1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:03,279 Speaker 1: Barry Sooper, senior political correspondent. Is the High Barry good afternoon, 2 00:00:03,720 --> 00:00:05,960 Speaker 1: So Nicholas war on butter? Is it working or is 3 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: it backfiring? 4 00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:11,799 Speaker 2: Well, the expectation was, wasn't it that when she had 5 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:15,880 Speaker 2: the head of Fonterra up to her office, that something 6 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,080 Speaker 2: was going to be done about the price of butter. 7 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 2: But you know the reality was that nothing could have 8 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 2: been done about the price of butter. She does meet 9 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 2: with Fonterra from time to time, will several times a 10 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 2: year in fact, But where was the expectation created. Maybe 11 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 2: she would have been better not to have mentioned that 12 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:38,560 Speaker 2: she was going to have a meeting with Fonterra given 13 00:00:38,600 --> 00:00:39,480 Speaker 2: the price of butter. 14 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:41,880 Speaker 1: No, she said, I am going to have a meeting 15 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: with Fonterra and ask them to explain the price of 16 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:45,840 Speaker 1: butter exactly. 17 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:50,440 Speaker 2: And so that was interpreted as being her being able 18 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:53,160 Speaker 2: to drive down in some way the price of butter 19 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 2: by having a meeting with Fonterra, which of course would 20 00:00:56,880 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 2: never have been the case. She the she was reminded 21 00:01:03,520 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 2: by Labour's Barbara Edmunds in Parliament of her own attacks 22 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 2: of Labor over the price of food when she was 23 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 2: in opposition here they are. 24 00:01:13,440 --> 00:01:16,319 Speaker 3: Does she regret doing a Facebook video waving a block 25 00:01:16,319 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 3: of cheese complaining it was too expensive, only to see 26 00:01:19,880 --> 00:01:23,600 Speaker 3: it increase under her watch. No, not at almost to speaker, 27 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:26,039 Speaker 3: because what I was highlighting at that time was that 28 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,319 Speaker 3: under the watch of the government I was critiquing food 29 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:35,759 Speaker 3: price inflation went to double digits, double digits, mister speaker, 30 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:40,440 Speaker 3: up over twelve percent, and every week I recall coming 31 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:42,680 Speaker 3: down to this house and saying, with your please, he's 32 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,319 Speaker 3: up on the waistful spending. It's charging the inflation and 33 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:48,200 Speaker 3: kiwis are paying the price. And you know what, there 34 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:50,680 Speaker 3: was a little election about that. Guess who won. 35 00:01:51,520 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty uptight about it. 36 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:57,280 Speaker 1: But does that feel a little wee one you lost 37 00:01:57,320 --> 00:01:57,680 Speaker 1: eat that? 38 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 2: Oh? Yes, absolutely. The thing is that she keeps coming 39 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:06,160 Speaker 2: back to supermarkets and what they are, what their markup 40 00:02:06,240 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 2: clearly is by the supplier being Fonterra. There is an 41 00:02:11,280 --> 00:02:14,240 Speaker 2: expectation I think within the next few weeks. I inquired 42 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 2: around the Behave today that there will be some sort 43 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 2: of announcement by the government on supermarkets within the next fortnight, 44 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 2: so keep your eye out for that. I also looked 45 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 2: at what Fonterra gets and you probably know this anyway. 46 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:33,480 Speaker 2: Vonterra gets for a kilogrammer butter is thirteen dollars fifty 47 00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 2: Now five hundred grams of that is six dollars seventy five. 48 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:41,640 Speaker 2: So the markup in supermarkets is not that massive when 49 00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:44,520 Speaker 2: you look at the international price. So not a hell 50 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 2: of a lot can be done. 51 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: Well quite, I mean, that is exactly the point. What 52 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:51,880 Speaker 1: do you make of the police target being moved? 53 00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,680 Speaker 2: Well, this is yet comes back to expectations, doesn't it 54 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 2: In politics that you know, you should never put numbers 55 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 2: on things like police and other things like creating an expectation. 56 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:09,960 Speaker 2: You'll remember National got into trouble in the first place 57 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,720 Speaker 2: over this. They said that we'll have another five hundred policemen. 58 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 2: Initially it was two years. Then they said, oh no, 59 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 2: hang on, it was three years. Now it's back to 60 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 2: two years. They're not going to get there now until 61 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:25,080 Speaker 2: about August next year, according to the Police commissioner. Now 62 00:03:25,520 --> 00:03:30,359 Speaker 2: the associate policeman is to Casey Costello, very conveniently, she's 63 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,920 Speaker 2: the one responsible for this particular policy. She said in 64 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,600 Speaker 2: February she was even more confident that the target would 65 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 2: be reached in November this year. Well, of course they've 66 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,600 Speaker 2: got another police college now in operation here in Auckland, 67 00:03:43,880 --> 00:03:45,920 Speaker 2: but it's not going to be reached and they're going 68 00:03:45,960 --> 00:03:49,640 Speaker 2: to come nowhere near the five hundred. Ginny Anderson, of course, 69 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 2: she's the Labor Police spokesman. She condemned the delay as 70 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:58,640 Speaker 2: an example of Luxelon's inability to deliver. But let's remember 71 00:03:58,680 --> 00:04:04,040 Speaker 2: the last Labor government almost eighteen hundred new policemen on 72 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,360 Speaker 2: the beat, they said three years from becoming government in 73 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:11,080 Speaker 2: twenty and seventeen. They only achieved that in a mid 74 00:04:11,160 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 2: twenty twenty three and of those two hundred and seventy 75 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:20,919 Speaker 2: weren't sworn police officers, so they weren't bopping to the 76 00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:23,840 Speaker 2: beat as we were assured they would be. They were 77 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:26,800 Speaker 2: in the back office doing work for frontline policemen. 78 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,599 Speaker 1: Tell me if I'm wrong, but that homelessness report really 79 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: was not worth waiting for, was this? 80 00:04:33,000 --> 00:04:37,000 Speaker 2: Well, it's to me the figures are disturbing when you 81 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:43,800 Speaker 2: think homelessness, now that's people sleeping rough are what nearly 82 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,920 Speaker 2: five thousand people? Yes, so, according to the last census, 83 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:48,640 Speaker 2: that's the size of Dargaville. 84 00:04:48,839 --> 00:04:50,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's not what I mean though, right, this thing 85 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:53,040 Speaker 1: has been hyped up. Q and A was going hard 86 00:04:53,080 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: on it. Various media were going hard on it because 87 00:04:55,400 --> 00:04:58,479 Speaker 1: it was supposed to show us that ending the emergency 88 00:04:58,480 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: accommodation and cleaning that up has led to an increase 89 00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: in homelessness. All of these figures are from the labor government. 90 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:06,160 Speaker 1: That none of us is capturing the national government. 91 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:09,919 Speaker 2: No, it's not, and that's right. And to claim that 92 00:05:10,120 --> 00:05:13,599 Speaker 2: closing down emergency housing has led to people going out 93 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:16,680 Speaker 2: on the streets, I mean interestingly, if you look at 94 00:05:16,920 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 2: the number of people that are living without any shelter 95 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 2: on the streets, the majority of them are older. Fifty 96 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:30,839 Speaker 2: five percent of them are males and forty four percent 97 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:36,679 Speaker 2: females and are over the age of I think about 98 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,839 Speaker 2: fifty plus their age groups. So they're older people that 99 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:44,440 Speaker 2: are on the streets, not the youngsters with families that 100 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 2: need to be housed. 101 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: Thanks very much, Ary, so per senior political correspondent. 102 00:05:49,360 --> 00:05:52,560 Speaker 2: For more from Hither Duplessy Alan Drive, listen live to 103 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,679 Speaker 2: news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow 104 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio.