Speaker 1: Kiota.
Speaker 2: I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is a compilation episode of
Speaker 2: The Front Page, a daily podcast presented by The New
Speaker 2: Zealand Herald. The year in politics has been a bumpy
Speaker 2: road for many. The Coalition government dived in quickly to
Speaker 2: reverse previous labor policies and pushed numerous bills through Parliament
Speaker 2: to reach quarterly deadlines and targets, with a mixed response
Speaker 2: from voters around some policies. Labor meanwhile, has spent much
Speaker 2: of the year recovering from their election wipe out in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, leaving Tabati Maldi to lead the pushback
Speaker 2: against the Treaty Principal's Bill. At a local level, huge
Speaker 2: rates increases were a burden for many councils, while Wellington
Speaker 2: City Council had the unfortunate honor of having a Crown
Speaker 2: Observer appointed. Today on the Front Page, we're revisiting some
Speaker 2: of our interviews with top politicians from central and local
Speaker 2: government as we look back on the.
Speaker 3: Year that was.
Speaker 2: First off, we'll go to March when Chloe Swarbrick was
Speaker 2: named co leader of the Green Party. Her rapid rise
Speaker 2: to become the youngest current party leader in New Zealand
Speaker 2: comes a little over six years since she entered parliament.
Speaker 2: Her appointment came in a difficult year for her party,
Speaker 2: with Golriz Gartaman and Darlene Tanner both leaving parliament for
Speaker 2: different reasons, a cancer diagnosis for co leader Madama Davidson
Speaker 2: and the death of Effezo Collins in amongst these difficulties.
Speaker 2: We spoke to Swarbrick about her plans for when she
Speaker 2: took over the reins.
Speaker 4: I've never made a secret of the fact that I
Speaker 4: do have quite a lot of disappointment with the status
Speaker 4: quo way that we do politics. That is kind of
Speaker 4: the school yard bickering as opposed to getting into the
Speaker 4: evidence and the values lead discussions that I think that
Speaker 4: New Zealanders really deserve, especially if we're to make those
Speaker 4: necessary long term decisions as a parliament and as a
Speaker 4: government for the future of this country. I also never
Speaker 4: made it a secret that I've never really tried to
Speaker 4: position myself to get any particular role or title or
Speaker 4: anything like that. I mean, bar obviously representing my community
Speaker 4: of concentual I've always abelt that one in my bones,
Speaker 4: and very much is something that you know, I think
Speaker 4: has been pretty obvious since I entered the political fray,
Speaker 4: but you know, leveling up into this kind of position
Speaker 4: was something that a lot of people that I admire
Speaker 4: and respect asked me to do when James obviously made
Speaker 4: that decision to step down and made his comments with
Speaker 4: regard to the Greens entering a new era, and I
Speaker 4: felt compelled to do so and to listen to those
Speaker 4: asks and requests from many of those people who I
Speaker 4: deeply admire own respect, because you know, to my point
Speaker 4: of the broader theory of change here is that it's
Speaker 4: not just one person who changes the world. You know,
Speaker 4: it is, particularly if you look at where things have
Speaker 4: changed for the better in many democracies, not only here
Speaker 4: but around the rest of the world. It's been really
Speaker 4: engaged citizen rey who have worked together to make it
Speaker 4: really abundantly clear to the politicians of the day that
Speaker 4: they're not going to accept anything less, whether we're talking
Speaker 4: about workers' rights, whether we're talking about climate action or otherwise.
Speaker 4: And we're confronted with huge, colossal crises at the moment,
Speaker 4: the dual crisis of the climate crisis, and of course
Speaker 4: the greatest rates of wealth and equality that we've seen
Speaker 4: on record in this country, which feels are through into
Speaker 4: a range of things that people experience in their day
Speaker 4: to day but can probably best be summarized in the
Speaker 4: fact that I don't know anyone in my personal or
Speaker 4: professional life at the moment who's not just completely run
Speaker 4: ragged and exhausted.
Speaker 5: And if that doesn't give you.
Speaker 4: A hint into how deeply and fundamentally unsustainable the economy
Speaker 4: is as we know it, then I don't know what will.
Speaker 4: So I see my role as helping to remind people that,
Speaker 4: you know, we get the politics that we think that
Speaker 4: we deserve, and right now that bar is too damn low.
Speaker 2: And I believe this is the first time we've seen
Speaker 2: two female co leaders of any party really, and I'm
Speaker 2: not sure even if we've had a female leader and
Speaker 2: a deputy for any other part major parties either, how
Speaker 2: significant is that?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's pretty cold, But I think what
Speaker 4: this really poses an opportunity for is demonstrating a different
Speaker 4: kind of leadership, not only in that symbolism by virtual
Speaker 4: of the fact that you know, Martama and I are
Speaker 4: who we are and we can't shed our skin, but
Speaker 4: I think the way that both of us have operated
Speaker 4: in public and in private the last several years in
Speaker 4: this political realm, and that is a really clear understanding
Speaker 4: of where our power as greenimps and as members of
Speaker 4: Parliament in general comes from from the community that we
Speaker 4: want to represent. So people will see us just as
Speaker 4: comfortably on the frontline organizing and rallying with people on
Speaker 4: the streets as they will in the halls of power
Speaker 4: holding this government.
Speaker 2: To a I've seen commentators actually suggest that you and
Speaker 2: Marma are both obviously focused on social issues and they
Speaker 2: reckon more so than the environment.
Speaker 6: Is that fair?
Speaker 4: What point commentators to the fact that I was the
Speaker 4: one pushing for a year for a climate emergency declaration
Speaker 4: in our House of Parliament. You know, I sat on
Speaker 4: Environment Selectmitty through twenty seventeen to twenty twenty as we
Speaker 4: put through the zero carbonac changes amendments to the emissions
Speaker 4: Trading Scheme which stopped the freezing of free allocation to
Speaker 4: our most highest polluting industries which have occurred under the
Speaker 4: former Key National government. We also, inside of our focus
Speaker 4: have immense strength and the likes of Lan Farm who
Speaker 4: is a literal freshwater scientist, Steve Abel, a greenpeace organizer,
Speaker 4: Kahunani Carter, who led the largest Marii waste organization in
Speaker 4: the South Island. We've got Scott Willis who has an
Speaker 4: immense background and renewable energy generation. You know some of
Speaker 4: our old hands, like's Gona Toyono, who was a climate
Speaker 4: and Indigenous and of negotiator at the UN. We've got
Speaker 4: Julian Jinter who's obviously made her mark in her name
Speaker 4: in transitioning our transport fleet into one that is zero carbon. Ultimately,
Speaker 4: and all of our MPs hold the duel responsibility of
Speaker 4: representing our people and our planet. There is no way
Speaker 4: for us to disaggregate those two things.
Speaker 2: After the twenty twenty three election, the ACT Party now
Speaker 2: had a record eleven MPs in Parliament and for the
Speaker 2: first time holds two electorate seats. And in May next
Speaker 2: year we'll see Leader David Seymour become Deputy Prime Minister
Speaker 2: as part of his party's coalition.
Speaker 6: Deal with National and New Zealand.
Speaker 2: First in March, we spoke to Seymour about the government's
Speaker 2: first one hundred days, in particular the criticism faced by
Speaker 2: the then fresh faced coalition in terms of social media.
Speaker 2: It seems a coalition and you yourself. In particular, David,
Speaker 2: are receiving a lot of pretty hateful comments online. The
Speaker 2: anti Extremism director, for example, calling the government a child
Speaker 2: hating death cult comes to mind. Also a lot of
Speaker 2: comments around the kids at Freiburg High School. What do
Speaker 2: you reckon the public perception to the new government is
Speaker 2: and do you read any online comments?
Speaker 3: No, I mean I read the polls which say that
Speaker 3: the government's support has stayed level or slightly risen since
Speaker 3: the election of ex Polling has certainly increased, and often
Speaker 3: it's a silent majority of people we should be focused on.
Speaker 3: Sometimes the right response to these people is laughter. I mean,
Speaker 3: you've got to be kidding yourself. I mean, imagine being
Speaker 3: this trumped up person at the university. Is there are
Speaker 3: an anti extremism director. It goes with qullege like I
Speaker 3: just a lot of it. What is important is that
Speaker 3: for people who are seriously interested in the future of
Speaker 3: New Zealand that we say, okay, here are some of
Speaker 3: the challenges our country faces. Here are the solutions that
Speaker 3: we offer and ultimately the problem solvers that get you know,
Speaker 3: the streets to be safe, the kids to school, the
Speaker 3: roads to be built, and the economy growing its productivity
Speaker 3: and houses available for the next generation. Now, if we
Speaker 3: can solve those problems, then really, you know, what some
Speaker 3: of the kids says on TikTok is not really going
Speaker 3: to worry me.
Speaker 2: Do you think that commenting and labeling yourself David a
Speaker 2: racist is a bit easier for people to do rather
Speaker 2: than engage in some conversations around what's happening.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think there's a wider problem here
Speaker 3: that we really had an abandonment in the post modern era,
Speaker 3: an abandonment of objective knowledge. So, you know, instead of
Speaker 3: saying there is one humanity, there is one objective world
Speaker 3: we can all lincome and study together, people say, oh,
Speaker 3: we have our own truth, our own narrative or reality
Speaker 3: or discourse or whatever. It's all this crazy stuff, and
Speaker 3: so you know, well, that's how it's possible for someone
Speaker 3: who says, we believe that all people should be treated
Speaker 3: the same and we should never discriminate based on their race,
Speaker 3: to actually be called a racist for saying. I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, let's be really clear. Racism is when you
Speaker 3: believe that a person's ethnic background is a more important
Speaker 3: characteristic than others, so much so that you will treat
Speaker 3: them differently based on their race. That is what acts
Speaker 3: is absolutely diametrically opposed to, and I might say more
Speaker 3: than any other party. It is the other guys labor
Speaker 3: to party Marii and the Greens in particular, who are
Speaker 3: very comfortable with policies that call on government officials, whether
Speaker 3: they're in the healthcare system or the education system, to
Speaker 3: actively treat people differently based on their ethnic back.
Speaker 2: Would you agree that in a hospital there's a Pakiha
Speaker 2: baby that's just been born, in a Maori baby that's
Speaker 2: just been born, that that immediately that pakihr baby has.
Speaker 6: A leg up.
Speaker 3: Absolutely not, because what else do we know about them.
Speaker 3: It may well be that the pakihar baby is going
Speaker 3: back to a house that is moldy and the risk
Speaker 3: of respiratory diseases. It may well be that the Maori
Speaker 3: baby is not. It may well be that the pakihar
Speaker 3: baby has inherited some sort of congenital condition that means
Speaker 3: that they will live for the rest of their life
Speaker 3: and disability. It's possible that the Marii baby is not.
Speaker 3: Now it is true that on average there are more
Speaker 3: Maori babies with those disadvantaging factors than non Mahori babies.
Speaker 3: But the point is if we fix the disadvantage, we
Speaker 3: will help the Mariu babies more and we will get
Speaker 3: to a more equal society. And we can do it
Speaker 3: without treating people differently based on race. So why you
Speaker 3: want to use this lazy, divisive lembs of race when
Speaker 3: actually once we know more about the case and the
Speaker 3: individual that come to understand each other for who we are,
Speaker 3: we can be more effective, less divisive and help everyone.
Speaker 3: We can help those non Mardy who are disadvantage and
Speaker 3: we can avoid patronizing those mary who are doing very well,
Speaker 3: Thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Regional development has been a major focus of the coalition government.
Speaker 2: The fast Track Bill just this week passed into law,
Speaker 2: but the return of oil and gas exploration and the
Speaker 2: Regional Infrastructure Fund are also promised to get work back
Speaker 2: to the regions and help them thrive.
Speaker 6: And the man running.
Speaker 2: The show is the so called Martua of Mining and
Speaker 2: Prints of the Provinces Minister for Regional Development, Shane Jones.
Speaker 6: We spoke with Jones in November.
Speaker 2: About his plans for the regions and whether you can
Speaker 2: find climate change at the same time as backing provincial
Speaker 2: new Zealand. One of the main killers in the regions
Speaker 2: at the moment seems to be power prices. We've had
Speaker 2: a number of businesses shut down in recent months. How
Speaker 2: concerned are you for these towns that might be reliant
Speaker 2: on just one core business to keep everyone employed.
Speaker 7: Well, without a doubt, and some of our areas we're
Speaker 7: going through a major structural adjustment. It disturbs me deeply
Speaker 7: that the current market settings and the behavior of our
Speaker 7: large power companies otherwise known as Jin Taylor's, is such
Speaker 7: that they are unable to offer competitive power prices to
Speaker 7: a range of industrial users. Now that's it's both a
Speaker 7: legacy problem, but it makes me incredibly apprehensive. If what
Speaker 7: we're going to witness over the short to medium term
Speaker 7: is a de industrialization of New Zealand, that's deeply at
Speaker 7: odds with what New Zealand First stands for. And of
Speaker 7: course the New Zealand First Party has campaigned long and
Speaker 7: hard to change the settings of our electricity market, and
Speaker 7: we have got some work underway involving the Commerce Commission,
Speaker 7: the Electricity Authority. We've got an independent analysis and review
Speaker 7: about to take place. I've long since made my mind
Speaker 7: up that unless we can deliver energy security and more
Speaker 7: affordable energy prices, then we're doing our country a major disservice.
Speaker 8: So if you've had eight hundreds in eighty five thousand
Speaker 8: people going to this one outlet, you can get a
Speaker 8: certain massive unit costal power reduction for older people. That
Speaker 8: was our idea, and difficulty is trying to get them
Speaker 8: to understand that they went down this other idea. A
Speaker 8: whole lot of people are getting power compensation of the
Speaker 8: winter time who can afford it, and yet it's still
Speaker 8: not enough for a lot of people who can't afford
Speaker 8: it where in the very cold regions or if they're
Speaker 8: in the wrong house, they're still going to feel the
Speaker 8: cold for about six months a year.
Speaker 2: You've promised the likes of rare frogs and other wildlife
Speaker 2: will not be allowed to get in the way of
Speaker 2: economic development. You said, no longer would regional jobs be
Speaker 2: held ransom or hijacked by a random frog or multi
Speaker 2: colored skink. Can you talk me through that, because you've
Speaker 2: got to know that that's rubbed some people up the
Speaker 2: wrong way.
Speaker 7: Well, no one is going to go to bed tonight
Speaker 7: doubting where I stand in relation to the centrality of
Speaker 7: growth and the priority that the country should place upon development.
Speaker 7: I'm being constantly shouted down by the NGOs and the
Speaker 7: opposition politicians, but there are battalions of silent New Zealanders
Speaker 7: who quietly agree with me. I'm not saying that we're
Speaker 7: going to go on a massive extinction drive, but I'm
Speaker 7: not going to sit back and allow the weaponization of
Speaker 7: various species and critters to overwhelm an investment or to
Speaker 7: protract projects to a point where they never are delivered
Speaker 7: within a budget. And it's about time I think that
Speaker 7: kiwi's embraced more of my pragmatism because our resource management
Speaker 7: system has been hijacked by ter many special interest groups
Speaker 7: to the detriment of jobs, growth and economic resilience in
Speaker 7: regional New Zealand.
Speaker 6: What if it's a family of brown spotted kiwe getting
Speaker 6: in the way of something.
Speaker 7: I think that there's no shortage of options for the developers,
Speaker 7: road builders, infrastructure builders to mitigate. And if it requires
Speaker 7: an amendment to a project within reason, that's I think
Speaker 7: what would be expected. But this business of saying that
Speaker 7: the country cannot advance because of a couple of dozen
Speaker 7: kiwis that can be translocated to another area.
Speaker 2: Are don't buy that speaking of NGOs, can climate change
Speaker 2: in regional development happen both at the same time.
Speaker 5: I believe so.
Speaker 7: In fact, it is happening in an integrated way. That
Speaker 7: the deeper riddle is how do we afford the costs
Speaker 7: associated we're restructuring our society to meet climate goals if
Speaker 7: we don't have an economic surplus. I think that the
Speaker 7: pendulum here in New Zealand swinging back to a more
Speaker 7: sensible location in relation to climate change, shrillness and historyonics.
Speaker 7: More and more people realize that climate change is only
Speaker 7: one problem. We've got a host of other severe problems
Speaker 7: in New Zealand and it's certainly, in my view, not
Speaker 7: the priority problem.
Speaker 2: Well, you've mentioned that there's a bit of a hysteria
Speaker 2: around it. Are you downplaying climate change?
Speaker 7: Oh? I'm just saying that of all the challenges confronting
Speaker 7: me as a New Zealand politician and confronting our nation,
Speaker 7: climate change is not the be all an indoor climate
Speaker 7: change in my view, over the last regime has been
Speaker 7: turned into a religion. And when I'm on a religious experience,
Speaker 7: I've got other ways of enjoying that rather than chanting
Speaker 7: climate change odes.
Speaker 2: In November, the country saw the biggest protest march to
Speaker 2: Parliament in New Zealand's history. The Auckland Harbor Bridge swayed
Speaker 2: under the weight of thousands of marches taking part in
Speaker 2: the hekoy In protest against government policies impacting Maori, including
Speaker 2: the Treaty Principal's Bill. Tabati Mali led the charge against
Speaker 2: the government, notably with the viral hakker in Parliament during
Speaker 2: the bill's first reading that garnered global attention. The party's
Speaker 2: co leader Dabbi Nauera Paka joined us on the front
Speaker 2: page to discuss why they're fighting back so strongly against
Speaker 2: this government.
Speaker 9: I think what's happened in Parliament and what this bill
Speaker 9: represents is wiping away the existence and the rights that
Speaker 9: the indigenous peoples of Old t Hiedor had before colonization.
Speaker 9: We were the protection to always remember Maori Artana and
Speaker 9: the significance we have as Mary to look after everyone
Speaker 9: that comes in there, but not at the cost of
Speaker 9: being Mali. I think that's probably the most simplest way.
Speaker 9: It's harmful. It hurts not to feel valued. It really
Speaker 9: hurts to have seen that we would trade it off
Speaker 9: to become part of a coalition agreement, and so yeah,
Speaker 9: I think that's you know, it's hurtful and it feels
Speaker 9: horrible to have to defend being Maori right now in
Speaker 9: the ways, either whether it be in Parliament or through
Speaker 9: the hikui.
Speaker 10: A forty if six votes a posts.
Speaker 2: The video of this hakka in Parliament has gone viral,
Speaker 2: with people around the world commenting and wanting to learn
Speaker 2: more from the outside looking in. It's quite an incredible
Speaker 2: moment when Hannah would the Mighty Clark tears that paper
Speaker 2: into What did you feel in that moment?
Speaker 9: You know, everything we do is extremely intentional, and you know,
Speaker 9: I guess the spirit of it is that TETTI is
Speaker 9: one of the most honored documents that you know, we
Speaker 9: have the spirit of its intent and also to protect
Speaker 9: us and our rights and interests tongue Tom two also
Speaker 9: you know, focus on a united alti or But if
Speaker 9: you look at how easy it was to rip it up,
Speaker 9: it was you know, it's three to four pages of
Speaker 9: thin pieces of paper that are shallow, that have no significance,
Speaker 9: and that's you know, to see our youngest do that.
Speaker 9: So the spirit of this was as you know, I
Speaker 9: was intentional, was pre planned, but it was also show
Speaker 9: the world, look what we've been relegated to, these thin
Speaker 9: pieces of paper that were just so easily easily ripped
Speaker 9: by our youngest member. So I think there's there's a
Speaker 9: real again, I can't think of other words in the
Speaker 9: hurt and the absolute intent to fight this and to
Speaker 9: show the world what it is that's happening at the moment.
Speaker 9: We were a country that had the first woman's vote.
Speaker 9: Where we did, we went out, We have always punched
Speaker 9: above our weight to the anti nuclear space, anti discrimination space,
Speaker 9: and here we are in twenty twenty four that the
Speaker 9: sort of whole Trump like culture coming into our politics.
Speaker 9: So yeah, I think you know that's I think, you know,
Speaker 9: we've done really well and so proud of our hunter
Speaker 9: and the party and everyone else that the other opposition
Speaker 9: parties that in the gullery, those who the Huka belonged to,
Speaker 9: that supported this because we had to let the world
Speaker 9: know what we're dealing with and what we're having to defend.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, on the other side, what do you
Speaker 2: make of people saying to Patimori is too radical, that
Speaker 2: the party only wants anarchy and is stoking racial divisions.
Speaker 6: And if the roles were reversed.
Speaker 2: If this was a Paki house saying all these kinds
Speaker 2: of things they say, it would be called racist.
Speaker 6: What do you make of those comments?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I get how people see us because we are
Speaker 9: up against it. We have been backed in a corner
Speaker 9: to have to come out fighting prior to this, you know,
Speaker 9: we have unfortunately we have some of the worst statistics
Speaker 9: in house stats and as I said on their social
Speaker 9: stats that we just just as sets. We just don't
Speaker 9: want in order to address that. We know that we're
Speaker 9: put in here to push for transformational change. We've got
Speaker 9: a government that's back reversed, everything back so much that
Speaker 9: we have to continuously push for balance. And when you're
Speaker 9: pushing to bring something to float and yeah, it's just
Speaker 9: so adrift and you have to work really hard to
Speaker 9: bring the balance back. It does probably seem like we
Speaker 9: are radical, but we are absolutely committed to rebalancing, to
Speaker 9: commitments of living as Tatileti proposers, to developing a beautiful
Speaker 9: nation that's full of peace in Adha. When you're up
Speaker 9: against the kind of you know, extremism that we're seeing,
Speaker 9: which again feels like some of the Trump politics that
Speaker 9: you cannot just take it on gently. You do have
Speaker 9: to be transformational, intentional and provocative and everything we do
Speaker 9: to fight our cause.
Speaker 2: So the National Party in New Zealand first say that
Speaker 2: they voted for the first reading of this bill, but
Speaker 2: they've made it very clear that they won't support it
Speaker 2: beyond this reading.
Speaker 6: Do you think that's good enough?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 9: I don't, and I think that's that's the deep shame.
Speaker 9: And we've had just as many national voters, ex national
Speaker 9: voters walking with us, in touch with us that they
Speaker 9: wanted their party in, but not at the cost of
Speaker 9: these types of relationships. And Nationals previously had what could
Speaker 9: be seen as a proactive relationship with Maori. So no,
Speaker 9: I think you know again the harm that this creates
Speaker 9: the fact that we're going to need to push that
Speaker 9: the soliicimittee process doesn't drag out and it doesn't become
Speaker 9: LinkedIn to David Seymour's run into the twenty twenty six
Speaker 9: election campaign. So I think this is what we deserve
Speaker 9: better than to be treated as political pawns. So Triti
Speaker 9: was done full of the wisdom, and our ancestors had
Speaker 9: absolute foresight. You've got to remember the context that we
Speaker 9: were asked of the nations to be colonized. They'd already
Speaker 9: seen the periers of colonization, They've seen what could happen,
Speaker 9: so there was foresight in this. And I just think
Speaker 9: that the fact that national again has decided that we
Speaker 9: were tradeable and the manner of their coalition agreement was
Speaker 9: so much more important than the manner of Ta Triti
Speaker 9: and Tanga Tenwa is the deepest betrayal that we've ever
Speaker 9: had from a national government.
Speaker 2: Local councils weren't immune to scandal this year, with issues
Speaker 2: at Wellington City Council over the future of its long
Speaker 2: term plan prompted government intervention. The move sparked debate around
Speaker 2: whether the bar is too low for the government to stay.
Speaker 2: It came amidst a wider back to basics bush by
Speaker 2: central government. Just this week, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown
Speaker 2: removed well being provisions from the Local Government Act and
Speaker 2: released new yearly benchmarking reports. In October, we spoke to
Speaker 2: Jim Palmer, a consultant who shaired the Review into the
Speaker 2: Future for Local Government, to discuss the issues at our
Speaker 2: council tables.
Speaker 6: During the election campaign.
Speaker 2: A National Party spokesperson actually told stuff local government has
Speaker 2: an important role to play, but too often councils are
Speaker 2: an after thought for central government. Would you agree with
Speaker 2: that statement? Should central government work more with local councils?
Speaker 11: Our review undoubtedly recommended that there needs to be far
Speaker 11: stronger partnership, genuine partnership. And it's not the command and
Speaker 11: control style that successive governments and not just this government,
Speaker 11: but many governments take a paternalist view of local government,
Speaker 11: and there is great opportunity for central and local government
Speaker 11: to be working together. I talked with one mayor in
Speaker 11: a region and they're talking about youth unemployment, and they
Speaker 11: said that there were ninety different agencies being funded to
Speaker 11: address youth unemployment and they range from central government agencies,
Speaker 11: local government NGOs and other organizations, all trying to do
Speaker 11: the right thing, but a lack of focus. You know,
Speaker 11: if they'd come together and said, Okay, here are the
Speaker 11: three or four agencies that could be delivering this and
Speaker 11: delivering it far more effectively, we could get far greater
Speaker 11: value for money out of that. Also, the way in
Speaker 11: which government and local government are prepared to partner with community,
Speaker 11: community organizations, community groups there's huge amount of volunteering and
Speaker 11: good will in a community. If it's engendered in the
Speaker 11: right way, there is great grassroots opportunities to deliver far
Speaker 11: better value as well. So the opportunity is immense, but
Speaker 11: it does require a fundamental to reset of the relationship
Speaker 11: between central government and local government. Particularly in the first instance.
Speaker 2: The government did revoke three Waters, which many local councils
Speaker 2: weren't a fan of, but in other areas the government
Speaker 2: has actually been a bit.
Speaker 6: More firm with councils.
Speaker 2: Councils that want to keep their multi wards now have
Speaker 2: to hold a referendum on that, and Prime Minister Chris
Speaker 2: h Luxen has had strong words for councils at a
Speaker 2: conference in August, telling them to rain in the spending.
Speaker 12: Rate Payers expect local government to do the plasics, pick
Speaker 12: up the rubbish, fix the pipes, fill in the potholes,
Speaker 12: and more generally maintain the local assets quickly, carefully and
Speaker 12: cost effectively. What they don't expect to pay for is
Speaker 12: a laundry list of distractions and experiments that are plaguing
Speaker 12: council balance sheets across the country.
Speaker 2: Is this the right message and we're talking about that
Speaker 2: relationship that government should be fostering and sending if it
Speaker 2: does want to work constructively with councils.
Speaker 11: Yeah, building a strong, genuine partnership requires trust and confidence
Speaker 11: in each other, and that takes some time. It takes
Speaker 11: people to be in the room and get together and
Speaker 11: understand the different perspectives. Certainly understand the government has three
Speaker 11: years in a series of priorities that it wishes to
Speaker 11: pursue and doesn't want to be distracted by things which
Speaker 11: don't necessarily align with its priorities. I think that's been
Speaker 11: understood by local government. But to go to the fundamental reset,
Speaker 11: then there does need to be a change in the
Speaker 11: way and which central government and local government relate to
Speaker 11: each other and work together. We identified significant opportunities to
Speaker 11: be able to reimagine the way and which central government
Speaker 11: and local government work together and with respect. I don't
Speaker 11: see those actions being taken to the extent needed to
Speaker 11: create the change that will benefit ultimately the communities that
Speaker 11: both government and local government are there to serve.
Speaker 2: Yeah, nobody really likes to be told what to do.
Speaker 2: It's like I'm having a big brother and them saying no,
Speaker 2: you're doing it wrong. Do it this way and not
Speaker 2: really having a constructive conversation about it.
Speaker 10: Hey.
Speaker 11: Absolutely, and it's not just this government. Successive governments have
Speaker 11: taken that approach, which is difficult to respond to, and
Speaker 11: local government traditionally he has been an easy horse to
Speaker 11: whip and it has been and sometimes local government, to
Speaker 11: be honest, doesn't help itself and provides plenty of opportunities
Speaker 11: and dead rats to be held up and examined. And
Speaker 11: what happens with one many get card with the same brush,
Speaker 11: and so you know, the unfortunate reflection on the whole
Speaker 11: sector that perhaps isn't always warranted.
Speaker 2: Auckland's Mayor Wayne Brown's war on council controlled organizations delivered
Speaker 2: big wins for him this year. In November, Brown and
Speaker 2: Transport Minister Semeon Brown announced Auckland transport would be surgically changed,
Speaker 2: with transport policy, strategy and planning or moving to Auckland Council.
Speaker 2: And just last week the curtain came down for Ekapanuku,
Speaker 2: with counselors voting to abolish it. They also voted to
Speaker 2: strip Tartaki Auckland unlimited of its economic development role. Those
Speaker 2: changes a plan to come into effect in July next year.
Speaker 6: Before those big wins.
Speaker 2: For Brown, though, we caught up with him in October
Speaker 2: about his pushback against these organizations and if he is
Speaker 2: going to run for reelection next year talking about CCOs,
Speaker 2: what's the plan there?
Speaker 6: When are we getting rid of them?
Speaker 5: Last year would have been a good time. I can't
Speaker 5: have to bring my counsel with me, and I have
Speaker 5: to bring the government with me. AT which is a
Speaker 5: very widely disliked organization and has adopted a very independent
Speaker 5: culture because it was granted an independent status.
Speaker 13: In his own blistering letter to Transport boss, Wayne Brown
Speaker 13: called disruptions unacceptable and omni shambles and said he could
Speaker 13: use other words. He says Aucklanders have reached the end
Speaker 13: of their patients.
Speaker 5: What's driving one of my actions here is that I
Speaker 5: don't mind being criticized for things that I've actually done wrong.
Speaker 5: But I'm fed up I've being criticized for things that
Speaker 5: I don't have much control over, and I think what
Speaker 5: I'm wanting to have is that turned into a delivery
Speaker 5: mechanism and get them concentrating on delivering, you know, and
Speaker 5: they not concentrating it because they're wondering into policy and things,
Speaker 5: which is really what the council should be doing and so,
Speaker 5: and I think I'm working pretty well with Minister Sime
Speaker 5: and Brown over this and I'm looking forward to quite
Speaker 5: a good result out of this and some of the
Speaker 5: other things they're doing. The CEO reform was one of
Speaker 5: the things that was right at the top of the
Speaker 5: things I campaigned on, and so people liked that. I
Speaker 5: went to three hundred minies. Not one person said, oh no,
Speaker 5: leave them as they are. And so we have a
Speaker 5: lot of I don't like duplication, but we're not a duplication.
Speaker 5: We have triplication. We have quadruplication. In some places. Everybody
Speaker 5: does events and in fact the best events aren't even
Speaker 5: done by any of those parts and pieces of the
Speaker 5: last Saturday, I joined fifteen thousand other very happy people
Speaker 5: in the main street of Ada Who for the Oda
Speaker 5: Who Food Festival, which half of the people in the
Speaker 5: councils de even I was on and it's the biggest
Speaker 5: food festival in the country. They sold one hundred and
Speaker 5: twenty different food stalles months before it happened. I just
Speaker 5: sold that snap overnight. Every food person wanted to be
Speaker 5: there and it was fantastic.
Speaker 6: So with this CCO plan. Have you got a timeline
Speaker 6: or what kind of mechanisms do you have to work through? First?
Speaker 6: Who do you need to get on board to make
Speaker 6: that happen?
Speaker 5: Well, first of all, I have to get on board
Speaker 5: the councilors that we need to do something about it.
Speaker 5: And they are on board. We've got them on board encouragement,
Speaker 5: but they are with regard to at I do need
Speaker 5: the government to work with me because it does have
Speaker 5: a statutory position.
Speaker 2: Lastly, wanted just to do some quick fires with you
Speaker 2: mayor just yes or nos, or really quickly. When's the
Speaker 2: open air saltwater swimming pool opening at the viaduct?
Speaker 5: Well, if it doesn't open in the same role, be
Speaker 5: really annoyed.
Speaker 6: You'll be annoyed.
Speaker 5: When's I want a swimming that by the time the
Speaker 5: water's wall.
Speaker 6: When is Auckland getting a bed tax?
Speaker 5: Asked Minister Doucy.
Speaker 6: Are you running in next year's local election?
Speaker 5: As distinct possible? Ay? Been not saying yes or no?
Speaker 4: Just it.
Speaker 2: Both local and central government felt the loss of Afesso
Speaker 2: Collins this year described as a man of the people.
Speaker 2: In February, the former Auckland councilor turned Green MP died
Speaker 2: suddenly after participating in a charity event. Thousands of mourners
Speaker 2: turned out to pay tribute to him, packing out of
Speaker 2: South Auckland Venue to pay their respects to a man
Speaker 2: who was known.
Speaker 6: For his love of people.
Speaker 2: It was just one of the heartbreaking losses in politics
Speaker 2: this year, alongside the death of former National Minister Nicki
Speaker 2: Kay in November after a long battle with cancer. In March,
Speaker 2: we spoke to Vaimawana Marse, the editor of the Heralds
Speaker 2: pacifica section Talaanoa, to talk about the outpouring of grief
Speaker 2: and love for the late Fahnana Affesso Collins ahead of
Speaker 2: his funeral.
Speaker 10: He was sort of the person that a lot of
Speaker 10: people or a lot of us in the media knew
Speaker 10: that he would answer and also trusted that he had.
Speaker 10: Like his voice or his thoughts were very much a
Speaker 10: reflection of what the people in Autata or au Tahu
Speaker 10: or South Aukland in general, and the Pacific community. You know,
Speaker 10: it was a very much an honest reflection of how
Speaker 10: those people or those communities felt. So I've one always
Speaker 10: appreciated when he took my cause or the Texan he'd
Speaker 10: be busy or something and always say, oh no, I'll
Speaker 10: call you BACKMNA, It's all right. He knew that he
Speaker 10: represented those communities and knew that his voice needed to
Speaker 10: be heard.
Speaker 1: As a New Zealand born Simon living in South Auckland,
Speaker 1: I've experienced, written about, and spoken about racism in this country.
Speaker 1: I've also been on a well publicized journey and understanding
Speaker 1: the needs and views of our rainbow communities. And I
Speaker 1: have a long way to go. And my message to Fino,
Speaker 1: who often experienced the sharp end of discrimination disabled, ethnic,
Speaker 1: rainbow Brown seniors and neurodiverse is thank you for trusting
Speaker 1: us with the responsibility of facilitating a new discussion on
Speaker 1: how we move forward together and make possible what was
Speaker 1: once deemed impossible.
Speaker 2: You wrote in a piece in the hours after his
Speaker 2: death about the first time you met him when you
Speaker 2: were sixteen.
Speaker 6: Can you share with us those early memory?
Speaker 10: Yeah? So, I think it was two thousand and three.
Speaker 10: I was year twelve and it was a last minute
Speaker 10: trip that we got asked to yet take part in it.
Speaker 10: It was called the Dream for Nor Camp and basically
Speaker 10: it was a camp for students from around Auckland. I
Speaker 10: think it was targeted at South Auckland students, Southakland High
Speaker 10: school students, but I went to Messy High in West Aukland,
Speaker 10: and so there was only about six of us that went.
Speaker 10: When we got to the camp, it was up in
Speaker 10: it was in Cambridge and it was freezing anyway, I
Speaker 10: think there was about two hundred two hundred PACIFICA students
Speaker 10: from d LA sal mcaulay, James Cook High School, Saint Paul's.
Speaker 10: I think I'm missing a couple, but yeah, there were
Speaker 10: South Oakland high schools and then there was our high school.
Speaker 10: And the camp was basically about giving students an idea
Speaker 10: of what they could become or what they could be
Speaker 10: one day. And it was about inspiring these young PACIFICA
Speaker 10: students about yeah, furthering their education going on to study
Speaker 10: at tertiary level. And I found out later that he
Speaker 10: so a fessor, was the one that sort of came
Speaker 10: up with the dream form or the concept. One of
Speaker 10: the first things that we got asked to do with
Speaker 10: the camp was to fill out forms just basically sharing
Speaker 10: what your you know, what your aspirations were or what
Speaker 10: your goals were. And I was, yeah, I was sixteen,
Speaker 10: but knew I wanted to become a journalist. So I'd
Speaker 10: rested it down, not hoping for anything like because they
Speaker 10: had promised that we would be able to speak to
Speaker 10: people from our community who were either working in the
Speaker 10: jobs or studying to be you know, like a lawyer
Speaker 10: or a doctor or nurse. And anyway, the next day
Speaker 10: he came up to me and he said, are you
Speaker 10: the one that wanted to be a journalist? And I
Speaker 10: said yeah, And he said, oh, I've actually organized for
Speaker 10: one of my Pacific journalist's friends to come and speak
Speaker 10: to us, And yeah, I was speak to you. That
Speaker 10: was my first engagement with him, still very much young,
Speaker 10: but even then, you know, he was such a commanding speaker,
Speaker 10: very charismatic, commanded the room, and yeah, man, great speaker,
Speaker 10: great orator, and very funny too. A lot of people
Speaker 10: don't really realize, but he was a bit of a
Speaker 10: mocker as well, very much that salmon humor and island
Speaker 10: banter that I don't know because sometimes get you in trouble.
Speaker 10: But yeah, no, he was very funny as well, for
Speaker 10: those who know.
Speaker 2: No Na, And how incredible is that that he saw
Speaker 2: you knew that you wanted to become a journalist, And
Speaker 2: then how many times have you interviewed him over the years, right,
Speaker 2: Like how incredible.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's pretty funny because I didn't really get the
Speaker 10: chance at the camp to you know, say if I
Speaker 10: would say, like thank you for organizing that. The journalist
Speaker 10: that he got was Pacific journalist Vienna Richards and she
Speaker 10: was working at I think she was working at Pacific
Speaker 10: Media Network at the time, five point thirty one PI.
Speaker 10: It wasn't until years later I got to say properly
Speaker 10: thank you for that opportunity, you know, thank you for
Speaker 10: allowing access to you know, because that was I think
Speaker 10: that was the first time I've ever met a journalist.
Speaker 10: But yeah, over the years, I've interviewed him many other
Speaker 10: times and even spoken about Dream fun or because I mean, yeah,
Speaker 10: not to be funny or anything, but I'm not the
Speaker 10: only person who did very well, like who attended Dream
Speaker 10: Faunal over the years, you know, even now and I
Speaker 10: have friends who went to that camp who yeah, doing
Speaker 10: very well, like in the education sector, in health and law,
Speaker 10: and yeah we did, okay.
Speaker 11: He was a massive advocate for the Pacific community, a
Speaker 11: massive advocate for the vulnerable, for the poor, for young people,
Speaker 11: for South Auckland.
Speaker 14: His lived experience would have been huge, and that that's
Speaker 14: just gone in an instant. You can't replace people like
Speaker 14: that overnight. He was one of our great hopes for
Speaker 14: our future as specific people in our tail or.
Speaker 6: What do you think Offesso's legacy is going to be.
Speaker 10: That's such a tough one. His legacy is already something
Speaker 10: that we've seen. I think I think he's already left
Speaker 10: the legacy. We're even still seeing his legacy. You know,
Speaker 10: the number of people who are turning up to pay
Speaker 10: respects and say farewell. I think the tip in their
Speaker 10: funeral home has probably never seen this kind of turn out.
Speaker 10: You're seeing politicians, aupen councilors from different parts of the city,
Speaker 10: not just Southside. I understand Mayor when Wayne Brown went yesterday,
Speaker 10: the leader of the opposition, Chris Hopkins, the Green Party
Speaker 10: of course, Labor Party or the parties. I understand Prime
Speaker 10: Minister Chris Luxon is going to be at the funeral
Speaker 10: as well. And it's just to me, that's the legacy
Speaker 10: right there. You know, he's touched them in people and
Speaker 10: somehow made everybody feel special or valued in his own way.
Speaker 10: And I truly hope that his legacy doesn't stop here.
Speaker 10: He fought so hard for I think he called them
Speaker 10: the square pigs in his maiden speech, you know, the
Speaker 10: underdogs or if you like. And I hope to see
Speaker 10: more young Pacifica standing up or be motivated or inspired
Speaker 10: by his example. And yeah, just carry on to be
Speaker 10: good people and good and whatever they choose to become.
Speaker 2: That's it for this compilation episode of the Front Page.
Speaker 2: You can read more about the stories featured in this
Speaker 2: episode and extensive news coverage at ensiherld dot co dot z.
Speaker 2: The Front Page is produced by Ethan Sells and Richard Martin,
Speaker 2: who is also our sound engineer.
Speaker 6: Along with Paddy Fox. I'm Chelsea Daniels.
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