- Hello, Kiwis. I'm Paddy Gower, and I have got issues. On this show, we investigate issues big and small that are important to all of us. Tonight ` we need more nurses, so why do we make our nursing students do clinical work for two months a year and get paid nothing? And would you buy fruit that has been squeezed and prodded by other people? Karen tackles our fruit-fondling epidemic. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023 (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) I'm getting to old for this. Really, I am. Tonight, my issue is with nurses ` not with nurses themselves. We love nurses. We need nurses. We can't get enough nurses. We literally can't get enough nurses, and that is the issue. Did you know that 40% of our nurses are imported? That is appalling in my view. That is because we don't train enough of our own. Why? Well, let's start here. Our nursing students have to work for two months a year in clinics and hospitals, and what do they get for that? Nothing. Zero. Zilch. As we'll see tonight, that makes life bloody hard for them, and it's a bloody hard job already. I spent a day with two nurses in South Auckland, and all I could think was that we are so lucky to have you. Doctors and dentists get some financial support on training placements. Apprentice plumbers and sparkies get paid, but not nurses. So one-third of our nursing trainees drop out before they finish their course. One-third of the most needed profession in the country don't finish training. This when there's a nursing crisis, and Aotearoa is the land of the long white waiting list. I call this our nursing training wreck, and this really is an issue for all of us. Tonight, I'm lucky to be joined by the amazing Newshub journalist and my friend Alexa Cook, as well as Karen 'Results' O'Leary and, of course, Eli Matthewson and Courtney Dawson on the news desk. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - This actually is such a crisis, Paddy. I was at a house party on the weekend, and I saw people missing limbs, blood everywhere. There was actually a couple of nurses there, and their outfits looked really impractical as well. (LAUGHTER) - Eli, that was Halloween, brother. (LAUGHTER) I'm sorry about him. You are actually a health reporting expert, Alexa. And what have you found while you've been investigating this? - Well, this is just an absolute injustice. You know, we know what it's like to be poor students in New Zealand. It feels like a rite of passage. I've been there, done that, worked a couple of jobs through university. But this is different. These are nursing students. They have to do 40 hours a week of these unpaid placements. It means they can't really juggle a job while they're doing it. They have to pay for their own accommodation, their travel, their parking, everything. And these are the people that want to come into the health care system to care for us. I feel like we should be caring for them. So I headed to Dunedin, the student capital of New Zealand. (INTRIGUING MUSIC) 20-year-old Amaya Leslie is starting her workday. Around the corner, Ella Macgillivray is also heading into her shift. But after nine hours on duty, they haven't earned a cent. (RURU HOOTS) - We're working hard. Look after us. Pay us. - Yeah, we don't get anything during placement, and it is hard, and it causes a lot of stress. Welcome to my beautiful flat. (CHUCKLES) - How many of you live here? - There's 14 in total. - Wow. Amaya's in her second year of studying for her Bachelor of Nursing. So, how much does flatting in Dunedin cost? - It's $165 a week. And that's just for your room. - And so what are you going to have for dinner tonight for your placement? - So, I'm gonna use my grapes. Got my noodles ` they're always trusty. - To become a registered nurse, you have to complete at least 1100 hours of clinical placements. Not only is the work unpaid, but they have to buy their own scrubs, which are $160. There's no help for travel either. So is it quite expensive to get to work? - Yeah, you've gotta pay for your petrol. - And your placements, they're not always in the town you live in, right? You have to go out of town quite a bit. - Yeah. At least one of our placements have to be out of town. - That's another expense. (LAUGHS) - That's another expense, yeah, especially because if you're paying for rent at home and then also having to pay for your accommodation, you're paying double rent while you're on placement while you're working as hard as you can. - Mm. - And eight and a half hours every day, 40-hour weeks with no pay. - So it must be quite hard for students to fit in, like, a part-time job to fund it. - Yeah, it is. We don't get any financial support, so it's all on us. (GENTLE MUSIC) - Come in. - Hi, Kathleen. How are you? I'm just gonna do a set of obs on you. Is that OK? - Yes, certainly. - Awesome. - Clinical placements are hands-on work... - I had one of my headaches to start with. - Oh no. - But it's gone. - ...where they're responsible for patients. - 140/75. - How do you enjoy the job? - Being on placement? - Yeah. - I enjoy it. It is difficult at times. - Oh, it's bound` Yes, it's bound to be. - Yeah. - Mainly use these dressings... - And, where needed, they're supervised. What do you think it would be like if you were paid just for your time while you're on placement? - I think it would make such a difference. This is my fifth placement I've done. - Yeah. Busy, busy, busy. - I know. - Yeah. - What do you love about nursing? Why are you doing it? - Cos I love helping people. I get a great satisfaction from helping people and making their day better, yeah. After an eight and a half hour shift, I am pretty knackered, and then I'm having to balance my assignments and exam prep, my portfolios and all of that. - So, we've just left Amaya's house, and we're on our way to meet another nursing student, Ella. She's managed to squeeze us into her really busy day. I'm catching up with her at her part-time job. So, what's it like trying to juggle your work, your placement, your study? - It's exhausting. I mean, having a lot of things on your plate can burn out very quickly. - What do some of your days look like? How long are they? - So, probably get up about 5.30. Head off to placement about 6.30. Spend eight and a half hours there. And then quick turn around for a six-hour shift here working at the bar. - Hello. - Just getting pretty exhausted with the work on top of placement. - That's a long day. - Yeah. The other day, I had my watch on, and it told me I'd been standing for 17 hours. - Oh my gosh. Her current placement is on a mental health ward at Wakari Hospital. So, on placement, are you actually working? - Yeah. So, now that I'm second year, getting, like, my own patient load, two or three patients, I'm responsible for them for the shift. - Do you think that students should be paid during their placements? - 100%. Like, I know it would make all the difference. And we are working hard. We're not just watching. Like, we are involved, and we are looking after these people essentially by ourselves. - But the financial pressure for nursing students is coming at a price. - AMAYA: A lot of nurses are leaving New Zealand. My goal is to end up in Australia. - I mean, they have increased pay, safer staffing, less patient workloads. - I've got` Personally, I've got eight friends who are already planning on moving over there. We're just gonna go over together. Yeah. (APPLAUSE) - So, I mean, you really feel for these students. They're doing the mahi. They're flat out. And the thing is they're going to end up with so much debt, so you can't really, you know, put it against them for having to bail to Australia to pay it off. And make no mistake ` they're definitely working. They're dealing with some really tough stuff. We talked to some of these students. Amaya, she said she's already had eight deaths while on her watch, and two of them were children. She's looking after patients. She's working really hard. And when it comes to the other students we talked to` Through this investigation, I talked to many of them. We learned that some were living in garages, some were even engaging in sex work to try and make ends meet and also driving Ubers in, you know, the time they could squeeze in. And the worst part as well is that we have this high dropout rate, but it is particularly bad for Maori and Pasifika students. The dropout rate is much higher for them. And one of those reasons is that they're often` they're older students, and they're also supporting families while they're studying as well. - Wow. Yeah. - I just have so much respect for these people who do this job. My grandmother was a nurse at Middlemore for 35 years, and she taught us so many things through her work ` a love for people, a love for hard work, and a sort of healthy sort of disdain for doctors. (LAUGHTER) - Yeah, that is a very important part of being a nurse. There's a lot of nurses in the audience. I heard them laughing. (LAUGHTER) Now, O'Leary. - Yes. - What's on your agenda? - Well, I'm gonna start off a bit different this week with a question for you, Paddy, like I do every week. Are you ready? - I'm ready. I'm always ready. - How much fruit should a fruit fondler fondle when a fruit fondler fondles fruit? (LAUGHTER) - A fruit fondler should fondle as much fruit as they need to fondle, until they've fondled it enough to know that it's fruity enough to pay the correct price at checkout. - OK, no, Paddy, you... (CHUCKLING) Don't` Don't` Don't encourage him. (LAUGHTER) Thousands of other Kiwis across Aotearoa are the reason that my new best friend Kristy got in touch from Tauranga. She wants to see an end put to this barbaric practice. - # Woke up this morning feeling fine... - I'm cantalouping around Tauranga to find my new best friend Kristy, who has a big issue to pick with produce. - # Something tells me I'm into something good. - # Something tells me I'm into something good. - So, Kristy, thank you for coming to meet with me today. First things first, what is your issue? - My issue is fruit fondlers and vege squeezers. - Sorry, fruit fondlers? What do you mean by a fruit fondler? - Well, you go to the supermarket, right? And you select your fruit. It's only normal to pick your fruit up and, you know, have a look at it. But I'm talking about people that squeeze the crap out of the fruit and bruise the surface of it. - How does it make you feel when you see someone doing this? - It actually makes me quite annoyed, because people aren't being mindful of others. You just need to maybe touch it gently. - Touch it gently. So, I mean, how`? Like, pretend my hand is a stone fruit. - Yeah. - Show me the difference between a light touch and a full fondle. Of the fruit. - (LAUGHS) So, you don't wanna do that. No, no. - No, that's too much. - But all you need to do is use your paws. You know? - Yes. - And just... - Like that. - Yeah, like that. - There's quite a difference. Do you think certain fruits are more prone to fondling? - Yep. Kiwi fruit, avocados. Get them home, you cut it, and it's got the bruised indentations. - What about apples? Do you ever see people doing weird things with apples? - I recently heard about the apple flicker, which is a bit odd. - What do you think about what happens to that bruised fruit? - Well, actually, that's a really good question. I often ask myself how much food wastage is actually happening in the supermarket. - Are you asking me that question? Cos I don't have that information. - You could find out. - I probably can find out. I mean, you know what, Kristy ` you've got an issue; it's my issue now. I'm on the job. Leave it with me. - Thank you. - No worries. But before I fix it, let's just see how prolific this pastime really is. (ROCK MUSIC) Are you a fruit fondler? - Absolutely. (LAUGHS) - Are you? - Yeah, I'm a fruit fondler. - No. - What about you? What do you think about fruit fondling? - I think fruit should be fondled, personally. - I'm more of a vege vandaliser, not fruit. It's not up my alley. - I've been known to fondle fruit. - Like, regularly? Is it a regular thing that you do? - I'm afraid so. - Is there a particular fruit you like to fondle the most? - Apples. - How do you fondle an apple? So that's... - A wholesome caress. - I look around, you know, upside down, sideways, and, yeah... - So it's more of an assessment rather than a squeeze. - Grab like, two avocados and check it out. Like, 'Oh, what one's better?' - OK. That reminds me of something else. - OK. I do do that with my avos. And I guess they are fruit. - They count as fruit. - Yeah, OK. I am a fruit fondler. - Tauranga might just be the home of fruit fondling, but this is a nationwide issue, so I'm gonna take it into my hands and gently squeeze a solution. - I work in hospitality, and you can't get good fruit unless it's fondled. (APPLAUSE) - Yeah. So, look, basically, as I said when I ended, you know, everyone in Tauranga, basically, is fondling fruit. But I know this is a nationwide issue, and we've really gotta start thinking about the impact this is having, the negative impact. I mean, how do the fruit feel? Are they getting hurt? And also... (LAUGHTER) They might be. And also, I mean, what about the waste ` the level of waste that we're creating? I mean, it's just not on. So I'm on this case. Seriously. - You know, I'm a fruit fondler. I got a little avocado under the desk just in case I get a bit stressed. (LAUGHTER) - And what about tomatoes? How do they fit into this? - Well, I mean, what are you doing with your tomatoes? I mean, if you're just picking them up and having a look and then just assessing the colour, great, love it, go for gold. - I kind of like to have a little fiddle. - Yes, no, no, now you've become a fondler. (LAUGHTER) - All right. Coming up ` fiddling or fondling? Before that, I meet the coolest people in Auckland and find out firsthand what it's like being chucked in the deep end as a nurse. And Karen meets the man who takes fruit fondling to a new and incredibly dangerous level ` the apple flicker. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Well, this is a bit precarious. Yeah. If this was a film, the jacket would probably start to rip at this point. Yeah, but this is a Macpac. Oh, Macpac! WOMAN: Oi, I think someone's coming. WOMAN 2: Ooh, this is a bit precarious. That's what I was saying! Yeah, that's what he was saying! (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - Nau mai, hoki mai. Welcome back to Paddy Gower Has Issues. I am Paddy Gower. Coming up ` I'm going on an unpaid training place of my own to find exactly how crucial our nurses are. And spoiler alert ` I am actually a really good nurse. (LAUGHTER) But first, my news desk` Why is everybody laughing? But first, my news deskers ` last week I assigned you rugby. So this week my assignment is anything but rugby, please. - OK, well one of those words is right, and it's not anything or but. (LAUGHTER) We watched all the news; it's all been rugby. Would have been a great weekend to do a ram-raid, actually. This is New Zealand Has Issues. - The Rugby World Cup is over. And how is the mood? Well, here's what it looked like in Paris just a few days ago. - I'm confident. - Confident? - I'm pretty confident. - I've got lots of confidence. - Confidence ` gotta have confidence. - I'm reasonably confident. - Wow. Oh my gosh, who would have thought that white people holidaying on a yacht in Europe would be confident (?) That's crazy (!) - So many confident baby boomers that look like an ad for a fibre supplement. (LAUGHTER) And how were those confident Kiwis feeling after the game? - Gutted. - Gutted but proud. - Just, like, gutted. - And he was so gutted that he actually couldn't enjoy the rest of his time in Paris. I mean, here he is at the Eiffel Tower. - Lovely. Here he is at the Louvre. - Yeah, there he is at Disney Paris. Devastated. - Oh, it's so cute. The final was Ian Foster's last ever game as the All Blacks coach, and he was feeling very reflective. - What's the highlights? Probably today. You know, we lost, but... - Babe, do you know what a highlight is? (LAUGHTER) Unless, of course, you're talking about blonde highlights, and you're about to become Ian Frosty-Tips. (LAUGHTER) - Of course, to cover the game, the media got in some expert analysis. - What are your thoughts on the game at this point? - It's not looking good. - All Blacks did not succeed. (GLASS SMASHES) Oopsies. (LAUGHTER) - I think she meant, 'Oopsies.' - I love that 8-year-old icon. She's just like, 'I'm gonna turn up. I'm not gonna wear black, and I'm gonna tell it like it is.' - Back to you, Patty. - All right. Now it's time to get back to our investigation into why our nursing students aren't paid for their work on placement. It's time to go behind the issue. (APPLAUSE) In the beginning, we led the world in nursing. This is legendary nursing pioneer Grace Neill, who made New Zealand the first country in the world to have a proper system for training and registering nurses. She drafted the Nurses Registration Act in 1901. This is the world's very first registered nurse, Ellen Dougherty of Palmerston North. Pretty cool for Palmy, eh? Now in the early days, nurses were trained on the job in hospitals, and they were paid as they learn. But in 1971, it was decided that training in hospitals was exploitative, because nurses worked more than they learned. So 50 years ago this year, the first nursing schools opened, and now there are actually 20 nationwide. But an element of work placement has always remained as part of the study ` unpaid. Adding up all the work that nursing students do on placement, it comes to a whopping 85,500 placement weeks per year for free. That's like a workforce the size of Kaikoura working full time all year for free. Now, nursing students do a three-year degree, are required to do 1100 hours of free unpaid placements in a clinical setting. That's more than six months of full time work for them. Now, why does this matter? Well, look at this. Only one-third of nursing students are school leavers. Most have family responsibilities already, and, obviously, it's pretty damn hard to work part time to support your family when you need to take time off for your placements. Now, the result ` nearly one in three students drop out of their nursing degrees each and every year. But in other countries like the US and the UK, fewer nurses drop out, so more stay in training, and then they come to work here. 40% of our nurses are from overseas. 40% of our nurses are imported, and we still don't have enough. Now Te Whatu Ora says New Zealand is short about 4800 nurses right now, and if nothing changes, this will increase to 8000 nurses short by 2032. But by the way, the nurses organisation, which is the union, disagrees with these numbers. They say that shortage is 14,000 nurses right now. So what happens is you get a vicious cycle ` not enough nurses, stressed nurses, stressful placements, students dropping out, back to not enough nurses. Now the Poms get it. They now pay nursing students between NZ$10,000 and NZ$16,000 a year as a grant. And I wanted to get a small taste of life as a nursing student. So I went on a placement of my own ` unpaid, of course. All right. If I wanna understand nursing, I'm going to have to learn how to be a nurse. First thing ` I've gotta get into the right gears. Just avert your eyes. A six pack is coming out. (LAUGHTER) Oh yeah, it's not bad. I'm ready for my shift. Whoa. This is busy. - It is female there. - So, I'll just call it out? - Yes. - Cleo. - Here she is. All right. - Oh, Cleo's little. OK. Hi, Cleo. - Do you have a sore throat today? Oh, so I'm Hailey. I'm the nurse, and this is Paddy. We're just gonna put this on your finger, OK? - What is this gonna do? - It's gonna check her oxygen level. - We're gonna check your oxygen. - O2. So maybe we can turn that on. That's a great start. - I'll turn it. 96 and 84. - Open up and say, 'Aah!' Say, 'Aah!' - How many patients would you see a day? - At least 20. - 20 a day. - Yeah. - Wow. - Yeah, it gets a bit overwhelming. - The next patient is Atawhai. - Waiting time usually is about at least 45 minutes to an hour. - Hi. - Kia ora. I'm Paddy, your trainee nurse. Come with us. - Please tell me that scale doesn't lie. It's lying. - (LAUGHS) One of the worst lying scales I know. - It'll give you a reading. Yep. There you go. - That's a good temperature. I know that ` that's 36.6. - OK, you wanna record that for us. - Yeah. Good luck through there. Good luck through there. So, what, just people are constantly in here waiting? - Constantly. - All day. - Yep. 12 hours ` 8 to 8. - Oh, so she's been off school since Friday. - Yeah. - Any respiratory issues ` coughing, runny nose, sore throat? - Coughing, runny nose, yes. - I'm really sorry to hear that. Yeah. How do you find the nurses here when you come here? Are they good? - Yeah. They're really good. They're always very informative, very nice. - This is one appointment ` we've prescribed impetigo; we've dealt with a potential ear infection; and also we've renewed... - Some inhalers. - ...some inhalers. That's quite a successful... - Consultation. - ...consultation. - Yeah. - All right, team. OK. Get well soon. Get well soon. It's extra busy. Why is that? - A lot of our GPs in the locality or even, like, wider don't accept any more new enrolments or registration. So kinda everyone kinda comes here, cos they get seen anyway. - There's a lot of bloody hand-washing in a day, eh? If you could sit here, my bro... Can I say` call him that... - Yeah. - ...as a nurse? You all good with that? All right. Everybody ready? We're gonna do this. (MACHINE WHIRRS, BEEPS) - Perfect. - That's a really` - That's really good. - That's a really, really good heart rate, isn't it? - It is, yeah. - Yeah. - Blood pressure. - I didn't know. I was just copying what she said. - (LAUGHS) - Why do you love nursing? - It's making people's life that little bit more better. The smiles. - You like nursing cos of the smiles. - Most of all. (BOTH LAUGH) You can go, but if you feel a bit nauseous sick or anything, just yell out. There's plenty of nurses around. - Including` You can yell out for me as well. You feel well looked after? - Yeah. - Yeah. Are you glad I didn't do the injection? - Oh, I didn't mind. - (LAUGHS) I've only done a few patients. That was really hectic. Yeah. - That's a normal day for us. - I'm knackered. Yeah. In terms of getting people into nursing, you need more nurses here. - Absolutely. We're always trying to find nurses all the time. - And do you feel that students should be paid for some of the mahi that they do when they are actually doing health care work? - Because it's a struggle when you're a student anyway. You know, you have to give up a lot, and sometimes family support isn't always there. - It would encourage more people to come and work here. - Yeah, a lot more nurses to apply to go and do the degree and work here. Or work wherever they want, but, obviously, we just need nurses nationwide. - Tahi, rua, toru, go. - ALL: Nurses. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - Yeah, and I had to say I was actually brought to tears a number of times during that day, watching the pride with which those nurses serve their community, and not just them ` the doctors and the health care assistants at Turuki Centre and the admin people who keep their doors open when everywhere else in the area is shut. They have an open door policy, which is, to my mind, the very epitome of caring for people in your community. And it just seems crazy that we are putting up barriers to getting other people in there to help them out on the front line. - It's bonkers, right? I mean, imagine if there was no barriers, and we had all these students that graduated and ended up there working in the health workforce. - Yeah. - And to find out more about the barriers, I will talk to Te Whatu Ora later in the show. - Yeah, interesting to see what they'll have to say. Now, coming up ` not everyone agrees that nurses should be paid for their work in training. Alexa meets both sides to thrash it out. And Karen's fight against fruit fondling leads her to a very, very dark place and then to New World. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) VOICEOVER: It was Christmas Day and all was quiet in the house... (VOICE ECHOES) ..house...house... (DRIVING BEAT RISES) (FUNKY POP MUSIC) (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - Welcome back Kiwis. This is Paddy Gower Has Issues, and I am Paddy Gower. Now, coming up ` Karen meets a man at the extreme end of fruit fondling. This guy flicks apples. Now, every week in this country though, there is just one thing that I am totally relaxed about, totally on board with. It is time for No Issues (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) Now, I've got no issues with our politicians being forced to work. Our new Prime Minister, Christopher 'Corporate' Luxon, has decided that pollies are actually going to work this summer. You see, Parliament has had it pretty easy up till now, shutting up shop in mid-December and not reopening until February. Eight weeks out in the sun for our elected representatives. Honestly, WTF? Now, Christopher 'Corporate' Luxon reckons he's gonna keep the place open until late December and get them back in there in mid-Jan. Good bloody job, mate. But, hang on, Kiwis. It's easy to bag politicians. I've made a career out of it. I admit that. Luxon said that the rest of the country works right up until Christmas, and then gets back into it first thing in January. Well, let's be honest Kiwis, that's rubbish. We do not. We are actually lazy Kiwis come December, when we start what I call our two month long MNS ` our Massive National Smoko. Here are some facts, and they are going to hurt. Our summer slowdown starts at lunchtime on Friday the 8th of December. No one is going to be doing jack shit after that. Workplaces start partying, hangovers kick in, the boss 'works from home', and so does everybody else who can. You know it's true. Then on Friday the 15th of December, boomfa ` a proper shutdown begins, this country goes dead, and New Zealand is officially closed until Monday, January the 15th 2024. Skeleton staff only. And a shout out to those who do the mahi while everybody else gets the treats. But even after mid-January ` you know this is true. we need a few four-day weeks for Auckland Anniversary, Wellington Anniversary and, of course, Waitangi Day, just to ease back into it. It is the great Kiwi summer slowdown, and here is a truth bomb for you ` Kiwis, we pretty much stop work on December the 8th and go back properly on February the 12th. What is with that? Is it a coincidence that we have a very low GDP per capita? That's our productivity ` the money we make per person. 30th in the world, way behind Singapore, Ireland, Iceland, and Australia. I'm not an economist, but none of these countries have a Massive National Smoko ` MNS ` for two months a year. So I've got no issues with 'Corporate' Christopher Luxon making these political buggers work, but our Massive National Smoko ` our MNS ` needs to end, or at least be brought down to two weeks instead of two months. (APPLAUSE) - Paddy, I don't get this though, cos we've only got two more episodes left. So do I just` do I just keep invoicing you for the rest of the year? - I've got an idea for you, Eli ` nursing. (LAUGHTER) All right, Karen. How are you gonna stop people fondling and fiddling with fruit? - Well, obviously, before I can put an end to this fruit fondling epidemic, I need to get right inside the head of it, you know? - The head of the fruit? (LAUGHS) - No, no. No, the head of the fondlers. And so I managed to get myself an exclusive interview with a self-proclaimed apple flicker, and he agreed to talk to me on the strict conditions that we kept his identity a secret. So, do you have a name that you'd quite like to be called? - Benjamin. - Benjamin. Did you want a wig, or..? - I'm already wearing a wig. - OK, look, I know that you know why I'm here. I know why you're here. We're here to talk about people that touch fruit inappropriately. What do you do? - I'm an apple flicker. - Why do you flick apples? - It's the only way to reliably tell if you're gonna buy a fresh apple... - Mm-hm. - ...or one that's floury and unpleasant to eat. - Could you just show me exactly, on camera, how you go about the flick ` what you're looking for, what you're listening for? - Sure. It's real easy. It's real simple. Take two apples at the supermarket, give them a flick, see which one is better. (LOW-PITCHED THWACK) The higher pitch is better. (HIGHER-PITCHED THWACK) - Better, worse. - Yeah. Very simple. This is the good apple. Leave that one behind. - Mm. But now you're leaving behind a very flicked apple. - I don't think the flicking hurts the apples. If you flick skilfully... (FLICKS APPLE) - It's a gentle flick. - ...you inflict very little damage. - Can I just have the flicked apple that has been flicked numerous times? I'm just gonna` (FLICKS VIGOROUSLY) - Of course, if you flick it like that... - Just gotta wait` - I feel like you're misrepresenting my flicking. - See, that's quite bruised. It is a very flowery apple, though. You're right. That apple-flicking fruit fondler is one of thousands of Kiwis who prod produce. Surely supermarkets want to put an end to grocery groping. Hey, thanks, John. Really good. (SOFTLY) We'll blur the face out... No worries. Thank you. - No worries. (R.E.M.'S 'ORANGE CRUSH') - I'm sitting down with supermarket giants Foodstuffs to see what they think about this. Hello, nice to meet you. - Hello. - I've come to you because I've got a bit of a problem. My best friend Kristy... doesn't like her fruit being fondled in the supermarket. What is Foodstuffs doing about this massive problem? - Probably the answer is nothing. We really encourage customers to get into our departments. We'd encourage them to use their eyes and decide what they're going to buy before they pick it up. - But people are just tempted to have a little bit of a... (WHISTLES) You know? A bit of a whoo-hoo. - We're really super lucky in New Zealand because if you were in the UK, only 15% of your produce is sold loose, whereas here in New Zealand, about 70% of it's sold loose. - That's nice, but what about all the waste it makes? - Things like bananas end up in our bakeries. So, we make banana bread, and all of our fresh departments are constantly using the ingredients out of our produce departments as well. So we... - That's also very good to know. - ...in the last year, have diverted 9000 tons of food waste. Yep. - What would have been waste. Into banana bread. - Uh, not just banana bread, but` - Brigit, you know what? I've been really` I came here wanting some serious action, but I came here and got some seriously good information. So I want to thank you so much for your time, and you keep up the great work. - No worries. Thank you very much. - OK, so bruised fruits aren't wasted, but surely they don't need to be bruised in the first place. I need to educate the nation. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - I tell you what, O'Leary, you're getting seriously good at this, because I think you were getting stonewalled there by Foodstuff. - Is that what it's called? - Yeah, stonewalled. That's what happens to good journos. Cos the Foodstuffs person there, you know, the owner of New World and Pak'nSave, did not want to take a position on fruit fondling. It's almost like there's some sort of mysterious fondling lobby in the background kind of controlling them, like some sort of puppeteer. - I think I'm picking up what you're putting down, Paddy. I think they're in bed with Big Fondle. Hubba hubba. (LAUGHTER) - Yeah. I mean, I think they definitely are people pulling strings and squeezing fruit behind the scenes. So, I mean, basically, I needed help from someone who really knew their stuff. So I had to find the highest-up person in New Zealand fruit and veg that I could to just see what needs to be done about this. - All right. Coming up ` Karen meets New Zealand's Mr Fruit and Veg. His verdict on fruit fondling leaves Karen only one option. And are there actually good reasons not to pay nursing students for their work? Alexa goes after the answers. (APPLAUSE) (APPLAUSE) - Nau mai, hoki mai. Welcome back to Paddy Gower Has Issues. I'm Paddy Gower. Now, coming up any minute, Alexa finds out that not everyone thinks that we should pay student nurses for their placement work. And Karen continues to fight fruit fondling. But first, Donald Trump. I need to be brought up to speed. It seems like he's either going to be president or in jail. Tell me which one it is, news deskers. - Well, Paddy, it actually could be both because this year is going to be... (IMITATES DONALD TRUMP) 'uge. It's time for The World Has Issues. (APPLAUSE) Trump has been in massive legal trouble this year. He's been indicted in four separate cases in four different states. The states include distress, delusion, denial and Florida. The good news this is is that ladies love a bad boy. The bad news is he's not a bad boy. He's just a terrible elderly man. The first indictment was in regards to him using his campaign funds to pay hush money to Stormy Daniels, who Trump had an affair with in 2006. If you don't know who Stormy Daniels is, just ask your dad. Good to know he can afford Stormy's hush money, but not Melania's 'hold my hand in public' money. - There's also a separate case looming over his handling of classified documents. Trump stored huge boxes of classified material at his golf resort, with photos showing them being kept literally in the toilet. There's so many classified documents in there, if you go for number ones, it's called a WikiLeak. - But he got this gorgeous mug shot in Georgia, where he was indicted over his efforts to reverse the 2020 election. Man, we are so lucky to live in a country where people don't try and claim elections where stolen. In Aotearoa, if you lose an election, you simply acknowledge that you lost and then just hard launch your new girlfriend on live TV. - He is also in court right now after being indicted because he fraudulently overvalued his assets by billions of dollars so he could get better loan terms and insurance policies. Wait, you mean sometimes businessmen lie? Maybe they shouldn't be in charge of countries. Oh no! - (IMITATES DISAPPOINTED TRUMPET) Now, you might be thinking, 'Hey, if he goes to jail, 'at least surely no one will be voting for him, right?' Well, wrong. All of the polls indicate that he will not only easily get the Republican presidential nomination, but it's pretty likely he'll beat Biden in the next election. It's also likely that one of these very old men will die very soon. (LAUGHTER) - OK, but surely if he does go to jail, he can't become president, can he? - No, Paddy, we looked into it. Turns out you can legally be president from jail. And Trump said he's fine to go to jail as long as it's not Alcatraz cos he is... (IMITATES DONALD TRUMP) not going to Mexico. Back to you, Paddy. (APPLAUSE) - As they say, only in America. Now, back to Aotearoa New Zealand and our trainee nurses not getting paid. Alexa, what's next? - Well, now that I've talked to those students and found all about their struggles, I was curious to see what the sector thought ` people that have been working on the nursing front line for decades and what they might see that they want to change. And what I found was two completely different takes. Tucked away on a Dunedin street, the signs and the window are a clue as to who lives here. - The nursing shortages are getting a whole lot worse. I'm very, very concerned for our future. Worst case scenario is that the health and wellbeing of our nation is going to continue to go down the tubes. - What's the single biggest thing the government could do that would actually boost nursing numbers? - Finance is the biggest problem for nurses. - Would that include helping students through their placement? So, at the moment it's unpaid. Would you want to see that change? - Absolutely. So, when I was a student nurse, I went and lived in a nurse's home, and my meals were free. My uniforms were free. And as an undergraduate nurse, I was paid as well because it was recognised that the work that I did, even though I was a student, was work. And so we were paid, and that was the way it should have been. (OLD`FASHIONED MUSIC) - Nursing schools started in the early 1900s, and even Queen Elizabeth visited one on a trip here to Dunedin in 1954. But in the 1970s, nursing education was moved to universities and polytechnics. - When it moved, the housing, food, uniforms and pay stopped. Nurses homes closed, and that was a big mistake, I think. - Under the current system, do you see quite a high percentage of dropouts? - The dropout rate is about one in three, and that's totally unacceptable. And it is very much a gender discrimination issue that a female-dominated health workforce is actually discriminated against. And it would be only fair to give us a living wage, just like all the other apprenticeships are receiving. - A new report from Te Whatu Ora confirms nursing students do need more financial support. However, it makes no promises to deliver. - There is no detail. - Have you heard Te Whatu Ora talk at all about paying students on placement? - It's not something that seems to be a priority for them. - Well, Anne's definitely set out a clear case for why students should be paid on their placements. But it got me thinking ` what about other nurses organisations, and what do they think? So we've come to Auckland to talk to the Nurses Society and get their two cents on the issue. So, David, do you support students being paid on their nursing placements? - Not for clinical placements? - Why not? These students are on the job for weeks, months at a time. They're in charge of patients, medications. They're dealing with deaths, all sorts of things. - Well, they're doing things under supervision, and they're important tasks and skills that they're learning, but their purpose is to get experience. Their purpose is not to be part of the workforce. 50 years ago, there were hospital-based nursing schools. Nursing students suffered under that. Patients suffered under that. You start paying them, and they are de facto employees. And there is a risk that the service and operational needs of facilities will begin to dictate where they're placed, and how they're placed, and the length of those placements. - Can't they remodel that? - No. - There's no changes that could be made to ensure that this could work? - Not in our view. - Do you know what it's like for these students? I mean, they're paying` On placement, they'll be paying double rent. They don't have any financial support, and they're finding it really, really tough. - We do, and we sympathise, and that is common to all students. But paying for training placements, in our view, would be counter-productive. It would undermine the educational needs of those students. - I don't agree. We need to focus on the health and wellbeing of our country, and we have to be able to deliver that care, and to do that, we need our student nurses. It's pretty simple. (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - So clearly, we had two very different opinions there. And it's important to note Anne Daniels there from the Nurses Organisation that supports paid student placements, well, they've got 55,000 members in their union ` the majority of the workforce. - I have to say after watching that, I'm definitely leaning towards Anne in the Nurses Organisation, that they should be paid. - I'm definitely leaning away from that guy. Well away. (LAUGHTER) - And what I've got here is a report from Te Whatu Ora. They've acknowledged all those problems and the issues around unpaid placements. It literally says in here that a big barrier, particularly to Maori and Pasifika students completing their placements, is financial hardship. It's hard to get a paying job during those placements, and there is parking, transport and accommodation costs. So, Paddy, I'll be taking this and these issues to Te Whatu Ora coming up. - Yeah, I can't wait to see that, and I can tell you right now, I'm on the side of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, the union, on that one. I think that these students look like they should get paid, don't you, Karen? - Yeah, I'm not on the side of that guy, that guy that... (LAUGHTER) He seemed like a really compassionate, amazing person to be in charge of nurses. Just my opinion, just an opinion. - Now, your opinion on fruit fondling, cos I think you're gonna struggle to get a result on this, cos the supermarkets didn't really want a bar of you. - Well, I mean, I'll be the first to admit I'm struggling with this one. And so basically, I just was like, who can I talk to? So I've basically gone and talked to the fruit president of New Zealand to try and get some answers around why fruit fondling is absolutely a no-no and should not be happening in this country. I tracked down the King of Fruit ` aka the president of United Fresh ` to make an official call on fruit fondling once and for all. - Please. - Thank you. Just gonna ask you this straight out ` are you` are you a fruit fondler? - No. - Why not? - (CHUCKLES) We actually don't encourage people to fondle their fruit. In fact, you can actually decide what a good piece of fruit is by shape, colour, quality. If a product is looking good, it's got a good texture to it. - Yup, shiny? - It's good-looking quality, good` nice-looking product, then that's probably going to be an appropriate product to purchase. And if it looks like it's good quality, there's a very high chance it will be. - So it's unlikely that fruit and vegetables are trying to trick you into looking better than they actually are. - Correct. Correct. - Tamarillos. How do you tell a good tamarillo? Colour, I was gonna guess. - (LAUGHS) You're bang on. - Let's just find` This mandarin, for instance. Potentially not as appealing, based on your colour scale. - Exactly. Choose one that's got more colour to it. - And what will happen to this one, though? - It'll colour up. - Passionfruit, they're another good one. Aren't they supposed to be a bit more wrinkly? - So with a passionfruit, you'll find you'll get a more enhanced flavour once that actually wrinkles up. - Kind of similar to people, in a way. Yes, you get more wrinkles, but maybe you're better. - It could be. - So say you were at a supermarket or a greengrocer's, and you saw someone getting right in there, squidging and squeezing. How'd that make you feel? - Well, produce actually belongs to the store at that point, so it's about being respectful. - Kiwifruit. Another one I think that's prime for squeezing. - Yeah, and that's one that you've really gotta be careful because you'll damage that very, very quickly. - Yeah. - I've got a view that 'don't squeeze me till I'm yours'. You need to actually identify the piece of fruit you're purchasing. Once you get that home and it's yours, you can do what you like with it. - That looks like a great kiwifruit. OK, so I can now officially say that the squeezing of fruit or vegetables in any retail environment is not OK. Use your eyes to look for colour, size, shape, and quality before you purchase what you're gonna take home. And in Jerry's words, don't squeeze me until I'm yours. Karen O'Leary, Paddy Gower Has Issues. - I've been waiting for this moment, because finally, you have failed to get a result. You haven't solved fruit fondling at all. - Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hang on a minute, Paddy. Look, without even realising it, the King of Fruit, Jerry, came up with the amazing slogan which I'm now gonna use as part of my viral campaign. So you just sit there, be quiet, and check this out. - # Squeeze me. - # Don't squeeze me. - # Don't squeeze me. - ALL: # Don't squeeze me till I'm yours. - Don't Squeeze Me Till I'm Yours. Authorised by Fruit Against Fruit Fondling. - Very good, But the problem is, it hasn't gone viral yet. So you'll now` - Whoa, whoa, whoa again. Again, it's on all of our platforms, and it will go viral. I need the help from all of you guys out there. If you know a fruit fondler, someone that's squeezing fruit inappropriately, send this to them. Share it, you know, really wide. And let's get` let's change the behaviour that is happening in this country that's basically just not OK. And now obviously as well, don't forget, if you do have an issue, and you want my help to get results, email us at issues@paddygower.co.nz. I'll come and help. - All right. Thank you, Karen Pending Results O'Leary. Now, coming up, Alexa sits down with Te Whatu Ora to get a straight answer. Will they or will they not pay nurses for their placements and training? (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) In our house, it's not Christmas without reindeer pancakes for breakfast. Those look really... Good? Good. Yeah! Dad always tries to guess what he's getting. Bacon has to be in everything. And we always have Nana's mince pies. Apparently you use fruit mince but we use beef. It's kind of weird. VOICEOVER: However you do Christmas, we've got you sorted at New World. (APPLAUSE) - Hello, Kiwis. Welcome back to Paddy Gower Has Issues. I am Paddy Gower. Now, Alexa, how can we treat our nurses and our training nurses better? - Well, if there's going to be a change then it needs to come from the top, and the top is Te Whatu Ora. I went to meet one of their big bosses. Our final stop is to find out what the government's doing about this huge rate of nursing student drop-outs. Cos at the moment, one in three drop out, and a key reason for that is the financial pressure that they're under with their more than 1100 hours of unpaid placements. - My key focus at the moment is for us to pull every possible lever around retaining the people that we've got working here, making sure that we train as much as we can within New Zealand, and making sure that we make it as easy as possible to come from overseas and work in the New Zealand system. - Does that include any financial support? Cos at the moment, these nursing students are getting nothing. - We are doing some Earn and Learn programmes in parts of the country as well. - For nursing students? For Bachelor of Nursing? - Yeah, for nursing students. And so what we're doing is looking at testing different models. - But is anyone earning as they learn at the moment, any nursing students? - Um... So, at the moment down in Canterbury, for example, we've got a pilot programme down there where there are Kaimahi Maori nurses. That programme's got about a 93% retention rate, where there is an Earn and Learn programme there. The important thing for us is just to really continue to improve the placement experience and continue to make sure that we've got as many nurses coming through the education pipeline as possible. And, you know, there is an affordability factor for us and for the education sector about whether we could afford to do that right across the health education curriculum. - But you also can't afford to lose them. I mean, you need thousands of nurses in your health care system. You're losing a lot of them through while they study. So doesn't the affordability argument not work here? - Look, for us, the key thing there is that what we need is qualified nurses on our front line. It's about how do we do that with what we've got allocated at the moment, and how do we maximise that? - If you had a message for Te Whatu Ora, what would it be? - We are doing valuable work, and we are going to be the nurses that come next. - There's a bunch of super keen, motivated nurses out there, but I definitely think that financial support is needed if you want to keep us in New Zealand and keep us getting through to the finish line. - Yeah, so, look, what I'd say is, it's great that you've chosen a career in the health workforce. It's great that you're learning, and you're getting to bring those skills that you've had in the classroom into our workplace and be supervised while you put those skills in action. And I look forward to you joining us permanently. - Well, she's actually going overseas. She's going to Australia as soon as she graduates. - Yeah. That's a` That's a real shame. And I hope one day that she'll come back to New Zealand at some stage in her life and will be able to work for us. (CURIOUS MUSIC) (APPLAUSE) - So, I mean, that Earn as you Learn pilot, it sounds like a great solution. Sounded a little bit too good to be true, so we went away after that interview, and we clarified it. And it's actually a massive red herring. It's not actually happening for any Bachelor of Nursing students. - (LAUGHS) - It was a pilot, and it was a pilot for health care assistants, which are completely different scenarios. - Wait, so, what` Te Whatu Ora that there was something happening that actually isn't? That's gotta be a worry. I mean, we would have liked to take this further, of course, but there's only a caretaker government, so there isn't really a health minister yet. CHUCKLES: But you have to worry about what that health minister is gonna hear from Te Whatu Ora if they actually don't know what they're doing. - And, look, Paddy, I really hope that the government, they do listen to what these nursing students are saying, and what the union is saying, because people are hurting, and they're dropping out. - All right. Fantastic investigation tonight, Alexa. Really well done. O'Leary ` pending results. Not your best work, but you'll be back. The news desk ` nothing pending about you two, Eli and Courtney. (MUGS CLINK) Thank you very much, everybody, for your mahi. So, on nursing, for me, it goes like this. This is an utter training wreck. It is beyond stupid that we aren't paying training nurses for their mahi. It is nuts. We are putting up a gigantic barrier to any wannabe nurse, particularly ones who have families, or are from poorer areas, or just anyone. We should be making it so easy for any Kiwi to say, 'I want to be a nurse.' It's frustrating when the answers are so bleeding obvious. Te Whatu Ora know this already. It's in their report. We've got an incoming government claiming that they are going to fix the health system. So here is a solution ` pay training nurses for the work that they do. Just because it's not your idea, Government, don't be dicks about it ` just do it. I will be watching. I'm Paddy Gower. Those were my issues, and I'm gonna miss youse. Captions by Julie Taylor and Kate Harris. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2023