how much cheaper there's going to be a
glut of those products. And where will they go. They'll
go to countries there's no terraff or they can get
them out to. So I think there is some upside
for it. I feel for the wine growers and I
feel for the exporters, course I do, but it's ten percent.
(06:47):
That's not life changing. It's a little bit of pain,
but it's not life changing that.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Cares a business owner. Have you stopped and thought about
how it could potentially affect you?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
You mean, what would it affects? I mean one hundred percent,
because you know the tourist industry, you know, we just
don't need You said it, or Iron said it. Hospitality
and tourism that used to be the number one earner
for New Zealand. Right, So now we've gone through COVID
where we're all locked out of our businesses for so
much time. Then we went through the recession. Now we've
(07:21):
bought the trump you know. I mean it's been on
a horrible time, and course you do think about it.
And as soon as you feel like it's getting a
little bit better, the interest rates are coming down, people
are starting to go out a bit more. Bang, they
get nervous again. They look at their can we save?
And so I haven't got that much saving? Do I
want to go out for a meal today? Do I
want to spend money? Can I save? We do it
ourselves and our own family. Do we go out for
(07:43):
our Sunday brunches as we used to do? Well? We
think about it twice now.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
No, I think knickers ride as in the Irene. You know,
we were all just starting to feel so that there
were some green shoots and we were caught just you
were so gently turning a corner and things were starting
to come right and maybe it would all be okay.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
And the Bible economy, yeah great, it works so hard.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
We've done so well. Anyway, I'll just wait and see
what happens in the next.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
That I mentioned. It's a beautiful day, beautiful Look, I.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Think it's a beautiful day around the country and We're
going to celebrate that very quickly, Irene. The Philip Pokinghorn
documentary starts this evening on three. I was very I
wasn't hugely excited about this because I felt like we learned,
you know, I really felt for Pauline Hannah, and I
felt like she was not huge, wasn't respected very much
(08:38):
when we went through the court case and the way
the media covered it, and I was really done with
this case. But I've heard that the documentary is quite
respectful and sympathetic to her. I will probably give it
a look. Are you interested to learn more?
Speaker 4 (08:50):
I will watch it, But you know, of course I
watched several documentaries because of my stay job, and it's
got a really good team of people behind it who
are good ripping bulls documentary makers. So and I absolutely
take your point, though I do hope that there is
a level of respect shown to poor Lean. I'm kind
of thinking this Stocco will probably do better internationally than
(09:13):
here because we've kind of had it up to the eyeballs,
Whereas I mean, I don't mean to be trashy, but
you know those trashy true crime things that I watch
all the time on Netflix, et cetera, et cetera. Can
you just imagine this to the world, the story. I mean,
it's kind of had it all, didn't it. I mean,
I'm sorry, that's a bit trashy to say that, but
it really did.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
So, Yeah, Nick, should we be platforming a murder accused?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
I think we've got to. We've got to see what
comes out of it. And Iron's right, I mean, BBC
are the best documentary makers in the world. Didn't come
I reckon New Zealand's very close to it. I think,
you know, a well done documentary made in New Zealand,
and I think the international world will watch it because
it'll be done well. I mean, as a talkback coast course,
I'm going to have to watch it. I really do
something about this case. I really hate it from start
(09:58):
to finish, and I still don't feel totally comfortable with it.
I'll keep my opinion to myself, but so I will
definitely be watching it, and I think it'll be very
very good viewing because it'll be it'll be a very
well made documentary because why because it's made in Newseum.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
I think we'll all have an opinion on it tomorrow morning.
Thank you both so much for joining us on the panel,
Nick Mills and Iron Gardner.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
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.
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talk ZEDB all the highs and lows talking
the big issues of the week, the panel on the
Sunday Session.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And on the panel today. I'm delighted to have news
Talk zb Wellington morning host Nick Mills. How are you, Nick?
Speaker 3 (00:26):
I'm fantastic. And it's a beautiful day in the cabinet today,
Absolutely glorious.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good to hear. And we're also doined by TV producer
and commentator Irene Gardner. Hi, Irene, Hi there.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
It's also a very beautiful day in Auckland.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Wonderful, excellen right now. This happened quite quietly this week.
Labour MP Karen mcinnaughty's bill to change drules around alcohol
sales on our public holidays Anzac Day, Good Good Friday, Easter,
Sunday and Christmas was voted through its first reading. It's
going to try and make the laws simpler and fairer
for businesses to operate on Easter. Nick, I just think
(01:01):
let's just get on with this and get this done.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Oh well, this is a story during the week and
I didn't realize that Ireland, you know, such a religious
country right, they actually voted through and I think nineteen
so twenty seventeen, I think it was so like nearly
ten years ago. We are so behind the times. I'm
going to celebrate. This is a huge winner that carries on.
And the fact that it's a conscience vote, I think
(01:26):
it'll get through. I don't think it could have got
through otherwise, but the fact that everyone can vote independently,
I think it will get through. This is bizarre. Next
week we have one of our restaurants. We have an
act that we've had booked for months, and you know
we can't even sell alcohol for them, well unless they're
having a meal. It just doesn't work financially for hospitality.
(01:47):
Tourists absolutely hate and laugh at us have done for
forty years. So this is great news and let's hope
it goes through. And for those of you that want
to go to church on Good Friday or want to
go to church today and be religious, I get it
and I support you one hundred percent. This won't affect you.
And I can promise you that working in hospitals over
the years, which I have, it won't stop. If you
(02:09):
want to have Good Friday or for your own reasons.
No one's going to stop you from having it all.
So I think this is common sense prevailing.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I mean, we're talking about four days, right, We're talking
about four days where if you want to have a
drink you have to buy a meal, and it gets
really confusing as to what those days are and things
I do. I do think it does simplify things. Yeah,
you know, and you can all make your own decision
whether you want to go out in socialize. You know
you don't have.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
To, and you know, if you are a religious and
moderate person, I suppose just because you can buy a
drink when you have to, it's not compulsion compulsory to
drink on these days. I mean, look, I don't actually
have strong feelings about it. I'm you know, I'm neither
a religious person nor someone who drinks so much as
I really particularly notice the day is when you come.
(02:56):
But I think it's just you know, as next year.
It kind of just makes sense from a kind of
business perspective. I mean, thinks it's tough out there, it's
really really tough, and society sat up. I suspect not
that people are going to a jeck. I noticed MacNulty
saying you know, if people feel strongly they'll in see
(03:17):
Christmas Day. I thought, yeah, maybe that would sort of
make sense. I don't know, but I agree with it.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I agree with you on that Christmas Day too, if
you ever had to give up one day where you said, like,
you know, Christmas Days, Christmas Day. But once again, you know,
there's hundreds of thousands of travelers, they're traveling through in
the middle of out summer. They just want to go
out and have you know, a beer or maybe someone
the weep. But as soon as you've finished your meal,
you've got to slip up and get out. So if
(03:46):
it had to be one rule, Christmas Day would be it.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Yeah. Look, I think there's there's two completely different conversations
when it comes to alcohol that you can have. You
can have the conversation about alcohol, our culture of alcohol,
the abuse of alcohol, and things like that. But it
doesn't fit with me when it comes to talking about
four days. Look, it doesn't doesn't feel like it makes
you know, like, I don't see that as a reason.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
You know that we should be talking about with drinking.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
We should be able to have a day where you
don't necessarily have, you know, have to have a drink
and you know, but I mean, the thing is you're
still allowed to drink, it's just you have to buy meal.
And it just gets really confused.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I just think let's just get on with it and
move forward, and everybody can make up their own mind
and spend their Easter in the ndset, do everything exactly
how they want to and be happy. Uh Trump and
the tariff turmoil continues, or the game of chicken as
it's sort of turning turning into now in America, there
are people irene who are doing their Christmas shopping out
(04:44):
of fear, the prices on goods on their you know,
the T shirts they want and the sleekers they want,
and well, up until last night the iPhone that they wanted,
all of a sudden was going to increase so dramatically.
I mean, you at that point in the panic or
you just you know, like our Prime minister taking a calm,
measured approach.
Speaker 4 (05:03):
I think I think New Zealand needs to keep our
head downs, keep our heads out, and be very calm
because it's such a moving face. You know, initially it's
everybody and now there's a ninety day pause and it's
just ten apart from China because they bought back, and
then it's all electronics. They're excluded because you know that, So,
honest to goodness, by Christmas, we could all be square one.
(05:25):
I mean absolutely anything could happen, So I don't know
that it's worth attempting to predict to anything with your
shopping or your money. And I wouldn't seriously advise people
who have shares not to be looking at them on
a tapic bace.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
No, I just don't look at the care we save
it right now.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yeah, give it some time, definitely, But I think New
Zealand could be a winner out of this. I mean,
I think this is two things, and I've been obviously
following and covering it all week. There's two things. One,
it's absolute proof you never ever want an entrepreneur to
be president and Prime Minister of your country because they
just that's how they think. What's happening through Donald Trumpsky.
(06:04):
It's exactly like every other entrepreneur. They come up with
an idea and might not be a good idea. Change
that idea. So that's the first thing. The second thing
is for New Zealand, I think possibly we could buy
Jags and messids and Chinese battery powered evs a hell
of a lot cheaper in six or twelve months than
we do now. I mean, just think about that. If
(06:26):
they're not going to be able to go into America
or have to pay that teriff tariff to go into America,
imagine how how much cheaper there's going to be a
glut of those products. And where will they go. They'll
go to countries there's no terraff or they can get
them out to. So I think there is some upside
for it. I feel for the wine growers and I
feel for the exporters, course I do, but it's ten percent.
(06:47):
That's not life changing. It's a little bit of pain,
but it's not life changing that.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Cares a business owner. Have you stopped and thought about
how it could potentially affect you?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
You mean, what would it affects? I mean one hundred percent,
because you know the tourist industry, you know, we just
don't need You said it, or Iron said it. Hospitality
and tourism that used to be the number one earner
for New Zealand. Right, So now we've gone through COVID
where we're all locked out of our businesses for so
much time. Then we went through the recession. Now we've
(07:21):
bought the trump you know. I mean it's been on
a horrible time, and course you do think about it.
And as soon as you feel like it's getting a
little bit better, the interest rates are coming down, people
are starting to go out a bit more. Bang, they
get nervous again. They look at their can we save?
And so I haven't got that much saving? Do I
want to go out for a meal today? Do I
want to spend money? Can I save? We do it
ourselves and our own family. Do we go out for
(07:43):
our Sunday brunches as we used to do? Well? We
think about it twice now.
Speaker 2 (07:47):
No, I think knickers ride as in the Irene. You know,
we were all just starting to feel so that there
were some green shoots and we were caught just you
were so gently turning a corner and things were starting
to come right and maybe it would all be okay.
Speaker 4 (08:00):
And the Bible economy, yeah great, it works so hard.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
We've done so well. Anyway, I'll just wait and see
what happens in the next.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
That I mentioned. It's a beautiful day, beautiful Look, I.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Think it's a beautiful day around the country and We're
going to celebrate that very quickly, Irene. The Philip Pokinghorn
documentary starts this evening on three. I was very I
wasn't hugely excited about this because I felt like we learned,
you know, I really felt for Pauline Hannah, and I
felt like she was not huge, wasn't respected very much
(08:38):
when we went through the court case and the way
the media covered it, and I was really done with
this case. But I've heard that the documentary is quite
respectful and sympathetic to her. I will probably give it
a look. Are you interested to learn more?
Speaker 4 (08:50):
I will watch it, But you know, of course I
watched several documentaries because of my stay job, and it's
got a really good team of people behind it who
are good ripping bulls documentary makers. So and I absolutely
take your point, though I do hope that there is
a level of respect shown to poor Lean. I'm kind
of thinking this Stocco will probably do better internationally than
(09:13):
here because we've kind of had it up to the eyeballs,
Whereas I mean, I don't mean to be trashy, but
you know those trashy true crime things that I watch
all the time on Netflix, et cetera, et cetera. Can
you just imagine this to the world, the story. I mean,
it's kind of had it all, didn't it. I mean,
I'm sorry, that's a bit trashy to say that, but
it really did.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
So, Yeah, Nick, should we be platforming a murder accused?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
I think we've got to. We've got to see what
comes out of it. And Iron's right, I mean, BBC
are the best documentary makers in the world. Didn't come
I reckon New Zealand's very close to it. I think,
you know, a well done documentary made in New Zealand,
and I think the international world will watch it because
it'll be done well. I mean, as a talkback coast course,
I'm going to have to watch it. I really do
something about this case. I really hate it from start
(09:58):
to finish, and I still don't feel totally comfortable with it.
I'll keep my opinion to myself, but so I will
definitely be watching it, and I think it'll be very
very good viewing because it'll be it'll be a very
well made documentary because why because it's made in Newseum.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
I think we'll all have an opinion on it tomorrow morning.
Thank you both so much for joining us on the panel,
Nick Mills and Iron Gardner.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
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.
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