Latest / The SME Stream / The Country 27/01/26: Damien O'Connor talks to Jamie Mackay

Transcript

The Country 27/01/26: Damien O'Connor talks to Jamie Mackay · The SME Stream

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This is called Way Out West by James Rain Australian crawl.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: And a man who's not way out West anymore is east.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: He's living in Dunedin. Damien O'Connor, Labour's trade spokesperson, Damien,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: you've had to say you've got a how are you?
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: You've had to servertize I guess because of your geographic
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: location with your West Coast, your beloved West Coast.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Oh yeahs my terrang wise my home and then are
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: coming off of farm people to understand that, you know,
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: it's it's hard to kind of disconnect and I will
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: never be disconnected, but people want presents in an electric
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: MP and you know, being away and doing trade. I
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: guess I'm I wasn't on in West Coast. Heasman enough,
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: and that's part of the reason. I guess I got
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: voted out. So I have to accept that and and
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: you know, make way for some new person who'll come
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: in and you know, do their best from a labor
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: perspective for West Coast Hasman.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Now, I did say to in the last break
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: that I might have to be nice to you just
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: in case you do end up as the minister. As
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the Minister of trade Damien, but you won't have done
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: You can't.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Don't commit to things that you can't deliver.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Well, I probably can't. The thing is the guy he's
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: taken over from you, Todd McLay has done a good job,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: because I haven't spoken to you since this Indian free
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: trade agreement was announced and he's come out and said this,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: he's rubbish. Claims that New Zealand could have got a
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: better free trade deal with India if it had prolonged negotiations.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: He said there was basically a window. If we didn't
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: take it, then the next opportunity could be years. He
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: said he was a bit critical the EU deal. He
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: thought it might have been concluded a bit early. That
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: was under your leadership, I think, or was it? And
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: the other thing was it was EU under you?
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Yes it was. Yeah, we negotiated the U Trade agreement
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: in spite of what he might say, yeah.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: Okay, And you know what he did say and we
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: probably already know this. This is going to be very
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: advantageous for the likes of sheep, meat, keyw fruit apples.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: The deal's not so good for dairy. It was never
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: going to be good because they'd never wanted to do
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: a dairy deal fair and try and be bipartisan here, Damien,
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: you'd have to give Todd McLay a bit of a
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: pat on the back, wouldn't you.
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: Look, Look, you know, it is good that we have
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: concluded an agreement. I guess the question around the Prime
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Minister setting a three year deadline and probably given the
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Indians a bit of leverage on that. But the other
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: reality that we accept is that Donald Trump's been stirring
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: up the world. India and many other countries have seen
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: the value in bilectoral trade agreements. India has taken a
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: slightly different approach to its expectations around migration and you know,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: wanting to build their own economy. So I guess the
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: combination of those factors, along with you know, a lot
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: of effort from negotiators and Todd certainly visited the country
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: on a number of occasions, meant that we've got the
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: deal in front of us. Now, if we said no,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: you know, then it might not occur, or the chances
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: of it might not occur for a long time. So
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: you know, we're working through that. We've just had a
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: meeting in Caucus. We've got a few things that we
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: want a request of government, and so Christopher Higgins Chris
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: going to be talking to Chrystal Reduction about the final
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: conclusion and agreement.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: With so in other words, you'll support it because Winston won't.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: No, that's not at all no. I mean Winston can
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: choose to do what ever likes, as he always does
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: based on his own logic, and we will be looking,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: as you know, a party that has always supported trade.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: We negotiated the Trying to Free Trade Agreement in two
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: thousand and eight at the UK EU. We've always supported
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: progress in that area CPTPP. We need it as a country.
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: We understand that. We've just got to make sure that
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: we evolve the conditions of the agreement as we kind
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: of progress as a country. We have to have provisions
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: around treaty of white honey, and disagreement includes those. It
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: isn't as good for dairy. India has a huge dairy industry.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: They're very protective. There are some opportunities in there, and
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: I've spoken with industry, some industry leaders to get their
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: summary of it, and I guess on balance most of
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: them think this is good.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, Well, I hope bipartisan politics prevails and you get
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: around the table with Luxon and co. And get this
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: voted for Winston. Of course, by day he's almost daily
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: he's getting into a stronger position preferred PM. He's now
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: sitting at twelve point six. Your manship, he's at twenty
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: one point one. Christopher Luxen languishing really at nineteen point four.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Do you think Winston might say to the pair of them,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: I want to be Prime Minister.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Look, I can't apre judge what Winston might say, but look,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: Chris Hopkins is way ahead and we'll be focus focusing
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: on maximizing the Labor vote right across the country.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: Well, he's not way ahead, he's ahead by less than
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: two percent. But to be fair, this is only one poll.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: Labor's on thirty five percent, Nationals on thirty two. So
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: you've got a handy lead and that seems to be
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: consistent across the polls. But your problem to getting to
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: getting across the line is obviously your coalition partners. The
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Greens have fallen again to party Maori continue to slide,
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: and I think Labor might have a crack at those
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Mailori seats.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Well, DADU be good. We'll certainly be contesting them and
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: we'll have some great candidates, so you know, there's a
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: lot of time between now and polling day. As you said,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: we're just going to focus on maximizing the vote for
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: ourselves and putting forward some ideas that will make a
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: difference to people. They voted for a change and for
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: a better outcome that most of them have been very disappointed.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: Hey, just to finish on you wanted to comment briefly
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: on roads and trucks.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: What's that about? The point I was making? And you
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: know clearly the terrible situation up on these coast again,
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: and you know went around there a couple of months ago.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: These are fragile roads, and we have the high efficiency
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: or heavy vehicles that are running around the country on
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: every road now. They were never intended for some of
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: those other fragile roads, and we're going to be chasing
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: our tail trying to fix up these roads with events
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: and as long as we've got these heavy trucks on them.
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: And I know it's a dilemma. I'm not saying that
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: we can turn it there around overnight, but it's a
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: bit of an issue. Anyone who spends a long time
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: on the roads like I do, can see the degradation
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: of our roading network. It's in part probably because of
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: the standards that Wakakati are specifying contracts, but also because
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: we've got heavier trucks traveling faster and the roads up
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: in the East Coast and other parts of the country
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: is simply not built for that.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: Do we go back to the future and just limit
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: the tonnage of trucks on the road.
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: I think we have to align the tonnage with the
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: engineering specifications, and I think that's out of kilter and
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: for our sectors, across the rural a country, you know,
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: in our areas, we need to get that right. It's
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: vital that we have those roading links, not just for
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: you know, people in communities, actually to shift the stock
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: and commerce.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Okay, damn well that was all rather time really because
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the punters are wanting an argument. Surely we can go
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: about something before you disappear.
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, I guess there's something that we could
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: pick on, and I guess climate change. This government has
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: its head in the sand over climate change, and every
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: single week we're seeing examples of weather events that are
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: driven by changing global warming and changing climatic patterns. We're
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: going to have to address it, and trying to ignore
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: it and step back from international agreements is crazy stuff.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: But we've seen it's not the only crazy thing that
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: the government's done. Of course, Oh, of course not.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Okay, Well, we've already offered a solution on the show today,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Jeff Ross Lake harwe a station. You'll know, Jeff, he's saying,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: it's just simple, change the rules and we can sell
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: carbon credits to the highest bidder around the world, and
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: we can make money out of the Paris Climate Agreement
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: rather than cost us money.
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: Look, I think there's some truth in that. But you
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: know the fact that this government has screwed up the
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: etes and sent mixed signals to people participating as well
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: as landowners is not helping you know, us us go forward.
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: And we had you know, the billion tree man Shane
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Jones out there. I'm now trying to deny the reality
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: that you know, he has encouraged tree planting in areas
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: where it shouldn't be.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Okay, Daven, thanks for your tom. Good to have you
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: back in twenty six.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Thanks very much.