Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger joined John MacDonald for their regular catchup.

The Mayor is currently in the midst of long term plan discussions, and gave his thoughts on the rates residents can expect, funding for the Arts Centre, and Orana Park.

And, the Government is looking to make it so Māori wards are up for a vote, what are Mauger’s thoughts? Does he think the bill is needed?

LISTEN ABOVE

Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger joined John MacDonald for their regular catchup. 
The Mayor is currently in the midst of long term plan discussions, and gave his thoughts on the rates residents can expect, funding for the Arts Centre, and Orana Park. 
And, the Government is looking to make it so Māori wards are up for a vote, what are Mauger’s thoughts? Does he think the bill is needed? 
LISTEN ABOVE

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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 rates, funding for the Arts Centre, Orana Park, and Māori Wards

Moses Mackay of Sol3 Mio fame is in Christchurch, performing Le Comte Ory with the New Zealand Opera. 

He joined John MacDonald to discuss the show and his life in Italy.

LISTEN ABOVE

Moses Mackay of Sol3 Mio fame is in Christchurch, performing Le Comte Ory with the New Zealand Opera.  
He joined John MacDonald to discuss the show and his life in Italy. 
LISTEN ABOVE

Moses Mackay: Sol3 Mio performer on performing Le Comte Ory with the NZ Opera, life in Italy

This might be because I’m still recovering from the Bird Flu/Man Flu combo that had me stuck in bed last week. Or maybe, on this occasion, Winston Peters is actually making sense.

Either way, I agree with him that it’s Mickey Mouse that we have an epidemiologist who was involved in our COVID response, leading the inquiry into it. The Royal Commission.

Which, by the way, I think is critical. I know it would be very easy to decide that we are all over this COVID thing and what good is a royal commission going to do? And who says that when another pandemic happens we’re going to even bother using what we’ve learned this time around?

They are all risks. But, as far as I’m concerned, they are not reasons not to have an official inquiry. 

But back to Tony Blakeley. He was one of those people along with the likes of Michael Baker etc who were on TV night-and-day talking about all the modelling and how sick we were going to get blah blah blah blah blah.

And being humans, we all had our favourites, didn’t we? And there were others, of course, that some of us couldn’t stand. And when it comes to my personal favourites, Tony Blakely was one of mine.

He’s a kiwi but he’s based in Melbourne and he always seemed to do his TV interviews in front of one of those glass block walls that were the in-thing back in the 80s. And I could never work out whether he was in some 80s-throwback hospital or whether he had some funky 80s-inspired apartment.

And I’ll admit that I probably got so distracted by the glass block wall thing that I probably missed a lot of what he actually had to say. Either way, I liked him. I thought he was a good guy who seemed to know what he was on about.

But, as well as being one of the media’s COVID rent-a-mouths, he also had the ear of the Labour-led government - which asked him for his advice on how New Zealand should be responding to the COVID pandemic.

And, when you think about it, it does seem crazy that he’s now the guy in charge of  running a fine tooth comb through New Zealand’s COVID response so that we can learn some lessons and do a better job next time around. Because, if there’s one thing we can all agree on, there will be a “next time around”.

So Winston has never been happy that one of Labour’s COVID mates has had the job of leading the COVID-19 Inquiry. And he’s not happy that Tony Blakely is going to stay in charge, either.

Which is why he’s pulling out the “agree-to-disagree” clause in his party’s coalition agreement with National.

Which is somewhat academic. Because what the Government has done is split the inquiry into two phases. So Phase 1 is what we’ve had up until now and which will continue until November - with Tony Blakely in charge.

And then, in November, Phase 2 will begin. Which will look into things such as the vaccines and vaccine safety; the extended lockdowns in Auckland and Northland; and the extent of disruption to people’s lives and businesses.

And it’s not going to be an overnight thing. Phase 2 of the Inquiry will begin in November and final recommendations are expected to be delivered in February 2026. About 20 months from now. Just shy of two years.

And I’m happy with that. Because I think it is critical that this work is done. It would be a wasted opportunity if we didn’t put a spotlight on how New Zealand handled the COVID pandemic and commit ourselves to learning from the cock-ups.

This might be because I’m still recovering from the Bird Flu/Man Flu combo that had me stuck in bed last week. Or maybe, on this occasion, Winston Peters is actually making sense. 
Either way, I agree with him that it’s Mickey Mouse that we have an epidemiologist who was involved in our COVID response, leading the inquiry into it. The Royal Commission. 
Which, by the way, I think is critical. I know it would be very easy to decide that we are all over this COVID thing and what good is a royal commission going to do? And who says that when another pandemic happens we’re going to even bother using what we’ve learned this time around? 
They are all risks. But, as far as I’m concerned, they are not reasons not to have an official inquiry.  
But back to Tony Blakeley. He was one of those people along with the likes of Michael Baker etc who were on TV night-and-day talking about all the modelling and how sick we were going to get blah blah blah blah blah. 
And being humans, we all had our favourites, didn’t we? And there were others, of course, that some of us couldn’t stand. And when it comes to my personal favourites, Tony Blakely was one of mine. 
He’s a kiwi but he’s based in Melbourne and he always seemed to do his TV interviews in front of one of those glass block walls that were the in-thing back in the 80s. And I could never work out whether he was in some 80s-throwback hospital or whether he had some funky 80s-inspired apartment. 
And I’ll admit that I probably got so distracted by the glass block wall thing that I probably missed a lot of what he actually had to say. Either way, I liked him. I thought he was a good guy who seemed to know what he was on about. 
But, as well as being one of the media’s COVID rent-a-mouths, he also had the ear of the Labour-led government - which asked him for his advice on how New Zealand should be responding to the COVID pandemic. 
And, when you think about it, it does seem crazy that he’s now the guy in charge of  running a fine tooth comb through New Zealand’s COVID response so that we can learn some lessons and do a better job next time around. Because, if there’s one thing we can all agree on, there will be a “next time around”. 
So Winston has never been happy that one of Labour’s COVID mates has had the job of leading the COVID-19 Inquiry. And he’s not happy that Tony Blakely is going to stay in charge, either. 
Which is why he’s pulling out the “agree-to-disagree” clause in his party’s coalition agreement with National. 
Which is somewhat academic. Because what the Government has done is split the inquiry into two phases. So Phase 1 is what we’ve had up until now and which will continue until November - with Tony Blakely in charge. 
And then, in November, Phase 2 will begin. Which will look into things such as the vaccines and vaccine safety; the extended lockdowns in Auckland and Northland; and the extent of disruption to people’s lives and businesses. 
And it’s not going to be an overnight thing. Phase 2 of the Inquiry will begin in November and final recommendations are expected to be delivered in February 2026. About 20 months from now. Just shy of two years. 
And I’m happy with that. Because I think it is critical that this work is done. It would be a wasted opportunity if we didn’t put a spotlight on how New Zealand handled the COVID pandemic and commit ourselves to learning from the cock-ups.

John MacDonald: The Covid inquiry is messy - but a must-have

When I was off sick last week, I was crook enough to need to see a couple of doctors. And I’m very glad Chris Hipkins wasn’t one of them.

Because, if he had been and if he was true to the noises he’s been making about the Government’s big cancer drugs announcement yesterday, then he’d probably spend all his time apologising to me for taking too long to work out what was actually wrong with me.

Which I wouldn’t give two hoots about as long as I knew what it was that was making me crook and how I was going to get better.

And I’m picking that’s how most cancer patients and their families will be feeling today, with the Government confirming more than $600 million will be going to Pharmac to fund around 26 cancer treatments.

Do you think the people who are going to benefit —and their families— are going to quibble over the timing?

If you’re expecting me to pile into the Government —like Chris Hipkins and Labour have been since yesterday’s announcement— then maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do.

Because, if I wanted to, I could very easily say that the Government is just doing what the patron saint of Prime Ministers used to do back in the day - this is Sir John Key I’m talking about. If I wanted to, I could very easily say that Christopher Luxon is just doing what his old mentor did back in the day, and he’s just using the cancer money to take our attention off other stuff like ferries breaking down.

I could say that. But I wouldn’t mean it. I’d just be saying it.

Just like I could say that the Government’s only coming up with the money for the cancer drugs now because it’s listened to the old talkback focus groups and realised —after the fact— that it dropped the ball not including it in the Budget a few weeks back.

I could say that. But I wouldn’t mean it. And I wouldn’t believe it.

What I do believe, is that the Government has done the right thing and who cares about the timing? 

And if you want a less sugar-coated description, let’s bring-in medical oncologist Chris Jackson who told Newstalk ZB that the cancer funding announcement is “an excellent outcome from a terrible process”.

But again, so what?

Because all of us, we have all known someone to varying degrees who has been affected by cancer.

Next month, it’ll be 25 years since we lost dad to cancer. Mum’s had her own cancer scares. Someone else in the family had a brush with it last year.

So this is something that affects all of us and will be of benefit to many of us. And that’s why I think Chris Hipkins is being miserly and why I think he’s only doing what he’s accusing the government of doing - playing politics with cancer.

In fact, I remember when he was in government and his party had the chance to splash the cash on cancer treatment, and it didn’t. I remember it distinctly. It was a couple of Budgets ago and a bunch of cancer survivors made the trip to Wellington expecting a big spend-up on cancer drugs.

And what happened? They left town bitterly disappointed that only half the amount they expected was in the Budget. That was when Labour decided it was better to spend the money merging our public media companies.

But Chris Hipkins seems to have forgotten about that.

When I was off sick last week, I was crook enough to need to see a couple of doctors. And I’m very glad Chris Hipkins wasn’t one of them. 
Because, if he had been and if he was true to the noises he’s been making about the Government’s big cancer drugs announcement yesterday, then he’d probably spend all his time apologising to me for taking too long to work out what was actually wrong with me. 
Which I wouldn’t give two hoots about as long as I knew what it was that was making me crook and how I was going to get better. 
And I’m picking that’s how most cancer patients and their families will be feeling today, with the Government confirming more than $600 million will be going to Pharmac to fund around 26 cancer treatments. 
Do you think the people who are going to benefit —and their families— are going to quibble over the timing? 
If you’re expecting me to pile into the Government —like Chris Hipkins and Labour have been since yesterday’s announcement— then maybe you don’t know me as well as you think you do. 
Because, if I wanted to, I could very easily say that the Government is just doing what the patron saint of Prime Ministers used to do back in the day - this is Sir John Key I’m talking about. If I wanted to, I could very easily say that Christopher Luxon is just doing what his old mentor did back in the day, and he’s just using the cancer money to take our attention off other stuff like ferries breaking down. 
I could say that. But I wouldn’t mean it. I’d just be saying it. 
Just like I could say that the Government’s only coming up with the money for the cancer drugs now because it’s listened to the old talkback focus groups and realised —after the fact— that it dropped the ball not including it in the Budget a few weeks back. 
I could say that. But I wouldn’t mean it. And I wouldn’t believe it. 
What I do believe, is that the Government has done the right thing and who cares about the timing?  
And if you want a less sugar-coated description, let’s bring-in medical oncologist Chris Jackson who told Newstalk ZB that the cancer funding announcement is “an excellent outcome from a terrible process”. 
But again, so what? 
Because all of us, we have all known someone to varying degrees who has been affected by cancer. 
Next month, it’ll be 25 years since we lost dad to cancer. Mum’s had her own cancer scares. Someone else in the family had a brush with it last year. 
So this is something that affects all of us and will be of benefit to many of us. And that’s why I think Chris Hipkins is being miserly and why I think he’s only doing what he’s accusing the government of doing - playing politics with cancer. 
In fact, I remember when he was in government and his party had the chance to splash the cash on cancer treatment, and it didn’t. I remember it distinctly. It was a couple of Budgets ago and a bunch of cancer survivors made the trip to Wellington expecting a big spend-up on cancer drugs. 
And what happened? They left town bitterly disappointed that only half the amount they expected was in the Budget. That was when Labour decided it was better to spend the money merging our public media companies. 
But Chris Hipkins seems to have forgotten about that.

Phil Mauger: Christchurch Mayor on rates, funding for the Arts Centre, Orana Park, and Māori Wards

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