/on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/rss 九一星空无限 Sat, 19 Apr 2025 19:39:31 Z en /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-doctors-strike-doesnt-add-up/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-the-doctors-strike-doesnt-add-up/ Have you been keeping up with this senior doctor's strike? There's a couple of things that don't add up.   Yesterday we spoke about the average salary for these unionised senior doctors.  Simeon Brown says it's a total package worth $343,500.  The union hit back - they said the number was made up.   Which it's not. It's the total package including superannuation and overtime penalties, etc.  Now, for most Kiwis, when you apply for a job, that's the number you'd work off. When somebody asks how much do you get paid in a year, do you just say your base salary?   No, you'd say your total package amount. Second bit is around the actual staffing, cause this does not make sense.   We hear from doctors that they're so short-staffed - not enough specialists, not enough doctors, etc. So short staffed that they're on their knees and the system's broken.   But Ministry of Health says there are more senior doctors now than when National came into office.  And what's more, their churn or turnover has come down too.   So are the doctors saying the situation is now worse than when National came in and if so, how when there are apparently more doctors? So either the Ministry's lying or the system is bad and maybe broken but still better than it was 15 months ago. which is it?   Then there's the pay.   Put your hands up if you've scored a 12% pay rise lately?   No,  I didn't think so. Not that I can see your hands. Dairy farmers you'll all have your hands up in the milking shed this morning I hope with your record payout.   But what about your average worker? No. So doctors want 12%. The Ministry says 1-2%.   Again, this doesn't make sense. If you're worried about safe staffing levels  —and this is not really about pay— the chances of Health NZ hiring more doctors when the wage bill's 12% higher seems less likely.   Is this counterproductive?   Like I said yesterday, you want the men and women who cut you open for surgery to be well paid and rested,  because well, they're cutting you open for surgery.   But they need to articulate just how sick the patient is before we dial up the medicine.  Wed, 16 Apr 2025 18:24:27 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-whats-the-problem-with-the-label-pregnant-women/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-whats-the-problem-with-the-label-pregnant-women/ So we have senior doctors going on strike. We're in the midst of a global trade war - not that we're allowed to call it that anymore, Winston. We have inflation potentially picking up again. We have a lot going on in this country, not to mention around the world. And yet there I was, sitting down to watch the news last night, and the second lead story was about whether women or people could get pregnant. The fact is nobody in the story said it was solely women who get pregnant. Casey Costello herself says nonbinary and trans people can get pregnant, too. Which is true - they may have been born female, but they identify as something else. The question is whether mass communications issued by Health NZ should speak of pregnant women to make things clear. Here's the thing about it - the story I watched included exactly zero of these people who are so offended by the term pregnant women. The midwives union preferred women. The Government preferred women.  Even Chris Hipkins said women was fine for mass communications.   So, where's the problem? If somebody identifies as a different gender, send them a personalised message tailored to their needs.   The reason these things rile people up so much if because it reinforces this idea that you have a bunch of social scientists with agendas running around Wellington wasting time and taxpayer money coming up with this stuff.   People, including I'm sure nonbinary people, would prefer a hospital system that has enough beds and surgeries slots available to cater for them.   Surely, that's got to be priority number one in health?   Tue, 15 Apr 2025 18:16:47 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-luxon-needs-a-game-plan-to-deal-with-winston/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/ryan-bridge-luxon-needs-a-game-plan-to-deal-with-winston/ Luxon’s stuck. Poor old Luxon, he's stuck between a rock and a hard place really, isn’t he? And it's only going to get worse as we head into next year.   Just when he's done dealing with David Seymour on the Treaty Principles Bill - he never wanted to go with but agreed to get into government. That was shut down on Thursday and now the fire kicks off - he's having to hose that down too.   He's been hosing it down since last Friday now.    That's Winston and his big noting about how to deal with Trump, right.   The phone calls that Luxon hastily arranged to avoid being in the House for the death of the Treaty Principles Bill are the same phone calls that have now started this tussle with Winston?   He just can't win.   Either way, there's coalition land mines to step on.   Here's the thing, Winston first made these comments last Thursday.   He said Luxon should have called them or whatever the words were.   So, he should have just picked up the phone, called them straight away, squared it off, have it out, whatever, move on. Instead, you're trying to announce a tourism boost at Sky City on Monday and it's still dragging out.  Some journalist in the press conference yesterday even asked Luxon whether he'd apologised to Winston Peters. For goodness sakes, what an outrageous question.   For the record, Luxon gave a speech basically saying he supports free trade. Big deal we all do.   Then he calls a couple of world leaders he's met and tells them he likes free trade. Big deal, guess what? That's fine because he's the Prime Minister.   That's actually his job. He is the boss.   Winston's just feeling a bit left out over in Tonga obviously, so he's running his mouth off.   What does Luxon do?   Does he just have a private call and hope that Winston calms down? Or does he take a harder line in public with Winston? Call him out?   Tell us he's only the Foreign Minister, not the Prime Minister, and he should stay in his lane.  Whatever the strategy, he needs to figure it out quick smart.  As I wrote about at the weekend, Winston's only just getting started.   There's an election to fight next year and he'll be unshackled from the Deputy PM reins next month.   Then it's all on for young and old.  And Luxon this week has been warned.  Mon, 14 Apr 2025 18:39:22 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-why-we-got-the-auckland-harbour-bridge-wrong/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-why-we-got-the-auckland-harbour-bridge-wrong/ There was a letter to the editor over the weekend about the Auckland Harbour Bridge which made a very good point. The writer remarked that the Harbour Bridge is the coat hanger shape it is because it needed to let freighters in to get to the Chelsea sugar works. The works are under Birkenhead, and they’ve been there long enough that they’ve become historically significant. But that is the only reason the bridge goes up so much and down so much. What a pity we didn’t move the industry in the 50s when we built the bridge.   What a pity we compromised the bridge for just one industry. We’re going to pay for that dearly. It’s one of those things we all forget about when talking about a second Harbour crossing. At the moment you’ll see barges doing Geotech in the middle of the Harbour. It's for two new, three-lane road tunnels. A single light rail tunnel is also part of the plan.  Meanwhile the existing bridge gets lanes for buses and cycling. What we get wrong is that we should really be talking about replacing the first crossing because it’s at the end of its life.  Move the sugar works and we could replace the bridge with a flatter wider version that will be wider and stronger than what we’ve got, giving it a longer life. I keep reminding people that the real problem with the Auckland motorway system is the limits on spaghetti junction and the pinch points at Northcote and Greenlane Penrose.  Not the bridge. Which still has more capacity. But no structural strength. And for all of you not in Auckland wondering why I’m talking about this, it’s simple. This will be the biggest and most complex and most disruptive infrastructure project this country will see and we’re all going to have to pay for it no matter which city we live in. Sun, 13 Apr 2025 18:06:31 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-why-forestry-should-be-removed-from-the-ets/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-why-forestry-should-be-removed-from-the-ets/ Last night on 1九一星空无限 I heard the single most logical and sane thing said in the entire bulletin in a long time. It was said by Simon Upton, the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment. A very smart man. A Rhodes Scholar. A Former Minister for the Environment for National.  Simon Upton said we should in, an ordinary way, take forestry out of the Emissions Trading Scheme.  And I thought, why has it taken so long for someone to say it? We should, in an orderly way, take forestry out of the Emissions Trading Scheme.  Forestry for climate change has been a Ponzi scheme. The 1九一星空无限 reporter called it a golden ticket.  It’s swamped productive land for easy gain. It’s caused rampant wilding growth through our wild lands.  In essence, it’s a very big weed unless you’re farming it for wood and paper and even then, that market is turning sour - ask Tokoroa and Kawerau.   But has it done anything to reduce emissions? We’ve had long enough for proof. It has not.   It’s provided excuses for well-meaning pop bands to travel the world in private jets, planting useless forests in their wake and claiming moral superiority.   But the 1九一星空无限 bit then went and missed the point.  The headline was that we should plant natives instead of pine.  Which he did say, but only if we keep with the nutso forest planting scheme.   What Simon proposed was completely removing the ability of carbon polluters to rely on planting trees to meet their climate obligations.  He said what New Zealand currently had been mostly a "tree planting scheme" that did little to cut planet-heating gases. And then the zinger quote: "The world actually needs real reductions in gross emissions, not an accounting triumph".   If you want to cut your emissions, then cut your emissions. But don't plant a tree. Thu, 10 Apr 2025 18:03:20 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-curious-case-of-benjamin-doyle/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-curious-case-of-benjamin-doyle/ Benjamin Doyle spoke on the controversy surrounding them yesterday and basically called themself stupid.   We’ve found out that the Greens actively asked them to delete their accounts which introduced us all to the "bussy".  But they refused, wanting to stand up for what they are and who they stand for.  Given that, if I was the Greens I would have gone to the next person on the list. If Doyle wasn’t going to drop it, I would have dropped him.   I said last week they should go, and I stand by that. I don’t see the need for anyone so stupid and bloody-minded in a taxpayer funded Parliament.   Doyle says the bussy stuff was a knowing joke and I can understand that - Queens are always ironically calling each other Queens.  That’s not the sort of joke I want to see in an MP.  But to claim Benjamin must be a child offender is also a step too far and a heinous accusation unless you have proof, and that goes for Hamish Campbell too.  If they want to put those haters aside perhaps, they need to stand up for themself with a defamation suit, or even let the wife speak out.  But again, the easiest way to deal with it is to just slope out the door. Carrying on is probably not worth the angst.   The whole thing is an ugly and entirely avoidable situation.   Wed, 09 Apr 2025 18:14:15 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-children-deserve-better/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-children-deserve-better/ Oranga Tamariki is getting rid of its target to place 58% of the kids in its care with wider Whanau.   And it's also ditching a target for investment with Māori organisations - 23% of funding was targeted for those organisations.  The Minister for Children Karen Chhour says this is part of OT's 'Safety First' approach. She says the targets were outdated and went against the ‘need not race’ directive.   And she was concerned whether the priority of Māori organisations were getting in the way of the quality and efficacy of the services being provided.   And it all makes sense.  The ingrained belief in our child social workers that kids are always better off rehomed with whanau always seemed counter factual. In many cases the abuse directed at the kids was at the hands of whanau themselves - people that had been raised by other people in their family but failed at their own parenting. So why would we give the kids to them? It often seemed that children were being thrown right back into the very cauldron we were trying to help them escape from.   There have been examples for generations - let us not forget Baby Ru. He was murdered in October 2023, and nobody has been charged for killing him.  There was anger then and anger now when the people who were there when he suffered did not co-operate with Police.   Those people were, and are, Rosie Morunga, her partner Dylan Ross, and Ru’s mother Storm Wall. Ru's whanau. What happened people?  The uplifting of kids is a very serious thing and they need to be housed in safe places with good people.  But the history of Oranga Tamariki suggests that too many of the supposed saviours are in fact predators hiding in plain sight.  There's no easy answer to this other than strong vigilance by our agencies and the need to find good people who can help.  Tue, 08 Apr 2025 18:16:46 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-defence-spending-is-necessary-but-expensive/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-defence-spending-is-necessary-but-expensive/ The news that New Zealand is going to spend 12 billion dollars on defence is not news to welcome, and yet it is welcome news.  In an unsettled world, defence is essential. And the equation for a credible defence is spending 2 percent of GDP.  So now within 8 years we’ll get to that target - it’s a doubling.   The question is why we are only just doing this now. If we’d spent that for the past 30 years we would not be facing so dramatic a spend today.  But we didn’t. Fat and complacent in a mistaken belief that we were safe and sound, and if something went wrong our friends would come and save us.  For as long as I’ve been in the news business, Australia and the States have warned that coat tailing did not cut it and that we had to do our bit. So fair play to Judith Collins, she’s finally accepting the responsibility that we’ve always needed.  But it comes at a difficult time.  Firstly, the world has become more dangerous so time is of the essence. And secondly, we’re broke.  It comes at a time when barely reported mass redundancies are happening in defence to meet government spending targets.   And yet they’ve also announced this new plan. They fire with one hand and employ with another.  But you can argue that both are necessary because we’ve sat on our hands for so long. And we’ve spent irresponsibly.  Mon, 07 Apr 2025 18:11:38 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-treaty-principles-bill-part-two/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-treaty-principles-bill-part-two/ So it looks like the Treaty Principles Act is toast as Christopher Luxon assured us it would be.   Much was made over the weekend that 90 per cent of the submissions were against it.   But that means nothing if all the opposing submissions were just photocopies of one.  Māori are organised. Anyone who’s seen their multiple Hikoi's and the awesome organisation of the Kings Tangi should know that.   You underestimate Māori at your peril.    But it must also be noted that Act’s act was a simplistic dog. Much of it is already covered by the bill of rights.   At its heart it was three sentences designed to overthrow 50 years of legal development.  But is the movement against the treaty dead.   No, it is not. New Zealand first wants to have a crack.  And Winston Peters, being the experienced legislator, wants to amend the existing Treaty Principles legislation we already have.   He ran his election campaign on it. It's the smart way to achieve real change.  And as we approach the changeover between Peters and Seymour of the Deputy PM role, Winston will have the time and the energy to have his try.  So welcome to round two of the Treaty Principles debate. A round that has much more chance to succeed.  Sun, 06 Apr 2025 18:13:12 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-tariffs-are-here/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-tariffs-are-here/ The age of globalisation is dead. Trump has withdrawn America. Now we’re in an age of blocs - nations that agree to trade with each other, nations that have commonality.   So, who are our friends and who are our friends that we get on with?   China is our biggest trade friend, but is China our friend? No, they’re not.   So we are into a period of delicate negotiations and that’s going to cause fewer than perfect trade deals.   Now what do we do about America? Some have said that the situation is not too bad - 10% as we speak.   But our trade with America is $9 billion a year, so 10 per cent is near enough a billion dollars, which is not inconsiderable. So what should we do? The Trade Minister and Prime Minister say it would be foolish to retaliate. We’re not in the same weight class.  Maybe we should go the Trump playbook. We all know that Trump likes to go big and then pull back to his bottom line.  So should we go back and say let’s call it 5%, and then wait to see where the cards lie.   Who knows. What I do know is that the world is in chaos. Russia, China, Israel, Ukraine.   And inflation is lurking, and uncertainty has not gone away.   It’s time for circumspection and recognising that the elephants are dancing, and we are but mice.  Thu, 03 Apr 2025 17:03:41 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-comedians-bring-logic-to-a-fight/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-comedians-bring-logic-to-a-fight/ The comedian Jimmy Carr is coming back to New Zealand for a nationwide tour the culminates at Auckland's Spark Arena. These are big halls, and he can fill them because he’s that good.   It’s called 'Jimmy Carr Laughs Funny' and he does. It’s so true, it’s funny.   And that’s Jimmy’s thing.   It’s easy to lump comedians like Jimmy, and Ricky Gervais and America’s Bill Maher into a conservative label simply because so much of what they say is politically incorrect.   But what makes them funny is that it’s just true. They point out the hilarity of our tribal positions - both left and right.  I’m reading Bill Maher’s book 'What This Comedian Said Will Shock You'. It’s a collection of his best monologues over the year.   I used to think he was quite right wing when I watched his show, but that was because he was merciless against the Biden administration. Now that Trump is in power he’s equally merciless. I like that.   I like his pithy observation that conservatives govern without shame and liberals shame without governing. That’s true in America and it’s true here.   And he says that’s why the world is full of people who want to break shit up.   I like all these comedians because they bring logic to the fight. Unlike politicians who bring whatever might score them votes, and the media who will say anything that will get them clicks, which will pay the bills. Wed, 02 Apr 2025 17:25:33 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-our-kids-should-know-shakespeare/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-our-kids-should-know-shakespeare/ The draft year 7-13 English curriculum proposes compulsory Shakespeare for senior secondary school students.  That’s provoked a furious debate about the relevance of Shakespeare in this day and age - Shakespeare is important, but is it essential? Even when I was at secondary school 45 years ago, Shakespeare was not popular.  One year we were studying Hamlet. So, the school organised an afternoon matinee of the play at the Mercury Theatre. The boys were so rowdy that a young Michael Hurst commented it was the worst audience he had ever had.  We didn’t even calm down during the sword fights.  That didn’t happen when we studied Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman or Thomas Beckett’s Murder in the Cathedral.   Those plays used language we understood and themes we could relate to.  To teach you must engage and much and all as we bemoan the fall of Shakespeare, he’s still so strong that his influence on the modern world will not fail.   So, what will engage the kids, I don’t know. This generation is less engaged than ever - so much so I had to explain who Bob Geldof was to my 26-year-old son. And speaking of which the most engagement I had in English at school was when we studied the lyrics of David Bowie’s 'Time' from the Aladdin Sane album.  And let’s remember that in 2016 Bob Dylan won the Nobel prize in literature. Would anyone mind if he was added to the curriculum? Post script:   I see that the new curriculum says that spelling and keyboard lessons for children at intermediate schools should be compulsory - you mean they’re not already? How do our kids survive in this modern world? Tue, 01 Apr 2025 17:03:35 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-is-the-new-ferry-deal-really-better-in-the-long-run/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-is-the-new-ferry-deal-really-better-in-the-long-run/ Winston’s great rail solution is now revealed: it’s just like KiwiRail’s iReX but cheaper.   The boats are still big and they’re rail enabled but the portside infrastructure is more reasonable.   And that’s always been the thing. The original boats were a good deal, but the kicker came portside.   KiwiRail was under the belief that the project had to be future proofed.   This was something that had to last 50 years - a type of thinking that New Zealand hasn’t done often.   So, the Ferrari was not the boat, it was the ports.  Now Winston says Picton needs a big revamp. But the earthquake prone Wellington port just needs a revamp.  In an ideal world this is not ideal. But it is, as Winston says, pragmatic.  I know people involved with the original iReX deal on the Government side.   And when this story first broke, they told me that KiwiRail shouldn’t come to the Government expecting an open cheque book.   And he was right. The original iReX deal was a good deal, and the one that we should aspire to.  But as the Government keeps telling us, now is not the right time for aspirational long-term planning.   But if not now, when will we ever do anything right first time? And while this deal looks like a saving short term, will we end out paying more long term? The upshot is that we have ferries coming and they’re less likely to sink than the ones we already have. That’s about it - we’re right back to where we were 30 years ago.   Mon, 31 Mar 2025 17:24:33 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-devastation-of-dog-attacks/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-the-devastation-of-dog-attacks/ Spent all weekend waiting for more details about the death by dog in the Bay of Plenty.   This story upset me greatly. We heard about the victim.  A cheeky cheery 4-year-old kid. His family say he had a little mischief in his smile, a little wid in his heart and a heart full of cuteness.   We heard a statement from the Marae that something had happened suggesting this was in Maori circles. For a while I thought it was an incident on the Marae but it wasn’t.   We heard another person was injured and presumably they were trying to save the boy.  On social media I saw claims that the boy may have razzed the dogs but that’s not the point. That’s victim blaming.   The thing that always gets me on these stories is that dogs should not kill people.   Even though 4 people have died at the teeth of dogs in the past 5 years.  Dogs are man’s best friend. Dogs are a useful tool. But dogs should never kill humans. The way robots are programmed to never kill humans.  Even the dogs who’s jobs are to be security for humans should not kill other humans even if the humans are bad.   The only dogs who kill humans are dogs who are owned or controlled by humans who do not know how to control their dogs.  And if they have dogs who are not controllable, they are humans who don’t realise the threat those dogs pose. Therefore, they should surrender those dogs before bad stuff happens.  And when these things happen the concerned start raising rules and regulations that the bad owners ignore and the only thing they do is irritate and criminalise good owners.   Any dogs that kill that can be traced to an owner means that owner must face a custodial sentence.   Because your weapon just killed an innocent child. I don’t know how you live with yourself and don’t you dare defend the dog.  Sun, 30 Mar 2025 17:03:48 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-is-casual-clothing-in-the-house-acceptable/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-is-casual-clothing-in-the-house-acceptable/ Winston Peters turned into a grumpy old conservative man in the house yesterday.  A role he assumes to hoover up votes from his constituents rather than the stately Foreign Minister image he shows to the rest of the world.  He complained that Ricardo Menéndez March, the Green MP, wore a leather jacket in the house. It was a glossy little number, but was it disrespectful?  It raises the question about clothes in the workforce.  If you wear a $1,500 designer leather jacket, is that less respectful than a $300 suit from Laidlaw + Leeds from Farmers? Things have obviously loosened. Our big boss wears a jacket, but I’ve never seen him in a tie.  Casual Friday has become casual weekday.   So, I’m not worried about Ricardo’s leather jacket - even though it gave off Boy George vibes and he looked like he was off to the disco.  He obviously took care of his look and turned up well-groomed, even if he looked like a clown.  And it’s not called the House of Representatives for nothing. It should be representative of all of us, including the leather jacket wearers.   I’ve sometimes wondered at the ensembles that appear on our screens worn by public servants and MPs. Many are obviously expensive purchased on wages provided by the taxpayers.   Flaunting your public purse wealth at us.   But the biggest problem with Ricardo Menéndez March's leather jacket is that it’s leather.   I thought you were a Green MP opposed to products derived from animal cruelty.   The thing about symbolism is that it’s symbolic, and Ricardo’s leather jacket screamed hypocrisy.  Thu, 27 Mar 2025 17:04:45 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-tamatha-paul-shares-complaints-of-one-not-one-hundred/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-tamatha-paul-shares-complaints-of-one-not-one-hundred/ Tamatha Paul: a woman mocked for her views on Police.   Chris Hipkins says her views on beat Police were unwise, and then he went further and said they were stupid.   The Prime Minister says she’s in lala land.  Yesterday I commented that life must be really sweet on her planet - pity it’s not ours.  But that didn’t stop her doubling down yesterday on her views, because they are not untrue.  She pointed out that brown people have quite a different perception of police than others.  Look up profiling and it’s meaning.  She pointed out the terrible failure of the police in the case of the 11-year-old confused with a twenty-year-old that we’re all shocked at.  She highlighted the hassle of homeless.  She didn’t back down because as she said they are legitimate experiences amongst her constituents.   And she has constituents. She’s not a list MP. She won Wellington Central fair and square.  However, the complaints of one are not the complaints of a hundred. The vast, overwhelming, majority of New Zealanders feel better with cops on the beat.  So, she is wrong. But I will defend her right to point out the flaws, because that is the true meaning of free speech.   Wed, 26 Mar 2025 17:15:32 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-every-city-needs-a-stadium/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-every-city-needs-a-stadium/ So, Auckland looks like it’s doing it again: dilly dallying in decision making about big stuff.   A council advisory group has informed us that neither the fancy waterfront stadium nor an upgrade of Eden Park is considered feasible.   The full council still must vote on it on Thursday, so we’ll see if anyone has some balls.    Now by "not feasible" they mean not viable without public funding. We don’t seem to have a charitable billionaire in our midst so the dough would have to come from the public purse.   This is a question every major city wrestles with, but other cities seem to be braver.   This week Brisbane has casually announced a new stadium to host the Olympics, calming putting nearly four billion dollars on the line.  We’re a growing nation. We need a venue for the events that come in 2025. Whether it’s big sport or big concerts. We’ve seen how much fun Eden Park has been this week, three different sports in one week.   It would be great to have a venue that’s modern, complete, and full of character.   I love stadiums. I’m super excited about Canterbury’s Te Kaha. Forsyth Barr is great, and Sky Stadium just needs new seats and maybe a roof.   But what do I want for Auckland? Now first I have to admit that Eden Park has given me tickets to events, but I would be happy for the waterfront stadium to go ahead. We’d never regret it   I’m also happy for an Eden Park upgrade, after all Sydney ripped down the perfectly functional Sydney football stadium and completely replaced it.   But it really is time for someone to put their neck on the block and just do it.   Every city needs a Cathedral, and every city needs an iconic stadium.  Tue, 25 Mar 2025 17:05:13 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-were-training-doctors-for-no-reason/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-were-training-doctors-for-no-reason/ It’s no secret to anyone that we do not have enough doctors in New Zealand. Recent policy moves to attract more qualified overseas doctors have been eagerly received. As have directives to increase the number of doctors we train locally - the Government's decision to fund another 50 medical school places from next year, increasing the cap to 639 first-year students. But what is the point of training more doctors if we don’t have jobs for them? Medical Council data showed 30 percent of medical graduates left the country within 10 years. They leave because Health NZ do not fund enough jobs. The jobs they do fund are low paid and future prospects are limited, except for a talented few. They get paid better overseas and they can pay off their student loan faster. And it starts from day one. Each year Health NZ fails to fund internships for 25 to 30 graduates, forcing them to look overseas.  Sure, some were overseas students but after spending 7 years here they’d quite like to stay if prospects are good. Now all tertiary education is partially subsidised by you and I, but what’s the point of spending taxpayer money training doctors if to save taxpayer money, we don’t offer them a career path after their studies? How about this for a radical idea: the Government wants to fund training for 639 doctors next year, why not also fund 639 internships?  And if any of them don’t want to stay we use any excess funding to pay the guys who want to stay in New Zealand more.  Because to fund training of doctors and then refuse to fund their jobs is wasteful spending.  And we all know how this Government feels about wasteful spending. Mon, 24 Mar 2025 17:12:16 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-my-take-on-gdp/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-my-take-on-gdp/ While I was away tramping all over the top of the Coromandel Peninsula, we had some good and bad news.  GDP came out better than we expected with a rise of 0.7% in the fourth quarter, which should signal the start of green shoots and recovery and confidence.   But at the same time, the consumer confidence figure came out and it was the worst we’ve seen since the 90s.   And then Paul Bloxham, the Australian economist who invented the rock star economy name, came out and said our recession has been the worst in the OECD.   So why aren’t we confident? And why was our recession so hard? Here’s my take: the Reserve Bank and the Government need to start working together.   During the pandemic the bank slashed interest rates while the Government turbo charged spending, leading to a hangover that needed medicine.   The previous Government was rightly blamed for the mess it was responsible for but we had been double hit by the bank and the Government. All levers pulled.   The new Government came in and promptly slashed spending to reduce borrowing and reduced revenue through tax cuts, but the Reserve Bank had already started attacking inflation a year before hand with interest rates.   So once again we were doubly hit. And the tax cuts, which Fran O’Sullivan six weeks ago described as badly timed, meant we weren’t paying back debt. We’re struggling to pay interest.  So as Paul Bloxham has now described, we had an excessive pandemic reaction followed by an excessive inflation reaction.   Now all the stuff we’ve done is technically correct, and this is easy to criticise with 20/20 hindsight.   But it’s been as if the left hand and the right hand doesn’t know what each other are doing, which means our recovery will be slow.  All parties claim they are the prudent fiscal managers and all Reserve Bank Governors claim the same. But on the evidence of the past five years, that’s not true.  We need to learn from this unless we want to keep reeling from boom the bust over and over again.  Sun, 23 Mar 2025 17:11:49 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/francesca-rudkin-what-we-can-learn-from-the-world-happiness-report/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/francesca-rudkin-what-we-can-learn-from-the-world-happiness-report/ Did the news yesterday that the economy had grown more than expected, by a whopping 0.7%, put you in a good mood for the week?    Maybe the news that Fonterra has reported an 8% lift in first-half net profit to $729 million put a spring in your step.  Or the opportunity to grab a bargain in the Afterpay Sales this weekend is putting a smile on your face.  Or maybe none of these things had an impact on your happiness.    According to the World Happiness Report, published yesterday by the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, happiness isn’t just about wealth or growth – it’s about trust, connection and knowing people have your back.   It's not a huge surprise; Finland is the happiest country in 2025, for the 8th year in the row.    Denmark, Iceland, and Sweden came in at 2nd, 3rd and 4th, and Costa Rica and Mexico both ranked in the top 10 for the first time. New Zealand came in at 12th, between Australia and Switzerland.    I tend to roll my eyes every time we compare New Zealand to a Scandinavian country – we make constant comparisons due to population size, but we are different countries with different resources and rarely follow their lead. But it is intriguing to look at why Finland, with its dark, chilly winters and border with Russia, is such a happy place.    According to the managing director at Gallup who partnered on the study, the reason Finnish people are happier than most is because of “a belief in others,” optimism for the future, trust in institutions, and support from friends and family.    Does any of that feel familiar to us right now? 12th for New Zealand feels about right, I think. Between 2016 and 2020 we were 8th, and we’ve been slowly slipping down the list since 2021.   We all know health and wealth are not solely responsible for happiness, but they play a part. The less you have to stress about, the more you can focus on being happy. But the study has turned up some unexpectedly strong predictors of wellbeing. Sharing meals with others, having somebody to count on for social support, and household size all play a part. Basically, social connection is key to happiness in this era of social isolation and polarisation.    This applies particularly to young adults – the study found 19% of young adults across the world reported in 2023 that they have no one they could count on for social support. That is a 39% increase compared to 2006. It may of course be a hangover from the pandemic, or more likely the consequence of giving our lives over to devices and social media.   The Harvard Study of Adult Development —the famous 80+ years study into happiness— has already established a strong correlation between deep relationships and well-being. So, this revelation about social connection isn’t new news, but it’s an important reminder for us all to put our phones down, sit up at the dinner table, and have a chat.    Thu, 20 Mar 2025 20:29:00 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/francesca-rudkin-a-new-western-springs-stadium-is-an-exciting-opportunity/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/francesca-rudkin-a-new-western-springs-stadium-is-an-exciting-opportunity/ Gee, we’ve gone stadium mad here in Auckland. We already have seven pretty substantial stadiums ranging from 4000-person capacity to 50,000, spread across the city from the North Shore to Mt Eden, Penrose to Manukau, not including other sporting and event spaces.  But we can’t stop suggesting we build more.    While we wait for Auckland’s Councilors to ponder feasibility studies done by Eden Park and the proposed new waterfront stadium in Quay Park and announce who will go on to win the title of Auckland’s main stadium – another stadium is being pitched, this time for Western Springs.    So, Western Springs Speedway has its final event on Saturday night —although we’ve heard that before— and now Auckland Council is interested in what to do with this valuable inner-city site.    This is a really exciting opportunity, especially after years of kafuffle around the speedway. Auckland might not need another entertainment or sporting venue, but they are really nice to have, especially when someone else is coughing up the money for them.    So, Auckland has to ask itself: what facilities do we need? What would the inner city benefit from, and can these new facilities be used by as many teams, and individuals as possible. Real estate this valuable needs to be well utilised, year-round.   That’s why I like the proposal from the team behind Auckland FC. The proposal for their new facility features a 12,500 seated stadium, covered basketball courts and padel courts. It’s championed and backed by NBA star Steven Adams, All Blacks rugby legend Ali Williams, Anna Mowbray of ZURU fame, and Billionaire football club owners Bill Foley and Bennett Rosenthal.    The group have targeted football, basketball and padel because they are the fastest-growing sports in the world but lack infrastructure in Auckland. They aren’t just meeting a community need, it would also be the home of Auckland FC, signalling this team is a long-term commitment. These are all good things.    I would observe things have gone pretty well at Go Media Stadium for Auckland FC this season, but maybe not everyone likes traveling to Penrose. Maybe it’s felt an inner-city location near hospo hubs will help sustain interest in the team.    According to those who have seen the proposal, this sporting facility would be built “at zero cost to the ratepayer”. The only downside is existing occupants Ponsonby Rugby Club would need to move – and they would need to be supported to do this.    There are two more proposals. The Ponsonby Rugby Club wants to turn it into a bigger venue, and an entertainment group wants to turn it into a multi-purpose entertainment and community sports venue, but we’re yet to hear details for these proposals.    In fact, there is a lot of information we’re yet see, but fingers crossed this process will move faster than the decision around the Speedway.    Whatever plans are presented, remember the locals are a vocal and determined lot. Win them over, and you might just have a chance.    Wed, 19 Mar 2025 18:30:47 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-cops-on-the-beat-is-a-no-brainer/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-cops-on-the-beat-is-a-no-brainer/ Cops will stay on the beat in the Auckland CBD.  The government will boost anti-crime measures across central Auckland with $1.3 million of funding as a result of the Proceeds of Crime Fund.  The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 enables New Zealand Police to seize money and assets that have been obtained directly or indirectly from the proceeds of crime. Once all legal matters are addressed, the recovered money is placed in the Proceeds of Crime Fund. This latest move was announced by Auckland Minister Simeon Brown and Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee an it's been greeted wholeheartedly by retailers and residents It will see the new federal street station open 24/7.  That station will open in the middle of the year. And of course, this is a good thing. My question was always why did we stop doing this in the first place? The cop on the beat is a sign to one and all, citizens and criminals, that the police are in control of the streets, not the ratbags. For me, it's the first thing the police would fund not the last. And that perception that it's important has been reinforced by the new funding coming from the Proceeds of Crime Fund and not the general budget. My question is who thought no cops on the beat was a good idea in the first place? It's tempting to blame Andrew Coster and the last government who were soft on crime. But it' been going on far longer than that. It's another example of public service being told to cut budgets and then cutting good stuff instead of bad. And another thing about the funding. This is not just a problem for the Auckland CBD.  It's nationwide in cities and towns and suburban shopping centres.  What about them?  We'll wait to see if the budget shows a changed emphasis.  Tue, 18 Mar 2025 17:21:01 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-a-good-news-story-out-of-the-government/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-a-good-news-story-out-of-the-government/ It's a bit easy to be negative these days. Times are tough and talk is cheap, and I like to manage expectations and not get too carried away with rhetoric.  But today I'm going to praise the Government and be positive.  The surprise announcement that free trade talks between New Zealand and India will start next month was great news.   Like PPPs, it won’t be a game changer short term, but it is a step in the right direction.  The welcome given to Christopher Luxon was quite a thing.   Flags and billboards all over town.  A rowdy welcome from folk dancers and then the news that finally we will negotiate.   Our recent battle in cricket is top of Indian minds and they know that we are already good friends.   The benefits for both countries are large.  For too long our need for dairy to be part of a comprehensive deal has held talks back. But India is still a way away from needing us.   They have a huge but poorly performing herd of cows, but they are still self-sufficient with estimates of local production falling short in 25 years' time and not tomorrow. They will need us in the future.   The Chinese free trade deal saw dairy finally included 20 years after our first agreement. This free trade thing is a long conversation.   But there’s a lot more to India than dairy.  Space is a no brainer. India is already aiming for the moon, and we’d love to help.  IT is another sector that we can benefit from India's expertise to help our productivity.  And with all eyes on Chinese expansion in the Indo-pacific region there is many reasons for a closer relationship. If tensions with China increase, our manufacturers will need India’s cheap labour.   And on China, we need to have India on our side the same way we walk the tightrope with America on pacific security and a relationship with China.  While we will always recognize dairy as a cornerstone to our competitiveness in global trade, we have often spoken of the need for diversification in our export markets.   This deal offers a chance to grow and become broader based.   And with a bit of luck dairy will join the ride as years go by.  Mon, 17 Mar 2025 17:04:51 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-targeted-school-lunches-is-the-way-to-go/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-targeted-school-lunches-is-the-way-to-go/ Last week as the world puzzled over war and peace and the end of globalisation and rules based free trade, New Zealand was watching the slow-motion train wreck of a free lunch programme.   David Seymour, a long-term opponent of the idea, was put in charge of it by the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Which may have been a genius political move but may rebound in his face.   The Act Leader then reckoned he could centralise it and cut costs until each lunch cost 3 dollars a child.   But the providers had problems. None more so than Libelle who went bust and we finished the week bringing in lunches from Australia.   But there was more sting in the tail.  Long time listener Matt, and long-time opponent of the idea, was incensed by part of a story from last week and sent me an email.   It was part of the story about a Gisborne kid who got burnt by his school meal.   But what got Matt is the revelation that the school orders 310 lunches each day.    But 150 go untouched by the kids who don’t like the look of the offering.   And some have given up on the school lunches and they’ve started bringing their own meals from home.   Which is exactly what the parents should have been doing in the first place.   Matt hates the entitlement of those who took the meals but didn't need them. But I think it’s entirely predictable. Offered a free meal who says no.   Except it’s not free. Taxpayers pay for it. But some parents will argue that’s them getting their tax back   Labour thought that if one child goes hungry then all children should be fed which opens this up to exploitation.  So how do we fix this.   Help should be targeted. If a kid comes in hungry and empty handed, then they should be helped.  How about a lunch club. Where the children are offered the chance to make a meal for themselves if they need it. A toasted sandwich or even a marmite sandwich to make the PM happy.  What’s that Chinese proverb. Give a man a fish then he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish and he feeds himself for a lifetime.   Sun, 16 Mar 2025 17:04:23 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-are-labour-serious-about-infrastructure-investment/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-are-labour-serious-about-infrastructure-investment/ So, Barbara Edmonds is in front of the investment conference today, representing the Labour Party who may or may not be in charge of the Treasury benches in the future.  The conference will be waiting to see if Labour is on the infrastructure bus. If they will support the projects the National-led government are into, and if they’re on board with foreign investment in our infrastructure plans   It’s actually the critical address of the weekend. Yesterday we heard that the big concern is the pipeline of work.   Overseas investors don’t want to set up shop in New Zealand for a project only to find we back out, leaving them with a big investment and nowhere to go.   To be fair, National has done it with the cancellation of big projects like the ferries.   Labour also did it with a moratorium on road development. It’s time for a bipartisan accord on what we need to do, but that will be hard to find as our parties have used infrastructure as a way to differentiate between themselves. That’s dumb.  For instance, roads are neither left wing or right wing.   Labour’s anti-road sentiment has been based on faulty logic. Somehow, they think building roads means more emissions.   Which is ridiculous, it means the same emissions on bad roads. In fact, it means more emissions as traffic gets stalled.   A good road is an efficient road, and an efficient road helps with both emissions and productivity.   So, all eyes on Barbara to see if she’s logical or ideologically driven.  Thu, 13 Mar 2025 17:17:30 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-were-all-talk-no-action/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-were-all-talk-no-action/ It was a big deal for Rod Duke to go public with his concerns about his country yesterday.   The Managing Director of Briscoe’s was announcing his company’s full year result.   His company did well. Holding on to it’s revenue in a difficult year.   Rod and his team have been praised for their performance over a number of years. They’re smart operators who can wring blood out of a stone.  But it’s not part of the job description to pass comment on the government of the day. But he did.   Which is symptomatic of today's climate.   We’re sick of the doldrums and we want a captain to lead out out of the quicksand.   So, Rod as a Corporate Leader said the government needs to get it’s arse into gear and do something.   He said it’s been a year since the last lot so there’s been more than enough time to get proactive.   He believes the closer we get to an election the more pro-active the government will get but he’d like more action now.   But when asked what, he said it’s not his business.   And that’s the New Zealand problem right there.   We’re good at identifying problems but not finding solutions.   We ask our government to do something. They don’t so we vote for the other lot. They say have the answers but they don’t. And so we flip flop again with nothing happening.   Then yesterday we had the IMF coming out saying that New Zealand needs to lower it’s corporate tax because we’re becoming uncompetitive.   But they also say we need a capital gains tax because a country needs to balance it’s budget.     We need to spend but we also need to raise the revenue to spend.   So, the IMF come up with an answer.     Is the Government reducing corporate tax. Not so far.     Meanwhile is the Labour party championing a capital gains tax. Not so far.    Is any party offering both?  Wed, 12 Mar 2025 17:31:23 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-could-the-housing-crisis-be-over/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-could-the-housing-crisis-be-over/ As with all things lately we’re looking for any little clue that the old normal is coming back. But I don’t think it is.   ASB lowered its house price inflation forecast for this year.   Its Chief Economist Nick Tuffley reckons the pick up in sales has been sluggish and there is a lot of stock on the market.   They believe prices will fall through the first half of this year, therefore, the bank has more than halved its house price growth forecast for 2025 to just 3.4% from 9%.   That’s more in line with inflation than for a long time.   In other words, buying a house at the moment is no longer the path to automatic capital gain.   Faced with that house owners are more likely to stay put.   Back in the old normal, churn was the name of the game. You’d buy and sell often to climb up through the property ladder.   In today’s climate you’re more likely to stay in any house you own because a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.  Stability and security is the now the new normal.   This is more in line with overseas models, where people stay in their houses longer, accepting their limitations and building a day-to-day life you can count on.   Now we’ve been through boom-and-bust periods before.   Prices have always come back - but what if they don’t this time? Is that such a bad thing?   People have often said our property fixation has been at the expense of real productivity growth.   What will happen next is anyone’s guess.   But the bank also points out another factor: immigration levels are staying stubbornly low.   We’re not an attractive destination and that may be because of the image we’ve presented of ourselves as a basket place economy.  It may be that the housing crisis is over and so welcome to a stable economy. It’s not a get rich quick paradise anymore, but it is still a nice place to live.    Tue, 11 Mar 2025 17:02:35 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-its-too-early-for-polls/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-its-too-early-for-polls/ We’re awash with polls.   The Taxpayers' Union-Curia poll and research from Horizon.   It all says we’re not happy with the country right now. Therefore, we’re not happy with the Government.    And no kidding - things have not been good for a while now.   No matter who was in power a correction was needed.   We swamped the nation with cash at the start of the pandemic. Unnecessarily we can now say with hindsight, and then we paid the price.   So, the Government is going to be on the backfoot, no matter who they are.   I actually think the surprising thing is how the coalition’s support is holding up.   Sure, Luxon has his problems. Sure, Seymour and Peters say the most triggering things knowing that there’s a bunch of people who love it.   But are the opposition making any sense at all and acting like they’d do better?   Chris Hipkins over the weekend played cagey with his party's positions,   When asked about the capital gains tax, he prevaricated and then talked cryptically about tax reforms.  And that’s about all the policy talk I can rustle up from Labour.   The Greens and the Māori party just keep on saying what they always say, but just personally they appear to be still on holiday.  They’re certainly not in the house.   So, all this poll says is that our blocs are evenly matched in tribal terms - the trick will be the swinging voters who vote for self interest. But let’s see what things will be like in 18 months' time.   A poll at this time is like some small talk at a party that hasn’t started yet.  Mon, 10 Mar 2025 17:32:31 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-my-thoughts-on-the-state-of-the-healthcare-system/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-my-thoughts-on-the-state-of-the-healthcare-system/ We ended last week with some hopeful noises from the health sector.   Minister Simeon Brown was praised by academics and commentators for his increased funding for nurse practitioners, advanced training for nurses and increased training for doctors who come from overseas.   He also announced an increase in the numbers of doctors we train here.   Then, on Friday he announced the health plan which sees Lester Levy replaced by a board.   Five targets were announced, all focusing on speedier healthcare and outcomes.   And to chew through the waiting lists, the minister talked about utilising private facilities.   At this point I think it’s important to think about where we are.   Labour tried to reduce the DHBs from over twenty to four and the Māori health authority.   Even though the right wing had been complaining about the inefficiency of too many boards for years, when a left-wing government does it it’s branded as a socialist central government takeover.   After $50 million dollars was spent pursuing the four mega board we appear to be right back where we started.   Except we’re not. Lester Levy has been cutting the workforce, and the workforce feels hollowed out.   We have more funding than ever and yet it didn’t keep pace with inflation.  And to cope with the waiting lists that have built up over the decade, patients are being directed to the private system.  The upshot is that the public system is slowly withering. While it’s a good time to be a shareholder in a private health facility.   We seem to be heading towards a two-tier health system. One for those with money and one for those without.  And increasingly if you don’t have health insurance, you’re playing a waiting game about who will see you first. St Peter or the surgeon.  Sun, 09 Mar 2025 17:05:07 Z /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-dont-screw-with-the-successful-over-60s/ /on-air/early-edition-with-ryan-bridge/opinion/andrew-dickens-dont-screw-with-the-successful-over-60s/ What’s with all these sackings and surprise resignations this week...  Phil Goff yesterday, Adrian Orr the day before.     Richard Prebble did a runner from the gravy train of the Waitangi Tribunal   Greg Foran Calls it a day at Air New Zealand after 5 years...  One of these guys had change forced on them, the other three just packed up and left with varying degrees of notice.   Some are angry. some are relieved.   And they all have one thing in common   They’re over 60.   You don’t screw with successful over 60s, which they all are.  They have discovered a superpower. They don’t give a flying fig.   They’re financially settled. They know their own mind. They can afford to stand on their principles,    Phil Goff won't mind being held to account for what he said because he believes it.    He may be regretful that his entertaining job in London has gone but he'll just come back to the farm in Clevedon and start making some real money in consultancy and cashing in both his Prime Ministerial and Mayoral superannuation.   When things start getting all hot and sticky in their jobs for these over 60s, they can instantly switch to whoever needs this crap and walk.    And then they brood.  In their Bach. Or on a cruise ship. With a nice dinner reservation and maybe treat themselves to a new car.   And if you think the over 60s have a superpower it's nothing compared to the over 70s whose superpower is the absolute certainty in what they believe and the total commitment to making sure that everyone knows it.  Thu, 06 Mar 2025 17:04:44 Z