All Episodes

January 28, 2025 10 mins

Today on Politics Wednesday Mark Mitchell and Ginny Andersen joined Mike Hosking to wrap the political week thus far. They talked the new jury duty bill, the increasing speed limits, and where the Government is at heading into 2025. 

The Police Minister is welcoming a member's bill that could see more seniors serving on juries. 

National's Whanganui MP, Carl Bates, has proposed raising the age when people can be automatically excused from jury duty from 65 to 72. 

People could still be excused for other reasons like health issues or career experience. 

Police Minister Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking it would unlock lots of talent that the jury service needs. 

He says there are many in that age bracket who would make outstanding jurors and have the time to dedicate to it. 

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):
It is time for politics Wednesday. Jenny Anderson, Happy New
Year to you.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Happy New Year, Mike. Do you have a good holiday.

Speaker 3 (00:06):
Break, a fabulous holiday break. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
We'll come back to your holiday break in a moment. Actually,
Mark Mitchell, good morning.

Speaker 4 (00:12):
Good morning bike.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
Were you asleep last week?

Speaker 1 (00:14):
What was going on? Just because I wasn't there? I
don't think I wasn't on top of what's going on here?

Speaker 4 (00:18):
First of all, humble apologies to everyone, listeners especially, but no,
I was up in the Middle East and just quite
simply I failed to pick up an email that was
sent to be saying that the show was starting again.
As simple as that, do you.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
We'll forgive you this once now, Ginny, thank you. Jenny
thoughts On thoughts on.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
I was gonna say, can we give them like a
copy of Ars of the Elephant or whatever?

Speaker 3 (00:47):
A look, it's cool to ask the elephant.

Speaker 4 (00:49):
Not sorry, sorry, Well I'd I'd rather have that than
the hot yoga classes you go last year. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Now, then we ask you, Jinny, did you see yourself
on the news at your retreat?

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (01:06):
It did, right, so you were wearing what I would
deem to be a elegant summer frock of a slightly
complex nature, but nevertheless you you wore it well, thank you.
But on the news I saw you with your your
chin and your hands, staring into Chris Hipkins's eyes as
though as though some sort of oracle, and I thought,

(01:27):
what the hell's going on here?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
I think he was telling in a particularly amusing story.
I think that was what was happening in that case.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Is that what it was?

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Do you have a view on Jendle's on the Jendles?

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Jendles are fine and there oh am I still there?

Speaker 3 (01:43):
Yes you are.

Speaker 2 (01:44):
I thought I was dropped off. Look, you know he
was relaxed. We were all pretty relaxed. And Jendles are
fine jendles at a time when you're not in the office.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
It's okay, okay, fair enough.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Do you have a view on this? Have you heard
of Carl Baits by the.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Way, caw Baits, Yes I have. He's a wong and
emp yes I had not the Motal guy. That's a
different bait. Say that.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
That's right, you're run the fire Minister of comedy. Anyway,
He's got this jury bill so you can be excluded
sixty five to seventy two. Is this wise thinking is
this is this where we need to go or not.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
You've got to be cautious on juries. They do hold
things up, they take longer, for sure, But when you
muck around with that, there are often perverse outcomes. So
you want to make sure that you've looked through all
of those possibilities before you start mucking around with access
to justice. And so you need to be very cautious
about what you're trying to achieve and what this will

(02:46):
actually do.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Okay, well, you've got a view mark in.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
We's just trying to increase the age of eligibility for
people to be able to sit on a jury to
make more life.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
Sorry, so I didn't realize that was a bill. I
thought it was another proposal by Paul Goldsmith also to
restrict the ability to receive a trial by jury.

Speaker 1 (03:03):
So that's a separate Oh yeah, no, that's that's separate again.
I just worry I worry about I mean, this sort
of covers your area. Mark to would agree in the
sense that I just wonder if the whole jury system
is not so haphazard and nobody wants to be on it,
we need to somehow revisit it. And this is I
don't know whether this achieves it or not.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
Well, that's so that's part of the work that Paul's
doing without a doubt, which is important. But this, this
Bill of Members bill of Carl's is just quite simply
saying at the moment, if you're once you're over sixty five,
you're not eligible for jury duty. When he's saying, let's
extend that to seventy two, and I support that because
I'm telling you now there's a lot of people on
their seventies that would make outstanding durism probably have the
time to be able to dedicate to it.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
Well, that was that ridiculous rule that Boshia had to
resign as seventy two. I mean, if you're up for
the job, you're up for the job, aren't you agree?
I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you too. As
a person who turned sixty this year, I'm virtually juriatric.
I've never been more alive.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
There's a new team mate.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Actually, somebody said fifty is the new forties? Was the
new forty of the new fifty?

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Well, I had the big I had the Big five.
Oh this year too, So do you mean sounds great?

Speaker 1 (04:05):
So you were going to hit the big you're going
to hit the big five. Oh so he's still in
the new forties.

Speaker 2 (04:10):
That's right.

Speaker 3 (04:10):
Are you're still claiming you're in your thirties?

Speaker 4 (04:12):
Mark, No, I'm going to be fifty seven this year,
but I'm going to but on defaulting back to the
fifty seven, the new forty seven.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
So we'll give them.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Opening speeches. Yesterday I watched Mark. You made some very
nice comments about what happened to Nelson and the police,
and I thought that was very, very nice. But I
reckon Ginny that if I was gone was to my
head and I had to pick who was better Hipkins
or Luxem yesterday and that speech, I'd give it to Hipkins,
just because I thought, really, yes I did. I thought
not by much. But he had more passion, and he

(04:46):
was moderately humorous in certain points, so I think he won.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
You would agree with that obviously.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Well, I think Latson always struggles when it's twenty minutes,
Like you get to the sort of we watch the
clock as you do, and and it gets is at
a fourteen and a half, and I just loses a
bit of guess, and so it just tunes into slogans
and they're not really strung together as well. So look,
it is always a bit scrappy, but I think Chippy
has always been good at telling a story and pulling

(05:11):
it together and making people laugh.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Is it true to say Mark, no alition was your idea.

Speaker 4 (05:19):
Os Midia when those speeches have been made. But I
can tell you one thing. So I wasn't in the house,
but there.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
Was up in the house yesterday. Did you come in
halfway through?

Speaker 4 (05:30):
Yes? I basically walked into the I got back to Parliament,
walked straight into the house to take that speech, to
take that call. But look, the Prime Minister's speech would
have been full of content focused on would have been well,
I can tell you it would have been, because that's
exactly what the focus has been the last week, and
I've been looking at it from overseas, and I think
that the country is fully on board and understands that

(05:52):
we've got to do a lot of work around growth
this year. If on growth, and that's what he would
have been talking.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Are you.

Speaker 3 (05:59):
Today?

Speaker 5 (05:59):
Would you would you take on board any of what
seems to be a building amount of criticism that is
as well intentioned as you might be and as supportive
as many people in New Zealand might want to be
about what you're trying to do.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
You actually need to do more than you have done well.

Speaker 4 (06:16):
I just think that there's there's a lot.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
We've had so.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
Many issues that we've had to deal with with it
the education, crime, you know, the economy, health that you know,
we had a lot to deal with last year. But
this year the focus for all of us. We're going
to continue to be focused on all those things, obviously
and continue the men we've created, but that economic growth
has critically important for us as a country, and so

(06:40):
there's a laser focus on that, and that's what you
would have got.

Speaker 1 (06:43):
Things I raised with it was the speed limit thing.
So so new Minister of Health was Minister of Transport.
He's busy announcing all the increases and road speeds around
the country. Forty nine of them are under consultation. What's
to consult about?

Speaker 3 (06:54):
Why?

Speaker 1 (06:54):
Why do you need to just get on with the
stroke of a pen?

Speaker 3 (06:58):
Stuff?

Speaker 4 (07:00):
I agree with you, I'm not sure what the consultation is.
I thought that was really clear about it.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
You're in the government market should know.

Speaker 4 (07:06):
It's not my portfolio. It's not my portfolio, it's someone
else's stuff.

Speaker 1 (07:15):
You can do and this stuff they're committee about. But
but but yeah, you know, making something go from one
hundred to one hundred and ten doesn't require consultation.

Speaker 4 (07:23):
Do so, No, So those decisions have been made. So
I'd have to go away and check and find out
what consultation exactly they're talking about. Whether it's with local government,
I don't know, but but certainly those decisions from central
government already been made to reverse what LABEL was doing,
and that's trying to slow us all down. And they
were very good at that.

Speaker 1 (07:41):
Ginny Wales and Cowrie Trees. What can you tell me?

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Well, I'll tell you one thing that's kind of missing
a bit is that we know that last year they
made the wrong choices. We saw two point nine billion
and text cuts for people like lean laws and that that,
And I just wanted to get this out because he
made a comment about them.

Speaker 3 (08:06):
Do you hate me?

Speaker 2 (08:07):
They've well, I don't think you need a text cut
as much as someone who can't afford and.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
Up and I got to renovate it this year.

Speaker 2 (08:15):
I am not providing houses. Houses have been stopping. But
I was saying, I just want to get what I say.
So they tanked the economy, They paused a whole bunch
of different infrastructure projects, twelve thousand fewer construction workers in
New Zealand International. We hear growth at two point four percent,
and that has declined every quarter since National came in.

(08:37):
They've tanked the economy. And now now they're tuning around
and saying I will fix it and get some growth
by having some digital nomads, and then we will just
start selling off the family silver.

Speaker 3 (08:49):
And the only digital nomads.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
It was Chris Hipkins who said in twenty forty, the
New Zealand economy will be strong and resilient. We will
have digital nomads calling New Zealand home. So he loved
digital omads last year, didn't like them. Now what happened.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Digital nomads are great, but they're not going to start
growth if you've got coming in if people were going
to come in here paying just GST, but no text,
they don't increase wages.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
Chris Chris Hipkins Beard a year ago around rigging his
hands saying sorry that we over promised it underdelivered, and
I'll tell you right now, mon Electric Jinny. The only
infrastructure projects that got started and being delivered at those
ones that were started on the national Okay, we're going
to do that.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
You cannot be.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
You cannot leave the program without telling me of you
on whales and Cowrie you funded this to the tune
of four point two million dollars, and whether whether or
not singing whales can save dying Cowrie trees?

Speaker 2 (09:40):
Well, coding charge of by back. I'd like to see
the fine print on that, to be honest, because it
sounds like one they've pulled out of it at WEEKPEX.

Speaker 1 (09:47):
People, Well, it came from the science thing that you
set up. That was a forty million dollar job. But
for four point two million dollars you had people wandering
around working up with the sales. Whales singing saved Cowrie
die back or mortal room governments.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Well, we've also got a government who's trying to turn
around a tanked economy by letting some people bring their
computers into the country. I think that's just about a.

Speaker 4 (10:08):
Stick who tink the economy.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
You definitely did you definitely by firing people and canceling.

Speaker 4 (10:15):
Infrastructures of vandalism, we're turning it around. And actually, yes,
we are going.

Speaker 2 (10:19):
To welcome driving it deeper into the ground to mark.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
You guys It's good to have you back.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Jimmy Anderson and Mark Mentell on Politics Wednesday, Right throughout
twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (10:27):
For more from The Mike Asking Breakfast, listen live to
news talks that'd be from six am weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

The Breakfast Club

The Breakfast Club

The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!

The Joe Rogan Experience

The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

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

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.