Latest / Best of Business / Barry Soper: ZB senior political correspondent on Prime Minister Chris Luxon telling public servants to stop working from home

Transcript

Barry Soper: ZB senior political correspondent on Prime Minister Chris Luxon telling public servants to stop working from home · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks. It'd be
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Senior Political Correspondence with US Now Barry, Hello, good afternoon.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Hither.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: So the government's ordered them back into the office the
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: public servants.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Well, it's taken some time, hasn't it really when you
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: consider that. I guess I've always been staying away from
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: the office though, but it became it was much much
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: worse during COVID. Yeah, and they sort of had the permission.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: And it was interesting because they've never kept any records
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: in the Public Service of how many actually turn up
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: to work, that's not and how many work from home.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Well, that's true because you can go on to you
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: can go onto the Public Service Commission website and you
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: can actually look at the agencies. Not all of the
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: agencies do it, but you can look at the agencies
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: to see how many of them are turning up to work,
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: for example, ninety four percent at the where you working.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: But I tried to show you later, Well, it seems
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: that Nichola Willis doesn't know that side either, because she
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: said the last time a survey was done was in
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: twenty twenty one.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: That's the regular Public Service Commissioner survey that they.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: Do right well anyway, she well, I just thought I'd
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: allow her to have her say on it, because she
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: said it hard and fast. Records of those working from
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: home aren't kept. But she says she's seen a survey
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: like I said, out in twenty twenty one, and these
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: are the figures she read.
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: Around fifty eight percent of participants made use of working
• 1:39
  Speaker 4: from home arrangements. Of note, only sixty five percent of
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: public servants actually took place took part in that survey.
• 1:47
  Speaker 4: I've also surveyed the agencies that I work directly with
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: the Public Service Commission. For example, Advisors that sixty six
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: percent of their employees have working from home arrangements, with
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: about a third working from home one day a week
• 2:00
  Speaker 4: and another third working from home two days a week,
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: so only a third of their employees are in the
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: office five days a week. The Social Investment Agencies that
• 2:08
  Speaker 4: on average, across a week, more than four out of
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: five are working in the office. And Treasury says it
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: does not centrally keep information that allows it to confirm
• 2:16
  Speaker 4: any overall trends and working from home see, it.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: Was very very very really yeah, very wooly. Yes, it is.
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: But the point that she makes is, and the point
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: that Christopher Luxon standing alongside it made, was that working
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: from home isn't an entitlement. It should be an agreement
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: between the employer and the employee. And I'd know about you, Heather,
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: but when I walk down Lampton Key and talk to
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: businesses down there post COVID, they really are suffering. And
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: it's because these public servants are spending far too much
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: time at home. They can see themselves doing their job
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: from there. They are very highly paid as a rule
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: public servant, and I think they should go where the
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: job is, sitting at a desk where everyone else normally
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: has to go when they.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Get it too right. Lookase, I'm pleased with the kind
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: of vibe from it, but that's all it is. I
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: want to see something a little bit harder on that.
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: We'll talk to Nicolo.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: She's going to publish results apparently.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, when she's with us. After six o'clock, just quickly,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Sri Lanka has won the cricket by sixty three runs.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Will ow' rock is not quite as good with the
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: bat as he is with the ball, and he's out now,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: what's happened with the Greens now that the court has
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: ruled against Darling Tana.
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: I know a number of questions have been asked about that,
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: because you know, the Greens have got what they want
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: now and they should, one would think, invoke the waker
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: jumping legislation. But as I understand, what they're doing now
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: is they're waiting in case Darling Tana launches an appeal
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: against the court's finding, and that's a possibility, so that
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: I want to jump the gun. I don't know how
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: the how long they're prepared to wait, but they are
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: waiting the Greens. They were awarded costs. You probably know
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: from the court case last week. Who's paying Darling Tana's bills. Well,
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: apparently wealthy green unnamed green Green donor.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah sorry, a Green donor.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: A Green donor is paying her bills. But the interesting
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: thing is the walker jumping legislation has never really been tested.
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: And the argument is from some that MPs are actually
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: sworn into Parliament by name, they're not sworn by a party,
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: and you'll be aware of how they always go to
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: the front of Parliament and the sworn in. So that's
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: never really been put to the test. So if they
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: do invoke the walker jumping legislation, I'm sure there will
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: be some legal argument about that as well. So this
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: could extend well out of the future for Darli in
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: Tana not working at Parliament but fighting for her existence
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: to be there.
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: So this standoff where they're waiting the Greens they're not
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: calling a meeting until they're sure she's not going to
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: appeal to no One for ages because she might only
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: appeal once they call the meeting.
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: Well true that, do you know what I mean?
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: Her whole thing has been to frustrate the efforts to
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: get rid of her, so she may wait. So this
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: could go on for ages and also barry the fact
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: that a wealthy Green Party donor is backing her against
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: their own party. Does that not tell you that the
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: party is divided?
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Oh?
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: I think the party is divided. But from whom I've
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: talked to in the party, they say that they are
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: one hundred percent sure that if it's put to the
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: party membership now, they have the numbers to invoke the
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: walker jumping in.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Very quickly, very very quickly. Whinston Peter is off to
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: New York.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: He's on the same page as Helen Clark, although he
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: said I heard him say this morning and to you,
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: I really don't know where Helen Clark is on it.
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: It's basically her big argument is the UN Security Council
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: can never pass a resolution because you've got China and
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Russia and the United States as permanent members on it, vetoing,
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: vetoing everything that goes out there, and it is a disgrace.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: I mean, the UN is a greater morphous body, does
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: some good work obviously around the world, but when it
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: comes to the big international issues like wars, they can't
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: make any decisions.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Arry, thanks very much, very so, senior political correspondent.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: For more from News Talk, said b listen live on
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: you go with our podcasts on IR Radio.