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April 14, 2025 • 12 mins

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

On the Peters v Luxon saga - is there a genuine disagreement between the pair when it comes to our trade response or is this just a media beat-up job? What do we make of this?

The new Polkinghorne TV documentary is out - have we seen it? What did we think?

New data shows people still don't trust the media - why do we think this could be?

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The huddle with New Zealand Southby's International Realty, the ones
with worldwide connections that perform not a promise.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
On the huddle of this this Evening. Tris Sharson of
Shirston Willis pr Jo Spaguani of Child Fund, Hello you too,
Hello hell Trish? Would you go up to space?

Speaker 3 (00:14):
I am not a space person. I'm an ocean person.
So people often say would you would you like to
go to space?

Speaker 4 (00:22):
And I'm like, that sounds very hippy, Trish.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
No, I love I love diving, so to me, I
love Oh. I love scuba diving, so that's my thing.
And often people say to me, oh my god, I
could never dive, I'm so afraid of the ocean. To me,
I find space much more terrifying, terrifying, black cold, whereas
under the ocean it's beautiful.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
I don't reckon. I would pay a HUNDI found to
go into space for ten minutes.

Speaker 4 (00:45):
Would you know when you compared it to a really
nice cruise, I'm thinking right, cruise, cocktails, real sunshine, sunshine.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
But now you've just got Katy Perry and a little
tin little only for.

Speaker 4 (00:57):
Ten minutes, thank god? Yeah, yeah, Katie Perry for ten
minut it's a tardess.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, no fun, Okay, Trish. Do you think that this
business with Winston Peters versus lux And is significant or
is it, as the Prime Minister says, just a media
beat up.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
I think the Prime Minister is trying to gloss it over.
This is my read what National is trying to do.
They're trying to balance pissing Trump off because we know
the US is watching everything that everyone does, and they're
very thin skin and unpredictable and unpredictable. So Nationals balancing
that with making the most of what they probably see

(01:32):
as their best political opportunity to pull out of what
have been pretty bad polls for them, pretty negative poles,
and stamp their mark. And someone over the weekend said
to me, oh, you know, do you think lux And
thinks this is sort of his christ Church earthquake moment,
This is his moment to really shine. I can't see
a reason otherwise, even even with that, why you wouldn't

(01:55):
have told Peters about this speech. I mean I watched it.
I don't think there was any particular magic in it.
And you can understand Peter's being grumpy about it and
grumpy about these calls going on with it.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
At least you think that Winston's going to steal your thunder.

Speaker 4 (02:08):
But well he's been and he has been moving towards
this kind of you know, slightly trumpy populist support for Trump,
hasn't he? And I think, like everybody's trying to work out,
you know, what do you do with a bully like
Trump and you can't ignore them? Is there only really
two options? You either suck up and kiss the ring
or you fight back.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
And I can't you say nothing, Josie, because we are
the tiniest little country at the bottom of the ocean.
You don't have to say anything. You can wait for
this whole thing to blow over.

Speaker 4 (02:35):
Yes, so that's different. You can say nothing and be
off the radar, absolutely, but you still got to do
something because this crisis isn't going to fix itself, right,
so we have to go. We don't want to, we
don't want the bully to notice us, that's true, but
that's different to sucking up, right. So Trudeau tried to
sucking up things. Starmer tried to sucking up thing and
it backfired or it didn't help. And I think what

(02:58):
Luxin's trying to do I think is the right thing.
Where he's gone right is our what are our opportunities here?
CPTPP reach out become a kind of a sensible, rational,
rule of law trading group. That makes sense. You've got
to make friends in Southeast Asia, You've got to reach
out to Japan, you've got to reach out to Canada.

(03:19):
I mean we've done bugger or actually to support Canada
who've been threatened with invasion. So we're trying not to
be noticed. Yes, that doesn't mean we don't do stuff
behind the scenes. I think that's what Luxelan's doing. And
I think Winston is still in that slightly sucky uppy
phase and the sucker Uppers. I watch Game of Thrones,
the sucker Uppers don't make it to season two, season two,
they're dead.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well look at I mean Mark Karney in Canada, hasn't
he done a great job of actually pushing back pretty
hard and doing well he was going to lose.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
And I've been He's possibly the most boring man I've
ever met. And somehow starma Oh well, Kirs Starmer, Yeah,
you kind of if he shouted at a pigeon, the
pigeon wouldn't move, is it does come across the quite
wooden I did. I kind of guy who said, you know,
what would you like? What kind of wood would you
like with that casket? Sir? That's kind of what you
expect him to say.

Speaker 3 (04:09):
I did kind of think though. You know, Luxein's message today,
I don't know why. It sort of made me smile,
but you know, I'm calling around everyone and I'm saying, hey, guys,
you know, I hope you're staying cool, calm and collected
sort of you know, you can you can just imagine
it could be.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
As momentarih I actually think it could the moment, it.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Could also be. But even the politics aside, like see
the politics aside, Josie, and just look at the practical
stuff that maybe that we may be at very delicate
stage of chats, you ever know, with the White House,
which Winston's all over, and then lux And goes and
does this and kind of rains on his parade, Right,
there's the practical problems could be real.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
Yeah, But again I come back to those that have
tried the suck up path and it just hasn't worked.
So we're not going to get below ten percent. We
might get some carve outs we might not. Who knows.
Our biggest bet is to actually make the most of CPTPP,
which TPP. For God's sake, let's just call it TPP.
And it is the biggest trade block in the world.

(05:06):
It's bigger than our trade with the US. So the
potential lies there. We don't want to piss off the
US to the extent that we lose everything. But I
think what Luxein's doing is right. I think it's it's
where the opportunity is.

Speaker 1 (05:18):
The Huddle with New Zealand Southeby's international Realty achieve extraordinary
results with unparallel reach.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Right, you back with the Huddle triitious and Joseph Ganney, Josie,
you didn't watch the pocahon You're going to it's on
your watch list.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
It watch list. But I just got over the White Lotus.
It's just so much.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
No, I've got half an hour, don't spoil it.

Speaker 4 (05:36):
Well, guess who dies? I'm not going to tell you.
But anyway, if I wanted horror scandal and you know
who's guilty, who's innocent, I don't know. I just watched
the latest Trump tariff announcement. I don't need to watch this.
I mean it does have that salacious, you know, appeal
like the Lundee case and the Bain case where we
want to watch, we want to watch the documentaries and

(05:57):
a hook monstrous. I mean it's it's compelling. I get that,
but it's just, you know, I just us.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
You have got so hot actually.

Speaker 3 (06:08):
Steam just talking of it overheated.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
You wouldn't know you've breastfeeding woman.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
Story, Well, let's move, move before we get.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
He obviously regrets already talking about it.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
Well, and here's why. Did you read the key line
in his statement? He's talking about these the producers right. Well,
first of all, he calls this clickbait. I mean, hello,
you know, I mean as if there aren't huge elements,
as if all of Auckland wasn't riveted to this grubbing
saga already. But then he says he's talking about the

(06:45):
producers in his statement, and he says, they told me
what I wanted and needed to hear at the time,
understanding to prove my innocence. He is his line. They
said they would be able to help and without any advice.
I trusted them both and what they said to me
without any advice, I e. While you're on bail you

(07:07):
speak to documentary makers without telling your lawyer.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, that's what happened, right, There's clearly what happened, because
I would never let that out.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
Who in their right mind would would do that?

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Polkhorn, I've got the answer for you. Hey, listen quickly, Josie.
When I was on maternity leave, I said this at
the start of the show. When as a matternity leave,
I stopped listening to ZB because it was too much
like work for me, and so I had to kind of,
you know, just focus on a few media anyway, got
so frustrated. Do understand why people feel frustrated and have
this lack of trust in the media? Do you?

Speaker 4 (07:42):
Absolutely?

Speaker 3 (07:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (07:43):
And it's not just media, it's it's institutions, right, It's government,
it's government, it's government institutions as a general and New Zealand. Actually,
I think it's in the Adelman Trust Advice at Aidelman Barrometer,
which is a global one. Yes, Compair osselves, Globy, this
is the aute. But I think we have like sixty
seven percent of this have a real sense of grievance

(08:05):
towards institutions, including the media, right, and that is well
above the global average. So we're really pissed off, as
you said, and I do understand it. I think there's
a if you look at all the institutions, it's a
feeling that the educated elite, and I'm one of them,
have have sort of taken over the institutions. And so
the issues that the media focuses on, whether it's you know,

(08:28):
whether it's gender, whether it's diversity, whether it's school lunches,
it's a whole bunch of things that just they focus
in on stuff and people go, hold on a minute,
that's not the thing that's bothering me right now.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
But when they focus in on something. I think the
Benjamin Doyle story was such an excellent example of why
we get so across with the media, because there was
an accusation of something really weird and gross happening, and
then the media just focused on something else, being Winston Peter's.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
A simple way to sum this up, and you get
this especially when like I do, you go down and
visit the friends in far Nor in the king Country.
They say the media don't have their finger on the pulse,
and that is a great way to sum it all up.
It's not reflective of what you know. Middle New Zealand

(09:15):
is worried about They do feel it's gone off in
a tangent. And then if you mix the aut survey
in today whether with stats that came out last week
about left leaning, center leaning, right leaning media in New Zealand,
overwhelmingly the stats that came out were from newsrooms that

(09:36):
there is a left bias among journalists in newsroom. And
again I'm not commenting on whether that's right or wrong,
but that's also I think where this finger on the
pulse things comes from, because a lot of New Zealanders
feel that that is just not representative of where they are, a.

Speaker 4 (09:52):
Remoteness from places we live, right. Yeah, it feels that
the media is just not connected. And it used to
be the job and you could do without a degree.
I mean, asked Mike Costing, you don't have to have
a degree, and that used to be really normal that
you would have a diversity of life experiences, diversity of incomes,
and diversitys it's all university education.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Trish. Is it okay not to sleep in the same
bed as your husband?

Speaker 3 (10:18):
If I were in your situation right now, I would
be downstairs getting as much sleep as I can, just
just as you are.

Speaker 2 (10:25):
How long can I stretch this.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
For hey forever? But again, this is absolutely different strokes
for different folks. I am what sleep is one of
my superpowers. I have to have at least eight and
a half to nine hours a night. Any form of
disturbance is not great. And my biggest problem more is
that you know, I do have a very loving husband

(10:48):
and a cat, and I wake up sandwich between them
in the night, and you know, I'm like Fukushima.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
The core is just.

Speaker 3 (10:54):
Absolutely melting down and I need calling.

Speaker 4 (10:57):
Look, people who have have a higher rate of divorce.
That's a statistic. Don't ask me to source it, but
I read it, and so I. If you can't get
good sleep, you're not going to have a good marriage.
It's as simple as that. You're more irritable, you're less empathetic.
But enough about my marriage.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
When your husband was on a boat for two months?

Speaker 4 (11:15):
Absolutely yeah. And actually I live in a different half
the time. I'm in a different sitting a little in
a different bed.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
Can I just say I love waking up in the
night because I'm also an absolute baby when it comes
to the dark. I love waking up in the night
and having that lovely, warm person next to me, that
you can.

Speaker 4 (11:32):
Be your husband.

Speaker 3 (11:33):
Oh absolutely, And I don't even need to think about it,
and he just sort of knows and cuddles into me,
And I find that absolutely delicious.

Speaker 2 (11:44):
Which is more selicious the Pocking Worn documentary or.

Speaker 3 (11:46):
Trish Well, I don't think that's selictious.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
It's different, guys.

Speaker 4 (11:49):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
There's the sex music for you, Trish. I always pulled
that one out. Tricia's and Joseph Ganni a huddle this evening.

Speaker 1 (11:55):
For more from Heather duplessy Ellen Drive, listen live to
news Talks. It'd be form four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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