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The Muster- Joseph Mooney: The Election Cycle Kicks Into Gear. · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: It's murder on the dance floor. But you better not
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: kill the girl. Hey, hey, it's murder on the dance floor.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: This is the muster on Hakanui. Sophie Ellis-Bexter is the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: theme of the music. That song there, Murder on the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Dance Floor. Well, probably not appropriate for our next guest.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: MP for Southland, Joseph Mooney. Good afternoon, Joseph. Murder on
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the Beehive, not really your thing, although you'd probably feel
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: like throttling some throats every now and then.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, we've just finished the 54th Parliament this week.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Had our last day on Wednesday. So, yep, so that's
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: all the parliamentary work is done. Sort of made up
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: my work as a member of Parliament representing the region
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: has done it. That work always continues. But obviously, you know,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: now the campaign mode is from here on out as well.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: So what happens on the last night? Does everybody get
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: together in the caucus? You get fish and chips, a
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: couple of quiets and have a chinwag? Or what happens?
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, actually, this time, because we're in government, the National Party,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: we went up to Premier House afterwards, and, you know,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: with all the members of Parliament and staff, and just
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: had a bit of a catch-up. Yep, there were some
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: chicken and chips. It's a bit of KFC. I think
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: it's a bit of fancy. I think serving a bit
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: of a chuckle, people think, you know, parliamentarians are sort
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: of eating fancy food. It's not the case. If you
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: like it, it's a bit of KFC. But just, you know, importantly,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: it's just a chance for people to catch up. It's
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: been a big three years. We've done a lot. And everyone's,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: you know, worked their tails off. And obviously it's now
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: done and it's on to the campaign.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll talk about the campaign shortly. But interesting that
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: local government reform is almost, well, it has been. It's
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: been put, a stop has been put to it. It's
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: on the back burner until after the election. What was
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: the actual point of this? Because all it's done is
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: got local governments knickers in a twist.
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: Oh, look, I think it's been quite valuable, actually, because
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: there's been talk for years about amalgamating local government. You know,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: the last significant reform was back in 1991, before probably
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: some people were listed as unborn. And so, you know,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: it's high time for it to be done. So I
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: gave the councils across the country three months to put
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: their proposals forward, what they thought their communities would like
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: to see. And some councils were ready and put forward proposals.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Other councils were not ready. And so I think that's
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: going to be really valuable for the incoming government to
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: continue that work, because regardless of what happens, there is
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: going to be reform. We are over-governed as a country.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: We need to have less government and more focus on
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: delivery of core services. And so I think the work
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: that's been done is valuable and will help inform future government.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: But why was a three-month time frame implemented when nothing
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: was going to happen and all it's done is put
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: a lot of stress on councils?
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Well, it's, I mean, you could give a three-month, six-month, nine-month,
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: I don't think you'd have much difference, to be frank,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: in terms of, you know, councils still have to work
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: through it. So, you know, it didn't, it was up
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: to each council how they approached it and I think
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: the government made it clear that they wanted to have
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: some proposals and invited councils to be innovative around those proposals.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: And so, look, the work that councils have done is
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: going to be helpful in the future. And I think
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: it's also made it clear which councils around the country
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: are ready for the conversation and which were least ready.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: But you can understand them being up in arms regarding
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the whole process, though.
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Well, look, there's never a perfect time to do these things.
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: And you could say... any particular time. And look, at
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: the end of the day, it's thinking through this and
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: having discussion with your communities is really important. And that
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: has now been done. So it's got this process underway,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: which I think is really important and is necessary as
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: the Resource Management Act replacements bed in. So will the
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: reform of government, local government need to bed in as well.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: The India Free Trade Agreement, this has been put through.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Good new story this too, in my opinion.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that passed last week with the overwhelming majority of
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: Parliament voted in support of it. A big deal for
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: New Zealand. It's 400 million middle-class people in India. It
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: opens up a significantly new market for us. From day one,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: it's going to reduce... tariffs on a whole range of
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: our goods. It's going to be a big deal for
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: sheep and beef farming and wool, for example. So it's
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: a big new opportunity for New Zealand. We're a trading nation.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: It's a very challenging geopolitical environment that we now have.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: You should have had butter chicken on Wednesday night and
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: invited New Zealand first round Joseph.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, well, look, I think New Zealand first, you know,
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: our local localish man, Mark Patterson, was over in India
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: very shortly after we agreed to talk about wool. Despite
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: some of the rhetoric that some people make, I think
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: people recognise that we're a trading nation and things like
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: selling our wool to other markets like India is really important.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Postnatal stays, a bit of news around this?
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there is. The very last law that was passed
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: in Parliament on Wednesday evening, or late afternoon evening, was
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: a bill to make three-day postnatal stays a guarantee for
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: mums who want it. So that's a big deal, I think,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: for mums that need that time to stay in a
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: managed space where they can spend more time with their
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: baby and with their families getting used to that post-birth time.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: They get a guarantee of three days postnatal stay, which is,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: I think, really good news for mums and families all
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: across New Zealand.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: And just finally this weekend, the Blossom Festival, aka the
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Bogan Festival, perhaps not as bad as what it used
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: to be back in the day, but this is supposed
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: to signify spring, although it's hard to really think that
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: way down here with the weather.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's definitely pretty wet at the moment, but no,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: the Blossom Festival is New Zealand's longest-running festival of its type,
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: and you're back on again tomorrow. Just hoping that the
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: rain's going to hold off because spring, you know, spring... Well,
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: the flowers are out now. The blossoms are definitely out.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: It's looking beautiful. We'd definitely like a little bit of
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: dry weather so everyone can enjoy it. So that'll kick
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: off in Alexandra tomorrow.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Any idea what the blossom to bogan ratio will be?
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Well, the blossoms will be there. I'll be there. I
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: don't know if I qualify as a bogan or not.
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: We'll see.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Hey, Joseph Mooney, MP for Southland, thanks for your time
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: as always. Enjoy the weekend.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: You got it, mate. Appreciate it.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Joseph Mooney, MP for Southland. Of course, the Alexandra Blossom Festival,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: synonymous down here in the South, kicking off tomorrow. You're
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: listening to The Muster. Up next, Phil Duncan from Weatherwatch.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Better talk to Phil, see where he's got to sit
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: for the next week for the weather.