Andrew Dickens Afternoons

While the news coverage around the birth of the Jacinda Ardern’s baby might be seen by some to be a little over the top, here's hoping that it marks an opportunity to shift to a more positive discussion around parenthood in general. Because, apart from this notable exception, recent language and discussions seem to frame the idea of having children and looking after then in consistently negative terms.
There is, of course, the ongoing discussion around the pay gap between stay-at-home parents and those who keep working. A recent article described the difference in pay outcomes as the motherhood or fatherhood “penalty”.
It’s vital to continue these discussions, and for mums and dads to feel that they have a choice around this important issue. But I can’t help but feel that the role of the stay at home parent is portrayed in very negative terms. The conversation always seems to imply that the stay at home parent is somehow the loser in this equation.
Add to that the complete lack of empathy for the plight of children I have heard during the immigration debate in the USA and I wonder whether we need to rethink and revisit the priority we attach to children in our society.
Other headlines to throw into the mix include the increasing obesity and overall weight of our children due to the lack of activity in our their lives as well as poor diet. Yet another depressing read, was a story about how children are losing the art of playing in the absence of their digital devices. This all leads to a sense that any problems future generations might experience are going to entirely our own fault.
So perhaps, it’s time to push back against the notion that the parent who works fulltime, while maintaining their pay trajectory, is somehow the winner here. I could also mention the not-so-ancient piece of modern wisdom that no-one on their deathbed regrets spending too much time with their children.
But that’s the issue.
We are increasingly a generation of parents who are outsourcing the raising of our children to third parties and digital devices. We are brilliant at justifying our distractions when it comes to paying attention and spending time with our kids, but I think an honest look at things would tell us that on many levels we're failing.
How many of us might even catch ourselves out from time to time, energetically discussing in front of our kids who should look after them, as if it was the worst thing in the world? How many times have we left our children sitting in front of the television or other screens and devices for what is a little longer than really necessary?
So perhaps, we take the news of our Prime Minister’s baby as a little ray of sunshine, in an otherwise miserable discussion. It’s a chance to think about what priority we give our children and maybe spend more with them now, rather than looking back with regret.
Humility, and probably reality, should dictate that I declare my wife's superior multi-tasking abilities. But I have been very lucky that my career has allowed me to spend more time looking after our children than the average full-time parent. It is certainly something I’m beginning to appreciate more and more as time goes on.
So while we often look to the government to legislate to provide better outcomes for our kids, perhaps now is a good time to also take a good look at ourselves and the priority we give our kids, because spending time with them is definitely not the short straw.

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There's been a full scale emergency at Napier Airport after an ATR72 turbo-prop's engine caught fire.
Fire and Emergency positioned fire trucks on the runway as the plane circled, dumping fuel.
Talkback caller Paul told Andrew Dickens it was obvious there was a problem with the plane almost immediately after take-off.
"It was the most unusual, it wasn't climbing either it was flattening out, it was definite misfiring malfunctioning engine." 
 
LISTEN ABOVE AS ANDREW DICKENS TALKS TO WITNESS PAUL
 
 
 
 

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Andrew Dickens talks with Newstalk ZB's political editor, Barry Soper, about the story of the day which, whether you like it or not, is the fact that our Prime Minister is about to have her baby. Politicians across the House have wished Jacinda Ardern well and Soper says he hasn't seen anything like it in his almost 50 years covering politics in this country.
"It's a Prime Minister having a child, in office, it's a story. I've been in this business for almost half a century and I can tell you in my time covering stories, this is a story."
LISTEN ABOVE AS BARRY SOPER TALKS TO ANDREW DICKENS

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Once again this government’s values have collided with a region’s desire to gain jobs as an application to mine West Coast coal has been refused.
Rangatira Developments wanted to take 250,000 tonnes of coal annually from an open cast mine that would cover 109 hectares in total.
But the scheme involves 12 hectares of conservation land so the government said no.
The Conservation Minister, Eugenie Sage, turned down the application to mine conservation land because it would create irreparable damage to the area. She says it was an undisturbed area with threatened plants and wildlife including the great spotted kiwi, land snails and lizards.
Locals are not happy. Buller Mayor Garry Howard says the decision put the whole project, and 60 jobs, in doubt, as the land in question was at the entrance to the larger site. He says there is a place for boutique mining such as this one.
After all says the Mayor, DOC has 1.6 million hectares of land on the West Coast, and this application involved just 12 hectares of it.
You could see this coming considering this government has already turned down future exploration for oil and gas which doesn’t even involve the harvesting of the finds.
The government says coal, oil and gas are the energy of the past so let’s get on with the future.
It’s not hard to have sympathy for the Coasters who can see 60 jobs just sitting there for the plucking. 60 salaries which would flow through all the economy.
But it’s also not hard to have some sympathy for the government as well. The revolution is coming. Coal is dirty and its days are numbered. However you could argue that the government is jumping into the future too quickly.
While there are 60 jobs there you have to ask how long they’ll last so that when the future does arrive and the jobs are gone we’re left with a gash in the environment that will never fully heal.
For me any development on the Coast has to be sustainable and long lasting. A development that continues to give and enables even more growth. Coal is a temporary fix.
So how about a real test of this government and their smothering love for the environment. With their love of electric vehicles and trams surely the development of dams and electricity are a given. In which case how about the Mokihinui Hydro Dam? An idea which has been around since the 60s. A dam which would create a 14 kilometre long lake in Conservation land and change the environment but at the same time secure power for the coast.
Meridien pulled the idea in 2012 when they realised the Department of Conservation and Forest and Bird would fight this to the bitter end.
Perhaps it’s time to give a West Coast electricity plan another go and see whether this government is following ideology rather than looking for real and sustainable growth.

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Fine skies and good vibes are greeting farmers on day two of Fieldays in Hamilton.
Bad weather and flooding prevented some farmers from making it to Mystery Creek for the first day yesterday.
The Country's Rowena Duncum told Andrew Dickens the crowds are bigger today.
"Things are looking up. Everyone I've spoken to once again today is positive, as they were yesterday but there's a lot more people here today."
LISTEN ABOVE AS ROWENA DUNCUM SPEAKS WITH ANDREW DICKENS

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Jacinda Ardern isn’t even in the maternity ward yet but the mice are already starting to play.
On the surface of things, stuff is unravelling amongst the B team of the government. We seem to have a government that has a few people talking the talk but not walking the walk
Shane Jones is back to his bluster. With his ego fully unchecked, calling himself the first citizen of the regions, he’s taken aim at Fonterra and it’s chairman John Wilson. Saying that something is deeply wrong and calling for Wilson to take a cab out of town he let himself down when asked for specifics of his concerns with the coop. He couldn’t answer that one.
It appears that Shane has spoken to some farmers who have some grumbles. Well, that’s not news. But without the knowledge to substantiate his claims, he looks like a grandstander rampaging around in an electorate he doesn’t know. Farmers are already suspicious that this government doesn’t really understand their sector and Shane’s outburst won’t set their mind at rest
As I understand it Farmers did not appreciate the Minister going off half-cocked
Then Kelvin Davis took the stage to announce a new prison and mental health facility at Waikeria. 500 prison beds and 100 mental health beds. A shift from the previously planned mega-prison. While I’m no supporter of industrial complex sized corrective units there’s still the glaring problem that we already have more prisoners than beds and it’s going to get worse.
The mega prison was going to provide 1500 to 2000 new beds for a billion dollars. Instead, we build a new prison to replace the rotting one at a cost of $750 million. That looks worse when you realise that once the new beds are built and the old prison decommissioned, it will result in just 174 additional beds. All that money for 174 extra beds!
Deep in the announcement was the revelation that 2 thirds of those 500 prisoners in a spiffy new prison will be double-bunked. And then when asked what the government will do when the prison muster hits 12,000 in the next few years, Kelvin said mattresses on the floor.
Build small prisons, sure. But build 3 of them, not just one.
Of course, Kelvin says that with Andrew Little’s changes to the justice system we’ll have fewer people in jail. Well based on how easily the three strikes repeal fell apart you have to wonder how long that will take. Pie in the sky hopes of a brave new future are no answer to the cold hard reality of today.
And don’t even start me on Eugenie Sage, the greens and the water bottling plant. They didn’t seem to realise that if you get elected on a policy you have to implement it in law or else you make no change at all
So a lot of talk and not much walk in the basics of running the country.

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Caller Allan talking to Andrew about suggestions that the annual rural schools Calf Club Day should be abandoned due to the M Bovis issue.

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New Zealand first has put their foot down in the coalition Government, making sure the three strikes law is not repealed.
Justice Minister Andrew Little was set to take the matter to cabinet today after months of planning to repeal the law brought in by National in 2010.
However, he has had to scrap those plans after New Zealand First refused to agree..
Political Editor Barry Soper told Andrew Dickens this is a win for New Zealand First.
"Yet again, what it does show is the power this little party has in that Government coalition."
LISTEN TO BARRY SOPER TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVE

New Zealand first has put their foot down in the coalition Government, making sure the three strikes law is not repealed.
Justice Minister Andrew Little was set to take the matter to cabinet today after months of planning to repeal the law brought in by National in 2010.
However, he has had to scrap those plans after New Zealand First refused to agree..
Political Editor Barry Soper told Andrew Dickens this is a win for New Zealand First.
"Yet again, what it does show is the power this little party has in that Government coalition."
LISTEN TO BARRY SOPER TALK WITH ANDREW DICKENS ABOVE

A big weekend of politics both internationally and locally.
Of course, the performance of Donald Trump at the G7 got many people exercised. But none of his shenanigans should have surprised anyone. Donald Trump plays to his support base first in all things so to be so blatantly protectionist went down very well in the United States.
To criticise Trump is to antagonise his supporters, so to say his attitude was overly aggressive and his threat of automobile tariffs was excessive and possibly damaging for the American economy as well as the Canadian draws complaints that you’re a liberal snowflake with no idea. But that is a very real consequence of the Presidents hardball play.
For all the comments that Donald Trump is unpredictable, everything he has done has been predictable as he fulfils his election pledges. I’m only concerned as to whether they will work and in that regard I am undecided and I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Some have said his tough line towards Canada while withdrawing his signature from the G7s communique is a signal towards North Korea that the President is a tough talker before their summit tomorrow.
That may be his intention but that’s not the way I see it. The Koreans will realise now that anything signed by Trump is not worth the paper it’s written on. With the President also travelling to Asia to meet with Kim it also suggests that North Korea is in the driving seat.
The chances of a denuclearization of the peninsula are no closer than they were at the beginning of the year. But I hope to be pleasantly surprised.
Meanwhile, the result of the Northcote election has been widely misanalysed. Numerically National’s majority has been halved but that’s a no-brainer when the turnout was half that of the last election. If you take into account the back seat Labour’s coalition partners took in their campaigning you could argue that the left took a little hit.
But if you accept that Northcote is a good bellwether seat for the nation due to its socio-economic makeup then you’d have to say that little has changed for either side. The government isn’t getting a boost and the opposition is not falling apart. Yet.

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