John MacDonald was joined by Chris Hipkins for their regular catchup.
Labour's leader is siding with the Prime Minister in being open to exploring a social media ban for kids.
Australia's Government's examining banning under-16 year olds from using sites like Instagram, Facebook, and X.
Christopher Luxon has said he's looking into the policy.
Chris Hipkins told John MacDonald that he's on the same page, but this shouldn't be seen as a silver bullet as kids ultimately find ways around such things.
He says there also needs to be a good focus on educating kids to be safe online.
Hipkins also says the electricity sector needs more regulation as two central North Island mills have given final confirmation they'll close.
Winstone Pulp is blaming high energy prices for shutting down its Ohakune mills, with the loss of 230 jobs.
Chris Hipkins says the new Government's done away with a consumer advocacy group for electricity users, but intervention is needed.
He says there's clear evidence the market is failing because people are paying too much and electricity company profits are making far too big a profit – evidence the Government should do more.
LISTEN ABOVE
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB So.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm very regular catch up with Labor leader and opposition
leader Chris Hopkins.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Chris, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
How are you John, I'm very well. Thanks, very good.
We've been discussing on the show so far this morning
the call by the Chief Children's Commission for the age
of criminal culpability or responsibility to be raised from ten
to fourteen. What's your position on that?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Open to looking at it, I mean, I think what
we've got to do is figure out how we get
these young people who are getting into trouble out of
trouble most effectively. So, you know, there are a range
of things that we can do with these kids that
get them out of trouble, and at the moment it
seems that a lot of those kids aren't accessing those things.
So we had a law change before Parliament that would
have seen some of these kids before the youth court
(00:53):
earlier on in the piece, because one of the problems is,
you know, they're not getting to youth court until they're
well into their teens, and as a result, when they
get to youth court, the youth court can sentence them
to things that all can access, not necessarily sentence, but
can access support to get them out of trouble that
that up until that point aren't accessing. So I do
think we've got to figure out how do we get
their support to them at a younger age.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
All right, which is typical political speak there you say
you're open to looking at it. Off the top of
your head, is ten two young.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
From the age of criminal responsibility? Yeah it is?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, all right. Mill workers in North Island yesterday I
got the news I didn't want to hear that Winstone
Pulp International was closing down the two mills near or
Hakuni and they're saying it's because the power prices. And
look there will be a whole lot of things contributing
to that, not just the power prices. Nevertheless, you know
people are talking about power prices. Can I run an
idea past you? Do you think we need to do
(01:49):
what we've done with the supermarkets and we've got the
supermarket Commissioner. Do you think we need an electricity commissioner
in New Zealand to bang heads together?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I think it was the original one of the original
goals of the Electricity commission which has subsequently been renamed
the Electricity Authority. I mean, I think that we do
need to have something there. We had a sort of
a consumer advocacy set up for you know, electricity users
under our government, and the current government did away with it.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
But I think, well, hold on, hold, the prices haven't
just increased since the fourteenth of October last year.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Of course not, but I'm saying that they I don't
think abolishing that group helped, or that you know, that
that mechanism that we had there helped. But I mean, yeah,
there's clear evidence of market's failing. People are paying too
higher prices for their electricity, and the electricity companies are
paying are making far too bigger profits. I think that
is a sign that government should do something more and.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Do we need what a commissioner the same way we
have for the supermarkets? Would would that be worth pursuing.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It could be a commissioner, It could be more regulations,
you know. But one of the challenges with the sector
at the moment is that you renewable electricity is actually
being sort of dissuaded, you know, discouraged from entering the
market because of the way the peak market works, where
it actually makes them least viable. So I think we've
got to figure out there might need to be more
(03:13):
regulation around peak pricing, and that might actually help mean
that all of this consented renewable electricity that's already out
there starts to actually be developed, and then that'll actually
help to bring the price down.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
What did you mame when you said the other day
you want to see more labor in the Labor Party.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
I think we've got to get back to some of
the core stuff that the Labor Party was founded on.
You know, if you go back to when the Labor
Party was at its peak in the nineteen thirties and around,
it's sort of when it made it into government for
the first time, it was very much focused on making
hard work pay off. So the idea that you go out,
you work hard every day, you should be able to
buy your own home, you should be able to earn
(03:52):
a good and come you should be able to create
a good life for yourself and your families. That's an
adherent in Labour's DNA, and no.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Party, no party would argue against that though to be fair, well.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
You know the things that helped to achieve their they
argue against it. I mean increasing the minimum wages. I mean,
the current government have argued against doing things that actually
support workers to get better paid for the work that
they're doing. That's those are things that the current government
have opposed. These are things that are pretty you know,
pretty core to labor. You know, we want to make
sure that people who are working hard do actually get
(04:25):
well paid, can afford to buy a house, can afford
to have a good life.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
So so a capital gains tax or wealth tax is
that is that all about putting the labor back into labor.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Well, it's about saying at the moment, you know, our
tax system is unbalanced. Salary and wage journers pay a
disproportionate share of the tax that the government collects because
we don't have a diversified tax system and we are
international internationally and oddity in that regard. Other countries do
have a more diverse range of tex Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, which is.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
You don't have to intribute the lines you like they
do in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yep, yep, yep. But a capital gains taxes and wealth
taxes and other taxes, that is that all about labor?
Making labor labor again, Well.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yes, it's part of us going back to our kind
of traditional territory of saying how do you make sure
that people that are working hard every day can actually
get ahead?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
So pretty much you can confirm those two or one
of those will be in the text policy at some
point ahead of the election.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
We've said that we will. We'll be very focused on
diversifying the text based So those are two options that
are on the table.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Sounds like he guessed to me, Am I wrong.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Well haven't. We haven't narrowed down the options yet at
this point. There's a range of different things that we're
looking at, but those are certainly two of the options
that we.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Are looking Oh, it's a bit like saying, you know
when your parent, when your mum says will see if
you ask for a lolly, and they say says will
mumpsays will see, you pretty much know it's a yes.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
The difference, John, is that we're being upfront about this.
The current government are also looking at what they call
new revenue measures, but they won't tell anybody what they are,
or new revenue measures means basically new Texas. We just
won't tell anybody what they are.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Are you saying, are you say mum wasn't upfront.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Well, I'll tell you what capital gain stacks. The current
government are doing it. They're just not calling it a
capital gain stack. The bright Line tests for rental property investment.
That is a capital gain stack. And what they're talking
about in terms of value capture from new roading projects,
well that's basically a capital gains tax, all right. I
mean they're just they're just finding they're just finding different
language to use, but they're talking about the same start. Right.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
One final thing, the Australian government announces it's intention to
put an age limit on social media use or users,
and Christoph Luxon has already said he'd be open to
looking at it. What's what's your position.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
I'm open to looking at it as well, but I
don't think we should see it as a silver bullet.
I mean, ultimately, kids do find ways around these things,
and so what we've got to do is make sure
that we've got a good focus on educating kids about
how to stay safe online as well, because I mean
I can tell you you know, I've got parental controls
on my kids that I pad so that I can
see what they're accessing and so on. But nothing is
foolproof in this space. You've got to make sure that
(07:07):
you've got good education to kids so that they know
what they're looking at, they know what's sake, they know
what's not faked, and they know that they actually talk
to someone about it if something's happening that's making them monsakee.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
You've pretty much described or given a reason for their
not to be a need or not to be worth
pursuing an age limit, haven't you just then?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
No, not at all, Not at all. No, I've said
that I definitely think we should be looking at it,
but it would be another tool in the talkkit. It
wouldn't be a magical solution brilliant.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Hey, nice to catch up and we'll talk again in
two weeks.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
It's good to talk to you, John.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Likewise, for more from Category Mornings with John McDonald, listen
live to News Talks It'd be christ Church from nine
am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB So.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
I'm very regular catch up with Labor leader and opposition
leader Chris Hopkins.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Chris, good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
How are you John, I'm very well. Thanks, very good.
We've been discussing on the show so far this morning
the call by the Chief Children's Commission for the age
of criminal culpability or responsibility to be raised from ten
to fourteen. What's your position on that?
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Open to looking at it, I mean, I think what
we've got to do is figure out how we get
these young people who are getting into trouble out of
trouble most effectively. So, you know, there are a range
of things that we can do with these kids that
get them out of trouble, and at the moment it
seems that a lot of those kids aren't accessing those things.
So we had a law change before Parliament that would
have seen some of these kids before the youth court
(00:53):
earlier on in the piece, because one of the problems is,
you know, they're not getting to youth court until they're
well into their teens, and as a result, when they
get to youth court, the youth court can sentence them
to things that all can access, not necessarily sentence, but
can access support to get them out of trouble that
that up until that point aren't accessing. So I do
think we've got to figure out how do we get
their support to them at a younger age.
Speaker 2 (01:14):
All right, which is typical political speak there you say
you're open to looking at it. Off the top of
your head, is ten two young.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
From the age of criminal responsibility? Yeah it is?
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, all right. Mill workers in North Island yesterday I
got the news I didn't want to hear that Winstone
Pulp International was closing down the two mills near or
Hakuni and they're saying it's because the power prices. And
look there will be a whole lot of things contributing
to that, not just the power prices. Nevertheless, you know
people are talking about power prices. Can I run an
idea past you? Do you think we need to do
(01:49):
what we've done with the supermarkets and we've got the
supermarket Commissioner. Do you think we need an electricity commissioner
in New Zealand to bang heads together?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
I think it was the original one of the original
goals of the Electricity commission which has subsequently been renamed
the Electricity Authority. I mean, I think that we do
need to have something there. We had a sort of
a consumer advocacy set up for you know, electricity users
under our government, and the current government did away with it.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
But I think, well, hold on, hold, the prices haven't
just increased since the fourteenth of October last year.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
Of course not, but I'm saying that they I don't
think abolishing that group helped, or that you know, that
that mechanism that we had there helped. But I mean, yeah,
there's clear evidence of market's failing. People are paying too
higher prices for their electricity, and the electricity companies are
paying are making far too bigger profits. I think that
is a sign that government should do something more and.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Do we need what a commissioner the same way we
have for the supermarkets? Would would that be worth pursuing.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
It could be a commissioner, It could be more regulations,
you know. But one of the challenges with the sector
at the moment is that you renewable electricity is actually
being sort of dissuaded, you know, discouraged from entering the
market because of the way the peak market works, where
it actually makes them least viable. So I think we've
got to figure out there might need to be more
(03:13):
regulation around peak pricing, and that might actually help mean
that all of this consented renewable electricity that's already out
there starts to actually be developed, and then that'll actually
help to bring the price down.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
What did you mame when you said the other day
you want to see more labor in the Labor Party.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
I think we've got to get back to some of
the core stuff that the Labor Party was founded on.
You know, if you go back to when the Labor
Party was at its peak in the nineteen thirties and around,
it's sort of when it made it into government for
the first time, it was very much focused on making
hard work pay off. So the idea that you go out,
you work hard every day, you should be able to
buy your own home, you should be able to earn
(03:52):
a good and come you should be able to create
a good life for yourself and your families. That's an
adherent in Labour's DNA, and no.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Party, no party would argue against that though to be fair, well.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
You know the things that helped to achieve their they
argue against it. I mean increasing the minimum wages. I mean,
the current government have argued against doing things that actually
support workers to get better paid for the work that
they're doing. That's those are things that the current government
have opposed. These are things that are pretty you know,
pretty core to labor. You know, we want to make
sure that people who are working hard do actually get
(04:25):
well paid, can afford to buy a house, can afford
to have a good life.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
So so a capital gains tax or wealth tax is
that is that all about putting the labor back into labor.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Well, it's about saying at the moment, you know, our
tax system is unbalanced. Salary and wage journers pay a
disproportionate share of the tax that the government collects because
we don't have a diversified tax system and we are
international internationally and oddity in that regard. Other countries do
have a more diverse range of tex Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah, which is.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
You don't have to intribute the lines you like they
do in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Yep, yep, yep. But a capital gains taxes and wealth
taxes and other taxes, that is that all about labor?
Making labor labor again, Well.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Yes, it's part of us going back to our kind
of traditional territory of saying how do you make sure
that people that are working hard every day can actually
get ahead?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
So pretty much you can confirm those two or one
of those will be in the text policy at some
point ahead of the election.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
We've said that we will. We'll be very focused on
diversifying the text based So those are two options that
are on the table.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
Sounds like he guessed to me, Am I wrong.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Well haven't. We haven't narrowed down the options yet at
this point. There's a range of different things that we're
looking at, but those are certainly two of the options
that we.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Are looking Oh, it's a bit like saying, you know
when your parent, when your mum says will see if
you ask for a lolly, and they say says will
mumpsays will see, you pretty much know it's a yes.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
The difference, John, is that we're being upfront about this.
The current government are also looking at what they call
new revenue measures, but they won't tell anybody what they are,
or new revenue measures means basically new Texas. We just
won't tell anybody what they are.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Are you saying, are you say mum wasn't upfront.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Well, I'll tell you what capital gain stacks. The current
government are doing it. They're just not calling it a
capital gain stack. The bright Line tests for rental property investment.
That is a capital gain stack. And what they're talking
about in terms of value capture from new roading projects,
well that's basically a capital gains tax, all right. I
mean they're just they're just finding they're just finding different
language to use, but they're talking about the same start. Right.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
One final thing, the Australian government announces it's intention to
put an age limit on social media use or users,
and Christoph Luxon has already said he'd be open to
looking at it. What's what's your position.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
I'm open to looking at it as well, but I
don't think we should see it as a silver bullet.
I mean, ultimately, kids do find ways around these things,
and so what we've got to do is make sure
that we've got a good focus on educating kids about
how to stay safe online as well, because I mean
I can tell you you know, I've got parental controls
on my kids that I pad so that I can
see what they're accessing and so on. But nothing is
foolproof in this space. You've got to make sure that
(07:07):
you've got good education to kids so that they know
what they're looking at, they know what's sake, they know
what's not faked, and they know that they actually talk
to someone about it if something's happening that's making them monsakee.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
You've pretty much described or given a reason for their
not to be a need or not to be worth
pursuing an age limit, haven't you just then?
Speaker 3 (07:25):
No, not at all, Not at all. No, I've said
that I definitely think we should be looking at it,
but it would be another tool in the talkkit. It
wouldn't be a magical solution brilliant.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Hey, nice to catch up and we'll talk again in
two weeks.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
It's good to talk to you, John.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Likewise, for more from Category Mornings with John McDonald, listen
live to News Talks It'd be christ Church from nine
am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.