Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger joined John MacDonald to discuss the culture within Council, Chamber of Commerce confidence and what is happening with the roadworks on Moorhouse Ave?

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Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger joined John MacDonald to discuss the culture within Council, Chamber of Commerce confidence and what is happening with the roadworks on Moorhouse Ave?
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Newstalk ZB Canterbury Mornings 9am-12pm with John MacDonald on 100.1FM and iHeartRadio.

Every weekday join the new voice of local issues on Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald, 9am-12pm weekdays. It’s all about the conversation with John, as he gets right into the things that get our community talking. If it’s news you’re after, backing John is the combined power of the Newstalk ZB and New Zealand Herald news teams. Meaning when it comes to covering breaking news – you will not beat local radio. With two decades experience in communications based in Christchurch, John also has a deep understanding of and connections to the Christchurch and Canterbury commercial sector. Newstalk ZB Canterbury Mornings 9am-12pm with John MacDonald on 100.1FM and iHeartRadio.

Every weekday join the new voice of local issues on Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald, 9am-12pm weekdays.

It’s all about the conversation with John, as he gets right into the things that get our community talking.

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

Phil Mauger: Christchurch Mayor on council culture, business confidence and Moorhouse Ave

Winston Peters had no option when it came to sacking Phil Goff from his job as High Commissioner in London, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy with it.  

I think he’s done the right thing. But he’s done the wrong thing, as well.  

Because it just shows how scaredy-cat the world is of Donald Trump. But we better get used to it – this is how it’s going to be for the next four years.   

That’s why I accept that it needed to be done, but it’s still pretty cruddy that we are running scared of him like this.

What Goff did was he let the political nerd in him come out when he was at an event at Chatham House, in London, earlier this week. And it looked like it was some sort of Q&A session involving Finland’s Foreign Affairs Minister.

The significance of Finland, of course, is that it shares a border with Russia.  

So Phil Goff had the roving microphone, and he asked Elina Valtonen whether she thought Donald Trump understood the history of the second world war.

That’s because people are likening what Trump is doing with Ukraine to what happened in 1938, when Nazi Germany was allowed to get its hands on land in Czechoslovakia in a bid to avoid war.   

It was a deal signed in 1938, but, as we know, a year later Germany still went to war.  

Phil Goff isn’t the first person to say it. And on the face of it, it doesn’t seem that outrageous, but in diplomatic circles, it was probably enough to have them spilling their G&Ts.  

And it was certainly enough for Foreign Minister Winston Peters to tell his people in London to give Phil Goff the flick.

Winston Peters says the reason he did it was because Goff’s comments “do not represent the views of the New Zealand government and make his position as High Commissioner to London untenable.”  

And former High Commissioner Sir Lockwood Smith agrees. He’s in no doubt that Winston Peters has done the right thing to minimise any damage.   

Phil Goff was due to finish his posting later this year, but that could have been extended, of course. But he’s over there right now and all the diplomatic crew will be chattering.   

So it will be very embarrassing for Goff. Not the way he would’ve wanted to go out.  

Especially, given that as far as I’m aware, it’s the first time New Zealand has sacked a High Commissioner.   

Yes, he was being a bit of a smart-alec, something you’re not supposed to be when you move around in diplomatic circles. Which is a tension that Sir Lockwood talked about when he was on Newstalk ZB this morning.  

He was saying that when you’ve been a politician, it can sometimes be difficult to take your political hat off. But he reckons that his time as speaker before being a High Commissioner helped prepare him for that.  

Maybe that’s why we’re not hearing about former speaker Trevor Mallard putting his foot in it over in Ireland, where he’s High Commissioner.  

But perhaps Phil Goff can take some comfort from Dr Stephen Winter, who is an international relations expert at Auckland University. He’s says if things weren’t so on edge around the world, Goff might have got away with it.   

He says: "Goff can take comfort from the fact that he is right, even though he was not diplomatic.”  

But things are on edge, and Goff is off.  

Winston Peters had no option when it came to sacking Phil Goff from his job as High Commissioner in London, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy with it. &nbsp;
I think he’s done the right thing. But he’s done the wrong thing, as well. &nbsp;
Because it just shows how scaredy-cat the world is of Donald Trump. But we better get used to it – this is how it’s going to be for the next four years. &nbsp;&nbsp;
That’s why I accept that it needed to be done, but it’s still pretty cruddy that we are running scared of him like this.
What Goff did was he let the political nerd in him come out when he was at an event at Chatham House, in London, earlier this week. And it looked like it was some sort of Q&amp;A session involving Finland’s Foreign Affairs Minister.
The significance of Finland, of course, is that it shares a border with Russia. &nbsp;
So Phil Goff had the roving microphone, and he asked Elina Valtonen whether she thought Donald Trump understood the history of the second world war.
That’s because people are likening what Trump is doing with Ukraine to what happened in 1938, when Nazi Germany was allowed to get its hands on land in Czechoslovakia in a bid to avoid war. &nbsp;&nbsp;
It was a deal signed in 1938, but, as we know, a year later Germany still went to war. &nbsp;
Phil Goff isn’t the first person to say it. And on the face of it, it doesn’t seem that outrageous, but in diplomatic circles, it was probably enough to have them spilling their G&amp;Ts. &nbsp;
And it was certainly enough for Foreign Minister Winston Peters to tell his people in London to give Phil Goff the flick.
Winston Peters says the reason he did it was because Goff’s comments “do not represent the views of the New Zealand government and make his position as High Commissioner to London untenable.” &nbsp;
And former High Commissioner Sir Lockwood Smith agrees. He’s in no doubt that Winston Peters has done the right thing to minimise any damage. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Phil Goff was due to finish his posting later this year, but that could have been extended, of course. But he’s over there right now and all the diplomatic crew will be chattering. &nbsp;&nbsp;
So it will be very embarrassing for Goff. Not the way he would’ve wanted to go out. &nbsp;
Especially, given that as far as I’m aware, it’s the first time New Zealand has sacked a High Commissioner. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Yes, he was being a bit of a smart-alec, something you’re not supposed to be when you move around in diplomatic circles. Which is a tension that Sir Lockwood talked about when he was on Newstalk ZB this morning. &nbsp;
He was saying that when you’ve been a politician, it can sometimes be difficult to take your political hat off. But he reckons that his time as speaker before being a High Commissioner helped prepare him for that. &nbsp;
Maybe that’s why we’re not hearing about former speaker Trevor Mallard putting his foot in it over in Ireland, where he’s High Commissioner. &nbsp;
But perhaps Phil Goff can take some comfort from Dr Stephen Winter, who is an international relations expert at Auckland University. He’s says if things weren’t so on edge around the world, Goff might have got away with it. &nbsp;&nbsp;
He says: "Goff can take comfort from the fact that he is right, even though he was not diplomatic.” &nbsp;
But things are on edge, and Goff is off. &nbsp;

John MacDonald: Winston had no option

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/7e185f96-c9e1-431c-88ee-b29801892c14/transcript

I'm neither happy or unhappy that Adrian Orr is no longer Reserve Bank Governor, but I do have a piece of advice for whoever ends up taking over from him.  

Just be the complete opposite.   

Because I reckon he fell into a trap that ended up with him getting too big for his boots. Which, maybe, is very hard to avoid when you’re in a job like his, but the next person needs to make sure they stay in their lane and keeps themselves in check.  

When you’re the Reserve Bank Governor, your job is to work on creating a rock star economy - you’re not the rock star yourself.  

No one can argue that his tenure coincided with a time when what you would consider to be the most grey and dull jobs in the world, took on a whole new meaning.  

Ashley Bloomfield, for example. Because of COVID, everyone knew who he was.   

And Adrian Orr. Because of COVID, he was elevated to a level no other reserve bank governor got to in terms of profile and recognition.  

If you ask me to name another Reserve Bank Governor, the only name that comes to my head straight away is Don Brash. That’s because of his political career that he got into after he left the bank.  

And if I think a little bit more, there’s Alan Bollard. But that's it.  

But everyone pretty much knows who Adrian Orr is and I think it went to his head. I think he loved the limelight, and, in the process, he got a bit too cocky. I think he lost sight of what his job was actually all about.  

Nevertheless, I don’t think he personally is to blame for everything when it comes to us feeling more hard up than ever.  

And, if he hadn’t fallen into the trap of letting the job go to his head, he might not be copping as much criticism as he has and is. 

I’m with economist Tony Alexander who is saying today that business people and homeowners who blame Orr for their cashflow problems are both right and wrong.  

He’s saying that they're right in that he oversaw the continuation of excessively loose spending during 2021 and into 2022, which over-stimulated the economy and pushed inflation up to 7.3%.  

He also was boss of the Reserve Bank when the official cash rate reached 5.5%. And then got it down to 2.2% by what Tony Alexander describes as Orr “crunching the economy”.  

But he also says, let’s not forget Labour’s Grant Robertson’s role in all of this.  

He was the guy who kept fiscal policy loose.  

My understanding is that staff at the Reserve Bank had no idea this was coming until after it was announced to the media. Which is a shocker. And, apparently, staff at the bank have no idea what’s behind it.  

I’m picking that he’s thrown his toys out of the cot because the Government wants to cut the budgets at the Reserve Bank. And a lot of that will have to do with what the Government probably sees as the former Governor’s obsession with things outside what it considers core business for the central bank.  

But, from the very limited things that have been said since the announcement yesterday afternoon, it’s obvious that he’s quit.  

Because when the chair of the bank Neil Quigley said it was “a personal decision” by Adrian Orr, that says he’s quit. It doesn't say he’s leaving for personal reasons, it says he’s walking away.  

He’s going to be on the payroll until the end of the month, but he’s not Governor of the bank anymore. An acting Governor took over at midday yesterday.  

The other thing too about all this secrecy, is that I don't think it’s acceptable when you’ve got a senior public servant who earns more than $800,000 a year quitting like this.  

On the basis of what we kind-of know, I think we deserve more of an explanation.  

If the guy’s thrown a hissy fit - tell us. Because, for someone who seemed to love the limelight as much as he did, disappearing the way he has is not only very strange, it’s also somewhat disrespectful. 

I'm neither happy or unhappy that Adrian Orr is no longer Reserve Bank Governor, but I do have a piece of advice for whoever ends up taking over from him. &nbsp;
Just be the complete opposite. &nbsp;&nbsp;
Because I reckon he fell into a trap that ended up with him getting too big for his boots. Which, maybe, is very hard to avoid when you’re in a job like his, but the next person needs to make sure they stay in their lane and keeps themselves in check. &nbsp;
When you’re the Reserve Bank Governor, your job is to work on creating a rock star economy - you’re not the rock star yourself. &nbsp;
No one can argue that his tenure coincided with a time when what you would consider to be the most grey and dull jobs in the world, took on a whole new meaning. &nbsp;
Ashley Bloomfield, for example. Because of COVID, everyone knew who he was. &nbsp;&nbsp;
And Adrian Orr. Because of COVID, he was elevated to a level no other reserve bank governor got to in terms of profile and recognition. &nbsp;
If you ask me to name another Reserve Bank Governor, the only name that comes to my head straight away is Don Brash. That’s because of his political career that he got into after he left the bank. &nbsp;
And if I think a little bit more, there’s Alan Bollard. But that's it. &nbsp;
But everyone pretty much knows who Adrian Orr is and I think it went to his head. I think he loved the limelight, and, in the process, he got a bit too cocky. I think he lost sight of what his job was actually all about. &nbsp;
Nevertheless, I don’t think he personally is to blame for everything when it comes to us feeling more hard up than ever. &nbsp;
And, if he hadn’t fallen into the trap of letting the job go to his head, he might not be copping as much criticism as he has and is.&nbsp;
I’m with economist Tony Alexander who is saying today that business people and homeowners who blame Orr for their cashflow problems are both right and wrong. &nbsp;
He’s saying that they're right in that he oversaw the continuation of excessively loose spending during 2021 and into 2022, which over-stimulated the economy and pushed inflation up to 7.3%. &nbsp;
He also was boss of the Reserve Bank when the official cash rate reached 5.5%. And then got it down to 2.2% by what Tony Alexander describes as Orr “crunching the economy”. &nbsp;
But he also says, let’s not forget Labour’s Grant Robertson’s role in all of this. &nbsp;
He was the guy who kept fiscal policy loose. &nbsp;
My understanding is that staff at the Reserve Bank had no idea this was coming until after it was announced to the media. Which is a shocker. And, apparently, staff at the bank have no idea what’s behind it. &nbsp;
I’m picking that he’s thrown his toys out of the cot because the Government wants to cut the budgets at the Reserve Bank. And a lot of that will have to do with what the Government probably sees as the former Governor’s obsession with things outside what it considers core business for the central bank. &nbsp;
But, from the very limited things that have been said since the announcement yesterday afternoon, it’s obvious that he’s quit. &nbsp;
Because when the chair of the bank Neil Quigley said it was “a personal decision” by Adrian Orr, that says he’s quit. It doesn't say he’s leaving for personal reasons, it says he’s walking away. &nbsp;
He’s going to be on the payroll until the end of the month, but he’s not Governor of the bank anymore. An acting Governor took over at midday yesterday. &nbsp;
The other thing too about all this secrecy, is that I don't think it’s acceptable when you’ve got a senior public servant who earns more than $800,000 a year quitting like this. &nbsp;
On the basis of what we kind-of know, I think we deserve more of an explanation. &nbsp;
If the guy’s thrown a hissy fit - tell us. Because, for someone who seemed to love the limelight as much as he did, disappearing the way he has is not only very strange, it’s also somewhat disrespectful.&nbsp;

John MacDonald: Orr's job was to re-build the rock star economy - not be the rock star

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/7cb77a82-9160-47a3-af58-b29701853f97/transcript

I’m still getting over the Prime Minister saying if people don't like the food provided by the school lunch programme, they should make a marmite sandwich.  

And quite rightly, his comments are being described by the principal of a school in Kaiapoi as “absolutely disgraceful”. And I couldn’t agree more.  

Jason Miles is the principal of Kaiapoi North School and he’s bang on – that talk from the PM was disgraceful.  

And he says it just shows that Christopher Luxon has had a gutsful of the school lunches thing. He says: "He (the PM) is out of touch with the current inequities that didn't exist in his time."  

Jason Miles is saying what we all know – that kids can’t learn when they're hungry because they are easily distracted, and they get restless.   

He says: “A healthy, nutritious, tasty lunch could be the only substantial meal that child gets for the whole day and a marmite sandwich and an apple is probably ok some days, but we want to know we are going to get a consistently, healthy nutritious meal for our children so they can learn."  

And that’s the point here. We can bang on all we like about us going to school when we were kids with just a marmite sandwich - maybe a bit fancy on it some days with a piece of lettuce as well. Or sandwiches with luncheon in them.  

And yes, we did just fine. Just like Christopher Luxon did. But here’s the difference - we went to school in the morning with some breakfast in our belly and we went home at night to an evening meal.  

But that seems to be lost on the Prime Minister. Which is why this principal from Kaiapoi North School is saying today that Christopher Luxon’s appalling comments show just how out of touch he is.  

Last night, this thing came through on my social media feed and it was a video the “How to Dad” guy, Jordan Watson was fronting. It was promoting KidsCan and he was reading letters that teachers had sent-in talking about poverty in their schools.  

One of them talked about two siblings at the school and how each of them only turned up every second day, and the teacher got a bit sick of that and went to have a word with one of them. And the kid explained that they had to share shoes, and it was his turn to wear the shoes that day and that’s why he was at school and his sibling wasn’t.  

That’s the world that people like this Kaiapoi North School principal knows about. And I know the Prime Minister will say he knows about it too, but I don't think he does.  

He’s out of touch.  

Maybe he hasn’t heard what happened at that school in Murchison last week. The lunches arrived and they were so hot that the plastic had melted, and it wasn’t until the kids had been eating for a bit that they realised they'd been eating plastic.  

How can he tell those kids to eat a marmite sandwich if they don't like it?  

No wonder Education Minister Erica Stanford wants and explanation from Associate Minister David Seymour.  

She must have had her head in her hands when she heard the boss banging on about marmite sandwiches on Newstalk ZB yesterday morning and then coming out with the same nonsense in parliament. 

It was disgraceful and shows that, when it comes down to it, the PM has no idea what life is really like for some kids in our country. 

I’m still getting over the Prime Minister saying if people don't like the food provided by the school lunch programme, they should make a marmite sandwich. &nbsp;
And quite rightly, his comments are being described by the principal of a school in Kaiapoi as “absolutely disgraceful”. And I couldn’t agree more. &nbsp;
Jason Miles is the principal of Kaiapoi North School and he’s bang on – that talk from the PM was disgraceful. &nbsp;
And he says it just shows that Christopher Luxon has had a gutsful of the school lunches thing. He says: "He (the PM) is out of touch with the current inequities that didn't exist in his time." &nbsp;
Jason Miles is saying what we all know – that kids can’t learn when they're hungry because they are easily distracted, and they get restless. &nbsp;&nbsp;
He says: “A healthy, nutritious, tasty lunch could be the only substantial meal that child gets for the whole day and a marmite sandwich and an apple is probably ok some days, but we want to know we are going to get a consistently, healthy nutritious meal for our children so they can learn." &nbsp;
And that’s the point here. We can bang on all we like about us going to school when we were kids with just a marmite sandwich - maybe a bit fancy on it some days with a piece of lettuce as well. Or sandwiches with luncheon in them. &nbsp;
And yes, we did just fine. Just like Christopher Luxon did. But here’s the difference - we went to school in the morning with some breakfast in our belly and we went home at night to an evening meal. &nbsp;
But that seems to be lost on the Prime Minister. Which is why this principal from Kaiapoi North School is saying today that Christopher Luxon’s appalling comments show just how out of touch he is. &nbsp;
Last night, this thing came through on my social media feed and it was a video the “How to Dad” guy, Jordan Watson was fronting. It was promoting KidsCan and he was reading letters that teachers had sent-in talking about poverty in their schools. &nbsp;
One of them talked about two siblings at the school and how each of them only turned up every second day, and the teacher got a bit sick of that and went to have a word with one of them. And the kid explained that they had to share shoes, and it was his turn to wear the shoes that day and that’s why he was at school and his sibling wasn’t. &nbsp;
That’s the world that people like this Kaiapoi North School principal knows about. And I know the Prime Minister will say he knows about it too, but I don't think he does. &nbsp;
He’s out of touch. &nbsp;
Maybe he hasn’t heard what happened at that school in Murchison last week. The lunches arrived and they were so hot that the plastic had melted, and it wasn’t until the kids had been eating for a bit that they realised they'd been eating plastic. &nbsp;
How can he tell those kids to eat a marmite sandwich if they don't like it? &nbsp;
No wonder Education Minister Erica Stanford wants and explanation from Associate Minister David Seymour. &nbsp;
She must have had her head in her hands when she heard the boss banging on about marmite sandwiches on Newstalk ZB yesterday morning and then coming out with the same nonsense in parliament.&nbsp;
It was disgraceful and shows that, when it comes down to it, the PM has no idea what life is really like for some kids in our country.&nbsp;

John MacDonald: The PM just doesn't get it, does he?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/50fb96b6-4971-4f3b-b1a8-b29601878b21/transcript

Phil Mauger: Christchurch Mayor on council culture, business confidence and Moorhouse Ave

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