Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

Officials say they may need to do welfare checks on people in the worst hit areas, should Cyclone Gabrielle hit hard. Tairawhiti Civil Defence Controller Ben Green told Kate Hawkesby there could be further damage. “We know enough to guess the different forecast models and they certainly correlate around the fact you’re going to see landfall and impact and it just comes down to varying degrees of i...

So the worst kept secret in politics yesterday was finally confirmed - the merger is a gone burger. Merging TVNZ and RNZ was never a good idea - right from the get go. Everyone thought it was crazy and so the Government now finally agree. Either that, or they just can’t handle the criticism and unpopularity of it.  Because I can’t help thinking if you believe in a policy and invest in it, throw mo...

Farmers can't catch a break in Bay of Plenty. It's the region's worst maize harvest in decades with around 60 percent of crops wiped out due to the weather. But is it all doom and gloom? Bay of Plenty Federated Farmers provincial president Brent Mountford joined Kate Hawkesby to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Water New Zealand's boss says we need to focus on what's at stake when it comes to Three Waters - and that's the need to invest in infrastructure. New Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty has been asked to refine the policy, but Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says the need for reform is unquestionable. Water New Zealand Chief Executive Gillian Blythe says the commentary has focused too much on...

Some of you will be about to get back in it, I was in it yesterday and it was hell on earth. I’m talking about rush hour, I’m talking about the school run and in Auckland in particular - it was as hellish as they predicted it would be.  It feels like a long time between drinks. A long time since we’ve been back in cars, kids have been back in uniforms, bags have been back on shoulders and kids tru...

The Prime Minister is set to drip feed the Government's policy changes. Chris Hipkins’ policy cull will be a topic at today's cabinet meeting, with all eyes on the RNZ-TVNZ merger. It comes after a newly reshuffled Cabinet was asked to take another look at its priorities, in a bid to get back to political basics. Political commentator Clint Smith told Kate Hawkesby we'll likely see some announceme...

Concern over the latest data on online dating and romance scams. The Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report surveyed just over 1,000 New Zealand adults, and found a quarter have fallen victim. More than half have suffered financial losses, on average $264. Systems Engineer Dean Williams told Kate Hawkesby we're not alone, with other countries showing similar rates. He says overall it's quite alarming...

Appalling scenes in Turkey and Syria as rescuers continue to search for earthquake survivors. Around 23 million people are thought to be displaced after the two 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude quakes in southern Turkey and the death toll has now passed 6,000. President Recep Tayyp Erdogan has declared a three-month state of emergency in the ten worst affected provinces. Europe correspondent Kay Oliver told...

A cutting edge development in the fight for sustainability in the food and fibre sector. New Zealand based company Environmental Decontamination has cracked a way to grind mussel shells into calcium carbonate. It's a product used in paper, concrete and paint. New Zealand currently processes around 100,000 tonnes of green-lipped mussels, which generates around 55,000 tonnes of waste per year. Proje...

Thousands of tourism businesses remain desperately short of staff, with the latest figures showing the sector could be short as many as 80,000 staff - around 13,000 more than last year. As tourism returns to our shores, many visitors have found businesses closed or operating on limited hours due to staffing issues. General manager of Haka Tours and ANZ Nature Tours Eve Lawrence joined Kate Hawkesb...

So another Waitangi weekend done and dusted.. and what did we learn? Well, not much. I think part of the disconnect around it these days is the coverage of it. Why does it always have to get so petty?  What we learned was – who spoke with notes and who didn’t, who spoke te reo and who didn’t, who attended what and who didn’t. How is that taking us anywhere or telling us anything or bringing us clo...

Concerns increasing delays in court hearings could be putting people at risk. Newstalk ZB can reveal the number of family court applications older than two years,  has doubled from October 2022 compared to 2017. Victims Advocate Ruth Money told Kate Hawkesby it means children's safety and domestic violence protection orders are on hold. She says it's a 'warzone' trying to get a family court lawyer...

One of the travesties of this week’s floods in Auckland has been the acrimonious fallout that’s happened at Council level over the whole response - mainly the beef between the media and the Mayor.  I just want to preface this by saying that I think the way the Auckland Mayor has handled this has been appalling. But here’s the thing about calling the media drongos; is he wrong?  I myself am in the...

National is accusing the Government of having its head in the sand, about the prospect of a recession. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has told Newstalk ZB he's confident New Zealand can still avoid a recession, despite the Reserve Bank's efforts to engineer one. But a new forecast from Infometrics suggests a recession is inevitable, given the slowdown in sectors like construction. National Finan...

A suggestion health planners are flying blind due to a lack of data. An editorial in the latest Medical Journal raises questions about why we're not appropriately measuring Unmet Secondary Elective Healthcare Need. That's otherwise known as non-urgent hospital treatment. Christchurch Professor of Surgery Frank Frizelle told Kate Hawkesby without the information we can't plan. He says a lack of thi...

Supporters of the monarchy are looking forward to the latest royal touchdown. Princess Anne will visit New Zealand later this month for 100th anniversary celebrations at Linton Military Camp in Palmerston North. She will also stop off in Wellington and Christchurch in the first royal visit since the Queen's death. Monarchy New Zealand Chair Sean Palmer says the Princess Royal is a well respected m...

Thank God the flooding and torrential rain's abated and for parents thank goodness school's back. Although is it? The Ministry of Education spun the wheelie on school closures, but it’s been an incredibly frustrating process as a parent. And not just me, I’ve heard from countless parents absolutely exasperated about the way this has yo-yoed around.  From saying all Early Childhood Centres will be...

Concern from a former Football Fern over reports Saudi Arabia will be a major sponsor of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The partnership between FIFA and Visit Saudi, the Kingdom's national tourism board, has come under fire, due to the nation's widely publicised history of oppression of women. The deal, which is yet to be formally announced, is part of a new commercial partnership structure that...

Clear areas for immediate improvement with Oranga Tamariki. The latest Independent Child Monitor shows the agency is still not meeting the minimum standards for children in care. One third of children are placed in care before caregiver assessments are completed, and social workers are only making 29 percent of caregiver visits they're supposed to. Save the Children Rights Advocacy Director Jacqui...

A vote of no confidence in Chris Hipkins from Act after the extension of the fuel tax cuts. The new Prime Minister yesterday announced the 25 cent tax cuts and half-priced public transport will now be extended until June. It will cost an estimated $718 million, which opposition parties say is a continuation of old Jacinda Ardern policies. Seymour told Kate Hawkesby Labour's spending on tax cuts ne...

The Cabinet reshuffle yesterday was all the confirmation we needed, as I said yesterday, that this is the same old government doing the same old stuff.  Which is to be expected because they were never going to be able to just bring in fresh new experienced faces to shake everything up, because they don’t have any.  So Police Minister Stuart Nash is back for another round, the very likeable but pol...

New figures out this morning will reveal just how much the tight job market is driving inflation pressure in the economy. The latest official unemployment rate is being released at 10.45am. Some economists expect the rate to dip back down to a record low, with wage growth continuing to accelerate. But Westpac Acting Chief Economist Michael Gordon told Kate Hawkesby he expects the unemployment rate...

The new Minister of Auckland is hoping to have a constructive relationship with controversial Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown. Michael Wood has been appointed to the new role in Chris Hipkins' Cabinet reshuffle. The senior minister and Mount Roskill MP was previously an Auckland Council local board member, and is the husband of an Auckland councillor. He told Kate Hawkesby he'll work alongside the mayo...

The upper North Island is waking up to another morning of heavy rain. Red Heavy Rain Warnings remain in place for northern Auckland, the Coromandel Peninsula, and the western Bay of Plenty. Orange Heavy Rain Warnings remain in effect for the rest of Auckland, Great Barrier Island, eastern Bay of Plenty, and northern Gisborne District. A state of emergency remains in place across Auckland and North...

So that feels like a really long holiday, did I miss anything? Jacinda Ardern quitting seems like a long time ago now given all the news we've had since. But I can tell you my first thought was not – oh dear, misogyny forced her out. The true reason of course was the polls, the research, the divisiveness, the polarisation, the fact Labour was on a hiding to nothing with her at the helm.  Epic fail...