Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

Big online platforms could be forced to pay a fair price for local news. The Government is drawing up legislation to make companies like Google and Meta pay local news producers for their content. They're encouraged to strike their own voluntary deals, as NZME - owner of Newstalk ZB and the Herald - already has. If no agreement is found, the Government will set bargaining terms. Gorilla Technology...

So it’s been a long hard year. I don’t know why this year feels harder than last year. I mean last year we had Covid for goodness sake, and lockdowns, and I guess a lot of us thought it couldn’t get much worse than this – but this year has been like a bad hangover that won’t go away. Inflation, cost of living crisis, petrol prices, housing prices, health crisis, mental health crisis, surge in crim...

A leading advocate against family violence, believes we're days away from another child being killed. Merepeka Raukawa Tait has little hope that much will happen in the wake of an investigation into the death of Malachi Subecz. The Tauranga five-year-old was killed by his carer just over a year ago, after a history of abuse. A damning report into the little boy's murder identifies five critical ga...

A long-time friend of Sir Murray Halberg says he was described as having acid, rather than blood in his veins. The athletics legend has died aged 89. He's best known for striking gold in the 5000m at the 1960 Rome Olympics, and he was also New Zealand's first sub four minute miler. President of Auckland Athletics Murray McKinnon told Kate Hawkesby he did well at secondary school, but it wasn't unt...

The World Buskers Festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary in Christchurch next year. The programme has officially been announced, with more than two weeks jam packed with events. It's been three years since international buskers have taken to the streets and Festival Director Scott Maidment joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Men are bigger Christmas spenders than women. New data by Banked shows people will spend an average $623 on gifts this year, with two thirds happy to fork out for a more sustainable gift if they have the option. Head of Publishing, Kevin McHugh, says when it comes to the gender differences, women tend to be a bit more sensible and conservative with their money. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/list...

I think one of the great travesties of this Government, when we eventually look back on their long line of failures, will be what happened to mental health. Don’t get me wrong, no government from what I can see, has ever got mental health right, it’s forever been a sector in dire straits, under resourced and woefully misunderstood. But mental health itself has only become bigger and worse as the y...

Restaurant workers are ready to lodge a claim for better wages. The Fair Pay Agreement bill comes into effect today, and unions are saying they already have enough signatures to demand an FPA for hospo workers. It means any negotiated pay and working conditions will apply to all employers in the industry. Restuarant Association President Mike Egan told Kate Hawkesby it's been a long time coming. H...

Fonterra and Swiss food giant Nestle have formed a partnership to develop New Zealand’s first zero carbon emissions dairy farm. In what the parties said was a New Zealand first, the project, to be run with co-partner Dairy Trust Taranaki, will examine all aspects of farm operations to reduce carbon with the aim of cutting emissions by 30 per cent by mid-2027, with a 10-year ambition of reaching ne...

Hats off to all the kids who’ve sat NCEA the past few weeks, that’s wrapping up this week, Friday’s the last day for exams. Hats off also to all the parents who’ve managed all that stress at home, juggling kids study schedules while also running them round to rowing before the crack of dawn or all the other sports they’re doing, as well as calming nerves, washing sports gear, trying to make nouris...

Immigration experts are concerned a change to work rights for migrants' partners could put people off coming here. Until now, a partner could get an open work visa. But a change going ahead next month will only allow partners of green list workers to do that. Couples will instead have to find accredited employers to sponsor applications for each of them, or have a partner who can visit but not wor...

The southern hemisphere's largest agricultural event will be a little warmer this year. Thousands are expected to flock to Fieldays at Mystery Creek in the Waikato this morning, with more than 1,000 exhibitors ready to show off their products and services. The opening will end a 17-month hiatus after the June event was postponed this year, due to uncertainties around Covid restrictions.. National...

A major New Zealand bank is the first to move on the back of last week's historic OCR rise. ANZ has lifted its floating and flexible mortgage rates by 65 basis points - all fixed term rates are now over 7 per cent for those who don't have a 20 per cent deposit or equity. All eyes are now on how other big banks will react. Infometrics Chief Forecaster Gareth Kiernan told Kate Hawkesby he is expecti...

The PM’s post-cabinet chat yesterday was stomach churning in so many ways. The lies, the disingenuousness of it all, the theatrics and the pretence that they’ve actually been active as a government on crime. Embarrassing. No one’s buying it. This new fog canon measure is too late – they know it, we know it. Worse yet, the PM tried to deflect all blame from her Government by saying that there’d be...

Concerns the Government hasn't addressed the real issue around ram raids. It's announced a $4 million fund to support local councils in Auckland, Hamilton and Bay of Plenty and a $4,000 fog cannon subsidy scheme. Waikato retailer Ash Parmar told Kate Hawkesby there have been 66 prosecutions and 10 youth referrals, but some 200 young people have been arrested. He says that means there are 129 kids...

Opposites have attracted in an unexpected collaboration of lipstick and New Zealand strong wool. In what is thought to be a world-first, Wool Source and lipstick brand Karen Murrell have joined forces to create a lipstick coloured with a wool keratin-based pigment. The new lipstick “Kera Kisses” uses wool from Ashburton's Westmere Farm. Karen Murrell says Lincoln Agritech's wool industry research...

So today Cabinet meets looking to “discuss what more can be done to combat crime,” according to the Prime Minister. Sadly she’s a bit late with that statement. The irony being that her government has been inundated with people asking them to toughen up on crime for ages... they did nothing. Poto Williams, in her capacity as Police Minster dropped the ball so badly she was moved on and replaced wit...

Some of the country's top constitutional experts are raising red flags about the Government's attempt to entrench part of its Three Waters reforms. Under a change proposed by the Greens, and supported by Labour, 60-percent of MPs would need to agree to overturn part of the bill protecting water assets from private ownership. Eight public law academics have written to the Government, saying such us...

ACT believes its truancy plan will help what it’s calling a crisis... despite some criticism. The party wants to make it mandatory for schools to report attendance daily, or risk losing funding. It would also enable parents to be fined and divert Government truancy funding directly to schools to hire truancy officers. ACT education spokesperson Chris Baillie says there'd be a process in place befo...

We all heard the warnings; someone's going to get killed if we don't crack down on the ram raiders and brazen dairy hold-ups. And this week it happened. Eight in the evening at the end of another long day at the superette providing a convenience service in Sandringham. One of the locals who spoke to the Herald at a gathering of 200 or so said this ‘the whole dynamic of Auckland is changing now’. S...

Top athletes are launching an employment case against High Performance Sport NZ. Mahe Drysdale and Kirstie Klingenberg are fronting an 'athletes' cooperative'. They're asking to be recognised as employees of High Performance Sport, not contractors. Clinical psychologist Dr Dougal Sutherland joined Tim Dower to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The fatal Sandringham dairy stabbing is causing many dairy owners to consider their own security. Auckland Police are still hunting the offender, who they say stole cash from the Rose Cottage Superette's register before stabbing the worker after he was confronted. There are reports some dairy owners in Christchurch are considering closing their businesses. Sandringham Business Association Chair Ji...

Calls for a shake up to immigration. Act has unveiled a new immigration policy that scraps temporary visas, charges based on demand, and allows more migrants to bring their parents. Business NZ Advocacy Director, Catherine Beard, says in a global contest for talent, other countries have made it easier for immigrants. She told Tim Dower new ideas are needed to fulfil New Zealand's future workforce....

Road to Zero looks to be the highway to nowhere we all thought it would be. Another measure the Government has not delivered on, another piece of ideology that’s proven completely unworkable in the real world. We learn now, that three years into the Road to Zero campaign, we have exactly the same number of road deaths as when we started – in fact we are heading backwards in terms of how bad the ro...

A call for employers to take more precautionary action, as supermarket crime soars. Since 2020, Foodstuffs says there's been a 246 percent rise in serious crime. The company has confirmed 29 of its supermarkets in the North Island are using facial recognition technology, prompting concern Foodstuffs is collecting sensitive information about shoppers without their knowledge. First Union General Sec...