Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Full Show Podcast: 07 October 2026

Transcript

Full Show Podcast: 07 October 2026 · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you and thank you for joining the show.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I'm Andrew Dickinson for Ryan Bridge, who today is hosting
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: a debate.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: On Herald Now, I'll tell you more about that later.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: On this program, Pharmac is to get a funding boost
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: under National at the expense of some foreign aid. So
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: what can we spend the money on? We'll have that
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: story for you in five. Business Confidence is up in June.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Is Canterbury feeling it? The head of Business Canterbury in ten.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: And last night's leaders' debate. Did anyone win? Were you
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: not entertained? Bridget Morton will give her opinion just before
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: 6 o'clock. We'll have Gavin Gray out of the UK,
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: correspondents from right around New Zealand, and news as it breaks.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: And you can have your say using the text. Small
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: charge applies. The number is 9292. So today is Wednesday
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: the 7th of October and it's all on in France
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: with tens of thousands of people protesting over underinvestment in
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: high schools. Police have fired tear gas in Paris and
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Marseille with the Interior Minister estimating there's about 86,000 protesters
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: right across the country on the streets causing trouble. One
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: union says that 2,000 high schools have closed.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: You talk to these students, they say they want a
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: lot more investment in their education. They say the classrooms
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: are crumbling, that there's far too many pupils crammed in,
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: and they want this to change. The government has acknowledged
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: that there are legitimate concerns here, but there's been a
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: lot of violence over the last week or so.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Teachers attacked.
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: Some schools have been set ablaze.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Meanwhile, in the UK, the Conservative Party conference is still underway.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: So welcome the Britannia Shield. Shadow Defence Minister James Cartlidge
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: has pledged to invest £ 10 billion in a new missile
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: and drone defence system to defend the UK. This is
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: if the Conservatives win the next election.
• 2:01
  Speaker 4: Labour are in total denial about the seriousness of the
• 2:05
  Speaker 4: threats we face, but there is an alternative. We are serious.
• 2:10
  Speaker 4: It is only the Conservatives that understand national resilience, because
• 2:14
  Speaker 4: we are the ones with a comprehensive plan for food security...
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: energy security and national security.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Now, fashion giant ASOS says personal information may have been
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: accessed during unauthorised activity, otherwise known as hacking. A push
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: sent to ASOS customers from its own app claimed it
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: had been hacked. But the company says they have not
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: got the payment details.
• 2:36
  Speaker 5: But even information about customers, so names, addresses, email addresses, passwords,
• 2:40
  Speaker 5: are all useful for cyber criminals. It all allows follow-on attacks,
• 2:43
  Speaker 5: whether that's phishing emails. Quite often people will reuse passwords
• 2:46
  Speaker 5: across various platforms. So an email and a password that
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: you use to get into ASOS, you might also use
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: to get into more sensitive sites, banking apps, things like that.
• 2:55
  Speaker 5: So their actors can use that and sell that to
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: get into other applications and perform follow-on crimes.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: And that's the agenda. It's nine after five.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Get ahead of the headlines on Early Edition with Andrew
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: Dickens and Spark for Business, technology that keeps business moving.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Newstalk ZB.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Well, in case you weren't aware, they had a leaders'
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: debate last night. Now, do you know, under electoral law,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: I'm really not supposed to give an opinion in this period.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: I'm not supposed to tell you who to vote for,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: and I guess that means saying who won or not
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: is apparently against the rules, but that will not stop
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: all sorts of commentators having their say today. Bridget Morton
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: is joining us later. What I'm going to say... is
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: what I felt right from the get-go. National and Labour
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: are playing from the same pack of cards. What differs
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: between them is the $ 11 billion or so that isn't
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: already committed to day-to-day public expenses, and National would like
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: to have roads, and Labour wants to have pay equity.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: But otherwise, at the end of the day, they're both
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: pretty much committed to the basics, albeit underfunded. The biggest
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: difference between them really is the vibe. And the vibe
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: was a bit meh. The first thing said in the
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: panel last night is there's no zingers. And that was fair.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: There were no zingers. Both those leaders didn't seem to
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: have the ability to inspire confidence that they should be
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: leading us. And that was reflected in last night's poll
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: that happened just before the debate, which showed both men
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: are around the 20 percent approval mark. And then you
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: combine that with the two big parties at historically low
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: levels of support. 40% and growing are unsatisfied with the
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: performance of our traditional leading parties, the guys normally charged
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: with forming and leading coalitions. But this 40% are prepared
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: to support an alternative. So really the talking point in
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: this election are the minor parties and their growing support.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: And all they need to do is shake the perception
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: that they're ideologically extreme, be a bit personable, make some sense.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: It's time, and the time is ripe, for a Peter
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: Dunn moment. And a Peter Dunn moment might mean somebody
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: might become a kingmaker. So really, I'm actually a lot
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: more excited about the multi-party debate, which is, you know,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: the minor guys. And that's happening October the 13th, TVNZ, 7pm,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: with Tover O'Brien. And the lineup of the smaller parties. Now,
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: they're going to be confirmed after what was called a
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: TVNZ qualifying poll. What I don't know is if last
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: night's poll was the qualifying poll. Because I'll tell you
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: who's just waiting to be invited because she can see
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: the moment coming. And that is Q from top. Anyway,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: more with Bridget Morton just before six o'clock today. A
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: big piece of policy yesterday out of National. stripping some
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: foreign aid and sticking it into Pharmac. So what could
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: we spend the money on? That story's next.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Pauline is right on the text and she says, if
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Chris Hipkins is the answer, what the hell was the question?
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Anne writes to me, I thought Luxon did really well
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: in the debate, says Anne.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: If there is a change of government, I worry because
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: Labour's costings are dubious. I think we might possibly go
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: back to how things were before National got in, unfortunately.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: So have your opinion. You don't need to hear mine.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Have your opinion. You can text me 9292. It is
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: now 14 minutes after five. So a bit of policy yesterday.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: National is promising to cut foreign aid to pay for
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: new medicines if it leaves the next government. It wants
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: to deliver a further $ 604 million uplift in Pharmax Medicine Boost.
• 6:35
  Speaker 6: Funding more medicine is only part of the picture. We'll
• 6:37
  Speaker 6: also set a national target to get more Kiwis into
• 6:39
  Speaker 6: clinical trials, giving them access to the newest treatments, often
• 6:43
  Speaker 6: years earlier. We'll co-invest in producing CAR T-cell therapy here
• 6:46
  Speaker 6: in New Zealand. It is a life-changing cancer treatment that
• 6:49
  Speaker 6: reprograms a patient's own immune cells and making it here
• 6:52
  Speaker 6: means patients will no longer need their cells sent overseas.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: So to talk to this, we've got the Chief Executive
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: of Medicines New Zealand with us, Graeme Jarvis. Good morning
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: to you, Graeme.
• 7:03
  Speaker 7: Good morning, Andrew.
• 7:04
  Speaker 8: How are you?
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: Very good. You welcome the news.
• 7:07
  Speaker 7: Look, I think it's a really great start. I mean,
• 7:09
  Speaker 7: those things are interlinked. If you're not actually investing in
• 7:12
  Speaker 7: the new medicines, you're not likely to get the clinical
• 7:15
  Speaker 7: trials here. So I think we need to get moving
• 7:17
  Speaker 7: on it. But it's a good start, but there's still
• 7:19
  Speaker 7: a long way to go.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: When you say a good start, you mean, I mean,
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: you want even more money put into Pharmac?
• 7:25
  Speaker 7: Well, I think we've got to look at history and
• 7:27
  Speaker 7: go back to the 1990s and say it's a government
• 7:29
  Speaker 7: decision to basically drop the level of investment in medicines
• 7:34
  Speaker 7: as part of the Vote Health portfolio and budget. to
• 7:38
  Speaker 7: about a third of what it is in the rest
• 7:40
  Speaker 7: of the OECD. So to get back to those sort
• 7:42
  Speaker 7: of levels, it's going to take a long period of
• 7:46
  Speaker 7: time and significantly more investment.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: And why is that so important?
• 7:50
  Speaker 7: Because medicine's actually an important part of any health system.
• 7:54
  Speaker 7: Just ask any other OECD country. They certainly help with
• 7:57
  Speaker 7: productivity within hospitals, so they help the workforce there. They
• 8:00
  Speaker 7: help keep people out of the hospitals in the first place.
• 8:03
  Speaker 7: They certainly help patient outcomes as well. And if people
• 8:06
  Speaker 7: are healthy... They're able to be a productive part of
• 8:09
  Speaker 7: any economy as well. So, yep, medicines definitely matter. Medicines
• 8:13
  Speaker 7: do make a difference.
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: Well said. Let's look at some of the particulars. National
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: has a target for clinical trials. What did you make
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: of that?
• 8:20
  Speaker 7: Again, a good thing to do. I mean, clinical trials
• 8:23
  Speaker 7: have many benefits for health systems in terms of helping
• 8:26
  Speaker 7: doctors get experience with some of the up-and-coming medicines that
• 8:30
  Speaker 7: are still experimental, so they're not actually in the system.
• 8:34
  Speaker 7: And they also have benefits from an economic perspective. So
• 8:37
  Speaker 7: for a foreign direct investment, I mean, because companies pay
• 8:39
  Speaker 7: to run clinical trials, they're really important. But I would
• 8:42
  Speaker 7: hasten to add that a lot of other countries have
• 8:45
  Speaker 7: got onto this foreign direct investment thing. And it's actually
• 8:49
  Speaker 7: whether you're investing in the medicines once they make it
• 8:51
  Speaker 7: through the clinical trial process. And at the moment, I'd
• 8:54
  Speaker 7: say New Zealand is, well, bottom of the barrel from
• 8:56
  Speaker 7: the OECD perspective. So good to see us pull our
• 8:59
  Speaker 7: socks up. Okay.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: The other thing they talked about was CAR-T cell therapy,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: the therapy that saved David Down's life. He's been a
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: big advocate. Is it really a silver bullet? Is that
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: a game changer?
• 9:08
  Speaker 7: Well, I think that's the beauty of innovation in medicines,
• 9:11
  Speaker 7: isn't it? We're getting a lot of these potentially one
• 9:13
  Speaker 7: and done treatments. So you're not on something for long
• 9:16
  Speaker 7: term for your cancers, for example. some of the gene
• 9:19
  Speaker 7: therapies that are coming through that other countries are investing
• 9:22
  Speaker 7: in as well, which are one and done. These are
• 9:25
  Speaker 7: all exciting developments, and I think it's the right thing
• 9:28
  Speaker 7: for us to do. A productive economy only comes if
• 9:31
  Speaker 7: you've got a productive workforce that aren't sick and unable
• 9:35
  Speaker 7: to be at work. So it's all got to be good.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: Well, Graeme Jarvis, thank you. Stay well. Graeme, of course,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: is the CEO of Medicines New Zealand. What else is
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: in the policy? Lowering the free bowel screening age to
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: 50 by 2029, completing the free breast screening extension to
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: age 74 by 2029. launching new pilots for prostate and
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: lung cancer as a survivor of prostate cancer now eight
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: years ago now. found through screening. I totally agree with that.
• 10:02
  Speaker 2: And to deliver free cervical screening for all women aged
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: 25 to 69 from March 2027. I'll have more to
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: say about this whole thing in a few moments time.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: Right now it's 18 after five. It's time for some
• 10:14
  Speaker 2: good news. And the good news is that business confidence
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: is up, according to the NZIER. So who's feeling it
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: in Canterbury? That story's next.
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: The Early Edition Pool Show podcast on iHeartRadio, powered by
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Newstalk ZB. News and views you trust to start your day.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: It's Early Edition with Andrew Dickens and Spark for Business.
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: Technology that keeps business moving. Newstalk ZB.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: On the text, Zane reckons that Hipkins easily won the debate.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: He thought that Luxton was full of obfuscation, hard to
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: say this time of the morning. He didn't like the
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: way that Christopher Luxton said nurses hired at the end
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: of Labour's term were in fact hired by Luxton's government.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: So Zane reckoned it was for Hipkins. Meanwhile, Grant says
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: National did OK. Hipkins was like Willie Jackson, a little
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: bit snivelly, is Grant's opinion. What's your opinion of 92-92?
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Now it's 5.21 and it looks like business confidence is
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: rebounding as we head towards the election. NZIER's quarterly survey
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: of business opinion shows confidence jumped in the September quarter
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: with a net 40% of firms thinking the economy will
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: improve and that's up from just 14% in June. Now
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: that's amazing because there's always downsides with the world economy
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: etc and of course what it also means is weak
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: demand and that remains a challenge. Skilled workers are harder
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: to find and higher oil prices are creating uncertainty. So
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Business Canterbury CEO Leanne Watson is with me now. Good
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: morning to you, Leanne.
• 11:40
  Speaker 8: Good morning, Andrew.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: Are you feeling it in Canterbury?
• 11:43
  Speaker 8: Oh, look, we certainly are. And this is great news
• 11:47
  Speaker 8: to hear that we are seeing this lift across the country,
• 11:50
  Speaker 8: which is great. It definitely reflects what we have been
• 11:53
  Speaker 8: seeing in Canterbury recently. through our own survey and also
• 11:55
  Speaker 8: just what we're hearing on the ground. Our numbers are
• 11:57
  Speaker 8: a little higher, with around 72% of Canterbury firms expecting
• 12:02
  Speaker 8: stronger financial performance over the next 12 months, but really
• 12:04
  Speaker 8: positive news all around.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you live in the promised land, don't you? And
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: there's an awful lot going very, very well for you.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: Do you think that businesses are finally going, stop worrying
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: about everything, stop worrying about the government, stop worrying about
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump, stop worrying about tariffs, just do it?
• 12:20
  Speaker 8: Look, absolutely. You know, I guess there have been a
• 12:24
  Speaker 8: lot of adversity, a lot of challenges over the last
• 12:26
  Speaker 8: five years, and I think businesses have now come to
• 12:28
  Speaker 8: the conclusion that actually change is really the only constant
• 12:31
  Speaker 8: that they are going to see. So they've definitely become
• 12:34
  Speaker 8: used to adapting and really focusing on the things that
• 12:36
  Speaker 8: they can control. Those are the things that are common
• 12:39
  Speaker 8: across our business community, and I think we're starting to
• 12:41
  Speaker 8: see that across the rest of the country as well.
• 12:43
  Speaker 9: Okay.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: We've got an election coming up. How is business feeling?
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: What do you want to hear from our politicians?
• 12:52
  Speaker 8: Well, when we talk about certainty, that is certainly one
• 12:54
  Speaker 8: of the things that businesses are wanting. And we know
• 12:56
  Speaker 8: that that's really tricky, particularly, as I say, around the
• 12:59
  Speaker 8: things that we can't control, like, you know, at the moment,
• 13:02
  Speaker 8: our fuel prices and some of the geopolitical tensions. So,
• 13:04
  Speaker 8: you know, we do want to see policies that will
• 13:07
  Speaker 8: help businesses be more productive. We want to make sure
• 13:10
  Speaker 8: that they've got access to the right people, and that
• 13:14
  Speaker 8: includes some of the skilled labour that you mentioned in
• 13:16
  Speaker 8: your lead-in. And we also want to make sure that
• 13:19
  Speaker 8: the policies actually get out of the way and reduce
• 13:22
  Speaker 8: compliance where they just simply don't add any value. I
• 13:26
  Speaker 8: think we are starting to see some good talk across
• 13:29
  Speaker 8: bipartisan agreements on some of the big issues that really
• 13:32
  Speaker 8: help or hinder businesses. So that's really positive to see.
• 13:35
  Speaker 8: I guess we'll And, you know, we'll work out whether
• 13:38
  Speaker 8: or not that comes through after the election.
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: Well, just keep on doing it and have a great day.
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: And I thank you for your time today, Business Canterbury
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: CEO Leanne Watson. And it is 5.21. So David writes,
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: good morning, Andrew. I think the winner of the debate
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: was Jack Tame. Exceptionally well prepared and neutral. Now, the
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: interesting thing, I was following a live blog while this
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: was happening and hearing what happened during the airbrakes. And
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: Jack the whole time was saying, we've got to quicken
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: things up. We've got to go faster. And I did
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: think that the whole thing was somewhat rushed. And I
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: did think that when they got down to the yes,
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: no questions, Pipkin showed some surety in his beliefs. And
• 14:10
  Speaker 2: what I noted was that Christopher Luxon, he would say something,
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: but he'd always say a qualifier. We'll talk more about
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: this with Bridget Morton before six. It's now 5.24. News
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: Talks FB, I'm Andrew Dickinson for Ryan Bridge, who's preparing
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: for a big debate, which is happening tonight at 7pm.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: I'll run you through that a little bit later on
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: in the show. So the Pharmac and foreign aid thing.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: National's trade-off between foreign aid and Pharmac To me, it's
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: just a sign of how far we've fallen. So firstly,
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: our spend on medicines through Pharmac has always been woefully low.
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: It pales beside Australia's investment. It's never made sense to me.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: What we just heard makes total sense to me. Medicines
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: funded by Pharmac save money within the health system, preventing
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: ongoing costs through hospitalisation and ongoing care and the cost
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: of drugs. Graham Jarvis said all that, and I agree.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: The way we've underfunded it has been a false economy.
• 15:02
  Speaker 2: But successive governments have always found excuses to keep it
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: running on fumes. So look, it should be appropriately funded.
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: I welcome it.
• 15:10
  Speaker 9: But it isn't.
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: But now, National decided to rob Peter to pay Paul
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: by reducing our foreign aid.
• 15:16
  Speaker 9: Not all of it.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: About 10% of it. But that will still be enough
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: to lower our perception as a compassionate country actively participating
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: on a world stage. In an ideal world, if we
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: were still rocking it, we would be wealthy enough to
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: fund both. This should not be a debating point. This
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: should not be an election point. But we are not.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: And in that is more proof that we are a
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: shadow of the country we used to be. ZB takes
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: flying in. Hipkins won that debate hands down. I may
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: switch back to Labour from New Zealand first today. Another one.
• 15:51
  Speaker 7: Morning.
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: If anyone thinks Chris Hipkins won, they must be definitely
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: not well. John, I reckon, said Luxon was very good
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: on his numbers. Not once did he have to look
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: at his notes. Hipkins always looking at his notes. And
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: here's another one. Morning, Andrew.
• 16:05
  Speaker 9: Who wrote this?
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Mike wrote this. I'm tired of running our country, the
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: running of our country, being more of a popularity contest
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: and a what do I get question rather than the
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: who's best at actually running the country responsibly question. Watching
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: the debate last night, I saw two people trying to
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: be as popular as possible. And unfortunately, the ship has
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: sailed for both of them. But what I also saw
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: was one person who knows and understands the forward impact
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: of each decision that has to be in government. And
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: for that reason, for Mike, Luxem won it. Bridget Morton's
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: going to join us just before six o'clock to give
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: us her opinion. I'm not going to give you mine
• 16:39
  Speaker 2: because you're giving it all for me. It's fantastic. Keep
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: them coming in, 92-92. The Britannia Shield, I've mentioned it already.
• 16:48
  Speaker 2: This is the new idea out of the UK to
• 16:50
  Speaker 2: spend £ 10 billion on a new missile and drone defence
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: shield system. Of course, America's wanted it. Israel's wanted it. Finally,
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: the UK's wanted it. That's a big spend by the
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: United Kingdom, who have even worse financial and economic and
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: fiscal problems than we have. So Gavin Gray's going to
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: join us in a few moments' time to talk about
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: the Britannia shield. And also, I'll tell you another thing
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: about the UK. It's a bit of argy-bargy with Argy.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Argentina and the UK are starting to clash swords. More
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: on that a little bit later on, but news and
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: sport is next. This is Early Edition. I'm Andrew Dickens.
• 17:25
  Speaker 9: This is Newstalk ZB.
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: It's on now.
• 17:29
  Speaker 10: It's on now.
• 17:30
  Speaker 11: It's on now.
• 17:32
  Speaker 5: It's on now.
• 17:33
  Speaker 6: It's on now.
• 17:34
  Speaker 12: We can stay like this forever.
• 17:40
  Speaker 11: Stay forever.
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: Forever.
• 17:42
  Speaker 13: We're buying books again.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: The Early Edition Full Show Podcast on iHeartRadio, powered by
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: Newstalk ZB.
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: Hear it first.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Andrew Dickens on Early Edition with Spark for Business, technology
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: that keeps business moving. Newstalk ZB.
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: Good morning to you.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the program. Bob loves Christopher Luxon. Bob says
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Christopher Luxon is easily our best prime minister in the
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: last 50 years or so. In fact, if Bob had
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: his way, Christopher Luxor would be prime minister for life.
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: Carol really liked the way Jack Tame did this. Other
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: texters say Jack didn't let the guys talk over each
• 18:31
  Speaker 2: other and they didn't like that. Here's Carol's big concern, though.
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: She reckons that both leaders need to focus on stating
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: on what each party has to offer rather than running
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: their opposition down. She reckons that personal attacks show a
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: lack of professionalism. Thank you so much for your text, Carol.
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: And on the debate about debates, we have a debate tonight.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: The New Zealand Herald Future of New Zealand debate is tonight, 7pm.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: It's hosted by Ryan Bridge, which is why I'm here
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: and Ryan isn't. He's preparing for this thing. This is
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: a 90-minute thing, so a bit longer, hopefully not quite
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: as rushed as last night's one was. And instead of
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: just the main political party leaders, there'll be politicians and
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: entrepreneurs and business leaders and other influential voices talking about
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: the country's long-term direction, which is why it's called the
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Future of New Zealand Debate. There will be politicians there,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Nicola Willis, Barbara Edmonds, Shane Jones, Nicola McKee from ACT,
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: Tamitha Paul from The Greens, Daniel Ebb from Opportunity, and
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: Oriini Kaipara from Te Pāti Māori. It's on three, and
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: it's on the New Zealand Herald website, and it's on
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: tonight at seven. It is 22 minutes to six. Around
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: the country we go. Callum Proctor joins us from Dunedin.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Callum.
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: Morning, Andrew.
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: So there's a big fire near Queenstown on Walter Peak.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: What's the latest?
• 19:44
  Speaker 11: Fire crews will be heading back to the Walter Peak
• 19:47
  Speaker 11: vegetation blaze this morning. It's been burning on the slopes
• 19:50
  Speaker 11: of Lake Wakatupu across from Queenstown. Operations were suspended through
• 19:54
  Speaker 11: the night, but to find emergency safe, 15 firefighters and
• 19:58
  Speaker 11: four helicopters will resume ground and air operations there this morning.
• 20:03
  Speaker 11: So as of last night, the 390 hectare fire was
• 20:05
  Speaker 11: neither contained nor controlled and Although the ODT reports the
• 20:10
  Speaker 11: historic homestead and other buildings there have been saved. Fens
• 20:14
  Speaker 11: says the main area of active fire is around McKinlay's Creek.
• 20:18
  Speaker 9: That's east of the homestead.
• 20:20
  Speaker 11: Nor'westerly winds and light rain forecast in the area today.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: Well, let's have winders keeping the smoke away from Queenstown.
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: What is your weather?
• 20:28
  Speaker 11: Mostly cloudy here, occasional rain, 18 the high.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: To Christchurch we go. Claire Sherwood, good morning to you.
• 20:33
  Speaker 9: Good morning.
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: So there was going to be a camper van park
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: in the CBD, but that plan's been scrapped.
• 20:38
  Speaker 11: Why?
• 20:39
  Speaker 14: That's right. Yeah, this caused a lot of interest at
• 20:41
  Speaker 14: the time. Effectively, local investor Liz Harris had Had it
• 20:44
  Speaker 14: consented to build a motorhome park right in the middle
• 20:48
  Speaker 14: of the CBD near Latimer Square, it would have up
• 20:51
  Speaker 14: to 25 tourist camper van and motorhome spots available. This
• 20:55
  Speaker 14: was back in 2024. It was all signed off, ready
• 20:57
  Speaker 14: to go. But the site has stayed very empty. The
• 21:00
  Speaker 14: trouble is that Liz Harris tells us that it was
• 21:02
  Speaker 14: going to end up costing six times what she had
• 21:04
  Speaker 14: budgeted for. She had consented instead now for a 63
• 21:08
  Speaker 14: bay car park instead, as if we need more of those.
• 21:11
  Speaker 14: She says the camper van spot was a big dream
• 21:13
  Speaker 14: of hers, especially near the stadium and right in the
• 21:15
  Speaker 14: middle of the CBD.
• 21:16
  Speaker 13: But it simply became too uneconomical.
• 21:18
  Speaker 14: So she shifted focus. All 60 neighbouring landlords and renters
• 21:22
  Speaker 14: are very keen to see the car park. And she
• 21:24
  Speaker 14: says it will be ready within the month.
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: Because there's always been a big debate about the lack
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: of car parks around the stadium, which the stadium actually
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: deliberately designed for so that people came into the CBD,
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: hung out, spent some money and then walked to the stadium.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: But that's another question. How's your weather today?
• 21:38
  Speaker 14: Absolutely fine. High cloud developing this afternoon. Northerly's dying out.
• 21:42
  Speaker 14: The high will be 21 degrees.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Max Toll joins us now from Wellington. Good morning to you, Max.
• 21:47
  Speaker 9: Good morning.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: Beautiful weather down there. My partner's working down there at
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: the moment. Beautiful weather at the moment. But a very
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: sad man's sort of trial continues today. after the fire
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: at Lifer's Lodge.
• 21:57
  Speaker 10: Yeah, it is lately. Yes, this is. So the man
• 22:01
  Speaker 10: who set the fire is actually in prison for a
• 22:03
  Speaker 10: long time, convicted of murder. This is examining rather who's
• 22:07
  Speaker 10: responsible for allowing this Newtown hostel building to lapse into
• 22:12
  Speaker 10: a condition that may have contributed to five people's deaths
• 22:15
  Speaker 10: in 2023. Four people are on trial this week. The
• 22:18
  Speaker 10: company director, the property manager, Two people responsible for the
• 22:21
  Speaker 10: fire alarm system. Charges of manslaughter, all four deny culpability.
• 22:26
  Speaker 10: The fire safety system wasn't connected or monitored. Residents had
• 22:30
  Speaker 10: to call emergency services themselves. Many residents would smoke in
• 22:34
  Speaker 10: their rooms. There was an earlier fire that night set
• 22:36
  Speaker 10: by the murderer himself. One of the accused silenced the
• 22:40
  Speaker 10: smoke alarm after that and didn't reset it. If these
• 22:43
  Speaker 10: fire systems had been working as they should, five people
• 22:46
  Speaker 10: may have survived.
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: Oh, my God. OK, how's the weather?
• 22:50
  Speaker 10: Yeah, a little cloud, but you're right, mostly fine. Stronger northerlies,
• 22:54
  Speaker 10: 15 the high today.
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: And I thank you. Niva Retumanu from Auckland.
• 22:56
  Speaker 9: Good morning to you.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: Good morning. So people forget, of course, that councils look
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: after all the roads in our cities and our towns
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: and the government worries about the state highways. So now
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: the council's joining the government on a war against potholes.
• 23:08
  Speaker 13: Yes, let's talk about a crackdown on potholes. So what's happening?
• 23:11
  Speaker 13: It's promising. This is Auckland Council promising. to repair 95%
• 23:15
  Speaker 13: of reported potholes on Auckland's busiest roads within 24 hours.
• 23:19
  Speaker 13: So the council's calling on drivers, all drivers, to report
• 23:23
  Speaker 13: any they notice so that contractors can get on to
• 23:26
  Speaker 13: them ASAP. So it's saying also that obviously repairing the
• 23:29
  Speaker 13: roads earlier, this is going to help prevent them from
• 23:31
  Speaker 13: turning into a much bigger and more expensive headache down
• 23:34
  Speaker 13: the track. And you'll remember, Andrew, last year there was
• 23:37
  Speaker 13: a blitz that saw that was more than 600 potholes
• 23:39
  Speaker 13: repaired in four weeks.
• 23:40
  Speaker 7: Mm-hmm.
• 23:41
  Speaker 13: So here we go again.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: Here we go again. And how's the weather?
• 23:44
  Speaker 13: Areas of morning, low cloud or fog, then fine. Auckland's high, 18.
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Niva Retomaro out of Auckland. And
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: a text through Andrew. What did they say on the news?
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: That they couldn't get the fire in Queenstown under control
• 23:54
  Speaker 2: with 15 helicopters and a lake full of water? Are
• 23:57
  Speaker 2: we really ready for an El Niño summer? That's a
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: fair point. Speaking of which, speaking about the climate and
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: where we live, who even knew that Tauranga had a
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: historic district? I spent a decade going to Tauranga during
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: the school holidays. Never knew it was there, but I
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: know about it now because it made the news yesterday.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Place looks fun. I might pay it a visit next time,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: but not if it's bucketing down. The council has decided
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: new rules will mean it will close in heavy rain
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: because they're worried about the threat of slips. So I
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: took a little tour of the area using Google Maps yesterday,
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: and yes, the place has escarpments looming over it from
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: the east. And they already know about the threat because
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: there's been this flooding mitigation plan in place. And what
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: was even more worrying looking at the area is all
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: the houses that are built right under the escarpments. And
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: if it is going to be a rainy summer like
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: it was last year, it makes me wonder just how
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: many places we exist in with an unwarranted confidence that
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: everything's sweet. 17 to 6, Gavin Gray on the Britannia
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: Shield is next. And then Bridget Morton on her thoughts.
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: She's a political commentator, by the way. Her thoughts on
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: last night's debate. Now, you've got to say one thing.
• 25:03
  Speaker 2: New Zealand got a lot right when we set up KiwiSaver.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: And one of those things was just how easy it
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: was to switch providers. So how do you choose a
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: KiwiSaver provider? Well, returns matter, obviously, but it's also worth
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: asking who is recognised with independent awards, because anyone can
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: say they're the best, but official recognition doesn't come easy.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: So Milford has again been named CanStar's KiwiSaver Provider of
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: the Year. a record seventh year in a row. Milford
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: is the only KiwiSaver provider to be named a Consumer
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: New Zealand People's Choice Award winner, and they've done that
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: nine years in a row. It's that level of consistency
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: which is the reason to choose Milford. Past performance, though,
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: not a reliable indicator of future performance. Investment involves risks,
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: and returns can be negative as well as positive. Milford
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: Funds Limited is the issuer of the Milford KiwiSaver plan.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: Go to themilfordasset.com to read the Milford KiwiSaver plan product
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: disclosure statement.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: International correspondence with NZI Insurance. Peace of mind for New
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Zealand business.
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: 13 to 6 out of the UK. Kevin Gray, good
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: morning to you.
• 26:07
  Speaker 15: Hi there, Andrew.
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: Tell me about the Britannia Shield.
• 26:11
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 26:12
  Speaker 15: So this idea coming out of the Conservative Party, of course,
• 26:15
  Speaker 15: they were in power until about two years and three
• 26:18
  Speaker 15: months ago. They are the main party of opposition. And
• 26:21
  Speaker 15: today at their annual conference, they've announced a pledge to
• 26:24
  Speaker 15: invest some 24 billion New Zealand dollars. in a new
• 26:28
  Speaker 15: missile and drone defence system in order to defend the UK. That's,
• 26:32
  Speaker 15: of course, if they win the next general election. They're
• 26:36
  Speaker 15: calling it the Britannia Shield, and we're being told it
• 26:38
  Speaker 15: would be an integrated network of radar, command and control systems,
• 26:43
  Speaker 15: as well as interceptor missiles. Now, at one point, somebody
• 26:47
  Speaker 15: compared it like the Iron Dome, of course, a reference
• 26:50
  Speaker 15: to Israel's air defence system. And then somebody said, hang
• 26:53
  Speaker 15: on a minute, what you're suggesting is nothing like that system.
• 26:57
  Speaker 15: And they said, no, no, it was just a turn
• 26:59
  Speaker 15: of phrase. Either way, others are saying, look, you won't
• 27:02
  Speaker 15: get anything for 24 billion New Zealand dollars. A real
• 27:06
  Speaker 15: Iron Dome is going to cost something like seven, maybe
• 27:08
  Speaker 15: eight times that amount. The Conservatives are saying, yeah, we're
• 27:11
  Speaker 15: going to fund it by repurposing funding for net zero.
• 27:14
  Speaker 15: The welfare budget will be cut and reinstating a cap
• 27:16
  Speaker 15: on child benefit. But many are saying it's just not
• 27:19
  Speaker 15: going to happen.
• 27:20
  Speaker 9: All right.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Meanwhile, what's the story around RAF Fairford, of course, which
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: got into the news after those attacks? We've had more arrests.
• 27:28
  Speaker 15: We have one more arrest today, which brings the total
• 27:31
  Speaker 15: to seven. Six people who have already been arrested, five
• 27:35
  Speaker 15: at the scene back on the 27th of September outside
• 27:38
  Speaker 15: this Air Force base with three suspicious vehicles found in
• 27:42
  Speaker 15: the early hours. and a sixth man arrested some four
• 27:46
  Speaker 15: days later. They have all been released on bail, which,
• 27:49
  Speaker 15: bearing in mind they contacted the bomb squad and the
• 27:52
  Speaker 15: anti-terrorist police that night, was a bit of a shock
• 27:56
  Speaker 15: and a surprise. And now a 22-year-old British national becomes
• 27:59
  Speaker 15: the seventh person arrested in connection. with suspicion of preparation
• 28:03
  Speaker 15: of terrorist acts in connection with that incident at Fairford.
• 28:07
  Speaker 15: RAF Fairford is really a very important base, so not
• 28:11
  Speaker 15: so much to the Royal Air Force, but to the Americans.
• 28:14
  Speaker 15: And that's because they've been using it for many years
• 28:16
  Speaker 15: as a so-called forward operating location. It's been home to
• 28:20
  Speaker 15: the B-1 and B-52 bombers, and they have flown missions
• 28:24
  Speaker 15: to Iran. And that was said to be the problem.
• 28:29
  Speaker 15: Iran back in July said any base use for aggression
• 28:31
  Speaker 15: against Iranian territory constitutes a legitimate target. And now we
• 28:35
  Speaker 15: learn from Donald Trump that is exactly why he has
• 28:39
  Speaker 15: withdrawn all about a dozen of the B-1 bombers from
• 28:42
  Speaker 15: that base. They were all flown back to America, all
• 28:45
  Speaker 15: done very quietly without any announcement. suggesting that Iran is
• 28:48
  Speaker 15: plotting a drone attack on the base. And these aircraft
• 28:51
  Speaker 15: said to be worth over a billion New Zealand dollars
• 28:54
  Speaker 15: each are not something to be played with.
• 28:57
  Speaker 9: Absolutely.
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: And of course, Donald admitting that they've been rumbled. So
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: there we go. And I thank you so much, Gavin Gray,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: out of the UK. The argy-bargy about the argies, by
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: the way, Argentina's foreign minister has told an audience that
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: included the British ambassador that his government would stop the
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: Falkland Islands from exploiting its offshore oil fields as part
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: of a strategy to take So the argy-bargy with the
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: argies continue 10 to 6. To the leaders debate, Chris
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: versus Chris. Artificial intelligence, health and education were big talkers.
• 29:29
  Speaker 16: We were telling kids to stay home when they were
• 29:32
  Speaker 16: sick and school attendance really suffered as a result.
• 29:34
  Speaker 17: But in Ireland and in Canada and in the UK
• 29:36
  Speaker 17: and in Australia they had higher attendance rates, Chris.
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: I didn't interrupt you.
• 29:39
  Speaker 16: All right, I wanted to get kids back to school
• 29:41
  Speaker 16: as well, and we didn't need to focus on getting
• 29:43
  Speaker 16: kids back to school, but we've also got to focus
• 29:45
  Speaker 16: on making sure that what they're learning is relevant to
• 29:47
  Speaker 16: the world that they're going to be going into.
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: And, of course, they clashed over fiscal plans.
• 29:51
  Speaker 17: Chris, it is unfunded. You've got $ 3. 1 billion in your
• 29:54
  Speaker 17: financial fiscal plan.
• 29:56
  Speaker 16: No, it's not. Stop saying things that aren't true. This
• 30:00
  Speaker 16: is why people don't trust you.
• 30:01
  Speaker 12: No, Chris.
• 30:01
  Speaker 16: Because they know they can't believe what you tell them.
• 30:04
  Speaker 16: And we're going to prioritise that funding. It's in our
• 30:06
  Speaker 16: fiscal plan. You would be able to make the same
• 30:08
  Speaker 16: claim if you actually had a fiscal plan.
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: Meanwhile, Christopher Luxon reckoned that life is getting easier for Kiwis.
• 30:12
  Speaker 17: Some New Zealanders are feeling it very strongly in their country.
• 30:14
  Speaker 17: Some New Zealanders still are not, and there's more for
• 30:17
  Speaker 17: us to do. But the way you have to deal
• 30:19
  Speaker 17: with it is you have to understand the economy.
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: There were some chippy flip-flops. You criticised national cell phone ban.
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: You said it would undermine school leadership.
• 30:25
  Speaker 13: Keep it or scrap it?
• 30:26
  Speaker 7: Keep it.
• 30:27
  Speaker 9: Oh, great flip-flop. Good one.
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: Will you keep the gang patch ban in place?
• 30:29
  Speaker 16: Yes, we will keep it.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: Meanwhile, Christopher Luxon was absolutely crystal clear on top.
• 30:35
  Speaker 15: You are 100% ruling out opportunity of any support deal,
• 30:40
  Speaker 15: no matter what.
• 30:40
  Speaker 17: I have been crystal clear with who we could or
• 30:42
  Speaker 17: couldn't work with. I've laid that out from the very
• 30:44
  Speaker 17: beginning of the year, being clear about opportunity. The big
• 30:47
  Speaker 17: opportunity is actually to vote for a national party. Want
• 30:50
  Speaker 17: national party ministers around that cabinet table rather than any
• 30:52
  Speaker 17: other coalition partner? Make sure you vote for national.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: Bridget Morton is a political commentator and joins me now. Hello, Bridget.
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: Were you not entertained or was it a bit meh?
• 31:02
  Speaker 13: I definitely was entertained.
• 31:03
  Speaker 12: I think what was on show last night was actually
• 31:06
  Speaker 12: two leaders that were very much across the detail and
• 31:09
  Speaker 12: very well prepared for the debate. Ultimately, though, for the debate,
• 31:13
  Speaker 12: they actually needed to convince people to vote for them
• 31:17
  Speaker 12: and not necessarily for some of their potential coalition partners,
• 31:20
  Speaker 12: because that is actually the real stake in the ground here.
• 31:23
  Speaker 12: It's not necessarily red versus blue, Chris, but ultimately how
• 31:26
  Speaker 12: much of the party vote can those major parties actually
• 31:30
  Speaker 12: attract to this election?
• 31:31
  Speaker 2: Yes, the tail is definitely wagging the dog. And after
• 31:34
  Speaker 2: that poll, of course, we see that Topp is still
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: in a position to be a kingmaker, but the Prime
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: Minister was very strong about Topp.
• 31:42
  Speaker 13: Yeah, absolutely.
• 31:43
  Speaker 12: I think that's to demonstrate the fact that, you know,
• 31:45
  Speaker 12: if you're looking at the left, you know, block at
• 31:48
  Speaker 12: the moment, that poll demonstrates the only way that Hipkins
• 31:51
  Speaker 12: could actually form a government would be a four-way, you know,
• 31:54
  Speaker 12: would have to be Te Pāti Māori Green, Opportunity and Labour.
• 31:58
  Speaker 12: I think most people would think that that was going
• 32:00
  Speaker 12: to be chaotic and difficult to manage. And there's significant
• 32:03
  Speaker 12: numbers of promises in terms of funding and new taxes
• 32:06
  Speaker 12: across that block that will make it difficult for them
• 32:09
  Speaker 12: to come to a coalition without Hipkins having to give
• 32:12
  Speaker 12: away significant ground.
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: TVNZ's result had Hipkins winning on 49%, Luxon on 24%.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: I'm getting texts the whole time saying, well, obviously the
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: audience was stacked. Do you think the TVNZ result was accurate?
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: And who do you think won?
• 32:26
  Speaker 12: Well, I think the big factor there was actually the
• 32:28
  Speaker 12: undecided factor. And I think we're seeing that coming through,
• 32:31
  Speaker 12: particularly in the polls as well, that there's still a
• 32:33
  Speaker 12: lot of uncertainty out there. We're only a couple of
• 32:36
  Speaker 12: weeks actually out from voting actually opening. And for a
• 32:39
  Speaker 12: lot of people, there's a lot.
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: Of soft vote.
• 32:41
  Speaker 12: They sort of generally know, I think, whether they're sort
• 32:43
  Speaker 12: of going right or left. They're not really sure where
• 32:47
  Speaker 12: they're putting that vote. I think that was what was
• 32:48
  Speaker 12: reflected in that audience poll last night.
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: Good stuff. And I thank you so much for your
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: time today, Bridget Morton. By the way, just playing all
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: that audio. First text says the squabbling is precisely why
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: we didn't watch it.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: The first word on the news of the day. Early
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: edition with Andrew Dickens and Spark for Business. Technology that
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: keeps business moving. News Talk ZB.
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: G'day, Mike. When do you get to do a debate?
• 33:14
  Speaker 11: What?
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: Do you get to do a debate? No, no, no.
• 33:17
  Speaker 9: We do the leaders' breakfasts just on the last week
• 33:20
  Speaker 9: of the campaign. We get them all in. We do
• 33:21
  Speaker 9: the minor parties for half an hour each, and we
• 33:25
  Speaker 9: do the two leaders for two hours each. Have done
• 33:28
  Speaker 9: for years. It's moderately interesting. It can be interesting.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: I missed you last night.
• 33:33
  Speaker 9: Did you?
• 33:34
  Speaker 10: Yes, I did.
• 33:34
  Speaker 9: No, I thought Jack did.
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: He was really rushing it along.
• 33:37
  Speaker 9: He was, but there was a pressure about it. I
• 33:41
  Speaker 9: watched it all this morning, and I said yesterday on
• 33:44
  Speaker 9: the program, I still believe we've got to change. We've
• 33:47
  Speaker 9: all moved on. It's a different world now. and presenting
• 33:50
  Speaker 9: debates like we did in 1973. It's just 19 minutes.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: Praying for a zinger.
• 33:56
  Speaker 9: It's never going to happen. Those days are over. What
• 33:59
  Speaker 9: I'd love to know is how many people who started
• 34:01
  Speaker 9: watching were there at the end, and I tell you,
• 34:03
  Speaker 9: they're not the same number. Anyway, we'll reflect today and
• 34:07
  Speaker 9: see what happens. More importantly, we've got Steve Elker on,
• 34:09
  Speaker 9: who's won again and can't stop winning. So I thought
• 34:12
  Speaker 9: that's good for a chat.
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: Thank you for your company this morning. Have a great day.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: to News Talk ZB from 5 a.m. weekdays or follow
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio.