The Country Full Show: Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Jamie Mackay talks to Winston Peters, Bruce Cotterill, Kevin "Smiley" Barrett, and Phil Duncan.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Catch all the latest from the land. It's The Country
Podcast with Jamie McKay. Thanks to Brent, You're specialist in
John Deere Machinery.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Gaday, New Zealand and welcome to the Country. I'm Jamie McKay.
It's the Beg's Tragedy and the reason I'm playing the song.
Earlier this morning I caught up with Winston Peters and
I thought he's he's been around for a long, long
long time, and I reckon for one that he might
be getting a wee bit better with age. And I
thought I'd go back in time and just play you

(01:08):
what was the number one song in New Zealand When
he entered parliament. You might remember he over fought or
he fought a by election result or an election result
in nineteen seventy eight, and he actually actually had to
wait until the twenty fourth of May nineteen seventy nine
to take a seat in the House. He's basically been

(01:29):
there on and off a couple of periods off for
bad behavior since then, so almost half a century in politics.
He went off peace to wee. But this morning it
was interesting now Bruce Cottrell, I read a really good
column in The Herald over the weekend. He's a herald
business columnist obviously and a podcaster, you know leaders having

(01:51):
coffee with the Leader's guy. He is a fan of
us pulling out of the Paris Climate a cord and
he's none too keen on any government, especially past governments,
but any government sacrificing our farmers on the altar of
climate change. Now that's interesting because today Fonterra has come

(02:13):
out with new emissions incentives for its farmers. So how
do you get them. We're going to talk to a
dairy farmer who's in a very dry region at the moment,
Kevin Smiley Barrett. Yes, all black breader, so just Smiley.
He's like he's like a two and organic. He's got

(02:34):
a picture perfect farm him and Robin. Will he qualify
for some of these new emissions incentives? And Phil Duncan
it's getting desperately dry around some parts of the country.
We've got thunderstorms coming for some places over the next
couple of days, but will it be enough to break
the drought. We've got all of that on the country
for you today we'll have rural news. We'll go a

(02:55):
bit more in depth with that. Fonterra story and sports news.
I see old Novak Djokovic is none too pleased about
the Annick Sinner's van reckons he got off lightly. You
might be right there, Novak. It is ten after twelve.
You're with the country. I always enjoy interviewing this man,

(03:22):
the Deputy Prime Minister New Zealand first Leader Winston Peters. Winston,
do you know why I like interviewing you.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
I have no idea. Maybe you're gloving for punishment.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Now I'll tell you why, because unlike most politicians these days,
I don't have to send questions in advance a day
in advance. You can answer off the cuff. It's almost
a it's almost a lost skill in our politicians.

Speaker 3 (03:47):
Well that's sad, though, you know that we've got so
much in modern day politics which used to be well
frowned on or not allowed in. For my days, when
you know you had to get up give a speech.
They not read you from your notes or read from
your phone these days, or read from your laptop. This

(04:08):
is disgusting stuff we see these days, but it's allowed
to happen and it's not advancing with political discourse or
the purpose of parliamentary debates.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
So what is the etiquette around standing up in the house?
And I was in there watching you and Shane an
action last week. What is the etiquette regarding standing up
and making a speech?

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Well, the eticutte is that you get the call that
you asked to speaker and think it's the cause we start.
But I mean, what is happening now is that people
are getting up and reading from their phone. That so
they're not part of any debate because what was said
before them, they're not referred to it, make no reference
to it, and so they actually just making a statement

(04:47):
which could have been acted by their own office or
did their party and clearing sometimes it is. So that's
not taking us anywhere, and it's not being referred to
or commented on by the mainstream media. If they were
to be more careful about the media, that is, they
wouldn't have the situation. But they're not saying anything about
it at all.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
How your good self aside, who's the best orator in
the house.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
Ah, there's some very good ones, very talented ones. Trying
to make myself enemies better. I in the shange. You
have a brain speech the other day about this question
of the behavior in the house in mescient times, and
that's worth watching. There's some very good speakers. But you know,
in former times, people like tour Boys were tremendous better.

(05:34):
They got all the way from way down south. You
had Muldoon who was very very good, long You was brilliant.
Others were not not too bad at all. But I'm
trying those days, oh fairly gone.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
I'll tell you. I'll tell you who wasn't too bad
in the house, because I find them sometimes a bit
like a deflated balloon in an interview, and that's Chris Sipkins.
But in the house he's regarded as a reasonable speaker
and reasonably quick on his feet. Has he been quick
on his feet to woo you?

Speaker 3 (06:12):
I don't know why you're saying that, because we're campaigning
for the next election, as we did for the last one,
and if you look at the layer parties record, what
was their record? Well, he said that we did a
whole lot of things that we hadn't done the work on.
We hadn't done the work to make sure that they
were funded probably or would happen. He made that statement,
first of all, just recently then we got the job

(06:36):
from the center of doing What did he do. He
had a bonfire and got rid of a whole lot
of her policies right after the elections, so to speak. Now,
when you look at the things that way, you could
ask yourself happens? What were actually doing on thinking when
this is all going wrong? He was the Minister of police, Remember,
he was the Minister of Education, he was the Minister

(06:57):
of health. And look how many disasters were going on
all of our knows. And when this COVID inquiry is over,
you're going to find out a whole lot of things
that are really bad that happened and where people were treated.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
So bad badly.

Speaker 3 (07:10):
Gas lit out of a job, man Dad out of
a job and they've never quite recovered to him.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Now, I know you're bristle at the suggestion, but are
some of the mainstream media. I don't know if I'm
in that or not. Winstone are saying are saying that,
and that's probably fair and Latin Hipkins's no fall, I
wouldn't think so. The only realistic way for him to
form a government and twenty twenty six is to woo
you because you can't have a stable government with Tapathi
Maury and even the Greens.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Well, how long have taken to work that out in
mainstream media. So they vote that last last few days,
didn't they How long did it take the mainstream Udia
worked it out? This is what's so sad about you here, then,
because you've got so many people in the Party Maray
and the Green Party who are not actually house I
said anything like they're formerly used to be. If I

(08:01):
look at the original founders of the Green Party and
compare what's going on now, some of these people are
proudly outright Marxists, they say. So they outright think that
everybody else is just so wrong that what works with
the way they do it. They don't care what anybody
else says. And then you got the Party Mari, which
has got a disgusting record of late. The way they

(08:23):
come to Parliament bare feet, t shirts on, wearing cowboy hats,
and everybody else is basically inferior. They talk about blood content,
they talk about people who've got Marian and my sham
Jones and me as being people who haven't got the
blood quantum that's required, or a waste of Marian blood,
all that sort of racist, evil sort of stuff, and
they're getting away with that. Well, they think they are.

(08:46):
But I think at the end of the day that
lay part now has got a big problem because they
look good over there and they know how on earth
can we possibly go in to govern with them? So
my answer to them is, well, why have you not
condient how they behaved? Why have we stood there and
violence and allowed these people have had that way? And
then they're going to handicap your party enormously going forward.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
Yeah, well, God defeated New Zealand if they got the
treasury benches. Okay, Look, I'm hoping to chat to Bruce Cottrell,
shortly herald business columnist and podcaster, and he's saying, and
he's a smart guy, he's saying we should pull out
of the Paris Climate Agreement.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
Look, I was on a program quite some time ago
when I was asked this very question, and I said, look,
the reality is that if we've got China, India, Russia
and now the US, there's not been part of it
anymore in practical sense about anymore than what on earth

(09:45):
can we actually do that We've got to seriously reconsider
the position we've taken on Paris. The Paris Accord when
I was signed by that National Party w Prime Minister
Paul Bennett. You re course you were said across there
and they signed up. No one knew what it was
about in Paris in twenty and fifteen. But I've said,

(10:06):
we've got to give a reflection. We've got to reconsider
what know's going on here. How much is going to
cost us in a system of international responsibility that far
too many countries are not part of, and how can
we keep on arguing this it's good for these Zealand people.
I made that statement. It's funny, you know, some people
just blindness and said when so many reflects on that,
they think you're somehow not playing ball, not doing the

(10:29):
right thing. But as Clodell might be saying, I haven't
read his article, by the way, but if he's saying, look,
we've got to reflect on what knows we're trying to
do now. If they are these huge economies, massively over
sixty five percent of the world's carbon emissions, so to speak,
if they're out, what can we do. That's what we said,
That's what I said back then, and I still say

(10:51):
that's what we're going to do.

Speaker 2 (10:53):
Winston Peter's Deputy Prime Minister. I have enjoyed our unscripted chat.
Thank you, and thank you for not asking for questions.

Speaker 3 (11:00):
I revers much.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, Winston recorded that one. I weave it earlier this morning,
and I kid you not. Most of them have to
have questions today in advance. Surely they can speak off
the cuff anyhow, Winston, Canada is twenty. No, it's not.
It's eighteen. It's eighteen after twelve here on the country.
No Michelle today, she's steel croc. I'm gonna have to

(11:24):
start docking a pay if she doesn't front up shortly.
Get well, Michelle up next. And he wrote a really
good piece in the Herald, Bruce Cottrell columnist, podcaster and
a bit like Winston. He says we need to be
out of the Paris climb at a cord. But why,
we'll ask him next. So you've heard from Winston Peters

(12:07):
and his thoughts on the Paris Climate's agreement or record.
He's a man who wrote a really good column in
the Herald and Saturday's Business section on that very said
same subject. We need to be out of it. Bruce Cottrel,
Herald columnist, podcaster, Tell me about it? Why should we
be out of the Paris accord?

Speaker 5 (12:27):
Well, Jamie. I think there's a whole lot of things, really,
but first and foremost, we can't afford it. I think
it came with a price tag of twenty three billion
dollars or something between now and now in the end
of this decade. You know why, bother The argument around
climate is changing dramatically. I think the sciences has now

(12:50):
has multiple, multiple viewpoints. And I'm not saying I'm a
climate denier. Of course, the climate's always changing. But whether
or not a little country like New zic can do
anything about it is my question. And we've now got
the world's biggest polluters, including most recently the US pulling
out of it, pulling out of the Paris Accord. China

(13:11):
aren't there, India aren't there. So my view is it's
a very very high cost. When you consider what that
sort of money could do for our crisis in hospitals, schools, infrastructure,
water treatment and elsewhere.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Well, you're knocking on an open door. But remember Jacinda
said we had to do our but we had to
lead on the global stage. What a load of bollocks
that was.

Speaker 5 (13:34):
We don't have to lead anything. We should be a
fast follower. We're a young innovative country. We have a
whole lot of positive things going here that so many
countries around the world don't have. And so a logical
place for us to be is to be a fast
follower by all means watch what's going on in the world.

(13:57):
But we don't have to lead stuff. We can't we're
not influential enough to lead things. But we could be
a fast follower and leverage off what the big countries
around the world are doing.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
What are you going to say to the likes of
Miles Hurrle will say, if you pull out of the
Paris Accord, we're going to lose our customers like the
known and Nesle Sainsbury's.

Speaker 5 (14:19):
Well will we Well, that's the first question. And the
second thing is, you know, I saw lux and say
it was all about our reputation. I just wonder if
you know, if the big polluters aren't there, maybe we
could enhance our reputation within and right now, the biggest
change agent in the world is the USA, and they're

(14:43):
you know, I guess start changing all sorts of fronts
cost base their view on the world, and that's going
to lead to dramatic change right across the world. No
matter which way you look at it, and that actually
gives us permission to think about things a different way.

Speaker 2 (14:58):
Did you find that interesting? And I know you haven't.
I heard the interview with Winston Peters which is just aired,
But he said we shouldn't have been in ages ago,
So he's going against the coalition party line. Do you
think Nationals considerably more woke or maybe I should use
a kind of word progressive than Winstoner's.

Speaker 5 (15:18):
Ah, well, well, look, I think I think Winston's making
a lot of sense at the moment. He hasn't always
made that level of sense throughout his political career, but
right now he's doing a damn good job.

Speaker 4 (15:30):
I think.

Speaker 5 (15:30):
Look, you know my column on the weekend, Jamie, it
came partly from frustration, but partly from what a whole
lot of people are saying. And if you think about
this government, they've got a fantastic mandate. They took on
a shambles and went the bigger the mess. Of course,
the more excuses you've got to get stuck into it
and to fix it up. But we seem just to

(15:51):
be rolling along. We're not doing anything about the debt,
we're not doing enough about key services, failing, and so
I just don't think we're making them enough progress. And
if the alternative to being in the Paris Accord is
pulling that money out and spending it on getting out
country back on its feet, That's what I'd rather see

(16:11):
us do.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
Now, I see your calling for more spending cuts. Does
that cutting off your nose to spite your face? Though?

Speaker 5 (16:17):
Well it might be, but you know, government spending is
run at forty two percent of GDP, and as Rob
McLeod said on My leaders Getting Coffee podcasts last year,
you know the tax takes only thirty two percent. So
you know, New Zealand's got over forty government departments and
they have over seventy portfolios for our ministers. Norway has

(16:39):
a similar population to us, and they have eighteen government
departments and twenty portfolios. We are over governs and terrible
and so and I look, I don't like the idea
of slashing people's jobs. But as your note from the column,
one of the things I suggest and I do try
to always try to throw a couple of solutions, and
to my col is let's make opportunities for those people

(17:03):
and government departments who might not enjoy their jobs. To
retrain for other roles, and we can even in the
long term, we can even pay them to do that.
So you know, we need nurses and teachers and police,
and I know that paid by the government as well,
but they're much more productive roles than driving a desk.
But we also need truckies and project managers and farmers

(17:24):
and people for mining operations and tourism, and the government
aren't paying those people. And I said in the column,
if you can take twenty thousand people out of the
government and retrain them for productive roles, then we might
have a growth. We might have a crack at the
growth that the Prime minister's chasing now.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
But we also need people to authorize the likes of
the spending the four million dollars on paying these sperm
whale noises to the Cowerie trees to stop the die back.
I would like to get that person and publicly put
them in stocks and throw tomatoes or flog them at them.
Who the hell made that decision?

Speaker 5 (17:56):
Now, Jamie McKay, you know that just by mentioning that
you wind me up. But I totally agree. Look, you
know that might be nice to have if you've got
research institutes trying new things. But again, where do we
need the money to get out the moment? Dunedin needs
a hospital, we know that pretty well. There's a couple
of other cities around the country that need hospitals as well.

(18:19):
We need to do something about our education. We certainly
need to support the tourism operators and the farmers and
the tertiary education providers to try and bring those industries
back to what they were before COVID, because that's actually
the areas that we can recreate the growth agenda.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
How important is farming in the primary sector. This is
a dumb question because I know the answer, but I
don't want to hear your take on it. To the economy.
It's our only way out, isn't it.

Speaker 5 (18:46):
Well, absolutely well not our only way out. I think
tourism can play a role.

Speaker 2 (18:50):
Yeah, but hang on, hang on, Bruce is and tourism
like a double edged sword. Yes, we bring in money,
but we export a hell of a lot when we
go touring around the world.

Speaker 5 (18:59):
Yeah, what I meean is in coming tourism, Jamie. But
but no, look, farming. Farming to me is number one.
You follow my columns, so you know that from time
to time I write about the fact that we're too
tough on our farmers and we've got to make it
easier for our for our farmers to be successful. And
that means red getting rid of red tape, that means

(19:20):
dealing with some of the ridiculous compliance things that they
have to abide by. And you know, we've got to
make it easy for people to be successful in this country.
And you know, why do you think forty five of
our bright forty five thousand of our bright young things
left last year Because it's too hard here and it's
easier somewhere else. So we've got to make it easy

(19:41):
for people to be successful. And that includes the people
who have the greatest chance of driving our success. And
number one on that list is our farmers. Number two
is our tourism operators. And then you know Shane Jones
Winston's colleagues doing a good job talking up you know,
the operation, the opportunity with mining. There's all sorts of
things we can do, but you know, we just need

(20:01):
a government that gives us position, gives us permission and resourcing.

Speaker 2 (20:05):
Jeez, Bruce Cottrell, you're talking a lot of sense now.
You're a good towerronger boy. Originally Anyhow, these days based
in Auckland, have you ever thought of perhaps going into
politics being the MP for Towonger as someone else was
in the past. You could be the New Zealand first candidate.
I think you'd have a good shot.

Speaker 5 (20:22):
Yeah, Amy, I thought you knew me better than that.
I am.

Speaker 3 (20:25):
I am.

Speaker 5 (20:26):
I am just not patient enough. I like to see
them getting done. And the whole thought of sitting in
there for three years and serving an apprenticeship just does
my head And I'm afraid so thank you for the
thank you for the kind offer, but I think you
better count me out and lead me to what I'm doing.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Well, you're a bit like me. It's a lot easier
to stand outside the tent and pay you and I
reckon all right. Bruce Cottrell, thank you very much for
your time, appreciator, great column. People can catch it on
the Herald website. Thanks Jamie, Thanks Bruce, and you are
loving Bruce out there in text Land. Someone's writing this

(21:06):
guy is right on the money. What a load of bullshit.
Nesle will always buy off us. That's the reference to me,
quoting Miles Hurell. There we're already too green and too clean.
To be dropped by anyone. But it's interesting and we're
going to talk to Smiley Barrett about this one. With
these new emissions incentives from Fonterra that we're going to

(21:28):
talk about very shortly, they've been funded by incentives paid
by Mars and Nessley as a part of those companies
climate commitments. So there you go. Geez, Jamie, this guy
Bruce speaks far too much common sense, says Kevin. The
Mada Matter farmer. UM. Twenty meals of rain so far
and on my room, says Tim. And we've got us

(21:50):
just looking at the Met Service weather forecast. We've got thunderstorms,
severe thunderstorm warnings for Inland, Otago and southn It'll be welcome,
but not on too much of a hurry. But we're
going to see if we can get some rain awey
bit later in the hour for the really dry parts
of the North Island. In fact, we're going to go
to one of those places reasonably shortly, Kevin, Smiley Barrett

(22:11):
Farming and South Coastal Taranaki there they're getting incredibly dry.
We'll see how he's faring. And I wonder if Smiley,
the Organic A two farmer qualifies for a Fonterra incentive,
will ask him yeah songs from nineteen seventy nine when

(22:40):
winston Hurst went into Parliament. Not everyone agrees with him.
More feedback on the text line the simple minded anti
vax fanatics voted for Winston. He also supports the right
of silly people to poor expensive but useless vitamins, tonics,
detoxes and supplements down their throats. He's now on the

(23:01):
side of flaky councils wanting to have no fluoride and
the drinking water. He's senile time he booked into a
home for the bewildered. That's a bit tough extra, but
all opinions are welcome, unless they're thrashing meat. Here on
the Country, the Country's World us with cop Cadet, New

(23:22):
Zealand's leading right on lawn bower brand.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Visit steel Ford dot co dot Nz for your local stockist.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
Yes, I'm going to talk to Smiley Barrett at the
Coal Face about this one and just a tick. So
Fonterra farmers will be able to earn cash for their
climate efforts. Starting on the first of June. Fonterras announced
it will pay an extra one to five cents a
kilogram of milk solids to farms that meat climate criteria
and more for some farms. The co op estimates more

(23:49):
than five thousand farms will be eligible for a bonus
next season based on last season's darta and off the
top of my head, I think Fonterra has about ten
thousand supplies, so that's half of them. An additional ten
to twenty five cents of kilogram is on offer for
an estimated three to five hundred farms whose planet heating

(24:11):
emissions are around thirty percent lower than the average. That's
got to be smiley. Surely. The money for the three
hundred odd highest performers will come from incentives paid for
by Mars and Nesley as a part of those companies
climate commitments. Those multinationals have been working with Fonterra to
meet their targets because supply chain emissions from ingredients make

(24:35):
up a large part of their footprints. So there you go.
That's the latest and rural news. More about that earner
tich that hes sport.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
Sport with AFCO, Visit them online at AFCO dot co
dot nz.

Speaker 2 (24:49):
Novak Djokovic, as I said, is serving up criticism to
the World Anti Doping Agency for the handling of the
ban for world number one tennis player Yannick Sinner. The
Italian's been given a three month suspension from the sport
after two failed drug tests last March. Djokovic says there's
dissatisfaction among the majority of players on tour, especially probably

(25:13):
from him because Janick Sinner stands between him, you would
think and that twenty fifth record, twenty fifth Grand Slam
and chiefsoker Brody Mcallisters pointed to an opportunity to extend
his playing career in New Zealand as the reason he
left the Crusaders during the Super Rugby Pacific off season.
The twenty seven year old shifted North despite having a

(25:35):
year left on his contract after battling for playing time
with All Blacks Cody Taylor and George Bell and the
Crusaders squad. That's your sports news up. Nex Smiley Barrett's
talking about rugby. It's understand, It's understand. Welcome back to

(26:03):
the country. Brought to you by Brandt songs from nineteen
seventy nine when Winston first went into Parliament. Trump's using
this one now. Kevin Smiley Barrett, along with his wife
Robin and wider family are dairy farmers and coastal Taranaki
getting very very dry, Smiley. I might start with that
and then go to the emissions incentives. How dry is

(26:25):
it getting on the farm?

Speaker 4 (26:26):
Good afternoon, Yeah, good afternoon, Jamie listeners. Yeah, ye're very dry, Jamie.
You should have wrung me a couple of months ago,
as we had rained this morning. Yes, I knows about you.
That's he's not going to do too much. But yeah,
coastal strip around Tadervaki, right from Robert the seat to

(26:47):
the mountain really is Robert kape on me wi it's
what'sly ten K's And that literally went and ten days,
two weeks were said Easterly wins its will bone come home.
It was about the sixteenth of January and they just
haven't stopped, Jamie. But so Matte right, you're right around Tohara,

(27:08):
get up to the Alton road. They're pretty green there
around the back of Stratford. Angloid year about they having
pretty good seasons. But as it is, that's farming and
we just get on with it.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
Yeah, yeah, you don't know. You've got a picture perfect
dairy farm. If you don't mind me saying so beautiful
laid out. You've got the concrete lanes. She's all bells
and whistles. Smiley, you're organic. You're supplying a to milk.
You runner pretty tight ship there. You must be laughing
all the way to the bank with these new emissions
that or emissions incentives that Fonterra is going to hand

(27:37):
out to the well behaved dairy farmers.

Speaker 4 (27:40):
Do you want to quick read this morning there where
you send me text here? It's so they do at
the homework and I read the email. Crookers want to
come through the at ten o'clock and yeah, it's ten
to twenty five cents available to estimated the three hundred
to three fifty farmers. But they're the lower quart hole.
They better meet these missions ready. But what they're doing, Aman,

(28:00):
is that they're not selling Fontia. Are not going to
sell that as an edge for us. They've given them
to Mars and Nestley and so here you go. You
can have these credits amusing where you like. It's just
it's beyond me.

Speaker 2 (28:10):
Honestly, what do you think it's a bit of Do
you think it's a bit of green washing? I might
I might have to get miles on to defend themselves tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (28:17):
We'll get them on. I mean that there. Well I
quickly read through it and read all the I mean,
how how you have to quantify for it? But so
the thing is with again, we were different markets, you see,
so Nestlay and Mars and different markets. So they're putting
it out to the dimensional farmers to yeah, just lower

(28:37):
the emissions. But at the moment where I take the
just in the email, there's three hundred three stuffy that
meet there at the moment, but they're not can actually
use their milk, you know, to give to Mars off
to Nestley. They're just selling literally selling those credits to offset.
So nestlke an offset there missions pick up.

Speaker 2 (28:57):
Well, sorry, Smiley, well we will we will follow that
one up. But they also announced today an extra one
to five cents, which I admit on a ten dollar
prices bugger all for farmers that meet the climate criteria.
Apparently more than five thousand farms, which is half the suppliers,
or even a wee bit more. We'll meet that. So

(29:17):
you'll qualify for that, surely, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (29:20):
Sure we go. Yeah, that's that's crop of a difference. That's
been in place for Courtney Jeremy harm probably three years there.
So you took the boxers and you either you either
get year two cents, three cents or the full five
cents if you meet the criteria. So but that's open
to everyone, you know, So it's totally right across the board.
But this to me, it's just it's honest to you.

(29:42):
There's going to be some you get miles on me
and ask for well, well, I'll.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
See if I can get them on tomorrow. We've got
a GDT tonight. And by the way, I don't want
to be the better of bad news. Apparently it's going
to drop a wee bit tonight. I I hope my
man Mike McIntire is wrong on that one. Hey, just
before I let you go, footy season has started. I'd
still be preferring to watch cricket to be perfectly on us,
but the boys are into it. How's Geordie going in Ireland?
He seems to be going great guns.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
Yeah, I actually wrung mister. Actually was his birthday, so
to catch up with me. He had he had ten
days off a little bit of a break in with
the international z last week, so he was going to
come home. But yeah, now it's teen days here and
you know he's to tug him a week to get
over it. So it wasn't worth it. So he ended
up going to the States here bit of time it over.
He went to the golf over here, medt up with
Ryan Fox and co. And you winness to Horland one year.

(30:31):
Talk about hold of Mun's Jomi year. You know, well.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Every every dog, I mean every dog has its day
and sometimes lightning strikes once. It will never strike again, Smiley,
But you take it while it's on offer, Thank you
very much. And I'll try and get Miles hurl On.
I'm going to quote him that you're none too keen
on his new incentives as the missions incentives.

Speaker 4 (30:50):
All right, yeah, well the thing is, I mean, yeah,
they staked there. That's they want to improve that. What's
the two nosey? Sorry, they they want to yeah, and
maximize returns to farmers, you know, so that's that's the motto.
But anyway, it's in this dow and age. You know,
why should we be subsidizing someone else on the other

(31:12):
side of the world where they're got high missions.

Speaker 2 (31:14):
Well, yes, you're talking too much. Then said, hey, got
to go mate, I'm going to run out of time.
Thanks very much for yours.

Speaker 4 (31:19):
Got to talk Tom. You have a good day to here.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
You're hearing it from the cold face. There you go.
They've got a great farm, I can tell you that.
And they're very good dairy farmers. So speaks a lot
of sense. Right, We're going to take a break. On
the other side of it, Phil Duncan. Some severe thunderstorm
warnings around the country. Ten from one that you are

(31:47):
with the country. Phil Duncan joins us out of weather
watch and I'm looking at a met Services issued a
severe thunderstorm watch for large parts of South and I
hope some of it lands on some of our farming blocks. Smiley,
we need it, Smiley. Let's try. Phil Duncan. Hello, Pel Hello, Hello,
and you've always got a smile on your face. Away
you go tell me about well, tell me about the

(32:09):
rain around the country.

Speaker 6 (32:10):
Yeah, we've got these big downpours moving through today. There's
a lot of low pressure around and part of the
low pressure that's over South and the Otago today has
come down from the Tropics and that's merging with the
low and the tasmum that's even larger. All of it's
falling apart, but you add that low pressure with instability
plus summer daytime heating, perfect recipe for those really heavy downpours.

(32:30):
Fingers crossed, you get exactly what you need. Around South
and the Otago's things dry out there, and it's good
to see some of these downpours heading the west coast,
which is also dry. It's pretty fair to say that
almost all of New Zealand now is getting drier than
usual art for well, at least from a soil moisture
deficit point of view.

Speaker 2 (32:47):
Yeah, the parts that really need the rain. Those the
is the north and east of the North Island. That's
right north and west sorry, north and west of the
East of the North Island apologies.

Speaker 6 (32:58):
If you go from National Park Mount through Apaihu area
and just go straight west to the Tasman Sea, that's
the area. So places like tom at Anui and King
Country that's a drought zone, and you got that drought
sort of meteorological drought, you know, rainfall deficit spreading over
into parts of Tatanaki, Wangannui, Waitomo, South Waikato and then

(33:19):
along the whole western side of New Zealand is very
dry at the moment. So some rain today is going
to be good, some more showers tomorrow, but we really
do need to look for a tropical low or something
much more substantial to really reverse this.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
Yeah, and you were telling me when we were chatting
earlier this morning that most places are going to be
dryer in a week's time than they are now unless
they get lucky with one of these thunder plumps.

Speaker 6 (33:42):
Yeah, that's right. These downpours can break that forecast. The
overall modeling goes well. We can see a few showers,
but you know, mostly high pressure coming back in again.
But yeah, you get one of those big downpours, you
can get two, three, four times the amount that was forecast,
and so that can just locally give you more more
than other people. But we are seeing a lot more

(34:02):
high pressure coming through this weekend. At the same time,
the tropics is very busy. Several low pressure systems up there,
two of them won over the Coral Sea, one mere
Tongua within the next week are lately to become either
a tropical low or a tropical storm. That's worth keeping
an eye on.

Speaker 2 (34:19):
Fell Duncan thank you so much for your time. Always
good to have you on the country.

Speaker 4 (34:23):
There.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
We go Fell Duncan from weather Watch, New Zeland's leading
weather man, just ask him. Yeah, I was just looking
at the severe thunderstorm watch for South and downfalls localized
downfalls with rainfall rates of twenty five to forty miles
per hour. That's quite a bit of rain and a
short period of time. We're going to wrap the show
up next with some of your feedback. Well, okay, wrapping

(34:55):
of our country thanks to Brent. I think I'm catching
up with seven pawnstar Rick Ladd. Sorry, Rick, if you're listening.
I think the East Coast Farming expos on will maybe
catch up with him on tomorrow's show. Here's a text
in from Bryce M. Why am I suspicious A great
day for New Zealand agriculture when you get all these

(35:15):
people talking about getting New Zealand out of the Paris Accord,
love it, says Bryce M. I think that might be
Bryce McKenzie from Groundswell. Comments from Winston and Bruce Cottrell
are the most positive and common sense words I have
heard over the radio for a long time. Ridiculous throwing
billions of dollars into the Paris campaign until someone invents

(35:39):
a device that can control the climate which won't ever happen.
It's an appalling waste of money. It's interesting because I
know the likes your Miles Hurls and your silver fern
farms will say you've got to be in on Paris
or else we're going to lose these customers. But really,
and I'm going to throw this at Miles next time
we get them on. Trump's out, The Chinese are out

(36:02):
the right, well, they were never in. I don't think
Russia's out. India is out. Four biggest polluting countries in
the world. Aren't part of the Paris Climate Accord? What
are we doing in there?

Speaker 1 (36:19):
Catch all the latest from the land. It's The Country
Podcast with Jamie McKay. Thanks to friend, You're specialist in
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