Jason Walls: Newstalk ZB Political Editor on Pharmac board director's resignation over Government's Treaty of Waitangi directive

Pharmac director Dr Anthony Jordan has announced he’s resigning from the board over the Government’s Treaty of Waitangi directive. 

Associate Health Minister David Seymour told the drug buying agency earlier this week it was inappropriate for them to keep considering the Treaty’s place in the health sector. 

Newstalk ZB Political Editor Jason Walls says Jordan was due to end his tenure in December, but board chair Paula Bennett says he will now leave effective immediately. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Newsk TB political leader to Jason Walls is with us
this afternoon, Kilder, Good afternoon, Jack. There has been a
high level defection at FARMAC. So tell us who's gone
and why did he leave?

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Indeed, it is doctor Anthony Jordan and he is leaving
farmac's board. He was meant to actually leave in December
this year, but there was a after news broke today
I got a statement from farmac's chair Paul Bennett, who
said that although his term was meant to expire in December,
he's leaving effective immediately. And so this comes just a
couple of days after FARMAC was was directed to remove

(00:33):
its focus of the Treaty of White Tonguey in terms
of its directorships on the board. So I spoke with
David Seymour soon after the news came out about what
actually went down, and he didn't actually seem all that
worried that doctor Jordan was leaving. Have a listen.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
I think if we've got somebody who felt that embedding
the Treaty was a more important priority than improving the
access to medicines for all New Zealanders, were probably made
the right decision by causing him to move on.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
So he's not going to lose much sleepover this one.
In fact, he told me that he actually learned about
this a few days ago, so before the decision was
made public, and Seymour actually had a message for anybody
else on the board who had a similar way of
thinking to doctor Jordan.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
And if anyone that doesn't want to get on board
with that direction, then actually I think they would be
making the right choice by following Dr Jordan out the door,
I think he.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
So, he didn't actually say that there had been anybody
else that had expressed this, but he's made his opinions
on this pretty clear. And it's not like I asked him,
you know, based on what had happened, did this give
you pause for thought as to whether this was a
good idea? And he was digging in his heels and
saying it absolutely is. So don't expect Seymour to be
losing too much sleep or being too worried about this one.

Speaker 1 (01:47):
Speaking of David Seymour, he has broken with tradition of
sorts and back the horse and the US presidential race. Yes,
this was.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
An interesting one because I was talking to him while
I was watching old Donald Trump deliver his speech this afternoon,
and I just thought i'd give a bit of a
punt as to who he thought, if he would like Trump,
or if you'd like Biden. If it wasn't Biden, who
he would like instead? So have a listen and your
his answer will surprise you. I guarantee it. I'm watching
the Republican Congress Congress their national conference right now. If

(02:16):
you got a Bob each way in terms of Biden,
or if it is Biden or Trump, who would you prefer?

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Michelle Obama?

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Why is that?

Speaker 3 (02:26):
Well in the head to hear, she's the only one
that can.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Win, right, And do you think that's likely that she's
going to take over from Biden?

Speaker 3 (02:33):
Well, if you were her and you're sitting there, sign,
there's one hundred million people that want to beat this guy,
and I'm the only one that can, would you do it?

Speaker 2 (02:40):
So there it is. David Seymour wants Michelle Obama to
take over and be a Biden Biden, be a Michelle
Obama versus Donald Trump race. I think it would be
very interesting.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
It'll be all the encouragement I'm sure she needs. Hey,
what did you make of Whinston Peter's foreign if he
is peaked in Japan, you know it was good.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
It was long without give him that. In fact, I
actually watched Peter's speech while I was watching Trump's speech,
and by the time Peters was finished, Trump was still going,
So it wasn't as long as as trumped. But I
thought it was very interesting because there was a very
large admission omission rather in his speech. Now I'd like
you to listen to what Prime Minister Chris Luxon said
while he was chairing the Indoor Pacific Four Forum at

(03:21):
NATO last week.

Speaker 4 (03:22):
Havevialism, the intensifying military relationship we see between Russia and
the DPRK, and China's role in supporting the rebuilding of
Russia's industrial base demonstrates the indivisibility of security issues between
Europe and our part of the world.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
So it's the line he says about China's role in
supporting the rebuilding of Russia's industrial base. Now listen to
what Peters had to say in his speech today.

Speaker 5 (03:44):
We're also concerned by North Koreas and those others, either
directly or through the export of dual use technologies, supplying
military related technologies to Russia or supporting its war industries
to fuel its illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
So despite the fact talking about the same thing, he
dropped the reference to China instead opting for those others
not China. So it makes you wonder what's happened behind
the scenes to take China out of the equation in
such a pivotal speech.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
Yeah, that is intriguing. Hey, thank you very much, Jason,
appreciate your time. News Talks. He'd be political editor Jason Walls.

Speaker 3 (04:19):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen live to
News Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.