February 19, 2025 • 8 mins
Tonight on The Huddle, Ali Jones from Red PR and Jordan Williams from the Taxpayers' Union joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!
The OCR was slashed again by 50 basis points - what does this mean for the economy and the cost of living? Do we think more cuts are the way to go?
The Consumer Guarantees Act (Right to Repair) Amendment Bill is set to have its first reading in Parliament tonight. Should the Government pass this law? Will this make products better for consumers?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Huddle with New Zealand Southby's international realty, local and
global exposure like no other.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It is eighteen to six.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Jordan Williams from the Textpayers Union and Ellie Jones from
red PR on the Huddle tonight.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
Good evening, guys, good evening, and also a local community board, Ryan,
So thanks for that. We are a pack of nut
bars with here growing out of our ears.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
You know, I didn't actually realize you were on a
local board until Laura.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I've prett disappointed that out.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Ye a bunch of.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Comments.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Oh Jordan, you're a slippery devil. Yes, I am the exception.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hey, guys, let's talk about the official cash rate.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Obviously it's it's dropped today, but the track going forward
is for bigger drop, faster good news.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
What do you think when you, Jordan, when you listen to.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
And watch those press conferences from the governor Adrian R
what do you think about? Do you think, gosh, you're
the guy that did this to us, because that's what
I think.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
Well, I don't look at the conference anymore. I listen
to them because we have a Reserve Bank governor who
doesn't appear to know how to iron a shirt and
refuses to wear a tie and not take his job seriously. No, look,
it's terrible to say that. Oh it's good. Interest rates
are going to come down further and faster. No, the
the projected growth compared to the the same update, you know,
(01:21):
the same document they produce in November.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Is worse.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
We're going backwards. Things are not good in the economy.
And I mean, ultimately we w on economic growth. You know,
that's what makes New Zealand prosperous. That gives us the
ability to pay for good public services, the ability to
have good standards of living. And we've got every indicator
(01:46):
for you know, for the last year, every update, it's
getting worse than we thought it would be.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Ellie, I wonder where the cost of living plays a
part in that too. I am not an economist, and
as someone who's just living day to day finding things
extremely expensive. Yes, of course mortgage interest rates dropping is
going to help as far as have money for people
to spend, but as far as making life easier and
(02:15):
reducing the cost of living. The food prices we're still
being ripped off by those We've got premiums for insurance.
Insurance is turning into a nice to have and it
can't be. We've got rates that are out of control.
I mean, you can't just fix it by lowering mortgage
interest rates. And I think that those other things are
being left to get out of control and that's what's
(02:38):
making life really hard for people.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yeah, it's a good point actually, because Jordan we don't
have disinflation. So you know, inflation pushes all the prices up,
and sure some people's wages have increased alongside that, but
for most people that's not the case. For many people,
that's not the case. And it's not like prices have
actually gone down. I mean they go up and they
(03:01):
stay there and they just don't increase at the same rate. Right, Yeah,
that's all.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Of that's true. But I mean the even when we
go get back, when we focus to get back to growth,
it's only growth per capita or GDP per capita that matters.
And on that measure, we are in the longest recession
or quarter you know, you know, quarter to quarter to
quarter to quarter on a per person basis, the longestance
(03:29):
records began. You know, we're in you know, we've got
real problems. And I would argue that the government simply
is not acting with the urgency. Ali Rightney mentions local government.
You know, the big outlier in the stats Sense data
on inflation is the cost of local government. And you
know Sime and Brown was doing some great work there.
(03:49):
We've now got, you know, the minister that's just lumped
us with larger climate taxes. You know, actually though the
climate tax is going up later this year with under
the eat.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yes, so you're saying the government they need to move
work a lot harder. I hear Jordan Williams Tax Panzinion,
Allie Jones, red PR, the.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty elevate the marketing
of your home.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Jordan Williams from the Tax Panthy Union and Allie Jones
from red PR on the huddle tonight. The Right to repair,
So there's a member's bill before Parliament that's going to
be read today and MPs will get to vote on
whether they think it should happen. It's it would force
the manufacturers to repair stuff. Ellie, I just wonder how
much stuff is repairable. I mean, you think exactly yeah
(04:34):
in my camp.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Yeah no, Look, I completely agree. I don't think you
can force companies to do a repair. I think the
Consumer Guarantees Act is pretty clear as far as the
life of an object or thing is and I think
that that works pretty well when people know how it
works and they call people out on it. And I
do that regularly. I return the vacuum cleaner yesterday. How
(04:56):
long should something last? You know, let's have that discussion.
If it's cheap, is it a fair expectation that it
won't last and it's just tough if it breaks? I
think it's I think it's admirable this kind of idea.
I don't think it will work. We have places in
christ Church where you take things to get them repaired.
There's one Enrichmond near me called Repair Revolution. I've had
a handbag repaired and and a lamp repaired. Yeah, I
(05:19):
don't think it's feasible to be able to make something
like that work. Not everything can be repaired. Let's time
make things last as long as they can. But you know,
are people going to have the time or the wherewithal
to actually get something repaired or just take it to
the dump. I think it'll be the latter.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
What happened to your vacuum cleaner?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
It stopped sucking, which is quite important for a vacuum cleaner.
And when I took it back Ryan, I was told
that I hadn't cleaned the filters, and I felt I
felt quite put out by that someone was questioning my
parenting ability of a vacuum cleaner. And so but anyway,
they were very good customers, always right, So thumbs up
to Bristol.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
They fixed it and you went home with the repair.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
No, because I'd already another one and they couldn't fix it.
So they gave me my money back. So I did
say the Consumer Guarantees Act allows me to do this,
and they agree.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
And how long ago did you buy it?
Speaker 4 (06:09):
October twenty fifth of October.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Ah, okay, so that's fair enough. Jordan went to, have
you taken anything back to the store lately.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
No, but I sort of to have something similar to
this and that a few years ago I brought something
called a car thing off Spotify, which is like a
controller for you, sort of remote controller for Spotify. And
then just before Christmas they apped and said, oh, we're
no longer supporting that anymore and just.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Like pulled the software support for it.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
So this thing that costs like one hundred years no
longer words was that rageous in terms of the right
to repair. A lot of this sort of goes back
to this is it a movement for consumer movement in
the US when John Deer started making all these stuff
proprietary so that Joe Farmer couldn't go and fix it. It's
it's like, I mean it, bumper stick of policy. Really good,
(06:56):
but realistically Apple going to change the design of their
life to make the battery replaceable or being able to
the consumer being able to do it. I think in
a world of electronics where stuff is frankly, you know,
a lot more proprietary in the like I think Alli's
you know, this conversation has shown it. It's a strong
consumer guarantees act things are fit for purpose. That's more
(07:19):
important than the ability to sort of you know, to
tinker with tinker with with with your John Dare or whatever.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, yeah, or you're so many texts coming in today
about water blasters apparently water a lot of water blasters
breaking around New Zealand, and they will charge you half
the cost of a brand new water blood crisis crisis.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Everyone's going to have filthy homes just to fix.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
But a water blaster would be fun to fix. You know,
there's some things that look I push a pen round
for a living. So my summer was like, you know,
at the at my wife's family batch. You know that
I broke the ride on. I don't know anything about
ride ons. I'm terrible at that sort of thing. But
(08:05):
what probably took someone with any skill half an hour
took me two days and I loved it. It was
so satisfying.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
You're exceptional, though, Jordan, No, you're definitely exceptional. There are
many people who would take take a look at something
like that and either not even give it a go,
or give it a go for ten minutes and then
lose interest in That would be me. So that's the
other thing. It's going to end up in landfill or
be sold cheap as is, whereas I don't think people
are going to you know, if you've got something in law,
I don't think it's going to make any difference.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Allie Jones, thank you very much from red pr and
Jordan Williams from the Taxpayers Union. And what have we
learned from that discussion where we've learned that whoever Jordan
is married to has a parents have a batch.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
That's big enough to have its own right on Lawnmower.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, Listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
The Huddle with New Zealand Southby's international realty, local and
global exposure like no other.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
It is eighteen to six.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Jordan Williams from the Textpayers Union and Ellie Jones from
red PR on the Huddle tonight.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
Good evening, guys, good evening, and also a local community board, Ryan,
So thanks for that. We are a pack of nut
bars with here growing out of our ears.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Thanks.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
You know, I didn't actually realize you were on a
local board until Laura.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I've prett disappointed that out.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
Ye a bunch of.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Comments.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
Oh Jordan, you're a slippery devil. Yes, I am the exception.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hey, guys, let's talk about the official cash rate.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Obviously it's it's dropped today, but the track going forward
is for bigger drop, faster good news.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
What do you think when you, Jordan, when you listen to.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
And watch those press conferences from the governor Adrian R
what do you think about? Do you think, gosh, you're
the guy that did this to us, because that's what
I think.
Speaker 5 (00:58):
Well, I don't look at the conference anymore. I listen
to them because we have a Reserve Bank governor who
doesn't appear to know how to iron a shirt and
refuses to wear a tie and not take his job seriously. No, look,
it's terrible to say that. Oh it's good. Interest rates
are going to come down further and faster. No, the
the projected growth compared to the the same update, you know,
(01:21):
the same document they produce in November.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Is worse.
Speaker 5 (01:25):
We're going backwards. Things are not good in the economy.
And I mean, ultimately we w on economic growth. You know,
that's what makes New Zealand prosperous. That gives us the
ability to pay for good public services, the ability to
have good standards of living. And we've got every indicator
(01:46):
for you know, for the last year, every update, it's
getting worse than we thought it would be.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Ellie, I wonder where the cost of living plays a
part in that too. I am not an economist, and
as someone who's just living day to day finding things
extremely expensive. Yes, of course mortgage interest rates dropping is
going to help as far as have money for people
to spend, but as far as making life easier and
(02:15):
reducing the cost of living. The food prices we're still
being ripped off by those We've got premiums for insurance.
Insurance is turning into a nice to have and it
can't be. We've got rates that are out of control.
I mean, you can't just fix it by lowering mortgage
interest rates. And I think that those other things are
being left to get out of control and that's what's
(02:38):
making life really hard for people.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
Yeah, it's a good point actually, because Jordan we don't
have disinflation. So you know, inflation pushes all the prices up,
and sure some people's wages have increased alongside that, but
for most people that's not the case. For many people,
that's not the case. And it's not like prices have
actually gone down. I mean they go up and they
(03:01):
stay there and they just don't increase at the same rate. Right, Yeah,
that's all.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Of that's true. But I mean the even when we
go get back, when we focus to get back to growth,
it's only growth per capita or GDP per capita that matters.
And on that measure, we are in the longest recession
or quarter you know, you know, quarter to quarter to
quarter to quarter on a per person basis, the longestance
(03:29):
records began. You know, we're in you know, we've got
real problems. And I would argue that the government simply
is not acting with the urgency. Ali Rightney mentions local government.
You know, the big outlier in the stats Sense data
on inflation is the cost of local government. And you
know Sime and Brown was doing some great work there.
(03:49):
We've now got, you know, the minister that's just lumped
us with larger climate taxes. You know, actually though the
climate tax is going up later this year with under
the eat.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yes, so you're saying the government they need to move
work a lot harder. I hear Jordan Williams Tax Panzinion,
Allie Jones, red PR, the.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty elevate the marketing
of your home.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Jordan Williams from the Tax Panthy Union and Allie Jones
from red PR on the huddle tonight. The Right to repair,
So there's a member's bill before Parliament that's going to
be read today and MPs will get to vote on
whether they think it should happen. It's it would force
the manufacturers to repair stuff. Ellie, I just wonder how
much stuff is repairable. I mean, you think exactly yeah
(04:34):
in my camp.
Speaker 4 (04:35):
Yeah no, Look, I completely agree. I don't think you
can force companies to do a repair. I think the
Consumer Guarantees Act is pretty clear as far as the
life of an object or thing is and I think
that that works pretty well when people know how it
works and they call people out on it. And I
do that regularly. I return the vacuum cleaner yesterday. How
(04:56):
long should something last? You know, let's have that discussion.
If it's cheap, is it a fair expectation that it
won't last and it's just tough if it breaks? I
think it's I think it's admirable this kind of idea.
I don't think it will work. We have places in
christ Church where you take things to get them repaired.
There's one Enrichmond near me called Repair Revolution. I've had
a handbag repaired and and a lamp repaired. Yeah, I
(05:19):
don't think it's feasible to be able to make something
like that work. Not everything can be repaired. Let's time
make things last as long as they can. But you know,
are people going to have the time or the wherewithal
to actually get something repaired or just take it to
the dump. I think it'll be the latter.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
What happened to your vacuum cleaner?
Speaker 4 (05:36):
It stopped sucking, which is quite important for a vacuum cleaner.
And when I took it back Ryan, I was told
that I hadn't cleaned the filters, and I felt I
felt quite put out by that someone was questioning my
parenting ability of a vacuum cleaner. And so but anyway,
they were very good customers, always right, So thumbs up
to Bristol.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
They fixed it and you went home with the repair.
Speaker 4 (05:59):
No, because I'd already another one and they couldn't fix it.
So they gave me my money back. So I did
say the Consumer Guarantees Act allows me to do this,
and they agree.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
And how long ago did you buy it?
Speaker 4 (06:09):
October twenty fifth of October.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Ah, okay, so that's fair enough. Jordan went to, have
you taken anything back to the store lately.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
No, but I sort of to have something similar to
this and that a few years ago I brought something
called a car thing off Spotify, which is like a
controller for you, sort of remote controller for Spotify. And
then just before Christmas they apped and said, oh, we're
no longer supporting that anymore and just.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Like pulled the software support for it.
Speaker 5 (06:34):
So this thing that costs like one hundred years no
longer words was that rageous in terms of the right
to repair. A lot of this sort of goes back
to this is it a movement for consumer movement in
the US when John Deer started making all these stuff
proprietary so that Joe Farmer couldn't go and fix it. It's
it's like, I mean it, bumper stick of policy. Really good,
(06:56):
but realistically Apple going to change the design of their
life to make the battery replaceable or being able to
the consumer being able to do it. I think in
a world of electronics where stuff is frankly, you know,
a lot more proprietary in the like I think Alli's
you know, this conversation has shown it. It's a strong
consumer guarantees act things are fit for purpose. That's more
(07:19):
important than the ability to sort of you know, to
tinker with tinker with with with your John Dare or whatever.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Yeah, yeah, or you're so many texts coming in today
about water blasters apparently water a lot of water blasters
breaking around New Zealand, and they will charge you half
the cost of a brand new water blood crisis crisis.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Everyone's going to have filthy homes just to fix.
Speaker 5 (07:44):
But a water blaster would be fun to fix. You know,
there's some things that look I push a pen round
for a living. So my summer was like, you know,
at the at my wife's family batch. You know that
I broke the ride on. I don't know anything about
ride ons. I'm terrible at that sort of thing. But
(08:05):
what probably took someone with any skill half an hour
took me two days and I loved it. It was
so satisfying.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
You're exceptional, though, Jordan, No, you're definitely exceptional. There are
many people who would take take a look at something
like that and either not even give it a go,
or give it a go for ten minutes and then
lose interest in That would be me. So that's the
other thing. It's going to end up in landfill or
be sold cheap as is, whereas I don't think people
are going to you know, if you've got something in law,
I don't think it's going to make any difference.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Allie Jones, thank you very much from red pr and
Jordan Williams from the Taxpayers Union. And what have we
learned from that discussion where we've learned that whoever Jordan
is married to has a parents have a batch.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
That's big enough to have its own right on Lawnmower.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
For more from Heather 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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