Each week the Listener brings you quotes from New Zealand and around the world that best highlight what has happened in the past week. Today’s quotes cover Kiri Allan’s fall from grace, Netherlands Women’s World Cup team coach upset about our training grounds and Amy Schumer’s reaction to the Barbie film after dropping out of earlier version – among other events.
“I pray my actions do not impact the political landscape – my actions were mine, and mine alone.” – Kiri Allan
Justice Minister Kiri Allan has resigned from all her portfolios after being charged with careless driving and failing to accompany a police officer following a car crash last Sunday in Wellington. She was also issued an infringement notice for driving over the alcohol limit. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said in a statement that while her alleged actions were “inexcusable”, she was in “extreme emotional distress” at the time of the incident.
“We’re tying ourselves in self-obsessed knots trying to work out how to feel about the nod from this influential but controversial international DJ.” – Jonathan Pearce from The Beths as reported by The Spinoff
Kiwi band The Beths has made it on to Barack Obama’s list of favourite songs for 2023. The former US president shared his annual summer playlist of more than 40 songs on Saturday, which he posted on Instagram for the 44th POTUS’s 36 million followers.
“The singers who are the most honest are the ones who become immortalised.” - Tony Bennett, who died on July 21
Bennett was known as a jazz crooner and pop singer from New York, with many accolades to his name including 20 Grammy awards. His song Because of You was his first hit in 1951 and sent him on a trajectory to becoming an American classic. His representatives reported he was “singing at his piano” just days before his death in his home city.
“Some questioning became what else could we have done? How can we continue to support these communities and even the young man who undertook the shootings as well?” – Former Auckland city councillor Efeso Collins on the Auckland shooting
Two construction workers were killed in a shooting in the Auckland CBD last Thursday. The gunman, Matu Tangi Matua Reid, 24, also died at the scene. The victims, Tupuga Sipiliano, 44, and Solomona To’oto’o, 45, are being grieved by their families and Detective Superintendent Ross McKay says the police extend sincere condolences to the families.
“This is huge. This is immense. And it’s so necessary … This is recycling at a mass scale.” – Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick on the St James Theatre restoration
Green MP for Auckland Central Chlöe Swarbrick and Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced that the government has promised $15 million to help restore the St James Theatre in Auckland’s CBD last Saturday. It is hoped the performance space will be restored by 2028, three years after the City Rail Link is due to be completed.
“When we arrived [in the Bay of Plenty] on Wednesday, I thought, ‘now what is this now?’ I will not train on this… This fits with amateurism of the highest order.” – Netherlands Women’s World Cup team coach Andries Jonker
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Jonker was fuming at the state of the cricket pitch at Bay Oval in Tauranga, which his team was given as a training facility. He claimed his Netherlands Women’s World Cup team players risked injury due to the hard cricket pitches in the middle of the field. The Dutch football association claimed they were promised the pitches would be removed before the Dutch team arrived.
“Really enjoyed Barbie and Oppenheimer but I think I should have played Emily Blunt’s role.” – Amy Schumer
Last weekend saw the release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer in cinemas, both highly anticipated films that have the hype around them labelled as “Barbenheimer”. Amy Schumer, who was set to play Barbie, reportedly dropped out of an earlier version of the film due to creative differences. But after seeing both films, she jokingly claims that she thinks she should have played Emily Blunt’s role of “Kitty”, the titular character’s wife, in Oppenheimer.
“Shit happens” – Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor on Kiri Allan’s car crash reported by Newshub
O’Connor responded frankly to reporters on Kiri Allan’s resignation after disembarking from his flight at Wellington Airport on Monday morning.
