The Muster- Joseph Mooney: A Busy Time Ahead

MP for Southland Joseph Mooney looks at polls, supermarkets and meetings in the south.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
I believe the world is burning to the ground. I
guess we'd better find out. Matchbox 20 there with how
far we have come for our next guest. Joseph Mooney,
MP for Southland. Some of those lyrics you'd agree with,
other ones probably not so much, Joe.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Good afternoon.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Good afternoon, Andy. Well, I agree with this. Where you
come from, where you're going to, and right now I'm
trucking across Southland But a bit of fog. So I'd say, yeah,
it's a spring where it's a bit chilly outdoors at
the moment. They've just come into lumps as we.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
Speak, actually. Joseph, we're looking at our third spring in
a row where it's been anything but the norm during
lambing and calving. Just, I don't know, we just want
some sunshine.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
It's all we're asking for.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Yeah, well, politicians try and do all sorts of things,
but I can't promise you that. It's one thing I
can't promise you. But what I will say is actually
tomorrow I've got the agriculture minister, Tom McClay, he's in
Southland tomorrow. We've got a woolshed meeting if people can
get any time away from their lambing at Trevor Stark's place,

(01:16):
530 Lancet and Valley Road in Waikiki Valley between 11.30
to 12.30pm. So if you can make some time free,
be a golden opportunity to come and catch up with
the trade minister and hear from him and give him
some feedback.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Are you expecting many people at a meeting in the
middle of September, with all due respect?

Speaker 3 (01:35):
Oh, look, no, it's a challenging time. And, you know,
but I just want to, you know, we're well into
the election season now, so it's, although everyone will be
flat out with Lambie, et cetera, you know, if anyone's
able to get away, it would be great to see them.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Over the weekend, all these hoardings are going up and
you're getting the obligatory selfies and photos and social media
of all these politicians using a hammer for the first
time and probably since the last election, truth be known.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
We're just coming into that cycle again.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Yourself, Joseph, did you stay out there for the day
and actually do more than three nails or a couple
of tech screws?

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Oh yeah, no, no, 100%. Every time and Oh, last season, actually,
my wife and I were sort of the main hoardings
people for Queenstown area that got to, you know, get
out and about all across the region. But having said that,
couldn't do it without our volunteers, because, you know, obviously,
as I've probably said there before, the South Island electorate's

(02:36):
bigger than 60 countries, so it's a huge bit of territory.
So we heavily rely on our volunteers to... And I'm
very thankful to them for the hard work they do.
They really care about our region and our country. They
want to give us their time to help make it happen.

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Two questions.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
I've got two questions for you, Joseph. Number one, how
much does one of those hoardings cost? And number two,
you're not wearing a tie. In fact, a lot of
National MPs aren't wearing ties in the photos.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Surprising.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
It's just, sometimes people wear ties, sometimes they don't. I
can't remember what the thinking was, to be honest, behind
choosing that particular photo. But that was the decision. And yeah,
every electorate's election cycle is a little bit different.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
I guess.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
What does one of those signs cost?

Speaker 3 (03:27):
Oh, a sign cost? I couldn't tell you off the
top of my head. I'd have to go back and
check the records. But our electorate pays for them. We
pay for those signs. So we've got to raise the
money ourselves and pay for them. So if people go
and stuff them up, they're stuffing up locals who have
worked their tails off to make it happen.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Another poll out this morning, Joseph.

Speaker 1 (03:50):
Now, the Opportunity Party, who's been flying, if you believe,
other polls, they've slipped down to 4.5%. They wouldn't go
into Parliament. I mean, there was a poll out last week.
I think it had the Greens and top combined with
almost a quarter of the vote. That's just well above
where they're going to be. So what are we actually
supposed to believe in the lead-up?

Speaker 3 (04:11):
Well, I think we've said this before. The only poll
that truly matters is who gets the polling votes and
ticks those boxes. and so that's what's going to determine it. Look,
I honestly don't think COP's going to make it. They
might suck up a few votes. But, yeah, I mean,
I think, like, federated farmers, like the calculations are right,
their policies would cost farmers about $ 47, 000 each per annum,

(04:35):
I think is what they calculated. And that's, yeah, so
they basically want to tax the bejeepers out of people
and make, you know, others... basically, welfare beneficiaries. That's not
what we need as a country.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
Well, the Greens are interesting coming out with this so-called
break-up of the supermarket duopoly, Kiwimart, although Kiwimart, I think
it's the name of a second-hand shop somewhere up north.

Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah, look, people have been frustrated for a long time
with the price of food in New Zealand, and, you know,
the frustration I've shared myself, to be honest, But the
only way we can really solve that is, you know,
more effective competition, which is not easy in a country
of 5.3 million people spread over the size of, you know,

(05:25):
the United Kingdom and Japan. So, you know, to get
the scale, you know, supermarket networks, you know, stack up
is challenging, and other countries or businesses have taken a
look at it and decided it doesn't make sense financially
to enter the market. But we've been doing everything we
can to try to track them in, you know, fast tracking,

(05:48):
you know, changing the law so that people can apply,
you know, to put a new supermarket in the areas
and things like that. But this idea by the Greens
is frankly nuts. It's been tried before. It's not a
new idea. Communist Russia did something very similar. They took
over the supply and control of food. You can just

(06:08):
have a look at how that played out. people literally
started lining up for food that was no longer on
the shelves in supermarkets. They couldn't actually get food into
those supermarkets. So people actually started starving. So the Greens'
idea is completely nuts. Like I say, it's been tried
before and failed before.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
There is a real argument out there, though, and a
lot of tourists who came to New Zealand will agree
with this, Joseph. We are just too expensive, especially in
the supermarket aisle.

Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, look, that used to be true. And I say
used to be true because, you know, I'd hear from
people who are, you know, in other countries overseas, Canada,
the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, that food was cheaper.
I'm not hearing that anymore. So I think on a
relative basis, I don't think that's true. Specifically, the food

(06:59):
inflation has actually only increased by 1.9% in the last,
I think, year or two. And obviously, you know, look,
I shop at the supermarket like everyone else, and I
look at the prices and, you know, oh, oh. So, look,
the cost of food is a genuine challenge. But the
government taking over it is not going to fix it. That's,

(07:22):
I think we can, well, anyone who knows a little
bit of history will appreciate that point.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
I reckon the weekly shop's gone up 15%.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
But anyway, we're talking percentages.

Speaker 1 (07:33):
This is a good news story too for you guys,
trying to increase the income cap from $ 150, 000 to $ 300, 000
regarding first home loan income. Yeah, that was a great announcement.

Speaker 3 (07:44):
We had over the weekend. So the cap, like I say,
from $ 150, 000 to $ 300, 000 for everyone. So whether you're a
single or a couple, your maximum will be $ 300, 000, and
then you can access that 5% loan facility to help
you buy your own home. Because, I mean, that's probably

(08:06):
sort of showed the difference between the left and the right.
On the centre-right, we want people to become property owners,
versus the left, who want the state to own things.
We think we're Kiwis. We trust them. We trust them
to manage their own money, and we want them to
own their own land, literally.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Is the Kiwi dream of homeownership slipping through our fingers realistically?

Speaker 3 (08:28):
No, absolutely not. That's why we're doing this policy like this, though,
to make sure that it doesn't... Because ultimately, you know,
people who own their own bit of land are more
embedded in their communities. And, you know, ultimately, that's how
you can build up, you know, your wealth and your
sense of community over time. So we want to ensure

(08:52):
that does not become a dream Have you.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
Got that hybrid NPC jersey made up yet, Joseph?

Speaker 3 (08:58):
It's a work in progress.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
I think you might want to.

Speaker 1 (09:02):
Have the blue on more than the maroon at the
moment going by results. We'll let you carry on. Always
appreciate your time.

Speaker 3 (09:08):
You got it handy. Appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Joseph Mooney, MP for Southland.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
As we get closer to the election. This is the
muster up next.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
We're all over to Croatia to catch up with ploughman
Mark Dillon of the World Ploughing Champs.