Mike Hosking Breakfast Show transcript starts at 11:29
Mike:
Aah… umm… are you going to go to the land protests?
Jacinda:
I have no umm… immediate plans to. I haven’t ruled out aah… in the future but not right now. Obviously, focus for us is trying to help facilitate aah… a solution to be found. So, that’s what’s underway right now, and I absolutely stand by that being a role for… for us as the government. You will have seen umm… a week ago now we did sit down with representatives of mana whenua umm… and talk with them about the situation, and of course at that time the announcement was made that there would be no activity on the land until a solution was found. And that’s the place where we are at the moment.
Mike:
It’s like more talk. Are they taking time to consider that as well?
Jacinda:
Aah… the mana whenua?
Mike:
Hmm, or you, or whoever’s talking.
Jacinda:
Well, they are obviously… you will have seen that aah… Kiingi Tuheitia went onto Ihumatao at the weekend. They are directly involved in the conversations that are happening right now. So, that’s underway and I want to let that happen… umm… aah… we are not directly involved in that at the moment umm… it’s very much a discussion aah… amongst Maoridom aah… seeking to find a solution for Maori.
Mike:
Would you consider using the Maori Land Act?
Jacinda:
These are all hypotheticals and conversations that aren’t necessary at this time because those solutions are being discussed and brokered umm… aah… amongst mana whenua and other parties so, I am going to let that happen. I’m not going to turn up there with any hypothetical solutions.
Mike:
So, you injected yourself into the conversation before you left for overseas, and now you are saying you are not part of the conversation, is that right?
Jacinda:
Aah… I actually wouldn’t call that arbitrary… Mike, there’s often occurrences where of course I have to be in other places, particularly when there are long standing commitments…
Mike:
No… no, no I am not talking about your trip, I am talking about you’d said the government needs to talk and it became the government’s issue and now you are saying it’s not the government’s issue.
Jacinda:
Aah… of course we can play a role regardless of whether or not we are a direct party to an issue. We can play a role in helping to facilitate a solution. There’s lots of examples of that. The CRL is another one, Mike. We’re not… you know… this is a… we have a place to help find solutions to problems regardless of whether or not it’s something that we’ve been directly involved in and that’s an example… and example is Ihumatao. You know, some will say I shouldn’t have got involved, some would say I should have got more involved. It probably means we are in about the right place.
Mike:
Did Esper [US Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s visit to NZ] want anything specific from the Americans?
Jacinda:
Aah… we had a general… umm… my conversation with him over the phone was very general, of course I haven’t touched base with the deputy prime minister since he had longer conversations with him yesterday.
Mike:
Would you expect them to want something specific?
Jacinda:
Aah… not necessarily but umm… you know, I also don’t want to predetermine the umm… discussions that are being had. I’ve been asked about, for instance, the situation in Iran, the protection of shipping lanes, whether or not our request is being specific there at the moment those requests have been very general umm… and we are not the only ones that have received general requests of support umm… but at the moment, nothing specific.
Mike:
Are you open to help him?
Jacinda:
Aah… again, I will leave that until we have a specific request which at the moment umm… we don’t. In terms of general support of course we support maritime law being upheld aah… and ensuring that shipping lanes are… are clear and free for movement.
Mike:
When is the KiwiBuild reset to be announced?
Jacinda:
Aah… Minister Woods has indicated that would be umm… aah… the next… within the next sitting session.
Mike:
What’s that mean?
Jacinda:
Aah… that means that we’ve got one week of parliament aah… in session at the moment, then one week when parliament isn’t sitting, and then we resume again and it’s within that next session.
Audio continues here.
Mike:
So, that lasts for how long? How long a period is that?
Jacinda:
Oh, that’s what three weeks?
Mike:
So, in the next five weeks we will have an announcement on the KiwiBuild reset?
Jacinda:
That’s what the minister has indicated, yes.
Mike:
Will it include the Greens’ “rent to buy”?
Jacinda:
Aah… that was actually in our confidence and supply agreement so we’ve been discussing rent to buy options generally with the Greens for some time, but we will have more to say on that down the track.
Mike:
When?
Jacinda:
Down the track, Mike – stay tuned.
Mike:
So… so…
Jacinda:
I know how much you enjoy listening to the government (indistinct)…
Mike:
So, is that between now and the next election?
Jacinda:
(Laughs) It means soon. Mike, I’m not going to announce anything that hasn’t been concluded but we will have it…
Mike:
So, it’s still not concluded yet?
Jacinda:
It was part of the confidence and supply agreement. Technically, you could have asked me this question weekly from the time we formed government. We haven’t concluded policy, when we have an announcement, we will make it.
Mike:
It’s just that I asked James Shaw yesterday – he said you were on board and NZ First were on board.
Jacinda:
Well, obviously the fact that it’s in the confidence and supply agreement – yes, that’s a statement of fact. We wouldn’t have put it in the agreement if we didn’t agree, we are just doing the policy work.
Mike:
So, it will be delivered before the election then?
Jacinda:
Mike – stay tuned.
Mike:
When’s the cancer service announcement coming?
Jacinda:
Umm… by the end of August. Umm… we will release the cancer action plan. So, we’ve obviously done tranche one of that so a big capital roll-out, a bit investment in what they call linear accelerators, so radiation treatment that previously has been left to DHBs to purchase but it’s a big outlay, umm… and they haven’t been replaced at the rate that they should, so we announced that on Sunday umm… that’s tranche one. So, we will have more to say in the action plan in that a Minister Clark has said will be out by the end of August.
Mike:
And that will include a national cancer service?
Jacinda:
Umm… that will include umm… what it includes, Mike. I’m not going to make announcements until it’s completed.
Mike:
What are you going to do about the debt on the DHBs?
Jacinda:
Yeah, that’s something obviously we’ve seen the markers for a number of years. We have made significant investments in the DHBs including capital investments umm… $1.78 billion in the last budget. It is going to take us a while to get them in a better position aah… not least of course, some of the workforce pressures with umm… aah… pay rounds that we’ve recently had as well. So, of course the minister is working with them to get them back on track where we have seen significant issues of course we’ve since put in place commissioners and that continues to be work that we’ll do to try and fix what is essentially nine years of neglect in the health system.
Mike:
Appreciate your time as always, Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister Tuesday mornings on the Mike Hosking Breakfast.