Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster- Eric Roy: Supermarkets and Elections

Transcript

The Muster- Eric Roy: Supermarkets and Elections · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: This is the muster on Hakanui. Eric Roy joins us.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Talking politics on a Monday. Good afternoon, Eric. A little
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: bit of blue sky around. It's some respite.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: It lifts our whole attitude to life, us poor cockies
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: that have been in their oil skins and their water-proof
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: trousers and the gumboots and the balaclavas and the gloves.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: So to have a bit of a change, very much appreciated.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, a few of your fellow politicians of Wellington could
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: learn a lot from a southern spring.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Well, I had this saying once, which is often quoted,
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: you shouldn't be in politics until you've had a bad lambing.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: And that's when you learn resilience and sometimes you've just
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: got to do what you can do and it's not
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: going for you and all of that sort of thing. So...
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: It's often a quoted statement, actually.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: How do you think Chloe Sportrick would go putting a
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: bearing back in?
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Well, it'd probably be quite an interesting discussion explaining exactly
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: what had gone wrong.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: It'll be interesting nonetheless. But look, this is a big topic.
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: especially recently. Supermarket duopolies. The National coming out proposing a
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: change there. Labour coming out as well. Now they want
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: to split up foodstuffs and Woolworths to run wholesale separately
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: to their retail stores.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Let's back up the bus a bit. Why is everybody
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: so inclusive of all this in their narrative? So all
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: of the parties, not only poll who are they supporting,
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: they also poll what are key issues. So Taken off
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: the table with Houston was secure crime and policing, and
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: that's been dealt with. So the other issues are health
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: and cost of living. And cost of living has come up,
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: and people are saying cost of groceries. So all of
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: the parties have kind of got themselves locked into making
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: statements because if they don't, their polling will show them
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: they don't care. So that's kind of the driver, in
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: my view, of what's happening out there. And if you
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: look at some of the detail around that, I'm not
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: sure there's a lot can be done. I think probably,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: I'll get back to your question in a minute, but
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: the thing that the party should be focused on is
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: actually the way we get through this is have some growth,
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: increase people's incomes, so it's not such a big issue.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: There's not a lot can be done. When we're celebrating,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: on one hand, the success of our primary produce overseas...
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: and then growling about the cost of groceries internally. So, yeah, look,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: it's a very, very difficult thing. And I think probably
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: the Nats have come out and said, well, when you've
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: got over 80% in the hands of two, we're going
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: to have a serious look at breaking that up. That's
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: probably fair enough. The rest of it doesn't make sense
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: to me. Chloe's, let's have a national... Retail outlets for groceries, well,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: of course they're doing well within New Zealand, the national thing,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: aren't they? That doesn't make any sense. And then breaking
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: up the distribution networks, I don't know whether that'll work
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: or not. It's quite a complex issue.
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: Would you trust Chloe more at organising a supermarket or
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: doing a bearing?
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't think she'd be very good at either, really,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: but we'll see. I actually understand that polling... in Auckland
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Central's got her as unlikely to win at the moment.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: So that'll be another interesting to watch on November the
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: 7th to just see what's happening there.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Based on the polling we're seeing at the moment, Eric,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: how realistic is it the top gets over 5%? Or
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: have they peaked?
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Well, I think they might have peaked a little bit soon,
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: but now that they're looking like they'll be a player,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: it's doing two things. People are bringing scrutiny... on to
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: what this will actually mean and what is bottom lines
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: for them and how effective will that be. And the
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: other thing it's bringing scrutiny on to is, and if
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Luxton's ruled them out, what will it mean to a
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: coalition of the left, which now will probably include four parties,
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: and what will the impact of that will be. And
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: so to that degree... I think there's a movement back
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: to the right coalition at the moment. Whether that continues
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: up until November the 7th or not, we'll just have
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: to wait and see. But let's just hope for some
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: more scrutiny on what that will mean and who's likely
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: to be the end product of an election when coalitions
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: are formed.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Because there seems to be a mentality amongst voters in
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: certain parts of the country is that they're just disenchanted
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: with the status quo and they're not going to make
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: up their mind until they're in the polling booth.
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: Well, that's the case. Look, when you go door knocking,
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: which I've done in years gone by, what actually drives
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: people is quite soul-destroying if you're a politician. There's no
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: sense in nationhood or anything else It's what can impact
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: my pocket the best, and I don't sort of care
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: about anybody else, is a prevalent statement. Now, exit polls
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: have actually shown sometimes that up to 17% of those
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: voting don't know what they're going to do when they
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: pick up the orange pen. And when you look at
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: undersided and all of the polls now, it's probably sitting
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: about that at the moment. So this great rush to
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: get everybody to go and vote, I hope to have
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: some difficulty accepting that it's a great outcome when people
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: haven't actually given consideration to implications of what their orange
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: pen effect will be.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Do you think election fatigue is occurring at the moment, Eric?
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: We've got the situation regarding the TV where you're hearing
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: a lot about it. Social media is plastered with politicians
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: and you've got the billboards. And we've still got, what
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: are we? We're still a couple of months out. We're
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: just about six weeks out from the election.
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, there's no doubt that a significant number of
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: the population don't like elections. They don't like their TV
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: being taken over. They don't like being challenged. They maybe
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: don't like to have to make decisions and the responsibility
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: of that. So whether it's voter fatigue or I just
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: think a percentage of people aren't really that engaged in
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: the whole process. And it's interesting when you talk to
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: some people, They decide, I really don't care. It doesn't
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: make any difference. Well, they have to dispute that. It
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: does make a difference. And there's some things we don't
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: want to repeat. And we need to learn from history
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: and see who's doing the job and where we're likely
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: to end up and what this actually means for our
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: country in the long run. And I just wish more
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: people would approach it from that point of view.
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: But a four-party coalition on the left, though, that's all
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the ammo that National Act and New Zealand First, or
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: presumably New Zealand First, goes with the status quo. That's
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: all they really need, though, isn't it?
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Well, I still have concerns about New Zealand First. Like,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: they've said they won't go with Labour. What will Winston
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: do if Labour says to Winston, we'll go with you
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: and you can be Prime Minister? That just gives him
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: a free run to do what he likes, and if
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: they can... If New Zealand First numbers mean that they
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: can drop two or three of their coalition of the left,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: stand by and watch what happens.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: You honestly believe that would still be on the table?
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, how about Mark Patterson? He's done a great
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: job being Associate Minister of Ag. Jason Herrick's put his
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: name on the books down here in the South. We
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: don't know where Jason is on the party list. But
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: those guys going with the left, Jason especially has said,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: you know, he's been very negative regarding the Labour Party.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: Well, Mark went with them last time around, so I
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: don't think they have a big say in what Winston
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: First decides to do. I think him and Shane will
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: make the call.
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: Interesting times, Eric. We'll leave it there. We'll catch up again.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Good one. Look forward to it.
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: Eric Roy talking politics. Fascinating. This talk around New Zealand
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: first and what happens there. I think the talk was
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: he wouldn't go with the left as long as Chris
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Hipkins was leader. So time will tell on that one
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: very shortly too as we get towards the election proper.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: We're away to catch up with Nigel Johnson next. Now
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: Nigel is based at, where is Nigel?