October 14, 2024 • 9 mins
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has labelled the Wellington City Council a shambles, while Simeon Brown is seeking advice on whether government intervention is needed - so how likely is it that the government will step in?
And the latest 1News Verian poll exactly a year on from the election has shown a slight dip for both major parties - how is the government faring?
Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls joined Nick Mills for the Beehive Buzz.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk, said B Direct from news Talk Saidb's
team at Parliament's the Bee Hive Buzz.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Joining us for the bee Hype buzzes news Talk, said
be Political editor Jason Wall's.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Good morning, Jason, how are you doing.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
I'm pretty good, mate, just got married and came back
from the honeymoon, so I'm off the market.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Well, you weren't going to allow me to congratulate you.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
That's exactly what I was going to do and ask
you how married life is.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
You know, at the.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
Stage is kind of the same, except I call it
my wife rather than fiance, which is good because I
hate that word fiance. Yeah, it seems a bit strange.
I just always defaulted the partner, but now I get
to say my wife, which is a lot more fun.
You're a real adult.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Can I give you a bit of advice from someone
that's been married for longer than you have been born?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Please?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I would suggest that you're having the best time of
your married life right now.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
Anyway, Okay, it's good. Married life is fan bloody testing,
so enjoy it. Enjoy it now. Wellington City Councils and
the news again. Nichola Willis had some really strong comments
on it yesterday and this seems to just be a
story after a story.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
What are the latest you're hearing from the behive?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Well, indeed, I mean Nicola Willis called it a shambles
yesterday and then Chris Bishop this morning on his way
into his caucus meeting called it a shamozzle. So find
your s word to describe it. I'm sure you could
come up with one a little bit more explicit than
what they've said this morning in the last night. But
of course this all comes down to Simeon Brown, who's
the local government minister. Chris Luxon rather was on Hosking
(01:48):
this morning talking about how it was up to him
to find a way forward and look at the next step.
So that's exactly the question that we asked Simeon Brown,
who's the local government minister, this morning, if just to
catch you up in case you've been living under a
rock in Wellington, the councils decided not to sell its
shares in Wellington Airport that was a thirty four percent
stake at about two hundred and eighty million dollars give
(02:10):
or take on that one and because they've decided against this.
They had already decided that they were going to but
they seemingly have changed their mind. That throws into question
what's happening with the long term plan so, which is
a bit of a concern for the government, and that's
why all these top ranking ministers have been citing their concerns. Now,
Simeon Brown is the man that actually gets to make
(02:31):
a decision here as to what happens next. Says that
he's getting at vice as we speak as to whether
the threshold for intervention has actually been met. So essentially,
he's gone to ask a bunch of brainy lawyers to
say if what's happened on the Wellington City Council is
enough for him as a minister to make an intervention. So,
and the intervention can mean one of a number of things.
(02:53):
It could mean getting information from the council that only
the government can get, or it could mean something as
extreme is putting a Crown observer onto the City Council,
which we've seen a number of times. So in terms
of what happens next, the ball is very much in
Simeon Brown's court And I asked them this morning in
terms of how significant this needs to be if the
(03:14):
issue with the shares actually met that threshold, And he
said that was a judgment call for him to make.
But he's getting official advice soon and he wouldn't give
us a timeframe, so neck we have to wait and see.
So if you think the story he has done its
dash should be sorely, sorely mistaken, do.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
You think that he will do something because I feel
that I'm disappointed by his silence.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Well, I thought you would come out a bit stronger
than he did this morning, if I'm honest. I mean
the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, and then of
course Chris Bishop, who's the minister of pretty much everything else,
came out and said that it was a shimozzol and
it was a hot It's basically a bad look for Wellingtonian's.
I mean, you just got to look at the rates bill.
It was what twenty percent increases here and it's looking
like it's going to be something similar in years to
(03:55):
come as well. And obviously something like this is going
to have an impact on rates. And the Prime Minister
has already nailed his colors to the masts on this
one and said that glocal councils have basically lost the
dressing room when it comes to the amount of increasing
rates that they've been putting up to people across the country.
So you can imagine if it's something that it's going
(04:16):
to have an impact on rates, they're going to be
pretty peeved about this.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
I keep hearing that from people.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I know that the government would be very reluctant to
make a move on this because.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
It would be a huge, huge political fight.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Oh, I mean to a degree. You will remember that
they went much further with the tot On Council. In fact,
they actually pointed a whole council there as commissioners to
sit on that council until they could hold new democratic elections.
So it's not completely unprecedented. I mean the Minister did
say this morning. This year alone he has written to
a council to get information. It wasn't Wellington, it was
(04:54):
another one. So it's not completely unprecedented. But at the
end of the day, I mean, rate payers will look
at another increase in their rate spill and I think
they'll care less about the government wading into democracy, care
a little bit more about the fact that their wallets
are getting a little bit lighter, because if you think
about this from the government's perspective, they're cutting taxes, the
Reserve Bank is cutting the official cash rate. Everybody should
(05:18):
be getting a little bit richer. But it's just counsels
that are standing in the way of that at this stage.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Councils and insurance companies. You're right.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
TV and Z had a poll last night, a year
on from the election date.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
What did I tell you?
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Yeah, Well, looking at it holistically, it doesn't tell you
all a whole lot more than we didn't already know.
I mean, the Natural down one point to thirty seven
and Labors down one point to twenty nine. The Greens
actually gained a point to twelve, the Act Party gained
one point to eight, and New Zealand First were down
one point to five percent. So on the surface of it, listen,
it wasn't a dramatic pole, It wasn't anything groundbreaking. I
(05:53):
didn't look at it and think, oh, jezu, the sky
is falling, everything is going topsy turvy. No, it was
just a poll. It does tell you a couple of
interesting things. I mean, the pe curious situation of New
Zealand First and just how frad that vote is really
comes to the four with these sorts of votes. I mean,
this whole thing. At the moment, the coalition government has
sixty three seats compared to the opposition that has fifty eight.
(06:16):
But if New Zealand First drop below that five percent threshold,
which they're at at the moment, that changes the game
completely and really throws a democratic spanner in the works
there and the whole whole scene would shift dramatically. So
that's how curious the situation actually is. Right now. I
will caveat that by saying New Zealand First tend to
(06:38):
poll a lot better closer to their election dates. At
the same time, we did see back in twenty twenty
where the exact opposite happens and their vote completely collapsed
towards the end. So Winston Peters, although he says he
doesn't care about polls, will be keeping an eye on
these sorts of things.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Do you think it could be affected by the public's
satisfaction with Casey Costella.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Ah, I think that might come into it a little bit.
I mean that seems like it's a slow burn story,
and given the fact that she is a minister, I
think it would probably reflect more on the government rather
than New Zealand first. I mean, listen, Apart from me,
you and a handful of other political nerds listening right now,
A lot of people might not know who Katie Costello is,
and even less so that she is a New Zealand
(07:21):
First Minister rather than a National Party minister. And I
don't know if a number of people are able to
make that distinction in terms of saying it's a New
Zealand first issue rather than a government issue.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
So I'll disagree a little bit with you. I think
they know about the tobacco lobbyist. I think they know
about the tobacco situation, and they know that you wouldn't
embarrass the Prime Minister as much as she did on
those decisions that she made and keep her job if
she wasn't part of a Carlist and rather than a
National Party member.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Well, I would disagree with your disagreement. Actually, I think
that a lot of people wouldn't have a clue which
party Kasey Castello is. I think you'll find that most
New Zealanders go around with the name of five politicians
in their mind. It's usually the Prime Minister, the leader
of the opposition, whoever their local MP is somebody who's
being dragged in the media for a scandal right now
and Winston Peters and I just don't think that she's
(08:10):
actually up to that threshold yet.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
All right, Well you and I would never argue with
your with your expertise.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Is this an area of your expertise?
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Smart man?
Speaker 3 (08:18):
You know that's right. I worked that out up very quickly,
So I'll give you that.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I just I just sort of saw, I saw a
gap in the traffic and took it.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Well, that's why they pay you the big bucks, my friend.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah, that's for sure. That's for sure. Any other but
so scoop some news.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
We've got a.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Minute before I got to go. Have you got anything
else you want to give us from the Bee Height?
Speaker 4 (08:38):
Well, this week is you know, it's the first week
back after a two week recess and the Prime minister's
being overseas and we've had the New Zealand First conference
over the weekend. You would have seen that there was
some argie bargie in terms of some protesters trying to
shut that one down. So they'll be looking to shift
the narrative the New Zealand First on that one and
just really try and put themselves back in the news
(08:59):
for some good news. And obviously Winston Peters is always
one to make the headlines. So we'll wait with eager
anticipation for this afternoon when he comes to the black
and white tiles before going into the house to see
if he has anything new to add to the political discourse.
But the Prime Minister, you know this poll, he doesn't
seem shaken or stirred. He's just sort of that was
a terrible James Bond.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
It was a very good to actually.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Do that one. But he's sounding a bit Winston Peters
esque these days in terms of he says he doesn't
care about the polls. But any politician he cares out
of the post ranking ones like that, they tell you
that they don't care about the polls. They don't care
about the polls.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Jason, always a pleasure, Thank you very much. Jason Wallseyre
coming from the Beehybrid. He's the News Talks. There'd be
Political Editor.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills. Listen live
to News Talks. He'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk, said B Direct from news Talk Saidb's
team at Parliament's the Bee Hive Buzz.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
Joining us for the bee Hype buzzes news Talk, said
be Political editor Jason Wall's.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Good morning, Jason, how are you doing.
Speaker 4 (00:28):
I'm pretty good, mate, just got married and came back
from the honeymoon, so I'm off the market.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Well, you weren't going to allow me to congratulate you.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
That's exactly what I was going to do and ask
you how married life is.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
You know, at the.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
Stage is kind of the same, except I call it
my wife rather than fiance, which is good because I
hate that word fiance. Yeah, it seems a bit strange.
I just always defaulted the partner, but now I get
to say my wife, which is a lot more fun.
You're a real adult.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Can I give you a bit of advice from someone
that's been married for longer than you have been born?
Speaker 3 (01:00):
Please?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
I would suggest that you're having the best time of
your married life right now.
Speaker 5 (01:05):
Anyway, Okay, it's good. Married life is fan bloody testing,
so enjoy it. Enjoy it now. Wellington City Councils and
the news again. Nichola Willis had some really strong comments
on it yesterday and this seems to just be a
story after a story.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
What are the latest you're hearing from the behive?
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Well, indeed, I mean Nicola Willis called it a shambles
yesterday and then Chris Bishop this morning on his way
into his caucus meeting called it a shamozzle. So find
your s word to describe it. I'm sure you could
come up with one a little bit more explicit than
what they've said this morning in the last night. But
of course this all comes down to Simeon Brown, who's
the local government minister. Chris Luxon rather was on Hosking
(01:48):
this morning talking about how it was up to him
to find a way forward and look at the next step.
So that's exactly the question that we asked Simeon Brown,
who's the local government minister, this morning, if just to
catch you up in case you've been living under a
rock in Wellington, the councils decided not to sell its
shares in Wellington Airport that was a thirty four percent
stake at about two hundred and eighty million dollars give
(02:10):
or take on that one and because they've decided against this.
They had already decided that they were going to but
they seemingly have changed their mind. That throws into question
what's happening with the long term plan so, which is
a bit of a concern for the government, and that's
why all these top ranking ministers have been citing their concerns. Now,
Simeon Brown is the man that actually gets to make
(02:31):
a decision here as to what happens next. Says that
he's getting at vice as we speak as to whether
the threshold for intervention has actually been met. So essentially,
he's gone to ask a bunch of brainy lawyers to
say if what's happened on the Wellington City Council is
enough for him as a minister to make an intervention. So,
and the intervention can mean one of a number of things.
(02:53):
It could mean getting information from the council that only
the government can get, or it could mean something as
extreme is putting a Crown observer onto the City Council,
which we've seen a number of times. So in terms
of what happens next, the ball is very much in
Simeon Brown's court And I asked them this morning in
terms of how significant this needs to be if the
(03:14):
issue with the shares actually met that threshold, And he
said that was a judgment call for him to make.
But he's getting official advice soon and he wouldn't give
us a timeframe, so neck we have to wait and see.
So if you think the story he has done its
dash should be sorely, sorely mistaken, do.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
You think that he will do something because I feel
that I'm disappointed by his silence.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Well, I thought you would come out a bit stronger
than he did this morning, if I'm honest. I mean
the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, and then of
course Chris Bishop, who's the minister of pretty much everything else,
came out and said that it was a shimozzol and
it was a hot It's basically a bad look for Wellingtonian's.
I mean, you just got to look at the rates bill.
It was what twenty percent increases here and it's looking
like it's going to be something similar in years to
(03:55):
come as well. And obviously something like this is going
to have an impact on rates. And the Prime Minister
has already nailed his colors to the masts on this
one and said that glocal councils have basically lost the
dressing room when it comes to the amount of increasing
rates that they've been putting up to people across the country.
So you can imagine if it's something that it's going
(04:16):
to have an impact on rates, they're going to be
pretty peeved about this.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
I keep hearing that from people.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I know that the government would be very reluctant to
make a move on this because.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
It would be a huge, huge political fight.
Speaker 4 (04:33):
Oh, I mean to a degree. You will remember that
they went much further with the tot On Council. In fact,
they actually pointed a whole council there as commissioners to
sit on that council until they could hold new democratic elections.
So it's not completely unprecedented. I mean the Minister did
say this morning. This year alone he has written to
a council to get information. It wasn't Wellington, it was
(04:54):
another one. So it's not completely unprecedented. But at the
end of the day, I mean, rate payers will look
at another increase in their rate spill and I think
they'll care less about the government wading into democracy, care
a little bit more about the fact that their wallets
are getting a little bit lighter, because if you think
about this from the government's perspective, they're cutting taxes, the
Reserve Bank is cutting the official cash rate. Everybody should
(05:18):
be getting a little bit richer. But it's just counsels
that are standing in the way of that at this stage.
Speaker 3 (05:22):
Councils and insurance companies. You're right.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
TV and Z had a poll last night, a year
on from the election date.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
What did I tell you?
Speaker 4 (05:30):
Yeah, Well, looking at it holistically, it doesn't tell you
all a whole lot more than we didn't already know.
I mean, the Natural down one point to thirty seven
and Labors down one point to twenty nine. The Greens
actually gained a point to twelve, the Act Party gained
one point to eight, and New Zealand First were down
one point to five percent. So on the surface of it, listen,
it wasn't a dramatic pole, It wasn't anything groundbreaking. I
(05:53):
didn't look at it and think, oh, jezu, the sky
is falling, everything is going topsy turvy. No, it was
just a poll. It does tell you a couple of
interesting things. I mean, the pe curious situation of New
Zealand First and just how frad that vote is really
comes to the four with these sorts of votes. I mean,
this whole thing. At the moment, the coalition government has
sixty three seats compared to the opposition that has fifty eight.
(06:16):
But if New Zealand First drop below that five percent threshold,
which they're at at the moment, that changes the game
completely and really throws a democratic spanner in the works
there and the whole whole scene would shift dramatically. So
that's how curious the situation actually is. Right now. I
will caveat that by saying New Zealand First tend to
(06:38):
poll a lot better closer to their election dates. At
the same time, we did see back in twenty twenty
where the exact opposite happens and their vote completely collapsed
towards the end. So Winston Peters, although he says he
doesn't care about polls, will be keeping an eye on
these sorts of things.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Do you think it could be affected by the public's
satisfaction with Casey Costella.
Speaker 4 (06:59):
Ah, I think that might come into it a little bit.
I mean that seems like it's a slow burn story,
and given the fact that she is a minister, I
think it would probably reflect more on the government rather
than New Zealand first. I mean, listen, Apart from me,
you and a handful of other political nerds listening right now,
A lot of people might not know who Katie Costello is,
and even less so that she is a New Zealand
(07:21):
First Minister rather than a National Party minister. And I
don't know if a number of people are able to
make that distinction in terms of saying it's a New
Zealand first issue rather than a government issue.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
So I'll disagree a little bit with you. I think
they know about the tobacco lobbyist. I think they know
about the tobacco situation, and they know that you wouldn't
embarrass the Prime Minister as much as she did on
those decisions that she made and keep her job if
she wasn't part of a Carlist and rather than a
National Party member.
Speaker 4 (07:50):
Well, I would disagree with your disagreement. Actually, I think
that a lot of people wouldn't have a clue which
party Kasey Castello is. I think you'll find that most
New Zealanders go around with the name of five politicians
in their mind. It's usually the Prime Minister, the leader
of the opposition, whoever their local MP is somebody who's
being dragged in the media for a scandal right now
and Winston Peters and I just don't think that she's
(08:10):
actually up to that threshold yet.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
All right, Well you and I would never argue with
your with your expertise.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Is this an area of your expertise?
Speaker 4 (08:17):
Smart man?
Speaker 3 (08:18):
You know that's right. I worked that out up very quickly,
So I'll give you that.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
I just I just sort of saw, I saw a
gap in the traffic and took it.
Speaker 4 (08:27):
Well, that's why they pay you the big bucks, my friend.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
Yeah, that's for sure. That's for sure. Any other but
so scoop some news.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
We've got a.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Minute before I got to go. Have you got anything
else you want to give us from the Bee Height?
Speaker 4 (08:38):
Well, this week is you know, it's the first week
back after a two week recess and the Prime minister's
being overseas and we've had the New Zealand First conference
over the weekend. You would have seen that there was
some argie bargie in terms of some protesters trying to
shut that one down. So they'll be looking to shift
the narrative the New Zealand First on that one and
just really try and put themselves back in the news
(08:59):
for some good news. And obviously Winston Peters is always
one to make the headlines. So we'll wait with eager
anticipation for this afternoon when he comes to the black
and white tiles before going into the house to see
if he has anything new to add to the political discourse.
But the Prime Minister, you know this poll, he doesn't
seem shaken or stirred. He's just sort of that was
a terrible James Bond.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
It was a very good to actually.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Do that one. But he's sounding a bit Winston Peters
esque these days in terms of he says he doesn't
care about the polls. But any politician he cares out
of the post ranking ones like that, they tell you
that they don't care about the polls. They don't care
about the polls.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
Jason, always a pleasure, Thank you very much. Jason Wallseyre
coming from the Beehybrid. He's the News Talks. There'd be
Political Editor.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills. Listen live
to News Talks. He'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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