Acting PM Winston Peters did the rounds this morning and nobody was safe. We present a list of Winnie’s sassiest zingers.

AM SHOW

Winston joined Duncan Garner by video link to cover China and guns. Things got off to a cracking start, and went downhill from there. 

Duncan Garner: I tend to disagree with you [on China] Winston.

Winston Peters: Well you might tend to but I’ve heard a litany from the media about this relationship but the prime minister has been, she’s done the business and she’s coming home in very truncated circumstances not of our making, and that’s a fact.

A number of weeks ago she spent an entire weekend in her office with diplomats doing all sorts of things around the China relationship and then made that special statement about China on that Monday press conference after cabinet. Why would she do that if it’s business as usual?

Because she didn’t spend all weekend in the office in the way you said. I mean, who’s your informant here? The whole weekend in the office over one country? The prime minister has a stack of things to do.

So you’re saying that statement didn’t happen? I mean I think it’s fair to say the statement happened Winston.

Well you can have the argument, you’ve got the OIA, you can find out can’t you?

On guns: 

We haven’t been able to get patches off gangs, let alone guns. They’ve said to get stuffed, they’ve got to defend against the other gangs.

With the greatest respect Duncan, wise up. Have you seen anybody shot by a patch? Anybody knifed by a patch? Anybody murdered by a patch? No. So let’s get real here.

So what are you saying?

I’m saying stop putting up ridiculous contrasts. A patch is a patch, it’s a badge, it’s different. Maybe it signifies unlawful behaviour by connection, but it’s nothing like having military style weapons. Be real here.

No. When have any governments been able to get tough on gangs?

That wasn’t your example. You’re trying to equate owning military style weapons with a patch.

Will police storm gang pads if they don’t hand them over?

Look this is the sort of conversation that John Banks was having with you guys back in the 1990s. Do you remember that? It didn’t happen. 

Mike Hosking Breakfast

Mike Hosking came prepared this morning with a transcript of Winston’s Georgetown speech, which was DEFINITELY not about China. What ensued was ten minutes of Mike trying to goad Winston into saying the C-word, with a bit of tax chat for good measure, transcribed below in its entirety. 

Mike Hosking: I read your Georgetown speech out of Washington in December of last year and there’s no question that you’re worried about China and the Pacific – is that fair?

Winston Peters: No, we’re worried about vacuums building in the Pacific where certain interests are coming in and filling those vacuums and not all of those interests are in the Pacific’s interests or our place in the Pacific or our longterm security. That Georgetown speech was a wake-up call.

Yea exactly, you’re warning America about China.

Well no I’m warning the United States about the Pacific which is their backyard. It’s the same warning General Douglas MacArthur gave them before the second world war. I’m warning the Japanese I’m warning the EU I’m warning the French – I’m warning everybody who’s interested in the Pacific about certain developments which we must keep on top of.

Exactly, and those developments are the Chinese.

Well again, you’re wrong about that because certain other interests in the Pacific are not in the Pacific interests as well.

So who are they?

Well we do not advance New Zealand’s foreign policy by talking about very sensitive issues with a megaphone, so to speak. That’s not how we do it.

So you’re telling me – I’m saying it’s China, you’re saying it’s not, when I ask you who it is you won’t tell me.

Well why don’t we just say Mr Hoskings [sic] you’re the expert in all these matters.

Well I’m quoting you.

I read your articles, they’re extraordinary in their levels of arrogance and misinformation, and so if you want to turn this into an interview please do. What you’re saying is what you say. Why don’t we reverse it? Why don’t I become the interviewer and you answer the questions.

I’d be happy to.

Well I bet you wouldn’t last five seconds but never mind.

But I’m quoting you. You’re the expert. I’m giving you the accreditation of the expertise, quoting you in your speech –

No you’re not.

But I am.

No you’re not, Mr Hoskings [sic], you’re not. I did not mention any nation in that speech.

No you didn’t but I’m suggesting to you it’s China. Let me quote you: ‘acutely mindful of and archly concerned by the asymmetry in the region at a time where larger players are renewing their interests in the Pacific. The speed and intensity of those players are of great concern to us. Our eyes are wide open to this trajectory, and we know that yours are too.’ That’s China.     

Well here we go. I’m hearing my speech being read back to me, but when I gave it in Georgetown I never heard it the next morning from you, did I? Or the next week? Or the next month? No. Just when you think you can make some particular point to embarrass me in my country.

I’m not remotely interested –

Mr Hoskings [sic], do the speech when I give it, not years later.

Well when you say years later it was December of last year so it was four months ago, and it’s relevant now because the prime minister is in China and you were bagging China in Washington, and these are your own words.

Well there you go, I did not say anything of the sort, I said there were renewed interests coming to the Pacific with a new focus and we had to be alert to them, and you decided that you would be the interpreter for Winston Peters and the brilliant minds that helped me write that speech, and start naming who it is.

I offered the idea that it was China, if you say it is not, I then asked well who is it, and you won’t tell me.

Well I didn’t say it was or wasn’t, did I?

Oh I thought you did. So is it or isn’t it?

No, no, no, you can’t think these things, words matter. Go back on the transcript and tell me how you jumped to that conclusion, it wasn’t on your mind when you asked the question.

Because I couldn’t possibly work out who else it could be in the Pacific that was so large, so powerful you’d go to Washington and warn them about it.

How extraordinary. What’s your next question?

What’s extraordinary about that? If it’s not China, who is it?

You’re back again, it’s so repetitive, it’s like a stuck record, even though the technology has moved on. What’s your next question?

So you’re not going to tell me who it is?

What a slow learner you’ve become this morning, what’s wrong with you? Had a bad morning? What happened.  

Nothing. *hysterical laughter*

I’ve told you for the fourth time that the speech stands by itself, it’s clear as daylight for all those interested in learning the lesson it was trying to impart.

Alright, let me change subject then: capital gains tax. There’s a poll out the other day that had 90% of people who own farms, businesses and lifestyle blocks are against the capital gains tax. Are you cognisant of that view in the community?

Mike I’ve also read your articles on that. The level of scaremongering that you engage in knows no boundaries. Just relax.

*hysterical laughter*

No, no, don’t laugh.

*more laughter*

On the Provincial Growth Fund:

I’m a supporter of the provincial growth fund.

Oh really?

Yeah, go look up the articles, I can supply them for you if you want.

Well that’s gotta be the world’s best kept secret because the provincial growth fund has been around for three decades, and when we bring it out and announce it, you decide you’re going to support it. What were you doing before that? You were supporting the big city, Steven Joyce, neoliberal experiment which was causing disaster to the provinces and regions of this country. Remember that?

Yes, I remember it Winston, jeez. I don’t want you to pop a blood vessel this morning, all I want –

No look Mike I’m having a lovely time I’m smiling from ear to ear – I love talking to you. I really do.

And me too! And vice versa. There’s a mutual respect and like there, but all I’m concerned about –

There’s a place for guys like you and me, as long as you keep that in mind ok?

That’s good – where is that place?

Well, you do your job better than you are, and I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.  

Morning Report

You don’t have the range, Guyon. Or at least according to Winston, who, remembering a newspaper clipping from 100 years ago, told the veteran journalist to sit down young man. 

Guyon Espiner: Have you reflected on your own comments about Muslim communities in the past in the wake of the Christchurch terror attack?

Winston Peters: What do you mean by that?

Well, for example, your speech ‘The End of Tolerance’ in 2005 where you said –

Guess what was happening in 2005 before that? Guess what was happening with 9/11. And then on to the London bombings. And guess what the Imams of London were saying, and around the Islamic world were saying about those and some of those in their midst: they were saying exactly what I said back then. And I don’t resile from that. And I’ve just come back from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation where number one in their mind was Islamic state terrorism. Erdogan said it and numerous others said it. So you’ve got to understand what you’re talking about. And I was talking about not moderate law-abiding and God-loving, or Allah-loving moderate Islam, I was talking about extremism and I don’t resile from that.

Ok well you said in that speech that moderate Muslims were operating hand-in-glove with extremists. You said, quote, ‘this two-faced approach is how radical Islam works’.

Let me stop you right there, I know what I said, I’m not happy to have you repeat misinformation, I said –

Well it’s your own speech Mr Peters.

Look you just said that, that’s the third time. I’m talking about what Islamic moderate leaders were saying themselves –

No, no, I’m talking about what you said as a leader in New Zealand.

I know that Guyon, I’m repeating what I said when I got it from them. They were the first ones that said that, they were saying ‘we have to, those of us who are moderate, we have to, not let these people abuse us, we’ve got to call them out ourselves.’

You said the New Zealand Muslim community have been quick to show us their moderate face but there is a militant underbelly as well, these groups are like the mythical Hydra you said, a serpent underbelly with multiple heads capable of striking at any time, and in any direction. You don’t resile at all from that speech?

Look, stop trying to be the state prosecutor here alright? You’re just not up to it. Let me tell you, I talked to the foreign minister for Pakistan, he said ‘Mr Peters, I understand what your country is going through, let me tell you: we’ve had 70,000 people die from similar events in recent years ourselves.’ This is a leading Islamic country, they understand what clearly you don’t, trying to make some narrow political point this morning.

In 2013 you defended one of your own MPs Richard Prosser, who said that if you were young and male –

Here we go again –

… You should banned from riding on planes.

No I didn’t defend him, I didn’t defend him, I sent him down to the mosque to get an education. He went down to a mosque and for two weeks he got an education, and resiled to never saying those things again.

You said, quote, in February 2013, ‘there’s an element of truth to what he’s saying’.

Well, the word ‘Wogistan’ came out of the NBR, that’s the National Business Review – you remember that? No you don’t. I do. All I was saying is –

No, he wrote the piece for Investigate magazine Mr Peters.

– it started with the leading business or commercial newspaper in this country.

No, no, he wrote the piece for Investigate magazine. But it’s probably neither here nor there.

No he got the phrase ‘Wogistan’ from the National Business Review from many years before. All I’m trying to tell you because you’ve been pretty brief in this business, is the real history behind what he said. And I sent him down to a mosque to get himself educated, which he did. Remember that?

So you don’t resile from any of your comments about the Muslim community at all? You’ve got no problem with what you’ve said, you’ve thought about it and you think that was fine?

I can listen to people like you Guyon, or I can tell you I’ve been off to see 57 countries, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, who have got a serious round of applause and some people actually crying in the aisles when we told them the truth about New Zealand and showed them a video. We went there to ensure that we were not misunderstood. That’s what I’m more keen to do, rather than have this repetitive, stupid, mindless argument about what you think.

BONUS Sky News Australia

Winston capped off the day with a couple of one-liners about Australian politician/egg-wearer Fraser Anning. A curated selection is provided below. 

“I could call him a four-flushing, jingoistic moron, but you already know that in Australia.”

“He is a national, absolute, democratic aberration. We all know why he’s there. He’s there by pure accident.”

“It means you have to clean up your political system to avoid that sort of person making it into politics.”

When 60 CEOs signed up to the Climate Leaders Coalition in July 2018, much was made of the presence of the big players like Air New Zealand, Spark, Fonterra and Vector. The Spinoff caught up with the nimble smaller companies leading from the back.  

Since the launch of the Climate Leaders Coalition last year, 82 CEOs have signed the joint statement committing their organisations to take voluntary action on climate change. Since then much focus has been on the big players, and just how committed they are to a carbon zero future that demands difficult questions of their status quo.

But also within the coalition are smaller companies with ambitions of being better than ‘neutral’ and making a positive contribution to climatic change. These are startups who began as they meant to go on – with the natural environment at the heart of their strategic decision-making. These are dynamic and versatile smaller companies that are providing leadership and practical solutions to combating climate change.

Product stewardship company 3R Group, payroll tech company Thankyou Payroll and electricity retailer Flick operate in different industries and at different scales, but they share a commitment to sustainability and a zero carbon future that has been part of their operations from the start. They also share a commitment to using ‘tech for good’ – bringing the best of software and engineering innovation to solving problems. They’re part of a new generation of businesses who are trying to live up to the demand for radical transparency and meaningful contribution to the wider community beyond strict economic measures.

The Spinoff spoke to these businesses about their commitment to the Climate Change Coalition, why it is important, and how far we all have to go to ensure the world as we know it doesn’t disappear.

Thankyou Payroll

Thankyou Payroll CEO Christina Bellis has been in the job for three years, and in that time has seen her company grow from five employees to 21. It’s a payroll company operating under the ‘social enterprise’ umbrella, helping employers pay their employees while giving back to charities and environmental issues with any extra profit.

HR is an industry that has operated in the same way for years. But Thankyou was founded on a commitment to creating a new model with a triple-bottom-line approach: social, environmental and financial.

In 2006 the IRD introduced a subsidy of up to $10 per pay run to encourage small businesses to use payroll professionals to handle their PAYE obligations. It was enough for Thankyou Payroll’s founder to realise she could provide a service to employers for free, then donate 25c to charity from each $10 subsidy.

“We started with the environmental and social consciousness at our core and built the business from that. Any of our decisions are still built into our mission or our values,” says Bellis.

Thankyou Payroll now services over 7000 businesses, and while they did end up having to introduce a fee for their service, they remain free to use for registered charities. They are still a small but growing business, but this has never discouraged Bellis from building the brand as a leader of sustainability in New Zealand. She says it was an easy but important decision to sign onto the Climate Leaders Coalition.

“I think leadership is really important, people taking a stand and joining together. There is power in numbers. It’s really important to be supporting [climate change action] because we’re all going to have to deal with it together.

“I know that there are some massive organisations that have signed up and collectively we are about 50% of all of Aotearoa’s emissions. Thankyou Payroll is probably around a 0.01% of that and there are much bigger players, but every single one of us plays a role in moving towards a more sustainable environment and better climate solutions for the next generation,” she says.  

The company is already certified as carbon neutral, something Bellis is immensely proud of, and she wants it to be carbon negative by 2021. The Thankyou Payroll model is proof that traditional sectors don’t have to follow traditional business models to do exceptional things, she says.

“Business as usual should not exist. We can recreate business and make ‘business as usual’ a social enterprise model where we’re taking care of more than just our shareholders. We can demonstrate that the model works.”

3R Group

The current state of our economy and consumer culture is linear by nature. We use products till they are of no use anymore, then we get rid of them – to recycling plants, compost heaps, or most popularly and problematically, landfills.

While people are rapidly catching on to the idea of reducing, reusing and recycling, 3R is taking the next step, helping companies to breathe new life into the things other people would consider trash. Their aim is to educate people and businesses by thinking up strategies to make the ‘three R’s’ easier to implement.

CEO Adele Rose says the idea behind the business came from the two founders who, while working in the waste sector, noticed the excessive amounts of plastic being sent to landfill.

“Our beginning point was to reduce hazardous plastic packaging from the waste stream and then to apply a hierarchy of use to that packaging so that it was nil to landfill and it created additional value for the recycled plastic.”

One of the cycles 3R has helped to create is with paint shops like Resene and Dulux, whose plastic paint pots were being sent to landfill because of the toxicity of the paint. Customers now pay a levy when they purchase paint, allowing them to take the packaging and any unused paint back to the Resene store.

“If there’s more than a third of usable paint in there then they set that aside for community work, a lot of it goes to murals and schools. If it’s less than a third or is looking a bit grotty or if it’s an empty pail, then it goes into a bin for one of our nationwide collections,” says Rose.

“We take that packaging and extract any of the residual paint, the pails are then shredded and go back into a process where they’re remanufactured back into pails, and the leftover paint has a further process applied to it and is mixed to be used for graffiti abatement, or it can go into making a mixture for concrete.”

Rose says the Climate Leaders Coalition comes with a high degree of responsibility for the company that prides itself on following through on words with action. Even as a small member in terms of turnover, 3R believes it has a significant role to play, especially as it can help other businesses create change.

“We’re talking to local people about being a business owner around the age of 50, whose children and grandchildren are going to be experiencing the effects of climate change. We sit in that age group where we have to make a change because what we are leaving for our children and children’s children is currently a massive job,” says Rose.

With just 30 employees, 3R never felt too small to lead change, says Rose. She sees small business as a cornerstone of New Zealand culture (they represent over 80% of New Zealand businesses), and therefore have the opportunity to direct the conversation around sustainability.

“Small businesses can make the biggest impact. They are inherently led by the owner or the major shareholder, they have really close connections with their community and with their staff, and they live on the reliability of their suppliers. They’re highly networked, closely connected, and the opportunity for them to be influencers is massive.”

Flick Electric

In 2014 Wellington power company Flick Electric flipped the script on the electricity market. From its beginning, Flick prided itself on core values of fairness, honesty and transparency. Over the last five years, the company has not only provided an alternative to power pricing, but also clear accountability for the decisions they make as a company.

In 2016, Flick Electric was CarboNZero accredited. The company’s emissions are offset at the Hinewai Native Forest on the Banks Peninsula and internally its waste management systems are assisting in cutting down its emissions. Flick’s head of communications and external relations, Victoria Crockford, says she wants the company’s internal work to help facilitate larger conversations across the business landscape.

“With the values of sustainability and transparency at our core, we’re really excited about contributing to a wider conversation and wider action, and more importantly joining some of these more visible businesses to say ‘actually some of these smaller businesses have got this stuff as part of their foundation.”

That’s why the Climate Leaders Coalition was an important move for the company – alongside some of New Zealand’s biggest businesses “showing that they were transparently committed to science-based targets,” Crockford says.

Flick Electric is small, especially in the huge world of power companies, but Crockford says she sees this as an advantage for the company’s commitment to climate change. There’s no downside to reducing your footprint, and small businesses have a unique opportunity to lead the charge and show others it is possible, she says.

“The bigger ships are harder to turn around so smaller companies can provide leadership because we can make changes more quickly. We’re a digital-first company so we can be in the business of building consumer tools as part of our business.

“As a newer company, our foundations are in the current climate change situation, as our profound reality. It’s not something that our systems and our culture have to transition to or change in order to react; we’ve been founded as a part of that world.”

Reducing emissions is the first step to take for any business or individual, says Crockford, but since some emissions are simply unavoidable, the offsetting programmes that are available in New Zealand are a great solution.

“We are necessarily going to emit carbon in the current business operations climate. Recognising that as the reality, what is the best step to mitigate that impact? We believe it’s investing in those local projects [which don’t only have] carbon offset potential, but also have biodiversity and restoration potential. The flip side of that is that we’re always committed to reducing our carbon so the necessity of offsetting becomes less and less.”

The company is eager to widen the dialogue about what power use means and empower customers to make informed decisions about the power they use. Its app CHOICE allows consumers to see information on where electricity on the grid is being sourced, giving them the ability to use more power when it’s coming from renewable sources, and cut power use when there’s a lot of carbon on the grid.

“Everything comes at an environmental cost and so empowering people to make easy choices to lower their environmental cost was really important to us,” says Crockford.

The app is all part of Flick’s drive to encourage conversations about what we as individuals – and as a society – can do to address climate change. Crockford believes New Zealand businesses have a huge role in leading that conversation – but they must be willing to be scrutinised.  

“I’m really proud that New Zealand businesses are willing to have these quite hard dialogues. People ask critical questions which are really important. Exposing yourself to those questions and being willing to have that glare of transparency is really something worth celebrating.”

This content was created in paid partnership with Flick. Learn more about our partnerships here.