Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Full Show Podcast: 07 March 2025

Transcript

Full Show Podcast: 07 March 2025 · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

0:01
Speaker 1: The issues is the interviews and the insight. Andrew Dickens
0:06
Speaker 1: on early edition with one roof make your Property search simple,
0:11
Speaker 1: News talks.
0:11
Speaker 2: At B it's goodbining to you. Congratulations, you made it.
0:15
Speaker 2: It is Friday, at the end of the working week.
0:17
Speaker 2: Coming up in the next sixty minutes. Well look, it's
0:19
Speaker 2: all about resignations and sackings. This morning. In five minutes,
0:22
Speaker 2: we talked to the head of politics at Otaga University
0:25
Speaker 2: all about what Phil Goff got up to in London.
0:28
Speaker 2: Before six we talked to an aviation expert about the
0:30
Speaker 2: departure of Greg Fouran from Air New Zealand. We're going
0:34
Speaker 2: to cross to Australia for the very latest on cyclone Alfred,
0:37
Speaker 2: which has slowed down which might make it more powerful.
0:40
Speaker 2: And we're going to say goodbye to Sheha. The Wellington
0:43
Speaker 2: Metal Machine will have correspondence from right around New Zealand
0:46
Speaker 2: and the world. Will have news as at breaks and
0:48
Speaker 2: you can have your say by texting me on ninety
0:51
Speaker 2: to ninety two small charge appliance. If you do you
0:53
Speaker 2: want to say something more, you can always email me.
0:56
Speaker 2: It's Dickens at Newstalks atb dot co dot and Z
0:59
Speaker 2: it's seven after the agenda, so that's Friday, the seventh
1:04
Speaker 2: of March, and we will start in Brussels. Ukraine's president
1:08
Speaker 2: do I have to say his name, We all know
1:10
Speaker 2: his name, President Zelenski. He's been at an emergency European
1:15
Speaker 2: Union summit. He he arrived there just hours after a
1:18
Speaker 2: Russian missile hit a hotel in his hometown Akiev.
1:23
Speaker 3: During all this period and last week, you stay with us,
1:27
Speaker 3: and of course from all the Ukrainians, from all our nations,
1:30
Speaker 3: big appreciation, were very spiteful that we are not alone,
1:33
Speaker 3: and these are not just words, we feel it.
1:37
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, UK officials say around twenty countries are interested in
1:42
Speaker 2: joining a coalition of the willing to help Ukraine.
1:46
Speaker 4: Europe faces a clear and present danger, and therefore Europe
1:51
Speaker 4: has to be able to protect itself, to defend itself,
1:55
Speaker 4: as we have to put Ukraine in a position to
1:58
Speaker 4: protect itself and to push our lasting and just peace.
2:04
Speaker 2: Meanwhile, we'll go to Gaza. Remember Gaza, how quickly it
2:08
Speaker 2: got pushed off the front pages. But anyway, President Trump
2:11
Speaker 2: has issued what he calls a final warning to Hamas
2:15
Speaker 2: to release hostages being held in Gaza. He posted to
2:18
Speaker 2: his social truth platform, and here's the quote, I am
2:22
Speaker 2: sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job. Not
2:26
Speaker 2: a single har Mass member will be safe if you
2:28
Speaker 2: don't do as I say.
2:30
Speaker 5: We've had Hamas coming out with a response, with officials
2:33
Speaker 5: saying that these repeated threats from President Trump are encouraging
2:37
Speaker 5: Israel to back out of the Gaza ceasefire deal, and
2:42
Speaker 5: they reiterate that in order for these captives to be freed,
2:46
Speaker 5: what is needed is for Israel to enter into the
2:49
Speaker 5: next phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.
2:52
Speaker 2: And finally, parts of Australia are bracing for tropical Cyclone
2:55
Speaker 2: Alfred to hit the coast of Queensland and New South Wales.
2:59
Speaker 2: Around four million people are in the firing line. Major
3:02
Speaker 2: impact zones include the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.
3:05
Speaker 2: And here's the New South Wales premiere Chris Minds.
3:08
Speaker 6: If they remain in the area, they become trapped. They
3:11
Speaker 6: may be without power, water and other essential services for
3:14
Speaker 6: an extended period of time.
3:16
Speaker 7: We're forecasting very.
3:18
Speaker 6: Heavy rain and in the event of that very heavy rain,
3:21
Speaker 6: evacuation route may be closed.
3:24
Speaker 2: And as they wake up to this storm will took
3:26
Speaker 2: to Dona Tomayo about this in about five ten minutes
3:29
Speaker 2: Time News Talks at b It's coming up ten past.
3:31
Speaker 1: Five on your radio and online on iHeartRadio Early Edition
3:37
Speaker 1: with Andrew Dickens and one roof Make Your Property Search
3:41
Speaker 1: Simple Youth Talks be.
3:43
Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about councils for a bit and
3:45
Speaker 2: first to Wellington and the water this week. Earlier this week,
3:48
Speaker 2: we spoke to the PLODA due Mayor Anita Baker, and
3:51
Speaker 2: I asked her if the Wellington Water chair Nick Leggett,
3:54
Speaker 2: should resign from Wellington Water because of the revelations of
3:57
Speaker 2: financial incompetence. Now, she didn't think so. She said Nick
4:01
Speaker 2: had instituted the report to get to the bottom of
4:03
Speaker 2: the matter and was not responsible for the mess. But
4:06
Speaker 2: it turns out that Anita Baker is a bit of
4:09
Speaker 2: an outlier because yesterday Wellington's Mayor Torlifano and most of
4:13
Speaker 2: the city's councilors have officially requested that Nick resign. They've
4:17
Speaker 2: also asked for a refund for rate players from contractors. Well,
4:21
Speaker 2: good luck with that, But in an interesting move, the
4:24
Speaker 2: councilors have gone and backed the chief executive. Now, this
4:27
Speaker 2: is a bloke named Pat Doherty. They say he's the
4:29
Speaker 2: straight talker. He's made sure the truth is out. He's
4:32
Speaker 2: been in the job for seven months. He had a
4:34
Speaker 2: year before that when he was on the board. He
4:37
Speaker 2: has been summoned for a please explain on Monday, along
4:40
Speaker 2: with Nick Leggett and the head of Audit and Risk
4:44
Speaker 2: and so. Look, while I congratulate Pat and Nick forgetting
4:47
Speaker 2: to the heart of the matter, if they're going to
4:49
Speaker 2: be sackings, it really does need to be of the
4:52
Speaker 2: people who overlooked the rawting, like the head of Water Compliance.
4:58
Speaker 2: I could name the head of Water Compliance Wellington Water,
5:00
Speaker 2: but I won't because I don't want to ruin her weekend.
5:03
Speaker 2: But obviously she wasn't looking at the compliance during her job.
5:06
Speaker 2: Then there are all the counselors who've been part of
5:09
Speaker 2: Wellington Water's governance during the whole fiasco, which goes back years.
5:13
Speaker 2: But you know that turkeys don't vote for Christmas. But look,
5:16
Speaker 2: make no mistake. While the Wellington Water Committee feel there
5:21
Speaker 2: does not need to be sackings, I think they'll find
5:24
Speaker 2: the rape payers demand it because in this world it's
5:29
Speaker 2: about actions and consequences, and if there are no consequences,
5:33
Speaker 2: there are no lessons learned, Andrew Dickens. So it's twelve
5:37
Speaker 2: after five and let's moved to Totonga. The great Todunger
5:39
Speaker 2: Waterfront Playground battle has just flared up. This is a
5:43
Speaker 2: playground that cost five million dollars. That's right, five million
5:48
Speaker 2: dollars for some swings, slides, roundabouts. Now the taxpayer union
5:54
Speaker 2: has been fulminating, asking if the playground was made of
5:57
Speaker 2: shredded rape payers dollars. It does sound like an awful
6:01
Speaker 2: lot of money, doesn't it. But then you go and
6:03
Speaker 2: look at it and frankly, it's awesome. It's part of
6:06
Speaker 2: a ninety two million dollar spruce up of the Teldunger
6:09
Speaker 2: Waterfront which has been a long time coming, and it
6:12
Speaker 2: is quite something. Ever since it opened, it's been packed.
6:17
Speaker 2: Locals love it, tourists love it, downtown business people like
6:21
Speaker 2: the buzz it's created. Apart from one grumpy old guy
6:23
Speaker 2: who rumbled that words or bloody waste of money, in
6:26
Speaker 2: twenty years time, the five million dollars will be nothing
6:29
Speaker 2: and the playground will be part of a whole generations
6:32
Speaker 2: memories of Todonger. And that is a powerful thing that
6:35
Speaker 2: money can't buy. And yes, it could have been cheaper,
6:40
Speaker 2: so I'd ask construction firms around the country to sharpen
6:44
Speaker 2: your pencils when you get a public job. It is
6:48
Speaker 2: not a money tree. And it was also going with
6:50
Speaker 2: the Toetdonger playground to see that the council charged itself fees.
6:54
Speaker 2: A little bit of double dipping there they charged themselves fees,
6:58
Speaker 2: but otherwise the total a playground battle has proven that
7:01
Speaker 2: the taxpayers Union want absolutely no spend it all. They're
7:06
Speaker 2: the grumpy old uncles, aren't they. And if you have
7:08
Speaker 2: no spend at all, isn't that going backwards? And while
7:11
Speaker 2: we can all see the sense in controlling the spend
7:13
Speaker 2: of our government and councils, we can't just sit on
7:16
Speaker 2: our hands expecting things to magically get better. We still
7:20
Speaker 2: need to spend. Spending has to continue, but not carelessly.
7:27
Speaker 2: It's five fourteen cheap of petrols on the way by
7:31
Speaker 2: the way. I'll tell you more about that later. Of course,
7:34
Speaker 2: our dollar has been collapsing, so that's made it more expensive.
7:36
Speaker 2: But it turns out the oil price has been collapsing too,
7:38
Speaker 2: so expect prices to get four percent cheaper. You're welcome.
7:41
Speaker 2: It's Friday. Now as five fourteen, Phil Goff was sacked yesterday.
7:48
Speaker 2: I thought it was interesting that Winston and Peter says
7:50
Speaker 2: that is the hardest job I've ever had to do,
7:52
Speaker 2: because they're mates. As Winston said, I made this man
7:55
Speaker 2: prime Minister back when he was in the coalition. They
7:57
Speaker 2: are friends. But Winston sacked friends. We'll talk about this
8:01
Speaker 2: and why he had to go in just a few moments.
8:04
Speaker 8: Time.
8:04
Speaker 2: It's fourteen after five.
8:08
Speaker 1: Andrew Dickens on a filly edition with one roof. Make
8:11
Speaker 1: your property search simple, use talg zibby all.
8:15
Speaker 2: Right the time. It's now seventeen minutes after five. Phil
8:18
Speaker 2: Goff has gone from London. Winston Peters has sacked the
8:21
Speaker 2: High Commissioner over this question. He asked Finland's Foreign Minister
8:25
Speaker 2: during a public q and a at Chathamhouse.
8:28
Speaker 9: I was rereading Churchill's speech to the House of Commons
8:32
Speaker 9: in nineteen thirty eight after the Munich agreement, and he
8:34
Speaker 9: turned to Chamberlain. He said, you had the choice between
8:38
Speaker 9: war and dishonor. You chose disignor. Yet you will have war.
8:44
Speaker 9: President Trump has restored the bust of Churchill to the
8:47
Speaker 9: Oval Office, But do you think he really understands history.
8:50
Speaker 2: And that's what was all it took for him to
8:53
Speaker 2: lose a very cushy job. Peter says the comments were
8:57
Speaker 2: very disappointing, in fact, deeply disappointing. The head of politics
9:00
Speaker 2: at the University of Otaga with me today, James Hidley,
9:03
Speaker 2: Good morning.
9:03
Speaker 8: To you, Morning morning, Andrew.
9:07
Speaker 2: So was that really a seckable offense?
9:11
Speaker 8: I think usually it wouldn't be, but it was aware
9:15
Speaker 8: that Trump is so sensitive about anybody questioning him that
9:20
Speaker 8: he obviously caught fright and thought he had to demonstrate something.
9:26
Speaker 2: Many people have said. The thing is, if you'd said
9:28
Speaker 2: that as a politician, if you'd said that as a
9:30
Speaker 2: New Zealand citizen, as he said that as an ex
9:32
Speaker 2: prime minister, it would all be fine. But the problem
9:34
Speaker 2: is now he's a diplomat. Is that true?
9:36
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean I agree with that. It was at
9:39
Speaker 8: Chatham House, so we have something called Chatham House rules,
9:42
Speaker 8: which normally means that you can say what you're reckoned,
9:45
Speaker 8: it can't be printed or broadcast. But this was actually
9:49
Speaker 8: a public event. It was broadcast, fairly obscure event, not
9:54
Speaker 8: usually getting focused from across the globe, but somebody picked
9:58
Speaker 8: up on it, and he had identified himself as the
10:02
Speaker 8: British High Commission as the New Zealand High Commissioner, so
10:05
Speaker 8: it was public and as you say, it was something
10:07
Speaker 8: that as a politician he would have been quite free
10:11
Speaker 8: to see such things. And he was a politician, and
10:14
Speaker 8: I think he did step out of his role there.
10:17
Speaker 8: It wasn't absolutely.
10:18
Speaker 2: It's a time and place thing, isn't it. And that
10:21
Speaker 2: wasn't the time and that wasn't the place it appears.
10:24
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean what we have to do is distinguished
10:25
Speaker 8: with what he said and the fact that he said
10:28
Speaker 8: it as High commission in this sensitive time. I mean
10:31
Speaker 8: I agree with what he said, and I think many
10:34
Speaker 8: people do, probably including in the government. Here is as
10:37
Speaker 8: you said, the time, all the sensitivity, and we saw
10:40
Speaker 8: publicly how President Trump even humiliates those who seemed to
10:45
Speaker 8: challenge him over Ukraine. So I think Whenston Peters felt
10:50
Speaker 8: for New Zealand's interests, had to do a public act
10:53
Speaker 8: in response.
10:54
Speaker 2: All right, well let's move on, and who and what
10:57
Speaker 2: do we need out of the next High commissioner?
11:02
Speaker 8: Well, possibly a career diplomat, because I think this is
11:05
Speaker 8: the challenge when you have somebody who as a former politician,
11:08
Speaker 8: or sometimes you have people from other aspects of public
11:10
Speaker 8: life who maybe sort of slip into modes that they're
11:13
Speaker 8: not trained to do. So I wouldn't be surprised to
11:16
Speaker 8: see fairly senior person from EMPHAT or somebody who served
11:21
Speaker 8: in kind of key roles elsewhere.
11:24
Speaker 2: All right, James, enjoy your weekend. Thank you for joining
11:26
Speaker 2: us early this morning. That is James Hidley, who is
11:28
Speaker 2: the head of politics at the Otaga University. More on
11:32
Speaker 2: Phil Goff's superpower and other people's superpowers later in the program.
11:36
Speaker 2: It's five twenty. Next we're off to Australia as Psycho
11:39
Speaker 2: and Alfred makes wind landfall should I say well windfall
11:42
Speaker 2: as well. But here's the thing. It's slowed down and
11:46
Speaker 2: the worry is that will make it more powerful. More
11:48
Speaker 2: on this in just a moment.
11:49
Speaker 1: The news you Need this morning and the in depth
11:51
Speaker 1: analysis earlier edition with Andrew Dickens and One Room Make
11:55
Speaker 1: Your Property Search Simple News Talk zidby.
11:58
Speaker 2: It's five twenty So Australia is bracing for tropical Cyclone
12:02
Speaker 2: Alfred to hit. Its slowed down a little bit. Tens
12:04
Speaker 2: of thousands of people are now without power across Southeast
12:07
Speaker 2: Queensland and northern New South Wales and thousands more have
12:10
Speaker 2: been ordered to evacuate. We've already had one hundred and
12:13
Speaker 2: twenty kilometers in our wind gusts between Morton Island and
12:16
Speaker 2: Byron Bay, and the category two storm is expected to
12:19
Speaker 2: make landfall from tonight. Here is Australia's Prime Minister, Anthony Albanizi.
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Speaker 10: These are tough times, but Australian's a tough people and
12:26
Speaker 10: we're resilient people. My message to people where they've been
12:30
Speaker 10: in Southeast Queensland or northern New South Wales is we
12:33
Speaker 10: are there to support you.
12:35
Speaker 2: We have you all back. So Australian correspondent Donna Tomorrow
12:38
Speaker 2: is with me. Hello, Donna, Hello, there's just been a statement.
12:42
Speaker 11: Yes, the latest report from the Bureau of Meteorology has
12:46
Speaker 11: been released. It was just twenty minutes ago we heard
12:48
Speaker 11: from them, and we know that Cyclone Alfred is expected
12:52
Speaker 11: to make landfall tonight or early tomorrow morning, and it
12:56
Speaker 11: is packing wings of around one hundred ks an hour
12:59
Speaker 11: at the moment, but some areas. In some areas it
13:02
Speaker 11: might reach one hundred and fifty five k's per hour
13:06
Speaker 11: and about eight hundred millimeters of rain is forecast.
13:10
Speaker 2: Yes, there's sorts of surges because the high tides at
13:13
Speaker 2: an awkward time and so there's the likelihood of flooding
13:16
Speaker 2: and low lying coastal land.
13:18
Speaker 11: Have people evacuated, Yes, the first evacuations have been ordered
13:23
Speaker 11: in some areas you mentioned. These high tides have actually
13:29
Speaker 11: occurred already, these enormous surges, they're called king tides in fact,
13:34
Speaker 11: or monster tides. In one area, twelve meter waves were
13:38
Speaker 11: seen on the Gold Coast at a place called Main Beach,
13:41
Speaker 11: and there's been some close calls. A number of people
13:44
Speaker 11: in these beach goers and surfers have been caught in
13:47
Speaker 11: these sudden rising tides. And now we know that a
13:50
Speaker 11: couple of people have already been taken to hospital because
13:53
Speaker 11: they got injured as they got swept out in surf.
13:56
Speaker 11: But thankfully there's been no vertail, there's no tragedies, and
13:59
Speaker 11: hopefully that stayed that way.
14:00
Speaker 2: So what's going to happen? I mean, I'm reading that
14:03
Speaker 2: the thing has slowed down and everyone's going, well, if
14:05
Speaker 2: it's sitting out there out in the water, it's just
14:07
Speaker 2: going to get more powerful. You know, winters are going
14:09
Speaker 2: to hit and what's going to happen.
14:11
Speaker 11: Well, I mean in the lead up. Some people are saying, well,
14:14
Speaker 11: thankfully the slowing down of the cyclone means they've got
14:17
Speaker 11: more time to prepare. But I mean imagine the anxiety
14:21
Speaker 11: waiting for this to hit. It's the first time that
14:24
Speaker 11: this area has been struck or has had a cyclone
14:29
Speaker 11: hit a landfall since nineteen seventy four. There's department stores,
14:35
Speaker 11: coal stores, I should say it closed across Queensland. Major
14:38
Speaker 11: airlines have stopped flights. There's about a thousand schools that
14:42
Speaker 11: have closed down, public transports shut down, and as we mentioned,
14:46
Speaker 11: there's some power. Some areas have no power. The trees
14:50
Speaker 11: have already started falling and that impacts power lines. Of course,
14:55
Speaker 11: so torrential rain is coming and we know that authorities
14:59
Speaker 11: are saying do not underestimate this storm.
15:03
Speaker 2: Well, okay, thank you Donald to my reporting out of Australia. Meanwhile,
15:06
Speaker 2: there has been some cyclone damage and I don't want
15:08
Speaker 2: to make light of things, but this is relatively entertaining.
15:11
Speaker 2: The Berlina big prawn has been hit. This is a
15:15
Speaker 2: very big prawn and Billina. It's built in nineteen eighty nine.
15:18
Speaker 2: It's nine meters high. This prawn weighs thirty five ton,
15:23
Speaker 2: and it's lost its feathers. The feathers have been blown
15:26
Speaker 2: off by the winds. The big prawn has actually been
15:28
Speaker 2: used as a landmark for residents to meet and collect
15:31
Speaker 2: sandbags during the preparations for Alfred. And they're looking up
15:34
Speaker 2: and there's big prawn and it's lost its feel. It
15:37
Speaker 2: is our five twenty six. It's News Talks at B
15:39
Speaker 2: the early.
15:40
Speaker 1: Edition full show podcast on iHeartRadio powered by News Talks
15:44
Speaker 1: at B.
15:45
Speaker 2: News Talks a B. What an incredible week. What's with
15:48
Speaker 2: all these sackings and surprise resignations? Phil Goff? Yesterday, Adrian
15:53
Speaker 2: Or the day before Richard Prebble did a runner from
15:55
Speaker 2: the gravy train of the White Tonguey Tribunal. Greg Foran
15:58
Speaker 2: calls it a day the New Zealand our five years.
16:01
Speaker 2: So one of these guys had changed forced on them.
16:03
Speaker 2: The other three just packed up and left, with varying
16:05
Speaker 2: degrees of notice. Some seem to be a little angry.
16:09
Speaker 2: I think all of them are relieved. And they all
16:11
Speaker 2: have one thing in common. They are over sixty. You
16:14
Speaker 2: don't screw with successful over sixties, which they all are
16:18
Speaker 2: because over sixties who are successful have discovered a super power.
16:22
Speaker 2: They don't give a flying fig. They're financially settled, they
16:27
Speaker 2: know their own mind and they can afford to stand
16:29
Speaker 2: on their principles. So Phil Goff, Phil Goff will not
16:31
Speaker 2: mind being held to account for what he said, because
16:33
Speaker 2: he believes what he said. He just spoke his heart.
16:36
Speaker 2: He may be regretful that is entertaining job in London
16:39
Speaker 2: has gone, but he'll just come back to the farm
16:41
Speaker 2: in Cleveden and he'll start making some real money. He'll
16:43
Speaker 2: do some consultancy. He'll cash in on his fame. He'll
16:47
Speaker 2: cash in both his prime ministerial and mayoral superannuation. He's fine.
16:51
Speaker 2: When things start getting all hot and sticky in their jobs,
16:54
Speaker 2: over sixties can instantly switch to who needs this crap
16:59
Speaker 2: and they can jazz walk And then they brewed a
17:02
Speaker 2: little in their batch, or on a cruise ship with
17:04
Speaker 2: a nice dinner reservation, might treat themselves to a new car.
17:08
Speaker 2: And you know, if you think the over sixties have
17:10
Speaker 2: a superpower, it is nothing compared with the over seventies,
17:14
Speaker 2: whose superpower is the absolute certainty and what they believe
17:18
Speaker 2: and the total commitment to making sure that everyone knows it,
17:22
Speaker 2: asked Winston Peters Dickens speaking about older people, Rod Stuart
17:27
Speaker 2: and Keith Richards have become grandfathers again and Keith Richards'
17:31
Speaker 2: grandson has called Elvis. That's right, Keith Richards's grandson's called Alvis. Anyway,
17:37
Speaker 2: we'll talk to you hard at the moment. News is
17:39
Speaker 2: next on the New Storks he'll be I'm Andrew Dickinson
17:41
Speaker 2: for Brian Bridge.
17:52
Speaker 1: The first word on the News of the Day early
17:55
Speaker 1: edition with Andrew Dickens and one room to make your
17:58
Speaker 1: property Surgeon.
18:00
Speaker 7: You talk to me, well, that's the way I wait.
18:20
Speaker 2: You have at five to thirty five of the morning.
18:21
Speaker 2: Good boarding to see you. I'm Andrew Dickinson for Ron Bridge.
18:24
Speaker 2: And that is Shee Hard and home again the Wellington
18:27
Speaker 2: hard rock band.
18:28
Speaker 7: She had.
18:28
Speaker 2: They're coming to the end of their final tour this week.
18:31
Speaker 2: This band announced that they've sold out spark A, Rita
18:33
Speaker 2: and orkland A's a twelve thousand seat a venue twelve
18:36
Speaker 2: thousand people who are about to experience the full manestry
18:38
Speaker 2: of the band. Yesterday, though they announced a surprise side
18:41
Speaker 2: gig at Orcand's Iconic power Station. The band has played
18:45
Speaker 2: countless gigs at the sweet little one thousand sext venue,
18:47
Speaker 2: and they thought it needed to be included in the
18:49
Speaker 2: final Hurrah. Tickets are going to fly out quickly because
18:52
Speaker 2: that is a very special concert. If you have the
18:54
Speaker 2: chance to see she Hard, do it even if you
18:57
Speaker 2: are a bit leery about some hard rock, because they
19:00
Speaker 2: are so impressive. They are international quality, their musicianship is extraordinary.
19:05
Speaker 2: You will not see a better heavier concert. And I
19:08
Speaker 2: know this because I saw them a couple of weeks
19:09
Speaker 2: ago at Corimandel Farm. I'm in the Coromandel Farm in
19:12
Speaker 2: the middle of nowhere, there's she Hard, and there's a
19:15
Speaker 2: whole lot of my mates who've never been to she
19:16
Speaker 2: Hard before or just blown away about how good they were.
19:20
Speaker 2: And the very very very final chance to see she
19:23
Speaker 2: Had will be at the final homegrown concert that's going
19:25
Speaker 2: to happen the course in their hometown of Wellington, even
19:28
Speaker 2: though they live all over the world these days, and
19:30
Speaker 2: I just want to say that she Had well played. Boys,
19:33
Speaker 2: You're great New Zealanders.
19:35
Speaker 1: Andrew Dickens.
19:36
Speaker 2: Let's go around the country right now, and first to Dunedin.
19:40
Speaker 2: Luckel and ready, welcome to the program. So there's a
19:43
Speaker 2: dude who wants to swim cock straight and he's not young.
19:46
Speaker 12: No, so, seventy year old Steve Prescott's aiming to be
19:48
Speaker 12: the oldest person to swim the twenty three kilometers between
19:51
Speaker 12: the country's two main islands today. He's experienced in open
19:54
Speaker 12: water events, but has never tried to swim the current
19:57
Speaker 12: recorders with a sixty three year old, and Prescott' seys
19:59
Speaker 12: it a bucket list experience for him. He is feeling
20:02
Speaker 12: slightly apprehensive. He says he's not too worried about this
20:04
Speaker 12: woman itself, more about the weather and sides.
20:07
Speaker 2: Well, okay, that's great. How is Dunedin's weather?
20:10
Speaker 12: Yes, it's cloudy with a few showers in Southwesterly's developing
20:13
Speaker 12: in a high sixteen degree.
20:14
Speaker 2: What's this feller's name again, Steve Prescott? Steve Prescott Mark,
20:19
Speaker 2: that one done very good? And I thank you, Claire?
20:21
Speaker 2: Sure what joins you? From CHRISTI to tell Claire good morning?
20:24
Speaker 2: So significant milestone for christ Church Chummeley Children's Center spelt
20:28
Speaker 2: quite differently, Yes.
20:30
Speaker 13: Chol Manderley it's spelt, but it's always said Chumley. That's
20:33
Speaker 13: one that always trips up New reporters Andrew so good
20:36
Speaker 13: pick up.
20:36
Speaker 3: Hey.
20:37
Speaker 13: It is a big day for Chumley here in christ Church.
20:39
Speaker 13: They're celebrating one hundred years since opening. There's a special
20:43
Speaker 13: function going on to reflect on the achievements.
20:46
Speaker 14: Now.
20:46
Speaker 13: Chumley, if you don't know, is a place that provides
20:48
Speaker 13: a respite care for more than three hundred kids as
20:52
Speaker 13: well as families annually. Overall, it's helped more than thirty
20:56
Speaker 13: thousand children since being established in nineteen twenty five. Manager
21:00
Speaker 13: Daryl Hall he was a Chumley kid himself. He says
21:03
Speaker 13: it's a fantastic feeling to reach that milestone given his
21:07
Speaker 13: connection from almost fifty years ago. Now, he says it's
21:10
Speaker 13: a place that helps families stay together during times of
21:13
Speaker 13: extreme stress, breakups or mental health challenges.
21:16
Speaker 2: How's your weather?
21:18
Speaker 13: Fine day today if you scattered chowers? But not until
21:20
Speaker 13: this evening easterlys at a high of twenty.
21:22
Speaker 2: To Wellington we go. Max told good morning to you.
21:25
Speaker 2: Good morning. We're aready spoken about this before it turns
21:28
Speaker 2: out that Tory Fano and the council don't want Nick
21:30
Speaker 2: Leggett to stand his job at Wellington Water.
21:33
Speaker 15: Yeah, let me give you a summation of what's happened
21:35
Speaker 15: this week, it's all been a big mess. The chief executive,
21:37
Speaker 15: he's all right at Wellington Water. He was only appointed
21:40
Speaker 15: in September. These issues predate him. But earlier this week,
21:43
Speaker 15: when this report came out scathing of Wellington Water, we
21:46
Speaker 15: grilled the chair Nick Leggett, at first a little surprised
21:50
Speaker 15: that anyone might think he would step down, then conceding
21:52
Speaker 15: that he would if the region's mayors asked him to.
21:56
Speaker 15: You're right, Tory Fano yesterday, joining Upper Huts Wayne Guppy
21:59
Speaker 15: earlier this week week in calling for his resignation, saying
22:02
Speaker 15: ratepayer money has been lining the pockets of private contractors
22:06
Speaker 15: at this as the city's pipes deteriorate. Poly doers Anita
22:10
Speaker 15: Baker she backs Nick Leggott, Lower HUDs Campbell Barry, apparently
22:13
Speaker 15: on holiday on a cruise. Speaking of those contractors, You've
22:16
Speaker 15: got the main contractor for pipe maintenance, Fulton Hogan. We
22:20
Speaker 15: were pressing them earlier this week for comment saying no.
22:22
Speaker 15: Now they say way, our rates have been fair and
22:26
Speaker 15: if anything, they've been low, pointing the finger back at
22:29
Speaker 15: Wellington Water for pure disorganization. This is despite the Commerce
22:33
Speaker 15: Commission investigating them and other contractors. As I say, it's
22:38
Speaker 15: all a mess. Rate payers, we're caught in the middle.
22:40
Speaker 15: If Leggott is to step down, likely at a major
22:43
Speaker 15: water committee meeting Monday afternoon, we'll have the latest.
22:46
Speaker 2: Great and I hear the Tory Ferner Water wants the
22:49
Speaker 2: contractors to refund the rate players and good luck with that.
22:51
Speaker 7: How's your party?
22:53
Speaker 15: Cloudy Southerly's nineteen the High Central.
22:55
Speaker 2: Niva Richard Wada was an Awkland.
22:57
Speaker 16: Gosh, it's been a busy news week, isn't it.
22:59
Speaker 2: Absolutely Goodness is Friday resignations and sacking. That's right, I resign.
23:04
Speaker 2: I've had enough. I'm going Thank goodness, we're still here.
23:07
Speaker 16: That's right, We're still here though.
23:09
Speaker 2: PACIFICA Festival is coming back.
23:11
Speaker 16: Yes, I thought I'd end today on a happier note,
23:14
Speaker 16: and that's right. So for the next couple of days,
23:16
Speaker 16: this is Western Springs. It's going to play host of
23:19
Speaker 16: the Pacific Music, Dance, Arts Food that whole weekend. They're
23:22
Speaker 16: expecting about forty thousand people, so that's quite good. The
23:26
Speaker 16: event organizer, JYPSU Vullies is that Auckland is home to
23:28
Speaker 16: more than four hundred thousand Pacific of people. So it's
23:31
Speaker 16: great people can get out there. They've got all the
23:33
Speaker 16: stall holders. He's also saying that all the stallholders are
23:36
Speaker 16: from the community. But there's a lot happening in Auckland
23:39
Speaker 16: this weekend. You know, we've got the You're going to
23:41
Speaker 16: a lot of the Auckland Arts festivals stuff, aren't you.
23:43
Speaker 16: And we've got the boat show, the races. Everything is
23:45
Speaker 16: on and the weather's.
23:46
Speaker 2: Going to be good for that.
23:47
Speaker 16: Fine today, fine over the weekend. Auckland is high of twenty.
23:51
Speaker 2: Two on Friday and needn written Ona and I thank you.
23:54
Speaker 2: And earlier this in the program, I talked about the
23:56
Speaker 2: epic turtlong A playground that costs five million dollars, which
24:00
Speaker 2: is super popular. Taxpayers Union said that's wildly expensive. What's
24:04
Speaker 2: it made of? Shreded ratepayers dollars? I've cut a text
24:07
Speaker 2: in no Station, an email actually from Katherine who says,
24:10
Speaker 2: why don't you ask to totaling a council how much
24:12
Speaker 2: they spend on the skatepark among the NEWI road. I
24:15
Speaker 2: don't think they've got much change from ten million dollars.
24:19
Speaker 2: But insane, that says Katherine. It is used all the time,
24:22
Speaker 2: so many kids love it and all the old kids,
24:24
Speaker 2: so that brings out the child and them. So that's
24:26
Speaker 2: the thing. These things are good, but not when they're
24:29
Speaker 2: too expensive. Seventeen minutes to six. Denmark has done something
24:35
Speaker 2: leading in Europe. They're getting rid of snail mail. They're
24:40
Speaker 2: ripping out the letterboxes. There will be no mail. If
24:43
Speaker 2: you've got a friend in Denmark, post a letter now
24:47
Speaker 2: because in a few months time you won't be able
24:49
Speaker 2: to details with this story and Ukraine with Vincent macavenni Inemo.
24:53
Speaker 1: International Correspondence with ends and Eye Insurance, Peace of mind
24:57
Speaker 1: for New Zealand business.
25:00
Speaker 2: The time is now fourteen to six. I'm Andrew Dickinson
25:02
Speaker 2: for Ryan Bridge. Let's go to Europe. Vincent mcavenny, good
25:05
Speaker 2: morning to you. Good morning. We'll go straight to Ukraine
25:08
Speaker 2: with Prison Macron giving a TV adris.
25:12
Speaker 17: Yes, a remarkable address by President macroan of France last night,
25:16
Speaker 17: announcing that France would boost its defense spending, that the
25:20
Speaker 17: heads of the of the European militaries were invited to
25:23
Speaker 17: a special summits in France next week to talk about
25:26
Speaker 17: greater cooperation, and indeed that France might extend its nuclear
25:31
Speaker 17: deterrant umbrella across all of Europe, still keeping it in
25:34
Speaker 17: control of the French president. But that was in response
25:37
Speaker 17: to a call from incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Mertz that
25:43
Speaker 17: France's nuclear deterrent may now be needed with the uncertainty
25:47
Speaker 17: on the US's position on NATO's ars call five, that
25:51
Speaker 17: that now might be something that we need in order
25:53
Speaker 17: to fend off Russia, thinking it might be able to
25:55
Speaker 17: invade other countries given how much leniency it's been shown
25:59
Speaker 17: by the Trumpet minister.
26:01
Speaker 2: It's the extension of the nuclear deterrent umbrella that gives
26:04
Speaker 2: us all the wibblewobbles.
26:07
Speaker 7: Yeah, usually.
26:07
Speaker 17: I mean, France is one of two nuclear powers in Europe,
26:10
Speaker 17: the UK being the other. They have slightly different capabilities.
26:13
Speaker 17: The UK system is submarine based, but we know that
26:16
Speaker 17: this is something that's the UK after the sort of
26:19
Speaker 17: the tumult of the Brexit years, that we are sort
26:21
Speaker 17: of keen to do better military and security deals with
26:24
Speaker 17: the EU. We are sort of at the forefront of those,
26:26
Speaker 17: alongside France. So this is something that I think is
26:29
Speaker 17: going to be discussed, potentially even discussion for the EU
26:32
Speaker 17: countries of forming some kind of unified army This has
26:35
Speaker 17: been an idea that's been kicked around for decades, but
26:37
Speaker 17: how you would sort of do the command structure has
26:41
Speaker 17: never quite been made clear.
26:43
Speaker 2: All right, interesting days. Meanwhile, you can't post a letter
26:46
Speaker 2: to Dimmark in the future.
26:49
Speaker 7: Yes, that's right.
26:49
Speaker 17: After four hundred years, Denmark is ending its public backed
26:54
Speaker 17: postal service. This is called post Nord. They say they've
26:58
Speaker 17: seen a ninety percent decline in letters since the turn
27:01
Speaker 17: of the century, and so the fifteen hundred post boxes
27:04
Speaker 17: around the country will start disappearing by June. They say
27:07
Speaker 17: that there are commercial providers who can do letters, but
27:10
Speaker 17: that it is no longer cost effective for the state
27:13
Speaker 17: to be running such a public service.
27:15
Speaker 2: Well, all right, the times they are at changing. Vincent
27:18
Speaker 2: mcavenni enjoying a weekend news talks here b it's now
27:20
Speaker 2: twelve to six.
27:22
Speaker 1: Andrew Dickens.
27:23
Speaker 2: In a week of resignations and sackings, we had another
27:26
Speaker 2: and this was a shock. This came out of the
27:27
Speaker 2: Blue Air New Zealand boss Greg Faran is a calling
27:30
Speaker 2: at quits. Remember he came to us just before the pandemic.
27:33
Speaker 2: He used to work out to Walmart, used to run Walmart.
27:37
Speaker 2: So the airline's chair believes the airline is well up
27:40
Speaker 2: to well set up to continue its growth without Greg Forum.
27:45
Speaker 2: But the Governments of course is a majors majority shareholder
27:48
Speaker 2: at fifty one percent. So we are wondering how this
27:51
Speaker 2: will impact the economy. Obviously it's a big deal in
27:54
Speaker 2: New Zealand. I've got an aviation commentator with me right
27:57
Speaker 2: now who joins me from India because she's traveling, Irene King,
28:00
Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Good morning? Is it hot?
28:07
Speaker 14: Now? I'll make surely in your deli at the moment.
28:10
Speaker 2: Nice. Now here's the question of the week with all
28:13
Speaker 2: these resignations and these seconds, was he did he quit
28:16
Speaker 2: or was he pushed?
28:17
Speaker 7: Do you reckon?
28:20
Speaker 9: No?
28:20
Speaker 14: I think it's it's voluntary. Yeah, I had a tip
28:26
Speaker 14: off about three or four weeks ago he was considering
28:29
Speaker 14: it and yeah he's had a challenging time and what
28:34
Speaker 14: a rollercoaster of five years. And I think you need
28:38
Speaker 14: any human lists would say, yep, you know, let's have
28:43
Speaker 14: a break from this in at the moment, it's just relentless.
28:47
Speaker 2: It is relentless. What are the challenges facing in New
28:49
Speaker 2: Zealand right now that the new chief executive will have
28:51
Speaker 2: to face up to.
28:54
Speaker 14: Well, we you know, the engine issues are well documentine,
28:58
Speaker 14: but there's big supply chain problems in terms of new aircraft,
29:02
Speaker 14: so you know that's constraining growth right around the world.
29:06
Speaker 14: And the New Zealand economy, you know, it's it's pretty well,
29:11
Speaker 14: it's an economy that's underperforming relatives the rest of the world,
29:15
Speaker 14: and so that's seriously impacting EMU Zellen's profitability. He's got
29:21
Speaker 14: some some major major misalignments for the domestic market to address,
29:29
Speaker 14: and you know that those are not easy either. And
29:35
Speaker 14: I guess the last point I would make is, you know,
29:39
Speaker 14: we're all having to severely address our costs, and I
29:43
Speaker 14: don't really see any great evidence of a New Zealant
29:46
Speaker 14: during the present time.
29:48
Speaker 2: How could they.
29:51
Speaker 14: Well, you can always address your costs, you know, you
29:54
Speaker 14: just have to really think about how smart your organization
29:59
Speaker 14: has function being relative to know what the customers value.
30:03
Speaker 2: So Dame Trees Walsh, who is the chair, says that
30:08
Speaker 2: the airline is well set up to continue its trajectory
30:10
Speaker 2: of growth and innovation. Are you as confident as she is?
30:15
Speaker 14: Well, you know, I think they're in the nose. They
30:20
Speaker 14: see the numbers. But you know, you've got to be
30:25
Speaker 14: really really focused back on the New Zealand domestic market.
30:30
Speaker 14: Customers are unhappy they perceive they're not being value for money.
30:35
Speaker 14: The regional New Zealand is particularly unhappy with high seas,
30:41
Speaker 14: being that there are watering nieces for the ordinary person.
30:46
Speaker 2: All right, well, I really enjoin you, Delly, and I
30:48
Speaker 2: thank you so much for joining us as Irene King
30:51
Speaker 2: and she is an aviation commentator. And yes New Zealanders
30:55
Speaker 2: like to travel with the New Zealand. It makes absolutely
30:57
Speaker 2: no sense when you want to travel somewhere and discover
31:00
Speaker 2: that it's cheaper in fact to go to Australia. There
31:02
Speaker 2: should be some sort of equivalents. And if there was
31:05
Speaker 2: some sort of equivalence, if you had a cheaper price point,
31:08
Speaker 2: and then you'd end out with more people taking the flights.
31:10
Speaker 2: And I know I used to go down to Wellington
31:12
Speaker 2: all the time when my boy was at university there.
31:14
Speaker 2: But would I do it now? No, I would not,
31:17
Speaker 2: because frankly it's just too expensive. Not like the glory
31:21
Speaker 2: days when I used to go down to wang Mui
31:24
Speaker 2: all the time because I worked down there and it
31:26
Speaker 2: was like ninety bucks on a focker friendship and it
31:29
Speaker 2: was one of the great flights of all time. Okay,
31:32
Speaker 2: so it's coming up seven minutes to six. It's news
31:33
Speaker 2: talks at.
31:34
Speaker 1: B Get ahead of the headlines on early edition Andrew
31:39
Speaker 1: Dickens and One Room to Make Your Property Search Simple.
31:43
Speaker 2: News Talks at be so Wik of sacking and resignations,
31:46
Speaker 2: and yet my Hoskin's still here.
31:47
Speaker 18: Which it's amazing, isn't it. The the Room's been flying
31:49
Speaker 18: for years, and yet still I turn off.
31:51
Speaker 2: I was just saying earlier that the over sixties have
31:53
Speaker 2: a superpower, and that superpower is that they don't give
31:55
Speaker 2: a flying figure.
31:57
Speaker 18: I've never felt more comfortable. You just the summing.
32:00
Speaker 2: No one can tell you what to do.
32:03
Speaker 18: I thought that with Winston Peters earlier on this week
32:05
Speaker 18: when we were chatting with him. He's got that, He's
32:07
Speaker 18: got that. Really, I'm affable, likable, I'm enjoying my life.
32:12
Speaker 18: And you saw it yesterday when he sacked Golf. He
32:14
Speaker 18: seemed genuinely for a guy who's pretty cantankerous at the
32:17
Speaker 18: best of times, he seemed genuinely disappointed and upset that,
32:21
Speaker 18: you know, a guy he had known for a very
32:22
Speaker 18: long time. Unfortunately, I wish I could have done your
32:25
Speaker 18: favor Phil, but you know you can't do this right now.
32:28
Speaker 18: It does tell you how sensitive we are at the moment.
32:31
Speaker 2: But I'm in my sixties now. Do I have you?
32:34
Speaker 18: Well, that's incredible. I would I still had you in
32:36
Speaker 18: the late forties and sick.
32:39
Speaker 2: Well, that's because you're looking like a thirty year old,
32:41
Speaker 2: that is true. Have you got grandkids?
32:43
Speaker 3: No?
32:44
Speaker 7: I do?
32:44
Speaker 14: Not?
32:44
Speaker 18: You want no?
32:45
Speaker 2: I do?
32:45
Speaker 18: Yeah, No, some people do.
32:46
Speaker 2: I Richard's just had a grandkid.
32:49
Speaker 18: He's one hundred, and you.
32:50
Speaker 2: Know what his grandkids called el Elvis els of Keith
32:57
Speaker 2: as Elvis. Do you know?
32:58
Speaker 18: I saw a video of Keith Richards this week and
33:00
Speaker 18: he was in Soho in New York and he was
33:03
Speaker 18: about to get in his car and some woman randomly
33:06
Speaker 18: comes up to him on the street and goes, you'r
33:08
Speaker 18: Keith Ritch. And he just stopped and he talked and
33:10
Speaker 18: he put his arm around her and he smiled for
33:12
Speaker 18: the camera. But the funny thing was his hat which
33:14
Speaker 18: he was wearing, was barely on his head. And he
33:17
Speaker 18: was wearing a bandanna like he wears his bandanna, but
33:20
Speaker 18: his hat was barely on his head and he just
33:22
Speaker 18: looked like a complain I thought there's a guy's happy
33:24
Speaker 18: that is a very damaged head, though very damaged here.
33:26
Speaker 18: In fact, I could tell you a story about his
33:28
Speaker 18: head in his house and where he stayed and all
33:29
Speaker 18: that sort of stuff in Auckland. In fact, when I
33:31
Speaker 18: last interviewed Keith Richards, see we go, I've got time
33:33
Speaker 18: for it. When I last interviewed Keith Richards, he went
33:35
Speaker 18: down the track the doctor who looked after Andrew Law. Yeah,
33:39
Speaker 18: he spoke. He almost burst into tears for the story,
33:42
Speaker 18: just like the what that doctor did for him. He
33:45
Speaker 18: has never forgotten.
33:46
Speaker 2: So Andrew operated on my boy. Oh when he fall
33:49
Speaker 2: out of a tree. No no, no, no, he had
33:51
Speaker 2: a hole in the buttom of his brain that we
33:53
Speaker 2: didn't fland for two years. So he had a big
33:54
Speaker 2: old operation with Andrew Law. Saved his life. And so
33:57
Speaker 2: we go and see it and Andrew Law. And every
33:58
Speaker 2: time I go and see Andrew Law, we just go,
34:00
Speaker 2: what's Keith up to you? Keith will fly Andrew all
34:03
Speaker 2: around the world to go to gigs and and he
34:05
Speaker 2: stays in touch. And I thought that that's a genuine relationship.
34:08
Speaker 2: I gotta go. Yeah, No, I don't want to talk
34:10
Speaker 2: about the news. That's Friday, We're too much Fun. See
34:13
Speaker 2: you on Monday. I'm Andrew Dickens and my thanks for
34:16
Speaker 2: producer ken z My Husking.
34:17
Speaker 7: Breakfast is next.
34:30
Speaker 1: For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live
34:33
Speaker 1: to news Talks it'd be from five am weekdays, or
34:36
Speaker 1: follow the podcast on iHeartRadio