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Speaker 1: The Huddle with New Zealand Souththerby's international realty, local and

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Speaker 1: global exposure like no other.

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Speaker 2: Okay, joining me on the huddle tonight we have Mike Monroe,

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Speaker 2: former Labor Party chief of staff.

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Speaker 3: Good evening, great, how are you good?

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Speaker 2: Thank you? And David Farak can we blog Anchory Upholster? Hi, David. Hey, Look,

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Speaker 2: I just want to throw this out to the two

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Speaker 2: of you. I've made it really clear. I don't need

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Speaker 2: to see anything more about the Pokinghorn trial for a while.

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Speaker 2: I think that Pauline Hannah should just be allowed to

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Speaker 2: rest in peace for a little while, as should her

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Speaker 2: family and friends. I don't need to see a documentary

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Speaker 2: in a hurry, and I don't need to see a dramatization.

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Speaker 2: You might feel very differently. You might be right up

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Speaker 2: for it, Mike.

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Speaker 4: No, Look, I tend to agree. It just sort of

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Speaker 4: feels it feels too soon.

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Speaker 3: Look.

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Speaker 4: I know it's been a highly interesting case and a

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Speaker 4: lot of people followed it very closely, and it's been

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Speaker 4: a very salacious case as well, I guess in many ways.

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Speaker 4: But look, I think these sorts of issues are normally

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Speaker 4: revisited a bit further down the track. I think people

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Speaker 4: who make films and documentaries on such cases tend to

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Speaker 4: provide a bit of space for everyone to sort of

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Speaker 4: absorb what's happened.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it just feels unseemly.

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Speaker 4: Rapid to be talking about a program at this early stage.

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Speaker 2: Would you watch one? Would you watch the dramatization or

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Speaker 2: the doc o?

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Speaker 5: David?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, lock I will. It is a bit too early.

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Speaker 5: It's inevitable they were going to do one because it

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Speaker 5: has probably the two elements that appeal genuine debate in

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Speaker 5: the community about who did it, But like the David

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Speaker 5: Bain case, Peter Ellis, etc. And of course, as Mike said,

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Speaker 5: very salacious, etcetera.

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Speaker 3: So it was inevitable.

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Speaker 5: But it is a bit bad taste to like, you

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Speaker 5: have already started effectively before the trial's over.

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Speaker 3: What does in dress me? Though?

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Speaker 5: I have to say, is going to be the casting

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Speaker 5: who will play medicine?

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Speaker 3: Ah?

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Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, you're sucked in, aren't you?

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Speaker 3: You can't wait fair enough?

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Speaker 2: Gentlemen, I'd like to talk to you about Wellington City

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Speaker 2: Councilors this afternoon. They're voted against selling the airport shares.

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Speaker 2: This is going to have quite an impact on their

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Speaker 2: long term plan. How tricky. Is this going to make

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Speaker 2: things Mike.

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Speaker 3: Uh, yeah, it is going to be tricky.

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Speaker 4: And and and I felt the sort of case that

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Speaker 4: was made for you for selling the shares and setting

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Speaker 4: sorry selling the shareholding and setting up the investment fund,

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Speaker 4: the perpetual fund, it sort of made sense. I mean,

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Speaker 4: Wellington faced enormous risks in this regard, and I think

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Speaker 4: the case was made previously that that that selling the

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Speaker 4: shareholding was going to help fund that idea.

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Speaker 3: I think in the ends of politics took over.

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Speaker 4: The Labor and Green Party machines have got pretty active

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Speaker 4: on this and and I think that the you know,

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Speaker 4: they've whipped in to line their councilors. So I think, yeah,

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Speaker 4: it's unfortunate because there was a good economic case in

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Speaker 4: terms of well E's in the future for going aheadless

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Speaker 4: the sale.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the vote was narrow nine to seven against the sale.

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Speaker 2: Where do you think this leaves the council.

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Speaker 5: David probably facing either rates going up or having to

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Speaker 5: cut spending elsewhere.

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Speaker 3: But the big worry is the resilience.

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Speaker 5: A former airport director, Paul Redleasemuth made really good case,

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Speaker 5: which is lot the council needs some capital for when

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Speaker 5: there's something like a big earthquake, of its commercial investments

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Speaker 5: is tied up in this minority state in the airport,

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Speaker 5: and what asset is probably going to plummet in venue

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Speaker 5: after an earthquake the airport because no one's going to

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Speaker 5: be flying in or out for months, and the airport

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Speaker 5: itself could well be damaged. So if the whole purpose

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Speaker 5: is resilience, then it's a very bad investment to have. So, yeah,

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Speaker 5: it is a pity it didn't happen, and I think

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Speaker 5: the council has a real problem where to go now.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be well. Look, I mean Wellington certainly

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Speaker 2: provides us with The Wellington City Council definitely provides us

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Speaker 2: with an awful lot of entertainment.

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Speaker 5: Mike.

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Speaker 2: We just never quite know how it's all going to unfold,

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Speaker 2: do we.

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Speaker 5: Community Brown It makes him look so good. Wayne looks

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Speaker 5: like right to Wellington every week because by comparison, Yeah,

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Speaker 5: do you know.

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Speaker 2: What I had. I can't remember what we were talking

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Speaker 2: about the other day, but someone did text me and

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Speaker 2: just say could you just send Wayne down? And I

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Speaker 2: was like, yep, okay, I get it, but you might

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Speaker 2: I don't know whether you'll be happy about that when

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Speaker 2: you arrive wait and see. Let's talk about community advocate

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Speaker 2: Dave Lettellly who's had to shut down his South Auckland

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Speaker 2: food bank. He just cannot sustain it. You know, he's

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Speaker 2: feeling pretty down about having to let these families down.

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Speaker 2: But I mean, it's also sort of says a lot

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Speaker 2: about where we're at for a lot of charities and things,

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Speaker 2: doesn't it David. It's it's just tough, yeah.

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Speaker 3: And great on them.

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Speaker 5: What he has done has been amazing, and it is

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Speaker 5: really sad that the support from corporate is something there

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Speaker 5: like it used to if you look for silver lining.

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Speaker 5: He did say a number of families accessing the services

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Speaker 5: dropped on a thousand to a couple of hundreds. But

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Speaker 5: let's not be naive. There's always going to be people

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Speaker 5: who need food banks, et cetera. So it's just a

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Speaker 5: matter of hoping that the other providers out there, like

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Speaker 5: the missions, et cetera, can step up.

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Speaker 2: Is this what is this a job for community advocates

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Speaker 2: like Dave Mike?

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Speaker 3: Well, look, the.

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Speaker 4: Good thing about well, I shouldn't say a good thing.

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Speaker 4: What I would point out is that in South Auckland

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Speaker 4: there are a lot of food banks. I actually got

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Speaker 4: online the south to Intituck ditribution in South Auckland and

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Speaker 4: there's about ten or a dozen food banks scattered through

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Speaker 4: that region, which just tells you something about the sort

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Speaker 4: of number of people in that area of requiring help,

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Speaker 4: and it just underlines the inequality in our society is

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Speaker 4: really impacting on an area like South Auckland. I think

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Speaker 4: the service Littally was providing was you know, it was

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Speaker 4: a tremendous one, but as David pointed out, demand for

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Speaker 4: his particular service has fallen off in recent times. I

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Speaker 4: think Littley has always been a sort of a larger

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Speaker 4: than life figure because he's sporting background, his dad's sort

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Speaker 4: of Mungo mob connections, et cetera. So there's always going

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Speaker 4: to be a lot more focus I guess on David

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Speaker 4: Telly's service in South Aakland, but that I would.

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Speaker 2: A lot of charity doing it tough.

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Speaker 4: Well they are, yeah, I mean that they are doing

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Speaker 4: it tough, and I guess it just as I say,

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Speaker 4: underlines the real inequality issues that we still haven't addressed

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Speaker 4: properly in this country. We shouldn't have to, We shouldn't

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Speaker 4: have to rely shouldn't have to rely on so many

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Speaker 4: food banks picking up the slack like that.

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Speaker 3: But it's just affective life and we've got.

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Speaker 4: To find a better way of making sure that they

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Speaker 4: can provide their service, you know, efficiently and comprehensively.

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Speaker 2: You're with the Huddle. We're going to take a quick break.

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Speaker 1: It is fourteen to six the Huddle with New Zealand

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Speaker 1: Southeby's International Realty elevate the marketing of your home.

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Speaker 2: Yes, you're with the Huddle, And I guess and Mike

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Speaker 2: Munro and David Farrer, David. I just spoke to the

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Speaker 2: Minister of Finance, Nichola Willis, and I asked her if

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Speaker 2: if you take a look at the government's financial books,

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Speaker 2: which have sunk further into debt, whether she was still

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Speaker 2: whether she regretted the text cuts and she said.

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Speaker 3: No, no, no, no, no.

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Speaker 5: Do you think she might be I don't think so. No,

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Speaker 5: not her old lock twelve years of stealth tax increases

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Speaker 5: that they had to be offering people something and you

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Speaker 5: kind of disagree over that numbers. But they did make

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Speaker 5: some cuts elsewhere. But what when now here is I've

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Speaker 5: just been looking at the numbers. We're paying ten billion

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Speaker 5: dollars a year in interest on the debt that's built

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Speaker 5: up over the last twenty years or so. And think

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Speaker 5: of what you could do with that ten billion dollars

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Speaker 5: if you weren't seeing it to banks and overseas lenders.

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Speaker 3: Et cetera.

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Speaker 5: So, yeah, you can get into a virtuous circle. If

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Speaker 5: they get back into surplus and they start paying the

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Speaker 5: debt down, then the interest payments start dropping. You have

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Speaker 5: more money for health education. So there's a switching point

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Speaker 5: where you go from really tough to actually things become

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Speaker 5: easier from a fiscal point.

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Speaker 2: Were you surprised by those numbers, Mike, I mean we've

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Speaker 2: been we've been hearing about what's happening to health New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: We know that there have been higher acc claims, gost

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Speaker 2: all sorts of things. I wasn't hugely surprised, were.

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Speaker 4: You, No, I wasn't, And I think I think Nicola

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Speaker 4: Willis is now discovering the sort of grim realities of

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Speaker 4: her job. You know, there's enormous cost pressures the economy,

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Speaker 4: and I've been there for a long time. Robinson was

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Speaker 4: struggling to deal with them in the latter days the

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Speaker 4: labor government and now Nicola Willison's sort of inherited them.

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Speaker 4: You know, the government expenses have gone up by I

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Speaker 4: think it was eleven percent over the last year, and

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Speaker 4: revenue has only gone up by nine percent, and therein

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Speaker 4: lies the problem. These enormous pressures are just making it very,

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Speaker 4: very hard to get on top of the deficit. And

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Speaker 4: I disagree with David around the tax cuts. I do

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Speaker 4: think they were a good idea at this stage. I mean,

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Speaker 4: the government has to commit fourteen billion dollars for those

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Speaker 4: tax cuts over the next four years, and that money

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Speaker 4: would have gone a long way to easing their problems

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Speaker 4: elsewhere in the economy. I know that national government has

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Speaker 4: always dangled the sort of the tax cuts policy in

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Speaker 4: front of voters come election time, but I just think

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Speaker 4: they didn't really take account of the enormous pressures and

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Speaker 4: the problems that they were facing when they came into

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Speaker 4: government ten twelve months ago. So I think that I've

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Speaker 4: now been demonstrated to have been a very rash move.

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Speaker 2: David, how does this impact the deadline for returning to

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Speaker 2: the government books returning the government books to surplus in

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Speaker 2: twenty twenty seven that was sort of a was announced,

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Speaker 2: but now it feels a bit more like a casual chat.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, well, it technically doesn't impact it because it's about

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Speaker 5: the year. That's just me As Mike says, you've got

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Speaker 5: these massive cost pressures there. The best way is actually

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Speaker 5: economic growth. If you've got the economy grown at three

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Speaker 5: percent non recession or one percent, text revenue grows, it

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Speaker 5: grows fast in the expenses, that's how you get back

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Speaker 5: into it. So what there actually does announced this week,

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Speaker 5: which is the fast track projects. If they actually pass

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Speaker 5: that bill and they get fifty one hundred projects and

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Speaker 5: centered and construction starting on them, there is the stuff

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Speaker 5: that is actually gained to help them get there. But

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Speaker 5: if you don't have the economic growth, it becomes really hard.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, Thank you both very much, Mike Munroe and David Farrer.

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Speaker 2: And next hour we will have been McNulty with us

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Speaker 2: Wellington City councilor to talk about that vote today that

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Speaker 2: took place. The councilors voted against selling the airport shares.

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Speaker 2: So he will be with us just after six. It

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Speaker 2: is seventy six.

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Speaker 1: For more from hither Duplassy Allen Drive listen live to

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Speaker 1: news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays or follow

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Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio,