Jason Walls: Newstalk ZB political editor on Wellington mayor Tory Whanau's clash with Chris Luxon

The Prime Minister's brushing off criticism from Wellington's mayor.

Speaking to Newstalk ZB today, the PM hit out at the city's cycleway rollout and water management - saying other cities are moving forward.

Tory Whanau says Luxon should focus on coalition issues and the problematic Government's school lunch roll out, not punching down on the capital.

Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls unpacked Tory Whanau's response.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jason Wooll's political editors with us right now. Hey Jason,
good afternoon.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Man.

Speaker 1 (00:04):
A live Tory doesn't learn, does she.

Speaker 3 (00:07):
Well, yeah, there was a Tory versus Tory today. Of
course that's Torri Fino, Wellington's mayor. And the other Tory
I'm talking about is Christopher Luxen, the NAT And obviously
you know in the UK they call them the Tories.
It all started earlier this morning when the PM was
an ian Z post budget breakfast and he was asked
about what he, as Prime Minister could do to keep

(00:27):
political parties out of local councils.

Speaker 4 (00:30):
And here's what he said, But, man, I think you
need a little bit less political party and a little
less ideology and a little bit more common sense actually
in solving some problems and getting the show on the road.
And so but ultimately, also good people of Wellington have
to vote, and when you look at voter turnout and
local body elections running at thirty five percent, sometimes you
get what you deserve just putting it to because I

(00:53):
can't solve all your problems, you know, so you can
solve some of your own problems.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
And I was there and the first thing that I
thought between my bikes have been bacon and eggs. Was
is he wrong? I don't think he is. I think
he makes some kind of fair points. But that wasn't
the end of it. He went on all mate Nick
Mills's show on z B Wellington Mornings down here in
the Capitol and kind of continued to put the boot in.

Speaker 4 (01:14):
You know, you've got way too much ideology and party
politics in your local government. I think you need to
focus on actually common sense solutions to problems that people
are experiencing in the region, take responsibility for it and
sort it out for people.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
So Torri was not happy with either of these comments,
and she wrote into our newsroom down here in said,
these comments by the Prime Minister are once again a
blatant punching down on Wellington where groundbreaking transformational projects are
trying to get through it without giggling, where transformational projects
are underway. Just last week we successfully passed our long

(01:48):
term plan for twenty two or twenty four to twenty
and thirty four and progressed our water reforms. Here's where
it gets spicy. Perhaps he should look at his own
policy choices, like the recent decision to slash pay for
women on low incomes and the disastrous school lunch program.
We need solutions and collaborations from the Prime Minister, not
rhetoric designed to distract from his own failings. We're doing

(02:12):
just fine in Wellington and the Prime Minister should focus
on his chaotic coalition instead.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
Okay, now are you telling me that Tory unprompted contacted
the newsroom to say this?

Speaker 3 (02:24):
That's what That's the story that was went up on
the Herald.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Seriously she wrote into that. She was like, I know,
I've got to have a say on this. Let me
have it, let me sledge the Prime Minister by writing
an email to the Herald. Does that what happened?

Speaker 3 (02:35):
And obviously she sent it to other people as well,
because yeah, one news is reporting the same comments. So
she's not pleased.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
Not please jeez, she does not help yourself. Hey, so
did the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister take credit
for the ocr cut? Did they?

Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yes? To the surprise of no one, they were pretty
keen to put a kind of put their stamp all
over it. Have a listen to what Christopher Luxan told
us about an hour and a half ago.

Speaker 4 (03:00):
Our work on spending as directly contributing to lowering inflation,
which then is obviously the prechursor to lowering interest rates.
And given the economy growing and moving.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Again, so he's not exactly being subtle about but you
know it's not all the government. I mean, you do
have to give them props. They have brought down spending
and of course that has had an impact on inflation.
But the fact that oil prices have fallen as well
is also a contributing factor behind the fact that we've
seen lower inflation, which has led to a lower ocr
The Finance minister. This Nikola Willis did in part acknowledge that.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
There's always a range of factors, but the reverse is
also true. We'd got the money Berzuoka out and sprayed
it all around, you can beat inflation would have been high.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Yeah, And so in a parallel world, it would have
been interesting to see what it would have been like
if Leber had kept going in terms of what the
inflation rates would have been. But there is always an
elephant in the room when it comes to inflation. And
this was Nikola Willis's message to some of the councils
across the country which are putting up rates to double digits.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
But look, my message to councils always the same as
the prime ministers, which is rate payers can't handle massive
rate increases, so cut your cloth, manage your expenses.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
Keif Lee and I wonder who she's referring to there.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Hey, very quickly, have you got that Tory email in
front of you again?

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Ah?

Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yes, just have a look.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
Did she say that women's wages have been slashed?

Speaker 3 (04:19):
She said, perhaps he should look at his own policy choices,
like the recent decision to slash pay for women on
low incomes.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Okay, yeah, actually in correct though, way well listen, just
getting some tests along those lines. It's just worth pointing
out Tory doesn't have a grasp on the facts. All right,
Thank you for that, Jason, appreciate it, Jason Wooll's political editor.
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