Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

It was too good an opportunity to pass up.   Auckland Council has spent more than $12 million expanding its Botanical Gardens.   It's bought 1.6 hectares, the size of two soccer pitches, on Hill Road in Manurewa.   More than 10 million dollars of the purchase price will be funded by debt.   Manurewa-Papakura Ward Councillor, Daniel Newman, says he lobbied hard for the purchase.   He knows money's...

There’s been a mixed response to Labour's pledge to do more to help new supermarket retailers set up shop in New Zealand.   While details are in the early stages, help with finances, gaining land space, and making regulator changes are on the cards.   New Zealand Initiative's Eric Crampton told Kate Hawkesby that changes to zoning for new supermarkets would be welcomed but warns against subsiding...

I went out in search of some democracy yesterday, trying to early vote.   I looked up on the Vote NZ website where in my area had early voting places open and what time. I headed out on a walk confident I’d found the place but as I rocked up there, the lights were out; the first bad sign. Then I saw an actual sign on the ground, blown over in the wind, it said ‘no early voting here until October 9...

I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, I’m so over this election. Please let it be over already.   Now that Winston’s crept back into the fray, we've got the old gameplaying of not just the politicians - but the voters now too who seem to believe they can rig MMP in their favour.   They want to design their own bespoke government. After all these years, we still don’t seem to get it. E...

The property market is experiencing some pre-election jitters.   It seems Kiwis are holding off on making big decisions until after D-Day - with the national average asking price staying flat the whole of September - t his is according to realestate.co.nz's last report before the election.   Vanessa Taylor, head of sales at realestate.co.nz, joined Kate Hawkesby on Early Edition to discuss the rep...

National's Deputy leader says its economic plan is solid despite widespread doubts.   The party released its fiscal plan on Friday, Finance Minister Grant Robertson describing it as being built on sand.   A recent Newshub Reid Research poll found 53 percent of respondents don't think National can pay for their tax cuts.   The tax plan was also criticised by economists from across the political spe...

Polls are great. I love ‘em and I love the occasional surprise we get from them.   They're really useful in providing those snapshots of public opinion at any given moment.   And you'll be aware the political parties use them extensively, not just to see how they're tracking but for all sorts of nefarious stuff like testing out our reactions to policy ideas.   On top of that there's also a lot of...

Sanitarium has dropped Weet-Bix from the Warehouse stores, blaming supply issues.   The Warehouse Group is questioning why only its stores are affected and the Commerce Commission is looking into it.   Massey University marketing expert Bodo Lang told Tim Dower that it's unusual to target just one retailer.   He says it's something we don't see very often, and the way Sanitarium has handled it doe...

A young American soldier who ran across the North Korea border is in US custody and heading home.   Travis King made a sudden dash from South to North Korea whilst on a civilian tour of the demilitarised zone two months ago.   Before he ran to North Korea, the 23-year-old had served in a South Korean prison for assault and was due to be sent home to Texas to face consequences.   US Correspondent M...

The chances of Chris Hipkins retaining his role as Prime Minister appears to be fading by the day.   The latest One News-Verian result puts National on 36% while Labour sits at 26%.   Earlier this week, the Herald's Poll of Polls showed Labour has a 0.2% chance of staying in government, the worst result for any main governing party since the Great Depression.   Former National Party advisor and po...

Trying to pick a winner from a TV debate is a tricky thing to do.   First thing I have to bear in mind is that I'm not impartial when I look at these things. I've already decided who I want to win, so that's bound to be an influence.   I started going through it round by round, first one to Luxon, even in the second, Hipkins in round three.   Four to Luxon, five to Hipkins... overall, I'd have to...

More than $3 billion worth of food waste is filling up New Zealander’s bins every year.   Rabobank-KiwiHarvest's survey estimates household's waste 12.2% of groceries yearly, a slight decrease from last year's 13.4%.   Gen Z remain the most wasteful age group.   KiwiHarvest Food Rescue charity founder Deborah Manning told Tim Dower that one of the problems is consumers demand to see a high quantit...

A plea for whoever's in Government next month to address the worrying state of the events sector in Auckland.    Auckland Unlimited has revealed to the council that no major events are confirmed in the city beyond August next year due to a lack of funding.   Heart of the City Chief Executive Viv Beck told Tim Dower that it's a major international city, so this needs to be resolved.   She says ther...

I guess it had to come at some point in the campaign... National's traditional swipe at the beneficiaries.   I really don't know why they do this, sanctions of one kind or another have been tried and tried again, but the fact is they really don't work.   This time the formula includes mandatory community work experience, and of course benefit cuts or suspensions.   None of its new. We've seen vari...

A challenge has been laid down for political parties to act on breast cancer.   The Breast Cancer Foundation is releasing election scorecards which shows that all parties want to raise the free mammogram age to 74.   Only the Greens, New Zealand First, and TOP would lower the minimum age for higher risk women.   Chief Executive Ah-Leen Rayner says there's a willingness to do more, but responses we...

Business New Zealand is predicting a gloomy outlook for the economy.   It says economic growth is likely to be marginal over the next year in New Zealand.   It's also predicting global growth to be slow over the next few years.   Advocacy Director Catherine Beard says that alongside China's economic slowdown, other factors are adding to the disappointing predictions.   She says other factors like...

Labour's accusing National of beating up on the vulnerable with its new welfare scheme.   The opposition is promising to introduce traffic light style sanctions to those on the dole who aren't meeting Jobseeker requirements.   A red light breach could mean reductions, mandatory work experience, and someone's money being managed by WINZ.   Labour's Social Development spokesperson Carmel Sepuloni to...

Latest polling shows National will need New Zealand First on board to form a government.   The latest Newshub-Reid Research poll shows Labour's fallen slightly to 26.5% and National's dropped to 39.1%.   The Greens' boosted to 14.2%.   With ACT's 8.8% the right-bloc would have 60 MPs, just below the 61 needed to form a government.   New Zealand First's 5.2% would be required.   Political commentat...

Hundreds of Air Vanuatu passengers have been left frustrated and stranded.   The airline's only Boeing 737 is grounded in Brisbane while it waits for parts following a technical fault.   Australian correspondent Donna Demaio told Tim Dower that suggestions are being made as to how this could be prevented.   She says one travel agent has suggested Air Vanuatu partners with other larger airlines so...

Now we've had a day to mull it over... has Christopher Luxon played a smart card or a dopey one?   Up until yesterday we were under the impression Luxon wants nothing less than to have to deal with New Zealand First.   But this feels like an admission of defeat, as though Luxon has realised NZ First may well hit the threshold, and if they do that's going to drag down the number of seats National c...

You know you're getting down to the rats and mice when you've got a major political party promising to change speed limits, if only we'll vote for them.   Now I'm not saying National's wrong about a lot of those 30k zones especially, some of them are probably really daft but others might make sense.   I guess the point is we're down to fairly trivial stuff now and the election campaign is limping...

London’s police force said Sunday that some officers are refusing to conduct armed patrols after a colleague was  charged with murder  in the fatal shooting of an unarmed Black man.   A Metropolitan Police marksman was charged Wednesday over the September 2022  death of Chris Kaba,  24. Kaba was killed after officers in an unmarked vehicle pursued and stopped the car he was driving. He was struck...

Not the best of weekends for New Zealand sport.   The Warriors bandwagon has come to a grinding halt, after the Kiwi side’s 42-12 defeat in Brisbane to the Broncos.   But the Warriors have a lot to celebrate regardless, having gone from wooden spoon candidates to one game away from the big dance.   The Silver Ferns’ post-World Cup hoodoo remains, after their 55-54 loss to England’s B team.   Despi...

The Automobile Association is expressing its support for some of National's speed reduction promises.   National's announced it'll return many state highways to 100 km/h from 80, and many local roads to 50.   AA Policy Manager Dylan Thomsen told Tim Dower they like the idea of increasing expressway speeds, having more variable speed limits near schools, and fewer unmanned roadwork sites.   “That’s...

National's deputy has confirmed the party would work with New Zealand First - if it came to it.   It's understood leader Chris Luxon will confirm in a social media video today that he's willing to work with Winston Peters if necessary.   It comes after weeks of questions.   Nicola Willis told Tim Dower their preference is to form a two-party coalition government of National and ACT.   “Realistical...