Latest / Best of Business / Barry Soper: Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent on the new hospitality sector changes being made by the Government

Transcript

Barry Soper: Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent on the new hospitality sector changes being made by the Government · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from Newstalk ZB. Follow this
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Barry's well.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Hello, Barry. Good afternoon, Andrew.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Heather is not.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: No, she's not. But I must say, I listened to
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: your editorial at the beginning, and I totally agree with you.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: I saw the bureaucrat on television last night from MST. Now,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: they made a mistake that food is an essential part
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: of our life. But why couldn't they just say, look, sorry,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: we got it wrong. And there were 8,000 people involved
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and they probably went hungry. Look, sorry. It's not hard
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: to say.
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  Speaker 2: Sorry. And also, sorry for being so inept. That would
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: be nice as well. And we promise not to do
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: it again in the future. I think that would be
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: probably taking it too far.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: But anyway, there you go.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: So we're talking about this. This is our lead story.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: And there was a review that came out about our
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: hospitality rules. And it says red tape for the hospitality
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: should actually be reduced. And that is the Act Party policy.
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  Speaker 2: And they promised to do it.
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  Speaker 1: They did. And, you know... There was one aspect of
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: the review that really appealed to me, and it says
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  Speaker 1: everything about bureaucracy in this country. It was from a
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  Speaker 1: food truck business that considered setting up in Australia because
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: the process in New Zealand was so bureaucratic. Have a listen.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Seymour said when the vendor explored the option with Australian regulators,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: they were given one contact and a clear pathway to
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: set up the business there. Well, in New Zealand, they
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: had to meet 13 officials from eight central and local
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: government agencies. Now, where would you sooner set up business
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: under those circumstances? And it did identify multiple problems that
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: confront our hospitality industry. And I've got to say, you
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: don't see it much at this time of an election cycle,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: but the Nats and Act were at one when it
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: came to regulatory relief for the hospitality sector. Tourism Minister
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: Louise Upston, she turned up at a Newmarket Auckland restaurant
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  Speaker 1: with the Regulation Minister, ex-David Seymour. Here they are.
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  Speaker 3: Sometimes what happens is individual agencies don't appreciate what they're
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: doing is running counter to what another government department is doing.
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  Speaker 3: So the Hospitality Action Plan brings it all together, gives visibility.
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  Speaker 3: We're going to set some timelines of what we're going
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  Speaker 3: to achieve so that the hospitality sector has got what
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  Speaker 3: it needs to go and grow.
• 2:37
  Speaker 4: And that's why with Louise as our Minister of Hospitality
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  Speaker 4: and Tourism, we're going to see... hospitality action plan that
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: over the next year is going to clear up so
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  Speaker 4: many of the regulatory barriers that have been found by
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  Speaker 4: the Ministry for Regulation. And together, we are going to
• 2:53
  Speaker 4: make it easier to do business.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: Question, why does it take a year? Is there too
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  Speaker 2: much regulation inside the Ministry of Regulation?
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Well, it's true. Well, you've got to have another report,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: don't you? I mean, you know, you can't do it
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  Speaker 1: this side of the election, but At least those two
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  Speaker 1: were singing from the same hymn book, so that was good.
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  Speaker 2: I woke up this morning and went, goodness me, the
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  Speaker 2: United Kingdom have suddenly got a case of huge balls
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  Speaker 2: because they were talking about ethnic cleansing in Gaza and
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  Speaker 2: the West Bank, and they were doing boycotts on Israel.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: So what do you reckon? Well, they were doing boycotts
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: on the settlements, the Israeli settlements on the West Bank.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: The UK had been joined by Canada and France, and
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  Speaker 1: Chris Hipkins has been saying today that New Zealand's position
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: on this is an embarrassment to the country because what
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: we've said through Winston Peters' office is that we don't
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: use trade measures to address foreign policy issues, which they
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: see this as being in the book of. But our
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  Speaker 1: former Prime Minister, Helen Clark, she's just returned from Gaza
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  Speaker 1: and she said on TV3 that essentially New Zealand must
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: step up and voice its concern at what Israel is
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: now doing in the area.
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  Speaker 5: If you force Palestinians out of their villages and off
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  Speaker 5: their land, you are in effect ethnically cleansing these areas
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  Speaker 5: of Palestinians. It's a tough term, but how else do
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  Speaker 5: you describe it? The aim seems to be to drive
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  Speaker 5: them into the Palestinian towns and cities and to confine
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  Speaker 5: them there with, in effect, large parts of Palestinian territory.
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  Speaker 5: occupied by settlers. New Zealand signed up to a statement
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  Speaker 5: with the European Commission and a number of other countries
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  Speaker 5: in May against the increasing settlement. It's time to make
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  Speaker 5: that statement again because Israel's government is very close to
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  Speaker 5: letting a tender for construction of the settlement and people
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  Speaker 5: say it deals a terrible blow to the prospect of
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  Speaker 5: a two-state solution.
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  Speaker 1: And that's what New Zealand has been always about. We
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  Speaker 1: should have a two-state solution.
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  Speaker 2: I remember hearing the Prime Minister, Luxon, actually saying that.
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: We favour a two-state solution, therefore they don't back it
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  Speaker 2: in some ways.
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  Speaker 1: And it's not hard to join in this sort of
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  Speaker 1: thing because the fact is, that these are settlements in
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  Speaker 1: the West Bank. It's not as though they're producing a lot,
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  Speaker 1: and it's not as though we're going to go downhill
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  Speaker 1: economically if we ban any goods.
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  Speaker 4: From that area.
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  Speaker 2: It's symbolic, though.
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  Speaker 1: No, totally.
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  Speaker 2: And then the Americans might go, well, we don't trust them.
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  Speaker 2: But the difference here is that UK and France and Canada...
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: have gone in there first.
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  Speaker 1: Don't like the Americans at the moment either.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: No, you're right. And the Americans don't like them.
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  Speaker 1: Who knows? The Americans are all behind it. You're absolutely right.
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  Speaker 4: All right.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Barry.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Give it our regards to Heather. It's coming up seven
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  Speaker 2: minutes to five.