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Each week, the Listener brings you quotes from New Zealand and around the world that best highlight what has happened in the past seven days. Today’s quotes include Chris Bishop’s reaction to a negative ad campaign against Christopher Luxon, Tama Iti on living with no regrets, and departing MP Kiri Allan breaking her silence after resigning from all her ministerial portfolios.
“Wellington’s housing crisis just got worse.” – National MP Chris Bishop via X
National’s housing spokesperson expressed concern via X when it was announced that director Sir Peter Jackson and his partner, Dame Fran Walsh, bought land in Wellington’s Shelly Bay a few weeks ago. The couple noted their intentions were to restore the remaining two buildings on the site as opposed to proceeding with the $500m housing development that the previous owner had planned.
Wellington’s housing crisis just got worse https://t.co/BuhApN3OxK
— Christopher Bishop (@cjsbishop) September 1, 2023
“I share this with you because there is so much stigma and whakamā (shame) associated with heart disease that stop our people reaching out before it is too late.” – Kiwi musician Rob Ruha
Rob Ruha (Te Whānau-ā-Apanui/Ngāti Porou) is a decorated singer-songwriter hailing from the East Coast’s Wharekahika (Hicks Bay), having won Best Māori Album twice at the New Zealand Music Awards. The 35-year-old opened up on Facebook about the heart attack he unknowingly experienced at the time before being rushed to hospital for more testing, which revealed a blocked artery.
“I think people finally start to see, that actually, I am not the person they talk about.” – Tame Iti told the NZ Herald
Tāme Iti (Ngāi Tūhoe) is a Māori activist, artist, actor and social worker who became a figure of the Māori protest movement and the Māori renaissance. He was jailed for firearms offences after firing a shotgun into a flag, but later paroled after serving nine months of a two-and-a-half-year sentence.
Now, the politically controversial Iti will be joining the second cast of Celebrity Treasure Island for 2023, telling the Herald he has no regrets about his past and is set to prove he is not the person people think he is.
“Over the past month I’ve experienced all the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and now, acceptance. I’ve been wrapped up in love by those that love me genuinely, whānau and friends and I can’t express my gratitude to those that held my hand in some of the darkest times.” – former Cabinet minister Kiri Allan via Instagram
Labour MP Kiri Allan has opened up in a detailed Instagram post about her feelings around the events leading up to her eventual resignation from all her ministerial portfolios this year. Allan was charged with careless driving and refusing to accompany a police officer in July, and earlier in June went on Mental Health leave after her break-up with RNZ presenter Māni Dunlop.
“[Kiri Nathan is] really setting the benchmark not only because she’s a Māori designer, but she’s an amazing designer”. – New Zealand Fashion Week general manager Yasmin Farry, as reported by RNZ
Designer Kiri Nathan opened New Zealand Fashion Week: Kahuria last Tuesday with her collection Te Kuneroa. Nathan is the first Māori to open the country’s largest fashion event, and her collection featured prominent Māori as models, including Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi and soul singer Teeks.
“Wrinkles will only go where the smiles have been.” – US singer Jimmy Buffett, who died on September 1, 2023
Jimmy Buffett was an American singer-songwriter most renowned for songs like Margaritaville and other soft rock that captured the relaxed culture of the Florida Keys, a style often labelled “island escapism”. The singer died of skin cancer at age 76 in his Long Island home.
“I know you’re wondering where our thick red hair came from. It was clearly not Dad, even when he did sport a full head of hair.” – National Party leader Christopher Luxon’s son, William
Christopher Luxon’s children Olivia and William Luxon took to the stage at the National Party’s campaign launch on Father’s Day. The two began with a joke about their father’s baldness before wishing him luck for the campaign ahead.
“I would say a catastrophe, not a crisis. I know the previous ministers use that term crisis or like the term crisis, but I think it’s actually a bit more than that now.” – Wairarapa Hospital ED clinical head Dr Norman Gray, as reported by Newshub
Wairarapa Hospital Emergency Department’s clinical head has spoken out to Newshub on Te Whatu Ora’s lack of action taken toward declining numbers of staff and increasing patient wait times. His statement came ahead of Tuesday’s strike, which saw senior doctors and dentists walking off the job for better pay and working conditions – the first strike in New Zealand by these professions.
Today, for the first time, more than 5 thousand senior doctors and dentists went on strike for 2 hours.
— The Project NZ (@TheProject_NZ) September 5, 2023
We meet the psychiatrist who picketed alone because all of her colleagues have already left. pic.twitter.com/8jsfdM7VQP
“We are calling time on their poor behaviour.” – Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Duncan Webb
The government has announced it will fine supermarkets if they do not treat small suppliers fairly as of September 28. The new code requires Woolworths and Foodstuffs to pay their local suppliers on time and to have plain-English supply contracts, among other regulations. Both corporate heads say they either support the code or have been abiding by the rules set out within it already.
“I couldn’t sit still and was in a stupor for the rest of the evening.” – $10m Powerball winner
A Wairoa resident won $10.3 million in Powerball on Saturday, September 2. The winner, who wished to remain anonymous, said they are a regular player of the Power Dip, and because they were in disbelief, they checked the ticket three times.
“Jacinda Ardern’s ‘be kind’ has become ‘be nasty’ under Chris Hipkins.” – National Party’s Chris Bishop in an interview with RNZ
Attack advertisements targeting National leader Christopher Luxon and funded by the Council of Trade Unions have recently been published in the New Zealand Herald, as well as on billboards and social media. The ad featured the words “Out of touch. Too much risk.” along with a photo of Luxon.
Bishop responded to the ads, comparing the previous Labour government with Hipkins’, and noting how he thinks the unions under the CTU, such as E tū and the NZ Nurses Organisation, should be “ashamed”.
This election, voters have a clear choice to make about who will lead New Zealand. Christopher Luxon’s policies show he...
Posted by NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi on Sunday, September 3, 2023
