November 25, 2025 • 9 mins
Tonight on The Huddle, Tim Wilson from the Maxim Institute and Labour candidate for Wellington Bays Craig Renney joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!
The Government has confirmed it plans to make major changes to regional councils, including axing regional councillors and replacing regional councils with groups of local mayors. Do we think this is a good idea?
New reports show more universities are giving out more 'A' grades and it's prompted concern from some. Are we diluting excellence?
Black Friday's coming up this week, but the deals are already in full swing. Are we getting into it?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the huddle. By the way, twenty away from six,
we have Tim Wilson, Maximum Institute in Craig Renny, Labor
candidate for Wellington Bays. One step Craig towards becoming a
future finance minister. How are you feeling?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
It's fantastic to be nominated. It's fantastic to have the
news out there, and I'm looking forward to being nothing
other than the candidate for Labor for Wellington Bays and
to be a fantastic representative of the wonderful people of Wellington.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Listen to you. This is what you said to us
two weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
You may have announced my candidacy, but I'm not doing
it on this show now.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
And I hear Tim Wilson chortling in the background of
that clip. Craig, can we just have it? Can you
just know as a future labor finance minister that the
things that you hear on this show are just so
bloody bang on.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yes, I didn't known my candidacy on your show, but
yes you may have, yes, but at the.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Time it wasn't real because I was only selected last week.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Yeah, where are you where? We could see it, We
could feel it in our waters.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Tim, it's in the way you speak, the disposition, the
way you hold yourself, and Craig, I've been working on
a few slogans for you. So just how about this,
Craig Rennie from the CTU, just to help out you.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Oh dear me, you're not going to.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Go with that.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I'll keep it under advice.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Brilliant. I love it all.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Craig.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Congratulations mate, you did.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Congratulations for all the ribbons.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
We did say we had to get you on just
to bully you a little bit. We've done that. Now
now we can talk about regional councils. Tim, how good
is the news regional councils are going to get the ax?
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Yeah? Yeah, Look it's I think I think politically it's
it's going to resonate well, as your texters have already said.
Does this help national Absolutely it does. You know, you
never lose if you're going to say local bodies aren't
up to scratch. But it was was actually confusing. There
was the local level and then the regional level. So
clariaification or at least wiping out that middle layer, I
(02:03):
think it's going to be helpful. I do want to
know where the accountability goes for those areas, and I
think there are arguments for a regional bodies, say special
purpose organizations like public transport and Wellington Actually wait a minute, Craig,
that could be something for you to campaign on, but
you know that crosses a few jurisdictions and you'd want
(02:23):
a regional organization for.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
That, Craig. I mean this is obviously in your part
of the world. This is going to spark amalgamation, isn't it,
Because the Wellington Regional Council does things like transport public transport,
and if you don't have them sitting there doing public transport,
which is massive, it's just going to make you guys
think much harder about joining the councils together, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I think you're right.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I think the challenge is that it leaves a bunch
of potentially massy outcomes in terms of transport, water, infrastructure,
other forms of infrastructure at the regional council level.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
In the UK, I used to work for the.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Grandly titled Association of Northeastern Councils, which essentially is what
the Government is proposing today, where you have each local
authority would put some one forward and then you'd have
a bunch of people who made regional decisions. The challenge
was was that nothing really happened because what you got
was a bunch of people in the room who all
then disagreed with each other because their priorities were their
(03:18):
own areas rather than the actual regional needs. And so
my question is is anything actually really going to change
as a consequence of this.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Because well, the services were still being.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Delivered, yes, and years services will still be needed.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
It's at the planning stage, isn't it. So this is
what we need to see. This is part of a
bigger RM reform, And the bigger RM reform, Craig is
it's the planning stuff that they do that takes tens
of millions of dollars and seven years, as Chris Bishop
was saying, they take that out, they simplify that. That's
where we make the savings, really, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
I think absolutely Anything that preventes greater certainty in planning
in sort of in resource management would be hugely welcomed.
But the big cost drivers in regional council services are water,
are you know, public transport, and they're not hugely affected
by this change because I imagine both of those services
(04:12):
will still continue, and to be frank, they're the areas
that need a really good look at because we still
don't have a clear picture how many.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Of those bits of infrastructure are actually going to be
paid for.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, all right, we'll take a break and come back
to you guys shortly. That's the huddle. Back on the huddle,
we have Tim Wilson and Craig Grinnie to me, you
worried about the grade inflation where the universities are giving
out too many a's.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Yeah, and you know, we should stop calling it great inflation.
We should call it greate erosion because that's exactly what
it is if the number of a's is surging. Look,
we at Maxim Inster Street, we do a leadership academy
and we do it over summer. It's twelve weeks and
we often here and these are these young people who
are at university or have just been at university. They'll
often say I learn more in that twelve weeks than
(04:54):
I did in four years at varsity. So there's a
bigger issue here, no question.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
What do you think, Craig, I think it's a real
issue to be looked at.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I mean, the report suggested something that's been happening internationally.
It's clearly not something that we want to see in
New Zealand. But the A is part. I agree there's
a real challenge there. But if I look at twenty twelve,
A and b's together were seventy one percent of grades.
If I got to twenty twenty four, it was seventy
three percent of grades. So it is something too worried about,
(05:28):
and it is something we obviously clearly to keep in
check permanently, but I don't know if it's necessarily to
the same extent here in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Then it is perhaps obviouselyas what.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Do you do tim as a parent, right, or even
as a young person who really is like really properly
smart and you want to have that recognized and not
just be kind of lumped in with all the other
duds who've got a's. Do you do you do you
go off to some ellege? Is that your only option
now to go off to some IVY League university?
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yeah, that's look, And that's I think what the research
you had on that some universities are going to differentiate themselves,
Because he seemed to think there was there were universities
that were more culpable in this area and others that
that people will know about that. I don't know about that,
but I suspect that might be an approach that some
universities will take. Guess what if you don't we actually
(06:18):
failed people at this university. I think a lot of
appearance would go. Oh, actually failure is quite productive.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, I think so too, Now, Craig, I mean I
ask you this question with hesitation because I feel like
the answer is going to be no. But do you
rate Wayne Brown.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
When when is a political character?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
He is a man who is very successfully taken over
Auckland Council. So you know, he was a very competent
advisor when he was working for.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
The sixth dam of Government on the Upper North aliand
Supply Chaine study.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
And that's my main dealing I've ever had, and so
that's that's the best knowledge I have of him.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
To do you reckon as as as now an aspiring
politician yourself, is there anything that you could learn from him?
Do you reckon? You could you know, use a few
Wayne Brown tricks?
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Well, one of the things I wouldn't one of the
things I might not take away from him him is
his desire to shout free beer in a public meeting.
I'm not sure that's necessarily turning the temperature down or
helping with the you know the niceties of diplomatic debate
and something that's a particularly challenging issue. So I might
not take that from him, but he's clear speaking in elsewhere,
(07:28):
and certainly his popularity.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I would yeah. I mean, I don't know if you
remembered him, but when he first started, we all thought
he was going to be rubbish and he's not at all.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Oh, absolutely, And you know what was the margin of
his elk over one hundred thousand he won by What's clear.
What's clear is that this is the this is the
end of focus group politics. We ran this through the
focus group, and we think you should message this way
now people. And the word you used for was authenticity.
Now my question though the Wayne Browns. You know, if
you're saying, oh, Laxan and Hipkins are like me, is
(07:59):
that really message for you? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Well, no, he was. You know, what he was trying
to say is they should be trying trying to be
like me. And I would say, yeah, probably, I mean
I think it would help. Now, Okay, Craig, have you
got I mean, you're an economist, you'll be fully into
the Black Friday ideas. What have you managed to secure?
Speaker 3 (08:16):
I haven't secured anything. I've been so busy recently, have
done literally zero Christmas shopping, which is not great news
for my family, especially seeing as most of them live
in the UK and traveling time was enormous. So I've
done not I've done very little of it. I do
very little internet shopping anyway.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
What why do you not have the indiet on your phone?
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I do have the Internet on my phone, but I
like to figure saying this. I'm a big fan of
ninja shopping. I get, I go out to the shop,
I get what you need and I leave.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
It's bloke shopping, Craig, the little bloke shopping. I just
go for one thing, and we're not going to mack
around walking around.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Exactly ninja shopping in out. Nobody noticed. It's all done.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, I mean obvious, but you did pay. I just
need to clarify that, Tim, did you you're doing the
ninja shopping? You're doing any of the online shopping for
the Black Friday?
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Okay? So zeru berzerkos it's the nerth gun you have
when you're not having an earth gun. You can shoot
twenty seven meters away eight darts and seconds even more
if you use some more rounds and it's about half price,
insane amounts of darts. That's what the kids are going
to love.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
You are the father of four boys, aren't you.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Yeah? Yeah, I'm standing. I'm standing in neurth gun bullets
as I speak. I think that the nerth gun bullets
are rising above my throtes. I think you're losing touch't
I can't hear you?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
All right? Off you go, you Sue, Thanks very much,
appreciate it. Tim Wilson, maximums toute Craig Renny, Labor candidate
for Wellington Bays.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
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
On the huddle. By the way, twenty away from six,
we have Tim Wilson, Maximum Institute in Craig Renny, Labor
candidate for Wellington Bays. One step Craig towards becoming a
future finance minister. How are you feeling?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
It's fantastic to be nominated. It's fantastic to have the
news out there, and I'm looking forward to being nothing
other than the candidate for Labor for Wellington Bays and
to be a fantastic representative of the wonderful people of Wellington.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Listen to you. This is what you said to us
two weeks ago.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
You may have announced my candidacy, but I'm not doing
it on this show now.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
And I hear Tim Wilson chortling in the background of
that clip. Craig, can we just have it? Can you
just know as a future labor finance minister that the
things that you hear on this show are just so
bloody bang on.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
Yes, I didn't known my candidacy on your show, but
yes you may have, yes, but at the.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Time it wasn't real because I was only selected last week.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Yeah, where are you where? We could see it, We
could feel it in our waters.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Tim, it's in the way you speak, the disposition, the
way you hold yourself, and Craig, I've been working on
a few slogans for you. So just how about this,
Craig Rennie from the CTU, just to help out you.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Oh dear me, you're not going to.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Go with that.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I'll keep it under advice.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
Brilliant. I love it all.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Craig.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Congratulations mate, you did.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Congratulations for all the ribbons.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
We did say we had to get you on just
to bully you a little bit. We've done that. Now
now we can talk about regional councils. Tim, how good
is the news regional councils are going to get the ax?
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Yeah? Yeah, Look it's I think I think politically it's
it's going to resonate well, as your texters have already said.
Does this help national Absolutely it does. You know, you
never lose if you're going to say local bodies aren't
up to scratch. But it was was actually confusing. There
was the local level and then the regional level. So
clariaification or at least wiping out that middle layer, I
(02:03):
think it's going to be helpful. I do want to
know where the accountability goes for those areas, and I
think there are arguments for a regional bodies, say special
purpose organizations like public transport and Wellington Actually wait a minute, Craig,
that could be something for you to campaign on, but
you know that crosses a few jurisdictions and you'd want
(02:23):
a regional organization for.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
That, Craig. I mean this is obviously in your part
of the world. This is going to spark amalgamation, isn't it,
Because the Wellington Regional Council does things like transport public transport,
and if you don't have them sitting there doing public transport,
which is massive, it's just going to make you guys
think much harder about joining the councils together, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (02:42):
I think you're right.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I think the challenge is that it leaves a bunch
of potentially massy outcomes in terms of transport, water, infrastructure,
other forms of infrastructure at the regional council level.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
In the UK, I used to work for the.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
Grandly titled Association of Northeastern Councils, which essentially is what
the Government is proposing today, where you have each local
authority would put some one forward and then you'd have
a bunch of people who made regional decisions. The challenge
was was that nothing really happened because what you got
was a bunch of people in the room who all
then disagreed with each other because their priorities were their
(03:18):
own areas rather than the actual regional needs. And so
my question is is anything actually really going to change
as a consequence of this.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
Because well, the services were still being.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Delivered, yes, and years services will still be needed.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
It's at the planning stage, isn't it. So this is
what we need to see. This is part of a
bigger RM reform, And the bigger RM reform, Craig is
it's the planning stuff that they do that takes tens
of millions of dollars and seven years, as Chris Bishop
was saying, they take that out, they simplify that. That's
where we make the savings, really, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
I think absolutely Anything that preventes greater certainty in planning
in sort of in resource management would be hugely welcomed.
But the big cost drivers in regional council services are water,
are you know, public transport, and they're not hugely affected
by this change because I imagine both of those services
(04:12):
will still continue, and to be frank, they're the areas
that need a really good look at because we still
don't have a clear picture how many.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Of those bits of infrastructure are actually going to be
paid for.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, all right, we'll take a break and come back
to you guys shortly. That's the huddle. Back on the huddle,
we have Tim Wilson and Craig Grinnie to me, you
worried about the grade inflation where the universities are giving
out too many a's.
Speaker 4 (04:34):
Yeah, and you know, we should stop calling it great inflation.
We should call it greate erosion because that's exactly what
it is if the number of a's is surging. Look,
we at Maxim Inster Street, we do a leadership academy
and we do it over summer. It's twelve weeks and
we often here and these are these young people who
are at university or have just been at university. They'll
often say I learn more in that twelve weeks than
(04:54):
I did in four years at varsity. So there's a
bigger issue here, no question.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
What do you think, Craig, I think it's a real
issue to be looked at.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
I mean, the report suggested something that's been happening internationally.
It's clearly not something that we want to see in
New Zealand. But the A is part. I agree there's
a real challenge there. But if I look at twenty twelve,
A and b's together were seventy one percent of grades.
If I got to twenty twenty four, it was seventy
three percent of grades. So it is something too worried about,
(05:28):
and it is something we obviously clearly to keep in
check permanently, but I don't know if it's necessarily to
the same extent here in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Then it is perhaps obviouselyas what.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
Do you do tim as a parent, right, or even
as a young person who really is like really properly
smart and you want to have that recognized and not
just be kind of lumped in with all the other
duds who've got a's. Do you do you do you
go off to some ellege? Is that your only option
now to go off to some IVY League university?
Speaker 4 (05:56):
Yeah, that's look, And that's I think what the research
you had on that some universities are going to differentiate themselves,
Because he seemed to think there was there were universities
that were more culpable in this area and others that
that people will know about that. I don't know about that,
but I suspect that might be an approach that some
universities will take. Guess what if you don't we actually
(06:18):
failed people at this university. I think a lot of
appearance would go. Oh, actually failure is quite productive.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Yeah, I think so too, Now, Craig, I mean I
ask you this question with hesitation because I feel like
the answer is going to be no. But do you
rate Wayne Brown.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
When when is a political character?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
He is a man who is very successfully taken over
Auckland Council. So you know, he was a very competent
advisor when he was working for.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
The sixth dam of Government on the Upper North aliand
Supply Chaine study.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
And that's my main dealing I've ever had, and so
that's that's the best knowledge I have of him.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
To do you reckon as as as now an aspiring
politician yourself, is there anything that you could learn from him?
Do you reckon? You could you know, use a few
Wayne Brown tricks?
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Well, one of the things I wouldn't one of the
things I might not take away from him him is
his desire to shout free beer in a public meeting.
I'm not sure that's necessarily turning the temperature down or
helping with the you know the niceties of diplomatic debate
and something that's a particularly challenging issue. So I might
not take that from him, but he's clear speaking in elsewhere,
(07:28):
and certainly his popularity.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
I would yeah. I mean, I don't know if you
remembered him, but when he first started, we all thought
he was going to be rubbish and he's not at all.
Speaker 4 (07:36):
Oh, absolutely, And you know what was the margin of
his elk over one hundred thousand he won by What's clear.
What's clear is that this is the this is the
end of focus group politics. We ran this through the
focus group, and we think you should message this way
now people. And the word you used for was authenticity.
Now my question though the Wayne Browns. You know, if
you're saying, oh, Laxan and Hipkins are like me, is
(07:59):
that really message for you? I don't know.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Well, no, he was. You know, what he was trying
to say is they should be trying trying to be
like me. And I would say, yeah, probably, I mean
I think it would help. Now, Okay, Craig, have you
got I mean, you're an economist, you'll be fully into
the Black Friday ideas. What have you managed to secure?
Speaker 3 (08:16):
I haven't secured anything. I've been so busy recently, have
done literally zero Christmas shopping, which is not great news
for my family, especially seeing as most of them live
in the UK and traveling time was enormous. So I've
done not I've done very little of it. I do
very little internet shopping anyway.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
What why do you not have the indiet on your phone?
Speaker 3 (08:35):
I do have the Internet on my phone, but I
like to figure saying this. I'm a big fan of
ninja shopping. I get, I go out to the shop,
I get what you need and I leave.
Speaker 4 (08:48):
It's bloke shopping, Craig, the little bloke shopping. I just
go for one thing, and we're not going to mack
around walking around.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
Exactly ninja shopping in out. Nobody noticed. It's all done.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Yeah, I mean obvious, but you did pay. I just
need to clarify that, Tim, did you you're doing the
ninja shopping? You're doing any of the online shopping for
the Black Friday?
Speaker 4 (09:07):
Okay? So zeru berzerkos it's the nerth gun you have
when you're not having an earth gun. You can shoot
twenty seven meters away eight darts and seconds even more
if you use some more rounds and it's about half price,
insane amounts of darts. That's what the kids are going
to love.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
You are the father of four boys, aren't you.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Yeah? Yeah, I'm standing. I'm standing in neurth gun bullets
as I speak. I think that the nerth gun bullets
are rising above my throtes. I think you're losing touch't
I can't hear you?
Speaker 1 (09:38):
All right? Off you go, you Sue, Thanks very much,
appreciate it. Tim Wilson, maximums toute Craig Renny, Labor candidate
for Wellington Bays.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
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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