July 8, 2024 • 12 mins
Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and Nick Leggett from Infrastructure NZ joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!
The Green Party has been calling for disgraced ex-MP Darleen Tana to resign from Parliament altogether after a report detailing alleged migrant exploitation at her husband's business was released on Friday. What do we make of this? Where can the Greens go from here?
Consumer NZ has called for the nation's biggest power companies to ease up on struggling customers who can't pay their bills. Is there a solution to increased energy hardship?
As the food prices go up, grocery suppliers appear to be shrinking their output. Do we agree biscuits are getting smaller and chip bags are getting emptier? Are we really paying more for less?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What the huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty exceptional
marketing for every property.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And joining me today Trish Sharson from Sheerson Willis PR
Good afternoon, Hello, Good to have you in the studio.
Neck Leggot is also with us from Infrastructure New Zealand.
How you doing, Nick?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Hello? Very well.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Okay, I'm exhausted by this whole thing. We've been talking
about it for one hundred and fifteen days. Trish, what
do you make of the Greens calling for her resignation
from parliament?
Speaker 4 (00:26):
This is an absolute nightmare for the Greens. It's their
worst nightmare, I think. And there were absolute scenes at
this press conference today, scenes that I had never imagined
the Greens or that they would have imagined they were facing.
For instance, they were facing questions from one of the
journalists in the press gallery about is the Greens an
(00:47):
unsafe space for Wahini Mary? Are they racist? I mean,
you know, I think the Greens had never thought they
would be facing those questions, and you know, thinking about
what what has just been said from Bryce about the
possibility of if Darlene stayed, there could be the possibility
(01:08):
that she could join to party Madi. There seemed to
be a narrative if you think about that. Today developing
this has been very shoddy for the Greens. The process
has taken way too long. I was amazed today though
about how tough Chloe Swarbrick was in that press conference.
It was very ungreen like. It was a one eighty
(01:31):
difference between the press conference held around around Goldras Garinaeum
earlier in the year, where it was all about you know,
her wonderful pedigree and everything, and very little about the
shoplifting problems. So the next few days are going to
be interesting. The Greens obviously wanted a quick resignation from
(01:52):
Darlene over the weekend. They wanted her to be out
of caucus and out of Parliament, so today they could
have had a clean press conference and gone it's all
dealt with. I just don't think that's going to happen
for them now. I got very short curt answers from
Chloe Swarbrick today, Nick, which is quite unusual. You know,
what do you make of this whole scenario? What do
(02:14):
you think Darling will do.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
If her behavior today has anything to go by, She's
going to dig in and not cooperate with the party hierarchy.
Lo the Greens are this is this is not just
an isolated incident in the sense that they've had a
tumultuous few months. Some of that is with MP behavior,
(02:39):
some of it is with tragedy with official columns as passing.
James Shaw of course has left. They want this now
to go away, and my view is that they've really
got to invoke the Waka Jumping Act if they want
to preserve any credibility here. This is the worker Jumping
(03:01):
Actor is about preserving. As Bryce Edwards says, the proportionality
of parliament. Having a member of Parliament, a member of
your corkers go west and do whatever they like is
not really what the spirit of MMP is about. She
was appointed by the party and elect on the list.
(03:21):
They need to clean house and they need to move on.
And I hope that that Chloe schwawbricks mood of today
and the attitude that she has shown will continue and
we'll get to that outcome where darning Tana is removed
from Parliament and the Greens get their next person up.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
We haven't seen the report, obviously, Trisha, when this is
the problem, we haven't seen the report. It's so frustrating.
But Chloe's telling us it's really bad, you've got done
and going no, it's not too bad at all. The
Wroker jumping route. It almost feels trash, like it's going
to come down to what the Green or who the
Greens hates more, you know'st to which are they going
(04:01):
to go?
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Either way? There are dead rats to swallow. And again
that's one of the problems for the Greens today that
they couldn't release the report today. So what they've said
is and I understand there are privacy issues around it
because obviously in that report it names a lot of
I imagine the individuals who had raised issues through the report,
so they've got to get you know, get it cleared
(04:24):
to be able to release it. I think that's probably
the issue with the report. So they couldn't release that.
So we're having to take a sort of Chloe on
her word about how bad it is. But this is
what tells me something has gone terribly wrong here. Think
about how strident Chloe was in her language about not
only the severity of the seriousness of what you know,
(04:47):
allegedly Darlene has done, but Chloe Lou used words like
I feel betrayed. On the other side, in Darlene's statement today,
you have her saying, effectively, this was about what she
did or didn't know, and it's not that she was
involved in the alleged behavior. So it's like black and
(05:08):
white at this point.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Okay, don't you think, though, Nick, if we're going to
have independent investigations and they're going to take one hundred
and fifteen hundred and sixteen days, if you take part
in it, should you not just sign a form then
and there that says that you are happy for the
report to be released. I don't understand why we're chasing
these people.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Look, I'm involved in a review not quite as controversial
as this, but nonetheless sensitive at the moment, and those
sort of undertakings can be given upfront to people who
are interviewed. That's not hard. But of course it's always
going to be sensitive, but nonetheless there is significant public
(05:51):
interest here. I also note that the Green said they
were funding this themselves after a certain amount of time
had a lapsed, but it turns out it turns out
out they're just funding it through the Parliamentary leader's budget,
so taxplayers are paying either way. There's just a bit
of less discretionary funding I think for the Greens now
(06:12):
that they've chosen to fund it from there from the
leader's budget. But look, it does need to be drawn
to a close. If you're the Green Party, you're actually
doing pretty well in the polls despite everything that's going on.
You do not need this to continue. You want to
be on the job of opposition at a time when
you think that there is significant capital to be made
(06:34):
opposing the new government. So it is this, This will
needs to This will continue to bleed unless they can
actually take an action, and that action appears to be
going down the Wacker jumping route.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You are with the Huddle. We're going to take a
quick break back in just a moment.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
The Huddle with New Zealand Southby's international Realty, unparalleled reach
and results true.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Suason and Nick Leggett are way for me? Are trash?
Forty thousand people in New Zealand go without power each
year because they can't pay the power bills. Consumer thinks
power should not be shut off of people who don't pay.
Is it realistic?
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Well, it's a great headline for consumer, but if you
dig under it, how on earth is that going to happen,
and actually we have to pay for power. That's just
the way that it works. I do know also that
for the major power companies now, because of the tragic
circumstances that happened back in two thousand and seven, where
(07:33):
you know, if Afarno was cut off who relied on
power and was a very terrible event, power companies now
have to go through a number of steps before there
is a disconnection, and on the flip side, to get
people back on there are a number of options, like
the kind of pre pay meters in your home that
(07:57):
you can have. I just I don't think it's realistic
to a you know that we can just have a
situation where people don't have to pay Nick is power
too expensive?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Well, everything's too expensive, isn't it. I mean, I think
that what we're we're are looking at here is hardship
is increasing across the board. I don't think any key
we likes the idea of a children living in a
home and winter that doesn't have the power on. And
I think that there should be steps to support people
(08:31):
who are living in energy hardship. If you think about
you know, we live in a cold country and winter
and housing we know in many parts of the country
is not up to the standard that actually preserves or
enhances people's health. Turning the electricity off adds to that
for children. So I think it's more around the support
of people, the better support of people who are suffering hardship.
(08:53):
It's the approach that both places like MSD can take,
but also the power companies themselves, like Trish. You can't
just say you're never going to cut off people's power
because you actually empower people in those instances who deliberately
won't pay a bill and never have any will never
(09:13):
have any intention of doing so. So we've got to
be sensible here. But I think that it's also around
sensitivity to those who are in circumstances and who are
vulnerable where their health is going to be impacted, and
particularly children. So it's just it's a policy approach. It's
not a black or white situation.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Oh look, I couldn't agree more. Let's get to the
really serious topic of the day. Our prices might be
going up, but grocery supplies keep shrinking our food. So
my producer is very concerned that biscuits are getting smaller.
It might be a good thing for the waistline. I
personally am fed up of opening a packet of chips
and there's just no chips in there. And people tell
me you need air in that chip bag, but there's
only a third that the packs field with the third
(09:57):
of chips. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Trish Well, this is my like my personal, my personal
little rant on this. One of my favorite things in
the is the marshmallow Easter eggs that you get with
the yolk in the center.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
A couple of years ago Cadbury just cut the egg
and well it's not even egg now, it's just half
a sort of a half round chocolate marshmallow. I find
that so outrageous and so not in the spirit of
of Well, it's not in the spirit of Easter, is it?
Because they didn't.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
You be angry about it. It's just MINGI it's just
you've got a pet winge with this.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Nick.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Well, I'd like to second that, because I too look
forward to those eggs every year. The other one, I mean,
for me, it's the it's the biscuits, right, they shrink
and you know the we buy our kids those chocolate
chippy sort of they've got the sort of chocolate chips
and my camera what they're called. I quite I'm quite
partial to them myself. They have shrunk and look part
(11:00):
of it. You're absolutely right our waistlines would be thankful,
But actually you're paying the same. Actually you're paying more
for less. And when you buy those bags of chippies,
you're not paying for the fresh air of the bag.
You're paying for the content i e. The chips. So look,
you can understand that this is economizing on behalf of
(11:20):
food manufacturers, but you're going to annoy customers. And I
think that people should be given the option to pay
a bit more to get a bit more, and we're
not given that option at the moment, and that to
me seems pretty unfair.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
In good news, I saw out of the States today
a story from some of those very big multinational suppli
saying we can't do this kind of stuff anymore because
of pressure on from around the cost of living.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I think basically we've been told that we just have
to make these things ourselves. Trisherson and Nick Legot, thank
you so much for your time.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Todave for more from Heather duplessy Ellen Drive listen live
to news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
What the huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty exceptional
marketing for every property.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
And joining me today Trish Sharson from Sheerson Willis PR
Good afternoon, Hello, Good to have you in the studio.
Neck Leggot is also with us from Infrastructure New Zealand.
How you doing, Nick?
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Hello? Very well.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Okay, I'm exhausted by this whole thing. We've been talking
about it for one hundred and fifteen days. Trish, what
do you make of the Greens calling for her resignation
from parliament?
Speaker 4 (00:26):
This is an absolute nightmare for the Greens. It's their
worst nightmare, I think. And there were absolute scenes at
this press conference today, scenes that I had never imagined
the Greens or that they would have imagined they were facing.
For instance, they were facing questions from one of the
journalists in the press gallery about is the Greens an
(00:47):
unsafe space for Wahini Mary? Are they racist? I mean,
you know, I think the Greens had never thought they
would be facing those questions, and you know, thinking about
what what has just been said from Bryce about the
possibility of if Darlene stayed, there could be the possibility
(01:08):
that she could join to party Madi. There seemed to
be a narrative if you think about that. Today developing
this has been very shoddy for the Greens. The process
has taken way too long. I was amazed today though
about how tough Chloe Swarbrick was in that press conference.
It was very ungreen like. It was a one eighty
(01:31):
difference between the press conference held around around Goldras Garinaeum
earlier in the year, where it was all about you know,
her wonderful pedigree and everything, and very little about the
shoplifting problems. So the next few days are going to
be interesting. The Greens obviously wanted a quick resignation from
(01:52):
Darlene over the weekend. They wanted her to be out
of caucus and out of Parliament, so today they could
have had a clean press conference and gone it's all
dealt with. I just don't think that's going to happen
for them now. I got very short curt answers from
Chloe Swarbrick today, Nick, which is quite unusual. You know,
what do you make of this whole scenario? What do
(02:14):
you think Darling will do.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Well?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
If her behavior today has anything to go by, She's
going to dig in and not cooperate with the party hierarchy.
Lo the Greens are this is this is not just
an isolated incident in the sense that they've had a
tumultuous few months. Some of that is with MP behavior,
(02:39):
some of it is with tragedy with official columns as passing.
James Shaw of course has left. They want this now
to go away, and my view is that they've really
got to invoke the Waka Jumping Act if they want
to preserve any credibility here. This is the worker Jumping
(03:01):
Actor is about preserving. As Bryce Edwards says, the proportionality
of parliament. Having a member of Parliament, a member of
your corkers go west and do whatever they like is
not really what the spirit of MMP is about. She
was appointed by the party and elect on the list.
(03:21):
They need to clean house and they need to move on.
And I hope that that Chloe schwawbricks mood of today
and the attitude that she has shown will continue and
we'll get to that outcome where darning Tana is removed
from Parliament and the Greens get their next person up.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
We haven't seen the report, obviously, Trisha, when this is
the problem, we haven't seen the report. It's so frustrating.
But Chloe's telling us it's really bad, you've got done
and going no, it's not too bad at all. The
Wroker jumping route. It almost feels trash, like it's going
to come down to what the Green or who the
Greens hates more, you know'st to which are they going
(04:01):
to go?
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Either way? There are dead rats to swallow. And again
that's one of the problems for the Greens today that
they couldn't release the report today. So what they've said
is and I understand there are privacy issues around it
because obviously in that report it names a lot of
I imagine the individuals who had raised issues through the report,
so they've got to get you know, get it cleared
(04:24):
to be able to release it. I think that's probably
the issue with the report. So they couldn't release that.
So we're having to take a sort of Chloe on
her word about how bad it is. But this is
what tells me something has gone terribly wrong here. Think
about how strident Chloe was in her language about not
only the severity of the seriousness of what you know,
(04:47):
allegedly Darlene has done, but Chloe Lou used words like
I feel betrayed. On the other side, in Darlene's statement today,
you have her saying, effectively, this was about what she
did or didn't know, and it's not that she was
involved in the alleged behavior. So it's like black and
(05:08):
white at this point.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
Okay, don't you think, though, Nick, if we're going to
have independent investigations and they're going to take one hundred
and fifteen hundred and sixteen days, if you take part
in it, should you not just sign a form then
and there that says that you are happy for the
report to be released. I don't understand why we're chasing
these people.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Look, I'm involved in a review not quite as controversial
as this, but nonetheless sensitive at the moment, and those
sort of undertakings can be given upfront to people who
are interviewed. That's not hard. But of course it's always
going to be sensitive, but nonetheless there is significant public
(05:51):
interest here. I also note that the Green said they
were funding this themselves after a certain amount of time
had a lapsed, but it turns out it turns out
out they're just funding it through the Parliamentary leader's budget,
so taxplayers are paying either way. There's just a bit
of less discretionary funding I think for the Greens now
(06:12):
that they've chosen to fund it from there from the
leader's budget. But look, it does need to be drawn
to a close. If you're the Green Party, you're actually
doing pretty well in the polls despite everything that's going on.
You do not need this to continue. You want to
be on the job of opposition at a time when
you think that there is significant capital to be made
(06:34):
opposing the new government. So it is this, This will
needs to This will continue to bleed unless they can
actually take an action, and that action appears to be
going down the Wacker jumping route.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
You are with the Huddle. We're going to take a
quick break back in just a moment.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
The Huddle with New Zealand Southby's international Realty, unparalleled reach
and results true.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Suason and Nick Leggett are way for me? Are trash?
Forty thousand people in New Zealand go without power each
year because they can't pay the power bills. Consumer thinks
power should not be shut off of people who don't pay.
Is it realistic?
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Well, it's a great headline for consumer, but if you
dig under it, how on earth is that going to happen,
and actually we have to pay for power. That's just
the way that it works. I do know also that
for the major power companies now, because of the tragic
circumstances that happened back in two thousand and seven, where
(07:33):
you know, if Afarno was cut off who relied on
power and was a very terrible event, power companies now
have to go through a number of steps before there
is a disconnection, and on the flip side, to get
people back on there are a number of options, like
the kind of pre pay meters in your home that
(07:57):
you can have. I just I don't think it's realistic
to a you know that we can just have a
situation where people don't have to pay Nick is power
too expensive?
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Well, everything's too expensive, isn't it. I mean, I think
that what we're we're are looking at here is hardship
is increasing across the board. I don't think any key
we likes the idea of a children living in a
home and winter that doesn't have the power on. And
I think that there should be steps to support people
(08:31):
who are living in energy hardship. If you think about
you know, we live in a cold country and winter
and housing we know in many parts of the country
is not up to the standard that actually preserves or
enhances people's health. Turning the electricity off adds to that
for children. So I think it's more around the support
of people, the better support of people who are suffering hardship.
(08:53):
It's the approach that both places like MSD can take,
but also the power companies themselves, like Trish. You can't
just say you're never going to cut off people's power
because you actually empower people in those instances who deliberately
won't pay a bill and never have any will never
(09:13):
have any intention of doing so. So we've got to
be sensible here. But I think that it's also around
sensitivity to those who are in circumstances and who are
vulnerable where their health is going to be impacted, and
particularly children. So it's just it's a policy approach. It's
not a black or white situation.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Oh look, I couldn't agree more. Let's get to the
really serious topic of the day. Our prices might be
going up, but grocery supplies keep shrinking our food. So
my producer is very concerned that biscuits are getting smaller.
It might be a good thing for the waistline. I
personally am fed up of opening a packet of chips
and there's just no chips in there. And people tell
me you need air in that chip bag, but there's
only a third that the packs field with the third
(09:57):
of chips. It's ridiculous.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
Trish Well, this is my like my personal, my personal
little rant on this. One of my favorite things in
the is the marshmallow Easter eggs that you get with
the yolk in the center.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Yep.
Speaker 4 (10:11):
A couple of years ago Cadbury just cut the egg
and well it's not even egg now, it's just half
a sort of a half round chocolate marshmallow. I find
that so outrageous and so not in the spirit of
of Well, it's not in the spirit of Easter, is it?
Because they didn't.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
You be angry about it. It's just MINGI it's just
you've got a pet winge with this.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Nick.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Well, I'd like to second that, because I too look
forward to those eggs every year. The other one, I mean,
for me, it's the it's the biscuits, right, they shrink
and you know the we buy our kids those chocolate
chippy sort of they've got the sort of chocolate chips
and my camera what they're called. I quite I'm quite
partial to them myself. They have shrunk and look part
(11:00):
of it. You're absolutely right our waistlines would be thankful,
But actually you're paying the same. Actually you're paying more
for less. And when you buy those bags of chippies,
you're not paying for the fresh air of the bag.
You're paying for the content i e. The chips. So look,
you can understand that this is economizing on behalf of
(11:20):
food manufacturers, but you're going to annoy customers. And I
think that people should be given the option to pay
a bit more to get a bit more, and we're
not given that option at the moment, and that to
me seems pretty unfair.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
In good news, I saw out of the States today
a story from some of those very big multinational suppli
saying we can't do this kind of stuff anymore because
of pressure on from around the cost of living.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I think basically we've been told that we just have
to make these things ourselves. Trisherson and Nick Legot, thank
you so much for your time.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
Todave for more from Heather duplessy Ellen Drive listen live
to news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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