Ryan Bridge: Another MP struggling to grasp the realities of running a small business

A wild, bizarre, and highly entertaining media scrum took pace in Wellington yesterday, culminating with an MP saying he didn't mind swimming in other people's sewage. Yes, human waste. 

A chaotic caucus run with Labour's Ōhāriu MP Greg O'Connor.  

He was asked why Wellington's dying - with cafes closing down, etcetera:  

"There's not enough to do along that waterfront, there's been stopping things from happening. You can walk a long way there, there's no cafe, there's nowhere to actually get a coffee." 

Greg, Greg, Greg. Why don't they just put more cafes in? 

These things require business investment and a profit to be had. Could the reason there aren't enough flat whites at Queens wharf be because 1) Labour hiked minimum wage beyond affordability, 2) helped drive inflation sky high through unrestrained government spending, and 3) told everyone to stay home and out of the CBD and the office. 

So far so normal, an MP struggling to grasp the realities of running a small business. 

Here's where it all gets a bit messy - literally. He says the solution is get more people, tourists, residents, whoever, down to the waterfront and even in the water. 

A reporter kindly points out the water's often not safe for swimming due to human waste from bad pipes. 

"Are you talking about the same harbour that gets polluted when there's heavy rain due to the bad pipes?" 

"It doesn't stop people from swimming in there does it?" O'Connor replies. 

Another reporter asks, "Would you swim in the harbour if there's sewage in there?" 

"Yeah I do, I do swim in the harbour." 

Okay, so don't worry about the faeces in the water. Jump in! 

Then, here's the best part, lets' blame the journalists for reporting on the wastewater. 

"Is there a warning at the moment? I don't know." 

"No, you are allowed," one of the reporters says. 

O'Connor replies: "You are allowed, so why bring this up then? So a Wellington positive is that you can go and swim in Wellington Harbour today, is that what I'm hearing from you? Good, report that. Well done guys." 

The world according to Greg O’Connor: you can't beat Wellington on a good day. 

A good day being one with no wind or rain, no poo in your harbour, and perhaps a coffee cart down at the waterfront. 

There's a new slogan in that somewhere. Wellington - take a chance on me. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A wild, bizarre and highly entertaining media scrum in Wellington yesterday,
culminating with an MP saying he didn't mind swimming in
other people's sewage. Yes, human waste. I'm talking here about
the chaotic caucus run of one labor MP for Ohard,
Greg O'Connor. He was asked, first of all, why Wellington's dying.

(00:20):
You know you've seeing that in the news, with the
cafes closing down, et cetera.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Why when you walk along the waterfront there's not enough
to do along that waterfront. I mean there's been stopping
things from happening. I mean you can walk a long
way there. There's no cafe. There's no way to actually
get a coffee.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Greg, Greg, Greg, why don't they just put more cafes in?
He says, Well, these things require business investment and profit
to be had, don't they could? The reason that there
aren't enough flat whites down at Queen's Wharf be because
one labor height the minimum wage beyond affordability. Too, they
help drive up inflation with unrestrained government spending. And three
they told everyone to stay home and out of the CBD,

(00:58):
out of the office. So far, so normally I guess
and MP struggling to grasp the realities of running a
small business. Here's where it all gets a bit messy,
though literally, he says. The solution is to get more
people terroists, residents whoever, get them down to the waterfront.
Get them down to Queen's Wharf, he says, And a
reporter kindly points out that the water is often not
safe for swimming because of human waste. Are you talking

(01:21):
about the same harbor that gets polluted when there's heavy
rain due to the bed plash?

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Doesn't stop people swimming? And there does. Hey, that's a typical.
So why you look at the where else can you
swim off or into bay Beach?

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Well, they don't advise you to swim in there because
the sewage in the harbor, And we're.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Rising people not to do that for years, so people
have done it.

Speaker 1 (01:42):
Look, would would you swim in the harbor of the
sewageon there? Don't worry about it, just jump in, don't
wry about the feces. Then here's the best part. Let's
blame the generalists for reporting on the waste water in
the first place.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Is there a warning at the moment? I don't know
you guys, is there a warning you are earlier? So
what bringing this up there? So it's Wellington positive? Is
that you can go swimming Wellington Harbor today? Is that
what I'm hearing from you? Good report? That gold on guys.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
The world. According to Greg O'Connor, you can't beat Wellington
on a good day. A good day being one with
no wind and no rain, no pooh in your harbor,
and perhaps a coffee cart down at the waterfront. I
think there should be a new slogan, Wellington take a
chance on me For more from news talks, there'd be
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