Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Full Show Podcast: 20 October 2026

Transcript

Full Show Podcast: 20 October 2026 · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

0:00
Speaker 1: The issues, the interviews and the insight. Andrew Dickens on
0:05
Speaker 1: Early Edition with Spark for Business. Technology that keeps business moving.
0:09
Speaker 1: Newstalk ZB.
0:11
Speaker 2: Good morning to you. Welcome to your Tuesday. I'm Andrew Dickens.
0:14
Speaker 2: Let's get positive. India, here we come. The FTA starts
0:18
Speaker 2: today and we're going to talk about this in about
0:20
Speaker 2: five minutes time with the boss of Apple and Pear.
0:22
Speaker 2: on all the opportunities that are opening up. Good news.
0:25
Speaker 2: Also good news, the Superfund is making big money on
0:27
Speaker 2: the back of AI, but can the ride continue? We'll
0:29
Speaker 2: talk with Brad Olsen. Parents need help in the fight
0:32
Speaker 2: against big tech. We know that. What Labour's announcement on
0:35
Speaker 2: social media bans could mean. Plus, we're going to go
0:37
Speaker 2: to the United States with Nick Harper as Donald Trump's
0:39
Speaker 2: popularity falls to a new low on the eve of
0:42
Speaker 2: the midterms. All this and correspondence from around New Zealand
0:46
Speaker 2: and your thoughts. You can text me 9292. Small charge
0:49
Speaker 2: does apply.
0:51
Speaker 1: The Agenda.
0:52
Speaker 2: So it's Tuesday the 20th of October and France is
0:55
Speaker 2: cracking down after a weekend of riots and looting. It's
0:57
Speaker 2: still going on and the Prime Minister, a fellow by
0:59
Speaker 2: the name of Sébastien Lecornu, has given some cities the
1:03
Speaker 2: power to impose partial curfews to protect people and businesses.
1:07
Speaker 3: It's an impossible... that we let this violence and this
1:11
Speaker 3: chaos keep going. The guidance that I've given to all
1:17
Speaker 3: our local authorities is that there can be partial curfew
1:20
Speaker 3: that will be localized, targeted if need be.
1:24
Speaker 2: They reckon the 2,000 businesses have been wrecked, while France's
1:28
Speaker 2: interior minister reckons the police have lost control.
1:31
Speaker 4: I offered my resignation to the president because I am
1:33
Speaker 4: responsible for everything that's happened.
1:35
Speaker 2: I've been a civil servant. I have a sense of
1:37
Speaker 2: the public interest.
1:38
Speaker 4: And given the damage that's been done, it was only
1:41
Speaker 4: right that I should offer to resign.
1:42
Speaker 2: Right, to Australia, some shocking news. Australian Independent MP Helen
1:47
Speaker 2: Haynes has been left with critical injuries. She's been hit
1:50
Speaker 2: by a car in what the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese,
1:53
Speaker 2: calls a deliberate act. So the police are investigating whether
1:57
Speaker 2: it was intentional.
1:58
Speaker 5: As you can imagine, it's been quite dynamic this afternoon.
2:02
Speaker 5: We've got quite an extensive crime scene. We have investigators present,
2:06
Speaker 5: and they'll continue to work through and try and collect
2:09
Speaker 5: all available evidence to ascertain exactly what has occurred and
2:13
Speaker 5: how it has occurred.
2:14
Speaker 2: Helen Haynes is a lovely woman and with great cross-party support.
2:18
Speaker 2: It's a very rational way. Anyone would want to run
2:19
Speaker 2: her over. Nobody knows. And finally, the UK wants to
2:23
Speaker 2: fine passengers up to 100 quid for loud music and
2:28
Speaker 2: anti-social behaviour on public transport. And they also want to
2:31
Speaker 2: crack down on littering, vaping and general threats.
2:35
Speaker 6: A long time ago.
2:35
Speaker 7: If the guard told you not to do something, you
2:38
Speaker 7: wouldn't do it, but that's not the case today.
2:41
Speaker 4: I think it's got a lot worse the last 10,
2:43
Speaker 4: 15 years, to be honest with you.
2:45
Speaker 2: Lack of consideration for fellow passengers, I think, is increasing.
2:49
Speaker 2: And that's the agenda to 10 after 5.
2:52
Speaker 1: Get ahead of the headlines on Early Edition with Andrew
2:56
Speaker 1: Dickens and Spark for Business, technology that keeps business moving.
3:01
Speaker 2: So we're in an election campaign, have you noticed? It's
3:04
Speaker 2: been going on forever and it's still got more to go.
3:06
Speaker 2: And National's election campaign is drawing more and more flack.
3:10
Speaker 2: I don't know if you heard Heather Dupacy-Allen in her
3:12
Speaker 2: Monday front bench yesterday. Everybody on the front bench was
3:15
Speaker 2: sitting there rubbishing the election campaign and rubbishing Christopher Luxem. Yesterday,
3:20
Speaker 2: Mike Hosking predicted that the National campaign is going to
3:22
Speaker 2: have to pivot and he reckoned maybe they're going to
3:24
Speaker 2: go full-on attack on their opponents. So if this campaign
3:28
Speaker 2: is not working, who's to blame? It would have to
3:31
Speaker 2: be Simeon Brown, wouldn't it? He is the campaign manager
3:34
Speaker 2: for National. And here's the thing about Simeon. Very fond
3:37
Speaker 2: of short, sharp slogans. Very clear, short, sharp slogans. That's
3:41
Speaker 2: the way he is. He was the guy who came
3:44
Speaker 2: up with a nine new taxes tack with, of course,
3:48
Speaker 2: no taxes from National. And everyone's saying it ain't working.
3:51
Speaker 2: It ain't got any cut through. Because, of course, taxes
3:55
Speaker 2: are a big concern for many voters. But it's not
3:57
Speaker 2: really top of mind today. At this moment, in October 2026,
4:02
Speaker 2: they're not sitting in the kitchens going, oh, who's going
4:04
Speaker 2: to tax us? What's that tax going to be? Oh, no,
4:06
Speaker 2: we're going to, oh, that tax could kill us. They
4:08
Speaker 2: are worrying about costs. They're worrying about day to day.
4:12
Speaker 2: They're worrying about how we can afford stuff. But they're
4:15
Speaker 2: also wanting vision and they're wanting hope. Aren't they? They
4:20
Speaker 2: want to be excited for the future, not fearful of
4:23
Speaker 2: what might happen if those other guys come in. Oh,
4:25
Speaker 2: my goodness, tax. They're not thinking that way, Simeon. So
4:29
Speaker 2: this might be a worry for National and we'll see. But,
4:32
Speaker 2: you know, at the same time, all the other parties,
4:34
Speaker 2: are they inspiring us? Are they exciting us? Aren't they
4:37
Speaker 2: just doing exactly the same thing?
4:41
Speaker 1: ZB.
4:43
Speaker 2: You know what the same thing is. It's like, well,
4:45
Speaker 2: vote for us because look at those other guys. Is
4:47
Speaker 2: that enough reason to vote for you? Is that why,
4:50
Speaker 2: of course, our. People are just not getting involved in
4:53
Speaker 2: the election and people are not enrolling for the election,
4:55
Speaker 2: particularly the young voters. But there we go. It is
4:58
Speaker 2: 12 minutes after five. You want hope. You want inspiration.
5:01
Speaker 2: You want excitement. We have an India FTA. Some people
5:04
Speaker 2: might say, and it starts today, some people might say
5:07
Speaker 2: we could have done better. Well, it's a hell of
5:08
Speaker 2: a lot better than what we had beforehand. And so
5:11
Speaker 2: the boss of Apple and Pear has just been into
5:13
Speaker 2: India and is just back and wants to come and
5:15
Speaker 2: tell us about how we can profit from the India
5:19
Speaker 2: FTA that starts today and she's here next.
5:22
Speaker 1: The Early Edition full show podcast on iHeartRadio, powered by
5:27
Speaker 1: Newstalk ZB. Andrew Dickens on Early Edition with Spark for Business,
5:34
Speaker 1: technology that keeps business moving. Newstalk ZB.
5:37
Speaker 2: Well, no, it's 14 minutes after five. Come on, you
5:39
Speaker 2: miserable old beggars. It's time to celebrate because the India
5:42
Speaker 2: FTA kicks in from today. 57% of our exports to
5:45
Speaker 2: India will now be tariff-free. As part of this deal,
5:49
Speaker 2: we're helping Indian fruit growers better their production, so that's
5:52
Speaker 2: part of it. And so Danielle Adset is the CEO
5:55
Speaker 2: of New Zealand Apples and Pears. It's plural, not apple
6:00
Speaker 2: and pear like I said before. She's just got back
6:02
Speaker 2: from a trip to India and joins me now. Good
6:04
Speaker 2: morning to you, Danielle.
6:06
Speaker 8: Kia ora, good morning.
6:07
Speaker 2: How excited are you?
6:10
Speaker 8: Oh, very excited, very excited. This is a day we've
6:12
Speaker 8: been waiting for for a while and we're glad it's
6:15
Speaker 8: here and we look forward to the next export season
6:17
Speaker 8: to take full advantage of it.
6:19
Speaker 2: How can you do that and what sort of advantage
6:21
Speaker 2: can we take?
6:23
Speaker 8: So the tariff reduction that we have on apples is
6:26
Speaker 8: the first in the world. So we will be entering
6:30
Speaker 8: the market with a 50% reduction in tariff. So we
6:33
Speaker 8: will be now paying 25% tariff. And that will give
6:36
Speaker 8: us some competitive advantage, particularly over our competition out of
6:40
Speaker 8: South Africa, out of the US and those other markets
6:44
Speaker 8: that are exporting to India.
6:45
Speaker 2: And how keen are India on our apples? I mean,
6:49
Speaker 2: is apples something they really like? Are they big numbers
6:52
Speaker 2: or what?
6:54
Speaker 8: Oh, you've got two things going on. Yes, apples are
6:56
Speaker 8: well liked by Indian consumers, but you've also got a
6:59
Speaker 8: 1.4 billion people, right? So the demand is there. But
7:04
Speaker 8: not only that, we're not comparing apples with apples. New
7:08
Speaker 8: Zealand does grow the best apples in the world, and
7:11
Speaker 8: the growing middle class and wealthy society want our apples
7:15
Speaker 8: because they taste good, they can be trusted, they're safe.
7:18
Speaker 8: Not a lot of people can offer that in the
7:20
Speaker 8: same way we do.
7:21
Speaker 2: Want to put a number on what this might mean
7:23
Speaker 2: to us?
7:25
Speaker 8: It's hard to tell because we think the market might
7:28
Speaker 8: shift a bit in terms of the market three years
7:32
Speaker 8: ago versus the market now. But if you apply the 50%
7:37
Speaker 8: tariff savings, we're talking about millions of dollars back to
7:40
Speaker 8: New Zealand.
7:40
Speaker 2: Okay. So you went to India. What did you learn there?
7:44
Speaker 8: So that was my fourth trip to India in the
7:47
Speaker 8: last 12 months. Great country. Really enjoyed getting up into
7:51
Speaker 8: the growing regions and talking with growers. We were there
7:54
Speaker 8: to really start to frame out how we can deliver
7:58
Speaker 8: technical support in the most effective way that works for
8:01
Speaker 8: them and works for the Indian condition. So we're excited
8:04
Speaker 8: to get started.
8:06
Speaker 2: Very good. But at the same time, you have to
8:08
Speaker 2: help their farmers, teach them how to grow apples, basically,
8:11
Speaker 2: which is kind of, you know, well, it would be
8:14
Speaker 2: great if we didn't have to do that. How do
8:16
Speaker 2: you feel about that?
8:18
Speaker 8: Look, we offered that up, right? That idea came from
8:21
Speaker 8: our industry. We're not worried about competing with Indian farmers.
8:26
Speaker 8: India already grows 2.5 million tonnes of apples every year.
8:31
Speaker 8: Last year, last export season, we supplied 50,000 tonnes. We're
8:35
Speaker 8: not competing with India. We're competing with Turkey. We're competing
8:39
Speaker 8: with Afghanistan, Poland, the US, South Africa. So for us,
8:46
Speaker 8: building on decades where we've already supported Indian farmers to
8:50
Speaker 8: grow better in their conditions, feels like a natural progression
8:54
Speaker 8: for us. So we're excited to be involved.
8:57
Speaker 2: That is good. And should all New Zealanders be excited
8:59
Speaker 2: about this India FTA? I mean, I think a lot
9:02
Speaker 2: of people sit there and go, oh yeah, whatever, meh,
9:04
Speaker 2: and all that sort of thing. But it's just something that,
9:07
Speaker 2: as a nation today, we should be celebrating today.
9:11
Speaker 8: Absolutely. And I think sometimes the tangible outcomes from these
9:15
Speaker 8: kind of agreements take a while to flow through. You know,
9:19
Speaker 8: we see that the China FTA really transformed, particularly for export,
9:24
Speaker 8: our sector in terms of opportunity. So I think it
9:27
Speaker 8: is something to be excited about. It might just take
9:30
Speaker 8: a while for general public to, I suppose, really understand
9:33
Speaker 8: the nuts and bolts and what it means for New
9:35
Speaker 8: Zealand as a whole.
9:36
Speaker 2: Well, Danielle, I'm excited. I would like you to go
9:39
Speaker 2: into the India market and I'd like you to dominate it.
9:41
Speaker 2: Thank you very much because New Zealand makes the very
9:44
Speaker 2: best apples and we all know this. So good luck
9:47
Speaker 2: going forward and I thank you so much for your
9:48
Speaker 2: time today. Danielle Adsett from New Zealand, apples and pears. See,
9:53
Speaker 2: I was corrected on that because I said apple and
9:54
Speaker 2: pear because I've always said apple and pear, but it's plural.
9:57
Speaker 2: That's because we want to sell even more apples, isn't it?
10:00
Speaker 2: It is now 18 minutes after five.
10:10
Speaker 1: News and views you trust to start your day. It's
10:13
Speaker 1: early edition with Andrew Dickens and Spark for Business. Technology
10:18
Speaker 1: that keeps business moving.
10:19
Speaker 2: Newstalk ZB. So I got a text, Andrew, all this
10:22
Speaker 2: anti-national rhetoric about their campaign is just noise. I mean,
10:25
Speaker 2: their campaign might. This is a text, by the way.
10:27
Speaker 2: Their campaign might be boring, but they have kept taps
10:29
Speaker 2: on the economy with tough love. It wasn't an overnight fix.
10:31
Speaker 2: Labour will spray money like confetti and fairy dust. Lest
10:34
Speaker 2: we forget the mess they left us with. We would
10:36
Speaker 2: not be in the situation we have now if they'd
10:38
Speaker 2: been fiscally responsible. Yeah, I get that. And I think
10:41
Speaker 2: everybody gets all that. And I think all the commentators
10:43
Speaker 2: get all that. But what they're saying is that National
10:45
Speaker 2: is not actually selling that particularly well at the moment.
10:49
Speaker 2: And if they were, maybe they might be rating a
10:51
Speaker 2: bit higher. Now, look, you want some good news. Here's
10:54
Speaker 2: some more good news. Not just the start of the
10:56
Speaker 2: Indian FTA. But the super funds had a great year.
11:00
Speaker 2: They posted a 14.17% increase, a 14% return. Anyone would
11:05
Speaker 2: be happy with that. The fund now sits at $ 94. 35 billion.
11:10
Speaker 2: So the big change, where they've made the money, they've
11:13
Speaker 2: invested in AI. So Brad Olson from Infometrics joins us
11:16
Speaker 2: right now, the principal economist there.
11:18
Speaker 4: G'day, Brad.
11:18
Speaker 2: This is a good thing, isn't it?
11:20
Speaker 9: Oh, it's very much a good thing. I mean, probably
11:23
Speaker 9: the most surprising part was when we were looking through
11:26
Speaker 9: the results for the Superfund, seeing this big increase was
11:29
Speaker 9: that it actually ever so slightly underperformed the reference investments
11:34
Speaker 9: that it normally looks to to try and get a
11:36
Speaker 9: bit of a benchmark. You know, has it sort of
11:38
Speaker 9: kept up with others that are doing similar sorts of things?
11:41
Speaker 9: And look, it was a very, very minor difference. The
11:44
Speaker 9: Superfund returned a 14.17% return. The benchmark portfolio was 14.27%.
11:51
Speaker 9: So look, within Cooey of each other, but again, very
11:55
Speaker 9: much driven by the increases we've been seeing coming through
11:59
Speaker 9: from particularly the U.S. market and all of the AI stocks.
12:03
Speaker 9: Also some growth coming out of Asia with a number
12:06
Speaker 9: of different equities there seeing growth because of how they
12:10
Speaker 9: are integrated into the AI supply chain.
12:13
Speaker 2: So just so I can get it right, the benchmark
12:15
Speaker 2: at 14.2, we're at 14.17. Who is the benchmark? Is
12:18
Speaker 2: that a private fund or is that another country's super
12:21
Speaker 2: fund or whatever?
12:23
Speaker 9: So it's a range of other sort of sovereign wealth funds,
12:28
Speaker 9: I believe, that they sort of look at, or at
12:29
Speaker 9: least sort of the same composition of sort of what
12:32
Speaker 9: they put together. So for the likes of our super fund,
12:35
Speaker 9: for example, they've got about 57% of their portfolio that
12:39
Speaker 9: are invested in. equities and stocks, about 8% in bonds.
12:43
Speaker 9: So you can't sort of compare or you shouldn't compare
12:46
Speaker 9: a fund that was the 100% government bonds with what
12:49
Speaker 9: the Superfund might do. So they get a bunch of
12:51
Speaker 9: others that sort of do similar things and go, look,
12:54
Speaker 9: did you sort of stay in the right kiwi? And
12:56
Speaker 9: I think the challenge, though, is that, look, this is
12:59
Speaker 9: a good number, and don't get me wrong, but we've
13:01
Speaker 9: also seen for the last, what, week or so on
13:04
Speaker 9: Wall Street that those AI stocks have also slid back
13:06
Speaker 9: a bit. So there's always going to be a bit
13:08
Speaker 9: of volatility in there. The numbers will look good at
13:11
Speaker 9: year end. They might not look so good if we
13:13
Speaker 9: were to sort of, you know, have a bit of
13:15
Speaker 9: a comparison today. But overall, the fact that the super
13:18
Speaker 9: fund is now getting quite close to $ 100 billion does
13:21
Speaker 9: at least mean that in the future, yes, we're going
13:23
Speaker 9: to have a little bit more support when it comes
13:25
Speaker 9: time to pay that rather large super fund.
13:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's not exactly the white knight coming to
13:31
Speaker 2: save the day, is it?
13:33
Speaker 9: Not yet. I mean, it's useful to have. We are still,
13:36
Speaker 9: of course, putting a lot of money in. But expectations
13:40
Speaker 9: and forecasts are for the Superfund, I think they're trying
13:43
Speaker 9: to grow up to $ 200 billion by 2040. So clearly
13:47
Speaker 9: a lot of growth still to come at a time when, yes,
13:50
Speaker 9: the bill is absolutely still growing and we have to
13:52
Speaker 9: pay for that in the short term.
13:54
Speaker 2: Another thing, Brad, inflation figures out tomorrow, expected to be
13:56
Speaker 2: lower but still over the band. So that basic Thursday, sorry.
14:01
Speaker 2: So all that means a hike is coming, right?
14:06
Speaker 9: Well, it seems to at the moment. I mean, it's
14:09
Speaker 9: one of those weird positions where who cares a little
14:12
Speaker 9: bit at the moment what we think that quarter three
14:15
Speaker 9: figure is going to be. It will be a bit
14:17
Speaker 9: lower than where things were in June because fuel prices
14:20
Speaker 9: weren't as intense. But of course, since then, we've had
14:23
Speaker 9: fuel prices that have jumped up even more. So we
14:25
Speaker 9: know that quarter four figure is going to be more intense.
14:28
Speaker 9: Probably most worryingly, those fuel prices remain high. The New
14:32
Speaker 9: Zealand dollar is still at close to 17-year lows. That
14:35
Speaker 9: makes everything a whole lot more expensive if we're importing
14:38
Speaker 9: it in. And for the Reserve Bank, it means that
14:40
Speaker 9: that potential chance of being able to hit pause in
14:43
Speaker 9: October and then doing a little bit more in December,
14:47
Speaker 9: they might need to sort of hurry up the game
14:49
Speaker 9: a little bit. So yes, markets still picking an October
14:51
Speaker 9: hike now. and probably followed up with December 2.
14:54
Speaker 5: There we go.
14:54
Speaker 2: That's the first bit of bad news for the half hour, Brad. But,
14:57
Speaker 2: I mean, that is the reality of things, and I
14:59
Speaker 2: thank you so very much indeed. This is Newstalk ZB.
15:02
Speaker 2: It is now 5.25. Newstalk ZB, 5.27. Hey, so the
15:07
Speaker 2: New Zealand government will be increasing domestic dental training places
15:11
Speaker 2: at the University of Otago, they announced yesterday. They're going
15:14
Speaker 2: to train 12 more dentists.
15:15
Speaker 10: Here we go.
15:16
Speaker 2: It's going to move the cap from 60 to 72
15:18
Speaker 2: students a year starting in 2027. I heard that news yesterday.
15:24
Speaker 2: I went, oh, look at that. We're training more dentists.
15:26
Speaker 2: That's good. This is the first increase in training numbers
15:29
Speaker 2: in a decade, in 10 years. And we know we've
15:34
Speaker 2: got a dentist shortage. So when this happens, you have
15:38
Speaker 2: to say, actually, I have to say, why did this
15:41
Speaker 2: not happen earlier? And I say this about this, and
15:44
Speaker 2: I say this about doctors, and I say this about
15:46
Speaker 2: too much. Back in John Key's day, economic policy supercharged
15:50
Speaker 2: our economy on the back of mass immigration and surging
15:52
Speaker 2: property prices, right? But as our population rapidly grew, nobody
15:57
Speaker 2: stopped to have a hymn and think, hmm, more people.
16:01
Speaker 2: We're going to need more dentists. Let's start training them.
16:03
Speaker 2: More people. We're going to need more doctors. Let's start
16:05
Speaker 2: training them. But as has been New Zealand's want for
16:08
Speaker 2: a long time now, we took all the growth and
16:10
Speaker 2: the benefit from the immigration and the wealth that we
16:13
Speaker 2: felt from our houses, but we did not invest back
16:15
Speaker 2: into our economy again. and back into the services it demands,
16:20
Speaker 2: like doctors and dentists.
16:22
Speaker 10: Doctors.
16:22
Speaker 2: Christopher Luxon was talking about doctors yesterday. So we only
16:25
Speaker 2: had two medical schools since the 1960s. And for about
16:29
Speaker 2: 20 years, successive governments have kept a very tight cap
16:33
Speaker 2: on medical student numbers. The cap was only substantially lifted
16:37
Speaker 2: in 2024 after years of warnings about doctors' shortages. Right now,
16:42
Speaker 2: we've got warnings about doctors' shortages. So Christopher was talking
16:46
Speaker 2: about the third medical school, which is going to be
16:47
Speaker 2: opened at the University of Waikato. That was announced in
16:50
Speaker 2: July 2025. They're starting to do it. The first intake
16:53
Speaker 2: is expected in 2028 with an initial intake of 120
16:57
Speaker 2: students per year. Now, is this going to solve the
17:00
Speaker 2: crisis that you can see right in front of you?
17:02
Speaker 2: Are we going to have enough dentists? Are we going
17:04
Speaker 2: to have enough doctors? Why weren't we doing this 10
17:06
Speaker 2: years ago? Why weren't we doing it 20 years ago?
17:09
Speaker 2: You know why? Because we chose not to. We chose
17:11
Speaker 2: to spend money in a different place. which smacked of short-termism.
17:15
Speaker 2: And that short-termism in New Zealand only costs us more
17:19
Speaker 2: than if we'd done it in the first place.
17:22
Speaker 1: All right, still to come.
17:28
Speaker 2: Donald Trump's having a very bad week. His approval rating
17:30
Speaker 2: is terrible. And actually, the Americans say, I think he's
17:34
Speaker 2: enriching himself. We're off to America with Nick Harper in 10.
17:37
Speaker 2: News is next. Newstalk ZB.
17:42
Speaker 1: The Early Edition Full Show Podcast on iHeartRadio, powered by
17:46
Speaker 1: Newstalk ZB.
17:49
Speaker 10: Hear it first.
17:50
Speaker 1: Andrew Dickens on Early Edition with Spark for Business, technology
17:54
Speaker 1: that keeps business moving. Newstalk ZB.
17:58
Speaker 2: For many a day, my heart is down, my head
18:02
Speaker 2: is turning around.
18:03
Speaker 1: I had to leave a little girl in Kingston town.
18:07
Speaker 9: Morning to you.
18:08
Speaker 2: Welcome to your Tuesday. You're waking up right now going,
18:10
Speaker 2: why is Dickens playing... Jamaica Farewell by Harry Belafonte. I mean,
18:15
Speaker 2: what century is he living in? I'm playing this because
18:18
Speaker 2: this was sung at Danny Watson's funeral yesterday by his brother, Acapella.
18:26
Speaker 2: And I'll tell you more about Danny Watson's funeral a
18:28
Speaker 2: bit later on in the program. It is 2326. I
18:31
Speaker 2: just want to quickly mention that the Simpsons are bringing
18:34
Speaker 2: back Apu for the first time in a decade. So
18:37
Speaker 2: Apu's the Indian gravestone, you know. left in 2017, and
18:41
Speaker 2: he's going to reappear in October. Now, the whole thing
18:43
Speaker 2: about this was the problem with Apu, and this was,
18:46
Speaker 2: you know, this was cancel culture, you have to say,
18:50
Speaker 2: because people started saying, you know, Apu's exaggerated Indian accent
18:55
Speaker 2: and convenience store owner stereotype contributed to negative perceptions. He's
19:00
Speaker 2: a stereotype. Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, every character in
19:03
Speaker 2: The Simpsons is a stereotype. which is almost why it
19:06
Speaker 2: is funny. And then the character who was voiced actually
19:10
Speaker 2: by a white guy, Hank Azaria. Hank Azaria used to
19:12
Speaker 2: voice Apu. And he went, actually, that's it, no more.
19:15
Speaker 2: So 2017, Apu disappeared. But now they've got a new actor.
19:18
Speaker 2: They kept it totally secret. Apu's back in October on
19:22
Speaker 2: The Simpsons. So interesting times, 22 to 6.
19:25
Speaker 1: ZB.
19:27
Speaker 2: Round the country we go. Callum Proctor and Dunedin, good
19:29
Speaker 2: morning to you. Morning, Andrew. Yet another study saying drinking
19:33
Speaker 2: alcohol hurts you in some way.
19:36
Speaker 11: Yes, another study out of our university here says New
19:38
Speaker 11: Zealand's drinking guidelines are out of date and no longer
19:42
Speaker 11: reflect the harms of alcohol. It links alcohol use to injuries,
19:45
Speaker 11: poor mental health, multiple cancers and other health conditions. Current
19:48
Speaker 11: guidelines recommend drinking no more than 15 standard drinks a
19:52
Speaker 11: week for men and 10 for women. But senior research
19:56
Speaker 11: fellow Dr Anya Mistrick says alcohol is more harmful than
20:00
Speaker 11: previously thought and evidence has now changed a lot since
20:03
Speaker 11: those guidelines were set in 2011. She says that the UK,
20:06
Speaker 11: Australia and Canada, they've all lowered their recommended consumption levels
20:09
Speaker 11: in the past decade. And New Zealand must catch up.
20:13
Speaker 2: OK. All right. How's the weather?
20:15
Speaker 11: A bit early drizzle about, but Claire's to find this
20:19
Speaker 11: afternoon the high 18.
20:20
Speaker 2: Claire Sherwood from Christchurch. I'm loving positive stories this morning, Claire.
20:24
Speaker 2: And you've got a great little story about some engineering
20:27
Speaker 2: students at Canterbury University who are going to be world
20:29
Speaker 2: champions in something completely useless.
20:32
Speaker 12: Good morning. Yes, I do indeed. This is for Canterbury
20:35
Speaker 12: Uni students, engineering students, of course, who are hoping to
20:38
Speaker 12: be crowned Guinness World Record holders. They have created this
20:41
Speaker 12: robot for their end-of-year project, which solves a Rubik's Cube
20:45
Speaker 12: in around nine seconds. Now, that beats the current robotic
20:49
Speaker 12: record of 45 seconds. It's faster than the human record
20:52
Speaker 12: of about 15 seconds. One of the students, Mads Cameron,
20:56
Speaker 12: says they press a button, the robot scans the cube
20:58
Speaker 12: in 500 milliseconds, and nine seconds later.
21:01
Speaker 9: It's solved.
21:02
Speaker 12: He says the project started after they saw a video
21:05
Speaker 12: of the University of Bristol student robot last year and
21:08
Speaker 12: simply thought they could do better. They're now awaiting confirmation
21:11
Speaker 12: that they have held the world record.
21:13
Speaker 2: That is actually absolutely awesome and I love it. And
21:16
Speaker 2: how's the weather for Canterbury?
21:18
Speaker 12: A bit of low cloud about this morning.
21:19
Speaker 7: Otherwise, fine.
21:20
Speaker 12: Northeasterly is developing and we should make 16 degrees.
21:23
Speaker 2: Oh, by the way, I believe that Mike Hosking is
21:24
Speaker 2: actually interviewing the guys who have actually done the robot
21:27
Speaker 2: that's doing the Rubik's thing as well. So that'll be
21:30
Speaker 2: a hilarious interview. Thank you so much, Claire. Max Toll,
21:32
Speaker 2: good morning.
21:33
Speaker 9: Good morning.
21:35
Speaker 2: National's deputy has paid her first water bill. Now, that's
21:38
Speaker 2: an intriguing headline.
21:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, a bit more good news, I suppose, Nicola Willis.
21:43
Speaker 4: says she has paid her first bill from Tiakiwai. She
21:48
Speaker 4: is one of four-fifths of Wellingtonians, apparently, because a fifth
21:52
Speaker 4: still owe Tiakiwai more than $ 20 million, which is becoming
21:55
Speaker 4: a major problem. It says the money is crucial to
21:59
Speaker 4: maintaining the capital's infrastructure. There's obviously a lot of unhappiness
22:03
Speaker 4: in the capital regarding those first standalone water bills, which
22:06
Speaker 4: have been passed out from.
22:07
Speaker 2: The usual rates bills.
22:09
Speaker 4: Willis says her first bill was $ 900, which is above
22:13
Speaker 4: the average. And she says that's not a reflection of
22:16
Speaker 4: her family's use, but rather the fact that they have
22:19
Speaker 4: a large house with four kids. What she says is
22:22
Speaker 4: the fact that we're paying so much for water is
22:24
Speaker 4: because there's been historic joyride effectively taken by successive councils
22:30
Speaker 4: that have buried water and larger rates bills have been
22:33
Speaker 4: investing in pet projects rather than the basics. And as
22:37
Speaker 4: a result, the region does not deserve a bailout by
22:40
Speaker 4: central government. So it's up to us to get it right.
22:43
Speaker 4: She says her high bill is also a reflection of
22:45
Speaker 4: the fact we don't have water meters here in Wellington either.
22:49
Speaker 2: All right. Good on you, Nicola. Now, how's your weather?
22:51
Speaker 4: Hopefully it's raining for the dams and stuff. I tell you,
22:55
Speaker 4: it looks bloody good the next five or six days.
22:57
Speaker 4: Fine with light winds today, 18. Great stuff.
23:00
Speaker 2: Good morning to you.
23:01
Speaker 7: Good morning.
23:01
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the East-West link, which is the road
23:04
Speaker 2: that has been proposed but never happened. What's happening there?
23:07
Speaker 7: Well, yes, concern that this big project, roading project, will
23:11
Speaker 7: never be built. So the East-West link. Now, this connects
23:15
Speaker 7: State Highway 20 at Onihunga and State Highway 1 at
23:18
Speaker 7: Mount Wellington and Penrose.
23:19
Speaker 2: Now, it's head.
23:20
Speaker 7: $ 141 million spent so far. NZTA says that the project's
23:24
Speaker 7: now going to be sequenced over time. And $ 102 million for,
23:29
Speaker 7: this is the pre-implementation funding, has been returned to the
23:33
Speaker 7: Land Transport Fund. So the East West Link Development Society
23:38
Speaker 7: has come out saying that it wants the Ministry of Transport, NZTA,
23:41
Speaker 7: and also all the other stakeholders to come together and
23:44
Speaker 7: find a solution. NZTA says it's still considering its future timings.
23:49
Speaker 7: alongside other transport priorities.
23:50
Speaker 2: So let me get this right. They've spent $ 141 million
23:55
Speaker 2: already and not a single bit of roading has been
23:57
Speaker 2: put down. They've got another $ 102 million actually budgeted to
24:00
Speaker 2: keep on doing pre-implementation stuff as well. And the whole
24:04
Speaker 2: thing about the East-West Highway is it is the most
24:06
Speaker 2: expensive piece of roading ever considered in the entire globe.
24:10
Speaker 9: Yes.
24:10
Speaker 2: Coming in at a cost of around about $ 327 million
24:13
Speaker 2: a kilometre.
24:16
Speaker 10: That's it?
24:17
Speaker 2: I don't think it's ever going to happen. I don't
24:20
Speaker 2: think it's ever going to happen.
24:21
Speaker 7: Let's just put out some positive vibes out there.
24:23
Speaker 9: I know.
24:23
Speaker 2: You could be right there. No, no, this is light
24:26
Speaker 2: rail vibes here. 200 million spent, not one bit of roading.
24:32
Speaker 7: This is what I'm laughing about here because this is
24:33
Speaker 7: NZTA in their words, this final paragraph or sentence. NZTA
24:37
Speaker 7: is still considering its future, future timing. So, yeah, let's
24:41
Speaker 7: pray about that one.
24:42
Speaker 2: How's the weather?
24:42
Speaker 7: Cloudy periods, a high of 19 here in Auckland.
24:45
Speaker 2: And I thank you. Now, a serious moment here right now.
24:49
Speaker 2: I went to Danny Watson's funeral yesterday. I actually ended
24:52
Speaker 2: up speaking at it. I didn't mean to, but after
24:54
Speaker 2: an hour, I thought, well, we need to tell the
24:57
Speaker 2: people about his part on 1ZB and Newstalk ZB. So
25:01
Speaker 2: it was held in a community hall that he owns
25:03
Speaker 2: in Bayswater. It's a hall he used to teach karate.
25:07
Speaker 2: He also owns the neighboring church. That's where his wife, Teresa,
25:10
Speaker 2: teaches ceramics. And his family lives in the old priory.
25:13
Speaker 2: It's an incredible little complex. Danny Watson always wanted the
25:16
Speaker 2: complex to be a form of marae. Yesterday it was.
25:20
Speaker 2: The hall he owned was packed to the gunnels. Narpui
25:22
Speaker 2: was there. He's helped Narpui for ages. His karate students
25:26
Speaker 2: were there. Community groups he helped on the Devonport Peninsula
25:28
Speaker 2: were there. There was Wayata, as I said before, his
25:31
Speaker 2: brother and his family sang Harry Belafonte's Jamaica Farewell acapella.
25:36
Speaker 2: His old mate from Spot On was there, Serene Taylor.
25:39
Speaker 10: Danny.
25:40
Speaker 2: Danny was there in an open coffin. Danny was the
25:45
Speaker 2: most extraordinary character who moved many worlds. I learned that
25:48
Speaker 2: he was in the Auckland Battalion. So he was in
25:51
Speaker 2: the military. He was a hunter and a fisher. He
25:52
Speaker 2: was a leader in the world of karate. He spent
25:54
Speaker 2: recent years repairing marae in the north. He was fluent
25:57
Speaker 2: in te reo. Danny used to have very long hair
25:59
Speaker 2: and then a rat's tail that went to his waist.
26:01
Speaker 2: I thought, why? And it was only this week I
26:03
Speaker 2: discovered Danny vowed to grow his hair until he was
26:06
Speaker 2: fluent in the language. An exceptional broadcaster. Amazing empathy for
26:10
Speaker 2: the everyman because Danny was the everyman. He was without
26:13
Speaker 2: airs and graces. I once asked him.
26:17
Speaker 2: When he turned up at work and I was parking
26:18
Speaker 2: behind him and he had this banged up old Toyota Ute.
26:22
Speaker 2: And I went, why would such a successful man like
26:24
Speaker 2: Danny Watson be driving such a banged up Toyota Ute?
26:28
Speaker 2: And he went, well, it's only done 500,000 Ks. Danny
26:33
Speaker 2: Watson had a big heart. That big heart finally let
26:36
Speaker 2: him down at the age of 73. He's on his
26:39
Speaker 2: journey to Wairua. And when he gets there, he deserves
26:43
Speaker 2: the very best place. It's a quarter to six.
26:50
Speaker 1: International Correspondence with NZI Insurance. Peace of mind for New
26:54
Speaker 1: Zealand business.
26:56
Speaker 2: Twelve to six. Nick Harper from the USA. Good morning
26:58
Speaker 2: to you, Nick.
27:00
Speaker 3: Good morning, Matt.
27:01
Speaker 10: All right.
27:01
Speaker 2: So polls out about President Donald Trump, his approval rating
27:05
Speaker 2: right at the bottom. A majority of people believe he's
27:07
Speaker 2: just there enriching himself and he's got the midterms around
27:10
Speaker 2: the corner. So awesome.
27:12
Speaker 6: That's right, Andrew. These polls show he's absolutely underwater. Now
27:16
Speaker 6: at his lowest level, not just within his second term,
27:18
Speaker 6: but his first term as well. So at this point,
27:21
Speaker 6: Americans have never felt worse about Donald Trump. Just 33%
27:26
Speaker 6: of people approve of what he's doing. 66% disapprove. And
27:30
Speaker 6: of those people who disapprove, more than half, 52%, strongly disapprove.
27:35
Speaker 6: The cost of living is increased. Inflation is up. The
27:37
Speaker 6: war in Iran. There is a long list of things
27:40
Speaker 6: that people hate about. Interestingly, from these polls as well,
27:44
Speaker 6: bearing in mind that Donald Trump prides himself on the economy,
27:46
Speaker 6: on doing deals, on boosting people's finances, these polls show
27:51
Speaker 6: that now, for the first time in a decade, Democrats
27:54
Speaker 6: are the more trusted party when it comes to the
27:56
Speaker 6: economy and not Donald Trump's Republicans.
27:59
Speaker 2: I wonder when the Trump derangement syndrome will move from
28:02
Speaker 2: people against Donald Trump to those people who still support
28:05
Speaker 2: Donald Trump. We'll wait to see about this. Let's go
28:07
Speaker 2: to Russia, Ukraine and Putin that's been announced overnight could
28:10
Speaker 2: hold a meeting with Donald Trump and President Xi on
28:13
Speaker 2: ending the conflict. That's what Russia reckons. What do you know?
28:16
Speaker 6: Yeah, quite incredible if this is the case. The possibility
28:19
Speaker 6: of those three men meeting on the sidelines of a
28:22
Speaker 6: summit that's taking place in China next month, it's unconfirmed
28:26
Speaker 6: at this stage. The White House is keeping very tight-lipped
28:28
Speaker 6: about this. President Putin thinks it could happen, but he
28:31
Speaker 6: did admit it's not been confirmed. If it did happen,
28:34
Speaker 6: there is that probability that they will be carving up
28:37
Speaker 6: Ukrainian territory without the Ukrainians having a say. President Zelensky
28:41
Speaker 6: is not invited to this. that is ringing alarm bells,
28:44
Speaker 6: not just in Ukraine, but Europe as well. What will
28:47
Speaker 6: all this mean on Europe's doorstep if Ukraine is carved up,
28:51
Speaker 6: likely to give Russia much more territory than the Europeans and,
28:54
Speaker 6: of course, the Ukrainians want to give? Those three power brokers, Putin,
28:58
Speaker 6: Trump and Xi, could decide the fate of Ukraine, but
29:01
Speaker 6: potentially that could have an impact on Europe for generations
29:04
Speaker 6: to come.
29:04
Speaker 2: Nick Harper, I thank you. Newstalk TV. It is now
29:06
Speaker 2: 10 to 6. So, like National, Labour is also pledging
29:11
Speaker 2: to ban social media for under-16s and they want to
29:13
Speaker 2: do it within the first 100 days.
29:15
Speaker 10: I mean, it's obviously our bill.
29:17
Speaker 2: We obviously introduced it to Parliament.
29:18
Speaker 4: We'll get the first reading done in the first 100 days.
29:21
Speaker 2: That suggests to me that rather than this being a
29:23
Speaker 2: meaningful commitment from the national government, this has simply been
29:28
Speaker 2: a PR exercise. All right, so Labour's saying they want
29:32
Speaker 2: to give users more control over algorithms and set up
29:35
Speaker 2: a watchdog to find tech companies that break safety rules.
29:37
Speaker 2: And Steve McCracken is actually... a before 16 expert advisory
29:41
Speaker 2: panel member and joins me now. Hello Steve.
29:45
Speaker 10: Good morning Andrew.
29:46
Speaker 2: So a ban might happen but isn't the big thing
29:48
Speaker 2: from this is that both National and Labour seem to
29:50
Speaker 2: be finally on the same page?
29:53
Speaker 10: Yeah, long last they're on the same page. And it's
29:55
Speaker 10: fantastic to see for our young people around helping out
29:59
Speaker 10: the use of social media and particularly banning it. And
30:02
Speaker 10: great to hear that Labour's doing this within the first
30:04
Speaker 10: 100 days of their term and should they get elected.
30:06
Speaker 2: You're the Before 16 Expert Advisory Panel member, so you
30:09
Speaker 2: obviously know this. Is Labour or National's policy, which one
30:12
Speaker 2: is better than the other's?
30:14
Speaker 10: Yeah, I think they both have merits in terms of
30:16
Speaker 10: it's hard to determine at this point which is better
30:19
Speaker 10: because we're still lacking a little bit of detail from
30:21
Speaker 10: both parties just around what this is actually going to mean.
30:25
Speaker 10: The Labour Party announced it yesterday, suggested that they're going
30:27
Speaker 10: to put in a watchdog as such around social media use.
30:31
Speaker 10: And so that's a proactive and positive thing from my perspective.
30:35
Speaker 2: Can any government really tell the platforms what to do
30:39
Speaker 2: because globally they seem to be a law unto themselves?
30:43
Speaker 10: Yeah, we're seeing some pushback around the world, aren't we,
30:45
Speaker 10: around the big tech companies as such, and we're seeing
30:49
Speaker 10: that overseas. And it's really interesting to see the developments
30:52
Speaker 10: across the global scene around this. So despite us watching
30:58
Speaker 10: and waiting in the current government and seeing how particularly
31:02
Speaker 10: Australia is reacting and things to this, the big tech companies,
31:06
Speaker 10: this is a massive thing for our government, and so
31:08
Speaker 10: they're trying to take them on and make sure we're
31:10
Speaker 10: doing right by our young people.
31:12
Speaker 2: I thought when Facebook, when Meta actually paid a $ 30
31:14
Speaker 2: billion sort of reparations the other day for the harm
31:18
Speaker 2: that they've done globally or mostly in the United States,
31:21
Speaker 2: I thought that maybe there might be some, what would
31:24
Speaker 2: you call it, some defrosting of their coldness towards the kids.
31:32
Speaker 10: Yeah, we can always be hopeful, but I think big
31:34
Speaker 10: tech companies, and Meta in particular, are always out to
31:37
Speaker 10: make a buck, and that many costs, so... and they're
31:40
Speaker 10: willing to sacrifice our young people for profit-making. So it's
31:45
Speaker 10: great to see some action being taken by our government
31:47
Speaker 10: and putting things in place to help them.
31:49
Speaker 2: Let's hope they can do that. I saw some criticism
31:52
Speaker 2: around after the announcements yesterday that, oh, well, once these
31:55
Speaker 2: kids turn 16, they won't know what to do with
31:57
Speaker 2: themselves and they won't know how to use social media
32:00
Speaker 2: and they could get into an even worse problem. Was
32:02
Speaker 2: that someone trying to find something to oppose it?
32:06
Speaker 10: Yeah, I think it is. I work in education alongside
32:09
Speaker 10: the 416 advisory panel, and we see the ability to
32:14
Speaker 10: educate young people is actually far more better. And when
32:18
Speaker 10: they're 16 and over, then their cognitive brains are slightly
32:20
Speaker 10: more developed. I say slightly more developed because we still
32:23
Speaker 10: make mistakes, right? Absolutely. Yeah, there's room there. But in
32:28
Speaker 10: those developmental pages, that's the key to it in terms
32:31
Speaker 10: of helping protect our young people.
32:32
Speaker 2: Good on you, Steve McCracken. I thank you so much
32:34
Speaker 2: from B416. Yes, I ended up doom-scrolling and reeling yesterday,
32:37
Speaker 2: and I did it for about 20 minutes, and then
32:39
Speaker 2: I had to go, stop it! Gave myself a good slap.
32:44
Speaker 1: The first word on the news of the day. Early
32:47
Speaker 1: Edition with Andrew Dickens and Spark for Business. Technology that
32:51
Speaker 1: keeps business moving. Newstalk ZB.
32:53
Speaker 2: So news out yesterday, Kanga Ora has dropped operating costs
32:57
Speaker 2: by $ 191 million. Yes, that's well above their $ 27 million target.
33:01
Speaker 2: Good on them and all that sort of thing. And
33:02
Speaker 2: Chris Bishop's going to join Mike a bit later on
33:04
Speaker 2: to talk about how they've cut the costs and all this.
33:06
Speaker 2: But remember, this is just a fraction of the KO budget.
33:10
Speaker 2: This is a public sector with nearly $ 3 billion in expenses,
33:13
Speaker 2: portfolio worth $ 46 billion, housing 200,000 New Zealanders. So $ 191
33:18
Speaker 2: million to be saved. All good, but gee, it's a
33:21
Speaker 2: big thing.
33:22
Speaker 5: Hello, Mike.
33:23
Speaker 13: They set the target at, because Chris Bishop's on, they
33:28
Speaker 13: set the target at $ 27 million to save. So $ 160
33:31
Speaker 13: is quite good. So the question is whether or not
33:34
Speaker 13: they set the target low. So whatever they did say
33:37
Speaker 13: looked a lot better.
33:37
Speaker 2: Just in time for an election. Gee, that would be cynical,
33:39
Speaker 2: wouldn't it?
33:40
Speaker 13: Speaking of which, the Superfund, we'll talk to the bloke
33:43
Speaker 13: who runs the Superfund or helps run the Superfund, because
33:46
Speaker 13: not only have they had a very good return, they've
33:48
Speaker 13: had a very good return for a very long period
33:51
Speaker 13: of time. We are, I don't know if most people
33:52
Speaker 13: understand it, our Superfund is one of the most successful
33:55
Speaker 13: Superfunds in the world.
33:57
Speaker 2: And has been recognised as such. When I saw that,
33:59
Speaker 2: and you'll be doing an interview with Mr Goodwin from
34:02
Speaker 2: the Superfund, when I saw that today, I thought, well,
34:04
Speaker 2: they called Adrian Orr the $ 100 billion man when he
34:06
Speaker 2: was running the Superfund so well, but it seems like
34:08
Speaker 2: the people who took over are just as good.
34:10
Speaker 13: They seem very good. And so, well, I mean, the
34:13
Speaker 13: trick to super is long term. So they've done well
34:15
Speaker 13: annually and they've done well, great stuff, over decades.
34:19
Speaker 2: Thank you, Producer Kenzie. Thank you, Set Up Producer Sam.
34:22
Speaker 2: Thank you, Michael. I'm Andrew. See you again tomorrow.
34:27
Speaker 1: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
34:31
Speaker 1: to News Talk ZB from 5 a.m. weekdays or follow
34:34
Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio.