GOOD MORNING AND WELCOME TO Q+A. I'M SUSAN WOOD. ON THE PROGRAMME THIS SUNDAY, WE'RE TALKING PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES WITH THE MINISTER IN CHARGE OF GETTING THE COUNTRY MOVING, BUT HOW FAR WILL GERRY BROWNLEE GO TO GET US ON THE RIGHT TRACK? ALSO ON THE PROGRAMME ` XERO BOSS ROD DRURY. HE GIVES US THE TECH INDUSTRY'S WISH LIST FOR POLITICIANS THIS ELECTION. COULD THE RIGHT POLICIES TRANSFORM US INTO A SOUTH PACIFIC SILICON VALLEY? AND SIR BOB HARVEY ` FROM NORM KIRK TO HELEN CLARK, THE FORMER ADVERTISING GURU HAS HELPED MANY LABOUR LEADERS CONNECT WITH VOTERS. WHAT ADVICE DOES HE HAVE FOR DAVID CUNLIFFE? WE'LL TAKE A LOOK BACK AT THE WEEK WITH POLITICAL EDITOR CORIN DANN AND EXAMINE ALL THE ISSUES WITH OUR PANEL, POLITICAL SCIENTIST DR BRYCE EDWARDS, FORMER LABOUR PARTY CANDIDATE JOSIE PAGANI AND MICHAEL BARNETT FROM THE AUCKLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. DUE TO THE LIVE NATURE OF Q+A, WE APOLOGISE FOR THE LACK OF CAPTIONS FOR SOME ITEMS. GOOD TO HAVE YOU WITH US. TO THE WEEK IN POLITICS, AND, CORIN, YOU'VE GOT A NEW ONE NEWS COLMAR BRUNTON POLL TONIGHT. WHAT CAN YOU TELL US? It is the last of a cycle of polls that have been bad for Labour. It is not good for David Cunliffe as prime minister. YOU'RE SPEAKING TO TRANSPORT MINISTER GERRY BROWNLEE IN A MOMENT, BUT IT HASN'T BEEN A GOOD WEEK FOR NATIONAL MPS. David Cunliffe seemed to have lost his confidence this week and National floundered. AND HERE'S CLAUDETTE HAUITI AFTER HER DECISION WAS ANNOUNCED. People make mistakes. I accept her assurance that she made a mistake. She is very unlikely to get a decent list ranking. GERRY BROWNLEE GOT INTO A SPOT OF BOTHER THIS WEEK BY BREACHING AIRPORT SECURITY RULES. HE'S STEPPED BACK FROM HIS AVIATION DUTIES WHILE WAITING FOR THE OUTCOME OF A CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY INVESTIGATION. CORIN IS WITH TRANSPORT MINISTER GERRY BROWNLEE. Talk us through what happened there. I don't really have too much more of an explanation. I am not going to start pleading the case here. I have accepted responsibility. I thought we were going to miss the plane. I was in a hurry. Did you think in the moment that you were above the law? I don't think so. I didn't consider the consequences other than getting to the plane as quick as possible. I can't explain it. Is it about arrogance after two terms in Parliament? I don't feel as though I behaved like that. It was not my intention. It is a huge distraction and I deeply regret that for all the party volunteers. The fact that it becomes the news rather than general policy. TVNZ made some enquiries. Would you have acknowledged it? It got me a little bit perplexed. A staff member came and said did you bypass security at Christchurch airport? All I did was start writing a letter to the Prime Minister. You weren't thinking that it was something that you shouldn't do? In hindsight. What happened to the guy at the door. Do the wave you through? Correction: did he wave you through? I know the guy. I have spoken to him multiple times. I do not want to dump it on him. Doesn't that suggest there is something wrong with the rules here? What are the rules? Why is there a door that allows some people do not go through security? It is the door for people connecting to regional flights. It is an exit. It is available to people for that purpose. That is no excuse for me to use it. What would national do if it was re-elected in regards to transport? Do you not recognise that the public wants public transport more? We think public transport is a good thing. We have invested heavily in public transport. No less than $250 million a year. Auckland rail, Wellington rail. Beta arrangements for passenger convenience and public transport continues to be subsidised it a very heavy rate. Can you point to any new public transport infrastructure that has been brought on by your government and the last six years? Something that wasn't funded by Labour. Someone had to deliver Labour's projects. We are funding 1.7 billion for Auckland. That is very significant infrastructure. It is for a part of the transport network that only sees about 3% of the traffic. You have effectively been cherry picking and choosing the bits that you want. Strong criticism from road users that you are out there choosing and that is not the way to plan a network. The truck operators conference. I recently spoke at it. The additional projects add to our significant increase in money made available for regional New Zealand roads. It is the bigger picture. You have picked a bunch of roads. You are continuing to fund public transport, but there are no new public transport initiatives. Let me finish. What we're seeing - and it is encouraging - is an increased patronage on Auckland public transport services. The primary driver is the local authorities. 14% patronage increase in Auckland. Does it mean you should bring forward the inner-city loop? We brought that project if you by a decade. We wanted to fund construction from 2020. Some of the trends that Auckland identified, and when we looked at them, we decided that they had set to tough a target. We could bring it forward by two or three years. But we brought forward by 10 years. Len Brown and others would argue that we are going to need it to be in place by 2020. That is not what the numbers are telling us. Around about 19 million passenger movements by 2020. That is half the target. What about a tunnel? Let me finish. If we see the trend rapidly rising, we will change it. What about a tunnel under the Auckland harbour? The Prime Minister announced it last year that it would be one of the main infrastructure projects that we look at. 2025 and 2030 time period. If you take the numbers from 2006, the percentage of people off the roads I.E. Cars and into public transport, The global financial crisis is what cut Petrol usage. You can buy a 15 year old car these days. We are planning for productivity across New Zealand. We want to go around the country with the 12 regional projects. Where the rail bits that are part of that? Where are the metro rail? We want to see a greater use of the main trunk line. There are issues around that. It does illustrate the point. They say there is a wall of wood in the Napier to Gisborne region and you need to get it out. I want to clarify on the tunnel under the harbour. We think the necessity for it would be in 2025 to 2030. You would expect a business case to start considering how it would be funded in the next couple of years. Before we go, the flyover in Wellington ` you have expressed disappointment that is not going he had. Correction: ahead. The road around the basin is a significant part of keeping the traffic flowing. There is another 20 days also where people can put in their views. You seem to be signalling here that you are not going to give up on this. NZTA and their predecessors have considered multiple options. We wanted this decision and they said no. What about the process? It is the same process that has delivered other things. I'm not having a go at the process. What do we see next? People said put another tunnel through Mt Victoria. Goodness knows how you get tunnel consented. There is a congestion problem around them. Correction: there. You have to look at the best way to overcome that problem. Thank you very much. SEND US YOUR THOUGHTS. WE'RE ON TWITTER, @NZQANDA, YOU CAN EMAIL US AT Q+A@TVNZ.CO.NZ, OR TEXT YOUR THOUGHTS AND FIRST NAME TO 2211. EACH TEXT COSTS 50 CENTS. WE'LL GET THE VIEWS OF OUR PANEL AFTER THE BREAK. WE LOOK BACK AT WHAT WAS MAKING POLITICAL NEWS THIS WEEK IN 1979 ` ONE OF THE MULDOON GOVERNMENT'S MOST UNPOPULAR POLICIES. LET'S GO TO OUR PANEL NOW ` POLITICAL SCIENTIST DR BRYCE EDWARDS FROM OTAGO UNIVERSITY; FORMER LABOUR PARTY CANDIDATE JOSIE PAGANI; AND AUCKLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE CHIEF EXECUTIVE MICHAEL BARNETT. Very interesting listening to the Minister. Most people would look at it from a 'me' perspective. If people avoided security would they be in trouble? Probably yes. He was in a rush. If only he was in a rush to rebuild Christchurch. The problem is that he is the minister of transport. He has to be above reproach. Peter Doone - the police Commissioner in 1999. He wasn't breathalysed. The police Commissioner resigned over that because he did not insist that he was breathalysed. If you resign as a minister, it is not the end of your ministerial career. I can see him totally focused and heading �for the door. What he said was when someone came into my office, the light went on and he started writing his letter to the Prime Minister. Do you buy that? National handled this well. It is a second term government and voters don't like out of touch illustrations. This allows you to just see a glimmer of hope for Labour. If there is more out of touch behaviour over the next few weeks, it will make the government look like they are hypocritical and not standing by the rhetoric. Poll after poll, certainly in Auckland, it talks about public transport. Is the government out of step with public transport? You can imagine it as a big piece of state funded infrastructure, you can imagine it as a Labour policy. This does not look like a far right policy for the government. It is a Muldoonist, almost socialist, planning economy. Labour have not been able to get any purchase. Successive governments did nothing. Unless you have a roading infrastructure, you cannot have a public transport infrastructure. I think national have done well. Labour are under this perception that they do not look like National lite. In reality, National has become Labour lite. We have a real mixup ideologically. Voters cannot really decide. The centrist voter thinks Labour-Greens ` public transport; national ` roads. The third crossing under the Auckland harbour ` National are sounding more positive about those projects. It is about the shared leadership. When you have unlimited resources, you need to prioritise carefully and do well. If you were going to prioritise the harbour crossing, then they are getting it wrong. The rail loop, to my mind, but it is about population growth and distribution. They actually halved the funding about regional roads. National announced a policy. How big a deal as transport going to be this election? There is a huge amount of heat. Labour and Green voters really hate this government's transport policy. SIR BOB HARVEY IS COMING UP SHORTLY. AND AFTER THE BREAK, XERO BOSS ROD DRURY TURNS HIS MIND TO POLITICS: What do you think about Kim Dotcom? XERO BOSS ROD DRURY ANNOUNCED THIS WEEK THAT HIS CLOUD ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE COMPANY IS ON TRACK TO LIST ON A US STOCK MARKET IN THE FUTURE. XERO IS ONE OF THE BIG SUCCESS STORIES OF THE LOCAL INDUSTRY, WITH MORE THAN 300,000 GLOBAL CUSTOMERS AND GROWING. ROD DRURY ISN'T AFRAID TO THINK BIG WHEN IT COMES TO POLITICS TOO, AND SO I ASKED HIM WHAT HE THOUGHT OF WHAT POLITICAL PARTIES WERE OFFERING AT THIS ELECTION. There is no policy. We have proven we can build a world-class businesses from NZ. Should we take advantage of this shift? We are a country furthest away from everywhere else. We are proud of exporting protein and manufactured goods. The Internet is allowing us to export services. Can we do it with the bandwidth we have? No, we can't. I have all these officers, and in real-time we can't talk to each other. Are the politicians not of the Internet age generation? Yes, but they are all wonderful people. But we have to grow the pie. It is hard for politicians to engage. We need someone independent to advise government. but the government has said no to that. Labour has said yes. It does not cost a whole lot of money. With ICT, we have a lot of money to spend. Microsoft, and the global companies. NZ could be a test lab. We figured a lot of money coming in. A chief technology officer could work. They can explain what it is, and we can engage with him. We want the world coming here to see the best of business and government. Have you given up on Pacific Fibre? Right now there is a private sector cable, and that would be the government's reference. My view is that the public of NZ would love to own a cable. Under my model, we would put a tender out and a UFB and get as much bandwidth for five dollars a month. I do not think we need it for everyone. If they want it, they can get it at home. But it is the businesses that need it to get more revenue for the country. I think Kim Dotcom should go. He is very media savvy and understand it is a good story. It is a big sideshow. We're not talking about the big issues. Kim does not represent the Internet generation. I do. We have created 100 new jobs and paying lots of PAYE and investing in creating export revenue. I saw Laila Harre last night, and she is great. But she knows nothing about technology. We were having trouble getting skilled people, but our brand is getting bigger and people want to work for us. We want to make sure there are lots of people coming through and we are doing lots of work around getting schoolkids into tech. We are seeing people thinking that technology is actually a cool industry. Do you think the politicians will get on board? I am not being passive about it. We will make this happen. I would hate that in 20 years that we would all wake up and we had missed the biggest opportunity to make a change. You have a plan for the regions. It is great that Auckland is doing its thing. Do I care about house prices in Auckland? No. You should move to Hawke's Bay. If we want the regions to work, we need an active plan. In Hawke's Bay and Nelson, we worked with the council and the offering of getting these high content jobs. When KiwiBank said that they would move, Hastings was well-dressed and we got 200 new jobs. That was a game changer. We need to manufacture those jobs so that people can move to the regions. These are really fun jobs. The cool thing about having a lifestyle that you earn globally and live locally and living in NZ is magic. I want the Basin Reserve flyover. It looks pretty exciting. Whenever these projects happen, there are new opportunities that come from it. Getting out of Wellington is very frustrating. AFTER THE BREAK, CORIN'S BACK WITH SIR BOB HARVEY. HE'S PLAYED A ROLE IN THE RISE OF MANY LABOUR LEADERS. WHAT ADVICE DOES THE FORMER POLITICAL STRATEGIST OUR NEXT GUEST HAS HAD AN INFLUENTIAL ROLE IN THE RISE OF MANY LABOUR LEADERS. SIR BOB HARVEY WAS BEHIND THE TRANSFORMATION OF NORM KIRK INTO ONE OF NZ'S MOST POPULAR PRIME MINISTERS. HE ALSO ADVISED BILL ROWLING, DAVID LANGE AND HELEN CLARK, THE LATTER AS LABOUR PARTY PRESIDENT. WILD WESTIE, A NEW BOOK ABOUT HIS LIFE, HAS JUST BEEN RELEASED. SIR BOB JOINS CORIN NOW. Reading your book, I was surprised at how much of a role you have had in national politics over the years. What drew you in? Was that the big personalities or the politics? I worked with a couple of smart guys in the creation of what was the modern election campaign. You have to believe in the client, and I come from a socialist background, so I saw Norman Kirk and said I had some great ideas. I had just been to America. I have ideas about split screen, music and I pulled it together. He gave me a chance. When you talk about raw talent, this guy was 6 foot two and 30 stone. Is that raw talent? I could see it. Can anybody be made over? Can you sell any political party? Labour has a leader who is struggling. Could you turn it around with the right advertising campaign? Yes. The fact is David Lange was the classic example of that. There was a very large person in Mangere. We spent an hour with him before getting his stomach stapled. It was a serious operation in those days. On the way back in the car, I said to Mike, he was it. He had enormous charisma. The party thought he was a clown. Do you see that in David Cunliffe? What would your advice be to him? Get your act together. They have a great advertising agency. It is a different world from back then though. You have a very popular prime minister. We are bored with election campaign. And the media is fierce. It is never over until it is over, and the campaign really has not started. I have not heard any music or branding. I have not seen the enormity of the social media. That is where it is at. And polls are being done by phone. Who is answering their phones these days? This is the world of buying and selling. It is television studios. It is the art of selling something. It is the world of elections. You were working in an advertising agency and associating yourself with socialism. You do not see any conflict between those two. Why would I? You need to move opinions. That is important and election time. I remember the Ted Kennedy campaign in Los Angeles. He did not stand, but he was a reference eye-opener. I brought some of the worlds best techniques together for Lange and Mike Moore. You have got Kim Dotcom lurking in the wings. And all those other issues. Does he need to through the script out?Does he need to do something unpredictable? Of course. The secret is opening up. You need to talk with people, not at people. NZ is a very complex country. If you get that right, with David Lange and Helen Clark When you went from the world of Clark and Lange, with a party controlled the money, I found it a different world. I am not saying that the CIA knocked off Norman Kirk. I felt that Kirk was removed. And I put a load of dots together. He was so outspoken about dealing with China, and t suddenly this robust man started to deteriorate within six months. We did not do enough work about the loss of a phenomenal Prime Minister. WE'LL RETURN TO OUR PANEL AND LOOK TO THE WEEK AHEAD. PLUS ` THE PINCH ON OIL PRICES SEES THE INTRODUCTION OF CARLESS DAYS. WE LOOK BACK AT WHAT WAS MAKING POLITICAL NEWS THIS WEEK IN 1979. WELCOME BACK. Bryce, you want to talk about the interview with Bob Harvey. He is a legend, but embodies everything that is wrong with modern politics. He is the man that brought in business into politics, professionalising it. Wouldn't it be boring without that? It is about selling politics like a can of baked beans. He started with that we need to change. Bringing in Matt McCarten was the wrong thing. He needs to go back to the story of why Labour is there. There is nothing wrong with spin and focus groups and billboards. The problem is when it is not based on substance. Labour is scared to be true Labour. It has always been the party that has been iconoclastic. It is the party that is a nation builder. The spin starts to look empty because you are all over the place. You are looking like you're competing with national. You need to go back and talk about your core message. This week was a disaster. By Wednesday, he was having a war with Mike Hosking. Corin, 48 for John Key, 8 for Cunliffe. This is a very important poll. It is being looked at very closely. Polls have been consistently coming down in the last round. Do they do the unthinkable? I don't think they will change, but it is being thought about. That preferred prime minister number at eight going into a campaign is a huge gap for him to turn around. The last time that was so low would have been Helen Clark in the early 90s. If party is closer to 30, Cunliffe is safe. If the Greens or on 15%, there is still a possibility. To get any sense that David Cunliffe himself is losing his confidence? He is not telling the story of confidence and belief. He looks battered and torn. He deserved a break in Queenstown. I would move away from everything that the blues do and sticking to my story. They launched this Vote Positive campaign and the first thing they do is complain about something. Do not like the media. It is the wrong target. The debates will be straight down the middle. They are a fair fight. What Labour has going for them is that they are the underdog. NZ likes underdogs. They are still in for a chance even if they get 25%. The strategy of 30% was never gonna work. Wasn't it a 40% strategy when David Shearer was in? He has overseen a pretty steady erosion of poll numbers since David Cunliffe has taken over. What are you seeing in Parliament? They are shellshocked. Some of the Cunliffe supporters have started to realise it hasn't gone the way they wanted to go. If the numbers get down long enough, you start talking about big names who might not come back ` Jacinda Ardern, David Parker. The other thing coming up this week is John Key announcing his friends and partners. Not looking good for the Conservatives. The polling was not high enough. They will not be a deal done therefore Colin Craig. But you will see ACT in Epsom and Peter Dunne in Ohariu. But the conservative thing was a good idea. Conservatives have done it themselves. They've shown themselves to be not a good party to be alongside. They needed to be around 3% or 4%. They needed to remove Colin Craig from the advertising. The billboards are very Doctor Who looking. Last time it was that cup of tea that helped Winston push over... I think John Key senses that the public are OK with the two seats that are existing. The Conservatives and Winston Peters. Could they knock each other out? They could very much wind up getting 4% of the vote. If they were below 5%, it would benefit National and give them the numbers to govern alone. That NZ First and the Conservatives are going after a different constituency. NZ First is capable of going with Labour, but the Conservatives are not. I think the left may go to the Maori party. I think that is the biggest call that you will see. BEFORE WE GO, THE POLITICAL NEWS THIS WEEK IN 1979 WAS DOMINATED BY THE MULDOON GOVERNMENT'S LATEST ATTEMPT TO PROP UP OUR STRUGGLING ECONOMY. NZ HAD BEEN HIT HARD BY THE OIL SHOCKS OF THE 70S, SO THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT HAD DECIDED TO INTRODUCE CARLESS DAYS. THE POLICY PROVED UNSUCCESSFUL AND DEEPLY UNPOPULAR AND WAS DROPPED LESS THAN A YEAR LATER. Willingly or not, one of the world's cheapest car owning nations is about to rediscover its feet. For the average person, the government thinks carless days is the cheapest way to cut oil use. Tomorrow will be one of the big days. tHAT with WEDNESDAY has been chosen by over half the car owners is. How do people choose their carless day? it is the only day my daughter does not go to kindergarten. 'MARAE' IS NEXT WITH THE HARD JOURNEY SOME MAKE TO LEARN TE REO. THANKS FOR WATCHING AND THANKS FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS. THOSE WERE THE QUESTIONS, AND THOSE WERE THE ANSWERS. THAT'S Q+A. SEE YOU NEXT SUNDAY MORNING AT 9. CAPTIONS BY VIRGINIA PHILP AND DESNEY SHAW. CAPTIONS WERE MADE POSSIBLE WITH FUNDING FROM NZ ON AIR. COPYRIGHT ABLE 2014