Tonight on Close Up ` the man on a mission to expose Apple's alleged unethical labour practices. We actually already knew conditions were brutal and vicious on the ground. Why this couple are being forced to pay to fix their land when they don't even own it. And we get out on the greens with Kiwi teen golf sensation Lydia Ko. My life seems to be, like... (SINGSONGY) golf, golf, golf, golf. Due to the live nature of Close Up, captions for some items may be incomplete. ONE News captions by Alecia Bland and John Ling. Close Up captions by Pippa Jefferies and Angela Alice. If you thought the row in Christchurch over council CEO Tony Marryatt had settled down, then think again. It was council meeting day today. Everyone was there ` except for the mayor, of course. Bob Parker is in China drumming up business for the city. Now, it's fair to say that hasn't gone down to well with the locals. Regardless, the meeting must go on. A lot on the agenda today ` various earthquake reports, heritage reinstatement programme, a facilities rebuild plan, infrastructure rebuilds and wastewater pipe renewal. So it came as a surprise to some that council CEO David Marryatt, who copped flak for being away at crucial times CORRECTION: TONY. and for lamenting his lack of opportunity to play golf because of the hard slog post-earthquake, took off early from the meeting. Where could he be? Yep, at a pro-am golf tournament. Could this not be just ever so slightly insensitive given recent history? Apparently not. I've taken half a day's annual leave to be out here to play host to a lot of visitors to our city. The reports that are on the agenda, I didn't write. There's very experienced staff there, experienced general managers. I don't need to be there every minute of the day. And what do you say to those people that might think, > you know, you shouldn't be off playing golf while the city's still in delicate stages of rebuild? > Well, I say to those people, and hopefully they're in the same spot, is I don't expect anybody to be working 24/7. This is a marathon, not a sprint. The city's not going to be rebuilt in a day. It's years. I don't think I'm any use to the city if I work 24/7 and drop dead. I've got to try and get some balance in life and have some relaxation so I can keep doing the job that I've been hired to do. So this is your downtime? > My downtime is golf, watching TV. But fear not, because don't forget the government's 'keep an eye on things' guy. Their official observer was across it all. This is him ` Kerry Marshall ` at the meeting. Photo supplied by a member of the public who loves to see democracy in action. We've called the council to get their views. Deputy mayor Ngaire Button says she supported Tony Marryatt playing in the pro-am tournament which leads up to a major council-sponsored sporting event that had many positives for the city. Mike Daisey is a monologist ` that means he stands up alone on a stage and gives a monologue. He's been doing it for years, but these days Mike is famous, famous because he wrote a monologue about Apple. It's called The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. The agony because, in his performance, Mike skewers the Apple company over the working conditions in its Chinese factories. It's become a sensation. Mike has achieved what's alluded numerous investigative journalists and shone a very public light on a very image-conscious company, all achieved by one man on a stage. Foxconn is the biggest company you've never heard of. Foxconn makes over 50% of all the electronics in the world. I've always been a huge Apple fan. I have all the devices. I've been in love with Apple for years, so when I wanted to investigate where my devices came from, Apple was the devices I was investigating. So my plan is to take this taxi to the main gate and then I get out of the taxi with my translator, and then my plan is to stand at the main gate and talk to anybody who wants to talk to me. Did you have any idea when you started this what it was that you were going to uncover? Well, you know, everything that I found at Foxconn and at the factories throughout the special economic zone that make all of our electronics ` what I found was not different than what had been reported by human-rights groups for almost a decade. So, you know, we actually already knew conditions were brutal and vicious on the ground and that that was being tolerated, so in a way I wasn't surprised, but it's always very shocking to actually experience it and to see it ` the human face of it. I met workers who were 14 years old. I met workers who were 13 years old. I met workers who were 12. Do you really think Apple doesn't know? In a company obsessed with the details, with the aluminium being milled just so, with the glass being fitted perfectly into the case, do you really think it's credible that they don't know? In their defence, Apple, of course, have said, 'Listen, hang on, our factories are actually better than the others. You're picking on the wrong guys.' Their conditions, while arguably better than some other manufacturers, are still totally in violation of local labour laws. Like, they're breaking the law every single day when their suppliers behave in this manner. I never knew that I needed a laptop so thin, I could slice a sandwich with it. LAUGHTER I didn't know that. But then I saw it, and I wanted it! Did the pressure come on you to stop doing this? There have been journalists who have been contacted by Apple, especially early on, and told, 'Don't listen to him. I don't know if you should be talking to him. You do know he works in the theatre.' Do you still use Apple products, Mike? I do. I'm using all of the Apple products that I owned before I went to Shenzhen, before I went on this journey, and I haven't bought anything new since I got back, which is a personal decision, but one I'm comfortable with, so I'm kind of slowly going obsolete. And I know that can't last forever, and eventually I'll have to get something new. Probably I'll buy second-hand and I'll try to do my best to minimise my footprint as I work to make conditions better. I remember there was one week in 1999, I looked at all my systems. I thought, 'Oh,... it's perfect.' LAUGHTER 'Everything I own is bulbous and fruit coloured. 'This will never go out of style.' You are but one man up against a gigantic corporation with billions and billions of dollars at its disposal. Did you ever think, 'This isn't gonna work?' It's a very powerful thing to know that the truth is on your side. And fundamentally, I know what I saw outside of Foxconn, I know what human-rights groups have reported for the better part of a decade, so that chorus gets louder and louder, and Apple is afraid, and they should be afraid, because the truth is a powerful and corrosive thing. Their brand could disintegrate faster than they expect. When I think of Nike today, the second or third thing I think of is sweatshops. When Steve Jobs died, did you think, 'I'm either gonna need to retitle or I'm gonna need to rethink about doing this'? No. No, in fact, we were` we'd been running the show for over a year, but we were just about to open in New York six days after he died. And it was clear to me immediately that while it changed the context in some ways of what was going on for the audience, the fundamental story of how our devices are made and this man ` this sort of legendary man who was so brilliant at seeing the humane in the design and so inept, so flawed at seeing the inhumanity in his production process ` it did nothing but actually make it more important to tell the story. Mike has now made his monologue available royalty-free to anyone who wants to perform it. So, is he on the money? Will it put you off? Let us know your views. Email us at tvnz.co.nz, and you can post on our Facebook page. That is facebook.com/closeup Coming up ` why this couple are being forced to pay to fix their land when they don't even own it. And the Kiwi girl that could be the next big name in golf. It may not look like much, but the slip that formed behind Bob and Moira Tweedie's house is now a $60,000 problem. But is it their responsibility? You see, Bob and Moira own the house, but the land is leasehold. The landowner says, yes, it's the Tweedies' responsibility; they should be paying. There are thousands of other NZ families on leasehold land. What are their rights? We'll explore that shortly, but first Matt McLean with Bob and Moira. < It's not good, is it? It's not. We know that. We do. Don't we? Yes. This is what's not good: a slip ` soil and debris that's slammed into the back of Bob and Moira Tweedie's New Plymouth home. There was so much rain, wind blowing. It happened at that time. And it just went and went and went. I said, 'Look, I think you've gotta come have a look. I'm really worried.' And he looked out the window and said a rude word. It is scary, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. It is a bit. And when you look at this up here, are you worried that this might come down as well? Of course I am. Yes, definitely. Because some of that stuff is getting to the stage where it's ready to topple over, and that could cause a lot of damage to the house. This soil has been sitting here for more than six months. To be quite frank, there's been so many official people, looking at this, but nothing's going on, don't you agree? No, no, no, no. Nothing. Here's where things get tricky. The Tweedies own the house ` have done for the past 12 years. Here's where things get tricky. The Tweedies own the house ` have done for the past 12 years. But the land it's on and all the land up the back here isn't theirs. They lease it. But even though they're not the ones who own the land, it's Bob and Moira that are expected to clean this mess up. When the slip came down, did you think for a second that you might have to cough up with the money? No, no, no. I thought, 'OK, it's leasehold land. It's the owners of the land.' They're responsible for it. But as it turns out, as the leaseholders, you are responsible for paying for it, aren't you? Yeah, it looks like it. Which I think is not correct. It shouldn't be correct. The land is owned by the Grey Institute Trust, a trust run by the Methodist Church of NZ. The Grey Institute, eh? Mm. The grey area. > It is a very grey area. We're not moaners. We are honestly not. But it's been very very bad. I watch it very regularly. I just keep an eye on it, particularly when we're having terrible weather. That's what really worries me. I keep thinking, 'They're going to do something. They're going to do something.' But no action whatsoever, is there? No, not a thing. > The Earthquake Commission has paid out $22,000 for the damages, based on the value of the land. Well, according to the Earthquake Commission, we have no right to that land. It's not our responsibility. We don't even have a tin shed on it. So they're not going to pay the money over to Moira and I when the actual rightful owners are the Grey Institute. They're looking at in excess of $63,000. There's simply no way the Tweedies, given their age, their health problems, and their financial circumstances, are going to be able to address this problem. Ian Matheson is the Tweedies' lawyer, who's concerned about the position the Tweedies are in. I think from a moral point of view, the trust has got an obligation to look after this problem. And Ian last week received an engineering report, highlighting potentially imminent danger for the Tweedies. So that means there could be more slips off that bank? Absolutely, yep. The bank is at further risk of slippage, and there's risk of further damage to the house. I can't believe it. I really can't. For Bob and Moira, this isn't what they expected to be dealing with in their retirement years. But they're adamant they're staying put. Some people would think I'm as mad as a hatter. No, no, not quite. They're probably right. So you don't want to leave? No, definitely not. Not really. < But are you realistic that it might get to that point? BOTH: Oh yes. Definitely. We'll fight it to the finish not to go. We're not fighting types. We offered the Grey Institute trust an opportunity to appear on camera for this story. They declined. But ` surprise, surprise ` today they told us they've reconsidered and will now contribute towards the costs of the remedial work. How much, they wouldn't say. Why the Tweedies should still be expected to pay anything at all was the question I put to Andrew King, president of the NZ Property Investors Federation. Well, normally I wouldn't have expected them to pay anything. It's not their land. They rent it to be on it. They don't own it, though. So I wouldn't have expected that they should pay anything. So, in a normal situation, if you're on lands that you don't own ` if you're renting it or leasing it ` the owner of the land is responsible for fixing the land? Oh, look, I would have thought so. However, it will depend on what is in the lease, who's been paying the EQC fee and things like that, so there is some pretty serious legal issues in here. A moral obligation, do you think, on the trust, irrespective of anything else? Look, I would have thought so. I'm not a lawyer. However, I would have thought it's not the lessee's land. It's the leasers. They own it. They've got the money from EQC. They should have insured it. I would have thought it was their responsibility. Look, how many other people could there be around the country like this? I mean, how big is leasehold land in this country? Fairly big. I mean, we're talking thousands, not hundreds. So it will be affecting a lot of people. This isn't something that comes up a lot, though. A lot of the time, the leasehold land is actually for apartment buildings, but it doesn't necessarily have to. There are pockets of leasehold land all over the place. OK, if you were looking at a property and it's leasehold land` I mean, we're used to it, I suppose, with, you know, people buying quite often apartments and things like that. But what's the tip you'd give someone? If they were looking at something that says leasehold land, should they run away or is there a way of doing it? No, no, you wouldn't necessarily run away. There are some benefits of leasehold land. One is that because you're not buying the land, you may be paying only 5% interest` sorry, 5% lease on the land. But your mortgage costs would be 8%, and sometimes it's been up to 11%, even 20%. So potentially, you can save money on leasehold land. But, what, banks charge more for a mortgage on a property on leasehold land? No, a bank won't charge you any more. However, if the lease has only, say, seven years to run, they'll want you to pay off the entire mortgage in seven years. So there are some restrictions on the mortgage, but banks generally will lend it. If it's a 20-year mortgage, then they'll expect you to pay it off in 21 years. OK, so it's a lot bigger than what we think, the leasehold issue in this country? Oh, it certainly is, and although there are some benefits, there are some real downfalls. If the lease comes up, the terms of the lease means that they can increase the rent on the land and you can suddenly find you're paying tens of thousands of dollars more for the land. OK, look, before we go ` Bob and Moira, we don't know how much the trust is offering to pay. Should they stick to their guns here? Look, I would have thought so, but they will need legal advice on this. This is a legal matter, and there will be all sorts of legal ramifications going on in there, so legal advice is required. Coming up ` how do you handle being a top golfer when you're only 14? My life seems to be, like... (SINGSONGY) golf, golf, golf, golf. She's the youngest amateur to win a professional tournament ever and the top amateur golfer in the world. Yet she skips down the fairway, spends practice time annoying her coach and most others her age are just starting out at high school. NZer Lydia Ko is the latest 'one to watch' in the golfing world and tomorrow the 14-year-old tees off alongside people double her age and with decades more experience than her at the NZ Women's Open in Christchurch. Abby Scott caught up with Lydia and her coach Guy Wilson this week for a very serious training session. # Swing, swing, swing, swing... I'm the boss. You're the boss. # La-di-da. Oh. (LAUGHS) # Now you're singing with a swing. # Lydia Ko makes golf practice look fun. (GRUNTS) Oh, was that an air shot? It's like my full-time job, and then I've got school as well, and I have to enjoy it or I can't really play this much golf. Yeah, I'm not raking that. You can do that. I've got my business pants on. Her coach, Guy Wilson... Sorry, boss. ...is more like an annoying older brother than a coach. A fair chance you're not gonna get very close to this one. I suppose we're probably a little bit more stupid than most coach-and-player relationships, but I think that's what keeps it light for her and keeps it entertaining for me. It's cool. Sorry, boss. And it's working for Lydia, too. Last month she became the youngest player ever to win a professional tournament, and she's now ranked as the top female amateur in the world. But she is still just 14. My life seems to be, like,... (SING-SONGY) 'Golf, golf, golf, golf, golf.' So, you know, I miss, like, seeing my friends and going to the movies. Is that a sacrifice that you're just prepared to make, though? Yeah, like, last year I was, like, 'Oh my God, I still want to see my friends,' but my parents keep telling me if you make a sacrifice, then something that you want to achieve will come. She started making sacrifices at just 6 when she came to NZ from South Korea. Her and her mum moved in across the road, came in the pro shop and said they wanted to start golf. I couldn't initially see her at that point cos she was about an inch tall and couldn't speak a word of English. We had no choice. (LAUGHS) Turn it up. No choice, whatever. You had the whole world to choose from, and you came and found me. That's a lie. Lydia's parents are heavily involved, but Guy says pushy parents aren't the reason for her success. Oh my goodness gracious. Ability is one. Work ethic is another. Coaching is obviously a small percentage of it. She's shaking her head now. Not too bad. Back in the day when she was playing amateur events as early as ages 7 and 8, she was kind of getting told off for skipping on the fairway when she should be at school, so, you know, those people that were giving her a bit of stick then, I suppose, you know this is shutting them up. I'm, like, sometimes scared that they're going to get angry or, you know, like that, but most people out here ` they're really nice. Nicer since you've been winning? Yeah. Like, I'm getting more recognised, and, like, Christina Kim, she's an LPGA player, and she knew my name, and I got so excited. Lydia's definitely getting noticed. The media is kind of fun, right? Yeah. You've got to say yes. Yeah. OK, good work. We worked on that last night. But as an amateur, the financial rewards at the moment are limited. I wouldn't mind having the cheque, but, you know, I guess that's life. You can't get everything you want. Hopefully the country will get behind her. She's got a trust fund at NZ Golf which people can donate money to, and every cent counts. Playing around NZ is one thing, but international superstar golf like she's playing now is very cost-prohibitive. Oh dear. Oh, can I go again? Cos I really want it to go in. Lydia has 30 tournaments lined up for the year. (LAUGHS) What a putt. Yeah! Nice one, Tiger. We'll be tired after all those and tired probably imagining playing all those, yeah. It's a lot of events, Like most PGA Tour players wouldn't play anywhere near that ` maybe 20, 25 events in the LPGA tour. Closest to the ball. One kick. Making it fun is crucial. You go first. (SIGHS) It's going to be an instant win. < You sick of each other? Yep. Whoa, hang on. At least give yourself a second to think about that. Yep. But by all accounts, this double act have a lot more together time ahead. More big events, more invitations, more majors, more LPGA Tour events, more kicking the pants off all these world, you know, top-100 players. (LAUGHS) No pressure (!) # Now you're singing with a swing. # On the green, in the hole. Shot. To feedback now, and plenty on Christchurch City Council boss Tony Marryatt Dave says... Paul says... That's NZ Close Up. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air.