July 30, 2026 • 11 mins
Jamie Mackay looks at the ever changing landscape of the political cycle.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What the Country Crossover brought to you by bioactive soils
growing together with healthy soils. Choose bioactive agg fertilizer and
see real results from the ground up.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Jamie McKay, host of the Country, joins us in the
Country Crossover thanks to bioactive soils.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Good afternoon, Jamie.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
Good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Is that pseudo echo pseudo eco? Yes?
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Yeah, I'm going to a funky town tonight, the capital
of Northern south and Riversdale for the rugby Cabaret.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Then forward to it. Are you the guest speaker or something?
Speaker 4 (00:35):
No, no, no, no, I'm just in the cheap seats.
That's the best place to be. But got to support
the old club. Andy, you know what it's like.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Hey, well we're talking about Riversdale as well. I'm said
news regarding the passing of Tom McPherson recently.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Yeah. Tom a life member, a life member of the
Riversdale Rugby Club and a stalwwater of the community, truck
driver all his life, and he must have been he
must have been the manager of the senior team for
goodness knows how many years, probably twenty or thirty. He
was just part of the wallpaper.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Tom good bloke, very good bloke, and whenever he came
and picked up the wall, you always hear conversation was
going to be an issue because Tom always had a.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Young yeah, and normally it was about rugby.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Absolutely and as well Jim Hopkins old mate too. It's
been a pretty sad week, let's to be honest. So
a couple of weeks in regarding of that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Ay, yep, yep, it is, but it's coming to us all.
Unfortunately Jim. Jim hasn't been in the best of health
in recent years, but it was still a surprise.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Andy.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
He was on my show a couple of weeks ago.
He was due to be on on He passed away
on Monday morning of this week. He was due to
be on the show on Wednesday, and I had someone
Jane Smith or someone pulled out or wasn't available, and
I nearly bought Jim for today. Thank goodness I didn't,
or I would have been texting someone who wasn't there.
(01:56):
But Jim would have seen the humor, and that he
saw the humor in most things. Look, I think from
a farming point of view, what people we don't well,
I know a lot of people. He was such a
towny and out and out towny. He was such a
staunch defender of New Zealand farming and farmers and obviously
(02:16):
his connection through the Young Farmer Grand Final I think
twenty one years of that he built up a real
rapport and empathy with rural New Zealand and that never
ever left them.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
You had a pretty cool yard on today.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
A couple of the guys up north who have gone
and bucked the trend putting carbon farming back into pasture.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yeah, well, hopefully it's a sign of things to come,
and maybe it could be the blueprint sought out some
of the land down south here that has gone to
carbon farming. Nothing wrong with planting a pine tree and
harvesting it as a log, and if you get some
carbon credits along the way, good on you, because forestry
is not that profitable at the moment. But it's just
(02:58):
the blanket planting was the issue. There's so many places
in this country and I know I'm preaching to the
converted here with you, Andy, but there's so many places
in this country where you can plant a pine tree
or a tree and it's going to be beneficial in
any number of ways. But planting them on flat and
in some cases arable land is just a sin. And
(03:22):
I think we will look back, and you only need
to look andy at what's happening in the Northern Hemisphere
with the heat waves and the fires there. We will
look back in twenty years time when the east coast
of both islands might be on fire and this is
worst case scenario, and we will say what were we
thinking of?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Ask you, mate, Marto a shame when he did that
billion dollar tree billion tree policy.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Well he's conveniently, he's conveniently forgot about that, you know what, Martua.
Shane's like, he's pretty quick at brushing off as mistakes.
Although I think what I did, well, there's been plenty
of them. He's good at owning them. It's like the time,
It's like the time he got caught watching the pawn,
(04:06):
or allegedly watching the pawn. And and I was mceing
an ASB rural conference. I think Pete Turner might have
organized it. And it was a few days or a
week or so after the pawn story came out and
Shane was the guest speaker, and I thought, well, I
won't I bath what bugger it, I'll address the elephant
(04:27):
in the runo, oh no, you got to he and
he just picked the ball up and ran with it,
took the mickey out of himself, absolutely owned it and
killed it dead. So he is good at fessing up
to his mistakes. My favorite Shane Jones one is that
when Jacinda's announcing the oil and gas research ban and
he's standing in the background with his hands over his eyes, thinking,
(04:52):
what has Winston signed me up for?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yes, speaking of words, and he's in an interesting twenty
four hours again.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Yeah, look, I'm.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Not going to defect.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Well I won't. Actually, I won't even say what I'm
thinking about the bloke he insulted, but for the Minister
of Foreign Affairs and he's held on high regard around
the world. I think this as a mistake. He's blurred
the lines between New Zealand First Leader and Minister of
Foreign Affairs, and I know which one should take precedence.
So I think he's made a mistake. But he's doubling
(05:26):
down on it, and he's not doing a Shane. He's
not owning it. He's doubling down. So I think he's
got this one wrong.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, fair played to Chris Hopkins. Yesterday coming on your
show and not needing you to send in questions in advance,
so he can't give you any egg policy.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Well that's not quite the truth because in the end,
I mean that's what came out on the radio because
at that stage has pa Or as Press secretary, had
moved him to Friday. But we got him in the
end yesterday, and then she had a bit of a
crack at machine ELpH not sending in questions. No, it's
(06:03):
not Michelle's fault at all. It's look, it's honestly, I'll
give credit to Shane Jones and Winston Peters. John Key
was the same, Helen Clark was the same, Bill English
was the same. None of those people over the years
when I've interviewed them, have asked for questions in advance.
And Winston Peters is quite right when he says, well,
if you're a politician or a political leader, you should
(06:25):
be able to answer anything that's thrown at you, and
to this day he doesn't ask for it. Often it's
the it's the minders that get a wee bit carried away.
But as far as my show goes, Jisinda probably started
that luxon. Has Christopher Luxon has continued on with it
or as staff have, and there is I have an
(06:47):
admiration for the politician that can just stand up and
take whatever whatever is fired at them, because they're very
well read. It' very It's not very often that they
don't know the answer. And this is where politicians go wrong,
and instead of trying to fudge their way out of it,
they should just say, look, I don't know the answer
to that. I'll do my homework and I'll come back
to you.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I refute the premise of that question. Who said that? Jacinda? Yep? Anyway?
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Kind and no, no, be kind to Justin. I watched
the movie if you seen you Cinda's movie.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
But I've said to my wife that I need to
watch it, and she goes, will you be watching it
by yourself?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Look?
Speaker 4 (07:24):
I was obviously no. I was flicking around. Something must
have been boring on the Commonwealth Games and I flicked
over and I watched it last weekend. I had no
intention to. I will say it's not too bad. And
even though I don't agree with well her politics, especially
the second term of the Labor government, you can see
(07:47):
as a young mother who's who's pioneered I guess being
a Prime minister having a baby or having a child
while in office. She was under incredible stress in that
second term around COVID and the anti vaxers and all
that went on, and some of the pressure she had
to take probably wasn't fair. Admittedly they got it wrong,
(08:10):
but you've got to remember you get what you vote for.
And more than fifty percent of New Zealanders were happy
with how Jacinda and co had handled COVID up to
twenty twenty. Heaven help us. Even the Electorate of Southland
Andy that old Wallace, the old Kluther Southland Electorate, the
Electorate of Southland Party voted labor that will never happen
(08:31):
again in our lifetime.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Right, a different subject. Stag Day's happening tomorrow, but as
well the Miller's Flat sevens. It's going to be a
bit nippy but pretty much effectively the last game of
rugby for a lot of the kids for the season.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
And this has got you reminiscing, well, we.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Used to when I was at Riversdale Primary School. When
we weren't beating Belfa Primary School, we were going in
the car to play at the Miller's Flat sevens. It
was a great trip when you're a kid in those days.
I'm talking the lates sixties, early seventies here, Andy, I
just loved it, and I think I was reminiscing to
you on the way home. Dad might have stopped off
(09:07):
at the Raised Junction Hotel for a bear, as they
did in those days. You know, get off the farm
and there was swings and slides by memory outside the
Raised Junction Hotel, You're go in and get a pie
and a bit busy drink or something, and away you go.
And you kept yourselves amused, and it would be frowned
upon these days. But we had a great time. And
I'm sure all the kids that go to Miller's Flat
(09:29):
tomorrow and I hope, I hope rivers I know Riversdale
will be going. Look, it's just a great excursion. It's
just a great fun day out. And for that tournament
to still be going strong more than fifty years later
is just wonderful.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Absolutely, Stagg day, what's your prediction tomorrow? Are you going down?
Will we see Jamie McKay in the middle of the
terraces having a couple of cans?
Speaker 4 (09:50):
No, I'm going down for a seventies This sounds like
a seventies that rockery. No, no, no, no, what's happened?
All the murray Heath Southland Rugby Legend has organized a
reunion of all the people people who played for Southland
in the nineteen seventies. Unfortunately A I didn't and B
(10:11):
I was a bit young man, but they were all
my heroes when I was at high school. So I'm
going to go down and mc their awards night. So
that's when we play play the Bay of Plenty and
my son Time's up there and his business or the
bank of Mum and Dad's business up there as a
sponsor of Bay of Plenty rugby, So I'll have split loyalties,
but I'll be going, I'll be yelling, are we definitely
(10:33):
backing the Stags?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Ditto for tomorrow?
Speaker 4 (10:36):
I must say, and you've probably heard this one hundred
times or more. I look through the team sheet. I
don't see many Southlanders in there, which I understand how
modern rugby works, but I would this is old school,
which shows I'm out of touch. Really, I would just
love to see more Southland born and bred players who
have played club rugby and come through the system getting
(10:59):
a game for Southland.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Better leave it there, Jamie always got to catch up.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
And when you're passing through the Mica of Gore, don't
don't forget to drop a couple of twenty four packs
of pearls and are.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Off at the office here.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Why would I do that?
Speaker 3 (11:10):
I don't know. Because you're a nice guy, aren't you.
Jamie McKay and.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
The country crossover thanks to bioective soils.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Niger want heads up next
What the Country Crossover brought to you by bioactive soils
growing together with healthy soils. Choose bioactive agg fertilizer and
see real results from the ground up.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Jamie McKay, host of the Country, joins us in the
Country Crossover thanks to bioactive soils.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Good afternoon, Jamie.
Speaker 4 (00:23):
Good afternoon.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Is that pseudo echo pseudo eco? Yes?
Speaker 4 (00:26):
Yeah, I'm going to a funky town tonight, the capital
of Northern south and Riversdale for the rugby Cabaret.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Then forward to it. Are you the guest speaker or something?
Speaker 4 (00:35):
No, no, no, no, I'm just in the cheap seats.
That's the best place to be. But got to support
the old club. Andy, you know what it's like.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Hey, well we're talking about Riversdale as well. I'm said
news regarding the passing of Tom McPherson recently.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Yeah. Tom a life member, a life member of the
Riversdale Rugby Club and a stalwwater of the community, truck
driver all his life, and he must have been he
must have been the manager of the senior team for
goodness knows how many years, probably twenty or thirty. He
was just part of the wallpaper.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Tom good bloke, very good bloke, and whenever he came
and picked up the wall, you always hear conversation was
going to be an issue because Tom always had a.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
Young yeah, and normally it was about rugby.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Absolutely and as well Jim Hopkins old mate too. It's
been a pretty sad week, let's to be honest. So
a couple of weeks in regarding of that kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (01:24):
Ay, yep, yep, it is, but it's coming to us all.
Unfortunately Jim. Jim hasn't been in the best of health
in recent years, but it was still a surprise.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
Andy.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
He was on my show a couple of weeks ago.
He was due to be on on He passed away
on Monday morning of this week. He was due to
be on the show on Wednesday, and I had someone
Jane Smith or someone pulled out or wasn't available, and
I nearly bought Jim for today. Thank goodness I didn't,
or I would have been texting someone who wasn't there.
(01:56):
But Jim would have seen the humor, and that he
saw the humor in most things. Look, I think from
a farming point of view, what people we don't well,
I know a lot of people. He was such a
towny and out and out towny. He was such a
staunch defender of New Zealand farming and farmers and obviously
(02:16):
his connection through the Young Farmer Grand Final I think
twenty one years of that he built up a real
rapport and empathy with rural New Zealand and that never
ever left them.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
You had a pretty cool yard on today.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
A couple of the guys up north who have gone
and bucked the trend putting carbon farming back into pasture.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yeah, well, hopefully it's a sign of things to come,
and maybe it could be the blueprint sought out some
of the land down south here that has gone to
carbon farming. Nothing wrong with planting a pine tree and
harvesting it as a log, and if you get some
carbon credits along the way, good on you, because forestry
is not that profitable at the moment. But it's just
(02:58):
the blanket planting was the issue. There's so many places
in this country and I know I'm preaching to the
converted here with you, Andy, but there's so many places
in this country where you can plant a pine tree
or a tree and it's going to be beneficial in
any number of ways. But planting them on flat and
in some cases arable land is just a sin. And
(03:22):
I think we will look back, and you only need
to look andy at what's happening in the Northern Hemisphere
with the heat waves and the fires there. We will
look back in twenty years time when the east coast
of both islands might be on fire and this is
worst case scenario, and we will say what were we
thinking of?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Ask you, mate, Marto a shame when he did that
billion dollar tree billion tree policy.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Well he's conveniently, he's conveniently forgot about that, you know what, Martua.
Shane's like, he's pretty quick at brushing off as mistakes.
Although I think what I did, well, there's been plenty
of them. He's good at owning them. It's like the time,
It's like the time he got caught watching the pawn,
(04:06):
or allegedly watching the pawn. And and I was mceing
an ASB rural conference. I think Pete Turner might have
organized it. And it was a few days or a
week or so after the pawn story came out and
Shane was the guest speaker, and I thought, well, I
won't I bath what bugger it, I'll address the elephant
(04:27):
in the runo, oh no, you got to he and
he just picked the ball up and ran with it,
took the mickey out of himself, absolutely owned it and
killed it dead. So he is good at fessing up
to his mistakes. My favorite Shane Jones one is that
when Jacinda's announcing the oil and gas research ban and
he's standing in the background with his hands over his eyes, thinking,
(04:52):
what has Winston signed me up for?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yes, speaking of words, and he's in an interesting twenty
four hours again.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Yeah, look, I'm.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Not going to defect.
Speaker 4 (05:04):
Well I won't. Actually, I won't even say what I'm
thinking about the bloke he insulted, but for the Minister
of Foreign Affairs and he's held on high regard around
the world. I think this as a mistake. He's blurred
the lines between New Zealand First Leader and Minister of
Foreign Affairs, and I know which one should take precedence.
So I think he's made a mistake. But he's doubling
(05:26):
down on it, and he's not doing a Shane. He's
not owning it. He's doubling down. So I think he's
got this one wrong.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Yeah, fair played to Chris Hopkins. Yesterday coming on your
show and not needing you to send in questions in advance,
so he can't give you any egg policy.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
Well that's not quite the truth because in the end,
I mean that's what came out on the radio because
at that stage has pa Or as Press secretary, had
moved him to Friday. But we got him in the
end yesterday, and then she had a bit of a
crack at machine ELpH not sending in questions. No, it's
(06:03):
not Michelle's fault at all. It's look, it's honestly, I'll
give credit to Shane Jones and Winston Peters. John Key
was the same, Helen Clark was the same, Bill English
was the same. None of those people over the years
when I've interviewed them, have asked for questions in advance.
And Winston Peters is quite right when he says, well,
if you're a politician or a political leader, you should
(06:25):
be able to answer anything that's thrown at you, and
to this day he doesn't ask for it. Often it's
the it's the minders that get a wee bit carried away.
But as far as my show goes, Jisinda probably started
that luxon. Has Christopher Luxon has continued on with it
or as staff have, and there is I have an
(06:47):
admiration for the politician that can just stand up and
take whatever whatever is fired at them, because they're very
well read. It' very It's not very often that they
don't know the answer. And this is where politicians go wrong,
and instead of trying to fudge their way out of it,
they should just say, look, I don't know the answer
to that. I'll do my homework and I'll come back
to you.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
I refute the premise of that question. Who said that? Jacinda? Yep? Anyway?
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Kind and no, no, be kind to Justin. I watched
the movie if you seen you Cinda's movie.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
But I've said to my wife that I need to
watch it, and she goes, will you be watching it
by yourself?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Look?
Speaker 4 (07:24):
I was obviously no. I was flicking around. Something must
have been boring on the Commonwealth Games and I flicked
over and I watched it last weekend. I had no
intention to. I will say it's not too bad. And
even though I don't agree with well her politics, especially
the second term of the Labor government, you can see
(07:47):
as a young mother who's who's pioneered I guess being
a Prime minister having a baby or having a child
while in office. She was under incredible stress in that
second term around COVID and the anti vaxers and all
that went on, and some of the pressure she had
to take probably wasn't fair. Admittedly they got it wrong,
(08:10):
but you've got to remember you get what you vote for.
And more than fifty percent of New Zealanders were happy
with how Jacinda and co had handled COVID up to
twenty twenty. Heaven help us. Even the Electorate of Southland
Andy that old Wallace, the old Kluther Southland Electorate, the
Electorate of Southland Party voted labor that will never happen
(08:31):
again in our lifetime.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
Right, a different subject. Stag Day's happening tomorrow, but as
well the Miller's Flat sevens. It's going to be a
bit nippy but pretty much effectively the last game of
rugby for a lot of the kids for the season.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
And this has got you reminiscing, well, we.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Used to when I was at Riversdale Primary School. When
we weren't beating Belfa Primary School, we were going in
the car to play at the Miller's Flat sevens. It
was a great trip when you're a kid in those days.
I'm talking the lates sixties, early seventies here, Andy, I
just loved it, and I think I was reminiscing to
you on the way home. Dad might have stopped off
(09:07):
at the Raised Junction Hotel for a bear, as they
did in those days. You know, get off the farm
and there was swings and slides by memory outside the
Raised Junction Hotel, You're go in and get a pie
and a bit busy drink or something, and away you go.
And you kept yourselves amused, and it would be frowned
upon these days. But we had a great time. And
I'm sure all the kids that go to Miller's Flat
(09:29):
tomorrow and I hope, I hope rivers I know Riversdale
will be going. Look, it's just a great excursion. It's
just a great fun day out. And for that tournament
to still be going strong more than fifty years later
is just wonderful.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Absolutely, Stagg day, what's your prediction tomorrow? Are you going down?
Will we see Jamie McKay in the middle of the
terraces having a couple of cans?
Speaker 4 (09:50):
No, I'm going down for a seventies This sounds like
a seventies that rockery. No, no, no, no, what's happened?
All the murray Heath Southland Rugby Legend has organized a
reunion of all the people people who played for Southland
in the nineteen seventies. Unfortunately A I didn't and B
(10:11):
I was a bit young man, but they were all
my heroes when I was at high school. So I'm
going to go down and mc their awards night. So
that's when we play play the Bay of Plenty and
my son Time's up there and his business or the
bank of Mum and Dad's business up there as a
sponsor of Bay of Plenty rugby, So I'll have split loyalties,
but I'll be going, I'll be yelling, are we definitely
(10:33):
backing the Stags?
Speaker 3 (10:35):
Ditto for tomorrow?
Speaker 4 (10:36):
I must say, and you've probably heard this one hundred
times or more. I look through the team sheet. I
don't see many Southlanders in there, which I understand how
modern rugby works, but I would this is old school,
which shows I'm out of touch. Really, I would just
love to see more Southland born and bred players who
have played club rugby and come through the system getting
(10:59):
a game for Southland.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Better leave it there, Jamie always got to catch up.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
And when you're passing through the Mica of Gore, don't
don't forget to drop a couple of twenty four packs
of pearls and are.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Off at the office here.
Speaker 4 (11:09):
Why would I do that?
Speaker 3 (11:10):
I don't know. Because you're a nice guy, aren't you.
Jamie McKay and.
Speaker 2 (11:15):
The country crossover thanks to bioective soils.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Niger want heads up next
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