Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Full Show Podcast: 05 October 2026

Transcript

Full Show Podcast: 05 October 2026 · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The issues, the interviews and the insight. Andrew Dickens on
• 0:04
  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 and welcome to the programme. I'm
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Andrew Dickens in for Ryan Bridge who's preparing for the
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: big election debate. It's coming up on the programme today.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Labour releases its fiscal plan, but the costings for pay
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: equity are suspiciously absent. Cameron Bagri will run his eye
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: over the numbers, and that's happening next. Inflation rises steeply
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: in Europe. Vicky Price brings us all the details. And
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: ACT has released its plans for a KiwiSaver shake-up. That
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: will take the tax off your investments. So we'll have
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: David Seymour to explain his policy just before six. That
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: and correspondents from overseas, Gavin Gray from the UK and
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: from right around New Zealand. And you can have your
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: say on the text. The number is 9292. It's seven
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: after five.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: The agenda.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: Well, it's Monday, the 5th of October, and Russian drone
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: strikes have hit major bridges in Kiev for four straight
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: days now. as Moscow is ramping up the attacks on
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: the capital's critical infrastructure. The German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: made a surprise visit to Kiev in a show of
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: support for Ukraine.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: Mr Putin, will you stop this senseless war? We're ready
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: to talk. We are ready to talk to each other
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: about the end of this war, but these barbaric attacks
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: on the civilian population of Ukraine must stop. These are
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: daily war crimes.
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Now, Australian authorities are investigating links to the FlyDubai co-pilot
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: accused of trying to take control of a plane heading
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: to Israel. Now, he's alleged to have attacked the captain
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: with a crash axe mid-flight before passengers overpowered him and
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: helped take control of the plane. So authorities have identified
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: the attacker. Multiple media outlets have named him as Hamam al-Hammamiya.
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: Sources close to the matter say his visa was not
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: cancelled on character grounds but because he was not enrolled
• 1:59
  Speaker 4: in a course and so was ineligible for a student visa.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: It's also understood authorities will investigate whether the man was
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: radicalised while in Australia.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: To the UK now and a controversial motion has passed
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: at the Greens annual conference in Brighton. And the motion
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: describes Zionism as a ethno-nationalist ideology that seeks the exclusion
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: or domination of non-Jewish people.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: This party will become, beginning today, the party that serves
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the people and not the elite.
• 2:33
  Speaker 5: I would rather have been attacked for being a dental-eating,
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: sandal-wearing hippie. than perhaps what we're going to be attacked
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: on now, because I don't think it's a true reflection
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: of 220,000 members.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: Meanwhile, Tory leader Kemi Baradok has been speaking at the
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: Reform UK's conference. That's being held in Birmingham.
• 2:52
  Speaker 6: While other parties hark back to the past, we are
• 2:56
  Speaker 6: for the future.
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: I meant it.
• 2:59
  Speaker 7: A Conservative Party that knows what it believes and knows.
• 3:03
  Speaker 8: Who its people are.
• 3:06
  Speaker 9: That.
• 3:07
  Speaker 7: is the Conservative Party I am bringing back.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: And that is the agenda. It's ten after five.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: Hear it first. Andrew Dickens on early edition with Spark
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: for Business. Technology that keeps business moving.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: News Talk ZB. Some great sport on last night, but boy,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: tough for us early risers. I made it through the
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: first half of the grand final and three quarters of
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: the Bahrain Grand Prix held in Malaysia. So the Sydney
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Roosters have won their first NRL premiership in seven years.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: A courageous come from behind 1918 win over the valiant
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Newcastle Knights. who of course had their own tragedy over
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: the course of the weekend. It was a thrilling grand final.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: And look, the thing I saw was just the scale
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: and the spectacle of the big dance, something to behold. Meanwhile,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: Liam Lawson came seventh after a good tower choice at
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: the beginning, saw him as high as third for a while.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: But one of my great delights over the course of
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: the weekend in sport was the MPC. Yesterday, I watched
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Taranaki versus Wellington. Great weather, great crowd. wrestling, running, rushing rugby.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: I have watched one game before at Stadium Taranaki, the
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: old Yarrow's, and that was Russia and USA back in
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: the 2011 Rugby World Cup. And that day, it was horrendous.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: The rain was continual. The rugby wasn't brilliant. But I'll
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: tell you what, the stadium was fantastic. It is a
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: good walk from town. And since then, it's been rebuilt
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: after seismic concerns. And I reckon it's one of the
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: best provincial stadiums in the country. And it had a
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: great game. And the day before, it was Counties Manukau
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: against Hawke's Bay, and that was held in Pukekohe. Now,
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: I have not seen that ground that full for ages.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: And I know that ground well. I'm a boy from Turco.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: And this is the power of the Ranfurly Shield. The
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: game was tense. The game was enjoyable. The crowd was big.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: The party afterwards was huge. What an occasion. And it
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: made me realize, watching this great rugby from our humble
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: little NPC, that there's nothing wrong with the game, except
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: for maybe the mandarins in head office who appear to
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: overthink everything. So it's 12 minutes after five and we've
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: got Labour's fiscal plan. And what's notable in it is
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: a lack of line detail when it comes to pay
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: equity and where they're going to find the money from.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: And maybe the lack of wriggle room as well. But
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: don't take my word for it. We'll talk to Cameron
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Bagri about this next.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: Before the news breaks, hear it first. Andrew Dickens on
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: early edition with Spark for Business, technology that keeps business moving.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: News Talk ZB.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Well, a week after the preview, Labour's finally laid out
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: its highly anticipated fiscal plan. It's promising to return the
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: books to surplus in 28-29. And sticking with the Coalition's
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: $ 2. 4 billion a year operating allowances, there's $ 10. 5 billion left unallocated. Now,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: the big thing is the pay equity, and Labour has
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: only costed $ 2. 5 billion of the estimated $ 11 billion total
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: over four years.
• 6:02
  Speaker 10: We're not going to negotiate pay equity settlements through the
• 6:04
  Speaker 10: media or during an election campaign.
• 6:06
  Speaker 9: All right.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: So to run his eye over the numbers, Cameron Bagri
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: joins us now, the independent economist. Hello, Cameron. Good morning. Hey,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: does it stack up or are there too many grey
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: areas to know?
• 6:19
  Speaker 11: Well, there's lots of grey areas around these things when
• 6:21
  Speaker 11: you pull together a set of fiscal forecasts because you've
• 6:24
  Speaker 11: got one big revenue number and one big expense number,
• 6:27
  Speaker 11: and you can see a fair bit of variation between
• 6:29
  Speaker 11: those two. What we know is it doesn't matter which
• 6:32
  Speaker 11: political party gets into power, the kitty's pretty empty. To
• 6:37
  Speaker 11: go from deficit to surplus, which we need to put
• 6:40
  Speaker 11: some money back in the tin to bend the debt curve,
• 6:42
  Speaker 11: it's going to involve complicated trade-offs. Both the main political
• 6:46
  Speaker 11: parties have committed now $ 2. 4 billion operating allowances for the
• 6:51
  Speaker 11: next four budgets. And by the time you whip out
• 6:53
  Speaker 11: about $ 1. 5 billion of that towards health, there's not a
• 6:56
  Speaker 11: lot of money left for the rest of the government. So,
• 6:59
  Speaker 11: once again, complicated trade-offs. If we're going to go from
• 7:01
  Speaker 11: deficit to surplus, you either need more revenue or you've
• 7:04
  Speaker 11: got to go pretty hard cutting expenses as a share
• 7:07
  Speaker 11: of GDP. And both the main political parties have had
• 7:09
  Speaker 11: that within their fiscal plans.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Is the lack of detail, particularly around the pay equity,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: dishonest or is that a commercial reality?
• 7:19
  Speaker 11: I think that's more a commercial reality. But look, we're
• 7:22
  Speaker 11: going to get back into that infamous sort of Stephen
• 7:25
  Speaker 11: Joyce fiscal hold debate that we saw in 2017. And
• 7:30
  Speaker 11: the finger will be pointed at either side. But if
• 7:32
  Speaker 11: you just look at Treasury's articulation within the last few budgets,
• 7:37
  Speaker 11: half the economic fiscal update, the pre-food, Going from deficit
• 7:41
  Speaker 11: to surplus is going to involve complicated trade-offs. You either
• 7:45
  Speaker 11: need to get expenses down as a share of GDP,
• 7:48
  Speaker 11: or you need to find more revenue out there. So
• 7:51
  Speaker 11: braced for this election, it's going to be a trade-off,
• 7:52
  Speaker 11: I think, between tax versus health care.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: OK, so you say tax. You basically have said any
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: government is either going to have to lift revenue, in
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: other words, lift taxes, or they're going to have to
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: cut spending. This is a party, Labour is a party,
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: with a capital gains tax. They say they've ring-fenced it.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Do you think there might be a possibility that they're
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: going to have to expand that?
• 8:15
  Speaker 11: Yeah, I think so. If you look at, they've just
• 8:18
  Speaker 11: updated their fiscal objectives because what they had within the
• 8:23
  Speaker 11: document they've released with government expenditure trending down is a
• 8:26
  Speaker 11: share of GDP. But their fiscal objective was to keep
• 8:29
  Speaker 11: government expenditure at a flat around 33% of GDP. They've
• 8:35
  Speaker 11: just updated that, I think. So now it's a ceiling.
• 8:38
  Speaker 11: So I We call it the impossible trinity, Andrew. You
• 8:43
  Speaker 11: want to demonstrate these things if you're finance minister. You
• 8:46
  Speaker 11: want to show that you're bending the debt curve, you're
• 8:47
  Speaker 11: getting from deficit to surplus. That's one objective. Number two,
• 8:51
  Speaker 11: you need to find money to invest in the economy,
• 8:54
  Speaker 11: invest in infrastructure. And number three is you've just got
• 8:57
  Speaker 11: to throw money at core government services because the likes
• 9:00
  Speaker 11: of health care is a pretty expensive beast to run. Well,
• 9:02
  Speaker 11: you can hit two out of three. You can't hit
• 9:04
  Speaker 11: three out of three unless you're prepared to front up
• 9:07
  Speaker 11: and say you're going to lift taxes.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: All right, Cameron, I thank you so much for your analysis.
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: We'll have more of this, of course, with the Mike
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: Hosking Breakfast Show. And before this hour is out, we're
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: going to talk to David Seymour from ACT, and he's
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: got his new plans for KiwiSaver. I'll run you through
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: that a bit later on. It's News Talks FB. Inflation
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: is peaking everywhere. Cost of living everywhere. Now it's in Europe.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: Vicky Price on this next.
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: The early edition full show podcast on iHeartRadio, powered by
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: News Talks FB. The news you need this morning and
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: the in-depth analysis. Early edition with Andrew Dickens and Spark
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: for Business. Technology that keeps business moving. News Talk ZB.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: It's 20 after five. I'm here because Ryan is preparing
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: for the big leaders debates that are coming very soon
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: to herald now. But right now, let's talk business with
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: our correspondent, Vicky Price. Hello, Vicky.
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: Good morning.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: Inflation has risen sharply in Europe.
• 10:04
  Speaker 7: I'm afraid so. I think we were expecting it to
• 10:06
  Speaker 7: happen at some point, given all the energy price increases
• 10:08
  Speaker 7: that we've all been experiencing. And then finally, inflation is
• 10:12
  Speaker 7: zooming up. It's now gone up to 3.8 percent in
• 10:14
  Speaker 7: the eurozone from 3.2 percent. So that's quite a jump.
• 10:18
  Speaker 7: And the expectation is it's going to be going up
• 10:20
  Speaker 7: even further in the next few months. So we're all
• 10:22
  Speaker 7: going to be worrying about interest rates again, whether they
• 10:25
  Speaker 7: will be going up or not in the next meetings.
• 10:27
  Speaker 9: That they have.
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: Yes, and politicians are going to be talking about the
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: cost of living, and we'll be talking about this very
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: shortly here on this show. Meanwhile, there are riots over
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: the high rents that are being paid in Spain.
• 10:39
  Speaker 7: Well, it's all linked. If you're paying quite a lot
• 10:42
  Speaker 7: to borrow and, of course, the housing market itself is
• 10:45
  Speaker 7: suffering in a number of places. But nevertheless, what is
• 10:47
  Speaker 7: still going on is that people, instead of buying, are
• 10:50
  Speaker 7: looking to rent and rent rental costs are going up
• 10:53
  Speaker 7: very significantly. They are simply not affordable in many cities
• 10:57
  Speaker 7: in particular, which also get loads of tourists who all
• 10:59
  Speaker 7: come and rent. go for Airbnb, which really means that
• 11:03
  Speaker 7: some of those flats that would have been available are not.
• 11:05
  Speaker 7: Prices are being pushed up. And there are indeed riots
• 11:08
  Speaker 7: in Madrid in particular because there have been some evictions
• 11:11
  Speaker 7: of people whose houses have been bought by hedge funds
• 11:17
  Speaker 7: or venture capital funds or private sector entities, which are trebling,
• 11:23
  Speaker 7: sometimes quadrupling, and even more the rents that they were charging.
• 11:26
  Speaker 7: So there's a real, real issue. And And I think
• 11:29
  Speaker 7: it's spreading across Europe because you're seeing some countries in particular.
• 11:33
  Speaker 7: I mean, Portugal is very bad in terms of the
• 11:35
  Speaker 7: affordability of rents, but so is the Netherlands. So we're
• 11:40
  Speaker 7: looking at sort of richer places which are also suffering
• 11:43
  Speaker 7: from this. And you see this spreading across. And we've
• 11:46
  Speaker 7: also got, of course, riots in France because... The students
• 11:51
  Speaker 7: and the population at large, I think, feels that not
• 11:53
  Speaker 7: enough is being spent on public services, despite the fact
• 11:55
  Speaker 7: that France spends a lot more as a percentage of
• 11:59
  Speaker 7: GDP by the public sector and raises more taxes. So
• 12:04
  Speaker 7: there is something going on. I think it all is
• 12:06
  Speaker 7: linked to exactly what you said at the beginning, which
• 12:09
  Speaker 7: is the cost of living.
• 12:09
  Speaker 11: Yeah.
• 12:11
  Speaker 9: All right.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Meanwhile, Europe has agreed to release more crude and refined
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: strategic stocks to release pressure on diesel prices. This is because,
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: of course, Donald Trump's diesel export ban. What are they doing?
• 12:22
  Speaker 7: Well, he hasn't actually instituted the export ban. He was
• 12:26
  Speaker 7: threatening it. And it's worth remembering that the UK in particular,
• 12:31
  Speaker 7: but also Europe, depend to a very considerable extent on
• 12:33
  Speaker 7: diesel exports now from the US, now that there aren't
• 12:38
  Speaker 7: exports coming from russia in fact russia itself has put
• 12:42
  Speaker 7: its own ban since july the refineries have been hit
• 12:45
  Speaker 7: because of the war in the middle east so what
• 12:48
  Speaker 7: you've got is a real shortage and the u.s is
• 12:51
  Speaker 7: using the threat as a weapon if you like says
• 12:54
  Speaker 7: you guys in europe have quite a lot of um
• 12:57
  Speaker 7: stocks release those and bring prices down and of course
• 13:00
  Speaker 7: there is political impetus in europe as well to do
• 13:04
  Speaker 7: so otherwise it's exactly the stuff we've been talking about
• 13:06
  Speaker 7: which is that cost of living issues are leading to
• 13:10
  Speaker 7: quite a lot of politics coming to the boil.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. It's a battle on so many fronts and I
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: thank you for your time today. That is Vicky Price
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: and the cost of living is a big issue here
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: as well. Talk about that in a moment. I'm Andrew Dickens.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: It is now 5.26. So the cost of living is
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: once again a key issue in the election. I always
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: find it amazing that somehow New Zealanders believe it's a
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: problem that only affects us but you just heard Vicky Price.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: It's happening all over Europe in all sorts of different ways.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: But here When we talk about the cost of living,
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: all the blame gets heaped on supermarkets. Our duopoly of
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: big old supermarkets are viewed with suspicion with many, including
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: politicians believing they're rorting us and every party's got some
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: sort of proposal to rein them in. So National and
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: New Zealand First want to break the duopoly up forcibly.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: That's classic command economy style, normally associated with the left,
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: but they don't seem to mind. The Green Party want
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: to spend billions on a state-owned Kiwi Mart. And ACT
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: just wants to cut all the red tape so overseas
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: competitors can win. Yesterday, Chris Quinn from Foodstuffs appeared on
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Q & A to defend supermarkets. And he pointed out
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: in his conversation with Simon Mersip that we are the
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: 13th cheapest grocery market in the OECD. He also pointed
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: out the lack of margin for supermarkets. They're not huge
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: money machines necessarily. They make 2.3 cents in the dollar.
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: And all of this are very important points. Our supermarkets
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: seem profitable, but purely because of the sheer volume of
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: sales they put through. Because the mega supermarkets we shop
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: at each day don't really exist for much of the world.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: More intensified cities don't have the big supermarkets that we do.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: We drive and we buy in bulk. In Europe, they
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: walk with a trundler and they shop more often. Now,
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: the ignorance of the economies of supermarkets is what has
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: driven the outrage in New Zealand, and the politicians are
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: just following the outrage for approval. Now, of course, like everybody,
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: I've got a problem with the cost of living, but
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: I do not have a problem with the duopoly of
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: supermarkets in this little country of ours. In fact, their
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: very size makes stuff an awful lot cheaper than it
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: could be. But now we have a load of politicians
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: of all colours sticking their noses into what I would
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: call our personal property rights. And that doesn't sit well
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: with me at all. It's 5.28. OK, so we've got
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: Labour's fiscal plan, but we've also got ACT's. With their
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: KiwiSaver plan, a major shake-up, they want to scrap tax
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: on investment earnings. They reckon a 25-year-old nurse could be
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: $ 217, 000 better off by retirement by this. The move would
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: in turn replace the government's contributions, which are currently in place. Now,
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: tax drag. has a significant impact because of the compounding
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: effect over time. But if you take that tax away,
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: that could lead to much bigger KiwiSaver returns to you
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: over the long term. But of course, it will cost
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: the government in terms of revenue from the tax on
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: the investments, but they'd save their contributions, which they make,
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: which are currently around about a billion dollars a year.
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: But those people with more of their own money to
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: put in the scheme will get the best benefit, while
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: the people who don't have much money and are not
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: contributing much, will not see the government contributions, so they'll
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: see less going in. And critics have already come out
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: and argued, well, that's the rich getting richer and the
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: poor getting poorer. Long term, the way I read it,
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: everyone will benefit, but short term, there will be losers,
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: including the government, who will be losing all the revenue.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: So to explain, that's my thoughts on it, but to explain.
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: What's going to happen? We're going to be joined by
• 16:44
  Speaker 2: Axe leader, David Seymour, and he's going to join us
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: just before six. He's got a spiffy new bus. Did
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: you see that yesterday? They launched the party and everyone's
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: getting off a bus. Not only that, National have a
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: spiffy new bus. It's the battle of the buses in
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: this election right now. Meanwhile, I guess Labour and the
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: Greens are just riding their bicycles around the place. I'll
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: tell you what Labour and the Greens are doing. They're
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: doing corner, street corner speeches. I've got one happening down
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: the bottom of my street. Sam Collins is running for
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: Labour for North Shore. He's going to talk on the
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: corner of my street. I don't know if anyone's going
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: to turn up. We'll see. Anyway, yes, so David Seymour's
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: on the way. Correspondents from right around New Zealand's on
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: the way. Gavin Gray from the UK as well. You've
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: got early edition. I'm Andrew Dickens. This is Newstalk CMB.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: The Early Edition Full Show Podcast on iHeartRadio, powered by
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: Newstalk ZB. Andrew Dickens on Early Edition with Spark for Business.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: Technology that keeps business moving. Newstalk ZB.
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: Hey, good morning to you. Thank you so much for
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: joining us. If you've just woken up, no Ryan. No
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: Ryan this week, actually. He's preparing for the leaders debate
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: and we're playing Level 42. which I haven't heard in years,
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: and they're coming this summer to the Greenstone music tour,
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: playing Wanaka and Taupo. And speaking about music, we've got
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: another Kiwi success story in entertainment. David Higgins' Symphony is back.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: It's touring Europe again. And I was watching videos over
• 18:26
  Speaker 2: the weekend. They're selling out indoor stadiums across the continent.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: It's a big hit. And on lead vocals is Jeremy Redmore. Now,
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: you remember Jeremy. He's ex of Midnight Youth. You remember
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: Golden Love, the song played at Mike Hosking's wedding. Anyway,
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: this weekend, not only has he been playing in Europe
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: and singing with Symphony, he also released a single. And
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: he's collaborated with a guy called Corin Cavini. And it's
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: a launch of Jeremy's new persona. He's going by the
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: name of Down Under, with no E. So U-N-D-R, Down Under.
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: And guess what? I had a listen to it over
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: the weekend. It's actually really quite good. And while we're
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: on the subject of music, can I just say happy
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: birthday to Brian Johnson, the lead singer of ACDC, who's
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: 79 today and still working. On Friday, they wrapped up
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: their power-up tour in New York at MetLife Stadium with
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: the Foo Fighters as support. Dave Grohl came on and
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: joined Brian and Angus for Highway to Hell. Magnificent. It
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: is 22 to 6. Let's go right around the country
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: right now into Dunedin. We go, Callum Proctor, good morning
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: to you.
• 19:27
  Speaker 9: Morning, Andrew.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: Otago Farmers, be warned, the council's coming. Yes, they are.
• 19:32
  Speaker 10: The regional council are about to get underway with their
• 19:35
  Speaker 10: annual council farm checks, as most farmers head towards the
• 19:39
  Speaker 10: end of their calving season here. Staff will visit around
• 19:42
  Speaker 10: 300 to 400 farms over the coming months, mostly in
• 19:46
  Speaker 10: Klutha and Waitaki. They'll be checking consented and permitted activities
• 19:50
  Speaker 10: with a focus on dairy, effluent, silage, farm rubbish and offal.
• 19:55
  Speaker 10: The council says a challenging spring. After what has been
• 20:00
  Speaker 10: a challenging spring, the visits are about working with farmers
• 20:02
  Speaker 10: to support compliance while also understanding the challenges they face.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: How is your spring? What's the weather like?
• 20:09
  Speaker 10: It's good here around the south today. Another fine day,
• 20:11
  Speaker 10: apart from some areas of morning fog. So we'll keep
• 20:14
  Speaker 10: an eye on the airport. Light winds the high today, 16.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Calum. Claire Sherwood joins us from Christchurch. Good
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: morning to you.
• 20:19
  Speaker 12: Good morning.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: So are you saying ratepayers in Christchurch could be in
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: for smaller rates?
• 20:25
  Speaker 6: Yeah, well, it certainly looks like Christchurch City Council is
• 20:27
  Speaker 6: making headway towards these proposed government limits. The first draft
• 20:33
  Speaker 6: of the long-term plan has set the maximum rates increases
• 20:37
  Speaker 6: at 6% in 2028, 5% for 2029 and 4% by 2030. Now, this,
• 20:43
  Speaker 6: of course, aligns with the proposed government bill that would
• 20:46
  Speaker 6: require councils to keep annual rates rises low. between 2%
• 20:49
  Speaker 6: and 4% from July 2029. Our Finance and Performance Committee Chair,
• 20:53
  Speaker 6: Councillor Sam McDonald, says Christchurch is well ahead of the
• 20:56
  Speaker 6: game and well-placed to meet those limits after years of
• 21:00
  Speaker 6: very prudent financial decisions.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, 4% though. OK, now, how's your weather?
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: Some frost and fog about this morning, but should clear
• 21:08
  Speaker 6: to mainly fine. North Easterlies developing and the high will
• 21:11
  Speaker 6: be 15.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: And I thank you. Max Toll joins us from Wellington. Hello, Max.
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: Good morning. Surprise, surprise. You've got another building that might
• 21:17
  Speaker 2: fall down if there's a quake.
• 21:19
  Speaker 11: Yeah.
• 21:20
  Speaker 12: Yeah, this is the Te Whaea Arts Centre, which is
• 21:23
  Speaker 12: the other side of the Basin Reserve at the top
• 21:25
  Speaker 12: of Newtown, roughly. Apparently now been deemed quake-prone, requiring strengthening.
• 21:30
  Speaker 12: Home of the wonderful New Zealand School of Dance, our
• 21:32
  Speaker 12: drama school, Toi Whakaari. The Post reports it's been flagged
• 21:36
  Speaker 12: as quake-prone last month in council documents, joining an unillustrious
• 21:41
  Speaker 12: list that still includes the Michael Fowler Centre, the Opera House.
• 21:44
  Speaker 12: The positive news is, though, for now, it can still
• 21:47
  Speaker 12: be occupied, so all those dancers and actors don't have
• 21:51
  Speaker 12: to clear out. It is an important artistic venue, no
• 21:53
  Speaker 12: time frame yet for strengthening. I think the To Fire
• 21:58
  Speaker 12: staff are still figuring out next steps.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: All right, how's your weather?
• 22:03
  Speaker 12: A cooler start, but mostly fine today with lighter winds,
• 22:06
  Speaker 12: a high of 14.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: And I thank you, Neva Reitman, who joins us now
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: from Auckland. Hello, Neva. Good morning, Andrew. So, Carlos Chung
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: is an MP, believe it or not. He's with National.
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: and someone set his billboard on fire.
• 22:19
  Speaker 8: Correct.
• 22:19
  Speaker 13: It's the old election billboard vandalism, you know, time of
• 22:24
  Speaker 13: this year, isn't it? So you're quite right. The national candidate,
• 22:27
  Speaker 13: this is in the Mount Roskill electorate, caught fire in
• 22:30
  Speaker 13: Three Kings shortly after midnight yesterday, believed to be deliberately set.
• 22:34
  Speaker 13: So Chung posted a photo of the hoarding fire on
• 22:37
  Speaker 13: social media, condemning the behaviour, calling it dangerous, reckless, completely unacceptable.
• 22:42
  Speaker 13: And You know, the National Party, obviously, they're aware of
• 22:44
  Speaker 13: the incident. They've reported this to police. They're not making
• 22:47
  Speaker 13: any comments saying, you know, it'd be inappropriate at this time. But,
• 22:50
  Speaker 13: you know, we're just talking about this in the newsroom.
• 22:52
  Speaker 13: And vandalism is right. It always is during election year,
• 22:55
  Speaker 13: isn't it? On all different parties, you know, like eyes
• 22:58
  Speaker 13: cut out, spray painting.
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: Well, yes.
• 23:01
  Speaker 6: If you drive around.
• 23:01
  Speaker 7: I know.
• 23:02
  Speaker 14: Yeah.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: Some of it's quite creative. What have you seen? Well,
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: I've seen guys with funny old eyes. You're quite right. Crazy,
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: crazy eyes. See the Chris Bishop. Somebody's gone around and
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: cut his face out of his own billboards, which means
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: you have to have sort of the saw to do it,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: which actually takes a lot of effort, and that's quite
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: creative as well.
• 23:17
  Speaker 13: You're quite right, though, because what time they're doing this,
• 23:19
  Speaker 13: and they need to have all those tools, like, you know,
• 23:22
  Speaker 13: what they're doing. So it'll be taking them hours.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: Okay, but don't... Don't do it. Don't egg them on. Exactly. No,
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: quite right. I'm condemning them. Bad, bad people. How's the weather?
• 23:32
  Speaker 13: Isolated light showers, partly cloudy for most of the day
• 23:34
  Speaker 13: here in Auckland, a high of 17 degrees.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. It is 18 minutes to six.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: And say what you like about Brazil. But I'll tell
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: you what, Brazil have fantastic elections. They're going to the
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: polls right now, the first round of a highly polarised
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: and high-stakes presidential election, which could change the direction of
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Latin America's largest country. It's a big place. Today, we've
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: got the left-wing president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. better
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: known as Lula, who is seeking a fourth non-consecutive term.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: And he's up against the far-right Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, who
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: likes Donald Trump, obviously. And he's the son of the
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: former president, Jair Bolsonaro, who would like to run, but
• 24:16
  Speaker 2: unfortunately he's busy serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a
• 24:20
  Speaker 2: coup after he failed in 2022 to be re-elected. So
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: I'm looking at this today, and Flavio, the 45-year-old son
• 24:27
  Speaker 2: of Jair, he looks just like his old man.
• 24:31
  Speaker 12: Absolutely.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: Lula, meanwhile, is an inspiration to Winston Peters. He is 80.
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: The race is extremely close. If no candidate wins more
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: than 50% of valid votes, a runoff election will be
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: held on the 25th of October. I believe that results
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: are about four hours away. It is 17 to six,
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: but just moments away. Gavin Gray out of the UK says,
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: and also David Seymour on his changes to KiwiSaver and more. Now,
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: when you think about the future, you always think about
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: your KiwiSaver, and we're talking about this with David Seymour
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: in a few moments' time. But, you know, living well
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: for longer is bigger than just KiwiSaver. It's about improving
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: your quality of life as you age and staying healthy
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: and staying protected. So Leading Health and Life Insurer Partners
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: Life brought some experts together for a business roundtable on
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: how New Zealand can live well for longer and build
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: a brighter, more secure future. They had Michael Weston and
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: Kate Dronn, hosting Hannah McQueen from Age Brightly, Cam Adams
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: from EY New Zealand, Nick Hakes from Financial Advice New Zealand,
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: the Retirement Commissioner David Boyle, and Brooke Roberts from Sharesies.
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: And so what did this super group come up with?
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: The takeaway, well, living well isn't something that starts at 65.
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: It's shaped every day while you're working, paying the mortgage,
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: raising the kids, and their advice to start early, connect
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: your savings and your health and your protection, and get
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: more flexibility for yourself. Partners Life. On how New Zealand
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: can live well for longer, there is a full story
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: on this roundtable in the Best of Business Desk report.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: It's coming out on next Monday's Herald. Check it out.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: International Correspondence with NZI Insurance. Peace of mind for New
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: Zealand business.
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: Neil writes to me on the text 9292. Good morning.
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: Why is it left wing but always far right? Are
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: you showing your covers? Well, thank you, Neil. Look, now
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: there's left wing and there's right wing. And then there's
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: the Bolsonaro's. It's 13 to 6. Gavin Gray from the UK.
• 26:22
  Speaker 11: Hi there, Andrew.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: Hello there. So the guy who was accused of murdering
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: the former UK prisons minister and immigration spokesperson for Reform
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: UK has now been charged with preparing acts of terror.
• 26:34
  Speaker 8: Yes, quite a shock, really. And the 28-year-old will appear
• 26:38
  Speaker 8: in court on Wednesday. His name is Joshua Kerry, and
• 26:41
  Speaker 8: he was already charged with murdering Anne Widdicombe. Now, Anne Widdicombe,
• 26:45
  Speaker 8: a former prison minister under the Conservatives and was the
• 26:50
  Speaker 8: immigration spokesperson for Reform UK. And she was murdered at
• 26:55
  Speaker 8: her home. It was alleged by Hammer and alleged by
• 26:58
  Speaker 8: 28-year-old Joshua Kerry. Now he, too, has been charged with
• 27:04
  Speaker 8: one count for preparation of terrorist acts. What does that mean? Well,
• 27:10
  Speaker 8: In between the lines, I think we're getting a feeling
• 27:12
  Speaker 8: that he was also alleged to be trying to plot
• 27:16
  Speaker 8: to attack Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK and
• 27:20
  Speaker 8: the architect of Brexit. We don't know any more details.
• 27:24
  Speaker 8: As I said, we'll get those when he appears in
• 27:26
  Speaker 8: court on Wednesday. But it's interesting that Nigel Farage currently
• 27:30
  Speaker 8: under investigating for accepting some 11 million New Zealand dollars
• 27:35
  Speaker 8: worth as a gift before he became an MP. Now,
• 27:38
  Speaker 8: he's under investigation because of claims that perhaps in some
• 27:41
  Speaker 8: way he was given the money in order to do
• 27:44
  Speaker 8: something or vote a particular way. When he became an MP,
• 27:47
  Speaker 8: he said, no, that was a gift and it was
• 27:49
  Speaker 8: a gift to maintain my security. Now, others in his
• 27:53
  Speaker 8: party are saying, look, he needed that money because his
• 27:56
  Speaker 8: life is being threatened. And look at now what's being
• 27:58
  Speaker 8: happening in this court and exactly the future of security
• 28:02
  Speaker 8: for him and other MPs. So that's the argument.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: OK, now to justice, of course, in the UK, you're
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: letting go a whole heap of prisoners because your prisons
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: are too full and you can't afford it. But now
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: we've got Andy Burnham scrapping the controversial plans to curb
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: jury trials that Sir Keir Starmer's government came up with.
• 28:19
  Speaker 8: Yes, and that was something that Keir Starmer developed because
• 28:22
  Speaker 8: during the pandemic, basically, the backlog of court cases absolutely rocketed.
• 28:28
  Speaker 8: Up to 81,000 cases were waiting to be heard. And
• 28:34
  Speaker 8: justice delayed is no justice at all. This government has
• 28:39
  Speaker 8: tried to really reduce that waiting time down, but it
• 28:42
  Speaker 8: is going to be difficult. And one of the ways
• 28:44
  Speaker 8: in which David Lambert, the former justice secretary, said, right,
• 28:48
  Speaker 8: we're going to get this waiting list down, is to
• 28:51
  Speaker 8: reduce the number of trials that would have been heard
• 28:53
  Speaker 8: by a jury. Much quicker to hear it by a
• 28:55
  Speaker 8: judge or a magistrate who can make a decision without
• 28:58
  Speaker 8: having to consult with the others. But being judged by
• 29:01
  Speaker 8: a jury is an 800-year-old right to trial here in
• 29:05
  Speaker 8: the UK. And surprise, surprise, many barristers weren't that amused
• 29:09
  Speaker 8: by those thoughts either. And that has now been scrapped.
• 29:12
  Speaker 8: So another example of where the new prime minister, Andy Burnham,
• 29:15
  Speaker 8: the same political party as his predecessor, Keir Starmer, is
• 29:19
  Speaker 8: making radical changes to the thoughts that were going on
• 29:22
  Speaker 8: earlier in government.
• 29:23
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Gavin Gray. It is 10 minutes
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: to six. So, to here and the election. Of course,
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: ACT had their campaign launch over the weekend, and now
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: they've announced they want to scrap tax on your kiwi
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: saver investment earnings but there is a catch though they
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: want to stop all government contributions.
• 29:42
  Speaker 14: Taking tax off returns on kiwi saver means the compounding
• 29:47
  Speaker 14: effect is multiplied to a staggering level and we end
• 29:50
  Speaker 14: up with hundreds of thousands of dollars more in our
• 29:53
  Speaker 14: kiwi saver.
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: So that's the voice of david seymour and here's the
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: man himself good morning to you david good morning So
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: you've obviously worked the numbers. Would everyone be better off?
• 30:05
  Speaker 9: Absolutely. Over time, the compounding effect of interest gives you
• 30:10
  Speaker 9: an enormous amount more money. In order for the effect
• 30:15
  Speaker 9: of this to be less because of not getting the
• 30:19
  Speaker 9: $ 250 from the government, you'd have to be earning, you know,
• 30:24
  Speaker 9: less than $ 1, 000 in returns, which means that your balance
• 30:29
  Speaker 9: would have to be less than $ 15, 000. So if you
• 30:32
  Speaker 9: had a very small balance, maybe initially you might be
• 30:37
  Speaker 9: worse off. But if you take an example of somebody
• 30:41
  Speaker 9: who's a builder, $ 60, 000 a year through their career, They
• 30:47
  Speaker 9: start when they're 20. By the time they retire, they
• 30:52
  Speaker 9: would be $ 210, 000 better off for not paying tax on
• 30:56
  Speaker 9: the returns. So that's not a high income, but it's
• 31:02
  Speaker 9: a reasonable income, and you still end up much, much
• 31:05
  Speaker 9: better off. Every other party wants to force you into
• 31:09
  Speaker 9: KiwiSaver and tax you for your troubles. the ACT Party
• 31:13
  Speaker 9: will let you choose, but will give you less tax
• 31:15
  Speaker 9: if you save in KiwiSaver.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: And let's remind everybody, this is what Australia does.
• 31:20
  Speaker 11: Well, it's actually what, you're.
• 31:22
  Speaker 9: Right, and it's what most countries do. New Zealand has
• 31:26
  Speaker 9: been an outlier in that we tax contributions to retirement savings,
• 31:31
  Speaker 9: we tax your returns while you're in the scheme, and
• 31:37
  Speaker 9: then we exempt your money when you take it out.
• 31:40
  Speaker 9: They call that a TTE, a tax exempt. Most countries
• 31:46
  Speaker 9: are a TEE, tax your contributions, exempt your returns and
• 31:51
  Speaker 9: exempt your withdrawals. This will bring us into line with
• 31:55
  Speaker 9: Australia and most countries.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: OK, now you estimate the policy would have a net
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: fiscal cost of about $ 2. 4 billion over four years after
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: accounting for the savings from removing government contributions. Now, people
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: might then ask, how is that revenue going to be replaced?
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: And will this mean bigger spending cuts?
• 32:12
  Speaker 9: Yeah, no, that's fair. And a lot of parties throwing
• 32:15
  Speaker 9: a lot of promises around. This coming Sunday, the ACT
• 32:18
  Speaker 9: Party will release its fully costed alternative budget. We'll show
• 32:22
  Speaker 9: how we pay for everything we talk about. And yes,
• 32:26
  Speaker 9: it will reduce the size of the bureaucracy. There will
• 32:30
  Speaker 9: be reductions in spending. I'm not going to go into
• 32:33
  Speaker 9: every one of them now. But I don't believe for
• 32:36
  Speaker 9: a moment. that we are getting all of the government
• 32:39
  Speaker 9: that we're paying for. And as a result, we're going
• 32:43
  Speaker 9: to have to have a smaller, more affordable government in
• 32:46
  Speaker 9: order to pay for just about anything in this country,
• 32:49
  Speaker 9: including the savings for the retirement that New Zealanders need.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: David, I thank you for your time today. That's David Seymour.
• 32:56
  Speaker 2: It is six to six. News and views.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: You trust to start your day. It's Early Edition with
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: Andrew Dickens and Spark for Business. Technology that keeps business moving.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: News Talk ZB.
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: Morning, Mike. A week ago, you had a very entertaining
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: interview with the leader of the Labour Party, which got
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: quite technical, to be fair. But the base of it
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: was that you were saying there's not enough line detail
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: from this man. And he was promising line detail later on.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: And apparently he released it yesterday. And I'm picking you
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: won't be satisfied.
• 33:27
  Speaker 15: I watched the whole thing yesterday. And I must say,
• 33:30
  Speaker 15: just on a side note, he's actually handling the media,
• 33:33
  Speaker 15: I thought, very well. He's short and sharp. Too aggressive.
• 33:36
  Speaker 15: He doesn't come across particularly well. But he's short and
• 33:39
  Speaker 15: sharp and to the point. But there's no... detail and
• 33:42
  Speaker 15: to suggest that it's all going to be there in
• 33:45
  Speaker 15: the fiscal plan. It simply isn't. And everybody knows it's not.
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: But it's commercial sensitivity. Ten and a half.
• 33:51
  Speaker 15: OK, so even if you argue that the ten and
• 33:53
  Speaker 15: a half billion they put aside, it's all gone in equity.
• 33:56
  Speaker 15: And there's nothing else. There's literally nothing else to be
• 34:00
  Speaker 15: spent on.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: Who are you talking to about this?
• 34:01
  Speaker 15: Barb Redmonds will be on the program this morning, along
• 34:03
  Speaker 15: with the Prime Minister, who will be in from the campaign.
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: Fantastic. Lovely jacket. My thanks to producer Kenzie and the
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: set-up team. And my name is Andrew Dickens. Here all
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: week as Ryan prepares for the election debates. Have a
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: great day.