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David Seymour: Deputy Prime Minister says strikers haven't won the public's sentiment · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So the mega strike's been and gone. What happens now?
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: David Seymour's Deputy Prime Minister Associate Health and Education, Good
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: morning minister, Good morning Ray. What's your take on the
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: public sentiment because from where I'm sitting, it seems like
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: the unions might have won the battle on this one.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Well, you can talk about sentiment, but we need to
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: stick to fact. The pay requests that are being made
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: just sustainable given the government's finances, and they are disconnected
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: from the reality that the New Zealanders who actually pay
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: the taxes to funds any increase have had themselves. You
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: look at teachers, fourteen and a half percent in the
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: last three years, sixty six percent or two thirds of
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: teachers paid over one hundred thousand dollars. In the case
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: of nurses, starting on seventy five under the office, they've
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: had someone who starts today as a nurse will be
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: on eighty six thousand dollars by next year as a graduate.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: That's after a year's step and the rais that's being
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: offered that a nurse would top out at over one
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: hundred and twenty five thousand dollars a year. I don't
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: think that that reality has really hit. But certainly those
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: conditions are pretty attractive compared with what most of the
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: people actually paying the taxes and who have to rearrange
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: their day yesterday, if they have children or who need
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: needed surgery yesterday, are getting themselves.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Given that, will you then rule out reevaluating a fiscal
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: envelope to up an amount that might be offered by
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the Public Service Commission or health en.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Z Well, I'm not going to make a decision like
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  Speaker 2: that on the radio right now, but there are certain
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: realities that you know, there's a series of dominoes that
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: fall and you have to put them back up. We
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: had huge governments that led to huge inflation, that led
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: to high interest rates that led to a recession.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: So that we are now getting any more. They know
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: you won't give them any more than what you will Well, Amed, Well,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: I'm just well, we'll negotiations, Runderway, I'm not going to negotiate.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: But we are now controlling the spending, we know, with
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: half the inflation, with half the interest rates, and we're
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: now getting the economy back on its feet. I mean,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: that's the practical reality that New Zealand faces after the
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: last five years. Now, you know, there seems to be
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: a disconnect between that reality and some of the rhetorican
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: demands from the Union organizers.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: Hey, minister, we headed a Trump going with sanctions against
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Russia and oil companies overnight. Good news.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, it's it's pretty simple. There are some people
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: that fudge this, but you need some moral clarity. This
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: is an illegal war by Putin, who was a dictator,
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: and it's important not just for the Ukrainians' lives but
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: all of our freedom that Ukraine succeeds and pushes Russia out.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: So that's been by personal position for a long time.
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: It's also our government's position.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: What about the you know, the Turkey, China, India buying
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: the oil. That's the real problem, isn't it.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Well, I agree. I mean the intention of our government
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  Speaker 2: and our allies is that Russia is not supported. If
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: people want to do that, then obviously we don't approve
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: of it. But you know, everyone has to decide what
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: sort of world they want to live in. If you'd
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: like one with the rule of law and strong international
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: borders where people can live peacefully, that's one option. The
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: other is that some states can alter their borders and
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: brutalize people by force. So that's another type of world,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: but not the one that we want.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: David semi appreciate your time this morning. Thank you definitely,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Prime Minister Associate Health and Education. For more from Early
• 3:55
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• 3:58
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• 4:01
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