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October 10, 2024 • 32 mins
The Wellington City Council has voted to ditch its planned sale of it's 34% stake in Wellington Airport. So what happens now, and how much will the council have to cut? 
Also, Bordeaux Bakery has closed, and is blaming the council for works in Thorndon Quay and the loss of carparks. Is it fair to blame the council?
To answer those questions, former Wellington Mayor Dame Kerry Prendergast and former Minister and Ohariu MP Peter Dunne joined Nick Mills for Friday Faceoff
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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk said B dissecting the week Sublime and ridiculous.
Friday face off with Quinovic Property Management a better rental
experience for all Call eight hundred. Quinovic started.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Joy Us Friday faced off This week is former Willing
to Mayor Dame Carey predigas, good morning. I feel a
little bit wrong calling you carry now well, Dame? Should
I call you Dame?

Speaker 3 (00:44):
No?

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Justid I always called you? I always called you Krie
carrying and former minister and O'Har are you m p
Peter Dunn, Peter, how are you?

Speaker 4 (00:53):
I'm well, thanks Nick, how are you?

Speaker 3 (00:55):
You could call him the honorable Peter and he is honorable.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
He is the honorable.

Speaker 4 (00:59):
Sorry to Asia because I always call you your honorable you.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
It's for life. I'm the mayor for life over there.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
I don't think I'm the talk post forever. I'm week
by week at best, Carrie, as you well know, you
know the time. What did they say? There's more chance
of losing your job than getting a pay rise as
a talkback host. Right, let's talk about things very important
to Walingtonian's Kerrie I've got to start with you, Pete.
I don't feel offended by this, but the fact that

(01:27):
Carrie's an ex mayor, she'll will be right up with
the play. She had been talking to people. The vote yesterday,
the council planned sale of the stake in the Wellington
Share Airport is dead. The Council voted nine to seven
to bin the plan yesterday. Carrie the whole saga. Has
this got out of hand and gone on too long?
In my humble opinion, what do you say?

Speaker 3 (01:49):
So they've got a real problem. They've got to relook
at their long term plan. The highest second highest rates
increase in the country. They've got They and Fongero have
got the highest levels of debt in the country. So
they've got a real problem. What are they going to
cut to make cup the gap from this non sale

(02:09):
of the airport. They've got the Minister taking notice, He's
commenting every time there's an issue. Everybody is watching closely.
How are they going to get themselves out of this
very large hole?

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Got any ideas, Peter Well to come back to Carries
you don't think you've got off that lightly.

Speaker 4 (02:26):
That I think, I mean, I agree with Carrie's synopsis.
I think that they need to look at everything they're
doing and basically stop all non essential work. That's the
starting point. We seem to have too many vanity projects
or crazy ideas being pursued while the money's not there.
We're in a crisis and the council needs to cut
its cloth accordingly.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Do you think the golden miles in that part.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
I think a lot of. I think everything is in
the same bite, and I think there's the notion of
pedestrianizing the central city without doing a proper cost benefit analysis.
The fact that we've got businesses walking away and being
off of fifteen hundred dollars as a sort of a
token payment to stay just a smacks of something. It's
completely out of control. It just seems to me that
what the council needs to do is just literally stop everything,

(03:12):
and so we cannot. It's like your household. If you
can't pay for things, you don't go out and buy them.
And here's what we're doing in Wellington, and that's why
we're running up our debt.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Kerry, I want to center a little bit on that
golden mile, because everyone keeps telling me, no matter what,
the golden miles going ahead. Now does this change anything?

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Everything changes, everything haspens very lognificant. I think it is
because what isn't in the long term plan yet is
the three waters work that I've been chairing with all
the meres. So you've seen a photo on this morning's
paper wastewater discharging. I think it's in Molesworth Street. This
city's core infrastructure is at critical point in its lifespan.

(03:54):
There is major investment required. A report went out on Monday,
so all of the councils now have the report. They
know how bad it is. And about sixty percent of
what they don't need to do in the next ten
years is in the long term plan. Forty percent is
not yet funded and that's not there on top of
the fact that they can't now sell the airport ches,

(04:17):
which wouldn't have been enough anyway. They've raised enough money
over the years to do all this basic infrastructure, but
they spent it, as Peter said, on vanity projects. So
everything has to be up in the air.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
Just a text it came through that I want to
tell you both, Nick, your face off panel would be
absolutely in the Capital's perfect as the newly appointed statutory
Managers for Warrington. Do you think it's getting that close?
Come on, Kerry, last time I asked you, you laughed
at me. You're heckled at me. You said, Nick, it's
nowhere near that bad. Is it getting that bad?

Speaker 3 (04:49):
It is getting that bad in fact, so you mus
we pass that bad. But it is very difficult for
a center right government to get rid of a democratically
elected council and mayor. What about how can they put
They can put in an observer. And if I was
the observer, the first thing I would do was ask
for a list of all the basic infrastructure projects and

(05:12):
say those are the things going ahead, and put a
holt on everything else until we sought out basic infrastructure's failer.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
If the government ran you and said would you be
an observer for the run in the city council, what
would your answer be?

Speaker 4 (05:24):
I think about it. I'm not sure i'd say yes,
because I think this is a task that's beyond any
particular individual. I think the council's mode you could get
the resources that you have, leadership you don't need to
be in what the city needs, and effective is what
the ancient Romans used to have. They used to appoint
the dictator who would come in to sort things out.
That's what you need here, because this has got beyond

(05:47):
the democratic process has failed, as we saw yesterday, because
we're now going to go round in a big circle.
There's no leadership coming from the top, and any one
individual coming in needs and Kerry makes the point correctly
needs to start by saying, I want to see everything
on the table. I want to see what you're committed to,
what you're not, what we need to do. I want

(06:08):
that prioritized, and then work how it's funded out. The
other day he said we can't do all of that
because we're committed by contracts.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
Well, can I just say I didn't mean to interrupt
your pedic It has to be affordable for the people.
So yes, we're going to do this big list. Yes
this is basic, but it has to be financially and sustainable,
and we cannot afford the size of increases. So twenty
percent this year unbelievable. Going forward in three years time,

(06:39):
there's going to be another big increase every year compounding
for the three waters, and that's not even on there yet.

Speaker 4 (06:48):
And then on top of that you've got Wellington property
prices falling at a greater rate than nationally. So the
sort of balloon that said, here's the value we rate
on set in whenever it was the last revaluation, that's
going to collapse. So you're either going to have to
have a much steeper rate increase to bridge the deficit,
or you're going to see lesson come coming in because

(07:10):
rating values and rating income is going to drop.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Can I ask you, Kerry, if my house is worth
a million dollars today and the next valuation comes in
at eight hundred and fifty, which it could well do,
and those are not figures, I'm just pulling them out
on my backside, does that mean my rates could go down?

Speaker 3 (07:24):
No, because everyone's probably will have dropped by a similar amount.
And so if you need this much money and you
look at we've got this many properties, the amount you
pays based on your valuation, but if everybody goes down
twenty percent, then you still pay the same amount.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Okay, what do you think as an ex mayor and
somebody that's so passionate, you know, you and Rex have
done so much for the city over so many years.
When you sit back and have that gin and tonic tonight,
what do you think needs to happen. When you discussed
this last night, what do you think needs to happen?

Speaker 3 (07:57):
I guess I agree with the question you asked me before.
I think it's broken. The leadership's broken, the council is
in dis this factions, it's toxic, this fighting. I'm worrying
about the impartiality or the non aligned advice they might
be getting. So I think this government needs to step in,

(08:20):
and it needs to step in and do something really
critical because it's about Wellington and our future.

Speaker 2 (08:27):
Who's the person needs to step in? Is it Peter Dunn?
Is it friend? While it's a few names.

Speaker 4 (08:33):
It's the Minister of Local Government in the first instance,
has got a you know, he says he's watching the situation.
That's fine. This is getting beyond watching.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
Is it becoming political? Though? I think there's very sad.

Speaker 3 (08:43):
I mean, I.

Speaker 4 (08:43):
Think it's a strong element of that. But frankly, you've
got to that there comes a point in these things
where you've got to say, well, it's almost falls to
your head and down the torpedoes. You know, we've got
a crisis on our hands. We've got a city that
voted for the opposition parties overwhelming at the last election.
That's not delivering them anything in this in this environment,

(09:04):
and in a way you've almost got to say, well, look,
things aren't working and the council's not working. We can't
look to our local members of parliament to offer leadership
because they're not in government. Something's got to give, and
simply saying it's all too difficult from the top down
doesn't wash any longer?

Speaker 2 (09:21):
Can I quickly because I need to go to a break.
But I want to ask you this question. Can we
limp to the next election as it is carry?

Speaker 3 (09:29):
Well, we can't because they don't have a long term plan.
They've got to go back to the drawing pard and
sort that out. They are up against their debt limits.
They're going to have to start well, they have to
come up with a financially sustainable three Waters plan and
consult on that, and that's not in the yet. So
I don't think we can afford to wait another year.
Something needs to be done now. It's urgent.

Speaker 2 (09:51):
Peter Dunn, I think that's correct.

Speaker 4 (09:53):
But I fear we're going to limp to the next election.
I think too. I think the central government will be
loath to act. Those in power of the city at
the moment will be reluctant to give up that power,
and the rest of us will just have to sadly
sit on the side of li on watch.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
It's very sad if that's what happens. Do you think
that's another year of and only? I think it's twenty
seven percent of Wellingtonian's voted last time. Maybe this is
the crisis that will require everyone, when they get their
voting papers, to make a decision about what they think
their future of their city should look like and who

(10:27):
should be leading it.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
Can I just ask you quickly carry as an ex mayor,
is this as bad as you've seen it?

Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yes? It's much worse than I've ever seen it, Peter.

Speaker 4 (10:36):
Oh, totally.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
It'll be how many years you lived in Wantington forty
odd Is it as bad as you see it?

Speaker 3 (10:43):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (10:43):
In that time?

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Yeah, Wow, take a short break. That's a lot of
years between you two that haven't seen anything as bad.
When you think about it, I mean.

Speaker 4 (10:55):
There's been periods when nothing's happened in a way that's
been a good thing because nothing bad. But this is
not nothing's happening. This is actually going backwards.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Friday face off, Peter, Peter Peter, we're back on air,
just just like I know you haven't. There's a lot
of discussion goes on on the show between the ad breaks.
For Peter, we were discussing Dame carry printer cast and
her damehood. Is it called a dame hoood?

Speaker 3 (11:19):
What's it called dame hood?

Speaker 2 (11:22):
Damehood? And Ethan wanted to know is that she still
got the marks on her shoulders from when the sword
touched it. And she said, females, dames, you explain it well.

Speaker 3 (11:31):
When the concept of being knighted was first promulgated, my
understanding was, and I've had this confirmed, is that it
was so that you would knight it, so you would
take up arms and go with the king off to
foreign lands to do whatever men did. But women are
not expected to take up arms, so we are dame,

(11:53):
so it's the equivalent of being knighted where dame rather
than sir. But we're not expected to take up arms,
so we don't get knighted with the sword.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
There you go, Ethan, now you know something. I've learned something.
And I think Peter said Peter was trying to act
like he knew, but he didn't really know.

Speaker 4 (12:08):
Did you Peter, Well, I've seen the serahony, but I'm
just trying to visualize. You don't kneel down like the
men do, do you?

Speaker 3 (12:15):
No, I don't even remember. Maybe I went down on
one knee. No, I don't remember. I had a beautiful
Mari Cloak put around me.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Right, let's move on to So we've now learned something
today on Friday face off, which is really good. We've
learned lots of things actually, but we've learned about women
in knighthoods and dame hoods. The bakery business that's closing,
it's all three stores and forty star for losing their job.
The owner has blamed the council for removing car parks.
Bordeaux Bakery we're talking about, of course around the city,
especially on Thornton Key. Bordeau is yet closing all its business,

(12:46):
pointing the finger at the council, Peter Dunn. Is Bordeaux
right on blaming the council or is it them? They
haven't moved with the times and this is just bad luck.

Speaker 4 (12:56):
No, Bordeau's right. Thornton Key I thought a few years
ago was developing into quite a vibrant little retail area.
There was bakery e of other new sort of facilities
opening up, and I thought this is going to be
a nice extension of the central city out and on
a very nice thoroughfare. I drove down Thornton Key today.
It's like a slalom course frankly, with all the cones

(13:20):
and whatnot, and it would just be impossible to do
business there. You couldn't get a park anywhere near the place.
The idea of this sort of boulevard that looked like
developing is gone. And so while I'm sad to see
Auto go, I'm not surprised, and I just think they
are a shocking example of how this council has mismanaged
business in Wellington.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
You do love a cone, don't you.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
I love them, though Loath, I.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
Don't think you've ever come on the show where you
haven't used your lots and lots to boat about cones.

Speaker 4 (13:52):
Today might be an exceptional Oh.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
Thank you, Dame Kerrie Pridergars tell us what you're thinking,
Whether it's just a state of the times and we've
had people lose their jobs and things, or is it
down to the council taking their car parking away and
a lot a lot of construction long Thorn and Key.

Speaker 3 (14:08):
So Thorn and Key's been a disaster for a long time.
And with the roadworks. The reality is is Peter said,
you do need to have parts of your city where
you go to do shopping and you need a car
to take it home. This is not a walk to
and take something home in your handbag. This was bolt
purchases and you need a car. So when you know

(14:29):
that you're unlikely to find a car park, when you
know there's roadworks happening, when you know there are road cones,
you just don't go there. And if you don't go there,
the businesses have no business and they close and all
those people that are going to shop there were probably
now going out to Paro or to Queen'sgate and we've
lost them.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Well, can I just add something to that. You know,
I'm in the middle of doing a bit of a
control what we our family doing a bit of a
construction job at the moment, and we go into a
lighting shop and we go to the place in Thornton.
Now I have to quite often go down there and
pick stuff up and I hate it. I really hate it,
and I think it's a problem. But I'm not not
using the same lighting place. Do you know what I mean,

(15:07):
I'm being loyal to them. What's the stopping other people
doing the same thing.

Speaker 4 (15:11):
Well, it depends on the nature of the business. I mean,
we go to a place in Thornton, Key that does
window and door fittings and have similar you to you.
But I think Bordeaux was a different type of business
because of the people popping in to pick up bread
or pastries or whatever.

Speaker 3 (15:29):
Move on.

Speaker 4 (15:30):
There's a time frame you want to be able to
pop on, pop out if you're meeting someone for coffee,
have that rather than go to the specialist stores where
if you've got to walk if you want to meet us.
You know, that's a little bit different.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
And my memories I'm just trying to think. And you
don't need to say which lighting store, but the two
or three I can think of have got parking. If
they haven't got parking right outside, they've got it across
the road and so it's off road car parking. So
they're lucky Bordeau didn't have that.

Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yeah, you're right. And the lighting place we go to
is down right down the other end, so you can
come down through Tenricory Road is it those streets and
come in the back way so you don't have to
you don't have to go through it. But it is,
it is a horrible thing. So what could they what
could have the council have done differently? If we are
we stopping because this is you know, a colleague of

(16:19):
mine and I won't mention her name. It's a big
time writer for us. She always says that we've got
to be careful that we don't get too negative and
don't stop, you know, making things better.

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Perpetuating at the moment, there are some it was this
bad in terms of Wellington, not the council necessarily in
the late eighties after the crash and what you had
was Wellingtonian's leaving Wellington and bad Mouth and Wellington. And
so what what we need is a council with a
vision about how they're going to turn this city round.

(16:55):
And I'm just not seeing that there is no vision
from this council. And that's what it needs Wellington, and
then Wellingtonians have to buy into that vision and then
they need to start porting the businesses in this city.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Well, if you watch the council meeting yesterday, Peter Dunn,
you would just get one hell of a fright and
all those things you're saying, Carrie are right, but I
can't see it from that council.

Speaker 4 (17:17):
No, this council's confused vision with dreams. They've got some
crazy ideological dreams that some of the whole bent on pursuing,
born of their jealousies and envy of people have been successful.
So they're anti business to start with. They're anti people
who want to spend money in the city because it
doesn't fit with their sort of almost it's not quite
a grarium, but it's that sort of view that we're

(17:38):
all living a simplistic lifestyle, biking around the place and
walking here and there. It's just not Wellington. And they've
got to get through their heads. But this is a
topographically challenged city. We can't have wide streets because the
hills don't allow it. We can't have cycle lanes forever.
We do need to facilitate the use of cycles for
those that use them. We've also got to facilitate the

(18:01):
movement of traffic through and across the city. You can't
get from east to west without having to go through
the central city, so you know they've lost the plot
on that. The whole transport network I think is just
falling down completely. And as a result, as Kerry says,
people are going elsewhere. It's much easier to go to
Periri or or to the Hut to do your shopping.

Speaker 2 (18:19):
Take a short break. We just got a text and
Nick Martin at Lighting Plus has plenty of car parks.
You're right, he has got plenty of car parks and
he's very good to deal with. Carrie's laughing. Do you
deal with him too? He's such a good guy, isn't he.
He is such a good guy. And he doesn't give
me a disc Well, he does give me a discuss coming.

Speaker 3 (18:34):
You're at to say that on here?

Speaker 2 (18:36):
Well, I mean he gives everyone a discount with well
it does it? Yeah, it doesn't give me a discount
for because of where I work. He gives me a
discount because he likes me.

Speaker 3 (18:42):
Anyway, you're giving him a good plug.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
Well with Dave Kerrey Predigar starts fighting. I knew something
was right. The first projects has been fast tracked under
the new government legislation have been revealed and Wellington is
in store for eight thousand new homes. Interestingly, all of
them are to be built outside the city center. Peter Dunn,
well do you think we're about to witness this kind

(19:04):
of really big, massive growth. Some of the outer parts
are willing to No.

Speaker 4 (19:08):
I don't, and I'm a skeptical about these figures. It's
nice to have that theoretical approval, but I think it's
a bit of cart before the horse. Building eight thousand
new homes somewhere in the region when there's no clear
indication where the people who will be expected to live
in those homes are going to work or get employment,
I think is a bit back to front. Wellington seems

(19:30):
to have this fixation with population size. We want more people,
we want more people, but we're doing very little about
creating the jobs that are going to attract them here
and in fact, as we've just been discussing in many
areas where sort of driving people away. So you know,
it's nice to see, but I'm a little bit skeptical
and I'll believe it when I see it.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Frankly, what about this whole plan of getting people. I mean,
Ian Castle's has been a huge front runner of it,
trying to get all these people living in the city itself. Garry,
what are your thoughts?

Speaker 3 (19:55):
So you have to make allowance for these eight thousand
homes because I can tell you we need to make
sure the pipes are bigger, big enough for water and
sewage to service them. So that's all been built in.
This government is really keen on development. My big problem
with this is that, and you've just raised it within
castles and the inner city, people now are tending to

(20:18):
work more and more from home. So these people may arrive,
they may live in these brand new homes, they may
work from home, and they won't come in and support
the businesses in the city. Is it much more efficient
to reuse the existing infrastructure in the city, So I'd
rather see all of those spaces built before we build
more dormitory suburbs.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
Can I just question you? It's not on our list,
But I'm going to go off topic a little bit.
Is it the responsibility of a working person to actually
prop up restaurants and hospitality places in Wellington? I certainly
don't believe it is. I don't believe that it's anyone's
responsibility apart from the operator of the hospitality. So what
are your thoughts on that? Krrick?

Speaker 3 (20:59):
This is bizarre coming from you with your hospitality interests. Well,
all of us have responsibility to speed when the inflation
level comes down and we've got some large s that
we should be supporting the local businesses when that's not
a local butcher or hospitality. Of course, that's not what
I was saying there to the Arts and Eating out.

Speaker 2 (21:21):
I wasn't saying that. I was saying, it's not I
I'm listening for it. But you asked Peter, now, I
was saying that it's not the people. That's not their
fault that hospitality place is doing bad. If they're working
from home and have be working from home, surely they
should be able to work from home and if they
want to come and support the hospitality outlets in Wellington,
they come in and do it.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Well.

Speaker 4 (21:39):
I put it this way, it's not the fault of
people who are working that they should sustain the businesses
around them. But there's a symbiotic effect and we've gone
from a situation where we had a lot of people
working in the city to a lot of people now
working from home and a consequential impact on those broad
service sector businesses. So I don't think, for instance, when

(21:59):
the government said it wanted people to go back to
work in their offices, it should have been about saying
because we want to sustain the central cities. Got to
a bit of firmer reasons for people not working from home,
and I think you can raise them than just somethingly
keeping the local businesses afloat.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
But there is going to be and there's a lot
of that talk though, isn't it. Oh, well, these places
aren't surviving because everyone's working from home. Those places, places
aren't surviving because they're not good enough. Me included.

Speaker 3 (22:23):
I'm sorry, that's not right. You go down around where
the public sector are based, at the northern end of town,
there were lots of pop up cafes, restaurants. The foot
traffic is completely dropped down. Lampton Key used to have
the highest foot traffic per square meter in the country. Yep,
it ain't that anymore. And therefore you can't sustain a business.

(22:45):
You can't pay your rates, you can't pay your landlord
because you're not selling enough.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
I get that, But I also went at four point
thirty yesterday afternoon to pick up something at the chemist
shop on Lampton Key and the two places at the
end of lamp and Key on the right hand side.
There used to be the cafe that all the politicians
used to drink out. You would have been there all
the time. I can never remember its name, Villlenges and
the one next door, which is they were heaving, absolutely

(23:11):
heaving at four o'clock.

Speaker 4 (23:14):
Because the last couple of times I've been into the
city over the last couple of weeks since Nicola and
has made her call. It may be pure coincidence, it
may be the advent of spring and warmer weather, but
I've noticed more people out and about now. Whether that's
a passing fad or the restoration of what used to
be time will tell, but I have seen just of
like more people out the central city.

Speaker 2 (23:34):
I agree. I think it's weather. I think it's well weather.
All black tests, I think.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
I think certainly the WOWS is helping.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
A record four thousand dogs were euthanized by Auckland Animal
Control over the last financial year, averaging eleven a day.
The bosses of the animal controlled team say people are
dumping dogs and then actually getting a new one a
couple of weeks later, while breeding is out of control.
Kerrie Prenda gas this would be the same figures in Wellington.
These are just bigger numbers, but we'll be euthanizing dogs

(24:04):
every day of the week in Wellington as well. Well,
how does this make you feel?

Speaker 3 (24:09):
Well? I feel really bad for terrible owners that don't
look after and take responsibility to having their dogs sterilized.
That's what they should do. There are very good dog
owners and there are a few bad dog owners that
reflect badly on everyone. They have to be euthanized otherwise

(24:30):
they're roaming the streets. They're risk and danger to people
out doing lawful things around the streets, and the reality
is that they just go on breeding. So it's part
of the cost of your rates. If people aren't responsible,
then unfortunately dog controls the responsibility of local government.

Speaker 2 (24:50):
Peter Dundey think we've got a problem with people unprepared
about the commitment that's required to own a dog.

Speaker 4 (24:56):
Well, what I'm about to say is going to make
me extremely unpopular. I am not a dog person, never
have been, never will be. I respect people's right to
own dogs. I think our society is becoming too dogified.
Everywhere you go there's people out walking dogs. If you
take them to work, now you put them on the bus,
on the plane. I think in that environment where we've

(25:16):
sort of normalized the dogification of our society it's inevitable.
You're going to get people who don't know what they're doing,
don't know how to care for their animals, get swept
along by the emotion, and you see these tragic consequences.
I think it's awful we're euthanizing this number of dogs.
I think it's awful. We're encouraging people who've got no
idea to take on caring for a dog, and I

(25:39):
think it's awful as curious as the ratepayer ends up
picking up the consequences of this. So I'm sorry to
responsible dog owners, but I just think this whole sort
of love affair with dogs has got way.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
Out of hand. It is dogification, a word I I've
just made like it.

Speaker 4 (25:54):
I've just like it.

Speaker 2 (25:55):
I definitely like it. I want to rush through a
couple of things because I want to get your guys
opinions on this. There's an a credible sighting of Tom
Phillips and as three children over the weekend in America, hope,
but over the weekend as we near three years since
they disappeared, Kerrie Predigas, I mean, this must upset you
as a mother.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
There's no winners out of this. He can't in his mind.
Whatever he's thinking, bring them back because he's going to
lose all access to them, so he's hiding them. Someone's
clearly helping them. But I see the police say it's
not an act of file anymore. They've offered a reward.
People weren't prepared to say where he was for eighty thousand.

(26:36):
I just worry about those kids in their schooling.

Speaker 2 (26:39):
Yeah, I'm Saint Peter Dunn. Are the police putting enough resources?
You just heard Carrie say they've closed the file. That's
not putting enough resources.

Speaker 4 (26:46):
No, I actually think the police are doing the right thing. Frankly,
I think that this is a trail to nowhere. I
think that there are concerns about the well being of
the kids, but from the brief images you saw the
other day, they didn't seem to be suffering that much.
They didn't seem to be struggling. And I just think
this is unfortunately a family few that's into something far greater,

(27:09):
and it's not going to be resolved by the police
or society hunting these people down. Let them be. They'll
come out in time when they come to their sense.
It's been three years, yes, I know, and it could
be another three, but I don't think we're going to
make progress doing what we're doing. What we've been doing
today clearly hasn't worked. This guy's clearly got resources, cunning skills,
and I think a measure of sort of covert support

(27:31):
that enables them to do what he's doing. As I say,
the kids didn't look to be mol nourished. There are
issues about us takes for that doctor Peter Dunner, but
you know, nothing's worked so far, and I don't think
more of the same is going to make any change.

Speaker 2 (27:44):
Okay, I want to lighten up for the last topic
before we go to hots and knots. The Year Right
campaign from two he has reinvented itself. It's brought us
to add campaign backs, and one billboard has drawn the
ire of some people. I'd love to get both of
your's opinion. The billboard said back to being a respectable
meth smoking, sex worker loving doctor. Then Year Right, Garry Prendergards,

(28:07):
what do you think of the two till billboards? And
what do you think of that one?

Speaker 3 (28:12):
Well, first of all, a woman died out of the
I am a bit disturbed by that. I know there's
irony and you all of that, but I just think
we forget under our legal system that they did have
enough evidence to prove that she didn't commit suicide. The
crown just didn't make the case that he had murdered her.

(28:33):
So he was found not guilty. He wasn't found innocent,
and we forget that in our society. He's just not
guilty because the crown couldn't make the case. Right. So
I think they should take that one down.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
Okay, Peter dn't.

Speaker 4 (28:48):
Well, I've got a slightly different view, but at the
same conclusion, I think they should take the billboard down,
not for any of the reasons Kerry stated, but simply
because I think the great attraction in the past of
tooy billboards was their pithiness, A quick statement in the
year right, this is like a little gospel, and I
think it goes far too far. Don't think it's not
the sort of thing you can read quickly as you

(29:09):
drive by on the car, which was the objective of
the original billboards. What people's views are about the case,
I think will be a matter of controversy. I see
we're not going to have a television series based around it,
which makes me sort of cringe a little bit. But
frankly too. We go back to you knitting. If you
want to do the billboard campaigns, short, sharp and piffy.

Speaker 2 (29:28):
I've got a billboard for two. Torri Farno is going
to end up a better mayor than Dame Carey. Prodogast.

Speaker 3 (29:38):
We need change, would be better, or we don't need change.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
Vote Tory again? Yeah right, Okay, the Friday.

Speaker 2 (29:52):
This is my favorite part of the show. And I'm
going to leave Kerry Predogast to last because she's a
bit angry at the moment. She's I didn't like me
having a crack at it in the nicest possible way.
We get on, don't we care?

Speaker 3 (30:02):
Absolutely we do.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
I have the utmost respect for you and really like
you as a person, as I do for Peter Dodne. Peter,
dn't give us your hot to nuts.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
Oh my hot is Judith Collins. I loved her comment
yesterday about the armchair Admirals. It reminded me of David
Longie's comment about the geriatric generals at the time of
the anti Nuclear Hour. But she's quite right and it
was a good sharp reminder to all of those people
pontificating about the marr Nui and whatnui and what went
wrong and what should happen next. So good on you, Judith,

(30:29):
that's my hot.

Speaker 3 (30:30):
My not.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
Look, we had big storms in Dunedin last week, terrific
damage and terrific floods. This week we seem to have
forgotten that because we can get film about Hurricane Milton
and what it's doing to the United States. I just
wish we'd focus more on the problems that are affecting
New Zealanders and New Zealand communities today than relying on
horror stories from overseas.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
Well done, I love those. I didn't think Jiuth Collins
looked that well. Now you are doctor. You were doctor before,
now our doctor again. I thought she looked very didn't
look well. That's what I thought when I saw her.
But anyway, Kerrie Prenda Gas, Dame Kerrey preder Gas, she's
smiling again.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
Well, because I think Judith is fantastic, and I think
she's very well, and she's got a huge workload and
she's probably pretty upset she just lost one hundred million
dollar ship. So I'll start with that. Because my not
was the misogyny around some of the comments and Judith's
comment about truck drivers should stick to driving trucks rather
than a comment on New Zealand's naval force. So that's

(31:28):
my not the misogyny around this. Would they have said
the same if it was a mail in charge of
the ship by hot As Wow. I went to Well
last night. It's fantastic. So many people in the city,
they're all shopping and the show is stupendous. It's absolutely magnificent.
So if you haven't been, I think it's finishing soon

(31:49):
this week. Rabb a ticket Sunday. Absolutely what was there?

Speaker 2 (31:55):
I'm trying to think of the sewer coming out of
the water because apparently there was a problem on Feathers
since street Yester and sewer was drippling out the water
at the front of Well. You didn't notice it, No.

Speaker 3 (32:04):
Cleaned it up.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
They cleaned it up. You're willing to water cleaned it up.
You think.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
You're right.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
To water fix the problem. You're right now she's smiling.
It to me an hour to get her smiling. But yeah,
thank you both very much for Covergator. We've had a
lot of positive feedback on the text machine about having
you both in after the issue that we've been going
through over the last twenty four hours, so I really
appreciate you both coming in. You're both wonderful people for Wellington,
and I appreciate you taking time to come on my

(32:36):
humble show. Thank you, have a great, great, great weekend.
And isn't it great daylight saving? This daylight's fantastic.

Speaker 3 (32:43):
Thank you to thank you both.

Speaker 1 (32:45):
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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