MORENA. GOOD MORNING, AND WELCOME TO Q+A. I'M GREG BOYED. TODAY OUR FIRST INTERVIEW WITH NEW FINANCE MINISTER GRANT ROBERTSON. HE HAS THE CHALLENGE OF LEADING THE GOVERNMENT'S MANAGEMENT OF THE ECONOMY. WHAT CHANGES CAN WE EXPECT? AND POLITICAL EDITOR CORIN DANN IS STANDING BY WITH GRANT ROBERTSON, OUR LEAD INTERVIEW THIS MORNING. NEW HOUSING MINISTER PHIL TWYFORD HAS VOWED TO REMOVE AUCKLAND'S CITY BOUNDARY, TO OPEN UP MORE LAND FOR HOUSING. BUT GROWERS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT THE LOSS OF FARMING LAND TO URBAN SPRAWL, AND NOT JUST IN AUCKLAND. HORTICULTURE NEW ZEALAND CHIEF EXECUTIVE MIKE CHAPMAN EXPLAINS WHY FOOD SECURITY SHOULD BE A PRIORITY FOR THE NEW GOVERNMENT. THEN WHENA OWEN CATCHES UP WITH LEGENDARY POLITICAL CARTOONIST, WRITER AND DOCUMENTARY-MAKER TOM SCOTT. HIS NEW BOOK ON HIS LIFE AND WORK. GOOD-LOOKING MEN ARE HARD TO DRAW, GOOD-LOOKING WOMEN ARE HARD TO DRAW. UGLY MEN ARE A TREAT! CAPTIONS BY SHRUTIKA GUNANAYAGAM AND JUNE YEOW. CAPTIONS WERE MADE WITH THE SUPPORT OF NZ ON AIR. COPYRIGHT ABLE 2017 AND WE'LL HAVE ANALYSIS FROM OUR PANEL ` POLITICAL SCIENTIST DR JENNIFER CURTIN FROM AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY; MICHAEL BARNETT, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE AUCKLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE; AND ANJUM RAHMAN FROM THE ISLAMIC WOMEN'S COUNCIL, TRUSTEE OF SHAMA ` THE HAMILTON ETHNIC WOMEN'S CENTRE ` AND A FORMER LABOUR CANDIDATE. WE'LL HEAR FROM YOU ALL SHORTLY, BUT FIRST, HERE'S CORIN. THANKS, GREG. AND GOOD MORNING TO NEW FINANCE MINISTER GRANT ROBERTSON. Congratulations on the new position. You fell into this job three years ago, didn't you? You were not planning to be the finance minister. I you an accidental finance minister? I spent three years as the Labour Party's financial spokesperson. I learnt a lot and I am excited about what we can do for New Zealand. What sort of Finance Minister are you going to be? Are you radical, a reformer? For too long we have focused on the data in the economy as the endpoint Rather than what we are doing for New Zealanders living standards. What are we doing to improve the well-being of our people's lives? We have to make sure that we keep the fiscal is ticking along, that we do the right thing when it comes to fiscal responsibility, but that can't be the end of the road. We have to focus on how we can use a strong economy to benefit everyone. We are an active government, and that is a fundamental difference as well. You are not bigger, though. It will grow a little, because the current government had planned to reduce that quite significantly, a slightly bigger government. It is more important to me that it is a government that works alongside our social partners and businesses and iwi to grow those decent jobs that pay well, that we look after the environment. That is an act of government. We have seen for too long in New Zealand governments that are all right was sitting on the sidelines. We will be a partner. You will be well aware of the famous Winter of discontent, 1999. the Labour government that came in. Are you worried about how business will react? Can you assure them that you are not going to wrap up the rulebook for them? We are a party that is committed to a partnership you with business and working people as well. I went to a board room and went with 150 CEOs before the election, but their biggest concerns about New Zealand were about inequality. They said we needed to invest in social services. They are the same policies that we have got. Now is our time to sit down with the business community and say how do we make this work together? It will come over and a number of different forms. We are Committed to getting out early to all our social partners. It is not a business summit as this stage. We want to get around to big and small businesses, because we know they are at the driver of a lot of the job creation in New Zealand. We want them to work in partnership with their workers. We need a coordinated strategy on skills, working people as well as employers. I will sit down with the Minister of employment and the business community and unions to talk about how we can lift the skills of all people. You are looking at a mini budget. Can we just run through a few of the things you are looking to do. We expect to do the five year bright line. By early next year that will be in place. Negative gearing might take a bit long in terms of design purposes, but we expect that to be underway in the New Year. Are there other mechanisms? The goal is the important for us as how do we make sure that New Zealanders can get into the property market, that we don't set up a situation where we have people who don't have an intention to levy. We want first-time buyers to have a fair go. We are working on a design for that right now. There are a number of options on the table. The tourist tax. That will take a little longer to design. Within the coalition partners, there are open ideas how to do this. This will take a while to do. That is not within the first hundred days. On the petrol tax, will that apply two other parts of the country? No. Only Auckland will implement that. To get over the major problems Auckland has with congestion, they need additional revenue. Why should not other at regions be able to do that? Partly because no one else has done that. These problems are specific to Auckland. That boardroom event that I went to, Congestion in Auckland, how it is constraining policy, we want to get action on that. In order to do that, we need a variety of funding sources. The reserve Bank act changes. Will we see them quickly? We have to do the review, but I'm very conscious of the fact that we have a governor due to be appointed in March next year. The policy agreement stays. We will work with that until the new governor is appointed. There is alignment with what is happening in other parts of the world United States and Australia. We are maintaining stability. You are looking in at putting employment, so that the bank has to consider Unemployment. Is there a hard target on that? That is our goal as a wider government, but I'm realistic. The objectives of the Bank reflect the overall well-being of the country. Will it mean they pay a lower interest rate? Potentially, it could. When the reserve Bank is making is decisions about the official cash rate, they need to think about controlling inflation. I thinks about other goals in the economy, such as maximising employment. This is done in the United States and Australia in another form. We are just bringing our monetary policy up to speed to make sure it is contributing to the wider policies we want to achieve. It does work in other jurisdictions. How does it fit with your minimum wage policy? There is a danger that that will push up inflation and that you are going to lift wages through the minimum wage. There is going to be wage pressure coming through. Surely that will counteract any move put through by the reserve Bank. we Labour was last in government, wages went up. This is about making sure New Zealanders get a fair share and prosperity. We want to lift that. But we are going to do that in a steady way. We are offering stability here. That is a benefit of the coalition. Fair share. I think everyone gets that in terms of living on the minimum wage. But that is not a strategy or a recipe for lifting up New Zealand's productivity. It will be one of the main things I want our government to be judged on. How we lift productivity. We have made pretty significant moves on that already. We have a massive focus on increasing skills, which is one of the major and most important parts of increasing productivity, And we want to get capital to those businesses that can grow. Invested infrastructure. If we get Auckland moving and reduce that congestion, if we make it possible for people to start businesses in the provinces knowing they have a good rail line that will get them to a port, knowing they have good broadband, that will lived productivity. We will do our R&D tax credits. The certainty of the research and development tax credit provides. We want the money to be used effectively. What we heard from the business community is that an R&D tax credit helps them look into innovation. you said about getting money to businesses. Your government is looking at crimping foreign investment. I you saying that you have got to find ways of getting local capital businesses? How would you do that? Our concern is been when it is just pick chelation in the housing market. That is not helping New Zealand. There is still place for foreign investment, but equally, we want New Zealanders to be able to invest in their own future, and we want to have conversations about the superfund about how they would do that. You want the superfund to increase the amount it puts into New Zealand. It has done some. The superfund is looking towards opportunities here. It needs to get a good rate of return. If we have the incentive is right in the economy, that we are investing as a government and infrastructure, we think that will encourage other investors to look into the productive part of the economy. In opposition, the whole issue about the debate about meeting your targets, et cetera. You talked about cutting some areas. Will we see cuts and defence spending? We are going to look at how defence does its procurement. New Zealand First and we have had a concern about we are not getting value for money. There is a defence capability plan that is out there. We want to review that in the context of getting value for money. What I will be asking all of our ministers in our government As to look at where they can achieve productivity gains Where they can be more effective and efficient. Where there are spending plans that are under way they don't line up with our plans, I will be asking ministers to look at that seriously. Winston Peters speech was very gloomy about the outlook. Did that square up with what Winston Peters said? There is a bright air views. CORRECTION: variety we are optimistic about the future of the New Zealand economy if we get our settings right, if we get our infrastructure going well. If we make sure we are investing in people and skills, I think we will be able to ride out whatever headwinds they may be ahead of us. How will you measure the economy and economic success? Will per capita growth be your yardstick? I want to go further than that. I want to measure it and well-being. GDP is not a great measure of polity. We want to lift living standards. We have said that we will amend the public finance act so that we can reduce child poverty. I do not know about a happiness index, but I certainly want to look at what they call a living standards framework. How do we actually improve the social, economic, environmental outcomes of the country? GDP growth will matter in terms of how much money you have to spend. Having a strong economy will always be the basis of what we do. As I said at the start of the interview, I want the success of our government to be measured not by a GDP growth figure but by the outcomes we achieve in lifting living standards. How worried are you about the confidence effective housing? Is that a bus? The way that we want to do our housing policy as a careful and managed way of making sure that we address the supply issues and build affordable houses but we also crackdown on the speculation. There is been enough discussion on that in the last few years where people understand what our planners. Young New Zealanders need to be able to get into the housing market and the security that provides. Grant Robertson, thank you for your time. SEND US YOUR THOUGHTS. THE PANEL'S NEXT. LET'S BRING IN THE PANEL NOW ` POLITICAL SCIENTIST DR JENNIFER CURTIN; MICHAEL BARNETT, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE AUCKLAND CHAMBER OF COMMERCE; AND ANJUM RAHMAN, FROM THE ISLAMIC WOMEN'S COUNCIL AND A FORMER LABOUR CANDIDATE. Michael, if we can start with you. If you are to believe the commentators, The business world is full of despair about this government. You are nodding an awful lot through what Grant Robertson had to say. I do think that on day one, That a partnership starts with both parties looking to support each other. I think businesses should go into this thinking about how we make this work. There is going to be good opportunity for the business community. There are some things in there that individuals are not going to like. You could look at the raising of the minimum wage, but that has been signalled alongside it that and the tax review they might look at what happens to taxation is with small businesses and big businesses. There is going to be giving and taking, what did you not like the most? You are not nodding your head at the petrol tax. The petrol tax, to me, as them giving permission to an already inefficient local government two Texas amor, and I do not think that is right. Fixing the congestion, and there is work that is being done on major voting products that they have signalled they are going to cancel, and I think before we move to quick, there are some conversation still on the table we need to have. The fuel tanks, that is giving Auckland Council to give us another tax before they become efficient themselves. Do you agree with what Michael said? On this show a couple of months back Kem Campbell said the regional fuel tax is that most actually wanted Policy wise to put something that is in place. Yes, local government might need fixing, but this was always going to be the first-choice solution to manage congestion. It is an easy choice and should go with other tools like tolls and PPPs. $20 by 2020. As a chartered accountant, I work with a lot of small businesses. I think the best way to do that as through some kind of employment subsidy for those businesses that are going to struggle with keeping up. I support a living wage. I have advocated that for a long time. I think we need to make sure that employers are paying the full cost of Labour and that people can live comfortably off what they are earning and that those employers that are struggling to do that, they get the help. Other employers that are doing well and making large profits should be able to be a cost. Employers should be able to make a case to get the subsidy if they are not able to pay the living wage. I would like to see encouragement of the living wage, and particularly through public service and local government, and that will encourage wages and other parts of the economy to go up, so I would definitely like to see that. I do accounts for a lot of small businesses, and where they are not earning up enough, working for families will kick in. Working for families is targeted if you have kids. Every employer who struggles should not struggle just because they can't afford to pay wages. And then they can focus on growing their businesses. Some businesses will hurt from this By 2020. If you look at the minimum wage and say this is part of a catch up, you would start with education to make sure you have better qualified people Coming into our economy you would lift productivity and so on. We should only look at this wage increase and talk about it as catch up. For me, yes there is going to be some hurt. I do not think you should be offering subsidies, because that is the government helping you make your business run properly. Which signals a lack of innovation. Small businesses should be looking at how they can improve productivity and how they can innovate and use technology. They have two or three years to do that. That is where they should be focusing. He is talking about minimum wage and what affects the public's, but he also has to juggle this with cabinet. I think what is interesting about this cabinet that perhaps we have not seen to some extent before is that we have a lot of portfolios that have been divided up into smaller parts. This could be a good thing, and it could be a bad thing. It could be a good thing that sits with the Greens also has presence in Cabinet. It does make political management and government management a little bit trickier in juggling expectations across the three parties in that sense. In world policy making, this is an important way to think about policy making, and that there is no single one portfolio they can answer all the questions on transport and housing. We need to have multiple portfolios and ministers talking about all these issues inside and outside cabinet in a way that as long as the communication channels and expect Asians CORRECTION: expectations are all in Line with each other. no, we're not feeling like the end is near and business. I would think that a huge part of the business community looked at that and saw it as a butT-covering exercise. I see a hander of a good economy from the last government. It is an exciting opportunity to do things differently. If we all work at making it work before we throw a rock at any of it, it will make for a better economy for New Zealand. Immigration numbers, Winston Peters has been very hot on but Labour is also saying down to 30,000. Winston Peters wants it down to 10,000. I have said this before on the program. I do not think it is useful to focus on numbers. It would be more useful to focus on problem areas. If though area as decent quality education to international students, then do something about that. If the problem is that we are getting workers that undercutting wages, let us beef up the Department of Labour and WorkSafe. Some of the problems that exist don't blame them on the immigrants. These are structural problems with the New Zealand, and if you do that right, then you will find immigration stuff Will sort itself out. I do not like that emigrants are being scapegoated and exploited within those structural deficiencies, and the discourse around that can be negative. Staff like the foreign house buying things, I support that. If you are not attending to ever live here, then you shouldn't be buying property here. But that is a good way to go. Talking about numbers doesn't solve anything. How much harder will Grant Robertson's job be made by Winston Peters? He's going to put an aura and. I think he's going to be quite busy with his own portfolios, and I think that is a real plus and what we are seeing. Some people are in this cabinet going to be very busy, and that stops them getting too involved in other peoples portfolios. I think that there are I really was impressed on the way in which` the language Labour is using is not anticapitalist, it is talking about partnerships. These partnerships are very broad. An active government rather than a nanny state. It is post-Blair kind of language. It does signal potentially new ways of operating if the business community are also prepared to come to the table with an open mind. We will come back. AFTER THE BREAK ` IS URBAN SPRAWL THREATENING OUR MOST PRODUCTIVE LAND FOR GROWING FRUIT AND VEGETABLES? WHY NEW ZEALAND NEEDS A PLAN TO PROTECT OUR FOOD SECURITY. THERE'S A FRESH VOICE CALLING FOR AUCKLAND HOUSING TO GO UP RATHER THAN OUT. AND IT'S FROM NEW ZEALAND'S FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GROWERS. THEY'RE CONCERNED THAT URBAN SPRAWL IS EATING UP OUR PRODUCTIVE LAND AND PUTTING OUR SUPPLY OF FRESH FOOD AT RISK. AND IT'S NOT JUST IN AUCKLAND BUT MANY OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY WHERE THE POPULATION IS GROWING AND THE NEED FOR NEW HOUSING IS ACUTE. HORTICULTURE NEW ZEALAND'S CHIEF EXECUTIVE MIKE CHAPMAN JOINS ME NOW. How much of a problem is this really? This is a very significant problem. As cities expand, we are losing highly viable land for growing fruit and vegetables. Pukekohe ` very viable land. It feeds the country during spring.. If we lose Pukekohe, will be importing fruit and vegetables.. The impact is quite extreme. Some of the land is protected under the Auckland plan, but not all of the land. Some of the commercial garters operations are being surrendered by houses, which is taken away the opportunity to operate efficiently. What we're saying is not houses or horticulture. We are saying houses and horticulture. Let's plant the houses where it's not good for growing. Effectively when you have houses right up against your boundaries. You have to have the ability to farm sensibly and use the land for purposes. How important is it to have those growing lands close to the city? In olden days, vegetables were growing next to the city - Pukekohe - the soil is very valuable. You can move operations further south, and that can happen. in the Waikato, that's difficult. Pukekohe is a jewel for growing vegetables. Are you worried that you will come under more pressure? We can work with the governments. That's plants whether houses can go and keep vegetables going whether grow best. What about the issue of workers? Because presumably you are going to find it harder for them to live wwhere they are working. As the prices go up, as a city spread, what happens is people can't afford to own houses and work in our guidance. What is the outcome here? We don't change, food security policy ` we be importing from China? We have to look everything as a whole. Winning a national view that says right, we know Pukekohe is going to be important in spring. What we need to do is protect those parts so we can be New Zealand. If we don't, we're going to be increasing our imports. At the moment we don't have country of origin labelling. Consumers won't know where they are buying their food from. Do you want more food Security? We want the government to sit down with us and work out where the important growing areas are and then have a plan for the future so we could be the country. What about the impact of the climate? We have seen a very wet winter, and that it had an impact onpotatoes and lettuces. Is that going to get worse? It's hard to know of its climate change. The importance of spreading growing across the country mitigate any change that may come, mitigates against adverse weather events. Southland hasn't had as wet a winter. But if you haven't had your operations spread across country, you can't deal with climate change, you can't deal with this weather. But you still have to protect the land that is good for growing. Only 5% of this country is good for growing horticulture. Don't have houses there. A lot of people think that this is the land of milk and honey in the food isn't an issue. People assume we could be the country. Some of our produce get exported in large volumes ` kiwi fruit, apples, onions. A lot of our produce doesn't get exported a large volumes. These are things we eat every day. It's on my exports. As well feeding our own people. We don't want to rely on overseas countries to supply the fruit and vegetables were New Zealand. It's all about supply and demand. Provided there is sufficient supply, the prices will always be reasonable. If you start ringing imports, you lose price control. Exportersfrom overseas since the price. You have to have New Zealand produce you to keep the price condition alive. What about the supermarkets, are they giving you a fair deal? All they have to source from around the country. Consumers want to know where their fruits and vegetables are coming from, and they want to know it's fresh and locally grown. The supermarkets have the problem of trying to source around the country. It was extremely bad weather conditions, that's really difficult. That's when imports come in. What would be the first step? Sit down with the government, because the government and identify areas have to protect Erica how to do that. Why hasn't happened? People aren't really aware of this. They think we have plenty of commercial gardens. We brought this issue to the attention of the government last year. We are glad the new government is paying attention to it. THE PANEL'S VIEW AFTER THE BREAK. TIME FOR OUR PANEL. Jennifer, this feels like a was slippery issue that is going to happen. The thing about urban sprawl has always been there. I find it surprising when Mike settles a big campaign issue for them. If you look at the big announcements that were coming out a lot of it was focused on an anti-water text messages during the campaign. We didn't see a lot of callingNational to account. A lot of the house building has happened under National's watch as well. The interesting thing about hearing a positive message from Micah today is that actually, this idea of retaining an urban core and not doing urban sprawl has benefits other than the fruit security issue. It's about people's health an ecological and sustainable growth. Potentially, they could work better with Labour and the Greens then with a government that they had before if they I truly thinking about in terms of matching up the need for why we need to keep urban sprawl within Auckland and not use up all our horticultural land. Michael, isn't this just what happens when the population grows? I think it is. Alongside our population strategy should have been some thinking about how we're going to be the nation. I don't think we have given any thought. I think is good to see Mike coming out and demanding it. I think it comes back to the fact that we produce food here and we export it and we expect other people to buy and enjoy our food, and it's where the New Zealanders wantto be able to enjoy the quality of the product that we make here or not. If they do, they will put up their hands and say we want field around Pukekohe. If they don't, they will let it go. New Zealanders had to stand up and talk about it, because we have the option of keeping or losing it Anjum, if it comes to homes and land, people want homes. We have to be smart about this. 30 years ago, conversions to lifestyle blocks were occurring. There should have been planning around that. I think the best way to do that will be through an environmental standard. We have therefore freshwater and other areas. That is a way to do it, to make sure we're doing that ring fencing. It tells of homelessness, we need to be building up, not out. That has been said loudly for many years. I still memo the Auckland District plan process and the people from generation zero who got to speak and were heckled by senior citizens. HeRe was young people wanting to advocate for changes in zoning so To a three storey houses. What we need is a political world, and that means a popular support to say we have got to change the way that we are doing this. It's not just about food for New Zealanders. At about being good global citizens, bbecause even if we don't need it for ourselves, we do have to think about the fact that there are people overseas that don't get food, and we as goodwill citizens have responsibilities to use our rich soils well. You agree with up, not out? I think there are some good models out there in terms of you have to be right in the city, but in the suburbs we know that apartment living and more townhouse type arrange mince, cooperative housing models ` and Vancouver ` social equity investors want to put in to help with social housing. There are models out there that we could be looking at adopting without having to talk about huge big apartment blocks. It's at the foot of local government? I come back to things like housing, and the same with food security. We need to stop having an either or. It will be a blend of both. Pukekohe - you can't put a ring around and have housing right up to it. There needs to be more thinking about it. Whether it's housing or whether it's food security, it's not an either or. It needs to be a conversation that expresses the value that this nation was to have in respect of its food and quality. That doesn't seem to be where Phil Twyford's thinking is going. I don't know that is the case. I know they want to build more housing in more affordable housing. I thought you were looking at using some Crown land and land that was already available. I think they will look seriously at urban sprawl, and I think it's up to us as New Zealanders to keep pushing our government on that, to have more central cities, and that means more sustainable around growth, run transports, getting to work. That sprawl is what leads to congestion. Is just unacceptable. It took me three hours to get from Hamilton city to Auckland city. It took three hours. It was appalling. I didn't get a meeting I had to be at 530 until after six. Jennifer, if it does go down this road that we are potentially going to be ridiculous situation with the buy in food and vegetables, which a country like this is crazy, isn't it? It is. We are in agreement that any to be addressed. My concern would be about talking about it in terms of food security. The fine food security. This has been a phrase bandied about. It's really contested definition. There's lots of ways it's used. For example, the meat industry - farmers talk about it needing to feed the world, which speaks to we are a bit of a global food bowl. There are ways of protecting themselves against emission schemes the horticulture sector needs to be aware of what this course is hawking themselves too. They're helping with the climate change amelioration. horticulture is a good thing for New Zealand to be investing in. They don't have the exact same interests as the other farming communities UP NEXT ` CARTOONIST AND WRITER TOM SCOTT HAS A NEW BOOK ABOUT HIS LIFE AND WORK AND THE POLITICIANS WHO'VE BEEN THE TARGET OF HIS PEN. IF I DID A CARTOON WITH JOHN KEY JOKING WITH OBAMA, YOU COULD ALMOST GO, 'YES, JOHN, 'I'LL SEND IT OVER TO YOU STRAIGHT AWAY.' WELCOME BACK. TOM SCOTT HAS HAD A HAPPY CAREER DRAWING CARTOONS TO ENTERTAIN HIS READERS AND INFURIATE OUR POLITICIANS. FAMOUS FOR BEING BANNED FROM ROBERT MULDOON'S PRESS CONFERENCES, TOM SCOTT IS A LIFETIME MEMBER OF THE POLITICAL GALLERY. HE'S ALSO A WRITER, DOCUMENTARY MAKER AND PLAYWRIGHT. HE'S NOW WRITTEN A MEMOIR, THE APTLY NAMED 'DRAWN OUT'. HE SHARED HIS INSIGHTS WITH OUR REPORTER WHENA OWEN. IN AN OLD WELLINGTON HOME HIGH ABOVE THE HARBOUR, TOM SCOTT LEADS US TO WHERE HE PRODUCES HIS TELEVISION AND FILM SCRIPTS, HIS BOOKS, HIS PLAYS AND HIS CARTOONS. THIS IS THE INNER SANCTUM. IN FACT, HE'S JUST FINISHED A CARTOON. THERE SEEMS TO BE A GENUINE RAPPORT BETWEEN HIM AND JACINDA ARDERN, WHICH IS PROMISING, SO IT'S GONNA BE VERY INTERESTING. THE NEXT THREE YEARS ARE NOT GOING TO BE DULL. SO WHAT'S JACINDA LIKE TO DRAW? I'M STILL LEARNING. I'M STILL BREAKING DOWN THE DNA OF HER FACE. STILL LEARNING SIX DECADES AFTER HIS ARTISTIC TALENT WAS FIRST DISCOVERED. IT WAS AT RONGOTEA SCHOOL WAY, WAY, WAY BACK. I WAS 5. FIRST OR SECOND DAY ` END OF THE DAY, WE WERE ALLOWED TO DRAW WHAT WE WANTED WITH CRAYONS ON BROWN BUTCHER'S PAPER. I DREW THE PHANTOM ON A HORSE WITH NERO RUNNING BESIDE HIM. WHEN THE TEACHER SAW IT, SHE SORTA HALF SCREAMED AND RAN OUTTA THE ROOM, RAN DOWN THE CORRIDOR. THREE CLASSROOMS, WHO ALL COME RUNNING BACK WITH THE TWO TEACHERS, ALL BEHIND ME GOING, (NASALLY) '"OH MY GOD, HE'S AMAZING. '"HE'S AMAZING. TOMMY, YOU'RE AMAZING,"' AND MY HEAD WAS GOING (EXHALES REPEATEDLY). (GROOVY, LAID-BACK MUSIC) FAST-FORWARD TO PARLIAMENT IN THE 1970S TO TOM SCOTT, THE CARTOONIST, THE WRITER, BUT NOT EVERYONE APPRECIATED HIS TALENT THEN. SOMEONE PRINTED SOMEWHERE THAT HE WAS LET OUTTA SCHOOL HALF AN HOUR EARLY TO GET AHEAD OF THE BULLIES. SO MULDOON WAS BULLIED AND TEASED ALL HIS LIFE, GETS TO PARLIAMENT ` HE'S A SUCCESSFUL HUMAN BEING; HE'S PRIME MINISTER. SPOTTY OIK WITH THE RED AFRO TURNS UP MAKING FUN OF HIM AGAIN, AND HE JUST COULDN'T BEAR IT. NO, MR SCOTT. AND MULDOON FAMOUSLY BANNED SCOTT FROM HIS PRESS CONFERENCES. AND I DIDN'T LIKE GOING TO HIS PRESS CONFERENCES ANYWAY, SO IT WAS A BONUS BEING BANNED. BUT IF ANYONE DIDN'T KNOW WHO TOM SCOTT WAS, THEY DID AFTER THAT. THEY DID ` HE DID ME A FAVOUR. MURRAY BALL, TOM SCOTT ` 'FOOTROT FLATS'. (APPLAUSE, CHEERING) BUT SCOTT DIDN'T REALLY NEED ANYONE TO BOOST HIS PROFILE. HIS BOOK, 'DRAWN OUT', GIVES INSIGHTS INTO HIS VERY SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATIONS, HIS FRIENDSHIP WITH SIR EDMUND HILLARY AND SCOTT'S WELL-DOCUMENTED RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS FATHER, THE SUBJECT OF HIS HIGHLY ACCLAIMED PLAY, 'THE DAYLIGHT ATHEIST'. CAN SOMEBODY FETCH THE WEEPING BOWL FOR EGGHEAD, PLEASE? SCOTT TURNED 70 THIS WEEKEND, BUT HE'S NEVER BEEN BUSIER. A TELEVISION SERIES ABOUT WWII, I'D LIKE TO WRITE. ABOUT WWII. YEAH. I'VE GOT A PLAY ABOUT MY MUM, WHICH IS COMING ON IN JANUARY IN WELLINGTON. IN WELLINGTON. AND I'VE GOT A PLAY SET IN A COFFEE BAR CALLED 'THE CAFFEINE WARS', WHICH I WANT TO PUT ON AS WELL. BUT HE'S STILL DOING WHAT HE IS MOST FAMOUS FOR ` PRODUCING A PROVOCATIVE CARTOON IN THE DAILIES, THE ONLY PART OF 'THE DOMINION POST' STILL DONE BY HAND. WHO ARE GOOD TO DRAW? WHAT SORTA FACE IS GOOD TO DRAW, WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT POLITICIANS, TOM? JUST THE POLITICIANS OF THE LAST 40 YEARS. ALL WOMEN ARE HARD. MM. THEIR FEATURES ARE MORE DELICATE THAN MEN'S. IF YOU DO EXAGGERATE A WOMAN'S FEATURES, LIKE, IF I EXAGGERATED HELEN CLARK'S NOSE, AND HER FRONT TEETH CROSS OVER LIKE THAT, HER TEETH PUSH BACK INTO HER MOUTH LIKE A SHARK, AND THE TWO FRONT TEETH CROSS OVER. AND IT TOOK ME AGES TO WORK THAT OUT. WHEN YOU DRAW THAT, AND YOU DRAW HER NOSE ` EXAGGERATE HER NOSE ` YOU GET THE LETTERS OF COMPLAINT ` 'HOW DARE YOU! MISOGYNY, 'BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.' WHO HAS BEEN DIFFICULT TO DRAW? WINSTON WAS HARD TO DRAW, ONLY WHEN HE STARTED GETTING HIS FACE` A FEW LINES. ...A FEW LINES WHEN HIS NICOTINE CRAVING CAUGHT UP WITH HIS ELASTIN AND FIBRIN IN THE SKIN, AND THEN SUDDENLY HE GOT A BIT MORE CHARACTER. YOU COULD DRAW HIM. GOOD-LOOKING MEN ARE HARD TO DRAW. BEAUTIFUL WOMEN ARE HARD TO DRAW. UGLY MEN ARE A TREAT. AND TOM SCOTT'S ORIGINALS ARE DESIRABLE ACQUISITIONS, ESPECIALLY IF THEY'RE ABOUT YOU. YOU CAN ALMOST TELL WHEN THEY'RE GOING TO BUY THEM. IF I DID A CARTOON WHERE JOHN KEY WAS JOKING WITH BARACK OBAMA, AND THERE'S JOHN KEY AND BARACK OBAMA IN THE SAME PICTURE, YOU COULD ALMOST GO... 10, NINE, EIGHT ` BEEP! 'YES, JOHN, I'LL SEND IT OVER TO YOU STRAIGHT AWAY.' (UPBEAT MUSIC) HELEN CLARK ONLY ASKED FOR ONE. WHEN WE GOT THE WORLD CUP ONE YEAR, THEY SENT, AS A DELEGATION TO THE IRB, THEY SENT COLIN MEADS AND TANA UMAGA AND HELEN, SO I DID AN ALL BLACKS SCRUM ` THE TOP THREE ` THE TIGHT FIVE, WHATEVER YOU'RE GONNA CALL IT, AND THAT WAS ON THE WALL IN HER UN OFFICE. SHE LIKED IT? SHE LIKED THAT ONE. THE GCSB AND SIS HAVE OFTEN BEEN A TARGET OF SCOTT'S WIT. HE WAS SURPRISED TO RECEIVE AN INVITATION FROM THEM TO THEIR OFFICES. THEY SAID, 'WE'RE GONNA GIVE YOU AFTERNOON TEA MOW, TOM, 'IN THE INNER SANCTUM. AND IN HERE WE HAVE CARTOONS 'WE DON'T THINK ARE SUITABLE FOR EVERYBODY. 'WE DON'T PUT THEM UP IN PUBLIC DISPLAY. 'WE THINK THEY'RE HARD TO TAKE, SOME OF THEM.' SO WE WENT INTO THE INNER SANCTUM FOR OUR AFTERNOON TEA WITH THE DIRECTOR. I LOOK AROUND THE WALLS; EVERY SINGLE ONE WAS MINE. EVERY SINGLE CARTOON IN THE INNER SANCTUM, WHICH WERE HIGHLY CRITICAL OF THEM, THEIR OPERATION, AND THEY HAD THE WHOLE LOT, AND THEY WERE DELIGHTED. AND WHAT WAS YOUR RESPONSE TO THAT? I SHOULD HAVE CHARGED YOU BASTARDS MORE. (UPBEAT MUSIC) NO DENYING TOM SCOTT IS A BIT OF A KIWI LEGEND. HE'S AN IMMIGRANT ` SON OF IRISH PARENTS ` AND HAS SPENT HIS LIFE REFLECTING THE NATION BACK AT US. YOU SEEM TO HAVE GREAT AFFECTION FOR LITTLE OLD NEW ZEALAND, DON'T YOU? OH, I ADORE IT. SOMETIMES FLYING OVER NEW ZEALAND OVER THE MARLBOROUGH COAST COMING TO WELLINGTON ` IT'S HAPPENED TO ME THREE TIMES ` I'VE BURST INTO TEARS ON THE PLANE AT THE SIGHT OF SEEING NEW ZEALAND. IT'S JUST TEARS OF JOY AT SEEING NEW ZEALAND. IT'S FANTASTIC. I'M SO PROUD OF IT. EVEN THE SPRINGBOK TOUR ` WE TORE OURSELVES APART OVER THE ISSUE OF ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE CREATED EQUAL. AND WE SAID, 'NO, I THINK THE NUCLEAR ARMS RACE IS LUNACY, 'AND WE DON'T WANT TO BE PART OF THAT.' AND I THINK WE'RE GONNA HAVE TO BRING THE SAME PASSION TO CLEANING UP OUR LANDSCAPE AND THE SAME PASSION TO REDUCING THE INEQUALITY IN NEW ZEALAND. WE'RE A NOAH'S ARK, AND WE CAN BE AN EXAMPLE TO THE REST OF THE WORLD IF WE REALLY TRY AND GIVE IT OUR BEST SHOT. AND WE'LL HAVE AN EXTENDED VERSION OF WHENA'S INTERVIEW ON OUR WEBSITE AND FACEBOOK SHORTLY. LET'S LOOK AT SOME OF YOUR FEEDBACK NOW. HARISH PATEL TWEETED ` SALLY TEXT IN. AND ONE WITH POINTS FOR CREATIVITY ` JOHN SAYS... FINALLY, ON THE ISSUE OF FOOD, MAT CHAVEZ TWEETED ` Jennifer, what youR hits and misses? My hit is Julie ann Genter getting women's affairs. A real substantive feminist taking up that. Grant Robertson from saying that women rugby players should get paid. The rugby union has said there afford it because they don't play enough international games. my miss is Barnaby Joyce having to go to a by-election. Australian politics always in a mess. My hits was at the end of a very busy week, the payment of the found time to attend rugby league last night my miss one of these ` Grant Robertson talking about the paper rugby players. He should stick to what he knows best. My miss is all the people saying this government isn't going to be a stable government. It is basically that 2000 governments minus Peter Dunne. I think will have a fantastic three years. My hit would be around raising the minimum wage. I would like to talk about the way they're working for families package has been developed has been a subsidy or benefit to workers, but it's actually topping up of wages. I would like to see benefits and support for children move on to family benefits and support for workers move on to a package to show who are we are subsidising is workers. Jennifer, people said we want a big change, not incremental change. What you have seen, are we going to get that? I think they're going to pace themselves. I think it looks like the Clark government of 99. You have to get business table and will conversations. They want to be more than a one term government. The pace themselves. Those who want to see radicalism aren't going to see radicalism. 'MARAE' IS NEXT. REMEMBER, 'Q+A' REPEATS TONIGHT AT 11.35PM. THANKS FOR WATCHING AND THANKS FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS. THOSE WERE THE QUESTIONS, AND THOSE WERE THE ANSWERS.