National's Matt Doocey and Labour's Tracey McLellan joined John MacDonald for Politics Friday this week.

They covered some of the biggest topics from the week from the Prime Minsters seemingly off-the-cuff call from an MMP referendum if re-elected, Labours small business policy, and what they think about the Greater Christchurch council's amalgamation plans.

LISTEN ABOVE 

National's Matt Doocey and Labour's Tracey McLellan joined John MacDonald for Politics Friday this week.
They covered some of the biggest topics from the week from the Prime Minsters seemingly off-the-cuff call from an MMP referendum if re-elected, Labours small business policy, and what they think about the Greater Christchurch council's amalgamation plans.
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

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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

Politics Friday: Tracey McLellan and Matt Doocey on MMP referendum, Labour's Small Business Policy, Amalgamation

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/0831c1a6-81fa-4464-9913-b49e0176abc2/transcript

I think there’s a real risk that the city council is drunk on the Kool Aid with its ongoing involvement in this bid for a second NRL rugby league team, based in Christchurch.

Because, if it’s such a good idea, shouldn’t the people campaigning for a team front-up with the money to see if it’s even possible?

You would think so. But no, it’s ratepayers, paying for a consultant to do the leg work.

Yesterday, it was announced that the group behind the Southern Orcas proposal have got their eyes on former Crusaders and All Blacks coach Scott “Razor” Robertson to be coach.

League legend Sir Graham Lowe and former rugby league administrator Andrew Chalmers have offered him a four-year contract, apparently.

Today, we’re finding out that the city council has hired and paid for a consultant to work through the nuts and bolts with league bosses on establishing a Christchurch-based team.

Our newsroom has asked the council for details of this consultant’s work. How much, how far down the track things are.

So far, no response.

And I know why that is. Because the council knows, like me, that hiring a consultant to do this donkey work with the NRL won’t go down well with ratepayers.

Because it is not the council’s job.

More to the point, does the council really know all the ins-and-outs?

For example, does the council know that the NRL is desperate to get another team in the competition?

There’s one starting in Perth next year and one in Papua New Guinea the year after that. Which will take them to 19 teams.

But the Sydney Morning Herald says they have to have a 20th team up and running by 2029, or they will start losing $20 million a year from the big $5.3 billion broadcasting deal signed earlier this year.

Sir Graham Lowe, when he was on Newstalk ZB this morning, was full of gusto about what a great meeting they had with NRL bosses when they were in Christchurch earlier this year for the Warriors game.

He went on about the Warriors match against the Panthers at the weekend showing why another NRL team in New Zealand would work. But, with respect to Sir Graham, it was an unconvincing sell job. Which the city council seems to have fallen for.

Because, if a second team here in Christchurch is such a great idea, the people behind it should be fronting up with the money to see if it’s even possible. Not ratepayers.

LISTEN ABOVE

I think there’s a real risk that the city council is drunk on the Kool Aid with its ongoing involvement in this bid for a second NRL rugby league team, based in Christchurch.
Because, if it’s such a good idea, shouldn’t the people campaigning for a team front-up with the money to see if it’s even possible?
You would think so. But no, it’s ratepayers, paying for a consultant to do the leg work.
Yesterday, it was announced that the group behind the Southern Orcas proposal have got their eyes on former Crusaders and All Blacks coach Scott “Razor” Robertson to be coach.
League legend Sir Graham Lowe and former rugby league administrator Andrew Chalmers have offered him a four-year contract, apparently.
Today, we’re finding out that the city council has hired and paid for a consultant to work through the nuts and bolts with league bosses on establishing a Christchurch-based team.
Our newsroom has asked the council for details of this consultant’s work. How much, how far down the track things are.
So far, no response.
And I know why that is. Because the council knows, like me, that hiring a consultant to do this donkey work with the NRL won’t go down well with ratepayers.
Because it is not the council’s job.
More to the point, does the council really know all the ins-and-outs?
For example, does the council know that the NRL is desperate to get another team in the competition?
There’s one starting in Perth next year and one in Papua New Guinea the year after that. Which will take them to 19 teams.
But the Sydney Morning Herald says they have to have a 20th team up and running by 2029, or they will start losing $20 million a year from the big $5.3 billion broadcasting deal signed earlier this year.
Sir Graham Lowe, when he was on Newstalk ZB this morning, was full of gusto about what a great meeting they had with NRL bosses when they were in Christchurch earlier this year for the Warriors game.
He went on about the Warriors match against the Panthers at the weekend showing why another NRL team in New Zealand would work. But, with respect to Sir Graham, it was an unconvincing sell job. Which the city council seems to have fallen for.
Because, if a second team here in Christchurch is such a great idea, the people behind it should be fronting up with the money to see if it’s even possible. Not ratepayers.
LISTEN ABOVE

John MacDonald: Does Chch council know how desperate the NRL is?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/5488ab6e-c543-4198-8390-b4a3000aa7c7/transcript

How would you feel about an area of Christchurch’s Red Zone being made permanently available for homeless people?

There’d be positives and negatives, for sure.

And yes, it would probably put some people off going into the area. But, when you weigh everything up, would it really be such a bad idea?

The thing is, homeless people are living there right now. But not for much longer, if the city council gets its way.

There’s up to 60 people living in the Wetlands Grove area in Bexley in cars, trucks, buses, tents and shacks. And they’ve been saying over the weekend that there’s a sense of community there and they’ve got nowhere else to go.

However, they’ve been told they have to pack up and leave by the end of February. Because the city council wants to start work on landscaping and flood protection work in the Bexley area.

Which is all part of the master plan developed for the Red Zone which stretches from the city out to the coast.

There are bike tracks and walking paths planned. But also a big wetlands area to help with flood protection and filter the water before it ends up in the Ōtākaro/Avon River.

It’s a plan that’s going to take decades to put in place. But the council wants to crack on with some of the work next year. So it needs the homeless campers to up sticks by February.

The land’s been sitting empty since after the quakes. But it seems it was only two years ago when people really started congregating in the area and calling it home.

A woman by the name of Fire, who is 65, is saying that she moved in about a year and a half ago after feeling lonely and unsafe in some sort of transitional housing she’d been in. So she joined the crew in the Red Zone.

Another one of the people living in the Red Zone, Moko, says there are all sorts of people living there. Some of them have jobs.

He says they’ve got toilets and showers and a security team. They’re people who care about each other because they understand the living arrangement and have regular dinners together.

And, when you think about it, these people want the same thing we all want.

They say they’ve got their own rules to keep things under control. But they also say the most important thing for them is staying together and maintaining their sense of belonging.

Who doesn’t want that?

What’s more, it’s very easy for those of us not living rough to tell these people to get their act together and find somewhere decent to live. It’s also very difficult to understand why some people even choose to live this way.

But they do.

Which is why I think that, at the very least, the city council should look into a better solution than just telling these people they have to be gone by the end of February.

Because, when it comes down to it, would it really be such a bad idea to let them have somewhere else in the Red Zone to stay? I don’t think it would.

LISTEN ABOVE

How would you feel about an area of Christchurch’s Red Zone being made permanently available for homeless people?
There’d be positives and negatives, for sure.
And yes, it would probably put some people off going into the area. But, when you weigh everything up, would it really be such a bad idea?
The thing is, homeless people are living there right now. But not for much longer, if the city council gets its way.
There’s up to 60 people living in the Wetlands Grove area in Bexley in cars, trucks, buses, tents and shacks. And they’ve been saying over the weekend that there’s a sense of community there and they’ve got nowhere else to go.
However, they’ve been told they have to pack up and leave by the end of February. Because the city council wants to start work on landscaping and flood protection work in the Bexley area.
Which is all part of the master plan developed for the Red Zone which stretches from the city out to the coast.
There are bike tracks and walking paths planned. But also a big wetlands area to help with flood protection and filter the water before it ends up in the Ōtākaro/Avon River.
It’s a plan that’s going to take decades to put in place. But the council wants to crack on with some of the work next year. So it needs the homeless campers to up sticks by February.
The land’s been sitting empty since after the quakes. But it seems it was only two years ago when people really started congregating in the area and calling it home.
A woman by the name of Fire, who is 65, is saying that she moved in about a year and a half ago after feeling lonely and unsafe in some sort of transitional housing she’d been in. So she joined the crew in the Red Zone.
Another one of the people living in the Red Zone, Moko, says there are all sorts of people living there. Some of them have jobs.
He says they’ve got toilets and showers and a security team. They’re people who care about each other because they understand the living arrangement and have regular dinners together.
And, when you think about it, these people want the same thing we all want.
They say they’ve got their own rules to keep things under control. But they also say the most important thing for them is staying together and maintaining their sense of belonging.
Who doesn’t want that?
What’s more, it’s very easy for those of us not living rough to tell these people to get their act together and find somewhere decent to live. It’s also very difficult to understand why some people even choose to live this way.
But they do.
Which is why I think that, at the very least, the city council should look into a better solution than just telling these people they have to be gone by the end of February.
Because, when it comes down to it, would it really be such a bad idea to let them have somewhere else in the Red Zone to stay? I don’t think it would.
LISTEN ABOVE

John MacDonald: A red zone home base for the homeless?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/d704ac7b-0f06-4514-ba37-b4a2000930da/transcript

Politically-speaking, the current MMP coalition government is the most successful one we’ve ever had.

Because, unlike coalitions of the past, the minor parties - ACT and NZ First - have managed to maintain their presence and identity.

In the past, the minor parties have been swallowed up by the bigger parties and, generally, disappeared from view.

This time around it’s a completely different story. With ACT and NZ First making their presence well and truly felt.

Not just recently. But for the whole term.

Some might put that down to Christopher Luxon’s failure to keep David Seymour and Winston Peters under control.

But no one can say that ACT and NZ First have disappeared off the radar the way the Maori Party did after being in cahoots with National.

Even the Greens found the confidence and supply arrangement they had with Labour between 2017 and 2020 took the spotlight off them.

This time, though, we’ve had a coalition government like never before. In that none of the parties have become bit players.

So, from a purely political perspective, it’s been a raging success.

But Christopher Luxon wants a referendum on our voting system to find out if people are still happy with MMP. He’s obviously not a fan, because he says he doesn’t want to work with “yahoos and numpties” in a coalition cabinet.

His ham-fisted announcement on Newstalk ZB yesterday was news to his caucus colleagues. It was news to his coalition partners too. With Winston Peters describing it as an “inexplicable power grab”.
But I reckon that if we didn’t have MMP, there’d be a truckload of people unable to bring themselves to vote in this year’s election.

That might be an easy thing to say, given we’ve had MMP for the past 30 years and because MMP has given us more voting options.

But the idea, after all this time, of going back to the days where it was pretty much Labour or National doesn’t sound great, does it?

And, whatever your politics, you’vec got to say that the choice and the variety MMP gives us is brilliant. There’s certainly no way I would want to see it go.

LISTEN ABOVE

Politically-speaking, the current MMP coalition government is the most successful one we’ve ever had.
Because, unlike coalitions of the past, the minor parties - ACT and NZ First - have managed to maintain their presence and identity.
In the past, the minor parties have been swallowed up by the bigger parties and, generally, disappeared from view.
This time around it’s a completely different story. With ACT and NZ First making their presence well and truly felt.
Not just recently. But for the whole term.
Some might put that down to Christopher Luxon’s failure to keep David Seymour and Winston Peters under control.
But no one can say that ACT and NZ First have disappeared off the radar the way the Maori Party did after being in cahoots with National.
Even the Greens found the confidence and supply arrangement they had with Labour between 2017 and 2020 took the spotlight off them.
This time, though, we’ve had a coalition government like never before. In that none of the parties have become bit players.
So, from a purely political perspective, it’s been a raging success.
But Christopher Luxon wants a referendum on our voting system to find out if people are still happy with MMP. He’s obviously not a fan, because he says he doesn’t want to work with “yahoos and numpties” in a coalition cabinet.
His ham-fisted announcement on Newstalk ZB yesterday was news to his caucus colleagues. It was news to his coalition partners too. With Winston Peters describing it as an “inexplicable power grab”. But I reckon that if we didn’t have MMP, there’d be a truckload of people unable to bring themselves to vote in this year’s election.
That might be an easy thing to say, given we’ve had MMP for the past 30 years and because MMP has given us more voting options.
But the idea, after all this time, of going back to the days where it was pretty much Labour or National doesn’t sound great, does it?
And, whatever your politics, you’vec got to say that the choice and the variety MMP gives us is brilliant. There’s certainly no way I would want to see it go.
LISTEN ABOVE

John MacDonald: MMP is best, even with the yahoos and numpties

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/627d0885-6075-4f13-9825-b49f0012f77e/transcript

Politics Friday: Tracey McLellan and Matt Doocey on MMP referendum, Labour's Small Business Policy, Amalgamation

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