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I have so many questions around the Government bailout of Golden Bay Cement, which is not in fact manufactured in Golden Bay, but in Northland. Fletcher owns the company and they said Golden Bay Cement operates New Zealand's only domestic cement manufacturing facility at Portland near Whangarei. It supplies nearly 60% of the cement used in New Zealand – about 95% of its output is sold domestically. Golden Bay Cement took a long hard look at the account books and participated in an independent assessment which confirmed that without support, rising costs —including carbon costs— would force the closure of the company and a shift to an import only model for cement from 2030. So in steps the Government with a $60 million payout. They say it's a specific one-time response to an exceptional set of circumstances, to keep the plant open at least through to 2040. In return, Golden Bay Cement has committed to continue producing cement at its Northland plant at least until 2040 and to invest at least 150 million through to 2040, phased over time. Finance Minister Nicola Willis told Heather du Plessis Allan last night the decision to offer a bailout was not made lightly and does not set a precedent. “We went through three steps. One, this is quite different in that it is strategically so important that you can produce cement for your domestic economy, that you're not exposed to not being able to have cement if there was an international trade disruption. Two, the financial case here is that actually this is a business that is working overall. The key thing is just that emissions cost. And three, we've set in place some really firm requirements that Golden Bay need to meet in order to get this cash with clawbacks if they don't meet those requirements. And that includes keeping production going through to at least 2040 making $150 million worth of investments in that manufacturing capability, keeping the jobs at that factory going, and having an open book exercise with us, the Government, so that we can audit that investment. So we set a very high bar, we took a very case by case approach. Believe you me, I did not want to be setting a precedent that we're going to keep doing this.” Well, yeah, you kind of have set a precedent though, haven't you? Because when you bail out one company, that's precedent. The other companies can say you've done it before, so it's a precedent. And Nicola Willis made the point that, oh, this is a thriving company, it's just that emissions cost. Yeah, about that... that's one of those questions. If it's just that emissions cost, then that's not going to change unless you change our obligation to the Paris Agreement and unless you do as other European countries have done and delay the introduction of the ETS or scrap it all together. So “just that emissions cost” is what's snookering a whole lot of New Zealand companies. Fletcher says that New Zealand manufacturers face carbon costs that importers largely avoid. They want to see a carbon border adjustment mechanism, something they say addresses the structural imbalance directly and would let the ETS work as intended without exposing domestic manufacturers like Golden Bay to ongoing domestic advantage. A CBAM would apply a carbon charge to imported goods based on the emissions generated during their production. While we're all being, hey look at us, we're being so good and we're saving the Arctic shelves and we're snookering our own companies because we believe in the greater good of the of the planet and the universe, other countries go, yeah, no, not for us. Not really. We don't buy into that whole ETS thing, so we're not going to do it. They can make their goods a whole lot cheaper on so many levels without the ETS even coming into it. Add the ETS on that, the fact that they're ignoring it completely, no wonder their goods are cheaper. So as Fletcher says, why don't we bring in the carbon border adjustment mechanism so wherever it's made in the world, you have to pay your ETS if we're all going to buy into that. How is a one-off payment going to help given the trading environment isn't changing or they've given no indication of the ETS obligations changing anytime soon? And they won't under Labour and Greens, if anything they'd go up. And if Golden Bay is so critical, why isn't Carter Holt Harvey's pulp and paper and plywood? I would have thought that was pretty critical too. Except of course they closed down and it wasn't an election year. Perhaps that's the difference. Last year Carter Holt Harvey saw the closure of Kinleith and Eves Valley sawmill with the loss of hundreds of jobs. We had the closure of Ravensdown, Smithfield, and Ruapehu. Each of these towns and regions could argue that what they made was critical to the supply chain. It was certainly critical to the economic viability of their particular region, which is not awash in situations vacant. Cameron Bagrie has called the bailout of Golden Bay corporate welfareism. Of course it is. Fletcher says it's not, the Government says it's not, but if it's taxpayer money going to an entity that can't support itself, that's welfareism. Nicola Willis might not want to set a precedent, but she has. And a one-off payment is not going to fix the problem, as Fletcher points out. We have signed up to the Paris Accord, we've said, oh yes, bring on the ETS, please let's cripple ourselves so we can maintain the moral high ground. And in the meantime, we're going to have to import goods that are made by other countries that have stuck two fingers to Paris and said we can't afford it. How does that work? How do we maintain the moral high ground by buying goods from countries that are ignoring their carbon offset obligations? We do our own companies out of business, we put people out of work, and we buy from countries that ignore the ETS. It doesn't make any sense to me at all. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I have so many questions around the Government bailout of Golden Bay Cement, which is not in fact manufactured in Golden Bay, but in Northland. Fletcher owns the company and they said Golden Bay Cement operates New Zealand's only domestic cement manufacturing facility at Portland near Whangarei. It supplies nearly 60% of the cement used in New Zealand – about 95% of its output is sold domestically. Golden Bay Cement took a long hard look at the account books and participated in an independent assessment which confirmed that without support, rising costs —including carbon costs— would force the closure of the company and a shift to an import only model for cement from 2030. So in steps the Government with a $60 million payout. They say it's a specific one-time response to an exceptional set of circumstances, to keep the plant open at least through to 2040. In return, Golden Bay Cement has committed to continue producing cement at its Northland plant at least until 2040 and to invest at least 150 million through to 2040, phased over time. Finance Minister Nicola Willis told Heather du Plessis Allan last night the decision to offer a bailout was not made lightly and does not set a precedent. “We went through three steps. One, this is quite different in that it is strategically so important that you can produce cement for your domestic economy, that you're not exposed to not being able to have cement if there was an international trade disruption. Two, the financial case here is that actually this is a business that is working overall. The key thing is just that emissions cost. And three, we've set in place some really firm requirements that Golden Bay need to meet in order to get this cash with clawbacks if they don't meet those requirements. And that includes keeping production going through to at least 2040 making $150 million worth of investments in that manufacturing capability, keeping the jobs at that factory going, and having an open book exercise with us, the Government, so that we can audit that investment. So we set a very high bar, we took a very case by case approach. Believe you me, I did not want to be setting a precedent that we're going to keep doing this.” Well, yeah, you kind of have set a precedent though, haven't you? Because when you bail out one company, that's precedent. The other companies can say you've done it before, so it's a precedent. And Nicola Willis made the point that, oh, this is a thriving company, it's just that emissions cost. Yeah, about that... that's one of those questions. If it's just that emissions cost, then that's not going to change unless you change our obligation to the Paris Agreement and unless you do as other European countries have done and delay the introduction of the ETS or scrap it all together. So “just that emissions cost” is what's snookering a whole lot of New Zealand companies. Fletcher says that New Zealand manufacturers face carbon costs that importers largely avoid. They want to see a carbon border adjustment mechanism, something they say addresses the structural imbalance directly and would let the ETS work as intended without exposing domestic manufacturers like Golden Bay to ongoing domestic advantage. A CBAM would apply a carbon charge to imported goods based on the emissions generated during their production. While we're all being, hey look at us, we're being so good and we're saving the Arctic shelves and we're snookering our own companies because we believe in the greater good of the of the planet and the universe, other countries go, yeah, no, not for us. Not really. We don't buy into that whole ETS thing, so we're not going to do it. They can make their goods a whole lot cheaper on so many levels without the ETS even coming into it. Add the ETS on that, the fact that they're ignoring it completely, no wonder their goods are cheaper. So as Fletcher says, why don't we bring in the carbon border adjustment mechanism so wherever it's made in the world, you have to pay your ETS if we're all going to buy into that. How is a one-off payment going to help given the trading environment isn't changing or they've given no indication of the ETS obligations changing anytime soon? And they won't under Labour and Greens, if anything they'd go up. And if Golden Bay is so critical, why isn't Carter Holt Harvey's pulp and paper and plywood? I would have thought that was pretty critical too. Except of course they closed down and it wasn't an election year. Perhaps that's the difference. Last year Carter Holt Harvey saw the closure of Kinleith and Eves Valley sawmill with the loss of hundreds of jobs. We had the closure of Ravensdown, Smithfield, and Ruapehu. Each of these towns and regions could argue that what they made was critical to the supply chain. It was certainly critical to the economic viability of their particular region, which is not awash in situations vacant. Cameron Bagrie has called the bailout of Golden Bay corporate welfareism. Of course it is. Fletcher says it's not, the Government says it's not, but if it's taxpayer money going to an entity that can't support itself, that's welfareism. Nicola Willis might not want to set a precedent, but she has. And a one-off payment is not going to fix the problem, as Fletcher points out. We have signed up to the Paris Accord, we've said, oh yes, bring on the ETS, please let's cripple ourselves so we can maintain the moral high ground. And in the meantime, we're going to have to import goods that are made by other countries that have stuck two fingers to Paris and said we can't afford it. How does that work? How do we maintain the moral high ground by buying goods from countries that are ignoring their carbon offset obligations? We do our own companies out of business, we put people out of work, and we buy from countries that ignore the ETS. It doesn't make any sense to me at all. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis joined Heather du Plessis-Allan for their weekly chat. On the Golden Bay Cement bailout, Willis defended the Government's decision to not change the ETS and instead provide funding directly to the company. "If we had said 'actually no, the ETS doesn't apply to you, Golden Bay Cement', there would have been a conga, well, there could have been a conga line of others who would have said, 'hey, we don't want the ETS to apply to us either.'" Willis also confirmed that Erica Stanford is expected to make announcements on a potential social media ban in the coming weeks. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, I think we can probably call it: in the end, no one cared enough about the controversies at the Football World Cup. We all just had a really good time watching it. Anyone hoping, and there were definitely people hoping, that this would be the World Cup where the corruption would finally be too much, the controversies would finally be too much, and something would be done about it, will be horribly disappointed. Already, it sounds like UEFA is ignoring calls to deal with FIFA president Gianni Infantino after US President Donald Trump involved himself in getting the red card overturned. And already, more than 200 of FIFA's member associations have formally backed Infantino for re-election. I think those two things should tell you more than anything else that nothing is going to come from any of the politics or any of the controversies. Instead, what's going to happen is that Infantino will celebrate yet another successful tournament. The football was great. It wasn't diluted by the extra teams, which is what people were worried about. It wasn't predictable. You had surprise successes like Cape Verde. Nearly seven million fans passed through the gates. That is, by the way, enormous. That's double the previous record, which was set in the US 32 years ago. Ninety-nine-point-seven percent of tickets were sold. They think the final will be the most-watched football match on record. Now, sure, in years to come we're going to remember that Trump got a red card overturned, just as we're going to remember the rainbow armband drama in Qatar. But, we're also going to remember that the Argies got really heated up and had a fight after the final, that Lionel Messi got a hat-trick and that Eli Just scored a double for the All Whites, who actually turned out to be not half bad and gave us some hope that maybe quality football is finally improving in this country. In the end, the controversies are just part of the story but they didn't stop people going to the games or watching the games, which is so predictable because this is what happens every single time.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today the Green Party announced their new energy policy to build a publicly owned electricity company called Kiwipower. The policy has a proposed $980 million four-year appropriation with the goal of cutting power bills and expanding renewable energy. "It's creating something called firming, which effectively is the power that kind of rumbles on in the background and is constant," Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick told Heather du Plessis-Allan. "These are the kinds of investments that are necessary for the sake of creating that secure and resilient energy system." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The $1.66 billion mega-pipe solution to some of Auckland's water woes was officially opened today. Watercare's Central Interceptor tunnel runs for 16.2km from Point Erin in Herne Bay to the Māngere Wastewater Treatment Plant. "What it does is it creates, basically, a new backbone for our wastewater system, and will over time really reduce those overflows that are occurring into our harbours," Watercare CEO Jamie Sinclair told Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Minister Responsible for RMA Reform Chris Bishop spoke to the public today with more details about the RMA reform. Bishop confirmed all existing agreements, called Mana Whakahono ā Rohe, between councils and local iwi will be scrapped, replacing them with 'iwi participation agreements'. He told Heather du Plessis-Allan the one main goal is protecting Māori land, "and so the question is how you go about doing that in a streamlined way in the system where you don't have co-governance and you don't have broad cultural rights that are asserted". LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's carbon credit trading scheme could have shut New Zealand's only cement manufacturing plant, but Fletcher Building announced today it got a $60 million bailout to keep it running - the $60m is not a loan. NZ Initiative Chief Economist Dr Eric Crampton told Heather du Plessis-Allan that the bailout doesn't address the root cause of the issue. "It's a mess that's trying to solve what's actually a real problem in how the government's industrial allocations in the emissions trading scheme work - the design of those is not good, and they are particularly not good when it comes to cement manufacturing," he said. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trade Minister Todd McClay addressed media with his Swiss counterpart Helene Budliger Artieda at the Future of Investment and Trade (FIT) Partnership ministerial meeting in Auckland to announce trade partnership talks. Limited details are available as the talks are in the early stages. "What we've agreed today is to start a formal trade investment dialogue," McClay told Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Question for you: was Donald Trump's speech to the American people a classic case of muddying the waters? For Trump, it was a relatively short speech, about 40 minutes, in which he claimed there had been Chinese interference in the 2020 presidential election, that there were extreme vulnerabilities in the election system that need to be closed and that China obtained more than 200 million American voter registration records. He then released a trove of documents that he claims back up these allegations. Now, the allegation that China interferes in the elections of Western liberal democracies is not new and, frankly, isn't even controversial. We know the Chinese do this. They've been doing it for years across multiple countries: the United States, Canada, Australia and even here in New Zealand. We've been subjected to interference as well. The claim that China somehow involved itself in the 2020 presidential election is also neither new nor controversial. That allegation has been made before. The question then is: if none of this is new or controversial, why give a speech? Why set aside time to address the American people and revisit it all over again? Whichever way you look at it, I think it's probably safe to assume it's because he's concerned about the midterm elections coming up later this year. He is either trying to rally support for the Save America Act, which would effectively return the United States to in-person voting with voter ID requirements, a system that would likely favour Republicans, or he's laying the groundwork for an excuse in the event Republicans perform poorly in the elections anyway. Or it could be both. And, given it's Trump, you can't rule out the possibility that he's going through this whole exercise so that, a few months from now, he can blame someone else, perhaps the Chinese, if Republicans underperform at the ballot box.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a speech to the American people Donald Trump has once again claimed fraud in the 2020 election, this time alleging Chinese interference. Former Republican Communications Director, Doug Heye, told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "I think trying to make any sense out of this speech is a fool's errand." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rail Minister Winston Peters revealed the names of the two new ferries headed for New Zealand in 2029. The new ferry names are Kupe, after the first Polynesian navigator to discover New Zealand, and Cook, after Captain James Cook, who led an expedition to New Zealand with the Endeavour in the 18th century. Peters confirmed that KiwiRail would continue to own the Interislander ferries once they arrive, the Government had refused to commit to full KiwiRail ownership. He told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "we're just gonna get on and do the job, but most people will be delightfully happy with it." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A native hawk in the Wairarapa has been confirmed as the second case of bird flu in New Zealand. The animal was sent to a wildlife hospital after suffering a head injury where the disease was found upon routine testing. Minister of Biosecurity Andrew Hoggard told Heather du Plessis-Allan that they are working with farmers in the region. "From an MPI perspective, we are touching base with all, I think there's about 13, egg producers or poultry producers in the Wairarapa. So, teams getting in contact with all of them just to check, are they confident in their biosecurity measures they've got?" LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US Correspondent Dan Mitchinson joined Heather du Plessis-Allan to chat the latest news out of the USA. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, has announced that US troops aged 30 or older will have to undergo testosterone testing as part of annual health screenings. Mitchinson said, "there are, you know, studies that show 1 in 4 men over 30 have low testosterone, and only 1 in 20 recognise the symptoms, but really this just seems like, why are you doing this?" "What is the point?" LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster says that cases of unauthorised employees snooping on private information are growing. He told Heather du Plessis-Allan "it looks like at least 1 in 10 cases are employee browsing, and a greater percentage, up to a third, are, are what we call unauthorised access. So, people who have a right to look at material, but only for work purposes, and they're using it for their personal purposes." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trade Minister Todd McClay addressed media with his Swiss counterpart Helene Budliger Artieda at the Future of Investment and Trade (FIT) Partnership ministerial meeting in Auckland to announce trade partnership talks. Limited details are available as the talks are in the early stages. "What we've agreed today is to start a formal trade investment dialogue," McClay told Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If anyone on a council at the moment can't understand why so many of us ratepayers are so hostile towards them, sometimes bordering on hatred, can I just suggest they take a look at what's going on with these agreements with iwi? That might actually give them a bit of an idea. If you haven't followed this, Chris Bishop is planning to replace the Resource Management Act shortly and his replacement law will not allow councils to sign any more of these agreements. These agreements are called Mana Whakahono a Rohe agreements. In some cases, and certainly in the more extreme examples, they effectively cede significant decision-making power to iwi. The new law will not allow any further agreements to be signed but it will allow existing agreements to continue. So, of course, what's happening is that councils are rushing to sign as many of these things as they can before the law changes. The Far North District Council is trying to sign five of them, apparently without involving elected councillors in the process. They're reportedly not even allowed to see the detail. I've had a letter today from the Mayor of Carterton drawing my attention to the fact that Greater Wellington Regional Council, which covers Carterton, is doing exactly the same thing, despite objections from two of its constituent councils: Carterton and Kāpiti. Environment Canterbury tried to rush one through this week, then got busted and pulled it from the agenda. The fact that councils are being cynical like this will come as no surprise to anyone because they did exactly the same thing with Māori wards when they knew that, in many cases, their own ratepayers did not support them. But this gets much more difficult for the Government because it, particularly the National Party and ACT, said this co-governance stuff would end. Yet they are allowing it to continue under their new RMA laws by permitting these agreements to carry over. They need to change that law. They need to change it before it becomes law if they really meant what they said. Importantly, if they want to retain the faith of the voters who backed them to end this stuff, then they need to act when they have the chance next week, when the select committee report on the RMA reforms comes back. They need to say that these agreements will be rendered void under the new law and that whatever has been signed in a last-minute rush will count for nothing. This is the Government's big test. It's the chance to prove that what it said about co-governance wasn't just hot air. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All right - given the level of hostility we have at the moment towards local body councillors and councils, I suspect there'll be plenty of support for the idea I'm about to tell you about. But I would caution against getting too excited because it's a terrible idea. If you've been following councils around the country lately, you'll be aware of Benedict Ong from the Dunedin City Council and Ray Chung from the Wellington City Council. Both are making nuisances of themselves, which is why they're in the news. Benedict, for repeatedly receiving council emails and then immediately forwarding them to multiple journalists and leaking the information; and Ray Chung, for getting himself to the scene of a missing person during a flooding event in Wellington when he shouldn't have been there, and then telling porkies, or what looked a lot like porkies afterwards, about why he was there. Now, Ben McNulty, the Wellington Deputy Mayor, is so frustrated by this nonsense that he's proposing tougher sanctions for councillors like this to deal with what he calls "almost existential threats to democracy" caused by councillors leaking sensitive information. Ben hasn't said specifically what powers he wants but whatever it is he's proposing, I don't like it. Because while I have no love for the antics of Benedict Ong, Ray Chung or anybody like that, I respect the fact that both of them were democratically elected. They are just as entitled to council information and council access as the most well-behaved councillors. And if we start dreaming up ways to punish wayward councillors we don't like, we may find those very same rules being used against good councillors we do like if the wayward ones gain a majority. Whatever punishment we concoct is a punishment that can be weaponised against enemies. There is already a perfectly good punishment for councillors who misbehave and push things too far. It is the loss of office at the next election. Democracy already has a built-in punishment. We do not need another one. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How good is that Paul Henry announcement, eh? How good is that? ACT sent out a little media advisory last night about 7:30pm, saying there would be a major announcement. It would not be a policy announcement, no exclusive would be offered and there would be no embargoed material. I looked at it and immediately the texts started coming in. Is David Seymour resigning? Has somebody died? Is somebody pregnant? What's going on? I looked at it and thought, that's a lot of hype right there in that little media advisory. This better be good or the chat is going to be about damp squibs. But no, Paul Henry is absolutely worth all that hype. Paul Henry, I think, is the candidate get of the election so far. Don't forget, he was the highest-rated host of breakfast television in this country. He is immensely popular. He probably, I think, will single-handedly lift ACT's vote; at the very least, he will hold it up. Paul brings two things to ACT. The first is his absolute belief in New Zealand. That is authentic. He's been raving about New Zealand being paradise for years now. He's even done a TV show about it. When he says he wants to be in Parliament to sort out New Zealand's prosperity for the sake of his grandkids, I absolutely believe that to be true. The second thing he brings is entertainment. ACT has been struggling to break through on the right. The headlines have largely been hogged by New Zealand First. Paul Henry, I think, can get cut-through with his wit alone. Go and have a look at that press conference. He was very, very funny. Now, this is not to say that Paul Henry is going to go down well with everyone. There is a small group of people out there who absolutely hate his guts, but that is no loss to ACT because those people were most probably going to vote left anyway. My only hope for Paul is that he doesn't come to regret this decision because going into Parliament very rarely ends well for people who already have public profiles and successful careers. Somehow, though, I think if that is how it goes for Paul Henry, he's not going to give a damn anyway, so it probably doesn't matter. Ten out of ten. This announcement is brilliant for ACT's campaign. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let's not pretend that this roading announcement is not a massive letdown for anyone who voted for the National Party believing it would deliver the roads it promised. It is a huge letdown. Of the 15 Roads of National Significance promised following the last election, only six have construction dates: Takitimu North Link Stage 1 in Tauranga, Ōtaki to north of Levin, the Hawke's Bay Expressway, Warkworth to Te Hana, Cambridge to Piarere and the Ōmanawa Bridge. I don't even know where that is. The rest of them? Well, good luck to you. The second Mount Victoria Tunnel, which is one of my personal obsessions because of how badly Wellington needs it, has no construction date. In fact, the pre-construction work could take us all the way through to 2037. That is incredibly disappointing. I've heard rumours for months that this was the case. I've kept asking Chris Bishop about it on this show and he has assured me the project was all go. But it's not really, is it? And remember what National said at the last election: spades in the ground in the first term. That is now a broken promise. Now, I have to give credit where credit is due and that is to Chris Bishop because he fronted up and got honest with the public about this. That can't have been easy for him to do - for his own reputation and for the political fallout facing the National Party ahead of the next election. I know he's been anxious about this day coming and it has come. I think he's handled it as well as he could.But this is a mistake that Chris Bishop and the Nats cannot blame on anyone but themselves. They cannot blame Trump. They cannot blame tariffs. They cannot blame the conflict with Iran. They cannot blame inflation. They cannot blame the Labour Party. It was obvious in 2023 that they were being too ambitious in promising all these roads. They were warned they were being too ambitious and the warnings were correct. Now there will be significant numbers of disappointed voters who will have to wait so long for the roads they were promised that - given how changes of Government work - they may never actually get them. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Official Cash Rate has gone up by 25 basis points. This is the first rise we've seen in three years. It was unanimous around the committee table that it needed to happen because of inflation. Even though petrol and diesel prices have fallen sharply since the Iran war ceasefire deal was struck, they're not back to pre-war levels yet and they won't be for some time. That, of course, is inflationary. You know what struck me, though? Even though this is the first hike in the Official Cash Rate in three years and even though there wasn't consensus among high-profile economists that this should happen - I mean, plenty of them were calling very strongly for it to be held for the sake of the economy - there isn't nearly as much angst around this as there was around any of the decisions Adrian Orr made. Even when they were decisions we wanted, we still got angsty because they were either too late, too early or whatever. Instead, the news conference was boring. So boring, in fact, that it was refreshing. Anna Breman slowly talked us through the decision with a slideshow. She let Paul, on one side of her, pipe up occasionally. Karen, on the other side, was also allowed to chip in. She took questions from journalists on video link. She explained really basic economic concepts to them. The impression you got the whole way through was that Anna Breman is in control. Because we knew this. This was not a surprise. We knew it was coming. It was very well signalled. Seventy percent of economists were expecting it. The market had priced it in. The NZIER Shadow Board was picking it. There was, as I say, consensus around the committee table. It gives the impression that she's not the victim of a knee-jerk reaction but is instead being quite deliberate in the path she's taken. You could argue that her job right now is every bit as hard as Adrian Orr's was, at least towards the end of his tenure. Because this Iran stuff is really mucking around with forecasts, isn't it? That news conference was so boring - and so angst-free - that it gives me some hope. The further we get away from COVID, and from the characters who were around during COVID, the more things might return to their boring averages. Maybe we'll get on with each other and get on with the jobs we're supposed to do a lot better. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let's talk about the Chinese test of that nuclear-capable missile. More specifically, let's talk about New Zealand's response to it, which was quite full-throated in its criticism of China. I find myself unable to get as worked up about this as Winston Peters because, please correct me if I'm wrong, I can't see that China has actually broken any rules here. Before firing the missile, China alerted New Zealand, Australia and Japan, as required under international regulations governing tests of this nature. And even though there's been a lot of noise about China firing a nuclear-capable missile into a nuclear-free zone, it was only nuclear-capable; it was not actually carrying a nuclear warhead. It was a dummy. Sure, I'd admit they were pushing hard up against what people would be comfortable with. But then again, missiles are generally not things people are comfortable with. As far as I can see, the New Zealand Government's angry response is largely posturing because we're required to posture. The reason I'm not quite as worked up is that this doesn't actually surprise me. Anyone who's followed what China has been up to lately knows that it's building up its military and not just so it can put on impressive displays. I do wonder, though, whether China has made a bit of a mistake here, just as it may have done last year when it conducted live-fire exercises in the Tasman Sea. This kind of activity from China could freak people out a bit, or, if not freak them out, at least wake them up to the fact that China is not simply a benign trading partner. It is a military superpower with clear strategic ambitions, probably involving Taiwan. So I wouldn't be surprised if this creates greater support in New Zealand for increased defence spending, which is actually something we need to do. Nor would I be surprised if it unsettles some of our Pacific neighbours and drives them closer to New Zealand and Australia, which is arguably what we want. In a way, I don't actually mind that China did this, if only because it might help us collectively wake up a little to what is really happening in our region. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How good was that All Blacks test? I want to say I'm a little surprised by the number of commentators moaning about it and saying they're not impressed - but if I'm completely honest with you, I'm not that surprised. Some of the criticism is fair. There were fumbles, there were discipline issues, the French scored first, they threatened throughout the game and it was a very close scoreline in the end. But some of the criticism feels like it's still stuck in 2011, 2013 or 2015, back when the All Blacks were at their peak. The norm has changed. The Northern Hemisphere has caught up since then. The French are not a side to be underestimated. We do it every time. We say, "Oh, they're not sending a full-strength team." It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether they send an A team, a B team or a C team. They have so much depth in that competition now. They're good, whoever comes here. So I think we probably underestimated who we were playing and thought there should have been - what was it Piney said? - 12 or 13 points on the French. Plus, don't forget, this was the first test of the season and it is always a shaky start, especially lately, for the All Blacks. It's also the first test for a new coach and this was a team that had only been in camp together for, what, 10 days? Something like that. When you consider all of that, it was actually impressive. It was a confident start. It was fast-paced. It was full of opportunity. There was a hunger for possession. I loved it. I loved watching a team that wanted to win and seemed to have some idea of how it was going to do it. Yes, of course, the critics make some fair points and you have to acknowledge them. But the All Blacks showed some spark and, most importantly, they won. If it wasn't good, it was good enough, wasn't it? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If there's any good that comes from this awful case of the man dying while waiting for help in Waikato Hospital's emergency department, it's that at least it's getting a lot of media attention. I don't know if you recall but basically the same thing happened in 2021 at Middlemore Hospital. It was strange to me how little attention it received at the time, especially given everything else that was going wrong. There were people waiting for ambulances and dying in their doorways. That was happening a lot. There were reports of overcrowded EDs, understaffed hospitals and all sorts of other problems. Yet, for some reason, it barely attracted any attention and I could never really explain why. Perhaps, in retrospect, it was simply that it didn't fit the narrative. It was a Labour government at the time, Jacinda Ardern was Prime Minister and the government was pouring large amounts of money into a range of areas, including hospitals. So there was no easy explanation for why these things were happening. Now, of course, it's much easier to explain: National government, austerity, therefore not enough money. There's a logical connection there, whether you agree with it or not. While I'm horrified that this has happened, at least it is getting the attention it deserves because it was predictable — and it was predicted. The problem is simple: we do not have enough nurses and doctors in our hospitals. Go into a hospital and tell me that's not true. Don't worry about the numbers that get trotted out every time we talk about this. We hear, "Oh, we've hired heaps of doctors, we've hired heaps of nurses," and so on. Numbers can be misleading. You can say you've hired two new nurses but are those nurses fulltime or part-time? If they're fulltime, then you've gained two nurses. If they're part-time, you've effectively gained one fulltime equivalent nurse. This is the kind of thing I'm told is happening at the moment. Ignore the numbers and look at what's actually happening. Waikato ED wait times are so long that the waiting room is overcrowded and people are queueing out the door. Does that look like a fully staffed department to you? No, because it isn't. And the reason I want this to get attention is that an ED is one place none of us can avoid. Rich or poor, we're all likely to end up there at some point if we need emergency medical help. It has to work. If it doesn't work, then people's lives are at risk. And the more attention that's focused on the fact that it isn't working, the greater the chance that something is actually done to fix it. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister says he's shocked the Family Court gave a staffer paid leave for five years until he was convicted of money laundering last month. Ex-lotto host Russell Harrison was arrested for transporting gold bas for the Comancheros in 2021. Chief Victims Advisor Ruth Money told Heather du Plessis-Allan that this is 'unacceptable'. 'As taxpayers don't need 5 years of taxpayers' money given to someone who's sitting at home having a cushy life.' LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fresh New Zealand First candidate and veteran politician Michael Laws says he doesn't have too much baggage to return. He's a past National MP and has also already been with NZ First. He resigned from Parliament in 1996, after revelations his secretary had forged a signature to grant a poll contract to a company his wife part-owned. Laws told Heather du Plessis-Allan that he's learned valuable lessons. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due to make his first official visit to New Zealand. His arrival comes amid controversial comments from foreign minister Winston Peters, who says that Indians will be facing unfairly tough immigration laws upon arrival to New Zealand Senior political correspondent Barry Soper told Heather du Plessis-Allan that you would normally expect the foreign minister to greet an arriving Prime Minister, but Peters is abroad for the visit. 'He arrives back in the country the day after Modi leaves. he's in Japan quite conveniently.' LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A security company boss says ACT's newest crime policy could give clarity on how security guards can act. The Party says if elected, it wants accredited security guards to have the ability to detain and remove people, issue exclusion notices, and use force. Watchdog Security Chief Executive Brett Wilson, told Heather du Plessis-Allan that he expects only the top 10-percent of security personal would apply for a license. He says they'd be high calibre of staff, with the physical capability to carry out what's being proposed, given accreditation. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Forsyth Barr stadium in Dunedin has a new face at the helm. Phil King is taking over as CEO of Dunedin Venues Management Limited, the organisation that owns the stadium. He told Heather du Plessis-Allan that his priority is, 'sort of focusing on our own strengths and delivering a bulletproof wide Dunedin business case to partners and promoters'. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Meridian Energy's been granted fast track approval to take more water from Lake Pukaki. The Fast-track Panel's decision also grants permission to permanently install rock armour to boost resilience to wave erosion, when the lake's operating at lower levels. Major Electricity Users Group Executive Director Karen Boyes told Heather du Plessis-Allan that she has mixed feelings about the decision 'Some positive impacts possibly for consumers in the short term if we're using this water instead of fossil fuel fuels, but definitely some big concerns in the longer term.' LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you haven't yet caught up on the drama involving the former Lotto presenter and the gold-bar smuggling operation, you need to hear this because it basically involves your taxpayer money. The chap's name is Russell Harrison. You might remember him from the Lotto draws. He went on to a job at the Ministry of Justice as a Kaiārahi, a Family Court navigator. He took the job in June 2021 and later that same month he was charged with money laundering after meeting a man in an Auckland cemetery, where the man handed him $420,000 in cash. We now know that money was the proceeds of drug offending, although frankly, you could probably have guessed that at the time. He then went to New Zealand Gold Merchants and bought six gold bullion bars. Ten days later, he flew to Turkey to deliver them to the head of the Comancheros. When he was charged — bearing in mind he'd been in the job for less than a month — had he even turned up to work 20 times? I don't know. But when he was charged, the Ministry of Justice stood him down from his job and kept paying him his full salary for five years, right up until two weeks ago when he pleaded guilty. If you look at the salary range for that role, he may have received as much as $564,000 of taxpayers' money while sitting at home and drawing out the court process, all the while collecting an income. Everybody I've spoken to, including an employment lawyer, says this guy should have lost his job within months. The employer could reasonably have given him a few weeks but by the two- or three-month mark they should have sat down and sorted this out. An employer does not have to wait for the courts to find somebody like this guilty. They can conduct their own independent investigation and determine for themselves whether dismissal is justified based on the available evidence and, for example, the likelihood that the employee has committed the alleged offences. We don't know why the Ministry of Justice didn't do this because they're not talking about it. Instead, all we know is that they took an approach we are beginning to see repeatedly across the public sector: not really having much regard for the fact that this is absolutely taking the mickey out of the taxpayer. They simply kept spending the money on him for five long years. Now, hands up: which employer in the real world would keep you on full pay for five years after you're charged with helping the Comancheros? Answer: no one. Actually, disclaimer: the public service. But that's not the real world. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let me hit you with absolutely the weirdest political news of the day. Michael Laws, it's being reported, is going to announce he's running for New Zealand First. The '90s called and want their man back. It's not a good move for New Zealand First, it's a bad move. Michael Laws is trouble. He was trouble in the National Party when he was an MP. He was trouble in New Zealand First when he was an MP. He was trouble at Radio Live. He was trouble when he was Mayor of Whanganui. He is trouble right now in his role on the Otago Regional Council. He's a really, really smart guy, don't get me wrong, but he is not the guy New Zealand First should be trying to bring on board if they want to convince voters they are capable of running this country. Michael Laws is not their guy. He is fringe. He's been running a show on a media outlet - no disrespect to it - that has a very small audience of loyal followers and to everybody else it looks a bit weird and fringe. New Zealand First's biggest challenge right now is to appear credible because they really, really want to be supersized in this coalition. And if you believe the rumours going around, Winston Peters wants to finally, after all these years, have a crack at being Prime Minister. A few weeks and months ago, that kind of seemed possible because they'd captured the zeitgeist. They were promising bold policies that were cutting through to a large group of voters who had become incredibly frustrated by the normal run of things - run-of-the-mill politicians, policies, parties and so on. But in the past few weeks, that momentum seems to have evaporated and things have got a little bit weird, haven't they? Winston might have pushed it a bit far with the infighting involving his colleagues and the anti-Indian document, which seems to have given him what he wanted, yet now he's complaining about it and narking on us to the Indians. Then you've got the Michael Laws announcement which, if it happens, is going to double down on that weirdness. Taine Randell was a great get for New Zealand First. Stuart Nash was a good get for New Zealand First. But Michael Laws is a bad get because he brings the whole party down by association. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I totally run the risk of being way too much of a fangirl about the Michelin stars handed out, but I am so excited about this. Mainly, I'm excited for the people who run those restaurants because I realise what this means for them. It means full bookings. It means international recognition. It means the ability to walk into a kitchen anywhere in the world and say, "I worked in a Michelin-starred restaurant," and have people know exactly what that means - and know that you're good. I am also stoked for the people who love eating out. All of a sudden, there's a list to tick off, isn't there? How is it, for example, that I've eaten at Arataki Restaurant in Queenstown but never at Paris Butter in Auckland, even though it's just down the road from me? I now intend to rectify that quickly. But there's also a part of me that is really pleased because this has righted a wrong - the local punishment that has been going on for Amisfield. I don't dispute that the alleged behaviour of the former head chef wasn't good and I don't dispute that the owners of the restaurant should not have allegedly turned a blind eye to it for so long. But I did not like the fact that the establishment continued to be punished even after Vaughan Mabee, who was at the centre of the controversy, had left the building. Especially by Cuisine magazine, which then refused to recommend Amisfield as a restaurant. Amisfield was the best restaurant in the country until, all of a sudden, it was no longer the best restaurant in the country according to Cuisine because one man had left. Michelin has now righted that wrong by giving it a star. That decision was controversial. I've already read one take on it that wasn't entirely complimentary. But I don't care. Because what I want to know is this: is Amisfield a good place to eat? Now that the legendary - and problematic -chef has gone, is it still good? Apparently, the answer is yes. But we had to get foreigners to tell us that because we all went a bit weird and a bit cancel-culture on the place. For the record, I ate at Amisfield when the chef at the centre of the controversy was still there. It was one of the best meals I've ever had and I'm pleased it remains excellent - at least according to Michelin. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We need to talk about Brian Tamaki having his guns taken off him. Let me say right at the start: I'm not a fan of Brian Tamaki. He's a troublemaker who doesn't seem intelligent enough to understand what he's doing. But I still feel uncomfortable about the police taking his guns off him. If you listen to the podcast that appears to be the one the police are reacting to, I don't think he sounds at all like he's actually going to use his guns on anyone. A couple of times, he refers to the fact that if he lived in India and had a daughter under the age of 10 who was being forced into a child marriage, he would go to the man's house and shoot him. That's not a credible threat. He does not live in India, he does not have a daughter under 10 and his daughter is not being forced into a child marriage. What actually alarmed me more was that he repeatedly referenced burning down temples and mosques. I think that's a more credible threat because there are temples and mosques in this country, where he lives. So if that's the case, why did the police take his guns? Why not charge him over the actual thing that many of us would have listened to and thought, "Whoa, that's a bit much. What's he doing there?" To me, that looked like a case for at least considering a charge of inciting violence. That genuinely seemed the more serious issue in the podcast. I'm not quibbling with the police's right to do this. If they want to take his guns, they can because, as far as I can tell, he has breached the good character test, which includes not inciting hate. So they've got him fair and square. Although I will point out that it's a test many of us would probably fail if the police chose to apply it strictly to everyone because you're not supposed to misuse drugs or alcohol either. What it feels like is happening here is that they're simply looking for something to do to Brian because everyone hates Brian right now. So they're taking his guns, which doesn't address what appears to be the main issue in the podcast: the repeated suggestion that people burn down mosques and temples. It also feels political. Last week, ACT wrote to the police asking them to do something about this. I'm not defending Brian Tamaki. I don't actually care whether he has guns or not. What I don't like is seeing what looks, to me, like the police being pressured by politicians and then trying to find something - anything - to do to someone we don't like at the moment. So they've found the guns and they're taking the guns away, even though the guns are not actually the problem here. On principle, I'm very uncomfortable with all of that. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It seems to me you can look at the All Whites' performance at the Football World Cup one of two ways. You can either be gloomy about the whipping they took from Belgium - and it was quite the whipping - or you can be impressed by some of what they did in those three games and what that says about the growth of football in New Zealand. Now, let's be honest: the drubbing that Belgium handed out to us was a harsh reminder of where we actually sit, ability-wise, in the world of football - which is not at the top. But there were moments in that tournament that were just brilliant, eh? Eli Just's three goals, holding Iran to a draw, coming out fighting with exciting, fast-paced football in the first half of both of the first two games and then scoring twice as many goals in this tournament as they did in 1982 and again in 2010. Now, you take that and add to it the Phoenix Women making their Grand Final this year for the first time ever. You add Auckland FC winning their Grand Final this year and the Premier's Plate last year. You add Chris Wood, who is a properly excellent player in the Premier League, along with a bunch of others in various top leagues as well. Then you think about the kids around Auckland wearing AFC kits all the time, the primary school I visited last week where three boys in just one class were wearing football outfits - and where that school only offers two sports, and football is one of them. You add all of that together and I don't think it's overstating it to say we may be at an inflection point for football in this country. We are getting better at it, we are getting far more interested in it and once that trend is underway - and it already is - and kids are growing up wanting to be All Whites, that team will only improve in the years to come. I feel heartened by this because, yeah, absolutely, some of that last game really sucked - but it didn't all suck, did it? The whole tournament didn't suck. Some of it was genuinely impressive, and I'd be happy to bet that next time it might be even better. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So an email landed in my inbox - Spark Arena named among the world's top 20 arenas. Now, this is a big deal. This isn't a list that's put together by some random Instagram account in Norway with 100 followers. This is a list put together by IQ Magazine. And if you're into music in a big way - like, really into it, more than a Rolling Stone kind of way - you'll know IQ Magazine is a big deal. So for Spark Arena to be named in the top 20 arenas in the world is a big deal. Since moving back to Auckland three years ago, I've been to Spark Arena more times than I can remember. I've seen everything there. I've seen The Wiggles, Suzy Cato, big noisy rock like The War on Drugs, Mumford & Sons, Lenny Kravitz - he was the best, wasn't he? I've seen big stars like Lizzo and Lorde and shows like Hamilton. I've been there in previous years, obviously, for things like Oprah Winfrey and Celine Dion. And every single time - honestly, without fail - I've had a great experience. Now, we can have a debate about the acoustics because, frankly, yeah, they do suck sometimes. I mean, you know, it's not the best. If you've experienced the best acoustics, you'll know this place is far from it. But otherwise, it's a great experience. It never feels empty in there, even with smaller crowds, because it's versatile enough to adjust for them. It's in the central city so it's easy to get to and from the great bars and restaurants around it. It's easy to walk out and grab an Uber, easy to find a car park nearby, easy to get to the train station or catch a bus. Staff are always helpful in getting you to your seat or pointing you in the right direction. The drinks are served fast. It's really easy to get in. I think we've become so consumed in Auckland in recent years with the debate that flares up every now and again about how we don't have a decent new stadium, that we forget what we actually do have - which is a really good arena right in the centre of town that does its job brilliantly. Well done them. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Police National Integrity Unit and IPCA are investigating historical sexual allegations against Police Commissioner Richard Chambers. Meanwhile, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says he's aware of two separate complaints against the commissioner. Sexual violence advocate Louise Nicholas told Heather du Plessis-Allan that it doesn't make police look good, but doesn't apply to every cop. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Barry Soper joins Heather du Plessis-Allan to discuss today's news in politics. Allegations have been made against police commissioner Richard Chambers, but police minister Mark Mitchell says Chambers has his support. Chris Bishop delivered bad news to truck drivers. And the inequity gap is growing, most noticeable in the classroom. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Right, hands up — who felt sorry for the doctor arrested at the border for not paying back his student loan? So the details are: this chap owes almost $180,000. Yes, he admits he should have responded to IRD on the multiple occasions they tried to contact him — but he didn't. And he says he didn't realise how much money he owed until just recently. Now he's in a terrible situation because he's stuck in New Zealand. The authorities have taken his passport and he can't leave unless he ponies up some money. He's also got no income while he's here so he's had to cancel some eye surgeries and shoulder surgeries. Yes, it sounds like he's a surgeon — which means, no, he's not exactly on the bones of his arse, is he? Feel sorry for him? Nah. Of course you don't — me neither. In fact, I'm going to admit something to you, which is not very nice of me: I take a perverse pleasure in hearing about people like this getting caught at the border and forced to pay up. And yes, even though it's “only” $180,000 — small beer in terms of what the country deals with — every one of those dollars feels like a win to me because of what it represents. People like this doctor are the epitome of taking this country for a ride. He knew he should pay his student loan back. I knew I should have paid mine back. We all knew it. Most of us did. But some went overseas and thought they could come and go from New Zealand whenever they liked, with no repercussions and never have to pay the money back. Well, this is a come-to-Jesus moment for people like that. It's changed in New Zealand. We're not gentle parenting anymore — we're practising FAFO. You know what that is? F around and find out. And it's working. There's one lawyer in this country who reckons he's doing so much work on student loan cases alone that he's had to stop taking on other work. That's how many people he's helping clean up this kind of mess. He says he's dealt with more than 300 cases, accounting for around $25 million owed to New Zealand — and he's already managed to recover $7 million of it. Good. Am I sorry for the doctor — and everyone else in the same situation? Absolutely not. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ASB has joined Westpac in predicting the Reserve Bank will keep the Official Cash Rate on hold next month. The outlook has been revised after they previously predicted a hike when it's next reviewed on July 8th. However, ASB Senior Economist Mark Smith told Heather du Plessis-Allan that it'll be another close vote to stay at 2.25%. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The latest foundational assessment data shows 95 percent of socio-economically disadvantaged children were below curriculum level for maths in Year three. 70 percent of them were more than a year behind. Hora Hora school principal Pat Newman told Heather du Plessis-Allan that children in lower-income families face more uncertainty and disruption. He says people who don't know whether food's on the table or if they're sleeping in a car will be behind. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

National probably has the right intention with underused conservation land but they completely botched the communication of the plan and its implications. There's a little bit of green in every New Zealander - and I could not agree with that more. I reckon this backdown is a slam-dunk case of one person, Tama Potaka, stuffing up the comms. This concern about 60 percent of the conservation estate being up for sale has been building for weeks but last week it really hit a high point. Sam, the producer, said to me, “Listen, we've got to do something about this. We're going to have to do something about the conservation estate being sold. It's all over my Instagram and people are flipping out.” So we spoke to Forest & Bird and at the time I was talking to them and thinking there is a very good possibility they were catastrophising. Monday morning, I go to the kindy drop-off, and one of the mums says to me, “Oi, have you seen what the Government's doing with the conservation estate?” Let me tell you how often politics comes up at the kindy drop-off: never. So that was quite something. That day, Tama Potaka fronted for an interview. When I heard it, I knew immediately Forest & Bird were not catastrophising. Tama Potaka was toast on this because his strategy in that interview was not to try to explain what he was doing but to get angry and try to deflect. That's a really bad strategy. I heard that and thought, “Oh, everything they were worried about turns out to be true.” So one week after it hit Sam's Instagram, it's gone - because the minister could not adequately explain what he was trying to do. There is a good case to mount here and he actually did a more adequate job with me. The conservation estate is messy. It's full of bits and bobs cobbled together - stewardship land, conservation land, gravel pits, even the MetService building. Some of it is great; some of it is not. It needs a proper reclassification. Some of it could be sold off - we don't need to own it all and we could make money from it. But Tama Potaka did not explain that. And here's another thing: neither did Shane Jones. I think this has shown us the limits of his appeal. He was very good at making bombastic statements about mining, drilling and threatening to restructure DOC - but when it came to convincing Ponsonby mums and Auckland Gen Zers, he could not, and the two of them have lost the argument. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I can imagine there will be some disappointed fans out there but in the end, common sense does seem to have prevailed, doesn't it? In the last-minute Hail Mary dash to try to save Moana Pasifika, NZ Rugby, it turns out, have ended up being the grown-ups in the room - simply saying no. This is not going to work; this is taking too long. Apparently, it's predominantly because of the money. The people trying to save Moana Pasifika just could not pony up enough to support the team - not up front because you need heaps of money to get something like this off the ground (and that's essentially what would have been happening), and not enough from ongoing revenue. Which, when you think about it, is exactly the same situation we've just been through with Moana Pasifika. We did not need to repeat this. The people behind the existing team ended up running out of money - and who ended up carrying the can? The long-suffering New Zealand taxpayer, to the tune of at least $2.7 million. And when you add it all together, it was a lot more than that. Now, fans of the Moana Pasifika idea don't need to lose heart altogether because I think the prediction we made on the show might yet bear out: Moana Pasifika may be dead for 2027 but not necessarily for 2028. I'm hearing there is still a willingness to grant a licence for a team like this based somewhere in the Pacific. It could be a Samoan–Tongan concept, with those Governments coming together to resuscitate the team. Maybe it's based out of those islands. Maybe it could even be a team based out of Hawaii, where there is apparently quite a bit of money, a lack of professional teams and a favourable time zone for us. So the dream is not dead. And actually, it's not a bad dream - because apparently the Fijian Drua are the most commercially successful team in the Super Rugby competition, given that they essentially have a monopoly on Fijian sponsorship and audience. The dream is a good one, as long as the New Zealand taxpayer isn't the one always funding it. So thank goodness we've averted that. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let's talk about Ardie Savea's interview on Mike Hosking's show. I think we can all agree that it was awful, as the texts pointed out immediately. It was pretty flat and miserable, which was strange because this was Savea's first big media outing the day after being announced as All Blacks captain - to the biggest audience in the country. You'd think that if there was ever an occasion to sound a little excited, engaging and bring your A-game, that would have been it. Especially when you're the captain - and not just employed to play rugby. You're now also employed to win over (or at least retain) the fans, for a game that's under significant pressure from all the other, arguably more entertaining options out there: rugby league, basketball, Netflix - you name it. Whatever it is that your eyeballs are glued to instead of rugby union, he should be trying to win you over. Now, to be fair to Savea, this isn't exclusively an Ardie Savea problem. He is a little bit like that - his interviews generally sit on the less engaging end of the spectrum. But this is a much wider issue. This is a rugby union problem, where it has become acceptable - and maybe even desirable - for players to be monosyllabic, dull and emotionless. Why? I suspect it's to avoid saying anything controversial, headline-grabbing or even mildly titillating. But the sport, and its New Zealand headquarters, need to rethink this strategy. They need to go back and listen to the text feedback from that interview and ask themselves: is that really the response they want their newly appointed captain to generate the day after the announcement? Because we should be talking about what an inspirational figure Ardie Savea is. Instead, we're talking about how poor his first interview to hundreds of thousands of listeners was. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Greens' tax policy is only a day old and there is already a big maths problem with it. They counted $100 million a year as income when it was really an expense. It was money they had set aside to run the new tax system. So, instead of $100 million over four years coming in, it is now going out, creating an $800 million hole in their budget. They didn't see it. Brad Olsen, who checked their numbers, didn't see it either. The media were the ones who spotted it and the Greens only realised the mistake after receiving a few phone calls. Now, it's a problem - but I don't want to blow it out of proportion. It's not the end of the world for the Greens. It's a mistake they can explain, even though it's hard to understand how something this significant was missed. However, no one really takes the Greens seriously when it comes to money so this kind of error won't help them. What it will do is open up every calculation in that package to further scrutiny. They'll have to defend it with more than just, “Brad checked it, it's fine,” because clearly, it wasn't fine. On the politics of this - which is a separate issue from the mathematics - I reckon they've made another mistake by being too greedy. They've proposed a 45 percent tax rate for anyone earning more than $160,000. But $160,000 a year isn't rich - it's middle-income. Raising a family on that amount isn't easy. I think this risks losing the Greens support among people in well-off suburbs who want to save the planet and reduce child poverty - but not if it means paying 45 percent instead of the current 33 percent on income over $160,000. That's a huge jump. I'm surprised the Greens have made a mistake like this because they've already been told not to be so ambitious. It's why they lifted their wealth tax threshold to net assets over $10 million. Cast your mind back to the last election- it was $2 million. They moved it from $2 million to $10 million because they said people told them it was too low. My guess is they're about to learn the same lesson again with their proposed 45 percent income tax rate starting at $160,000. It's too low. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tell me something: does what's just happened with the Golden Mile upgrade in Wellington restore your faith in the possibility that councils can actually be run properly? Because that thing - I don't know if you've been following it over the years - but the Golden Mile upgrade has been an albatross around the necks of Wellington business owners and ratepayers since probably about 2016. It was always going to be too expensive, especially when it tripled in price. It was always going to kill businesses once construction started and cars were banned from driving on the Golden Mile. And it was always going to be one of the most frustrating examples of a Labour-Green majority council, obsessed with its hatred of cars, forcing through its pet project despite howls of outrage from the public - who would end up paying for it in more ways than one. This went on for years and years: the public saying “please don't,” the council saying, “nah, we're gonna.” It just went on and on.Then Andrew Little arrived - the first good mayor since Kerry Prendergast left office in 2010 - and everything changed. Within six months, the Golden Mile project was dead. Even councillors who had previously voted for it, like Ben McNulty, changed their votes and killed it off - presumably because that's what a good leader does. They take people with them. They change people's minds. Andrew Little is like a new broom in that city. He's killed off the most vexed and controversial project. He's fired a warning shot at the consultants that he is not prepared to pay endless bills for a cast of thousands to tell him what two or three people could. He's forced council staff to cut back on ridiculously high budgets. He's immediately reduced the infighting around the table. He's the grown-up who has taken over after 15 years of the kids trying to run the place themselves. For the first time in a very, very long time, Wellington City Council is not the worst council in the country. It restores your faith, doesn't it? All you need is a decent candidate to put their hand up, and even the worst-run place can actually be rescued. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm going to make a prediction that I'm fairly certain is going to bear out: no one is going to be shocked by reading in the Herald that Wayne Brown might be a bully. This has kicked off again this week with a complaint from a new Auckland councillor, Bo Burns, that Auckland Council is so dysfunctional she has packed up and walked out of meetings twice because of behaviour she considered unacceptable. Then, the Herald dropped a much bigger piece expanding on all of this, featuring the accounts of multiple councillors who also complain and who then hone in on the mayor in particular. Mike Lee says the mayor revels in put-downs and insults and pulled him off the Auckland Transport board as punishment because he voted against him on something. John Watson says the mayor is a narcissist. Lotu Fuli says the mayor drops the f-bomb all the time. And on and on the complaining goes. Now, look, I'm not completely hard-hearted. I have some sympathy for these people because I don't think I'd like to work in a place where I got punished for taking an opposing view. The mayor is not an easy bloke to work with and I thank the Lord every single day that I don't have to work with him. But I also don't have sympathy for them because this is not a normal workplace—it's a council. It's supposed to be robust. And Bo Burns should probably reconsider whether she thinks ratepayers will feel they're getting bang for their buck if they've elected someone who isn't robust enough to hack it at the big boys' table. As for Wayne Brown, claiming he's a bully is not going to hurt him, is it? Because it's not a shock to anyone. This is the guy who called the media “drongos” and barely apologised for it. This is the guy who emailed the Ratepayers' Alliance with two words: “f*** off.” Have you ever met him? The fact that he swears is not a surprise. What probably hurts him more, I would say, is that he hiked rates in the city by 7.9% this year. But finding out he's a bit mean to people and swears a lot? Not news. What would be news is if everyone around the Auckland Council table grew a pair and stopped complaining about him. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's announced it will force manufacturers to make local streaming apps front and centre on all TVs entering the country. Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says apps like TVNZ+ and ThreeNow must be pre-installed and easy to find - comparing it to remotes with built-in Netflix. Goldsmith says it requires legislation through Parliament, and roughly-18-months for manufacturers to adjust. TVNZ's Jodi O'Donnell told Heather du Plessis-Allan that it'll make a significant difference. She says we should recognise these platforms cover local news and sport, and it's really important to be able to find them. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

British Labour politician Andy Burnham won a byelection on Friday, securing a parliamentary seat. He is now expected to challenge Keir Starmer for leadership of the Labour Party, and by extenstion, his role as Prime Minister. British Political Strategist and Commentator John McTernan told Heather du Plessis-Allan that the proceedings will 'unofficially' begin over the weekend, and that Burnham should be careful with how he goes about it. "He has to give Keir the opportunity for a for a dignified retreat, don't dynamite him out, just make him understand that it's a matter of when, not if, and then move to a sensible, swift, but, dignified transition." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Latest polls show that the Opportunity Party has a 14% chance of securing a seat in parliament. The rising amount of support means that if the Opportunity Party secures six seats, it could oust the current coalition when combined with the other left wing parties (according to current polls). Barry Soper told Heather du Plessis-Allan that, "If You add 6 seats into that, which is a possibility fairly remote of TOP making it past the threshold, then this coalition government would be out of office on these figures." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.