December 12, 2024 • 8 mins
Tonight on The Huddle, Infrastructure NZ's Nick Leggett and Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!
The Solicitor-General has revised her prosecution guidelines - saying people misunderstood what she meant when she told prosecutors to 'think carefully' before charging a person who is Māori. Do we agree with this move?
24 hours on from the Government's infamous ferry announcement - what do we think?
Wellington City Council is in damage-control mode after the latest draft budget proposed a 15.9 percent rates rise for the next financial year. Mayor Tory Whanau says she wants to bring that down - does this seem believable?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
There's got to Wellington Nick Leggett's Infrastructure New Zealand with
us tonight. Hey Nick, Hello, Ryan, good to have you
on and Nick Mill's host of Wellington Morning's Nick Welcome,
Thank you. Now there's Solicitor General. We've had her on
the show this evening and for those who aren't familiar
with the case, she put out guidelines a couple of
months ago. They mentioned in the fall ward. They mentioned
(00:21):
that you should think carefully police and other prosecutors before
prosecuting Mardy because they're disproportionately represented in the bad stats
and in the justice system. She's now reversed that and says, well,
it was misinterpreted. Nick, What do you make of that?
You're buying it?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I think that it was poorly written. I think that
she either didn't read it or her team didn't read
it correctly. But I think it's I don't think it
was open to misrepresentation. I think somebody wrote that and
it wasn't looked at properly and they've had to change
(01:00):
and I think it was appropriate that they changed it
in these circumstances.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah, because Nick, I think it sort of seemed to
me like they actually did know what they were writing.
Someone knew what they were writing.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, somebody knew what the writing.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Absolutely, yeah, Nick, what do you reckon?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Oh? Nick? Sorry, there's too next.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
There is too I didn't even know Nick number two.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Nick number one, please joking. I just can't believe the
Solicitor Genial Uma Jarkos has still got a job. Remember
what happened in the abuse of care when they did
the amazing apology and everyone turned their back. Remember she
was sort of looked at as not being as caring
and as nice a person as she should be. This
(01:47):
is almost like a second strike. I just don't know
what Judas Colin's thinking about. She needs to go. She's
not the right person in the job. And this is clearly.
I mean, everyone understood what she said when she wrote that,
and she's trying to backpedal and back pedal quietly. And
you know what, I understand why she doesn't do radio,
because she was damn terrible on your show.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well. I think full credit to her, actually, though, Nick,
because she fronted up. And you know, the Solicitor General
isn't somebody you often hear from in the media, and
so I think she at least dined up and said Look,
it wasn't. It wasn't as I wanted it to be communicated.
I've changed it and I'm sorry, And I think we've
got to take her at her word on that because,
(02:30):
like most I suspect most people would think that that
was improperly worded and wouldn't agree with it.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
All right, Why would she make a mistake like that?
I mean why would She's the top top solicitor general.
I mean, why would she make a mistake like that?
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, well, I think that's the question, is that was
it actually a mistake or not? I mean, yes, it's
been corrected, but was it a mistake? Nick's Leggett and
Mills with us back in just a second News Talk said,
be a huddle tonight. Nick Legget Infrastructure, New Zealand. Nick Mills,
host of Wellington Mornings on news Talk, said, the legate
the fairies. It looks like there was a bit of
(03:04):
a battle between Battle Royale between Seymour and Winston over
this and Nicholas caught in the middle and Winston's come
out holding the ball. Is everybody on board? Do we
think he's going to get this thing done? Can you
do rail enabled and cheap?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I think that we've got to be well, we're all
going to be sitting there with beta breath, aren't we.
It's going to be very hard to deliver rail enabled
within a lesser funding envelope, if anybody can do it.
I suspect Winston, well, I mean the good thing is
he's keen on rail. He's very experienced. I would say, though,
(03:42):
this is sort of dangerous territory, not not for Winston
but for the government. If you look at what happened
in Tasmania recently, this a similar sort of blowout, a
similar issue you know, cost a mini senior minister their job.
We actually it's it's I bang on about this a lot. Ryan.
The thing is when we have too much politics in
(04:04):
vital infrastructure decisions, things take longer, Poor decisions are made
and they cost more, and then we go back to
the drawing board because we've wasted so much money on
a solution that doesn't actually happen. I think what we've
got to do now is step back and let the
new Minister of Rail work out the best option and
give some time to do that. I can tell you
(04:24):
when you know, when you politicize infrastructure and all the
pressure goes on to rush a decision, that's when you
get a stuff up. So we've all got to be
a bit more discipline.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
I think there's almost one other person that they need
to bring into this conversation, so it's not just Winston
and Seymour and Willis. What about Hipkins Because let's face it,
when they get back in, the fairies may not be
ordered yet, and we want to make sure that we're
not ordering and canceling meals.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yep, right, Look, Ryan, I worked this out. I did
an hour on on the show today and I worked
it out right. I looked at Nicola Willis's Nicola clach
Nicola Willis, what am I saying? Yeah, Nicola Willison's body
language yesterday and there was something up right. So this
is how I worked it out. After spending an hour
talking about it. This morning, she went to Cabinet. She
had been two new or secondhand ferries, smaller, non rail capable,
(05:15):
and wanted them to sign off the deal. Winston kicked
up part of the coalition. He kicked up and said, no,
it's got to be rail compatible. Give me the Minister
of Railways. I will make it happen and I will
sort it out. That's what I reckon happen, and I
reckon I'll be proven right at some stage.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Do you reckon he can sort it out?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yes, I'm not sure. I mean I think he can
and I've got confidence in him. But the fact that
Nicholas said I delivered means that she thinks that she
got it done, you know what I mean. And that's
when she said, yeah, nothing's been done.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Nothing was done, but she had a proposal to get
stuff done. And I guess that's now become Plan B,
which is, you know, in three months, we'll see what happens. Hey,
the Wellington City Council at it again. So the forecast
rate ride a fifteen point nine percent next year, up
three percent from what they had promise. Basically they didn't
(06:05):
cut deep enough. Nick Legate, At what point do you
do we just stop believing actually anything they tell us
about any rate rises.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Well, the thing is here, if you want to have
a lesser rate rise, you've got to choose to do less.
And I think that's the challenge for Wellington City, it's
the challenge for many councils, is actually be brave and
not do something. But the second point is that there's
some protection in all this, and that is that they've
(06:34):
got to go out for consultation or is this actually yeah,
this is for next year, so they've got to go
out for consultation to their long term plan even though
they're doing sorry, their annual plan, So they're doing the
long term planner that will give residents some kind of input.
And of course it is election year next year, so
politicians tend to listen quite a lot during election years.
(06:54):
So I still think there's a chance that the community
can influence the decision if it's got a If the
decision is going to be going to consultation, I'm a
bit unsure. The reason I sound a bit confused is
because they've got to redo their ten year plan, if
you recall, because they didn't sell the airports shares, So
I'm not sure where that sits in terms of this.
But yeah, let's see what happens. Mels.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
You're across this, you know this light the back of
your hand, and you've got your finger on the pole.
Are you believing this new promise that it'll be less
than the fifteen point nine or not?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Absolutely not, It'll be more than fifteen point nine. And
the first thing they've got to do is give up
on the Golden Mile cut back. They've got to stop
the spending on all this earthquake stuff that they keep
thinking every building's going to come down in a slight shape.
They've got to forget about that. We've been given four
more years by the government not to do anything. Pull
your heads in, stop doing the spending on things we
don't need to spend on right now, and get us
(07:46):
to the next election so we can make some changes.
But if you think you live in Wellington and you've
got a problem with rates, if you have, and they're ridiculous,
and if you've got a commercial building, it's ten times worse.
I mean, the same building in Auckland, the same building
in Wellington with the same value, you're paying almost double
the rates.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
It's just not right, certainly not. Thanks so much for
your time, guys, great to have you on Nick Legget
Infrastructure New Zealand and Nick Mills, host of Wellington Mornings
on News Talk SEDB. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,
listen live to News Talk SEDB from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
There's got to Wellington Nick Leggett's Infrastructure New Zealand with
us tonight. Hey Nick, Hello, Ryan, good to have you
on and Nick Mill's host of Wellington Morning's Nick Welcome,
Thank you. Now there's Solicitor General. We've had her on
the show this evening and for those who aren't familiar
with the case, she put out guidelines a couple of
months ago. They mentioned in the fall ward. They mentioned
(00:21):
that you should think carefully police and other prosecutors before
prosecuting Mardy because they're disproportionately represented in the bad stats
and in the justice system. She's now reversed that and says, well,
it was misinterpreted. Nick, What do you make of that?
You're buying it?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I think that it was poorly written. I think that
she either didn't read it or her team didn't read
it correctly. But I think it's I don't think it
was open to misrepresentation. I think somebody wrote that and
it wasn't looked at properly and they've had to change
(01:00):
and I think it was appropriate that they changed it
in these circumstances.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Yeah, because Nick, I think it sort of seemed to
me like they actually did know what they were writing.
Someone knew what they were writing.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah, somebody knew what the writing.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Absolutely, yeah, Nick, what do you reckon?
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Oh? Nick? Sorry, there's too next.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
There is too I didn't even know Nick number two.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Nick number one, please joking. I just can't believe the
Solicitor Genial Uma Jarkos has still got a job. Remember
what happened in the abuse of care when they did
the amazing apology and everyone turned their back. Remember she
was sort of looked at as not being as caring
and as nice a person as she should be. This
(01:47):
is almost like a second strike. I just don't know
what Judas Colin's thinking about. She needs to go. She's
not the right person in the job. And this is clearly.
I mean, everyone understood what she said when she wrote that,
and she's trying to backpedal and back pedal quietly. And
you know what, I understand why she doesn't do radio,
because she was damn terrible on your show.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well. I think full credit to her, actually, though, Nick,
because she fronted up. And you know, the Solicitor General
isn't somebody you often hear from in the media, and
so I think she at least dined up and said Look,
it wasn't. It wasn't as I wanted it to be communicated.
I've changed it and I'm sorry, And I think we've
got to take her at her word on that because,
(02:30):
like most I suspect most people would think that that
was improperly worded and wouldn't agree with it.
Speaker 3 (02:36):
All right, Why would she make a mistake like that?
I mean why would She's the top top solicitor general.
I mean, why would she make a mistake like that?
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Yeah, well, I think that's the question, is that was
it actually a mistake or not? I mean, yes, it's
been corrected, but was it a mistake? Nick's Leggett and
Mills with us back in just a second News Talk said,
be a huddle tonight. Nick Legget Infrastructure, New Zealand. Nick Mills,
host of Wellington Mornings on news Talk, said, the legate
the fairies. It looks like there was a bit of
(03:04):
a battle between Battle Royale between Seymour and Winston over
this and Nicholas caught in the middle and Winston's come
out holding the ball. Is everybody on board? Do we
think he's going to get this thing done? Can you
do rail enabled and cheap?
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I think that we've got to be well, we're all
going to be sitting there with beta breath, aren't we.
It's going to be very hard to deliver rail enabled
within a lesser funding envelope, if anybody can do it.
I suspect Winston, well, I mean the good thing is
he's keen on rail. He's very experienced. I would say, though,
(03:42):
this is sort of dangerous territory, not not for Winston
but for the government. If you look at what happened
in Tasmania recently, this a similar sort of blowout, a
similar issue you know, cost a mini senior minister their job.
We actually it's it's I bang on about this a lot. Ryan.
The thing is when we have too much politics in
(04:04):
vital infrastructure decisions, things take longer, Poor decisions are made
and they cost more, and then we go back to
the drawing board because we've wasted so much money on
a solution that doesn't actually happen. I think what we've
got to do now is step back and let the
new Minister of Rail work out the best option and
give some time to do that. I can tell you
(04:24):
when you know, when you politicize infrastructure and all the
pressure goes on to rush a decision, that's when you
get a stuff up. So we've all got to be
a bit more discipline.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
I think there's almost one other person that they need
to bring into this conversation, so it's not just Winston
and Seymour and Willis. What about Hipkins Because let's face it,
when they get back in, the fairies may not be
ordered yet, and we want to make sure that we're
not ordering and canceling meals.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yep, right, Look, Ryan, I worked this out. I did
an hour on on the show today and I worked
it out right. I looked at Nicola Willis's Nicola clach
Nicola Willis, what am I saying? Yeah, Nicola Willison's body
language yesterday and there was something up right. So this
is how I worked it out. After spending an hour
talking about it. This morning, she went to Cabinet. She
had been two new or secondhand ferries, smaller, non rail capable,
(05:15):
and wanted them to sign off the deal. Winston kicked
up part of the coalition. He kicked up and said, no,
it's got to be rail compatible. Give me the Minister
of Railways. I will make it happen and I will
sort it out. That's what I reckon happen, and I
reckon I'll be proven right at some stage.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Do you reckon he can sort it out?
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yes, I'm not sure. I mean I think he can
and I've got confidence in him. But the fact that
Nicholas said I delivered means that she thinks that she
got it done, you know what I mean. And that's
when she said, yeah, nothing's been done.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Nothing was done, but she had a proposal to get
stuff done. And I guess that's now become Plan B,
which is, you know, in three months, we'll see what happens. Hey,
the Wellington City Council at it again. So the forecast
rate ride a fifteen point nine percent next year, up
three percent from what they had promise. Basically they didn't
(06:05):
cut deep enough. Nick Legate, At what point do you
do we just stop believing actually anything they tell us
about any rate rises.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Well, the thing is here, if you want to have
a lesser rate rise, you've got to choose to do less.
And I think that's the challenge for Wellington City, it's
the challenge for many councils, is actually be brave and
not do something. But the second point is that there's
some protection in all this, and that is that they've
(06:34):
got to go out for consultation or is this actually yeah,
this is for next year, so they've got to go
out for consultation to their long term plan even though
they're doing sorry, their annual plan, So they're doing the
long term planner that will give residents some kind of input.
And of course it is election year next year, so
politicians tend to listen quite a lot during election years.
(06:54):
So I still think there's a chance that the community
can influence the decision if it's got a If the
decision is going to be going to consultation, I'm a
bit unsure. The reason I sound a bit confused is
because they've got to redo their ten year plan, if
you recall, because they didn't sell the airports shares, So
I'm not sure where that sits in terms of this.
But yeah, let's see what happens. Mels.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
You're across this, you know this light the back of
your hand, and you've got your finger on the pole.
Are you believing this new promise that it'll be less
than the fifteen point nine or not?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Absolutely not, It'll be more than fifteen point nine. And
the first thing they've got to do is give up
on the Golden Mile cut back. They've got to stop
the spending on all this earthquake stuff that they keep
thinking every building's going to come down in a slight shape.
They've got to forget about that. We've been given four
more years by the government not to do anything. Pull
your heads in, stop doing the spending on things we
don't need to spend on right now, and get us
(07:46):
to the next election so we can make some changes.
But if you think you live in Wellington and you've
got a problem with rates, if you have, and they're ridiculous,
and if you've got a commercial building, it's ten times worse.
I mean, the same building in Auckland, the same building
in Wellington with the same value, you're paying almost double
the rates.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
It's just not right, certainly not. Thanks so much for
your time, guys, great to have you on Nick Legget
Infrastructure New Zealand and Nick Mills, host of Wellington Mornings
on News Talk SEDB. For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive,
listen live to News Talk SEDB from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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