Latest / Best of Business / Business Panel: Porirua mayor Anita Baker and The Woolstore boss Paul Robinson on Thorndon Quay works and local councils

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Business Panel: Porirua mayor Anita Baker and The Woolstore boss Paul Robinson on Thorndon Quay works and local councils · Best of Business

• 0:09
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• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Let's get down, Let's get down. Mon John asked for
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: the business power this week? Is potty do a mayor?
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Anita Baker?
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Morning? How about you?
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: I'm great? How are you doing good?
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Thank you?
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: How is you tripping from Petown?
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  Speaker 3: Very quick this morning?
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: Not much traffic, no traffic.
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  Speaker 4: Around and Executive director of the Wolf Store, Paul Robinson,
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  Speaker 4: I bit you your trip from the Wolf Store through Thorn
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: along at a Key and into Tory Street.
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  Speaker 2: Would have been a long and windy road. Well not
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  Speaker 2: so much.
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  Speaker 5: Well, I know what you're talking about, Thornton and Key,
• 1:00
  Speaker 5: But coming across town, I have to say, pretty quiet.
• 1:03
  Speaker 5: Was it on a Monday morning?
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  Speaker 4: But I mean I had to go to the Guthrie
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  Speaker 4: Barnes short Store last Saturday. Saturday we could go to
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: look at some wallpaper. It's a disgrace.
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  Speaker 5: Well, it's somewhere between a disgrace and impossible.
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  Speaker 4: Sorry, disgrace and impossible. So what's going wrong? What can
• 1:24
  Speaker 4: be done to assist what's happening in Thornton.
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  Speaker 5: Well we're advocating for a pause to be put on
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: that project and for a review to be done. I
• 1:34
  Speaker 5: mean there's basically three areas that the whole project is
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: based on really faulty safety information. The impacts on businesses
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: have never been assessed. And thirdly, and probably most egregiously
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  Speaker 5: for all Wellingtonians, Thornton Key is not just a place
• 1:56
  Speaker 5: for cars, it's actually a place for pipes. It has
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  Speaker 5: eight major water mains run along its length, two of
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  Speaker 5: those are over one hundred years old, and the road
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  Speaker 5: works the new roading system is being built directly above
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  Speaker 5: one hundred and ten year old sewer. That sewer is
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  Speaker 5: now unserviceable without redoing all the work that's been done
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  Speaker 5: at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you wouldn't read about it, would you.
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  Speaker 5: You be you wouldn't You wouldn't get a building consent
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  Speaker 5: to do it if you were doing it on your
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: own property and be sure of.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: That, Yeah, that's for sure.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, let's talk about the economy. Let's start with
• 2:29
  Speaker 4: the economy. Anita. You know that we know that from
• 2:32
  Speaker 4: being in Wellington, and I'm sure Paul will be giving
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: you the same pieces of information that idea of you
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  Speaker 4: that it's pretty damned tough out there. We are in
• 2:39
  Speaker 4: a recession, there's fears of the larger rise in unemployment
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: over the rest of the year, and inflation is still
• 2:45
  Speaker 4: biting a bit, reducing a little bit. What's your outlook
• 2:49
  Speaker 4: on things right now? How are you feeling, how your
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: business is feeling, how is your city feeling.
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: People are struggling with a lot of people and putty
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: to our work for government, so a lot of people
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: have lost their jobs. Our coffee shops tell us that
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: people are going in, but they're sharing a plate or
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: buying a muffin and splitting it. So people aren't going
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: out as much. The restaurants are, you know, are slower,
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: definitely slower, and less people on the ground. I notice
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: not wandering around the mull's not as busy. And if
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: you go shopping, I don't come to town to shop.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: I'll go to Puddy, I'll go to Otechi just as close.
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  Speaker 3: We still want our free parking where we have paid parking,
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: so our free spaces are taken up more. But it's
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: tough for people. Petrol's gone up, food's gone up, rates
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: are about to go up, so everybody is struggling. Even
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: the people who had money will you'd think have money,
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: are struggling because mortgage rates have gone up. So it's
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: a tough time and I don't really see much changing
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: for the next year.
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  Speaker 4: We'll change things and what can you as a council
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  Speaker 4: do to help your businesses in your area.
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  Speaker 3: For us, we support local business. Obviously it's Business Month
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  Speaker 3: and Putty we started with our Love Local which is
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  Speaker 3: our huge expo. We started that in Covid. We had
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  Speaker 3: one hundred and thirty five businesses, three nine hundred people through.
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  Speaker 3: It's a free day on a Saturday. We do it
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  Speaker 3: once a year. Lots of businesses come out and then
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  Speaker 3: during Business Month we've had lots of speak We've got
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  Speaker 3: Barbara Kendall, brad Olson still to come helmet from Nadie
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  Speaker 3: Tower and it's a it's a way to support them
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  Speaker 3: to making sure our new business is Like Paul's got
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  Speaker 3: a new business that's going to open very shortly, which
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  Speaker 3: I'm really excited about actually working with him on consents
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  Speaker 3: and doing those things quicker so that businesses can open.
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  Speaker 4: It's a great segue for me, Paul, because you do business,
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  Speaker 4: a lot of business in Wellington. Now you've done business
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  Speaker 4: and is there a difference in dealing with Podda and
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  Speaker 4: dealing with Wellington.
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  Speaker 5: Oh, undoubtedly. We some years ago we decided to distribute
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  Speaker 5: our business equally across Wellington Aura in the Hut Valley
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  Speaker 5: and we did that at the time for seismic reasons,
• 4:51
  Speaker 5: to spread our earthquake risk. But what's happened over the
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: years is that with Poorersity Council, they're economic development people.
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  Speaker 5: They've been talking to us, you know, just on a
• 5:04
  Speaker 5: monthly basis. So we've had we've had a couple of
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  Speaker 5: really good projects out there, but we haven't found the
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  Speaker 5: same opportunities to do stuff in Wellington.
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  Speaker 2: No one cares and Wellington no one's trying to help him.
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  Speaker 2: Work with you in Wellington well no.
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  Speaker 5: I guess with the old wall Store down in Thornton Key,
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  Speaker 5: which is our sort of flagship, what's happened with that
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  Speaker 5: is we strengthened it back very soon after the christ
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  Speaker 5: At earthquake, and then as climate change started to become
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  Speaker 5: more important, we spent a few million dollars reducing the
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: carbon footprint of that building significantly. And as soon as
• 5:40
  Speaker 5: we finished that, we had let's get Wellington moving come
• 5:44
  Speaker 5: along and say, well, we're actually going to take away
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  Speaker 5: the whole economic underpinning of that, which is going to
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  Speaker 5: take away your car parks so your customers can't come
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  Speaker 5: and visit you. And that's been I have to say,
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  Speaker 5: that's been distressing.
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  Speaker 2: Has it?
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  Speaker 4: What about you said you also did do business in
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  Speaker 4: Lahart Compare Low Hut Poddied or in Wellington.
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  Speaker 5: Lower Hut's Hut Valley's got a great gene that's got
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  Speaker 5: that sort of manufacturing gene, Paul, and we sort of
• 6:13
  Speaker 5: focus a bit on industrial property. We're very, very fond
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  Speaker 5: of the Hut Valley and the businesses out there that
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  Speaker 5: are doing good Kiwi stuff.
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  Speaker 4: Yes, So why is it that the two proliferal cities
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: and I bet you Upper Heart with Wane Gup is
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: exactly the same, are all there shaking the the pom
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: poms and saying come and do business with us, Anita.
• 6:35
  Speaker 4: And yet we find our own city council in Wellington saying, oh,
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: if you want to go out to Poor Paul, go
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: if you want to go out to Lower hut go.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, doesn't that seem strange?
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  Speaker 3: Do? You are very strange, And we're happy to take
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: any business that wants to move to Potter obviously, but
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: you have to work with business. If you haven't got
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: business in your city center, you haven't got a city center.
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  Speaker 3: But we need Wellington to actually thrive because as a region,
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  Speaker 3: if it's not thriving, the rest of us are struggling.
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  Speaker 3: So we need Wellington to actually become alive. I used
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: to go down where the ball store was, go to
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: the cafe shop down there, go to the fabric shop.
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  Speaker 3: I don't go there now. I don't drive through there.
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  Speaker 3: There's no car parks, there's road cones for everybody in
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  Speaker 3: the city, so it's not a place I want to
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  Speaker 3: come anymore. So I understand why Paul's getting frustrated. But
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  Speaker 3: for me at the top, I say, too, my Sie,
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  Speaker 3: we are open for business. Whoever wants to come, we
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: are open, So we have to be positive and work
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  Speaker 3: with them.
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  Speaker 4: Does that sort of make you a little bit anxious?
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  Speaker 4: But with all your developments in town.
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  Speaker 2: Well.
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  Speaker 5: Are we constantly anxious? But I thought Wayne Guppy last
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  Speaker 5: week on your show he summed that up very well,
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  Speaker 5: didn't he Nick Wick the one hundred percent out When
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  Speaker 5: Wellington hurts the rest of us and the other in
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  Speaker 5: the two valleys, we hurt as well.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's I was about to mention that, because
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  Speaker 4: that's I mean, we're we're the four hundred thousand. You know,
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  Speaker 4: there are the one hundred and twenty thousands out there,
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  Speaker 4: So we need you need the masses.
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  Speaker 3: We need them to work. I get people coming out
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  Speaker 3: from Wellington all the time to shop at the weekends
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  Speaker 3: talking to us, and they're saying, you're so available and
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  Speaker 3: you'll talk to us on the streets.
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  Speaker 4: So yeah, business panel today we have executive director of
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  Speaker 4: the Wall Store Paul Robinson and Mayor of Potty to
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  Speaker 4: A City, Anita Baker. Nita, let's talk about the censu's
• 8:22
  Speaker 4: latest results. I mean, I don't know whether you would
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  Speaker 4: have seen this or heard this, but I'm sure you
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  Speaker 4: would as mayor of por Wellington population didn't grow by
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  Speaker 4: a single person between twenty and eighteen and twenty twenty
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  Speaker 4: three senses, but the popular both population of both Pottido
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  Speaker 4: and Hut and the wire Rappid did. Are more people
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  Speaker 4: in businesses moving away from the Wellington City to other
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  Speaker 4: places in the regions.
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  Speaker 2: And if they are, why I.
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  Speaker 3: Think they're moving at the moment for affordability in choice,
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  Speaker 3: So in here you don't have it. In the hut
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  Speaker 3: and Potido we have choice. You can movement department, a
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  Speaker 3: townhouse or a house. But people are just as many
• 8:56
  Speaker 3: people are moving from Puttidua to the Carpitty Coast. In
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  Speaker 3: Levin in particular, a lot of people are retiring to
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: live in they can sell their house in Pottido and
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: put money in the bank, or they're going over the
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  Speaker 3: hill to Great Town and Featherstone. So I think there's
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  Speaker 3: movement all around the region. But it's about what's there
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: for people to have. It's affordability.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, you've got suburbs that are now million dollar suburbs,
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  Speaker 4: haven't you.
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  Speaker 5: Oh absolutely, you know, Like you know, when I grew up.
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  Speaker 4: In Tawa or Linden Poriua didn't have suburbs of five
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  Speaker 4: hundred thousand dollar houses when they were in Tawa or Redwood,
• 9:27
  Speaker 4: did they?
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  Speaker 3: Oh? No, they didn't. And even in Canon's Creek, White
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: tang Arua, the houses are seven eight hundred, nine hundred thousand.
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: So nothing is affordable at the moment. So people are
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: going further north. You know, you can buy a house
• 9:37
  Speaker 3: and live in for five hundred thousand can. Yes, and
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: that's a new build and with the new motorway transmission galley,
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: it's only thirty minutes down the road from Potida, Paul.
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: Is this Wellington being bad and these other suburbs or
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: these other regional Citi's been good or is it Wellington
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: been bad.
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: And we just want to get the hell out of Wellington. Well.
• 10:00
  Speaker 5: I think we've got some choices going forward, and I
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: think the opportunity that the valleys have got are to
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: offer sort of a medium density type housing environment which
• 10:12
  Speaker 5: appeals to me. One of the things which I thought
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: maybe we could talk about is Helmet Modlick, CEO of
• 10:20
  Speaker 5: NATI Tower, is leading this conversation around the edges of
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: Poro City Council, et cetera, around how do we make
• 10:29
  Speaker 5: Poruh the most livable city for families in New Zealand.
• 10:32
  Speaker 5: And it's a fantastic conversation. We did talk the other
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: day about about how do you feel when you see
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: a sixteen story apartment block. I don't get any positive
• 10:43
  Speaker 5: feelings when I look at one of those. I don't
• 10:45
  Speaker 5: care how flash they are.
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: I don't want to live in it.
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: How do you feel when you drive through Papamoa and
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: you see a standalone house with a one point eight
• 10:54
  Speaker 5: meter brown wooden fence going one meter away from the
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  Speaker 5: wall all the and I don't feel good about.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: That, but I do feel So what's the answer?
• 11:02
  Speaker 5: Well, I quite like I like Kenniperu Landing when I
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: go past there, which is just on the south side
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  Speaker 5: of city. Medium density.
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  Speaker 2: Is that where the old por hospital was?
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: Is that we're talking that sort of That feels right
• 11:14
  Speaker 5: to me.
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  Speaker 3: So that's more townhouses, blocks of townhouses, only two story.
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: I don't even think there's a three in there at
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: the moment. The only issue in there is car parking,
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: not enough. There's new rules around no car parks. Personally
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: I don't agree with because you set those rules, Government
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: set the rules, and then council follow them through. I
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: still don't agree with them. Personally. I think that people
• 11:35
  Speaker 3: still need cars. You still need a car to go
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: to the supermarket nine times out of ten, don't you.
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: So those those apartment blocks you're talking about, and a
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: friend of mine actually bought one as a show show home,
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: and I think he's doubled his money in six years.
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  Speaker 3: Oh they have, they're selling like hotcakes. And Nardi Toa
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: have the balance of the subdivision still to do. So
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: they've got a lot more houses going in and.
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  Speaker 2: It's so so they not have garages. None of them
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: have garages.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: No, some of them do have garages. It's on street.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: Parking is the problem. So it's for visitors and things
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: that is not enough.
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: Okay, poor? Does that worry you?
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: I think that's a soluble problem. But I do think what.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: A solvable problem is solvable. How is it a solvable problem? Now?
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: I live in a suburb in Wellington right and now
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: when I go to leave my suburb to come to town,
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: I have to give way ten or fifteen times and
• 12:21
  Speaker 4: three hundred meters because there's no room to for two
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: cars to go past. Right now, in Wellington we've got people.
• 12:27
  Speaker 4: Every street's got cars both sides of the street. Is
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: that a solvable problem?
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: Well?
• 12:34
  Speaker 5: I think it is what it is. I don't think
• 12:37
  Speaker 5: there's anything more than you can say than that. But
• 12:42
  Speaker 5: I still think the principle of that medium density housing
• 12:47
  Speaker 5: is fantastic. And I thought think that if Wellington started
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: to think about the issues involved in building high rise
• 12:55
  Speaker 5: like high density housing. We know that's very, very expensive.
• 12:59
  Speaker 5: You know, that's sort of twelve to fifteen thousand dollars
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: a square meter. It's extraordinarily high. And I don't know
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: how we solve housing affordability when we're building at that cost.
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: Whereas if you're building, say a house, an upper hut
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: or in Parua, you might be building at five thousand
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: dollars a square meter. There is some hope that that
• 13:20
  Speaker 5: can be affordable.
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: Why is it?
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: Why can either of you answer this simple question? Because
• 13:25
  Speaker 4: I had a discussion with our property developer the other
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: day about this. Why can they do that for half
• 13:29
  Speaker 4: the price in Australia that we're doing here? I mean,
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: I remember building a million dollar home for three thousand
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: square foot three thousand and square foot. I mean you're
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: not you're both nodding with me. I'm right, aren't I?
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: Oh, you are right.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: I have to be on the building game. And it
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: has doubled, and you're right, it's up to five thousand
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: squad meter, but it's the cost of the land underneath
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: it is raised. But then fletchers have a monopoly and
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: everything's being imported in and the cost raises are going
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: up every three to six months. The builders used to
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: set a price. They can't do that anymore because they
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: go along to Bunnings or wherever they're buying at placemakers
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: and it's gone up again. So change Paul monopoly.
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: No, I can't. I can't see this change. But what
• 14:08
  Speaker 5: it does point towards is for us to start taking
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: a regional approach planning. I mean, my pontificate on the
• 14:17
  Speaker 5: matter is that at the moment we have these cities,
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: Wellington City Council in particular, engaged in monocentric planning, designing
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: the city as if it finishes at narrowing a gorge
• 14:31
  Speaker 5: and at the airport. We should be designing a city
• 14:35
  Speaker 5: that starts at the airport and finishes at Levin. It
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: should be a polycentric to.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: Be a region, we should be amalgamated.
• 14:43
  Speaker 5: The values in that is that you should be able
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: to go from Porua to the Hut Valley in fifteen
• 14:50
  Speaker 5: to twenty minutes, either by public transport or by private transport.
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: You should be able to go Hut Valley to town
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: in fifteen to thirty minutes, and you shall be able
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: to go out to Porou from Wellington. In the same time,
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: if we achieved that we'd have a good city.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: We would and to do that we need to open
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: up the regions have the top roads going in if
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: we want those roads to go in. I do agree
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: with the toll roads. It's the only way to make us.
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Can I throw one in for you? Right? For both
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: of you?
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: Because I was at a function where I was speaking
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: to someone. I'm not going to mention who it was
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: and what their job was, but they gave me the
• 15:23
  Speaker 4: impression that the government are really serious about this underground
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: tunnel from the terrace till Corberni. Now you're both looking
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: at me a little bit blank. But this person, I've
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: got to tell you, knew what he was talking about.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: He thinks that that could be an actual viable thing
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: to do.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: I mean, would that fix your problem?
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: And it Oh, it'd be awesome just to get to
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: the airport in the hospital and make things move around
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: the city more. You could have more housing inside the
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: city in Cuban Moorlands. Stare of the businesses there. But
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: that's only one thing. We need to get from the
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: hut to put you to her. So we need that
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: road to go, you know, fifty eight is very slow.
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: It's taking them forever to build. I heard a rumor
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: that the cost to go through that tunnel might be
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: I've got the figure. Do you want me to kill
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: He told me that from two and I thought one
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: hundred and two billion. No, no, no, isn't to drive
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: through it yourself as a toll. As a toll the
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: tolls were going to be because the cost to build it.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: I think it would be excellent.
• 16:23
  Speaker 4: I've got the cost. Do you want to hear the count?
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: They reckon that they've costed it. The work that's getting done.
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: This I'm exposing a bit here was between three hundred
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: and fifty and four hundred million a kilometer and with inflation,
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: so that's half a billion a kilometer four kilometers two
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: billion dollars. I mean, if that was durable at that price, Paul,
• 16:47
  Speaker 4: what are your thoughts? You're looking at me like I'm
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: a dreamer.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: I don't wony.
• 16:51
  Speaker 5: I'm thinking about transmission gully and thinking about the the
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: cost per lane kilometer that I did on the back
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: of a envelope.
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: What was that?
• 17:00
  Speaker 5: Well, well, I reckon that was fifty or sixty grand
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: per lane kilometer. If my memory is correct, say two,
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: I don't think you're right, are you sorry? Per fifty
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: or sixty thousand dollars per per meter? So anyway, however
• 17:15
  Speaker 5: I worked it out, transmission gully actually looks really really cheap.
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: It's opened the region and the tunnel would do the
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: same thing.
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: One point two. But then dollars thirty two kilometers, we're
• 17:30
  Speaker 5: about what's that forty million a kilometer or something.
• 17:34
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but I mean we're going underground, We're going right underground.
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: And I mean the fact that this person knew what
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: he was talking about might have been involved in some way,
• 17:45
  Speaker 4: said that the government is serious about it.
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: That made me think, well, go to Sydney.
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: See the tunnels there, they're awesome, they work, they make
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: a city move.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: I've got to take a break for the headlines.
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: But the other thing that he said, and maybe he's
• 17:56
  Speaker 4: right or maybe he's wrong, and both you can ponder
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: this while we have a break that Wellington's one of
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: the very few major cities in the world that has
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: State Highway one running through the city.
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: Totally agree and accept.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: Anita, I want to start with you on this one,
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: although Paul, I'd love to get your opinion on it.
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: As well having a thing called a Porror Business Month.
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: What is it? How important it is and how is important?
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: How important is it that that you take the front
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: as counsel, take the front foot with business.
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: I think it's really important because we need to be
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: supporting our businesses and showing that. As I said, it
• 18:29
  Speaker 3: started with our love local and then we've had so
• 18:32
  Speaker 3: many events. We had our Wahini Paving the Way event
• 18:35
  Speaker 3: and I have to say, the ladies from Tookemon and
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: the Queen's they were the speakers, Tanya and.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: Well Tanya lives in your city, didn't you?
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: No, she lives in the hut, does she?
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: I thought she was in t Vagel.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: That's oh sorry, yes she lives there as a Rachel
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: who doesn't so it was Rachel.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 18:53
  Speaker 3: They were just unbelievable. I wish more people had turned up.
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: I'm not sure how many people actually heard about that.
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: Those ladies were awesome and really inspiring. We've done Amatai
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: event which was the Mary and Pacific businesses like it's
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: like a dating event get together and I have to
• 19:08
  Speaker 3: so that was really good. All the big ones and
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: the small ones getting together. How do they get together?
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: I did the food stuffs emerging supply for them last
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: week which was really interesting and a number of people
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: out from Wellington how do they get their products into
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: the supermarket? That was fascinating and people were really thankful
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: for that. And then we did the Pacific Navigators at
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: Partika Thursday night, I think that was and that was
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: another really good event. So there's lots on. We've got
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: Barbara Kendall to come obviously, and Brad Olson and then
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: Helmet finishes it off with his Circular Economy, which is
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: he's always interesting to listen to. But then the final
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: one for me is the opening of Paul's big new adventure.
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: Tell us about that, Paul, tell us about what. I
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: didn't even know you were doing something.
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: In I should invite you to the opening.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: Well, that'll be nice. I'm not an a lister, so
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: you know I might miss out.
• 19:58
  Speaker 5: There's room for you, Nick for sure. Well, this is
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: a project that where we had an old sort of
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: midlife building that was between Partika, the local art gallery,
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: the city's art gallery and the waterfront. Prors had a
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: desire to sort of reorientate itself towards towards its lovely harbor.
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: For a number of years and we just happened to
• 20:24
  Speaker 5: own a piece of land that provided an opportunity to
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: do that. So we had we had Chris Moller, who
• 20:34
  Speaker 5: some people will remember as the guy did Grand designs
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: for New Zealanders there a few years ago. He's designed
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: a building that has basically creates a pedestrian arcade that
• 20:46
  Speaker 5: connects Partica down to the sea and next door to that,
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: we've sort of created a market hall where we'll have
• 20:52
  Speaker 5: a range of retail and hospitality experience.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: A great spot for a cafe, wouldn't it. Several cafes, several.
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: Lots of eateries, art, it's got a glass roof so
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: you can sit on the second level and relax.
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: I did read about. I have read about. It's been
• 21:08
  Speaker 4: an article about it, hasn't it. So when does this open?
• 21:11
  Speaker 5: Well, we have the arcade open for Martoiki and the
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: market hall will follow a few weeks later.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: And how much roughly? I mean, is this a big
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: investment for you?
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: I mean, I don't want you to give me the
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: commercial sensitive stuff, but is this a big investment for
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: you to be taken to a regional city.
• 21:29
  Speaker 5: Well, we're just a small family business, you know. It's
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: my brother and two sisters, and our chief executive myself.
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: So for us, it is a big project. It started
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: off being looking like quite a small project back in
• 21:45
  Speaker 5: pre COVID days and the days of low interest rates.
• 21:48
  Speaker 5: As time has gone by, it's assumed larger and larger proportions.
• 21:53
  Speaker 5: So it is a big project for I mean.
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: That's pretty spectacular for a mayor of the city. I
• 21:58
  Speaker 4: mean that cafe in the museum is one of my
• 22:02
  Speaker 4: all time favorite cafes. I mean, that's a great cafe.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: The museum is amazing. That building's great, you know. I mean,
• 22:08
  Speaker 4: arena is an amazing facility. Blessed rest and soul Willie
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: Trema for putting it all together. Without that man's vision,
• 22:16
  Speaker 4: that would never have happened. So there's some great things
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: happening out there, isn't it.
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: It's huge. We are so lucky to have Paul investing
• 22:22
  Speaker 3: in it on the waterfront there, we obviously want to
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: get involved and it ties into our Mutaiki celebrations, which
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: is open for everybody. We're going to have some lights
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: down on the waterfront and then you go into the
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: arena and we've got a huge number of things going
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: for a whole week there that are free for people
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: to attend.
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: You get a view of the water.
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: Yes, a beautiful We need to fix the harbor.
• 22:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but it is a beautiful spot, isn't it. You
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: know it is.
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: A place of great beauty.
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: Business Week we do it every two weeks. We have
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: a business hour and we talk about things. Today we've
• 22:56
  Speaker 4: been blessed with having the presence of Mayor Alita Baker
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: and executive director of the Wall Store Paul Robinson. Now
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: those of you don't know the Wall Store, it's an
• 23:05
  Speaker 4: amazing beautiful old brick build that a lot of money's
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: been gone into over the last ten years what i'd say.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: Ready years, twenty years.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: Yeah, if you drive along the motorway leaving Wellington on
• 23:16
  Speaker 4: your left hand side, you'll see it and Thornton.
• 23:19
  Speaker 2: It's beautiful.
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: And now we are hearing that this other nice development,
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: beautiful development. I've seen photos of it a couple of
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: weeks ago, a month ago on the paper in Pora
• 23:28
  Speaker 4: as well. So it's great to have you here both
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: to have a chat. I want to talk to you
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: now about something that I'm very passionate about. Wearlington City
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: Council has introduced a new policy restricting councilors from asking
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: information on anything except for upcoming votes, labeled undemocratic and unconstitutional.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: A story came out today revealing the council staff and
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: not giving counselors copies of legal advice on the airport's sale. Anita,
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: This to me is nuts because the CEO is telling
• 23:59
  Speaker 4: the board, which is the council, rather than vice versa.
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: Now am I reading this wrong?
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: No, no you're not. And I think you're reading it
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: like is because simply because they have leaks at their
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: council table, my counsel table doesn't have any leaks. The
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: councilors can contact me in the CEE for any information
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: they want and they get it. And I think that's
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: the difference.
• 24:20
  Speaker 4: But surely you can't make a decision without all the information.
• 24:24
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, you're the Board of Directors. You're the helicopter pilot
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: looking down, aren't you.
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: I think they're entitled to that information. And I was
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: really shocked to read it.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: And if you've got a leak, get rid of the leak.
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: Well, they've got so many leaks. I don't know how
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: they can. But yeah, I'm on board. They should not
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: be able to do this.
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: Board does that amaze you? I mean you would have
• 24:41
  Speaker 4: been in the corporate world. Do you know how it works.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: You've got the CEO telling the board what information she
• 24:48
  Speaker 4: wants or he wants to give them nothing else.
• 24:51
  Speaker 5: Well, I think that's a pattern of behavior that's sort
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: of emerged out of let's get Wellington moving over there.
• 24:58
  Speaker 5: We we had these what we've had six years, Let's
• 25:02
  Speaker 5: get Wellington moving with this highly constructed information that's both
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: being dispense to the public and to the counselors. And
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: it's not really doesn't look very good.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: So what do we do? How do we change it?
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: I mean, surely we want the people that we voted
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: on to know what's going on.
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: Surely, well exactly and you know, like I've as everybody knows,
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: I've had an agenda about the Thornton Key those things.
• 25:31
  Speaker 5: But now I even see something as simple as the
• 25:35
  Speaker 5: council agreed to start creating these changing lanes reports. That
• 25:40
  Speaker 5: was some economic reports to look at the impacts of
• 25:43
  Speaker 5: roading changes and other factors on retail activity around Wellington.
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: So the first one came out that said, oh, we
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: can't see any impact from roading changes on retail, and
• 25:55
  Speaker 5: everybody said, well, we're not sure about your methodology for
• 25:58
  Speaker 5: compiling that report. A draft second report was produced back
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: in April, and that actually painted a very dire picture
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: for retail and Wellington. It showed it basically showed that
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: Wellington retail was down fifteen percent while Auckland's retail CBD
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: retail was growing. And that report's just disappeared. It's never
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: made it beyond draft report, so it hasn't got to
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: the councilors. Well, the council basically had it. I don't
• 26:28
  Speaker 5: know how I came across it. It just turned up
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: my email box one day as a draft report and
• 26:34
  Speaker 5: it's just disappeared. It hasn't been published.
• 26:36
  Speaker 4: Can I be as rude as to say Anita Baker
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: and you can avoid this because I know that there'll
• 26:41
  Speaker 4: be putting you on the spotlight that Barbara mccarro, the
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: CEO of Wellington, has far too much power.
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: To be really nice. My CEO doesn't work like that.
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: So we see each other every day, we discuss things.
• 26:57
  Speaker 3: Everything's on the same level. I think in Wellington they
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: work differently and it's certainly not how they we work
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: comported to.
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: Do you think it's broken?
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: That's for them to fix, and I think you guys
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: have all worked that out, but it doesn't happen.
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: I then put it, Paul, do you think it's broken?
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Do you think it's broken?
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: That?
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: Basically the CEO is telling KPMG do a report on
• 27:19
  Speaker 4: the sale of airport, but we only want to hear
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: the good side. We don't want to hear anything bad
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: about our idea of what we're going to do with
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: the money. So only give us the good stuff, and
• 27:26
  Speaker 4: here's two hundred thousand to do it.
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: Do you not think that's broken?
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: So?
• 27:29
  Speaker 5: I think the data around that was that when Mayor
• 27:33
  Speaker 5: Lester was the mayor, public favorability for council decision making
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: was running at thirty six percent, and I think throughout
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: the Foster and now the fund our mayoralties, we're down
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: to sixteen percent and going south. That to me is broke.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Am I getting it wrong? Tell me if I'm getting
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: it wrong, it's broke. It's broke. And he is not
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: saying anything, but she's smiling.
• 28:05
  Speaker 4: Ready we had a camera in here, Hey, Paul, we'd
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: be on have we had a camera in here?
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: Look, I just have a great counsel and a great
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: ce that's all I can say. And I don't see
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: the same thing. You know, it's different dynamics.
• 28:18
  Speaker 4: Do we need to do something about it? It's the
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: next question. Do we wait for the eighteen months or
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: do we do something about it earlier.
• 28:25
  Speaker 5: Well, that's down to counselors and whether they want to
• 28:29
  Speaker 5: address the issue or not. But I do know that
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: the view I've formed is that our public institutions that
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: are designed to protect us from poor decision making are
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: looking very very thinly spread at the moment. You know,
• 28:46
  Speaker 5: I think the complaints that get laid with the Ombudsmen,
• 28:49
  Speaker 5: of which there are many, that office is having difficulty
• 28:54
  Speaker 5: responding to the sheer volume. I don't think the Auditor
• 28:57
  Speaker 5: General has got any mind space to look at the
• 29:03
  Speaker 5: Wellington specific issues. Doesn't seem to be anything coming out
• 29:07
  Speaker 5: of that. The ministers, the Crown Ministers, are prevented from
• 29:14
  Speaker 5: interfering unless it's the most dire circumstance. So we're not
• 29:18
  Speaker 5: that well protected by our public institutions.
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: Do you agree.
• 29:24
  Speaker 4: I can't say I don't want to put you in
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: that spot. That's that was very naughty of me, right,
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: Anita Baker? Someone really special.
• 29:33
  Speaker 3: I've got to get through the traffic and out to
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: put it. I'm going to Katahi on the waterfront, Paul's
• 29:37
  Speaker 3: new new outfit. What's the art and what.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: Does it mean?
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: The art?
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: Trail sharing food, bearing sharing, sharing food, and then over
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: to Partaker, all in one spot. You can't wait for
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: anything else.
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: Gosh, okay, I thought that was going to come for you, Okay,
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: Paul Robinson from the Wall Store. Someone really special, a
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: cousin that you haven't seen for forty years or hasn't
• 30:02
  Speaker 4: been to Warrington before, and you picked her up at
• 30:04
  Speaker 4: Wearrington Airport three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: What are you going to do?
• 30:09
  Speaker 4: Well?
• 30:10
  Speaker 5: If it's daylight saving, I'll take them out to Butterfly
• 30:13
  Speaker 5: Creek in Eastbourne for a walk through the bush there,
• 30:17
  Speaker 5: because I think that's an outstanding walk. And then I'll
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: whistle them over to rang A Toy and Parua and
• 30:24
  Speaker 5: take them up the top of that hole, which is
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: another outstanding walk.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: And then is that colonial? Nob? Is that the same.
• 30:32
  Speaker 5: As you're not allowed to go on anymore?
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: You're not anowed to call it colonial?
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Nob?
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: I grew up, I grew up out there colonial knobs,
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: colonial nob?
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: Why did I but I don't call it anymore.
• 30:41
  Speaker 5: It's a Dragon Towey and it's the most beautiful bike
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: ride and walkway that you can do. And then I
• 30:46
  Speaker 5: take them down to Katahi afterwards for a bit of hospital.
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: Of course you would, of course you would great to
• 30:52
  Speaker 4: have you both in the studio, Paul. I hope you
• 30:53
  Speaker 4: have some real success with what's going on in Thornton.
• 30:56
  Speaker 4: I think Wellingtonians feel for you. I think anybody that's
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: driven through Thornton lately feels for you. I think that
• 31:02
  Speaker 4: they've done. What Wellington City Council has done to Thornton
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: is a disgrace and very very sad. But trust me,
• 31:11
  Speaker 4: it's coming to a street by by you anywhere.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: It's going to happen.
• 31:15
  Speaker 4: You're not You're going to be first careful for the ring,
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: but it's going to happen to other people. I need
• 31:18
  Speaker 4: to bake it, keep up the good work and potty
• 31:19
  Speaker 4: do it. I haven't been out for a while, but
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: I must go out and have a love look around.
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm gonna go out and have a look.
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: I saw it, I saw the I said that'd be great.
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: I could open a great cafe out there.
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: So I love to have it.
• 31:30
  Speaker 4: Yeah, never thought about it. So there you go. Now
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: I will go out, not this afternoon. I want to
• 31:35
  Speaker 4: get some sleep this afternoon after a sleepless night last night.
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: But I will go out the next couple of days
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: and have a look. Thank you both for joining us
• 31:41
  Speaker 4: on the show this morning.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: Great to have you here.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: For more from News Talk, said B. Listen live on
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
• 31:49
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