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Speaker 1: The Huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty Fink you're.

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Speaker 2: One of the kind huddle this evening. Jordan Williams, Taxpayers Union,

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Speaker 2: Jack Tame, host of Q and A and Saturday Mornings

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Speaker 2: High Lads, Jack, Jordan the ocr is it about right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it was certainly, I mean it was five to

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Speaker 3: one vote, but it was in line with expectations. I

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Speaker 3: thought that the most significant thing was how much more

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Speaker 3: pessimistic the Reserve bankers and compared to Treasury's numbers last

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Speaker 3: week in the budget economic update around projected growth. I mean,

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Speaker 3: Treasury have to put their numbers to bed back in April,

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Speaker 3: but that would suggests that the government's books are going

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Speaker 3: to be it's going to be even harder to hit

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Speaker 3: this sort of non surplus and under the Nicola Willis's

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Speaker 3: pretend new measure on what a surplus is in twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty nine. I think that's the main one. Around the

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Speaker 3: inflationary expectations. It seems that it's just that the talk

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Speaker 3: of all the news of highering higher prices in the

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Speaker 3: US seems to be flying through the year. It seems

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Speaker 3: to be perception not reality.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's what I took away from it as well.

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Speaker 2: Jack was just how stuff the economy is in Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And it just sort of feels like progress is there,

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Speaker 1: but it's just incredibly slow and kind of barely measures

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Speaker 1: at the moment, like yep, yeah, yeah, we know things

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Speaker 1: are improving, but you know, the whole survive to twenty

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Speaker 1: five has been pushed back almost as far as Nicola

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Speaker 1: willis as surpluses. I mean, I thought it was a

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Speaker 1: pretty straight back today. You know that the uncertainty in

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Speaker 1: the US is obviously kind of has the potential to

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Speaker 1: throw a spanner in the works for gross projections and

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Speaker 1: also all sorts of other metrics in the months and

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Speaker 1: years to come. But yeah, I just think we are

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Speaker 1: not out of the woods yet. We're still in a

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Speaker 1: pretty vulnerable position. And yeah, that return to surplus and

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Speaker 1: you know, sustained period of really healthy economic growth still

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Speaker 1: looks a long long way away.

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Speaker 2: Yeah very much. Yeah, go go Jordan.

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Speaker 3: Oh there's a really good interview. I mean it certainly

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Speaker 3: wasn't Tame Jack on Sunday on growth and the very

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Speaker 3: poor growth numbers of you know, clearly not catching up

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Speaker 3: with Australia that Jack did, and I can't.

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Speaker 2: Get past what you just called him as he and

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Speaker 2: nick name for him.

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Speaker 3: Well, well, I mean the great thing about that this

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Speaker 3: is like I know we're supposed to be talking about

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Speaker 3: movies later, but it's cap cool viewing because the thing

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Speaker 3: is is you just stay so calm and gently sort

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Speaker 3: of through it. And normally we're used to sort of

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Speaker 3: seeing media and clearly on this show, but you know,

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Speaker 3: listening and watching media interviews where the interviewer is getting

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Speaker 3: progressively more aggressive and worked up, whereas Jack, you just

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Speaker 3: sort of was so calm and it might have been

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Speaker 3: because you had a cold that I think I've now

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Speaker 3: picked up is and it's Nichola willis getting progressively more upset. Jack.

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Speaker 2: Did you have a cold because I thought you had

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Speaker 2: a cold as well.

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Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I had a really bad cold last week. Honestly,

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Speaker 1: Thank goodness, was soudo ephodrine. It's really changed.

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Speaker 2: A legal why is a wonderful thing.

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Speaker 1: Well, but it does make you feel a little like

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Speaker 1: take it this way, I can see how they make

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Speaker 1: meth out of it, like I was then yeah, yeah,

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Speaker 1: but I was yeah yeah, I mean, I just it

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Speaker 1: is curious, right to get all this language about growth, growth, growth,

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Speaker 1: and you know, if if you look at those growth forecasts,

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Speaker 1: and I think we can all agree that growth forecasting

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Speaker 1: is a bit tricky at the best of times and

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Speaker 1: generally not super accurate, but all those growth forecasts over

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Speaker 1: the last eighteen months have have kind of consistently deteriorated.

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Speaker 1: Whether it's a reserve bank or or the government. You

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Speaker 1: look at the borrowing rates. I mean they say the

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Speaker 1: previous government was addicted to spending. You look at you know,

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Speaker 1: look at the discovernments on borrow Well, if you look

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Speaker 1: at you know, I'm always interested in separating language from fact,

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Speaker 1: then you know it's yeah, yeah, And that's not to

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Speaker 1: say we don't want to see economic growth, but you

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Speaker 1: know that that I think today's data has kind of

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Speaker 1: underscored things. Once again, it's a long way off.

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Speaker 2: All right, we'll take a back, come back shortly.

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Speaker 1: The huddle with New Zealand Southeby's International Realty achieve extraordinary

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Speaker 1: results with unparallel reach.

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Speaker 2: Right, you're back with a huddle, Jacktam Jordan Williams with

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Speaker 2: us now the Taxpayer's Union. Jordan Williams is outfit has

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Speaker 2: released something that you might be interested in. Okay, so

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Speaker 2: you know your Keiwi savers being tinkered with the government's

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Speaker 2: taking money off it will get a load of what

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Speaker 2: happens to MP's. MPs can contribute up to eight percent

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Speaker 2: of their pay and the taxpayer you and I will

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Speaker 2: contribute twenty percent. So it can be for a back

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Speaker 2: bench you paid one hundred and seventy thousand as much

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Speaker 2: as thirty four thousand dollars a year that we're chucking

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Speaker 2: in this in their Kiwi savers. Jordan, that's outrageous, isn't it.

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Speaker 3: We just said what's good for the goose is good

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Speaker 3: for the gander, and I see that all the MP's

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Speaker 3: have said, oh, this is outrageous. You know, it's independently

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Speaker 3: said and stuff like that. Look, reasonable minds can differ

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Speaker 3: on how much you should pay in peas because the

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Speaker 3: can be an argument that you want to pay to

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Speaker 3: get the best and brightest and all that sort of thing. Okay,

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Speaker 3: so let's get out of the way. But it's about transparency.

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Speaker 3: You know, you google how much is a back any

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Speaker 3: an MP paid. It's about one hundred and seventy But

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Speaker 3: then of course the public find out that, oh, well,

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Speaker 3: there's the other thirty four thousand for the super and

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Speaker 3: there's the other thirty six thousand tax free for the

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Speaker 3: expense allowance for clothing and for luggage and things like that.

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Speaker 3: And there's the other forty old grand for the accommodation subsidy.

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Speaker 3: What we say is it shot?

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Speaker 2: Look do it like.

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Speaker 3: Anyone else would do it? No one in there will

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Speaker 3: be half a million people listening to the show. They

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Speaker 3: were the only people listening that get thirty four thousand

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Speaker 3: dollars from their employer to go into the Kiwi Saber

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Speaker 3: or the RMPS. That's that's crooked.

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Speaker 2: Would you go so far as saying crooked?

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Speaker 3: Well, it's not true, it's maybe it's not correct. I'm

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Speaker 3: not suggesting that for a moment, but it is. It's

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Speaker 3: come on, put it this way.

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Speaker 1: Can I jump in and help howl about Jordan here?

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Speaker 1: I work in a job where my role is to

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Speaker 1: hold your powerful pace and powerful polishings to account, and

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Speaker 1: I'm embarrassed to say that until this story came out,

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Speaker 1: I had absolutely no idea that MP's benefited from this perk.

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Speaker 1: Now I'm one that thinks that MP's should be paid. Well,

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Speaker 1: I think we want talented people to be representing us

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Speaker 1: in Parliament. But I had absolutely no idea that they

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Speaker 1: could claim this much money by contributing. And I think

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Speaker 1: it's like it's maxed out at a backbenchers thing, right,

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Speaker 1: So like, for example, the Prime Minister he gets the

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Speaker 1: maximum that the backbencher would get. He gets thirty four

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Speaker 1: as opposed to Yeah, right, But nonetheless it speaks to

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Speaker 1: the transparency points that's raising. Yes, I had no idea

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Speaker 1: about this, and so if I feel like, if I

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Speaker 1: don't know about this, then most New Zealanders an't going

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Speaker 1: to know about this.

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Speaker 2: Jordan. Here's the thing, right, if the best leaders are

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Speaker 2: people who do the same thing to themselves as they

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Speaker 2: ask of others, right, and these guys are not good leaders.

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Speaker 2: That's essentially what it is.

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Speaker 3: Well, I mean this has sort of been a cozy

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Speaker 3: sort of thing since that this particular role goes back

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Speaker 3: to two thousand and three, and the remuneration Authority has

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Speaker 3: said time and time again on and we're not going

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Speaker 3: to review that, We're not going to touch that.

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Speaker 1: What do you want them.

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Speaker 2: To do, Jordan? Do you want them to take themselves

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Speaker 2: back to the same place the rest of us are.

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Speaker 3: At exactly just set in a mound like stop all

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Speaker 3: these extra add ons, and the only reason they have

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Speaker 3: the add ons is to try to get the headline

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Speaker 3: amount low so they don't get grief. I've actually it's

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Speaker 3: a paper. I've wanted to do this for a decade,

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Speaker 3: and I need to sit down and write it. I'm

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Speaker 3: going to a theory, okay, and this is I say that genuinely.

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Speaker 3: Even the staff and the text BAIS Union disagree. You

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Speaker 3: can make it a principled argument we should pay loads.

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Speaker 3: You make a principal argument that we take the Swiss

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Speaker 3: model and pay nothing. Here's an idea. What about paying

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Speaker 3: the opportunity cost of being an MP. So you have

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Speaker 3: a floor like a minimum, but then cover like base

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Speaker 3: it on the previous five years earnings or whatever you

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Speaker 3: know taxtbill income. So if you give up a job

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Speaker 3: at a million bucks a year, that's what you get paid.

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Speaker 3: Because if the argument the problem is if you pay.

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Speaker 2: Still do get it.

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Speaker 3: It's just an idea. I mean, it's not as I

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Speaker 3: say that the TU we actually can't agree what the

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Speaker 3: best way is.

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Speaker 2: But I think you're complicated, Jordan. I think you're over

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Speaker 2: complicating it. These guys act they do it for they

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Speaker 2: don't do it for the money.

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Speaker 3: Wow, oh some of them. Some of them. I think

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Speaker 3: that you look at the they're on the best job,

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Speaker 3: they're ever ran. But it's not right that that as

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Speaker 3: I say, you google it one hundred and seventy year. K.

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Speaker 3: That's high, but you know they work hard whatever, But

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Speaker 3: it's not it's quarter of a million in any in

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Speaker 3: any other sort of measure.

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Speaker 2: Okay, Now, when was the last time, Jack that you

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Speaker 2: went to the movies?

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Speaker 3: Oh?

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Speaker 1: I reckon a year ago.

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Speaker 2: It's not bad. Would you go see isn't it?

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Speaker 1: Oh? I feel like I win. I saw a kids movie. Yes,

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Speaker 1: does it even count yet? Then? Well again, took up

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Speaker 1: mindaft last week.

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Speaker 3: I have to say to Jack, you know it'll be

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Speaker 3: your last one. I really had to think about it.

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Speaker 3: The last time I went to the movies, it was

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Speaker 3: when Emily was pregnant and it was down to Abbey.

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Speaker 3: It was more than five years ago. Oh yeah, it's

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Speaker 3: just it really took me a long time to think about.

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Speaker 2: What are you doing? No screen time? And that's a

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Speaker 2: gigantic screen.

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Speaker 3: The thing is TV. I think that it's the reaiscence

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Speaker 3: of really good TV. Now you look at the big

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Speaker 3: budget sort of Netflix serieses and stuff.

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Speaker 2: That's where entertain It's yep. I'm with you. Okay, guys,

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Speaker 2: listen to Lovely Talk to the pair of you go Jack,

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Speaker 2: you go get better, Jordan, Thank you for your time, Jack,

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Speaker 2: Tam Jordan Williams.

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Speaker 3: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

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