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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 Rita Ora wrongly labelling her husband Taika Waititi’s ethnicity, Aaron Smith’s reaction to the All Blacks’ loss to South Africa, and Grant Robertson’s response to National’s recently announced tax package – among other events.
“If it wasn’t for the fact this country is in such a crisis, this would be a comedy. It’s as though he is in a time warp.” – Winston Peters on TVNZ’s Breakfast
Talking to TVNZ’s Breakfast on Monday, Winston Peters responded to Chris Hipkins’s announcement that Labour, if returned to power, would not form a coalition with New Zealand First after the upcoming general election. The response comes after Hipkins called NZ First a “force for instability and chaos” at a media conference last Sunday.
“If you really had to pay on the value of that land [in Auckland] for the hour or two or three that you’re [parked] there, it actually should be higher.” – Jon Reeves of the Public Transport Users Association on TVNZ’s 1News
Last week, Auckland Transport hiked prices for its on-street parking. Car parks have increased by $1 an hour, with the city’s most expensive zones costing $6 an hour for the first two hours and $11 an hour after that. Auckland Transport says this is the first regional-level increase in parking costs for more than a decade.
“We were all pretty disappointed about the weekend. The positive is that we’re now on to the real thing. We’ll take the learnings from the game, but the excitement is there to finally get into it.” – All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith
The All Blacks were beaten 35-7 by the Springboks at Twickenham last Saturday in what was the team’s worst-ever defeat. Looking ahead, instead, to the Rugby World Cup kicking off on September 9, Smith told 1News the side is in for another week of hard work and team bonding.
“I’m married to half a Sāmoan man, so …” – The Voice Australia judge Rita Ora
On last week’s episode of The Voice Australia, Rita Ora incorrectly labelled her husband Taika Waititi as Sāmoan. She said this when trying to convince a Voice contestant to choose her as a coach, as opposed to fellow judge Jason Derulo. The statement is incorrect, given Waititi often speaks of his Māori and Jewish whakapapa. The phrasing of “half a Sāmoan man”, as opposed to half Sāmoan, also appeared to confuse viewers.
“I’d say she’s pretty much at the peak of her powers and she’s not getting any slower.” – Canoe Racing New Zealand high performance manager Nathan Luce on Lisa Carrington’s K1 200 world title win
Dame Lisa Carrington won her 15th Canoe Sprint World Championship title in the K1 200 in Germany last Sunday. The final day of the competition saw the Kiwi canoer win her ninth gold medal at the event, and means New Zealand has secured four women’s spots at next year’s Paris Olympics.
“Networks decide who will have a chance to do shows, but it is the viewers who make the final decision of who stays and who goes. I am very fortunate, in that the television viewers of our country have decided that Bob Barker can stay.” – US television game show host Bob Barker, who died on August 26
Bob Barker was an American television game show host who hosted CBS’s The Price Is Right, the longest-running game show in US television history, from 1972 to 2007. He was also an animal rights activist. According to People magazine, his longtime companion of 40 years, Nancy Burnet, says he was “willing to use his name value” and “stand up when things were controversial”. He died at age 99 in California.
“Christopher Luxon is absolutely entitled to hold a press conference. He’s entitled to share his views with the New Zealand public and the New Zealand public are entitled to hear those views.” Prime Minister Chris Hipkins
National Party leader Christopher Luxon’s press conference in Pakuranga was interrupted on Tuesday by Freedoms New Zealand candidate Karl Mokaraka, who jumped on top of a fence to yell at him. Luxon requested to speak with the candidate privately after the conference, but Mokaraka continued, saying Luxon “only turned up to the white parts of the areas”, and asking, “Where were you when the gun shootings happened?” The conference was then relocated to an indoor space to avoid the heckler.
"Can I have my ball back please??"
— Craig (@KiwiCraig74) August 28, 2023
"Sorry we've already sold it" pic.twitter.com/eUd85kKIqG
“My point was to always have my spectators leave saying, ‘Hot damn I got my money’s worth.’” – American wrestler Terry Funk, who died on August 23
Terry Funk was an American professional wrestler known for the significant length of his career, which spanned more than 50 years. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009, alongside brother Dory Funk Jr. and fought his final match in 2017 at the age of 73. He died at age 79 in Arizona.
“National is laying out some voodoo costings today with their claim to be able to grab $740 million per year from foreign buyers.” – Labour’s finance spokesperson Grant Robertson
Robertson responded to National’s newly announced tax policy in a Labour Party press release on Wednesday. The party’s finance minister called the tax plan “dodgy” and said shows the party’s “lack of commitment to real action on climate change”.
“We need to evolve or we will die as a game.” – New Zealand Rugby referees boss Chris Pollock
In a private Facebook post written by Pollock and sent to TVNZ’s 1News, he said that rugby as a game needed more continuity, to “not be so stop start”, and to evolve or it would “die”. He went on to criticise how the Bunker person is currently the “most influential person in the game”, a review process that has been confirmed to be used in the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
