Full Show Podcast: 16 July 2025

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Digging through the spin spins to find the real story.
Or here's Ryan Bridge on heather duper cell and drive
with one New Zealand. Let's get connected and news talks.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
He'd be good afternoon. It is seven after four. Great
to have your company this afternoon. Now it is a
hard no from the government on open planned barnyard style classrooms,
but what if your kid has already been taught in one?
We look at that after five o'clock. Labour's finally come
to the party with a policy and guess what, it's
another commissioner because they work so well in groceries. The

(00:33):
dock ranger who found the rare kei we on the
mainland will speak to him. Your power bill could be
about to get cheaper if the electricity Authority has its way,
and the Aussies reckon they've cracked vaping. We'll ask how
seven after four, Bryan Bridge, we owe our kids in apology,
I reckon for using them as guinea pigs and education.
Let me explain my thinking on this. We've had two

(00:56):
announcements from the government this week and both I think
prove a k that we've wasted crucial time on failed experiments. First,
the NCAA maths results that we talked about the other
day for low decile schools in particular, these are our
poorest kids. They improved by around seventy percent, so jumping
from nineteen point eight percent passing the corequisite test last

(01:20):
year and June it was thirty four percent. This is
obviously excellent news, well done to the students, but the
begging question is why, how on earth did this happen?
How did we turn the numbers around so quickly, and
how did we let them get so bad in the
first place. I asked Erica Stamford this question this week,
Hipkin's the same thing, and both of them uniquely agreed

(01:45):
that teachers have been teaching too much fluffy other stuff
to students and their results in core subjects have been
declining as a result. In other words, the kids weren't
failing because they weren't trying. They were failing because they
weren't being taught properly. Second thing, this open plan classroom

(02:06):
announcement today in a home of distracted learning stupid idea.
Government announced they're not going to build any new ones.
Good welcome news, but again, the question is why were
we building them in the first place, the Key government
built some labor carried on. I'm not saying this is
a particular party, It's just governments of all stripes. All

(02:29):
of this on the advice of Boffin's at the Ministry
of Education, by the way, who clearly have never stepped
foot in an actual classroom. Now the Minister says they've
done some actual research and realize terrible idea. Listen to
Erica Stamford politely describe how schools are coping right now
with these classrooms, these barnyard classrooms.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
There are schools who still have them, and they operate
in them to the best they possibly can. They've trained
their teachers to work in them. They've got really good acoustics.
They're teaching children at different levels up and chairs, some
on the floor to reduce the noise, and are doing
the best they can.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
Kids sitting on the floor to learn because of acoustic
issues in a classroom is the dumbest thing I think
I've heard from our education system. Well second dumbest behind
teaching them fluff. I mean, and they're on the floor
and you're teaching them the wrong stuff. It's a recipe
for disaster. So the reality is we can't solely blame

(03:25):
our kids for their failure to learn. We can also
blame some pretty ill informed and ideologically driven experiments by
the Ministry of Education. You have to say the unions
and clearly some politicians. Bridge John News talkb all happening
at the local government conference in christ Church today. A
rates cap is a coming. This is according to Simon Watts,

(03:46):
who's the minister. Have a listen what this is.

Speaker 4 (03:48):
Place as fast as possible. We're aiming to have that
all decided by the definitely before Christmas.

Speaker 5 (03:55):
If we can go faster, we will.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
He was speaking outside the conference. San Braughton is a
local government he's in in president with me now, Hi Sam, Yeah,
good Ron. So you'll be welcoming news that there's going
to be a cap. I think we all want lower rates.
So I know I want lower.

Speaker 6 (04:10):
Rates increases means and cheers around the conference today. What
lower rates increases the government does, and I certainly know
what community does. So lower rates increases has got to
be the game. Whether a rates cap is the right
way to go about it, and compromises that will need
to be made to get us there.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
Thanks up for debate. What compromises are you talking about.

Speaker 6 (04:29):
Well, I think we look at international examples. Across the
teesment in South Australia has actually got lower rates increases
than New South Wales. South Australia doesn't have a rates cap,
They've gone with other measures looking at accountability, transparency and reporting.
New South Wales has a rates cap but has higher
rates increases and some of that's due to the need
for catch up rates. So you can you can artificially

(04:51):
suppress rates and you know, truck along for a while,
but and then you've got to catch up.

Speaker 2 (04:55):
Can you see why of this is slightly patronizing two
rate payers who are listening to this. You know, your
local government New Zealand. You've got a bunch of mayors
and whatnot sitting around at the conference telling us that no,
don't put a rates cap on us. All we need
is great a transparency rules. I mean, why don't why
don't you do that?

Speaker 6 (05:12):
Now, Well, there's a lot of transparency, but what we
haven't seen. What we're going to see over the next
couple of weeks is the metrics of the government will
be releasing and again I welcome that because I think
it's important to see where councils are doing well and
where councils might need a bit of extra support. That's
what that's why LG and Z exists. So I don't
think that we've currently got those right setting here in

(05:32):
New Zealand in the same way that South Australia does.
And I think in our context too, we New Zealand
is already the most over centralized country in the OECD.
Ninety three percent of public money spent by Wellington, seven
percent by local councils. And so there's a piece here
around local democracy and of a question for New Zealand.
I suppose our councils an arm of central government and
should just do what central government do? Or do we

(05:53):
elect local councils to be able to think about and
respond to local need And a rates cap is you know,
a decision out of central government that doesn't lead a
flexibility for local communities to think about what they might
need in their local setting.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
Okay, Sam, appreciate your time this afternoon. Sam Broughton, who's
the Local Government New Zealand President and also mayor of Selwyn,
you're on news Talk Sead b would love your views
on that. One nine two nine two is the number
to text. I'm kind of in two mind and it
depends where they set the cap for a start, but
kind of in two minds, I can see where local
government does need more money for basic stuff, But then

(06:27):
you also see the waste and you see the irresponsibility
in an eight point seven percent average increase across the
last year across the country, and you think stuff, you
cap them. Thirteen after four News Talk sevb. Elliott Smith
was sport.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Next, It's the Heather du Bussy Allen Drive Full Show
podcast on iHeartRadio powered by News.

Speaker 2 (06:47):
Talks B four sixteen News Talks HEADB after five. We're
going to look at this open playing classroom business. Ryan.
I don't usually agree with what's being spoken about at
this time of day on News Talks headbs is this listener,
but today is different. I agree with your comments. I
talked for two thirds of last decade and the experiment
of open plan and much was detrimental to my teaching

(07:08):
and to the learning of the students. The result I
left the profession. So many texts like this. Graham agrees, Ryan.
We tried this in the seventies. Why did we go
back here? And now we're reversing again. We failed to
learn from our mistakes. At sixteen after four Elliott the Sport,
Hey Ellien, Hey Ron, good to have you on. So
this guy at the center of the ref abuse controversy

(07:31):
in Company says it wasn't him, it was the reef.

Speaker 7 (07:34):
This is remarkable, isn't it. Remember they suspended all play
in Hotophanild Company for a weekend because of this game
Marta College against Company College, and then this is the
Marta Vers often coach. Now Darren Pieway has come out
and see it Actually it was a ref who punched me.
I wasn't part of this at all. Apparently the vision
supposedly shows him pushing the referee, but he sees the

(07:54):
vision that he's seen hasn't suspended on that. So all
of this has come because they've suspended rugby as it's
head for a week And now it turns out that maybe,
of course we're believing one side or here on one
side of the story here, and we haven't heard from
hot off A Carpandy have really straight battered this that
maybe it was the referee who sort of rolled up
the fist because Darren parwise says he shook hands with
him then raised an issue from the game. I think

(08:16):
it was about the amount of at a time extra
time at the end of the game, and that was
when the referee allegedly rolled up his fist and had
to crack at Damata.

Speaker 8 (08:25):
College head coach.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
Goodness.

Speaker 7 (08:26):
So this is all going to go to a hearing
I think next week, right, But there's some part of
it that isn't going to be presented. There some part
of it that's been heard separately, so it all seems
really really murky. So I think we can all agree
that the whole suspending rugby for a week was probably
a good idea to try, and you stand down on
this absolutely, but it feels like maybe they've gone about
it the wrong way and got the wrong story and

(08:48):
the wrong end of.

Speaker 2 (08:49):
The stick on all of this sounds like it too. Hey,
this fight tonight's Sunny Billum, Paul Gallon and we've got
David Nieker as well. Yeah.

Speaker 8 (08:56):
Absolutely, this is a big night for New Zealand boxing.

Speaker 7 (08:58):
Daviniki looking to bounce back from lost to Jay Appataia
earlier on in the year, which is sort of as
it does in boxing, you lose, it sort of derails
your career a little bit, and you've got to take
a few steps backwards to go forward again. David Nica
fighting and next yo Olampos on the undercard, the Sonny
Bill Williams versus Paul Gallon fight. I know you spoke
to Sonny Bill Williams a few weeks ago. He was

(09:19):
in good neck for it. Paul Gallon. It's the fight
that people have been looking forward to for a decade too.
Old league blokes who never really liked each other during
their career about to settle some differences. I know there's
got a big crowd, obviously pay per view audience around here.
I'm fascinated to see how it all unfolds later on too.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
You know how much it costs to I think it's forty.

Speaker 8 (09:35):
Five dollars Idea, it isn't cheap.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
That's more than because I got Sky just for the
game on that the All Blacks on Saturday Night, which
I think was about twenty five dollars. It's quite price.

Speaker 8 (09:45):
Forty five dollars for one night of viewing him. I mean,
you get the David Nika fight, you'll get the s
WW Gallons fight.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
Is someone going to get knocked out quickly? Do you reckon?

Speaker 7 (09:52):
Probably, I think it'll be it'll be done quickly. I
think they'll both want to knock each other out. They've
said as much.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
Elliot Goold see it. It's the sports talk host seven
o'clock tonight right here on news Talk, said b it
is nineteen after four, Ryan, there really needs to be
a cap on rates. The numpties here in Pottydoer. This
is Gavin. The numpies here in Potyder wanted a seventy
five percent rise over five years, completely unsustainable by anyone's standards,
But not this council, says Gavin. And see Gavin, this

(10:21):
is to the question yesterday. And I hate to keep
harping on about it, but did you vote? You know
who's voting? And is it just actually our fault? Are
we hating ourselves? This afternoon, nineteen after.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
Four, getting the facts discarding the fluff. It's Ryan Bridge
on Hither duplicy Allen Drive with one New Zealand let's
get connected news.

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Talks B twenty two after four. I'll get to your
text in just a second. First, Trump, well, if you
don't have anything to hide, why wouldn't you just release
the Epstein files and I don't mean to sound like
a conspiracy theorist. I don't really you know, I've sort
of followed from a distance the story, but it's really
hitting up over it in the US at the moment,
and to the point where there's a senator now saying

(11:05):
that Gallaine Maxwell needs to come out and testify and
you know, drag her out a hauler ass out of jail.
I think you said, make her testify and if she won't,
then subpoena hers so that she has to. You've got
Pam Bondie the ag taking heat from MAGA. You've got
Mike Johnson now coming out the house speakers saying, release

(11:25):
the whatever you've got, release it, because they're saying there's
no client list of Epstein's, you know, the duty Black
Book of clients. But is this something about you know,
was a suicide faked all the rest of this stuff,
and who was he hanging out with and what do
they know? Anyway? Trump is having none of it, saying
I'll just go away.

Speaker 9 (11:46):
No, No, she's she's given us just a very quick briefing,
and in terms of the credibility of the different things
that they've seen, and I would say that you know,
these files were made up by COMI, they were made
up by Obama, they were made up by the Baden.

Speaker 8 (12:03):
You know, and we went through years of.

Speaker 9 (12:05):
That with the Russia, Russia Russia holds with all of
the different things that we had to go through. We've
gone through years of it. But she's handled it very
well and it's going to be up to her. Whatever
she thinks is credible, she should release.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, So there you go, whatever's credible. So clearly there's
something in there that they don't like that he doesn't
like that maybe implicates him, I don't know, But whether
it's credible or not as another question. This is one
of those stories where it will come out, you know,
the beans will be spilled eventually. Whether it's Galain on
a stand or whether it's a leak from the Department

(12:39):
of Justice, this will come out eventually, So you might
as well just get it over and done with anyway.
Our US correspondent Dan Mitchison is with us after the
News at four thirty on that Ryan Bridge after six tonight,
we're going to talk about I looked at my Genesis
bill today, three hundred and fifty dollars a month. This
for the most recent month three hundred and fifty dollars
and I'm on the Flexi plan and there's three plans

(13:02):
you can choose from if you're with Genesis, Flexi Fixed,
and Energy ev. The electricity authorities come out today and
they are going to make all retailers, which would include
my Genesis, all retailers will have to offer time of
use prices, which means it's cheaper off peak, more expensive
on peak. And at the moment i'd look went and

(13:24):
had a look on the website to see what plan
I'm on. I think I'm on the Flexi one. You
can't get it with Genesis at the moment. They do
have an ev an Energy EV option, which gives you
fifty percent cheaper power, but only between nine pm and
seven am, So basically, while you're sleeping, your power is
half priced, so you can charge your ev But why

(13:45):
don't they offer me if I want to? You know,
if you're a retiree, perhaps you could work your life
around off peak so that you are saving money. Why
won't they offer you off peak prices during the day.
They don't, And that's what the electricity Authority says. By
the middle of next year they must do now, is
that going to mean cheaper prices for everybody? Depends on

(14:08):
your situation. Will it mean that you potentially get stung
because you were, you know, inadversently using on peak. Maybe
we'll talk to the electricity authority after six sclock this
evening to get to the bottom of that one. Twenty
six after four. Now, some of your texts on open
air classrooms terrible idea. Ryan Hipkins was one of the

(14:29):
architects of these open playing classrooms and the fluffy stuff
that the kids are getting taught at schools. But then
another one says, this is from Michael Ryan. Open playing
classrooms were established by national post earthquake, which they did.
There was a push by the Key government to do
it at Post twenty eleven. He said, Michaels, don't blame
anybody else. But this is the point. It's both sides

(14:51):
of politics who have got these here brained ideas. Like
as Gerard says, kids are learning more about sex and
the Treaty than they are maths at the moment, you know,
taking the focus off basic stuff that they need to
know and putting them in open air classrooms doesn't matter
who's empowered. Both sides are guilty of doing dumb stuff

(15:12):
and education and unfortunately it's making our kids dumber. Twenty
seven after four, News Talk said BE News next. Then
we're live to the.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
US putting the challenging questions to the people.

Speaker 2 (15:41):
At the heart of the story.

Speaker 1 (15:43):
It's Ryan Bridge on hither do for sellen dribe with
one New Zealand let's get connected.

Speaker 2 (15:49):
News Talk said, BE doesn't win.

Speaker 10 (15:55):
So well.

Speaker 1 (15:57):
Still see.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
If you're on news Talk, said BE. Labour's Carmela Belich,
this has a member's bill on slavery, modern day slavery,
and guess what they want to do. It's a commissioner
because that will solve everybody's problems. Worked. I mean it's
worked everywhere. No matter where you look, a commissioner has
solved our problems. Look at your grocery prices. We've had
a grocery commissioner now on two hundred k plus per

(16:22):
year for two years and look how much you're saving
at the supermarket. It's a wonderful idea. So anyway that's
going to solve modern day slavery. We will talk to
her at five to ten this evening. So many people
texting and about their kids. This one just come in In
the last couple of minutes. My son's school in Romati
just opened an open planned classroom this year. Now they

(16:45):
have twelve year olds back to having matt time while
they try to prepare them for college. We'll talk about
that after five. This evening, twenty four to two five.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
It's the World Wires on news Dogs d Drive.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
Israel has launched a series of attacks on Lebanon, Syria
and Gaza. Thirty people have been killed. Here's an emergency
nurse volunteering in Gaza.

Speaker 3 (17:05):
Emergency rooms have been completely just amated and they are
rebuilding everything from the ground up and they have nothing.

Speaker 11 (17:12):
Most of the expensive equipment is.

Speaker 4 (17:16):
Destroyed.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
Over in Australia, they're fuming about the Chinese President Hu
Jingping's comments on the Tasman Sea live fire exercise earlier
this year. Remember that. So she has told the Australian
Prime Minister Albow if Chinese ships are doing an exercise
in international waters, they are under no obligation to give
Australia any advance warning whatsoever. Nationals MP Michael mccormicks says

(17:39):
that's just not good enough.

Speaker 12 (17:40):
The People's Liberation Army should not be doing these live
firing without police telling Australia and giving plenty of advanced warning.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
And finally, this afternoon, customs officials in Germany have foiled
a smuggling operation after they decided to open some boxes
of chocolate cake. Smelled but we'd smelled a bit iffy.
Turns out the boxes smelled weird because they didn't have
any chocolate cake inside them. They were full of tarantulas.
Fifteen hundred in total. Criminal proceedings are now underway against

(18:12):
the person that the consignment was being sent to.

Speaker 1 (18:15):
International correspondence with endsit Eye Insurance, Peace of Mind for
New Zealand business.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Dan Mitches, the now US correspondent with US this aphronoon, Dan,
the Epstein files thing is just not going anywhere.

Speaker 13 (18:26):
Is it.

Speaker 14 (18:27):
No, No, the White House would like it to go away.
I mean they've been trying to shift our attention away
from this for for some time. But now Speaker Mike
Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson and a few other
Republicans are breaking with President Trump and they're saying, you
know what, maybe we need to look into this a
little bit more. Maybe we need some more transparency. They
want some more details into the investigation and maybe want

(18:51):
Congress to investigate the matter. He said, it's a delicate
subject and we've got to get everything out there and
let the people decide on this.

Speaker 2 (18:58):
Do you think that that, I mean, what do you think.

Speaker 9 (19:00):
In the.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
I don't know.

Speaker 14 (19:03):
I was just talking with your producer saying, I wish
I was a psychologist and I had a maybe that
would give me a better insight into the mindset of
what was going on, And she said, I don't know
if it would actually because it really is hard to
figure out what President Trump wants with this. I mean,
now he's saying that the Attorney General has handled this
whole thing well and done a very good job. But

(19:24):
I mean he's also at least depending on how you
take the wording or what he said, you know, one moment,
it's like he would like more transparency. In the next moment,
he'd liked this all to go away and doesn't want,
you know, the files to come out.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
Yeah. Hey, this video in New York City, crazy video
of a subway station flooding, water pouring out of the
stormwater system and almost like it was going to swallow
the train. But people have actually died in this flash flooding.

Speaker 14 (19:50):
Yeah, that We've had a couple of people in New
Jersey that have died because of this, and we've still
got watches and flood warnings and effect through much of
the northeast tonight, so Virginia and Maryland, in Washington, d c.
If flights have been canceled across the country there too.
I think New York got two and a half or
three inches of rain in Central Park, which set a
new record for this state. And the video that you're
talking about, I mean is crazy too, You're right, I mean,

(20:12):
the water is just gushing through the subway stations and
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has declared a state of emergency.
And the problem is in New York City, I mean,
the sewer system is so old, it's just constantly overflowing.
It wasn't built for this kind of rain in this
short period of time. So what's happening is is just
backing up onto the streets and into the homes and
subways and businesses, and there's nothing that they can do

(20:34):
about this until the water recedes and the rain eases up.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
What's happening in Florida with the Kim Trials.

Speaker 14 (20:41):
You know, there's a joke over here in the media
that all the strange criminal and conspiracy stories come out
of Florida, and I think this is going to be
one that triggers a lot of those those conspiracy theories
because airports there are going to have to submit these
monthly reports on whether modification activities or they're not going
to get fun from the state. And apparently this has

(21:02):
to do with the Attorney General who says they're trying
to weaponize science and this will prevent regard the skies
from harmful chemicals. So it's going to prevent the release
of any substances in the atmosphere that will alter the
weather or the temperature or the climate, or how intense
the sunlight is.

Speaker 5 (21:21):
And so I mean a lot.

Speaker 14 (21:23):
Of people are saying, well, this just goes back to
prove what we've been saying all along that these contrails
right here from airplanes are actually chemicals that are being
sprayed for who knows what. So they've got a new
department on this. It's launching a portal for the public
to report violations as well on this. So there is
a job that I would not want for a million dollars,
because you know, the loans are going to be coming

(21:44):
out and they're going to get all kinds of reports
on this.

Speaker 2 (21:48):
Dan, thank you for that. Dan mintionson us correspondent, so
that you've got the loans on the Epstein files and
the loans on the Kym trials apparently as well, two
of the three top stories out of the States. This afternoon,
nineteen minutes away from five o'clock, lots of people texting
in on the electricity sector because the electricity authorities come
out and we'll have them on the show after six

(22:09):
saying we'll make some changes time abuse charges, all that
sort of stuff. Ryan, you can set your washing machine
going in the evening along with your dishwasher, well you
presumably you can, but if you want with Genesis, they
only offer the cheap discounted prices from at nighttime from
nine pm to seven am, so you depending on how

(22:29):
big your house is, the sound of a washing machine
going or a dishwasher going at night can be quite
annoying if you live in a small place, if you
live in an apartment. So that's that's not an option,
is it. I wouldn't have thought. Eighteen away from five,
Barry Soper here with politics, next.

Speaker 1 (22:44):
Politics, with centrics, credit check your customers and get payments.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
Certainty news talks. They'd be Barry Soaper, senior political correspondent
with us known hey bez god afternoon. Right, So in
parliament all about the brain drain.

Speaker 15 (22:56):
A lot about the brain drain today and was lead
really by the Greens. And but you know, the government's
being blamed for the issues that lead to people leaving
the country. And certainly a lot of people have left
the country. When you look at the year ending March,
seventy thousand Kiwis had left New Zealand. It's one hundred

(23:20):
and ninety one people a day leaving the country. So
it is big. And I remember I always remember back
to John Ken the two thousand and eight campaign sitting
in the stadium in Wellington saying that this number of.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
People and.

Speaker 15 (23:35):
Thirty four thousand, so it's double that now that are
leaving the country. There are a number of reasons for it.
Of course, economic disparity in Australia seems to pay more
than what New Zealand they have the same lifestyle as
another matter, cost of living, housing market, all that sort
of thing, and there's a brain exchange. Of course, people

(23:57):
coming back into the country. I'm a good ext but
of that Ryan, you know, having lived overseas for a
number of years many years ago, came back to the country.
You learn a lot when you're overseas. There I say
that two National prime Ministers, John Key and Chris Luxon,
spent much of their working life overseas, came back and
look what they brought to the country. That's a debatable issue,

(24:21):
but it's the government's fault. If you listen to the
Greens with their co leader Chloe Swarbrick having a go
at the Prime Minister in the House this afternoon before
she was shut down by a very sensitive speaker, Jerry Brownlee.
The Prime Minister had been making what I thought was
a fairly salient point to Swarbrick.

Speaker 16 (24:41):
It's a bit ironic when you don't support oil and
gas and fast track and construction and getting things done
and built. And actually where do Kiwis go when they
go to Australia. They go work in oil and gas
and mining. Get on board support mining and the oil
and gas band. Let's get it done.

Speaker 17 (24:57):
Is it good for the economy for thousands of young
people to be forced to spend their days applying for
hundreds of jobs, receiving only one to two interviews, leading
them to see our country as a place with quote
no work, ship pay, why stay?

Speaker 16 (25:15):
Very odd question than I just pe not taking that
question further.

Speaker 15 (25:23):
That was after the sea bomb, of course, dropped a
couple of moments ago.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
Jerry not no.

Speaker 15 (25:27):
Notice was taken it of it at the time, and
I think Jerry has learned a very valuable lesson in that.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Watch your p and q U N got this letter
got a bit of an airing in the Chaine.

Speaker 8 (25:37):
Oh yes, it.

Speaker 15 (25:38):
Just won't go away. Of course that David Seymour sent
that letter before it was meant to be sent. It's
been withdrawn. Who knows how you do that, but anyway,
that's what we said yesterday. The Maldi Party's co leader
Rowery waiter Tea, he decided to wade into the argument today,
but seemed to have a little problem with a French language.

Speaker 18 (26:00):
How does he intend to repair the international reputational damage
caused by Deputy Prime Minister on behalf of his government,
who described the un special repertoire quote insane unquote for
raising concerns about indigenous rights.

Speaker 16 (26:16):
Well, I think New Zealand should be very grateful that
we have an outstanding Minister for foreign Affairs, someone that
is hugely respected around the world, and I trust him
to respond on all of our behalf.

Speaker 7 (26:28):
Famed similar let's to speaker normally, I let it go that,
seeing as we have guests from the French Senate, can
we please have it said that up to not repertoire.

Speaker 19 (26:36):
Very sure, A good number of the House deeply appreciative
of your correction, and we'll put that in their folk
camp for future reference.

Speaker 20 (26:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 15 (26:47):
Well, I don't think Rappertoeur would be mentioned that much
in Parliament, but it apparently fell on deaf he is
would seem too white to tea because later he also
said repertoire when referring to that said gentleman to be.

Speaker 2 (27:03):
Free to him, He's probably had his own issues with
others in the House and their pronunciations of doubt about it.

Speaker 15 (27:09):
I'd stand guilty of that one.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
At CAP's barnyard classrooms finally been scrapped. Have you ever
did you taught in the barnyard classroom?

Speaker 21 (27:18):
No?

Speaker 15 (27:19):
See the good while I was taught by Sisters of Mercy,
and they had to show a lot of it to
teach me I've got to say, and we were in
small classrooms and you know that was the case. Of
course with the baby boomer generation. We had rope learning
and you know we knew the times table off.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
By heart, whips and canes.

Speaker 15 (27:38):
Well, a lot of that, a lot of straps. We
had no forever getting the strap. But you know, the
education system has been something of a political football, hasn't.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
It over the years.

Speaker 15 (27:50):
Look at David Longe in the late eighties he became
Minister of Education, declared himself as that and also Prime
Minister and introduced Tomorrow's Schools. Now, that's been one consistent
I've got to say in the education system.

Speaker 2 (28:03):
He wanted to.

Speaker 15 (28:04):
Decentralize it and replace it with school boards of trustees
and they're still in place. So that's one thing that
came out of that. But these barnyard classrooms, I heard
you're editorial about it. You imagine, I mean acoustics, You're
gonna have some kids sitting high in.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
Some and outrageous verry and some learning. You know, if
you're trying to teach maths and they're doing arts and crafts,
I mean, if the kids aren't going to be watching you,
are they no they're not.

Speaker 15 (28:31):
And you can imagine kids. You know, if you're in
a classroom, say average size classroom thirty kids, you've got
one hundred kids virtually, and one big classroom and three teachers.
You can imagine trying to control that. I have enough
trouble controlling two kids at home, They'll learn one hundred
controlling myself.

Speaker 2 (28:49):
Exactly. He thank you, very good to see you. Ten
away from five News Talks, said be Barry Soper, senior
political correspondent here on. Yeah, as I said, ten away
from five, we will talk more about this after. I'm
really going to speak to a principal who has been there,
done that with the barnyard classrooms, and then spent one
and a half million dollars turning his open playing classrooms

(29:11):
back into single cell classrooms again. Can you imagine first
putting up the cost to do it, you know, put
them in place, then spinning to undo them. So we'll
talk to him about what happens to those schools who've
already made the change. Are they going to fund the reversal?
It's nine to five, putting.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
The tough questions to the newspeakers, the mic asking.

Speaker 11 (29:32):
Breakfast, the government is considering encouraging domestic production of fuel.
A new report suggests setting up special economic zones to
do that. Shane Jones is the Associate Energy Ministle. So
where would you put these special economic zones, all.

Speaker 22 (29:44):
Obviously hailing from Lausland. I think one would be good
around Mars Points. Given let the Labor Party in particular
just sumber of don closed down our mass Empoint refinery.
That will stimulate the whole range of energy investments. And
why not Taranucky because whereverre going to have to rely
upon the importation of gas overseas to keep the economy
functioning and the reft of be in Taranaky. After just
sitting the Cancil the ording gas.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
Industry, Heather Duplicy Ellen on the MIC, hosting breakfast Back
tomorrow at six am with a Vita Retirement Communities.

Speaker 8 (30:13):
On News Talks dB, he's.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
Gone six minutes away from five here. On News Talks
heb Trump says he's done a deal with Indonesia, on
a trade deal with Indonesia to pull back on his
tariffs that he had threatened to impose on them. So
he was threatening thirty two percent, he says, And by
the way, this is just a truth Social post at
the moment, so that's nothing written down on paper that's
actually official. But he has declared that they've struck a

(30:37):
deal instead of thirty two percent nineteen percent tariff right.
Plus he's hawking the jumbo jets again, so fifty booing jets,
many of them triple sevens apparently going as well. As
part of the deal, fifteen billion dollars in US energy
will be purchased by the Indonesians. Four point five billion
dollars in American agricultural products. Throw that in and you've

(30:59):
got yourself a deal. Third deal that they've done. Of
course they did the UK. They were in like Flynn
and Vietnam. It's sort of China but not really properly China.
So that would be your third probably substantive deal, as
I said, Albeit, and now it's via truth Social at
this point five away from five now. The other day

(31:19):
we're talking about bus lanes in Auckland, and I just
wanted to read out this email from Brandon who emailed
me in yesterday. Ryan, most bus lanes get used for
only a small proportion of the day, but they can
be important to have in peak congestion times. And I
think we all agree with that. There's logic to them.
It's just how long they are bus lanes for. It's

(31:39):
like electricity. You know, some things are good for peak,
something's you know, off peak. So shouldn't default to twenty
four to seven. That's the argument. You should not default
a bus lane to twenty four to seven because there
are times a day when it sits empty. And this
is the point Brendan makes. Often other road uses unsure

(32:00):
when and if a bus lane is in use, and therefore,
due to the prospect of heavy fines or worse, most
drivers will err on the side of caution and not
use a bus lane at times when they may be
perfectly within the law to do so. So, in other words,
you're sort of too scared to use them even if
you are allowed to use them, because you're just not sure.
He says we should have flashing lights. I think we

(32:23):
should just have a blanket rule that says for any
bus lane it is only operational or you will only
get pained if it's during a peak time, and we
just learn what the peak times are. You know, whether
it's seven or ten am, or six to ten am
or whatever, six to nine am, I don't know once
we all know the rules, then no one can get
pained and we'll all be fine and we'll be happy

(32:45):
travelers all day long, won't we In the cities Coming
up to three away from five here on News Talks,
there'd be the open style barnyard classroom debate and the reversals.
After five game for new person on over.

Speaker 1 (33:19):
Again, Questions, answers, facts, analysis, the drive show you trust
for the full picture. Brian Bridge on Heather duplicy allan
drive with one New Zealand let's get connected.

Speaker 2 (33:36):
News talksb good even negative seven after five on News
Talks ab the Electricity Authority reckons that can save you
between eighty and one hundred and eighty dollars a year
on your power bill. That after six this evening right now,
the government says there will be no new open planned
barnyard classrooms built. Education Minister Erica Stanford made the announcement today.
She says these big open spaces have been bad for

(33:59):
kids and the Ministry has been looking into it.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
So they've looked at eight thousand different learning spaces in
coming to this decision, and they've used noise monitors and
light monitors and all sorts of things, and the overwhelming
feedback from schools is that teachers do not like teaching
in these classrooms. Principals do not like having these classrooms.
And it is now our position that we will not
be building any more of them unless by specific request.

Speaker 2 (34:22):
Right, So what about those have already got them? At
on you at a high school has spent one and
a half million dollars getting rid of its own open
playing classrooms, and the principal, Bruce Kenning is with me. Now,
Hi Bruce, Hi, how you doing good? Thank you? So
they didn't work for you? Why not?

Speaker 23 (34:38):
Yeah, well, for the exact same reasons there are the
ministers talking about. Really they are the noisy will tend
to be noisier. But it was also the combination of
sexty kids to teachers.

Speaker 5 (34:50):
The whole deal really didn't really work out for us.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
Why would it? How many did you have? Why one
and a half million dollars to get rid of them?

Speaker 23 (34:58):
Yeah, well we were early and we were probably at
the forefront of the thinking of that at the time.
This was pre me and so we had one one
building with twenty six classrooms and essentially no walls.

Speaker 5 (35:13):
One process.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
So that again one building twenty six classrooms, no walls.

Speaker 5 (35:18):
Yeah, yeah, so we were quite out there.

Speaker 2 (35:20):
How many kids in there?

Speaker 23 (35:23):
We ran it at about sort of four hundred and
fifty students and when we implemented that they were that
was pretty.

Speaker 5 (35:29):
Much a year nine cohort would go through that building. Wow, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
Quite distracting four hundred and fifty kids one room.

Speaker 23 (35:39):
Well, I don't think it can't be, you know, not distracting,
you know, the noise.

Speaker 5 (35:44):
Whilst they say more people in there, the.

Speaker 23 (35:46):
Noise gets absorbed, it doesn't really, it really didn't affect
it that way. That was certainly what the architects used
to tell us. It was pretty overwhelming. But I think
even more importantly, if I'm honest with you, you know,
the biggest the problem that we had was our community
lost faith in what we were providing.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
Clearly the government's seen the light on this, But the
question I have is how did we let it happen
in the first place? You know, you know you said
this was before your time. There are plenty of educators
who thought this was a great idea.

Speaker 5 (36:19):
Well somebody obviously did, didn't they.

Speaker 23 (36:21):
And look, I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't
think it's a bad idea. I think part of being
an education and trying to be at the forefront of
education is that we try things.

Speaker 5 (36:33):
What's a really bad.

Speaker 23 (36:34):
Idea is implementing something and then not reviewing it to
see if it actually works.

Speaker 5 (36:39):
I think that's the real.

Speaker 23 (36:40):
Key where society and education sector kind of lost its way.
They didn't take the time out to go is this
actually working?

Speaker 2 (36:49):
Appreciate time, Bruce Bruce Kenny the on your high school principle.
They have reversed the open style barnyard classrooms there to
the tune of one point five million dollars. It's ten
after five.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
Bryan Bridge.

Speaker 2 (37:02):
Labor's put out a release today they're taking action on
modern slavery. Camilla Balich is the MP drafted a bill
which she hopes will bring an end to modern day
slavery if passed. The member's bill would create an anti
slavery commissioner and require entities to report back on their
anti slavery efforts. And she is with me now, Camilla,

(37:23):
welcome to the show.

Speaker 24 (37:25):
Thanks so much. It's a pleasure to be here.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
Do commissioners work they work for supermarkets?

Speaker 24 (37:31):
Well, I think what is clear in this particular situation
is at the moment we've got really nothing in New
Zealand to address what is a really really serious issue.
So what this spell does is implement what experts in
this area I think are the best practice in order
to address what is I think most New Zealanders will
be really horrified about, which is exploitation in our supply

(37:54):
chain and also in New Zealand. So I think that
their recommendation is there there is an anti slavery Commissioner
and you know there is also a review cause in
this bill, so there will be a chance to see
whether that commissioner is effective in their role and a
chance to look at it whether there is more that
needs to be done in that space.

Speaker 2 (38:15):
You're also asking that the entities companies will be required
to report back on their anti slavery efforts. Is that
every single business how many businesses? Exactly?

Speaker 24 (38:27):
No, that is not every single business. Is really focuses
on big businesses, So it's businesses with a turnover of
over fifty million, which is as you can imagine, quite
large businesses within New Zealand. That number was landed upon
because that was when the consultation happened under the last
government that was the most supported option in terms of

(38:49):
a number, in terms of the size of the business,
and also that's quite comparable to other jurisdictions that have
modern slavery legislation in place. So at this stage it
really is larger businesses. But that is also something that
we can look at over time depending on how successful
the rasion is in relation to those large entities.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
How many modern day slaves do we have in New Zealand.

Speaker 24 (39:08):
I really don't know the answer for that, and I
think that's really concerning that we don't have data on that,
and I think the reasons I'm.

Speaker 2 (39:16):
So camill isn't that important. I mean, if you're going
to pay for a commissioner, you're going to get businesses
to report, You've got paperwork, you've got cost you've got
all this stuff, and we don't even know how bad
the problem is.

Speaker 24 (39:27):
Well, we know it is a big problem when we
know that there are a lot of people who have
been trafficked and badly treated. And of course this bell
doesn't just focus on people in New Zealand. It also
talks about people in our supply chain. And World Vision
is a group that's been advocating for us for a
long time, and they estimate, I think that each household
spends about seventy seven dollars a week towards supply chains

(39:49):
which are impacted by exploitation and slavery. So you can
see that they do have data to suduce that it
is a problem and that New Zealanders are unwittingly participating
in something that they would find it at the apparrent,
I think, all.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
Right, comelor, appreciate your time. That's Carmala Belich to the
labor MP who's got the members bill going. And it's
thirteen after five. So inflation for the US because we
care about the US, world's biggest economy, but also has
a flow on effect to US. Right, two point seven
percent for the year to June. That's up from two
point four percent in the year to May, which is
actually close to expectations. So you might think, well, why

(40:24):
are you telling me about this if it's close to expectations,
And what the pundits and the economists were thinking, well,
if you look closely at the numbers that came out overnight,
the price is bumped on imports, things like clothes and furniture,
and then you start thinking, well, that's tariff's, isn't it.
That's Trump's tariff effect taking effect. Finally, what people have

(40:44):
been saying will happen is happening. If you take cars
out of the equation gets even worse. Take auto out.
Fastest monthly increase in inflation in the United States in
three years, So sign that the tariffs are biting. The
question for US is, you know, does that infation get
imported exported around the world. What about our exchange rate?

(41:04):
All that stuff. We'll talk about that after six fourteen.
After five here on news Talk said big coming up
next to the guy who found the kiwi, the very
rare keiwi in the bush, who's now fighting fires in Canada.
This guy is like a superhero. He's like an action
man of the bush. Not only is he saving endangered
kiwi here fighting fires in Canada. He's here here all right.

(41:26):
Get ready to get yourself by the phone or get online,
because the following deal is quite frankly absurd. This is
going to go really quickly as well, So you want
to get on the phone or you want to get
near the internet. Nine dollars ninety nine for canceled export order.
Maulbra Savenyon blanc that honestly would be one of the
bargain buyers of the year. It's available right now and

(41:46):
only at the Good Wine Co. Their website is the
Goodwineco dot co dot nz. That's the Goodwineco dot co
dot inz. The wine is Riley's Lookout maulbra Savenon Blanc
twenty twenty three. Let's just say the quality you're going
to get here for ten bucks a battle is unbeatable.
This is quality five star rated Marlbrus seven blanc, destined
for an overseas market, now being urgently cleared at a

(42:07):
rock bottom nine ninety nine bottle mark our words. You'll
be impressed and it gets better. Pay just a dollar
per case delivery Nationwide conditions apply on that. This is
quality five star rated Marlverus seven blanc canceled expert order
nine ninety nine per bottle and a dollar per case
delivery to your door now. The phones will be ringing hot,
so if you can't get through, do head online the

(42:29):
Good Wineco dot Co dot MZ. The phone number oh
eight hundred double six two double six two. Ryan Bridge
Massive News and Conservation. The seed ning at nineteen after
five A little spotted kiwi or kiwi puk Puku has
been located on the New Zealand mainland for the first
time in fifty years. Dock hunter Ian Graham and his

(42:49):
little dog Brew discovered the kiwi in the West Coast
bush and he is with me now, high Ian Jodda, Hey,
tell us how you found this kiwi.

Speaker 13 (43:00):
Ah, Well, we got a report from a hunter back
in March and he'd taken a photo of kiwi that
he'd stumbled across while he was doing his job. He
passed it on to us and it's in an area
that we don't really expect kiwi to be and so
we thought it was worth worth.

Speaker 20 (43:20):
A follow up.

Speaker 2 (43:22):
This is on the West Coast Adam's Wilderness area.

Speaker 13 (43:25):
Yes, Adam's in this area, right in the middle of
sort of Southwestland. Yeah, we gave it, gave it a
follow up and we managed to manage to get in
there with a with a group of hunters and myself
and my conservation dog Brew spent a week in there.

(43:47):
We managed to find a female kiwi in that time
and we basically we spent the last last little while
trying to determine if she is kiwi. Booka poockoo or not,
and it turns out she is. It's pretty exciting for
us in the conservation world to see kievy Pockapoko on

(44:07):
the mainland sort of outside of a sort of fence
sanctuary or pretty to free offshore island for the first
time in fifty years.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
Did they look different? Do they sound different?

Speaker 25 (44:21):
They do?

Speaker 24 (44:22):
They?

Speaker 13 (44:24):
When I was there, I spent the first night basically
calling for Kiwi, sort of soliciting calls. They're quite territorial,
so they want to call back and let you know
that you're in mere territory. And so the first time
I heard this bird, I knew it wasn't wasn't a
sort of one of the locals, one of the ry

(44:45):
or great spots that are nearby, and heard two of
them they were jeweting, and from that moment I was like, Okay,
these are these guys are different and it was. It
was pretty pretty exciting. And to contain the excitement for
a while, did.

Speaker 2 (45:01):
You say, do you do a call? Can you give
us a give us a call? Is it? Do you
do it like vocally?

Speaker 13 (45:07):
No? No, we we have we have recorded calls. We
play over sort of a loud speaker. If if anyone's
heard kiwi, the male are sort of a shrill, high
pitched whistle and the female. The females are sort of

(45:28):
a throaty, sort of cough sound.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
Yeah, it's they're hard. They're hard to sleep next to.

Speaker 25 (45:36):
I've been there they are, Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2 (45:39):
So so this is all very exciting. Why is that that?
The the puka puku or the little spotted Kiwi? Why
are they so much more endangered on the mainland.

Speaker 13 (45:50):
So, the k we puka puckoo the smallest of the
species of Kiwi. They they're full ground weight as sort
of the been twelve hundred to sort of eighteen hundred grams,
and basically we call stoakeproof for a Kiwi anything over
one to one point two kilo. So it takes these

(46:13):
guys a whole lot longer than our other Kiwi species.
It takes them up to two years to get to
that stakeproof waight, and so they're vulnerable for a much
longer period of time.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
You're getting around a bit. You're in Canada right now
fighting wildfires. How's that going?

Speaker 13 (46:29):
I am it's good. We've just arrived at Cross Lake.
We've sort of spent the last three days traveling to
get here sort of all it's got sort of actual feats.
Try and get out onto the fire lune tomorrow. But yeah,
we're here assisting the basically assisting the locals in Manitoba,
assisting and sort of providing of welcome relief to their

(46:52):
busy season.

Speaker 2 (46:53):
In fascinating chat. Thanks for coming on the program. In
Graham dot Bo Diversity Ranger all round Bush Action Man
by the sounds of it, sent forty three people by
the way from Auckland to Vancouver to help with those wildfires.
They've got one hundred and five active wildfires in Manitoba
and Canada right now. Whorlst they've had on record twenty
three after this season, twenty three after five here on
news Talks head be coming out next. An update you're

(47:15):
on that class action lawsuit against A and Z and ASB.
A little tidbit for you there coming up on news
talk s HEADB.

Speaker 1 (47:25):
Checking the point of the story. It's Ryan Bridge on
Heather Duper c Allen Drive with One New Zealand Let's
get connected News Talks.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
HEB five twenty six an update on the class action
lawsuit against A and Z and ASB. They've been sued.
These are big banks being sued for allegedly breaching our
credit laws and not making proper disclosures that led to
fees and interest being overcharged. This all happened, all went
down between twenty fifteen and twenty nineteen, but more than

(47:55):
one hundred and fifty thousand customers could be affected by it,
could be made, could be ye the plaintiffs who have
taken the case. They've now publicly offered a settlement deal
to the banks, and guess how much their price was?
Three hundred million dollars banks will amz immediately turns around,
says Nart rejects. The office says it's a stunt. The

(48:16):
issue is the governments in the process right now of
changing the law to retrospectively make cases like this impossible
and would possibly kill the current class action lawsuit. The
one they reckon is worth three hundred million dollars. The
issue is being debated at a Select committee this week.
He's Phil Newland of LPF Group, who is funding the

(48:40):
class action suit.

Speaker 10 (48:42):
Long to retrospectively legislate away the litigation rights of tens
of thousands of everyday New Zealanders in favor of two
Australian banks four years into the case. It is appallingly unprincipled,
it is unjustifiable.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
Doesn't sound great, does it. Janetipstraine is with us for
the latest on that after six thirty this evening, Ryan
Bridge twenty eight minutes after five now on news talks.
It'd be after the news at five point thirty. The
Aussies never got quite got into vaping like we did,
but they're bringing the rates right down, especially youth vaping.
So how have they managed to do that? And should

(49:18):
we could we follow suit to get our kids off
the vapes? That's straight ahead after news news talks.

Speaker 9 (49:24):
It be.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
After making the news. The newsmakers talk to Ryan first.
It's Ryan Bridge on hither Duplessylan drive with one New
Zealand let's get connected youth talks'd.

Speaker 7 (49:46):
B, don't you win the party?

Speaker 25 (49:50):
I can do this.

Speaker 2 (49:51):
All will be done to do the morning on the
baby bos deep should even twenty four away from six
News Talks the b Jack Tay, host of Q and
A Saturday mornings on News Talks. They being Jordan Williams
on the huddle in just a few moments. Quite a
significant day for local government today because Simon Watts came
out and said, for the first time we think publicly

(50:13):
that they are going to introduce a rates cap. So
where will the rates cap be? Jordan, I'm sure will
have a bit to say about that. They were outside
the conference local government conference today with a big bus
calling for a rates cap, So it sounds like they
got what they wanted over in they need a debt cap. Well,
they actually have a debt cap in France. The EU
has a debt cap that all countries must abide by,

(50:34):
but France doesn't. They don't care. Their GDP right now
one hundred and sixteen sob public debt one hundred and
sixteen percent of GDP. And so what the government's proposing
to deal with this, to increase efficiency, to try and
deal with this crippling debt, is to cut back to
public holidays a year. And they said, you can imagine
how popular this would be in France, where everyone's probably

(50:57):
striking most of the time anyway. But they are proposing
to get rid of Easter Monday and the eighth of May,
which is their victory day end of World War II.
So that's going down like a cup of sick in
France today. As you can imagine, twenty three away from
six ram Bridge, Australia reckons they've fixed vaping. A new
study has found the Aussies may have turned a corner

(51:18):
after years of rapid growth, with new research showing take
up could have peaked among teenagers and high school age children.
Becky Freeman was the lead investigator of the study that
looked into the vaping trends and Australian she's with me now,
Hi Becky, Hi, how are you going very well? Thank you?
Does this mean do these numbers mean you've turned a corner?
You passed peak vape for young people in Australia.

Speaker 26 (51:42):
Yeah, look, it's pretty good news compared to a few
years ago of vaping rates are down amongst teenagers. Obviously,
it's still quite worrying from a public health point of
view that fifteen percent of teens are still vaping, but
it does seem like the peak rates are behind.

Speaker 2 (51:56):
Us, and the under fifteen year olds in particular have
dropped quite markedly.

Speaker 26 (52:01):
Yeah, that's true. We're really pleased to see that. You know,
our youngest teens are telling us that, you know, vaping
is no longer the norm amongst their friends. They're not
as curious about it as they were before. And that
you know, those marketing messages that vaping was you know,
harmless and fun and something you could do it on
weekends and parties, those messages aren't getting through nearly as
strongly as.

Speaker 13 (52:20):
They used to.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
So is it the coal factor or the lack of
the call factor that or is it the restrictions that
have been put in place.

Speaker 26 (52:29):
Look, and this is the thing with public health. We
you know, people always ask what's the one secret we
can you know, do here to make this all go away?
And it's like, no, we've got to do it all.
It's the legislation, it's the campaigns, it's the messaging, it's
shutting down the advertising. It's all those things working together.
You have to do everything.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
In terms of the disposable vibes, are they quite the
trendy or what would they in vogue with young people?
Is getting rid of those k or even you know,
having an impact?

Speaker 26 (52:58):
Yeah, absolutely, it is the disposable vaps that were the problem.
Young people were not using the refillable devices and things
like this. It was the cheap disposable it's freightly colored,
full of flavors, and those are no longer allowed to
be sold at all, even in pharmacies in Australia, they're
completely banned.

Speaker 2 (53:14):
So what if you want to get your hands on
a vape like as an adult in Australia, can you
just walk into a dairy or service station.

Speaker 26 (53:21):
No, No, you need to legally buy one. You need
to go to a pharmacy, and in some states you
require a prescription and in some seats you can just
buy them over the counter.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
Do you have lots more people smoking cigarettes in Australia
because of that?

Speaker 26 (53:35):
No? No, absolutely not. We have less than ten percent
of the population they're smoking in Australia.

Speaker 2 (53:40):
All right, Becky, you appreciate your time. Becky Freeman, Professor
of Public Health behind the study. By the way, the
numbers this is from the Health Ministrive in Australia fell
from seventeen and a half percent this is for young
people at the start of twenty twenty three to fourteen
point six percent in April. This is fourteen to seventeen
year olds. It's just gone twenty to six.

Speaker 1 (54:00):
The Huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty Unique Homes
uniquely for you.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
On the Huddle tonight Jordan Williams, whose Taxpayers Union and
Jack Tame, host of Q and A and Saturday mornings
on news talks. He'd be good after good evening, gentlemen, Jordan.
Can you hear me?

Speaker 20 (54:20):
All right?

Speaker 2 (54:20):
Jordan? Hello, there we do guys. I've totally screwed the
phones up, but you're both here now, good evening. You
right to have you guys on. Hey, let's start with vaping, Jordan.
Do you think that young people if we because over

(54:41):
in Australia they do the pharmacy. You basically can't go
to a derry, can't go to service station, You're gonna
go to a pharmacy to get a vape. Do you
think there would be enough to put people off.

Speaker 8 (54:49):
Here, Well, it does.

Speaker 20 (54:52):
Becky was bang on everything she said except one thing.
She said that she clearly wasn't aware of New Zealand's
smoking rates. That we are going to achieve the smoke
smoke the smoke free target. She's totally wrong that smoking
rates aren't higher. In fact, here as one of the
only countries in the Western world where the latest start
is that more people are smoking, and the reason for

(55:15):
that is that they have made vaping so difficult The
thing that I thought was fascinating that interview is she
said that use vaping rates were fifteen percent despite all
those restrictions. Well, New Zealand, despite having a much looser
vaping or regulated but much more available vaping regime, we've
each got the best of both. It's dramatically reduced our

(55:36):
smoking rates, which is great. And similarly here we've also
had peak in age vaping. According to ASH, which is
the sort of sane anti smoking brigade, twenty twenty two,
it was fourteen percent, it's now down to eight percent,
and we're also continuing to reduce the people actually on

(55:57):
the harmful darries. So I just Australia is kind of
the worst of all them that they've restricted vaping so
much people have stayed on the daries are really given
into the beginning to town lobbyists, whereas New Zealand seems
to be in the balance right that we're both reducing
teenage vaping but keeping me at the availability for adults
to make the switch.

Speaker 2 (56:16):
Yeah, it never really took off vaping there like it
did here because that the Aussie's love a love a
dart jack.

Speaker 25 (56:24):
Yeah, they love to hone on a couple of langers. Famously,
It's funny. I was in Sydney for New Years and
I remember like walking through central Sydney in the kind
of nightclub districts and being like, something feels something feels
slightly different here, Like something feels slightly off.

Speaker 5 (56:40):
What is it?

Speaker 25 (56:41):
I couldn't put my finger on it, and then I
realized it just felt like there were way fewer people
vaping and perhaps more people smoking in Australia. And Jordan's
quite right. I think if you look at the eighteen
to twenty four year old smoking rates in New Zealand
versus Australia, I think they're almost twice as high in
Australia as they are in New Zealand. So there is like,
you know, kind of meaningful difference there. But but I

(57:03):
suppose like that that the question really is how many
people are being dissuaded from smoking by having relatively loose
vaping rules, And that is the tricky balance to strike.
I mean, if if Australia is dissuading young people from
from taking out the vapes, that's fantastic, But ultimately, if
it means a few more percentage of young people decide

(57:26):
to smoke instead, in the neat effects could be could
be worse.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
Ye, who's got the baby?

Speaker 25 (57:33):
We're talking about youth facing and all of a sudden
he's got excited. We're working hard.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
I didn't know, because Jordan, you've got a young one.
Ever knew. I wasn't quite sure which of you it
would be.

Speaker 20 (57:42):
But yeah, this is the I think this isn't the
first time that Jack said the babe in the background
on this huddle. I think he must.

Speaker 25 (57:49):
He must think the value's being informed. You know, he's
getting involved.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
Really well, he shouldn't be listening to you, Jack.

Speaker 20 (57:57):
I got one more stat for you that that's that
I had riddenon this. It just blows my mind. The
youth daily smoking rate in Australia is eight point three percent.
Ours is one point two, So I get. I mean,
none of us want teenagers to be on the vapes,
but that's a big difference. Intent You'd much rather someone
picking up a vape than picking up a cancer stick.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
Yeah, you'd rather have a kid on this side of
the Tasman than that one. On the smoke issue of smoking.
Jordan and Jack will get back to the rates caps.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
Next the huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty, the
ones for unmassed results news talks.

Speaker 2 (58:34):
There'd be the huddle tonight, Jordan Williams and Jack Tame
And let's hear from Simon Watt's outside the local government
conference in christs today.

Speaker 4 (58:41):
What this place as fast as possible. We're aiming to
have that all decided by the definitely before Christmas.

Speaker 21 (58:49):
If we can go faster, we will.

Speaker 2 (58:51):
Jordan, you were there. He's talking about a rates cap.
Is this them announcing that they are going to do it?

Speaker 20 (58:58):
You are concerned when Simon and what came out a
few weeks ago and said, look, we grew with the
Taxpayers Union that you know we need some sort of rates.
Raps out are out of control. And these figures out
earlier this week that the average rates in the last
three years gone up by more than a third. There's
three times a level inflation. Clearly something to be done.
Our concern was is that if you set a rates

(59:20):
cap in a few years time, what's going to happen
as councilors are going to ramp up the rates in
the meantime, so very significantly. We're actually at our event,
he was speaking in front of our enormous semi truck
that says cap rates now, he's got the now. But
this is very significant, And there was a whole series
of announcements yesterday and a new bill that picks up

(59:41):
a number of really good policy suggestions that the taxpayer
has been making for New Years, we making for Donkeys years.
I think we're actually now we're a local government minister
who really gets it and is actually saying to local government, look,
enough is enough. We've got to get the costs under control.

Speaker 2 (59:58):
So he actually said we're going to do it, and
we're going to do it. We'll have a plan by Christmas.

Speaker 20 (01:00:03):
Yeah, there's still some potential. I mean I've just been
today with local you know, the local government leaders at
the at the very woke Algenz conference, and some of
them just look at you like a like a cat's
bottom and don't want to engage, and then not that
it's actually a very you know, they come and tap
me on the shoulder and say I can't be seeing
with you, but keep up the good work, and then

(01:00:24):
run away.

Speaker 27 (01:00:26):
But the.

Speaker 20 (01:00:28):
Key thing is is that there seems to now what
Algenz'd want to do with some sort of fudge between
core spending and non core spending and only cap the
non core part. I think it actually be much cleaner,
and this is what the government's going away to work on,
much cleaner, to say, lock anything that is not infrastructure,
anything that is not CAPEX, should be capped. Otherwise, what

(01:00:48):
we risk is games between what is core and what
is non for because every ratepayer I talked to only
wants to be paying.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
For core services. Jack, do you think it's I mean,
whether it's core or non core or a common notion
of both. Is it a good idea hardcore?

Speaker 21 (01:01:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 25 (01:01:04):
I think yeah. My view isn't as strong as Jordan's
on this, but I do think that if they go
down this path, carving out an allowance so that councils
have a kind of different budgetary line for infrastructure or
CAPEX is absolutely vital because of course, like you, if
you analyze the water infrastructure at different councils across the country,

(01:01:25):
you have massive disparity. Some councils have managed their assets
really really well over the last few decades. Some councils
haven't and thus faced a much more significant and you know,
much more significant investment in their future to make sure
that the water is up to scratch and meet the
various regulations under the New Water Regulator. So I think
that is an absolutely vital part of the equation. One
thing I would would just say is that, you know,

(01:01:45):
it's curious to think about this governments the haste with
which they sought to quote, restore democracy to Toadunger. You
remember they ended the commissioners and had elections in Todunga
so Tota could have it city council back again. And
I think that an argument to be made a bit
of a philosophical argument that if you truly believe in
local democracy, well elite officials should be able to make

(01:02:09):
decisions about how much they charge and money.

Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
And I agree. I agree with you Jack.

Speaker 25 (01:02:17):
It is you know, in one breath to say you
believe in local democracy and then in the next to
say we're going to cap rates. Well, I don't know
that that's necessarily a philosophically consistent position.

Speaker 20 (01:02:27):
Because if people didn't want there's two things on this.
Number One is we're part of that democratic reforms, we
want recall elections. But two is that it's not a
total cap on rates per se. It's saying that if
council wants to go above inflation, it should go to
the people in local referenda. The Hawks Way Regional Council

(01:02:49):
used to often go to local referenda for big decisions.
This should be no different to the contrary this. This
is about local democracy, but it's putting the control in
voter's hands, not this ounction's hend world where it is
undemocratic to put apparently more control on voters' hands.

Speaker 25 (01:03:08):
Yeah, I mean that the argument is that is that
voters have an opportunity every three years to make that decision,
and that you're going to be holding refere interrupt the
wires of otherwise.

Speaker 20 (01:03:17):
Clearly that's not working when every year promises are being
broken and rates are going up by thirty four and
a half percent in the last three years.

Speaker 25 (01:03:25):
And so those elected officials should be held to account
by the voters who put them there.

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
Yeah, and no one's voting, so clearly people don't care.
Would I guess be the way to end that argument. Guys,
thank you very much for coming on the sevening Jordan
Williams from the Taxpayers Union and Jack Tame from here
at Newstalks, B and Q and A on Saturday mornings
on TV one it is eight minutes away from six.
Now come out after six. We'll look at the electricity authority.

(01:03:50):
They've come out today and said we can get your
power billed down. Get this they reckon eighty to one
hundred and eighty dollars a year. But will it actually work?
And it involves you doing something too. That's after six.
It's eight two.

Speaker 1 (01:04:05):
It's the Heather Duple c Allen Drive Full Show podcast
on my Ard Radio powered by News Talks EB.

Speaker 2 (01:04:13):
Five to six on News TALKSB loads of texts that
I haven't got to apologize for that I will do
it now. Ryan. This is Oh. We had Carmela Balatron
from Labor. She's putting in a member's bill to fix
modern day slavery. Don't know how big the problem is,
but we need to do it and appoint a commissioner.
No less Grant, says Ryan. This modern day slavery stuff
is simply bs, no numbers, no data, no real world examples,

(01:04:37):
just ideological box ticking. Shane says Ryan. Labor completely detached
from reality on this. I would bet my mortgage on
the fact that ninety nine percent of slave labor in
New Zealand is small cash orientated businesses, brothels, nail salons,
fruit picking contractors, restaurants, none of which are declared anywhere

(01:05:00):
near remotely like fifty million dollars, which is remember that's
what she said. If your business declares fifty million dollars
in turnover, then you would be required to fill in
all the forms and show you haven't. I think she's
probably getting at the overseas supply chain modern day slavery thing.
How are you ever going to prove that? And if
you buy something online from parts of Asia and it

(01:05:26):
costs two dollars and it's a T shirt, it's probably
got a bit of slave labor in there, doesn't it.
So what are we all meant to declare that we've
bought something on I don'o timu? You know, how does
that actually work? What problem does does it solve? Or
does it create more? Ryan Jack Tam is wrong. We
vote the council out every in or out every three years,

(01:05:49):
not the council staff or the offices. They are the
ones making the decisions. Well they're not the ones making
the decisions. I agree they have too much power and
they need to be put in their place. But if
you have the right Council on board. They can do that.
That's the point three away from six news talks a
b your power bill and how to get it down?
After news you can get you talk, can get to talking.

Speaker 28 (01:06:26):
Can go to from all this lamelde talking.

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
What's up, what's down? What with a major cause and
how will it affect the economy. The big business questions
on the Business Hour with Ryan Bridge and mass Insurance
and investments, grow your wealth, protect your future.

Speaker 5 (01:06:47):
News talks at be Good.

Speaker 2 (01:06:49):
Evening coming up shortly, we'll get to Milford for a
market update and after the News at six thirty it's
the banks, be the people and is the government getting
in the way? Select Committee. The Triple c has been
looked at by a Select committee and jen Atip Training
has the latus on that for us. Then to Gavin
Gray in the UK before top of the hour. Right now,
if you've been hit by some shock power bills this winter,

(01:07:10):
you're not alone and the Electricity Authority is promising to
change that for you. Larger power companies are going to
be forced to offer time of use plans that make
it cheaper to use power during off peak times. Not
all companies offer us at the moment, they would be
forced to Plus, they would also be forced to pay
a fairer return for people. If you've got solar panels

(01:07:31):
and you feedback into the grid during a peak time
and a comonic is the chair of the electricity authority
with me tonight? Hello?

Speaker 20 (01:07:38):
Hello?

Speaker 2 (01:07:39):
Is this tinkering around the edges? This stuff?

Speaker 28 (01:07:43):
Look, there's no silver bullets for the electricity getting affordability
into the electricity sector. What we've announced today is really
important for consumers. What we're announcing is market changes that
will support cheaper, cheaper off peak power and fair awards
for solar and battery users. Those are really important for
the future of the electricity sector. They basically make sure

(01:08:06):
that cheap off peak power make sure that most New
Zealand households can access the pricing plan that gives them
a cheaper rate for electricity use during off peak hours.
At the moment, only about ten percent of households, or
about two hundred and twenty thousand homes, are currently on
a time of use plans, and so we estimate that

(01:08:26):
the savings for a typical household from the changes that
we're putting in place today are actually sort of between
eighty two hundred and eighty dollars a year depending on
the circumstances.

Speaker 2 (01:08:39):
Is this going to be and that includes the solar
changes or.

Speaker 28 (01:08:42):
Just the time that include solar changes?

Speaker 2 (01:08:46):
Well, how much of it is the solar versus the
time of use?

Speaker 28 (01:08:50):
What does depend on the circumstances of the individual household.
But you know, for those of people who are looking
to actually move their power usage off peak, then the
changes we're making today will be significant. For those who
have been able to invest in solar and battery, that

(01:09:11):
is a significant incentive for them to actually reward or
to benefit the rest of consumers by actually feeding back
into the grid. And you know, it's to be what
we need to be really clear about is that you know,
even for those who have not got solar and battery,
we all benefit. If consumers are actually feeding back into

(01:09:34):
jumping back into.

Speaker 2 (01:09:35):
It, it's going to be rich, really rich people who
have got solar and who can afford it.

Speaker 28 (01:09:38):
Right, Well, the return on investment for solar and battery
is increasing a.

Speaker 16 (01:09:43):
Year on year.

Speaker 28 (01:09:44):
If you talk to you know, those who are actually
coming out and we've got some banks who are now
providing low interest or zero interest loans to actually put
on solar and battery. So you know, we expect the
uptake of solar and battery to increase, and particularly with
evs as well.

Speaker 2 (01:10:02):
And are coming back to time of use. You said
that it could save eighty two one hundred and eighty
eight a year. What it will be significant how many
people will actually do that because there are power companies
out there already that offer time of use charges. So
if people wanted it, wouldn't they be going there already? Yeah.

Speaker 28 (01:10:20):
Well, so last year we surveys surveyed electricity retailers and
found that none of the six largest electricity retailers were
offering time of use plans to all the customers. So
that represents a pretty huge number of New Zealanders who
didn't have that option. There are retailers who provide time
of use now, and some of those retailers are moving

(01:10:41):
too quickly to provide time of use. We want to
see that across the board. We want to see consumers
with that option. Of course, it's not going to you know,
it benefits everybody, will not be right for everybody, but
we should have that choice in the market. And it's
a real missing that we haven't had.

Speaker 2 (01:11:00):
Is this your first strike. I mean, is there more
substantial changes for the sector to come.

Speaker 28 (01:11:07):
We have got a whole program of reforms that are
rolling out. It's a focused program basically to simplify, standardize
and get more transparency in the market. So some of
the things that we're working on at the moment unlocking
better access to real time energy data so you and
I can make better decisions about how we're using our energy,

(01:11:28):
but also launching a new comparison and twitching tool that
makes it much easier for people to find the best
feal and make sure that the information that we're getting
about our energy use is simple and easy to understand.

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
All right, and I appreciate your time, Good luck with
your mission and a common chair of the Electricity Authority.
Twelve after six Brian Bridge, the government set up the
group to look after try and Find Solutions to retail crime,
led by Sonny Kashelle. Everybody knows Sunny Coschelle's on the
news all the time, loves it. Guess how much has
cost five hundred thousand dollars and this is I'll give

(01:12:06):
you the dates. Jinny Anderson from Labor's got the numbers
from Paul Goldsmith and it just boggles your mind. How
do you how do you rack up a bill like
that in such a short space of time first of
March twenty twenty five to tenth of June twenty twenty five.
So we're talking about a six month period, less than
six month period, and we're talking about half a million dollars.

(01:12:27):
These costs include personnel costs three hundred and twenty nine thousand,
cheer and member fees one hundred and two thousand, travel
and accommodation nine thousand, six hundred admin sixty five thousand dollars.
Apparently the member remuneration is in accordance with Cabinet Fees
framework run by the Ministry of Justice. Invoices received, all okay,

(01:12:51):
all above board, but honestly, half a million dollars for
a couple months work? And is reach crime better right now?
Not yet? Thirteen after six and we'll get to our
Milford market update.

Speaker 25 (01:13:06):
Next.

Speaker 1 (01:13:07):
It's the Heather Duper c Allen Drive Full Show podcast
on my Heart Radio empowered by Newstalk ZEBBI.

Speaker 2 (01:13:15):
News Talk ZIB. Just gone sixteen after six. Jeremy Hutton's
will be Milford Asset Management for our market update tonight. Hey,
Jeremy hey Eran, how you going. You're good, Thank you. Ryman.
We're talking Ryman Healthcare. They've been leading the index so
far in July. Is the worst do you think now
passed for them? Yeah, that's correct.

Speaker 19 (01:13:34):
Ryman Healthcare, the fairly embattled retirement village operator. They're leading
the Intertex boards so far this month. In July, the
share price is up fourteen percent, and this was mainly
driven by a stronger than expected unit sales update over
the April and June period, So that's the first quarter
of their financial year. But it just shows to me

(01:13:55):
how much, you know, the stock market is expectations driven,
because I wouldn't say that the sales were great. I mean,
they're still down ten percent versus the same quarter as
last year, but they are a lot stronger than what
Rayman was expecting at their result in May. They were
expecting down twenty to thirty percent. So you know, the
market reasonably happy that at least there's some clear evidence

(01:14:16):
that sales on an improving trajectory.

Speaker 2 (01:14:19):
Is there any read through at all on the housing
market from the operators, the retirement village operators?

Speaker 19 (01:14:26):
Yeah, that the retirement village operators do trade is a
little bit of a proxy for the New Zealand housing market.
Their share prices have ripped really high when the times
are good, but as we're all well aware, they've had
a tough couple of years and that's also reflective of
the housing market too, and you know that's continued into
twenty twenty five. We've had pretty much no price growth

(01:14:47):
in the housing market in New Zealand over twenty twenty
five and that does impact the retirement village model over
the long term. They do need that price growth. But
I suppose on the positive side, and what's tending to
drive the year of these retirement villages and the short
term is more sales volumes in the housing market, so
more transactions, more liquidity, and that has steadily been increasing

(01:15:10):
this year pretty consistently, around ten percent above last year.
So having that, you know, more liquidity in the market,
it's important, you know, they can clear their stock quicker
for the retirement village operators, new residences can have that
confidence to commit to buying a new unit.

Speaker 2 (01:15:25):
Which is obviously good for Ryman. Is it going to
turn that share price around because it's fallen well eighty
percent over four years.

Speaker 19 (01:15:33):
Yeah, it has been a really torrid time for Ryman shareholders.
I mean the business has had a lot thrown at it,
the construction cost inflation boom during the COVID times, huge
interest rate hikes, They've had too much debt, and then
into the sluggish housing market as well, so shareholders have
had to stump up. They've supported two huge equity raises.

(01:15:54):
Almost two billion dollars in fresh money has had to
go into this business. But now a new management team
and new CFO, new CEO. They're taking a time to
form their new strategy, but investors will take a bit
of confidence in the in the sales momentum. And you know,
if we get a few more interest rate cuts from
the RBNZ this year and that starts flowing through into

(01:16:15):
the housing market, then you know, Ryman and the other
retirement village operators could be in for a much better
time going forward.

Speaker 2 (01:16:24):
Jeremy, appreciate your time tonight. Jeremy Hutton, Milford Esset Management
time now nineteen after six news talk. But we were
talking yesterday about the threats that Trump's making against Putin
over Ukraine. Just cast your mind back for a second
two when the Russians first went into Ukraine. You'll remember
these images. It was from CCTV cameras on the Ukrainian

(01:16:44):
border of those columns of tanks driving into Ukrainian territory
where the Russian with the Z on the side of
the tank, and it was just quite freaky to look at.
Remember that image, quite a d ominous, scary thing. And
then of course the Russians cud all the CCTV outs,
all the cameras stopped. But if you think about that,

(01:17:06):
compare that that was the start in twenty twenty two
to today. It's all drones. And the interesting thing. Wall
Street Journal did some analysis of the front line of
the war in Ukraine. It's basically frozen because each side
has hundreds of drones in the year at any one time.
They are so plentiful now and cheap because they're both

(01:17:28):
producing them at a rate of knots. The pilots will
actually attack a single soldier on foot, even if it
means the drone is shot down its locations exposed. This
makes leaving the trenches really dangerous for people. So the
front line is just frozen because no one wants to
leave the trenches because you've got drones all through the

(01:17:49):
sky that will shoot you, you know, even if you're
just one person on your own, as opposed to a whole,
you know, group of you. So the front line in
the war in Ukraine has basically been frozen for some
time now. It's just fascinating to think how different that
battle is now to what it was back in March
of twenty twenty two. Twenty one After six News Talk

(01:18:10):
said big, whether.

Speaker 1 (01:18:10):
It's macro, microbe or just playing economics, it's all on
the business hours with Ryan Bridge and Lairs, insurance and investments,
Grow your wealth, protect your future.

Speaker 2 (01:18:22):
These talks B twenty four After six the people via
the banks. This is the class action lawsuit that's been
taken against am Z and ASB the people. The plaintiffs
have publicly offered a settlement today to the banks to
the tune of three hundred million dollars price tag three
hundred million dollars. Am Z immediately rejects that, says it's
all a stunt. GENETIP trainee has been across it. Because

(01:18:44):
it's all in Select committee, the government might come in
and legislate this and reverse legislate it, which would affect
this case. GENETIP trainees across it. She's with us after
six s ety tonight right now. In some showbiz news
for you, the nominations for the seventy seventh Emmy Awards

(01:19:09):
have been announced today, and Apple TV's Severance leads the
nums with twenty seven. Hasn't even seen that. I haven't
seen it yet. Is it worth it? Well, clearly, if
it's been well known, nomination doesn't necessarily mean it's any
good anyway, I digress. In the Best Drama category, we
have Severance, We've got slow Horses, The Diplomat, the Pit,
The Last of Us, which is good, and The White Lotus,

(01:19:29):
which is also good. Competing Wellington's wet A Workshop. They've
snagged two noms in the same category. They work on
House of the Dragon, and The Last of Us has
been put up in the Outstanding Special and Visual Effects category.
The Bear is once again nominated for Best Comedy Series,
leaving fans unsure if the show is actually a comedy
or is it a drama.

Speaker 29 (01:19:49):
I also don't know why they keep putting The Bear
in the comedy section, especially with season three being the
one that's nominated. Like The Bear, honestly, season three, season four,
they don't really care about doing comedy. They just want
to do drama now, so obviously might as well just
move this to the drama section.

Speaker 2 (01:20:03):
The actual award show, which people don't like watching them
anymore do They have gone way out of fashion. But
the actual award show will air live on September the
fifteenth for people who are wanting to watch it, which
none of you will. It's gone twenty five minutes after
six Ryan Bridge Ryan. The gravy train just has a
new driver with new passengers. This is about the Retail

(01:20:27):
Crime Group, you know, committee that the government set up
to look at retail crime, headed by Sunny Koshell. Five
hundred thousand dollars is how much they have spent. It
just boggles my mind in the space of three months.
Presumably some of that would have been this was from
three months last year. Presumably some of that would have been,

(01:20:48):
you know, set up cost, establishment costs which would be
sunk but ongoing cost. Surely you can't be spending fun
chewing three five hundred thousand dollars in the space of
three months. Anyway. I like this gravy train just has
a new driver with new passengers because they will be
working groups of all varieties, Ryan on This is from
another text on the issue of power. A dollar fifty

(01:21:10):
three a week in power savings is pointless to the
electricity authority who's come in with sweeping changes today not
so sweeping? Are these people for real? Yeah?

Speaker 13 (01:21:19):
They are.

Speaker 2 (01:21:20):
They do say there's more to come, so you know,
stand very by Ryan. Severance is great, very original and
different idea. Okay, I will train. It's on Apple, I think,
isn't it Serance? Twenty seven minutes after six News Talks
that B. We'll look at that courtcase with the banks
in the City Committee.

Speaker 1 (01:21:37):
Next everything from SMEs to the big corporates of the
business hour with Ryan Bridge and commands, insurance and investments.

(01:21:57):
Grew your wealth, Protect your future Use talks, Envo.

Speaker 2 (01:22:09):
Told me job twenty five away from seven, you're on
News Talk SEB. We spoke to Jordan Williams earlier. Well,
we spoke to actually one of the research start of
Australia about smoking the vaping. This is Roy Morgan data.
I thought you would be interested after that discussion. The

(01:22:30):
data shows cigarette smoking rates surged in the wake of
the new vaping bands, with one in ten young people
aged eighteen to twenty four having picked up smoking. So
that's a thirty percent increase in less than twelve months.
Cigarette smoking surges as you control vaping. This is Roy

(01:22:52):
Morgan data from Australia. Thirty six percent increase in less
than twelve months. Sharp rise highlights the unintended consequences of
making safer nicotine alternatives harder to access. Now, a lot
of your anti vapors don't like the information, but in
Australia it is the truth. Twenty four to seven Bridge

(01:23:13):
am Z has said no thanks to an offer to
settle a class action lawsuit for the core price of
three hundred million New Zealand dollars. Plaintiffs offered a deal
to both am Z and ASB. ASBZ to respond to
the proposal, but am Z has said that Janetip Trainey
is The Herald's Wellington Business editor and is with me now,
Hyjene Hey Ryan, So how would this deal work exactly?

(01:23:35):
Am Z and ASB would both individually be on the
hook for three hundred million or is it together?

Speaker 30 (01:23:42):
It's three hundred million each. So A and Z has
said no thanks, ASB is still considering it. Basically under
the current law they could actually be liable for much
more than that. It could be more than six hundred
million combined. But the controversial thing here is that the

(01:24:03):
government is changing the law in such a way that
the banks, you know, could be liable for much less,
much less than even six hundred million. So that's the
big issue here because normally when governments change the law,
it's changing the law for the future. But the thing
here is that they wanting to change the law to
the way it's applied to the past, specifically to a

(01:24:26):
period between twenty fifteen and twenty nineteen, so that's when
the breach has around this court case happened.

Speaker 2 (01:24:33):
Yes, so retrospective law that could completely put the kibosh
on this case that they're taking right well kind of.

Speaker 30 (01:24:41):
So under the current law, if banks disclose the wrong
information about your loan, the starting point for the penalty
is that they have to repay you all your borrowing
costs for the time of the breach. So you know,
in this case there could be about one hundred and
fifty thousand people involved, I think of all the interests
they've paid over the time of a breach. But you
know that that could really mount up. The way the

(01:25:04):
government wants to change the law is to say that
the judge has can have discretion to have a proportionate penalty,
so to have a fair penalty. So you know, in
this case, if under the proposed new law, for the
judge looks at it and says, oh, actually, this was
really bad, the banks could still face a really big penalty,
or the judge could go, oh, it's not that bad. Actually,

(01:25:24):
you know what, We're sure a smaller penalty.

Speaker 9 (01:25:26):
Now.

Speaker 30 (01:25:26):
The banks have already actually reimbursed customers for the losses
because of the mistakes, sort of in the order of
about forty million dollars, so you know, the amount that
it could be under the existing law is much larger
than the forty million.

Speaker 2 (01:25:42):
The Government's obviously trying to get these changes through the
at the moment been heard in Select committee this week.
Act in New Zealand First on board with the retrospective
part of it.

Speaker 30 (01:25:53):
Well, they have their reservations. I spoke to New Zealand
First Shane Jones today and he said, you know, he
wouldn't jumped to conclusions, but it's very very bad practice
to change something retrospectively. He said that New Zealand First
would you know, still have a think about whether it
would support the bill, you know, further down the parliamentary

(01:26:14):
process acts. David Seymour, he said he actually wrote to
Scott Simpson, the Minister, and raised his concerns, but David
Seymour said, he's part of the government and you know
we'll kind of go along with you know, he's not
going to kick up a stinct necessarily. So I think
there's still you know, some uncertainty there. It's interesting here

(01:26:35):
because there's so much money at stake, you know, banks
massive players are they're lobbing hard. The lawyers who are
bringing the class action forward, there's a lot for them
to gain as well. The funders of the class action.
They are pushing really hard. It's going to be interesting
to see which way the politicians end up end up going.

Speaker 2 (01:26:55):
What have you made of the submission so far in
this committee?

Speaker 30 (01:26:59):
Well, sitting in Select Committee today and they're pretty passionate. Again,
I think it's because there's a lot of money at stake.
You know, on the one hand, it's fair that they
have large penalties for banks because you know, if you're
just a person, you meant to go through your mortgage
contract with a fine tooth comb and make sure all
the details are correct. So that's a fair, fair argument.

(01:27:20):
But then you know the banks say if the penalties
are too heavy handed, that could cripple them, like it
won't cripple A and Z and ASB, but it could
cripple some smaller lenders. So there are some pretty strong
arguments I think being made. And the retrospectivity element is
it's just not good. No, you can't pull the rug
out from beneath people.

Speaker 2 (01:27:39):
And that doesn't seem fear does that, But that's obviously
what they're what they're trying to weigh up at the
moment to theay, I appreciate your time tonight. Janet Tobstraeney,
the Herald's Wellington Business editor, with us it is twenty
to seven on News Talk CB. I will get to
our UK correspondent Gavin Gray before seven o'clock. Also, I've
got a little tidbit for you, just a little something

(01:28:00):
to share about the world number one golfer. This is
Scotty Scheffler. He's asked basically, what is the point of golf?
Which is quite an unusual thing you would think for
a golfer to say, especially if you're the world's number
one currently. He gets quite a little bit emotional and
quite honest in an interview. I'll bring that to you shortly.

Speaker 1 (01:28:23):
If it's to do with money, it matters to you.
The Business Hour with Ryan Bridge and Lairs, Insurance and investments,
Grow your wealth, protect your future Newstalks V.

Speaker 2 (01:28:35):
We've got to Gavin Gray in the UK just a second. First,
this is world number one golfer Scotty Scheffler. He's asking,
basically what is the point of it all golf? That is,
he was asked in a press conference. This is a guy,
by the way, who has you know, won PGA Championship
this season, who's won eighty seven million dollars in prize money,
he's been world number one for one hundred and twelve

(01:28:57):
consecutive weeks, and he's asking what's the point in golf?
He was asked at a press conference how long does
he celebrate his victories for and ended up sort of
questioning why, what is the point of being the best
golfer in the world.

Speaker 31 (01:29:13):
Have a listen, I'm not here to inspire somebody else
to be the best player in the world, because what's
the point? You know, this is not a fulfilling life.
It's it's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it's
not fulfilling from a sense of like the deepest, you know,
places of your heart. You know, there's a lot of
people that make it to what they thought was going
to fulfill them in life, and then you get there,

(01:29:34):
and all of a sudden you get to number one
in the world, and then they're like, what's the point?

Speaker 2 (01:29:37):
He said. It feels like you work your whole life
to celebrate winning a tournament for a couple of minutes
of you far happiness. He said, It only lasts a
couple of minutes to win the Byron Nelson Championship at home.
He says, I literally worked my entire life to become
good at golf to have an opportunity to win that tournament.
You win it, you celebrate, You hug your family, My

(01:29:59):
sister is there. It's an amazing moment. Then it's like, Okay,
what are we eating for dinner? And life goes on.
Isn't that funny? You would think being at the absolute pinnacle,
at the top of your game, the best in the
world for such a long period of time, and pulling
in so much money. I don't know maybe it you
become a bit numb to it all at that point.

(01:30:21):
It certainly seems that way, or maybe it was just
having a bad day and feeling a bit introspective. I
don't know. Fourteen minutes away from seven Brian Bridge, Kevin
Gray's our UK correspondent, Gavin, Welcome to the show.

Speaker 21 (01:30:32):
Hi there right.

Speaker 2 (01:30:33):
Who's taking responsibility for this leak of the thousands and
thousands of names of Afghans who applied to move to
the UK when the Taliban took over back in twenty
twenty two.

Speaker 21 (01:30:45):
Somebody from the Ministry of Defense.

Speaker 32 (01:30:47):
But we're not being told a name, we're not actually
being told what's happened to that person, and it's caused
a great deal of anger. So we've learned this week
because a gagging order, a court gagging order preventing any
publication of this story has just been rescinded, and we've
only learned this week that somebody accidentally emailed a spreadsheet

(01:31:09):
of names of those in Afghanistan who had applied to
become to the UK. As you said, the Taliban, of
course took over very very quickly, chaotic scenes, and there
were some in Afghanistan who had helped British troops the
Allied forces by either translating or by no doubts that
are spying within communities with information, and those people, of

(01:31:32):
course naturally feared for their life when the Taliban took over.
Now they applied and it appeared the government had been
playing hardball with this, and yet now we learn that
actually somebody had emailed this spreadsheet out and then the
government decided, well, it was only fair that everyone virtually
on that spreadsheet should be allowed to come to the UK,

(01:31:53):
because of course that had put their lives at risk.
Details are well nearly nineteen had applied to move to
the UK. The previous government learned of the breach in
August twenty twenty three when some of the details appeared
on Facebook. A new resettlement scheme for those on the
list was set up nine months later. Four and a
half thousand arrived in the UK so far, but it

(01:32:17):
is estimated that there are at least another two and
a half thousand still in Afghanistan. The scheme is being
closed down. The cost so far has been eight hundred
and fifty new million New Zealand dollars.

Speaker 21 (01:32:29):
It's likely to cost double.

Speaker 5 (01:32:31):
That in the end.

Speaker 32 (01:32:32):
And still no response as to who did this, whether
they're still in their job.

Speaker 2 (01:32:36):
Quite extraordinary, certainly is given. And more than a million
people in the UK receiving benefits were born overseas.

Speaker 32 (01:32:46):
Yeah, this has been a really really interesting way, both
in which this has been reported but also in the
figures themselves. So it's long been questioned by those particularly
anti immigration, those on the right, those trying to say
the UK money, saying, look how much of our benefits
bill is going to those who were born in the
UK and how much is either going to refugees asylum

(01:33:09):
seekers those who come into the UK were Now the
answers are out. In June, nearly eight million people received
Universal Credit that is like a top up to help
people both employed and unemployed people with living costs, and
eighty three percent were British and Irish nationalists. Now, when
you strip that down, more than one million claimants were

(01:33:33):
born overseas, and that includes seven hundred thousand European Union
citizens who arrived in the UK before Brexit but have
the right to remain and live and work in the UK.
At one point five percent of claimants were refugees and
seventy five thousand claimants who were in the UK temporarily

(01:33:53):
and would typically not be able to receive benefits are
also claim in this particular benefit.

Speaker 21 (01:33:58):
So you could look at this to say, oh.

Speaker 32 (01:34:00):
Well, you know eighty three percent are British and Irish nationals.

Speaker 21 (01:34:03):
First of all, why are Irish nationals getting it?

Speaker 32 (01:34:05):
Some people, I think we'll ask, But also why are
so many people who weren't burned in the UK allowed
to claim this? And it is a huge sum of
money that is going out in betterfits. We've had the
big row here over of course that benefits build a
government trying to reduce it, and now that's been overturned
by its own MPs, and many people just think we've

(01:34:26):
got to get a grip on this before it spirals
even further out of control.

Speaker 2 (01:34:31):
Is the proportion, you know, is a proportion of the population.
Are they the refugees or the immigrants getting more than
you know what I'm saying is a proportion of the population,
Or is anyone saying yeah, it's out of wick?

Speaker 32 (01:34:45):
Well, these figures are slightly askew because to get Universal
Credit you can also be working, but in a low
paid job, and what do many migrants have low paid jobs.
So you know it's very difficult to draw out. We
need more precise figures from the government and I think
that's going to be very difficult to get out of them.

Speaker 2 (01:35:03):
I saw the story this morning. It's made headlines here
in New Zealand. The wee girl who was wearing a
Union Jet Spy skuil dress, Union jeck dress and was
kicked out of school.

Speaker 21 (01:35:13):
Yeah, quite extraordinary this.

Speaker 32 (01:35:15):
So this was actually at a school culture celebration day,
so all the children were encouraged to dress in a
way in which it reflected a culture that they wanted
to highlight. And of course, you know there were lots
of being in Rugby in the Midlands, lots of different
ethnic representations. There one girl who is British and a

(01:35:38):
twelve year old turned up wearing a Union jack dress
like if you remember, one of the Spice girls, and
also wanted to give a speech as part of that
culture celebration day, to give her speech about being British,
after all we do live in Britain, but she was
denied and sent home. The school has since apologized and

(01:35:59):
said that was a bit of a misunderstanding. Offer are
and Sirius sincere and unreserved apologies, but now campaign's grown
for the head teacher to be kicked out. And this,
I'm afraid is a long line, the last and long
line of stories right where people have turned up at
events that are supposed to celebrate culture in all its
forms and yet seem to be a shame to be British.

Speaker 21 (01:36:20):
When it comes to it, I dare say it.

Speaker 32 (01:36:22):
Is the stigma attached to some elements of the population
by the British flag, the Union flag representing it at
times far right. It's said, but really this does seem
absolutely extraordinary. And this only made the news because the
father and the daughter just thought this is a bit
unfair and put it on Facebook, having had to pick

(01:36:44):
his daughter up early somewhat in disgrace away. The school
now wants her to give her speech to.

Speaker 21 (01:36:48):
The whole of the school. But I don't think that
really addresses what's up fault here.

Speaker 2 (01:36:52):
No it doesn't. You're quite right, givin thank you for that.
Kevin Gray are UK correspondent. I saw the video of
the poor wee girl you're twelve years old and sent
packing for wearing she said, I like my sparkly dress.
And her speech was about British culture being polite and
friendly and kind and eating fish and chips and complaining
about the weather. I mean, honestly, get a grip eight

(01:37:14):
to seven.

Speaker 1 (01:37:15):
It's the heather too for see Allen dry Full Show
podcast on iHeartRadio powered by News Talk ZB News Talk ZVB.

Speaker 2 (01:37:23):
It is five minutes away from seven loads of feedback
this afternoon, which we didn't get to. This one saying
that in the seventies we tried the open plan classroom thing,
the barnyard style classroom. I think earlier I accidentally called
it open air classrooms. Somebody said that might actually sort
some of our problems out. But no, open style barnyard

(01:37:45):
classrooms not going to happen anymore under this government. They've
announced today. Many of you are celebrating that today. I
think that's a great thing. Doesn't fix the problem of
those that have already been converted, though, does it. And
we spoke to it on you Order High schoo principle
today said their problem was a four hundred and fifty

(01:38:05):
student classroom, one room, four hundred and fifty students, twenty
six classes, whose idea was that anyway it's gone. They
spent one and a half million dollars converting them back
to single cells. That is it for us tonight. Thank
you so much for listening. And so what are we
going out to tonight?

Speaker 27 (01:38:21):
No Tears Left to Cry by Ariana Grande to play
us out tonight. It's been announced that Ariana Grande is
going to be one of the voice actors, one of
the leading voice actors, and an upcoming animated adaptation of
Oh the Places You'll Go by Doctor Seuss. Yes, they're
making a movie of Oh the Places You'll Go. And
not only they're doing it, they're gonna put Ariana Grande
in it. And she's someone she's worked with before as well.

(01:38:43):
John m chu who directed Wicked and is directing the
upcoming Wicked sequel. He's he's directing it as well, so
they're working together on it again. I don't see how
you could possibly make a movie about Oh the Places
You'll Go, Sarah that there isn't a plot, but anyway, yeah,
good luck with that Ariana and John.

Speaker 2 (01:38:57):
It's got a great voice, I'll give it that.

Speaker 8 (01:38:59):
And she has stand voice acting before.

Speaker 27 (01:39:01):
She had actually voiced on Winks Club back in the day,
so she's first radio all.

Speaker 2 (01:39:05):
Right, talented too, and obviously she's ahead of the box office.
If they're making another Wicked, there you go. Adiana Grande
to sing you out tonight three to seven here on
News Talks b C.

Speaker 22 (01:39:16):
Tomor owns.

Speaker 5 (01:39:37):
Figure I'm making it eleven, I'm living.

Speaker 13 (01:39:43):
So we turning up.

Speaker 30 (01:39:44):
Yeah, we turning.

Speaker 1 (01:39:47):
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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