Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Full Show Podcast: 11 September 2026

Transcript

Full Show Podcast: 11 September 2026 · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The issues, the interviews and the insight. Ryan Bridge on
• 0:05
  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.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: Welcome to Friday, six after five. We've got Leon Panetta
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: on the show this morning. Obama is Secretary of Defence,
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: former CIA Director. How long will this war carry on?
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: Kevin Putt on the ABs. Urgency at Parliament. Too much
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: till we get more MSD stuff-ups and Vincents in the UK.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: The agenda.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Friday the 11th of September, just when you thought Trump's
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: played every card in the playbook to win over voters,
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: now he's bribing them, literally. I'll give you 5K if
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: you vote for us.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: So it's $ 5, 000 to every adult.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: The only caveat I have is that the.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: Dividend that we're making must be spent in the United
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: States of America.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: We don't want you.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: We don't want you going to Canada to spend the money.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: So is this plausible?
• 1:03
  Speaker 5: We're taking in an extraordinary amount of revenue because the
• 1:06
  Speaker 5: president of the United States is actually standing up to
• 1:09
  Speaker 5: both foreign companies, but also foreign countries who've been taking
• 1:12
  Speaker 5: advantage of America's workers for pretty much my entire life.
• 1:16
  Speaker 5: We're taking in an extraordinary amount of revenue because the president.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: He's basically saying, yeah, we got the cash, we can
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: do it because we're slapping the tariffs on. Let's go
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: to the UK. Regional mayors will soon have the power
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: to slap their own tourists tax on. This is for
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: domestic or foreign.
• 1:31
  Speaker 6: Many of us who've travelled, if you go to France,
• 1:34
  Speaker 6: you often pay a tax if you stay in a
• 1:36
  Speaker 6: local area. So this is something that mayors can do
• 1:39
  Speaker 6: if they want to. It's not compulsory. They can choose
• 1:42
  Speaker 6: if this will fit with what their plans are for
• 1:44
  Speaker 6: their local area.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: Which is basically what Labour has said they will do here.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Over in the UK, there'd be no cap on how
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: much they can charge.
• 1:52
  Speaker 7: We're not even getting the number of tourists that we
• 1:53
  Speaker 7: used to get. They're going to so many other places.
• 1:57
  Speaker 7: We need to create jobs and grow our economy. Business
• 2:00
  Speaker 7: does that. Taxing does not create jobs. It reduces them.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Finally this morning, you know Ryanair, the airline where everyone
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: claps when they land because they made it? This is
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: a budget airline, Europe's version of Jetstar, basically. Its boss,
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: Michael O'Leary, is in hot water this morning for calling
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: airlines rapists.
• 2:17
  Speaker 8: You might find some people would choose not to fly
• 2:20
  Speaker 8: with Ryanair, but, you know, they'll be overrun with the
• 2:22
  Speaker 8: people abandoning Aer Lingus, Lufthansa, BA and others, desperate to
• 2:26
  Speaker 8: get to Ryanair's low fares because they can't afford to
• 2:28
  Speaker 8: fly with the high fare rapists around Europe.
• 2:33
  Speaker 9: High fare rapists.
• 2:36
  Speaker 10: Absolutely.
• 2:40
  Speaker 8: I'd happily offend Lufthansa, BA, BA. This isn't his first controversy.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: He's previously floated the idea of standing seats, which aren't seats,
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: and a fat tax for overweight passengers.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: News and views you trust to start your day. It's
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Early Edition with Ryan Bridge and Spark for Business. Technology
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: that keeps business moving. Newstalk ZB.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: Nine after five, Winston Peters, New Zealand First. They've come
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: out with a new immigration policy and it is multi-pronged.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: There's about 14 bullet points to get through. So resident visa,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: there'd be basically a whole bunch of changes. The most important, though,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: for the government and for the post-election negotiations is that
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: Winston is essentially demanding the immigration portfolio. He wants the reins. Also,
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: they're going to be trying to put a referendum to
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: cap resident visas to 20,000. They will deport criminal non-citizens. Now,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: that'll get you headlined, but I don't think that that's
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: actually going to be massively controversial because what they're talking
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: about is automatic deportation, meaning you cannot appeal for any
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: reason if you are a non-citizen and you are found
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: guilty of a violent offence, a sexual crime, guilty of fraud,
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: organised crime, money laundering, aiding and abetting, those sorts of things,
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: migrant exploitation. Is anyone going to complain if you automatically
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: deport someone who's not a citizen of New Zealand, who's
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: found guilty of those types of crimes? I highly doubt it.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: Ten after five.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Ryan Bridge.
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Leon Panetta, former CIA director, Obama's defence secretary, joins us
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: live next on the war and how long this thing
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: might drag out.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: The early edition full show podcast on iHeartRadio, powered by
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Newstalk ZP. The first word on the news of the day.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Early edition with Ryan Bridge and Spark for Business. Technology
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: that keeps business moving. News Talk ZB.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: 13 minutes after five on News Talk ZB, we get
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: to Kevin Putt on the ABs. It's actually happening in
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: America on the ABs and the Springboks in a second.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: But first, Trump says, along with offering $ 5, 000 to anyone
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: who votes for him, Trump said at this rally that
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: the US-Iran war will end immediately after the midterms.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: They can't hold out any longer. They're desperate to try
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: and affect the election so that we can get a nice,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: weak group of people in there and leave them alone
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: and let them have their nuclear weapon.
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: Now, his top advisers, according to the Wall Street Journal
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: this morning, privately warning it could drag on for the
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: rest of his term at least. Remember at the start
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: of the week, I told you about Leon Panetta, the
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: former U.S. defense secretary, former CIA director. He warned this
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: could become another forever war in the Middle East for America. Well,
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: we've managed to track him down. He currently serves as
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: the chairman for the Panetta Institute for Public Policy. Secretary
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: Panetta is with me live this morning. Welcome to the program.
• 5:47
  Speaker 11: Good to be with you, Ryan.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: A miracle if this thing ends immediately after the midterms?
• 5:56
  Speaker 11: I don't think that's likely to happen. Generally, the president
• 6:02
  Speaker 11: has lost a lot of credibility because he's been talking
• 6:05
  Speaker 11: about a new deal and something happening with the war
• 6:10
  Speaker 11: every few days, and it doesn't happen. And I think
• 6:14
  Speaker 11: this is another example of him saying that ultimately everything
• 6:19
  Speaker 11: will be fine after the midterms. But I think the
• 6:22
  Speaker 11: reality is the war will go on.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: Secretary, we've also had overnight another development. This is the
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: Houthis taking the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokka.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: We've got the Strait of Hormuz choked up. if we
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: have the Red Sea choked up, we've got problems, haven't we?
• 6:41
  Speaker 11: Well, we're not only in a terrible stalemate with both
• 6:46
  Speaker 11: sides kind of running out of options, but it's also
• 6:50
  Speaker 11: increasingly dangerous. The Straits of Hormuz are pretty much closed,
• 6:56
  Speaker 11: and even though there are a few ships that try
• 6:58
  Speaker 11: to pass through, largely there's very little going through and
• 7:03
  Speaker 11: gas prices and inflation are going up here in this country.
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  Speaker 11: In addition to that, there's no ceasefire, so both sides
• 7:10
  Speaker 11: are trading a tax without any clear objective. I assume
• 7:16
  Speaker 11: expecting that one side may either be willing to negotiate
• 7:20
  Speaker 11: or surrender, and that's not going to happen. And then lastly,
• 7:24
  Speaker 11: on the very issue of that the president said this
• 7:28
  Speaker 11: war was all about, which is the nuclear issue. There
• 7:31
  Speaker 11: is absolutely no negotiation and no kind of discussion with
• 7:37
  Speaker 11: regards to the nuclear issue. And so Iran continues to
• 7:42
  Speaker 11: maintain control of enriched fuel. There aren't any inspections. And
• 7:47
  Speaker 11: there's frankly no end in sight.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: The enriched uranium, you were CIA director. Does the CIA know?
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, there's no inspections, but will they know
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: exactly where it is?
• 8:03
  Speaker 11: Well, they'll probably have intelligence on kind of the general
• 8:07
  Speaker 11: location of where it's at. A lot of it is buried,
• 8:10
  Speaker 11: I'm sure, as a result of the attacks that were
• 8:13
  Speaker 11: made during the war. But the bottom line is we
• 8:17
  Speaker 11: really don't know whether or not Iran is had other
• 8:22
  Speaker 11: facilities available to enrich fuel and whether they have other
• 8:27
  Speaker 11: sources for enriched fuel. So we really, without any kind
• 8:33
  Speaker 11: of inspection, without any kind of negotiation on the issue,
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  Speaker 11: we really don't know where they're at when it comes
• 8:40
  Speaker 11: to the nuclear issue.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: Secretary, how do you think this plays out then? Do
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: you think that there is, I mean, that when Trump
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: leaves office, whoever takes over is going to have to
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: negotiate their way out of this?
• 8:54
  Speaker 11: Well i i don't think there's any question that uh...
• 8:57
  Speaker 11: that ultimately uh... what is needed here or negotiators who
• 9:04
  Speaker 11: are experienced who know uh... what iran is all about
• 9:08
  Speaker 11: who know that they've got a deal with a very
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  Speaker 11: tough regime in iran you know even with the experience
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  Speaker 11: negotiators uh... president obama it took almost two years to
• 9:20
  Speaker 11: come to some kind of agreement Right now, we don't
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  Speaker 11: have negotiators who are experienced on Iran. We're operating through
• 9:30
  Speaker 11: intermediaries at best, other countries like Pakistan or Egypt. And
• 9:36
  Speaker 11: very frankly, they don't have our interests at heart. And
• 9:41
  Speaker 11: so ultimately what's needed here is a new president who
• 9:46
  Speaker 11: will have new negotiators who hopefully will be more experienced
• 9:52
  Speaker 11: at the ability to try to work out some kind
• 9:55
  Speaker 11: of agreement with Iran.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: What's your assessment of whether the Republicans will hold on
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: to the House and the Senate in the midterms?
• 10:06
  Speaker 11: Well, you know, right now, because of what's happening with
• 10:10
  Speaker 11: the price of gas, which is now at very high
• 10:13
  Speaker 11: levels here in the United States, the price of fuel,
• 10:16
  Speaker 11: the price of diesel, the price of the cost of food, uh...
• 10:21
  Speaker 11: inflation is going up uh... increasingly worry any trade war uh...
• 10:27
  Speaker 11: with canada as well as the rest of the world
• 10:29
  Speaker 11: but in particular uh... a trade war with canada i
• 10:33
  Speaker 11: think it was all street journal said it's the dumbest
• 10:35
  Speaker 11: trade war we've ever gotten into but that's going to
• 10:38
  Speaker 11: result in additional inflation uh... for people in this country uh...
• 10:43
  Speaker 11: and we have this analyst war on our hands as
• 10:46
  Speaker 11: well and when you put all of that together There
• 10:50
  Speaker 11: is an American public that really is very concerned about
• 10:56
  Speaker 11: where the country is going. I think it's almost 70
• 10:58
  Speaker 11: percent now are very concerned about the future of the country.
• 11:02
  Speaker 11: And that tells me that I think if people vote
• 11:06
  Speaker 11: their feelings, that there's a good chance that the Democrats
• 11:11
  Speaker 11: will take control of the House. I think the Senate
• 11:14
  Speaker 11: will be tighter, but I think the Senate is in
• 11:17
  Speaker 11: play as well.
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: Secretary, what about warfare, the future of warfare generally? We've
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: seen massive changes on the battlefield out of Ukraine. We've
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: got drones. We've got speedboats. It doesn't take much for
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: a couple of terrorists to get their hands on these things,
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: and they're cheap as chips. So what do you do
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: about that?
• 11:40
  Speaker 11: Well, that's the nature of warfare in the 21st century,
• 11:46
  Speaker 11: we're finding out. I think... You know, generally, everybody kind
• 11:50
  Speaker 11: of assumed that Russia, the United States, major military powers
• 11:56
  Speaker 11: that would always prevail, and obviously Russia, with the invasion
• 12:01
  Speaker 11: of Ukraine, everybody thought it would be over in a
• 12:04
  Speaker 11: few days. Did not happen. Russia was stopped, and now
• 12:08
  Speaker 11: is in the midst of a continuing war, using drones
• 12:13
  Speaker 11: in their own homeland, being attacked by Ukraine. And the
• 12:19
  Speaker 11: same thing is true in Iran. We're seeing the increased
• 12:22
  Speaker 11: use of drones, the increased use of new technologies. I
• 12:27
  Speaker 11: think warfare is changing a great deal. And very frankly,
• 12:30
  Speaker 11: I think countries like the United States and others are
• 12:35
  Speaker 11: going to have to seriously think about how they're going
• 12:39
  Speaker 11: to provide security in a century where, very usable, cheap
• 12:49
  Speaker 11: weapons are being used to essentially change the tone of
• 12:54
  Speaker 11: the battle.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Leon Panetta, it's been a pleasure speaking with you. Thank
• 12:58
  Speaker 3: you very much for your time.
• 13:00
  Speaker 11: Good to talk to you, Ryan.
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: Leon Panetta, former US Secretary of Defense, former director of
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: the CIA. You're on Newstalk ZB.
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Get ahead of the headlines on Early Edition with Ryan
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Bridge and Spark for Business. Technology that keeps business moving.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: Newstalk ZB.
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: 5.23, so the AB's the Springboks in Baltimore. Much friendlier
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: time for us Sunday, 9am. Kevin, part former Springbok with
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: us this morning. Kevin, good morning. Good morning, Ryan. Your thought, well,
• 13:35
  Speaker 3: your predictions for this weekend?
• 13:38
  Speaker 10: Oh... With the injuries we've got, the questions about our
• 13:42
  Speaker 10: New Zealand debt that I think South Africa, even though
• 13:44
  Speaker 10: they're not great travellers, I think they'll get it done.
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: It was funny listening to Mike Hosking's show yesterday and
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: we had Geordie Barrett talking about the fact that when
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: they finished that second test, they all jumped on a
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: charter flight together four hours after it, sitting across from
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: one another with the box straight to Baltimore.
• 14:03
  Speaker 10: Well, that's the modern game, isn't it? Now that you
• 14:05
  Speaker 10: can actually, you know, have a little bit of socialisation
• 14:08
  Speaker 10: with the opposition and then go out and potentially try
• 14:10
  Speaker 10: and kill them in about seven days time.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: How do you think Dave Rennie is going to react?
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: I mean, so two losses back to back. What do
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: you think the message would have been?
• 14:21
  Speaker 10: Look, I've got to be honest. I think Dave Rennie
• 14:22
  Speaker 10: has already, you know, got the tick. He's gone toe-to-toe
• 14:26
  Speaker 10: with the box, 2-1 down, be it. I think people
• 14:31
  Speaker 10: can see he's doing his job OK. I think this
• 14:33
  Speaker 10: is more of a test of New Zealand rugby and
• 14:35
  Speaker 10: the depth chart, what has happened over the last sort
• 14:37
  Speaker 10: of four years with their development of young players. And
• 14:40
  Speaker 10: let's have a look at it.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: And I think they may be found wanting. How much
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: do you think Adi Savia has the... sort of his leadership,
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: how much of an effect do you think that has
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: on the side and the psyche? Massive, Ryan, I really do.
• 14:55
  Speaker 10: He's a talisman, and that's a physical talisman as well.
• 15:00
  Speaker 10: He leads them right from the front. We even nearly
• 15:02
  Speaker 10: saw a drop-off in the last test match when he
• 15:05
  Speaker 10: actually left the field. But when you combine that now
• 15:08
  Speaker 10: with Tupai in the centre, which had been before the
• 15:12
  Speaker 10: competition even started... a position they've been so concerned about,
• 15:15
  Speaker 10: that you combine a lack of positional nous and then
• 15:20
  Speaker 10: your captain as well. It's got to be a bit
• 15:23
  Speaker 10: of a concern. Obviously, they will not talk about it.
• 15:26
  Speaker 10: Geordie Barrett, I'm sure, will step up to the plate.
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: But yeah, it's got.
• 15:29
  Speaker 10: To be a concern.
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: Kevin Park, former Springbok. Always good to chat. 25 After
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: 5 News Talk ZB. Team naming, by the way, is
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: 8 o'clock this morning. Newstalk ZB, 27 minutes after five.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: So you know the Prime Minister hates a bloated bureaucracy.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: We know that National doesn't like it, and they've told
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: us this many, many times.
• 15:47
  Speaker 12: Look, as I move around the country, one of the
• 15:49
  Speaker 12: things that people tell me a lot is that actually
• 15:51
  Speaker 12: we've got way too much bureaucracy.
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: And actually, it starts here in Wellington. It certainly does.
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: So is this all talk? Is this all hot air?
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: Do the facts match the rhetoric? In May's budget, Kate
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: McNamara has done a great piece, or often does a
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: great piece, in The Herald. May budget initiatives are expected
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: to add a net average increase of 1,300 public service
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: jobs a year. And you go, hang on a minute.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: Net increase, 1,300 a year. What's up with that? Doesn't
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: sound like we are shrinking the bureaucracy, doesn't it? This
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: is Treasury documents that were released yesterday. Read the budget.
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: So if you take the May budget... and the promise
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: to cut nearly 9,000 roles in the public service by
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: 2029 together, just something doesn't add up, does it? So
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: we know that Labour increased them 33%. That's fine. We
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: all understand that. But is National actually serious about reining
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: in the public service or not? Paul Goldsmith and Nicola
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: Willis said they will get it down, total employees back
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: to 55,000 by mid-2029 and save $ 2. 4 billion. Where's the
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: evidence it's going to happen? Where's the plan that it's
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: going to happen? A lot of people are asking that
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: question this morning, 29 after five. We'll go to Vincent
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: in the UK after news at 5.30. He's our UK
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: Europe correspondent. And we'll talk about the use of, let's
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: talk to Graham Edgler about urgency in the House. Why
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: do they use it? Do they use it too much?
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: Is that why we're getting mistakes? All ahead on your
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: Friday morning, ZB.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: Can't get out of it. Can't get out of it.
• 17:33
  Speaker 11: Can't get out of it.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: The early edition full show podcast on iHeartRadio. Powered by
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Newstalk ZB. On your radio and online on iHeartRadio. Early
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: edition with Ryan Bridge and Spark for Business. Technology that
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: keeps business moving.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: Newstalk ZB. The broken silence by thunder crashing. 24 away
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: from 6 here on Newstalk ZB for your Friday morning.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: We'll head to Vincent McIverney, our UK-Europe correspondent. We'll talk
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: about the tourist tax. They're going to basically give councils
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: there the lever that Labour here wants to give councils,
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: which is you can slap a tax on. There's no
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: cap on it over there, and you can charge there
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: both foreign and domestic tourists. So Vincent will have the details.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: We'll also talk about urgency in the House. I mean,
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: they don't look like they're moving with urgency. Whenever you
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: turn on Parliament TV, which sadly I do quite often,
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: quite regularly, no one's in a hurry, are they? And
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: whenever they have to work late, they start cocking things
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: up and they start saying things they shouldn't say and
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: they get a bit tired. You know, when they actually
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: have to work like the rest of us. Things go awry.
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: 23 to 6.
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: Ryan Bridge.
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: Lachlan Rennie, Dunedin. Lachlan, good morning.
• 18:47
  Speaker 13: Good morning.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: So we've got an arborist competition in Dunedin.
• 18:50
  Speaker 13: Yeah, so more than 30 arborists from around the South
• 18:53
  Speaker 13: Island will scale trees up to 20 metres high as
• 18:57
  Speaker 13: they compete in the regional Arb Husqvarna Tree Climbing Champs
• 19:00
  Speaker 13: in the Dunedin Botanic Gardens this weekend. The top five
• 19:03
  Speaker 13: will qualify for the national finals in Rotorua in October.
• 19:07
  Speaker 13: It's the first time in 32 years Dunedin has hosted
• 19:10
  Speaker 13: the event. Otago Polytechnic Arbor Culture Senior Lecturer Ben Fetterman
• 19:14
  Speaker 13: says it's a chance for students to test their skills
• 19:17
  Speaker 13: against some of the country's top arborists and make connections
• 19:20
  Speaker 13: with potential employers.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: How are you at climbing trees, Lachlan?
• 19:24
  Speaker 13: Not the best. Maybe a couple of bruises from my
• 19:27
  Speaker 13: past attempts.
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: How's the weather?
• 19:29
  Speaker 13: It's fine currently, but showers are developing in the afternoon.
• 19:32
  Speaker 13: There's also some westerly, strong at times from late morning.
• 19:35
  Speaker 13: It's currently 10 degrees with a high of 16 today.
• 19:37
  Speaker 10: All right.
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: Thank you very much, mate. Claire's in Christchurch. Morning, Claire.
• 19:40
  Speaker 9: Good morning.
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: People are usually climbing trees trying to get away from you.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: Oh, they've got nothing on me.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: Hey, tell us about in Banks Peninsula. there's a bit
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: of a lifeline for the dolphins.
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the Hector's Dolphins, the Department of Conservation's reducing the
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: number of tourism trips allowed in the Banks Peninsula Harbours.
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: And they've also imposed a 10-year moratorium on any new
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: marine mammal permits around the area. It is a very
• 20:08
  Speaker 4: stronghold area for the threatened Hector's Dolphins. These changes won't
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: affect any existing permits that are in place for six
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: operators that are out in the Akaroa and Littleton Harbour.
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: But DOC's Mahanui operations manager, Andy Thompson, says the Hector's
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: dolphins are being pushed out of Akaroa Harbour. And that's
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: putting both them, of course, but also the local businesses
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: at risk. He says DOC has a great relationship with
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: the operators who provide a quality public education. So this
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: is about protecting that and consolidating both the industry and
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: the dolphins.
• 20:38
  Speaker 3: Did you see that story yesterday, Clare, that they found
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: a dolphin with its head chopped off?
• 20:42
  Speaker 13: It's a bit brutal, I know.
• 20:43
  Speaker 11: Yeah, I know.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: But also, you know, I didn't bother clicking. All I
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: did was read the headline. But I thought, how do
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: you know it wasn't a shark? You know what I mean?
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: How do you know?
• 20:51
  Speaker 10: Anyway. I know.
• 20:52
  Speaker 4: I always find that weird. There was one recently down
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: here where everyone was saying it was a seal and
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: it turned out it wasn't. It was something else.
• 20:58
  Speaker 14: They all look the same to me.
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: How's your weather?
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: Frosty to start. It's minus two at the moment. We
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: will get some showers and westerlies from this afternoon before
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: a southerly change, the high though 17.
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: Is it a seal? Is it a whale? Claire doesn't know.
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: Good morning, Max. Concerning. Can't tell the difference. Good morning. Hey,
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: excellent news for hospitality.
• 21:23
  Speaker 12: Yeah, it's been more than seven years since the Reading
• 21:25
  Speaker 12: Cinema Complex on Courtney Place had to close. Quake stuff.
• 21:30
  Speaker 12: It was never the flashiest part of town. There was
• 21:32
  Speaker 12: an effort to spruce it up. just before 2019. But
• 21:35
  Speaker 12: it is difficult, I think, with street-side malls to keep
• 21:39
  Speaker 12: them feeling light and welcoming, and especially in an area that,
• 21:43
  Speaker 12: since its closure, has been increasingly affected by rough sleepers,
• 21:46
  Speaker 12: mental illness, drugs, etc. But it is a massive, significant
• 21:49
  Speaker 12: patch of land in what should be a primo area.
• 21:53
  Speaker 12: And yesterday it was announced we are getting a ground
• 21:57
  Speaker 12: floor city fitness, shops, hospitality venues.
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: This is what we've been waiting for.
• 22:02
  Speaker 12: The city council granting resource consent approval for prime property
• 22:05
  Speaker 12: group to develop what it's calling the court. A positive
• 22:09
  Speaker 12: reaction as well. You build something nice. The area feels nicer.
• 22:12
  Speaker 12: It attracts nicer people. It may sound a little pat,
• 22:15
  Speaker 12: but that's, you know, the effort is to get more
• 22:17
  Speaker 12: lunch trade, dining trade, late nights back to the entertainment district,
• 22:20
  Speaker 12: because right now. It's probably anything but.
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, nicer buildings, nicer people. So there's no cinema going
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: in there? No, there is.
• 22:29
  Speaker 12: There is a rejuvenated Reading cinema as well, and it
• 22:32
  Speaker 12: is still Reading, yeah.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Great.
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: Okay, how's your weather?
• 22:35
  Speaker 12: A cool start, but fine weather today. Good high of 14.
• 22:38
  Speaker 7: Nice.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: Enjoy. Thanks, Max. Neva, good morning.
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: Finally, we've got the ribbon-cutting for the CRL. It's here.
• 22:45
  Speaker 14: It's here.
• 22:46
  Speaker 13: Correct.
• 22:46
  Speaker 14: The ribbon-cutting ceremony. Apparently that's happening at 9 o'clock this morning.
• 22:50
  Speaker 14: Businesses near the new City Rail Link stations, they're just buzzing,
• 22:54
  Speaker 14: buzzing with this Rail Connections opening this weekend. So that's
• 22:57
  Speaker 14: happening on Sunday, not to be confused with the ribbon-cutting
• 23:00
  Speaker 14: today at 9 a.m. So the $ 5. 5 billion project, we'll
• 23:04
  Speaker 14: see the first train roll onto this new connection on
• 23:07
  Speaker 14: Sunday morning. Real groovy records manager and co-owner, that's Sarah Williamson,
• 23:12
  Speaker 14: and she's just excited that her store is very close
• 23:15
  Speaker 14: to the Te Waihoro Teo station. She says the foot
• 23:18
  Speaker 14: traffic is very, very important to the business, and she
• 23:21
  Speaker 14: says it'll be really good, especially for her business, because people,
• 23:23
  Speaker 14: you know, will be able to carry the heavy items
• 23:25
  Speaker 14: to trade in. You know, when they're carrying all their vinyl,
• 23:28
  Speaker 14: their big, big records and things like that, it's going
• 23:30
  Speaker 14: to be a lot easier.
• 23:31
  Speaker 10: Yeah.
• 23:32
  Speaker 14: Taking them on the train.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: Fantastic. That's always a helpful thing, isn't it? How's our weather?
• 23:36
  Speaker 14: Casual rain, clearing to fine early afternoon. Yay, 15 high
• 23:40
  Speaker 14: here in Auckland.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: Brilliant, Neva. It is 18 minutes away from six. Owen says, Ryan,
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: my last tree climbing effort involved... Owen's 65, by the way. Owen,
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: you shouldn't be climbing trees at 65. He said, climbed
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: a pahutukawa tree to show the kids that I still
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: had it and had a scan-guided steroid injection afterwards. LAUGHTER Yeah.
• 24:01
  Speaker 3: I mean, the arborists, to be fair, they're not just
• 24:03
  Speaker 3: climbing willy-nilly and they're not strapped in. They've got ropes aplenty.
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: So if something does go wrong, then there'd be a backup,
• 24:11
  Speaker 3: wouldn't there? 18 away from six, Newstalk ZB. We'll head
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: to Vincent in the UK next on bed taxes.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: International Correspondence with NZI Insurance. Peace of mind for New
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Zealand business.
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Quarter to six, Newstalk ZB. We'll talk about the MSD
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: thing in just a second. First, Vincent McIverney, our UK
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: Europe correspondent. Vincent, good to have you here. Good morning.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: So tell us about the tourist tax. So the councils
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: will get the lever to pull, the government's going to
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: give them the lever.
• 24:40
  Speaker 15: Yeah, this is part of Andy Burnham's programme of sort
• 24:42
  Speaker 15: of giving out powers to local regions. And this is
• 24:45
  Speaker 15: pretty common anywhere you go in Europe these days. If
• 24:49
  Speaker 15: you're staying in a major city, when you check out,
• 24:51
  Speaker 15: you have to pay a local tourist tax. Sometimes it's
• 24:53
  Speaker 15: sort of a flat amount that you have to pay
• 24:55
  Speaker 15: in cash or otherwise you're It is a sort of
• 24:57
  Speaker 15: percentage of what your accommodation, be it Airbnb or hotel, cost.
• 25:03
  Speaker 15: And the UK has been a bit of a lagger
• 25:04
  Speaker 15: on this, but now it's been piloted for the first
• 25:07
  Speaker 15: time this year in Edinburgh. It's been deemed a success.
• 25:10
  Speaker 15: And so if you come to England next time, cities
• 25:12
  Speaker 15: will have their own percentage that they will apply on
• 25:16
  Speaker 15: your accommodation that you will have to pay. So they're
• 25:18
  Speaker 15: going to have the power in each city individually. to
• 25:20
  Speaker 15: decide how much they're going to charge for your stay.
• 25:23
  Speaker 15: And that money is intended to go into the local
• 25:25
  Speaker 15: community to fund the services and transport that you might
• 25:28
  Speaker 15: be using.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: The Prince and Princess of Wales have made a surprise
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: visit to a stadium in Liverpool. What's that about? Yeah,
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: that's right.
• 25:36
  Speaker 15: They've gone to Everton's new stadium. We knew that Prince
• 25:39
  Speaker 15: William was going, but we didn't know that the princess
• 25:44
  Speaker 15: was also going to attend. And this was a big
• 25:46
  Speaker 15: launch with sports stars, the likes of Harry Kane, the
• 25:50
  Speaker 15: England captain and other former Olympians, all about a new
• 25:53
  Speaker 15: initiative to get people talking about about suicide in the
• 25:57
  Speaker 15: context of sports. Suicide International Prevention Day is today. It
• 26:03
  Speaker 15: is something that Prince William was talking about from the heart,
• 26:06
  Speaker 15: saying often that it's not discussed and that doing so
• 26:10
  Speaker 15: amongst teammates, amongst colleagues is really important. And he had
• 26:14
  Speaker 15: the backing of many sports stars that were there with him.
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: Hey, you know, the bid tax, the tourist tax, some
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: cities already have it, right? Doesn't Manchester have one already?
• 26:25
  Speaker 15: Yeah, there have been some pilots, but this has basically
• 26:28
  Speaker 15: been run sort of short term. But this is now
• 26:31
  Speaker 15: the sort of full approval from government to run it
• 26:33
  Speaker 15: out permanently.
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: Gotcha. Vincent McIverney, our UK Europe correspondent, by the way,
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: the European Central Bank, as expected, we mentioned this the
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: other day, has raised interest rates quarter of a percentage point.
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: They're now at two and a half. Second time they've
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: done it this year. Borrowing costs now highest level since
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: April of twenty twenty five. Bit of inflation, it's energy-related,
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: and widely expected markets barely budged on the back of it,
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: 12 away from 6. We now know why 16,000 pensioners,
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: veterans and beneficiaries missed out on their winter energy payment,
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: urgently passing a benefit law, accidentally forcing them to reapply
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: without telling them this all came out in the wash yesterday.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: MSD is used of doing and implementing policies in a
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: range of ways, including at pace.
• 27:21
  Speaker 11: That is not an excuse.
• 27:23
  Speaker 14: We got this wrong.
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: Two and a half million not paid, now being paid.
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: Graeme Edsler, constitutional law expert with me this morning. Graeme,
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: good morning.
• 27:30
  Speaker 10: Good morning, Ryan.
• 27:31
  Speaker 3: Who do you blame here, the government for passing a
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: law under urgency or the public service for not picking
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: this stuff up? Both, quite clearly. So would one have
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: happened without the other? I suppose not.
• 27:47
  Speaker 16: Like, Probably not. Like, there are occasional things like that,
• 27:51
  Speaker 16: but this is one of those things. If this had
• 27:53
  Speaker 16: spent a few months as a select committee, you know,
• 27:56
  Speaker 16: that gives a chance for people outside me or someone else,
• 27:59
  Speaker 16: you know, sort of beneficiary advocates to point out this mistake,
• 28:02
  Speaker 16: but it also gives a chance for the people in
• 28:06
  Speaker 16: the department to notice this. You know, going through a
• 28:08
  Speaker 16: select committee process, you know, I'll make a submission occasionally
• 28:11
  Speaker 16: and find something, but quite often just that process of
• 28:15
  Speaker 16: just even having a select committee meeting You know, some
• 28:18
  Speaker 16: of the changes are made because the officials are still
• 28:20
  Speaker 16: looking at it and they notice things and the select
• 28:23
  Speaker 16: committee report comes out and the officials have thought again
• 28:25
  Speaker 16: or noticed something and we should fix that. And not
• 28:28
  Speaker 16: having a select committee process and then doing the thing
• 28:31
  Speaker 16: over two days, you know, this is always the risk. And,
• 28:34
  Speaker 16: you know, when the government decides to do it that way,
• 28:36
  Speaker 16: the government should, like, take the responsibility. It's like that
• 28:39
  Speaker 16: is very much something that can and will happen. It's
• 28:42
  Speaker 16: happened before. It'll happen again. Every time you do that,
• 28:44
  Speaker 16: you are running that risk.
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: Are you surprised it actually took this long for something
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: to crop up? I mean, they've done a hell of
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: a lot of urgency. In some ways, does this prove
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: that the opposite actually is true, that you can move
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: fast without breaking too many things?
• 29:00
  Speaker 16: You can get lucky, but you can only get lucky
• 29:02
  Speaker 16: for so long. And, you know, this is the biggest
• 29:05
  Speaker 16: thing that's happened. But, you know, they've had to fix,
• 29:08
  Speaker 16: you know, Things that have noticed without, you know, without
• 29:12
  Speaker 16: the effect on individuals might be effect on government departments realizing, oh,
• 29:15
  Speaker 16: we have to do something or here's some problem we've got,
• 29:18
  Speaker 16: you know, which hasn't had as much of an effect
• 29:20
  Speaker 16: on members of the public, but it's absolutely had an
• 29:22
  Speaker 16: effect on how governments operate. And then, you know, they
• 29:26
  Speaker 16: fix it up again that, you know, it happens more
• 29:30
  Speaker 16: often than you think. It's just this is one of
• 29:31
  Speaker 16: the big ones which affected a lot more people as individuals.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: Have we had other examples, Because the previous governments have
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: used urgency almost as much as this one. Other cock-ups?
• 29:46
  Speaker 13: Yes.
• 29:47
  Speaker 16: There have been a few. I'm trying to think if
• 29:50
  Speaker 16: there's been one as big as this for a while there.
• 29:55
  Speaker 16: We had to do it twice. The government passed something
• 30:01
  Speaker 16: under urgency to fix they were swearing in not as
• 30:06
  Speaker 16: MPs they were swearing in police officers wrong they passed
• 30:09
  Speaker 16: a law under urgency to say no no all those
• 30:11
  Speaker 16: people who weren't properly sworn in you know let's do
• 30:16
  Speaker 16: that properly this time and they count as being sworn
• 30:19
  Speaker 16: in and then a few years later they had to
• 30:21
  Speaker 16: do it again because you know when they passed that
• 30:22
  Speaker 16: under urgency none of the changes internally that had to
• 30:25
  Speaker 16: be made had to be made as well and they
• 30:27
  Speaker 16: just you know they had to do the same thing
• 30:28
  Speaker 16: again These things do happen. There was a time when,
• 30:34
  Speaker 16: for a while, when we brought in new liquor licensing laws,
• 30:38
  Speaker 16: it was illegal to have beer in your car boot
• 30:40
  Speaker 16: after having picked it up at a supermarket. And I
• 30:42
  Speaker 16: just don't think they prosecuted anyone because someone noticed, but
• 30:46
  Speaker 16: they had to fix that up. So you will have
• 30:48
  Speaker 16: these mistakes happen.
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: Graeme, good to have you on as always. Graeme Edgler,
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: constitutional law expert. It's 8 to 6, Newstalk ZB.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: Before the news breaks, hear it first. Ryan Bridge on
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: early edition with Spark for Business, technology that keeps business moving.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: Newstalk ZB. 6 to 6, more from the Treasury document
• 31:09
  Speaker 3: dump that we got yesterday vis-à-vis the budget. So Treasury
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: raised concerns about spending on prisons because we're spending too
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: much on prisons and there's too many prisoners. So what
• 31:20
  Speaker 3: did they suggest? Decreasing the number of prisoners. They just said,
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: just if you're a low level offender, then you don't
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: have to go. And let's change the high security prisoner classification,
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: which sounds like a bit of a dodgy thing to do. Anyway,
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: suffice to say, the government said nay. Good morning, Mike.
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: Isn't that the stupidity of advice? Yes.
• 31:43
  Speaker 9: I mean, nothing they say is outside of the realms
• 31:46
  Speaker 9: of your ability to think of other options, should you
• 31:49
  Speaker 9: choose to go down that track.
• 31:50
  Speaker 3: I completely agree with you. I was having this discussion
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: the other day with my mum. I said, if you
• 31:55
  Speaker 3: elect a politician, you sort of elect them to think.
• 31:59
  Speaker 3: And can you not just... Why do you need a
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: Deloitte report for Wellington City Council? Can't you walk around.
• 32:04
  Speaker 7: If they.
• 32:04
  Speaker 9: Came up with something out of left field, like, I
• 32:07
  Speaker 9: never thought of that in a million years, then fair enough.
• 32:09
  Speaker 9: But they don't. You can have more prisoners, less prisoners...
• 32:12
  Speaker 9: More expenditure, less expenditure. It could be blue or black.
• 32:15
  Speaker 9: It's like, what is it, you know?
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: But, you know, if you're running Wellington City Council, can
• 32:18
  Speaker 3: you not walk around and see who's lazy and doesn't
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: need to be there?
• 32:21
  Speaker 10: 100%.
• 32:22
  Speaker 9: It's the weirdest thing. Louise Upston speaks this morning, by
• 32:25
  Speaker 9: the way.
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, what are you?
• 32:27
  Speaker 9: Well, I'm working. I'm trying to work up a head
• 32:30
  Speaker 9: of steam here. But it's like, honestly. So my understanding
• 32:34
  Speaker 9: of what happened. So you can blame several people. You
• 32:35
  Speaker 9: can blame the government for rushing the law. The Labour
• 32:38
  Speaker 9: Party liners could have gone slick. Committee could have picked
• 32:40
  Speaker 9: it up.
• 32:40
  Speaker 10: Yes. Yes.
• 32:41
  Speaker 9: Part of it is the department who do this regular ongoing,
• 32:44
  Speaker 9: are you still, where are you, who are you?
• 32:47
  Speaker 3: See, I'm bored.
• 32:48
  Speaker 9: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And here's the thing. So
• 32:51
  Speaker 9: this seems to me to be a bit of a
• 32:52
  Speaker 9: Beltway story, more of a Beltway story, more of an
• 32:55
  Speaker 9: exercise job from the media who hate the government.
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: I agree, because everyone's been paid back already.
• 32:59
  Speaker 9: Yeah, so they said sorry, they've got their money back,
• 33:03
  Speaker 9: and this number, the $ 3, 000 they were throwing around, that's
• 33:06
  Speaker 9: an extreme. The average person was 300 yeah 300 which
• 33:08
  Speaker 9: is not good it's.
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: Not good no it's not no it's not acceptable yeah
• 33:13
  Speaker 3: but it's a mistake and it's not the end of
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: the world and this is everything that's wrong with the
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: media and their obsession with the government and trying to
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: bring them down i was talking to gary medger just
• 33:22
  Speaker 3: a few seconds ago he said you know about urgency
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: are they doing too much urgency well you could argue
• 33:27
  Speaker 3: that this is the first major thing that's they've done
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: a lot of urgency yeah and this is the first
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: major this this is.
• 33:32
  Speaker 9: A cock up yeah But it's like, honestly, we've got
• 33:36
  Speaker 9: bigger fish to fry. And their main upset appeared to be,
• 33:39
  Speaker 9: as I was watching last night, is that Louise Upston
• 33:41
  Speaker 9: wouldn't talk to them. But she will talk to me.
• 33:45
  Speaker 9: So anyway, she's with us, along with Andrew Webster. More importantly,
• 33:48
  Speaker 9: Andrew Webster's on the program.
• 33:50
  Speaker 3: Are you more excited about the Warriors or the CRL?
• 33:54
  Speaker 9: It's close. But funnily enough, we've got the head of
• 33:57
  Speaker 9: the train track on as well.
• 33:59
  Speaker 3: So we're covering all bases. Fantastic. Mike is with you next.
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: Newstalk ZB.