You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talk ZEDB.
And time to introduce my fabulous panel, my first my first panelist. She's no stranger than news Talk ZIBB audiences. And she's she's won the Old Award. You know, she's won the Old Award for news reading. She's and she's quite a good company. And it turns out, you know, she's not a bad sort and it's neither ready Marney, Hi, Neva.
Good afternoon.
I didn't want to sort of bang on about how many.
Thirty I don't don't don't award because you know, I'd just like to fly under the radars counting there's only thirteen or fourteen, but that's okay.
Actually, have you literally lost count? Have you literally lost count?
Yeh? I mean, you know we're all stars here at ZIBB to them even you, oh.
You scrape around the bottom of the barrel there love anyway, and joining me is he's coming through to us from the Wellington Studio. I don't know if he's won any awards, but he would probably win an award for just being so insufferrable, young and successful. And it's brad OL's economist Brown Owl's and hi, Brad, how are you.
Going good afternoon? I'm well, thank you, and I'm enjoying the fabulous day that we seem to be having in Wellington, which sometimes is a bit few and far between.
That was that too much saying you're insufferably young and successful.
I was just trying to glance right over there really quickly.
In fact, ah, you know, of course, I always I always mean it with love. But you of course see e Oven from Metrics house things going then for Metrics saying.
Oh, look, there's always a lot happening in the economy, so our team is always pretty busy looking around at things. You know, interest rates are still the big one at the moment. Everyone wants to know what's going to happen next, and so we're still we're still tracking on and looking at things.
Hey, by the way, actually, Neva, did you want to chip in there? I did.
I want to just wanted to chip in there and say something to do you, Brad because we have never met face to face, but you know, I know you because every time I've been reading the news, you know, your name always pops up and we're always got new stories about you. But you know, when I knew you were coming on the panel today. My first thought was not a you as an economics expert, but you as a dancing expert, because.
I am going to shake that I know well.
And I thought that was the only Radio Awards event that I didn't go to, and I wish I was there because I love dancing and I'm sure I would have been dancing with Bread that day.
That legend has just grown. I don't know whether you didn't need dancing at all based on what you've told me, but the impression is growing, and the legend is growing that you get Brad Olsen on the dance floor and stand back, baby. Look.
All I can say is that Mike Costing owes me a lot for the muck that he's raked me through. And amongst ZB officers, I think, look to be honest. I haven't got the call up yet for whatever next edition of Dancing on Star Dancing with the Stars has been, so I feel like it kind of mean that good. Yet I think look to be clear and to confirm and deny all the rumors. All at once, there was dancing, but thankfully there's never a record of it anywhere.
What read next time you come up to the Auckland office. Here at News Talk ZB, we are always dancing, especially the breakfast crew because we're here from four am, so you know, if you need to come in early, and when you're here in Auckland, it just comes through to ZB because we've always got the music blaring eighties though, eighties and nineties.
But you know, I can see a show dancing with the economists. Oh I can we get brad Olsen. There, we get Tony Alexander, I've run out anyone else.
That'll be a quick show. I mean, look, it's one of those things where I don't know if I do all that well with the eighties and nineties music, given that I was born in the late nineties and so therefore I'm not going to recognize all that many of them. Sorry, if we can do twenty tens pop on all the fort.
Did you enjoy the little bit of Queen there though?
I did, and I knew that song, which is important.
Yeah, well, I mean, I mean, also, it's funny, isn't it that that there are bands of a generation that, even if you weren't alive, like probably be pretty familiar with a lot of ABBA's repertoire. I'm a huge Abba fan. I'm still going through my Abba sort of obsession at the moment. I don't know why. It's because YouTube keeps throwing me the clips and I had a crush on Agneta. Anyway, there we go. That's another thing. I'll probably talk about
that with the counselor sometime. Anyway, Hey, by the way, Brad, you are I want to know about this. But I gather last time you were you were up in Auckland actually, of course, and you were gonna go to the test match. You had tickets and you said to me, I don't know, the weather's not looking too good, so even though I've got tickets, I might not go to an all Blacks Test. And now, of course you're in Wellington and you've got
your all black shirt on. I want to know what happened and what's gonna happen.
Well, yes, and and I think I told you that in confidence when I came into the studio last time and we got it through the airway. Well no, when I say in not really, I told it in jest and it became a larger part of the interview than I thought. But no, you're right, and look, I got a lot of feedback from people who said that I must go, that you know it's an all Blacks game and to just sort of toughen up, which, to be fair, was probably the message I needed to hear because in
the end, my friends and I we did go. Yeah, we got pretty wet, but it was a good occasion. We won that game we played. Actually the boys played really well that game, which was fantastic. Today, hoping that we can also get things across the line, just hoping we can score in the last twenty minutes would be a good, good thing for the All Blacks. So yeah, no, looking forward to it, wearing my proud All Black shirt. Looking forward to going to the game later tonight.
By the way, you did say lovely data is it lovely day?
It is a lovely day. I will not get rained out today.
It should be. I think it'll be a sell out there tonight, my brothers. I've got a lot of family members there in Wellington going to the game. I think there's about ten of them, so I've got a bit of fomo there. I think it'll be great.
Yeah, I actually I love the I love the Wellington Stadium for a test match.
There was the I think that, well, it's the curse of the Capital though, isn't it.
Last time I was there. Actually I was singing the anthem for the All Blacks and this is how long ago it was. Guys. Scott Robertson was playing and scored the first try and I think it was against the spring Box and it was back in the time. I'd probably reheatd myself. But my girlfriend, my girlfriend at the time, No no, no, I'm warmed up, but my now wife, but girlfriend at the time. They give you tickets to the game, but she got also a ground pass so she could be right down on the sideline when I
went to do the anthem. And afterwards there's no one to tell you to go and take a seat. So we watched the first five or ten minutes of the game like you would watch a club match, down on the sideline, and we were only a few meters back from it. Someone said you should probably go and take your seats. But I saw Scott Robertson, I think, and scored the first or second try, and he did it
with a bit of a flourish. It was a dive over the line and he sort of arched his back and stead of kicked his legs and a start and I thought, oh, there's a shape, bony, there's a chap and of course we see him breakdancing. So there you go. Fun story. Yeah, maybe not that much fun.
Oh no, I no, that is a fun story to tell us you.
Yeah, it's quite It's probably one of the more intense things you can do to sing an anthem for a Test match. Anyway. The other thing in Wellington, guys, nieves, have you ever been to the World of Wearable.
Ast I no, the World of Wearable Arts. Look, this is it's been going for thirty five years. It's on at the moment. They're expecting about thirty thousand people to attend up and down the country. I mean, it's not just national, it's global. And I am going to make an effort to go next year. Because there was a group of us here in the newsroom talking about it, and there were like half a dozen of us. I've never been. I did try to get tickets and it
was sold out. But I'm really really impressed with it. I mean every time I see it on TV and it just looks amazing. I mean, Brad, you've probably been there, fifty thousand times.
None. I bet I've never been.
I've never been. I'm so sorry, but that is only because I don't have any real appreciation for arts, and I just I wouldn't know good art of it hit me in the face. But what is quite impressive is walking along today all of the businesses that have really
got in behind it. A lot of signs up saying look, if you show your well To Wearable Arts ticket, you know you get a discount or you might get some something you know, a good option in there, which I think is good because look, people are struggling, but this weekend should be a big one for Wellington, a lot of people around and it goes for a while. I mean, I've got family that are coming down from Funky Day
in two weeks time to be part of it. So again, you know, it is, like you say, a much bigger thing. I think it's been running what like thirty five plus years, so it's a big institutional piece and it is quite exciting. Personally, I feel like I'd be wasting a ticket, so I'm excited that it's sold out and that other people seem to be doing much better than I am. On the cultural front.
It's not quite my bag. But actually this has meant I can imagine Neva you. I can actually imagine you in some amazing as an in some amazing outfit in that show for some reason, because you've got a certain style to you, and I can just imagine you rocking some sort of look.
Well, is it because I like to wear costumes, but that's eaten vegetable costumes that are we're here in the newsroom, or animal costumes.
I can just see you've got a certain style.
I'd like to do that, But I just don't know about the catwalk though. It's it's you know, how I shimy down the catwalk. I don't think I could do that in a serious mode or wearing big high heels to lettos.
I mean, John Key did it back in the day and seemed to sort of not stuff it up too much on the runway. Surely if he can do it all, the rest of us can give it a credit.
Well, that's true, Brad. I like that idea, yep. Absolutely.
Now just on the actually, we normally we start with politics, but of course I thought we'd you know, I thought we'd start with partly the reason I meant wanted to kick off of the World a Wearable Arts and also the test matches that you know what, Wellington's had a tough time and it's just nice to see the Wellington's going to be absolutely heaving. And I just want to know from you, Brad, who are you're on the spot? Is there a vibe in town at the moment with the AB's test and with the wow on.
Oh absolutely yeah. I mean look walking around even yesterday afternoon, obviously people would come into the city before things kicked off this weekend, it was pretty busy. It was pretty hard to move on Lampton Key yesterday afternoon. And like I say, I've been out this morning, out and about, and yet it's sort of been heaving. And I think the exciting thing is there's sort of all different parts. You know, You've got the World Wearable Arts, which will
attract a certain type of people. You've got the All Blacks Test, who will attract sometimes the same but also sometimes different groups. A lot of other people though obviously wanting to go and have some good food and drink around town. So I think that, plus you know, the weather is better at the moment, all of that is just a little bit more encouraging for what has been a tougher time. So again green as shoots starting to pop through. This is a good weekend for Wellington.
Excellent stuff. And now on the entertainment news, I actually just caught up with us not long before we came on here. But there are some actors you know you're here when they've gone. Sometimes you think, oh, that's a bit sad. I mean, but she said an amazing life. But Dame Maggie Smith has died to many people. Professor McGonagall, known for the Harry Potter film. I still remember that line she says, I've always wanted to do that spell
when she does some awesome spell. But anyway, any you're a fan of Dame Maggie's work there, Brad.
Oh absolutely, I mean, like you say, especially Harry Potter was the big one for me. But I mean she's just she's done so many incredible you know, TV and film contributions. So I feel like the interesting thing is now, you know, when people are coming out with their tribute it's been quite nice to see that variety. You know, everyone remembers her for something different. So yeah, an impressive
legacy she leaves behind. And I think the great thing there is that she's got, you know, so many different things that we can go back and watch and remember, and she was great in all of them.
Yeah, I agree, definitely, Dave Meggie Smith one of my favorites at the age of eighty nine. Wow, what a life that you know, she certainly has lived life. She's been on has Brad said, you know a lot of movies and acting roles and plays and things. I loved her And Downtown air b that was you know.
Varlet, Countess of Anthem.
I watched it because of her. But she was just you know, just her, you know, just the way that she was in her acting ability and in her lines, the way she delivered her lines and you know those clipped tones and her humor. But yes, I mean that was probably one of the first stories I woke up to this morning at five am when I woke up and I went, oh, that's a nice reflection, you know, for her life. I mean, you know, she's had a
great life living to eighty nine. People were saying, oh, that's that's said that she's dead, and I thought, well, no, not really. I mean, you know, she's had a good she's had a good life. And we've got great memories, and you know, globally everyone has you know, just been singing her praises from the King to.
You know a lot of as well.
The Prime Minister Sausages.
Sorry, we've got to divert to that one.
Did you get the name right?
I still think that that's one of the best little misspeaks I've ever heard, when he's talking about the drama in Palestine and the Hamas, and then he says, we need the return of the sausages. Actually, I've got the hostages. For those of you who haven't heard it, here it is here call again.
From immediate cessfire and Gaza, the return of the sausages, the hostages.
That's fantastic anyway.
It's one of those things though, right like I know that everyone flubs their lines every now and then, Jeez, I've done it. I'm sure that all of us have. But on something that important, on something that critical that I mean just really you know, foot in the mouth sort of syndrome there.
I Actually I think the mistake he made was that he just paused and calmly corrected himself. But the pause made it look like he didn't realize and so anyway, there's all these wonderful sausage means. But we shouldn't have used that to step away from Dame Maggie Smith. But anyway, yes, I think a great contribution to the world of theater and cinema as well. Tell you what, we'll take a moment to just a week group. See there are go.
Miss way up to week.
Group where the program's being presented by Elma fud. Where's that wabbit. We'll be back in a moment. This is the Weekend Collective News talk said, it's twenty three minutes past three.
I'm to sexty boon my shirt to sexty bomb my shirt so sexy it hurts, and I am too sexty formula lean to sexy bomb Lan yorkanjer Copan.
And welcome back to the Weekend Collective of Actually sort of request of the sign. I couldn't remember what it was, but my producer Tyre was like, oh, yes, it's my favorite. But it was because it has the lyrics on the catwalk. On the catwalk and I was thinking of the world of wearable arts. I thought, let's but we didn't get
that lyric. And I'm Tim Beverdges the Weekend Collective and of co of course, we also have the wonderful Brad Olsen, who I think this would be on your playlist, wouldn't it, Brad?
But I maybe I should add it on. Maybe I should. It's not at the moment, but I could add it on alongside all the sort of other top forty pop pits that I've got at the moment, and you need.
To add oh yeah by yeller of course, Becuse I can see that working for you too, Brad. Okay, just who needs who needs Spotify?
And Shazam when you've got Tim Beverage, I mean, honestly.
Shazam, right, neither? Look politics, okay, kids, we're going to do some politics. Maths funding, more maths funding, but they're taken away the Toreo funding. And basically it turns out that the Terreo, the Marii Language Initiative for teachers, was more than double the cost of similar courses, wasn't accredited as well, with a price tag of a million one hundred million. And anyway, they've they've they've canceled that.
What's your reaction to you that, yeah, we'll look prioritizing, you know, the support for just just did lift the maths achievement in the classrooms. I mean, I can see why. I can understand. Look, maths is tough, and I think they said that that a lot of kids you know,
falling behind failing. Funds need to be poured into that area, you know, just for the basics of the workbooks and things like that, where you know, it just wasn't happening, you know, in the same breast, you know, like I know that this program wasn't accredited the program, however, it was successful in some schools. You know, there's been a lot of mixed reaction, a lot of people, you know, from the education sector that are very unhappy about this.
You know one school that where it was working and they could see that the teachers with today or you know Flatbush Primary School in South Auckland. You know, is it a case of robbing you know, Peter to pay Paul? I mean, you know, yeah, it's interesting.
I think it gives the headline that any political side wants, doesn't it. So the you know what I mean, it's it's a story that everyone loves because they can they can tune it into their favorite gripe, don't you think, Brad, Yeah.
I think everyone can take what they want from the headline. I think instructive for me was looking through a bit more of this, the fact that you know, an evaluation of the Today program has been done. It didn't find any evidence that directly impacted progress or achievement for students, and it couldn't quantify the impact on how much TODAY
was used in the classroom. So I can understand that when there are limited funds, and certainly in education, there's obviously a huge amount of work to do that you've got to put money into places where you do think you can get some of those stronger results. And here it's not like it was taking from a program that
was actually definitively making big progress. It wasn't able to be quantified, and so I think on that basis, I can understand why you'd make that decision to switch the funding around.
Yeah, However, the bigger the bigger education announcement were a couple of things on the tightening of the truancy regulations. I editorialized a little bit about this during the course of the week. I don't know, I don't think it's I don't think the rules are really going to be that enforceable because the people whose kids aren't attending, and even Seamire acknowledge that we'll be finding where it can make a difference, but not where it heaps misery upon misery.
To me, I think the legislation is just about sending a signal, which may in itself make a difference, don't you think, Brad.
Oh, definitely. And I do worry sometimes when we get into these conversations, right when people sort of say, oh, well, we're going to do something and it's not going to do anything, and I go, well, I don't know. If this is going to do nothing, it might well be that the effect is fairly limited. I understand that, but you're right in terms of the signaling device and just putting again that focus back on a topic that has quite clearly deteriorated over the last couple of years. Attendance
has gone down. Part of that, sure is because of the likes of the pandemic and similar But I don't think we should just sit back and go, oh, well, we can't do anything about it, therefore we won't try anything.
This is at least a bit of a shift coming through, and I guess it's that focus again on a little bit more personal responsibility, including from family, to say, look, actually, you do have an obligation to send your kids to school, and if you're not, then there's got to be some something that comes through on that, not to put people into a more desperate position, but to at least enforce upon people that there is a reason to do something rather than just sit back, sit on your hands and
go at someone else's problem.
Name what is it.
It's fifteen days, isn't it. If they don't turn up. If kids don't turn up in fifteen days, basually there is just.
Fifteen days cumulatively or is it all one shot.
I think that's cumulative as well, So.
I mean during the course of a year, that'd be easy to rack up.
But you know, I mean this is the other thing that everyone was talking about in different groups, about the holidays and taking your kids out, you know, outside of the normal school holidays and taking them overseas because it's cheaper, or those who have to take family members, you know, or wanting to go and see family members who are overseas and they haven't seen family for you know, several years and want to actually have a family holiday and
take their young children with them and you know, I mean, this is an issue that has been happening for a while and you know, parents thinking well, yeah, maybe we can we can do this, and is it a case too This is the other question of you know, if your children are doing okay and the parents you know, because as you say, and what Brad's saying, parents have got to have that responsibility. And if your children aren't doing well or I'm probably thinking more like primary school,
well then you know, stay there. You know, something's got to be done. Take responsibility. But then a few other people my friends have saying, well, you know, our children, we make sure they do their homework and they're actually quite smart, and you know, I'm we're quite happy with them. So you know, we will take them out for seven days or something like that, you know, for a holidays.
Yeah, I don't have the problem. I mean, it's a bit of very middle class, sort of upper middle class problem, isn't it. If you think you're going to get in trouble with you deciding and take the family of Europe, it's probably not really what the focus of the whole thing is. Yeah, no, but it might not be.
But I do think that it's one of those things I worry and wonder if part of this is you know, a classic example of that whole slippery slope argument where people sort of go, well, you know, I can do this because everything's fine, and then everyone does it, and then all of a sudden it's actually not so fine.
So I do think that this is maybe that point where over the you know, a period of time, probably a decade or so, sending us kids to school and not taking them out, at various points, people have sort of shifted away from that. They've sort of just gone around the edges a bit more, a bit more, and it's all now eroded away to a point where you don't have people going nearly as consistently that has been shown to have, you know, detrimental effects on people's learning.
And so now I think it's just sort of tightening that leish on people again and saying, actually, look, you know, everyone's taken this for a bit too much of a joy ride. Now it's actually having real impacts. So we've got a whole things back in.
Yeah, what about the teacher days, the teacher only days?
Now?
This is actually I think that I'm I like David Seymour, and I agree with him you know, a fairly chunk of the time. But I thought that this was an absolute bs cheap shot when he said that schools will have to play their part in setting a good example as well. This means not teaching taking teacher only days during term time, which has got nothing to do with truancy because actually, teacher any days. The teachers are actually in school at work doing curriculum work.
Are they Yes, they are, that's what That's all, good, Ord David seymore good. Yes, Why does he have to be a Friday? Why can't you have a teacher day on a Wednesday? Why is it?
You know, I can change your mind on this because actually, as a parent, right and if I would rather if there was a teacher only day it was just before a weekend or something rather than not because it means well, I think it makes it. But the thing is people think the teacher any days, so they can work from home, a teacher any days. Actually, when they are all at school working on the curriculum.
What are they doing working on the curriculum?
Well, often, and here's the other newsflash, is that often.
When you're a teacher.
Yet no, no, my wife is all right, yeah, but she doesn't know. No, I don't. I don't pass on her opinion because she doesn't like to participate in talk back anything to do with it. But often the ministry will give curriculum updates and they will say you must do this in the next couple of weeks. So it's something that the ministry have also been driving as well. I find teacher only days sometimes frustrating, but I also see the other side of it because I think that
here's my last word on it. I think it's way too cheap a shot to always have a crack at teachers as if they are slacking off. I think the union doesn't do them any favors because the way they present themselves. But you find anyone who has a teacher in the family and tell me how they look at the end of the year, and they are bug it. And it's not because they're all slackers.
We're all tired.
However, I think I think the big thing here, right is that you know, we're talking about truancy and taking five, ten, fifteen days at a year. There's not fifteen teacher only days. I've never seen that before in my life, you know. I remember when I was at school, you had a teacher only day every now and then, and like you say to them, it was actually it was normally for
either curriculum updates. Sometimes it was for you know, go through the marking because there's been a whole lot of assessments all, you know, at a certain period of time, and they needed to get through that because otherwise it's very hard to then go, oh, well someone needs a bit more help in this area. But if you've gone too far through the year, you don't know that, so
you've got to take that time. And again it's one of those things where they can start to pull resources so that they're not having to be sort of as frantic during the week. I mean, I think my big thing was I went out of all of the things that I think will make a difference in terms of truancy and at people getting to school, that didn't seem to be one of the big issues. I mean, realistically, there are much bigger fish to fry, and I thought that was just a red hearing.
Yeah, okay, well we've had our say on that one. I've had a winge as well. It's always good to have a winge, though, wasn't it. Sometimes I think that's what talkbacks for yep, good winge exactly, but.
For the host or for the collback, the talkback corners, just for.
Him Bread, you know what he's like.
God, you're lucky.
You're not in the studio here today. You're in Wellington, right?
So are we going to get booted off soon?
No?
Not at all.
I love you all, but no hug for you after the show.
Never.
We'll be back in just a moment. It's twenty two minutes to four.
W Oh gosh, I love a little bit of Whitney.
Whitney Houston, Oh, Whitney.
He won't know Whitney because this was the eighties.
Brad, He's not a goldfish. She does. He is probably a little bit about the world pre his existence. O, Brad, you love a bit of Whitney.
I do, I do. I'm not a gold I'm glad we're clarified. I'm not a goldfish. Yeah. I was worried a bit of an identity crisis there for a moment.
No, I mean, you know, gold for showy swimming around like, what's this all? That's the same thing, you know, limited memory?
Whatever I do, I do thrash my music where I listen to one song again and again and again and again until I get sick of it. So at the moment, I'm listening to Kessy Henderson's new song Lemonades. That's just going on and on and on.
I'm a thrasher as well.
I throw songs to Yeah it's great.
Yeah, yeah, pummel that song. Actually. Also, by the way, just on you know, I'm talking about anthems ages ago. If anyone hasn't seen on YouTube Whitney Houston star Spangled Banner the most an unbelievable vocal performance, the best anthem performance you will ever hear. Have you seen that one? Bread?
I haven't. Is it better than you when you did the national Oh wow, No, no.
Seriously, tea times bitter Bread.
It is so good. It's like she's got a bit and you go, oh my goodness, how's she going to hit these next notes? And then she just nails it and there's a simple the orchestra and these jets fly overhead. Whitney's anthem can't beat it?
Have you seen it?
Her version is the best, And I have seen that. Just talking about threshing music, I've seen that. No, lie, at least I've listened to it and seen the video at least fifty times. Wow, ye, I'm not lying, that's how good it is. Bread.
Yeah, it's good. There you go after the show, Brad, you just google Whitney Star Spangled Banner. It's even on Spotify. But you've got to see it and just, oh my goodness, you'll cry.
I was emotional.
Yeah, actually yeah, almost just on the same par as old what's her name? I've forgotten. I'll talk about it later on. I remember exactly what I'm talking about, but the opening of the Paris Olympics, and it's completely for Celine Dion's him ilin War, which was amazing too. Hey, anyway, let's move on to talk about a couple of other
things now on the politics front. I loved the fact, Brad, that Winston gave the United Nations a telling off basically when when someone's speaking, you'll be quiet and listen, because they were talking and he was looking around. He Actually, I'm loving Winston as foreign minister.
What do you think I think Winston Peter's does a good, no better than that, a great job as foreign minister. He really does. I mean to shush. The United Nations Security Council is quite quite a feat but also I think it actually played into what he was saying in
his speech. You know, he was talking about the veto power and how you know, basically yesterday's great powers still have huge veto power on how this big global institution happens, and they weren't even doing him the service of listening to what. You know, New Zealand we're a smaller country. We still were a big part of setting the UN up, but we weren't you know, a major power, and everyone was just ignoring him and sort of sniggering and talking
in the background. So I actually I give him a huge kudos, not only for sort of saying the quite a bit out loud, but actually for proving his point a bit more that they don't really care and they're not really listening.
Yeah, I totally agree. I mean when I saw that this is Winston Peter's at his best oversea, I mean, you know how everyone and probably here in New Zealand a lot of us can either you know, he's polarizing, we take him or leave him, and some of the things he says, you know people, ah, but when he's on that global stage, he's flipping amazing, and as a foreign minister. I think he's great. How old is he's in his mid seventies. Actually he's seventy nice mid seventies.
It's Google, Google, do you know his age?
Like he is. He spoke to me a moment.
He's here, there, everywhere. He's spent so much time overseas and he hasn't lost the plot and he's flipping brilliant over there. And when he was speaking there and he told everyone to shush. You look at his face, and he had that stern look that New Zealand has known. He thought right, you know, and I thought good on
him too, because this was a serious subject. You know, I don't like it when people are murmuring and talking when I'm speaking, and you know, and when he just been in and even though mine's not as mine's not as important as what he's saying. But I thought, good on you. And you know, he's making traction. You'll we're a small country, but we want to be heard and he's doing the business.
Yeah. Seventy nine. By the way, he's seventy nine, says eleventh of April nine and forty five is born. Is that what you've got there, Brad?
That is exactly what my googling told me as well. But I think that that point's important though, that like, actually we're doing pretty well on the foreign affairs front at the moment, and I think I mean, look, Winston Peter's obviously as Foreign Affairs Minister is a big part of that, but actually looking through what our diplomats doing
across the world, that's a big part. This week we signed off a trade deal with the United Arab Emirates four months Like normally those things take four years, if not sometimes four decades. So to sort of smash that one out in four months is sort of testament to a huge amount of work that the Foreign Ministry and all of the government counterparts been doing. That sort of stuff is how New Zealand, small little trading nation at the bottom of the South Pacific, that's our lifeblood making
sure we've got those sort of connections overseas. So it's actually I've been really impressed.
Yeah, Actually I thought also it almost distracts from the speech that he gave when he I loved the fact that he called Russia out for using its veto and talked about Russia's delinquency and the as it's whether it's right of Veto on the Security Council, but also just how he stood up for smaller nations and said, it's not about our size, it's about I'm paraphrasing from my memory, but he basically said, it's about the values and the quality of of of what we bring to it, you know,
our values and the and the ethics or whatever. But I just sort of thought he made a very good point. So so good on your Winny. I reckon now just before we go to the break, I do love this one. In fact, tell you what, maybe we'll save it because we're gonna have a chat about chat about the bridget and ball flop that Bridgeton fans have been left fuming after this unofficial ball and I'll give you the facts afterwards, actually because it's quite fun. Nevehs loves this one. But
we'll be back in just a moment. It's twelve and a half two four News Talk said, be.
Well, help.
You say gone, Fay say, I say so. I used to tuck in soon. Welcome back to the Weekend Collective. This is the song that Brad has been flogging, isn't it? Brad?
It's a great one, isn't it?
By Cassie Henderson is that it's the one it came out on Friday. Even though I can see you down the zoom and you're just grooving in the studio, just singing. I can tell there's a mover there. I tell you what, there is a mover.
There is a reason I kept my mic, you know, muted for a period. But you know that she's a professional. I'm definitely not. But on the dancing front, you gonta have a groove for something like that.
Oh, you'll be grooving to this all the way to the game tonight.
Hey, just quickly, We're just touch on another little bit more on the politics front before we get to bridge it. In Dunedin Hospital, there's big protests the downgrading of the hospital. It seems that they didn't budget enough. It blew out from ten thousand square meter at a thirty thousand a square meter. I can't even get my head around this, Brad,
But I'm manhanded over to the economist. Has there been some balls ups along the way in terms of what we think it's going to cost versus we need to include X, Y and z the contingency.
Well, this is the challenge, right, So I've had a bit of a look at the numbers. In anticipation of this question, stats in Z says that hospital builds are now compared to when the project was sort of first put together in twenty seventeen, hospital build costs of increased by about forty nine percent, one of the largest increases of any building type in the country. So I understand the increase to a degree. But the struggle I have is that not only the fact that the number's gone up,
but actually there's still not a finalized cost. There is still not a finalized plan, and we don't know exactly where it's going. Like, how have we let ourselves get to such a big, big project again and again and again. This is not the only time, right tim, that we've talked about something like a big cost blowout, This one
seems to have come up. There's still no real light at the end of the tunnel on this, and I totally feel for the local community who are going you know, everyone, every politician of every stripe has promised us the world
and been unable to deliver. But I also understand why the government has said, look, we can't just keep throwing more and more money to get the most expensive hospital in the sort of you know, southern hemisphere, so that there's a difficult compromise here, but there's no good options and someone really should be how accountable? Why haven't we done the sums on this properly? Why haven't we planned
it out? And probably why importantly did we go out in twenty seventeen and put a stake in the ground and say, look, we've done no real planning but it's probably going to cost about this, and you just everyone hopes that it's going to cost it. Hope is not a good plan.
No knaves because yeah, I believe they'd hadn't even budgeted for pathology and things like that, and a whole well, you know.
He should roll someone, you know, I mean, it's still a good.
Role of the previous government's gone.
But look this is where the community and today on the streets of Dunedin there's that massive protest. The story is there and the Herald have seen the photos as well, and this is where the regions and they're in Dunedin, the whole of Otago have come out. You can see their fury, their disappointment, their anger. They're led by the Mayor Jules Raddock and they're all holding all these different signs.
They've got good weather down there in Dunedin at the moment, so it's really good that it's not raining because the doctors and nurses, they've got all the you know, the paraphernalia, the hospital beds are out there and they're all out. It's probably you know, if you see this protest and see the photos and the videos, you can really sense their anger and where they're at with it.
Right.
My big worry looking at this right is that how many times are we going to go through this again? Nelson's needing a new hospital, Fungiday needs one as well with as Hawk's Bay, Parmi. There's a whole bunch of regional hospitals that are going to need to go through this. How have we not yet got like a base New Zealand hospital build plan that sits in you know, the top draw at the Ministry of Health that every time we do a hospital they bring it down and said
I want one of those. Actually order five of them and go and construct them, you know, or make sure they're all pre fabricat and then we'll go and whack it up. Because, like I say, my worry is not so much this. This is obviously a critical issue. But if this has happened once, how many more times are we going to go through the exact same bit of standardization?
Yeah? Good on you just correctly now. Of course I did promise this one, but Neeves the Bridgeton ball, there was an unofficial ball in Detroit based on the next Netflix show. My suspicion is it's in Detroit. Anyway, it turned out to be. I am a huge cheap decor and just a stripper for entertainment.
It's terrible. I mean, look at the bridget I'm a huge Bridgeton fan, and this has got nothing. This this was this is a scam basically, so it hasn't been organized at all by Netflix or you know, the production company. But you had all these people paying from you know, like five hundred dollars, three hundred dollars going to this ball and undercooked food. I had to laugh out loud when I saw the stripper in the middle of it, you know, with the pole dancer, and I thought, that
is not Bridgeton. It was never Bridgeton in the series.
You know, like what, I'm glad you've clarified this because I've never watched Bridgeton. I don't know what I was supposed to find there, so I'm glad that it was. I mean, honestly, what an absolute markup. All I can say is that, as someone who's never watched the show, I'm glad that you know, apparently there are better things than the strippers and the pole dancers.
Well, I'll tell you what, All those disappointed people in Detroit just get on a plane and go to Wellington for the World of whereable Art's there. You go, Hey, Brad, great to see you mate, Thank you so much for coming on the panel. Always good fun and neither ready mano. I'll see you against you You'll see again, Love you Brad.
We're going to have a boogie. We'll have a boogie next month.
Yeah, and we'll be back with the Wonder Afraid of Your show as next. This is News Talk z B.
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