December 11, 2025 • 32 mins
Nick Mills wraps the week with Wellington City Councillor Andrea Compton and Wellington Central MP Tamatha Paul.
Wellington’s big day approaches – what are Paul and Compton excited for this weekend? Avatar, Te Papa, Cricket, Football, plenty going on in the capital this weekend.
They then face off with Nick over the issues of the week, including their thoughts on Andrew Little’s mayoralty, Wellington’s rates, the state of cancer report, the disability carers supreme court case, their hot or nots for the week. Plus, who will win in the potential Willis v Richardson finance debate.
And is a social media ban in NZ a good idea? Find out what they think on Friday Faceoff.
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 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from news Talk said b Wellington's official week in review.
It's Friday facear with Kudovic Property Management, a better rental
experience for all. Visit Counovic dot co dot ins head Thursday.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
My favorite part of the week is Friday face Off.
Seven minutes past eleven. Today we've been joined by Tamotha
Paul Green, MP for Wellington Central. Good morning, Tempest, How
are you coming a little bit close to you?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Good?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
How are you going? I'm not tired, We're Why are
you bit tired?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
We are an urgency in Parliament at the moment. It's
our last urgency for the year, which means we're in
the until midnight every night. So a bit of a
late night last night, But that's okay.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
You're a young person midnights. That's like an old people's
six o'clock at night, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I don't know when you do it four nights in
a row kind of takes it.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Out of you. But hey, are we here?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Are you enjoying it?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I'm loving it. It's I was just saying to Andrew before.
One thing that I like about going from council to Parliament.
Is you kind of go from council you need to
know about everything to in parliament you get to really
focus on the issues that you really really care about.
So I love it.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
It's been cool.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
And ANDREWA Compton, Wellington City Counselor. That sounds great, doesn't it,
does it? Wellington City Counselor.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well, it's what I campaigned for and tried hard to get.
And yeah, now I'm in the seat and I'm enjoying it.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Are you tell me the good things about it? And
tell me the bad things about it?
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Well, the good things you can no longer hold, you know,
no longer sit back and criticize. You've actually got to
get in and do the mahey and understand the issues
and put your thoughts forward and negotiate with the team
and get stuff done. So fun, no bad things. You know,
everyone's getting along and we're making effective change.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Now. You were very vocal when because on stage you
are going to run for me, you know, and you
were very vocal on the things you wanted to change
within Willington, very vocal. Has that changed since you've gotten
the group and around the table. Has that made you
lessen your demands.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Ah, I not necessarily lessen my demands, but you know,
I've always you know, thought, I've got to get to
the table and I've got to put my points across.
But once you're at the table, you do have to
work as a team. And that's that's part of a council.
You're not individuals. You are there as a group. So
not so much lesson But I'm working on my convincing
(02:39):
skills and negotiating with the other counselors.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
You haven't been there before, Tamatha has what's the vibe
like as far as you know walking into it and
starting and learning and that, what's your vibe? What do
you what do you feel like? Do you feel that
people give a damn and you've got good people around you?
Or do you feel you've got a better work to do?
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Oh, I mean there's definitely work to do, but I
will say the council offices have been really supportive. There
is a mood for change the rest of the council.
The council is the mayor his team. You know, we're
all there to change direction, you know, whether it's subtly
or majorly, but we're there for the good of Wellington,
and yeah, he's great. It was actually funny on my
(03:18):
first day. You know, the people pig us left and right.
I'm very much centralist. I voted all over the political
spectrum in my life. But it was funny the very
first meeting we sat there and I thought, oh, thank
god he's here. You know, he really took charge and
you know he knows what he's doing. He is the
(03:39):
adult in the room. Which is the paragraph you know
thrown around.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Well, you can't say you can't say the same about
youth cam I you left and left and left and left.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yeah, but I mean, just thinking about that, Andrew, it's
funny you make some really random alliances on council. Like
I remember Diane Calvert and I worked together on some
of the social housing work, which was you know, an
unlikely hearing, and I would work with Tim Brown. Actually,
Tim Brown and I get along really well as well.
So I guess it's good when you've got people who
(04:08):
can put their ideology aside and kind of see the
humanity and others and then you can just get along
and have a bit of a laugh. It's not also serious.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
See, I can't put Tim Brown in a political box.
I can't.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
He's socially very liberal, but economically he's definitely capitalism's number
one fan.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
And you work with I've heard him comment about how
he gets on very well with you. Right, let's talk
about Wellington, tamitha great. Can you remember a weekend like
this in your time that since you've been here? I mean,
when you think about it, how big a deal is it.
You've got Avatar, you've got the Black Caps, you got
(04:48):
Christmas events, you got carols, you've got to paper opening
and exhibition, you've got a cruise ship. And this is
Wellington at its best, isn't.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
It It is?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
It's beautiful, the weather's clearing up, We've got beautiful blue skies.
This is what it's all about. It reminds me of
you know, at the start of the year when you've
got Wellington Anniverse used to have homegrown those kinds of
weekends where you're just walking around town, you're in the sun,
you're catching up with people spending money, which is really important,
(05:16):
especially at the moment. So now it's awesome and I
think we really deserve it as a city.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
After this big year that we've.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Had, does it feel like it might be just we've
bottomed out, and you know, we're all looking for that
sign that we've bottomed out and we're coming right. Does
it feel like that to you?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I hope.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
I know that the job losses, they're still coming, and
I know kind of order are looking at more job
cuts and that's that's on top of the one thousand
job cuts that have happened over the last year. So
those are still happening and still rolling. And I know
that people are still recovering from that. But it feels
like we're on the come up again, and I think
(05:53):
it's really positive. But there's definitely some things that we
could do in our city to bring it up a notch,
and I've talked about those in the past. We need
an arena. I think that's something that maybe you and
I could agree on. We're the only city left in
Austrasia that doesn't have an arena.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Are you talking about an indoor arena or are you
talking about converting the base in reserve and spending of
money there to make it a fifteen thousand No.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
No, we'll leave based on reserve because, as we'll see
this weekend, it's needed for the purpose that it holds
currently but I think that we need an indoor arena.
It's a whole bigger shows because when you've got big
international acts coming to New Zealand, even domestic acts like
six sixty, they need a place that they can play.
And Wellington always get skipped in the circuit, which means
we miss out on really big, awesome artists of all generations. Yes,
(06:36):
and all genres.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Andrea, big, big weekend, big weekend for your counsel. What
are you focusing on. What's the vibe around the council
table on this weekend?
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Yeah, Look, council's pretty excited, you know, pretty grateful I
think to James Cameron and the team for bringing the
Avatar premiere to Wellington. It sort of came out of nowhere,
so that was pretty exciting. Look I was here in
the mid two thousands when we had the Lord of
the Ring premiers. I remember standing, you know, ten deep
(07:08):
along side Midland Park taking photos of everyone and their
mustangs going up and down. You know, that was pretty
special and it's starting to feel like we might be
inching back towards that. And look, that's not due to
this council. This is due to a number of other
things coming together. But you know, if we can set
ourselves up for Wellington to be like this moving forward,
then that's pretty exciting.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
But to be fair, this came about, this opportunity came
about with this council. Perhaps a previous council would have
put too many roadblocks in its way for making it happen. Basically,
you guys all said, let's make it happen. It's going
to be short term, turn it round and let's get
it done.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Yeah, that's true. I mean, you know, they approved the
traffic resolutions really quickly. There was no real debate about that,
you know, and you know this council is definitely wanting
that vibe of open for business and so it's how
do we do that? And so you know we've got
Carl Tiffan Barker ahead of the Economic Subcommittee and you
know they'll be coming out with some new ideas on
(08:08):
how to really get this moving.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Do you think that you will see stuff early next year?
And we'll say, you know, because at the moment, you're right,
you've just inherited all the issues and seen all the things.
Do you reckon it would sort of halfway through next
year we'll see some Wow, this is what this council
is doing differently.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Yeah, I think you will. You know, Tanakaw Square reopening
is going to be pretty special for the city, and
we're already looking at ideas on you know, how we
can kind of get a vibe going for that, and yeah,
I think I think we will start to see things
happen next year.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Right, Tamitha, if you had a chat to Andrew Little,
if you told him what you thought was right and
wrong when your time in Washington City Council and what
he needs to work on.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
I have had multiple meetings with him now and I
think he's cool, he's I like the way he operates
so far. But you've had a big chat with him.
The big one has been housing, so trying to get
him to use his influence to get Arlington built, which
is three hundred public homes in Mount Cook. The site's
ready fifty million dollars worth. The taxpayer money has gone
(09:05):
into it to be built and.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Who's building it Wellington City Council.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Order and it was older key construction that were contracted,
so lots of local companies and subcontractors were engaged in it.
So I really want them to be able to build
that The other thing I talked to him about is
homelessness that's obviously really massive, and especially wanted to bring
to his attention woman and the amount of women who
are experiencing homelessness. And yeah, he gave me the impression
(09:34):
that he also takes it seriously, so I hope we
can work together on those things.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I've got to go to an air break, but I
just want to quickly ask you because I don't know
your personal thoughts on this. I'm a strong advocate for
Wellington City Council not having social housing and it's all
been under one umbrella, so one organization can look after
exactly the people that you want to be looked after.
What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
That's what they've done. So when they set up to
toy Mahana the community housing provider, they have basically transferred
a lot of those functions over to them. So what
you want is basically happening. And yeah, I mean all
power to toy Mahuna to be successful. Because well now
that they've separated from the council, they're eligible for more
government subsidies, which means less money on rate payers, more
(10:17):
money from government subsidies and hopefully better quality housing and
more housing for people in social housing cool.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Is it a concern Andrew, I mean you would have
had a look at it your account spased person. Is
it a concern for me as a rate payer that
we're paying so much for social housing and the government
probably getting away a little bit lightly? So temoth has
jumped from one camp to the other camp. But should
it be more responsibility on the government rather than us
as taxpat o as rate payers.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Well, my view on social housing is that it's a
government responsibility. However, we did sign a contract and we're
kind of locked into that, you know. Now that we
are locked in, I think it's important and we just
get the best use of the money that we're having
to spend, you know, and do the best we can
make sure that things don't we don't see more blowouts
on costs on on projects, and that we spend the
(11:05):
money in the most effective way we can for our communities.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
And can I just add to him real quick, Nick,
I know we've got to go to the break. But
there was a time there when social housing was had
a positive return. It was actually contributing to a one
percent rate reduction for a period there and so there
were there was a time when it was contributing positively
to rate payers as well.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
So it's not all bad.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Yep yeap before we had access to government subsidies through
to toy Mahna Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Friday face off with Andrea Coompton and Tamotha Paul amalgamation
me is around the regions of a met and that
discussed amalgamation. Tamath, tell me what your thoughts are in amalgamation.
What do you think? Who do you think should amalgamate? Some? None?
What's your gut?
Speaker 3 (11:51):
My gut says no to amalgamation. But I'm open to
the options because I know there's pros and cons, so
I'm definitely open to it. I don't think it's black
and white, but my gut says no, just from the
perspective of I'm a fan of localism. I'm a fan
of people being able to have power and make decisions
(12:11):
over the communities that they live in and are directly
affected by. And if you bring it up and centralize it,
you lose a lot of that localism. You know, I
don't want I don't think it's fair that people in
potty or make decisions on behalf of people in Wellington.
I don't think Wellington should make decisions on behalf of
people in Hut Valley. So I guess being able to
maintain that localism and decision making power is really important
(12:35):
to me.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
But surely, Andrea, if you did the way that I
think that in my mind you do, it is be
based on the population of how many people you'd have
from your region on the bigger council anyway.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yeah, I suspect that's where it'll end up going. Look,
I'm broadly supportive of amalgamation. You know, Wellingston's not that big.
You know, we're between four and five hundred thousand people.
You know, we're sort of separated by invisible lines really.
You know, we share water, we share public transport. The
government reforms that have come in around the water now
means we have to we have to govern that as
(13:09):
a as a kind of a region. Now, you know,
the potential disestablishment of the Greater Wellington Regional Councils, you
can see where this is heading. I actually applaud the
meres in Wellington, the Hut Valley emplerer are for getting
together and actually trying to get ahead of these changes.
You know, otherwise it was going to be potentially change
after change after change, when we all know where it's heading.
(13:31):
So I actually applaud them for getting together and having
that mature conversation.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Have you had a thought a thought about how you
would put it together if you were in charge? I
haven't really, I mean, I mean, areas would you? I
mean my people listeners will get sick and be saying
it should be the two hot valleys Potta and Wellington
as one. Why Rapper is one?
Speaker 4 (13:51):
And yeah, I tend to agree. I mean even geographically
that kind of makes sense in terms of where the
natural geography st Yeah, that's right, you know, and I
suspect that it'll be where it ends up going. I
guess the one question mark I gave is weird as
Carpety go. You know, do they go by themselves, do
they join Horrofanua or do they come into the group
(14:12):
So they'll have some decisions or some thinking.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
I think the easiest way would be them to go
with go out towards Otaki and further Tamitha. If you
had any thoughts of it, if it did become amalgamation,
how you'd see it?
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Well, some people want to like this, but I'd love
to see a co governance structure because I think that
Tiatiau and Anti Tour play a really important role, like
even artietur. If you look at the work they're doing
in the housing space, in the economic space, you know,
helmet model, like, they're doing some pretty amazing work. So
I'd love to see a collaboration between the EWI and
(14:43):
and councils in the region. I think from a like
to think positively about amalgamation. I think it could be
positive for the environment. When you think about water catchments,
where they originate, where they flow to, where they flow through,
the harbors that they flow out into. You can't, like
Andrew said, you can't cut that up with these lines
that we draw on a map. You know that these
(15:04):
catchments flow through. We think about putting a harbor, the
harbor out here all of the rivers, all of the streams,
and all of the points in it. I think it
could be really positive to have regionalization from that perspective.
But this conversation has been going on for a long time.
It's been going on for as long as I've been
involved in local government, so I'm kind of like, oh,
(15:24):
here we go. This is just its newest iteration. But
the thing, the key thing that I've heard over the
years is that Wellington City residents will likely be subsidizing
the rest of the region because we have more income
and we have more access to revenue than other councils.
So that's a trade off that I think Wellington residents
will have to have a really hard think about.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
And that's how it would work.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah, it is, it is, And you know, there are
the Heart's got issues. Wellington City certainly has issues, has
got big issues, and it's just a question of do
we want to work together as a region to solve
those or you know, what position are we into.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
We're all in the same We're all in the same walker,
aren't we.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
I think so too. I think we're we're all in
it together. We've all got problems. You know, if we
can help each other, I think there is you know,
the devil's going to be in the detail, like it
is with most things. But I would, you know, I
would encourage a referendum to see what Wellingtonians think we
should be asking our communities. But you know, we do
(16:25):
need to have that mature conversation as a region.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Right time for some headlines. Take a break. It is
twenty seven minutes past eleven. Tamoth of Paul and Andrea
Compton joining us for Friday Faceoffs today. We've got plenty
more to talk about social media. Are we going to
follow Australia and ban it for under sixteen? Major reports
coming on the state of cancer in New Zealand? Are
(16:49):
we doing enough? I don't think we are, Tamith for
paulk Andrea Crompton Compton join us on Friday Faceoff. Let's
talk about social media. There's a lot of talk that
we New Zealand should be following Australia's lead. We're banning
under sixteens on social media. Gosh, come on, Tamothay, you've
got a view on this. I know you've got a view.
(17:10):
We are you looking at me like that? For I'm
just asking the questions. Don't come at me like that.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
It's a really silly move. At the best way that
we could protect kids from the harm that exists on
social media as by regulating the social media platforms.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Rather than can that be done?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yeah? Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
The government can put in laws to regulate the way
that social media operates if it wants to operate in
New Zealand and countries like New Zealand and Australia and
other countries like US could work together to really get
them to reform their platforms. But I guess putting the
onus on the user in this case children is not
the best way to protect them from the harm out there.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I kind of probably knew that was going to be
your view because to the youngest person I've ever spoken
to on the show, so I kind of expected you
to have that. So Andrew, I have You've got another view,
Not that I think it's wrong because I've got family
members that are killing me even thinking that it should
be banned for unders exchange. I get it.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
I probably have a difference of opinion. You know, we've
got a huge mental health issue in this country and
it has been partially linked. You know, the increase in depression, anxiety,
with the dopamine hits that you get out of social media.
You know, it has been partially linked to social media.
All these issues. You know, I have a beautiful six
(18:30):
year old daughter, Tessa. She's told me I have to
shout out her name on the radio. She's gonna be listening,
you know, And I want the best for her, and
I do worry about the social media impacts on our youth.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Does she use your phone out? Does she grab your phone?
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Well, yeah, she does grab my phone. You know, she
was watching YouTube kids and you know I zone in
and out myself, and some of the stuff she watches
on there is just rubbish. You know, she's watching kids
play with dolls, and I'm like, play with dolls yourself.
So you know, she's on a social media band it
herself at the moment actually, and in.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Fact probably the self imposed one or mum mum.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
And posed one and she's a better kid for it.
But you know, I I drive past bus stops I
used today. I drove past a bus stop in Newlands.
There were two brothers sitting in the bus stop, both
heads down on their phones. There's just no engagement, there's
no connection and we just sit there and we're watching
this absolute dribble online. Quite frankly, social media has got
(19:23):
its place. I get it. You know, it is a
place to connect, but a lot of it's just rubbish.
And I do fear for our youth.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Tamitha. When you go to a cafe and I'm sure
that you will be a Cafe Queen, and you see
these young kids on devices all the time. It doesn't
concern you.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Well, one cool thing about my job is I get
to go into a lot of the high school. So
a couple of weeks ago I went to Wellington High
and I talked to the year tens and we talked
about the under sixteen band and obviously all of them
were against it, but the reasons were really interesting. It wasn't. Well,
there's lots of reasons for it. I think the first
thing is that eliminating social media use will not stop bullying,
so bullying is going to continue to happen. The other
(20:02):
thing is that this policy hasn't been informed by young people.
So sure you can say to U can't use Facebook, Unty's, Instagram, YouTube,
et cetera. That's not necessarily where some of this activity
is taking place. You know, you talk to kid roadblocks,
you know, do you know about roadblock?
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Snake?
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Roadblocks is really popular with the kids, and it's also
a really kind of dangerous platform where lots of adults
hang out.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
And oh, I telling them to constitution.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
It's actually not the obvious social media ones that pose
the potential harm. It's some of those other forums which
are not captured by this band. So the other thing
is that banning things doesn't stop things. It's classic prohibition.
Just because you banned something doesn't stop it. It actually
drives it underground. It means that people resort to making
fake profiles, be a bit more, you know, secretive of
(20:49):
their behavior. We want young people to use technology openly
so that there can be that oversight by responsible adults.
So I think driving things underground never works.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
I'm glad you mentioned bullying because I reckon that When
I was at school, bullying was ten times not that
I don't know, ten times worse. Because we didn't have phones.
You couldn't record it, you couldn't say, you couldn't ring
somebody if someone was beating you up on the side
of the road. You took the hiding, didn't you, Because
you can't you couldn't communicate. Andrew, you're looking at me like.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
I think there's I think there's different differing levels of bullying.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
You know, cyber bullying, yes.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
Cyber bullying, and it's really hard to escape that. You know,
if you're you're carrying your phone around you, you may
as well carry the bully with you. You know and
I I that doesn't feel good and that doesn't feel
right to me. I. You know, let's see how Australia goes.
You know, this is a world first. It'd be interesting
to see how the science follows this. What does the
(21:45):
data say as opposed to a lot of anecdotal.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
This will happen though, because it's been pulled from the
biscuits in so this will go through Parliament and be discussed.
So I'm really looking forward to seeing what the what
the evidence says about it. But have you seen Adolescents
on Netflix? Nick? It's a really great I'm giving you
all these recommends. It's a really great series about young
men's exposure to some of those like more toxic traits
(22:13):
from people like.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Can I just say People that I know that have
watched it didn't didn't enjoy It was too deep, it
was it is.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Quite dark, but it has a really good view into
the reality for a lot of kids. And one quote
that I took from it is if you don't raise
your kids, the internet will raise your kids. And I
think it was a real warning about the danger of
the internet. So I understand why parents so worry.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Full of good advice today tama is it you're not
stopping the police today. I might be you're not ruling
out all police today. You're full of good advice. Must
be the studio and the surroundings, or talking to an
old guy Friday Face saw Tamotha Paul and Andrea Compton.
Andrea Compton, if you don't know, is the new Northern
Ward counselor was going to run for me then pulled
(22:58):
out very early in the piece. And if you don't know,
Tamotha Paul's the lady that wants to get rid of
the police.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Not true?
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Did I have to throw that at I did. I
didn't have to throw that in there listeners, because my
listeners will say, why are you're not attacking her? If
I'm not wanting to get rid of the police, That's
what they'll be thinking to me.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
We'll save that one for another episode. We do a
whole hour about just the stuff.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
When you when you're ready, when I'm ready. Look, I
feel extremely privileged that you come on news Talk. My
rumors have it that I'm the only person on news Talk,
but you speak to him? Is that true?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
No, I've done an interview with Ryan Bridges.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Okay to flate my ego.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
And Barry Soaper's daughter is doing my as organizing my
campaign next year. I don't know that he'd ever have
me on the show, but it's.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Hardly you know, news talk be my uncle's my aunt
is my friend. Anyway, let's move on cancer now. I
describe it like this, This is me talking freely here
right now. A full sky stadium, pack sky stadium of
people get diagnosed with cancer every year. Within fifteen years,
it's going to be a full Eden Park, which is massive,
(24:10):
thirty thirty thousand to forty five thousand. And we're not
doing enough. I don't believe, Tamatha, do you think we're
doing enough?
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Well, we've got to consider the fact that this report
says that twenty percent of people who end up with
cancer smoking is in the mix. And we have a
government who is giving money to tobacco, the tobacco lobby
and eliminating a lot of the big moves we made
to make New Zealand smoke free. So I think that
(24:38):
there's a lot more that we could be doing from
Parliament to be reducing some of the more shameful statistics
that we have in New Zealand. When it comes to cancer.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Do you think we can do more with things like
facilities and drugs though, so that if you get diagnosed
we can actually save you.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Well, absolutely, we should be allowing drugs in that have
proven to be really effective at cancer. I'm, like Andrea,
really supportive of preventative stuff though. And one thing that
has always been a gripe for me is that civical
screening for all New Zealanders is the only national screening
program that is not funded. And to me, that is
deeply unfair because it's unfair it discriminates against women.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah, very unfair. Andrea, what are your thoughts?
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Yeah, look, cancer is terrible, quite frankly, you know, but
I do agree with the recommendations and the report. We
need to put more money into preventing the cancer to
start with. You know, it pays off, you know, there's
my capitalist It pays off over time. You know, we
have healthier communities, they work longer, you know, they can
pay taxes for longer, and essentially it pays for itself
(25:43):
time and time. Again. You know, I have to meet
When National came in and they got rid of the
smoke free I was I was actually surprised, you know,
it didn't seem like a It wasn't an out there thing,
and I just don't understand why they got rid of that,
you know, when it can actually have such long lasting
benefits for our society. So you know, I agree with
(26:04):
the recommendations and the report. Prevention must come first before cure.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Okay, we don't want to talk about the hurricanes because
we know we've got new owners. And with me and
Coops talked about that, two right wing politicians, both finance ministers,
one from the nineties one from now, want to have
well the fighting. Andrea and Nichola Willis says, bring it on,
(26:32):
Come and have this debate with me anywhere anytime. Does
it have any interest to you?
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Oh yeah, I can't wait. You know what, I'm probably
interested in those.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
It feels like the right could actually snooker themselves here,
you know, or I'll just throw it out. There's a
bit of a conspiracy. It could be just a really
smart strategy. I'm not sure if it's a political strategy
or not.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Interesting takespay. Our unions don't do things for strategy. They
do things to have a co don't they.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
I'm not sure. I'm just checking out a conspiracy. We
just don't know, But I would say election years coming up,
and I find the traditional debates really boring. You know,
they attack past failures and I think actually, as a socilium,
it's just boring. I want to hear new ideas. I
want to hear, you know, people's ideas. What are they
going to do to get us out of what's going
(27:24):
on at the moment? You know, how are we going
to economically turn this this country around? So if this
is a precursor to some decent election debates next year,
then I'm up for it. I'll be looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Who do you think is going to win?
Speaker 4 (27:39):
I think it's going to be pretty close, but I
suspect Ruth might come out on top.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Do you yeah, I think the opposite. Whe do you
reckon it should be? Should be? And who do you
reckon should host it?
Speaker 4 (27:47):
Well? I've heard that they're talking about hosting up within
Parliament and they actually kind of makes sense set it's
a nice setting and it doesn't allow any particular media preference.
So you know, I'm up for that. I think that's cool.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Come on, Tambithank, give us your thoughts. Ruth Richardson, you
probably never even heard of her until a couple of
weeks ago. She enjoyed the text Bank was just.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Thinking she was destroying the economy before I was born.
But I want to see, and I'm not saying this
because I'm in her party, but I would like to
see Nichola Willis and Chloe Swawbrick have a debate, because
I think then you'd actually get a bit of you'd
get an actual debate of from a difference of opinion,
(28:26):
Whereas I think Nichola Willis and Ruth Richardson are very
similar well tanking the economy, tanking it, degrading our public services,
the wefare state.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Would you watch it?
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Would I watch the debate between Ruth and Nichola, No way,
I'd rather jump off a cliff.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Where do you want?
Speaker 3 (28:50):
I want to listen to two people talking about an
economic ideology that has failed and continuing that on and on,
and are you know I'm a socialist. I'm not interested
in listening to them.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
But I mean, surely that you might be able to
open your mind of it. You're a young woman going place.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
I think that there are better people that I could
listen to who understand economics more than those two.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Really yeah, Chloe.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
No, I mean from their their ideology, I think there
are better economists and right, maybe international politicians who understand
economics better.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Right, Just a real quick one that I want to
get to. Disability Cares won a Supreme award, which a
Supreme Court award, which I thought was pretty amazing. Temith,
I'm sure you'll think that's pretty good. I mean, if
you're looking after a kid that's severely in trouble, and
you should be able to be able to be paid
(29:42):
to look after them.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Oh, totally. So my mum is a she looks after
elderly people and disabled people. So definitely have a big,
a big place in my heart for people who do
that work. And it's it's tough, especially for people that
are looking after disabled kids, because it's not just the cares,
it's also the education system. So when a lot of
these kids go to primary school for some of those disabilities,
(30:04):
they don't get any special funding to help them with
their learning. And you know, once you're excluded from the
education system, that determines the trajectory of your life. So
I think any support that we can give to people
who are disabled or especially young disabled New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
This is more about the people that are actually helping
them though. It's the loved ones. It's in your own
home and you're looking after Andrew. For me, this makes
perfect sense. Why've put them into an institution and getting
people paid to do it when you've got people that
love them and care for them and want to look
after them.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Oh yeah, look, this was a This was a good decision.
You know, these cares get very little respite. They're essentially
twenty four seven for their entire lives, you know, so
to actually you know, recognize them as employees and value
them that way was the right decision. You know, they
also have limited ability to find alternative employment, you know,
so this was the right decision and actually a recognition
(30:56):
of some incredible people in our community doing some really
really amazing stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Absolutely, when we come back, we're going to take a
short break. When we come back. It's hot, so lots.
What's been hot this week in your lives? And what's
been not so hot? Not good at all?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
The Friday.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Hot okay, Andrea, give me your hots and not you're hot?
Speaker 4 (31:21):
So you're hot well Wellington City this weekend. You know
it's going to be pretty spectacular and I just feel
like Wellington's about to ignite.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Good What's You're not hot?
Speaker 4 (31:29):
Twenty twenty five? I think it's just been an absolute
pits of a year and you know, basically, don't let
the door hit you on the way out.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Quite frankly, I couldn't agree with you more. Come on, Jamitha,
what what what's your hot?
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (31:42):
My hot is a simple one. It's got to be
uttle bake. I think every day this week I've had
a bacon, a need pie and a Belgian biscuit from
their custod Square Buddycus squares are from the winery Daily
Bread Bakery. As a hot person, not hot, sorry, not hot, yes, daydreaming,
(32:04):
not hot. Urgency This week in Parliament we're changing the
election laws which is going to make it that people
have to be enrolled thirteen days before the election.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Not hot.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
It's gone into some franchise fifty eight thousand voters. And
the fast Track Approvals Bill which is going through not hot,
not good for the environment.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Oh, come on, it's going to get it. We've got
another hour. Come on, I've got to tell you from
doing business. No, you've got to get it done. Got
to get things done quicker, faster, more exciting. Thank you
both so much for joining us. Have a really good, successful, fantastic,
exciting weekend in Wellington. I don't know, it's been a
long time since I felt this fired up. Andrea Coompton, Tamotha, Paul,
(32:43):
thank you for coming on the show. Have a great, great,
great week.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks There'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 Wellington's official week in review.
It's Friday facear with Kudovic Property Management, a better rental
experience for all. Visit Counovic dot co dot ins head Thursday.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
My favorite part of the week is Friday face Off.
Seven minutes past eleven. Today we've been joined by Tamotha
Paul Green, MP for Wellington Central. Good morning, Tempest, How
are you coming a little bit close to you?
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Good?
Speaker 2 (00:42):
How are you going? I'm not tired, We're Why are
you bit tired?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
We are an urgency in Parliament at the moment. It's
our last urgency for the year, which means we're in
the until midnight every night. So a bit of a
late night last night, But that's okay.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
You're a young person midnights. That's like an old people's
six o'clock at night, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
I don't know when you do it four nights in
a row kind of takes it.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
Out of you. But hey, are we here?
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Are you enjoying it?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I'm loving it. It's I was just saying to Andrew before.
One thing that I like about going from council to Parliament.
Is you kind of go from council you need to
know about everything to in parliament you get to really
focus on the issues that you really really care about.
So I love it.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
It's been cool.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
And ANDREWA Compton, Wellington City Counselor. That sounds great, doesn't it,
does it? Wellington City Counselor.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Well, it's what I campaigned for and tried hard to get.
And yeah, now I'm in the seat and I'm enjoying it.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Are you tell me the good things about it? And
tell me the bad things about it?
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Well, the good things you can no longer hold, you know,
no longer sit back and criticize. You've actually got to
get in and do the mahey and understand the issues
and put your thoughts forward and negotiate with the team
and get stuff done. So fun, no bad things. You know,
everyone's getting along and we're making effective change.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Now. You were very vocal when because on stage you
are going to run for me, you know, and you
were very vocal on the things you wanted to change
within Willington, very vocal. Has that changed since you've gotten
the group and around the table. Has that made you
lessen your demands.
Speaker 4 (02:17):
Ah, I not necessarily lessen my demands, but you know,
I've always you know, thought, I've got to get to
the table and I've got to put my points across.
But once you're at the table, you do have to
work as a team. And that's that's part of a council.
You're not individuals. You are there as a group. So
not so much lesson But I'm working on my convincing
(02:39):
skills and negotiating with the other counselors.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
You haven't been there before, Tamatha has what's the vibe
like as far as you know walking into it and
starting and learning and that, what's your vibe? What do
you what do you feel like? Do you feel that
people give a damn and you've got good people around you?
Or do you feel you've got a better work to do?
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Oh, I mean there's definitely work to do, but I
will say the council offices have been really supportive. There
is a mood for change the rest of the council.
The council is the mayor his team. You know, we're
all there to change direction, you know, whether it's subtly
or majorly, but we're there for the good of Wellington,
and yeah, he's great. It was actually funny on my
(03:18):
first day. You know, the people pig us left and right.
I'm very much centralist. I voted all over the political
spectrum in my life. But it was funny the very
first meeting we sat there and I thought, oh, thank
god he's here. You know, he really took charge and
you know he knows what he's doing. He is the
(03:39):
adult in the room. Which is the paragraph you know
thrown around.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
Well, you can't say you can't say the same about
youth cam I you left and left and left and left.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
Yeah, but I mean, just thinking about that, Andrew, it's
funny you make some really random alliances on council. Like
I remember Diane Calvert and I worked together on some
of the social housing work, which was you know, an
unlikely hearing, and I would work with Tim Brown. Actually,
Tim Brown and I get along really well as well.
So I guess it's good when you've got people who
(04:08):
can put their ideology aside and kind of see the
humanity and others and then you can just get along
and have a bit of a laugh. It's not also serious.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
See, I can't put Tim Brown in a political box.
I can't.
Speaker 3 (04:20):
He's socially very liberal, but economically he's definitely capitalism's number
one fan.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
And you work with I've heard him comment about how
he gets on very well with you. Right, let's talk
about Wellington, tamitha great. Can you remember a weekend like
this in your time that since you've been here? I mean,
when you think about it, how big a deal is it.
You've got Avatar, you've got the Black Caps, you got
(04:48):
Christmas events, you got carols, you've got to paper opening
and exhibition, you've got a cruise ship. And this is
Wellington at its best, isn't.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
It It is?
Speaker 3 (04:56):
It's beautiful, the weather's clearing up, We've got beautiful blue skies.
This is what it's all about. It reminds me of
you know, at the start of the year when you've
got Wellington Anniverse used to have homegrown those kinds of
weekends where you're just walking around town, you're in the sun,
you're catching up with people spending money, which is really important,
(05:16):
especially at the moment. So now it's awesome and I
think we really deserve it as a city.
Speaker 4 (05:20):
After this big year that we've.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Had, does it feel like it might be just we've
bottomed out, and you know, we're all looking for that
sign that we've bottomed out and we're coming right. Does
it feel like that to you?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
I hope.
Speaker 1 (05:32):
So.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
I know that the job losses, they're still coming, and
I know kind of order are looking at more job
cuts and that's that's on top of the one thousand
job cuts that have happened over the last year. So
those are still happening and still rolling. And I know
that people are still recovering from that. But it feels
like we're on the come up again, and I think
(05:53):
it's really positive. But there's definitely some things that we
could do in our city to bring it up a notch,
and I've talked about those in the past. We need
an arena. I think that's something that maybe you and
I could agree on. We're the only city left in
Austrasia that doesn't have an arena.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Are you talking about an indoor arena or are you
talking about converting the base in reserve and spending of
money there to make it a fifteen thousand No.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
No, we'll leave based on reserve because, as we'll see
this weekend, it's needed for the purpose that it holds
currently but I think that we need an indoor arena.
It's a whole bigger shows because when you've got big
international acts coming to New Zealand, even domestic acts like
six sixty, they need a place that they can play.
And Wellington always get skipped in the circuit, which means
we miss out on really big, awesome artists of all generations. Yes,
(06:36):
and all genres.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
Andrea, big, big weekend, big weekend for your counsel. What
are you focusing on. What's the vibe around the council
table on this weekend?
Speaker 4 (06:47):
Yeah, Look, council's pretty excited, you know, pretty grateful I
think to James Cameron and the team for bringing the
Avatar premiere to Wellington. It sort of came out of nowhere,
so that was pretty exciting. Look I was here in
the mid two thousands when we had the Lord of
the Ring premiers. I remember standing, you know, ten deep
(07:08):
along side Midland Park taking photos of everyone and their
mustangs going up and down. You know, that was pretty
special and it's starting to feel like we might be
inching back towards that. And look, that's not due to
this council. This is due to a number of other
things coming together. But you know, if we can set
ourselves up for Wellington to be like this moving forward,
then that's pretty exciting.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
But to be fair, this came about, this opportunity came
about with this council. Perhaps a previous council would have
put too many roadblocks in its way for making it happen. Basically,
you guys all said, let's make it happen. It's going
to be short term, turn it round and let's get
it done.
Speaker 4 (07:46):
Yeah, that's true. I mean, you know, they approved the
traffic resolutions really quickly. There was no real debate about that,
you know, and you know this council is definitely wanting
that vibe of open for business and so it's how
do we do that? And so you know we've got
Carl Tiffan Barker ahead of the Economic Subcommittee and you
know they'll be coming out with some new ideas on
(08:08):
how to really get this moving.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Do you think that you will see stuff early next year?
And we'll say, you know, because at the moment, you're right,
you've just inherited all the issues and seen all the things.
Do you reckon it would sort of halfway through next
year we'll see some Wow, this is what this council
is doing differently.
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Yeah, I think you will. You know, Tanakaw Square reopening
is going to be pretty special for the city, and
we're already looking at ideas on you know, how we
can kind of get a vibe going for that, and yeah,
I think I think we will start to see things
happen next year.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Right, Tamitha, if you had a chat to Andrew Little,
if you told him what you thought was right and
wrong when your time in Washington City Council and what
he needs to work on.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
I have had multiple meetings with him now and I
think he's cool, he's I like the way he operates
so far. But you've had a big chat with him.
The big one has been housing, so trying to get
him to use his influence to get Arlington built, which
is three hundred public homes in Mount Cook. The site's
ready fifty million dollars worth. The taxpayer money has gone
(09:05):
into it to be built and.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Who's building it Wellington City Council.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Order and it was older key construction that were contracted,
so lots of local companies and subcontractors were engaged in it.
So I really want them to be able to build
that The other thing I talked to him about is
homelessness that's obviously really massive, and especially wanted to bring
to his attention woman and the amount of women who
are experiencing homelessness. And yeah, he gave me the impression
(09:34):
that he also takes it seriously, so I hope we
can work together on those things.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
I've got to go to an air break, but I
just want to quickly ask you because I don't know
your personal thoughts on this. I'm a strong advocate for
Wellington City Council not having social housing and it's all
been under one umbrella, so one organization can look after
exactly the people that you want to be looked after.
What are your thoughts on that?
Speaker 3 (09:54):
That's what they've done. So when they set up to
toy Mahana the community housing provider, they have basically transferred
a lot of those functions over to them. So what
you want is basically happening. And yeah, I mean all
power to toy Mahuna to be successful. Because well now
that they've separated from the council, they're eligible for more
government subsidies, which means less money on rate payers, more
(10:17):
money from government subsidies and hopefully better quality housing and
more housing for people in social housing cool.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Is it a concern Andrew, I mean you would have
had a look at it your account spased person. Is
it a concern for me as a rate payer that
we're paying so much for social housing and the government
probably getting away a little bit lightly? So temoth has
jumped from one camp to the other camp. But should
it be more responsibility on the government rather than us
as taxpat o as rate payers.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Well, my view on social housing is that it's a
government responsibility. However, we did sign a contract and we're
kind of locked into that, you know. Now that we
are locked in, I think it's important and we just
get the best use of the money that we're having
to spend, you know, and do the best we can
make sure that things don't we don't see more blowouts
on costs on on projects, and that we spend the
(11:05):
money in the most effective way we can for our communities.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
And can I just add to him real quick, Nick,
I know we've got to go to the break. But
there was a time there when social housing was had
a positive return. It was actually contributing to a one
percent rate reduction for a period there and so there
were there was a time when it was contributing positively
to rate payers as well.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
So it's not all bad.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
Yep yeap before we had access to government subsidies through
to toy Mahna Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
Friday face off with Andrea Coompton and Tamotha Paul amalgamation
me is around the regions of a met and that
discussed amalgamation. Tamath, tell me what your thoughts are in amalgamation.
What do you think? Who do you think should amalgamate? Some? None?
What's your gut?
Speaker 3 (11:51):
My gut says no to amalgamation. But I'm open to
the options because I know there's pros and cons, so
I'm definitely open to it. I don't think it's black
and white, but my gut says no, just from the
perspective of I'm a fan of localism. I'm a fan
of people being able to have power and make decisions
(12:11):
over the communities that they live in and are directly
affected by. And if you bring it up and centralize it,
you lose a lot of that localism. You know, I
don't want I don't think it's fair that people in
potty or make decisions on behalf of people in Wellington.
I don't think Wellington should make decisions on behalf of
people in Hut Valley. So I guess being able to
maintain that localism and decision making power is really important
(12:35):
to me.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
But surely, Andrea, if you did the way that I
think that in my mind you do, it is be
based on the population of how many people you'd have
from your region on the bigger council anyway.
Speaker 4 (12:48):
Yeah, I suspect that's where it'll end up going. Look,
I'm broadly supportive of amalgamation. You know, Wellingston's not that big.
You know, we're between four and five hundred thousand people.
You know, we're sort of separated by invisible lines really.
You know, we share water, we share public transport. The
government reforms that have come in around the water now
means we have to we have to govern that as
(13:09):
a as a kind of a region. Now, you know,
the potential disestablishment of the Greater Wellington Regional Councils, you
can see where this is heading. I actually applaud the
meres in Wellington, the Hut Valley emplerer are for getting
together and actually trying to get ahead of these changes.
You know, otherwise it was going to be potentially change
after change after change, when we all know where it's heading.
(13:31):
So I actually applaud them for getting together and having
that mature conversation.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Have you had a thought a thought about how you
would put it together if you were in charge? I
haven't really, I mean, I mean, areas would you? I
mean my people listeners will get sick and be saying
it should be the two hot valleys Potta and Wellington
as one. Why Rapper is one?
Speaker 4 (13:51):
And yeah, I tend to agree. I mean even geographically
that kind of makes sense in terms of where the
natural geography st Yeah, that's right, you know, and I
suspect that it'll be where it ends up going. I
guess the one question mark I gave is weird as
Carpety go. You know, do they go by themselves, do
they join Horrofanua or do they come into the group
(14:12):
So they'll have some decisions or some thinking.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
I think the easiest way would be them to go
with go out towards Otaki and further Tamitha. If you
had any thoughts of it, if it did become amalgamation,
how you'd see it?
Speaker 3 (14:23):
Well, some people want to like this, but I'd love
to see a co governance structure because I think that
Tiatiau and Anti Tour play a really important role, like
even artietur. If you look at the work they're doing
in the housing space, in the economic space, you know,
helmet model, like, they're doing some pretty amazing work. So
I'd love to see a collaboration between the EWI and
(14:43):
and councils in the region. I think from a like
to think positively about amalgamation. I think it could be
positive for the environment. When you think about water catchments,
where they originate, where they flow to, where they flow through,
the harbors that they flow out into. You can't, like
Andrew said, you can't cut that up with these lines
that we draw on a map. You know that these
(15:04):
catchments flow through. We think about putting a harbor, the
harbor out here all of the rivers, all of the streams,
and all of the points in it. I think it
could be really positive to have regionalization from that perspective.
But this conversation has been going on for a long time.
It's been going on for as long as I've been
involved in local government, so I'm kind of like, oh,
(15:24):
here we go. This is just its newest iteration. But
the thing, the key thing that I've heard over the
years is that Wellington City residents will likely be subsidizing
the rest of the region because we have more income
and we have more access to revenue than other councils.
So that's a trade off that I think Wellington residents
will have to have a really hard think about.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
And that's how it would work.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah, it is, it is, And you know, there are
the Heart's got issues. Wellington City certainly has issues, has
got big issues, and it's just a question of do
we want to work together as a region to solve
those or you know, what position are we into.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
We're all in the same We're all in the same walker,
aren't we.
Speaker 4 (16:04):
I think so too. I think we're we're all in
it together. We've all got problems. You know, if we
can help each other, I think there is you know,
the devil's going to be in the detail, like it
is with most things. But I would, you know, I
would encourage a referendum to see what Wellingtonians think we
should be asking our communities. But you know, we do
(16:25):
need to have that mature conversation as a region.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Right time for some headlines. Take a break. It is
twenty seven minutes past eleven. Tamoth of Paul and Andrea
Compton joining us for Friday Faceoffs today. We've got plenty
more to talk about social media. Are we going to
follow Australia and ban it for under sixteen? Major reports
coming on the state of cancer in New Zealand? Are
(16:49):
we doing enough? I don't think we are, Tamith for
paulk Andrea Crompton Compton join us on Friday Faceoff. Let's
talk about social media. There's a lot of talk that
we New Zealand should be following Australia's lead. We're banning
under sixteens on social media. Gosh, come on, Tamothay, you've
got a view on this. I know you've got a view.
(17:10):
We are you looking at me like that? For I'm
just asking the questions. Don't come at me like that.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
It's a really silly move. At the best way that
we could protect kids from the harm that exists on
social media as by regulating the social media platforms.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Rather than can that be done?
Speaker 1 (17:27):
Yeah? Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (17:28):
The government can put in laws to regulate the way
that social media operates if it wants to operate in
New Zealand and countries like New Zealand and Australia and
other countries like US could work together to really get
them to reform their platforms. But I guess putting the
onus on the user in this case children is not
the best way to protect them from the harm out there.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I kind of probably knew that was going to be
your view because to the youngest person I've ever spoken
to on the show, so I kind of expected you
to have that. So Andrew, I have You've got another view,
Not that I think it's wrong because I've got family
members that are killing me even thinking that it should
be banned for unders exchange. I get it.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
I probably have a difference of opinion. You know, we've
got a huge mental health issue in this country and
it has been partially linked. You know, the increase in depression, anxiety,
with the dopamine hits that you get out of social media.
You know, it has been partially linked to social media.
All these issues. You know, I have a beautiful six
(18:30):
year old daughter, Tessa. She's told me I have to
shout out her name on the radio. She's gonna be listening,
you know, And I want the best for her, and
I do worry about the social media impacts on our youth.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Does she use your phone out? Does she grab your phone?
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Well, yeah, she does grab my phone. You know, she
was watching YouTube kids and you know I zone in
and out myself, and some of the stuff she watches
on there is just rubbish. You know, she's watching kids
play with dolls, and I'm like, play with dolls yourself.
So you know, she's on a social media band it
herself at the moment actually, and in.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Fact probably the self imposed one or mum mum.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
And posed one and she's a better kid for it.
But you know, I I drive past bus stops I
used today. I drove past a bus stop in Newlands.
There were two brothers sitting in the bus stop, both
heads down on their phones. There's just no engagement, there's
no connection and we just sit there and we're watching
this absolute dribble online. Quite frankly, social media has got
(19:23):
its place. I get it. You know, it is a
place to connect, but a lot of it's just rubbish.
And I do fear for our youth.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Tamitha. When you go to a cafe and I'm sure
that you will be a Cafe Queen, and you see
these young kids on devices all the time. It doesn't
concern you.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
Well, one cool thing about my job is I get
to go into a lot of the high school. So
a couple of weeks ago I went to Wellington High
and I talked to the year tens and we talked
about the under sixteen band and obviously all of them
were against it, but the reasons were really interesting. It wasn't. Well,
there's lots of reasons for it. I think the first
thing is that eliminating social media use will not stop bullying,
so bullying is going to continue to happen. The other
(20:02):
thing is that this policy hasn't been informed by young people.
So sure you can say to U can't use Facebook, Unty's, Instagram, YouTube,
et cetera. That's not necessarily where some of this activity
is taking place. You know, you talk to kid roadblocks,
you know, do you know about roadblock?
Speaker 4 (20:17):
Snake?
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Roadblocks is really popular with the kids, and it's also
a really kind of dangerous platform where lots of adults
hang out.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
And oh, I telling them to constitution.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
It's actually not the obvious social media ones that pose
the potential harm. It's some of those other forums which
are not captured by this band. So the other thing
is that banning things doesn't stop things. It's classic prohibition.
Just because you banned something doesn't stop it. It actually
drives it underground. It means that people resort to making
fake profiles, be a bit more, you know, secretive of
(20:49):
their behavior. We want young people to use technology openly
so that there can be that oversight by responsible adults.
So I think driving things underground never works.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
I'm glad you mentioned bullying because I reckon that When
I was at school, bullying was ten times not that
I don't know, ten times worse. Because we didn't have phones.
You couldn't record it, you couldn't say, you couldn't ring
somebody if someone was beating you up on the side
of the road. You took the hiding, didn't you, Because
you can't you couldn't communicate. Andrew, you're looking at me like.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
I think there's I think there's different differing levels of bullying.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
You know, cyber bullying, yes.
Speaker 4 (21:25):
Cyber bullying, and it's really hard to escape that. You know,
if you're you're carrying your phone around you, you may
as well carry the bully with you. You know and
I I that doesn't feel good and that doesn't feel
right to me. I. You know, let's see how Australia goes.
You know, this is a world first. It'd be interesting
to see how the science follows this. What does the
(21:45):
data say as opposed to a lot of anecdotal.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
This will happen though, because it's been pulled from the
biscuits in so this will go through Parliament and be discussed.
So I'm really looking forward to seeing what the what
the evidence says about it. But have you seen Adolescents
on Netflix? Nick? It's a really great I'm giving you
all these recommends. It's a really great series about young
men's exposure to some of those like more toxic traits
(22:13):
from people like.
Speaker 2 (22:15):
Can I just say People that I know that have
watched it didn't didn't enjoy It was too deep, it
was it is.
Speaker 3 (22:21):
Quite dark, but it has a really good view into
the reality for a lot of kids. And one quote
that I took from it is if you don't raise
your kids, the internet will raise your kids. And I
think it was a real warning about the danger of
the internet. So I understand why parents so worry.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Full of good advice today tama is it you're not
stopping the police today. I might be you're not ruling
out all police today. You're full of good advice. Must
be the studio and the surroundings, or talking to an
old guy Friday Face saw Tamotha Paul and Andrea Compton.
Andrea Compton, if you don't know, is the new Northern
Ward counselor was going to run for me then pulled
(22:58):
out very early in the piece. And if you don't know,
Tamotha Paul's the lady that wants to get rid of
the police.
Speaker 3 (23:05):
Not true?
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Did I have to throw that at I did. I
didn't have to throw that in there listeners, because my
listeners will say, why are you're not attacking her? If
I'm not wanting to get rid of the police, That's
what they'll be thinking to me.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
We'll save that one for another episode. We do a
whole hour about just the stuff.
Speaker 2 (23:20):
When you when you're ready, when I'm ready. Look, I
feel extremely privileged that you come on news Talk. My
rumors have it that I'm the only person on news Talk,
but you speak to him? Is that true?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
No, I've done an interview with Ryan Bridges.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
Okay to flate my ego.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
And Barry Soaper's daughter is doing my as organizing my
campaign next year. I don't know that he'd ever have
me on the show, but it's.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
Hardly you know, news talk be my uncle's my aunt
is my friend. Anyway, let's move on cancer now. I
describe it like this, This is me talking freely here
right now. A full sky stadium, pack sky stadium of
people get diagnosed with cancer every year. Within fifteen years,
it's going to be a full Eden Park, which is massive,
(24:10):
thirty thirty thousand to forty five thousand. And we're not
doing enough. I don't believe, Tamatha, do you think we're
doing enough?
Speaker 3 (24:18):
Well, we've got to consider the fact that this report
says that twenty percent of people who end up with
cancer smoking is in the mix. And we have a
government who is giving money to tobacco, the tobacco lobby
and eliminating a lot of the big moves we made
to make New Zealand smoke free. So I think that
(24:38):
there's a lot more that we could be doing from
Parliament to be reducing some of the more shameful statistics
that we have in New Zealand. When it comes to cancer.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Do you think we can do more with things like
facilities and drugs though, so that if you get diagnosed
we can actually save you.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Well, absolutely, we should be allowing drugs in that have
proven to be really effective at cancer. I'm, like Andrea,
really supportive of preventative stuff though. And one thing that
has always been a gripe for me is that civical
screening for all New Zealanders is the only national screening
program that is not funded. And to me, that is
deeply unfair because it's unfair it discriminates against women.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Yeah, very unfair. Andrea, what are your thoughts?
Speaker 4 (25:22):
Yeah, look, cancer is terrible, quite frankly, you know, but
I do agree with the recommendations and the report. We
need to put more money into preventing the cancer to
start with. You know, it pays off, you know, there's
my capitalist It pays off over time. You know, we
have healthier communities, they work longer, you know, they can
pay taxes for longer, and essentially it pays for itself
(25:43):
time and time. Again. You know, I have to meet
When National came in and they got rid of the
smoke free I was I was actually surprised, you know,
it didn't seem like a It wasn't an out there thing,
and I just don't understand why they got rid of that,
you know, when it can actually have such long lasting
benefits for our society. So you know, I agree with
(26:04):
the recommendations and the report. Prevention must come first before cure.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Okay, we don't want to talk about the hurricanes because
we know we've got new owners. And with me and
Coops talked about that, two right wing politicians, both finance ministers,
one from the nineties one from now, want to have
well the fighting. Andrea and Nichola Willis says, bring it on,
(26:32):
Come and have this debate with me anywhere anytime. Does
it have any interest to you?
Speaker 4 (26:37):
Oh yeah, I can't wait. You know what, I'm probably
interested in those.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
It feels like the right could actually snooker themselves here,
you know, or I'll just throw it out. There's a
bit of a conspiracy. It could be just a really
smart strategy. I'm not sure if it's a political strategy
or not.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Interesting takespay. Our unions don't do things for strategy. They
do things to have a co don't they.
Speaker 4 (27:02):
I'm not sure. I'm just checking out a conspiracy. We
just don't know, But I would say election years coming up,
and I find the traditional debates really boring. You know,
they attack past failures and I think actually, as a socilium,
it's just boring. I want to hear new ideas. I
want to hear, you know, people's ideas. What are they
going to do to get us out of what's going
(27:24):
on at the moment? You know, how are we going
to economically turn this this country around? So if this
is a precursor to some decent election debates next year,
then I'm up for it. I'll be looking forward to it.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
Who do you think is going to win?
Speaker 4 (27:39):
I think it's going to be pretty close, but I
suspect Ruth might come out on top.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
Do you yeah, I think the opposite. Whe do you
reckon it should be? Should be? And who do you
reckon should host it?
Speaker 4 (27:47):
Well? I've heard that they're talking about hosting up within
Parliament and they actually kind of makes sense set it's
a nice setting and it doesn't allow any particular media preference.
So you know, I'm up for that. I think that's cool.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Come on, Tambithank, give us your thoughts. Ruth Richardson, you
probably never even heard of her until a couple of
weeks ago. She enjoyed the text Bank was just.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Thinking she was destroying the economy before I was born.
But I want to see, and I'm not saying this
because I'm in her party, but I would like to
see Nichola Willis and Chloe Swawbrick have a debate, because
I think then you'd actually get a bit of you'd
get an actual debate of from a difference of opinion,
(28:26):
Whereas I think Nichola Willis and Ruth Richardson are very
similar well tanking the economy, tanking it, degrading our public services,
the wefare state.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Would you watch it?
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Would I watch the debate between Ruth and Nichola, No way,
I'd rather jump off a cliff.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Where do you want?
Speaker 3 (28:50):
I want to listen to two people talking about an
economic ideology that has failed and continuing that on and on,
and are you know I'm a socialist. I'm not interested
in listening to them.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
But I mean, surely that you might be able to
open your mind of it. You're a young woman going place.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
I think that there are better people that I could
listen to who understand economics more than those two.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
Really yeah, Chloe.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
No, I mean from their their ideology, I think there
are better economists and right, maybe international politicians who understand
economics better.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Right, Just a real quick one that I want to
get to. Disability Cares won a Supreme award, which a
Supreme Court award, which I thought was pretty amazing. Temith,
I'm sure you'll think that's pretty good. I mean, if
you're looking after a kid that's severely in trouble, and
you should be able to be able to be paid
(29:42):
to look after them.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
Oh, totally. So my mum is a she looks after
elderly people and disabled people. So definitely have a big,
a big place in my heart for people who do
that work. And it's it's tough, especially for people that
are looking after disabled kids, because it's not just the cares,
it's also the education system. So when a lot of
these kids go to primary school for some of those disabilities,
(30:04):
they don't get any special funding to help them with
their learning. And you know, once you're excluded from the
education system, that determines the trajectory of your life. So
I think any support that we can give to people
who are disabled or especially young disabled New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (30:20):
This is more about the people that are actually helping
them though. It's the loved ones. It's in your own
home and you're looking after Andrew. For me, this makes
perfect sense. Why've put them into an institution and getting
people paid to do it when you've got people that
love them and care for them and want to look
after them.
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Oh yeah, look, this was a This was a good decision.
You know, these cares get very little respite. They're essentially
twenty four seven for their entire lives, you know, so
to actually you know, recognize them as employees and value
them that way was the right decision. You know, they
also have limited ability to find alternative employment, you know,
so this was the right decision and actually a recognition
(30:56):
of some incredible people in our community doing some really
really amazing stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
Absolutely, when we come back, we're going to take a
short break. When we come back. It's hot, so lots.
What's been hot this week in your lives? And what's
been not so hot? Not good at all?
Speaker 1 (31:13):
The Friday.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
Hot okay, Andrea, give me your hots and not you're hot?
Speaker 4 (31:21):
So you're hot well Wellington City this weekend. You know
it's going to be pretty spectacular and I just feel
like Wellington's about to ignite.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
Good What's You're not hot?
Speaker 4 (31:29):
Twenty twenty five? I think it's just been an absolute
pits of a year and you know, basically, don't let
the door hit you on the way out.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
Quite frankly, I couldn't agree with you more. Come on, Jamitha,
what what what's your hot?
Speaker 1 (31:42):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (31:42):
My hot is a simple one. It's got to be
uttle bake. I think every day this week I've had
a bacon, a need pie and a Belgian biscuit from
their custod Square Buddycus squares are from the winery Daily
Bread Bakery. As a hot person, not hot, sorry, not hot, yes, daydreaming,
(32:04):
not hot. Urgency This week in Parliament we're changing the
election laws which is going to make it that people
have to be enrolled thirteen days before the election.
Speaker 4 (32:13):
Not hot.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
It's gone into some franchise fifty eight thousand voters. And
the fast Track Approvals Bill which is going through not hot,
not good for the environment.
Speaker 2 (32:20):
Oh, come on, it's going to get it. We've got
another hour. Come on, I've got to tell you from
doing business. No, you've got to get it done. Got
to get things done quicker, faster, more exciting. Thank you
both so much for joining us. Have a really good, successful, fantastic,
exciting weekend in Wellington. I don't know, it's been a
long time since I felt this fired up. Andrea Coompton, Tamotha, Paul,
(32:43):
thank you for coming on the show. Have a great, great,
great week.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news talks There'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
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.
The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.