Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Full Show Podcast: 01 September 2026

Transcript

Full Show Podcast: 01 September 2026 · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The issues, the interviews and the insight. Ryan Fridge on
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Early Edition with Spark for Business. Technology that keeps business moving.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Newstalk ZB.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Good morning. Great to have your company just gone six
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: after five. I told you, you fiddle with the fuel tax,
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: you'll get potholes or more debt. We'll talk about that
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: before six this morning. Donors in Australia for our Sydney
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: property prices taking a dive. Act on immigration and nurses,
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: the new political hot potato.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: The agenda.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you. It is Tuesday, the 1st of September. Nepal,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: the rescuers are still trying to find workers trapped in tunnels.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: Our immediate national priority remains clear. To save lives, locate
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: missing persons, rescue them. In coordination with the Nepali army,
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: some tunnel rescue experts from India, China and Republic of
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: Korea have been also mobilized especially to rescue the persons
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: trapped into the tunnels.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Iran and the U.S. back to lobbing missiles at each other?
• 1:00
  Speaker 4: We have the blockade, and they are going to continue
• 1:04
  Speaker 4: exerting pressure, and we've had very good discussions.
• 1:08
  Speaker 5: Here already.
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: And, you know, I think it could be within weeks
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: or months. And the economy doesn't have to collapse. We
• 1:18
  Speaker 4: just have to have the regime come to their senses.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Quite an amazing story out of Australia. This is the
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: young woman, shark attack survivor, talks about the day she
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: fought off a great white.
• 1:28
  Speaker 6: In my head, I was like, you are You are
• 1:31
  Speaker 6: not taking me away from my daughter. And I twisted
• 1:33
  Speaker 6: myself around and I just started punching it over and
• 1:36
  Speaker 6: over and over again.
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: Just punch, punch, punch.
• 1:38
  Speaker 7: And it was like fighting a dinosaur.
• 1:42
  Speaker 8: It was so big.
• 1:43
  Speaker 7: It was like punching a brick wall.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: Oh, intense. And she's here to tell the tale. Finally
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: this morning, we're going to miss you, Messi. He's finally
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: announced his retirement. He's 39.
• 1:52
  Speaker 9: It's a decision that hurts to my core. I understand
• 1:55
  Speaker 9: it's the right time. I always gave it my all.
• 1:58
  Speaker 9: There's not much time left, he said. Chapters are closing
• 2:02
  Speaker 9: and this one hurts me deeply. I loved, loved and
• 2:06
  Speaker 9: will always love being on the national team.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: That's obviously some old British man reading his statement. That's
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: not the voice of Lionel Messi. It's eight after five.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: The first word on the news of the day. Early
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: edition with Ryan Bridge and Spark for Business. Technology that
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: keeps business moving.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: Newstalk ZB. 9292 is the number to text. Do you
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: think the government's done the right thing delaying by a
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: year the increase to the fuel tax? Because what's going
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: to end up happening is that from 2028, you'll get
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: 5 cent increases, but they won't happen every year. They
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: will happen every six months. So you're basically going to
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: get 10 cents every year from 2028. and five, yeah,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: so five cent increases will go every six months through
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: to 2030, and then you get five cents a year.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: So 10 cents a year for three years, and then
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: five cents a year thereafter, basically. The problem is, as
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: I said to you last week, and telling you that
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: this was going to happen, the government is going to
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: have to top up the fund to account for the
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: reduction in the fuel excise revenue, because you have to
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: fix the roads. You can't just have potholes all through
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: the country like we had before the last election. There
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: were 60,000 potholes then, more potholes than we'd had in
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: a decade, and you couldn't drive anywhere without wrecking your
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: car's rims. So, yes, they're going to have to top
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: this up. Now, they're going to have to top this
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: up by $ 1. 4 billion over the forecast period. So where
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: are they going to find that? Well, they're going to
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: spend $ 450 million from the Trump fuel contingency fund, And
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: then there's another billion dollars. Where does that come from? Well,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: they say, well, wait for the pre-food. The pre-food, by
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: the way, is going to come at the end of
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: this month. That's your pre-election fiscal update. I know everybody's
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: holding on to their pants for the pre-election fiscal update.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: But seriously, where are you going to get a billion
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: dollars from to fix roads and potholes in New Zealand?
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Are you going to borrow it? What's that going to
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: do to the cost of our borrowing? Are you going
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: to tax us more to pay for that? We have
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: a structural deficit in New Zealand. Is this wise? I mean,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: I know it's an easy thing to do because everyone
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: pays for petrol, everyone hates paying for petrol, and everyone
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: just wants to middle finger the government. But is it
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: a smart long-term call or not? Terry Collins on that
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: before 6, 10 after 5. You're on Newstalk ZB. I
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: have some numbers from ANZ. This is businesses. How are
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: you feeling? How are you doing? I'll give those to
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: you next.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: The early edition Paul's Show podcast on iHeartRadio. Powered by
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Newstalk Zippy.
• 4:44
  Speaker 10: News and views you.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: Trust to start your day. It's early edition with Ryan
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Bridge and Spark for Business. Technology that keeps business moving.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Newstalk ZB. 5.13, great to have your company. Ryan says, Sean,
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: aren't we going to rucks across the board? Yes, but
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: that's a medium. At the press conference yesterday, Chris Bishop
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: said a medium-term plan, so there is no time frame
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: on that, basically. It's not going to happen in a hurry. Ryan,
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Labour light. Maybe there's an election coming up. Mark, very
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: wise words. Lynn says, good morning, Ryan. Why fix the potholes?
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: The councils will just put more bumps everywhere so the
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: cars will still be damaged. I went over some of
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: those yesterday, Lynn. So there's speed bumps and then there's
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: judder bars, and the judder bars are brutal. I actually
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: think there's something wrong with my car. I'm going to
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: talk to Mike about it later on in the show. And,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: you know, he's the mechanic here. But the judder bars
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: in the supermarkets are brutal and violent. You know, I've
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: got a bad back. And I think it's entirely down
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: to the judder bars in supermarkets and the car parks.
• 5:45
  Speaker 10: They're just brutal.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: And, I mean, I don't know, maybe people do speed
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: through car parks, maybe you need them, otherwise little old
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: ladies get hit and run over as they're trying to
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: pack their Weet-Bix into their shopping cart. But, come on,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: I think we can lay off a little bit. 14
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: after 5. Labour's promising every graduate nurse a job in
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: the public health system if they are elected.
• 6:09
  Speaker 7: Only hiring 54 nurses over two years has set back
• 6:13
  Speaker 7: our health system so much.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: So it's around 2,400 grads a year guaranteed an offer,
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: most filling existing vacancies and staff turnover. Tracey Martin, Aged
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: Care Association Chief Executive with me this morning. Tracey, good morning.
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: Good morning.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: You're worried about the nurses getting pinched from aged care,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: are you?
• 6:30
  Speaker 10: Yes.
• 6:31
  Speaker 7: Well, historically, we know that that's what will happen. So generally,
• 6:37
  Speaker 7: when the hospitals stop hiring, which is what they've not
• 6:39
  Speaker 7: been hiring for the last three years, our workforce is stable,
• 6:43
  Speaker 7: which is good because we take the weight off hospitals
• 6:45
  Speaker 7: when people need to be discharged over 65. But with
• 6:49
  Speaker 7: this policy... What's going to happen is, well, unless it's
• 6:52
  Speaker 7: well thought out, unless we're at the table, and unless
• 6:54
  Speaker 7: we are part of what is the publicly funded system
• 6:57
  Speaker 7: that is going to employ these new graduate nurses, which
• 7:01
  Speaker 7: we want to employ them, then the workforce is going
• 7:04
  Speaker 7: to be skewed towards hospitals. And our sector, who takes
• 7:09
  Speaker 7: people out of hospitals to look after them for the
• 7:12
  Speaker 7: New Zealand government, will find themselves once again struggling to
• 7:16
  Speaker 7: get nurses.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Because your guys are paid less. So the nurses will go, well,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: if I'm guaranteed a job here and it pays me,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: I'll take it to hell with aged care.
• 7:25
  Speaker 7: Exactly, exactly.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: So are they, you said, hopefully it's well thought out
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: and hopefully they're talking to us. Have they spoken to
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: you and is it well thought out?
• 7:35
  Speaker 7: Well, I don't know how well thought it out is
• 7:37
  Speaker 7: because they haven't spoken to us. So, you know, I'm very,
• 7:40
  Speaker 7: very keen to have a conversation about we absolutely want
• 7:44
  Speaker 7: to keep our New Zealand trade nurses. Nobody has an
• 7:47
  Speaker 7: argument with that. But when you start to get inside
• 7:49
  Speaker 7: the workforce in this way with no workforce plan, current government,
• 7:53
  Speaker 7: no government has had a workforce plan for our sector
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  Speaker 7: for a long time. So, you know, there's a few
• 7:59
  Speaker 7: things that need to be put in place before you
• 8:01
  Speaker 7: roll something like this out.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Tracy, good to have you on the show this morning.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Tracy Martin, Aged Care Association Chief Executive. It is 16
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: minutes after five. So I said I'd give you the
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: ANZ Business Outlook survey numbers, and I am a man
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: of my word. I will give them to you now.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: So the net percentage, it's down slightly, basically. This is
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: for August. So how are you feeling, businesses, for August?
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Not as good as you were, not as rosy as
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: you were in July, which is unsurprising given there were
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: a few things happening with the war. But they are keen,
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: Sharon Zollner, rather, the ANZ chief economist, is keen to
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: get on with things despite the volatile global economic backdrop.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: That's how we're feeling. Just want to crack on, get
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: into it. So net percentage of those expecting or reporting
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: improvement and those expecting reporting deterioration. edged down slightly from
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: 56.1 July to 53.7 for August. Confidence in agriculture in
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: August was 51.9. Services, 48.1.
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: Retail, 65.3.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Construction was at 50.9. These are relatively high numbers. The
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: most encouraging sign out of this whole thing in August.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: Was an increase in past activity because that's where businesses say,
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: I actually earned this. I actually did this. This actually happened.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: It's not how I'm feeling about the future. It's what
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: actually happened in the past. That was up six points
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: to 16 for August, largely thanks to services. And that
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: means that a bounce back is already underway. 17 after five,
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: Newstalk ZB.
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: The early edition Prog Show podcast on iHeart Radio, powered
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: by Newstalk ZB. Ryan Bridge on Early Edition with Spark
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: for Business. Technology that keeps business moving. Newstalk ZB.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: 5.19. Paul, good morning to you. He says good morning, Ryan.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Regarding the proposed fuel tax, why don't we tax businesses
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: that rely on heavy vehicles to move their goods through
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: New Zealand? Surely heavy vehicles are causing 98% of the
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: damage to our roads. Yeah, they probably are. But you
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: tax them, Paul. Well, first of all, how do you
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: siphon them off? I suppose you do rucks. But once
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: you start taxing them, then all of your groceries get
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: more expensive too, don't they? Because that's how they get
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: to the supermarket. We're going to go to Australia in
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: about 20 minutes' time. Talk to Don and DeMayo. You
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: will want to see what is happening to property prices
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: in Sydney. They reckon they're on track for their largest
• 10:24
  Speaker 2: market correction or crash today. In 40 years, 20 after five.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: Ryan Bridge.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: ACT says it wants permanent residents to actually reside in
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: New Zealand. This is from their new immigration policy. Their
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: idea is to change the permanent resident visa requirement to
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: two out of every five years to be spent in
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: New Zealand in order to freely come and go. Dr.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: Parmjeet Parmar is the ACT Party MP with us this morning. Parmjeet,
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: good morning.
• 10:47
  Speaker 11: Hi, good morning, Dan.
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: So I'm a permanent, can we clarify what happens now?
• 10:51
  Speaker 2: I'm a permanent resident of New Zealand. I leave the
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: country to go to the UK, I want to come
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: and go, how often do I need to be in
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: New Zealand?
• 10:59
  Speaker 11: So what we are proposing is that the permanent resident
• 11:02
  Speaker 11: category should be removed. And that doesn't mean that people
• 11:06
  Speaker 11: will not be able to live here permanently. That means, yes,
• 11:09
  Speaker 11: they will be able to live here permanently as long
• 11:11
  Speaker 11: as they fulfil the conditions of a reviewed resident visa,
• 11:16
  Speaker 11: which is to require physical presence of two years within
• 11:19
  Speaker 11: every rolling five-year period. So yes, there are some sensible exemptions.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: So hang on. So at the moment, if I'm a
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: permanent resident, I can come and go as I please,
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: as much as I want?
• 11:31
  Speaker 11: That's right.
• 11:31
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: And you're saying that there would be a new visa,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: and that would mean I have to be in New
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: Zealand for two years out of every five. Is that
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: two years all in one go, or is it spread
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: however I want over the five years?
• 11:45
  Speaker 12: Yeah, yeah.
• 11:46
  Speaker 11: So it's not continuous stay here. So this is basically
• 11:49
  Speaker 11: just changing the resident visa, which is already there. So
• 11:52
  Speaker 11: this is because there are growing concerns about people obtaining
• 11:55
  Speaker 11: permanent residency, moving overseas. And I've heard several cases where
• 12:01
  Speaker 11: people have told me that people come here, they got
• 12:03
  Speaker 11: their permanent residency, and they have left their children here
• 12:07
  Speaker 11: in New Zealand. And then they continue to benefit from
• 12:10
  Speaker 11: our publicly funded education and other services, despite the family's
• 12:14
  Speaker 11: life being established elsewhere. So it's to ensure that the
• 12:17
  Speaker 11: system is not being exploited.
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: Where are they going? So they come here, they get
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: permanent residence, put the kids into school and go back where?
• 12:26
  Speaker 11: So wherever they have come from. So people are fulfilling
• 12:29
  Speaker 11: the condition of getting permanent residency. So once they get
• 12:33
  Speaker 11: permanent residency, they just go back where they have come from.
• 12:36
  Speaker 11: They have their jobs there. So the working member goes
• 12:39
  Speaker 11: back there. And then sometimes people just come back to
• 12:42
  Speaker 11: access our free medical services.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: Which countries, though? Like what types of countries are you
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: talking about? Are you talking about poorer countries than ours
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: or are you talking about wealthier countries than ours? Because
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: surely if you came from a poorer country, you would
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: stay here and get a job because it would pay more.
• 12:56
  Speaker 11: So I'm talking about overall. These are the kind of
• 12:59
  Speaker 11: cases that I'm hearing about. And we don't want anybody
• 13:02
  Speaker 11: abusing our system.
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I know.
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: But can you give me like an example?
• 13:08
  Speaker 11: It could be anyone who has a good job in
• 13:11
  Speaker 11: their own country where they have come from.
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but why would they move here then?
• 13:17
  Speaker 11: Because we have a very generous public system. We have
• 13:20
  Speaker 11: free education system. And for medical procedures in the public system,
• 13:25
  Speaker 11: it's free as well. So people are actually coming here
• 13:27
  Speaker 11: and accessing these things once they gain permanent residency. And
• 13:30
  Speaker 11: permanent residency should mean living in New Zealand, not obtaining
• 13:34
  Speaker 11: permanent residency and then just basically.
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: Totally understand, but I'm just... So if I'm British... My
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: kids will get a largely free education over there. My
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: kids will get largely free health care through the NHS.
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: So it doesn't make sense for me to move to
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: New Zealand just so they can also get free education
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: and health care and then move back to Britain for
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: my job, right? That doesn't make sense. So are you
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: talking about people moving from poor countries that don't have
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: those services in order to move here to use them?
• 14:03
  Speaker 11: So what I'm saying is that this is happening in
• 14:07
  Speaker 11: New Zealand.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: I know that, but where are they coming from? It
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: doesn't matter.
• 14:13
  Speaker 11: It's our system that is being exploited. It is our
• 14:16
  Speaker 11: system that is being exploited.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter where these people.
• 14:19
  Speaker 11: Are coming from because we are not stopping them from
• 14:22
  Speaker 11: coming here because we are welcoming all migrants, those who
• 14:26
  Speaker 11: genuinely want to be here, want to live, work and
• 14:29
  Speaker 11: contribute here. But if people are abusing our system, my
• 14:32
  Speaker 11: goal is to fix that.
• 14:34
  Speaker 10: Okay, I understand.
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: I'm not saying you're wrong. I'm just trying to understand.
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: how many, you know, you said you've got cases, how
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: many people are actually doing this? Do we know?
• 14:43
  Speaker 11: So I don't have numbers, but the issue is this,
• 14:46
  Speaker 11: that this is a real issue, because there are some people,
• 14:49
  Speaker 11: those who are using this as a lifetime entitlement.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: How many people, a real issue, how real are, how
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: many cases have you been told about?
• 14:58
  Speaker 11: So the issue is this here, that I don't have
• 15:01
  Speaker 11: the numbers, but if there is a problem. It is
• 15:04
  Speaker 11: our job to fix that problem. No, I get it.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: I get it.
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: But how big is the problem, Pamjit? How many people,
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: like you said you've been told about cases, how many
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: cases have you been told about?
• 15:14
  Speaker 11: So what I'm saying here is this, that I don't
• 15:16
  Speaker 11: have the numbers, but if there is a problem, it
• 15:18
  Speaker 11: is our job to fix that problem so that our
• 15:21
  Speaker 11: immigration system is not open to exploitation.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: Fair enough. Pamjit Palmer, ACT Party MP, 25 after 5ZB. 5.27,
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: Newstalk ZB. You know how we Kiwis love it when
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: foreign countries or media outlets or even tourists talk about us?
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: We gush and we blush. Always the most read stories
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: on news websites. It's like a national pastime. Oh, look,
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Brad Pitt says New Zealand's beautiful. Oh, look, Jason Momoa
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: did a bungee in Queenstown, says it's beautiful. Oh my gosh,
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: did he? It's like a weird national pastime we have. Well,
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: I have got news for you, New Zealand. S & P,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: the global ratings agency, emphasis on global. has just done
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: a bungee on our country's finances. It's mostly good news,
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: low net debt, growth of 2.5% a year, tick tick,
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: good government, safe, sound, stable outlook, the equivalent of a
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: four-star TripAdvisor review. But there's one number that should be
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: making headlines but won't. It's on page four. 10%. Our
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: country's been borrowing more money to fund stuff, including everyday
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: spending and election promises include potholes. They issue bonds or
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: debt to investors and then they pay them interest for
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: the pleasure of that money. Now, those interest costs are
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: going up because of the bond market sell-off that we've
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: been talking about on this show. S & P says
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: the amount we're paying in interest will reach 9% of
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: government revenue, i.e. tax, in 2029. That means for every
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: million bucks the government earns in tax, it pays 100k
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: just on interest on its debt. More than we spend
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: on schooling our kids through primary and secondary, S &
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: P says interest costs of more than 10% of revenue
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: could result in, quote, weaker debt metrics. That's not a
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: good thing. It means we're stretching ourselves. We could get
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: a credit downgrade. People start looking at us sideways, asking,
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: can those guys pay back what they owe us, or
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: are they taking the mickey? And that is not the
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: sort of reputation this country can afford. Newstalk ZB, 29
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: after 5. Ryan, she was hopeless. This is Pamji Palmer.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: If she can't handle those questions, I don't want her
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: in charge of anything. Ryan, no need to say anything.
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: The text machine is probably going bonkers, says Nigel. Certainly
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: is Nigel. Ryan, that was the worst interview I've heard
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: in a very long time. Talk about not wanting to
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: answer a question. I thought it was quite a simple question,
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: quite a reasonable one. But we didn't quite get an answer,
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: did we? ZB, we're in Australia next.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: The early edition full show podcast on iHeartRadio, powered by
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: Newstalk ZP. The news you need this morning and the
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: in-depth analysis. Early edition with Ryan Bridge and Spark for Business.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Technology that keeps business moving.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: Newstalk ZP.
• 18:01
  Speaker 10: Don't want a lot for Christmas.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: 24 minutes away from six here on Newstalk ZB. There
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: is a hole in the land transport budget. Is it
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: a pothole? That's the question. We'll get to it in
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: 15 minutes' time. Before then, we'll get to Australia. House
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: prices in Sydney could fall as much as 20% for
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: the year. What's that going to do to their economy?
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: Donna DeMeo will join us. Why are we playing this?
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: It's not Christmas time. Mackenzie, have you gone crazy?
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: No.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: This is one of the songs now at the centre
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: of a big legal case. Anthropic, which is the AI company,
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: does Claude. Everyone knows Claude, don't you? Everyone uses Claude?
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: You're friends with Claude? So Claude goes through song lyrics
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: and scrapes up all the lyrics, including to this song.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: This is Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas. And
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: scrapes up all the lyrics, puts it into its big
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: beast of a machine, and then spits it out for people. Now, Sony.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: Music Publishing, Warner, they are taking a case to the
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: courts in California saying this is one of the largest
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: and most blatant ongoing thefts of intellectual property in history. Torrenting,
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: scraping and downloading lyrics from copyrighted works to train its
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: family of clawed AI models as well as producing those
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: lyrics and responses to users' prompts is unconscionable. Bon Jovi's
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Living on a Prayer. Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. You name it,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: they're pinching it. 23 away from six. Jamie Cunningham for
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: Dunedin this morning. Jamie, good morning.
• 19:33
  Speaker 10: Morning, Ryan.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: Now, a winter holiday down south turned into a bit
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: of a nightmare for an Aussie couple. This is over
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: their motorhome. Yes, that's right.
• 19:41
  Speaker 6: This couple say they've been left stranded and facing a
• 19:43
  Speaker 6: close to $ 8, 000 bill after their rental camper van became
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: stuck in a mudslip near Wanaka. Of course, a winter
• 19:50
  Speaker 6: storm battered the Queenstown Lakes District last week, causing widespread
• 19:54
  Speaker 6: flooding and slips. Now, this couple was travelling towards Glendoo
• 19:58
  Speaker 6: Bay early Friday when they encountered a slip in the dark.
• 20:02
  Speaker 6: They say Juicy Star RV refused to help, leaving them
• 20:06
  Speaker 6: to arrange private towing themselves. The vehicle was taken to
• 20:09
  Speaker 6: a mechanic who confirmed it wasn't drivable, leaving them stuck
• 20:13
  Speaker 6: in an Airbnb and afraid to spend more money. Juicy
• 20:16
  Speaker 6: Star RV say they're working with the customers on their claims.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: OK, how's your weather?
• 20:22
  Speaker 6: Showers possibly heavy and with hail and snow to sea level,
• 20:26
  Speaker 6: then easing through the morning and clearing to mainly fine
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: and a high of 13.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: You have a lovely day, Jamie. Kate Rickard, Christchurch. Good morning, Kate.
• 20:33
  Speaker 8: Morning, Ryan.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Warnings for some cantabs about whitebaiting.
• 20:37
  Speaker 8: Yes, the Department of Conservation is urging Canterbury's white baiters
• 20:40
  Speaker 8: to be on their best behaviour with a busy season
• 20:43
  Speaker 8: expected for the region's rivers. It comes as Waimakariri District
• 20:46
  Speaker 8: Council enforces its bylaw against makeshift camping setups following complaints
• 20:51
  Speaker 8: to police and council about white baiters last season. Now
• 20:55
  Speaker 8: North Canterbury's Ngai Tuahiriri has also paused its customary season
• 20:59
  Speaker 8: due to ongoing abuse. Doc's Mahanui district manager, Andy Thompson,
• 21:04
  Speaker 8: says they're asking people to be respectful of the fish,
• 21:07
  Speaker 8: their habitat and each other.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: So people are getting a bit feral, are they? Yeah,
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: sounds like it. Like getting abusive. Okay, how's the weather?
• 21:13
  Speaker 8: Fine with morning frost. South-west silly is dying out in
• 21:16
  Speaker 8: the afternoon.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Kate, thank you very much. You have a nice day too. Max,
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: good morning.
• 21:19
  Speaker 11: Morning.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: So they're going to use this cow punch law after
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: a scuffle.
• 21:24
  Speaker 11: Yes.
• 21:24
  Speaker 12: Not sure if it's the first time this law's been
• 21:27
  Speaker 12: used to charge someone, but it could very well be.
• 21:30
  Speaker 12: At least one of the first instances, a man's appeared
• 21:32
  Speaker 12: in the Hutt Valley District Court charged with striking with
• 21:34
  Speaker 12: intent to cause grievous bodily harm. The so-called coward punch
• 21:39
  Speaker 12: law came into effect earlier this month. Effectively, it means
• 21:42
  Speaker 12: striking someone's head or neck where the victim has limited
• 21:46
  Speaker 12: or no opportunity to defend themselves. The charge carries a
• 21:50
  Speaker 12: maximum penalty of 14 years in prison if the victim
• 21:54
  Speaker 12: indeed suffers grievous bodily harm. The first we heard of
• 21:56
  Speaker 12: this fight, apparently a big melee on Lower Hutt's Waterloo Road,
• 22:02
  Speaker 12: in the early hours of Sunday morning, several people reporting
• 22:05
  Speaker 12: being injured, one critically. That critically injured person, we understand,
• 22:10
  Speaker 12: was punched, hit his head on the concrete after falling,
• 22:14
  Speaker 12: and the next day, a 45, well, later that day
• 22:16
  Speaker 12: on the Sunday, a 45-year-old man handed himself in at
• 22:19
  Speaker 12: the Wellington Central Station, and he is now before the courts.
• 22:23
  Speaker 10: Terrible.
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: How's your wither?
• 22:25
  Speaker 12: Mainly fine with later southerlies, 14.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: You have a lovely day, Max. And, Neva, good morning
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: to you.
• 22:30
  Speaker 13: Good morning.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Now, we've got the City Rail Link coming.
• 22:34
  Speaker 14: Yes.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: Very expensive, but coming.
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: And we now are going to replace the crossings from
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: Kingsland to Mount Albert in Auckland.
• 22:40
  Speaker 9: That's right.
• 22:41
  Speaker 13: Auckland Transport, it's preparing for this next huge rail project.
• 22:45
  Speaker 13: So it's proposing to replace, as you say, those crossings.
• 22:48
  Speaker 13: This will be from Kingsland to Mount Albert to allow
• 22:51
  Speaker 13: for more frequent trains. Now, this is apparently going to
• 22:54
  Speaker 13: cost up to $ 3.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: 5 billion.
• 22:57
  Speaker 13: So what's happening from today affected communities? They can have
• 23:00
  Speaker 13: their say on the options. So the options include a
• 23:03
  Speaker 13: new road, pedestrian bridges or underpasses. And Tom Willetts, he's
• 23:07
  Speaker 13: head of Level Crossings. He's on the case. He says, look,
• 23:11
  Speaker 13: that they've learned the need to engage early. They've got
• 23:14
  Speaker 13: to keep up communication and understand how the community operates.
• 23:19
  Speaker 13: So that's what they focused on. He says that options
• 23:21
  Speaker 13: such as off-site or, you know, the precast construction, that's
• 23:25
  Speaker 13: going to be considered so that, you know, just in
• 23:27
  Speaker 13: order to minimise.
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: Keep it cheap.
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, keep it cheap and minimise disruption. No gold-plated chandeliers
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: for our underpasses.
• 23:33
  Speaker 13: No, that's right.
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: How's our weather?
• 23:35
  Speaker 13: Cloudy, isolated showers, 15 is the high.
• 23:38
  Speaker 2: Good to see you, Neva. Now, let's go to Palau.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: Why are we going to Palau? Well, the Pacific Islands
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: Forum is on. Pacific Islands Forum is where all our
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: Pacific leaders come together and have a wee hooey. Five
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: of the 18 leaders haven't turned up. And it's a
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: last-minute no-show. And they reckon the reason is China, because
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: Palau is one of the few countries in the world
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: that recognises Taiwan, and China doesn't like anyone that recognises Taiwan.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: In fact, the president of Palau is quite an outspoken
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: critic of China, says things that Beijing doesn't like all
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: the time. So as a result, you've got five of
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: the nearly 20 leaders not turning up. Waste of a
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: travel trip. 18 away from six. We're in Sydney next.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: International Correspondence with NZI Insurance. Peace of mind for New
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Zealand business.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: Quarter to six, Newstalk TV. Donna DeMayo, our Australia correspondent. Donna,
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: good morning to you. Oh, good morning. Nice to have
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: you on the show and nice to chat as always. Now,
• 24:33
  Speaker 2: Chalmers and Albanese did their budget back in May and
• 24:36
  Speaker 2: they made some changes to negative gearing, to capital gains tax.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: And all of this stuff is starting to have an
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: effect on property prices, especially in Sydney.
• 24:45
  Speaker 15: Yes, we have to ask, is the housing boom over
• 24:48
  Speaker 15: in Sydney? Now, we know for decades buying a house
• 24:51
  Speaker 15: in Sydney has been a pretty sure bet, as they say. And,
• 24:54
  Speaker 15: you know, house prices were on the up, property was
• 24:56
  Speaker 15: a good idea. Well, we've just heard that property values
• 25:01
  Speaker 15: are falling in almost every suburb across Australia. an estimated
• 25:06
  Speaker 15: 40,000 wiped from the median value of the nation's homes. Now,
• 25:11
  Speaker 15: why just what you just said? Of course, these high
• 25:13
  Speaker 15: interest rates, the federal government's budget tax changes. So we've
• 25:17
  Speaker 15: got these figures released by Cotality that show that the
• 25:20
  Speaker 15: value of 93% of all properties in capital city suburbs
• 25:24
  Speaker 15: have fallen during winter. Specifically in Sydney, the prices have
• 25:28
  Speaker 15: dropped about 7% from their peak in February and And interestingly,
• 25:33
  Speaker 15: what does this mean for the banks? In fact, they're
• 25:35
  Speaker 15: saying that mortgage applications have dropped by as much as 20%
• 25:40
  Speaker 15: since the budget. One CEO was quoted as saying that
• 25:43
  Speaker 15: there's more volatility and uncertainty than for decades. And we
• 25:47
  Speaker 15: also saw that last week, one of Sydney's biggest developers,
• 25:51
  Speaker 15: the Bathler Group, fell into insolvency and was owing money.
• 25:54
  Speaker 15: $ 3. 3 billion Australian dollars. So it'll be very interesting to see.
• 26:01
  Speaker 15: Of course, the Reserve Bank will have to consider all
• 26:03
  Speaker 15: this when it next meets over interest rates, of course,
• 26:06
  Speaker 15: and it's going to be an interesting time. issue for
• 26:09
  Speaker 15: the Albanese government to comment on and let's hear what
• 26:14
  Speaker 15: they have to say about what their impact is having.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: I find it fascinating. And you've got the prospect of
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: a fourth quarter percent or 0.25 percentage point of interest
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: rate increase, don't you, when they do have their next meeting?
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: Interesting.
• 26:28
  Speaker 11: All right.
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: Hey, very quickly, we've got, Donna, a story about massive fines,
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: new rules for e-scooter riders in Queensland. What are the
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: new rules?
• 26:36
  Speaker 15: Well, if you're under 16, you cannot ride an e-bike
• 26:42
  Speaker 15: or an e-scooter.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: So I think this is quite extraordinary.
• 26:44
  Speaker 13: There's a couple of exemptions.
• 26:46
  Speaker 15: But you have to actually have your learner's permit, your
• 26:49
  Speaker 15: learner's licence, if you want to ride an e-bike or
• 26:53
  Speaker 15: an e-scooter. So you've got to be 16 and up
• 26:56
  Speaker 15: and also have these licence requirements. If you don't and
• 26:59
  Speaker 15: you're caught, $ 518 fine, which is quite hefty, as.
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: You can imagine.
• 27:04
  Speaker 15: There's been 37 fatal e-scooter incidents in Australia over the
• 27:08
  Speaker 15: last five years, and half of those fatal crashes have
• 27:11
  Speaker 15: happened in Queensland.
• 27:12
  Speaker 10: Interesting.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Donna DiMera, Australia correspondent, 12 minutes
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: away from six. It is a bit weird, isn't it?
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Because in New Zealand, you can be a 12-year-old riding on...
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: And some of the bikes now, actually, the e-bikes, actually
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: look like motorbikes, but they are e-bikes rather than motorised
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: ones or combustion engine bikes or scooters. For a scooter,
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: you would need to have a licence. For an e-bike,
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: you don't. But from what I can see, just in
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: the untrained eye, they go as fast as each other,
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: you know? So it does seem a little bit odd
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: and maybe a little wonky. Time is 12 minutes away
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: from six. Now, no fuel tax increase next year. There's
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: your headline. It was supposed to go up 12 cents
• 27:55
  Speaker 2: in January, then six cents a year thereafter. Instead, it's
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: going to go up 10 cents a year from 2028.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: Six monthly instalments. Labour would of course freeze it.
• 28:06
  Speaker 14: The opposition's promise to freeze fuel excise and road user
• 28:09
  Speaker 14: charges for an entire three year term would leave a
• 28:13
  Speaker 14: hole of around $ 4. 675 billion in the transport system. The
• 28:19
  Speaker 14: government's view is that that is irresponsible.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: Terry Collins, AA Fuel spokesperson. Morning Terry.
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: Good morning, Warren.
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: Is that number right, first of all, the $ 4. 6 billion
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: they're claiming that freezing it for three years would leave
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: in the Land Transport Fund? Is it accurate?
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: Look, I'm relying upon that number. I haven't done the
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: actual analysis right yet around it. What we do know
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: is that the Land Transport Fund, which funds the building
• 28:43
  Speaker 5: of our roads and the maintenance of it, has been
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: under stress from not being able to get enough money
• 28:48
  Speaker 5: to do the work that we need to do. So
• 28:50
  Speaker 5: any time that we remove money from it or we
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: make some uncertainty around the funding, it just adds to
• 28:56
  Speaker 5: the problem, kicks it down the road and makes the
• 28:58
  Speaker 5: problem bigger in the future.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: It's a problem with democracy, isn't it? You have elections,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: governments get trigger happy on the promises.
• 29:05
  Speaker 5: They do. And what's really disappointing was earlier in the year,
• 29:08
  Speaker 5: the Infrastructure Commission put out a lot of plans and
• 29:11
  Speaker 5: all the governments were bipartisan, cheerleaders for it saying, yes,
• 29:14
  Speaker 5: we need this. constant support so we don't go stop
• 29:17
  Speaker 5: and go on our projects we need secure funding we
• 29:19
  Speaker 5: need everything then of course an election comes along and
• 29:22
  Speaker 5: those noble thoughts go out the door we'll.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: Blow it all up so what what is the shortfall
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: here you know based on the announcement yesterday how much
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: short is the fund going to be and what sort
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: of project would get delayed because of that would it
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: mean we don't fix the potholes or would it mean
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: that there's just a roading pro that doesn't get built
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: or gets built later?
• 29:43
  Speaker 5: Yeah, look, when you look at the funding and all
• 29:45
  Speaker 5: the work that needs to be done, many of those
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: announced large roading projects will not get built unless we
• 29:50
  Speaker 5: find funding for them and we haven't got the funding.
• 29:53
  Speaker 5: What the government announced was there would be about a
• 29:55
  Speaker 5: $ 1. 4 billion project top-up required, $ 400 million or $ 450 million
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: would come from the fuel response allocation that they did
• 30:05
  Speaker 5: earlier this year in the budget, which would leave about
• 30:07
  Speaker 5: $ 1 billion to find. That's coming out of general taxation.
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: So that's $ 1 billion not going to health or $ 1
• 30:13
  Speaker 5: billion not going to education or wherever else it could
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: have been allocated because we're not putting that fuel tax
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: back on that we traditionally done under a user-paid system.
• 30:22
  Speaker 5: I mean, what they could have done was just put
• 30:24
  Speaker 5: $ 0. 05 on in January, at least made the hole smaller, no,
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: the top up less. But they just seemed to have
• 30:30
  Speaker 5: made a very binary decision, put it off for a
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: year and started it again, leaving a hole.
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: Terry Collins, AA Fuel spokesperson, time is nine minutes away
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: from six. And if you're running, because you have this argument,
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: if the government's running a structural deficit, we are spending
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: more than we earn. They are spending more than they
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: earn from us in taxes, I should say. Correct myself.
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: Slap on the wrist. And while that's happening, if you
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: are spending money or transferring money from the general pot
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: into the fix-the-potholes pot, you can make an argument that
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: we are literally borrowing money to fill potholes. And that
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: is a dumb thing for a country to be doing.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: Capital expenditure good. fixing the roads, potholes. I mean, maintaining
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: assets is important, but shouldn't the money be coming from
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: the people who use the road? That's the whole idea
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: of a user pay, which is exactly what a petrol
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: excise is. 8 to 6, Newstalk ZB. Hear it?
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: First, Ryan Bridge on early edition with Spark for Business,
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: technology that keeps business moving.
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: News Talk ZB. Six to six, so Google Maps in
• 31:41
  Speaker 2: America has renamed Lake Ontario as Lake America. You know
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump signed the executive order saying, I'll do something
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: intelligent and change the name of a lake. Anyway, Google
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: Maps only in America has changed the name of the
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: lake because it reflects what the American government says it is. Five-two.
• 31:59
  Speaker 11: Ryan Bridge.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Mike.
• 32:02
  Speaker 10: Thrilled to see you, Ryan.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: What are you talking about today?
• 32:04
  Speaker 10: Well, look, this road tax thing, you can't be happy with.
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: No.
• 32:09
  Speaker 10: Because the pre-foo, if you watched the press conference yesterday,
• 32:13
  Speaker 10: this is the Conservatives, right? So it's one thing for
• 32:15
  Speaker 10: Labour to just go around cancelling stuff and we don't
• 32:18
  Speaker 10: know how they're going to pay for it. That's for
• 32:19
  Speaker 10: another day. But Bishop's there yesterday, so it's a billion
• 32:22
  Speaker 10: and a half and it's in the pre-foo.
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: $ 400 million coming from the Trump fund.
• 32:26
  Speaker 10: So that's your rainy day fund, just gone like that.
• 32:30
  Speaker 10: And then they say, oh, wait for the pre-foo, wait
• 32:32
  Speaker 10: for the pre-foo. So there's only two things they can
• 32:34
  Speaker 10: do in that, which is coming at the end of
• 32:36
  Speaker 10: the month, given it's now September. There's only two things
• 32:38
  Speaker 10: they can do there. Either they borrow more money or
• 32:41
  Speaker 10: they're cutting somewhere else.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: And you're borrowing money to fund.
• 32:45
  Speaker 10: The hot hole filling.
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: Exactly. And a structural deficit is dumb.
• 32:50
  Speaker 10: All because they've decided in an election campaign we can't
• 32:53
  Speaker 10: afford or shouldn't be paying for roads.
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: They should have held their nerve, right?
• 32:56
  Speaker 10: Couldn't agree more.
• 32:57
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 32:59
  Speaker 10: They look economically and politically weak.
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: Sloppy.
• 33:02
  Speaker 10: In doing it. And so that's not what you expect
• 33:04
  Speaker 10: from a quality government.
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: No.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: And fell into Labour's trap.
• 33:08
  Speaker 10: Exactly. And so the Labour question at $ 4. 5 billion, and
• 33:11
  Speaker 10: that's on top of all the other stuff they're promising now.
• 33:14
  Speaker 10: So we've got Aisha Beryl on this morning with the nurses. Now,
• 33:16
  Speaker 10: she's got that sort of that pressure fund. Whatever the
• 33:19
  Speaker 10: hell that is. We've got the pressure funds. And that's
• 33:22
  Speaker 10: all borrowed money as well.
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: What about the, did you see the S & P report?
• 33:26
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: So the amount that we are paying on interest.
• 33:29
  Speaker 10: Yes.
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: And if that goes 1% higher, we start looking at
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: a downgrade. I mean, people need to pay attention.
• 33:35
  Speaker 10: That's what people don't seem to understand. It's $ 9 billion
• 33:38
  Speaker 10: a year we spend on interest. Every year, just on interest.
• 33:40
  Speaker 10: Not on paying it down, just on interest.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: Does your head in.
• 33:43
  Speaker 10: And we just want to sit here going, oh, yeah, no,
• 33:45
  Speaker 10: it's good. I can't afford the petrol anyway. So let's
• 33:48
  Speaker 10: add potholes to the list. It's just, come on, we've
• 33:50
  Speaker 10: got to be better than this. And then they talk
• 33:53
  Speaker 10: about what we need is political consensus for the pipeline. Bipartisanship.
• 33:58
  Speaker 10: For the pipeline of work. Shut up. Exactly. You and
• 34:01
  Speaker 10: I need to run this place, mate.
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: Why don't we?
• 34:03
  Speaker 10: And things, well, things would improve just like that. Anyway,
• 34:05
  Speaker 10: so Nicola Willis this morning in Asia Barrel as well.
• 34:07
  Speaker 10: Hayden Padden, by the way.
• 34:09
  Speaker 3: Ah, yes, great.
• 34:09
  Speaker 10: Everyone got very excited about that in Paraguay, so he's
• 34:12
  Speaker 10: in for a bit of a celebration as well.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Mike, with you next. Happy Tuesday. See you tomorrow.