The Huddle: Should Sevu Reece still be allowed to play for the All Blacks?

Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and Ali Jones from Red PR joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! 

The Finance Minister has indicated charities could be subject to tax changes in the next Budget. Is this the right move?

All Black Sevu Reece has admitted to a charge of wilful damage after a party in Christchurch last year. The judge discharged him without conviction. Should he still be allowed to play for the All Blacks?

The Defence Minister says the Defence Force's major spending blueprint release has been delayed until next year, because of escalating global tensions. Are we surprised by this warning?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now.

Speaker 2 (00:00):
It's nineteen to six the Huddle.

Speaker 1 (00:02):
With New Zealand Southby's International Realty, local and global exposure like.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Noah, Huddle this evening. Chris Shurson from Hurston Willis PR
and Ellie Jones from Red PR And I suppose either
of you got the invite today or tomorrow, guys, no
oh dear, well that makes three of us, so it's
all right, Barry's got two invites. We can just we
can battle along on our loan. Since hey, it sounds
like charities are going to be in the gun when

(00:28):
it comes to paying tax, or at least they'll be
paying tax on the commercial entities that they operate. Trish,
what do you reckon?

Speaker 3 (00:36):
I think it's a really good thing to do, and
it's timely. It's about fairness. It's not in any way,
as you pointed out, Jack's structural soul for the government's
revenue woes. But I think it is a very good
thing to do to review who qualifies. And just because
you're called a church these days or your entity that's

(00:57):
getting the tax free status is related to a church,
that should not give you a free pass from paying
your fair share.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
In my view, Ali, how far should it extend. I mean,
could we see EWE forced to pay tax on their
commercial operations.

Speaker 4 (01:16):
Yeah, well that's a really interesting point. I do agree
with what Trisha's just said. I think any business that's
disguising themselves as a charity or a part of what
they do definitely needs to be taxed. Talking about the EE,
I raised this issue with regards to Nightaho Fisheries recently
after a letter to the press in christ Church highlighted
the issue.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
There.

Speaker 4 (01:35):
They'd posted a rather healthy profit and they do very
well and they work very hard. But as soon as
I've put it on LinkedIn and had a chat about it,
the racist pylon started, And yeah I did. The conversation
just had to stop, really and it wasn't about EWE
or Nightahu. It was about an example. Nitelli does amazing stuff.
I mean, they contribute or donate a huge amount of

(01:57):
money from their profits and surely that should come off
if you like what they have to pay in tax,
just as anyone who donates. But you know, Sanitarium is
another and I know that's held up and talked about
a lot as an example of this. By the way,
did you know they've stopped producing peanut butter. Yeah, I
h terrible, but yeah, I look, I think it's a

(02:18):
very good idea. I don't agree with your position Jack,
that they're a bigger fish to fry. I think it's
all about fairness, consistency and principle.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
No, I think they should do it as well. I
just think they should do it as an and and
as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, so all black sever
Reese has admitted to a charge of wilful damage after
a party in christ Church last year. He's been discharged
without convictions, the second time that's happened, Trish, Would he
have been discharged if he wasn't in all black?

Speaker 3 (02:44):
I think it's very hard to make that call, and
it sounds like the judge was at pains to point
out that that wasn't a factor. I think the biggest
question here, though, is one for New Zealand Rugby and
its sponsors. These stories are good. They're never good for
the game, They're never good for the reputation around it.

(03:05):
For you know, everyone is having the same kinds of conversations,
and I think with the game in this state that
it is at the moment, you know, this is just
not something that they want in the headlines. And you
know this also comes back to personal responsibility of the
individual involved. You know, this is the second time, both times,

(03:30):
you know, he has admitted to the charges, has been
discharged without conviction. And I would say he's probably a
very lucky young man if he gets to continue on
with his career after this.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yeah, it's a tricky one, Ellie, isn't it? And and
Astris says that the judge was really clear today and
going to real pains to try and explain that this
wasn't because he was an all black, not because he's
a crusader. But there are so many people who look
at this and say, you know what this is. This
is evidence of a two tiered justice system. There's justice
for Joe Schmoe in the street, and then there's a

(04:07):
different standard of justice for someone who's got a big
public profile.

Speaker 4 (04:11):
I think what you've said suggests to me that there
are extenuating circumstances. I mean, to me, this is a
slam dunk. Is just what Trish has said. So many
people will be thinking and fair enough too, I think
that's a very fair position to take, which makes me
think there has got to be something else going on
in the background here. There must be extenuating circumstances, and

(04:33):
I don't know what they are. I wasn't there. I
haven't heard the case, so I mean that's all I
can say on it. I would really like to hear
from him, and I'd like to hear from maybe family
as well as to what those circumstances were.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Yeah. Well, I mean it was interesting you set outside
court today that he's made really considered in deliberate efforts
to try and turn himself around. In the last year,
he hasn't had a drop of alcohol, and obviously that is,
you know, a contributing factor in all of this. But yeah,
it's a really interesting issue. Thanks so much. Guys. Will
be back with the huddle in a couple of minutes.
Trish Herson and Allie Jones.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
The Huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty elevate the
marketing of your home.

Speaker 2 (05:08):
You're back with our huddle this evening, Trish Sharson and
Allie Jones. So the Defense Minister do with Collins, says,
our defense plan has been delayed because of the deteriorating
international security situation in our neck of the woods. In
the Pacific and it was interesting. She talked about China's
decision to fire an intercontinental ballistic missile into the Pacific
and was pretty pretty frank Were you surprised to see

(05:32):
her delay this plan ally that that missile firing could
push things back.

Speaker 4 (05:37):
I have to say that defense capability planning and budgeting
is not something I would say as an area of
expertise for me, Jack. The only thing I would say,
I'm going to sell out the Prime Minister. Now, what
I can tell you, Jack, is that I think you
probably need to know what you need to spend your
money on even with this action going on right. I

(05:57):
think the concern is that the budget is in early
twenty five. They're saying that they may not know this
information until early twenty five, and I doubt that's enough
time to actually get into the bid process. But I'm
sure there are areas in our defense sector if you
like that need very serious attention. I don't see why
there can't be some announcements related to that now, Tricia.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
It's tricky, right. We obviously have to completely change the
way many parts of our defense force are operating at
the moment. The world is a different place to that
of ten years ago. But this is going to cost
vast sums of money.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
It is. I mean, Judith Collins, you know she's right
on the money. I've reflected this year that you know,
for the first time in my adult life or my lifetime,
we are starting to see people world leaders actually talk
about the threat of World War three. Think about the
first presidential debate this year with you know where Trump

(06:55):
raised the specter, and the debate with Biden. You know,
you've got Eden putting out a booklet to its population
to prepare for the event of nuclear war. And closer
to home, you know, you've got after many decades, China
really stepping in to the Pacific and now with the

(07:17):
missile firing. I also think that you've got the world
forming up in ways that we haven't seen since World
War Two. And you know, you've had Russia recently holding
a major summit with the African nations who have said,
you know, Russia is a better friend to us than
the colonious colonial powers. But in and amongst all of that,

(07:37):
and with a defense budget of about five hundred million dollars,
how would you make a plan for New Zealand. I
do not envy Judith Collins or the the the government
that task because our spending is so minuscule. We've been
good for so many years to a sort of a
peacekeeping role, and so what will we do now, especially

(08:01):
if you know we're signing up to to UCUST and
potentially we're going to be required, like a lot of
countries will be to sort of pay more and to
do more. It's a very challenging situation.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
Yeah, especially when you have a naval ship under twenty
five meters of water off the coast of some more. Hey,
thanks so much, guys, really appreciate your time. Trish Huson
from Shirson Willis pr and Allie Jones from Red pr
our Huddle this evening. Thank you for your messages regarding
that to It was a really interesting interview with Judith Collins.
If you didn't hear earlier, we've made it available at
Newstalks hedb dot co dot ented. She was just quite

(08:39):
frank in her assessment of what she perceives as the
deteriorating security situation in the Pacific, especially with regards to China,
the firing of that intercontinental ballistic missile, but also the
visiting of a of a Chinese ship to Vanuatu just
last month. And it's fascinating to see the kind of
divisions between our major parties on this, to see the

(08:59):
divis between national and labor when it comes to aucers
pillar two, especially because we don't know what aucast pillar
two actually involves at this stage. And we'll get tomorrow
your texts on that very shortly. Ninety two ninety two.
If you want to send us a message.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
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