Full Show Podcast: 16 December 2024

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Pressing the newsweakers to get the real story. It's Ryan
Bridge on Hither Duplicy Ellen Drive with one New Zealand
Let's get connected news.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Dolf zaidb.

Speaker 3 (00:14):
Good afternoon, it is seven after four. Welcome to your
Monday Afternoon. Coming up on the show after five, our
live interviews Simeon Brown. The government's having another crackdown on
the Council's another crack at the councils. He's announcing that
right now. We'll have details for you. Santa is set
to disappoint this week. GDP data out government's books being opened,

(00:35):
all looking quite bad. Nikola Willis has details after six plus.
What's coldplay got to do with your airfares going up?
And I am angry about small signs going up all
over my neighborhood. I'll tell you why throughout.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
The program, Ryan Bridge.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
What's worse than somebody who doesn't give a shit about
poor people and victims of domestic violence? Somebody who says
they care about them. Ben's billions of dollars in vain
trying to fix it and actually makes the problem worse.
At the weekend, the Minister Karen Shaw launched the Family
Violence Action Plan, which is basically a redo of the

(01:11):
twenty five year plan that her predecessor, Madame and Davidson
launched during her three years in office. And we all
know the prevailing narrative. Nobody cares about the poor and
the downtrodden quite like the Greens. So they had these
two very important portfolios in the last government, homelessness and
family violence. People are already trolling Poor Karen over her plan.

(01:33):
But let's take a look back at the Greens results,
shall we, and remember the three years prior to the
Greens it was Labor in charge, So fellow travelers homelessness
and the census from twenty twenty three, which is when
Labor was booted out of office, homelessness those people living
in severely deprived housing was up two point one percent,
an extra thirteen thousand kiwis so a big fat F

(01:56):
for fail. Family violence June twenty twenty three, the numbers
tell us one hundred and seventy seven thousand family harm
investigations recorded by the New Zealand Police. That's a forty
nine percent increase on twenty seventeen. So that is a
big fat fail with a capital F. So the minister

(02:17):
who supposedly cared more about these issues than any other
from a party who cares more deeply than any other,
took our most vulnerable backwards. All that despite being part
of the highest spending government in this country's history, who
doubled our national debt to GDP ratio and pumped hundreds
of millions extra in dollars into well being initiatives and

(02:41):
wrote a twenty five year plan. What is that anyway?
What major company do you know writes a twenty five
year plan. It's a nonsense ten at most, yes, but
twenty five. Here's a prediction. By the time this plan
turns twenty five, nobody in Parliament will remember it. Collected
on it so thick you could probably house the homeless

(03:04):
underneath it. The point here is just because somebody tells
you they care more about something, it doesn't mean it's true,
and most importantly, it doesn't mean they can turn care
and compassion into action. Rich it is ten after four
news talks said be Prices for domestic flights rose more
than ten percent in November. According to stats nz IT.

(03:26):
It's the highest increase since July last year. In mid November,
there were reports of flights nearly tripling in price due
to demand from people flying to uguesstic Coldplay aviation commentator
Peter Clark is with me this afternoon to try and
break this down. Peter, good afternoon.

Speaker 4 (03:42):
You're a good afternoon to you.

Speaker 3 (03:43):
Should we have to accept, Well, first of all, do
you accept that this November increase is down to events
like Coldplay and other concerts around the country.

Speaker 4 (03:54):
Well, those peak demands to increase feares momentarily really over
a few days, so they're just spikes in the fair
ratio that we see on a day to day basis.
But the feares do rise dramatically when the algorithms portray
that there is going to be a demand for certain

(04:15):
routes at certain times.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Is this surprising? This sounds to me like basic supply
and demand.

Speaker 4 (04:21):
It is supply and demand, But then I think sometimes
the airline doesn't have the supply to offer, so they
capitalize on filling every seat at the last minute and
know that they can demand a fairly high fear. You
can get your graber seats earlier on, but you can't
plan in the future six to eight months out on

(04:42):
a fair that you might need. And a demand for
a rugby a game or a concert.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
No, But I mean, how do you get around this?
What is the way around this? The airline itself was
said basically, yes, there were spikes in the month because
of things like Coldplay, but also there were other major
events on. There were marathons here, there and everywhere, and
those lower, those cheaper fares get booked up quickly and
then everyone else is on the higher ones.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
Well that's the way it is going to be. But
I do think sometimes I feel our high feares are
definitely far too high. I think the airline's got to
realize that it is the only monopoly player on the
domestic markets, especially to the small places Gisbon, Kokoe's, fom
Arrays and all and Tyronus, you know, and we need

(05:31):
those airlines to offer frequency and capacity and not overcharged
because it's the demand is there for those flights.

Speaker 3 (05:41):
They made one hundred and forty six million dollars net
profit after tax to June, which was down drastically on
what they hoped to make. Is that a super profit?

Speaker 2 (05:49):
You know?

Speaker 3 (05:49):
How does that compare to other countries?

Speaker 4 (05:52):
Well, I don't know whether you can compare it, because
we are owned. The airline is actually owned. Basically by
the share holders, which is the government and private shareholders.
So the attitude of the airline is we have to
return a profit to the shareholders. But how much should
that share that profit be or should we be looking

(06:15):
at fleet replacements, engineering costs and other things that could
be reduced. Stop spending all this money on ecoplanes at
the moment. I know that's very important in our future.
But at the moment, we need to run the airline
for the people of this country and I think that
is the number one thing. And sometimes I think that's

(06:36):
been overlooked.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
You think, are we going go broke? Do you reckon?
I mean, is there too much? Hey look at me,
I can fly my plane on vegetable oil and not
enough I can actually get you there on time.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
Well, I'm starting to feel that with the National Airline,
as it is a monopoly airline. It's as I said,
and I feel sometimes that I think that in New
Zealand needs to actually look at what their key thing is.
It's to transport people around New Zealand. This is domestically
at a fair price, and I think spiking prices to

(07:12):
capitalize on those demands, to me is unfair. Reduce the
profit margin and start looking at our future as an
airline to offer frequency and capacity to the people of
the country.

Speaker 3 (07:25):
If you don't make a profit, how do you invest
in new planes.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
Well, you've got a plan for new planes. They become
a cost in your planning, so that profit would be
distributed through planning over several years. The plane doesn't come
by today, get it tomorrow, you plan it over a
five year period. And I think our domestic market at
the moment some of our planes are up seventeen years

(07:50):
old on our domestic market and we're seeing a lot
more breakdowns and a lot more costs running the domestic airline.
To me, sometimes we need to get past that also,
and we should have had a earlier fleet planning.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
Thanks so much for your time, Peter. Peter Clark Aviation commentator,
if you're just joining us the flights domestic flights rose
ten point eight percent in November according to stats in Zed.
This off the back of a very busy month for
some concerts and some marathons, etc. Which push demand up.
But also let's not forget the supply side. They've got
their Pratt and Whitney engines that have got maintenance issues.

(08:26):
Six of the Airbus NEOs out of action at any
one time. Apparently they've got problems with the Dreamliners, so
it's almost a perfect storm up in the skies at
the moment. Love to know your thoughts. Nine two ninety
two is the number to text. I had to book
a flight yesterday to fly yesterday at the very last
minute for a personal thing just same day there and
back Auckland Wellington five hundred bucks and one of those

(08:49):
flights was jet Star. I think the Jetstar one was
about one hundred and forty And yes, that's very, very expensive,
but I had to do it. I don't think that's
that's unreasonable for a same day booking, do you nine
two ninety two? Sport Next, who.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Will take the White House results and analysis of the
US election? On Heather duple c Alum Drive with One
New Zealand. Let's get connected the news talk said b
Sport with tab get your bet on rit bet responsibly.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
Have an updates for you from Postcab. By the way,
the government's having another crack at our councils. We'll get
to that in a second. Eighteen after four Right now,
Jason Pines with our sports talk host seven pm tonight
on News Talk, said B Jason, good afternoon. Get I right.
It looks like we're winning this Test, are we well?

Speaker 5 (09:40):
I hesitate slightly to give one hundred percent confirmation of that.
What are we at tea? We lead by four hundred
and seventy eight runs. Now, that seems like a lot
of runs to be ahead. Still quite a bit of
time left in this Test, weather permitting the rest of
today and then two more days. The only little caveat
here is that England have revolution. It's the way that

(10:00):
Test cricket has played, so it wouldn't be beyond them
under Brendan McCallum, of course, to go out there and
smash five hundred to win a Test match. Having said that,
no one's ever chased down more than about four hundred
and eighteen in the entire history of Test cricket. So
it feels like in England winners off the table. It's
just whether the New Zealand has the wherewithal over the
next couple of days to bowl England out, get a

(10:21):
win in Tim Southay's last Test and selvage a bit
of pride from this Test series.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
I'm just looking at I was wondering who it was
on the telly at the moment. It's Mark Ridgerson. He
looks terrible. God his age since I last saw him.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
God.

Speaker 3 (10:33):
Anyway, let's talk. Let's look football Auckland. The FC have
been hit by injuries. Now this is going to be
a bit of a problem for us.

Speaker 5 (10:41):
Well it could be, yes, it could. I mean they've
been so good to start, haven't they. And they've had
a very consistent team selection to start with. But yeah,
two or three of their big players Dan Hall, they're
center back from Australia, are Louis Vastrata, their Belgium midfielder
and KEYWI midfielder Cam Howison all out for the foreseeable future.
I think for Strata is the one likely to be
back quickest. Dan Hall's broken his ankle. That's a three

(11:02):
month kind of stint on the sidelines for House and
it's sort of four to six weeks. Having said that,
they missed those three guys last night and still got
a drawer coming from one kneel down and two one
down to draw two to two in Melbourne against Melbourne
City who are a pretty good team. So look it'll
test their depth. But that's what you know, that's what
that's what sport's all about, having the next man up mentality.

(11:22):
So yeah, let's see how how Auckland FC cope with
being a couple of men down were.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
They supposed to? Is this what you would have expected
from them? Performance wise? So far? It's they've done pretty well.

Speaker 5 (11:33):
I don't think anyone expected this at the start of
the season. No, I mean the you know to be
I'm beaten up to seven games to win six on
the trot. To go so far into their season without conceding,
I don't think even the most optimistic, the most wildly
optimistic of Auckland fans would have expected this. It's great,
it's fantastic. Look, we're only seven games into a twenty
seven game season, but they've started pretty well so long

(11:55):
may continue.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
Absolutely, Jason, thank you for that. We'll see tonight. Jason Pine,
sports talk host seven Tonight News Talk ZB. It is
twenty one after four ran Bridge. So just a wee
bit from postcab. This is in Wellington, the Beehive, theatret
You've got Luxen, the Prime Minister Luxe who's there with
Simeon Brown. They are cracking on with local government reform

(12:16):
and I'll just read you some of what they've told
us so far, removing references to the four well beings
from the Local Government Act, and they are restoring their
core function, which should be fixing pipes, filling potholes, delivering
core local services. They're going to refocus local government on
the basics. And what's best about this is they're going
to basically mark them publicly and then scold them publicly

(12:39):
if they failed to meet them. So they've got the
Department of Internal Affairs publishing a yearly report on key
financial and delivery outcomes which will help will should help
ratepayers hold councils accountable. Can I ask a question? Is
everybody going to be vote voting next year in the
local body elections? Have you now that you're rates bill

(13:00):
has gone sky high, now that your pipes are spewing
water or whatever else onto the streets around your feet?
Are you now interested in local body politics? Is it
going to get you to the ballot box next year?
Nine two nine two has the number of text we'd
love to hear from you this afternoon. It is twenty
two after four on your.

Speaker 1 (13:21):
Smart speaker, on the iHeart app, and in your car
on your drive home. It's Ryan Bridge on Heather duper
Se Alan Drive with one New Zealand let's get connected
and new talk as that'd be.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
Good Arthenoon if you're just joining me twenty five minutes
after four coming up after the news at four thirty,
we're going to go to our international correspondent Oliver Peterson
out of Australia because the last of the Balin nine
have been returned to Australia, so we'll find out what's
happening with them, how they've been, and also we're looking
at postcab out of Wellington this afternoon. The government's having

(13:54):
another cracket councils and let's just go to some of
what has been said so far. The Prime Minister, Christopher
Luxen's says he's concerned by the huge rates bills that
we're all getting.

Speaker 6 (14:04):
Councils should be focused on their core functions, delivering the
basics that residents expect of them brilliantly and living within
their means.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
So instead the government is launching council reform. One of
the things that's going to start doing is an annual
report on council's performance and you will be able to
see this. Here's local government Minister Simeon Brown explaining what
the report will tell.

Speaker 7 (14:27):
Us rates so that ratepayers know the amount of rates
leavied per unit, the change in rates since the previous year,
and the forecast change in rates over the next ten years.
Capital expenditure, including a breakdown by activity class such as
roading and water services. Balance budget to show whether a
council is balancing its budget or borrowing to support expenditure.

(14:47):
Road conditions so that ratepayers can compare the state of
their local roads with councils across the country. This report
will be released ahead of the next local council election
to give ratepays and residents clear information about their councils
financial performance prior to going to the polls in October
twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (15:05):
See that sounds good to me, but is anyone going
to read it? That's the only problem. Is anyone actually
going to pick up that piece of financial information and
read it? And we'll take our you know, our participation
in local elections from the thirty odd percent that it
is now up to what it needs to be, which
is more like seventy that's the question, I guess twenty
seven after four.

Speaker 8 (15:28):
Oh, aren't you I need you old girl.

Speaker 9 (15:33):
Needs.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
It's beautiful things that are.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Ryan Bridge cutting through the noise to get the facts.
It's Ryan Bridge on here the duper see Alan drive
with one New Zealand. Let's get connected and news talk
as it'd be.

Speaker 8 (15:50):
No thanks Karam sun by myself like you water.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
Myself the New Zealand. It is twenty five minutes away
from five. It is the sixteenth of December. We're cruising
towards Christmas. Santa's on his way, not bringing much for
Nicola Willis. I might edge she's with us after six o'clock.
His Santa sack will be rather empty. When it comes

(16:20):
to GDP. We're expecting bad numbers this week and Nicola
Willis is at the forefront going to have to deal
with that. We'll talk to her a little later on. Also,
we're talking this afternoon because Simon Brown's having a crack
at the Council's parliament today and we'll talk to him
after five. But what would it take to get you
voting at a local body election, not just tacking a

(16:42):
box but actually thinking and voting, because clearly we're not
really good at doing that at the moment. Look at Wellington,
it's a hambasket. And I was talking to a mate
from Mondays the other day and I said, well, surely
now that the council has nearly collapsed, you've got a
Crown observer and there's surely now people will actually pay
attention to vote. And he goes, what happens in Wellington

(17:03):
is that you have a bunch of activists. You have
a bunch of students who are keen to go green,
and they coalesce and they get together and they form
a big group and they go in and they basically
control the narrative and control the vote. So few people vote.
So here's an idea. What if we made it compulsory
to vote in local body elections? Would that change the outcome?

(17:27):
Would we then get better governance? Nine two nine two
than I'm to text It is twenty three away from five.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
If the world wires on news talks, they'd be drive.

Speaker 3 (17:38):
The last five members of the Balley nine have returned
to Australia. Of the original nine Australians in prison in
Indonesia for heroin smuggling, two were executed, one died in prison,
one was released in twenty eighteen, and the last five
have now had their sentences commuted by Indonesia's new president.
Here's the Australian Prime Minister elbow.

Speaker 7 (17:57):
This isn't an act of compassion by president.

Speaker 8 (18:01):
And we thank him for it.

Speaker 10 (18:03):
After nineteen years in Indonesian prison, it was time for
them to come home.

Speaker 3 (18:11):
The French government is rushing emergencies supplies to Myot in
the Indian Ocean after the island territory was hit by
a cyclone over the weekend. Officials in Miot say hundreds
have been killed, possibly thousands. A journalist on the ground
says there's a lot of homes that have been destroyed.

Speaker 11 (18:26):
Well, no matter how the houses were built, everything has
been destroyed.

Speaker 12 (18:30):
People are doing their best to try and rebuild their houses,
but the work is going to be extremely long.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
And finally, someone in the city of Bend in Oregon
has been putting googly eyes on all the statues around town.
Eight statues have been hit, including a phoenix, a sphere,
and some deer, and it has cost the city council
more than twenty five hundred New Zealand dollars to remove
the googly eyes. Some Bend residents have suggested the council

(18:57):
could have the eyes in place to save money, and
Stephen Beer agrees, Oh, come.

Speaker 13 (19:01):
On, you're gonna get mad about that.

Speaker 8 (19:02):
It's fun and frankly it's safer.

Speaker 6 (19:05):
If Bambi's mom had had those eyes, maybe she'd have
seen that hunter coming.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
International correspondence with ends and eye insurance, peace of mind
for New Zealand business.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
Let's go to six pr pers Life present to Oliver Peterson.
Oliver Good afternoons, some good news for those Barling nine
returning home.

Speaker 8 (19:25):
Yeah, indeed it is Ryan.

Speaker 14 (19:27):
And this one actually hits really personally for me because
back in twenty fifteen I was there at Chilichap when
Andrew Channon, Mari and Silkamarain were shot via firing squad,
there at the executions, covering it for a Channel nine
news here in Australia, and it was both the toughest
thing that I have ever done, but professionally obviously it.

Speaker 8 (19:46):
Was just eye opening just to see sort.

Speaker 14 (19:49):
Of the the blood in the theater sport around what
happens at an execution. Ryan was just quite fascinating because
it's almost like we turn up to a rugby match
or a cricket match to go and you know Barrick
on the all Blacks or Barrick on the Wallabies and
people turn up to sort of listen to watch the
hear the gunshots, the execution. But this has been some

(20:10):
time coming, and as we heard there from the Prime
Minister Anthony Albanesi in the World Wise that this is
an act of compassion. Many people in Australia, though, it
is dividing opinions to be honest, Ryan, because they're saying,
why is this a priority of the Prime Minister at
the moment when we have so many issues here in Australia.
I look at this and think, look they've done nineteen years. Yeah,
they made some very very foolish mistuck, some massive mistakes.

(20:33):
I'm not advocating for anything that they did or tried
to do, but it is nineteen years. It's a lifetime
ago for young people. The fact that they're back in
Australia now. The question being asked though by a lot
of people is for what purpose though, What has Australia
promised Indonesia? And I think that is a fair question
if they were part of the negotiations.

Speaker 8 (20:53):
But this is a tricky one to navigate.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
Do we know Indonesia was offered if anything.

Speaker 14 (20:58):
No, that's the question that has not been answered, that
the Prime Minister has been asked to basically come clean.

Speaker 8 (21:04):
Well, what has happened as a result of this?

Speaker 14 (21:06):
And I think if you look at you know that
the relationship between Australia and Indonesia it has been hot
and cold from time to time. And maybe this is
a part of a bigger picture in repairing relations. For
what reason or for what's going to happen next? Is
the question I think that we should have answered.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
Interesting Melbourne as never going to bring back it's Australia
Day parade.

Speaker 14 (21:25):
No, not if the Allen government, the Labor government in
Victoria remains in power. And you know who can see
why they want They've been there for so long when
Dan Andrews was in charge of that particular state. It
was canceled during the COVID years, but it never came back.
And even when it was canceled during the COVID years,
many people, why are you canceling this? You've still got
the Boxing Day Test cricket going on with thirty thousand people.
But it's interesting, you know, the Australia dat debate always

(21:48):
pops up, doesn't it.

Speaker 15 (21:49):
Ryan?

Speaker 14 (21:49):
And unfortunately with this one, you've still got two thirds
of people polled by Roy Morgan saying come on, let
it go ahead.

Speaker 8 (21:56):
It's a good day of celebration.

Speaker 14 (21:57):
It's something to try and unite everybody in Victoria and
everybody around Australia.

Speaker 8 (22:01):
But that's the biggest problem. And until we can.

Speaker 14 (22:03):
Find the data, I mean, I see it around here
in Perth every twenty sixth of January. People don't want
to fly the flag anymore. They don't want to say
Happy Australia Day.

Speaker 8 (22:10):
They're too nervous to do it.

Speaker 14 (22:11):
So until somebody has the backbone to actually decide that
this is no longer the day to celebrate this nation,
we need to find another day so we can actually
do what we say we want to do and go
and say, hey, guess what. We still live in the
best country on the planet. We are the lucky country.
But you feel nervous about doing it. So we need
to find another date. I don't know what that date is.

Speaker 8 (22:31):
Nobody can ever give you an answer to that one either.

Speaker 3 (22:34):
Cricket commentators had to apologize for using the word primate.

Speaker 14 (22:38):
Yeah, so, Ishaku has been in a bit of hot water.
Yesterday in the first session during commentary. She described the
Indian fast Bola Boomera as the MVP and that pe
was yes with primate. So look, it's erupted on social media.
She just addressed the cameras before play on the third
day between Australia and India at the Gabba ground and

(22:59):
she's into catered that it was not any malice, so
that was not her intention at all. She apologizes for it.
She said she's always shown empathy and respect. She's a
champion for equality, inclusion and understanding. And Easha Gi her
herself is a lady of South Asian heritage. Her parents
are Indian and it was interesting when she delivered this
sitting next to Ravi Shastri because he indicated that He

(23:21):
says that she was brave to.

Speaker 8 (23:23):
Do it on television to apologize. She's done it. We
should move on.

Speaker 14 (23:26):
People are entitled to make mistakes, so I think that
one may have been put to better. I don't think
Eashagi will be canceled now and look good on it.

Speaker 8 (23:33):
She owned up.

Speaker 14 (23:34):
She's got on the front foot with that and she's
a brilliant cricket commentator. I'm sure that she will be
able to catch up with jasper bumra after this test match.

Speaker 3 (23:41):
And move on from the whole thing. Oliver, thank you
for that. Oliver Peterson, the six PR Perth Live presenter
with us just gone eighteen sorry, seventeen minutes away from
five Bryan Bridge. Loads of feedback coming in on local councils. Hi, Ryan,
how's this for an idea? And Simon, I do like
this idea. If you vote using your rates, then you
get a discount on your rates account for at the

(24:03):
end of the year, say one and a half percent.
Just an idea, Simon, great idea. It would encourage more
people to vote and maybe even think about who they're
voting for. Someone else says, I think you should only
be able to vote if you pay rates. I don't
think we can do that. Can we do that? No,
we can't do that. I mean that would be like
only being able to vote in national elections if you
paid tax. I suppose you've got it. I mean, then

(24:28):
you know you've got a vested interests, haven't you. You're
contributing so you care more about where the money goes.
But you can't do that because we're citizens of the
country and we all share citizenship, don't Well, no, you
can't say that you can't do that. That's bad. It
has just gone sixteen minutes away from five very quickly.
Karmala Harris, what's she going to do? Run for governor
in California? These are her options. Run for governor in California,

(24:51):
I know what a letdown booby prize. Or have another
crack and try and get elected in twenty twenty eight
to be president. Now what you risk is actually losing
out in the primaries for the Democrats and being shamed once.
I mean, she's already lost in the primaries once, so
she would have to forego a job through to twenty

(25:11):
twenty eight because you can't be governor and then try
and run for president as well. So she's got a
decision to make, and she apparently needs to make it
by around Inaugura, just after Trump's inauguration, So she hasn't
got long to decide what do I want to do
with my future? Be governor and let that be that, bygones,
be bygones, I'll never be president. Or sit on your
thumbs for a little while, take a punt and maybe

(25:34):
just maybe get yourself into the White House come twenty
twenty eight. It is quarter to five.

Speaker 1 (25:39):
Politics with centrics credit check your customers and get payment certainty.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
Good afternoon, it is thirteen away from five news talks.
There'd be very soapers here with our senior political correspondent
for news talks, there'd be very good afternoon, Good afternoon.

Speaker 9 (25:52):
Run.

Speaker 16 (25:53):
You really didn't have to give me the title.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
Well, I feel it's important to do that. Some people
enjoy it more than others, exactly. Speaking of titles, the
Prime Minister has been speaking alongside Local Government Minister Simon Brown.

Speaker 16 (26:05):
Yes he has today.

Speaker 9 (26:07):
What essentially they're trying to do is to make local
government more accountable to.

Speaker 16 (26:12):
The rate players.

Speaker 9 (26:13):
And you will remember not long after Chris Luxton took
over the job, he said that the nice to have
shouldn't be there and he cited the convention center, the
new convention Center in Wontington, which seems, I've got to say,
to be going quite well. It's right opposite the Tapapa,
which is a convention center in itself. But look, being

(26:35):
the capital city, you probably get a bit more sort
of mileage having a big convention center like that. But anyway,
what they're doing is they've announced today and it'll come
out before the local body elections next year. They want
basically the local body governments to get back to the
basics and they're removing from the Act the four Well,

(27:00):
of course they were the babies of Grant Robertson in
most legislation that labor passed and that's social, economic, environmental
and cultural.

Speaker 16 (27:10):
When it comes to the councils. What that means, goodness
only knows, but nevertheless that's.

Speaker 9 (27:15):
Going to be removed now the local government ministers Simeon Brown.
He says there'll essentially be competition between councils to see
how well they're doing for the ratepayers.

Speaker 7 (27:25):
The Department of Internal Affairs will publish a yearly report
on key financial and delivery outcomes, helping ratepays hold councils
accountable and compare their council with other councils. Modernize outdated rules,
including removing requirements for newspaper notices. To drive efficiency and
cost savings in local government. The first benchmarking report in
the Local Councils we released in the middle of twenty

(27:46):
twenty five and is expected to include a number of
key council performance metrics rates so that ratepays know the
amount of rates levied per unit, the change in rates
since the previous year and the forecast change in rates
over the next ten years compared with other care councils.
We want to make it clear that our expectations of
the local government are the same that we have of ourselves,
which is to get back to the basics and do

(28:08):
them brilliantly.

Speaker 3 (28:09):
And sounds like a good idea, Barry, but are you
who is going to go dub dubdub dot DIA, dot
gov dot NZ and look up a whole bunch of
metrics at the government.

Speaker 16 (28:18):
How much did my rates pay for the potholes?

Speaker 3 (28:20):
Yeah, versus and the cargol I mean, is this going
to actually.

Speaker 16 (28:24):
Look I don't.

Speaker 9 (28:25):
I think the notion of competition between the councils I've
shown on the past, and you don't have to look
at tar Honor an absolute failure of the council there
a few years back, and look at Wellington at the moment,
a failure of the council there. So I don't think
councils are particularly worried about how they look compared.

Speaker 16 (28:43):
To other councils.

Speaker 9 (28:44):
I think they're more concerned about whether they're getting on
and doing the job and I guess this report card
will tell us where the councils are performing the way
they should perform.

Speaker 3 (28:55):
But slightly ironic as well, because this used to be
the job of the media. Yes there was nobody left
in the media exactly, but you know that was one
of their jobs. Yes, exactly. Goodness to me. The fairies.
The deal's being done. If you listen to Luxeon, it.

Speaker 16 (29:12):
Goes on forever, this one, doesn't it.

Speaker 9 (29:13):
And this really for the end of year has been
a nightmare for this government. Like I said to you
last week when I was in Wellington, you could have
cut the air with a knife around Parliament. So many
people were hosed off about what had happened. Now it
would seem if you listen to the Prime Minister today
that essentially the deal on the fairies had been done,

(29:38):
and that's if you listen to him.

Speaker 16 (29:39):
It's now over to Winston Peters to.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
Improve on it.

Speaker 6 (29:42):
We need to make a decision around procurement by the
end of March this year. We've got a really good
option on the table with two rail compatible fairies, which
is the default position. Minister Peters has up until the
end of March to see whether he can improve on
that offer and improve and get a better solution in place.
But then we're loading and moving forward.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
Those two fairies.

Speaker 16 (30:02):
Tell you what, There's a hell of a lot of
pressure on Winston Peters, isn't it. And the thing is
you can't tell me. People around the world who builds
fairies don't know what this government is now prepared to
pay totally, So the bargaining ability I think even for
Winston Peters, who you know was a bit of a
wide boy when it comes to these things, if he
can't get a better deal then it's going to be

(30:23):
egged on his face. If they fall back to the
position that the Prime minister's now talking about, well, well
and good, they should have announced it last week.

Speaker 3 (30:33):
And also what's the different price between now and March?

Speaker 16 (30:37):
You know, yeah, the very debarcle's just been terrible.

Speaker 3 (30:40):
Yeah, Debarkle's a right word. Hey, very quickly. Should those
cops have gone to China? Do you reckon?

Speaker 4 (30:44):
Well?

Speaker 9 (30:44):
You know, I mean the point is that Andrew Little
has come out and said, look, thirty three cops. They
went on their own volition, but once they got there,
they paid their way there, which was interesting. They went
through a tour company I'm sure they've got a pretty
good deal once they got there, though, they were looked
after by the Chinese, and I don't feel insecure about

(31:08):
cops being there. But it isn't really a good lock
when you've got people in authority going to what is
a communist country. And I'm sure they had no secrets
to spill, but nevertheless I think it was a none
wise thing for them to do.

Speaker 3 (31:22):
It certainly sounds like it. Barry Soper, thank you very
much for that's seven away from five. The Assistant Police
Commissioner on this, Sam Hoyle here after five, putting the.

Speaker 1 (31:31):
Tough questions to the newspeakers, the mic asking breakfast now.

Speaker 8 (31:35):
On domestic and sexual violence.

Speaker 15 (31:36):
The government's taking another look at a massive fund one
point three billion dollars that set aside to deal with this.
They have a plan to prioritize fewer things and do
them well instead. The Minister for Prevention of Family and
Sexual Violence carnturis with us.

Speaker 17 (31:47):
Now, this was off the back of the first action plan,
of course, which we learned trying to detomin many things
all at once and doing nothing well was not working
out for us. So we decided that we needed to
be more focused, more streamlined.

Speaker 15 (31:59):
Is it possible that you might some spending out of
this front.

Speaker 17 (32:01):
Not looking about cutting the spending, it's there about making
sure that that vending is making out true change and
making sure that we're actually measuring the outcomes of that change.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
Hither duplusy Ellen on the My Hosking breakfast back tomorrow
at six am with the Jaguar f base on Newstalgs.

Speaker 3 (32:17):
EDB Simmy and Brown. The local government minister coming up
after five o'clock has cracked down on councils. Lots of
you reckon that. Actually it should be compulsory to vote
in local body elections. Ryan. You should also note that
renters do pay rates through their rent increasing rents. Obviously,
if the landlords paying rates and the rates go up,

(32:38):
they'll put the rents up. Not necessarily because it depends
on supply and demand for rental properties. Right, But yeah,
I take your point, Ryan. I live in Wellington. I
voted all elections, but we have such terrible candidates that
you have to basically pick the best of a bad bunch. Anyway,
we'll ask sim and Brown about all of that. Plus
the police on that infamous trip to China by some

(32:59):
of our officers. Lots more to come here on try.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
It's the only drive show you can trust to ask
the questions, get the answers by the facts and.

Speaker 2 (33:19):
Give the analysis.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
Ryan Bridge on hither due to Cellen Drive with One
New Zealand let's get connected news talk as 'd be.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
The government has declared war again on big rates rises
and council pet projects. Councils will be expected to focus
on delivering the basic services without paying attention to the
four well beings that's your social, environmental, economic and cultural wellbeing.
And there will be an an annual report done that
will allow people to compare rate increases between councils. You

(33:49):
have to go to the DIA website to check it out.
Some me in Browns the local government minister. Good afternoon,
Good afternoon, Ryan. Are they listening to you.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
Well?

Speaker 7 (33:59):
This is a part of our plan to make sure
that councils do listen to the message that we're giving
it giving them by setting very clear benchmarking and by
changing the law as to what they should be focused on.
And so as ratepayers go to the election next year,
we will have published our first of the annual benchmarking
reports which will help help electors, voters be able to

(34:22):
actually more clearly, in transparent apparently understand what their councilors
are spending their money on and whether it's being used effectively.

Speaker 3 (34:30):
You've told them to rein it in before, famously Luxe
and did it at the Convention Center in Wellington. Since then,
Wellington's still going ahead with the Golden Mile. In fact,
they put out a report last week's some they're going
to have to increase rates up to fifteen percent and
keep the Golden Mile.

Speaker 13 (34:46):
Well.

Speaker 7 (34:46):
Look, I think you see different councils across different parts
of the country taking different approaches. I think here in
Wellington I've been very clear. I think for Golden Mile
is a nice to have rather than I must have,
and it's not something which the mayor should be continuing
to pursue. But ultimately accountable, well some aren't and they

(35:07):
are ultimately accountable to the voters next year at the election,
and in these benchmarking reports will help help voters with
being able to assess the performance of their council.

Speaker 3 (35:17):
This is the fundamental problem with local government, isn't it
that it's up to the people bug or all vote.
I think Wellington's turn up was forty five percent, which
is actually above average. And you have councils that are
fighting and amongst themselves and don't get stuff done. Is
there anything bigger you can do here? What about compulsory
voting for local government?

Speaker 7 (35:39):
Well, we don't practice compulsory voting in New Zealand, whether
that's central or local government.

Speaker 3 (35:44):
Should we?

Speaker 7 (35:45):
But what we well, no, that's not something that we're
looking at. But what we are focused on as saying,
you know, councils should be focused on the basics. We're
going to change the law to remove the full well
beings and to put in place a definition which is
very much focused on fixing the roads and the pipes
and those core services that can souls should be doing,
and remove the excuses that councilors use to go and
spend money on a whole lot of other things, and

(36:06):
then have clear benchmarking in place so that we can
actually measure that and man and have much more transparent
performance around that.

Speaker 3 (36:13):
So if you let once this lauch that these amendments
are made, will Wellington Council be able to do the
Golden Mile?

Speaker 7 (36:21):
Well, that's something that they can fund because they're a
road controlling authority ultimately.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
So is this all just bluster then no, not at all.

Speaker 7 (36:30):
This is I mean, there's a lot of things that
councils go and spend money on which they argue are
within the four well beings. They won't be able to
use that excuse when they go out to consult on
their annual plans or their long term plans as to
why they want to spend money on those activities. And
as I said the benchmarking, the first step is to
use the information that's currently available, put in one place,

(36:50):
allow people to be able to compare that information between councils.
We're also going to change the law to allow the
Secretary of Local Government to request further information such as
how much is spending on contractors and consultants, and further
reports will highlight issues like that, so that again local
voters are around the performance of their local council.

Speaker 3 (37:12):
Minister, two very quick last questions. Did you consider setting
a limit for rate rises?

Speaker 7 (37:19):
That is one of the areas of work that we're
going to make cabinet decisions on in the early new year.
We're investigating around a rates pegging scheme similar to what's
done in New South Wales, so workers underway on that
particular issue.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
Councilors will say, well, actually, the problem is we don't
have the leavers to pull for funding for basics like infrastructure.
You know, they want the government GST issues sorted. There's
a whole bunch of government funding issues they want sorted.

Speaker 7 (37:43):
First well, the first thing that they needed to focus
on is actually focusing on the basics. That's number one. Secondly,
we have been working very hard this year to look
at how we can support councils around financing long life infrastructure.
There's two key changes that have been made local what
have done well. It actually allows councils to buy up
to five hundred percent against their water revenues, which is

(38:05):
about twice their normal debt level to you have to
invest in long life water infrastructure and spread those costs
over time. Secondly, high growth councils now have an increased
debt cap to three hundred and fifty percent for investing
in other infrastructure such as roads and unlocking housing. So
we've been focused on unlocking those financing tools so that
councils can invest in that long life infrastructure. But the

(38:27):
first messages focus on the basics and do it brilliantly.

Speaker 3 (38:31):
Have you had any reports back from that Crown observer
in Willington yet?

Speaker 7 (38:35):
I had the first first report back came over the
weekend and ultimately the councils going through its process around
its annual plan. You've already highlighted some of the key
issues there and that the observers very much engaged in
all of those conversations.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
What was the what was the report? Was it good, bad, ugly?

Speaker 7 (38:54):
Well, I haven't fully engaged in terms of the detail yet,
but what I would say, I've just received it over
the weekend. What it is focable from quickly looking at it,
it's very much focused at the process making sure that
councilors are getting the information. I'd say that observer's very
much engaged in all of those conversations and looking at
the details. Ultimately, as I said when I announce the observer,
the counselors are still responsible for those decisions. And it

(39:17):
comes back to this key point. These are local democracy.
Local democracy. It's about local voters making these decisions, but
we're about making sure the transparent information is there for
the public to make up their minds.

Speaker 3 (39:27):
So me and Brown, Local Government Minister thanks for your time.
Thirteen after five GM, FAT has updated its travel advice
for Key He's heading to Fiji after an alcohol poisoning
scare at a resort there. Seven people who all drank
cocktails at the resort have become ill and four of
them have been hospitalized. In FAT now telling travelers to
Fiji to be aware of the risks around drink spiking

(39:47):
and methanol poisoning poisoning. Brent Hell is the CEO of
Tourism Fiji. He's with me this evening. Good evening, good evening.
How are you, Brent? Not a great headline for you, guys.
Do you know about the condition of those who are
in hospit spital? No, it's not.

Speaker 10 (40:03):
It's not a great headline, but certainly there has been
some good news today. We've we've had three of the
tourists have now been discharged and a returning home, which
is great. And the for tourists that are still in
hospital are certainly stable and they are responding well to treatment.

(40:24):
So you know, from that perspective, we're certainly really pleased
that first and foremost that their health is improving.

Speaker 3 (40:31):
Did the was it drink spikeman? Was it myth and old.

Speaker 10 (40:33):
You know, well, at this stage, unfortunately we don't know
that that. Obviously, we appreciate that the governments have to
do what they do, which is, you know, put those
warnings out, But until we actually get the detail of
the toxicology report, we we don't know for sure. I mean,
there's an investigation underway. We've we've done a lot of

(40:53):
work with the resort to track back, look at CCTV,
investigate the ingredients, et cetera. But we really just can't
say for sure what exactly caused these seven tourists in
a place that has you know, hundreds of tourists at
many different bars, all drinking things like pinicolatas to fall ill.
What did they all drink the same type of cocktail

(41:17):
they did? Yes, they was a piniccolata, Yeah, which is
a very normal rum based cocktail.

Speaker 8 (41:26):
Right.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
So is there any action being taken against the result
at this point or just an investigation? And what about
other resorts?

Speaker 10 (41:34):
Yeah, I mean obviously, as you can imagine, I mean,
tourism is so important to Fiji, so everybody is very concerned.

Speaker 8 (41:41):
We take safety very seriously.

Speaker 10 (41:43):
We've filled a lot of calls from different resorts you know,
asking if we know, you know what ingredients it was,
et cetera. We don't know that yet. The resort's been great,
they've certainly they're very distressed, but they certainly have been
really helpful. You know that the bar person responsible of
serving at the time it has been there for sixteen years,

(42:05):
you know, as a long standing employee. They've supplied all
their ingredients and their CCTV footage.

Speaker 8 (42:10):
So we're trying to go.

Speaker 10 (42:11):
Through everything to really get to the bottom of just
you know, why this one particular group have fallen Ill.

Speaker 3 (42:18):
Yeah, it sounds like Brent, thank you very much for that.
Brent Hell, the CEO of Tourism Fiji. I've actually stayed
at that resort where this has all gone down. I'll
tell you a little story about that resort later on. Next up. Though,
it's sixteen after five. You're on News TALKSB. We're talking
to the police about why so many of their offices
all randomly went on holiday together to China. It's five eighteen.
You're on News TALKSZB. I'm Ryan Bridge. The average Kiwi

(42:40):
home uses twice as much data a month as the
average Australian home. With sport and gaming driving our biggest
traffic spikes. According to Chorus, one of the seventeen biggest
spikes this year of the seventeen, I should say, fourteen
were driven by updates to the video game Fortnite. Other
spikes came from the Mike Tyson Jake Paul fight and

(43:02):
the All Blacks game against Japan. Chorus network strategy manager
Kurt Rodgers is with me. Good evening, Hey Ryan, how
are you good? Thank you Good to have you in
the studio. First of all, why do we use more,
so much more than the Aussies.

Speaker 18 (43:13):
Well, a lot of it's to do with better infrastructure
here in New Zealand. So you know, we've rolled out
a lot of fiber, and fiber is really the key
to having good quality broadband at home. The Australians have
taken a different path, so they've got multiple technologies, particularly
a lot of copper and a lot of wireless technology
and it just puts a bit of a constraint. Doesn't

(43:34):
have the same capacity as we have in New Zealand.
So really a bit of that's about the infrastructure.

Speaker 3 (43:40):
So ours is easier, quicker, faster, therefore we use more
of it.

Speaker 18 (43:43):
No constraints, right, Yeah, all.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
Right, so what about the spikes. How do we manage those?
Does it result in cutouts, network cutouts, et cetera.

Speaker 18 (43:52):
Well, no, And that's the great thing about fiber infrastructure.
It's a bit like having a digital highway that's got
lots and lots of lanes to add. When things do
happen like live sports streaming, game downloads and in various
things happening in busy time, the fiber network is able
to just expand and handle all of that without really
any impact on your experience.

Speaker 3 (44:13):
What's up with Wykaso, particularly Topiiti and what it was?
Everywhere in maiko To except Hamilton, from what I could see,
had the largest consumption of anywhere in New Zealand.

Speaker 18 (44:23):
Yeh's an interesting thing is, Look, there's a couple of
things going on there. So there's a demographic thing that
plays out that younger generation and also Maldi and Pacific
and Asian communities much more online and are much more
engaged in entertainment and online media. And so you've got
these demographic issues that play out in places like South
Orton and Waikato. But the other specific thing to Waikato

(44:46):
is we've been building a lot of new subdivisions and
a lot of expansion here and it's part of the
Golden Triangle. Huge population growth, and we suspect there's quite
a few people who work in the city but are
choosing to work for that makes sense in these new places,
and that's what we think is particularly driving.

Speaker 3 (45:04):
How much is too much? I mean, we're using thirteen
times more data today than we were ten years ago.
We at some point going to reach saturation point.

Speaker 18 (45:12):
Well, I think it's just going to keep going, right,
I mean, there's always new things around the corner that
people are wanting to do. As you know, more and
more things that we do offline are moved online, and
as new technologies come along, I mean, who knows what
virtual reality or artificial intelligence is going to bring to us.
So we're thinking it's going to keep going and keep growing.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
Are the kids in Australia who aren't using as much
data as we are here in New Zealand better off mentally?

Speaker 16 (45:37):
Well, I don't know.

Speaker 18 (45:38):
We'll have to talk, We'll have to ask some parents
over there, but they're probably just a bit more frustrated
that the Fortnite game takes a lot longer to download.

Speaker 3 (45:46):
All right, thanks very much, for coming on. That is
Corus Kurt Rogers with us just gone twenty two after five.
We will get to the cops in the trip to China.
After the news, news talks.

Speaker 1 (45:56):
Eb Hard questions strong opinion, Ryan Bridge, we had the
dup see allan drive, where's one New Zealand, let's get
connected and news talk as'd be.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
So we got some GDP data coming out this week.
We've got the government op migin it's books and we've
got a response from the minister about this. And it
goes a little bit like this. Let's say your old
man's a gambler, right, He's been spending the family's hard
earned money down at the pokes. Everybody knows it. But
he always promises to do the right thing. He promises
he'll pay it back and he'll balance the books. But

(46:26):
he never did that. The family accounts kept sinking further
and further into the red. And though this is not
some kind of ad for problem gambling, don't worry until
you decide to hand control of the accounts over to mum.
Now she is much tighter with her spending. She never
gives out lollies. You reuse the backside of last year's
one B five textbook No jurusale on the top of

(46:49):
your books from Mum. Let's call Mum. Nikola. Willis right
and her job is to get us back in black
well tomorrow. She is going to push a return to
surplus out by another year, and she already did that
last year. She is spending less, yes, than Dad, but
not by a massive amount. Plus we're not earning enough.
Uncle David's promised to cut red tape, but all we've

(47:11):
heard from him is about drinking piss at the hairdresser
so far. Uncle Chris, what did he promise us? Well
in FTA with India, But chances of that are more
mild than hot at this point. Tax cuts haven't kicked
growth yet. And what about Uncle Don the old neighbor,
the sunburnt neighbor from next door. He's threatening us with tariffs,

(47:34):
which could derail the whole damn thing. The thing is,
we know we'd be bankrupt if Dad was still in charge,
but we're not quite sure that Mum has us under
control yet either. Tomorrow we will see how much damage
has been done and how much longer it'll take to
balance the books. Until then, we're hopeful, but still a
bit uncertain and unsure of where things are going from here,

(47:57):
Brian Bread to five News Talks, you'd we'd love your feedback.
Nine nine Nichola Willis. By the way, Mum will be
with us after six this evening, just after six o'clock.
We look forward to asking her some questions about exactly that.
Also after the news at five point thirty, Sam Hoyle,
the Assistant Police Commissioner can't come on. Can you really send? Well,

(48:20):
they claim they didn't send, but can you really have
thirty three police officers randomly deciding they all want to
go at the same time to China on a trip
that's partly organized by someone associated with the Chinese government
and not expect to be accused of some kind of
espionage plot. I don't think you can, but the Assistant

(48:40):
Police Commissioner thinks you can. He's with us after this.

Speaker 8 (48:47):
Christmas.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
Digging deeper into the day's headlines, it's Ryan Bridge on
Heather duplic Ellen drive with one New Zealand. Let's get
connected and use dog, said Brett.

Speaker 3 (49:12):
Five away through six year on news Talk, said b
coming up the huddle with Tris Shurson and Joseph Bugani
for a Monday afternoon, some insight and a few giggles,
I'm sure right now, though to the serious business. There
are concerns a number of New Zealand police officers may
have been the target of Chinese spying while on a
trip to China or October. Police say it was private,

(49:34):
self funded, but organized by the police's ethnic responses of
responsive manager and a tour company, a Chinese tour company. Experts,
including former SAS Minister Andrew Little, have raised serious concerns
about the trip that included a meeting with a Chinese
government official. Sam Hoylese, the Assistant Police Commissioner. Good evening,

(49:55):
Good thanks for being on the show. You said earlier
today that you were going to check into when he
whether any of them were given gifts on this trip.
Have you done that and were they?

Speaker 19 (50:05):
I have done that, and I can confirm that one
of the buffet meals they had, a fridge magnet was
left at each of the place mats on the table.
That's the entire schedule of gifts they received.

Speaker 3 (50:21):
Were any of the flights or accommodation or meals discounted.

Speaker 19 (50:28):
Not at all. Everyone Everyone paid their way. They've paid
their way in full. Jessica, who organized the trip, is
acutely aware of the risks around foreign interference and the
appearances of that. She made sure that everything was paid
in full, every meal, every trip, every sid excursion of

(50:48):
people decided to take them up or step out of
the day's events and go shopping.

Speaker 3 (50:53):
So you, you as police, you are absolutely confident that
none of the flights, none of that, anything that's been
paid for and you've checked was discounted. They haven't got
any advantage over a fire went on my own.

Speaker 19 (51:08):
No, the only advantage they have on the yougoing on
joing is that someone else has organized it for them,
that Jessica has done the work. Our staff were allowed
to travel to China. They are abided by all the
PSR Protective Security requirements that are current in New Zealand
for all of government, not just police. They checked with

(51:28):
ISG before they traveled. That's our International Services Group. Now
we have staff full time in Beijing and Hong Kong.
We worked with the Chinese on policing matters. They did
all the checks and everything sensible. You expect people were
there to take a holiday in China if you work
for the own government.

Speaker 3 (51:45):
If it was a private holiday. Why was Jessica organizing it?

Speaker 19 (51:50):
She was organizing it for a colleagues at work.

Speaker 3 (51:54):
Is that a good use of jestic as time?

Speaker 19 (51:59):
You're making assumption she did it on work time, Bryan,
Like she did it because she's interested in the exposing
other places of the cultural experience. You know, for our ethnics,
liais and staff who work in this space, they are
acutely aware of the risks. They live this personally and
professionally all the time, both them and their families. They

(52:21):
are approached by special interest groups out of a number
of countries you know, who have a despo a living
in booklands, who try and pressure them, get in front
of them, you know, make them accept their will beal
on issues. Currently we're talking about China, we could be
talking about India or any other number of countries. These
people who live this space every day every week, both

(52:43):
personally and professionally, understand the risks.

Speaker 3 (52:46):
Who was the official they met with?

Speaker 19 (52:49):
I understand yours a local cultural attache who invited himself
to the dinner.

Speaker 3 (52:55):
And what did they talk about?

Speaker 19 (52:59):
I don't have the de also what that conversation was.
I have confidence in people that were there.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
They are.

Speaker 19 (53:06):
As I say, they lived in this space all the time.
They know the risk they go into these conversations.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
Eyes, how did he know that the dinner was happening.
I mean, if this is just a private holiday, I
mean it all sound. I mean, I can understand what
you say. Look, for God's sakes, Ryan, it's a fridge magnet.
Get over this. But you do have the former SIS
Minister and Andrew Little saying, anybody with a level of influence,
knowledge or understanding about New Zealand and New Zealand decision
making of politics and institutions, and anyone with access to

(53:35):
information or influence China is very interested in He says
it would be important for the police hierarchy to take
a closer look at the officer's disclosures and the extent
of the hospitality they enjoyed at the expense of provincial
or Beijing governments during the trip.

Speaker 19 (53:54):
I read that today in the media somewhere. He's not
wrong about that that China would have an interest. We
know they would have an interest. That's why we have
the PSO requirements for all of government employees. That's why
they sorted buy some ISG before we went New Zealand
police is not flying to those of usks. We have

(54:14):
staff who live and work in Beijing and Hong Kong
who are in that environment all the time. And we
have our ethnic liais and staff in cities like Auckland
who live and work in that environment the entire time.
They're aware of the risks and they are live to
that all the time.

Speaker 3 (54:31):
Did they take their private phones? Did anyone check them
on return.

Speaker 19 (54:37):
They took I can only assume they took their private phones.
I do know they left all police electronics behind, which
is always sensible when you're going away on holiday. And
though we are not in the business of checking our
staft's private phones when they were turned from holiday.

Speaker 3 (54:54):
Would you do this type of trip again happily? Well,
I guess allow it to to be done again.

Speaker 19 (55:02):
I would allow staff take leave and travel to China,
whether they do it by themselves, where they do it's
part of a public tour, Whether they organize another group
of police staff to go together. You know, employees out
of workplaces organizing trips together is not unheard of, not
just in police. I'd expect that probably the PSR requirements,

(55:23):
I expect that they would speak to IG before they
travel I'd expect they look at the infant advice on
the trouble, on the country they intend traveling too, to
make sure it's safe. They did all those sensible things.
There is no rule anywhere in the New Zealand system
that these officers couldn't travel to China.

Speaker 3 (55:43):
You're absolutely right. What did it cost them? Out of interest?

Speaker 19 (55:48):
I have seen a couple of I don't want to
quote one, I might get it wrong.

Speaker 3 (55:55):
What roughly it was.

Speaker 19 (55:58):
Several thousand dollars for eat for each of them per person.

Speaker 3 (56:02):
A couple of grand to go. How long were they there?

Speaker 19 (56:05):
I said several thousand dollars A few days, far days
or something.

Speaker 3 (56:13):
Okay.

Speaker 19 (56:14):
I've seen the itinery like its look like a good itinery.
They've visited some amazing sites and museums and gorges and
saw some great stuff.

Speaker 3 (56:23):
And we didn't bring home many spies. No, all right, Sam,
thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it,
Sam Hoyle, the Assistant Police Commissioner. It is seventeen away
from six.

Speaker 1 (56:35):
The huddle with New Zealand's Tutherbe's International Realty, local and
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Speaker 3 (56:41):
Tonight, Trishus and Huston Willis pr and Josie PEGANI child
Fund CEO. Good Evening, Good Evening, barking up the wrong tree?
What are you reckon through? I mean, you can never
be too careful, can you? When it comes to China
places like that, they have a vested interest in finding
out what's going on down here.

Speaker 20 (56:59):
Who knows what's in the French magnets?

Speaker 21 (57:01):
Well, I think I think it just highlights, doesn't it,
the sensitivity around China and for any groups going on
trips like this, the the the issues with perception that
you might get on the way back, because on the
one hand, I think, you know, Sam Hoyle explained it
really well, but then on the other I'm thinking, gosh,

(57:23):
it's you know, not many people on their own dime
and time would want to go on essentially a work
trip encouraging cultural competency on a sort of a strict
four day itinery.

Speaker 3 (57:36):
So yeah, it seems odd, doesn't it, Because I wouldn't
do that myself.

Speaker 13 (57:43):
Reflecting on my commitment to.

Speaker 21 (57:46):
The business and its purpose.

Speaker 3 (57:48):
Do see there's text coming and saying actually chill out, Ryan.
You know these police officers that a lot of them
socialize together on their own time, and dime or the regularly.
So what's to see here?

Speaker 20 (58:01):
Yeah, and I do think there's a bit of fainting
couch panic going on here. I mean, let's be clear,
China is not the enemy of New Zealand. Every country spies.
I know there are issues around the way that China
functions in other countries and so on. But the thing
that confuses me though, is I can't work out whether

(58:21):
this was a totally personal trip with a bunch of
cops who like each other, you know, go to the
public with each other, going on a trip to China,
because it seems a bit weird. And you raise this
with Sam just now that the police liaison you know,
ethnic liaison person was organizing this trip. Because I think
it's perfectly valid for cops in New Zealand to go

(58:44):
to other countries to meet with other cops to you know,
influence and understand each other, because we work not just
in Beijing and Hong Kong, but we also work in
the Pacific a lot. I mean, we have a lot
of our cops who go and work in different countries
in the Pacific, and there's a lot of Chinese cops
in those countries too, So understanding how China works, So
that makes sense to me. It's just that it also

(59:07):
sounds like, oh no, it was just a lovely tour
and everybody had a nice time, and really for four
days you all went to China and hung out together
because your mates.

Speaker 16 (59:17):
It's a little bit bluerious.

Speaker 3 (59:20):
I used to live in Beijing and before I left,
a friend of mine who works for a defense he said, now,
just be careful, and I was like, what do you mean,
Just be careful because you never know when you might
be approached to try, you know, to trying it. And
I was like, well, I've got those state secrets used.

Speaker 20 (59:40):
Ryan if they were going on a junket to Russia
and sort of you know, meeting up with Putin and
Lavrov and having a cup of tea with Basha allah Sad.
You know, I think we just have to be careful
here that China is not the enemy of New Zealand.
Whatever complicated relationship we have with China, we're not at
war with them. They're not the enemy, so you know,
maybe just take a chill pill everybody.

Speaker 3 (01:00:02):
In fact, they're the hand that feeds us. Josie, thank
you for that. And Trish will be back with the
Huddle in just a second.

Speaker 1 (01:00:08):
The Huddle with New Zealand Sotheby's International Realty Elevate the
marketing of your home.

Speaker 3 (01:00:13):
Trish Huston, Hirson Wills, PR Josie Bagani, the Child Fund,
the CEO on the huddle this evening. So many people
are texting in about the magnets that our coscott from
the Chinese saying well get rid of the French mags.
Someone said, what Ryan is going to interview the god
the contemn fridge pegnits well.

Speaker 21 (01:00:34):
Scanner.

Speaker 22 (01:00:35):
You never know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
Yeah, it's a weird gift.

Speaker 20 (01:00:38):
It is a weird, shitty gift actually, but yeah, needless
to say, it's a bit weird.

Speaker 3 (01:00:43):
Don't tell the Chinese that, all right. The government said,
having another crack at the councils. They are looking at
raped pegging the rates of councils local councils next year.
But in the meantime they're saying basically stick to the base.
I mean it's as missus they've said before Trish. But
still Wellington councils doing the Golden mile and putting lates up.
So it is the message getting through, well.

Speaker 21 (01:01:04):
Well, this is probably exactly why Simmy and Brown in
this package today they are actually moving to legislate for
this stuff, so the councilors will have no choice but
to listen. You know, I thought it was interesting I
heard this morning Heather actually talking about, you know, the
packers number one minister for the year, and she came

(01:01:26):
up with it was a race between Simon and Erica,
Simmy and Brown and Erica Stanford. Simeon then comes in
today with this, which is in some senses what Erica
has done in education. Think about what she's doing there.
Everyone back to back to basics and do the basics brilliantly.
So it's the same kind of mantra applied. I thought

(01:01:46):
there was some really good stuff in this. First of all,
it's going to be really reigning in councils and saying
you have to do what you are actually supposed to
be doing with rate payer money, ie fixing the roads,
making sure we've got water, making sure the rubbish is
taking away all of that great stuff. But the other
thing that I really like in this is that every

(01:02:09):
year there will be a report produced where as a
rate payer in Auckland, I can see, oh how many
how much rate how much in rates am I paying
compared to someone on the same size site in Wellington?
And you can also see whether your council is spending
the right money on you know, if they're taking out
debt and things like that. It will be great transparency

(01:02:33):
around that. I'm all about it and I love that
it's going to be out before the local government elections.

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
Josie, do people listen to this stuff? Will they go
up on the DIA website and read these comparisons between
the councils and is it going you know? And thereby
will we fix our problem with local government?

Speaker 20 (01:02:50):
No, no one will read it, but we will, Ryan,
and we'll all draw attention to it and try and
communicate it in layman's language. Look, I think there's one
thing here which is really good. We've had years of
you know, well being, frameworks, pillars. You know, the minute
I hear the word frameworks or a pillar us you
just you feel like taking a sleeping pill and you know,

(01:03:11):
just going to bed. But we've had well being, we've
had circular economy, we've had donor economics. I mean, each
of those words means something on their own, but together
it's basically meaningless and it's like we've been run by
people who speak English as a second language for too long.
So you know, that's good to get back to basics
and start talking about, you know, the pipes and the

(01:03:32):
potholes and basic council services, because this kind of everything
Bagel approach to policy, whether local or national, has you
end up with so many multiple targets. You know, you're
trying to build social housing, but you've got to put
solar panels on it, and you've got to create jobs,
and you've got to do it environmentally friendly and so
on and so on, and so you actually slow everything down.

(01:03:54):
The thing that worries me about this though, and I'm
supportive of the back to basics, but I think you
also need counsels, and I support a kind of devolving
more to local councils. If they're doing the job well,
then I want them to look at doing social housing.
I want local communities to work out where to put
the houses, how to deal with problem issues in that community.

(01:04:15):
They know where the problem families are, they know where
the issues in that community are, So you know, I
do think we want to devolve stuff that local people
are better at fixing. Two local councils two EUIs whatever.
I also think in the case of Wellington, my god,
we need we need some vision around economic development in Wellington.
And that's not really a back to basics thing, but

(01:04:36):
it's something absolutely critical.

Speaker 3 (01:04:38):
If they could spell it economic for a start, I
think we'd be getting somewhere. We have to leave it there, guys,
everybody gets a fridge magnet for a coming tonight. Thank you, wonderful,
Thank you, someone says, Chris says, councils are already pegging ratepayers.
Thank you, Chris, Thank you, josephmcgarney, Thank you to Huson
news talks, ev or.

Speaker 1 (01:05:00):
Blue Trump or Harris? Who will win the battleground states?
The latest on the US election. It's Heather Duplicy Alan
drive with one New Zealand let's get connected use talks.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
It'd be.

Speaker 3 (01:05:13):
I promised you I tell you the story about the
Warwick Resort, which is on the Coral Coast where the
alcohol poisonings have allegedly happened in Fiji. I stayed there
a couple of years ago, now maybe last year. Anyway,
beautiful place. Everyone's wearing their resort where you know the
ladies have got their fancy hats on and everyone's drinking
champagne and having cocktails. Anyway, beautiful day. We're all sitting

(01:05:34):
on the balcony, music like this, probably playing Sun's Out,
and all of a sudden you hear from the Australians fight, Fight, Fight,
And I looked over and I'm not kidding you. There
was a massive brawl by the pool side. You've got
a bunch of Canterbury dudes and you've got some far
North Queensland trades going hammer and tongs punching each other.

(01:06:00):
One poor woman got punched in the head. The only
thing that stopped this and everyone was, oh my gosh,
this is ghastly. I'm spinning my champagne. The only thing
that stopped it was the giant fig and chiefs came
out of the kitchen. So there you go. That's TG.

Speaker 1 (01:06:18):
Keeping frag of where the money is glowing. For the
Business Hour with Ryan Bridge and my Hr on News TALKSBB.

Speaker 3 (01:06:27):
Good evening seven after six News Talks ZBB. Great to
have your company this evening. Nichola Willis is the Finance
Minister and a big day tomorrow. The half yarly economic
and physcal update from the Treasury will tell us basically
the state of the books and how New Zealand's accounts
are looking going forward, and the government will respond in
a budget policy statement led by Niicola Willis, who's with

(01:06:47):
me this evening, Good evening, Minister, good evening, Ryan. Not
going to be good news tomorrow.

Speaker 12 (01:06:52):
Well, I think everyone knows that the government has inherited
very challenging economic conditions and that is being reflected in
the books as the try Treasury unwind their overly optimistic
forecasts from a couple.

Speaker 11 (01:07:04):
Of years ago.

Speaker 12 (01:07:05):
So tomorrow the Treasury will share their updated forecasts and
we will share our response to that. I think what
we've been consistent in saying is this is a time
we need to be very careful with how we spend
New zealanders money. And what we know is that things
would be a lot worse if we'd continued with the
spending track we inherited from the last government.

Speaker 3 (01:07:27):
How can you trust their overly optimistic forecasts.

Speaker 12 (01:07:31):
Well, what the Treasury have been doing since a couple
of years ago is revising some of the assumptions they
made after COVID. There's two key things. One, they thought
that we'd come out of the current recession earlier and
more vigorously than we have. And the second is that
they read into a bit of a bounce back and

(01:07:53):
productivity and tax to GDP, extrapolated that forward, and they've
then been wressively having to unwind that. So the books
that we're seeing now have actually always been the case.
It's just that Treasury prior to the election was being
overly optimistic in the forecasts that they shared.

Speaker 3 (01:08:12):
Do you trust Treasury's predictions now?

Speaker 12 (01:08:15):
Look, I do. Forecasts are forecasts, they move up and down.
There's all sorts of factors that can impact them. But
do I think that Treasury do all of the things
that they should be expected to do when you're doing
the forecasting.

Speaker 8 (01:08:28):
Yes?

Speaker 12 (01:08:29):
Does that mean we should test some of the assumptions,
look at them, compare them with other updates from the
Reserve Bank and others. Yes, of course we should do
that too.

Speaker 3 (01:08:37):
You were brutal on Grant Robertson for delaying surplus, delaying surplus,
delaying surplus. You're going to again delay surplus? Are you
embarrassed by that?

Speaker 12 (01:08:48):
Not at all. I was brutal on Grant Robertson because
despite their being escalating inflation, he decided to put his
foot down on the spending accelerator. You know, in Budget
twenty two he committed more than nine billion dollars of
additional spending every year, even while inflation was through the roof.
What we said we do was bring restraint back. We

(01:09:10):
have and what I know beyond a shadow of a
doubt is if we continued the approach of the last
government was reckless spending, the economy would be in worse
shape right now, New Zealanders would be in worse shape
and the books would be dreadful.

Speaker 3 (01:09:25):
Your delaying surplus again, will you commit to it? And
which means we're not going to get back to surplus
within your first term. Will you even promise to get
back to surplus in your second?

Speaker 12 (01:09:36):
Well, you're getting a bit ahead of yourself, Ryan, because
the updates will be delivered tomorrow and I will comment
in detail on those there. The government has had a
range of short term fiscal intentions and long term objectives,
and we remain committed to the task we've set for ourselves,
which is getting the books back in balance, getting getting
spending as a proportion.

Speaker 3 (01:09:56):
You're committed to surplus, as.

Speaker 12 (01:09:58):
Is getting the books back and balance as a driving
goal for this government.

Speaker 3 (01:10:02):
Are you going to change the d Are you considering
changing the date by which you return the books to surplus?

Speaker 12 (01:10:08):
At the budget last year we indicated that we were
looking at the indicators used to describe what's known as
the operating balance colloquially referred to as the surplus that
has been measured a number of different ways over the years,
and we wanted to look at how it's currently made up,
particularly examining the role of self funded Crown entities including

(01:10:31):
acc who will have short term fluctuations but remain long
term funded. And so we'll be announcing the results of
that review tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (01:10:42):
And there's not going to be any as Aischaviral puts it,
book cookery going on here.

Speaker 12 (01:10:47):
Absolutely not. It's actually in our interests to be as
open and transparent with New Zealanders as we can about
the state that New Zealand's finances are in, because what
this is about is how we can live within our
means and how we can ensure that we keep delivering
the frontline services that people deserve, that we're not over
taxing people, and that we're not labeling the next generation

(01:11:11):
with excessive levels of debt. So we want New Zealanders
to understand the true size of the predicament we have inherited,
and we want them to have confidence that we are
managing through that effectively.

Speaker 3 (01:11:21):
Okay, we just want to understand what you're saying. Are
you saying that you will not delay the surplus but
rather allow Crown companies to take on more debt?

Speaker 12 (01:11:29):
Is that No, that's not what I'm saying. What I'm
saying is that tomorrow I'll give you an update on
the forecasts across arrange of indicators, and I will also
give an update on our review of the Crown Operating
Balance measure.

Speaker 3 (01:11:42):
You've got no FTA Withindia in sight, Seymore's red tape
seems to be looking at boos at hairdressers. Thus far,
tax cuts haven't boosted growth, Productivity is a bit buggered,
potentially another delayed surplus, and we haven't even taken into
account Trump's tariffs yet. Things looking less rosy than you
would have hoped.

Speaker 12 (01:12:01):
We have a government that is taking every step it
can to lean towards growth now, whether that's the fast
track legislation getting big developments through, whether that's rewriting the
Resource Management Act, so it's easier to build houses, getting
rid of some of the red tape in the Building Act,
whether that's the free trade agreements we've struck with the
UAE and the GCC, whether that's our commitment to saying

(01:12:23):
yes to more inward bound international investment, upskilling kids so
they're not leaving school unable to read, write and do maths,
making sure our science system is more commercially plausible. All
of these initiatives are about improving the productive capacity of
the New Zealand economy. Now, no one promised that overnight
everything would be fixed, but we did promise that every

(01:12:46):
week we're in office, we will do things to make
this economy go faster, and we've been working at pace.

Speaker 3 (01:12:51):
You said last week that you were putting the banks
on notice that the big Australian owned banks should be
listening to what you were saying, that they should be
changing their behavior. Have a listening.

Speaker 12 (01:13:02):
We're putting the major banks on notice. We expect them
to act on the Commerce Commission's recommendations.

Speaker 3 (01:13:10):
Have any of them got in touch with you since then?
Come with their tail between their legs?

Speaker 12 (01:13:14):
No, but I have noted the public statements of a
few have said and assured us that they're getting on
with it. That's what we need to see. I will
judge them by their actions, not their words. I want
to see switching services improved. I want to see open
banking accelerated. I want to see it easier for New
Zealanders to compare the terms of their home loans. I
want there to be easier access to bank accounts than

(01:13:37):
banking services for many people. So those are the tangible
actions we expect to see. And as I said last week,
they are on notice. They should get on with it.

Speaker 3 (01:13:45):
Will you resign if you don't get those results.

Speaker 12 (01:13:49):
I've long since departed from the idea of throwing a
resignation around. It's up to the banks to do their bit,
and as a government, we've been clear if they don't
do their bit, then we are prepared to regulate or
to use the other policy tools we have at our disposal.
Because it's not actually about me, is it, Ryan. It's
about Keiwi getting a fair deal from their bank. The

(01:14:09):
banks shouldn't be taking us for a ride. We've had
the comments. Commission report says it's not competitive, it says
there's things they can do to make it fairer they
should do it.

Speaker 3 (01:14:18):
The problem is that you're not the first politician to
say that you're going to rain the banks in and
you're going to change their behavior. The banks keep laughing
from Sydney. Nothing changes. So we ask the politicians for
a bit of a guarantee to make sure that they're
a man of their word.

Speaker 12 (01:14:31):
I'll guarantee I keep taking action. I've already taken significant
actions that the last government didn't. I've got a financial
policy remit which puts the emphasis back on competition for
the way the Reserve Bank does its job. I've made
very clear my expectations to the Reserve Bank that I
want them to be looking at who can use the
word bank, the capital requirements for being a bank, access
to the exchange settlement system. I've also laid out our

(01:14:52):
plans to ensure Keywi Bank can get the capital it
needs to grow. And I'm monitoring this much more closely
than preview governments have. And I've put the banks on notice,
so you'll keep seeing action from us in this space.

Speaker 3 (01:15:05):
Okay, let's move on. Talk about revenue. Would you rule
out any new revenue measures to try and balance the books.

Speaker 12 (01:15:12):
My first port of call is getting spending under control,
because when you look at what happened to the books
over recent years, the big thing that changed was the
amount of government spending is a proportion of the economy.
It leapt to levels well beyond what had been seen historically,
and we want to bend that back down and have
already delivered more than twenty three billion dollars of savings
towards that goal. I want to keep doing that because

(01:15:34):
we have to get our house and order on the
spending front. You can't just keep treating Kiwis like an ATM.
At the same time, I've been careful not to rule
out revenue measures in particular because we need to make
sure that the tax system is fear and has integrity,
and that's where we're looking in the charities area, for example.
But also because we acknowledge to meet the infrastructure deficit

(01:15:56):
New Zealand now faces, there will be new revenue tools needed,
and you saw, for example, Simon Brown announcing tolling measures
last week. We are continuing to think about how we
fund infrastructure and that will involve in your revenue measures.

Speaker 3 (01:16:09):
Other than tolling, Yes.

Speaker 12 (01:16:12):
Potentially value capture tools and other tools that are used
in other jurisdictions around the world.

Speaker 3 (01:16:17):
We are the tools well.

Speaker 12 (01:16:19):
Value capture, for example, is about saying, if a really
extraordinary motorway gets built by your piece of land, and
suddenly your piece of land goes up considerably in value
because it's a great place to build houses, then we
might look at how we could get some of that
upside game as a revenue source.

Speaker 3 (01:16:38):
All right, big day for you tomorrow, So I won't
keep you. We might actually see you back on the
show tomorrow. But if we don't, what have you got
plans for summer? A break of some type. I hope, yeah,
look I do.

Speaker 12 (01:16:51):
I'm really looking forward to having Christmas with my family,
my brother and sister, and then we take our kids
to a little beach where they do surf life staying
and we geekily read books and do puzzles and maybe
hea a G and T or two. And I just
can't wait to spend some time with the but spend
some time with the kids, then with my husband. It's
going to be great.

Speaker 3 (01:17:10):
It's absolutely well deserved. Nicola, thank you very much for
being Hopefully you don't have to get the ferry there.
Don't answer, don't answer. Lovely to have you on the program,
as always, take here and we might see tomorrow. It's
Nicola Willis, who's the Finance Minister. Just gone eighteen after
six News Talk.

Speaker 1 (01:17:31):
SIB analysis from the experts bringing you everything you need
to know on the US election. It's the Business Hour
with Heather Duplicy, Allen and my Hr Ehr Solution for
busy SMEs used talks.

Speaker 2 (01:17:43):
It'd be.

Speaker 3 (01:17:45):
Twenty one minutes after six on News Talks. It'd be
lots of feedback coming in from Nicola Willis, the Finance
Minister to the Nicola Willison Interview with the Finance Minister.
I should say, Ryan, did the media ever question labor
like this? Yes we did, some of us did. I
won't say all of us did, because there certainly are
people who don't do that, but yes, absolutely, particularly Grant

(01:18:10):
Robertson when he was spending like a you know, kid
at a candy store.

Speaker 2 (01:18:14):
Ryan.

Speaker 3 (01:18:14):
I like Nikola Willis, but she needs to learn how
to answer a question directly and in two to three sentences,
not twenty three sentences. Yeah, I know what you mean,
but sometimes it's a complicated business running a running the
finance ministry. I would imagine, Ryan, what are you eating?
I don't know where that's. Sorry, I didn't mean to
read that. I don't know where that came from. I'm

(01:18:37):
not eating anything. Do you mean in general? Do you
mean right now?

Speaker 2 (01:18:40):
Right now?

Speaker 3 (01:18:40):
I'm not eating a thing generally. I'm eating a lot
of protein at the moment, actually trying to spread for summer.
I'm doing too my trying to do much of my waistline.
What Nichola Willis is doing to the government box and
that is just hack fat out of it, Ryan in nonsense. Oh,
this is about different issue that we were talking about earlier. Yeah,

(01:19:02):
it's interesting, isn't it, Because she's got a very difficult job.
The government books were left highest government spending ever, Government
debt to GDP blown out, in fact, doubled, and you've
got the job of trying to rain it all in.
Plus you've got umpting different spending priorities. Someone else is
saying it sounds like I'm eating. I'm not eating anything.

(01:19:24):
In fact, I'm trying to do the opposite. And do
I sound like I'm eating.

Speaker 11 (01:19:29):
I'm coming to that studio and I'm going to search
for crumbs when we hit the ad breakat.

Speaker 3 (01:19:33):
Thing I'm starving is what I am anyway, all right,
twenty three minutes after six. Lots want to come on
these talksb.

Speaker 2 (01:19:41):
If it's to do with money, it matters to you.

Speaker 1 (01:19:44):
The Business Hour with Ryan Bridge and my HR The
HR Solution for Busy smys on News Talk ZB.

Speaker 3 (01:19:52):
Twenty five after six. Shane Solly with US harbor Asset Management. Shane,
Good evening, Cure right, good to have you on. As
we head into the end of the year. How has
the year been for investors in your view?

Speaker 23 (01:20:03):
Oh, look, it's a great question, race, Ryan. It's actually
been a good year. It's been all about inflation coming down,
which has allowed central banks to cut these official interest rates.
But it's actually been pretty challenging for to deal with
things like wars and some pretty meaningful elections. Ryan, it's
really changed sentiment. But yeah, we've certainly seen bond years
lower in a strong year for global share returns, particularly

(01:20:24):
the US market up over twenty eight percent, usalan share
market don't okay up eight percent, and some of the
more speculative assets like crypto and goal they've had sort
of all time high level. So yeh, it's been a
pretty good year.

Speaker 3 (01:20:38):
Government announced last week and we covered this the changes
that are going to come to regulatory changes that will
give key WE saver providers the chance to invest in
private assets. Do you think that we will see lots
of that happening.

Speaker 19 (01:20:51):
Yeah, a really really good point.

Speaker 23 (01:20:52):
So you come back to you know, why does this
legislation change or regulation change count Because at the moment,
as a KEYV saber provider, if you come say I
want to change provider, I have to liquidate all the
assets so that you can move your funds to another location.
That's hard to do with private assets. So this new
proposed regulation of our side pocketing, so it means those

(01:21:13):
and bits are less liquid private assitts. They can be
treated separately when you change from keysavers. So I think
it will open up the opportunities. It'll take some time.
We've got a lot of water to run under the
bridge in terms of you know, what is the regulation,
But yeah, I think it's a it's a good start point.
It's an important move for QV savers and for New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (01:21:33):
Over time.

Speaker 3 (01:21:34):
Does that mean we could see keV saver funds investing
in k WE Bank all the ferries.

Speaker 23 (01:21:40):
Look, I think it's possible. You know, we are seeing
you know, it depends about the quality and investments and
the price of those assets. The key thing here is
it opens up a new pipeline of opportunities to grow
qv savers. Well, remember that's three and a half million
keyser a q servis. It's really crucially growing there. Well,
so yeah, i Q we savers or if Chemi bank
stacks up, then there'll be a good advertise and yes,

(01:22:03):
maybe even the enter island theories if the right frame.
There is a little way to go there though.

Speaker 2 (01:22:08):
I've got to say we've.

Speaker 3 (01:22:09):
Kicked off the week with some new data, some economic data.
Are you seeing any green shoots there?

Speaker 23 (01:22:15):
Yeah, Look, it was an interesting day, a bit of
a mix. Some inflation data continue to slow, which allows
the Reserve Bank and Zeland to continue to cut. And
we've seen a little bit of improvement and business sentiment
for Kivi households is where it really matters. Food prices
were down for them to Devember month, down minus one
percent versus the previous month. And residential rents were out

(01:22:35):
er point two of a percent. It sounds like, man,
well that's not down, it's actually slowing from where it
was so again taking pressure off. But the interesting thing
was we saw another lift in business sentiment in terms
of the New Zealand Performance of Services Index. Now that
is an index that measures confidence from service providers. If
it's above fifty, that means they're growing expanding. If it's
below fifty then they're contracting. It was forty nine point five.

(01:22:58):
It was almost expanded up from forty six point two
last month, so hitting in the right direction. But you know,
our friends from the economists, the ins of ther inside
I should say, did a Carly server economists and he's
an economists. They're expecting mil growth for twenty four to
twenty five, so they're still about beerish hard to get
them excited.

Speaker 3 (01:23:18):
There, Shane, thank you for that. Shane Solly, Harbor Asset Management.
It is twenty nine minutes after six News Talks. It'b
we're live to London and talking business team Green Architects
after the news.

Speaker 2 (01:23:33):
Love mees crunching the numbers and getting the results.

Speaker 1 (01:23:39):
It's Ryan Bridge with the Business Hour thanks to my
HR the HR solution for busy Smmy's on News Talks IB.

Speaker 3 (01:24:02):
Twenty three away from seven year on News Talks. The NTTNYA,
who're not wasting any time after the fall of their
sad regime over in Syria. So the Goland Heights separate
Israel from Syria, and obviously Israel took control of that
sea's control of that in the Sixth Day War and
since then has had a settlement of about twenty thousand

(01:24:22):
Israelis in there. Now, what they are doing this is
Netanya who etal. What they are planning is to double
the size, double the population of Israelis who are living
in the Goland Heights. There's also about twenty thousand Syrians
who are living there. And NTTNYA who says, oh no,
there's nothing, don't worry too much about this. We're just
you know, making hay, basically making hay while the sun shines,

(01:24:44):
while there is a lack of resistance. And they say
that because you have Islamist rebels on the border, we
are justified in doing this. Well, the Union doesn't really
think so, thank you very much. Neither did the new
Syrian rebel alliance that is leading are about to start
leading Syria. It is considered illegally occupied. But na who

(01:25:05):
wants to double the population, and that's what he exactly
what he intends to do. It's twenty two away from
seven Bryan Bridge. If you followed the news in the
last couple of decades, you'll know we've had real problems
in this country with houses that are too cold in
the winter. Well it looks like you can't quite catch
a break. Now we've got townhouses that are too hot
in the summer, and these are new townhouses. A renter

(01:25:28):
in christ Church says the temperature in his bedroom has
reached fifty degrees celsius a few times this month. Can
you imagine. Sean Taylor is the owner of Team Green Architects,
and she's with me to explain how this could be happening. Sean,
Welcome to the show. Hi, thank you for being with me.

(01:25:48):
Why are we having this problem? What is it that
we're doing wrong.

Speaker 22 (01:25:54):
That It's hard to say, but I think it's a
combination of that being more and more houses being built,
which is something that we need because we need to
densify our cities, and this is happening quite quickly. But
often they're being built with large walls of glazing, and
if you have large large walls of glass facing anywhere

(01:26:17):
but sat, they're basically going to overheat if they're not
shaded externally.

Speaker 3 (01:26:23):
So is it's nothing to do with insulation. We're not
over insulating to try and compensate for the winter and
then having the opposite effect in summer.

Speaker 22 (01:26:32):
No, it's nothing to do with that.

Speaker 10 (01:26:34):
That's a really.

Speaker 22 (01:26:36):
That's been a misconception that's come out recently. It's something
that I've heard and Minister talk about, and it's completely false.
I live in a house that's as highly insulated as
it could possibly be. It's a passive house, and it
basically stays the same temperature throughout the year, within a
really good temperature range, and when we're basically lovying col

(01:26:58):
in the summer and lovely and warm in the winter.

Speaker 3 (01:27:01):
So the problem is big windows.

Speaker 8 (01:27:05):
The problem is big.

Speaker 22 (01:27:06):
Windows that are not externally shaded. So if you're designing
in a way that you're basically creating a greenhouse, which
is what's happening, because we're getting all these townhouses which
might be sort of muldiple townhouses in a row that
could be two or three stories high with lots of glass,
and then they're not probably ventilated, so the windows don't
open very much, and often they might just have one

(01:27:30):
air conditioning unit on the ground floor and there's no
external shades at all, and they just overheat.

Speaker 3 (01:27:38):
We want the views, don't we Yeah, and with the windows,
I mean, because they're second third floor. There's these weird rules,
aren't they. You know, window can only open like a crack.

Speaker 22 (01:27:53):
Yes, well, look it is it is. It isn't a
weird rule. It's basically for safety. So if you have
a window that's all the way to the floor, you
don't want it opening that much. But essentially you still
need to design in such a way that you're not
bringing that heat in because what also happens is then
if you pull down, say black blinds on the inside,

(01:28:15):
you actually trap that heat. So you bring the heat
into the building through the glass and then trap it
behind the blind and you can't get rid of it.
So as soon as you incorporate something like air conditioning,
it just fights it, but it doesn't actually stop the
building overheating.

Speaker 3 (01:28:32):
So what should we do then if we're living in
one of these hot boxes?

Speaker 22 (01:28:37):
Well, I personally think we firstly we need to change
the building code, which doesn't resolve the people who've already
living in one, which is not great, but it does
stop things happening in the future because the way that
we're doing this, there's nothing in the building code to
basically say, are you creating a comfortable internal invite? So

(01:29:01):
building can just be designed to either be too hot
or too cold, and that's that's what's been happening. And
insulation levels have gone up recently, which means that we've
stopped them being too cold, but we're not doing anything
to stop them being too hot because there's nothing to
stop us doing that in the in the building code.

Speaker 3 (01:29:19):
So we actually need a limit at the other end
of the spectrum.

Speaker 2 (01:29:25):
We do.

Speaker 22 (01:29:26):
I look personally, I think we should be energy modeling
all of our buildings to show if they're going to
be suitable for human habitation, which they're not. If they're
hitting like fifty degrees, they're not definitely not comfortable. They
no one should be living in them.

Speaker 3 (01:29:44):
Should we Can we just put shutterss on the outside
like they do.

Speaker 22 (01:29:47):
Yes, that that is definitely the best way to go.
And and you know, if you travel anywhere in Europe,
you've basically got shutters and on almost every building. And
you know the Romans new added design to avoid too
much sun. So did the Greeks. It's not new, it's
just it's actually comes down to really simple passive principles

(01:30:10):
and it doesn't cost anything. You just need to design
to stop the heat coming in when it's too hot.

Speaker 3 (01:30:16):
Sean, thank you very much for that. Really interesting to
see how thick we've become. Sean Taylor, owner of Team
Green Architects, is been amazing what you learn and then unlearned.
Seventeen away from seven, News TALKSBB.

Speaker 1 (01:30:29):
Whether it's macro micro or just playing economics, it's all
on the Business Hour with Ryan Bridge and my Hr.

Speaker 2 (01:30:36):
The HR solution for busy SMEs used TALKSB.

Speaker 3 (01:30:41):
It is fourteen away from seven. I can tell you
that the black Caps are four hundred and fifty three
for nine and Tim Salvey has just gotten out. He's
just been bold and that is his final time playing
for the black Caps. So very sad for him to
have his career over, but he will be remembered fondly
by all of the Black Cats fans, many of whom

(01:31:01):
are still there watching in the sunshine. It has just
gone now fourteen away from seven on News Talks HERE'B
and stuff is reporting about the fairies they've got themselves
a copy of the leaked report. This is authored by
the Ministerial Advisory Group. This is the group that informed
the ministers who made the big calls last week about
the fairies. Right, so they've given them a list of

(01:31:23):
fairy replacement options. The cheapest and remember it was about
a half a billion bucks for the two fairies that
we originally bought, which were big ones. Two hundred and
eighty two million dollars per ship is what they've been
quoted in this Ministers were advised they should operate on
their default position based on market soundings. Two new ships
can be procured and delivered by the end of twenty

(01:31:44):
twenty seven. Now we were told twenty twenty nine last week.
But maybe they're giving themselves some regal room, which would
be a smart thing to do. They also say that
they're concerned about the risk of missing out on some
options due to delays but caused by Kiwi rail work
to settle acclaim with Yonda. In other words, the fee
the break feed that we're having to wrangle the Koreans

(01:32:06):
over may delay us purchasing new ships, which could of
course cause problems for us down the line. There's also
concerned about the ARDITORI and how on that thing's going
to hold up. So lots to get through, twelve minutes
away from seven raien Bridge, and we're going to Gavin
Gray are UK correspondent who's standing by in the UK
for Uskevin, welcome to the show. Israel will close its

(01:32:29):
embassies in Dublin. What's this about?

Speaker 8 (01:32:32):
Yeah, Rah, that's right.

Speaker 13 (01:32:33):
So Israel saying they're going to close the embassy because
of quote, the extreme anti Israel policies of the Irish government.
According to the Foreign Minister, they said the Israel for us,
the Republic of Ireland has crossed quote every red line
and it's really furious because it's recalled that Ireland has

(01:32:56):
and it quotes a unilateral decision to recognize a Palestine
in state.

Speaker 3 (01:33:01):
And it goes on as.

Speaker 13 (01:33:02):
Well with fury that Ireland announced its support for South
Africa's legal action against Israel in the International Court of
Justice accusing Israel of genocide. So some really really strong words.
I think you can almost see in that statement the
anger that Israel is feeling. The closure now of the
embassy in Dublin with the Irish Prime Minister or the

(01:33:23):
t sharkus he's called Simon Harris, saying the decision is
deeply regrettable and also rejects any notion that Ireland is
anti Israel.

Speaker 3 (01:33:32):
What about the Royal Males parent company apparently being sold
off to a chick billionaire.

Speaker 13 (01:33:38):
Yeah, we expect the announcement probably in about three four
hours from now, but it all looks like it's been
given the go ahead. This is a takeover worth nearly
eight billion New Zealand dollars. It's controversial because of because
the Royal Mail, a very British institution, is looking to
be sold to a check billionaire. It's Daniel Kratinsky is

(01:33:59):
his name, but it's the group EP Group, which is
perhaps more famous. And the post office here the Royal
Males had a real problem. The volume of letters being
posted is plummeted, half the number being sent compared to twenty.

Speaker 2 (01:34:13):
Eleven levels mass.

Speaker 13 (01:34:15):
At the same time, parcel deliveries have become more popular
and a lot more profitable. Daniel Kratinski made quite his
fortune from energy interests, but also currently owns a ten
percent stake in the huge supermarket chain his Sainsbury's, a
quarter percent a quarter of the value of west Ham

(01:34:35):
United is his. He's owned a quarter state there and
he's said to be worth roughly thirteen billion New Zealand dollars.
But the controversial takeover is certainly making the headlines here.
The government is keeping what it's calling a golden share,
requiring any major changes to the ownership, location of the
headquarters and tax residency to have to be passed by them.

(01:34:57):
But plenty of people very very concerned that somebody from
abroad taking over this British institution.

Speaker 3 (01:35:03):
Absolutely what's to deal with this AI catching drink drivers
in England? Is this an operation used or is this
in the future situation?

Speaker 13 (01:35:12):
No, No, they're getting it going now. So already a
firm that makes cameras here in the UK has had
some success with trying to spot drunk drivers and also
those on mobile phones. So the cameras are hooked up
to some software using artificial intelligence, which is very clever

(01:35:35):
at really being able to check whether road use and
behavior consistent with drivers who may be impaired by drink
or drugs. So in other words, you know, it looks
at the cars driving towards it and looks for certain
behavior or traits that suggest that the driver might either
be drunk or high and police then further up the
road can stop the vehicle flagged up, talk to the

(01:35:57):
driver and do a roadside test immediate for alcohol and
illegal drugs. And this is a huge problem in this country.
I'm afraid because a fatal collision is six times more
likely to happen with a drunk driver at its heart.
So this new system that really hoping down in the
southwest of England can change the way motoring is assessed.

Speaker 3 (01:36:19):
Interesting. You've got to feel for those people who are
just bad drivers who get caught up on the whole thing. Devin, Yeah,
thank you for that, Kevin Gray, a UK correspondent. It
is eight away from seven News TALKSIB.

Speaker 2 (01:36:33):
Getting ready for a new administration in the US. What
will be the impact?

Speaker 1 (01:36:37):
It's the Business Hour with hither Duplicyllen and my HR
the HR solution for busy SMS, News Talks it.

Speaker 3 (01:36:44):
B, News Talks it B. It is six away from
seven Now the all Sorry, the black Caps all out
for four hundred and fifty three England hitting up with
the bet now needing six hundred and fifty eight to win, which,
as we heard from Jason Pineer in the program, unlikely
to happen, but you never say never. So basically we yeah,
well we're not gonna win the series, how would we

(01:37:06):
know that, but we might win a battle here. That
is it for me today. Thank you very much, Thank
you j Nikola Willis for coming on the program. Thanks
for all of your checks and your feedback this afternoon.
Really appreciate it. And what are we going out with tonight?

Speaker 11 (01:37:18):
Let me entertain you by Robbie Williams to play us
out tonight. So I'm sure if you, if you've been
watching the movie trailers or YouTube or wherever you see
stuff on TV these days, Ryan, you will have noticed
the trailer for the new Robbi Williams biopic that's coming out. Actually, yeah, yeah,
So the interesting thing about it is that Robbie Williams
in this movie is being played digitally by a monkey.

(01:37:39):
Like everyone else in the movie is just a human,
but the Robbi Williams character resembles a monkey. And I
have why, yes, exactly, that's the question we've all had.
So they've sat down to talk to him about it,
and basically the director just really wanted a point of difference.
He's like, there's just so many musical biopicks, and he
wanted to come at this with a different lens, so
he heard when he was doing his research, he said,

(01:38:00):
Robbie would often say, oh, I'm just like a performing monkey,
or I'm up the back like a performing monkey.

Speaker 8 (01:38:04):
So he's like, okay, there we go.

Speaker 11 (01:38:05):
We're making my monkey sounds.

Speaker 3 (01:38:07):
Do you know what that sounds like? It sounds like
the content is bad, so they've gone for a gimmick.

Speaker 11 (01:38:10):
Well, to be fair, it gets attention, right. I mean
you know, if he's got a good movie and he
just needs to get some people in the door to
see it.

Speaker 3 (01:38:17):
Do you know who won't be watching that? Elton John, Oh,
I don't want to throw over my head roundhi first.
So he's blight, he announced the Threek. He's blind, poor
old thing. Anyway, I shouldn't have said that. Pour away
from seven you just talk to have a loved Even.

Speaker 1 (01:39:40):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.

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