New Zealand Report: Selwyn Manning joins Australia’s radio FiveAA breakfast team to deliver this week’s New Zealand Report. This week: Phil Goff For Mayor + Breaking News Kiwis Deported to Christmas Is + Tuatapere Is Sausage Town – Recorded live on 25/09/15.
ITEM ONE Candidates for the Auckland Mayoralty Begin Positioning – Former Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff has given the strongest indication yet that he will run for the Auckland super city mayoralty. Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city with over a third of the population living within its territorial boundaries. It’s population is similar to Adelaide’s with over 1.2 million people. Since 2012, overseas migration to Auckland has expanded by 56,000. High population growth has placed a burden on its infrastructure, its residential housing market, and the city’s debt burden has sky rocketed. Phil Goff said this week that Aucklanders can expect an announcement from him before the end of the year. He also reportedly told the New Zealand Herald “it is likely I will put my name forward”. As a young politician, Phil Goff was a minister in the David Lange Labour Government, and was a senior minister in the Helen Clark Labour Government, holding significant portfolios, including the Foreign Affairs portfolio at the time Alexander Downer was his Australian counterpart. Goff also held trade and Justice portfolios. He took over as Labour Party leader when Helen Clark resigned from the position in 2008. The Auckland City incumbent, Mayor Len Brown, was supported by Labour during his campaigns for the mayoralty in 2010 and 2013. But the party distanced itself from Brown, the disgraced mayor, after it was revealed in 2013 he had been having an affair with a young woman and had used the mayoral chambers, the Ngati Whatua room (a sacred civic room at the Auckland Town Hall), Auckland hotels, and other locations for sexual encounters. Since then, Brown has been relegated to lame duck status. He refused to resign over the revelations. Early polls suggest Phil Goff would be a front-runner. He has a reputation as a strong credible leader, and, as a more centrist positioned Labour minister, is believed he will be able to broker and deliver both economic and social progress in this city. Centre-right factions within the city have yet to put forward a candidate that would be able to foot it against Goff. 2016 should be an interesting super city election year. ITEM TWO Breaking News – Radio New Zealand is reporting how Australia has been deporting New Zealand citizens to Christmas Island. The issue has become a Government to Government issue after 20 NZ citizens living in Australia were deported to the notorious detention camp in the last few days. For more, see Radio New Zealand article: Detaining Kiwis in Australia ‘displays contempt’ ITEM THREE (ref. http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuff/72189867/Giant-sausage-gifted-to-Southland-town ) A town in the south of New Zealand’s South Island became relatively famous this week, after receiving a giant sausage. Apparently, it’s all about being associated with something. For example, Auckland is the city of sails, Paeroa is famous in Paeroa for mounting a giant a L&P lemonade bottle in the main street, and Tuatapere in Southland is now known as the sausage town. Tuatapere earned the honour after a radio competition asked its nationwide audience which small town should get a monument. Tuatapere won. Awhile back, its people had erected a big sign stating: Tuatapere, New Zealand’s Sausage Capital. To honour the town, radio ZM had a 3m-long sausage made in Auckland. The giant sausage was then transported from Auckland all the way south, across the Cook Strait by ferry, and down into the deep south. On receiving the big sausage, the town celebrated by cooking up 16 kilograms of sausages. Apparently, the chilli chocolate sausage was a favourite.New Zealand Report broadcasts live on FiveAA.com.au and webcasts on EveningReport.nz LiveNews.co.nz and ForeignAffairs.co.nz.
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