July 28, 2025 • 12 mins
FIRST WITH YESTERDAY'S NEWS (highlights from Monday on Newstalk ZB) Like the Way We Vote/Cone-ageddon Update/Robot Apocalypse Update/Sport Is Overrated
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk set B.
Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio,
Used Talk sid B Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello, beautiful beings, and welcome to the Being for Tuesday.
First of yesterday's news. I am Glen Hart and will
listening back at Monday. ConA Geddon continues, AI is our
new doctor and what's going on? An open programmar with
(00:44):
further signline brawl before any of that. Yay. Kerrie Wodemer
is back and I think she's pretty keen to see
a little bit of tweaking to MMP.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
So the party that wins the most votes on the
night should have the minor parties knocking on their door
by lure. And if they cannot reach any kind of
consensus if they cannot agree on the principles that could
help them form a government, by all means, shuffle the
(01:16):
decks see what kind of government you can come up with.
I would love to hear before the election from party
leaders on who they will work with, which parties they
will rule out, which policies are non negotiable, and again
stressing I would love to see the petty power politics
taken out of the equation too. Winston. Let's not forget
(01:39):
to put a politically and competent party into government in
twenty seventeen. So yes, I mean New Zealand voters have said,
have reaffirmed MMP as the system by which they want
to be governed incomprehensibly to me, but there we go.
We live in a democracy. So they've said, yes, all right,
(02:03):
MMP is the way to go. That's the form of
proportional representation we will have. But that doesn't mean that
we can't tinker with it, make it better, reform it.
We don't agree on much cross Upkins and I, but
on that I do agree. Let's have a look at
(02:23):
MMP and let's see how we can improve it.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, the way you improve it is by not voting
for it in the first place and having a different
system like the STV that I voted for and never got.
It was just too hard, wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
People.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
It was too hard to think about, too hard, And
there were more people telling people to vote with m
MP than any other thing, and so everybody just went
and I suppose we'll go with that one. Then everybody
seems to like it, that's sort of. And then when
we got our second go at it once again. It
was like, Ah, it's just too tricky. We're going to
have to think about things, and it's too hard. We
(03:00):
keep it the way it is. News talk z Bean
now not one but two hosts up in arms about
the cones. Yesterday. I thought I thought we had a
hotline or something to though all of this.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
NZTA started using this new code of practice and therefore
hopefully using fewer cones. But not all councils did this.
They didn't adopt the new code of practice. I don't
know why they were using the old one. Don't know why.
Is it laziness, is it bloody mindedness, is it a
love of excessive health and safety? Whatever, they're still using
the old one. The old one, by the way, is
(03:33):
so prescriptive. It tells the roading guys how many reflective
markers they have to use in a ten meter stretch.
It can't be left to the roading guys just to
use their common sense when they look at the piece
of road and go, well, put one hair put when
they put one no in a in a ten meter stretch,
they've got to use this many according to the rules.
And it's not just the road markers it's prescriptive for everything,
so you can imagine how much cost that's building in now.
(03:55):
As Chris Bishop has said to them, this to the councils,
you use the new rules or you don't get the money.
And given that many councils actually go fifty to fifty
with central government on roading projects, it's probably going to
work because nothing speaks like a bit of money withheld.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Now.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
The caveat here, obviously is that a numpty will always
find a way to interpret the rules to include ten
thousand more cones than is necessary. But at least I
feel like we are getting somewhere because that road code
tip line that was announced a few months ago, we've
realized that as just a charade, it can't reduce road cones.
If the rules require the road cones, you can report
it all you like. But if they meet the rules,
then they meet the rules. So the only way to
(04:29):
change things is to change the rules threaten money, and
that seems more likely to affect change. I know a
lot of people are gonnay, what are you banging on
about road cones. Road Cones are important because road cones
are like public servants. You need a certain number and
then everything above that is just a waste of money.
And listen, if you cannot cut down on something inanimate
(04:50):
without a family to feed, like a road cone, if
you can't cut down on the cost of road cones,
then you're never going to be able to cut any.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
Costs at all.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I was talking about thinking about things earlier on you,
with the MMP and so forth. I think there's a
certain lack of thinking when it comes to this, the
whole coning things off scenario. I think it does sort
of happen, you know, they just sort of automatically whack
them down and not so automatically pick them up. I
(05:21):
had lots of cones again on the way in this morning.
There's to be a lot of motorway maintenance happening at
the moment that's stopping me getting to work on time.
I mean, it's a problem that they're building a new
bit of motorway. Well, no, it's not motorway, it's a
(05:41):
it's a road off the motorway to go across to
the Finger Para Peninsula, which is going to take two
years longer than the two years longer or was already
going to take. But anyway, for that reason is an
overpass and that keeps stopping me being able to drive
on a bit of motorway I want to drive on.
(06:02):
And they really went overboard with the cones this morning.
I can have to get round the roundabout where they
wanted me to go around because it was a detour.
Hardy put the car around that bit because they squashed
it all up. It was sort of narrower than a
normal single lane. What was going on there?
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Why are there still cones everywhere all over the road
when the government has said that they've told ZTA to
get rid of and this is apparently like the Devil's
Playbook NZTA's Code of Practice for Traffic Management Risk Assessment,
that apparently is the document that has been doing our
heads in and the government's told ns NTA to basically
(06:39):
get rid of that thing, make it obsolete, while the
problem apparently is that many councils are still using the
Devil's Workbook, the Devil's Playbook, this code of practice as
the north Star. So as a response, the government's now
threatening local council funding. You have to literally threaten their
funding to get them to change their ways. And what
(07:01):
this shows us is just how far and deep the
overtly cautious safety at any cost mentality has gone on. Also,
it shows you how scared they are of work safe
coming in and going after somebody should you know an
injury happen. You have to make sure people are safe,
of course, especially when working with dangers, but you can't
(07:22):
keep everybody safe from all harms in all places, at
all times and for any reason. Fencing every waterway is impractical,
so as covering every street and road cones. We need
to find a sensible middle ground and make sure the
officials told to carry out the changes actually do so.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
And another thing I'd like change just while we're at it.
I mean, I'm complaining to you about it. You can't
do anything about it, but I don't know who else
to complain to. So the Auckland Harbor Bridge, it's eight lanes,
but they have the ability to change the middle medium
barrier across to make it five lanes one way and
(08:02):
three lanes the other at busy times because obviously when
people are trying to come into the city they could
do with an extra lane, and when people are trying
to leave the city in the evening they could do
with an extra lane. Something's happened recently, and they've decided
that that needs to stay. The five lanes into the
(08:23):
city until well after nine o'clock, maybe after ten o'clock.
We might just around ten o'clock we might get that
lane changing vehicle out and change it across. So it's
four lanes each way. And what I'm saying is that
that's when I'm going home, and I don't want three
lanes going home. I want four lanes. This just seems
to be a big cure cars waiting for the lane
(08:45):
changing machine to come along. It never comes. Okay, everybody
who lives everywhere else, thanks for putting up with my
complaining about the roads. Let's move on to something else. Now.
AI is helping with health, and they want to see
that happen a bit more, I think, because yeah, obviously
(09:06):
we don't even know doctors and nurses and all that
sort of stuff.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
I've got my father at the moment, it's just gone
into a home. He's seventy one, and my sister and
all set up a system from think it's through Amazon,
and he's he's got a two way speaker and it's
set up for his tablet and that and he can
he can control the lighting just by talking to the speaker.
He can ask it questions, get answers. He can ask
(09:30):
it to you know, change the channel on the TV,
controlled the heating and that. And it wasn't a hell
of a lot of cost to set it up. From
what I understand, it was less than five hundred bucks.
Speaker 7 (09:41):
And is he getting some companionship from it? Do you think?
Speaker 6 (09:44):
Or making a point? You know, like he will ask
it questions, he'll get answers. The answers are pretty pretty good,
to be honest.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
So he's got a lexer, he's got like an Amazon
Echo smart speaker. Yeah, it's any groundbreaking stuff there. This
is a little bit too close to home for me
because I'm trying to look after my mom at the
moment she fell over the other day. And of course,
(10:15):
when you get to a certain age, getting back up
again's a mission. And unfortunately, I mean I've got I've
got smart speakers all over my house, but none of
them can actually help me get up when I pull over. Unfortunately,
still waiting for that that bit of AI to kick in.
News talk, right, let's finish up discussing sideline brawls. Marcus,
(10:41):
are you four or against not for.
Speaker 7 (10:43):
Good for auck congrammar with the parents getting in a
brawl cheap as creepers. Wow, And the two principles didn't
have much to say about apart from we can't comment, well,
I'm sure you could comment. You can't say you don't
approve of anything of that under any circumstances. That was gutless.
(11:04):
We understand the police are investigating instant it's inappropriate for
staff to comment while such an investigation takes place. That's
exactly when you should make a comment when something like
that's happened. Don't say who's guilty or not, you can
tell your attitude towards it.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
That's my take.
Speaker 7 (11:20):
Flip A surprised to read that.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yet it's another triggering bit of audio for me, hacking
me straight back when I used to ref my my
daughter's football games, copying a lot of abuse from the sideline.
I don't think I ever had to quite break up
a brawl, though well, I do remember a couple of
games where things got pretty testy, both on and off
(11:44):
the field. The support a bit overrated. Do you think
it's very rare that you have a brawl when you
go to the symphony or see a show and this
it's part of the show of this thing. Just saying
I am Glen Hart, lily livid, left leaning fan of
(12:05):
the arts. I'll see hearing him more controversial opinions like
that tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Used Talking Talking z Beam for more from us Talk
set B Listen live on air or online, and keep
our shows with you wherever you go with our podcasts
on iHeartRadio
You're listening to a podcast from News Talk set B.
Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio,
Used Talk sid B Talk.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Hello, beautiful beings, and welcome to the Being for Tuesday.
First of yesterday's news. I am Glen Hart and will
listening back at Monday. ConA Geddon continues, AI is our
new doctor and what's going on? An open programmar with
(00:44):
further signline brawl before any of that. Yay. Kerrie Wodemer
is back and I think she's pretty keen to see
a little bit of tweaking to MMP.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
So the party that wins the most votes on the
night should have the minor parties knocking on their door
by lure. And if they cannot reach any kind of
consensus if they cannot agree on the principles that could
help them form a government, by all means, shuffle the
(01:16):
decks see what kind of government you can come up with.
I would love to hear before the election from party
leaders on who they will work with, which parties they
will rule out, which policies are non negotiable, and again
stressing I would love to see the petty power politics
taken out of the equation too. Winston. Let's not forget
(01:39):
to put a politically and competent party into government in
twenty seventeen. So yes, I mean New Zealand voters have said,
have reaffirmed MMP as the system by which they want
to be governed incomprehensibly to me, but there we go.
We live in a democracy. So they've said, yes, all right,
(02:03):
MMP is the way to go. That's the form of
proportional representation we will have. But that doesn't mean that
we can't tinker with it, make it better, reform it.
We don't agree on much cross Upkins and I, but
on that I do agree. Let's have a look at
(02:23):
MMP and let's see how we can improve it.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, the way you improve it is by not voting
for it in the first place and having a different
system like the STV that I voted for and never got.
It was just too hard, wasn't it.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
People.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
It was too hard to think about, too hard, And
there were more people telling people to vote with m
MP than any other thing, and so everybody just went
and I suppose we'll go with that one. Then everybody
seems to like it, that's sort of. And then when
we got our second go at it once again. It
was like, Ah, it's just too tricky. We're going to
have to think about things, and it's too hard. We
(03:00):
keep it the way it is. News talk z Bean
now not one but two hosts up in arms about
the cones. Yesterday. I thought I thought we had a
hotline or something to though all of this.
Speaker 4 (03:12):
NZTA started using this new code of practice and therefore
hopefully using fewer cones. But not all councils did this.
They didn't adopt the new code of practice. I don't
know why they were using the old one. Don't know why.
Is it laziness, is it bloody mindedness, is it a
love of excessive health and safety? Whatever, they're still using
the old one. The old one, by the way, is
(03:33):
so prescriptive. It tells the roading guys how many reflective
markers they have to use in a ten meter stretch.
It can't be left to the roading guys just to
use their common sense when they look at the piece
of road and go, well, put one hair put when
they put one no in a in a ten meter stretch,
they've got to use this many according to the rules.
And it's not just the road markers it's prescriptive for everything,
so you can imagine how much cost that's building in now.
(03:55):
As Chris Bishop has said to them, this to the councils,
you use the new rules or you don't get the money.
And given that many councils actually go fifty to fifty
with central government on roading projects, it's probably going to
work because nothing speaks like a bit of money withheld.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Now.
Speaker 4 (04:09):
The caveat here, obviously is that a numpty will always
find a way to interpret the rules to include ten
thousand more cones than is necessary. But at least I
feel like we are getting somewhere because that road code
tip line that was announced a few months ago, we've
realized that as just a charade, it can't reduce road cones.
If the rules require the road cones, you can report
it all you like. But if they meet the rules,
then they meet the rules. So the only way to
(04:29):
change things is to change the rules threaten money, and
that seems more likely to affect change. I know a
lot of people are gonnay, what are you banging on
about road cones. Road Cones are important because road cones
are like public servants. You need a certain number and
then everything above that is just a waste of money.
And listen, if you cannot cut down on something inanimate
(04:50):
without a family to feed, like a road cone, if
you can't cut down on the cost of road cones,
then you're never going to be able to cut any.
Speaker 5 (04:57):
Costs at all.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I was talking about thinking about things earlier on you,
with the MMP and so forth. I think there's a
certain lack of thinking when it comes to this, the
whole coning things off scenario. I think it does sort
of happen, you know, they just sort of automatically whack
them down and not so automatically pick them up. I
(05:21):
had lots of cones again on the way in this morning.
There's to be a lot of motorway maintenance happening at
the moment that's stopping me getting to work on time.
I mean, it's a problem that they're building a new
bit of motorway. Well, no, it's not motorway, it's a
(05:41):
it's a road off the motorway to go across to
the Finger Para Peninsula, which is going to take two
years longer than the two years longer or was already
going to take. But anyway, for that reason is an
overpass and that keeps stopping me being able to drive
on a bit of motorway I want to drive on.
(06:02):
And they really went overboard with the cones this morning.
I can have to get round the roundabout where they
wanted me to go around because it was a detour.
Hardy put the car around that bit because they squashed
it all up. It was sort of narrower than a
normal single lane. What was going on there?
Speaker 5 (06:18):
Why are there still cones everywhere all over the road
when the government has said that they've told ZTA to
get rid of and this is apparently like the Devil's
Playbook NZTA's Code of Practice for Traffic Management Risk Assessment,
that apparently is the document that has been doing our
heads in and the government's told ns NTA to basically
(06:39):
get rid of that thing, make it obsolete, while the
problem apparently is that many councils are still using the
Devil's Workbook, the Devil's Playbook, this code of practice as
the north Star. So as a response, the government's now
threatening local council funding. You have to literally threaten their
funding to get them to change their ways. And what
(07:01):
this shows us is just how far and deep the
overtly cautious safety at any cost mentality has gone on. Also,
it shows you how scared they are of work safe
coming in and going after somebody should you know an
injury happen. You have to make sure people are safe,
of course, especially when working with dangers, but you can't
(07:22):
keep everybody safe from all harms in all places, at
all times and for any reason. Fencing every waterway is impractical,
so as covering every street and road cones. We need
to find a sensible middle ground and make sure the
officials told to carry out the changes actually do so.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
And another thing I'd like change just while we're at it.
I mean, I'm complaining to you about it. You can't
do anything about it, but I don't know who else
to complain to. So the Auckland Harbor Bridge, it's eight lanes,
but they have the ability to change the middle medium
barrier across to make it five lanes one way and
(08:02):
three lanes the other at busy times because obviously when
people are trying to come into the city they could
do with an extra lane, and when people are trying
to leave the city in the evening they could do
with an extra lane. Something's happened recently, and they've decided
that that needs to stay. The five lanes into the
(08:23):
city until well after nine o'clock, maybe after ten o'clock.
We might just around ten o'clock we might get that
lane changing vehicle out and change it across. So it's
four lanes each way. And what I'm saying is that
that's when I'm going home, and I don't want three
lanes going home. I want four lanes. This just seems
to be a big cure cars waiting for the lane
(08:45):
changing machine to come along. It never comes. Okay, everybody
who lives everywhere else, thanks for putting up with my
complaining about the roads. Let's move on to something else. Now.
AI is helping with health, and they want to see
that happen a bit more, I think, because yeah, obviously
(09:06):
we don't even know doctors and nurses and all that
sort of stuff.
Speaker 6 (09:08):
I've got my father at the moment, it's just gone
into a home. He's seventy one, and my sister and
all set up a system from think it's through Amazon,
and he's he's got a two way speaker and it's
set up for his tablet and that and he can
he can control the lighting just by talking to the speaker.
He can ask it questions, get answers. He can ask
(09:30):
it to you know, change the channel on the TV,
controlled the heating and that. And it wasn't a hell
of a lot of cost to set it up. From
what I understand, it was less than five hundred bucks.
Speaker 7 (09:41):
And is he getting some companionship from it? Do you think?
Speaker 6 (09:44):
Or making a point? You know, like he will ask
it questions, he'll get answers. The answers are pretty pretty good,
to be honest.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
So he's got a lexer, he's got like an Amazon
Echo smart speaker. Yeah, it's any groundbreaking stuff there. This
is a little bit too close to home for me
because I'm trying to look after my mom at the
moment she fell over the other day. And of course,
(10:15):
when you get to a certain age, getting back up
again's a mission. And unfortunately, I mean I've got I've
got smart speakers all over my house, but none of
them can actually help me get up when I pull over. Unfortunately,
still waiting for that that bit of AI to kick in.
News talk, right, let's finish up discussing sideline brawls. Marcus,
(10:41):
are you four or against not for.
Speaker 7 (10:43):
Good for auck congrammar with the parents getting in a
brawl cheap as creepers. Wow, And the two principles didn't
have much to say about apart from we can't comment, well,
I'm sure you could comment. You can't say you don't
approve of anything of that under any circumstances. That was gutless.
(11:04):
We understand the police are investigating instant it's inappropriate for
staff to comment while such an investigation takes place. That's
exactly when you should make a comment when something like
that's happened. Don't say who's guilty or not, you can
tell your attitude towards it.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
That's my take.
Speaker 7 (11:20):
Flip A surprised to read that.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
Yet it's another triggering bit of audio for me, hacking
me straight back when I used to ref my my
daughter's football games, copying a lot of abuse from the sideline.
I don't think I ever had to quite break up
a brawl, though well, I do remember a couple of
games where things got pretty testy, both on and off
(11:44):
the field. The support a bit overrated. Do you think
it's very rare that you have a brawl when you
go to the symphony or see a show and this
it's part of the show of this thing. Just saying
I am Glen Hart, lily livid, left leaning fan of
(12:05):
the arts. I'll see hearing him more controversial opinions like
that tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Used Talking Talking z Beam for more from us Talk
set B Listen live on air or online, and keep
our shows with you wherever you go with our podcasts
on iHeartRadio
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