All Episodes

August 19, 2024 10 mins

Tonight on The Huddle, Child Fund CEO Josie Pagani and Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!

There's growing calls to bring back the Wellington-Auckland sleeper train as an alternative to pricey air travel. Is this a good idea?

The Government has announced a new crackdown on dangerous drivers to bring down road deaths. Will this help make things safer? 

The ACT Party caused a bit of a stir by not showing up at Koroneihana? Is this a bad look?

LISTEN ABOVE

 

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
On the huddle of me this eving go Josephigani, Child
fun CEO and Trishurson. Shurson Willis pre Hello you too. Hello.
Do we want to sleep a train?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Josie?

Speaker 3 (00:07):
I love them? Yeah, And actually, I mean the flights
have become so expensive. If it was reasonable, I would
definitely do that. Saves on a hotel. You know, it's
very romantic going on the train, but I don't want
it to be subsidized. And I think you made that
point about the train lines where you to?

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Who are yeah to?

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Who are you where?

Speaker 1 (00:25):
It's basically subsidized eighty How much would you pay?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Well?

Speaker 3 (00:28):
I would At the moment if you want to fly
you think, oh, I've got a meeting next week, I've
got to fly out in near New Zealand. I mean
you're paying the best part of two hundred hundred and
fifty bucks one way. Anything less than that, yeah, would
be with it.

Speaker 1 (00:39):
Yeah, and you stay on a hotel cost yet but yeah,
you want a good night sleep? What about U?

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Trisha? Well, I think you would be lucky to get
one way for two point fifty on in New Zealand
at the moment. Often when you look, you know prices
under three p fifty. You need to find anything under
three fifty. Would you go to Wellington last week? Booked
a week out? This is for business travel, but it's
a week out. It cost over eight hundred dollars wearing back,

(01:04):
and that's what the prices are like through Wellington, which
is a lot.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
You consider jet Star.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
I did consider jet Star, but probably like a lot
of people, when you've got airpoints with Air New Zealand,
you're like, well, hey, you know, but a jet Star.
My daughter is in Wellington at the moment you need.
We've been flying her up on jet Star and the
savings are really significant until.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Until it doesn't Until Jetstar doesn't turn up on time
and you have to book an urgent flight to get
somewhere because you go into a meeting, well, I'm just shot.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
I'm not sure. I'm not sure about that either, because
that has been one of the biggest gripes that I've
had recently with a New Zealand is on time performance.
And for instance, last time I flew to Wellington, the
plane was forty five minutes taking late taking off getting
down there, and a couple of times in the last
year I've been on a flight to christ Church and

(01:55):
business travelers up the front in a in a kind
way have called the hostess over and said, I'm really sorry,
but I need to let you know I've now actually
missed all of the business meetings I was flying to
christ Church.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
For Oh no, I stopped whinding, tosh no.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
But this is this is this is, this is why
on time performances really all.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
This is part of the reason people will be flying
down the night before and booking a hotel room. Right.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
But back to the sleeper train that these are really
you go to Europe, a sleeper train really really popular.
I think in New Zealand it's probably a great idea
if you've got the price right, I think, and maybe you.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Have the right kind of bed because New Zealand they'll
they'll try to distinct version eight like a stretcher or something.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
I spent a lot of my youth going up and
down from Tomina Nui to Auckland on the Silver Fern.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Oh yeah, and used to absolutely love it.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
It was a great trip.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
There's a good time. Actually, listen, are you into the
drink driving crackdown, Josie?

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Yeah, I mean I think the evidence shows that if
you if you crack down on drink and drugs, you
are going to reduce crashes and fatalities and so on.
You could say the same about speed, and I know
there's always like evidence one way and the other. The
problem with the speed issue is that, yep, you can
reduce deaths almost entirely if you reduce the speed limit
to forty k Yeah, there's a bit, there's a cost,

(03:07):
and you've got to be honest about the costs and
the benefits, and the costs can be things like you know,
if you reduce speed, it might be that there's more
trucks on the road because you can only you know,
you've got to have more in a day to get
the same amount of goods to shops and so on
like that. So I think this makes sense. And one
thing I was thinking about with this is that when
we had the cannabis vote, a lot of people didn't
vote to legalize cannabis because they felt like there wasn't

(03:30):
a good enough debate about what you do about drugs
and driving. There's a lot about alcohol and driving, but
actually in New Zealand, a lot of it is drugs
and driving to cause the accidents. And there was this
thing about Oh well alcohol does it too, and it's like, yeah,
but what are we going to do if we legalize marijuana.
Everyone's driving, you know, doped up to their eyeballs and crashing.
So I do think it was I don't like the targeting.

(03:52):
Why targeting, the idea that you've got to you've got
a target to get enough you know, breathalyzers and whatever
and so on, because I think, like I live in
Kapady Transmission Gully. You come down the hill and Transmission Gully,
it's really easy to you know, speed a little bit
or something like that.

Speaker 1 (04:08):
So they're talking about the speeding tickets, the spending tickets.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Yeah, but if they do it with this too, where
you've got to go.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
The speeding tickets is different. The speeding tickets is you
must issue this many tickets, whereas the breath testing is
you must just do this many breath tests, not necessarily
you must ping as many people.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
Trish, I really love this one. I'm all about the targets.
I think that's great. Two, if you step in and
think about what this is about overall with the police,
it's about visibility. So this government has been all about visibility.
Say go into Central Auckland, which I did recently on
a Saturday. There were police on the beach everywhere.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
It's a completely different experience, which.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
Was I immediately thought, wow, there's a lot of police
here and felt that was a good thing. I was
driving around on Saturday night coming back from dinner and
came under a flyover. There were the police setting up.
I think what was going to be a booze bus
and I thought, actually, that's that is excellent. And I
completely agree with Josie about the need for the drug testing,

(05:02):
but I think that is a big part of this.
Now there is the technology, there's a way to do it.
I think it's fantastic. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:08):
Agree, Okay, guys will take a break, come back shortly. Right,
you're back with a huddle. We've got Trishuson and Joseph Agani. Trish,
what do you make of act not being at the
coronation when all the other political parties are there.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Well, I think it's a real shame either way, whether
they if they weren't invited or if they were invited
and turned it down. I think now more than ever,
we need everybody talking to each other and we need
to be able to do it in a really adult
way and just to show respect for each other by
you know, being at these at these major events and

(05:37):
hearing what everyone's going to say. So yeah, I think
it's a real shame. You know, often with these things
it is cock up over conspiracy. But either way, I
think it's it's a real shame.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Yeah, I agree, Josie, don't you.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
Yeah, and it's a little bit he said, She said,
I mean that absolutely, it looks like ACT weren't invited.
But the noise, it'll just be noise to most in
the public. But I think because the bigger issue really is,
as you say, Trish, that they're just not really talking
to each other. And that's Party Marty too, who are
winding up the genocidal government and so on. So the
best thing you can do if you're being accused of
being a genocidal racist government is just front up and

(06:11):
be reasonable.

Speaker 1 (06:12):
Yeah, so totally.

Speaker 3 (06:13):
If I was ACT, I would have I mean, okay,
maybe they just found out, but I would.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
Have weakened found I would go I would have asked
and called them up and canceled everything and gong because
I think that show is the most important thing I've
turned on.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
But in David Siemour's defense. I've never known him not
to be prepared to turn up, and I think about
you know, Whitehungy, even earlier this year, he is always
prepared to turn up in status case.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
I think there's a bigger issue here about what the
hell is going on with this Treaty Principals bill that
will never go anywhere because no one's going to vote
for it. And I think ACT they've got to realize
and to Party Marty too. But ACT and to Party
Marty have more in common than they think they do.
And it is that devolution thing. We're one of the
most centralized governments in the OECD in terms of tax

(06:59):
and provision of services and so on. If they devolved,
if they advocated for more services out to mary whether
it's health, whether it's even you know, even I don't know,
the ability to kind of regulate on mary Land what
you build and so on. I mean, just champion a
very ACT principle of self determination, individuals deciding what they want.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
You just basically spelled out how to kill both parties
at the same time.

Speaker 2 (07:23):
Yeah, great, hate though, I mean, think about charter schools.
That's exactly that fits perfectly. Into that. Yeah. I mean,
you know, it's as I hate to hap on about
these things, but this bill was always going to end
up where it has in my view, because you know,
act thought we could have a high minded, intellectual debate

(07:44):
debate around these things. But you know, in New Zealand,
unfortunately it ends up where we are.

Speaker 1 (07:51):
How sure are you, Trish though, that Chris Luxen is
going to kill it. If it came to the point
where this thing was before the public and the public
liked it, or like a proportion the public a strong
enough proportion, will he really kill it.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
I do not think national are going to go forward
with this bill. I don't even know it's popular, but
I don't think it is. That's the other thing, no,
that the polesh I mean what most what news. It's
a bit like the trans issue too, that most New
Zealanders just don't want to have a big fight culture
about this. Well, everyone knows somebody who's got you know,
a kid who's going the best some issue around gender

(08:25):
or whatever, and you just think, look, I know what
I think, but I don't want.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
To have a big fight about it.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
And it's the same with the race issue. They're going
this is not us, and they don't like it when
to Party Marty do it, and they don't like it
when Act does it. So that step down, you know,
calms the farm. Then National do not want where this
could go on their watch.

Speaker 2 (08:44):
I think that's the bigger thing. I think they've got
an eye an eye on that. They had to swallow
the dead rat to get the coalition and deal across
the line. But they've been very clear from the start
and I haven't heard any of them dev eight from that.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
And John Luxon's got John Key in his ear.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Chris, sorry, Chris audiance for audience. Hey, Trish, any surprise
at all for you to see that the World's Best
Cities for Nightlife list has been released in New Zealand
does not feature.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
It's no, it's not a surprise to me because we're boring. Well,
you know me. I just love Auckland. I've always adored Auckland.
It's my home city and I've always thought it was fantastic.
But but, but the grand Lady has lost a lot
of sparkle since the pandemic, and I'm not sure that
she's quite got it back yet. There are still in

(09:34):
Auckland some fantastic places to go. Kay Road is absolutely
pumping at the moment. It's really awesome. But when you
put it up against some of the cities on the list,
we're not quite there yet. Look, there's a.

Speaker 3 (09:46):
Been a nightlife in Raratonga than there is in any
New Zealand city as today. Yeah, I mean there's more
going on there right. It's just so depressing and you
feel like going, oh, why is that?

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Well?

Speaker 3 (09:57):
You know, oh New York doesn't have the books.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
But have we have we ever? Haven't we always been
the place that you come home to have your children here,
you know?

Speaker 3 (10:06):
Such a pressing though, be a bit better than that.
I don't want to be the place you come right there.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
I want to put in a big plate here though,
I'd have to say, yeah, you cannot beat a night
out in Coordoradika Russell, a night out at the Joke
of Olbra. I mean that's we make my view with
the beast in the world we make it.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
Just say that we do make our fun wherever WEE can.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
Help you for nothing, Thank you, guys really appreciated. Josephgani,
Child fun Ceo and Trishurs and Sharson Willis pres had
all this evening. 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
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang

Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.

The Joe Rogan Experience

The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Stuff You Should Know

Stuff You Should Know

If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.