December 16, 2024 • 34 mins
On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast for Tuesday the 17th of December. The government is making moves to refocus local councils on core cervices and improve accountability for ratepayers. So what do local government leaders make of the plan? Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Glyn Lewers is on the show.
The half year economic and fiscal update is out this afternoon. What does it say about where we sit heading into the new year? Cameron Bagrie previews the update.
A new drug use survey has found one in four respondents is using pharmaceuticals for recreational use. Dr Robin Van Der Sanden from Massey University's Drug Research team speaks to Andrew.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
The issues, yessues, the interviews, the issuers and the inside
Andrew Dickens on the early edition with Smith City, New
Zealand's furniture beds and apply at store use dogs.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It'd be welcome on into your Tuesday. Bit by bit
we get closer and closer to Christmas, and now in
today's program, this is the day we find out if
we've been as economically blue as we felt over the year.
Cameron Bagwi's predictions in just five minutes time, I forget
meth and coke. We're scoffing pharmaceuticals as well. When we're
in the middle of a psychedelic renaissance. We'll have more
(00:38):
details and ten we're going to go to Australia with
Donna to find out how the poisoned Pinut Colada drinkers
are going and also to update the Ossie heat wave
that's happening right now and its effects. And we'll be
joined by the Queenstown Mayor on the government's moves to
get councils to stick to their resisential knitting. We'll have
correspondents from right around New Zealand and you can have
your essay as well for a small charge. Ninety two
(00:59):
ninety Tuesday. Big zeb is the text.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Number the agenda.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Thanks, good morning. I'm Adre Dickins. It's Tuesday, the seventeenth
of December. Hundreds are feared dead on the tiny French
island territory of Mayote, just off the coast of Madagascar.
This is following the devastating cyclone.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Right now, we're encountering a number of difficulties and transporting
all the staff and equipment needed for the victim rescue
mission on the island of Mayotte. So here there's a
sort of clusterlogue that's being organized to bring together the
man and equipment.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
So Mayotte just a tiny, tiny place and some of
the houses just senties.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Really.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It's feared the death toll could potentially reach thousands. Some
neighborhoods have been completely flattened in the extreme wind. There's
a new statement out, possibly written by fallen Syrian leader
Basha al Assad, saying he never intended to flee to Russia. No, no, no,
and at no pointed stepping down uh ah. The statement
(02:02):
was posted to the presidential Telegram account. He's on telegram.
Although it's not known who's currently in control of Vasad's
Telegram account. So we have a drone detection system being
sent to New York as officials continue to receive thousands
and thousands of reported sightings of drones over the multiple states,
including New York and New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
It's remarkable, with all these sightings over the last while,
why do we have more questions than answers. If the
technology exists for a drone to make it up into
the sky, there certainly is the technology that can track
the craft with precision and determine what the heck is
going on.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So the Homeland Security Secretary says he's not aware of
any foreign involvement, adding the increased sartings might be due
to a change in regulations allowing drones to be flown
at night. We're in a high state of alert, aren't we,
right around the world. And beckcoin once again has hit
a rec value. Its popularity continues to surge. It's now
(03:02):
reached one hundred and six thousand US dollars a bitcoin,
as follows a reelection of Donald Trump, who went out
and said he wants to make bitcoin strategic reserve in
the United States of America. So that was all in
Since yesterday's peakad has dropped slightly. It's now sitting at
one hundred and four thousand US dollars.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
A popper on your radio and online on iHeartRadio early
edition with Andrew Dickens and Smith City, New Zealand's Furniture
Bids and applying store news talk said be so.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Today, a seventy seven year old farmer from the Corimander
will appear in court accused of shooting dead an alleged
poacher on his land. The farmer allegedly caught a pig
hunter gutting a beast and then something terrible happened. The
man who died was a father of five, and even
his mother has described him in the media as a
(03:54):
rat bag, a lovable rat bag, a cheeky little monkey,
a loved father of five, and a ledged poacher. So,
of course the case has started. I can't cast comment
on the case, but here's some of the observations I've made.
Private property rights in this country appear to be an
endangered species. A neighbor of mine found one of his
trees have been poisoned by his direct neighbor, and so,
(04:15):
of course he popped across the fence and said, what's
happened here? Do you know, Well, the neighbor freely admitted it.
The tree was affecting his vibe. It had to go,
even though it wasn't their tree, And they had to
cross the fence and go on to the property and
start killing the tree. And they never had the decency
to consult the owner of the tree and now proud
(04:36):
to admit it. Yeah, the tree had to go, mate, Sorry, yeah,
I killed it. It's unbelievable. Private property rights. Your land
is your land. Screw with it and expect a reaction.
People also seem to have developed a hard line towards
holding people to account to hear it and talk back
all the time, don't you know, get tough on these guys,
(04:57):
you know. So, shooting at people quite a thing. It's
something I have never done and hope I never do.
If you are shooting at someone, then surely you must
have sufficient reason to be doing so. And this is
what a jury will wrestle with today and in many
other cases. What is the punishment equal to the crime
(05:18):
and consequences is another thing. If you kill or seriously
hurt a person, then that person's whole life rests in
your hand, their pass but also their future. That they
now miss out on. Now that is the consequence that
you need to learn with, you know, forget getting going
to jail for a bit. That is the consequence that
really weighs heavily on your soul. And remember twenty twenty
(05:39):
hindsight is always a very terrible thing, but often it's
also the truth. Try to have twenty twenty hindsight before
you start doing something stupiday. Too many people still believe
they have a right to exact hearts punishment. Often it's talk,
but then it isn't, and then when it isn't, it's bad.
So today we'll witness a tragedy involving all sides going
(05:59):
too far and symptomatic for me of the way our
society is going, full of entitlement, anger and harsh retribution.
Andrew Dickens, you talked about question of the Day and
New Zealand and Jetstar have been in the gun for
recent hikes and air fares during busy periods. This week, well,
the week remember when Pearl Jam played two concerts in
(06:20):
Auckland and then Cole played, then played three all in
the same week, and there was marathons and all sorts.
Air fears jumped to extraordinary levels. They were apologizing yesterday
that you alone say it's just supply and demand and
New Zealanders were just being far too busy. You're being
far too busy. It's a concept called active pricing. It's
becoming more and more common. Recently in London, I went
(06:41):
to a great David Hockney exhibition and well recommend that
booking the tickets online, I noticed that if I went
to a session one hour later, then they wanted five
quid more when I went to pick up my tickets
at the gallery. Why, I said, more people want to come?
I said, yeah, well sure, and then you're going to
make more money. Why do you have to charge more?
They said, it's active pricing. So my point is, and
my question is, is active pricing a good thing? Does
(07:06):
it make you angry? Should it continue? Should it stop?
Should a mostly publicly owned company like Air New Zealand
use active pricing? Remember, active pricing is an active choice
by the retailer, and as such I think they need
to know the customers feel used by it, and the
customer is always king. It's five fourteen. What's going to
(07:27):
happen with the HAIFU? The half year? The economic forecast
and update. Cameron Baggery is with me.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Next Andrew Dickens on early edition with Smith City, New
Zealand's furniture bids and applying store news talks.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It be yes Coomb onding to you. It is sixteen
after five High fou Day today. That is the half
year Economic and Fiscal Update. Treasury will release it this
afternoon and we'll get new insight into how the economy
is tracked over the past six months and what Treasury
is forecasting as we go forward into twenty twenty five,
the year that we have to survive. To you may remember,
it's all coming with a warning from the Finance Minister
(08:03):
who yesterday said the government inherited difficult economic conditions. So
Camin Bagrie is the lead economist from Bagriy Economics and
Joints who right now, how the Cameron? There we go,
Sorry Cameron, the mouse wasn't working. How the Cameron?
Speaker 5 (08:17):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
I like what west Pac senior economist Darren Gibbs said,
he expects a deeper shade of red. What are you expecting?
Speaker 5 (08:25):
Yeah, I guess. We go back and had a look
at the twenty twenty four budget. There was a downside
scenario in mate, and it looks like the economy has
been tracking more in line with the downside scenario. And
that downside scenario had a lot more red It had
net debt getting up in an excess of forty five
percent of GDP, that had the operating balance or what's
called the obi gaal not getting back into surplus over
(08:48):
the forecast period, and it looks like we're tracking more
in line with that scenario than the central scenario they
presented in the twenty twenty four budget.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Would this be the lowest point as we look forward
to twenty two twenty five, or you know, could we
go lower?
Speaker 4 (09:03):
No?
Speaker 5 (09:03):
I think the low point is going to be this
what's called fiscal year. The economy in a cyclical sense
has actually turned the corner and we're starting to bounce
back up. Monetary policy, the Reserve Bank is going to
work a little bit of magic over twenty and twenty
five that will help the fiscal forecasts out. But the
real big problem with the fiscal forecast is not just
(09:27):
where the come with the economy does in the next
sort of twelve months. It's sort of average growth. And
the key variable here is what's called productivity growth. How
smart we are with resources in the Treasury's chief economic
advisor the Reserve Bank have both been out warning about
productivity growth. That goes straight to the heart of average
growth over each year, and that goes straight to the
(09:49):
heart of your tax revenue numbers. And I think they're
going to find that the government's got a bit of
a hole in regard to tax revenue. And if you
don't have the tax revigue coming in to the degree
that you were expecting, you're going to have a little
lot more problems getting back from deficit the surplus.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Exactly on that tax revenue. It's a bit of a
visus circle, isn't it. The more we cut government spending
to fit the revenue right, the more the economy retracts,
meaning the less revenue the government receives and tax. Therefore
we can't really pay the debt, you know, we sort
of it's sort of creates itself, it spins on itself.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
Yeah, and the government is fation some pretty complex trade offs. Obviously,
you need to be fiscally responsible. Now you've got to
try to go from deficit surface. You need to read
what's called the fiscal buffers. Because New Zealand shakes a
lot of it, and you want to have a bit
of a water chest to deploy it to borrow if
something nasty happens, and odds are something nasty is going
(10:43):
to happen in the next sort of ten years and
we need to be prepared for that. But the other
side is that governments need to invest in the economy.
You need to have a well functioned education system, you
need to have a well functioning roading system, you need
to have a well functioning health system. It's a question
you get in that balance between doing fis were responsible
but also investing for a bit of economic prosperity for
the economy.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
So are they being physically responsible? You hurt? The Finance
Minister yesterday said we've inherited difficult economic conditions, but that
was a year ago and they've made some quite big
macro moves and that's helping to exasperate exascerberate the economic conditions.
So are they managing it well.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Now? Look, my personal view is that the debt targets
that are on the table at the moment, I don't
think they're going to be hit. I think we need
to be tilting a little bit more towards the investing
for perspiity, but investing with discipline. That's the key here.
What we saw out of the previous government was there
was a hell of a lot of money that was being
(11:40):
thrown around, but it was ill disciplined and it wasn't
hitting the market in regard to getting results. You know,
I'd like to see this government loosen the debt targets,
be probably a little bit more less a steer. But
you have a bit of a tagline about investing for
prospiity and having a lot more discipline about where we're
going because we need to fix the health system, we
need to fix the education system, we need to fink
Sobriting system.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
All good, Cameron, thank you so much for your wisdom.
It is five twenty investing for prosperity with discipline. It's
five twenty.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
The news you need this morning and the in depth
analysis early edition with Andrew Dickens and Smith City New
Zealand's furniture bids and a flying Store youth talks.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
It'd be So we've got a second lot of findings
from a Massi University drug trends survey and they're a
bit of a worry. One in four survey responders report
using pharmaceuticals for recreational use over the past six months.
Twenty four percent report using MDMA and ketamine and other
psychedelics for therapeutic purposes. And from the team at the
Massive University in New Zealand Drugs Research Team, I'm joined
(12:43):
by Dr Robin van Dersand and hello Robin, Hi, how
are you very good? So to the pharmaceuticals. First, do
we have an illegal trade in pharmaceuticals and people are
sort of selling tramadol to each other.
Speaker 6 (12:57):
Potentially a little bit but also potentially a bit more
boring than that that people are just you know, sharing
these drugs with one another when in need. But there
is definitely also a little bit of sale going on.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
So what should we be worried about with the pharmaceuticals.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
A big thing is sort of health and safety. I
think you know a lot of people who take these
drugs nor medically might not have gotten the advice of
their doctor. You know, they might also be mixing these
drugs together, for example, with alcohol, which is a big
risk in terms of overdose or poisoning or experiencing harmful effects.
And also we've got as people are buying these drugs
(13:34):
illegally via a drug dealer. Then we've got this risk
of them buying counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yes, indeed, I meanwhile to the more traditional drugs, the mtumaze,
et cetera. You're saying, and you've said in your report,
the world is in the midst of a psychedelic renaissance. Now,
what do you mean by that?
Speaker 6 (13:52):
Well, it sort of means that we've got a kind
of really renewed interest in psychedelic across a different area
of society and in the medical sector in terms of healthcare.
You know, there's a lot of research on the potential
benefits of psychedelics for a number of mental health benefits
(14:12):
and therapeutic purposes. You've got a lot of cultural coverage
of psychedelics, so it's quite a sort of zeitgeist more
broadly in the culture at the moment. So that's kind
of what I mean.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
By that, and one that we need to take great
care of. And I thank you Robin van der Sanden.
And it is now five twenty four. This is News
Talks AB.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
The early edition full show podcast on iHeartRadio. How ad
By News Talks.
Speaker 7 (14:36):
It be.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
This is News Talks B five twenty seven. I'm Andrew Dickins,
drop the well beings. The government has given the councils
the tang las for Christmas, and they're going to hold
councils accountable for the basics like pipes and rubbish. But
whatever you do do not mention well being. But I
don't know about you. The care and maintenance of pipes
and sewage and all that sort of thing is pretty
fundamental to my well being, pooh, fundamental to the health
(15:04):
of society and well being anyway. Minister Simeon Brown now
wants to report issued each year on the financial health
of each council they're spending and their results. He wants
to compare them all together. They also want to look
at changes and rates for each dwelling. In other words,
the government's going to read the publicly listed council reports
and produce their own report because apparently many rate payers
don't or can't be bothered reading what the councilor has said. Anyway,
(15:26):
it's not as though it's hidden. It's also the job
the media used to do until we got so skinned
we don't have the staff to turn up to actually
report on it. Remember that each time. You like the
media sort of being chopped down a little bit. We
need people to report on stuff. I couldn't help thinking
the whole thing was a bit of a dramatic production
(15:46):
just before Christmas. Christmas panto here Ryan, he said, was
it bluster? Maybe part of a bit of a war
to paint local bodies as a villain for committing exactly
the same crimes that central government are guilty of. You
know this, critics of council red tape and building consents,
and yet the irony is that it's central government who
writes the rules that the councils are merely enforcing. There's
(16:07):
criticism of a lack of long term plans from councils
when central government tends to change its plans every three
years in line with elections. Central government has been palmed
off with some of the biggest and hardest part of
civil maintenance to their councils. They've got the water, the pool,
the rubbish. And then, of course central government has crippled
councils by and allowing them to only make revenue through
(16:29):
property taxes, and then when things go wrong, treat local
government like a whipping boy. I think the point of
the government's attack on councils has to make them more
accountable to ratepayers, yes one, but possibly to distract voters
from looking at central government. And thank you for that.
Councils are accountable to ratepayers. It's called the vote, and
ratepayers are notorious for not bothering to use it anyway,
(16:51):
Bring it on. I support them mostly. I love the report.
I love the ratings, I love the comparisons. Councils should
not be afraid of being held to account because they
must believe they're making their towns bitter, and I believe
on the whole they are. They're doing a pretty good job.
On the smell of an oily rag.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
And on that.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
We're going to talk to the Queenstown mayor, which is
a good call as well, and the Queenstown mayor will say,
how does the how does how is his counsel feeling
about suddenly all the eyes and whether he feels it's bluster,
whether he feels he's already completely accountable to the rape payers.
That's in about twenty five minutes time. JOHNA. Devan is
(17:33):
on the way as well. How are those Pincolada drinkers
and Fiji going and there's a heatwave in Australia. By
the way, we'll have details of that with Donna right
here on Early Edition. I'm Andrew Dickens. Good morning to you.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
The first word on the News of the Day, Early
Edition with Andrew Dickens and Smith City, New Zealand's Furniture
Beds and Appliet Store. You talk sippy.
Speaker 8 (18:06):
Everybody on the I'm Drew Dickens and it is Tuesday,
and I spent the afternoon yesterday watching the cricket going.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Now, this is the way I expected the Black Pats
to play right from the very beginning of this Test
series against England. Yeah, finally there was Cain Winamson being
majestic and then saturnly comes out for wuck sex beautiful.
He should have been playing right from the start of
the series. Anyway, it was a very rewarding day and
(18:43):
today hopefully we'll put the final nail in the coffin.
And don't think this is just sort of you know,
a dead rubber. Every test is an important test. Well
done black Caps. Now look, I'm one of those odd
people who read the death notices to you. I always have.
My mum taught me this. You you always look out for
a name you might know, because he might be able
to extend into sympathy to somebody who might have had
a loss. Anyway, every now and then you get a
(19:04):
little bit of a shock. Obviously you see a name,
you go oh oh. Today this morning at four am
in the morning, I'm reading the death notices as you do,
and I saw the name David Weatherley, the actor. Do
you remember if you saw a photograph of him, you
would He passed away on the twelfth He was eighty
five years old. Born in London, David served in the
(19:26):
Canadian military, then came to New Zealand and was right
into the theater, captivated audience and in the theater, radio, film, TV,
voicing ads. He earned international recognition. He was the innkeeper
at the Prancing Pony in The Lord of the Rings.
If you're one of those people. He was also a
major force at the Mercury Theater, Aukland's main theater for
(19:48):
so many days that closed down at the turn of
the century. Now at the moment that theatre is being renovated.
It's Aukland's oldest theater, a beautiful Edwardian theater, and it's
about to reopen and it saddens me that David Weatherley
won't be there to see it. And if you still
don't know who David Weatherley is, he was cookie Bear
(20:08):
and the chocolate chip ads for Hudson's. He was the
bear that went from Doudo that inside that fur time.
There was David Weatherley who was a lovely man and
his funeral is on Thursday. Andrew dickens it is a
twenty one to six. We're off to Dunedin. Jimmy Cunningham, Hello,
(20:30):
good morning. Gosh, you've got fire restrictions yees.
Speaker 9 (20:34):
So fire in emergencies prohibited outdoor fires and fireworks in
central Otago, Naisby and Upper Whiteitucky until further notice. This
means no fires are allowed in the open and all
permits are suspended. District Manager Phil Marsh says strong northwesterlies
and a lack of rain has dried out these areas.
Speaker 10 (20:52):
He sees other parts of.
Speaker 9 (20:53):
Otago remain in open fire seasons, but more restrictions are
likely throughout the week to include more air Further north,
fireworks have also been banned in the McKenzie Basin and
Ashburton Lakes for the summer.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Any rain in the forecast.
Speaker 9 (21:08):
No, we're fine today apart from a little bit in
morning cloud northeasterlies developing and a higher fourteen.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Excellent fire conditions. I'm so sorry, thank you so much.
Claire Sherwood joins us fro christ Church and you've got
problems with fire conditions as well.
Speaker 7 (21:21):
Well.
Speaker 11 (21:21):
We do have problems with fire conditions here Andrew, but
more specifically about fireworks in fire conditions. There have been
reports of fireworks being let off, particularly around the Salwyn
district and Rolliston. This is as we have had multiple
wildfires over the past few weeks. We are obviously in
a restricted fire season here too. Fire and Emergency reminds
(21:42):
that fireworks might not be banned here in Canterbury at
this point, but that could change as the chances of
blaze become too high. The Rolliston Volunteer Chief fire officer
actually went and spoke to some people a week or
so ago about their fireworks after comments online called for
them to be officially warned or worse. Fire and Emergency
Community Risk Manager Dean Harker says, regardless, reports of people
(22:05):
using fireworks right now is concerning. He acknowledges people stop
piling fireworks at guy Fawkes will sit them off over summer,
but he says that's hugely risky given the current dry conditions.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And how are your conditions.
Speaker 11 (22:18):
Well, some a very well needed drizzle at the moment, Andrew,
we'll clear to find by this afternoon southerlya's turning easterly.
The high though only seventeen.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
In Wellington. We have Max Tol Hello Max, good morning.
Now the mass of rape rise coming.
Speaker 12 (22:30):
Yeah, Yeah, Wellington City was already clubbed with a roughly
twenty one percent rates rise. This year's shock and or
for households getting that first bill in the post. It's
going to keep getting worse next year as well. The
City Council's proposed budget signals the more than fifteen percent
rise on average as well next year. It is today
(22:53):
voting to finalize its long term plan. They've done their
best to go back to the drawing board to cut
a few things around the edges. There will certain using
suburban paid parking, which is going to rattle a few cages.
These staggering rates increases is certain to be the focus
I think for people challenging the man next year and
running for council.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
And we're going to talk about councils and their transparency.
A bit later on with the Queen Stout Mayor after
the new changes. Hey, how's your weather today, Max.
Speaker 12 (23:19):
Well, we've had a bit of a storm overnight, but
it should be easy to partly cloudy weather this morning
thirteen the High Central.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
And Wendy Petrie Jones is right now in Orkanan. There's
a reopening of a cold case.
Speaker 7 (23:29):
Good morning. Yes, police are reopening a two thousand and
four cold case involving two Auckland schoolgirls. The two girls
claim they had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted in a
van over three days in December by four men. Police
questioned at least to one man at the time and
gathered DNA, but no one was charged. One of the women,
Marquetti edmunds Paripi, says police had believed one of the
(23:49):
men who claimed the sex was consential, despite both girls
being underage. She says she's lived in fear ever since,
but has now decided to assist police with reopening the
case and the hope to find enclosure.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
And how's Awkin's weather?
Speaker 7 (24:03):
Well, it was a bit rainy, wasn't it yesterday? Today
partly cloudy with isolated shower. It's caring to find this
evening southerly's but we've still got a high of twenty
four degrees.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Great stuff, thank you, Wendy. And as long as it
doesn't rain on Hamilton during the test, and I'm not
all happy with that. It is seventeen minutes to six,
by the way, donnad to Mayo the penicalatic people in Fiji.
By the way, look, it's not as bad as what
happened in Laus.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
The guys in Fiji got taken to hospital, got discharged.
Yes they were poisoned, but not the way they were
of mouse. So it's not similar. But it's certainly nowhere
near as serious. But we'll talk with that with Donna
Tamayo in a few moments time. And I say that
because Fiji is highly dependent on tourism and this is thinking,
you know, dry stuff up just like that. I should
(24:48):
talk to you about New Caledonia too, before the hour
is out. Donald Tamayo is on the way here on News.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
TALKSB International Correspondence with Ends and Eye Insurance. Peace of
mind for New Zealand business.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
It's fourteen to six. If you think it's earlier in
New Zealand. You should think how early it is in
Australia with Donald Demayo, whiz, good morning to your donna,
Good morning. Tell us about the Aussies who fell ill
drinking the pinacolada in Fiji.
Speaker 13 (25:12):
Yes, well for some it would be considered a holiday
from Helbert. What happened was a number of people, about
seven people fell ill after having pinicolades. It was a
fancy resort in Fiji's the Warwick, Fiji. Now were heard
from an Ossie granddad. His name is David Sandu. Now
he received a phone call from his daughter and she
told him, oh that she and his teenage granddaughter had
(25:35):
been hospitalized. They fell ill after drinking peanut coladas at
this hotel. Now a total of four Ossie's out of
the seven that fell ill were hospitalized. Now it's a
suspected mass alcohol poisoning, they're calling it, and investigations continue
into what actually happened. We we're waiting for toxicology reports
(25:57):
to come in. But at this stage it's no suggesting
anything untoward happened. Quite a few number, quite a few
questions still remain, of course. But when we heard from
David Sando, he said it just sent chills down his spine.
And it's because once he got that phone call. It's
because of what happened in Laos recently and that tragedy
where that left two teenage Ossie's dead. And I think
(26:20):
that's what he was thinking when he got that phone called.
He was thinking the worst.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Yes, exactly. And Fiji didn't appreciate him actually mentioning the
worst because as they've driven to point out, it hasn't
been nearly as bad as that, and of course that
depended on the tourism. So we wait for the toxicology
report exactly. Meanwhile, it's pretty pretty hot on your neck
of the woods.
Speaker 13 (26:39):
I'm sweating as we speak, really, I really am.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Hold on, it's three o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 13 (26:44):
It's all well, it is warm, so the call chain
has come through. But yesterday was absolutely a scorture for
most of Australia. Victoria, for instance, recorded its highest December
temperature in five years. And it's impacting South Australia, Northern
territory in your south. Wow, I was Queensland an as
I mentioned at Victoria. The Weather Bureau is said that
(27:04):
wholly up in Victoria's northwest recorded wait for it forty
seven degrees mid afternoon. Other places reached mid forties. That's
twelve to twenty degrees above the December average. Yes, it's
really really warm. In Adelaide it was thirty eight degrees
by ten am yesterday. In Melbourne it reached thirty degrees
(27:26):
by nine am and by late afternoon thirty nine degrees.
And of course a lot of concern for the fire
danger and everyone is on a high alert and the
fire services especially thankfully, a mild you know, relatively you know,
anticipated highly anticipated cal change came through last night. The
(27:47):
gave a sudden relief.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
You stay called John.
Speaker 13 (27:49):
You can barely sweek, I can barely speak.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
I'm so warm. Thank just so much for your time today.
Text through from Steve, who says uperplex by the New
Zealand media hasn't mentioned the drone situation plaguing the East
coast of the States. It's all over the international news
and very interesting. Well we did. We talked about that
half an hour ago, Steve. You should have got up.
Remember the early bird gets the worm.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Andrew dickens.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
So the government's making moves to refocus local councils on
core services and to improve their accountability for ratepayers. Councils
will be focused on delivering basic services without paying attention
to the four well beings, which is social, environmental, economic
and cultural. I will also be required to do a
yearly report so people can compare rate increases, council spending
(28:30):
and debt to other councils. A leaderboard, if you will.
The Mayor of Queenstown is Glenn Lewis, who joins me
right now. Glynn, Hello Martin, do you focus on the
basics or not?
Speaker 14 (28:43):
We hesty given a large portion of the visitor population
to our district.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
So so hearing all this yesterday, how did you feel?
Speaker 14 (28:58):
Look? This was well signed hosted earlier in the year
by the Minister and the Prime Minister at the Local
government conference, so it came to me as no surprise.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Sure, but how do you feel?
Speaker 14 (29:12):
Look? I think some of the stuff asking for it's
all publicly available information now, so just go to collate
it and put a lable doesn't make me, I mean
not to my feelings about it. It's the information's there,
they're just going to publish it in a different format.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
This is absolutely true. The media used to do that.
When we have more reporters that's true. And of course
the question is our council's less transparent than central government.
And I would actually argue that councils are more transparent
than central government. I mean, how often do you get
to see the debate about what the finance minister is
doing with the budget?
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 14 (29:49):
Look, all our workshops and decision making is all open
to the public. We don't have closed corks every Monday,
so and governments don't have to produce ten year budgets
or have asset management plans for all the assets they own.
So I think a local government suit me, let's say,
(30:14):
has better methodologies and looking after the assets they own
on behalf of the rate payers.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
But the point being, the government has got into a
vibe that councilors need to do better. So will these
measures make councilors do things better?
Speaker 14 (30:30):
No, they'll just make them do them the same as
they've always done them in the last teen fifteen years, because,
like I said, all the accountability measures as they call them,
we're doing anyway and they're just going to report them differently.
And the whole problem is that no one reads those
documents anyway. I'm telling now my rate payers don't get
into the detail of my lot, tom plan, or the
(30:51):
annual plan or the annual report. I don't know how
another document is going to solve it.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Yes, you are accountable. It's called the vote. Glenn l
Well said, thank you very much. Glynn is the mayor
of Queenstown and it is now eight minutes to six.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Get ahead of the headlines. Andrew Dickens, on early edition
with Smith City, New Zealand's Furniture Beds and a play
at store Youth Talk.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Said, be so this morning. I mentioned the fact that
I read the death notices every day, and today I
saw David Weatherley's death notice. You know Cookie bed, don't
you do? And it made me sad. He got to
eighty five. And Craig said in a text years ago,
when I was a panel beating apprentice, my boss used
to read the death notices every single morning and he
said to us if he saw one of our names,
he would give us the day off. Paid good one. Craig, Hello, Heather,
(31:37):
how are you do you know?
Speaker 10 (31:38):
I really worry Just on another subject, I worry about
your hearing quite.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
A lot because my headphones allowed.
Speaker 10 (31:44):
Your headphones are they no? They're not at full noise?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Are they pretty much at full I turned them down
for you so that you don't go, what the hell,
Oh my godd right, this is my entire broadcasting career.
Speaker 10 (31:54):
Andrew. I walked into the studio. You had headphones on
and you were looking at the computer, and I said,
I said hello, Andrew, and about two seconds later you
got fright. It is so bad for you, But you
will consider.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
I've been checking my ears because everyone's been saying this forever. Yeah,
it's because of old rock and roll radio. You know,
you want to be inside the radio. You're inside the radio,
not like the radio is over there, Yeah, and you
just want to get into it. So I check my
hearing every every year, and it's been as fine.
Speaker 10 (32:20):
I'm impressed with that my husband. But my husband is
the same as you, and he's been working in radio
for a long time, and his cans, his headphones are
as loud as yours. And the other day there was
something was beeping and I think it might have been
the microwave or something like that, and he didn't hear it,
could not hear it. Everybody was sitting there going what
is even even the three year old was like what
that noise? And Mary couldn't hear.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
It, So who needs to hear them? Mike, what I'm well,
no one.
Speaker 10 (32:45):
But what I'm trying to say to you is you
tell me your hearing is fine?
Speaker 2 (32:49):
So does he?
Speaker 5 (32:50):
I know?
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Clearly not bund to David Stack the other day. Although
David David's got the new things, he's been deaf, it
turns out for the last twenty years. And he's right,
he's seen world as full color.
Speaker 10 (32:59):
Now there's little headphones that you're putting your ears.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
It's incredible. One's at the back, so not even in
as weird as how amazing it is amazing. What are
you talking about today?
Speaker 14 (33:08):
Listen?
Speaker 10 (33:08):
We're going to talk about councils, because so.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I can't hear you. What Lord, I feel so.
Speaker 10 (33:13):
Bad for all and anyway, much like I feel bad
for myself. We're going to talk about counsels because counsels
clearly are not getting the message from the government that
they need to focus their spending in the right way.
And so the Government's decided yesterday to legislate and just
force them to do it. Thank god. Counsels are just
wasting everybody's time, wasting everybody's money. I am increasingly increasingly
(33:34):
frustrated by them. Have a chat to Campbell Barry, who's
actually a good guy who runs one of the councils
down and Wellington represents local government New Zealand, get his
take on it. And also going to chat a little
bit about the government's books because they're opening today and
it's not going to be pretty.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Cameron Bagrey took to me this morning and he said,
you know, at some stage we've got to stop cutting
and actually start actually investing for prosperity, which is.
Speaker 10 (33:55):
This is true, but how can you invest for prosperity
when you're blowing all your cash? I mean basically what
we're doing is it's like we're running a household buying
lots of really nice VERSACEI clothing, but not buying the
house to live in.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
I'm not saying the versace nice, lots of.
Speaker 10 (34:09):
And Welling lots of techy Vesci and wellingt Yeah, it's
great to Public Service.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Had a great show and I thank you, and I
thank Leo being my producer, our producer today and I'll
catch you again tomorrow. Bye bye.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Now for more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen
live to News Talks. It be from five am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
The issues, yessues, the interviews, the issuers and the inside
Andrew Dickens on the early edition with Smith City, New
Zealand's furniture beds and apply at store use dogs.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
It'd be welcome on into your Tuesday. Bit by bit
we get closer and closer to Christmas, and now in
today's program, this is the day we find out if
we've been as economically blue as we felt over the year.
Cameron Bagwi's predictions in just five minutes time, I forget
meth and coke. We're scoffing pharmaceuticals as well. When we're
in the middle of a psychedelic renaissance. We'll have more
(00:38):
details and ten we're going to go to Australia with
Donna to find out how the poisoned Pinut Colada drinkers
are going and also to update the Ossie heat wave
that's happening right now and its effects. And we'll be
joined by the Queenstown Mayor on the government's moves to
get councils to stick to their resisential knitting. We'll have
correspondents from right around New Zealand and you can have
your essay as well for a small charge. Ninety two
(00:59):
ninety Tuesday. Big zeb is the text.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
Number the agenda.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Thanks, good morning. I'm Adre Dickins. It's Tuesday, the seventeenth
of December. Hundreds are feared dead on the tiny French
island territory of Mayote, just off the coast of Madagascar.
This is following the devastating cyclone.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Right now, we're encountering a number of difficulties and transporting
all the staff and equipment needed for the victim rescue
mission on the island of Mayotte. So here there's a
sort of clusterlogue that's being organized to bring together the
man and equipment.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
So Mayotte just a tiny, tiny place and some of
the houses just senties.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
Really.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
It's feared the death toll could potentially reach thousands. Some
neighborhoods have been completely flattened in the extreme wind. There's
a new statement out, possibly written by fallen Syrian leader
Basha al Assad, saying he never intended to flee to Russia. No, no, no,
and at no pointed stepping down uh ah. The statement
(02:02):
was posted to the presidential Telegram account. He's on telegram.
Although it's not known who's currently in control of Vasad's
Telegram account. So we have a drone detection system being
sent to New York as officials continue to receive thousands
and thousands of reported sightings of drones over the multiple states,
including New York and New Jersey.
Speaker 4 (02:24):
It's remarkable, with all these sightings over the last while,
why do we have more questions than answers. If the
technology exists for a drone to make it up into
the sky, there certainly is the technology that can track
the craft with precision and determine what the heck is
going on.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
So the Homeland Security Secretary says he's not aware of
any foreign involvement, adding the increased sartings might be due
to a change in regulations allowing drones to be flown
at night. We're in a high state of alert, aren't we,
right around the world. And beckcoin once again has hit
a rec value. Its popularity continues to surge. It's now
(03:02):
reached one hundred and six thousand US dollars a bitcoin,
as follows a reelection of Donald Trump, who went out
and said he wants to make bitcoin strategic reserve in
the United States of America. So that was all in
Since yesterday's peakad has dropped slightly. It's now sitting at
one hundred and four thousand US dollars.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
A popper on your radio and online on iHeartRadio early
edition with Andrew Dickens and Smith City, New Zealand's Furniture
Bids and applying store news talk said be so.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Today, a seventy seven year old farmer from the Corimander
will appear in court accused of shooting dead an alleged
poacher on his land. The farmer allegedly caught a pig
hunter gutting a beast and then something terrible happened. The
man who died was a father of five, and even
his mother has described him in the media as a
(03:54):
rat bag, a lovable rat bag, a cheeky little monkey,
a loved father of five, and a ledged poacher. So,
of course the case has started. I can't cast comment
on the case, but here's some of the observations I've made.
Private property rights in this country appear to be an
endangered species. A neighbor of mine found one of his
trees have been poisoned by his direct neighbor, and so,
(04:15):
of course he popped across the fence and said, what's
happened here? Do you know, Well, the neighbor freely admitted it.
The tree was affecting his vibe. It had to go,
even though it wasn't their tree, And they had to
cross the fence and go on to the property and
start killing the tree. And they never had the decency
to consult the owner of the tree and now proud
(04:36):
to admit it. Yeah, the tree had to go, mate, Sorry, yeah,
I killed it. It's unbelievable. Private property rights. Your land
is your land. Screw with it and expect a reaction.
People also seem to have developed a hard line towards
holding people to account to hear it and talk back
all the time, don't you know, get tough on these guys,
(04:57):
you know. So, shooting at people quite a thing. It's
something I have never done and hope I never do.
If you are shooting at someone, then surely you must
have sufficient reason to be doing so. And this is
what a jury will wrestle with today and in many
other cases. What is the punishment equal to the crime
(05:18):
and consequences is another thing. If you kill or seriously
hurt a person, then that person's whole life rests in
your hand, their pass but also their future. That they
now miss out on. Now that is the consequence that
you need to learn with, you know, forget getting going
to jail for a bit. That is the consequence that
really weighs heavily on your soul. And remember twenty twenty
(05:39):
hindsight is always a very terrible thing, but often it's
also the truth. Try to have twenty twenty hindsight before
you start doing something stupiday. Too many people still believe
they have a right to exact hearts punishment. Often it's talk,
but then it isn't, and then when it isn't, it's bad.
So today we'll witness a tragedy involving all sides going
(05:59):
too far and symptomatic for me of the way our
society is going, full of entitlement, anger and harsh retribution.
Andrew Dickens, you talked about question of the Day and
New Zealand and Jetstar have been in the gun for
recent hikes and air fares during busy periods. This week, well,
the week remember when Pearl Jam played two concerts in
(06:20):
Auckland and then Cole played, then played three all in
the same week, and there was marathons and all sorts.
Air fears jumped to extraordinary levels. They were apologizing yesterday
that you alone say it's just supply and demand and
New Zealanders were just being far too busy. You're being
far too busy. It's a concept called active pricing. It's
becoming more and more common. Recently in London, I went
(06:41):
to a great David Hockney exhibition and well recommend that
booking the tickets online, I noticed that if I went
to a session one hour later, then they wanted five
quid more when I went to pick up my tickets
at the gallery. Why, I said, more people want to come?
I said, yeah, well sure, and then you're going to
make more money. Why do you have to charge more?
They said, it's active pricing. So my point is, and
my question is, is active pricing a good thing? Does
(07:06):
it make you angry? Should it continue? Should it stop?
Should a mostly publicly owned company like Air New Zealand
use active pricing? Remember, active pricing is an active choice
by the retailer, and as such I think they need
to know the customers feel used by it, and the
customer is always king. It's five fourteen. What's going to
(07:27):
happen with the HAIFU? The half year? The economic forecast
and update. Cameron Baggery is with me.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Next Andrew Dickens on early edition with Smith City, New
Zealand's furniture bids and applying store news talks.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It be yes Coomb onding to you. It is sixteen
after five High fou Day today. That is the half
year Economic and Fiscal Update. Treasury will release it this
afternoon and we'll get new insight into how the economy
is tracked over the past six months and what Treasury
is forecasting as we go forward into twenty twenty five,
the year that we have to survive. To you may remember,
it's all coming with a warning from the Finance Minister
(08:03):
who yesterday said the government inherited difficult economic conditions. So
Camin Bagrie is the lead economist from Bagriy Economics and
Joints who right now, how the Cameron? There we go,
Sorry Cameron, the mouse wasn't working. How the Cameron?
Speaker 5 (08:17):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
I like what west Pac senior economist Darren Gibbs said,
he expects a deeper shade of red. What are you expecting?
Speaker 5 (08:25):
Yeah, I guess. We go back and had a look
at the twenty twenty four budget. There was a downside
scenario in mate, and it looks like the economy has
been tracking more in line with the downside scenario. And
that downside scenario had a lot more red It had
net debt getting up in an excess of forty five
percent of GDP, that had the operating balance or what's
called the obi gaal not getting back into surplus over
(08:48):
the forecast period, and it looks like we're tracking more
in line with that scenario than the central scenario they
presented in the twenty twenty four budget.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Would this be the lowest point as we look forward
to twenty two twenty five, or you know, could we
go lower?
Speaker 4 (09:03):
No?
Speaker 5 (09:03):
I think the low point is going to be this
what's called fiscal year. The economy in a cyclical sense
has actually turned the corner and we're starting to bounce
back up. Monetary policy, the Reserve Bank is going to
work a little bit of magic over twenty and twenty
five that will help the fiscal forecasts out. But the
real big problem with the fiscal forecast is not just
(09:27):
where the come with the economy does in the next
sort of twelve months. It's sort of average growth. And
the key variable here is what's called productivity growth. How
smart we are with resources in the Treasury's chief economic
advisor the Reserve Bank have both been out warning about
productivity growth. That goes straight to the heart of average
growth over each year, and that goes straight to the
(09:49):
heart of your tax revenue numbers. And I think they're
going to find that the government's got a bit of
a hole in regard to tax revenue. And if you
don't have the tax revigue coming in to the degree
that you were expecting, you're going to have a little
lot more problems getting back from deficit the surplus.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Exactly on that tax revenue. It's a bit of a
visus circle, isn't it. The more we cut government spending
to fit the revenue right, the more the economy retracts,
meaning the less revenue the government receives and tax. Therefore
we can't really pay the debt, you know, we sort
of it's sort of creates itself, it spins on itself.
Speaker 5 (10:22):
Yeah, and the government is fation some pretty complex trade offs. Obviously,
you need to be fiscally responsible. Now you've got to
try to go from deficit surface. You need to read
what's called the fiscal buffers. Because New Zealand shakes a
lot of it, and you want to have a bit
of a water chest to deploy it to borrow if
something nasty happens, and odds are something nasty is going
(10:43):
to happen in the next sort of ten years and
we need to be prepared for that. But the other
side is that governments need to invest in the economy.
You need to have a well functioned education system, you
need to have a well functioning roading system, you need
to have a well functioning health system. It's a question
you get in that balance between doing fis were responsible
but also investing for a bit of economic prosperity for
the economy.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
So are they being physically responsible? You hurt? The Finance
Minister yesterday said we've inherited difficult economic conditions, but that
was a year ago and they've made some quite big
macro moves and that's helping to exasperate exascerberate the economic conditions.
So are they managing it well.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
Now? Look, my personal view is that the debt targets
that are on the table at the moment, I don't
think they're going to be hit. I think we need
to be tilting a little bit more towards the investing
for perspiity, but investing with discipline. That's the key here.
What we saw out of the previous government was there
was a hell of a lot of money that was being
(11:40):
thrown around, but it was ill disciplined and it wasn't
hitting the market in regard to getting results. You know,
I'd like to see this government loosen the debt targets,
be probably a little bit more less a steer. But
you have a bit of a tagline about investing for
prospiity and having a lot more discipline about where we're
going because we need to fix the health system, we
need to fix the education system, we need to fink
Sobriting system.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
All good, Cameron, thank you so much for your wisdom.
It is five twenty investing for prosperity with discipline. It's
five twenty.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
The news you need this morning and the in depth
analysis early edition with Andrew Dickens and Smith City New
Zealand's furniture bids and a flying Store youth talks.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
It'd be So we've got a second lot of findings
from a Massi University drug trends survey and they're a
bit of a worry. One in four survey responders report
using pharmaceuticals for recreational use over the past six months.
Twenty four percent report using MDMA and ketamine and other
psychedelics for therapeutic purposes. And from the team at the
Massive University in New Zealand Drugs Research Team, I'm joined
(12:43):
by Dr Robin van Dersand and hello Robin, Hi, how
are you very good? So to the pharmaceuticals. First, do
we have an illegal trade in pharmaceuticals and people are
sort of selling tramadol to each other.
Speaker 6 (12:57):
Potentially a little bit but also potentially a bit more
boring than that that people are just you know, sharing
these drugs with one another when in need. But there
is definitely also a little bit of sale going on.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
So what should we be worried about with the pharmaceuticals.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
A big thing is sort of health and safety. I
think you know a lot of people who take these
drugs nor medically might not have gotten the advice of
their doctor. You know, they might also be mixing these
drugs together, for example, with alcohol, which is a big
risk in terms of overdose or poisoning or experiencing harmful effects.
And also we've got as people are buying these drugs
(13:34):
illegally via a drug dealer. Then we've got this risk
of them buying counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Yes, indeed, I meanwhile to the more traditional drugs, the mtumaze,
et cetera. You're saying, and you've said in your report,
the world is in the midst of a psychedelic renaissance. Now,
what do you mean by that?
Speaker 6 (13:52):
Well, it sort of means that we've got a kind
of really renewed interest in psychedelic across a different area
of society and in the medical sector in terms of healthcare.
You know, there's a lot of research on the potential
benefits of psychedelics for a number of mental health benefits
(14:12):
and therapeutic purposes. You've got a lot of cultural coverage
of psychedelics, so it's quite a sort of zeitgeist more
broadly in the culture at the moment. So that's kind
of what I mean.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
By that, and one that we need to take great
care of. And I thank you Robin van der Sanden.
And it is now five twenty four. This is News
Talks AB.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
The early edition full show podcast on iHeartRadio. How ad
By News Talks.
Speaker 7 (14:36):
It be.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
This is News Talks B five twenty seven. I'm Andrew Dickins,
drop the well beings. The government has given the councils
the tang las for Christmas, and they're going to hold
councils accountable for the basics like pipes and rubbish. But
whatever you do do not mention well being. But I
don't know about you. The care and maintenance of pipes
and sewage and all that sort of thing is pretty
fundamental to my well being, pooh, fundamental to the health
(15:04):
of society and well being anyway. Minister Simeon Brown now
wants to report issued each year on the financial health
of each council they're spending and their results. He wants
to compare them all together. They also want to look
at changes and rates for each dwelling. In other words,
the government's going to read the publicly listed council reports
and produce their own report because apparently many rate payers
don't or can't be bothered reading what the councilor has said. Anyway,
(15:26):
it's not as though it's hidden. It's also the job
the media used to do until we got so skinned
we don't have the staff to turn up to actually
report on it. Remember that each time. You like the
media sort of being chopped down a little bit. We
need people to report on stuff. I couldn't help thinking
the whole thing was a bit of a dramatic production
(15:46):
just before Christmas. Christmas panto here Ryan, he said, was
it bluster? Maybe part of a bit of a war
to paint local bodies as a villain for committing exactly
the same crimes that central government are guilty of. You
know this, critics of council red tape and building consents,
and yet the irony is that it's central government who
writes the rules that the councils are merely enforcing. There's
(16:07):
criticism of a lack of long term plans from councils
when central government tends to change its plans every three
years in line with elections. Central government has been palmed
off with some of the biggest and hardest part of
civil maintenance to their councils. They've got the water, the pool,
the rubbish. And then, of course central government has crippled
councils by and allowing them to only make revenue through
(16:29):
property taxes, and then when things go wrong, treat local
government like a whipping boy. I think the point of
the government's attack on councils has to make them more
accountable to ratepayers, yes one, but possibly to distract voters
from looking at central government. And thank you for that.
Councils are accountable to ratepayers. It's called the vote, and
ratepayers are notorious for not bothering to use it anyway,
(16:51):
Bring it on. I support them mostly. I love the report.
I love the ratings, I love the comparisons. Councils should
not be afraid of being held to account because they
must believe they're making their towns bitter, and I believe
on the whole they are. They're doing a pretty good job.
On the smell of an oily rag.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
And on that.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
We're going to talk to the Queenstown mayor, which is
a good call as well, and the Queenstown mayor will say,
how does the how does how is his counsel feeling
about suddenly all the eyes and whether he feels it's bluster,
whether he feels he's already completely accountable to the rape payers.
That's in about twenty five minutes time. JOHNA. Devan is
(17:33):
on the way as well. How are those Pincolada drinkers
and Fiji going and there's a heatwave in Australia. By
the way, we'll have details of that with Donna right
here on Early Edition. I'm Andrew Dickens. Good morning to you.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
The first word on the News of the Day, Early
Edition with Andrew Dickens and Smith City, New Zealand's Furniture
Beds and Appliet Store. You talk sippy.
Speaker 8 (18:06):
Everybody on the I'm Drew Dickens and it is Tuesday,
and I spent the afternoon yesterday watching the cricket going.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Now, this is the way I expected the Black Pats
to play right from the very beginning of this Test
series against England. Yeah, finally there was Cain Winamson being
majestic and then saturnly comes out for wuck sex beautiful.
He should have been playing right from the start of
the series. Anyway, it was a very rewarding day and
(18:43):
today hopefully we'll put the final nail in the coffin.
And don't think this is just sort of you know,
a dead rubber. Every test is an important test. Well
done black Caps. Now look, I'm one of those odd
people who read the death notices to you. I always have.
My mum taught me this. You you always look out for
a name you might know, because he might be able
to extend into sympathy to somebody who might have had
a loss. Anyway, every now and then you get a
(19:04):
little bit of a shock. Obviously you see a name,
you go oh oh. Today this morning at four am
in the morning, I'm reading the death notices as you do,
and I saw the name David Weatherley, the actor. Do
you remember if you saw a photograph of him, you
would He passed away on the twelfth He was eighty
five years old. Born in London, David served in the
(19:26):
Canadian military, then came to New Zealand and was right
into the theater, captivated audience and in the theater, radio, film, TV,
voicing ads. He earned international recognition. He was the innkeeper
at the Prancing Pony in The Lord of the Rings.
If you're one of those people. He was also a
major force at the Mercury Theater, Aukland's main theater for
(19:48):
so many days that closed down at the turn of
the century. Now at the moment that theatre is being renovated.
It's Aukland's oldest theater, a beautiful Edwardian theater, and it's
about to reopen and it saddens me that David Weatherley
won't be there to see it. And if you still
don't know who David Weatherley is, he was cookie Bear
(20:08):
and the chocolate chip ads for Hudson's. He was the
bear that went from Doudo that inside that fur time.
There was David Weatherley who was a lovely man and
his funeral is on Thursday. Andrew dickens it is a
twenty one to six. We're off to Dunedin. Jimmy Cunningham, Hello,
(20:30):
good morning. Gosh, you've got fire restrictions yees.
Speaker 9 (20:34):
So fire in emergencies prohibited outdoor fires and fireworks in
central Otago, Naisby and Upper Whiteitucky until further notice. This
means no fires are allowed in the open and all
permits are suspended. District Manager Phil Marsh says strong northwesterlies
and a lack of rain has dried out these areas.
Speaker 10 (20:52):
He sees other parts of.
Speaker 9 (20:53):
Otago remain in open fire seasons, but more restrictions are
likely throughout the week to include more air Further north,
fireworks have also been banned in the McKenzie Basin and
Ashburton Lakes for the summer.
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Any rain in the forecast.
Speaker 9 (21:08):
No, we're fine today apart from a little bit in
morning cloud northeasterlies developing and a higher fourteen.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Excellent fire conditions. I'm so sorry, thank you so much.
Claire Sherwood joins us fro christ Church and you've got
problems with fire conditions as well.
Speaker 7 (21:21):
Well.
Speaker 11 (21:21):
We do have problems with fire conditions here Andrew, but
more specifically about fireworks in fire conditions. There have been
reports of fireworks being let off, particularly around the Salwyn
district and Rolliston. This is as we have had multiple
wildfires over the past few weeks. We are obviously in
a restricted fire season here too. Fire and Emergency reminds
(21:42):
that fireworks might not be banned here in Canterbury at
this point, but that could change as the chances of
blaze become too high. The Rolliston Volunteer Chief fire officer
actually went and spoke to some people a week or
so ago about their fireworks after comments online called for
them to be officially warned or worse. Fire and Emergency
Community Risk Manager Dean Harker says, regardless, reports of people
(22:05):
using fireworks right now is concerning. He acknowledges people stop
piling fireworks at guy Fawkes will sit them off over summer,
but he says that's hugely risky given the current dry conditions.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
And how are your conditions.
Speaker 11 (22:18):
Well, some a very well needed drizzle at the moment, Andrew,
we'll clear to find by this afternoon southerlya's turning easterly.
The high though only seventeen.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
In Wellington. We have Max Tol Hello Max, good morning.
Now the mass of rape rise coming.
Speaker 12 (22:30):
Yeah, Yeah, Wellington City was already clubbed with a roughly
twenty one percent rates rise. This year's shock and or
for households getting that first bill in the post. It's
going to keep getting worse next year as well. The
City Council's proposed budget signals the more than fifteen percent
rise on average as well next year. It is today
(22:53):
voting to finalize its long term plan. They've done their
best to go back to the drawing board to cut
a few things around the edges. There will certain using
suburban paid parking, which is going to rattle a few cages.
These staggering rates increases is certain to be the focus
I think for people challenging the man next year and
running for council.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
And we're going to talk about councils and their transparency.
A bit later on with the Queen Stout Mayor after
the new changes. Hey, how's your weather today, Max.
Speaker 12 (23:19):
Well, we've had a bit of a storm overnight, but
it should be easy to partly cloudy weather this morning
thirteen the High Central.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
And Wendy Petrie Jones is right now in Orkanan. There's
a reopening of a cold case.
Speaker 7 (23:29):
Good morning. Yes, police are reopening a two thousand and
four cold case involving two Auckland schoolgirls. The two girls
claim they had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted in a
van over three days in December by four men. Police
questioned at least to one man at the time and
gathered DNA, but no one was charged. One of the women,
Marquetti edmunds Paripi, says police had believed one of the
(23:49):
men who claimed the sex was consential, despite both girls
being underage. She says she's lived in fear ever since,
but has now decided to assist police with reopening the
case and the hope to find enclosure.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
And how's Awkin's weather?
Speaker 7 (24:03):
Well, it was a bit rainy, wasn't it yesterday? Today
partly cloudy with isolated shower. It's caring to find this
evening southerly's but we've still got a high of twenty
four degrees.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Great stuff, thank you, Wendy. And as long as it
doesn't rain on Hamilton during the test, and I'm not
all happy with that. It is seventeen minutes to six,
by the way, donnad to Mayo the penicalatic people in Fiji.
By the way, look, it's not as bad as what
happened in Laus.
Speaker 5 (24:25):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
The guys in Fiji got taken to hospital, got discharged.
Yes they were poisoned, but not the way they were
of mouse. So it's not similar. But it's certainly nowhere
near as serious. But we'll talk with that with Donna
Tamayo in a few moments time. And I say that
because Fiji is highly dependent on tourism and this is thinking,
you know, dry stuff up just like that. I should
(24:48):
talk to you about New Caledonia too, before the hour
is out. Donald Tamayo is on the way here on News.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
TALKSB International Correspondence with Ends and Eye Insurance. Peace of
mind for New Zealand business.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
It's fourteen to six. If you think it's earlier in
New Zealand. You should think how early it is in
Australia with Donald Demayo, whiz, good morning to your donna,
Good morning. Tell us about the Aussies who fell ill
drinking the pinacolada in Fiji.
Speaker 13 (25:12):
Yes, well for some it would be considered a holiday
from Helbert. What happened was a number of people, about
seven people fell ill after having pinicolades. It was a
fancy resort in Fiji's the Warwick, Fiji. Now were heard
from an Ossie granddad. His name is David Sandu. Now
he received a phone call from his daughter and she
told him, oh that she and his teenage granddaughter had
(25:35):
been hospitalized. They fell ill after drinking peanut coladas at
this hotel. Now a total of four Ossie's out of
the seven that fell ill were hospitalized. Now it's a
suspected mass alcohol poisoning, they're calling it, and investigations continue
into what actually happened. We we're waiting for toxicology reports
(25:57):
to come in. But at this stage it's no suggesting
anything untoward happened. Quite a few number, quite a few
questions still remain, of course. But when we heard from
David Sando, he said it just sent chills down his spine.
And it's because once he got that phone call. It's
because of what happened in Laos recently and that tragedy
where that left two teenage Ossie's dead. And I think
(26:20):
that's what he was thinking when he got that phone called.
He was thinking the worst.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Yes, exactly. And Fiji didn't appreciate him actually mentioning the
worst because as they've driven to point out, it hasn't
been nearly as bad as that, and of course that
depended on the tourism. So we wait for the toxicology
report exactly. Meanwhile, it's pretty pretty hot on your neck
of the woods.
Speaker 13 (26:39):
I'm sweating as we speak, really, I really am.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Hold on, it's three o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 13 (26:44):
It's all well, it is warm, so the call chain
has come through. But yesterday was absolutely a scorture for
most of Australia. Victoria, for instance, recorded its highest December
temperature in five years. And it's impacting South Australia, Northern
territory in your south. Wow, I was Queensland an as
I mentioned at Victoria. The Weather Bureau is said that
(27:04):
wholly up in Victoria's northwest recorded wait for it forty
seven degrees mid afternoon. Other places reached mid forties. That's
twelve to twenty degrees above the December average. Yes, it's
really really warm. In Adelaide it was thirty eight degrees
by ten am yesterday. In Melbourne it reached thirty degrees
(27:26):
by nine am and by late afternoon thirty nine degrees.
And of course a lot of concern for the fire
danger and everyone is on a high alert and the
fire services especially thankfully, a mild you know, relatively you know,
anticipated highly anticipated cal change came through last night. The
(27:47):
gave a sudden relief.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
You stay called John.
Speaker 13 (27:49):
You can barely sweek, I can barely speak.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
I'm so warm. Thank just so much for your time today.
Text through from Steve, who says uperplex by the New
Zealand media hasn't mentioned the drone situation plaguing the East
coast of the States. It's all over the international news
and very interesting. Well we did. We talked about that
half an hour ago, Steve. You should have got up.
Remember the early bird gets the worm.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
Andrew dickens.
Speaker 2 (28:10):
So the government's making moves to refocus local councils on
core services and to improve their accountability for ratepayers. Councils
will be focused on delivering basic services without paying attention
to the four well beings, which is social, environmental, economic
and cultural. I will also be required to do a
yearly report so people can compare rate increases, council spending
(28:30):
and debt to other councils. A leaderboard, if you will.
The Mayor of Queenstown is Glenn Lewis, who joins me
right now. Glynn, Hello Martin, do you focus on the
basics or not?
Speaker 14 (28:43):
We hesty given a large portion of the visitor population
to our district.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
So so hearing all this yesterday, how did you feel?
Speaker 14 (28:58):
Look? This was well signed hosted earlier in the year
by the Minister and the Prime Minister at the Local
government conference, so it came to me as no surprise.
Speaker 2 (29:10):
Sure, but how do you feel?
Speaker 14 (29:12):
Look? I think some of the stuff asking for it's
all publicly available information now, so just go to collate
it and put a lable doesn't make me, I mean
not to my feelings about it. It's the information's there,
they're just going to publish it in a different format.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
This is absolutely true. The media used to do that.
When we have more reporters that's true. And of course
the question is our council's less transparent than central government.
And I would actually argue that councils are more transparent
than central government. I mean, how often do you get
to see the debate about what the finance minister is
doing with the budget?
Speaker 3 (29:49):
Yeah?
Speaker 14 (29:49):
Look, all our workshops and decision making is all open
to the public. We don't have closed corks every Monday,
so and governments don't have to produce ten year budgets
or have asset management plans for all the assets they own.
So I think a local government suit me, let's say,
(30:14):
has better methodologies and looking after the assets they own
on behalf of the rate payers.
Speaker 2 (30:18):
But the point being, the government has got into a
vibe that councilors need to do better. So will these
measures make councilors do things better?
Speaker 14 (30:30):
No, they'll just make them do them the same as
they've always done them in the last teen fifteen years, because,
like I said, all the accountability measures as they call them,
we're doing anyway and they're just going to report them differently.
And the whole problem is that no one reads those
documents anyway. I'm telling now my rate payers don't get
into the detail of my lot, tom plan, or the
(30:51):
annual plan or the annual report. I don't know how
another document is going to solve it.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
Yes, you are accountable. It's called the vote. Glenn l
Well said, thank you very much. Glynn is the mayor
of Queenstown and it is now eight minutes to six.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Get ahead of the headlines. Andrew Dickens, on early edition
with Smith City, New Zealand's Furniture Beds and a play
at store Youth Talk.
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Said, be so this morning. I mentioned the fact that
I read the death notices every day, and today I
saw David Weatherley's death notice. You know Cookie bed, don't
you do? And it made me sad. He got to
eighty five. And Craig said in a text years ago,
when I was a panel beating apprentice, my boss used
to read the death notices every single morning and he
said to us if he saw one of our names,
he would give us the day off. Paid good one. Craig, Hello, Heather,
(31:37):
how are you do you know?
Speaker 10 (31:38):
I really worry Just on another subject, I worry about
your hearing quite.
Speaker 2 (31:42):
A lot because my headphones allowed.
Speaker 10 (31:44):
Your headphones are they no? They're not at full noise?
Speaker 2 (31:47):
Are they pretty much at full I turned them down
for you so that you don't go, what the hell,
Oh my godd right, this is my entire broadcasting career.
Speaker 10 (31:54):
Andrew. I walked into the studio. You had headphones on
and you were looking at the computer, and I said,
I said hello, Andrew, and about two seconds later you
got fright. It is so bad for you, But you
will consider.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
I've been checking my ears because everyone's been saying this forever. Yeah,
it's because of old rock and roll radio. You know,
you want to be inside the radio. You're inside the radio,
not like the radio is over there, Yeah, and you
just want to get into it. So I check my
hearing every every year, and it's been as fine.
Speaker 10 (32:20):
I'm impressed with that my husband. But my husband is
the same as you, and he's been working in radio
for a long time, and his cans, his headphones are
as loud as yours. And the other day there was
something was beeping and I think it might have been
the microwave or something like that, and he didn't hear it,
could not hear it. Everybody was sitting there going what
is even even the three year old was like what
that noise? And Mary couldn't hear.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
It, So who needs to hear them? Mike, what I'm well,
no one.
Speaker 10 (32:45):
But what I'm trying to say to you is you
tell me your hearing is fine?
Speaker 2 (32:49):
So does he?
Speaker 5 (32:50):
I know?
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Clearly not bund to David Stack the other day. Although
David David's got the new things, he's been deaf, it
turns out for the last twenty years. And he's right,
he's seen world as full color.
Speaker 10 (32:59):
Now there's little headphones that you're putting your ears.
Speaker 2 (33:01):
It's incredible. One's at the back, so not even in
as weird as how amazing it is amazing. What are
you talking about today?
Speaker 14 (33:08):
Listen?
Speaker 10 (33:08):
We're going to talk about councils, because so.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
I can't hear you. What Lord, I feel so.
Speaker 10 (33:13):
Bad for all and anyway, much like I feel bad
for myself. We're going to talk about counsels because counsels
clearly are not getting the message from the government that
they need to focus their spending in the right way.
And so the Government's decided yesterday to legislate and just
force them to do it. Thank god. Counsels are just
wasting everybody's time, wasting everybody's money. I am increasingly increasingly
(33:34):
frustrated by them. Have a chat to Campbell Barry, who's
actually a good guy who runs one of the councils
down and Wellington represents local government New Zealand, get his
take on it. And also going to chat a little
bit about the government's books because they're opening today and
it's not going to be pretty.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Cameron Bagrey took to me this morning and he said,
you know, at some stage we've got to stop cutting
and actually start actually investing for prosperity, which is.
Speaker 10 (33:55):
This is true, but how can you invest for prosperity
when you're blowing all your cash? I mean basically what
we're doing is it's like we're running a household buying
lots of really nice VERSACEI clothing, but not buying the
house to live in.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
I'm not saying the versace nice, lots of.
Speaker 10 (34:09):
And Welling lots of techy Vesci and wellingt Yeah, it's
great to Public Service.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Had a great show and I thank you, and I
thank Leo being my producer, our producer today and I'll
catch you again tomorrow. Bye bye.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Now for more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, listen
live to News Talks. It be from five am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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