Barry Soper: Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent on the Government launching a hotline for road cones

The Government's asking people to dob in too many road cones at work sites.

A telephone hotline is planned - for people to report excesses.

It'll be manned and funded by WorkSafe.

It's been announced at the same time as Health and Safety at Work Act changes, with a focus on reducing the load on smaller businesses.

Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper has voiced support with this idea.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
News talk sai'd be Barry Soapers here, Barry, good afternoon, Good.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Afternoon, Ryan. I should be talking this afternoon about, of
course the road cones. That was the big announcement. Yes,
at the Prime Ministerial press conference, are going to do
away with a lot of them. Is going to be
a road code hotline. So if you're pissed off at
road cones, get on the blower and say, look, remove them.
If they looked as though they're serving no purpose. I've

(00:23):
got to say, they drive me nuts. And I look
for the work going on around them, and I very
rarely see it.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
So never there. I like that idea, great idea, and
lots actually will we will come back to this after
five o'clock the evening, because there was lots in that
announcement that was interesting, especially if you're a business owners. Yes,
after five or ten more. But right now, the attention
of the days turned to Parliament's first non binary MP
taking the week off.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, well he's taken the week off this week, according
to his political boss, Chloe Swarbrick, because of death threats
now images were sent to me over the weekend by
a gay friend of mine. So and he was disgusted
at what he had seen. And when I first saw
the images, it was Benjamin Doyle kissing a young boy,

(01:13):
and I assume that it was his son, and I
kissed my son all the time, and I thought nothing,
not much more of it. But it was under the
headline of Bible about bussy and that means bussy means
it's slang that some members of the queer community use,

(01:35):
commonly referred to as your backside. Essentially. Swarbrick Chloe Swarbrick
was standing al alongside her co leader Mardamer Davidson and
she came out with art have to say the biggest understatement.
When asking the Prime Minister to step into silence, his
Deputy Prime Minister Winston.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Ped, we really didn't want this to get into the
public sphere. I think that there is absolutely no benefit
to all of us our time right now discussing conspiracy theories.
But the reality is that it is resulting in real
wild time and danger towards a member of Parliament, to
their child and to the broader Rainbow community. So what
we'd like to see from the Prime Minister is some
leadership and to shut this down and to stop it

(02:14):
right now. What we're talking about as a member of
the Rainbow community in the context of the Rainbow community,
using terms that have specific meanings within pockets of the
Rainbow community, with irreverence and absurdity. We have to notice
that again the Rambo community has frequently been targeted by homophobic,
transphobic and otherwise attacks.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
God, she went on.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
She always does.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
And I've got to say, I saw Winston Peter's post
on x and it was what he said, essentially was
how are Benjamin Doyle's own social media posts that he
posted himself suddenly disinformation which is what he's been accused
of spreading. Peter's doubled down today on his original social

(02:57):
media posting wanting some memori is some answers from Doyle,
who's taking the week off like we said, Peters said,
but not on these words. I have to say what
they should be fronting up to explain themselves.

Speaker 4 (03:13):
What does bushy gole law mean? What does it mean
with all those photographs by the fifty two posts being
taken down? Have you seen them? You journalists? But asked
every other member of Parliament thousands of questions. Not a word,
not a silver, not a sound, not a mutter, not
a murmur, and you think that's journalism. Sorry, I'm going
to get you to do your job. I would like
him to explain himself. That's all I'm asking. All I

(03:34):
did was get the information and say, hang on, this
is alarming. I want some answers.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah. Well, Chris Lackson also said in his news conference
that the language and the Doyle post was inappropriate.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Oh so he has that that those are the words
is inappropriate? Because what about the issue that he that
they forgive me And I don't do that on purpose.
I do know, I know, because somebody has a pronoum
want to use, I've got no problem using it. But
sometimes I do. You know, you do slip up, especially
if you're speaking about it a lot. But what about
this idea that they are the Greens early childhood education

(04:10):
and a spokesperson, Yes, you know. Is that a problem
for the Greens better?

Speaker 2 (04:15):
Well, look, I think this whole thing is a big
problem for the Greens. And the understatement, of course that
was made by Chloe Swarbrick is that she didn't want
it to get into the public arena. Of course they
didn't want it into the public arena. This is exactly
what the Greens don't want, just like the outpourings of
Tamitha Poul for goodness sake. Over the weekend, here she

(04:37):
was at the Cuba Duper Festival, singing well sorry, jiving
along and making out that she's singing in a microphone.
There were a number of anti police songs, rap songs
being sung. Now, of course she's said about the police
that they should be abolished and should be replaced by

(04:59):
God only knows what Chloe Swarbrick. She was asked how
appropriate was that the limits that the one of the
limics lyrics said the police have a little gun, so
when I'm on the street, I walk around with a
bigger one to be played. She said, there are other
issues more important to be discussing than that. Of course

(05:19):
there are. I just wish the Greens wouldn't give us
these to discuss. Imagine Paul veiled in a Palestinian scarf
as she was bopping to this speak, which he posted
on social media. Yeah see, I'd be driving along to

(05:42):
that as well. But do you I think it's inappropriate
that their police spokesman was up there leading the chant.

Speaker 1 (05:49):
Do you think they'll call the police in over the
death threats. Well, that's the question, that's.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
That was put to Chris Luxon. Actually will the police
be calling it? Well, I mean he's got nothing to
do with The Greens think it's a great concern. They
should be doing themselves and we should be asking how
long is this man going to be off parliament?

Speaker 1 (06:10):
This person sorry this do you call it a person?

Speaker 4 (06:12):
Why?

Speaker 2 (06:14):
How long are they going to be out of partner?

Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah? Well good point, at least at the end of
the week. We're told for now an we so we'll
have to wait and see Barry. Thank you very much
for that.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
Tears.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
Winston Peters will be on after Fight.

Speaker 4 (06:25):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
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