October 7, 2025 • 9 mins
Tonight on The Huddle, Auckland Councillor Maurice Williamson and CTU economist Craig Renney joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!
NZ Post today revealed they'll be cutting services down, including fewer delivery days and fewer post offices. Do we mind this change? Who still sends post?
Winston Peters' home got vandalised last night - is this a sign the protests have gone too far?
More than 200 people will be elected unopposed at this weekend’s local elections. Is this ridiculous? Do we need an overhaul?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty. Find your
one of the kind.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
On the huddle of that's this evening we have Morris Williamson,
Auckland Councilor and Craig Rennie c to chief economist Doello, you.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Two, good evening?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Fair enough?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Fair enough?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
On the post day?
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Morris, Ah, yeah, Look the world's changed. I mean, who's
still got a checkbook? Who's still got a landline? And
post is something that had its day and was incredibly
useful and everyone relied on the post. But I don't
know whether i've ever last.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Say yeah, what do you think, Craig?
Speaker 4 (00:34):
I think you're absolutely read. The post is declining, physical
posters declining, but parcels are going up. We are sending
more parcels as more Internet shopping than it's ever happening before.
The key thing is how do we protect the workforce
because the Post has been getting rid of postal workers
and in recruiting a lot more couriers who don't have
the same protections as the postal workers had. So it's
(00:56):
about making sure that we don't, you know, balance a
union is at Craig, It is indeed a union thing
and by buns and the cost of that change on
those workers.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, how long, Morris, if you could take a punt,
How long do you reckon it is before we finally
get rid of postal days like delivery days all together,
and we're just required to go and pick up whatever
mail we have every few months at a central location.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Well, I'm trying to think of whether there's any mail
you need any more any rate. I mean, every one
of our bills comes via internet. I've watched my wife
go back to the to the letter box, pull the
stuff out, walks over the yellow lid trow.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I mean, I think, Morris, you need to get your
regio in the mail, but that can come via courier.
Like everything that you really need in the mail, you
just career it.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yes, well I think that may change to and be
actually be electronic. They're doing a whole lot of stuff
with new warrants and even the digital license. Yeah. Look,
I just think you've got to accept that things have changed.
And you imagine trying to tell people thirty years ago
to go without a checkbook.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
True, that's a very good point, Craig. How do you
feel about the protesters out Winston's house. Do they need
to call this off?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I really think they do. I'm a fully paired up
member of the Union for Politicians and advisors and people
who work in Parliament. You can't protest, I say, people's
homes this way. It's not the right thing to do.
It doesn't help the campaigns. I personally don't support this.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
What about you, Morris?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Oh, it's an outrage, absolutely outrage. I don't think Winston
would have even been there because it was a cabinet day,
so his wife jan who's just a lovely lady, she
would have been intimidated by a group of people out there.
They had a loud hailo blearing away and so on,
and I thought they went till some hour in the night,
which is it's just disgraceful. You want to go to approach,
go down to Victoria Park, do your protest. You know what,
(02:43):
do you ever stand on the side of the main
road do it. I'm not going to try and restrict
anyone's right to protest, but doing outside of any politicians
home is just wrong.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Craig, do you think the Labor Party is going to
support that legislation that makes this kind of thing unlawful.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
No, because it's badly written, because well it doesn't set
out what is a protected area. So there's the Keat
Shepherd departments directly across the road from Parliament, which have
as some of their tenants and honors a number of
politicians that would then make any protest at Parliament illegal.
And it's it's as it's written, it doesn't work.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So would the would the Labor Party Craig help in
the submissions process which is what we're going through at
the moment, and actually rewrite it so it is workable.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Well, I would. You'd have to ask the Libor party up.
My guess is that they will. But as it's currently
written it doesn't work.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
What do you think, Marris, Well, if there's got some
problems in the in the fine detail, that can be
tiied up through solect committee process and so on. But
I think the straight principle of it, as you know,
take me on when you want to in public meetings,
take me on and public things at the ATA Square
or Victoria Park, but you just stay away from my home.
Hither I was one of those in p who was
(03:55):
threatened to have my house and my family blown up,
and after a big investigation, the police court. The guy
in Avondale he had detonators dynamite in the lot and
went to court. He got five no, he got seven
years jail in the end, and my family were living
on the edge because of that, because we first of
all thought it was a pranky left voicemail message on
(04:15):
the tape. Fortunately we kept the tape and played it
back and the police followed through and finally caught it.
It's just wrong. If you disagree with me, fine and
tell me I'm wrong and you disagree with but threatening
that sort of stuff or just intimidation is just there's
no room for it, no room.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
For It's totally looney behavior.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
The huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty, the global
leader in luxury real estate.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Right on the huddle we have Craig Rennie and Morris Williamson. Craig,
when you are the Minister of Finance, will you scrap
all of the local board politicians and the local body
politicians we have and just go to a manageable number.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
In that fantastically hapathetical universe at now.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Oh well, no, you don't have my vote, bait, You've
just why wouldn't you say yes just for the popular vote.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
No, local democracy is really important and local representation is
really important.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
We've got too many, though, Morris, haven't We We.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Got far too many. Auckland Council has way more members
elected than Parliament.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
How many count them up?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I think there's one hundred and seventy two for Auckland, yes,
but there's more because we've got quite a big stack
of people who come from the independent MARI Statutory Board
who get votes on the committees, so you can add
all of them. I think there's a dozen or so
of them as well, so you're one hundred and eighty
four or whatever, and there's what one twenty members of Parliament.
So for a city, we've got way more elected than
(05:38):
the country. It's wrong.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
You're not going to count that.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
You're not even counting the Licensing Trust. Yes, carry on?
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Please, no, no, no. What happened is that this would
propose some increases during the process last year, and I
just was so objecting in my how it board out here.
We had nine local board members. The proposal will go
to eleven. I voted against it. I voted against it,
and I was one of about three and the whole
rest of the council voted to increase the number of
(06:03):
people in our local board, to have eleven local board
members rather than nine. I just think it's insane and
most people don't know their names to start with, Craig, do.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
You change your mind yet?
Speaker 1 (06:14):
No?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Come on, come on, How can you say that it's
okay to have more people running Auckland than there is
running the country.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Well, I didn't I say that you can. You can
have as many. You can have an argument about whether
or not there should be more or less, But to
not have them there's a different argument.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Oh no, no, it was reducing, not getting rid of them. No, no, no,
you don't get.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Rid of them all together. But you don't need that many.
I mean, for example, look at this, Craig. Okay, so
Kaikoda District has got eight elected members for four thy
four hundred people, which means they've got one person for
every five hundred and fifty. That's silly.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
That does seem to be quite a lot of councilors
to be I don't think, yeah, you know, I'm going
to brook much argument from me there.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I don't need to go through the example of Southland.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Then we think I think in terms of but you know,
we undervalue local government and we get the local government
that we get because we undervalue you know, the expertise
and the people that we should be looking to get
onto these committees. And you know that possibly means giving
them more power, but that probably means having fewer often.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, I suspect it.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Can I quickly, can iine that two of your stories together, postal.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
And local goal postally connectors go.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
It is absolutely insane that we vote using postal voting anymore.
Most people get it from their letter box and they
go straight on the rubbish bin. Most people have put
them on the fridge and never see them again. And
the participation rate right now, do you know how many
people who voted in an organ and your chances of
seeing it by mail closed off yesterday? Right now, seventeen
percent of all voters have voted. Seventeen percent. So that
(07:47):
just makes a mockery of the system. We've got to
go to either a technology based and give you a
you know, a secure code that you can use, or
we've got to go back to go to a place
like you do for central government and going vote there.
But postal voting is insane. And it's so out of date,
and the fact that New Zealand posts have closed down
a whole lot of their operation today makes it even
(08:08):
more outrageous.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Craig, have we convinced you, I mean, at the very
least like it does need massive reform, doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Craig, Oh, local government absolutely need nice and performance government.
We got him there, we got I reckon, but local
government financing particular, that needs huge reform. Massive governments of
being asked up, local government of being asked to do
things that they simply do not have the financial tools
to do.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
By the way, Craig, have you voted?
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I have voted.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, good and you Morris?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Oh absolutely, yes'm I voted for a fantastic candidate. I
know him well.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Oh is it is it that that Williamson Chap, that's
william Yeah, he's not bad.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Not went together.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yeah, I've got a text here, Morris, Williamson makes so
much sense X Matamata College Champions. So I feel like
you're getting some votes anyway, lads, listens, good to talk
to you, Thank you very much, and I'm pleased that
we've already set up the future Minister of Finance to
do our duty work for US. Morris Williamson and Craig
Reennie our huddle this
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Evening 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
The huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty. Find your
one of the kind.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
On the huddle of that's this evening we have Morris Williamson,
Auckland Councilor and Craig Rennie c to chief economist Doello, you.
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Two, good evening?
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Fair enough?
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Fair enough?
Speaker 2 (00:14):
On the post day?
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Morris, Ah, yeah, Look the world's changed. I mean, who's
still got a checkbook? Who's still got a landline? And
post is something that had its day and was incredibly
useful and everyone relied on the post. But I don't
know whether i've ever last.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Say yeah, what do you think, Craig?
Speaker 4 (00:34):
I think you're absolutely read. The post is declining, physical
posters declining, but parcels are going up. We are sending
more parcels as more Internet shopping than it's ever happening before.
The key thing is how do we protect the workforce
because the Post has been getting rid of postal workers
and in recruiting a lot more couriers who don't have
the same protections as the postal workers had. So it's
(00:56):
about making sure that we don't, you know, balance a
union is at Craig, It is indeed a union thing
and by buns and the cost of that change on
those workers.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yeah, how long, Morris, if you could take a punt,
How long do you reckon it is before we finally
get rid of postal days like delivery days all together,
and we're just required to go and pick up whatever
mail we have every few months at a central location.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Well, I'm trying to think of whether there's any mail
you need any more any rate. I mean, every one
of our bills comes via internet. I've watched my wife
go back to the to the letter box, pull the
stuff out, walks over the yellow lid trow.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
I mean, I think, Morris, you need to get your
regio in the mail, but that can come via courier.
Like everything that you really need in the mail, you
just career it.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Yes, well I think that may change to and be
actually be electronic. They're doing a whole lot of stuff
with new warrants and even the digital license. Yeah. Look,
I just think you've got to accept that things have changed.
And you imagine trying to tell people thirty years ago
to go without a checkbook.
Speaker 4 (01:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
True, that's a very good point, Craig. How do you
feel about the protesters out Winston's house. Do they need
to call this off?
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I really think they do. I'm a fully paired up
member of the Union for Politicians and advisors and people
who work in Parliament. You can't protest, I say, people's
homes this way. It's not the right thing to do.
It doesn't help the campaigns. I personally don't support this.
Speaker 1 (02:19):
What about you, Morris?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Oh, it's an outrage, absolutely outrage. I don't think Winston
would have even been there because it was a cabinet day,
so his wife jan who's just a lovely lady, she
would have been intimidated by a group of people out there.
They had a loud hailo blearing away and so on,
and I thought they went till some hour in the night,
which is it's just disgraceful. You want to go to approach,
go down to Victoria Park, do your protest. You know what,
(02:43):
do you ever stand on the side of the main
road do it. I'm not going to try and restrict
anyone's right to protest, but doing outside of any politicians
home is just wrong.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Craig, do you think the Labor Party is going to
support that legislation that makes this kind of thing unlawful.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
No, because it's badly written, because well it doesn't set
out what is a protected area. So there's the Keat
Shepherd departments directly across the road from Parliament, which have
as some of their tenants and honors a number of
politicians that would then make any protest at Parliament illegal.
And it's it's as it's written, it doesn't work.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
So would the would the Labor Party Craig help in
the submissions process which is what we're going through at
the moment, and actually rewrite it so it is workable.
Speaker 4 (03:26):
Well, I would. You'd have to ask the Libor party up.
My guess is that they will. But as it's currently
written it doesn't work.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
What do you think, Marris, Well, if there's got some
problems in the in the fine detail, that can be
tiied up through solect committee process and so on. But
I think the straight principle of it, as you know,
take me on when you want to in public meetings,
take me on and public things at the ATA Square
or Victoria Park, but you just stay away from my home.
Hither I was one of those in p who was
(03:55):
threatened to have my house and my family blown up,
and after a big investigation, the police court. The guy
in Avondale he had detonators dynamite in the lot and
went to court. He got five no, he got seven
years jail in the end, and my family were living
on the edge because of that, because we first of
all thought it was a pranky left voicemail message on
(04:15):
the tape. Fortunately we kept the tape and played it
back and the police followed through and finally caught it.
It's just wrong. If you disagree with me, fine and
tell me I'm wrong and you disagree with but threatening
that sort of stuff or just intimidation is just there's
no room for it, no room.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
For It's totally looney behavior.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
The huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty, the global
leader in luxury real estate.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Right on the huddle we have Craig Rennie and Morris Williamson. Craig,
when you are the Minister of Finance, will you scrap
all of the local board politicians and the local body
politicians we have and just go to a manageable number.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
In that fantastically hapathetical universe at now.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
Oh well, no, you don't have my vote, bait, You've
just why wouldn't you say yes just for the popular vote.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
No, local democracy is really important and local representation is
really important.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
We've got too many, though, Morris, haven't We We.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Got far too many. Auckland Council has way more members
elected than Parliament.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
How many count them up?
Speaker 3 (05:18):
I think there's one hundred and seventy two for Auckland, yes,
but there's more because we've got quite a big stack
of people who come from the independent MARI Statutory Board
who get votes on the committees, so you can add
all of them. I think there's a dozen or so
of them as well, so you're one hundred and eighty
four or whatever, and there's what one twenty members of Parliament.
So for a city, we've got way more elected than
(05:38):
the country. It's wrong.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
You're not going to count that.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
You're not even counting the Licensing Trust. Yes, carry on?
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Please, no, no, no. What happened is that this would
propose some increases during the process last year, and I
just was so objecting in my how it board out here.
We had nine local board members. The proposal will go
to eleven. I voted against it. I voted against it,
and I was one of about three and the whole
rest of the council voted to increase the number of
(06:03):
people in our local board, to have eleven local board
members rather than nine. I just think it's insane and
most people don't know their names to start with, Craig, do.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
You change your mind yet?
Speaker 1 (06:14):
No?
Speaker 2 (06:15):
Come on, come on, How can you say that it's
okay to have more people running Auckland than there is
running the country.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Well, I didn't I say that you can. You can
have as many. You can have an argument about whether
or not there should be more or less, But to
not have them there's a different argument.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Oh no, no, it was reducing, not getting rid of them. No, no, no,
you don't get.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Rid of them all together. But you don't need that many.
I mean, for example, look at this, Craig. Okay, so
Kaikoda District has got eight elected members for four thy
four hundred people, which means they've got one person for
every five hundred and fifty. That's silly.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
That does seem to be quite a lot of councilors
to be I don't think, yeah, you know, I'm going
to brook much argument from me there.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I don't need to go through the example of Southland.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Then we think I think in terms of but you know,
we undervalue local government and we get the local government
that we get because we undervalue you know, the expertise
and the people that we should be looking to get
onto these committees. And you know that possibly means giving
them more power, but that probably means having fewer often.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yeah, I suspect it.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Can I quickly, can iine that two of your stories together, postal.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
And local goal postally connectors go.
Speaker 3 (07:25):
It is absolutely insane that we vote using postal voting anymore.
Most people get it from their letter box and they
go straight on the rubbish bin. Most people have put
them on the fridge and never see them again. And
the participation rate right now, do you know how many
people who voted in an organ and your chances of
seeing it by mail closed off yesterday? Right now, seventeen
percent of all voters have voted. Seventeen percent. So that
(07:47):
just makes a mockery of the system. We've got to
go to either a technology based and give you a
you know, a secure code that you can use, or
we've got to go back to go to a place
like you do for central government and going vote there.
But postal voting is insane. And it's so out of date,
and the fact that New Zealand posts have closed down
a whole lot of their operation today makes it even
(08:08):
more outrageous.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Craig, have we convinced you, I mean, at the very
least like it does need massive reform, doesn't it.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
Craig, Oh, local government absolutely need nice and performance government.
We got him there, we got I reckon, but local
government financing particular, that needs huge reform. Massive governments of
being asked up, local government of being asked to do
things that they simply do not have the financial tools
to do.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
By the way, Craig, have you voted?
Speaker 4 (08:37):
I have voted.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
Yeah, good and you Morris?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Oh absolutely, yes'm I voted for a fantastic candidate. I
know him well.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Oh is it is it that that Williamson Chap, that's
william Yeah, he's not bad.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Not went together.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Yeah, I've got a text here, Morris, Williamson makes so
much sense X Matamata College Champions. So I feel like
you're getting some votes anyway, lads, listens, good to talk
to you, Thank you very much, and I'm pleased that
we've already set up the future Minister of Finance to
do our duty work for US. Morris Williamson and Craig
Reennie our huddle this
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Evening 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
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