1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: To Italy. We go, Joe, very good morning, good money mane. 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:06,080 Speaker 1: Now the business of these referenda. I was talking to 3 00:00:06,080 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: my sister about that. She didn't vote them. As far 4 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:09,760 Speaker 1: as I can work out, most people didn't vote. Because 5 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:11,399 Speaker 1: they didn't vote, the whole thing was null and void. 6 00:00:11,480 --> 00:00:12,400 Speaker 1: Is that how this works? 7 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:14,520 Speaker 2: Yeah? Pretty much. 8 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 3: They needed a fifty percent threshold to make it legitimate. 9 00:00:19,079 --> 00:00:21,920 Speaker 3: Only around thirty percent of the voters took part in 10 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:25,480 Speaker 3: this referendum. We had five different issues on the ballot. 11 00:00:25,560 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 3: I think we might have talked about that last week. 12 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 3: The main one was to have the length of time 13 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:33,440 Speaker 3: required to live in Italy before applying for citizenship, reducing 14 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 3: that number from ten to five years. And not enough 15 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 3: people showed up, so everything was tossed out. 16 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:41,319 Speaker 1: Is this scene as a waste of time? Because we 17 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: had the same thing here we It's called citizens initiated referendus. 18 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:46,040 Speaker 1: So you go around the malls and you get a 19 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: whole lot of people to sign up. If you get enough, 20 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:49,560 Speaker 1: they verify the numbers and then you have a vote. 21 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 1: But the vote's non binding, and if no one turns 22 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:54,320 Speaker 1: up and no one can be bothered, well what's the point. 23 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. 24 00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 3: I think it's a major setback though for the center 25 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 3: left Democratic Party and the leader Ali Schlein, particularly because 26 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,319 Speaker 3: the Prime Minister Georgia Maloney was against the referendum. She 27 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 3: discouraged people from voting. She went to the ballot box 28 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:13,679 Speaker 3: but didn't actually cast a ballot. And what we're seeing 29 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 3: in the figures, interestingly, her popularity has risen slightly in 30 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:21,560 Speaker 3: the last few days. It's around around still around thirty 31 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:27,240 Speaker 3: percent of the electorate's support, but interestingly too, we're seeing 32 00:01:27,319 --> 00:01:30,479 Speaker 3: some slight increase in the center left at around twenty 33 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 3: three and a half percent, so that's quite an interesting 34 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:35,199 Speaker 3: trend away. 35 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:38,040 Speaker 1: So she's into text cuts. When we say textcuts for 36 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 1: the middle class, who are the middle class? And what 37 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:43,400 Speaker 1: she took? What sort of money we're talking about, Yeah. 38 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:44,760 Speaker 2: Well what is the middle class? 39 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:48,400 Speaker 3: But I mean the average person in Italy is still 40 00:01:48,440 --> 00:01:51,840 Speaker 3: taking home fifteen hundred to two thousand euros a month, 41 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 3: which is not very much money. And she has reduced 42 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,800 Speaker 3: the tax rate from around twenty six percent to twenty 43 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:01,559 Speaker 3: four percent. She wants to do more for those people 44 00:02:01,560 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 3: in the middle I think they're going to need a 45 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 3: lot more to really get them going because a lot 46 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 3: of people I think are still struggling economically. 47 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: What's your top rate? Off the top of your head, 48 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:13,120 Speaker 1: do you know? I mean, you know if you're in 49 00:02:13,160 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: a lot, I mean, do you have a lot of Texas? 50 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:17,359 Speaker 1: Do you have like we've got far too many, We've 51 00:02:17,360 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: got like you know, fourteen, seventeen, nineteen, thirty, three, thirty. 52 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: It just goes up and other up. 53 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:24,600 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's pretty hard to keep track here. I wouldn't 54 00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 3: want to name the top rate. But what is incredibly 55 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:29,679 Speaker 3: difficult for business is if they if you want to 56 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:32,680 Speaker 3: hire someone and put them on staff full time with 57 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:37,200 Speaker 3: an indeterminate contract for a lengthy period of time, you 58 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:39,640 Speaker 3: have to pay an enormous amount of tax to the 59 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 3: government to hire that employee. And I think that's what 60 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 3: really deters a lot of business growth in this country. 61 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:47,440 Speaker 1: I've just been taught by my research department that your 62 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:52,480 Speaker 1: top text rate is forty three euros over seventy five thousand. 63 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: Seventy five thousand in New Zealand terms, is not a 64 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: big salary. It's in fact it's less than the average 65 00:02:58,080 --> 00:03:01,600 Speaker 1: salary and you're paying forty three cent. You're very heavily. 66 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 2: Taxed, very heavily taxed. 67 00:03:03,680 --> 00:03:07,679 Speaker 3: I mean, we still see a socialist, center left economy 68 00:03:07,720 --> 00:03:12,080 Speaker 3: in this country. Public healthcare one hundred percent, public health care, 69 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 3: schools are free, you know. So there are a lot 70 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:18,560 Speaker 3: of benefits for people in this country still that are 71 00:03:18,600 --> 00:03:19,600 Speaker 3: left over from the past. 72 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:21,600 Speaker 1: It's a fascinating thing, isn't it, because you know my 73 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:24,160 Speaker 1: passion for Berlusconi. How is it berl of Scone? You 74 00:03:24,240 --> 00:03:26,800 Speaker 1: got to be so popular and yet your economy is 75 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:27,640 Speaker 1: so seent to lift. 76 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 3: Yeah, you would have thought that he'd done more to 77 00:03:31,480 --> 00:03:34,560 Speaker 3: try and remove some of those old fashioned ideas, but 78 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 3: that certainly hasn't happened because I think that's embedded. But 79 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,400 Speaker 3: we might see some more changes under the Maloney government. 80 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: So are you School holidays started yet? 81 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:47,960 Speaker 3: School hot days have started, and there's some interesting stories 82 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 3: coming out that a growing number of Italian parents are 83 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 3: turning to psychologists to help them try and get through 84 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 3: the summer holidays because they. 85 00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 2: Go forever in this country. 86 00:03:57,280 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 3: They go for about thirteen weeks, which is longer than 87 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,960 Speaker 3: most other countries in Europe, and among working mothers sixty 88 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,000 Speaker 3: three percent, so they feel exhausted during the summer holidays. 89 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 3: I don't think I don't think that they're are Robinson Cruso. 90 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:14,400 Speaker 1: There thirteen weeks now once again I'm probing into Italian society. 91 00:04:14,440 --> 00:04:17,000 Speaker 1: But that's the same thing. When your kids off for 92 00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:20,080 Speaker 1: thirteen weeks and you don't get thirteen weeks leave as 93 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:22,960 Speaker 1: a parent, which you won't, what do you do? 94 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:25,480 Speaker 2: Well, it's incredibly difficult. 95 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:27,479 Speaker 3: People who have a bit of extra money send the 96 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 3: kids off to some sort of camp in the middle 97 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:32,840 Speaker 3: of it, some school camp. But most of them are 98 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 3: really juggling, and in the old days they would have 99 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 3: had a lot more support from the grandparents. That sort 100 00:04:38,120 --> 00:04:41,640 Speaker 3: of tradition doesn't exist anymore, so the mothers and fathers 101 00:04:41,640 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 3: are really juggling their jobs while trying to keep the 102 00:04:43,720 --> 00:04:44,279 Speaker 3: kids busy. 103 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:46,560 Speaker 1: Does anyone ask the question? See thirteen weeks for a 104 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:48,680 Speaker 1: kids seems to me to be too long, right, So 105 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:51,280 Speaker 1: the kids board witless after about five or sex and 106 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:53,360 Speaker 1: they're going, I've done all I want to do, And 107 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:55,280 Speaker 1: does anyone go, why don't we spread them out, change 108 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: them about a bit or not? 109 00:04:56,120 --> 00:04:58,960 Speaker 3: Really? I haven't seen much of a debate about that, 110 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 3: but maybe we should put the on the. 111 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,080 Speaker 1: Agenda exactly tell them about Peter Dunn. Nice to see you, 112 00:05:03,120 --> 00:05:05,720 Speaker 1: Jojoe mckinna artiicately. But remember Peter Dunn used to come 113 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:07,520 Speaker 1: up with that idea every at the end of every 114 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: summer here in New Zealand, we need to shuffle around 115 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:11,800 Speaker 1: the holidays, because I think he was on to something. 116 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:15,200 Speaker 3: For more from the mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to 117 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:18,359 Speaker 3: news talks. It'd be from six am weekdays, or follow 118 00:05:18,400 --> 00:05:20,000 Speaker 3: the podcast on iHeartRadio.