Leaders Getting Coffee with Bruce Cotterill

• Episode 49: Sky Television Commentator, Tony Johnson

  In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 49, our guest is Sky Television’s sports commentator Tony Johnson. As you might imagine, we’re talking sport, but we’re also chatting about the country’s highways, the Sounds murders and Prostate Cancer. Like many young sports mad kids of his time, Tony Johnson lay awake in the wee small hours, listening under the bed covers to radio commentaries of the All Blacks playing on the other side of the world. There, to the tones of commentator Bob Irvine, a love of radio was born. He grew up in the idyllic surroundings of the Marlborough Sounds, and as his father drove his delivery vessel around the famous waterways, those peninsulas and islands became his playground. A Radio New Zealand cadet programme launched the young Johnson in an industry that would see him become a household name. He talks of lucky breaks leading to opportunities, but one gets the impression that his modesty is underplaying the impact he was making, even at a young age. After four years overseas working as a news and sports journalist for Radio New Zealand, he returned home to stints as a sports presenter with the Paul Holmes breakfast on Newstalk ZB, and as TV3’s sports anchor, before his dream job came along. And so, twenty five years ago he joined Sky TV’s commentary team. As you might expect, this is a high energy and fun discussion about sport. Of course there are the All Blacks, who Johnson has toured with 25 times, but we also share a bird’s eye view of the America’s Cup, Wimbledon and his numerous appearances at the Olympic Games. Like all good media people, Tony Johnson is a storyteller. He talks fondly of memories of his late father and the special affection he has for the rebuilt Kaikoura highway on State Highway 1. There’s even a unique interchange with America’s Cup legend Dennis Conner that most of us won’t have known about. And then there was the afternoon out boating in the Marlborough Sounds with friends on New Years Eve in 1997, a day which culminated in a few hours at the famed Furneaux Lodge, on the same evening that Ben Smart and Olivia Hope disappeared, in what has become one of the country’s most intriguing murder cases. On the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast Tony Johnson shares with Bruce Cotterill that his career hasn’t all been plain sailing and he is refreshingly open about his health challenges, He’s had mobility issues since his late twenties, the result of a neurological condition. And a prostate cancer diagnosis seven years ago has led to him using his profile as an ambassador of Blue September. And the message could not be made more clear. Fellas, get a regular check up.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Episode 48: Minister of Internal Affairs, Brooke Van Velden

  In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 48, our guest is the Deputy Leader of the Act Party and Minister of Internal Affairs, Brooke Van Velden. A young Brooke Van Velden walked into a pub with a group of friends to celebrate a concert they’d just given. In doing so they stumbled across a get together of Act Party members and a relationship that was to change her life was born. Van Velden is now the Minister of workplace relations and the Minister of Internal Affairs as well as deputy leader of the Act Party. She tells the story of her grandfather’s journey to New Zealand after world war two and of a comfortable upbringing in Auckland. Her shyness at school was eventually overcome when the school’s choir master worked out that she could sing. The music department became her hangout and a shy schoolgirl became a confident performer, a skill that was to suit her forthcoming political career. That political career started in the back office of the Act Party as she worked behind the scenes on a signature policy, the End-of-Life Choice Act, which passed into law in 2019, and she speaks respectfully of the touching stories she encountered traveling the country as that policy developed. On the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Brooke speaks to Bruce Cotterill about a wide range of topics, including life in the opposition benches in the 2020 – 2023 term and the transition to government for the current term. We go behind the scenes and find out what it’s like to be a part of the coalition negotiations, and we learn that she only found out about her ministerial appointments when those negotiations were complete. Business owners and entrepreneurs will enjoy her comments about her desire to create a high wage growth economy with a flexible labour market and creating both the opportunities and the confidence to invest in our country. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Episode 47: Mayor of Hutt City, Campbell Barry

  In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 47, our guest is the Mayor of Hutt City, Campbell Barry. At the time of his election, and at the age of just 28, Campbell Barry was the youngest ever Mayor of a major city in New Zealand. He’s a local boy who has never moved that far away from home. He grew up in Wainuiomata and went to the local high school where he was the First XV captain and Deputy Head Boy. He still lives there today. On leaving school Campbell soon found himself elected to the Wainuiomata Community Board at the age of just 19, and so began an early local government political career. Two terms as a Councillor at Hutt City followed before, in what he says was a decision made out of frustration, and he threw his hat into the ring for the Mayoralty. A trusting public voted him in and, it seems, they have benefitted from doing so. Those six years as Mayor have seen him focus on one of Wellington’s biggest issues, water infrastructure, where they’ve increased new pipeline installation tenfold during his term. He’s also overseen the introduction of the living wage among Council employees, an overhaul of rubbish and recycling management, and the completion of the Te Ngaengae pool complex. But it seems his greatest source of pride is the RiverLink project, a project encompassing flood protection, transport improvements and urban revitalisation, enhancing the riverbank with parks, pedestrian-friendly pathways, outdoor dining and street markets. During the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast Campbell talks to Bruce Cotterill about the range of challenges facing Councils and the recent showdown with central government over spending levels. He also speaks about his own ideas to raise additional revenue to meet the needs caused by years of under-investment in Council infrastructure. His comments don’t go unchallenged either, with host Bruce Cotterill raising some of the wasted spending we’ve seen from Councils in recent years. Campbell Barry is up for the lively debate however and an entertaining conversation ensues. Campbell Barry is departing at this year’s election, and one wonders where he will go next. We don’t often get access to the inner workings of a Council and this discussion on the eve of his departure provides for an interesting commentary on the challenges facing local government.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Episode 46: Chief Economist at Simplicity, Shamubeel Eaqub

  In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 46, our guest is Shamubeel Eaqub, Chief Economist at Simplicity. Shamubeel Eaqub came to prominence in New Zealand as a sought-after economist explaining his complicated world in simple terms to readers and viewers through the New Zealand media. At the time he was the Principal Economist at the NZ Institute of Economic Research. How he came to that position, from an immigrant boy at age 10 is a worthy story in itself. But this discussion is so much more. A typical Kiwi upbringing followed his arrival, and as a soccer mad kid he found his way quickly. He studied economics at Lincoln University in Canterbury and then launched a career that has seen this passionate economist make a massive contribution to his adopted country. During the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Shamubeel talks to Bruce Cotterill about his journey, new jobs in foreign cities and eventually success. But it is the study of the local and global economy that makes this story compulsive listening. The conversation covers topics as broad as local school funding and global military spending. Eaqub says that there is no question that New Zealand’s post covid recovery has been slower than other countries, and he cites our low productivity, slowing migration and fiscal weakness as key causes. And having researched and written extensively on New Zealand’s infrastructure deficit, it is this topic that makes for a most interesting discussion. But there are plenty of positives too. And in a world threatened by war and America’s tariffs, he cites the unique strength of our relationships around the world and the value we can provide to other countries as the platform from which our recovery can develop. This is a highly informative and entertaining conversation about New Zealand’s challenges and it’s opportunities, between two people who think and care about the future of New Zealand.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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• Episode 45: Former CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand, Andrew Stone

  In Leaders Getting Coffee episode 45, our guest is Andrew Stone, former CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand and one of New Zealand’s most influential advisors to CEOs. Andrew Stone is steeped in advertising. He makes it his business to understand businesses and the consumers they seek to attract. And he’s good at doing so. So much so, he’s led some of New Zealand’s most influential advertising agencies at a time when they’ve been at their peak, with some of our biggest companies and even bigger campaigns. He cut his teeth in the advertising business with some of the best advertising agencies of the time. He learned the trade with Colenso in New Zealand and Saatchi & Saatchi in London before returning to New Zealand and eventually leading Saatchi’s in his home country. Along the way there’s been plenty of lessons; lessons that he proudly shares with experienced CEO’s and young people starting out. There’s a family man in there too, and you sense that the dinner table conversations over the years have left his two sons well equipped for their own future. In the Leaders Getting Coffee podcast, Andrew speaks to Bruce Cotterill about some of the big brands, and big personalities, he’s worked with. There’s some reminiscing about campaigns for Lion, Toyota, ASB Bank and others from the heyday of the industry in New Zealand. But there’s room for a thoughtful discussion on the impact of Artificial Intelligence on consumer behaviours and the advertising industry that will drive that behaviour. In his post advertising life, Andrew Stone has re-imagined himself as a consultant to CEO’s and Boards, helping to lead major transformation projects across rapidly changing industries. So there’s a great discussion about Telecom’s transition to Spark and many years later, Vodafone’s move to One NZ. Again, it’s the people who make the difference.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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