Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

Anger from the tourism industry over the lack of action and clarity from the Government. Back in May, the Government announced a $54 million recovery fund for the struggling sector as part of  the Budget. The scheme was pitched as a grant to fund innovative and sustainable tourism operations, but nothing has been paid out. Haka Tourism general manager Eve Lawrence told Kate Hawkesby all they want...

I’m not worried about Elon Musk buying Twitter because it’s a waste of energy. I’ve decided the only real currency we have these days is our energy; expend it at your peril. Think long and hard about what you give it to. I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. People expend too much energy these days on stuff that isn’t real, doesn’t matter, will possibly never impact them. Don’t like Twitter?...

The Council of Trade Unions says National's proposed tax plan would give peanuts to the working and middle classes. It's crunched the numbers based on IRD and National Party data. The council says the cut will cost $11 billion over three years and will mostly benefit top income earners and property investors. CTU economist Craig Renney told Kate Hawkesby says there are better ways to spend that mo...

Cookie Time is thanking the 'Costco effect' for a massive jump in sales. The Christchurch-based company is praising the works of the Auckland superstore, saying it's boosted sales by more than a million since opening in September. The cookie manufacturer says due to the recent success, it's now set to supply its cookies for other Costco stores internationally. Cookie Time Managing Director Guy Pop...

I don’t think the Prime Minister's assurances that New Zealand is a great place to live will have any sway with all the potential overseas workers we could have, who’re choosing to go elsewhere.  Prime Ministers have to be cheerleaders for their country, it’s part of the job description.  They also have to be relentlessly positive, as Ardern is, when it’s a country you’ve been governing for five y...

An anti-Three Waters group says reform is needed, but one size doesn't fit all. It comes as Auckland, Christchurch and Waimakariri councils band together to launch a revised plan - keeping a water regulator, but ownership, control and accountability stays with councils. Communities for Local Democracy had a similar plan, but was shut down by the Government earlier this year. Chair of that group, M...

Concern Auckland's bus users will be left in the lurch, as a quarter of all the city's routes are cut from Sunday. Auckland Transport is suspending nearly a thousand bus services across the city in what they say will give public transport users more certainty amidst driver shortages. Public Transport Users Association co-ordinator Jon Reeves told Kate Hawkesby the Government has had two years to s...

This weekend was a big one for sports, with the All Blacks winning against Japan, even if the score was close.  The team didn't get off unscathed though, with two key players sustaining injuries after the fact. Sam Cane fractured his cheekbone and Dane Coles injured his calf. Andrew Alderson, Newstalk ZB sportsreader joined us to recap the weekend in sport, between the All Blacks injuries and The...

Of all the times we hear about police not showing up to break-ins or burglaries or ram raids, we do hear about when they did show up.  This weekend they showed up at Halloween parties gone wrong, to move on kids behaving badly. One neighbour at an out-of-control party in Auckland’s Mt Albert over the weekend said about 30 Police showed up.  My first thought was, that’s a lot of police at one party...

Hopes the poorest communities will benefit the most from alcohol law reform. Their aim is to give communities more of a say about new liquor outlets. Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Nicki Jackson says deprived communities are hit hardest by new outlets. She says  bottle stores aren't the only issue. Jackson says supermarkets can be bad because they normalise drinking and sell alcohol for ch...

Russia is accusing British forces of the bombing of its Black Sea naval base. A number of drones are reported to have attacked the naval base of Crimea's Sevastopol. Russia is suspending a Ukraine grain export deal as a result. UK correspondent Gavin Grey says Ukrainian reports say the attack has caused substantial damage while Russia is reporting there's only minor damage to one ship. He says Rus...

More ways for New Zealanders to take to the skies. American Airlines is returning to the country this morning and will fly between Auckland and Dallas all summer. Air Asia will be back from tomorrow. Aviation commentator Irene King says we will see cheaper flights with the increased competition. But she says prices won't be back to normal straight away. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener f...

It’s annoying to see reports that Covid cases are on the rise again – although I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. Open border equals case numbers up. That’s basic maths. But I think there’s a certain degree of PTSD for us seeing those headlines. Yesterday’s headline by the way if you missed it, was that “Covid infections jump by 1500 in 24 hour period.” The PTSD creeps in particularly for those of...

Fair Pay Agreements have been passed into law amidst a fiery debate in parliament. Legislation for the agreements passed its final reading in Parliament last night - making it easier for workers to band together and negotiate better conditions and pay. The bill has received major opposition from the business sector, with National and ACT vowing to repeal it. New Zealand Initiative Chair Roger Part...

A concern Kiwis are underinsured. Research from CoreLogic suggests almost a third of respondents don't think they have adequate cover for their property. It also shows the average person reviewed their home insurance cover two and half years ago. Head of Insurance Solutions Matthew Walker says that's not good enough. He says people need to know how comprehensive their coverage is, and how much it...

Getting to live across both city and country gives me good insight into what’s happening in both places. I can tell you first hand, rural living is where it’s at. And now stats back that up. We’re leaving the cities. In the year to June this year, Auckland lost almost 9,000 people. A lot went overseas; it looks like the rest went North or into the regions - and I’m not surprised. Our cities are a...

Pen licences are well and truly becoming a thing of the past. School kids will soon be able to get an ‘online licence’ as public schools roll out an interactive programme teaching them how to stay safe online. The eSmart Digital Licence programme is targeted at 10 to 14 year olds and is being brought to our schools by NetSafe. CEO Brent Carey joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/li...

On the afternoon of December 9 2019, commercial helicopter pilot Mark Law sprang into action as Whaakari/White Island erupted in Bay of Plenty. Today, he's being recognised with the New Zealand Bravery Star - our second highest bravery award - in this year's honours list, recognising his bravery in a situation of danger. Mark and his workmates located 20 causalities on the crater floor - flying 12...

There is hope the Planned Care Taskforce's report will work to address the differing blockages in our health system. It's released 101 recommendations for improving equity, increasing access, and reducing waiting times. Thirty will start being implemented in December, while the rest will be phased in through a number of years. Resident Doctors' Association National Secretary, Deborah Powell told K...

More than 82,000 community service hours have been wiped between January and August this year, with the Government claiming Covid reasons. Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the majority of sentences that had their community hours cut were for "minor offending" - but questions have been asked as to whether delays of sentences that meant offenders would still have to carry out their hours may h...

Rishi Sunak's won the day, set to become Britain's youngest Prime Minister. The 42-year-old says he's humbled and honoured to have his colleagues support, and is promising stability and unity. Boris Johnson had been plotting a comeback, but he ultimately decided against running. He claims to have had 102 backers, although only 57 MPs publicly declared their support. Political commentator Iain Dale...

I was pleased this week that Police Minister Chris Hipkins finally got around to meeting Dairy and Business Owners Association head Sunny Kaushall. That only took about six months of chasing by Sunny So they met, which was good, Sunny got to express his concerns, which was good, they posed for amicable photos afterwards which was good, but what we really want to see is action don’t we? Get that mo...

Groundswell organisers are defending yesterdays low turn-out and condemning criticism from the Agriculture Minister. Hundreds of protesters across 60 convoys jumped in their utes, trucks and tractors in opposition of the Government's proposed farm-level emissions pricing scheme. Organisers had been predicting thousands 24 hours earlier. Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor described the size of th...

National wants to turn our attention away from the fact the number of people on welfare is going down. More than 21,000 people moved off a benefit and into work in the three months to September. National's Louise Upston says the more important figure is that 35,000 more people are staying on a benefit for more than a year. She told Kate Hawkesby the National party isn't willing to see people write...

There’s an interesting dichotomy going on in terms of leadership in our big cities at the moment - and I refer specifically to Auckland’s Wayne Brown versus Wellington’s Tory Whanau. We had Tory on the show yesterday, she’s great talent, bubbly, vivacious, chatty, easy to talk to. You can see why she does a lot of interviews, she’s got good chat, and media love to have people like her on. Good tal...