Bill Edgar<\/a>, the coffin confessor. A man who is a concierge to the dead, carrying out their final wishes, even calling loved ones out at funerals on behalf of the deceased. <\/p>\nBennett loved the chat so much that she wanted to start a New Zealand arm of his services to the dead and dying. Edgar declined. <\/p>\n
Listen to the episode here:<\/p>\n
But she is no stranger to rejection; there have also been guests who have flat-out refused her. She says there are plenty of other podcasts they can share their opinions on if hers is of concern to them. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere are certainly people who have turned me down, I think because of my previous political role, and that\u2019s entirely up to them.\u201d <\/p>\n
Bennett gives one of the Green Party\u2019s co-leaders as an example. <\/p>\n
\u201cI really wanted to interview Chl\u00f6e Swarbrick, but she has said \u2018no\u2019, she\u2019s declined, which was interesting. Whereas Marama Davidson \u2013 hers was about health and her personal journey \u2013 she just didn\u2019t even hesitate [to say yes].\u201d <\/p>\n
While she\u2019s happy to talk to politicians and almost anyone else about their work, Bennett misses being the person able to make an immediate difference in people\u2019s lives. She says that work wasn\u2019t always showy, but it mattered. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy proudest moments are the ones that didn\u2019t make headlines \u2013 using your power for good and being able to reach in and help someone. [Because] generally, by the time a constituent or someone comes to see you, you\u2019re often the last call. <\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes you can do something. Women in hideous domestic violence [situations] and being able to literally get them out and change their lives. Someone who\u2019s been through ACC and is in chronic pain and is not being heard and being ignored. At least making sure that [people] are getting a fair hearing and being treated fairly.\u201d <\/p>\n
If there was such a thing as unfinished business, maybe a world where she had one last day in the Beehive, where she could make one final change, Bennett knows exactly what she would do. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can blatantly disclose that I am the chair of Pharmac, and so can we please have a billion dollars more so that we can at least give New Zealanders access to medicines at the same rate as the rest of the countries? So that people don\u2019t have to go to Australia and leave their families behind to get the level of service they deserve? It\u2019s not all about money, but this actually is about our ability to purchase and buy enough.\u201d <\/p>\n
As someone who spent more than a decade in the game, Bennett has a better grasp than most on the politics of popularity. When it comes to those people who are in charge, though, she is clear: in her opinion, you don\u2019t have to want to be friends with the people making the decisions for our country. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re out there looking for someone that\u2019s likable, then you should get over yourself because you\u2019re not looking for someone that you\u2019re going to have dinner with at night. What I would be looking for is someone that\u2019s capable. <\/p>\n
\u201cI get that at some level, [it is] a sort of a likability contest, and people liked me, people hated me \u2026 and that\u2019s life really.\u201d <\/p>\n
![\"Paula]()
Paula Bennett during a media conference in 2019. Photo \/ File<\/p>\n
Instead, Bennett says the New Zealand public wants, and should expect, consistency and someone who is unapologetically themselves. <\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone more enlightened than me would say it\u2019s all about your authenticity and all of that crap, which it probably is. But I think it\u2019s a bit more than that as well. It\u2019s being true to oneself. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t surprise anyone that I broke up a fight outside the mall in Henderson, which I did. Because I was known for being kind of a feisty, stroppy, leaning in, tell you exactly how it is. Saying this is me, this is what you get.\u201d <\/p>\n
Back in the studio, Bennett knows that straight-talking nature means she\u2019s not the podcast host for everyone, and she\u2019s still got a lot to learn. If she feels it\u2019s not a good fit with her guests, or she finds her mind wandering when they talk, she says so. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s tricky to pretend that you\u2019re super passionate when you don\u2019t follow the sport, for example,\u201d Bennett laughs as she recalls getting let in on some recent top-secret All Blacks gossip from a source she refuses to name. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe was telling me all this stuff the other day and suddenly says, \u2018You\u2019re not even listening, are you?\u2019 And I went, \u2018No, I\u2019m honestly doing my grocery list in my head right now.\u2019 And he says, \u2018Because you can\u2019t tell anyone \u2013 it\u2019s about this weekend.\u2019 And I reply, \u2018I wouldn\u2019t know how to. I have no idea what you\u2019ve just said\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And a lot of people have come and seen her. This week, she celebrates 100 episodes of her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6946,32758,57197,138,9632,33092,9828,16863,2082,2740,6098,57199,57200,13840,6096,6722,57201,111,43,139,69,90,24637,52990,384,3800,57198,18154,18481,415,29158,17146,21707,201,39880,2846,19054,21539,102],"class_list":["post-72507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-actors","tag-anything","tag-bennett","tag-business","tag-celebrates","tag-deputy","tag-different","tag-episodes","tag-for","tag-former","tag-hard","tag-interviewed","tag-jenni","tag-like","tag-message","tag-minister","tag-mortimer","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-parliament","tag-paula","tag-people","tag-podcast","tag-podcasting","tag-political","tag-politicians","tag-prime","tag-putting","tag-questions","tag-staying","tag-swapping","tag-tables","tag-them","tag-turned","tag-views","tag-with"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}