March 8, 2026 • 32 mins
For our business panel this week Nick is joined in the studio by Retail NZ CEO, Carolyn Young and employment law expert and partner at JB Morrison, Tess von Dadelszen.
Young and von Dadelszen discuss doing business in the city, in such hostile times in terms of international, national and local politics.
Starting with the effect of the Iran conflict, what are the effects of instability and price rises having on their businesses and their clients?
The council financial saving plan is out. Will this actually change anything for businesses? How do our guests think this council is going?
Then onto how their businesses are effected by our own government's instability. As talk continues about Luxon as leader, our panel discuss how their businesses are impacted from both a retail and legal point of view.
And how are business leaders coping with the cost of living crises, how selling and buying businesses is going and as a city what we need to do better.
Plus as the Moa Point saga continues, Mayor Andrew Little says that businesses will not receive financial compensation, although spending in Lyall Bay hospitality is down 40% - our guests look into the legality of this and how businesses can deal with the disaster.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk said by Mondays mean Business. It's the
business panel on Wellington Mornings with Quidovic Property Management, a
better rental experience for all. Visit Quinovic dot co dot inshead.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Let's get done, let's get monnay. Every couple of weeks
on a Monday, we get a couple of well known
while in Tonians into the studio and talk business, what
we can do better, what we're not doing well enough,
how can we get through the next week in some
cases and business Today we've been joined by tests von
(00:47):
DARIZM Dailson, partner of JB. Morrison's. I knew i'd get
it wrong the first time. I know, we've practiced as well,
and I still got it wrong. It's a very complicated,
no man, it's tough. Do you get it wrong all
the time? Do people get it wrong.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
With Okay, sometimes get it wrong myself. So it's all right.
You're a good company.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Thank you. Carolyn Young, Retail New Zealand CEO. I mean
it's a lot easier, is that, Caroly Young? Y I'm
looking get that wrong.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Yeah, people still call me Caroline, but you've absolutely nailed
it today.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh god, Carol, you've put out a press release which
I haven't read, but I've seen all about it. Things
you think because of the war are going to get done.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Look, we're obviously seen a spike in crude oil prices
and petroleum right, and that flows through quite quickly.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
We know.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
We've spoken to retailers last week. They've had calls from
supplies where prices are being pushed up already, retailers where
they can are absorbing in price increases. But at the
pump you'll have noticed over the weekend price has gone up.
I think this further price is expected at the pump
to go up this week. So that's going to mean fuel.
In terms of internal distribution, you're thinking about distributing products
(01:53):
across New Zealand. Freight costs, career costs, all those sorts
of things are going to have it impact on pricing.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So what about getting stock, I mean, yeah, what about
getting stuff in here?
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Yeah, that's right, So.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
The stuff on ships coming in on freight. Supplies have
already said that there's increases in there. Shipping channels have
already increased costs in terms of that space, so increased
prices on stock coming in has already started. Retailers are
trying to absorb that for as.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Long as possible.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Look, if this conflicts, you know, two or three more
weeks might be able to withstand that. But if we
see a Ukraine Russian type of situation, then prices will rise.
And the economists are saying it could be half a
percent on inflation. And we know how tough it is.
At the moment it's sitting at three point two percent.
That would take it over three and a half percent.
(02:43):
It's a tough job for the Reserve Bank then to
get it rained back and into that range between one
and three percent.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Right, Yeah, tess, what are your clients telling you? I mean,
has the phone been ringing and people saying I've got
to get this mortgage through now? At this rate? Are
people saying should I sell something? Is there any panic
in the marketplace from a big legal firm's perspective.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Look, the phone's always ringing, not specifically in relations to
the conflict. So far, I do think it's going to
have an impact. I mean, most of our clients are impacted.
Buy oil supplying prices, Right, you can't really escape it, So, yeah,
it's going to have an impact. We're not seeing the
panic calls yet, you're not, But I think maybe the
longer it goes and we've got a busy wee practice
going in on all the teams, you.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Know, So is it something you guys have done. Have
you got together and thought, look, this is our plan,
this is what we're going to have to try and do.
Has it got to that stage yet?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I think within the business not quite. But like you said,
Kail On, the longer the conflict goes on, the more
we're going to need to be doing it. We're watching
and waiting, we're keeping a close eye and we're listening
to our clients.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah. I would have thought that a few clients would
have actually rung up and said what do I do
if I can't do this? Or how's my contract stack
up for this? But that's not happening yet. That's probably
a good thing.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Thanks so far they're all thinking about internally, and you know,
in my team not yet. That's not to say Pat's
one of our commercial clients hasn't been down the phone
of someone else.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, tell me about security and I'll come to you
first on this test. But there's a lot of talk
over the weekend about Christopher lux and stepping down a
lot of the horrible pole result For me personally, I
don't want to see anything rock the boat. What are
your thoughts on whether you know if there was a
change in prime minister, how that would affect look any.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Kind of political instability. Policy changes tend to flow into legislation,
and when we've just seen a huge number of legislation
changes come in for employment law, there's more coming. I'm
an employmentable partner, so that's what I do. It does
create instability for business. It creates uncertainty. So some businesses
are spending so much money just trying to be compliant
with this ever changing situation, whereas others are just holding
(04:47):
back and going what's going to happen next. I think
external factors are probably going to have a bigger influence,
for example, the conflict, oil prices than purely the leadership change.
That any instability can't be good.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
But the instability, Carolyn, of the fact that the Prime
minister is changing, surely everyone will get a bit concerned.
We've had such a damn tough time We've had, you know,
one thing after another for the last five years.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Yeah, there was a lot of publicity on Friday about
those pole results and a lot of talk about the
need for change, and I think the difficulty with that
is that it's chatter, right, Noise can be a distraction
from what you're trying to achieve. So, you know, what
we don't want to see is a distraction from achieving
good outcomes for the whole in New Zealand, so that
(05:31):
we can get out of this procession that we can
you know, we can get on top of this cost
of living crisis. If the politicians that are in positions
of power, that are making decisions around how the country,
you know, the landscape of the country that we're sitting
and if they're distracted around you know, a pole six
seven months out from election, then that's not great. You know,
(05:54):
we really want them to be focusing on what is
good for the country. And so yeah, that's the important
thing I think right now is keeping that stability test.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Why does the Prime Minister not gel to the people
in New Zealand? What is it? I mean, you know,
you're a young female executive, what is it? What's he
doing wrong to getting that that sort of warm and
fuzzies that we think that's our prime minister. We're really
happy with him.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Look, I mean I think there's a perception and plenty
of the community that maybe he's slightly out of touch
with cost of living crisis. I mean, he's had some
huge roles, you know, probably he's not impacted in the
same way that a lot of the community is. I
think that's a significant challenge.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Is there something that he can do to change that?
Is perception that important?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Is this something he could do to change? Its important?
Speaker 5 (06:43):
Important?
Speaker 4 (06:44):
And getting the right, getting the tone right, being able
to connect with people.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
But making it real. Yeah, you know, because you can
sometimes see when politicians are a bit schooled on okay,
I need to practice me in fair this week, being
feel more real than that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, he isn't that guy though, isn't he? Why? I mean,
he is not that guy. He cannot stand up there
anywhere and you think I want to give my hug?
Is he He's not? You both, but you're know what
I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Yeah, Look, and I think often people are looking for
someone really charismatic as a leader. You know, if you
think about some of the great leaders in the world
they've had, they've been great orators, and they've been full
of charisma and he's had his biggest challenge I think
is that he's come into the role as leader of
the National Party on the heels of an amazing leader
(07:36):
in John Key, and a lot of people are expecting
him to be John Key. But he's never going to
be John Key because he's got to be Christopher Luxen right,
He's got to be himself. But his business journey was
very similar and so I think what people perceived he
would be versus him being able to be himself is
quite challenging for him.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Do you clients when you I mean, you always have
that little chat before you sign on the dot line
and get a big bill from a lawyer. So you
have that little chat. What are your clients telling you.
They're telling you that they feel comfortable with the direction
New Zealand's heading, and that are comfortable with the Prime minister.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
As you can imagine, our clients run the gamut. So
I hear pretty much every perspective under the sun. To
be honest, I have some who are really focused on
the climate and the cost of living and don't think
the government's doing great. I see others who are saying
you know what, we can see things starting to shift.
We're all aboard. You know, it's I really do hear
the full gamut.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It's a legal firm and a large legal and respected
legal firm in Wellington. I mean is what's your what
are your partners feeling? Like you're one of the partners,
what are you Are you feeling that we're heading in
the right direction? Do you feel that, you know, you
know that people that we're starting to go the right way?
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, I mean, I think for our practice, we're saying
property transactions increase, the residential properties transactions are going up.
All of the teams are busy. My team's under the pump.
You know, we're seeing a lot of work. We're seeing
people buying businesses, seeing people sell businesses. It's not all
doom and gloom, and I think that is on the uptick.
But there's still a lot of people who are concerned.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I mean, you know, public servants right now, not a
great time to be a public servants and not.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
A great time, Carolyn, to be in retail business or
hospitality business. Isn't really If you're nailing it, you're doing well.
But if you're not, you're battling against the tie, don't
you look.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Certainly it's really difficult, right And you can still see
empty stores and stores closing and lots of sales on
at times when you wouldn't expect to see sales on
in store. And I think the big thing about that
is that in any environment, if you're already great business
and an entrepreneur, you can do well. But it's the
exception rather than the rule. And it's you know, you're
(09:42):
not going in and opening the store on a Monday
morning knowing that you're going to have a successful week.
What you're doing is you're opening the store and hoping
that you can put in place some structures and strategies
and that everything you get a bit of luck on
your side. There's no road works there, weather is not terrible,
you know, all of those sorts of things, so that
people will come out and they'll come and grab a coffee,
(10:05):
they'll have lunch, they'll go to the shops. But we're
just not still seeing that volume. If we look at
all the data coming through from stats in z or
from world line, it still shows a low level of data.
And he's in Wellington compared to the rest of the country.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Test Von Darrison and Carolyn Young on the Business panel
seventeen minutes past and even will take a short break
and be back. I want to ask them if they
feel that we have got people back in the CBD
Business Our with Test Van dartleson how did I get
it right? By the end of the show, I'll get
it right. You're going to have me fired. You realize
(10:42):
that your surname is going to I'm going to be
after the show A called into a disciplinary.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
You need a good employment line?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah, this you haven't. You haven't obviously worked against this company.
I'll get my cup, at my cup and leave the
office and that's about it. Carolyn Young, Retail and New
Zealand CEO. Right, let's talk about the council plan. The
latest three year planners out for public conceration from the
one in the city council. Have you had a look
at it, Karen? Does it change anything? Does it make
(11:11):
your retailers feel any happier?
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Look? I think with the council, what we're wanting to
see and I think what the mayor is trying to
do is that we focus on the key foundational pieces
of work.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
They're not sexy.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
The you know, the you know, if you think about
the pipes, or you think about the waste water, you know,
making sure that we've got all of the infrastructure sorted
so that we can then add you know, the presence
or the you know, the great pretty stuff on top.
We can get the foundation right. That's going to be
really helpful. And I think we don't want to see
(11:46):
the flash right now. We want to see just good
old standard, you know, basics instead of a back to basics. Yes,
we need to have events in the city to bring
people in, and we need to ensure that we've got
you know, a great variety of things, and we need
terrorists coming in, we need more cruise ships, all of
those sorts of things. But we also have to have
the infrastructure within the city working.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Tess, how are you feeling it? How do you feel
that the council are doing? And do you think this?
You know, we know that we've got now an adult
in the room and the council is sitting a lot
more more comfortable. How are you feeling about the way
that the Council's taking us?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Yeah, I've tried to look back at it and go, Okay,
what are they trying to achieve, and the mere's out
there saying that ideally wants to cut commercial rates for businesses. Right,
that's going to be great for business, not so great
for residential homeowners if their rates are going to go up.
I think there's always a good opportunity to look at costs,
look at crowding efficiencies. Why wouldn't you, particularly when you're
operating on right pay of funds. But you know, sometimes
(12:45):
those things aren't done with enough detail, with enough thought,
and you end up cutting the thing that actually is
going to help the most. So I totally be with Carolyn.
We need to get the infrastructure sorted, but we need
to do it carefully and not just be slashing here
and there and everywhere.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Now, I can hear a few of your clients kicking
the car door at the moment saying, why is she
not pushing for the three point seven percent three point
seven times amount of rates of commercial Because that's what
your company deals with a lot of those commercial property owners.
So I mean, obviously they're talking about that. Nothing seems
to be happening.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Well no, not yet, so yeah, make it happen, you know,
don't find it, but don't check out the whole bath
or your phrase, baby with a bathroom, we've create a
whole new problem for businesses the be dealing with.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
They are My understanding from talking to the council and
the CE and the mayor is that they are trying
to find a balance between what is the multiplier for
commercial business versus what rate players have and what can
we deliver for the city that is needed to ensure
that we're going to have a great place to live
and work. So you're right, it's finding that balance and
(13:50):
they haven't quite run worked out. I think how we
can how they run the numbers so that they can
get all of those things right. So but what we
are seeing, I think, or maybe what we're not seeing,
is conflict within the counselors, which was dominated the last term.
So that has to be you know, that there's a
bit more cohesion around the table and that understanding where
(14:11):
the direction they wanted to travel. I think that's got
to be a good thing for the city.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Do you agree?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Do you agree? So distracting it's brought down you know
everyday in the news it was Wellington's Wellington's that I mean,
it brought down the vibe of the city and it
was all the.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Time, right, You know that rather than the actual issues
at hand, it was about individual people. But actually we
don't want to be talking about the individual people. That
should be secondary. We want to talk about what do
we need? What do you need to run a successful
bar on Courtney Place, Nick, That's the stuff that we
want to understand.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
You know what you need, I'll tell you what you need.
You need green light from the council. You need a
council that says yes, yes, yes, how do we make
it happen? I mean that's just for everyone. That's for retail,
for legal, it's for your developers, clients. They just need
a council to say yes, don't they.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
And like you said, adults at the table, not you know,
school yard scrapping going on.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
And having conversations.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Right, if there's if there's an issue, that it's done
in such a way that you can have a conversation
to work out what a solution might be rather than
just maybe a blanket no. Right, And if you're thinking about,
you know, how you get through the Resource Management Act
or how you get through some council compliance issues. Nobody
wants to buck the system. It's about how do you
make sure that you're able to comply in a way
(15:26):
that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
So if I ask you both to give a scorecard
for the first six months of a new council, what
would you say? It would be?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yes, Well, I'm a bit of a tough crowd. I'm
going to give them a six because I see improvement
but not enough. And the one thing I mean, I
know you like people with an opinion. I like the
fact that we're still thinking about climate resilience. I think
we don't need to throw away preemptive action as well.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Okay, I agree with you.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
I think coming from where we've been, it's a really
solid start, you know. I just we're just in such
a better space. I think there's much better communication. You know,
for me, we're at seven and a half eight maybe,
you know, at least in that space. I know there's
some issues, but this cancel hasn't created those issues.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
What are your clients saying?
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Look, members are trying to work through and navigate the
space that we're still waiting on the outcome of the
Golden Mile, which we think of.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
This is taking too long, isn't it the Golden Mile thing?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Well, I think part of it is, of course, is
that what happened is that it got put on hold
effectively while they were evaluating through the election cycle, and
now there's an assessment of what's done. We know that
work needs to be done, especially in Courtney Place, to
beautify the space. It's just do we need a three
year fifty million dollar project?
Speaker 5 (16:44):
Probably not.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
So it's getting that balance right and making sure that
you're not going to disrupt businesses in such a way
that they won't survive through that period or else there's
you know, if you're going to do all of this
work for three years and the business is closed down
in the meantime to what end?
Speaker 5 (17:00):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
What's your view on it? Do you think the Golden
Mile is something that's going to happen. I personally don't
think it's going to happen. I think the time said
it's not going to happen. We don't have the money.
So what do you what are your views?
Speaker 3 (17:10):
I'd like to see it happen, but not to the extent,
you know, the fifty million dollars. But I mean, one
thing I love about Wellington is I can start at Parliament,
I can walk Limpton k I can go Willis and
you know Cooy and Cuba like getting out there on
foot and doing some shopping. It's amazing. We've got such
a cool environment, so make it easier, make it.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Has it changed, yep? Do you think it's changed.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
I think it's changed. Yeah. I mean even just walking
around in the city. You know, there's less people out
and about in the weekends unless we have a cruise
ship come through, which yeah, I think is sad because
again we've still got some amazing retailers out there.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
You know. I was in Auckland on Thursday and I
walked down Queen Street and everyone says Queen Street's crapp
and I was shaking my hate. I almost thought I
was in Disneyland. There was so many people, so much atmosphere.
I mean, have either I mean, obviously.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
Are you up top of the Queen Street, don't they?
Speaker 2 (18:01):
No? I was down the bottom.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Yeah, the bottomy of the Queen Street is where it's happening.
But you go midtown or up town and it's much
quieter and through those spaces and yeah, yeah, so's there's
still issues and foot traffic is way down in Auckland
as it is in Wellington. So it is about making
the most of the environment that we've got and making
sure that we find, you know, ways in which we
(18:22):
can generate people wanting to come into the country. And
you know, we need to be getting out to the
cruise ships. We need to be working with the Tourism
Minister making sure we can get an increase on those
cruise ships coming back into the city.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
They make such a difference. You need a good events, you.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Know the other thing. Good events. The Pride parade on
Saturday night, Courtney Place looked as good as it's ever looked,
has ever looked, you know what I mean. It just
shows you a little bit of color and a little
bit of energy can do.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
Yeah, yeah, and getting people together, right, You've got a
whole lot of people coming in for a specific purpose,
and they're not just going to walk down the street.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
They're going to come back and have something to.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Eat, or have an ice cream or have a drink
or what And so that's what we want generate interest.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Let's talk about MOA points. It's discharged from our wastewater
treatment planters really hurt businesses around the Lyle Bay area
in the South Coast, the council said last week on
the show. No compensation nothing, Karly, I'm looking at you
because that's retail affected. What are you thinking?
Speaker 5 (19:22):
Yeah, it's really tough, right.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
We know how long was the Thornton Key bike lanes,
you know when they were building those, it was a
couple of years. People got offered fifteen hundred dollars or
something like that, and it was very limited. You had
to have less than ten staff, no less than five staff,
the whole range of criteria. So they're not likely to
come out with anything, but we do need to find
(19:44):
a way to get behind them and do some promotions.
There's other ways in what you could do it. If
you're not actually going to give some money to the businesses,
and it would be a very small sum. You really
need to find a way to generate an event to
get people back out into Kilberni Lyle Bay area so
they'll come into those stores and get people back there.
Once the beaches back open. It's safe to be there
(20:06):
because you know, think of Marinui Cafe right on the.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Beach further down though, so that probably protected a little.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
Bit, but the smell still there was it.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Oh, I haven't been there for a while, so test legally,
do you reckon that that those businesses would have any
crack at the at the council or is it just
bad luck?
Speaker 3 (20:27):
I think we were talking about this over the past
couple of days, even in the weekend. Can you believe it?
You know, maybe there's some maybe there's some business interruption
insurance which would be useful for them. I think the inquiry,
we've got to see where that lands, what caused this,
because that potentially gives them really legal recourse. But I
think more likely it's about just trying to pivot for
(20:47):
the businesses that can and cracking on.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Would it put both of you off going down that area?
I mean, I you know, spend a lot of time
down there. It wouldn't put me off, But would it?
I mean you're just talking about the smell at Marinui.
I mean I wouldn't have thought it got down that far.
Would you think about going?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
I love it Marima.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
I live close to my all.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Oh, I am there all the time. I go for
runs often down Lisle Bay, Like I mean, it is
such a beautiful area and the smell's not that bad anymore.
I mean I went for a round the other day
and there was a pot of dolphins just cruising around.
I saw some pictures of people with orca doing a
sting ray hunt. It is stunning and the businesses there
are incredible, but don't know we you know, Friday afternoon
(21:26):
for milkshake and Sheppies with the kids like bees are
awesome businesses as while they junction.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Shop the parent you're right.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Right, oh, and then you know Poky Pies, thank you
very much. Leave new Wardrobe sne.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
And what we know is it depends the way the
wind's blowing.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Right.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
We know in Wellington that's kind of always an issue
from that perspective. Look, I used to live in the area.
We were in Breaka Bay for ten years and I
lived in Marama for twenty or something like that, so
know the area really well, but don't live there now.
I probably wouldn't go over there until that all of
that stuff was sorted. Often use the beach with the dog.
It's a great dog beach, you know. But right now
(22:05):
it's kind of out of action.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
So do we need to take some learnings from this.
I mean, we've seen it before in my time. We've
seen it where the gas was completely blocked off so
businesses couldn't operate in the middle of town because there
was a major gas link for a couple of weeks.
We've seen water problems and sewer problems. We've seem in
too many problems. Is this just now tests I'm going
to come to you first. Just part of doing business
(22:28):
and that's the cost of doing business in Wellington.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Well, I mean it is at the moment, isn't it?
But you don't want it to be there. I think
it circles back to what Carolin was saying earlier on infrastructure.
We've got to sort the infrastructure so that businesses aren't
constantly in you know, fight orf flight mode. We've got
to crait and instability for them.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
If we can understand what are all the major issues
and where do they sit in terms of a risk plan,
and what are the things that we have to do
first in order to have stability across the city for
both business and consumers. Because it is really important for everybody,
but it is important for business as well.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
We can't get past that.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
But if we had an understanding of what's most important,
when need to do it, what's patchworkers needed for other areas,
Because you're right, we're fighting fires at the moment, we're
putting band aids on things because we're not doing the infrastructure.
We need to take that investment approach and we need
to understand can we as rate payers and business owners
afford to pay that or do we need some sort
(23:25):
of We need to look at the central government. Can
they fund you know, what is the right funding structure
for infrastructure work across New Zealand?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Can I ask you both starting with new tests, do
you feel that your clients and people are a bit
grumpier in Wellington now than they used to be? Are
they feeling a little bit more that that the government
doesn't care about us. We're sort of left on our own.
We seem to have issue after a ship.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Yeah, I think so. Ye. I've been operating out of
Wellington since October twenty twenty, so I caught COVID, I've
caught them in space and now now we're in this. Yeah.
I think there's a level of grumpiness.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Do you think we can do anything about that? Well?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
I think businesses in particular, and even you know, people
working in government, they just need to see senstability. They
need to see the infrastructure, They need to see the
right decisions being made, sensible decisions, and once they see
that happening. They understand there's going to be a bit
of time for them to land, but they need to
see the movements landing.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Carolyn, your retailer is grumpy.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
Yeah, Look, i'd reiterate the points that Tess has made
for sure that you know, we're in a position now
where we have had a lot of instability with counsel
over a three year period and we've gone through the
honeymoon phase with our post election, and now we need
to start seeing the real plan around how we will
get that stability. And it's tough when you go in
(24:43):
and you're constantly absorbing costs and have got issues in
front of you that you're unsure what that impact is
going to have on your ability to trade in a
positive manner. Then it's a real challenge as a business owner.
So how do we make sure that we set a
better platform for everyone?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Right when we come back, I'm going to ask you
if you're both looking at opening a new business, whether
you do it, and Carol, I'm going to start with
you on this one, Iran, what do you think is
going to happen? What do you think is going to
happen to business? Are we going to be affected by it. Really,
I've got to I've got to get that straight.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Sure, absolutely going to be impacted by you know, we
just heard on the news headlines that they've just appointed
a new leader of Iran, not unexpectedly. It's the son
of of the prior leader. I can't imagine that the
US President will we too happy about that. You know,
he was out saying last week that he was going
(25:41):
to appoint the next leader of Iran. So and you know,
if this conflict goes on for you know, several months,
that will be a big impact around the world, not
just in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
But what are you retailers telling you? Are they are
they bringing you up saying what do we do if
this happened? What do we do if that happens? Are
they starting to get nervous? The bigger ones, the big
the big boys.
Speaker 5 (26:03):
Not so much.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
No, I think we've been through this before. But the
challenge that we've seen it feels like one crisis after another.
We haven't necessarily got out of the back of the recession.
We've still seen you know, retail has been in the
top two liquidations for the last two years, so it's
still been a really difficult environment. For retail, and then
you have another thing, just as we were starting to
get better, we've got another issue. When we see the
(26:25):
price of fuel going up at the pump. They're talking
about going to three dollars a leter. You know that's
going to eat into consumers' pockets and that's disposable income,
and most of retail is about disposable income.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Test you've got anything to add on that? Do you reckon?
It's going to be a stressful time election year, a
potential war. I suppose it is a war.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
It's not a war, yeah, I think so, because it's
also an external factor we can't control. Right, You've already
got the election with what we can anticipate with the
different parties. But then you add an external conflict like
that travel tourism. You know, people aren't going.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
To be as willing to get on plane right now.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
To transfer through or if you're going to have to
pay twice as much because you've got to divert through
a different avenue. I think it's going to have the impact.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Do you think and I'm not trying to make this
worse than it is, but do you think that we're
actually we could almost classify that the world is in
a third third World war at the moment.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
I think it's too early to tell, but you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Pretty horrible time. It's pretty horrible out there in the world,
isn't it.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
You know, a few conflict well, and we know that
Iran has been targeting oil sites and if they continue
to bomb those, that's going to create a lot of unrest,
and so then it's just expanding out the area that
you're looking at right.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
So we hate to think we've got into a third
World war.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
I mean, anyone that lived through World War One or
World War two will tell you the impact that it
had around every around the world and the legacy it's
left in generations of people. So we'd hate to think
that we get down to that place and some diplomacy
might be able to come in to make some solutions.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
It's going to ask you if you feel that the mood,
the fibe has changed in Warrington. Do you think we're
over that hump.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
I think we're coming out of it. Yeah, I'm feeling
more positivity. I talk to people, they're feeling a bit
more optimistic, both in business some of them and just
you know, round and about and talking to friends. Yeah,
I think we're through the worst of it. I do
think having a counsel a shift in that space has helped.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
Do you think we are I think we're not there yet.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
If the data tells us that sales are still down,
especially compared to the rest of the country, some retailers
are doing well, you have to work super hard. You've
got to be pivoting on an ongoing basis. You've got
to be thinking about your stock. You've got to be
thinking about your displays, realigning your stock in store, collaborating
(28:51):
with other people great marketing strategies. It's hard work. It's
no easy way to make a sale at the moment.
And we know that the end of the financial year
for government is thirty June, so we know after thirty
June into one July we're almost in that election. The
electioneering already, but it's really going to tighten about the
government spending between then and the election on the seventh
(29:13):
of November. So that makes Wellington quite tricky.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Okay, cut to the chase tests. If I said to you,
would you open a new business in Wellington right now?
What would your answer be? It so yes or not quite.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Simple no, But I'd consider taking over one that was
already operating from a succession perspective. Okay, that's sorry, I
added more than one.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
No, that's all right, that's okay Carol.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
Personally, No, I don't think.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
I want.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
It doesn't feel like this enough.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
I just asked Cobby, right, you're both said yes, and
I didn't see you you did. Yeah, okay. The Business
Panel with test Von Dartlesson and Carolyn Young, we're going
to go to the airport. We are going to pick
up a very very special person that has not been
(30:05):
in Wellington for years or never before at all. Carolyn Young,
what are you going to do with that person? It's
a windy day, it's not that great that they've had
a hell of a flight turned and they're a bit
jumpy when you pick them up.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
So we're going to come into the city.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
First, we're going to head to Astoria. They do the
absolute best hot chocolate in town. So we're going to
grab a hot drink there first, and then we're you know, Saturday,
they're coming in on Saturday. Saturday, the City Council Library
is back open after seven years of closing, so we're
going to go to the library. We're going to have
a look at the new engaging environment they've got there,
(30:41):
might have lunch there, and then there's a double header
on at the stadium. The Women's Phoenix and the Men's
Phoenix are both playing, so it's a great opportunity to
go to the stadium, get in behind the Phoenix, and
the women have been doing so well, so we have
a good share and then we'll probably go out for
dinner afterwards.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
There you go, that's pretty good, pretty good morning. Test.
You're looking at me a little bit strange.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
What are you going to do with I want to
visit Caroline. Pretend I don't love you. Please. Now I'm
picking my people up and we're heading off down the coast.
We're either going to drive or walk, depending on how
windy it.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Is, but it's a rough this particular morning.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
If they've had a bare flight, I'm going to throw
them in the water, subjects to the wastewater testing. Nothing
better than a nice cold dip. Once they've recovered from that,
we're going to go get a pie at Poky Pies.
We're heading around Laye Bay. Then we're heading to the city.
They've already eaten, so we're going to go shopping I'm
going to take them on that hike talked about earlier.
We're going to drag them through every retail business we can.
Then we're going to head Charlie Noble for an early
(31:38):
dinner and ideally head to a Hurricanes game because I'm
a rugby girl.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Good on you. Hopefully they are right after their pie.
I mean you, flight in a pie doesn't sound good.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
To make forget a cold dip.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
No, that's next Hurricans home games, not for several weeks.
So yeah, that's right. I think they're playing up at
Hawk's Bay this week.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Thank you both so much for coming in and sharing
your thoughts. Test Von Vaughn dartleson boom got it, I
keep my job and Carolyn Young, thank you both so much.
Hopefully retail booms. Yeah, we start heading into election year
and hopefully your legal firm keeps going as well as
it always has. Very successful operation. It is JB. Morrison Lawyers.
(32:23):
I'll give you a little plug there. How's that? Thanks
Mac seen you're a partner there.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news Talks It'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk said by Mondays mean Business. It's the
business panel on Wellington Mornings with Quidovic Property Management, a
better rental experience for all. Visit Quinovic dot co dot inshead.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Let's get done, let's get monnay. Every couple of weeks
on a Monday, we get a couple of well known
while in Tonians into the studio and talk business, what
we can do better, what we're not doing well enough,
how can we get through the next week in some
cases and business Today we've been joined by tests von
(00:47):
DARIZM Dailson, partner of JB. Morrison's. I knew i'd get
it wrong the first time. I know, we've practiced as well,
and I still got it wrong. It's a very complicated,
no man, it's tough. Do you get it wrong all
the time? Do people get it wrong.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
With Okay, sometimes get it wrong myself. So it's all right.
You're a good company.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Thank you. Carolyn Young, Retail New Zealand CEO. I mean
it's a lot easier, is that, Caroly Young? Y I'm
looking get that wrong.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Yeah, people still call me Caroline, but you've absolutely nailed
it today.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh god, Carol, you've put out a press release which
I haven't read, but I've seen all about it. Things
you think because of the war are going to get done.
Tell us about that.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Look, we're obviously seen a spike in crude oil prices
and petroleum right, and that flows through quite quickly.
Speaker 3 (01:31):
We know.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
We've spoken to retailers last week. They've had calls from
supplies where prices are being pushed up already, retailers where
they can are absorbing in price increases. But at the
pump you'll have noticed over the weekend price has gone up.
I think this further price is expected at the pump
to go up this week. So that's going to mean fuel.
In terms of internal distribution, you're thinking about distributing products
(01:53):
across New Zealand. Freight costs, career costs, all those sorts
of things are going to have it impact on pricing.
Speaker 2 (02:00):
So what about getting stock, I mean, yeah, what about
getting stuff in here?
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Yeah, that's right, So.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
The stuff on ships coming in on freight. Supplies have
already said that there's increases in there. Shipping channels have
already increased costs in terms of that space, so increased
prices on stock coming in has already started. Retailers are
trying to absorb that for as.
Speaker 5 (02:20):
Long as possible.
Speaker 4 (02:21):
Look, if this conflicts, you know, two or three more
weeks might be able to withstand that. But if we
see a Ukraine Russian type of situation, then prices will rise.
And the economists are saying it could be half a
percent on inflation. And we know how tough it is.
At the moment it's sitting at three point two percent.
That would take it over three and a half percent.
(02:43):
It's a tough job for the Reserve Bank then to
get it rained back and into that range between one
and three percent.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Right, Yeah, tess, what are your clients telling you? I mean,
has the phone been ringing and people saying I've got
to get this mortgage through now? At this rate? Are
people saying should I sell something? Is there any panic
in the marketplace from a big legal firm's perspective.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Look, the phone's always ringing, not specifically in relations to
the conflict. So far, I do think it's going to
have an impact. I mean, most of our clients are impacted.
Buy oil supplying prices, Right, you can't really escape it, So, yeah,
it's going to have an impact. We're not seeing the
panic calls yet, you're not, But I think maybe the
longer it goes and we've got a busy wee practice
going in on all the teams, you.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Know, So is it something you guys have done. Have
you got together and thought, look, this is our plan,
this is what we're going to have to try and do.
Has it got to that stage yet?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I think within the business not quite. But like you said,
Kail On, the longer the conflict goes on, the more
we're going to need to be doing it. We're watching
and waiting, we're keeping a close eye and we're listening
to our clients.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah. I would have thought that a few clients would
have actually rung up and said what do I do
if I can't do this? Or how's my contract stack
up for this? But that's not happening yet. That's probably
a good thing.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
Thanks so far they're all thinking about internally, and you know,
in my team not yet. That's not to say Pat's
one of our commercial clients hasn't been down the phone
of someone else.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Yeah, tell me about security and I'll come to you
first on this test. But there's a lot of talk
over the weekend about Christopher lux and stepping down a
lot of the horrible pole result For me personally, I
don't want to see anything rock the boat. What are
your thoughts on whether you know if there was a
change in prime minister, how that would affect look any.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Kind of political instability. Policy changes tend to flow into legislation,
and when we've just seen a huge number of legislation
changes come in for employment law, there's more coming. I'm
an employmentable partner, so that's what I do. It does
create instability for business. It creates uncertainty. So some businesses
are spending so much money just trying to be compliant
with this ever changing situation, whereas others are just holding
(04:47):
back and going what's going to happen next. I think
external factors are probably going to have a bigger influence,
for example, the conflict, oil prices than purely the leadership change.
That any instability can't be good.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
But the instability, Carolyn, of the fact that the Prime
minister is changing, surely everyone will get a bit concerned.
We've had such a damn tough time We've had, you know,
one thing after another for the last five years.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Yeah, there was a lot of publicity on Friday about
those pole results and a lot of talk about the
need for change, and I think the difficulty with that
is that it's chatter, right, Noise can be a distraction
from what you're trying to achieve. So, you know, what
we don't want to see is a distraction from achieving
good outcomes for the whole in New Zealand, so that
(05:31):
we can get out of this procession that we can
you know, we can get on top of this cost
of living crisis. If the politicians that are in positions
of power, that are making decisions around how the country,
you know, the landscape of the country that we're sitting
and if they're distracted around you know, a pole six
seven months out from election, then that's not great. You know,
(05:54):
we really want them to be focusing on what is
good for the country. And so yeah, that's the important
thing I think right now is keeping that stability test.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Why does the Prime Minister not gel to the people
in New Zealand? What is it? I mean, you know,
you're a young female executive, what is it? What's he
doing wrong to getting that that sort of warm and
fuzzies that we think that's our prime minister. We're really
happy with him.
Speaker 3 (06:19):
Look, I mean I think there's a perception and plenty
of the community that maybe he's slightly out of touch
with cost of living crisis. I mean, he's had some
huge roles, you know, probably he's not impacted in the
same way that a lot of the community is. I
think that's a significant challenge.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Is there something that he can do to change that?
Is perception that important?
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Is this something he could do to change? Its important?
Speaker 5 (06:43):
Important?
Speaker 4 (06:44):
And getting the right, getting the tone right, being able
to connect with people.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
But making it real. Yeah, you know, because you can
sometimes see when politicians are a bit schooled on okay,
I need to practice me in fair this week, being
feel more real than that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Yeah, he isn't that guy though, isn't he? Why? I mean,
he is not that guy. He cannot stand up there
anywhere and you think I want to give my hug?
Is he He's not? You both, but you're know what
I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Yeah, Look, and I think often people are looking for
someone really charismatic as a leader. You know, if you
think about some of the great leaders in the world
they've had, they've been great orators, and they've been full
of charisma and he's had his biggest challenge I think
is that he's come into the role as leader of
the National Party on the heels of an amazing leader
(07:36):
in John Key, and a lot of people are expecting
him to be John Key. But he's never going to
be John Key because he's got to be Christopher Luxen right,
He's got to be himself. But his business journey was
very similar and so I think what people perceived he
would be versus him being able to be himself is
quite challenging for him.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Do you clients when you I mean, you always have
that little chat before you sign on the dot line
and get a big bill from a lawyer. So you
have that little chat. What are your clients telling you.
They're telling you that they feel comfortable with the direction
New Zealand's heading, and that are comfortable with the Prime minister.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
As you can imagine, our clients run the gamut. So
I hear pretty much every perspective under the sun. To
be honest, I have some who are really focused on
the climate and the cost of living and don't think
the government's doing great. I see others who are saying
you know what, we can see things starting to shift.
We're all aboard. You know, it's I really do hear
the full gamut.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
It's a legal firm and a large legal and respected
legal firm in Wellington. I mean is what's your what
are your partners feeling? Like you're one of the partners,
what are you Are you feeling that we're heading in
the right direction? Do you feel that, you know, you
know that people that we're starting to go the right way?
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yeah, I mean, I think for our practice, we're saying
property transactions increase, the residential properties transactions are going up.
All of the teams are busy. My team's under the pump.
You know, we're seeing a lot of work. We're seeing
people buying businesses, seeing people sell businesses. It's not all
doom and gloom, and I think that is on the uptick.
But there's still a lot of people who are concerned.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I mean, you know, public servants right now, not a
great time to be a public servants and not.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
A great time, Carolyn, to be in retail business or
hospitality business. Isn't really If you're nailing it, you're doing well.
But if you're not, you're battling against the tie, don't
you look.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Certainly it's really difficult, right And you can still see
empty stores and stores closing and lots of sales on
at times when you wouldn't expect to see sales on
in store. And I think the big thing about that
is that in any environment, if you're already great business
and an entrepreneur, you can do well. But it's the
exception rather than the rule. And it's you know, you're
(09:42):
not going in and opening the store on a Monday
morning knowing that you're going to have a successful week.
What you're doing is you're opening the store and hoping
that you can put in place some structures and strategies
and that everything you get a bit of luck on
your side. There's no road works there, weather is not terrible,
you know, all of those sorts of things, so that
people will come out and they'll come and grab a coffee,
(10:05):
they'll have lunch, they'll go to the shops. But we're
just not still seeing that volume. If we look at
all the data coming through from stats in z or
from world line, it still shows a low level of data.
And he's in Wellington compared to the rest of the country.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
Test Von Darrison and Carolyn Young on the Business panel
seventeen minutes past and even will take a short break
and be back. I want to ask them if they
feel that we have got people back in the CBD
Business Our with Test Van dartleson how did I get
it right? By the end of the show, I'll get
it right. You're going to have me fired. You realize
(10:42):
that your surname is going to I'm going to be
after the show A called into a disciplinary.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
You need a good employment line?
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Yeah, this you haven't. You haven't obviously worked against this company.
I'll get my cup, at my cup and leave the
office and that's about it. Carolyn Young, Retail and New
Zealand CEO. Right, let's talk about the council plan. The
latest three year planners out for public conceration from the
one in the city council. Have you had a look
at it, Karen? Does it change anything? Does it make
(11:11):
your retailers feel any happier?
Speaker 4 (11:13):
Look? I think with the council, what we're wanting to
see and I think what the mayor is trying to
do is that we focus on the key foundational pieces
of work.
Speaker 5 (11:24):
They're not sexy.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
The you know, the you know, if you think about
the pipes, or you think about the waste water, you know,
making sure that we've got all of the infrastructure sorted
so that we can then add you know, the presence
or the you know, the great pretty stuff on top.
We can get the foundation right. That's going to be
really helpful. And I think we don't want to see
(11:46):
the flash right now. We want to see just good
old standard, you know, basics instead of a back to basics. Yes,
we need to have events in the city to bring
people in, and we need to ensure that we've got
you know, a great variety of things, and we need
terrorists coming in, we need more cruise ships, all of
those sorts of things. But we also have to have
the infrastructure within the city working.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Tess, how are you feeling it? How do you feel
that the council are doing? And do you think this?
You know, we know that we've got now an adult
in the room and the council is sitting a lot
more more comfortable. How are you feeling about the way
that the Council's taking us?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Yeah, I've tried to look back at it and go, Okay,
what are they trying to achieve, and the mere's out
there saying that ideally wants to cut commercial rates for businesses. Right,
that's going to be great for business, not so great
for residential homeowners if their rates are going to go up.
I think there's always a good opportunity to look at costs,
look at crowding efficiencies. Why wouldn't you, particularly when you're
operating on right pay of funds. But you know, sometimes
(12:45):
those things aren't done with enough detail, with enough thought,
and you end up cutting the thing that actually is
going to help the most. So I totally be with Carolyn.
We need to get the infrastructure sorted, but we need
to do it carefully and not just be slashing here
and there and everywhere.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Now, I can hear a few of your clients kicking
the car door at the moment saying, why is she
not pushing for the three point seven percent three point
seven times amount of rates of commercial Because that's what
your company deals with a lot of those commercial property owners.
So I mean, obviously they're talking about that. Nothing seems
to be happening.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
Well no, not yet, so yeah, make it happen, you know,
don't find it, but don't check out the whole bath
or your phrase, baby with a bathroom, we've create a
whole new problem for businesses the be dealing with.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
They are My understanding from talking to the council and
the CE and the mayor is that they are trying
to find a balance between what is the multiplier for
commercial business versus what rate players have and what can
we deliver for the city that is needed to ensure
that we're going to have a great place to live
and work. So you're right, it's finding that balance and
(13:50):
they haven't quite run worked out. I think how we
can how they run the numbers so that they can
get all of those things right. So but what we
are seeing, I think, or maybe what we're not seeing,
is conflict within the counselors, which was dominated the last term.
So that has to be you know, that there's a
bit more cohesion around the table and that understanding where
(14:11):
the direction they wanted to travel. I think that's got
to be a good thing for the city.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Do you agree?
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Do you agree? So distracting it's brought down you know
everyday in the news it was Wellington's Wellington's that I mean,
it brought down the vibe of the city and it
was all the.
Speaker 4 (14:26):
Time, right, You know that rather than the actual issues
at hand, it was about individual people. But actually we
don't want to be talking about the individual people. That
should be secondary. We want to talk about what do
we need? What do you need to run a successful
bar on Courtney Place, Nick, That's the stuff that we
want to understand.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
You know what you need, I'll tell you what you need.
You need green light from the council. You need a
council that says yes, yes, yes, how do we make
it happen? I mean that's just for everyone. That's for retail,
for legal, it's for your developers, clients. They just need
a council to say yes, don't they.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
And like you said, adults at the table, not you know,
school yard scrapping going on.
Speaker 5 (15:04):
And having conversations.
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Right, if there's if there's an issue, that it's done
in such a way that you can have a conversation
to work out what a solution might be rather than
just maybe a blanket no. Right, And if you're thinking about,
you know, how you get through the Resource Management Act
or how you get through some council compliance issues. Nobody
wants to buck the system. It's about how do you
make sure that you're able to comply in a way
(15:26):
that makes sense.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
So if I ask you both to give a scorecard
for the first six months of a new council, what
would you say? It would be?
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yes, Well, I'm a bit of a tough crowd. I'm
going to give them a six because I see improvement
but not enough. And the one thing I mean, I
know you like people with an opinion. I like the
fact that we're still thinking about climate resilience. I think
we don't need to throw away preemptive action as well.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Okay, I agree with you.
Speaker 4 (15:56):
I think coming from where we've been, it's a really
solid start, you know. I just we're just in such
a better space. I think there's much better communication. You know,
for me, we're at seven and a half eight maybe,
you know, at least in that space. I know there's
some issues, but this cancel hasn't created those issues.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
What are your clients saying?
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Look, members are trying to work through and navigate the
space that we're still waiting on the outcome of the
Golden Mile, which we think of.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
This is taking too long, isn't it the Golden Mile thing?
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Well, I think part of it is, of course, is
that what happened is that it got put on hold
effectively while they were evaluating through the election cycle, and
now there's an assessment of what's done. We know that
work needs to be done, especially in Courtney Place, to
beautify the space. It's just do we need a three
year fifty million dollar project?
Speaker 5 (16:44):
Probably not.
Speaker 4 (16:44):
So it's getting that balance right and making sure that
you're not going to disrupt businesses in such a way
that they won't survive through that period or else there's
you know, if you're going to do all of this
work for three years and the business is closed down
in the meantime to what end?
Speaker 5 (17:00):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
What's your view on it? Do you think the Golden
Mile is something that's going to happen. I personally don't
think it's going to happen. I think the time said
it's not going to happen. We don't have the money.
So what do you what are your views?
Speaker 3 (17:10):
I'd like to see it happen, but not to the extent,
you know, the fifty million dollars. But I mean, one
thing I love about Wellington is I can start at Parliament,
I can walk Limpton k I can go Willis and
you know Cooy and Cuba like getting out there on
foot and doing some shopping. It's amazing. We've got such
a cool environment, so make it easier, make it.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
Has it changed, yep? Do you think it's changed.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
I think it's changed. Yeah. I mean even just walking
around in the city. You know, there's less people out
and about in the weekends unless we have a cruise
ship come through, which yeah, I think is sad because
again we've still got some amazing retailers out there.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
You know. I was in Auckland on Thursday and I
walked down Queen Street and everyone says Queen Street's crapp
and I was shaking my hate. I almost thought I
was in Disneyland. There was so many people, so much atmosphere.
I mean, have either I mean, obviously.
Speaker 5 (17:59):
Are you up top of the Queen Street, don't they?
Speaker 2 (18:01):
No? I was down the bottom.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Yeah, the bottomy of the Queen Street is where it's happening.
But you go midtown or up town and it's much
quieter and through those spaces and yeah, yeah, so's there's
still issues and foot traffic is way down in Auckland
as it is in Wellington. So it is about making
the most of the environment that we've got and making
sure that we find, you know, ways in which we
(18:22):
can generate people wanting to come into the country. And
you know, we need to be getting out to the
cruise ships. We need to be working with the Tourism
Minister making sure we can get an increase on those
cruise ships coming back into the city.
Speaker 5 (18:35):
They make such a difference. You need a good events, you.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
Know the other thing. Good events. The Pride parade on
Saturday night, Courtney Place looked as good as it's ever looked,
has ever looked, you know what I mean. It just
shows you a little bit of color and a little
bit of energy can do.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
Yeah, yeah, and getting people together, right, You've got a
whole lot of people coming in for a specific purpose,
and they're not just going to walk down the street.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
They're going to come back and have something to.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Eat, or have an ice cream or have a drink
or what And so that's what we want generate interest.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
Let's talk about MOA points. It's discharged from our wastewater
treatment planters really hurt businesses around the Lyle Bay area
in the South Coast, the council said last week on
the show. No compensation nothing, Karly, I'm looking at you
because that's retail affected. What are you thinking?
Speaker 5 (19:22):
Yeah, it's really tough, right.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
We know how long was the Thornton Key bike lanes,
you know when they were building those, it was a
couple of years. People got offered fifteen hundred dollars or
something like that, and it was very limited. You had
to have less than ten staff, no less than five staff,
the whole range of criteria. So they're not likely to
come out with anything, but we do need to find
(19:44):
a way to get behind them and do some promotions.
There's other ways in what you could do it. If
you're not actually going to give some money to the businesses,
and it would be a very small sum. You really
need to find a way to generate an event to
get people back out into Kilberni Lyle Bay area so
they'll come into those stores and get people back there.
Once the beaches back open. It's safe to be there
(20:06):
because you know, think of Marinui Cafe right on the.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
Beach further down though, so that probably protected a little.
Speaker 5 (20:14):
Bit, but the smell still there was it.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
Oh, I haven't been there for a while, so test legally,
do you reckon that that those businesses would have any
crack at the at the council or is it just
bad luck?
Speaker 3 (20:27):
I think we were talking about this over the past
couple of days, even in the weekend. Can you believe it?
You know, maybe there's some maybe there's some business interruption
insurance which would be useful for them. I think the inquiry,
we've got to see where that lands, what caused this,
because that potentially gives them really legal recourse. But I
think more likely it's about just trying to pivot for
(20:47):
the businesses that can and cracking on.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Would it put both of you off going down that area?
I mean, I you know, spend a lot of time
down there. It wouldn't put me off, But would it?
I mean you're just talking about the smell at Marinui.
I mean I wouldn't have thought it got down that far.
Would you think about going?
Speaker 3 (21:04):
I love it Marima.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
I live close to my all.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Oh, I am there all the time. I go for
runs often down Lisle Bay, Like I mean, it is
such a beautiful area and the smell's not that bad anymore.
I mean I went for a round the other day
and there was a pot of dolphins just cruising around.
I saw some pictures of people with orca doing a
sting ray hunt. It is stunning and the businesses there
are incredible, but don't know we you know, Friday afternoon
(21:26):
for milkshake and Sheppies with the kids like bees are
awesome businesses as while they junction.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Shop the parent you're right.
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Right, oh, and then you know Poky Pies, thank you
very much. Leave new Wardrobe sne.
Speaker 5 (21:41):
And what we know is it depends the way the
wind's blowing.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Right.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
We know in Wellington that's kind of always an issue
from that perspective. Look, I used to live in the area.
We were in Breaka Bay for ten years and I
lived in Marama for twenty or something like that, so
know the area really well, but don't live there now.
I probably wouldn't go over there until that all of
that stuff was sorted. Often use the beach with the dog.
It's a great dog beach, you know. But right now
(22:05):
it's kind of out of action.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
So do we need to take some learnings from this.
I mean, we've seen it before in my time. We've
seen it where the gas was completely blocked off so
businesses couldn't operate in the middle of town because there
was a major gas link for a couple of weeks.
We've seen water problems and sewer problems. We've seem in
too many problems. Is this just now tests I'm going
to come to you first. Just part of doing business
(22:28):
and that's the cost of doing business in Wellington.
Speaker 3 (22:32):
Well, I mean it is at the moment, isn't it?
But you don't want it to be there. I think
it circles back to what Carolin was saying earlier on infrastructure.
We've got to sort the infrastructure so that businesses aren't
constantly in you know, fight orf flight mode. We've got
to crait and instability for them.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
If we can understand what are all the major issues
and where do they sit in terms of a risk plan,
and what are the things that we have to do
first in order to have stability across the city for
both business and consumers. Because it is really important for everybody,
but it is important for business as well.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
We can't get past that.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
But if we had an understanding of what's most important,
when need to do it, what's patchworkers needed for other areas,
Because you're right, we're fighting fires at the moment, we're
putting band aids on things because we're not doing the infrastructure.
We need to take that investment approach and we need
to understand can we as rate payers and business owners
afford to pay that or do we need some sort
(23:25):
of We need to look at the central government. Can
they fund you know, what is the right funding structure
for infrastructure work across New Zealand?
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Can I ask you both starting with new tests, do
you feel that your clients and people are a bit
grumpier in Wellington now than they used to be? Are
they feeling a little bit more that that the government
doesn't care about us. We're sort of left on our own.
We seem to have issue after a ship.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Yeah, I think so. Ye. I've been operating out of
Wellington since October twenty twenty, so I caught COVID, I've
caught them in space and now now we're in this. Yeah.
I think there's a level of grumpiness.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
Do you think we can do anything about that? Well?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
I think businesses in particular, and even you know, people
working in government, they just need to see senstability. They
need to see the infrastructure, They need to see the
right decisions being made, sensible decisions, and once they see
that happening. They understand there's going to be a bit
of time for them to land, but they need to
see the movements landing.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Carolyn, your retailer is grumpy.
Speaker 4 (24:21):
Yeah, Look, i'd reiterate the points that Tess has made
for sure that you know, we're in a position now
where we have had a lot of instability with counsel
over a three year period and we've gone through the
honeymoon phase with our post election, and now we need
to start seeing the real plan around how we will
get that stability. And it's tough when you go in
(24:43):
and you're constantly absorbing costs and have got issues in
front of you that you're unsure what that impact is
going to have on your ability to trade in a
positive manner. Then it's a real challenge as a business owner.
So how do we make sure that we set a
better platform for everyone?
Speaker 2 (25:02):
Right when we come back, I'm going to ask you
if you're both looking at opening a new business, whether
you do it, and Carol, I'm going to start with
you on this one, Iran, what do you think is
going to happen? What do you think is going to
happen to business? Are we going to be affected by it. Really,
I've got to I've got to get that straight.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
Sure, absolutely going to be impacted by you know, we
just heard on the news headlines that they've just appointed
a new leader of Iran, not unexpectedly. It's the son
of of the prior leader. I can't imagine that the
US President will we too happy about that. You know,
he was out saying last week that he was going
(25:41):
to appoint the next leader of Iran. So and you know,
if this conflict goes on for you know, several months,
that will be a big impact around the world, not
just in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
But what are you retailers telling you? Are they are
they bringing you up saying what do we do if
this happened? What do we do if that happens? Are
they starting to get nervous? The bigger ones, the big
the big boys.
Speaker 5 (26:03):
Not so much.
Speaker 4 (26:03):
No, I think we've been through this before. But the
challenge that we've seen it feels like one crisis after another.
We haven't necessarily got out of the back of the recession.
We've still seen you know, retail has been in the
top two liquidations for the last two years, so it's
still been a really difficult environment. For retail, and then
you have another thing, just as we were starting to
get better, we've got another issue. When we see the
(26:25):
price of fuel going up at the pump. They're talking
about going to three dollars a leter. You know that's
going to eat into consumers' pockets and that's disposable income,
and most of retail is about disposable income.
Speaker 2 (26:37):
Test you've got anything to add on that? Do you reckon?
It's going to be a stressful time election year, a
potential war. I suppose it is a war.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
It's not a war, yeah, I think so, because it's
also an external factor we can't control. Right, You've already
got the election with what we can anticipate with the
different parties. But then you add an external conflict like
that travel tourism. You know, people aren't going.
Speaker 5 (26:59):
To be as willing to get on plane right now.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
To transfer through or if you're going to have to
pay twice as much because you've got to divert through
a different avenue. I think it's going to have the impact.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Do you think and I'm not trying to make this
worse than it is, but do you think that we're
actually we could almost classify that the world is in
a third third World war at the moment.
Speaker 5 (27:17):
I think it's too early to tell, but you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
Pretty horrible time. It's pretty horrible out there in the world,
isn't it.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
You know, a few conflict well, and we know that
Iran has been targeting oil sites and if they continue
to bomb those, that's going to create a lot of unrest,
and so then it's just expanding out the area that
you're looking at right.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
So we hate to think we've got into a third
World war.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
I mean, anyone that lived through World War One or
World War two will tell you the impact that it
had around every around the world and the legacy it's
left in generations of people. So we'd hate to think
that we get down to that place and some diplomacy
might be able to come in to make some solutions.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
It's going to ask you if you feel that the mood,
the fibe has changed in Warrington. Do you think we're
over that hump.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
I think we're coming out of it. Yeah, I'm feeling
more positivity. I talk to people, they're feeling a bit
more optimistic, both in business some of them and just
you know, round and about and talking to friends. Yeah,
I think we're through the worst of it. I do
think having a counsel a shift in that space has helped.
Speaker 5 (28:27):
Do you think we are I think we're not there yet.
Speaker 4 (28:31):
If the data tells us that sales are still down,
especially compared to the rest of the country, some retailers
are doing well, you have to work super hard. You've
got to be pivoting on an ongoing basis. You've got
to be thinking about your stock. You've got to be
thinking about your displays, realigning your stock in store, collaborating
(28:51):
with other people great marketing strategies. It's hard work. It's
no easy way to make a sale at the moment.
And we know that the end of the financial year
for government is thirty June, so we know after thirty
June into one July we're almost in that election. The
electioneering already, but it's really going to tighten about the
government spending between then and the election on the seventh
(29:13):
of November. So that makes Wellington quite tricky.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
Okay, cut to the chase tests. If I said to you,
would you open a new business in Wellington right now?
What would your answer be? It so yes or not quite.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
Simple no, But I'd consider taking over one that was
already operating from a succession perspective. Okay, that's sorry, I
added more than one.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
No, that's all right, that's okay Carol.
Speaker 5 (29:36):
Personally, No, I don't think.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
I want.
Speaker 5 (29:41):
It doesn't feel like this enough.
Speaker 2 (29:44):
I just asked Cobby, right, you're both said yes, and
I didn't see you you did. Yeah, okay. The Business
Panel with test Von Dartlesson and Carolyn Young, we're going
to go to the airport. We are going to pick
up a very very special person that has not been
(30:05):
in Wellington for years or never before at all. Carolyn Young,
what are you going to do with that person? It's
a windy day, it's not that great that they've had
a hell of a flight turned and they're a bit
jumpy when you pick them up.
Speaker 5 (30:17):
So we're going to come into the city.
Speaker 4 (30:19):
First, we're going to head to Astoria. They do the
absolute best hot chocolate in town. So we're going to
grab a hot drink there first, and then we're you know, Saturday,
they're coming in on Saturday. Saturday, the City Council Library
is back open after seven years of closing, so we're
going to go to the library. We're going to have
a look at the new engaging environment they've got there,
(30:41):
might have lunch there, and then there's a double header
on at the stadium. The Women's Phoenix and the Men's
Phoenix are both playing, so it's a great opportunity to
go to the stadium, get in behind the Phoenix, and
the women have been doing so well, so we have
a good share and then we'll probably go out for
dinner afterwards.
Speaker 2 (30:59):
There you go, that's pretty good, pretty good morning. Test.
You're looking at me a little bit strange.
Speaker 3 (31:04):
What are you going to do with I want to
visit Caroline. Pretend I don't love you. Please. Now I'm
picking my people up and we're heading off down the coast.
We're either going to drive or walk, depending on how
windy it.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Is, but it's a rough this particular morning.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
If they've had a bare flight, I'm going to throw
them in the water, subjects to the wastewater testing. Nothing
better than a nice cold dip. Once they've recovered from that,
we're going to go get a pie at Poky Pies.
We're heading around Laye Bay. Then we're heading to the city.
They've already eaten, so we're going to go shopping I'm
going to take them on that hike talked about earlier.
We're going to drag them through every retail business we can.
Then we're going to head Charlie Noble for an early
(31:38):
dinner and ideally head to a Hurricanes game because I'm
a rugby girl.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
Good on you. Hopefully they are right after their pie.
I mean you, flight in a pie doesn't sound good.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
To make forget a cold dip.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
No, that's next Hurricans home games, not for several weeks.
So yeah, that's right. I think they're playing up at
Hawk's Bay this week.
Speaker 2 (31:58):
Thank you both so much for coming in and sharing
your thoughts. Test Von Vaughn dartleson boom got it, I
keep my job and Carolyn Young, thank you both so much.
Hopefully retail booms. Yeah, we start heading into election year
and hopefully your legal firm keeps going as well as
it always has. Very successful operation. It is JB. Morrison Lawyers.
(32:23):
I'll give you a little plug there. How's that? Thanks
Mac seen you're a partner there.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news Talks It'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,
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