Barry Soper: ZB senior political correspondent on Joe Biden dropping out of the presidential race

There's growing concerns surrounding the implications of Joe Biden's recent announcement. 

Biden has thrown support behind Kamala Harris after announcing his decision to drop out of the presidential race - leaving his Vice President a short timeframe to boost support for the party.

ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says a Trump presidency wouldn't be good for New Zealand's economy.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Barry Sober, Senior political Correspondence with US Barry, Hello, good afternoon, Heather.
What did you make of the Joe Biden US this morning?

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Well, pretty extraordinary, wasn't it.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
It.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I think was long overdue and probably left too late.
I mean, Kamila Harris has now got a hell of
a job to campaign between now and November to even
bring the Democrats within couey of Donald Trump. I think
what New Zealand's got to think about though, and it's

(00:32):
not our choice, of course, but a Trump presidency won't
be that good for New Zealand because Trump is not
a free trader. You'll remember the PPTA now it's the
Comprehensive Progressive because.

Speaker 3 (00:48):
Of Justin Trudeau.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
That meeting that they had in Vietnam just after Jacinda
durn became Prime Minister, it was Trump, it was said
to be Trump. There was a intervention on Justin Trudeau
to back out at the last minute, which is what
he did. And Trump has talked about a ten percent
tariff on all imports. So you know, I think if

(01:13):
the certainly the Democrats won't be able to pull it off,
but it doesn't look that good for us, in particular,
if we want to be selfish about this.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
I suppose, and we do want to be selfish about
it as well, don't we.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Now.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
The fact that they have replaced this is the government
have replaced the Health New Zealand Board with a commissioner,
is a pretty strong indication that they are deeply unhappy
about what's happening at Health New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Oh this is massive when you think about it. I
mean they had sixteen board members, so fifteen of them
have been chucked out and the South African born Lester Levy,
a professor no less, he's now the new Commissioner of
Health New Zealand and that's a big job and good

(01:57):
luck to him.

Speaker 3 (01:57):
He's got to achieve, according.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
To the government, to turn around in savings of around
over the next year of one point four billion dollars,
which is the projected deficit this year.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
The point that the government's been making.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
And of course Chris Luckson's been at the podium and
the beehive along with Shane Retty, the Health Minister.

Speaker 3 (02:20):
He said that the twenty health boards.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
Basically the DHBs, were smashed into one. Bureaucracy was left
behind and now they've got to get rid of a
lot of that bureaucracy. Now they're talking about two and
a half thousand to three thousand back office jobs that
may go as a result of this. So this is
a big deal for Health New Zealand. And whether they

(02:46):
can achieve what the government expects them to achieve or
him that's less levy within twelve months is very debatable.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
What it'll give the government though, hither is.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
Much more say over of the health system because they'll
be dealing directly with the Commissioner rather than allowing the
board to do their own thing. And they would say
that this bureaucracy has built up, there's been no monitoring
in the Health Ministry and it's got to be put right.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
But so basically the coalition government is having to do
the very thing that Andrew Little tried to do right.
So he brought all the DHBs together to get rid
of bureaucracy, and it didn't work, and now they're having
to do it all over again.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Absolutely, it didn't work, and the government, this government appointed
a Crown Advisor back in December, and no doubt this
is as part of that that they decided that the
commissioner was the way to go. So look, look it
is a significant change in the health system in New Zealand.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Let's hope it works.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Okay, Now, how long is this Mardi MP who's at
the center of these questions about what was going on
in the Thoma Kimikodo electorate. How long is she on
leaf for?

Speaker 3 (03:59):
Well, she's on leaf for six weeks. She says she's off.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
To recover from a kidney disease, and of course during
that time there's inquiries going on into the thomackemcolder's seat
that she won by forty two votes from Penny Henarre
from the Labor Party. She was in charge of the
electorate that's at the center of the allegations that they

(04:25):
used data from the census, for example, to benefit the
Maldi party in herself and of course the party has
called the allegations baseless. But nevertheless, she won't be in parliament,
won't be around as these investigations go on. And ironically,
had the person that came third in that electric Dahli

(04:45):
in Tana, Well, we'll know tomorrow whether she's going to
be declared and independent because parliament resumes tomorrow and looks
as though she's sticking around.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
How good tomorrow is going to be a great day, Barry,
Thank you very much, really appreciated. Barry Soper, Senior Political
Courss Sponment. For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen
live to News Talks at B from four pm weekdays,
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