Do our MPs need to look at how they're behaving, and would we reduce alcohol harm if we raised the drinking age?
Those were the questions for the Friday Faceoff panel this week, with broadcaster Paddy Gower and lawyer and former MP Chris Finlayson.
Also on the agenda was our Olympic success, and the controversial Pablo Esco-burger - is it offensive?
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Episode Transcript
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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 faceoff with Quinovic Property Management a better rental experience
for all Call oh eight hundred Quinovic.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Say, I don't care about you this rib.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I'm lodge Monday.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yep. It's Friday morning, soon to be Friday afternoon, and
it's Friday faced off time. Joining us today for the
first time ever ever. He's lived in Wellington for how
many years? He's a ton of lucky boy like me
and Ethan, but you know he lives in Wellington. So broadcaster,
legendary broadcaster Patty Gower joins us on the show.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Yeah, unemployed broadcaster as well. And that's probably one of
the reasons why I've been able to make it in
here from the hat this morning. But it is an
absolute pleasure to be here in that long time listener
to you actually, and it's a real honor to be
well it's.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
A real honor to have you here. Obviously, Lawyer and
former MP Chrisphin listen, who joins us when he has
the time, and he's also so extremely busy. It's lovely
to have him on again. He said he's going to
be nice today. He's told us all he's going to
be nice today.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
Yeah, well I want to start by being nice by
you said when introducing Paddy, me and Ethan. That's clearly wrong.
It's Ethan and me.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
And anyone listens to the show.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah, people listen to the show know that they listen
to the show because they know I have a standard
one level a bit of English language. So so have
I got that wrong? I apologize, write it out a
hundred times. Okay, I'm more worried about trying to pronounce
the party Mary m P, which I'm coming up on
my first second, and you both look at me, Blakely,
let's start. I mean, can I call you a broadcaster
(01:57):
of you're unemployed?
Speaker 4 (01:58):
No, just call me unemployed. Actually it's fine, there's no
shame in it, and especially in the current climate.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Hey, hey, I'm in hospitality work, but I'm ut aploy
because I don't get paid. So what's different.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
It's the same sort of thing, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Okay. Act are upset with what they call constant racial
attacks against their mariy MP, Karen Chaw Taparty Maori MP
Maria meno Ou Kappa King Eye said she was a
puppet for the ACT Party and the party posted on
social media she had a disconnection and disdain for her people.
(02:35):
Chaw was brought to tears in a three news interview yesterday,
and it is serious. I don't want to make light
of it, saying she has complained to the Speaker and
was told an apology was coming, but never ever came.
Let's start with you, Patty, what are you feelings when
you saw the stuff You'll be watching the new TV
three stuff you'll see you would have seen all that.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Yeah, it just reminded me of what a brutal place
Parliament is. I worked in there for ten years and
much the same sort of time as Cressler, a little
bit less time than Crest, but we were there at
the same time. It is just a brutal place and
to sort of see you can sort of see what's
going on. Karen Saw is a minister who has been
targeted and they've sort of it's not chat is that
(03:17):
it's sort of it's bullying. Really that's sort of verging
on sort of questioning whether she whether she is quote
a real Maldi or not. That's what they're kind of
getting at with those those sorts of comments. And that's
nasty in my view. And it's just that's nothing against
the multi party or anything like that. It's a nasty
place and this is the sort of thing that happens
(03:37):
in there. And I can tell you what I thought
when I saw it. Thank goodness, I'm out of there. Yeah, Chris,
what did you think?
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I mean, you know, why don't people look at someone
like Karen Shaw and say, that's exactly the person we
want in that position. She has lived through that, she
knows that, she knows everything about it, and yet we
want to criticize it and.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
Not oh your Michael Bassett told me years and years ago. Look,
you go into that place, you acquire the height of
an armordillo, or you get your AI kicked. And frankly,
you just can't be too wimpy about the stuff. Mallard
used to call me tinker Bell, and you know, I
could have taken points of order and got Aul Terry,
and I said, well, the best way of dealing with
(04:18):
that is payback. And so I used to call him
a criminal because he had a couple of convictions and
so and then there was that guy from Wymacereari Cosgrove
tinker Bell, so I used to call him mister Combover
and so, and basically, you know, you can't get too
whimpy about this stuff. So my advice to the minister
(04:41):
is just tough enough.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Do you do you reckon? It's as simple as that.
Now I feel for it.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
I mean, I can feel all you like, but I
mean it's politics, and you know, I do think the
ancient principle of payback's a good way of operating.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
And what I like here is that Christopher F. Lison
is telling the truth. It's a kill or be killed
environment in there.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
And but surely in a modern world we've passed. Now,
come on, in a modern world, we.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
Can adversarial environment and people get angry, people get tired,
people get tense, and they bait people. I mean, I
used to enjoy baiting people. It was actually good sport,
especially after dinner. And so you know, I really do
think that the Minister just needs to harden up a bit.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
I mean, you know, that's that's the environment that's there,
and nothing changes. And it's funny sort of watching them
and you sort of see juliean Genter and all of
these this carry on this week. You know, they were
arguing over whether they could wear a pin on their
jacket or not, or whether there should be a sticker
on the laptop or anything. And what I look about
(05:50):
what Chris is saying is he's actually calling it out
for what it is and what it's like in there.
I hard and up and get hard and all this
kind of stuff. And you're not really meant to say that. No, no,
you're not allowed to say yeah, that's right and resilient
and all these sorts of things. But he's saying that.
He's saying the truth isn't it is a rough and
tumble place where you have to kill or be killed.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
I nearly lost my job here because I called a
thirty year old a girl the other day. You cannot
call a thirty year old woman a girl anymore now.
To me, that's not perfectly normal. Why are you looking
at me blankly? Do you think that's incorrect? As well?
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Well?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I don't know was it a they them or a
he she or what it was?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
No commd on that one. You're the lawyer. You can
get yourself out of trouble. I can't get myself out
of trouble for making a commit Batty's just dived under
the table. Batty's looking for a new job. Batty's looking
for a job.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
I'm not taking any rests any rest today.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I mean, I've got to ask you about Julian Genta
with our I mean, it's not on our list of
things to talk about, but I mean I kind of
like thought, we all knew that she's going to get
hit with a wet buster and it was going to
be nothing. I mean, was what she did. According the
christ is going to be saying, well, it's normal, you
should be able to walk across.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
The That went too far.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
She walked for us to chamber and was yelling at
whatever his name is from Waimakari and Matt Douci And
I mean you just, yeah, there are limits, so you don't.
I mean, there was that incident in the House of
Commons where some idiot SMP fellow picked up the mason
walked out. I mean, there are something she just don't do,
and there's it's one thing to have a bit of
(07:28):
sort of argie bargie across the house, but to behave
the way she did know when to far.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
But absolutely nothing's happened to her. It's not even a
wet bus ticket. Nothing has happened to her. She's been
to and I'm going to have to do the visual
coat marks here. The escalation training, I mean, I'm sorry,
I'm so green. The escalation training. Where do you even
go and get that? You know what? What what is
(07:55):
the escalation training? And that was it. But this goes
to my point as well. Parliament and Christopher Listeners said,
it is a place for thacts. It doesn't matter whether
you're good, matter whether you're in the Maori Party, it
doesn't matter whether you're you're you're a cultured right leaning
(08:16):
lawyer from the where are those hills that you live
in Kandala? Yeah, it doesn't matter. You are ultimately a thug.
And if you don't punish thugs like Julian Jine, if
you don't punish them thugs with it be a who
or someone else in there, the messages go and be
a thug and carry on being a thug, and that
carries on. You know, look look at Christophonnison's attitude today.
(08:37):
You know he sort of feels like he wants to
get back into it.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
He's what you're trying to say, is a thug.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
I've just said. I just said he has. I just
city as a thug, parliamentary thug. Parliamentary thug. There's a
certain kind, a certain breed, and Nick, I say, this
is someone When I was in there as a journalist,
I was a journalistic thug as well. It's kill or
be killed. You go after people, you bait people, you
try and make them snap and break. That's part of it.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
So I said, do you think you have to have
a little bit of empathy? I mean, I think of
you as a thug as well, but you've got empathy.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
After I left there. I didn't have much when I
was in there.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
But when you do your shows and when you do
your stuff, you know you are a thug. If you've
got on the wrong side of Patty Gown, you're in trouble.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
In Parliament, I had no empathy, and I've had to
basically go out. It's like a cult. I've had to
d program myself. It's like leaving pretri Remo, you know.
I've had to rehab myself. And chrispher listen, and if
he was before some sort of parliamentary parole board, we'd
be saying get back in there. The way you're talking
today you have not well, it's.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
Just and you have the sort of stuff in every environment.
So you're a lot more subtle.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Nough you're protected in the workplace now you say.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
To a judge, well, with the greatest of respect, you're
honor that. I mean, that's code for listen to you, idiot.
You don't know what you're saying. And so it's just
the way you express yourself. It's less subtle in parliament,
but it happens everywhere.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I think in the workplace it's maybe it's gone too far,
you know, too woke, but I think in the workplace
now you're a hell of a lot more protected than anything.
Karen Chaw got okay Friday face off with Paddy Gower
and lawyer and former MP Chris Pphin. Listen, why do
I have to explain who you are when everyone knows
who the hell you are?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I don't know. I think it's nice to get out
there the fact that I'm.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
A lawyer, Paddy cow broadcaster looking for a job starting
salary seven hundred and twenty five thousand plus GST a year.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
I wish right.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Patty Gower bit a few people contact me today and say,
can you please ask Patty Gower not any big in
depth question about some of the great interviews and stories
you've done, but is he still not drinking?
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Yeah? No, I don't drink anymore and I haven't drank
for over over two and a half years now.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Not even not even a champagne.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Not a not a super champagne. I've accidentally, I think
I accidentally drank some Heineken at a wake, at a funeral,
and I picked up the wrong bottle, you know, like that,
not much of it. And you know, probably the strongest
thing I've heard is Can Butcher. So yeah, the answer
to your listeners is yeah, I do not drink alcohol anymore,
have not drunk it for two and a half years.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Chris, you've never been known as a drinker. Are you're
a drinker? Well?
Speaker 5 (11:23):
I set out with noble intentions to have a dry July.
But one night I was tense, and so I had
a glass of pino in a So you're looking at
a failure.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
That's not true. Glass of pino is good.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
On That was on about the fourteenth of July. So
I had a drive fortnight.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Okay, look behind you and the guy had a bet
for lunch for me, the producer of this show, that
he was going to go dry July. I thought, this
is the easiest lunch I'm ever going to get. The
lasted three days or whatever the first weekend day was.
So I think the bet was taken on a Wednesday,
and the Friday night he's texted me Saturday morning, woo
bit of a problem. Can I have one day off?
I said no, it's not part of the deal anyway.
(12:01):
Why I ask you? That is? A police study of
Courtney Place party goes found that seventy seven percent of
people in town after midnight had preloaded at home. The
report recommends raising the price of alcohol sold at supermarkets
and raising the drinking age from eighteen to twenty. Christopher Lissen,
you would have gone over this and over this and
over this many many times in your political career. Does
(12:23):
it make any sense whatsoever to raise the drinking age
now that you know it's been in.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
No, I don't think so. I think you just try
and instill in people sense of self responsibility. I don't
think that this preloading stuff's be going on for years.
They go into the supermarket and get smashed before they
go off to the nightclubs. And you know it's abhorrent behavior.
But the best way of dealing with it is just
(12:50):
keep at it and try and persuade people that's unacceptable.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Patty Gower, you've done TV shows. Nobody, nobody in the
country apart from me, because of my age, knows more
about alcohol than you do. And the upstowns and sideways
of it. Yeah, and I'm drinking age. What do you think?
What do you reckons the problem?
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Well, the first thing I thought when I saw that
study was when was it done? You know it's done
this year or was it done in nineteen ninety five
when I used to live up on the hill here
and I used to preload and come down to Courtney
Place every weekend. And I used to preload hard and
come down here. Nothing's changed, but still it's good to
have a study that tells us that young people come
(13:28):
into town absolutely loaded. The drinking age. Look, taking it
back to twenty, I don't know about that. I think
we'd be better off trying to actually have a real
drinking age of eighteen rather than a sort of a
quasi drinking age. You know a lot of young people
or their parents stopped them drinking age fifteen, sixteen, seventeen.
By the time you get to eighteen, you're actually already
(13:51):
a drinker. We don't actually as a society, really have
the age of eighteen. That's a sort of number that's legal.
And actually what I see from that report is basically
the licensed premises on Courtney Place are left to clean
up the mess they are there. They don't get to
make much money out of it because everybody's trying to
(14:11):
get around the money by preloading, they get all the
drunk people, they're left with all of the problems. And
actually raising the price of alcohol technically would help that,
you know, or taking it out of the supermarkets if
it was well, it's not going to Actually I'm not
going to save much money by going and buying this
booze and an off license or a supermarket. I might
(14:32):
as well be in the licensed environment where people are
protected and there are rules and police can come in
and say, hey, you're not doing X, Y and Z,
we're going to take your license off you. Actually, maybe
we would have a better drinking culture, but there's a
huge batty and neck no government ever in New Zealand.
In my Lifetime will raise the price of alcohol, simple
(14:56):
because they won't have the guts and they probably get
voted out.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Tell me, have either of you gone and bought a
six pack in Australia in a supermarket or a bottleow
in Australia? Do you do you realize how works there?
Speaker 4 (15:07):
No? How does it work there?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Hell of a lot more expensive, yes, hell of a lot, Yes, extensive.
There is no such thing as cheap booze in Australia.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Yes, you know.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
You go to a supermarket and buy a six pack
forty dollars or something fifty dollars, it's really seven dollars
a bottle sort of thing, not much cheaper than buying
it at a bar.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
And I think one thing I think we could do
in this country is take it out of the supermarkets.
You know, I just think it's crazy that we sell
boos and supermarkets for a whole lot of reasons. One,
they've got the ability to bring the price down or
use it as a lost leader because actually they're making
money off other stuff from the shop. Two, you know,
parents are in there with their kids buying food and
(15:46):
it makes it look normal like something you have, like
peas and carrots is booze.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Can I just ask you, when you were doing your
research for your program on alcohol, which I thought was
really well done, by the way, did you actually work
out the difference because I know someone said it on
Heather Show the other day, the difference between pre supermarket sales,
you know, before alcohol was available in supermarkets to post
it and the difference was the numbers are horrific.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Yeah, yeah, no, I didn't actually look into that, but
I think even in that report that sort of they
hinted how the you know, how the sales and supermarkets
have changed things. And the other area, frankly, is advertising.
That's something we could do. And you know, I find
it horrifying to see Steinlagger in the middle of the
All Blacks. You know that the latest All Blacks series
(16:37):
was the Steinlagger Low Car whatever kind of series.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
You know.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
I think it's crazy that we allow advertising for alcohol.
We don't need to advertise that. Everybody knows what it is,
and all that does is take up space where if
you were ever to have some sort of campaign saying
that our coohol is bad for you, if we ever
had the guts to do that, it would just get
drowned out by all of this advertising, so that that's
another area for me.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
But hey, Thornton Key.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Yes, shocking.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
The councilor's planned to build five raised council crossings on
Thornton Key, sparking concerns from fire and emergency in New
Zealand that it may add up to a minute in
response times. Chrispin, listen, we are starting to get into
this problematic situation. I know that you're an ex Corory boy.
I know that Corory people are up in arms about
(17:25):
some of these raised crossings everywhere.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
Crofton Downs Road, you know you go up to I
go up to Booper to see Mum, and from the
from the roundabout heading up the Silver Stream Road up
to Booper, there are about three or four of them.
I mean, it's ridiculous. What do we do, Well, there's
nothing we can do. We accept try and elect a
council of sensible people. Next time you can I counselor
(17:50):
Paddy Goer councilor Nick Mills. We just need we need
people who will act in the interests of the city.
I went into Cheetah the other day. Cheat is a
beautiful furniture shop in Thornton Key, and I just had
house business that You've really got to feel sorry for
retail along Thornt and keep Beds, r Us and all
the others because the council have destroyed their business. I
(18:13):
went up to the very nice family who own the
dairy opposite the gardens at the top of Bowen Street.
They are, you know, lovely people, been there for umpteen
dozen years, work hard, long hours, finding business very hard
because of what the council is doing. These muppets don't
(18:34):
give us stuff about retail, about business. They are ideological nutcases.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Yeah, I've got to say I agree one with Chriss
what they're doing to Thornton Key. Actually, I cannot believe
what they're doing with those raised pedestrian crossings. They don't
need them and the place is a mess. I want
to give a shout out to another retailer that's down there.
I ride the bicycle shop that's down there, one of
the best bicycle shops in the country in my view.
(19:02):
Their business is wrecked. It's hard to get in there.
You know, they've wrecked the council can completely wrecked the
wreck the road and you don't actually need these raised
pedestrian crossings. There's a pedestrian crossing on there. I've used
it over over one hundred times to get in and
out of the French bakery there, or to go to
the ophthalmologist. It's an easy road to cross. It is
(19:24):
an easy road across. The facts back that up. The
facts that Fire and Emergency New Zealand of Sean is
that actually there's not that much danger there, or the
facts that have gone under the study. Sorry, and when
you've got Fire and Emergency in New Zealand telling you, hey,
this is going to cost us time and therefore possibly lives,
I think you've made a big mistake. And you know,
(19:44):
this is just another example of frankly and this is
a big call. I believe that Wellington has the most
useless council in New Zealand by far.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
The problem that we've gone and we're reasonably intelligent, three
reasonably intelligent male.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Two of you are well, I mean, yeah, you two.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
We are going to have exact the same situation next year.
I was on this job when the council voting was
last time. I beg people to vote. I beg people
to make change. You can't get people to vote in
local council why not Christopher, listen, come on, tell us
why people won't vote and why there won't be any change.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
I think next year it could be quite interesting because
this council has been such a failure and so little
has been achieved. Even in sort of woke, wet Wellington.
I think people are starting to wake up and they're
sick of it. They don't want right wing idea logues,
they don't want left wing idea logs. They just want
(20:44):
some people with a little bit of common sense. My dear,
dear wonderful former friend John Jeffries, who was a judge
but he was Deputy Mayor of Wellington. He told me
that he was the Labor councilor, Dennis McGrath was the
Citizens councilor. They worked in their law firms. I'd get
together at five o'clock, they'd go down to the council,
(21:05):
make some key decisions and then go home. But the
micro management that comes from the current cohort of councilors
and the share and competence that they bring to their task.
There are a few exceptions like Brown who is out
your way, and Nichola Young and others utterly competent, but
most of them are hopeless.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Right for me, that's not Patty Gow. For me, I
reckon that would have a good ring to it.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
I would you know, I wouldn't do it for a
number of reasons. One, I've seen what a psychopath you
can become, and when you've become political, and how long
it takes to get their program because obviously next to one. Okay,
so that's that's the number one reason. Number two, I
mean every council in New Zealand. You know, I go
around the country a lot. You pick up the paper,
there's some dysfunctional council. It doesn't matter where you are.
(21:54):
There's some bunch of cuckoos people living in cloud Cuokoo
Land on the city council or on the regional council.
I think the council system in this entire country is broken.
We've got basically from my count two times this minute.
We could have them overnight and Wellington we could actually
bring it down from six to one. Frankly, that's what
(22:15):
that's what should happen immediately from wire a wrapper down, I.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
See you see. Can we have this little argument on
this because with the wire wrapper down and capity didn't
work last time I tried it. But there's nothing to say,
potty to a low upper hut.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Money together just for some councils. Look, I mean, you know,
I don't want to argue too much. I just want
to get rid of some councils, get some leadership in
the place. Have someone who goes, hey, Wellington is in crisis.
We are facing X, Y Z. Well it's actually ABC
right all the way through. These are the problems. Let's
get on and start to fix these from the top down. Okay,
(22:50):
Wellington is in crisis. Go and walk around out there.
I was at Jimmy Barnes concert on Sunday night. You
know the town is empty. It could have been in
the middle of lockdown. You know what's going on. The
roads are a mess. We know about the water pipes.
They are another accident waiting to happen. There is absolutely
nothing being done about them from what I can see,
(23:11):
by any council in the region. And we are surrounded
by numpties and frankly, as someone who is trying to
live here, it gets a little bit annoying. And I'm
sure a lot of the listeners will agree with me.
Speaker 5 (23:22):
Yeah, well, there's one person who could do it, and
that's Fran Wild And I had dinner with her the
other night and said, you've got one more big job left,
and you come back. Because she was a She was
mayor from ninetey two to ninety five and she did
a really, really good job. We got the stadium vats
of her. So you basically want people who are going
to go hell for leather to get the job done.
(23:44):
They're not worried about the income, they're not worried about
what did she get re elected? She laughed at me.
But Fran would. I think Fran would do a tremendous job.
She tried. She tried Patty when she was chair of
the regional Council to bring the various councils together. She
did probably probably it was premature, but you know, the
(24:05):
Auckland's a pretty good job. And even though Brown comes
across as a bit of a hillbilly, he's starting to
get runs on the board. And so the Auckland Council's
leaving the Wellington Council for dead.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I'd have that hillbilly anytime of the week. Friday face off.
Ethan's going on and on and on about this bloody burger.
I got myself in a little bit of trouble on
this burger because I said it was a storm and
a teacup and it ain't no storm in the keep up.
There's some people have taken this pretty seriously. I'll give
you the background because Patty's looking at me as if
I'm on to rant Wellington restaurant. Unsto's head. It's Wellington
(24:40):
on a plate. Burger entry removed after a complaint from
the Colombian embassy. The burger featured a line of garlic
powder and a fake fifty dollars. It was actually one
hundred dollar note, badly written by my producer there one
hundred dollar note, Paddy Gower. It's been kicked out of
the walleytill of a plate. So if you vote for it,
they can't win it. They're going to keep running it.
They're now calling it the censored burger. Apparently the bookings
(25:03):
are going nuts for it. Where the Colombians can concerns
reasonable or do they need to lighten up a it?
Speaker 4 (25:09):
No, I actually think that the colombians concerns are valid.
You know, you couldn't have a Hitler burger or anything
like that. You know Peoplo Escobar, you know, he killed
a lot of people. And and for Colombia, it's not
a joke. They're well within their rights to kind of
complain about the burger. Look, the burger place is won.
That's what these people want. They want controversy. That's why
(25:32):
they've done it. They've got some publicity out of it.
You know, if someone wants to go and snort a
line of garlic powder, be my guest. Be my guest,
and at least you'll know what's in it. It's going
to be pure garlic.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
You could get tested now, just in case. Yeah, okay, yeah,
not like quite when you're a university press finds.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
I can't believe I just heard that. I mean, it's
the biggest load of nonsense. And I would have gone
out of my way to torment the Colombian embassy. Frankly,
it's like it's like when the Turkish ambassador came and
saw me years ago when I was Minister for the Arts.
We published a book on World War One and there
was reference to the Armenian massacre and she said, oh,
(26:21):
my government takes great offense at that, and I said, well,
I'm not responsible for publishing the book, and we don't
sense of things like Urdawe and others do.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Well.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
I didn't exactly say that, but the reality of the
matter is who gives it a damn off? People take
offense at some of the stuff. They need just to
get over.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
It, okay, And I mean we had a couple of
callers we talked about it on the show. I mean,
Cuba Street. Shall we get rid of Cuba Street for dolls?
It's got castro all over the walls.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
That's a very good example.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Yeah, good point, good point. Good, I'm changing my position here.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
Then there was pravae and they used to walk around
and comey gear, and there was the reference. Yeah I
read that all that stuff about lenin, and then people
could get upset if their ancestors were slaughtered by lenin.
So where does it stop?
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Yeah, it's I mean, that's I think so the same.
And people would buy a t shirt with it on.
They watched documentaries. So anyway, Olympics. Are you both into
the Olympics? Have you been watching any of the Olympics.
I watched Wild the other day, watched the whole thing.
I watched the whole triad. Oh my god, how good
was it? But how sad was it? Patty? What are
you watching? What I'm not watching?
Speaker 4 (27:29):
I'm absolutely glued to it, you know, I was watching
last night. Fantastic to see you know, the gold, the
silver and the bronze on on the water. You watched
all three, Oh, absolutely last night. And I'm really looking
forward to the cycling road race around Paris this weekend.
I'm a cycling geek.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I did not know that about you.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
Yeah, well that's what. That's how I've come across these
problems down on Thornton Key, trying to ride ride through there,
through all these through all these roadworks, and then here
I am today and you're telling me it's five for
deestrian crossings. I thought that was an April fool's joke.
But I'm digressed. I'm digressing. I'm digressing it. There were
April falls, the Petty Gow. You can do whatever you want,
but anyway, yeah, no, I am watching it, and I
(28:07):
think it's just what we need, you know, It's just
what we need at the moment. The country has got
a lurgi, an economic lurgi, a physical lurgi. Ryan's cold broke, jobless.
We need the boost of the Olympics. And we're getting that.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Chrisphins, Are you into the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
No.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
In fact, I haven't seen anything involving the Olympics since
nineteen seventy two when the Eights won and you remember
Avery Brundage came down and gave them their gold medals
because he was so impressed with them, and that was
shortly after Munich. In fact, I saw that film Munich
the other day on Netflix, I think it was, and
just reminded me of what a dreadful incident that was.
(28:48):
And of course Mossad got those guys in the fullness
of time, just as they got the guy in Tehran.
So the moral of the story is, don't mess around
with Mossa.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
I remember Simon Dickey was the coxswain of the Eights.
Simon Dixie that room, and.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
Yeah, I diamaged that race very well because know the Eights,
no money, no institute of sport, they all just had
to get out there and do it. But I must confess,
the modern Olympics don't do anything for me because it's
all about money. It's all about country prestige. Do you
remember the East Germany and West Germany used to have
(29:23):
a scrap and the sofa. It's the Americans And so.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I'm sorry you got that one on your own because
me and Paddy I watch.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
You watch what you like?
Speaker 5 (29:31):
But you asked that question, aren't giving you an answer?
Gets stroppy with you go on.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
He's claiming that he hasn't watched the Olympics since nineteen seventy.
I don't believe it. I don't believe it.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Well, what what? What's they've been to watch?
Speaker 3 (29:49):
And Walker Dan, you load it the Friday time for
hots and knots. Now. I'm going to let Patty Gower
go second on this because he's a new boy on
the show, hasn't been on it before and probably doesn't
know the significance of hots and knots. But chrisophin Lissen
(30:11):
will probably get me in front of some organization and
get me in trouble for what he's about to say
for his hots and notts, because I'm sure they're going
to be controversial.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
What do you want first?
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Oh you go hots or not? What do you feel hot?
Speaker 5 (30:22):
And I just want to just say Newstalk ZEDB is hot.
It's fantastic. And I get up in the morning and
I listen to Hosking hosking is and I say this
with the greatest respect to the two of you. Hear
the best interviewer in the country. Great style, great interviewing technique.
So that's hot, and I just, I really genuinely mean
(30:43):
that I love Newstalk ZEDB. What's not Radio New Zealand
Because the Royal Commission put out a report a couple
of weeks ago on abuse and they referred to my
interactions with the Human Rights Commission at paragraph twenty two,
and Radio New Zealand rang me and interviewed me, and
(31:04):
I gave them the full story contradicted what they had
said in the Royal Commission report. But because I told
them the truth, they never published it. And I really
that really got under my skin because what had been
said was totally unfair and no one in the Royal
Commission had contacted me about the steps I took in
(31:25):
relation to the work that ABSD were doing to pay
out these poor people, and I took a great interest
in it as Attorney General to make sure the job
was done properly. Radio New New Zealand interviewed me, but
because I got out of it and gave them the truth,
they never published it.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
News talk said me would never do that.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Paddy gow Sorry, I'm cutting you down to one minute
because our learned colleague has went for too long.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
You go, well, I actually, I actually think that ZIB's
hot as well, and I agree. I think Mike Costkin
is the best interview in the country, and you know
he is hot. I think the best thing I saw
this week was eric A fair Weather, who came forth
in the woman's freestyle, fourth to the current big thing,
fourth to the next big thing, and fourth to a
(32:13):
former big thing and swimming one of the greatest swimmers
of all time, Katie Lidecki. That is an outstanding achievement
coming forth. It doesn't matter if you don't get a medal.
That is incredible and the way she spoke made me
proud to be a New Zealander. What's not hot? I'm
running out of time here, but I'll say this and
I just want to get it through people's thick heads
(32:34):
out there that I think the Wellington Council sucks.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Patty Gower, Chris Finn, listen, I appreciate you both. And
if anybody hasn't seen or hasn't heard the Mike Hosking
interview with Sam Whitelock. Please listen to what an interview,
What a story, What a good one?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Thank you both guys, debating the good, the bad, the
ugly and everything in between. Friday Face Off with Quinovic,
Wellington's property management expert. Call eight hundred Quinovic for more
from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills. Listen live to news
Talks It'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays, or follow
(33:16):
the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk said B dissecting the week sublime and ridiculous.
Friday faceoff with Quinovic Property Management a better rental experience
for all Call oh eight hundred Quinovic.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Say, I don't care about you this rib.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
I'm lodge Monday.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yep. It's Friday morning, soon to be Friday afternoon, and
it's Friday faced off time. Joining us today for the
first time ever ever. He's lived in Wellington for how
many years? He's a ton of lucky boy like me
and Ethan, but you know he lives in Wellington. So broadcaster,
legendary broadcaster Patty Gower joins us on the show.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Yeah, unemployed broadcaster as well. And that's probably one of
the reasons why I've been able to make it in
here from the hat this morning. But it is an
absolute pleasure to be here in that long time listener
to you actually, and it's a real honor to be
well it's.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
A real honor to have you here. Obviously, Lawyer and
former MP Chrisphin listen, who joins us when he has
the time, and he's also so extremely busy. It's lovely
to have him on again. He said he's going to
be nice today. He's told us all he's going to
be nice today.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
Yeah, well I want to start by being nice by
you said when introducing Paddy, me and Ethan. That's clearly wrong.
It's Ethan and me.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
And anyone listens to the show.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Yeah, people listen to the show know that they listen
to the show because they know I have a standard
one level a bit of English language. So so have
I got that wrong? I apologize, write it out a
hundred times. Okay, I'm more worried about trying to pronounce
the party Mary m P, which I'm coming up on
my first second, and you both look at me, Blakely,
let's start. I mean, can I call you a broadcaster
(01:57):
of you're unemployed?
Speaker 4 (01:58):
No, just call me unemployed. Actually it's fine, there's no
shame in it, and especially in the current climate.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Hey, hey, I'm in hospitality work, but I'm ut aploy
because I don't get paid. So what's different.
Speaker 4 (02:11):
It's the same sort of thing, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Okay. Act are upset with what they call constant racial
attacks against their mariy MP, Karen Chaw Taparty Maori MP
Maria meno Ou Kappa King Eye said she was a
puppet for the ACT Party and the party posted on
social media she had a disconnection and disdain for her people.
(02:35):
Chaw was brought to tears in a three news interview yesterday,
and it is serious. I don't want to make light
of it, saying she has complained to the Speaker and
was told an apology was coming, but never ever came.
Let's start with you, Patty, what are you feelings when
you saw the stuff You'll be watching the new TV
three stuff you'll see you would have seen all that.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Yeah, it just reminded me of what a brutal place
Parliament is. I worked in there for ten years and
much the same sort of time as Cressler, a little
bit less time than Crest, but we were there at
the same time. It is just a brutal place and
to sort of see you can sort of see what's
going on. Karen Saw is a minister who has been
targeted and they've sort of it's not chat is that
(03:17):
it's sort of it's bullying. Really that's sort of verging
on sort of questioning whether she whether she is quote
a real Maldi or not. That's what they're kind of
getting at with those those sorts of comments. And that's
nasty in my view. And it's just that's nothing against
the multi party or anything like that. It's a nasty
place and this is the sort of thing that happens
(03:37):
in there. And I can tell you what I thought
when I saw it. Thank goodness, I'm out of there. Yeah, Chris,
what did you think?
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I mean, you know, why don't people look at someone
like Karen Shaw and say, that's exactly the person we
want in that position. She has lived through that, she
knows that, she knows everything about it, and yet we
want to criticize it and.
Speaker 5 (03:57):
Not oh your Michael Bassett told me years and years ago. Look,
you go into that place, you acquire the height of
an armordillo, or you get your AI kicked. And frankly,
you just can't be too wimpy about the stuff. Mallard
used to call me tinker Bell, and you know, I
could have taken points of order and got Aul Terry,
and I said, well, the best way of dealing with
(04:18):
that is payback. And so I used to call him
a criminal because he had a couple of convictions and
so and then there was that guy from Wymacereari Cosgrove
tinker Bell, so I used to call him mister Combover
and so, and basically, you know, you can't get too
whimpy about this stuff. So my advice to the minister
(04:41):
is just tough enough.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Do you do you reckon? It's as simple as that.
Now I feel for it.
Speaker 5 (04:47):
I mean, I can feel all you like, but I
mean it's politics, and you know, I do think the
ancient principle of payback's a good way of operating.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
And what I like here is that Christopher F. Lison
is telling the truth. It's a kill or be killed
environment in there.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
And but surely in a modern world we've passed. Now,
come on, in a modern world, we.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
Can adversarial environment and people get angry, people get tired,
people get tense, and they bait people. I mean, I
used to enjoy baiting people. It was actually good sport,
especially after dinner. And so you know, I really do
think that the Minister just needs to harden up a bit.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (05:30):
I mean, you know, that's that's the environment that's there,
and nothing changes. And it's funny sort of watching them
and you sort of see juliean Genter and all of
these this carry on this week. You know, they were
arguing over whether they could wear a pin on their
jacket or not, or whether there should be a sticker
on the laptop or anything. And what I look about
(05:50):
what Chris is saying is he's actually calling it out
for what it is and what it's like in there.
I hard and up and get hard and all this
kind of stuff. And you're not really meant to say that. No, no,
you're not allowed to say yeah, that's right and resilient
and all these sorts of things. But he's saying that.
He's saying the truth isn't it is a rough and
tumble place where you have to kill or be killed.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
I nearly lost my job here because I called a
thirty year old a girl the other day. You cannot
call a thirty year old woman a girl anymore now.
To me, that's not perfectly normal. Why are you looking
at me blankly? Do you think that's incorrect? As well?
Speaker 4 (06:24):
Well?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I don't know was it a they them or a
he she or what it was?
Speaker 3 (06:29):
No commd on that one. You're the lawyer. You can
get yourself out of trouble. I can't get myself out
of trouble for making a commit Batty's just dived under
the table. Batty's looking for a new job. Batty's looking
for a job.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
I'm not taking any rests any rest today.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
I mean, I've got to ask you about Julian Genta
with our I mean, it's not on our list of
things to talk about, but I mean I kind of
like thought, we all knew that she's going to get
hit with a wet buster and it was going to
be nothing. I mean, was what she did. According the
christ is going to be saying, well, it's normal, you
should be able to walk across.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
The That went too far.
Speaker 5 (07:07):
She walked for us to chamber and was yelling at
whatever his name is from Waimakari and Matt Douci And
I mean you just, yeah, there are limits, so you don't.
I mean, there was that incident in the House of
Commons where some idiot SMP fellow picked up the mason
walked out. I mean, there are something she just don't do,
and there's it's one thing to have a bit of
(07:28):
sort of argie bargie across the house, but to behave
the way she did know when to far.
Speaker 4 (07:33):
But absolutely nothing's happened to her. It's not even a
wet bus ticket. Nothing has happened to her. She's been
to and I'm going to have to do the visual
coat marks here. The escalation training, I mean, I'm sorry,
I'm so green. The escalation training. Where do you even
go and get that? You know what? What what is
(07:55):
the escalation training? And that was it. But this goes
to my point as well. Parliament and Christopher Listeners said,
it is a place for thacts. It doesn't matter whether
you're good, matter whether you're in the Maori Party, it
doesn't matter whether you're you're you're a cultured right leaning
(08:16):
lawyer from the where are those hills that you live
in Kandala? Yeah, it doesn't matter. You are ultimately a thug.
And if you don't punish thugs like Julian Jine, if
you don't punish them thugs with it be a who
or someone else in there, the messages go and be
a thug and carry on being a thug, and that
carries on. You know, look look at Christophonnison's attitude today.
(08:37):
You know he sort of feels like he wants to
get back into it.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
He's what you're trying to say, is a thug.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
I've just said. I just said he has. I just
city as a thug, parliamentary thug. Parliamentary thug. There's a
certain kind, a certain breed, and Nick, I say, this
is someone When I was in there as a journalist,
I was a journalistic thug as well. It's kill or
be killed. You go after people, you bait people, you
try and make them snap and break. That's part of it.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
So I said, do you think you have to have
a little bit of empathy? I mean, I think of
you as a thug as well, but you've got empathy.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
After I left there. I didn't have much when I
was in there.
Speaker 3 (09:14):
But when you do your shows and when you do
your stuff, you know you are a thug. If you've
got on the wrong side of Patty Gown, you're in trouble.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
In Parliament, I had no empathy, and I've had to
basically go out. It's like a cult. I've had to
d program myself. It's like leaving pretri Remo, you know.
I've had to rehab myself. And chrispher listen, and if
he was before some sort of parliamentary parole board, we'd
be saying get back in there. The way you're talking
today you have not well, it's.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
Just and you have the sort of stuff in every environment.
So you're a lot more subtle.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Nough you're protected in the workplace now you say.
Speaker 5 (09:50):
To a judge, well, with the greatest of respect, you're
honor that. I mean, that's code for listen to you, idiot.
You don't know what you're saying. And so it's just
the way you express yourself. It's less subtle in parliament,
but it happens everywhere.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
I think in the workplace it's maybe it's gone too far,
you know, too woke, but I think in the workplace
now you're a hell of a lot more protected than anything.
Karen Chaw got okay Friday face off with Paddy Gower
and lawyer and former MP Chris Pphin. Listen, why do
I have to explain who you are when everyone knows
who the hell you are?
Speaker 2 (10:24):
I don't know. I think it's nice to get out
there the fact that I'm.
Speaker 3 (10:28):
A lawyer, Paddy cow broadcaster looking for a job starting
salary seven hundred and twenty five thousand plus GST a year.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
I wish right.
Speaker 3 (10:39):
Patty Gower bit a few people contact me today and say,
can you please ask Patty Gower not any big in
depth question about some of the great interviews and stories
you've done, but is he still not drinking?
Speaker 4 (10:50):
Yeah? No, I don't drink anymore and I haven't drank
for over over two and a half years now.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
Not even not even a champagne.
Speaker 4 (10:59):
Not a not a super champagne. I've accidentally, I think
I accidentally drank some Heineken at a wake, at a funeral,
and I picked up the wrong bottle, you know, like that,
not much of it. And you know, probably the strongest
thing I've heard is Can Butcher. So yeah, the answer
to your listeners is yeah, I do not drink alcohol anymore,
have not drunk it for two and a half years.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Chris, you've never been known as a drinker. Are you're
a drinker? Well?
Speaker 5 (11:23):
I set out with noble intentions to have a dry July.
But one night I was tense, and so I had
a glass of pino in a So you're looking at
a failure.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
That's not true. Glass of pino is good.
Speaker 5 (11:38):
On That was on about the fourteenth of July. So
I had a drive fortnight.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Okay, look behind you and the guy had a bet
for lunch for me, the producer of this show, that
he was going to go dry July. I thought, this
is the easiest lunch I'm ever going to get. The
lasted three days or whatever the first weekend day was.
So I think the bet was taken on a Wednesday,
and the Friday night he's texted me Saturday morning, woo
bit of a problem. Can I have one day off?
I said no, it's not part of the deal anyway.
(12:01):
Why I ask you? That is? A police study of
Courtney Place party goes found that seventy seven percent of
people in town after midnight had preloaded at home. The
report recommends raising the price of alcohol sold at supermarkets
and raising the drinking age from eighteen to twenty. Christopher Lissen,
you would have gone over this and over this and
over this many many times in your political career. Does
(12:23):
it make any sense whatsoever to raise the drinking age
now that you know it's been in.
Speaker 5 (12:30):
No, I don't think so. I think you just try
and instill in people sense of self responsibility. I don't
think that this preloading stuff's be going on for years.
They go into the supermarket and get smashed before they
go off to the nightclubs. And you know it's abhorrent behavior.
But the best way of dealing with it is just
(12:50):
keep at it and try and persuade people that's unacceptable.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Patty Gower, you've done TV shows. Nobody, nobody in the
country apart from me, because of my age, knows more
about alcohol than you do. And the upstowns and sideways
of it. Yeah, and I'm drinking age. What do you think?
What do you reckons the problem?
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Well, the first thing I thought when I saw that
study was when was it done? You know it's done
this year or was it done in nineteen ninety five
when I used to live up on the hill here
and I used to preload and come down to Courtney
Place every weekend. And I used to preload hard and
come down here. Nothing's changed, but still it's good to
have a study that tells us that young people come
(13:28):
into town absolutely loaded. The drinking age. Look, taking it
back to twenty, I don't know about that. I think
we'd be better off trying to actually have a real
drinking age of eighteen rather than a sort of a
quasi drinking age. You know a lot of young people
or their parents stopped them drinking age fifteen, sixteen, seventeen.
By the time you get to eighteen, you're actually already
(13:51):
a drinker. We don't actually as a society, really have
the age of eighteen. That's a sort of number that's legal.
And actually what I see from that report is basically
the licensed premises on Courtney Place are left to clean
up the mess they are there. They don't get to
make much money out of it because everybody's trying to
(14:11):
get around the money by preloading, they get all the
drunk people, they're left with all of the problems. And
actually raising the price of alcohol technically would help that,
you know, or taking it out of the supermarkets if
it was well, it's not going to Actually I'm not
going to save much money by going and buying this
booze and an off license or a supermarket. I might
(14:32):
as well be in the licensed environment where people are
protected and there are rules and police can come in
and say, hey, you're not doing X, Y and Z,
we're going to take your license off you. Actually, maybe
we would have a better drinking culture, but there's a
huge batty and neck no government ever in New Zealand.
In my Lifetime will raise the price of alcohol, simple
(14:56):
because they won't have the guts and they probably get
voted out.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Tell me, have either of you gone and bought a
six pack in Australia in a supermarket or a bottleow
in Australia? Do you do you realize how works there?
Speaker 4 (15:07):
No? How does it work there?
Speaker 3 (15:08):
Hell of a lot more expensive, yes, hell of a lot, Yes, extensive.
There is no such thing as cheap booze in Australia.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Yes, you know.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
You go to a supermarket and buy a six pack
forty dollars or something fifty dollars, it's really seven dollars
a bottle sort of thing, not much cheaper than buying
it at a bar.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:25):
And I think one thing I think we could do
in this country is take it out of the supermarkets.
You know, I just think it's crazy that we sell
boos and supermarkets for a whole lot of reasons. One,
they've got the ability to bring the price down or
use it as a lost leader because actually they're making
money off other stuff from the shop. Two, you know,
parents are in there with their kids buying food and
(15:46):
it makes it look normal like something you have, like
peas and carrots is booze.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
Can I just ask you, when you were doing your
research for your program on alcohol, which I thought was
really well done, by the way, did you actually work
out the difference because I know someone said it on
Heather Show the other day, the difference between pre supermarket sales,
you know, before alcohol was available in supermarkets to post
it and the difference was the numbers are horrific.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Yeah, yeah, no, I didn't actually look into that, but
I think even in that report that sort of they
hinted how the you know, how the sales and supermarkets
have changed things. And the other area, frankly, is advertising.
That's something we could do. And you know, I find
it horrifying to see Steinlagger in the middle of the
All Blacks. You know that the latest All Blacks series
(16:37):
was the Steinlagger Low Car whatever kind of series.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
You know.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
I think it's crazy that we allow advertising for alcohol.
We don't need to advertise that. Everybody knows what it is,
and all that does is take up space where if
you were ever to have some sort of campaign saying
that our coohol is bad for you, if we ever
had the guts to do that, it would just get
drowned out by all of this advertising, so that that's
another area for me.
Speaker 3 (16:59):
But hey, Thornton Key.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
Yes, shocking.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
The councilor's planned to build five raised council crossings on
Thornton Key, sparking concerns from fire and emergency in New
Zealand that it may add up to a minute in
response times. Chrispin, listen, we are starting to get into
this problematic situation. I know that you're an ex Corory boy.
I know that Corory people are up in arms about
(17:25):
some of these raised crossings everywhere.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
Crofton Downs Road, you know you go up to I
go up to Booper to see Mum, and from the
from the roundabout heading up the Silver Stream Road up
to Booper, there are about three or four of them.
I mean, it's ridiculous. What do we do, Well, there's
nothing we can do. We accept try and elect a
council of sensible people. Next time you can I counselor
(17:50):
Paddy Goer councilor Nick Mills. We just need we need
people who will act in the interests of the city.
I went into Cheetah the other day. Cheat is a
beautiful furniture shop in Thornton Key, and I just had
house business that You've really got to feel sorry for
retail along Thornt and keep Beds, r Us and all
the others because the council have destroyed their business. I
(18:13):
went up to the very nice family who own the
dairy opposite the gardens at the top of Bowen Street.
They are, you know, lovely people, been there for umpteen
dozen years, work hard, long hours, finding business very hard
because of what the council is doing. These muppets don't
(18:34):
give us stuff about retail, about business. They are ideological nutcases.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Yeah, I've got to say I agree one with Chriss
what they're doing to Thornton Key. Actually, I cannot believe
what they're doing with those raised pedestrian crossings. They don't
need them and the place is a mess. I want
to give a shout out to another retailer that's down there.
I ride the bicycle shop that's down there, one of
the best bicycle shops in the country in my view.
(19:02):
Their business is wrecked. It's hard to get in there.
You know, they've wrecked the council can completely wrecked the
wreck the road and you don't actually need these raised
pedestrian crossings. There's a pedestrian crossing on there. I've used
it over over one hundred times to get in and
out of the French bakery there, or to go to
the ophthalmologist. It's an easy road to cross. It is
(19:24):
an easy road across. The facts back that up. The
facts that Fire and Emergency New Zealand of Sean is
that actually there's not that much danger there, or the
facts that have gone under the study. Sorry, and when
you've got Fire and Emergency in New Zealand telling you, hey,
this is going to cost us time and therefore possibly lives,
I think you've made a big mistake. And you know,
(19:44):
this is just another example of frankly and this is
a big call. I believe that Wellington has the most
useless council in New Zealand by far.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
The problem that we've gone and we're reasonably intelligent, three
reasonably intelligent male.
Speaker 4 (20:02):
Two of you are well, I mean, yeah, you two.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
We are going to have exact the same situation next year.
I was on this job when the council voting was
last time. I beg people to vote. I beg people
to make change. You can't get people to vote in
local council why not Christopher, listen, come on, tell us
why people won't vote and why there won't be any change.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
I think next year it could be quite interesting because
this council has been such a failure and so little
has been achieved. Even in sort of woke, wet Wellington.
I think people are starting to wake up and they're
sick of it. They don't want right wing idea logues,
they don't want left wing idea logs. They just want
(20:44):
some people with a little bit of common sense. My dear,
dear wonderful former friend John Jeffries, who was a judge
but he was Deputy Mayor of Wellington. He told me
that he was the Labor councilor, Dennis McGrath was the
Citizens councilor. They worked in their law firms. I'd get
together at five o'clock, they'd go down to the council,
(21:05):
make some key decisions and then go home. But the
micro management that comes from the current cohort of councilors
and the share and competence that they bring to their task.
There are a few exceptions like Brown who is out
your way, and Nichola Young and others utterly competent, but
most of them are hopeless.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
Right for me, that's not Patty Gow. For me, I
reckon that would have a good ring to it.
Speaker 4 (21:32):
I would you know, I wouldn't do it for a
number of reasons. One, I've seen what a psychopath you
can become, and when you've become political, and how long
it takes to get their program because obviously next to one. Okay,
so that's that's the number one reason. Number two, I
mean every council in New Zealand. You know, I go
around the country a lot. You pick up the paper,
there's some dysfunctional council. It doesn't matter where you are.
(21:54):
There's some bunch of cuckoos people living in cloud Cuokoo
Land on the city council or on the regional council.
I think the council system in this entire country is broken.
We've got basically from my count two times this minute.
We could have them overnight and Wellington we could actually
bring it down from six to one. Frankly, that's what
(22:15):
that's what should happen immediately from wire a wrapper down, I.
Speaker 3 (22:19):
See you see. Can we have this little argument on
this because with the wire wrapper down and capity didn't
work last time I tried it. But there's nothing to say,
potty to a low upper hut.
Speaker 4 (22:28):
Money together just for some councils. Look, I mean, you know,
I don't want to argue too much. I just want
to get rid of some councils, get some leadership in
the place. Have someone who goes, hey, Wellington is in crisis.
We are facing X, Y Z. Well it's actually ABC
right all the way through. These are the problems. Let's
get on and start to fix these from the top down. Okay,
(22:50):
Wellington is in crisis. Go and walk around out there.
I was at Jimmy Barnes concert on Sunday night. You
know the town is empty. It could have been in
the middle of lockdown. You know what's going on. The
roads are a mess. We know about the water pipes.
They are another accident waiting to happen. There is absolutely
nothing being done about them from what I can see,
(23:11):
by any council in the region. And we are surrounded
by numpties and frankly, as someone who is trying to
live here, it gets a little bit annoying. And I'm
sure a lot of the listeners will agree with me.
Speaker 5 (23:22):
Yeah, well, there's one person who could do it, and
that's Fran Wild And I had dinner with her the
other night and said, you've got one more big job left,
and you come back. Because she was a She was
mayor from ninetey two to ninety five and she did
a really, really good job. We got the stadium vats
of her. So you basically want people who are going
to go hell for leather to get the job done.
(23:44):
They're not worried about the income, they're not worried about
what did she get re elected? She laughed at me.
But Fran would. I think Fran would do a tremendous job.
She tried. She tried Patty when she was chair of
the regional Council to bring the various councils together. She
did probably probably it was premature, but you know, the
(24:05):
Auckland's a pretty good job. And even though Brown comes
across as a bit of a hillbilly, he's starting to
get runs on the board. And so the Auckland Council's
leaving the Wellington Council for dead.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
I'd have that hillbilly anytime of the week. Friday face off.
Ethan's going on and on and on about this bloody burger.
I got myself in a little bit of trouble on
this burger because I said it was a storm and
a teacup and it ain't no storm in the keep up.
There's some people have taken this pretty seriously. I'll give
you the background because Patty's looking at me as if
I'm on to rant Wellington restaurant. Unsto's head. It's Wellington
(24:40):
on a plate. Burger entry removed after a complaint from
the Colombian embassy. The burger featured a line of garlic
powder and a fake fifty dollars. It was actually one
hundred dollar note, badly written by my producer there one
hundred dollar note, Paddy Gower. It's been kicked out of
the walleytill of a plate. So if you vote for it,
they can't win it. They're going to keep running it.
They're now calling it the censored burger. Apparently the bookings
(25:03):
are going nuts for it. Where the Colombians can concerns
reasonable or do they need to lighten up a it?
Speaker 4 (25:09):
No, I actually think that the colombians concerns are valid.
You know, you couldn't have a Hitler burger or anything
like that. You know Peoplo Escobar, you know, he killed
a lot of people. And and for Colombia, it's not
a joke. They're well within their rights to kind of
complain about the burger. Look, the burger place is won.
That's what these people want. They want controversy. That's why
(25:32):
they've done it. They've got some publicity out of it.
You know, if someone wants to go and snort a
line of garlic powder, be my guest. Be my guest,
and at least you'll know what's in it. It's going
to be pure garlic.
Speaker 3 (25:51):
You could get tested now, just in case. Yeah, okay, yeah,
not like quite when you're a university press finds.
Speaker 5 (26:00):
I can't believe I just heard that. I mean, it's
the biggest load of nonsense. And I would have gone
out of my way to torment the Colombian embassy. Frankly,
it's like it's like when the Turkish ambassador came and
saw me years ago when I was Minister for the Arts.
We published a book on World War One and there
was reference to the Armenian massacre and she said, oh,
(26:21):
my government takes great offense at that, and I said, well,
I'm not responsible for publishing the book, and we don't
sense of things like Urdawe and others do.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Well.
Speaker 5 (26:28):
I didn't exactly say that, but the reality of the
matter is who gives it a damn off? People take
offense at some of the stuff. They need just to
get over.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
It, okay, And I mean we had a couple of
callers we talked about it on the show. I mean,
Cuba Street. Shall we get rid of Cuba Street for dolls?
It's got castro all over the walls.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
That's a very good example.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
Yeah, good point, good point. Good, I'm changing my position here.
Speaker 5 (26:56):
Then there was pravae and they used to walk around
and comey gear, and there was the reference. Yeah I
read that all that stuff about lenin, and then people
could get upset if their ancestors were slaughtered by lenin.
So where does it stop?
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Yeah, it's I mean, that's I think so the same.
And people would buy a t shirt with it on.
They watched documentaries. So anyway, Olympics. Are you both into
the Olympics? Have you been watching any of the Olympics.
I watched Wild the other day, watched the whole thing.
I watched the whole triad. Oh my god, how good
was it? But how sad was it? Patty? What are
you watching? What I'm not watching?
Speaker 4 (27:29):
I'm absolutely glued to it, you know, I was watching
last night. Fantastic to see you know, the gold, the
silver and the bronze on on the water. You watched
all three, Oh, absolutely last night. And I'm really looking
forward to the cycling road race around Paris this weekend.
I'm a cycling geek.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I did not know that about you.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
Yeah, well that's what. That's how I've come across these
problems down on Thornton Key, trying to ride ride through there,
through all these through all these roadworks, and then here
I am today and you're telling me it's five for
deestrian crossings. I thought that was an April fool's joke.
But I'm digressed. I'm digressing. I'm digressing it. There were
April falls, the Petty Gow. You can do whatever you want,
but anyway, yeah, no, I am watching it, and I
(28:07):
think it's just what we need, you know, It's just
what we need at the moment. The country has got
a lurgi, an economic lurgi, a physical lurgi. Ryan's cold broke, jobless.
We need the boost of the Olympics. And we're getting that.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Chrisphins, Are you into the Olympics.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
No.
Speaker 5 (28:25):
In fact, I haven't seen anything involving the Olympics since
nineteen seventy two when the Eights won and you remember
Avery Brundage came down and gave them their gold medals
because he was so impressed with them, and that was
shortly after Munich. In fact, I saw that film Munich
the other day on Netflix, I think it was, and
just reminded me of what a dreadful incident that was.
(28:48):
And of course Mossad got those guys in the fullness
of time, just as they got the guy in Tehran.
So the moral of the story is, don't mess around
with Mossa.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
I remember Simon Dickey was the coxswain of the Eights.
Simon Dixie that room, and.
Speaker 5 (29:02):
Yeah, I diamaged that race very well because know the Eights,
no money, no institute of sport, they all just had
to get out there and do it. But I must confess,
the modern Olympics don't do anything for me because it's
all about money. It's all about country prestige. Do you
remember the East Germany and West Germany used to have
(29:23):
a scrap and the sofa. It's the Americans And so.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I'm sorry you got that one on your own because
me and Paddy I watch.
Speaker 4 (29:30):
You watch what you like?
Speaker 5 (29:31):
But you asked that question, aren't giving you an answer?
Gets stroppy with you go on.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
He's claiming that he hasn't watched the Olympics since nineteen seventy.
I don't believe it. I don't believe it.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
Well, what what? What's they've been to watch?
Speaker 3 (29:49):
And Walker Dan, you load it the Friday time for
hots and knots. Now. I'm going to let Patty Gower
go second on this because he's a new boy on
the show, hasn't been on it before and probably doesn't
know the significance of hots and knots. But chrisophin Lissen
(30:11):
will probably get me in front of some organization and
get me in trouble for what he's about to say
for his hots and notts, because I'm sure they're going
to be controversial.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
What do you want first?
Speaker 3 (30:20):
Oh you go hots or not? What do you feel hot?
Speaker 5 (30:22):
And I just want to just say Newstalk ZEDB is hot.
It's fantastic. And I get up in the morning and
I listen to Hosking hosking is and I say this
with the greatest respect to the two of you. Hear
the best interviewer in the country. Great style, great interviewing technique.
So that's hot, and I just, I really genuinely mean
(30:43):
that I love Newstalk ZEDB. What's not Radio New Zealand
Because the Royal Commission put out a report a couple
of weeks ago on abuse and they referred to my
interactions with the Human Rights Commission at paragraph twenty two,
and Radio New Zealand rang me and interviewed me, and
(31:04):
I gave them the full story contradicted what they had
said in the Royal Commission report. But because I told
them the truth, they never published it. And I really
that really got under my skin because what had been
said was totally unfair and no one in the Royal
Commission had contacted me about the steps I took in
(31:25):
relation to the work that ABSD were doing to pay
out these poor people, and I took a great interest
in it as Attorney General to make sure the job
was done properly. Radio New New Zealand interviewed me, but
because I got out of it and gave them the truth,
they never published it.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
News talk said me would never do that.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Paddy gow Sorry, I'm cutting you down to one minute
because our learned colleague has went for too long.
Speaker 4 (31:50):
You go, well, I actually, I actually think that ZIB's
hot as well, and I agree. I think Mike Costkin
is the best interview in the country, and you know
he is hot. I think the best thing I saw
this week was eric A fair Weather, who came forth
in the woman's freestyle, fourth to the current big thing,
fourth to the next big thing, and fourth to a
(32:13):
former big thing and swimming one of the greatest swimmers
of all time, Katie Lidecki. That is an outstanding achievement
coming forth. It doesn't matter if you don't get a medal.
That is incredible and the way she spoke made me
proud to be a New Zealander. What's not hot? I'm
running out of time here, but I'll say this and
I just want to get it through people's thick heads
(32:34):
out there that I think the Wellington Council sucks.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (32:41):
Patty Gower, Chris Finn, listen, I appreciate you both. And
if anybody hasn't seen or hasn't heard the Mike Hosking
interview with Sam Whitelock. Please listen to what an interview,
What a story, What a good one?
Speaker 1 (32:55):
Thank you both guys, debating the good, the bad, the
ugly and everything in between. Friday Face Off with Quinovic,
Wellington's property management expert. Call eight hundred Quinovic for more
from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills. Listen live to news
Talks It'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays, or follow
(33:16):
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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