Mark Patterson: Associate Agriculture Minister 'disappointed' Kāinga Ora isn't using wool carpets for state houses

Kāinga Ora has copped some backlash for scrapping wool carpets in favour of nylon synthetics in state houses.

The agency has released a request for proposal for companies to provide carpet and underlay for its state homes - but claimed nylon was 34 percent cheaper than wool alternatives.

Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson has voiced 'disappointment' with this choice.

"We're trying to revitalise the sheep industry, the wool industry - we're starting to make some progress on that, but this is a kick in the guts."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So king order under fire for ditching will carpets in
favor of nylon, and that is despite government plans to
direct government agencies to use wool over anything else where possible.
Caring Aura says it's cost analysis has shown nylon was
thirty four percent cheaper than more alternatives, and so joining

(00:21):
me to talk about this is the man who blew
the whistle, Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson Hew the.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Mark hillo Angela, how are you going today?

Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm good. If nylon's really that much cheaper, can we
really be upset with Caring Aura?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, how do they know. They haven't even given the
carpet manufacturers a chance to tender, So it's pretty premature statement.

Speaker 1 (00:44):
How do you think it's cheaper?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Because it's not all about price, it's about value, and
you will carpets certainly have some attributes that synthetics will
never be able to match the same for healthier, more
environmentally friendly tarpets. There's a big swing back to war actually,
and there's good reason for that. But this isn't the

(01:10):
coalition agreement. I think that's get issues here and somewhere
deep within the bowels of MB that decided to defy that.
So that's a problem.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
Yes, I was wondering whether this was just a knee
jerk somebody going the government wants to save money. I
believe that nylon is cheaper, and they just went we'll
go nylon.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Oh look, it could be. And I mean this is
sort of an operational issue for them at one level,
but then it is directly in the coalition agreement. It's
clear the intent of the government here. We're trying to
revitalize the sheep industry and the war industry. We're starting
to make some progress on that, but this is a

(01:51):
bit of a kick in the guts and certainly to
feedback from getting from farmers and the industry in general.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Well, you mentioned you mentioned it briefly or way. The
Brend with CEO Greg Smith was on with Mike Hosking
this morning and when I asked, he claimed that they
could be competitive on price, but even more worryingly, they
weren't asked to forward a price at all. So is
KO not shopping around for the best deal and therefore
breaking its promise with the government, And isn't this what
they were supposed to be doing to give the taxpayer

(02:18):
bang for buck?

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah? Absolutely, that they didn't. That tender did not allow
for the tablets to even be considered in new builds,
which is a direct contradiction to the government's and key.
So Greg has got every right to be a bit
agreed about that, as am I.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
The other bigger question is also do government agencies actually
have an obligation to the state, to the people, to
the farmers to support our wool industry even if it
costs more.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Well, as I say, it's not all that price. It's
about value on the more holistic part of it, which is,
you know, it's safer, healthier, more environment and friendly supporting
our law industry as sheep farmers that have really been
struggling of late. So it is that's why it's in
a coalition agreement. It's why New Zealand First has campaigned
on it for a number of elections and National have

(03:15):
been good enough to come on board with it in
the coalition agreement and we want it to be wanted.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
But the other coalition partner Act Well claim that this
is good old classic corporate welfare.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Well, we all sign up to various things in the
coalition agreement that we might not totally be on board with,
but you know, it's there in black and white, and
that's the way this government operates. And we'll work through this.
I'm sure we're will, and we've just been blindsided. This
has come out of NBM. We'll have a look at
this and see if there's anything we can do at

(03:50):
least get the wall guys a chance to put energy,
because that's the re least they can expect.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Yeah, that sounds fair. Mat Pattison of course associated Agriculture
Minister in New Zealand MP as well. For more from
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