Friday Faceoff: Ben Thomas and Nick Leggett talk polls, water bills and winning Lotto

Finance Minister Nicola Willis says New Zealand has not “escaped the aftershocks of world events” as new data shows hardship rising and more Kiwis struggling to pay the bills. Speaking to Newstalk ZB Wellington Mornings host Nick Mills about the state of the economy, Willis acknowledged it had been “a tough time”. “Things were starting to come along and then come April there were some reasonably significant announcements by the US President that sent ramifications through the world”, Willis said. Donald Trump’s April “Liberation Day” announcement saw sweeping tariffs introduced for more than 125 countries, including 10% on imports coming from New Zealand. Willis said business confidence has been impacted as a result and growth forecasts have been downgraded.“Little old New Zealand, just recovering, has been really impacted by that.” She said in spite of the global uncertainty growth is still forecast to improve, but “we haven’t escaped the aftershocks of global events”. Credit reporting agency Centrix released its June Credit Indicator today. It showed household arrears were levelling out while hardship and company liquidations were on the rise. Nearly 50,000 individual billpayers were in financial hardship, an increase of 300 from May, and 14% more than a year ago, Centrix said. An uptick in hardship began in November 2022, and today’s figures “continues a steady upward trend”, Centrix managing director Keith McLaughlin said. “I don’t deny those numbers, as you say, they’re facts and I meet enough New Zealanders each week to know there are still a lot of people doing it tough”, Willis said. She said it comes at a time when New Zealand is at its “peak unemployment”. “When unemployment is higher, of course that is when you see people unable to pay their bills”, Willis said. On the increase in business liquidations, which Centrix recorded as being up 27% on last year’s figures, Willis said that there would be a variety of reasons for that and disputed the Government was responsible. Asked by Mills if her government could have done more to assist struggling businesses, she said there were “certainly things we could have done which would have made it harder for them”. Willis pointed to moves like tax cuts, cutting red tape, and the investment boost policy, which she said are benefiting small businesses. Wellington’s ‘disappointing chapter’ Willis, a lifelong Wellingtonian, was asked about the state of the capital. She responded by criticising Wellington City Council for having had “its eye completely off the ball”. “It feels to me like a place that needs a fresh start”, she said. Willis believes the city still has “cool things” going for it like smart tenacious people, the native bush, and the city’s hospitality scene, but said “man oh man have we mucked up” with regard to council decision-making. She said the council must be focused on keeping rates low. It comes after the council approved a 12% rates increase for the 2025/2026 year. “It seems to me that the council has not been focused on that mission and at the same time has been quite distracted by what I would say are interesting political debates.” She said the city has been in a “disappointing chapter”. Asked whether she is excited by any of those running in the upcoming local election, Willis said she does not endorse candidates but is looking for two things. The first was getting rates rises under control. “That means actually being prepared to stop doing some things, we’ve had to do that as a government”, Willis said.The second thing she was looking for in candidates was policy that is “genuinely pro-business”, citing Wellington’s disproportionately high commercial rates. She also spoke on the Golden Mile project saying while she understands the vision, now is not the time.“I’m looking for councillors who are pledging to be disciplined about the way they spend ratepayer money”, Willis said. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been a big weekend of music on Worth Farm in Somerset, England as the 2025 Glastonbury music festival was held.  This week Nick and James dissect the highlights of the festival, argue about an audio-visual experience that is coming to Wellington this month, and listen to Liam Finn's latest album Hyperverse.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's exactly halfway through 2025 -  six months ago the catch phrase of the Wellington business community was 'survive til 25'. Are our businesses still struggling halfway through the year? Also, have tourism numbers in Wellington bounced back to pre-Covid levels, and can Kiwi consumers and businesses cope with the increasing costs of flights? To answer those questions, Business Central/Wellington Chamber of Commerce CEO Simon Arcus and Travel Agents Association CEO Julie White joined Nick Mills for the Business Panel. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Legislation will soon be introduced bolstering the maximum sentences for those who assault first responders and Corrections offices. Will it be supported across Parliament? Also, a New Zealand First MP has announced her resignation from Parliament after just 18 months. Why is she leaving? To answer those questions, Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls joined Nick Mills for the Beehive Buzz. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

OPINION Well, we've got a new idea from Wellington Central MP Tamatha Paul and you better brace yourself for this one. She was in the paper over the weekend - not advocating for Wellingtonians, for our economy, our businesses or our vulnerable people. She’s advocating for something else entirely. She wants to strip prominent statues around Wellington of their heritage status. She wants these statues bowled. She wants to strip Wellington of its history. Now I can tell you Tamtha's got her sights firmly on the William Wakefield monument at the Basin Reserve. You know the one; the white Greek dome on the bank. She also wants to get rid of the bronze bust of Edward Wakefield on Mount Victoria. She also doesn't like the Queen Victoria statue between Cambridge and Kent Terrace. These three people are, according to our local MP, “thieving criminal colonisers". This is the most ridiculous thing I have heard coming out of Tamatha Paul's mouth, and remember, she's the Green MP who wants to defund the police. Imagine what's going to come out of Tamatha Paul's mouth next. I can guarantee you it’ll be nothing about Wellington’s struggles. Remember she’s not your average Green MP who is elected on the party list. She is Wellington Central’s local MP, elected by the people of the city. Why is our local MP focused on something like this? Now looking at what she wants to do here, it'll be a difficult feat for Tamatha to pull off. She'd have to pass an amendment to the Resource Management Act the same way Chris Bishop removed the heritage status from the Gordon Wilson flats, paving the way for the building's demolition. She'd have to persuade a majority of her fellow MPs to vote for her amendment, something that is not likely to happen. But that aside, why is she even talking about this? I wonder how she would feel if we talked about pulling down the statues of some of the more controversial Maori leaders? Questionable history isn’t limited to just colonial leaders. I think we can all appreciate that times were different in the 1800s. The conduct of some people we have statues of are far from acceptable. But it's our history. Should we just forget about it? Should we actively destroy it? At a time when we're trying to rebuild Wellington and our economy, should our local MP be looking at doing something so destructive as to pull down parts of our history? I personally love the statue of Queen Victoria on Cambridge and Kent Terraces, and I want the opportunity for us to have a piece of history that we can celebrate. And remember these memorials were created by previous generations of Wellingtonians. I can't even believe that we are talking about something so important to our history as the capital city. I think Tamatha Paul is way off the mark here, and it would be a slight on our history to get rid of things we should be celebrating. We need as a city more of our history to celebrate rather than denigrate. And I say to our local MP, sit down, maybe meet with some Wellington leaders, people in businesses or our charities. Get an idea from them about the real issues. I can guarantee you none of them care about a few statues. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A social housing block that has sat empty in central Wellington for more than a decade will soon lose its heritage status - and there's hopes it could be demolished this side of Christmas.  The Gordon Wilson flats on The Terrace have sat empty since 2012, with Victoria University buying the land in 2014. But the buildings held heritage status, making permission to demolish the buildings difficult to acquire.  But now the government will progress legislation to remove the flats' heritage status, allowing demolition. “The amendment will remove the flats’ protected heritage status and will make its demolition a permitted activity under the RMA. This means the building can finally be demolished, without a resource consent,“ Housing Minister Chris Bishop says.  He joined Nick Mills to discuss the decision. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A social housing block that has sat empty in central Wellington for more than a decade will soon lose its heritage status - and there's hopes it could be demolished this side of Christmas.  The Gordon Wilson flats on The Terrace have sat empty since 2012, with Victoria University buying the land in 2014. But the buildings held heritage status, making permission to demolish the buildings difficult to acquire.  But now the government will progress legislation to remove the flats' heritage status, allowing demolition. “The amendment will remove the flats’ protected heritage status and will make its demolition a permitted activity under the RMA. This means the building can finally be demolished, without a resource consent,“ Housing Minister Chris Bishop says.  He joined Nick Mills to discuss the decision. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week on the Business Panel, Nick was joined by two second-generation Wellington business owners. On the agenda was the state of the city, potential changes to sick leave, and the mood amongst the business community about upcoming local elections.  Listen to Dragonfly owner Tania Siladi and Nada Bakery owner Michael Gray above. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon departs early tomorrow morning for China, leading a business delegation to Shanghai, where he hopes to boost the country’s profile as a tourism and education destination.  He'll also meet with president Xi Jinping. So what is he hoping to achieve on the trip?  Also, Luxon hinted this morning at possible changes to legislation surrounding sick leave entitlement. Could the government revert back to the five days sick leave that was in place prior to the last government changing the law? Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls joined Nick Mills for the Beehive Buzz.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new Curia poll has seen Labour overtake National, albeit by a very slim margin. Is it realistic to think Labour could form a government after next year's election? Also, despite soon having a new water entity, Wellington's water bills from the second half of this year will be the equivalent of $50 a week - and by 2033 the bills will reach $20 a day. Can Wellingtonians afford this?  To answer those questions, former Porirua mayor and Infrastructure NZ CEO Nick Leggett and political commentator Ben Thomas joined Nick Mills for Friday Faceoff. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.