October 16, 2025 • 33 mins
Nick Mills wraps the week with radio legend Polly Gillespie and playwright and columnist Dave Armstrong.
Polly tells Nick she's considering a bid for a seat in parliament in next year's election and hints which party she'll run for.
Dave and Polly shared their memories of Jim Bolger and thoughts on the issues of the week.
They discuss Te Pati Māori, Gerry Brownlee cracking down in parliament, the local election results, the new report on Kainga Ora and mental health government funding after the I Am Hope scandal.
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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 it's.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Friday face off and we've been joined today by Poly Gillespie.
Even I got a bit excited when I saw Polly Gillespie.
No disrespect David Armist, but when you see Polly Gillespie
near a radio station, you have to get excited. Radio
personality and mental health advocate. Polly, Good morning and welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Good morning, Mack.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Can I start by asking you this. Yeah, A lot
of people are talking to me. A lot of people
they say, you know Polly. I said, I've known Polly
for forty years.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, when we were only seven when we met. Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yes, And they said, is she running for parliament? I said, what,
there's a lot of speculation. Are you going to put
your name Ford one?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Possibly possibly, though I did. I did see what everybody
had to go through, you know, with the local elections,
and you know, people had their billboards up and everything.
I thought, God, I don't have the money to buy
the giant billboard.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
But if you joined a team, you would have them
paying for it.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Right.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Well there you go. Well we'll see. I did have
a meeting.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I don't do we'll see, Polly. You know that you
know me well enough to know that you will see.
It's like being at your school dance. And I love
giving this analogy. And the girl walks past and says,
maybe I'll have a dance with you later.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I went to school with the guy. He's the best
looking guy at Church College. And he can't remember him
coming up to me once. We were friends and I
wasn't you know, I wasn't gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I was, you know, and you've always been good.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
No, I was at the high school. I was not
the gorgeous any He said, Polly, can I have two
dancers with you? Please? And I mean, well, thank you
for being specific. Yes, So at the end of your dances,
you go, what, that's your two dancers? Thank you? And
I always I always love that that. He was very
you know open, I had two dancers with you. Don't
get excited.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Don't get excited two dances, Dave Armstrong, I'd be very excited.
I'm coming back to you, Polly.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
I never got two dances, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I said, if I got two d.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
That was my girlfriend.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
I don't avoid the question, though, quite nicely.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I'm coming back. So are you going to it?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
So?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I mean, you don't do halves sitting on the fence.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And that's the thing is, if I did it, I realized,
I don't know, there's a lot of you know.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Party would you? I mean I couldn't put you in
a box. What party would you stand for?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Well, not a right wing party possibly so not to
New Zealand First or Act?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Is? What about National? They are they around central?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Delicious?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
See, I couldn't see you in the Greens.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
No, I couldn't see you in the Greens either.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
No, So that leaves us National or Labor, he.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Said, does back to the old first parts of the post.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Who are both the same?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Who are both the same? Just different wording?
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
So which one of those two are you?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I'm not telling you. I mean I know you're used
to I know. Well you just have to wait.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
You better tell me first.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I won't tell you first.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, you better tell me first.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Well, I will announce it on your show if it happens.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
All right, Talking about politics, we lost a great leader, Dave,
start me out. Talk to me about Jim Bulger. I
mean he would have been in your peak, he would
have been Prime.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Minister, oh yeah. And I had an interesting history with
Jim Bolgier because I totally opposed him when he was
Prime minister person. I mean, I wasn't involved in politics,
but I thought, you know, he was the prime minister
when Ruth Richardson brought in euthanasia and Jenny Shipley cup benefits.
So I was no fan of Jim Boldron. I mean,
we've our politics has changed so much, as the fiscal
(03:45):
envelope was considered a terrible thing for Mini Mary, and
yet I grew up to sort of see I think
I wrote a book and called him the great Patiti,
the great Potato with his Irish stock in that, and
I was quite cynical about him. But then I got
to know him, and then I saw some of the
things he did later, and I was I became quite
(04:05):
a fan and of the Prime Minister's i've sort of met.
He's a tremendously likable person, so he didn't have to
share his politics to sort of get on with him.
And I was lucky enough to interview him extensively along
with Jim Anderson about six or eight years ago during
an election campaign that they were involved in, and I
said to him, how did you make up with Winston Peters.
(04:27):
How did you get back with Winston? You know what happened?
And he never called me, Dave, he says, David. I
got on the phone and I realized I wasn't going
to win without Winston. And I picked up the phone
and I said, Hi, Winston, it's Jim here. We need
to talk. I just thought, Wow, what a lesson in
New Zealand politics. And then, you know, two minutes later,
Jim Anderson did the same thing about Helen Clark. I
(04:49):
had this terrible falling out and he rang up and said, Helen,
I think we need to talk. If we don't, we
won't win, and that they got together and he said
we're never friends again, but we we worked, you know.
So it was really interesting. Bulger had He was a
very big personality, and I felt I was really glad
(05:09):
I got to know him. I learned a lot from him.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Lucky Polyglis. But you tell me your thoughts on Jim
Bolger and that we need to talk. We've all done that,
haven't We picked up the phone. Absolutely had a little
bit of an argument. Yeah, I think we need to talk.
It's a great start.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Absolutely, And also, you know, like falling on your sword,
you know, and doing it as quickly as you can.
My Jim Boulger story is, and I think I agree.
He was a good man. He was a good, solid,
key we guy. He so My great great grandfather is
great great great grandfather, Samuel Taylor Coleridge the poet, and
Jim Bolger got up and performed the whole rhyme of
(05:48):
the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. And I went
out through afterwards and I said that was my great
great grandfather's poem. And he said, you're not on the
opium too, Not yet, Jim, not yet.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
What a great story. We don't have politicians like him anymore,
do we.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Someone was saying he was the last, and they weren't
being dismissive uneducated as in, uh, he didn't have a university.
You know, he was smart, but he didn't have a university.
You wouldn't, you know, you wouldn't get into the Labor
Party without law degree once. So I've got to argue
it a little in the National Party. You know, it's
it's it's hard.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
You haven't got a degree, have you said? It's rules
out those two parties.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
I've got qualifications. That's count. It's so no counterwards politics.
I don't think the arts and linguistics kind of count.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Hey, a Minister of Finance has got an arts degree,
so there you go.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Not to be compared to finance.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Thinking very much, let's move on talking about politics. We've
got a bit of drama for the party, Mary lately
not fronting up to the media email scandals. Polly, what
are your thoughts?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I mean, well, I think the thing is I quite
like an anarchist. I quite like people that break rules
every now and then. But I think there are times
when you have to behave funerals church and in parliament,
which doesn't mean that you can't, you know, be at
a little bit rowdy, but I don't think you can.
You can't ignore the media, you can't be dismissive of
(07:19):
the media, and you can't break that many rules. So funerals,
church and in parliament.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Can I put one more in that?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Sure? I absolutely absolutely. Weddings you can do whatever you
want yet draak and they do. And look there are
people sleeping in the bushes at my weddings, so we're
not sleeping so much. But you know, yes, but fun times, yeah, yeah,
But I do think it's a bit silly to go
(07:46):
in and sort of be so dismissive of all the
rules and certainly, you know, ignoring emails and you know,
not turning up at meetings that's not on.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
It seems a bit funny for me, Dave, that we're
talking about the party MARII, and we're talking about Jim Bolger,
because he was the one. He was Prime minister when
they bought an m MP, and he.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Was we have MMP largely because of Jim Bonker. He
made a promise at a conference or somewhere and said,
oh yeah, we'll have a referendum, and then his followers,
his cabinets, he's already going to do that. He says, yes,
I have a man of my word. And it's like,
so the Natural Party were not, for the first time
furious with him for bringing an MP.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah. And when I think about it, because this is
my grape and I've been talking about it on the
show consistently, I never saw ever Jim Bolger without a
tie on, did you well.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
Know, I don't think even and I only met him
and formally, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
And he always so this MMP that he brought in
and we've got a lot of the behavior now in
Parliament that he would I mean, imagine what he'd be
thinking about it.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Well, sort of the same as Winston, but I would
I would argue that it's quite cool having someone wearing
an African costume if they're African born, or it's quite
cool having a guy with a cowboy hat and a
full faced mockel. I grew up in the days where
anyone who had a monchl was a game member. And
now you mean someone with a mochael and they're a
member of you know, they're a government department work or something.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
And they look at love them. I've got no issue
with either. But I've got an issue with a cowboy
hat inside parliament because you won't wear it inside him right.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
We're probably wouldn't wear it. I imagine at a funeral
one would hope not or in church.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
And I think it's a very good looking guy, and
I think I like the mochel. I don't. I have
no issue with, but take the hat off when you
walk into our parliament.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Respect, respect the place you're in. So I mean, you know,
I'm not religious, but if I go into a church,
I mean I don't wear hats anyway, but if I
take my circle except what I forget Sometimes walking around
the library, there's a guy in the circle helmet and
everyone thinks he's crazy.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
And there's another place. Never wear a hat.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
And you know, if you go into you know, like
if you're going to a Jewish ue, you know hanneka
or whatever, you know, a metsfah, you wear the yaka.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Yeah, yeah, because it's a sign of the mosque.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
But it's also the other thing though, is that we
have to be tolerant of one house, but we can't
be tolerant of another. Now, if you're an MP or
someone and someone does a hacker is a spontaneous act.
I've been at puck our funerals where a Mardi guys
turned up who's an old r a mate and done
a hacker. It's been beautiful, beautiful, And I'm saying that
(10:33):
the other day, if you're going to give my player
standing ovation, could you call beforehand so we let you
know things are spontaneous.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I think more to that. I've got to take a break.
But it's interesting because talking about it. Harker at a
at a park of our funeral. We've been talking because
We've been listening to a commentary of Graham Moody, who
you know very well and your ex husband led a
harker at his funeral that made me break down and cry.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Just mentioning Graham Moody makes me cry.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Beautiful man right their face off. For Dave Armstrong, Polly Gillespie,
we've been talking about Jimbolgia. We've been talking about to
party Mari and their behavior is Jerry Brownle. He says
he's going to actually come down and crack down and
he's going to make everyone behaves. You know, look at
her tendance as he's going to get strappy and he's
going to get strong. Polly, does he have the power?
(11:27):
Has he got the courage? Do you think he'll clean
that up?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Jerry Browne reminds me of you know, when you went
to school and there was the principal who was sort of,
you know, away on a pedestal, and then there was
the vice principal, and the vice principle was a bit
of an asshole, to be perfectly honest, the guy that
would give you a detention for wearing the wrong colored nomads.
And he reminds me of the deputy principle of parliament, like,
he's the guy who's going to give you a detention
(11:51):
for your hat, a detention for your wrong colored nomads.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I think I think he's all he's all bluster and
a bluster and credit.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
How funny we said the same word exactly the same time.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
I think he's the woodwork teacher that comes down and says,
all right, you boys, if you do that, I'm giving
you attention. And the big guy says, hey, Jerry, I'm
in the first fifteen that you coach. You're not going
to do anything to me. They sort of seem to
know his weakness. His worst quality is his best quality,
and that's his good nature.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I remember my father, who was a school principal, always
saying deputies are always deputies, you know what I mean.
You don't you sort of go from being a superstar
to being the top. You don't go into that middle spot.
And that's where Jerry Brown he sits with me.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
To be fair to him, it's quite a hard parliament,
you know. If you look at the whole gamut. You
had Winston and Seymour at each other's throats in the
election campaign. They're working very well together. Now that you've
had the Greens have just had the most terrible luck
but also had people misbehaving, and then you've had Pati Mariana,
so that they're presiding. He's presiding over quite a grumpy parliament.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
But I mean that's where leadership.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
If he wanted the job, and he wanted the job.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I mean, it's pretty easy to be strappy, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Do you find him likable?
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Ah, Yeah, there's parts of them I like. I think
he left a very funny message in my answer phone
in nineteen ninety six when I asked him for an
interview and he was just I he was he was great. Yeah,
I think I'm amazed.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I'm amazing that you remember anything from ninety I can't remembering.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
The thing I do remember after the terrible Christ Jeurig earthquakes,
and I had friends who were working in rebuilding the
city and they said he was an absolute nightmare.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
I had a friend that was on the left of
politics per personally, and he worked with him as a
public serment and said he was great. So I don't know. Yeah,
let's talk maybe back health.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
It's coming to your area of expertise. Poly Mike King's
Mental Health Foundation. I had hoped they have all this
money from the government funding as counselor sessions have allegedly decreased.
Now there's been he said, she said, and it's gone
from one side to the other side. But at the
end of the day, one and a half one of
the three quarters one, you know, two, even executives are
(14:10):
getting a lot of money. Is that right for a charity,
for the bosses to get lots of money?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
I don't think so, And I actually think it's scandalous
that twenty four million dollars was given to one charity. Now,
people I know who work closely and mental health, you know,
who have been in there a lot longer than they
said that they're saying, right, we've helped fifteen thousand whatever
young people you know worth counseling. But from what I gather,
(14:38):
and I could be wrong, but I don't know, I'm
taking this as fact that they only get two or
three sessions. Now, when you are a troubled person, and
I am a therapist and I have been to therapy,
you only start being honest about session three. Most people
need at least three months, once a week and longer.
(15:01):
You can't say, hey, look we helped this guy. We
gave him two three SAT counseling sessions. That's not thing.
Nobody opens up, really opens up in the first two
therapy sessions. So I just think the whole thing, I
don't know. I just it's very murky, very murky. And
certainly making that much money for a charity as a CEO,
(15:21):
as a CEO, well, I think it's outrageous and I
think it's scandalous. I think the whole thing is very murky.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And surely you know, I don't know Mike King's history,
and I think the fact that he's brought mental health
awareness to the forefront in New Zealand is a great
thing because I think for far too long in this
country we swept it under the carpet. I always call
it the disease or the injury. With no scar, you
can't you cannot see what's going through. But to pay
(15:47):
someone that has no CEO, you know, background history, that
sort of money, David.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
You know.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Oh, and when you work for a charity, you don't
work for slave wages, but you buy into the fact
that it's a charity. You're not in it for the money.
You're not a merchant banker, and I think that I
was outright. I actually thought I'm in the wrong business.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
But I feel I wish I had that.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
But I agree totally with Polly that the real scandal
isn't isn't that necessary, It's that the whole twenty four
million or whatever was not transparent. Now dandalous, I will,
I will bitch about arts funding Creative New Zealand Film Commission,
but hand on hard I can say there's never been
an example where a minister either side have gone, oh,
(16:29):
give that film that money. They've gone, go through the
due process, get it to the board, every dodging, and
you know, the government got in and went, oh, we
like Mike, let's give them money. And they should have.
They could have been so much clearer and said, let's
set up a fund, let's you know, let's hope Mike
does a great interview and put some some good stuff
and well, we'll do it that way. But they just
(16:49):
gave it, and that causes credit. It's come to bite them.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Have even if you've seen the facility down in James
Smith's building that they set up that I can't remember
the name of it, off my heart, off the top
of my head. But they applied for money and didn't
get money, and look beautiful.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
There are so many agencies that that twenty four million
dollar could have gone to where people got actual therapy
that really helped. And I'm not saying that they didn't
help some people, but not with two or threat not
with two or three sessions in therapy.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Do you think anything will happen out of it?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, I think there's I think a lot. I think
I think the do it's going to come out, I'm
not sure.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
But the other things. Twenty four million not that much
when it's such a big problem. So yes, they could
start giving a bit more.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
You were supposed to be two billion originally.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Wasn't the money? Well, the Labor Party came up with
all this money, but they couldn't spend it.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Remember they just know that's I believe that.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah, they just couldn't. They couldn't get the therapists, they
couldn't get the experts, and they couldn't spend the money.
I mean so, but I mean, what all the best
apart the fact that we're actually talking about mental health
is a good thing, absolutely, because it's not sweeping it
under the carpet.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
And the Americans have talked about going to therapy for that.
You know. I remember in the seventies and people going
to therapy, and I thought that's so odd. But now
I think everybody probably as a therapist. That's a little moment.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Like two out of the three of us in this
room do anyway, I'm thinking Nickel, Polly, take a short break,
have some headlines, and we're back with Polly and Dave.
Are so so much fun on a Friday. If you've
just joined the show, it's Friday Face Office. We've been
doing for thirty something years. On Friday, Polly Gillespie Dave
(18:30):
Armstrong joining us in the studio. We talk about stories
that have come across us as a show during the weekend.
We throw in a few bits and pieces more. One
of the stories that we've got a bit of interest in,
or a lot of interest in, was the new report
that was showing that Knglera is costing the government double
(18:51):
what it would cost private landlords for maintenance and calls
for tenants to be given vouchers instead of property, so
that they could go and rent by anywhere they wanted to,
with anyone they wanted to, and take Congerora houses out
of their equation, Polly does kind or need to be
fixed or completely replaced.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
What are your thought, Gosh, I was hoping you're gonna
go to day first. I have so many thoughts around this.
First of all, the whole the whole giving people vouchers
for rent sort of screams food stamps to me, And
I don't know if it's a particularly dignified way to
help people rent. Also, if they are going to sell
the houses, then, if they are going to community and EWI,
(19:33):
I'm cool. So so if they're being sold off for
people who are not prioritizing profit and who are not
making profit, I'm kind of okay with it. But if
they're going to sell to private people like they did
back and when was it when they sold off all
the state houses back in the nineties, state houses that
are now worth two million dollars, you know, because they've
got the beautiful, perfect METI wooden floors and built beautifully built.
(19:56):
If it's going to be like that, then I'm not
happy with it. If it is going to be sold
to community trusts or community communities and EWI, I'm kind
of okay with as long as people are able to
use those vouchers and feel safe and not feel marginalized.
And yeah, because I think you know, as soon as
you give somebody a voucher or a food stamp or something,
(20:18):
you say you are different from normal people. You're not
good enough, you can't pay for things like normal people.
Just yeah, so I'm thinking about it a lot.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Actually, Dave, you're looking very sort of I don't know.
I agree deep.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Second though, I agree with the thrust of what Polly
is saying. However, let's remember this report was done by
the New Zealand Initiative formerly the Business Around Table, who
are very good at creating policy based evidence, and so
you know, they get a theory and look for facts
to back it up an education. That's certainly been the case.
(20:51):
So I was incredibly I haven't read the full report,
but I was incredibly cynical. Kiga have had some very
bad press press from their own minister and their own
from the government. They were sitting on a lot of
land and they were told they were terribly in debt. Well,
you know, if you own ten properties and your mortgages
a million dollars, that's fine. Actually, okay, they had so
(21:14):
many properties. Unfortunately, they've all been sold off, and there's
been some very weird arguments coming out of cong or
or like there was some state houses but they're in
the wrong place.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Well, why should building in Dition Street that we had
just recently that sold for you know, seven or eleven
story building in Dixon Street they sold for a million
dollars because it was need to do this great street.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Yeah, so I don't I think having state house tenants
in somewhere like Remra or Cororia is fantastic shotgun penating.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
They should, they should, And this is the thing that
state housing should be everywhere. It shouldn't be concentrated.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
In South Auckland or Potador or one.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Place upper Cuba Street. You know, it's it's crazy, like
you should have them everywhere.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
But we have a statehouse tradition. We were world class
when we had state housing. When were good state housing
in the nineteen fifties, we were leading the world, and
places like nine I were just fantastic places with big
families and as you mentioned, remove floors and wonderfully both
beautiful and maintain. And if you just let private land,
but what it will do actually is it will put
(22:16):
up the price of rest exactly, and they're finally going
down in Wellington. So it's good for people who.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Haven't given neither. Have you given us an answer for
the issues that are there with.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Can I just say, well, I don't believe the maintenance
is as bad as they're saying it is. And I've
had people I've got made to work as tradees and say,
oh my god, we've been told to stop maintaining all
the all the buildings to the areas that were used to.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Here's here's a story for you. So a friend of
mine who was in emergency housing, I think he come
out of prison. Actually he was put into emergency housing
and I think it was Gusney Street or Dickson Street.
And what he got was a room and one of
those you know like they have like cells, you know,
where there's six bedrooms, a bathroom in a kitchen. Nine
hundred dollars a week. The government was paying for him
to be in one room in one of these pod
(23:04):
units with five other people and a kitchen and one bathroom.
Now that seems to me like a hell of a
waste of money, of taxpayer money. Why nine hundred dollars
for a room in a crappy and a creepy place. Yeah,
so I think there's a lot of waste of money.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
But you know this, of course there is waste in
coming or but you think of you know that they're
saying all this maintenance is costing. A lot of landlords
do very little maintenance. That's what I mean. You're at
the mercy and that's one of the structural problems in
New Zealand. Is landlords are amateurs. They're rich or people
that want to have an investment property. They're not tradees,
(23:42):
they're not people with carpentry schools. They're just people that
need a tax free thing because if they put it
into ship, if they put into something else, they might
have to pay tax.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
When you get a landloard, it's a builder. It's great.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Once again, Friday Face got caught in the ads and
it was Dave lecturing me. He was lecturing. He was
giving me the school teacher thing, and that never works
with me because I didn't do very well at school.
Coming in with that school teacher.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
School teacher, I'd never lose at least principle, I failed
school teacher.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
There's no such thing as a failed ex teacher. Polly
and Dave, I want to ask you about the local election,
So Dave will start with you. What do you give
us a summition of how you think it went?
Speaker 4 (24:25):
How do you feel okay? Eighteen months ago, I would
have said to you if I'd been here, and I
might have been here and said to you, I think
there might be a plague on both your houses. They
might get rid of all the incumbents because the council
was so dysfunctional, and what happened, everyone save one counselor
got back. So I think the interesting thing is Wellingtonians
(24:45):
didn't blame the incumbents for the For the thing, I
think if I was a counselor, I'd send Simeon Brown
or Chris Lux and I thank you card for bringing
the Crown and Observer observer because I think it galvanized
Wellingtonians and they said it might be dysfunctional, but it's
our dysfunctional council. Don't interfere, So I think it was.
The other thing is last time the a real anti
(25:07):
labor wave, mainly because they were the government, but also
because Paul Eagle ran a pretty divisive campaign and broke
a comp promised that he wouldn't resign as MP. So
there was a lot of ill feelings. That's disappeared, right.
I also think Labor will win us because they said
don't sell the airport asset. I think that that has
shown lots of ways, all this left wing whitewash left wing.
(25:31):
You know, well, Andrew Little's got six Labor and six
Independence and this four Greens. So he can choose to
get the Independence on side, or he can choose to
get the Greens on side on any issue, right, and
so his big challenge will be getting everyone on side.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
So give me a score out of you know, before
Saturday time, After Saturday, give me a score out of ten.
How you feel as a Walentonian, as an intelligent Wellingtonian?
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Ah? Probably seven? Great, more positive than negative.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
That's great, and it's a really good I never thought
of it. I appreciate you for telling. Only one person changed,
and I didn't realize.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
That John Panovich lost his seat in Takapu Northern Ward
and he only lost a bit. He was unlucky to lose,
and he was replaced by someone with very similar politics and.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Very high profile. She was running for me at one stage,
wasn't she.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Yeah? Yeah, And a disastrous night for h as you've
got to see he squeaked, and I think on speech
might not have forty votes. I think he got in
by the latest, but I'm not sure if that's final.
And you know, as much as people you know, Tory
lost his seat, but she wasn't. She wasn't an incumbent
in that seat. As much as people have criticized her
(26:45):
now myself included she released that email and that put
paid to raise campaign.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
My wife's got a really simple piece of advice on emails,
don't send them till the next morning. And I think
that I think listened to my wife. Maybe he wouldn't
have said that.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Or don't send a text. You know, Ladies, stop and
think about it. I've fallen into that.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Give me your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I think it's great that Andrew Little's mare. I think
it's time for a solid politician, good guy, you know,
matter of I thought he would. I knew he'd win
by landslide. And I've just sitting at the doctors and
I hear people debating without whether he was a good
businessman and all this stuff, and I thought, he's going
to get in. He's going to get He's going to
get in with huge numbers. Which I think is great,
(27:29):
and I think it's great that King Laban first. I
love King, Love Keen, love Andrew. So I'm you know,
I'm happy. I don't know much about to be perfectly honest,
I don't know much about the little the little people.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
The little counselors, the little people managed to stay in.
I'm even a little bit surprised when you think about it,
how they all matters, because I was saying, for six
months a year, get rid of the lot. Well I was.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
I wasn't saying that, but I was hearing people.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Most people. I don't think most people knew who they were.
To be perfectly honest, I'm when I was voting, I
was like, yes, no, I know day and I know
that sounds awful, but sometimes you know, like local body
body politics, isn't.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
That Yeah, you bring up a good point about turn out,
turnouts up it's I think forty eight great. But at
the same time, I, you know, s TV is good,
but it's a complicated system. I had people saying to
me how do I vote? I never tell people how
to vote, but if there's only one person you've heard of,
and like, only what's the thing people?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Right, I've got to take a break, so I want
to come back with your hots and knots. So think
about that. I'm sure you've got them written down. Quite
often when I was doing the show, I didn't. I
had to sit there and think very quickly what my
hots and knots with? But I'm sure that you've got
your hots and knots down.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
The Friday fat.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Okay, Okay, who wants to go first? Dave, you go first.
You look like you're better organized, organizing, organize.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
I don't know why I said, because I said to you,
what's hot?
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Okay? Last night I went to the Jazz Orchestra as
part of the Wellington Jazz Festival standing ovation. They're just amazing.
So the festival, The Hot goes to the Wellington Jazz Festival,
two hundred acts over over a week and it ends
on Sunday. So great. We we talk about where was
that event? That event was that? Oh yao nui? Which
(29:31):
is the old Salvation Armies.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
You tell me about their venue. I haven't been there.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Well, it was it's a nice it's the old Salvation
Army Hall. And I went to brass band concerts there.
It's been done up, it's got a lovely bar, which
I don't know, but we had drinking in a Salvation
Salvation Army place. It's a lovely bar, and the acoustics
were great. They had a very good sound person and
the concert was just fantastic. I mean, I don't know
what it would be like for a big a rock band,
but for a jazz orchestra it was just amazing. Not hot,
(29:58):
not hot. Cost of living. I read yesterday butter white
bread has been up fifty percent in the last year.
Now we talk about four percent inflation whatever and rates,
butter has gone up twenty nine percent. I went, cheese
has gone up thirty one percent. That's what are poor
people buy, you.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Know, lunch and sausage.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, well yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Mean it's terrible. It's terrible for normal middle class.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
But what read has become.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Too great about because I get I get hammered on
the text machine every time I bring it up. I say,
you know, is real real.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
I went to the uh, you know, my wife and
I both an employment, went to the supermarket and said,
I'll get some months we have burgers. Oh what a
great idea. And I go to the months and we
normally get premium, not ordinary people. What thirty one bucks
a kilogram, that's what that's house steak.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
I don't buy meat now, I really well, I'd like to.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
Pay the government for greatly reducing my meat and taken.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Yeah, that's true about thanks.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Party, give us your hot KNTS. Sorry to rushing very quick.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Not Dave had very good points. My hot is the hero,
the woman who stepped in to protect a boy from
a savage beating. Her name was Matadia Ray, and she
as my hero. And I think I love that. I'm
the sort of person that steps into the fray two
and later thinks, PEPs, I shouldn't have done that. And
my not is our outrageous airline prices to go along
(31:29):
with our outrageous cost of living. We can't actually afford
to leave.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
We can't afford to stay domestically.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
It's just it's easier to go to Brisbane than to
go to Auckland. It's insane.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, it's insane.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
And try booking a flight like three days before.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
You don't want to do that, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Forget it. Oh my gosh. Yes, and yet we all
have nice airports.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
We've got bloody nice airports, haven't we. Yeah, I'm flying
jet Star this afternoon, so I'm not even sure whether
I'll leave town.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
No, Jetstar are great? You, I mean, me and Coops
have had this because Coeps my boss. He does a
lot of travel and he uses jet Star all the time.
He's he's an advocate. He said, he's not been late.
It's been great, and I think we've been I think
that old jit Star is not on new JITs.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
I wrote a column about ten years ago saying you've
been Jit starred as because people you know, and it
has improved. About that. You heard that from so many people.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I'll teach you.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
We don't expect champagne as you hop on the plane,
but the seats are just as.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Comfortable to fly out of town would be.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
How lucky are you? How lucky are you? Thank you
both so so much. Dave Armstrong, great to see you again.
Keep up the good work. And Polly Gillespie, we should
talk sometimes. I think I need your help. I can
book you and my new producers putting me onto real stress.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
He seems very laid back compared to your last producer,
who was constantly going nekid forgot something.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
He was aw right? How are you Polly? All right? Hell?
It's amazing, you're right.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick, listen live to
news talks It'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk said, b it's.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Friday face off and we've been joined today by Poly Gillespie.
Even I got a bit excited when I saw Polly Gillespie.
No disrespect David Armist, but when you see Polly Gillespie
near a radio station, you have to get excited. Radio
personality and mental health advocate. Polly, Good morning and welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Good morning, Mack.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Can I start by asking you this. Yeah, A lot
of people are talking to me. A lot of people
they say, you know Polly. I said, I've known Polly
for forty years.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, when we were only seven when we met. Yes.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yes, And they said, is she running for parliament? I said, what,
there's a lot of speculation. Are you going to put
your name Ford one?
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Well?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
Possibly possibly, though I did. I did see what everybody
had to go through, you know, with the local elections,
and you know, people had their billboards up and everything.
I thought, God, I don't have the money to buy
the giant billboard.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
But if you joined a team, you would have them
paying for it.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Right.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
Well there you go. Well we'll see. I did have
a meeting.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
I don't do we'll see, Polly. You know that you
know me well enough to know that you will see.
It's like being at your school dance. And I love
giving this analogy. And the girl walks past and says,
maybe I'll have a dance with you later.
Speaker 3 (01:29):
I went to school with the guy. He's the best
looking guy at Church College. And he can't remember him
coming up to me once. We were friends and I
wasn't you know, I wasn't gorgeous.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
I was, you know, and you've always been good.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
No, I was at the high school. I was not
the gorgeous any He said, Polly, can I have two
dancers with you? Please? And I mean, well, thank you
for being specific. Yes, So at the end of your dances,
you go, what, that's your two dancers? Thank you? And
I always I always love that that. He was very
you know open, I had two dancers with you. Don't
get excited.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Don't get excited two dances, Dave Armstrong, I'd be very excited.
I'm coming back to you, Polly.
Speaker 4 (02:02):
I never got two dances, That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I said, if I got two d.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
That was my girlfriend.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
I don't avoid the question, though, quite nicely.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I'm coming back. So are you going to it?
Speaker 1 (02:18):
So?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I mean, you don't do halves sitting on the fence.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
And that's the thing is, if I did it, I realized,
I don't know, there's a lot of you know.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Party would you? I mean I couldn't put you in
a box. What party would you stand for?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Well, not a right wing party possibly so not to
New Zealand First or Act?
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Is? What about National? They are they around central?
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Delicious?
Speaker 2 (02:46):
See, I couldn't see you in the Greens.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
No, I couldn't see you in the Greens either.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
No, So that leaves us National or Labor, he.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
Said, does back to the old first parts of the post.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Who are both the same?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
Who are both the same? Just different wording?
Speaker 4 (02:59):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:00):
So which one of those two are you?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I'm not telling you. I mean I know you're used
to I know. Well you just have to wait.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
You better tell me first.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
I won't tell you first.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, you better tell me first.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Well, I will announce it on your show if it happens.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
All right, Talking about politics, we lost a great leader, Dave,
start me out. Talk to me about Jim Bulger. I
mean he would have been in your peak, he would
have been Prime.
Speaker 4 (03:22):
Minister, oh yeah. And I had an interesting history with
Jim Bolgier because I totally opposed him when he was
Prime minister person. I mean, I wasn't involved in politics,
but I thought, you know, he was the prime minister
when Ruth Richardson brought in euthanasia and Jenny Shipley cup benefits.
So I was no fan of Jim Boldron. I mean,
we've our politics has changed so much, as the fiscal
(03:45):
envelope was considered a terrible thing for Mini Mary, and
yet I grew up to sort of see I think
I wrote a book and called him the great Patiti,
the great Potato with his Irish stock in that, and
I was quite cynical about him. But then I got
to know him, and then I saw some of the
things he did later, and I was I became quite
(04:05):
a fan and of the Prime Minister's i've sort of met.
He's a tremendously likable person, so he didn't have to
share his politics to sort of get on with him.
And I was lucky enough to interview him extensively along
with Jim Anderson about six or eight years ago during
an election campaign that they were involved in, and I
said to him, how did you make up with Winston Peters.
(04:27):
How did you get back with Winston? You know what happened?
And he never called me, Dave, he says, David. I
got on the phone and I realized I wasn't going
to win without Winston. And I picked up the phone
and I said, Hi, Winston, it's Jim here. We need
to talk. I just thought, Wow, what a lesson in
New Zealand politics. And then, you know, two minutes later,
Jim Anderson did the same thing about Helen Clark. I
(04:49):
had this terrible falling out and he rang up and said, Helen,
I think we need to talk. If we don't, we
won't win, and that they got together and he said
we're never friends again, but we we worked, you know.
So it was really interesting. Bulger had He was a
very big personality, and I felt I was really glad
(05:09):
I got to know him. I learned a lot from him.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Lucky Polyglis. But you tell me your thoughts on Jim
Bolger and that we need to talk. We've all done that,
haven't We picked up the phone. Absolutely had a little
bit of an argument. Yeah, I think we need to talk.
It's a great start.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Absolutely, And also, you know, like falling on your sword,
you know, and doing it as quickly as you can.
My Jim Boulger story is, and I think I agree.
He was a good man. He was a good, solid,
key we guy. He so My great great grandfather is
great great great grandfather, Samuel Taylor Coleridge the poet, and
Jim Bolger got up and performed the whole rhyme of
(05:48):
the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. And I went
out through afterwards and I said that was my great
great grandfather's poem. And he said, you're not on the
opium too, Not yet, Jim, not yet.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
What a great story. We don't have politicians like him anymore,
do we.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Someone was saying he was the last, and they weren't
being dismissive uneducated as in, uh, he didn't have a university.
You know, he was smart, but he didn't have a university.
You wouldn't, you know, you wouldn't get into the Labor
Party without law degree once. So I've got to argue
it a little in the National Party. You know, it's
it's it's hard.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
You haven't got a degree, have you said? It's rules
out those two parties.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
I've got qualifications. That's count. It's so no counterwards politics.
I don't think the arts and linguistics kind of count.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Hey, a Minister of Finance has got an arts degree,
so there you go.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Not to be compared to finance.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Thinking very much, let's move on talking about politics. We've
got a bit of drama for the party, Mary lately
not fronting up to the media email scandals. Polly, what
are your thoughts?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
I mean, well, I think the thing is I quite
like an anarchist. I quite like people that break rules
every now and then. But I think there are times
when you have to behave funerals church and in parliament,
which doesn't mean that you can't, you know, be at
a little bit rowdy, but I don't think you can.
You can't ignore the media, you can't be dismissive of
(07:19):
the media, and you can't break that many rules. So funerals,
church and in parliament.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Can I put one more in that?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
Sure? I absolutely absolutely. Weddings you can do whatever you
want yet draak and they do. And look there are
people sleeping in the bushes at my weddings, so we're
not sleeping so much. But you know, yes, but fun times, yeah, yeah,
But I do think it's a bit silly to go
(07:46):
in and sort of be so dismissive of all the
rules and certainly, you know, ignoring emails and you know,
not turning up at meetings that's not on.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
It seems a bit funny for me, Dave, that we're
talking about the party MARII, and we're talking about Jim Bolger,
because he was the one. He was Prime minister when
they bought an m MP, and he.
Speaker 4 (08:06):
Was we have MMP largely because of Jim Bonker. He
made a promise at a conference or somewhere and said,
oh yeah, we'll have a referendum, and then his followers,
his cabinets, he's already going to do that. He says, yes,
I have a man of my word. And it's like,
so the Natural Party were not, for the first time
furious with him for bringing an MP.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah. And when I think about it, because this is
my grape and I've been talking about it on the
show consistently, I never saw ever Jim Bolger without a
tie on, did you well.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
Know, I don't think even and I only met him
and formally, you know.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
And he always so this MMP that he brought in
and we've got a lot of the behavior now in
Parliament that he would I mean, imagine what he'd be
thinking about it.
Speaker 4 (08:55):
Well, sort of the same as Winston, but I would
I would argue that it's quite cool having someone wearing
an African costume if they're African born, or it's quite
cool having a guy with a cowboy hat and a
full faced mockel. I grew up in the days where
anyone who had a monchl was a game member. And
now you mean someone with a mochael and they're a
member of you know, they're a government department work or something.
Speaker 2 (09:17):
And they look at love them. I've got no issue
with either. But I've got an issue with a cowboy
hat inside parliament because you won't wear it inside him right.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
We're probably wouldn't wear it. I imagine at a funeral
one would hope not or in church.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
And I think it's a very good looking guy, and
I think I like the mochel. I don't. I have
no issue with, but take the hat off when you
walk into our parliament.
Speaker 4 (09:38):
Respect, respect the place you're in. So I mean, you know,
I'm not religious, but if I go into a church,
I mean I don't wear hats anyway, but if I
take my circle except what I forget Sometimes walking around
the library, there's a guy in the circle helmet and
everyone thinks he's crazy.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
And there's another place. Never wear a hat.
Speaker 5 (09:55):
And you know, if you go into you know, like
if you're going to a Jewish ue, you know hanneka
or whatever, you know, a metsfah, you wear the yaka.
Speaker 3 (10:07):
Yeah, yeah, because it's a sign of the mosque.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
But it's also the other thing though, is that we
have to be tolerant of one house, but we can't
be tolerant of another. Now, if you're an MP or
someone and someone does a hacker is a spontaneous act.
I've been at puck our funerals where a Mardi guys
turned up who's an old r a mate and done
a hacker. It's been beautiful, beautiful, And I'm saying that
(10:33):
the other day, if you're going to give my player
standing ovation, could you call beforehand so we let you
know things are spontaneous.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
I think more to that. I've got to take a break.
But it's interesting because talking about it. Harker at a
at a park of our funeral. We've been talking because
We've been listening to a commentary of Graham Moody, who
you know very well and your ex husband led a
harker at his funeral that made me break down and cry.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
Just mentioning Graham Moody makes me cry.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Beautiful man right their face off. For Dave Armstrong, Polly Gillespie,
we've been talking about Jimbolgia. We've been talking about to
party Mari and their behavior is Jerry Brownle. He says
he's going to actually come down and crack down and
he's going to make everyone behaves. You know, look at
her tendance as he's going to get strappy and he's
going to get strong. Polly, does he have the power?
(11:27):
Has he got the courage? Do you think he'll clean
that up?
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Jerry Browne reminds me of you know, when you went
to school and there was the principal who was sort of,
you know, away on a pedestal, and then there was
the vice principal, and the vice principle was a bit
of an asshole, to be perfectly honest, the guy that
would give you a detention for wearing the wrong colored nomads.
And he reminds me of the deputy principle of parliament, like,
he's the guy who's going to give you a detention
(11:51):
for your hat, a detention for your wrong colored nomads.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I think I think he's all he's all bluster and
a bluster and credit.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
How funny we said the same word exactly the same time.
Speaker 4 (12:01):
I think he's the woodwork teacher that comes down and says,
all right, you boys, if you do that, I'm giving
you attention. And the big guy says, hey, Jerry, I'm
in the first fifteen that you coach. You're not going
to do anything to me. They sort of seem to
know his weakness. His worst quality is his best quality,
and that's his good nature.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
I remember my father, who was a school principal, always
saying deputies are always deputies, you know what I mean.
You don't you sort of go from being a superstar
to being the top. You don't go into that middle spot.
And that's where Jerry Brown he sits with me.
Speaker 4 (12:34):
To be fair to him, it's quite a hard parliament,
you know. If you look at the whole gamut. You
had Winston and Seymour at each other's throats in the
election campaign. They're working very well together. Now that you've
had the Greens have just had the most terrible luck
but also had people misbehaving, and then you've had Pati Mariana,
so that they're presiding. He's presiding over quite a grumpy parliament.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
But I mean that's where leadership.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
If he wanted the job, and he wanted the job.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
I mean, it's pretty easy to be strappy, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Do you find him likable?
Speaker 4 (13:07):
Ah, Yeah, there's parts of them I like. I think
he left a very funny message in my answer phone
in nineteen ninety six when I asked him for an
interview and he was just I he was he was great. Yeah,
I think I'm amazed.
Speaker 2 (13:21):
I'm amazing that you remember anything from ninety I can't remembering.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
The thing I do remember after the terrible Christ Jeurig earthquakes,
and I had friends who were working in rebuilding the
city and they said he was an absolute nightmare.
Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
I had a friend that was on the left of
politics per personally, and he worked with him as a
public serment and said he was great. So I don't know. Yeah,
let's talk maybe back health.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
It's coming to your area of expertise. Poly Mike King's
Mental Health Foundation. I had hoped they have all this
money from the government funding as counselor sessions have allegedly decreased.
Now there's been he said, she said, and it's gone
from one side to the other side. But at the
end of the day, one and a half one of
the three quarters one, you know, two, even executives are
(14:10):
getting a lot of money. Is that right for a charity,
for the bosses to get lots of money?
Speaker 3 (14:16):
I don't think so, And I actually think it's scandalous
that twenty four million dollars was given to one charity. Now,
people I know who work closely and mental health, you know,
who have been in there a lot longer than they
said that they're saying, right, we've helped fifteen thousand whatever
young people you know worth counseling. But from what I gather,
(14:38):
and I could be wrong, but I don't know, I'm
taking this as fact that they only get two or
three sessions. Now, when you are a troubled person, and
I am a therapist and I have been to therapy,
you only start being honest about session three. Most people
need at least three months, once a week and longer.
(15:01):
You can't say, hey, look we helped this guy. We
gave him two three SAT counseling sessions. That's not thing.
Nobody opens up, really opens up in the first two
therapy sessions. So I just think the whole thing, I
don't know. I just it's very murky, very murky. And
certainly making that much money for a charity as a CEO,
(15:21):
as a CEO, well, I think it's outrageous and I
think it's scandalous. I think the whole thing is very murky.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
And surely you know, I don't know Mike King's history,
and I think the fact that he's brought mental health
awareness to the forefront in New Zealand is a great
thing because I think for far too long in this
country we swept it under the carpet. I always call
it the disease or the injury. With no scar, you
can't you cannot see what's going through. But to pay
(15:47):
someone that has no CEO, you know, background history, that
sort of money, David.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
You know.
Speaker 4 (15:53):
Oh, and when you work for a charity, you don't
work for slave wages, but you buy into the fact
that it's a charity. You're not in it for the money.
You're not a merchant banker, and I think that I
was outright. I actually thought I'm in the wrong business.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
But I feel I wish I had that.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
But I agree totally with Polly that the real scandal
isn't isn't that necessary, It's that the whole twenty four
million or whatever was not transparent. Now dandalous, I will,
I will bitch about arts funding Creative New Zealand Film Commission,
but hand on hard I can say there's never been
an example where a minister either side have gone, oh,
(16:29):
give that film that money. They've gone, go through the
due process, get it to the board, every dodging, and
you know, the government got in and went, oh, we
like Mike, let's give them money. And they should have.
They could have been so much clearer and said, let's
set up a fund, let's you know, let's hope Mike
does a great interview and put some some good stuff
and well, we'll do it that way. But they just
(16:49):
gave it, and that causes credit. It's come to bite them.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Have even if you've seen the facility down in James
Smith's building that they set up that I can't remember
the name of it, off my heart, off the top
of my head. But they applied for money and didn't
get money, and look beautiful.
Speaker 3 (17:03):
There are so many agencies that that twenty four million
dollar could have gone to where people got actual therapy
that really helped. And I'm not saying that they didn't
help some people, but not with two or threat not
with two or three sessions in therapy.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Do you think anything will happen out of it?
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Yeah, I think there's I think a lot. I think
I think the do it's going to come out, I'm
not sure.
Speaker 4 (17:25):
But the other things. Twenty four million not that much
when it's such a big problem. So yes, they could
start giving a bit more.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
You were supposed to be two billion originally.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
Wasn't the money? Well, the Labor Party came up with
all this money, but they couldn't spend it.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Remember they just know that's I believe that.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah, they just couldn't. They couldn't get the therapists, they
couldn't get the experts, and they couldn't spend the money.
I mean so, but I mean, what all the best
apart the fact that we're actually talking about mental health
is a good thing, absolutely, because it's not sweeping it
under the carpet.
Speaker 3 (17:57):
And the Americans have talked about going to therapy for that.
You know. I remember in the seventies and people going
to therapy, and I thought that's so odd. But now
I think everybody probably as a therapist. That's a little moment.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
Like two out of the three of us in this
room do anyway, I'm thinking Nickel, Polly, take a short break,
have some headlines, and we're back with Polly and Dave.
Are so so much fun on a Friday. If you've
just joined the show, it's Friday Face Office. We've been
doing for thirty something years. On Friday, Polly Gillespie Dave
(18:30):
Armstrong joining us in the studio. We talk about stories
that have come across us as a show during the weekend.
We throw in a few bits and pieces more. One
of the stories that we've got a bit of interest in,
or a lot of interest in, was the new report
that was showing that Knglera is costing the government double
(18:51):
what it would cost private landlords for maintenance and calls
for tenants to be given vouchers instead of property, so
that they could go and rent by anywhere they wanted to,
with anyone they wanted to, and take Congerora houses out
of their equation, Polly does kind or need to be
fixed or completely replaced.
Speaker 3 (19:10):
What are your thought, Gosh, I was hoping you're gonna
go to day first. I have so many thoughts around this.
First of all, the whole the whole giving people vouchers
for rent sort of screams food stamps to me, And
I don't know if it's a particularly dignified way to
help people rent. Also, if they are going to sell
the houses, then, if they are going to community and EWI,
(19:33):
I'm cool. So so if they're being sold off for
people who are not prioritizing profit and who are not
making profit, I'm kind of okay with it. But if
they're going to sell to private people like they did
back and when was it when they sold off all
the state houses back in the nineties, state houses that
are now worth two million dollars, you know, because they've
got the beautiful, perfect METI wooden floors and built beautifully built.
(19:56):
If it's going to be like that, then I'm not
happy with it. If it is going to be sold
to community trusts or community communities and EWI, I'm kind
of okay with as long as people are able to
use those vouchers and feel safe and not feel marginalized.
And yeah, because I think you know, as soon as
you give somebody a voucher or a food stamp or something,
(20:18):
you say you are different from normal people. You're not
good enough, you can't pay for things like normal people.
Just yeah, so I'm thinking about it a lot.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Actually, Dave, you're looking very sort of I don't know.
I agree deep.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
Second though, I agree with the thrust of what Polly
is saying. However, let's remember this report was done by
the New Zealand Initiative formerly the Business Around Table, who
are very good at creating policy based evidence, and so
you know, they get a theory and look for facts
to back it up an education. That's certainly been the case.
(20:51):
So I was incredibly I haven't read the full report,
but I was incredibly cynical. Kiga have had some very
bad press press from their own minister and their own
from the government. They were sitting on a lot of
land and they were told they were terribly in debt. Well,
you know, if you own ten properties and your mortgages
a million dollars, that's fine. Actually, okay, they had so
(21:14):
many properties. Unfortunately, they've all been sold off, and there's
been some very weird arguments coming out of cong or
or like there was some state houses but they're in
the wrong place.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Well, why should building in Dition Street that we had
just recently that sold for you know, seven or eleven
story building in Dixon Street they sold for a million
dollars because it was need to do this great street.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Yeah, so I don't I think having state house tenants
in somewhere like Remra or Cororia is fantastic shotgun penating.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
They should, they should, And this is the thing that
state housing should be everywhere. It shouldn't be concentrated.
Speaker 4 (21:47):
In South Auckland or Potador or one.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
Place upper Cuba Street. You know, it's it's crazy, like
you should have them everywhere.
Speaker 4 (21:55):
But we have a statehouse tradition. We were world class
when we had state housing. When were good state housing
in the nineteen fifties, we were leading the world, and
places like nine I were just fantastic places with big
families and as you mentioned, remove floors and wonderfully both
beautiful and maintain. And if you just let private land,
but what it will do actually is it will put
(22:16):
up the price of rest exactly, and they're finally going
down in Wellington. So it's good for people who.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
Haven't given neither. Have you given us an answer for
the issues that are there with.
Speaker 4 (22:27):
Can I just say, well, I don't believe the maintenance
is as bad as they're saying it is. And I've
had people I've got made to work as tradees and say,
oh my god, we've been told to stop maintaining all
the all the buildings to the areas that were used to.
Speaker 3 (22:41):
Here's here's a story for you. So a friend of
mine who was in emergency housing, I think he come
out of prison. Actually he was put into emergency housing
and I think it was Gusney Street or Dickson Street.
And what he got was a room and one of
those you know like they have like cells, you know,
where there's six bedrooms, a bathroom in a kitchen. Nine
hundred dollars a week. The government was paying for him
to be in one room in one of these pod
(23:04):
units with five other people and a kitchen and one bathroom.
Now that seems to me like a hell of a
waste of money, of taxpayer money. Why nine hundred dollars
for a room in a crappy and a creepy place. Yeah,
so I think there's a lot of waste of money.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
But you know this, of course there is waste in
coming or but you think of you know that they're
saying all this maintenance is costing. A lot of landlords
do very little maintenance. That's what I mean. You're at
the mercy and that's one of the structural problems in
New Zealand. Is landlords are amateurs. They're rich or people
that want to have an investment property. They're not tradees,
(23:42):
they're not people with carpentry schools. They're just people that
need a tax free thing because if they put it
into ship, if they put into something else, they might
have to pay tax.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
When you get a landloard, it's a builder. It's great.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Once again, Friday Face got caught in the ads and
it was Dave lecturing me. He was lecturing. He was
giving me the school teacher thing, and that never works
with me because I didn't do very well at school.
Coming in with that school teacher.
Speaker 4 (24:08):
School teacher, I'd never lose at least principle, I failed
school teacher.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
There's no such thing as a failed ex teacher. Polly
and Dave, I want to ask you about the local election,
So Dave will start with you. What do you give
us a summition of how you think it went?
Speaker 4 (24:25):
How do you feel okay? Eighteen months ago, I would
have said to you if I'd been here, and I
might have been here and said to you, I think
there might be a plague on both your houses. They
might get rid of all the incumbents because the council
was so dysfunctional, and what happened, everyone save one counselor
got back. So I think the interesting thing is Wellingtonians
(24:45):
didn't blame the incumbents for the For the thing, I
think if I was a counselor, I'd send Simeon Brown
or Chris Lux and I thank you card for bringing
the Crown and Observer observer because I think it galvanized
Wellingtonians and they said it might be dysfunctional, but it's
our dysfunctional council. Don't interfere, So I think it was.
The other thing is last time the a real anti
(25:07):
labor wave, mainly because they were the government, but also
because Paul Eagle ran a pretty divisive campaign and broke
a comp promised that he wouldn't resign as MP. So
there was a lot of ill feelings. That's disappeared, right.
I also think Labor will win us because they said
don't sell the airport asset. I think that that has
shown lots of ways, all this left wing whitewash left wing.
(25:31):
You know, well, Andrew Little's got six Labor and six
Independence and this four Greens. So he can choose to
get the Independence on side, or he can choose to
get the Greens on side on any issue, right, and
so his big challenge will be getting everyone on side.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
So give me a score out of you know, before
Saturday time, After Saturday, give me a score out of ten.
How you feel as a Walentonian, as an intelligent Wellingtonian?
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Ah? Probably seven? Great, more positive than negative.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
That's great, and it's a really good I never thought
of it. I appreciate you for telling. Only one person changed,
and I didn't realize.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
That John Panovich lost his seat in Takapu Northern Ward
and he only lost a bit. He was unlucky to lose,
and he was replaced by someone with very similar politics and.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Very high profile. She was running for me at one stage,
wasn't she.
Speaker 4 (26:22):
Yeah? Yeah, And a disastrous night for h as you've
got to see he squeaked, and I think on speech
might not have forty votes. I think he got in
by the latest, but I'm not sure if that's final.
And you know, as much as people you know, Tory
lost his seat, but she wasn't. She wasn't an incumbent
in that seat. As much as people have criticized her
(26:45):
now myself included she released that email and that put
paid to raise campaign.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
My wife's got a really simple piece of advice on emails,
don't send them till the next morning. And I think
that I think listened to my wife. Maybe he wouldn't
have said that.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Or don't send a text. You know, Ladies, stop and
think about it. I've fallen into that.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Give me your thoughts.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
I think it's great that Andrew Little's mare. I think
it's time for a solid politician, good guy, you know,
matter of I thought he would. I knew he'd win
by landslide. And I've just sitting at the doctors and
I hear people debating without whether he was a good
businessman and all this stuff, and I thought, he's going
to get in. He's going to get He's going to
get in with huge numbers. Which I think is great,
(27:29):
and I think it's great that King Laban first. I
love King, Love Keen, love Andrew. So I'm you know,
I'm happy. I don't know much about to be perfectly honest,
I don't know much about the little the little people.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
The little counselors, the little people managed to stay in.
I'm even a little bit surprised when you think about it,
how they all matters, because I was saying, for six
months a year, get rid of the lot. Well I was.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
I wasn't saying that, but I was hearing people.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Most people. I don't think most people knew who they were.
To be perfectly honest, I'm when I was voting, I
was like, yes, no, I know day and I know
that sounds awful, but sometimes you know, like local body
body politics, isn't.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
That Yeah, you bring up a good point about turn out,
turnouts up it's I think forty eight great. But at
the same time, I, you know, s TV is good,
but it's a complicated system. I had people saying to
me how do I vote? I never tell people how
to vote, but if there's only one person you've heard of,
and like, only what's the thing people?
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Right, I've got to take a break, so I want
to come back with your hots and knots. So think
about that. I'm sure you've got them written down. Quite
often when I was doing the show, I didn't. I
had to sit there and think very quickly what my
hots and knots with? But I'm sure that you've got
your hots and knots down.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
The Friday fat.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
Okay, Okay, who wants to go first? Dave, you go first.
You look like you're better organized, organizing, organize.
Speaker 3 (29:03):
I don't know why I said, because I said to you,
what's hot?
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Okay? Last night I went to the Jazz Orchestra as
part of the Wellington Jazz Festival standing ovation. They're just amazing.
So the festival, The Hot goes to the Wellington Jazz Festival,
two hundred acts over over a week and it ends
on Sunday. So great. We we talk about where was
that event? That event was that? Oh yao nui? Which
(29:31):
is the old Salvation Armies.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
You tell me about their venue. I haven't been there.
Speaker 4 (29:35):
Well, it was it's a nice it's the old Salvation
Army Hall. And I went to brass band concerts there.
It's been done up, it's got a lovely bar, which
I don't know, but we had drinking in a Salvation
Salvation Army place. It's a lovely bar, and the acoustics
were great. They had a very good sound person and
the concert was just fantastic. I mean, I don't know
what it would be like for a big a rock band,
but for a jazz orchestra it was just amazing. Not hot,
(29:58):
not hot. Cost of living. I read yesterday butter white
bread has been up fifty percent in the last year.
Now we talk about four percent inflation whatever and rates,
butter has gone up twenty nine percent. I went, cheese
has gone up thirty one percent. That's what are poor
people buy, you.
Speaker 3 (30:18):
Know, lunch and sausage.
Speaker 4 (30:21):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, well yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
Mean it's terrible. It's terrible for normal middle class.
Speaker 4 (30:25):
But what read has become.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Too great about because I get I get hammered on
the text machine every time I bring it up. I say,
you know, is real real.
Speaker 4 (30:34):
I went to the uh, you know, my wife and
I both an employment, went to the supermarket and said,
I'll get some months we have burgers. Oh what a
great idea. And I go to the months and we
normally get premium, not ordinary people. What thirty one bucks
a kilogram, that's what that's house steak.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
I don't buy meat now, I really well, I'd like to.
Speaker 4 (30:59):
Pay the government for greatly reducing my meat and taken.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Yeah, that's true about thanks.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Party, give us your hot KNTS. Sorry to rushing very quick.
Speaker 3 (31:08):
Not Dave had very good points. My hot is the hero,
the woman who stepped in to protect a boy from
a savage beating. Her name was Matadia Ray, and she
as my hero. And I think I love that. I'm
the sort of person that steps into the fray two
and later thinks, PEPs, I shouldn't have done that. And
my not is our outrageous airline prices to go along
(31:29):
with our outrageous cost of living. We can't actually afford
to leave.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
We can't afford to stay domestically.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
It's just it's easier to go to Brisbane than to
go to Auckland. It's insane.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Yeah, it's insane.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
And try booking a flight like three days before.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
You don't want to do that, it's crazy.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
Forget it. Oh my gosh. Yes, and yet we all
have nice airports.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
We've got bloody nice airports, haven't we. Yeah, I'm flying
jet Star this afternoon, so I'm not even sure whether
I'll leave town.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
No, Jetstar are great? You, I mean, me and Coops
have had this because Coeps my boss. He does a
lot of travel and he uses jet Star all the time.
He's he's an advocate. He said, he's not been late.
It's been great, and I think we've been I think
that old jit Star is not on new JITs.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
I wrote a column about ten years ago saying you've
been Jit starred as because people you know, and it
has improved. About that. You heard that from so many people.
Speaker 3 (32:25):
I'll teach you.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
We don't expect champagne as you hop on the plane,
but the seats are just as.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
Comfortable to fly out of town would be.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
How lucky are you? How lucky are you? Thank you
both so so much. Dave Armstrong, great to see you again.
Keep up the good work. And Polly Gillespie, we should
talk sometimes. I think I need your help. I can
book you and my new producers putting me onto real stress.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
He seems very laid back compared to your last producer,
who was constantly going nekid forgot something.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
He was aw right? How are you Polly? All right? Hell?
It's amazing, you're right.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick, listen live to
news talks It'd Be Wellington from nine am weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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