November 20, 2024 • 9 mins
Tonight on The Huddle, Jack Tame from ZB's Saturday Mornings and Q&A and Auckland Councillor Maurice Williamson joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!
Richard Chambers is set to take over as New Zealand's new Police Commissioner. Do we expect any new changes? Will we get more old-school policing under Chambers' watch.
Should Auckland Transport stop fining people for parking in their own driveways? What do we make of this?
It's been revealed NZTA spent $800 million on traffic management and road cones. Do we need to rein this spending in?
New research says young people are drinking less - is this good news or cause for concern?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Huddle with New Zealand Southby's international realty, local and
global exposure like no other.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
On the Huddle of this this evening we got Jack Tame,
host of Q and A and Saturday Mornings, and Maurice
Williams and Auckland councilor and former National Party Cabinet minister.
Hello you two, all right? What did you think? Then?
Morris of Richard Chambers like the sound.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Of it, give me a clue on this one. Sorry,
this is the new Polah. Sorry sorry, yes, I've only
read about it.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I've forgotten.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
No, no, no no, I've just come from a budget
meeting that's lasted all day and my brain cells were
leading a bit of warmer. He looks very good, I think,
I think is everything I've read about him. I was
hoping it would going to be him compared to the
other guy. I think the right decisions really.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Bumped into him because he used to be the district
commander and all.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I've bumped into him a few times and been very
impressed and incredibly impressed. I think it'll make a big
difference into the whole culture and everything totally.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
And Jack, he could not have hidden the fact like
he was making it very clear that this is going
to be a complete step change from Andrew Cost, didn't
He Yeah, it was interesting.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Yeah. I had the really interesting interview with Andrew Cost
just a month or so ago, just before he kind
of finished up, and he had one reflection from his
time in office, so I thought was quite telling. He
said that one thing had really come to appreciate was
how important the perceptions of crime wor so not just
how important the actual crime rates were, but how important
the perceptions of crime wre and he said that he
(01:18):
PERHPS hadn't appreciated that as well at the start of
his time as Commissioner. And I think, going from your
conversations with Chambers, this is someone who absolutely appreciates the
perceptions of crime and the language that he's using. Even
if the actual policing doesn't materially change in a massive way,
the language around that policing I think he really gets
and I think that's a significant change.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, and I think people are going to like it
very much. Hey Morris, did you just are you a
board member of AT.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
You've got to say that with a bit of sympathy
as you say it. Yeah, Yes, I've been appointed to
the board of AT. You haven't been to a board
meeting yet, so don't blame me for the issue. I think.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Are you going to sort out the driveway situation?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I'm going to try and sort out a huge number
of issues that are at AT, because I have to say,
I've been to about four barbecues and functions since I
was appointed, and every time people have walked up to
me and said have you just been put on the
border of AT And I said yeah, they said, you
poor bastard. Instead of congratulations, it's oh no, what did
you do that's caused that?
Speaker 1 (02:13):
To you?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Are you're being punished? So tell me what your perspective is.
What is your view on people parking in their own
driveway and then getting fined for that.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It's very simple in my view if it's to do
with safety. If you're parked over, say a cycle way,
and a cyclists like to hit your toe bar and
kill themselves, then you've got to be fine. And if
you're parking over a foot path where kids are coming
along on their bike and you edit the cart. But
if you're in a driveway that belongs to your property
and you're not overlapping into anything else, So you're not
(02:42):
posing to say what the hell is wrong with that?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Quite? Jack? Where do you stand on this?
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Yeah, I totally agree. If you're blocking the footpath or
you're blocking a cycle way, you're blocking part of the road,
we shouldn't be then yes, you should be fine. If
you're not and it's your property, then we shouldn't be
worried about totally.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Now, why are they doing this? Morris are just trying
to get some money in I.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Look, I don't know. I've been at a budget meeting
all day, as I said, so I'm going to get
and trying to find out from the chief executive number.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
As far as I know, no other council enforces this rule.
It's a national rule. Nobody enforces it except for a
transport Yeah, and they just raise their fines. So it
feels like revenue.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I'd like to well, I'm going to make sure it's
not revenue raising because that's not what its purpose should be.
I accept that if you are blocking things, causing a
safety issue and so on, then you're not to park
your car, But if you're parking in a length of
a part of your driveway, that's not overlapping in any way,
not causing a problem. That's your part. You're only denying
access into your property, So what's the problem.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
I'm confused by it though. Are the only people who
are actually getting fined the people who are parking, like
with the really big berms, who are parking in that
kind of strip of the berm between the path in
the road the burm.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Jack, As far as I understand the berms in some
of these parts that's talking about out and Gray Lenn
and others, the berms are wide enough that a length
of a car can fit in there and not beyond
the footpath. And what else would be the sorry.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
So if not a car, what else would be taking
that space?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Fresh air? Fresh air would be there.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
So it's ridiculous. Ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, well we all agreed on that one.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Oh man, do you know what? Tell you what, Morris,
if you need some help at at Jack and I
are available to be board members as well, set up
a subcommittee. Why don't I think I think it's a
great idea. All right, we'll take a break, come back
to these two very shortly.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
The huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty elevate the
marketing of your home.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Right, you're back with a huddle, Jack Tamer, Morris Williams
and Jack, what about what about from one thing to
the other, the road cones and traffic management that have
cost us eight hundred million bucks and three years.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
It does seem like a huge sum of money. Not
quite as big as that climate fund you were just
talking about the Simon Watts, but it does seem like
a vast sum of money. But us trying to get
in my head like what is an appropriate cost for
travel management? Because if all of that money had been
spent only on road cones, I mean obviously that that
would be egregious. But when you say, think about some
(05:00):
of the traffic management that kind of has to be
in place when there are really significant roadworks or roads
being developed, I can imagine that that stuff wouldn't come cheap.
So it's hard to know whether or not eight hundred
million dollars represents good value for money. But yes, on
the face of it, it does seem like a very,
very very significant sum.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Jack, I've got a very strong view of this. We
used to have a very different regime. A certainly, while
all the years Ice Transport Minister, you put a road
cone at the beginning of a site and you put
one at the end and have a little sticker beware,
and the amount of fatalities and injuries and that was
almost zero any rate. So what is the problem you're
trying to fix. And now you do a speed bump
in Williamson Avenue and of the seven hundred and ninety
(05:39):
thousand to do that bump, one hundred and seventy thousand
was traffic safety manage nuts. That makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
The other day I was driving, I'll tell you what, Jack,
the other day I was driving in Corrimandel and they
had blocked off I reckon. I don't want to be unkind.
Let's say a k and a half. I feel like
it's two k's but I'm going to go k and
a half just to be conservative about a k and
a half of road because they with with traffic cones
everywhere because they had one to go on the side
of the road. And what it is is that it's
(06:07):
just overkill. Right, it can just be brought right back,
so you don't need to block off that much road.
You can third it.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Probably, Yeah, I mean I would certainly agree with that.
That seems absolutely ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
It's just you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
It is hard to quantify without breaking down every single
you know, traffic management in place. But yeah, I would.
I would for sure say that sometimes we do go
a bit over the top of this. If the alternative
is that more people die, then I'm not into it.
But if you can do it.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
So what's the value of a life? What's what's the
value of a life?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
It always has to be safety at reasonable cost. Yes,
safety at any cost. Then you drive a ten kilometers
from now and cars would, the economy would I'm not.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Being facetious here. We literally value a life, right, So
you've got to You've actually got to work out the
calculations go, well, we can afford to lose one.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
But let me give you the most egregious example. State
Highway one, the whiteout of Expressway near tech Rangereari for
five months had big signs up for seventy K and
orange cones, but they weren't actually able to get the
people that could come in and do the chip seal
to come in. So for five months, seventy K was
up where if you drove through Wrangereri yet it's one
(07:14):
hundred and ten kilometer wrote and you know what, everyone did.
They drove it one hundred and ks. And when I
caught in touch with NZTA and said, what is going
on here? Oh, well, well you don't want to take
all the signage down because we're hoping to get the
contractor on the site soon, I said, it's five months.
My mother was in whykee at Osboral I was going
down almost daily, and I said, well, when I was
boss of when I was minister, I actually told Transit
that's unacceptable. Go out with some sugar sacks, pull them
(07:36):
over the seventy K sign and then take them off
when you're ready to do the chock rise. It is
just there's no focus on the customer, which is the
driver and the person who's paying the fuel tax. You're
paying fuel tax, you're paying road user chargers, you're paying
registration for all the work these people that do it,
and they don't give us stuff about the customer exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Hey, Jack, tell me quickly, what's your theories We haven't
got long now, but what's your theory on why the
kids are drinking less?
Speaker 4 (08:02):
I think you're right. I think to a certain degree,
I think they probably don't socialize in person the same
way that previous generations do. And you look at kind
of similar studies out of the US, it shows that
young people use recreational drugs less they actually have sex
at an older age. And you might say that these
are all positive things, and look, in one sense they are,
but yeah, like me living well, I think if the
(08:25):
cost of any of these things, or if this is
reflective of people being more isolated and lonely, then that
comes with its own series of health challenges. Whether or
not these directly, you know, it's like a causational correlation thing.
Whether or not you're able to say one is directly
causational or the other, I'm not sure, but yeah, I
think there is something in what you said. Although generally speaking,
young people having less hazardous drinking is a good thing,
(08:48):
what do you think.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I think it's great, But I think a whole lot
of drivers. First of all, technology and gaming. All my
boys were on gaming machines and spending hours and nights
on and so on. And my older so he has never
drunk a drop of alcohol in his life. He's in
his thirties now, never drunk. And he said, every time
I looked in the rear seat in the mirror of
my friends in the back seat drunk as a skunk
at three am. I thought, no, I'm never doing that. Yeah,
(09:10):
And I just think now, people, I remember parties at
Power and Nui where we would walk down the beach
to somewhere and couldn't almost walk home. We were so blotto,
and I don't do that anymore.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
That's Parwa Nui. Before it was flash. No, God, you
flash guy.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
But I just don't do it anymore. I have a
glass of wine with dinner and that'll be no good
for you.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Morris say, I am completely alcohol free at the moment. Actually, yeah,
but you have to be I do. Yeah. I was
trying to be. I was trying to be a little
bit morally righteous there for once in my life. Guys,
thank you appreciate it. Morris Williams and Jack Taymer huddle.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
This evening's for more from Hither Duplessy Alan Drive. Listen
live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
The Huddle with New Zealand Southby's international realty, local and
global exposure like no other.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
On the Huddle of this this evening we got Jack Tame,
host of Q and A and Saturday Mornings, and Maurice
Williams and Auckland councilor and former National Party Cabinet minister.
Hello you two, all right? What did you think? Then?
Morris of Richard Chambers like the sound.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Of it, give me a clue on this one. Sorry,
this is the new Polah. Sorry sorry, yes, I've only
read about it.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I've forgotten.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
No, no, no no, I've just come from a budget
meeting that's lasted all day and my brain cells were
leading a bit of warmer. He looks very good, I think,
I think is everything I've read about him. I was
hoping it would going to be him compared to the
other guy. I think the right decisions really.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Bumped into him because he used to be the district
commander and all.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
I've bumped into him a few times and been very
impressed and incredibly impressed. I think it'll make a big
difference into the whole culture and everything totally.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
And Jack, he could not have hidden the fact like
he was making it very clear that this is going
to be a complete step change from Andrew Cost, didn't
He Yeah, it was interesting.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Yeah. I had the really interesting interview with Andrew Cost
just a month or so ago, just before he kind
of finished up, and he had one reflection from his
time in office, so I thought was quite telling. He
said that one thing had really come to appreciate was
how important the perceptions of crime wor so not just
how important the actual crime rates were, but how important
the perceptions of crime wre and he said that he
(01:18):
PERHPS hadn't appreciated that as well at the start of
his time as Commissioner. And I think, going from your
conversations with Chambers, this is someone who absolutely appreciates the
perceptions of crime and the language that he's using. Even
if the actual policing doesn't materially change in a massive way,
the language around that policing I think he really gets
and I think that's a significant change.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
Yeah, and I think people are going to like it
very much. Hey Morris, did you just are you a
board member of AT.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
You've got to say that with a bit of sympathy
as you say it. Yeah, Yes, I've been appointed to
the board of AT. You haven't been to a board
meeting yet, so don't blame me for the issue. I think.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Are you going to sort out the driveway situation?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I'm going to try and sort out a huge number
of issues that are at AT, because I have to say,
I've been to about four barbecues and functions since I
was appointed, and every time people have walked up to
me and said have you just been put on the
border of AT And I said yeah, they said, you
poor bastard. Instead of congratulations, it's oh no, what did
you do that's caused that?
Speaker 1 (02:13):
To you?
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Are you're being punished? So tell me what your perspective is.
What is your view on people parking in their own
driveway and then getting fined for that.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
It's very simple in my view if it's to do
with safety. If you're parked over, say a cycle way,
and a cyclists like to hit your toe bar and
kill themselves, then you've got to be fine. And if
you're parking over a foot path where kids are coming
along on their bike and you edit the cart. But
if you're in a driveway that belongs to your property
and you're not overlapping into anything else, So you're not
(02:42):
posing to say what the hell is wrong with that?
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Quite? Jack? Where do you stand on this?
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Yeah, I totally agree. If you're blocking the footpath or
you're blocking a cycle way, you're blocking part of the road,
we shouldn't be then yes, you should be fine. If
you're not and it's your property, then we shouldn't be
worried about totally.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Now, why are they doing this? Morris are just trying
to get some money in I.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
Look, I don't know. I've been at a budget meeting
all day, as I said, so I'm going to get
and trying to find out from the chief executive number.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
As far as I know, no other council enforces this rule.
It's a national rule. Nobody enforces it except for a
transport Yeah, and they just raise their fines. So it
feels like revenue.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I'd like to well, I'm going to make sure it's
not revenue raising because that's not what its purpose should be.
I accept that if you are blocking things, causing a
safety issue and so on, then you're not to park
your car, But if you're parking in a length of
a part of your driveway, that's not overlapping in any way,
not causing a problem. That's your part. You're only denying
access into your property, So what's the problem.
Speaker 4 (03:39):
I'm confused by it though. Are the only people who
are actually getting fined the people who are parking, like
with the really big berms, who are parking in that
kind of strip of the berm between the path in
the road the burm.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
Jack, As far as I understand the berms in some
of these parts that's talking about out and Gray Lenn
and others, the berms are wide enough that a length
of a car can fit in there and not beyond
the footpath. And what else would be the sorry.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
So if not a car, what else would be taking
that space?
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Fresh air? Fresh air would be there.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
So it's ridiculous. Ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Yeah, well we all agreed on that one.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Oh man, do you know what? Tell you what, Morris,
if you need some help at at Jack and I
are available to be board members as well, set up
a subcommittee. Why don't I think I think it's a
great idea. All right, we'll take a break, come back
to these two very shortly.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
The huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty elevate the
marketing of your home.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
Right, you're back with a huddle, Jack Tamer, Morris Williams
and Jack, what about what about from one thing to
the other, the road cones and traffic management that have
cost us eight hundred million bucks and three years.
Speaker 4 (04:40):
It does seem like a huge sum of money. Not
quite as big as that climate fund you were just
talking about the Simon Watts, but it does seem like
a vast sum of money. But us trying to get
in my head like what is an appropriate cost for
travel management? Because if all of that money had been
spent only on road cones, I mean obviously that that
would be egregious. But when you say, think about some
(05:00):
of the traffic management that kind of has to be
in place when there are really significant roadworks or roads
being developed, I can imagine that that stuff wouldn't come cheap.
So it's hard to know whether or not eight hundred
million dollars represents good value for money. But yes, on
the face of it, it does seem like a very,
very very significant sum.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Jack, I've got a very strong view of this. We
used to have a very different regime. A certainly, while
all the years Ice Transport Minister, you put a road
cone at the beginning of a site and you put
one at the end and have a little sticker beware,
and the amount of fatalities and injuries and that was
almost zero any rate. So what is the problem you're
trying to fix. And now you do a speed bump
in Williamson Avenue and of the seven hundred and ninety
(05:39):
thousand to do that bump, one hundred and seventy thousand
was traffic safety manage nuts. That makes no sense.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
The other day I was driving, I'll tell you what, Jack,
the other day I was driving in Corrimandel and they
had blocked off I reckon. I don't want to be unkind.
Let's say a k and a half. I feel like
it's two k's but I'm going to go k and
a half just to be conservative about a k and
a half of road because they with with traffic cones
everywhere because they had one to go on the side
of the road. And what it is is that it's
(06:07):
just overkill. Right, it can just be brought right back,
so you don't need to block off that much road.
You can third it.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Probably, Yeah, I mean I would certainly agree with that.
That seems absolutely ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
It's just you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
It is hard to quantify without breaking down every single
you know, traffic management in place. But yeah, I would.
I would for sure say that sometimes we do go
a bit over the top of this. If the alternative
is that more people die, then I'm not into it.
But if you can do it.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
So what's the value of a life? What's what's the
value of a life?
Speaker 3 (06:35):
It always has to be safety at reasonable cost. Yes,
safety at any cost. Then you drive a ten kilometers
from now and cars would, the economy would I'm not.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Being facetious here. We literally value a life, right, So
you've got to You've actually got to work out the
calculations go, well, we can afford to lose one.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
But let me give you the most egregious example. State
Highway one, the whiteout of Expressway near tech Rangereari for
five months had big signs up for seventy K and
orange cones, but they weren't actually able to get the
people that could come in and do the chip seal
to come in. So for five months, seventy K was
up where if you drove through Wrangereri yet it's one
(07:14):
hundred and ten kilometer wrote and you know what, everyone did.
They drove it one hundred and ks. And when I
caught in touch with NZTA and said, what is going
on here? Oh, well, well you don't want to take
all the signage down because we're hoping to get the
contractor on the site soon, I said, it's five months.
My mother was in whykee at Osboral I was going
down almost daily, and I said, well, when I was
boss of when I was minister, I actually told Transit
that's unacceptable. Go out with some sugar sacks, pull them
(07:36):
over the seventy K sign and then take them off
when you're ready to do the chock rise. It is
just there's no focus on the customer, which is the
driver and the person who's paying the fuel tax. You're
paying fuel tax, you're paying road user chargers, you're paying
registration for all the work these people that do it,
and they don't give us stuff about the customer exactly.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Hey, Jack, tell me quickly, what's your theories We haven't
got long now, but what's your theory on why the
kids are drinking less?
Speaker 4 (08:02):
I think you're right. I think to a certain degree,
I think they probably don't socialize in person the same
way that previous generations do. And you look at kind
of similar studies out of the US, it shows that
young people use recreational drugs less they actually have sex
at an older age. And you might say that these
are all positive things, and look, in one sense they are,
but yeah, like me living well, I think if the
(08:25):
cost of any of these things, or if this is
reflective of people being more isolated and lonely, then that
comes with its own series of health challenges. Whether or
not these directly, you know, it's like a causational correlation thing.
Whether or not you're able to say one is directly
causational or the other, I'm not sure, but yeah, I
think there is something in what you said. Although generally speaking,
young people having less hazardous drinking is a good thing,
(08:48):
what do you think.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
I think it's great, But I think a whole lot
of drivers. First of all, technology and gaming. All my
boys were on gaming machines and spending hours and nights
on and so on. And my older so he has never
drunk a drop of alcohol in his life. He's in
his thirties now, never drunk. And he said, every time
I looked in the rear seat in the mirror of
my friends in the back seat drunk as a skunk
at three am. I thought, no, I'm never doing that. Yeah,
(09:10):
And I just think now, people, I remember parties at
Power and Nui where we would walk down the beach
to somewhere and couldn't almost walk home. We were so blotto,
and I don't do that anymore.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
That's Parwa Nui. Before it was flash. No, God, you
flash guy.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
But I just don't do it anymore. I have a
glass of wine with dinner and that'll be no good
for you.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
Morris say, I am completely alcohol free at the moment. Actually, yeah,
but you have to be I do. Yeah. I was
trying to be. I was trying to be a little
bit morally righteous there for once in my life. Guys,
thank you appreciate it. Morris Williams and Jack Taymer huddle.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
This evening's for more from Hither Duplessy Alan Drive. Listen
live to news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!