Latest / Best of Business / Barry Soper: Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent on NZ's GDP rising 1.7 percent in the year to June

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Barry Soper: Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent on NZ's GDP rising 1.7 percent in the year to June · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk ZB. Follow this
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio. And
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Barry Soper's with us out of Wellington.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Hi, Barry. Good afternoon, Heather.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: GDP number's not bad, eh?
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  Speaker 2: Well, yes, I guess it was predicted right across the
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  Speaker 2: board from economists. But, you know, when you consider that
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: three months that they looked at, it was perilous for
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  Speaker 2: this country in terms of the economy when you consider that...
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: You know, we had the onset of the tariffs from
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  Speaker 2: the United States. We had the Iranian war and the
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: effects that that had on the economy with higher petrol
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: prices initially looked like shortages. I mean, you know, to
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  Speaker 2: achieve growth under those circumstances is pretty good. Interestingly, Heather,
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  Speaker 2: and you've probably said this, it was led by construction.
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  Speaker 2: They were up 2.7%. in that quarter. Residential played a
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  Speaker 2: big role in that. So now I think the government
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  Speaker 2: will be happy with this, but now what they've got
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  Speaker 2: to do is try and instil this happiness into the
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  Speaker 2: minds of the voters, and that's going to be a
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  Speaker 2: bigger task. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Now, I see Labour's come back in that poll of polls.
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  Speaker 1: Is that because of the post-Freshwater poll?
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  Speaker 2: Well, yes, it is. And, you know, when you feed
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  Speaker 2: everything into this poll of polls, you get results reflective
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  Speaker 2: of what they've done over the past couple of weeks.
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  Speaker 2: Labour's thought to be about 28%, the Nats on 30%, but,
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  Speaker 2: you know, Heather, when you consider these poll results for
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  Speaker 2: the two main parties, like we've said, every poll that's
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  Speaker 2: come out are very, very low. The coalition now has
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  Speaker 2: a 47.8% chance of getting back into power, whereas Labour...
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  Speaker 2: has about 10 points behind that. So there's still quite
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  Speaker 2: a gap. But throw the Opportunity Party, because they're still
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  Speaker 2: falling at 8% into the mix with the Nats and
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  Speaker 2: the Coalition, then you've got a 99% chance of them
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  Speaker 2: being returned to office. So a lot could come down
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  Speaker 2: to what the Opportunity Party thinks when it comes to
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  Speaker 2: the negotiations.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it would do, wouldn't it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: What do you know about what's going on here with
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  Speaker 1: Fens and Brook Van Velden?
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  Speaker 2: Well, who knows? That's the problem. It's sort of like,
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  Speaker 2: you know, we don't quite know. Kerry Gregory, the chief executive,
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  Speaker 2: he's overseas at the moment at a fire conference and
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  Speaker 2: is taking extended leave after that. Now, it's not, according
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  Speaker 2: to the Foreign Emergency Services hymn, that's been referred to
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: the Serious Fraud Office, but it sounds as though the
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  Speaker 2: organisation itself may have been summoned by the SFO. Who knows?
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  Speaker 2: because Brooke Van Velden is not telling us. I know
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  Speaker 2: you got her on the program fairly shortly, but she's
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  Speaker 2: not letting on exactly what is going on. But she
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  Speaker 2: doesn't have confidence in the chief executive. She said he
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  Speaker 2: knew about the issues with the fire and emergency services
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  Speaker 2: a year ago that kept her in the dark. And really,
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  Speaker 2: when you think this is a public service organization, it's
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  Speaker 2: funded by property insurance, motor vehicle insurance, and the like.
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  Speaker 2: I think people that do pay those fees would expect better,
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  Speaker 2: but they'd also expect, I would imagine, an explanation as
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: to exactly what's gone on there.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, now obviously we haven't actually found out from her
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  Speaker 1: what's happened and we haven't had his response to it,
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  Speaker 1: but this kind of an allegation so soon after Nick
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Blakely was busted lying to the Select Committee is not
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: great for public servants, is it?
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: At the moment, no. It's not good at all, but then,
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  Speaker 2: you know, it comes as no significant surprise if you
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: look at the public service's relationship with the coalition. Not
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  Speaker 2: a great one. If Labour was in power, I'd suggest
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  Speaker 2: that things might be a bit different because they tend
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  Speaker 2: to get on very well with the public service, who,
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  Speaker 2: of course, in part fund their campaign at elections. So, yeah, it's... Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: antagonism between the public service and this government has led to,
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  Speaker 2: I would imagine, a lot of stuff that's maybe not
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  Speaker 2: being handed on to the ministers the way it has
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  Speaker 2: been in the past.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pretty crazy. Barry, thanks very much. Enjoy yourself.
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: That's Barry Soper, senior political correspondent.