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September 19, 2024 10 mins

Tonight on The Huddle, Ali Jones from Red PR and Early Edition host Ryan Bridge joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! 

A group of Wellington taxi drivers have been suspended from the airport ranks after they used the parents' room to heat up food on their late night shifts. Is this unfair?

The GDP dropped 0.2 percent in Q2 and things aren't looking too hopeful for the next quarter. When do we see the economy turning around?

The Government wants to reduce the number of jury trials to reduce the backlog of cases in the courts, with Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith unveiling some new ideas for the public to consider. Do we need changes? 

More deadly explosions took place in Lebanon - how scary is this?

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty. Elevate the
marketing of your home on the Huddle with us.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
This evening, we've got Allie Jones, Red pr and Ryan
Bridge Early Edition host.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hello you too, good evening, Heather.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Are you nervous? Ryan?

Speaker 4 (00:13):
No, I'm just surprised to hear that there's a what
sounds to me like a COREW lounge that I wasn't
invited to at the airports.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
What is this parents' lounge?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Mate? It smells of pooh? Do you really want to
hang out there? It's baby pooh? Ah?

Speaker 4 (00:28):
Right, Okay, the whole about that, well, I've heard that
there's a kitchen. I hear that there's curtains you can
go and have some privacy. There's a playpen apparently.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
At this Yeah. Yeah, have you never been to it?

Speaker 5 (00:39):
No?

Speaker 3 (00:39):
See, I'm obviously not invited, so I don't.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hang out in poo rooms?

Speaker 5 (00:44):
Yeah, Ryan? Can I can? I just say? Ryan? You
need to listen to Heather. It is not a room
you want to be in, Okay. And it smells definitely
of pooh and old formula.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
So so, so we're hang on so that the people
eating their food. Are the ones that are getting in
trouble but their parents making it smell like shit?

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Aren't This is a good point, like the people who
are actually having to really just you know, do the
hard yards to actually get food in their tummy. Is
not the baby making the stink. It's the person who's
going into the pool room to use the microwave. I
feel like this is unfair, Ryan, Do you think it's unfair?

Speaker 3 (01:18):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:19):
I interestingly saw a story the other day that they're
building toilets for bus drivers in Wellington because they are
on the road all the time. So I think there
is a wider issue here where if you're on the
road in the car, you're doing a ten hour shift.

Speaker 3 (01:33):
Do they need kitchens as well?

Speaker 4 (01:35):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:35):
Maybe like a staff room do you think, Ali, No, Well,
I think that they shouldn't be using the parents room.
I don't think it's unfair to expect workers not to
be using a space that's there for families and for babies.
You need a staff room, like you just said. And
I actually think that the taxi people and the airport
people should you know, get over themselves, speak to one

(01:56):
another and provide space.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Don't they use it? Nobody's in there, and it's like
even if people are in there, because it seems like
multiple people can be in there at one time, and
if the microwave's not being used for three minutes, why
can't they.

Speaker 5 (02:07):
Because it's either a family room or it's a staff room,
and you can't say, well, someone's going to come up
and stick their head around the door, and then if
there's someone in there, they're going to go away. I
don't think so. It's either a family room or it's
a staff room. But they do need to have a space.
Of course they do if they're doing ten hour shifts
out there. But I think that's on the taxi companies
to speak to the airport and sort of space out.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yeah, that what does hear?

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Like?

Speaker 2 (02:29):
The airport's the egregious one here on the GDP figure, Ryan,
are you were all surprised to see the economy went
back in the second quarter?

Speaker 4 (02:36):
No, I was surprised to say it didn't go further. Worryingly,
it's the per capita number that's the shaker, right, two
point seven percent year on here, I was thinking today,
what is it that will make me spend more? It's
Adrian or the mortgages obviously, which hopefully we're going to
get some more put in it coming later in the year.
It's our boss here, Jason. You know how much is

(02:56):
he paying me? How stable is my job?

Speaker 2 (02:58):
You've been here too, U isn't it like two months
and you're basically already putting out a shout out to
Jason for a pay rise.

Speaker 4 (03:05):
Hey, start early, you know, go hard, go early, and
then it's you know, these are the things so that
people think about when it's how much am I going
to spend? And that's essentially what we need to do
to get ourselves out of this is to go out
and spend more. But yeah, that needs that requires confidence.
And so the Reserve Bank making cuts on the ocr
not only just put money in your back pocket, but
your house price will go up, and that means people

(03:26):
go and spend more.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah too, right, I am starting well, actually, Alie, I
started a little while ago, but I continue to feel hope.
So these numbers feel a little bit backward looking to me,
and I'm already looking at the future. What about you?

Speaker 5 (03:38):
Well, look, I got e for maths when he did
not mean excellence. So I'm not even going to try
and analyze these figures. However, you know this boot, you
know Bhutan has this happiness, you know, shared the.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
Measure when they will be measured, they have.

Speaker 5 (03:55):
I'm really concerned about all these figures. What does it
actually mean? So Ryan, when you talked about the personal
GDP figure being so low, what does that actually mean?
I mean, is that a quality thing or a quantity thing?
Because I think that's what we've got to think about, right.

Speaker 4 (04:09):
Per capita is like we've basically been propping up our
GDP with immigration, and so when you look at the
nominal figure, which is in what point two two doesn't
sound that bad. But when you look at the per
capita figure, which was spread over the population per head
of population, it's way worse. It's down two point seven years.

Speaker 5 (04:28):
What does that actually mean? I mean what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
It means it's in reality we're getting poorer. Yeah, it's
worse than what the top line figure sounds like.

Speaker 5 (04:37):
Yeah, yeah, But can you still have a low GDP
level and still be happy? I mean, I'm just trying
to work out with measure of why badness, which person
who got poorer was happier? Well, you'd have more time,
you'd be less stressed. You'd be in the garden growing
your own veggies. I mean, who knows, Heather. It might
not be about the number, might not be about the dollars.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
I'm just wanted. Are you just advocating poverty right now,
as like as a great loan?

Speaker 5 (05:03):
No, not poverty. I'm just suggesting there may be other options.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Other options other than being rich. I don't know about you, Ryan,
but look Alie, if you if you wanted to share
your money, I'll take it. Would you take it?

Speaker 4 (05:14):
Take some of your Jason won't give me it, I'll
take a break.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
It's carded to your back of the huddle in just detect.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
The Huddle with New Zealand Southerby's International Realty, local and
global exposure like no other.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
Right, we're back with the huddle, Ali Jones, Ryan Bridge, Ali,
how do you feel about using jury trials? Not so
much for the low level crimes but for more serious ones.

Speaker 5 (05:36):
I'm so glad we're starting to have this conversation. I
do remember when National was campaigning they talked about night Court,
not the TV program, of course, but actually having caught
at night and I thought that was a really interesting
way to look at clearing the backlog. This is different though,
because those would be judge only trials. The jury trials, Yeah,
I think they do need to look at perhaps the

(05:57):
criteria there, maybe maximum three sentence, maybe even four year sentence,
but it can't continue the way that it is. I
think we need to look at jury trials as well.
Are we having juries of our peers. It seems to
be that they're mainly made up of retired people and
unemployed people because they're the only ones who are happy
to take thirty bucks a day to sit on a jury.

(06:19):
So I think we actually need to look at the
whole thing. But in principle, yes, I think we do
need to look at more judge only trials.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, And I reckon, I don't think we dick around
with three years here, Ryan, I reckon we go for
five or seven because like a crime at seven years
and decently assaults another person, A crime at five years
is assaulting with the weapon. Even then, I mean, I
think that's serious enough to get twelve people together in
a room to decide for you, But anything below that,
I don't think.

Speaker 4 (06:45):
So I disagree with both of you because put yourself
in the shoes of the person who's in the dock right,
two years is a long time in anyone's life.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
When the judges, when Claire Ryan from the court discounts
you ain't going to get two years.

Speaker 4 (06:58):
Now three matters, that is a separate that's a sentencing issue.
But if this goes back to I think I think
as key as we have a high trust in our
justice system. I know we think the sentences are often
a bit crap, but in general we have a high
trust in the system. And I think that comes from
the fact that you know it's going to be. It
can be at your selection a jury of your peers,

(07:18):
and they're going to be they're going to be fear
and they're going to be reasonable bludges and pensioners exactly.

Speaker 5 (07:24):
That's they're old people and unappointment and that's the jury
of your peers.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
Really, you cannot say that, actually, you lose your benefit.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Ryan would get your benefit.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Ryan would love it. I'll tell you this ally because
he'd get off because all the old biddy's on the
jury love me.

Speaker 5 (07:40):
It's not a nice boy.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
What a nice You lose, You.

Speaker 4 (07:42):
Lose your benefit if you go on the on the jury.
So you see, you're worse off. I mean minimum Wade,
you get about nine hundred bucks a week for being
on a jury. If it's full for the full week,
you get about three hundred bucks.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
I think it's eighty bucks now per day, so it's
four hundred.

Speaker 3 (07:56):
Okay, but it's still not great, is it really is?

Speaker 4 (08:00):
But I think the principle is important that you have
the option and that you know it's it seems.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
A lot more here though, right, And the tension is
that that, yeah, I mean you're you're arguing for the
purity of that principle, but what you are therefore doing
is you are you're plugging up the court so badly
that as a result of that, you are now dragging
out the court how long it takes, and that you quit.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
The fast just delayed as justice denied.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Fast justice is another principle. So the question there's always
an arbitrary line at which you paint it. So you're
painting it to two years and you want the status quo,
whereas I reckon left it.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
I think that you stop crime, you know.

Speaker 5 (08:37):
But Ryan, I think what you're also doing, though it's
a bit of a sad indictment on our judges. I mean,
I think that a judge is quite capable of making
the decisions around the kinds of crimes that you know,
have the mention then, and I think that, you know,
don't don't let perfect get in the what is that?
Don't let perfect get in the way of good. Don't
let good get in the way of perfect anyway.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
I think a judgement of progress.

Speaker 5 (09:00):
Yeah, yeah, approb Yeah, it will be perfectly fine to
have a judge who has experienced and knowledgeable to be
able to make the decision on this twelve people who
the hell dore you? Who you're going to get? You
just don't know who you're going to get? And how
long is it going to take? I think that's really
important to me.

Speaker 2 (09:13):
Are are you worried about where where this Lebanon business
is going to go?

Speaker 5 (09:17):
Yeah, look, I think it's some I heard you talking
about it earlier. I think it really has gone to
another level now. I think the two things that are
really worrying about this type of warfare is the large
number that can be hit in one you know, one
go with these things, and also can this be applied
elsewhere in the world? You know, what other big city
is this technology? This called this this kind of warfare

(09:40):
going to be able to be you know, take place.
That's those are the two scary things, and that's thousands
of people, I think. And you imagine a city and
mainsly anywhere in the world with maybe mobile phones. You
know what's next.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
It feels like Israel is prepared to escalate this, doesn't it?

Speaker 3 (09:57):
Right?

Speaker 4 (09:58):
Yeah, it just certainly smells like that. But to Ellie's point,
it is an interesting idea. The barriers to entry for
war now are much lower morally, When you were deciding
do I go to war with this country, it's like, well,
this is going to cost me x number of lives.
Now you've got drones and now you're blowing up pages,
so that barrier is much lower. So in you know,

(10:18):
ten twenty thirty fifty years, what does that mean for
the number of cross border walls that we're going to
have on planet Earth? You know, it's a pretty frightening
thing to think about.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
It is, actually, and therefore I don't want to hear
any more of it. So we're going to end it
right there. Thank you, Thank you very much, really appreciate
the pay of you is Alie Joe's read pr and
Ryan Bridge the early edition host seven Away from six.

Speaker 1 (10:39):
For more from Hither Duplassy, Allen Drive, listen live to
news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
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