The Labour Leader has responded to Luxon’s heated comments in response to their jabs about the cost of living.
The Opposition has criticised the Government’s flagship cost of living policy, raising a red flag over only 153 families getting the maximum credit across all four quarters.
Luxon says Labour's crying crocodile tears, and that he’s not taking any lectures from "frickin Chris Hipkins" about not supporting working Kiwis.
Hipkins told John MacDonald that Luxon is focused on attacking other people and blaming everybody else, rather than speaking up in favour of his own government’s track records.
“Show me the money” is the Opposition’s call over the Government plan for the new Waikato Medical School.
It'll get $83 million in taxpayer funding and more than $150 million from the university and investors.
The Labour leader told MacDonald we need to train more doctors, but this could take longer than just increasing intakes at existing medical schools.
He says the Government should be transparent about this decision.
Hipkins says Labour won't stop the project if construction's already under way if it gets into Government.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Seven past ten on the second Tuesday, which is around
about way of saying it's time for a regular catch
up with opposition and labor leader Chris Hopkins.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Chris good a, John, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I'm very well? Most important question being a guy from
from the hat Valley, does that mean you're an Ozzy
Osbourne fan?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Oh? Look, I think that the hat Vellys in Morning today, John,
it's following the news around Ozzie Osbourne. I think we'll
all be dusting off our black jeans.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Have you got any records? You're You're just pretending to
be a naussy fan, aren't you. Eh?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Oh, you're so cynical, John.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Perceptive perceptive? All right, I've got a question for you.
I should have introduced you as fricking' Chris Hapkins, but
we'll get to that. If you are stelling government anytime soon,
would you stick or will you stick with the plan
to open a medical school at Wye cup Or University.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
We certainly need to train more doctors. We haven't seen
the detail of how the government arrived at the decision
that they've made and I think they should be transparent
about that. But if there's construction of a medical school
underway when we become the government, that we're not going.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
To stop it, all right. How comfortable are you with
this idea that some of the money will come from
philanthropic sources.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
There's nothing wrong with that. Universities have over time, you know,
and attracted philanthropic donations for building projects, and I think
that's a good thing. We don't attract that that kind
of donation support to the extent that other countries do,
so I think if the university can get that, I
think that would be a good thing. But we desperately
(01:51):
need to train more doctors. One thing that does worry
about the whyekut Of proposal is that it would appear
to take a bit longer than just increasing the numbers
more at the existing medical schools, and so again I
think that's all the more reason for the government to
be transparent about how they made the decision that they've Would.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You accept the advice we had from a local GP
here that it could be twenty years before some of
these people are in practice. It's not just as easy
as doing one degree than a few years at med
school than bingo, you're sitting on the desk helping people
with their ingrown toenails.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Well, I think that's exactly why where the government needs
to release the advice that that it's received. We absolutely
agree we need to train more gps, we need to
train more doctors. We had a plan before the last
election that would have significantly bumped up the training places
at the existing two medical schools that we've got. The
government have decided to go with a new medical school.
Now they just need to be transparent about how that's
(02:47):
all going to actually operate. When will the new doctors
start to come on stream, will the training be sufficient,
How will they make sure that those gps are ready
to hit the ground running and treating patients?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
All Right? This morning we've been talking about the well
Meyoror hopefuls, film Major and Sarah Templeton, one of which
I've discovered might not be registered yet. That's Sarah Templeton. Nevertheless,
they are in the news today saying that a top
priority for christ Church is climate change and a lot
of pushback on that. How high do you rate climate
change or how highly do you think the Meyoror aspirants
(03:21):
in christ Church should be rating it well.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I think it's something that all politicians, whether they're in
central for a local government, need to take seriously. So
if you ask people, you know, how do you rate
climate change, that might not come back with the same number.
Even if you ask them how important do you think
it is that we deal with flooding and the fat
that we're having all these extra extreme weather events. People
are very concerned about those and do any one where
(03:45):
you go in the country, you know, have go to
Nelson Tasman. At the moment it's front of mine very
much for them. So we can't ignore the fact that
climate change is really it's happening. And as they're debating
that at a local government level, that's a good thing.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Well before today, for example, Sarah Templeton is proposed to
climate change levy so that the council could have some
money in the bank for when it has to deal
with adapting and responding to climate change. How would you
feel about that sort of model being adapted.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I think it would be really problematic for councils to
do that on their own. I think whatever we do
around how we fund adaptation that has to be coordinated
at a central government level. We'd set aside six billion
dollars in a climate adaptation fund that the current government
are canceled. But that was a starter, you know, that
was recognizing that there are going to be houses that
(04:31):
need to be relocated. There are going to be flood
protection works that need to be done that local councils
can't necessarily afford to do by themselves. There are going
to be bits of our infrastructure, you know, rail road
bridges that need to be replaced because they're not resilient
enough in extreme weather events. Central government has to take
the lead role on that, but they need to work
(04:51):
with local councils to make sure it's going to work.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
All right. I'll get to your step with the Prime
Minister of the cost of living shortly. But first of all,
these changes to the terrorism laws, which will mean that
someone who publicly expresses support for a terrorist group being
charged with a criminal offense. What's your position on that.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Well, we haven't been briefed on what the governments are
currently considering, so I understand that they've made some decisions.
They haven't spoken to us about those yet. I think
we've got to be really careful in this area. It
is an area where I think New Zealanders expect us
to take steps as politicians to keep the country safe
from terrorism, but they also expect us to get the
balance right around free speech. And you know, some of
(05:33):
those proposals, I've only seen the media reporting of them,
so I haven't seen anything directly from government certainly come
close to rubbing up against those free speech considerations. So
we've got a very open mind, happy to talk to
the government about it to try and make sure that
we get the balance right there and that it doesn't
become a political football. But the bulls really in their court,
that's what they.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Want to do, because what is a terrorist group? I mean,
what if someone spoke out in supportive from us.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Well, there is a definition in the law and New
Zealand has to have recognized a group or designated a
group as a terrorist group. And you know that's a
really good point because you know, Hamas has been designated
as a terrorist entity in New Zealand, and so that's
(06:19):
exactly the sort of thing that the government's going to
have to navigate very carefully.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
All right, let's come back to this whole result, which
I don't know whether this had anything to do with
the Prime Minister referring to you was freaking Chris Hopkins yesterday.
But what was your responsible How did you feel when
you saw him or heard him make those comments about you.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, I think New Zealanders are feeling the pressure at
the moment, and that's reflected in the fact that they're
pretty skeptical about the current government, and the current government
clearly are feeling that pressure, and so they're lashing out
at everybody but themselves. They made some big promises on
the issues like the cost of living at the last selection.
They basically stood in supermarkets up and down the country
and said they were going to deal with the price
of a pound of butter and a bottle of milk
(07:02):
and fresh fruit and vege and all that. They said
they were going to fix all that, and they haven't,
so it's continuing to get worse, and so I think
they're now basically just lashing out at people rather than
delivering on the commitment that they made.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Do you think it shows though, that politicians of whatever
side they're on, have no hope in hell of dealing
with the so called cost of living crisis because it's
a market you're dealing with, and politicians don't have control
of markets.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
I never stood in a supermarket. Of the last selections
you were going to bring down the price of butter
and milk and cheese, Nikola Willis and Christopher Luxon.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Did oh hold on, you banged on you banged on it,
hawking gst or fruit and veggies.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Well, and that was I mean, the government could have
done that would have actually lowered the price, but ultimately
New Zealanders didn't vote for that. They didn't want that,
and I understand that, but I think you know, there
are bits of inflation that the government has more sway over.
So government sets prices in a lot of areas, and
you know some of the things that are contributing to
(08:02):
inflation at the moment down your way and Canterbury's got
some of the biggest increases and public transport fears of
anywhere in the country because the government have directed that
that's what should happen, and as a result, that's pushing
up inflation.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
All right, these turbot mills figures that were thrown around
your stead, there are all sorts of numbers of people
who thought the country is going right direction, wrong direction.
But also what also came out of that is it
seems to be a body of people who think Labor
is ready to govern again. How can that be when
you've got no policies.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Well, I think you know, there's a little unfeared John.
I mean, we've been clear what our priorities are going
to be in government, jobs, health, home.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Chris, I could say that to you, anyone say that.
So how come some people think you've readed the government.
Doesn't seem you've got ideas to put on the table yet.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I think there's huge dissatisfaction with the current government, and
rightly so. I think they's either the current government are
making them worse and not better. But we know that
we've got a lot of work to do as a
Labor party to win back people's support. We said that
we weren't going to be rushing to announce new policy.
We lived leasure.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
You've lived up to that promise, I have absolutely, because we.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Said that we're going to be focused on making sure
that we can reconnecting with New Zealanders. But also, unlike
Christopher Luxan before the last election, I'm not going to
just willing nearly make a whole lot of promises without
a credible plan to deliver on them. I think New
Zealanders have had a guts full of politicians who make
promises before the election and then don't keep them afterwards.
And I'm not going to fall into that trap.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Brilliant. Were you upset with the way he spoke about
you yesterday? Briefly on?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
I just think it's a bit sad for him, really.
I think, you know, he's focused on attacking other people
and blaming everybody else rather than speaking, you know, speaking
up in favor of his own government's track. Reckly.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Hold On, isn't that what you've discussed. Isn't that what
you've just done.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
I'm not attacking him personally, all right.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Okay, good for the clarification. Thanks for the clarification. Thanks,
Christ's go.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Good to talk to you, John.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
As always, for more from Caterbory Mornings with John McDonald,
listen live to News Talks and be Christ Church from
nine am we days, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Canterbury Mornings podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Seven past ten on the second Tuesday, which is around
about way of saying it's time for a regular catch
up with opposition and labor leader Chris Hopkins.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Chris good a, John, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:23):
I'm very well? Most important question being a guy from
from the hat Valley, does that mean you're an Ozzy
Osbourne fan?
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Oh? Look, I think that the hat Vellys in Morning today, John,
it's following the news around Ozzie Osbourne. I think we'll
all be dusting off our black jeans.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Have you got any records? You're You're just pretending to
be a naussy fan, aren't you. Eh?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Oh, you're so cynical, John.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Perceptive perceptive? All right, I've got a question for you.
I should have introduced you as fricking' Chris Hapkins, but
we'll get to that. If you are stelling government anytime soon,
would you stick or will you stick with the plan
to open a medical school at Wye cup Or University.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
We certainly need to train more doctors. We haven't seen
the detail of how the government arrived at the decision
that they've made and I think they should be transparent
about that. But if there's construction of a medical school
underway when we become the government, that we're not going.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
To stop it, all right. How comfortable are you with
this idea that some of the money will come from
philanthropic sources.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
There's nothing wrong with that. Universities have over time, you know,
and attracted philanthropic donations for building projects, and I think
that's a good thing. We don't attract that that kind
of donation support to the extent that other countries do,
so I think if the university can get that, I
think that would be a good thing. But we desperately
(01:51):
need to train more doctors. One thing that does worry
about the whyekut Of proposal is that it would appear
to take a bit longer than just increasing the numbers
more at the existing medical schools, and so again I
think that's all the more reason for the government to
be transparent about how they made the decision that they've Would.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
You accept the advice we had from a local GP
here that it could be twenty years before some of
these people are in practice. It's not just as easy
as doing one degree than a few years at med
school than bingo, you're sitting on the desk helping people
with their ingrown toenails.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Well, I think that's exactly why where the government needs
to release the advice that that it's received. We absolutely
agree we need to train more gps, we need to
train more doctors. We had a plan before the last
election that would have significantly bumped up the training places
at the existing two medical schools that we've got. The
government have decided to go with a new medical school.
Now they just need to be transparent about how that's
(02:47):
all going to actually operate. When will the new doctors
start to come on stream, will the training be sufficient,
How will they make sure that those gps are ready
to hit the ground running and treating patients?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
All Right? This morning we've been talking about the well
Meyoror hopefuls, film Major and Sarah Templeton, one of which
I've discovered might not be registered yet. That's Sarah Templeton. Nevertheless,
they are in the news today saying that a top
priority for christ Church is climate change and a lot
of pushback on that. How high do you rate climate
change or how highly do you think the Meyoror aspirants
(03:21):
in christ Church should be rating it well.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
I think it's something that all politicians, whether they're in
central for a local government, need to take seriously. So
if you ask people, you know, how do you rate
climate change, that might not come back with the same number.
Even if you ask them how important do you think
it is that we deal with flooding and the fat
that we're having all these extra extreme weather events. People
are very concerned about those and do any one where
(03:45):
you go in the country, you know, have go to
Nelson Tasman. At the moment it's front of mine very
much for them. So we can't ignore the fact that
climate change is really it's happening. And as they're debating
that at a local government level, that's a good thing.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Well before today, for example, Sarah Templeton is proposed to
climate change levy so that the council could have some
money in the bank for when it has to deal
with adapting and responding to climate change. How would you
feel about that sort of model being adapted.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
I think it would be really problematic for councils to
do that on their own. I think whatever we do
around how we fund adaptation that has to be coordinated
at a central government level. We'd set aside six billion
dollars in a climate adaptation fund that the current government
are canceled. But that was a starter, you know, that
was recognizing that there are going to be houses that
(04:31):
need to be relocated. There are going to be flood
protection works that need to be done that local councils
can't necessarily afford to do by themselves. There are going
to be bits of our infrastructure, you know, rail road
bridges that need to be replaced because they're not resilient
enough in extreme weather events. Central government has to take
the lead role on that, but they need to work
(04:51):
with local councils to make sure it's going to work.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
All right. I'll get to your step with the Prime
Minister of the cost of living shortly. But first of all,
these changes to the terrorism laws, which will mean that
someone who publicly expresses support for a terrorist group being
charged with a criminal offense. What's your position on that.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Well, we haven't been briefed on what the governments are
currently considering, so I understand that they've made some decisions.
They haven't spoken to us about those yet. I think
we've got to be really careful in this area. It
is an area where I think New Zealanders expect us
to take steps as politicians to keep the country safe
from terrorism, but they also expect us to get the
balance right around free speech. And you know, some of
(05:33):
those proposals, I've only seen the media reporting of them,
so I haven't seen anything directly from government certainly come
close to rubbing up against those free speech considerations. So
we've got a very open mind, happy to talk to
the government about it to try and make sure that
we get the balance right there and that it doesn't
become a political football. But the bulls really in their court,
that's what they.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Want to do, because what is a terrorist group? I mean,
what if someone spoke out in supportive from us.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
Well, there is a definition in the law and New
Zealand has to have recognized a group or designated a
group as a terrorist group. And you know that's a
really good point because you know, Hamas has been designated
as a terrorist entity in New Zealand, and so that's
(06:19):
exactly the sort of thing that the government's going to
have to navigate very carefully.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
All right, let's come back to this whole result, which
I don't know whether this had anything to do with
the Prime Minister referring to you was freaking Chris Hopkins yesterday.
But what was your responsible How did you feel when
you saw him or heard him make those comments about you.
Speaker 3 (06:40):
Well, I think New Zealanders are feeling the pressure at
the moment, and that's reflected in the fact that they're
pretty skeptical about the current government, and the current government
clearly are feeling that pressure, and so they're lashing out
at everybody but themselves. They made some big promises on
the issues like the cost of living at the last selection.
They basically stood in supermarkets up and down the country
and said they were going to deal with the price
of a pound of butter and a bottle of milk
(07:02):
and fresh fruit and vege and all that. They said
they were going to fix all that, and they haven't,
so it's continuing to get worse, and so I think
they're now basically just lashing out at people rather than
delivering on the commitment that they made.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Do you think it shows though, that politicians of whatever
side they're on, have no hope in hell of dealing
with the so called cost of living crisis because it's
a market you're dealing with, and politicians don't have control
of markets.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
I never stood in a supermarket. Of the last selections
you were going to bring down the price of butter
and milk and cheese, Nikola Willis and Christopher Luxon.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Did oh hold on, you banged on you banged on it,
hawking gst or fruit and veggies.
Speaker 3 (07:42):
Well, and that was I mean, the government could have
done that would have actually lowered the price, but ultimately
New Zealanders didn't vote for that. They didn't want that,
and I understand that, but I think you know, there
are bits of inflation that the government has more sway over.
So government sets prices in a lot of areas, and
you know some of the things that are contributing to
(08:02):
inflation at the moment down your way and Canterbury's got
some of the biggest increases and public transport fears of
anywhere in the country because the government have directed that
that's what should happen, and as a result, that's pushing
up inflation.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
All right, these turbot mills figures that were thrown around
your stead, there are all sorts of numbers of people
who thought the country is going right direction, wrong direction.
But also what also came out of that is it
seems to be a body of people who think Labor
is ready to govern again. How can that be when
you've got no policies.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Well, I think you know, there's a little unfeared John.
I mean, we've been clear what our priorities are going
to be in government, jobs, health, home.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
Chris, I could say that to you, anyone say that.
So how come some people think you've readed the government.
Doesn't seem you've got ideas to put on the table yet.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I think there's huge dissatisfaction with the current government, and
rightly so. I think they's either the current government are
making them worse and not better. But we know that
we've got a lot of work to do as a
Labor party to win back people's support. We said that
we weren't going to be rushing to announce new policy.
We lived leasure.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
You've lived up to that promise, I have absolutely, because we.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Said that we're going to be focused on making sure
that we can reconnecting with New Zealanders. But also, unlike
Christopher Luxan before the last election, I'm not going to
just willing nearly make a whole lot of promises without
a credible plan to deliver on them. I think New
Zealanders have had a guts full of politicians who make
promises before the election and then don't keep them afterwards.
And I'm not going to fall into that trap.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Brilliant. Were you upset with the way he spoke about
you yesterday? Briefly on?
Speaker 3 (09:35):
I just think it's a bit sad for him, really.
I think, you know, he's focused on attacking other people
and blaming everybody else rather than speaking, you know, speaking
up in favor of his own government's track. Reckly.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Hold On, isn't that what you've discussed. Isn't that what
you've just done.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
I'm not attacking him personally, all right.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Okay, good for the clarification. Thanks for the clarification. Thanks,
Christ's go.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Good to talk to you, John.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
As always, for more from Caterbory Mornings with John McDonald,
listen live to News Talks and be Christ Church from
nine am we days, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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