GOOD MORNING, AND WELCOME TO Q+A. I'M JESSICA MUTCH. TODAY ` WINSTON PETERS IS CAMPAIGNING HARD IN THE REGIONS. IS THIS MAKING NATIONAL VULNERABLE IN ITS TRADITIONAL HEARTLAND? ARE RURAL VOTERS GETTING THEIR FAIR SHARE? POLITICAL EDITOR CORIN DANN WILL BE INTERVIEWING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSPORT MINISTER SIMON BRIDGES IN OUR LEAD INTERVIEW THIS MORNING. LABOUR LIST HOPEFUL WILLIE JACKSON AND TE TAI TOKERAU MP KELVIN DAVIS. LABOUR'S MAORI CAUCUS ARE LAUNCHING THEIR ELECTION CAMPAIGN THIS MORNING. THEY'LL TELL US ABOUT A NEW HOUSING POLICY THAT'S BEING ANNOUNCED TODAY. AND IT'S OFFICIAL ` WE'RE RUBBISH AT RECYCLING. WE'RE PUTTING MORE STUFF IN LANDFILLS THAN EVER BEFORE. WHENA OWEN TALKS TO A WASTE EXPERT WHO SAYS GOVERNMENT POLICY IS TO BLAME. HONESTLY, IN MY OPINION, IT'S JUST A GREENWASH. AND WE'LL HAVE ANALYSIS FROM OUR PANEL ` POLITICAL SCIENTIST DR RAYMOND MILLER FROM AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY; KATIE MILNE, PRESIDENT OF FEDERATED FARMERS; AND SIMON WILSON, THE SPINOFF'S AUCKLAND EDITOR. WE'LL HEAR FROM YOU SHORTLY, BUT FIRST HERE'S CORIN. THANKS, JESS, AND GOOD MORNING TO SIMON BRIDGES, MINISTER OF TRANSPORT AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. Looking at the literature about your ethics to try and restore growth in the regions, a lot of reports, a lot of rehashed reports, a lot of energy and efforts, but the record is pretty patchy. You look at the regions right now, I say we have real wind in our sails. It's not so there or as strong as each other. They all have strengths and weaknesses. There is a strong growth. The unemployment rate is a lot higher than the rest of the country. Yes. Is not perfect. That is why a couple of weeks ago the PM announce $50,000,000 going to deal with some of those cases. All around New Zealand, they are telling us clearly have jobs for skilled workers, they want to see them take on people. But what we have to do is get those workers match fits. $50,000,000 is not a lot for the regions. It's not the only thing we are doing. I can list roading projects, ICT. People say it's just Wellington, but also Bay of Plenty, Central Otago, Southland. They have all money going in. All these areas are telling us very clearly they need more workers. There will go and find young people and match them up with those jobs. They may have a drug issue, other things going on, but if that's the issue, will put them in the program. That's very nice, boyhood the regions crying over the immigration changes. THEY couldn't coped with a wage of $49,000. It's clear they have to have foreign workers and they want to pay them less. Something is wrong. Ultimately it's a blend of things. We have to have foreign people coming in to do those jobs if they have the skills. That's why we are spending $50,000,000 to make sure that where there are Kiwis who are not education, employment or training, we are nudging them into those jobs. Winston Peters, your competitor, has been going to the regions and making gains. I think the extent Winston is making gains is off the back of labour who are so weak. What is the core case for national in the regions? We have regions all over New Zealand that have a winD in their sales, they are going strongly, thus seeing a real adding in value and the things they do and have done for some time. He argues that many of these regions are the expert drivers of New Zealand. Yet they aren't seeing the benefits spread. The answer getting the benefits the cities are getting I don't accept that. When is the export growth of New Zealand come from? Over 50% of our exports come from fruits. ICT in technology are also coming up strongly. Let me take you through the benefits. In transportation, we are investing unprecedented amounts in regional New Zealand. Northland, we are putting a highway from Auckland through to Whangarei. We start at one end. Winston is try to pretend that isn't happening. He wants a railway to the port. That's fine. LET'S see a business case to how that stacks up. There have been people who have suggested that in fact we can't turn around the decline in original towns and that maybe we are an ageing demographic. We have to accept the other climbing. Do you accept that? No I don't. Gisborne ` demographics are perfect. They have a young Maori workforce. That's why we put the $50,000,000 in. That is one of our core focus areas. We know there's work. horticulture is going gangbusters. So I think people always say let's pick these ones. These are the losers. Whenever they do that, they are wrong. Aren't you holding those regions back? They want to take control of their own destiny, charge tolls, put petrol levies in, and your governments were let them do that. In the examples you've used, I personally think that's too complex and we are not country that would want to entertain that. But is there something special economic zones? Is there something in going on a Bespoke way to regions? They want to raise revenue themselves. Would you let them? For a country our size, that is too complex. Why is too complex? What is true is your idea of getting some competition between regions Why is a complicated to put in a petrol tax? Suddenly you see the petrol station down the road has got all the cars and trucks in it. What that means is very seriously leakage of the revenue to other areas. I think due to the regional growth program, you are seeing us in a number of examples going into regions. The West Coast ` we have put in a mineral centre in there. That is about helping them. We know they have a strong mineral sector. This is about taking the waste they have in finding high values for its. Transport ` the government has pumped bilions into the Kiwi rail of the last few years. Why are you reviewing it? I think rail has some strong strength. Why do we have to review it? I think to be quite straightforward with you, what we are reviewing the fundamental model. Kiwirail has found real efficiencies and productivity gains in the business I think what we owe it to kiwirail to do is find a more transparent, sustainable model. Is that going to mean fewer services? No. What all mean is knowing what we need to invest in. In other cases, where there is a line, maybe it is making money, we can understand that and we will know what it is we need to do. Kiwi relative moment is in a position where they don't necessarily know year from year what they are getting it is quite ad hoc. I would overstate what this review is about. We will go back and look through all this calmly and dispassionately and try to find a transparent, sustainable model. Your government doesn't seem to have a lot of enthusiasm over rail. You didn't want to release the details of the plan for Auckland. Why are you trying to suppress it? Let's be real about this. This is a business case that I commissioned because I absolutely see the case for this. So why much effort not letting it go public? Because fundamentally, we see many more commuters you stow rail lines. As the greens and others would say, you need serious business case. We want all the details. That is all I've been seeking to do on this third main rail line. It looks like you do want out there because it might weaken the case for your east-west link. It is not related. East-west link has a very strong benefit cost ratio. It has been put through the wringer. Does it really? The New Zealand transport authority has put a report saying that isn't one. Simon is very entrenched reviews on this. There is a cost benefit. I have never shown to be wrong on that. It is 1.9. That is going into a New Zealand sense the most important industrial hub we have. It is deeply congested, doesn't work for public transport, we want to fundamentally improve it. Is it the best use of $2,000,000,000 in Auckland? It's not a silver bullet. Waterview Tunnel wasn't the silver bullet. But what we have seen is that it had a very deep impact. Is it one of the three long-term priorities for the region for a very long time? Yes. The spinoff said it is not a top priority. If you go back into the land region transport plans, has been there as a core project. Everyone says that it's a top priority. The benefit cost ratio really does stack up. It's taken your government a lot of time to get there. We have invested more than any other government in rail. You stand in parliament to call your critics haters of roads. You seem to be dragging your feet. I am confident we are doing more in transport here then we have ever been. The America's Cup - APEC. Can you bring forward any Auckland infrastructure for the pressure? Had a fantastic meeting on Friday. We discussed all these things. We talked about the America's Cup. We are much more interested in the infrastructure components of the America's Cup there we are in sponsorship of team New Zealand. Could you bring forWard those projects? What I'm saying is this ` for the America's Cup, I don't think it's quite the tourism events that are Rugby World Cup is. The numbers might not be necessary to do these things. But certainly infrastructure is important to us. The rail link to the airport could that be brought forward? Everything has to be weighed up against other projects. At the moment we are going through a refresh of processes. Thank you Simon Bridges. WE'RE KEEN TO HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS ON WHAT SIMON BRIDGES HAD TO SAY. WE'RE ON TWITTER @NZQANDA. YOU CAN EMAIL US AT Q+A@TVNZ.CO.NZ OR TEXT YOUR THOUGHTS AND FIRST NAME TO 2211. KEEP THEM BRIEF ` EACH TEXT COSTS 50C. WE'LL BRING IN OUR PANEL AFTER THE BREAK. POLITICAL SCIENTIST DR RAYMOND MILLER FROM AUCKLAND UNIVERSITY, KATIE MILNE, PRESIDENT OF FEDERATED FARMERS, AND SIMON WILSON, THE SPINOFF'S AUCKLAND EDITOR. Raymond, I'll start with you. Do you think that National is struggling in the regions? Do you think they're getting competition from Winston Peters was pumped a lot of energy there?? Yes. Let's remind ourselves abpoutt the last election ` National won 26/29 provincial seats. Winston Peters are smart enough to realise that there are opportunities for growth in the regions. After nine years of national governments, a lot of people are thinkingwe could have got more out of this then we have. Winston is very generous in the office that he is making around the regions and areas of finance and infrastructure and jobs and so on. It's true that he can grow his supports quite markedly iin those regions. I think National is concerned about this. They can see that it's not that New Zealand first is going to win many more seats, but what it means is that the party votes could begin to erode in the direction of New Zealand first. National won't want that. Kim, you are on the West Coast. Have you see much of Winston Peters around? He has been going around the regions quite strongly and has come to the West Coast. He is playing to all the issues of the regions have as big issues around infrastructure and getting people outs, encouraging, growth. He is betting quite hard in the regions. I think he is giving National a run for their money. What is your take on it Simon? I think there's a dislocation between what nationals are somewhat Simon Bridges has told us is happening in the regions. If you look at rail, the Maori Party, Green party, labour, New Zealand first, therefore advocated for a regeneration of rail. National is not interested in that. As a dislocation around employment where it horticulture and industries like that are the major growth areas, We need to know how New Zealanders are going to be able to work more ably in that part of the economy. It seems nonsense that they need to bring in immigrant labour because New Zealanders won't do the work. We have heard that immigration back down - moving the threshold from 49,000 to 41,000. Farm managers getting 41,000. That is extraordinary deal work and manage for the amount of money I don't believe that's quite correct. In fact the farm manager get over 70,000. Is it farm workers were getting 41,000? Further down the chain. This addresses issues for some, but not for all. Dairy, for example, we want people to come and stay permanently in our industry because we have to train them up to the New Zealand style, in their progress through, and at the moment after three years, they will take that training and go to Australia Canada and the indirect competitors., also, if they can bring their families and, that helps bring the school is going in the communities are more vibrant. It appears to be a backdown, but still doesn't address some of the actual needs of the regions have. Do Kiwi workers demand higher salaries? I'm not sure they do. If you're based in Auckland, it's not something you understand about the issues. We have a disconnect from the land that has occurred socially as part of progression. Is it to understand what the jobas, that they can do it, they want to have a look. Moving away from family is a big ask for people. I think we can do that, but it's going to take time.. They're not just going to arrive next year. Simon, that rural urban divide ` in the big cities, particularly Auckland, do they view immigration in different ways? People blame them for traffic and is housing, but the region is crying out for that. It's not easy, but the underlying issue is whether your population is where it's going, you need to plan for its. Auckland hasn't had the planning we need for schools and transport and also some areas to cope with that growth. Most of the growth is immigration. We have and watching it happen rather than doing anything about it what were your thoughts about him mentionining you? There were two issues he talked about ` the east-west link which is the more expensive project this country has seen. He says is a business case for it. That 1.95 dates way back. The estimates now it's like .95. Is not a credible business case at all. The government is committed to it. Secondly, that issue of the third lane. This is a network that will be used for freight. A third rail coming out of the airport. It's only going to cost $6,000,000 to put in that third main. As the minister said, the NZTA and Auckland transportswere both involved in that report. What showed is that the only project that had a good business case to build a third rail or possibly a fourth one. They look at a few options. The option that was the worst was the one the government is currently looking at. The other thing that I thought was interesting is that talking by the America's Cup, bring forward some of those projects We hadn't heardbut the Minister talking about some of those things before. Do you think the Greens have forced him to think about it? I think that's right. We haven't heard anything definitethe way of plans. There isa lobby group called the road transport forum which is an incredibly influential group on government. It's been led since its creation in the late nineteen nineties by former cabinet ministers, and there's no doubt this present government has given so much more attention to roading than to public transport and to rail. It's all very well sayingwe might do these things, but really, we're getting to a point now where things have to be done. Otherwise we are in a bad position. Some of the big freight companies are not members of the road user forum. They have a good understanding of the need for things to be functioning properly. That forum just represent the interest of trucking companies. I think we will see a lot more this playing out over the weeks. Katie, you have not experienced was a view` Oh, you have. We are very excited about it as you can tell. NEXT UP ` LABOUR'S WILLIE JACKSON AND KELVIN DAVIS. LABOUR'S MAORI CAUCUS HAVE A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT ON HOUSING TODAY. WE'LL HEAR ABOUT THAT AND HOW THEY'LL BE CAMPAIGNING TO WIN THE MAORI SEATS. WELCOME BACK. AND MORENA TO LABOUR LIST CANDIDATE WILLIE JACKSON AND TE TAI TOKERAU MP KELVIN DAVIS. Willie, you are in charge of strategy. Are you going to sweep them? We will get six back. Tamati as a head. There are about three or four that are going to be tight. Calvin has a job in the north. Auckland will be tight. You have the maori-party that have done a deal. The people are supporting us. They are sick of the national government. They are tainted in the Maori seats. Labour has done well, but the party is not when well. Why is there a difference because you might why is labour struggling? The labour candidates are doing well and Maori seats. People like what we stand both. We have work to do. What are you guys doing that is resonating that the resonate that the rest of the party is not question mark we are working really hard. Maori housing launch and Mangere. 11 o'clock last night it was 6 . 8 o'clock this morning it was 3 . Aren't we lucky and grateful that we are not sleeping in garages with our kids? There are 14,000 homeless Maori. We as Maori politicians feel the weight and the burden of having to change this. It is not good enough. You can't change it if you are not in government. People want to know what we're doing. We have developed a policy that we believe well how is 20,000 Maori. We modelled this on census data from 2013 and incomes. There will be 17,000 Maori. What will the housing policy cost? It is part of the key build policy. We expect 17,000 to take it up. 2 � thousand are on the waiting list. We will put $20 million into a fund to work with iwi. The biggest blockage is finance. Iwi to get mortgages and banks to work with them. We will guarantee the mortgage insurance through the well welcome home loans that are already available right throughout the country. A tribe in the mid North did an audit of the region, and found there were 6000 substandard homes across Tai Tokerau. Part of our policy is to identify who those people are, their needs, the numbers and use our policy to help them make their homes with a tight, warm and dry. It is essential because the cost on the nation in terms of homelessness as health, education, social, wwaste of human potential. Willie, do you need to cut deals with the Greens? The leadership of the Greens and labour last year said there would be no deals. I have put it up and we'll talk to our leadership about it. The Greens tweeted yesterday no deals. She can tweet all she likes. I don't tweet. Are you talking to Greens independently? I haven't talked to her, but things have changed. We have come off the lessons last year. I respect the leadership of both our parties. We might need a deal and a couple of seats because the boat could split. We don't want a Labour government back in. You are facing a double head on the other side. Whether there is a deal or no deal, I am going out to win. I won't depend on a deal. It would be great if there Greens said we want a party vote. Everyone is doing it. It is fine. Bill English thinks it's fine. Politics says to us in Auckland, the vote could split and look national becomes the government. Don't bother voting for the Greens. Not even now? No chance. Absolutely sure. Well put your job on it. Funny you should mention that, because labour is struggling. Polls have got them low. My main concern is the Maori Mps. I don't want our people to get less than 1% funding, which is what the Maori party got in the last budget. They have policies for health, families. Fantastic policy for housing. It is not resonating, but there is eight weeks left. Maori voters are coming back to labour. If we have to be the catalyst, we will be. I can see the support our members are getting. Calvin is making a killing. The greens are stealing your thunder. Metiria has set the place alight. People are talking. Is that what labour was supposed to do? It is what we're doing. We are making a difference. If you had an independent observer go through the policies, they would find out the Labour Party is of the best. Selling them is where we are letting ourselves down. We are batting for them and fighting for them every step of the way. We are not show offs like Shane Jones. All nonsense, rubbish. Winston forgets to tell everyone he started his career in the Maori seats. We have great policies. Sometimes people are not listening and looking. Your job as a communicator. It is not working. A week is a long time in politics. You look at charter schools, labour will give you an exemption on the charter schools that you guys are involved with. That's not it at all. Is a name change, is it? By coming and under the current legislation, it will iron out the anomalies that are therefore charter schools. They think they will be disadvantaged by what I said. You said you would resign if you're a charter school in the north. It will carry on and still happen. The children won't note as any difference, but there will be admin changes. It is ironing out the anomalies that charter schools are can proceed to have better conditions. Maori want the control. Labour is saying no, we cannot have charter schools. Media are block headed. You are not listening. Labour support innovativeness and creativity. They have been to our schools. What they are against is the charter school model that encourages big business, that talks about privatisation. We are not into privatisation. Can you get through that for your head? What Maori want is to have a say over education. They are blocked from having wide-ranging charters and curriculum because of national standards. Will the skills that you guys are involved in, Will they hire non-qualified teachers? They can do that. All my teachers are qualified. We follow the curriculum. All the teachers are registered by one. We need you at the school. Are you coming to the launch? I come to the launch. Raymond, Willie said he is not into headlines and showing off. They are all about policy. Is that working? There is a wee way to go yet. We can't make many judgements. The Maori mps are caucusing. It sounds pulsing. There is this memorandum of understanding with the greens. Labour should have extracted deal with the greens. Some of those seats are going to be close. Three or four of them are close seats. Labour should win those seats. They need those six seats they already hold. Labour is doing some things right, but what these guys are saying is that there is so much more than his be done. Do you feel like you labour is missing an action in the regions which in Mark are they targeting the farming community because Mark not particularly. There are some interesting policy kicking around that is scary for farmers. Everyone is cow phobic. Irrigation money, the funds to get that started, that is interest for structure for the future. I don't know what I will be going in five or 10 years time. Is it just that relationship with the greens was a mark that's not traditional Labour Party territory. Your politics is your politics. We need to allow them to look after themselves. People will vote the way they want to vote. It is that sound backing that those definite policies that show a direction and show leadership. We heard about the green aspect to this when we were speaking about the Maori seats. As at the greens who are saying no thanks, we are not interested? There are quite a lot of hard talking to be done and both the camps. Inside labour and the greens, there isn't a clear view and the way Raymond expressed. It is in their interest to have a stronger coalition around things like that. The greens are trying to win Nelson. They would benefit from a deal with Labour. The green said no. Willie Jackson was right about that. Don't pay attention to Twitter diplomacy. We are not living in America yet. She said it on camera, but she said no. Does Willie have the power to influence his leader? He may well hAve. Maori seats is a place where labour can when party boats. They need to be as strong as they can in that area. There is a strong strategic goal in the area. Every politician these days is saying something they think will resonate electorally. They may not be telling the truth. We heard talking about policies, Maori housing. Will that help when they are going around chopping their policies in this next eight weeks? The labour candidates are highly articulate. They have a good feel for what is going on in their electorates. We have to assume that they know what the key areas are, particularly and housing, self-determination. We can be reasonably confident that this will resonate with many Maori voters. The group are going to be dressing the same theme. It is how persuasive they are going to be. For labour, they are struggling to put together a deal that will put together a government. The concern of the greens is that they are a freight they are going to be cut out after the election. They have this memorandum of understanding to the election, but labour may choose to go with Winston. This is causing a lack of trust between labour and the greens. This is the source of tension that is going on. Do you feel like that, Simon? We have two parallel things happening. One is the greens are working hard to try and position themselves as the party for responsible radical change. They have a commitment to budget surpluses. They have an environmental platform. Metiria's announcement over the last couple of weeks makes it clear that they want to be the Corbin's party. Labour and New Zealand first and now engaged in a deadly struggle. They want to be the party of moderate centre leftism. They want to take the disaffected votes away from national. They want to take votes away from each other. That is difficult because both those parties are likely to end up with a very similar vote at the end of it. Will see how that plays out. AFTER THE BREAK ` WHENA OWEN LOOKS AT OUR TERRIBLE RATES OF RECYCLING AND THE PROBLEM WE'RE DUMPING ON THE NEXT GENERATION. AND WE REVEAL THE MP WHO CALLS HIMSELF A MANIC RECYCLER ` ONE RUBBISH BAG EVERY FIVE MONTHS - CAN YOU BEAT THAT? THAT'S NEXT. EARLIER THIS MONTH, NEW GOVERNMENT STATS REVEALED THAT NEW ZEALANDERS ARE RECYCLING LESS AND BIFFING MORE RUBBISH THAN EVER INTO OUR LANDFILLS. THE WASTE DISPOSAL LEVY, SET AT $10, CLEARLY ISN'T ENOUGH TO INCENTIVISE MANY OF US TO CHANGE OUR WAYS. AS WHENA OWEN REPORTS, ENVIRONMENT GROUPS SAY IT'S TIME TO GET TOUGH ON TRASH. SORT OUT ALL THE STEEL. THAT'S UNBURNABLE. THAT'S PLASTIC. PLASTIC'S THERE. HIS MATES CALL HIM A MANIC RECYCLER ` WELL, HE AND HIS WIFE, CHRIS ` BUT THEY SAY THIS IS THE FUTURE. YEP, THAT'S NEW ZEALAND FIRST POLITICIAN RON MARK, AT HOME IN CARTERTON, SORTING THROUGH RUBBISH. THIS ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE THERE'S A LOT, BUT IT ACTUALLY DOESN'T TAKE THAT LONG AT ALL. RON AND CHRISTINE PUT OUT ONE RUBBISH BAG EVERY FIVE MONTHS. THEIR GOAL IS ZERO WASTE. CHRIS AND I, WE WORK AS A TEAM. WE'VE JUST ALWAYS HAD THIS THING ` WHERE POSSIBLE, DON'T THROW STUFF INTO A LANDFILL. THIS IS OUR RECYCLING LINEUP. GREEN BOTTLES, CLEAR BOTTLES, PLASTICS, PAPER, ALUMINIUM, CROCKERY. IT'S A FUNNY THING ABOUT WASTE ` ONCE YOU GET INTO WASTE, YOU NEVER GET OUT OF IT. THIS IS SANDIE MURRAY. SHE'S ALSO A RECYCLING FANATIC AND A PROFESSIONAL WASTE CONSULTANT. YOU START SEEING IT DIFFERENTLY. SUDDENLY IT'S NOT JUST SOMETHING THAT YOU DON'T THINK ABOUT ANY MORE. SUDDENLY IT'S LIKE, 'OH, WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS? 'WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?' AND IT DOES; IT BECOMES QUITE ADDICTIVE, AND PEOPLE BECOME VERY PASSIONATE ABOUT IT. BUT DESPITE EFFORTS BY MANY COMMITTED INDIVIDUALS, WASTE TO LANDFILLS, ACCORDING TO A RECENT ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY REPORT, HAS INCREASED BY 20%. LANDFILL IS CONVENIENT. IT'S MORE CONVENIENT TO TAKE ONE LOAD TO LANDFILL, JUST DUMP THE WHOLE LOT OF IT. OK? BUT IF YOU MAKE THE COST MORE, THEN PEOPLE WILL TRY TO REDUCE THAT COST, SO THEY'LL TAKE ANYTHING RECYCLABLE OR REUSABLE OUT AND THEY'LL BRING IT TO PLACES LIKE THIS. THE PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL IS CALLING FOR AN INCREASE IN THE LANDFILL LEVY FROM $10 A TON TO AS HIGH AS $130 PER TON, WHICH WOULD BRING IN $200 MILLION TO HELP FUND NEW RECYCLING INITIATIVES. $5, PLEASE. HERE YOU GO. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THANKING YOU. CHEERS. TA. SINCE 2008, $70 MILLION FROM THE LANDFILL LEVY HAS BEEN DISHED OUT TO RECYCLING PROJECTS, MAINLY AT THE DISCRETION OF THE ENVIRONMENT MINISTER. HE'S EFFECTIVELY, IN SOME CASES, USING IT AS A SLUSH FUND. HE'S SPENDING IT IN A PIECEMEAL MANNER. THERE'S NO OVERSIGHT; THERE'S NO, SORT OF, OVERALL PLAN TO MAKE SURE THAT IT'S ACTUALLY ACHIEVING WASTE MINIMISATION; AND SOME OF THE THINGS HE'S SPENT IT ON ARE HIGHLY DUBIOUS. THE PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL WANTS THE ALLOCATION OF THE FUND OUT OF THE HANDS OF THE MINISTER. JUST A FEW METRES AWAY, NORTH SHORE RESIDENT ALAN PATTON IS SORTING THROUGH HIS RECYCLING. PLASTIC'S JUST HORRENDOUS. I DON'T KNOW WHY WE CAN'T JUST BAN THEM LIKE PHIL GOFF SAYS. LIKE, CHINA'S BANNED THEM. PEOPLE WOULD VERY, VERY QUICKLY LEARN TO MAKE ALTERNATIVE ARRANGEMENTS. THEY'D COME UP WITH BAGS AND BOXES AND... SO YOU'D BE HAPPY IF PLASTIC BAGS WERE BANNED? ABSOLUTELY. 36 COUNTRIES HAS NOW BANNED SINGLE-USE PLASTIC BAGS. CALLS HERE TO BAN OR FOR MANDATORY LEVIES HAVE BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL. BUT THE GOVERNMENT GAVE $700,000 TO A SOFT-PLASTICS RECYCLING SCHEME. THESE COLLECTION BINS ARE IN SUPERMARKETS. THE SCHEME IS RUN BY THE PACKAGING INDUSTRY. THERE WE ARE. ALL DONE. IT IS OUR STRONG BELIEF THAT THAT SCHEME WAS SET UP PURELY TO COUNTER THE CALLS THAT WE HAD FOR SOME SORT OF REGULATION FOR A BAN OR FOR A LEVY TO BE PLACED ON PLASTIC BAGS. BUT THE SCHEME IS NOT WELL DESIGNED. IT DOESN'T SEEM COST-EFFECTIVE. IT DOESN'T SEEM TO BE DOING VERY WELL. HONESTLY, IN MY OPINION, IT'S JUST A GREENWASH. NO, IT'S NOT A GREENWASH AT ALL. THIS IS A REALLY VALUABLE PROGRAMME THAT'S DIVERTING A HUGE AMOUNT OF PACKAGING WASTE FROM LANDFILL. EVERY YEAR, WE CONSUME AS A NATION AROUND 6000 TONS OF SOFT PLASTIC, SO HOW MUCH OF THAT DOES THIS SCHEME CAPTURE? WE COLLECTED LAST YEAR IN TOTAL 100 TONS, WHICH DOESN'T SOUND A LOT, BUT IT WAS IN OUR SETUP YEAR. NOW, THIS YEAR ALREADY, WE'VE COLLECTED ABOUT 140 TONS BY THE END OF MAY, SO WE RECKON THIS YEAR WE'LL COLLECT 300 TONS. LYN MAYES FROM THE PACKAGING COUNCIL RECKONS BY THE END OF THE YEAR, THEY'LL BE COLLECTING 5% OF ALL SOFT PLASTIC. LAST YEAR, IT WAS 2%. I BELIEVE THAT THAT IS PROBABLY AN INFLATION OF THE ACTUAL AMOUNT. I WOULD PUT IT, PROBABLY, CLOSER TO AROUND 1%. RON MARK: CHUCK SOME OVER, AND THEN THEY'LL STAY THERE. THERE YOU GO. MY DAUGHTER CALLS ME A CLOSET GREEN. OK, SO NOT EVERYONE CAN FEED THE SCRAPS TO THE CHICKENS, BUT RON MARK SAYS COUNTRY FOLK HAVE THEIR OWN RECYCLE ISSUES ` BAILAGE WRAP. BAILAGE WRAP IS AN ISSUE. THERE HAVE BEEN, I THINK, A COUPLE OF ATTEMPTS TO RECYCLE THAT, WHICH HAVE FALLEN OVER. IT ALWAYS COMES DOWN TO COST-EFFECTIVENESS. $235,000 OF THEIR LANDFILL LEVY FUND HAS GONE TO AG-PAK, WHICH SELLS THE PLASTIC TO FARMERS, THEN CHARGES THEM TO COLLECT IT BACK FOR RECYCLING. SOME FARMERS ARE ALSO REPORTING THAT THEY HAVE DIFFICULTIES EVEN ACHIEVING PICKUPS OF THAT MATERIAL, SO IT'S NOT REALLY PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP WHEN YOU HAVE A SYSTEM WHERE THEY'RE JUST PROFITING AT BOTH ENDS. THEY'RE PROFITING AS THEY SELL THE PRODUCT, AND THEN THEY'RE PROFITING AS THEY PICK THE PRODUCT UP AT THE OTHER END. AND THEY'RE GETTING GOVERNMENT FUNDING ON TOP OF THAT. AND THEY'RE GETTING GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR THAT. BUT AG-PAK'S RECYCLING COMPANY TOLD Q+A THEY ESTIMATE THEY COLLECT BACK AROUND 30% OF THE BAILAGE WRAP SOLD. PERHAPS YOU NEED TO GO AND TALK TO THE MPS AND GO... THE POLITICS OF WASTE IS HOTTING UP. SANDIE MURRAY INSISTS NEW ZEALAND HAS A BIG PROBLEM WITH RUBBISH. MOST COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD UNDERSTAND THAT VOLUNTARY PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP DOESN'T WORK. WE'RE A GOOD, SORT OF, 20 YEARS BEHIND EUROPE. WE'RE A LONG WAY BEHIND AUSTRALIA IN TERMS OF THESE SCHEMES. AND THESE WASTE PROBLEMS ARE JUST GETTING BIGGER. WE'RE GETTING MORE AND BIGGER TYRE PILES, AND WE'RE GETTING MORE AND MORE PLASTIC PACKAGING, AND OUR LANDFILLS ARE FILLING UP. DON'T LOOK AT IT AS RUBBISH; LOOK AT IT AS AN ITEM. SO, HERE'S OUR ALUMINIUM CAPS THAT WE'VE SORTED. 'SORT IT. SORT IT. YOU KNOW?' ONE BAG EVERY THREE MONTHS ` THAT'S PRETTY GOOD. ONE BAG EVERY FIVE MONTHS ` PSHOO! AFTER THE BREAK ` THE WEEK IN POLITICS. BORIS CHATS UP SOME BIRDS, DUNEDIN GETS CONTROVERSIAL ON CATS, AND TODD BARCLAY SLIPS BACK INTO PARLIAMENT. WE'LL TALK TO THE PANEL ABOUT THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF THE POLITICAL WEEK. YOUR FEEDBACK NOW. MATTHEW CAMPBELL TWEETED LIGHT RAIL TO THE AIRPORT IS NEEDED NOW AND DEFINITELY FOR AMERICAS CUP NOT IN 30 YEARS! MAKE AUCKLAND GREAT AGAIN! CAROLE NAYLOR EMAILED IT IS REALLY FRIGHTENING THAT WE HAVE PEOPLE OF THE CALIBRE OF SIMON BRIDGES STILL RUNNING THE COUNTRY. THANK GOODNESS WINSTON PETERS WILL SOON HOLD THE BALANCE OF POWER. Llet's go to the hits and messes of the week. My hit of the week is the compelling message from New Zealand for the Commissioner for the environment. He said we're not doing well enough with the greenhouse gas emissions. The United Kingdom has reduced its gas emissions by 38% is. We have increased them why 64%. She is calling the cross party agreement. My miss is the government's immigration announcement. It is phenomenal that they have known about this for two or three years, they have now decided in the last few weeks there needs to be some tougher Legislation brought and on this. There has been a backdown this week. They are claiming they overreacted. This is not a good look for this government. I will do a miss and a hit. We will get it under control, but we have had it. The hit of it is it will highlight how vulnerable we are. It has rallied farmers around understanding things they can do on their own farm to prepare themselves. We can look harder at the system overall. What do we need to do to make us more robust? My hit is Metiria. The way she has handled the extraordinary pressure this week is remarkable. My miss is Jonathan Coleman. His grasp of what his ministry is up to in relation to the ministries overpaying is woeful. That is absurd. Thank you very much. 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. THAT'S Q+A. SEE YOU NEXT SUNDAY MORNING AT 9. CAPTIONS BY JUNE YEOW AND FAITH HAMBLYN.