Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

Questions have been asked as to whether the Government has read the room wrong on the He Waka Eke Noa emissions plan. The Government proposes requiring farmers to pay levies on emissions from 2025, Cabinet will make the decisions on those prices and also how sequestration will be recognised, with farmers having only a small amount of input. And that's before the large expected loss in production f...

Calls to be careful about increases in gas and electricity bills, before jumping to conclusions. Genesis and Contact Energy customers will see their gas bills rise by an average of 11 percent, while Contact's electricity bills will go up by around 8 percent. The move comes as Genesis reports an increase in annual profit of 600 percent, the bills will still go up regardless. Major Electricity Users...

Recruitment company Beyond Recruitment has found the tight labour market means businesses are focusing more on the welfare of their employees. Figures show two thirds of organisations are offering hybrid working arrangements, and the same number are offering flexible work hours. Beyond Recruitment Chief Executive Liza Viz told Kate Hawkesby the job market is a workers' market. She says worker shor...

My daughter’s in Queenstown with a friend and her family at the moment, and she's been snapchatting me pictures of all the shop and cafe windows, with all the 'STAFF WANTED' signs everywhere.  I haven't forgotten about the plight of Queenstown, because we still hear regularly from many business owners down there, still exasperated.  And many of the visitors who return from there have tales to tell...

The latest rising truancy numbers have principals worried. More than 16,700 new cases were investigated in the first half of the year. Meanwhile, the number of non-enrolled kids nearly matched the total of non-enrolled cases for last year. President of the New Zealand Principals' Federation Cherie Taylor-Patel joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

National is ruling out a referendum on co-governance, for now. Act is making the referendum a bottom-line in any coalition negotiations after next year's election. National leader Christopher Luxon told Kate Hawkesby it's not something the party is considering right now. He says it's not the party's policy and he doesn't see the need. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it's up to National to make...

A farming expert has her fingers crossed that the latest agriculture sector proposals will be given the green light. Newstalk ZB understands the Government will announce today its response to the He Waka Eke Noa report - which proposes an industry-wide emissions pricing scheme. It's likely to accept key recommendations - which would include farmers calculating and paying for their own emissions fr...

Newstalk ZB Sport's Andrew Alderson joined Kate Hawkesby to discuss Bathurst, Formula 1 racing and the Black Ferns so-called 'sell-out'.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UK and Europe Correspondent Kay Oliver joined Kate Hawkesby this morning to share news of the tragic bomb explosion at a petrol station in a small Irish town. She said that in the small village of 400 people, everyone has been affected.  Pope Francis has sent his condolences.  Oliver has also said that King Charles has axed a lot of the pageantry ahead of his coronation next year.  The ceremony wh...

Hopes changes to chef recruitment rules will help alleviate a 30,000 hospitality worker shortage. Following industry concerns, the Government's removing the qualification requirement for chefs being hired through the Accredited Employer Work Visa. The tourism and hospitality median wage exception has also been extended for another year. Hospitality New Zealand Chief Executive, Julie White told Kat...

I’m pleased that the woeful turnout for the local body elections still at least saw change. There is a mood for change – a strong one it would seem, and the results should be a wake-up call to anyone left in the Beehive still not believing that people are sick to the back teeth of the establishment. We are sick of the status quo, we are sick of where we’re at. It was, as one political commentator...

A host of new mayors and councillors now make up the new local body politics scene - not that the majority of you might have known that. Or care. All the main cities, bar Hamilton, have a new mayor - Wayne Brown in Auckland, Tory Whanau in Wellington, Phil Mauger in Christchurch and Jules Radich in Dunedin. But despite more than a 40% mayoral turnover rate we didn't get out there and vote - the fi...

Tomorrow is your absolute last chance to have your say in who will represent you in your town or city for the next three years. I’m not surprised that the vast majority of us have still yet to vote. Perhaps it’s more a case that the vast majority of us have decided not to bother voting as is the New Zealand tradition.  There’s a great deal to be concerned about and invested in when it comes to wha...

Mycoplasma bovis testing will be ramped up after a new strain has been detected in Mid Canterbury. The property is one of four that is currently infected with the cattle disease across the region Federated Farmers Mid-Canterbury President David Acland told Roman Travers the next step is work out the transmission line to determine how the disease entered the country. He says MPI has genome tested t...

Today at the Seaweed Summit 2022 the seaweed sector framework is being launched. It's all about encouraging a sector that could help us out both economically and environmentally while you can also use seaweed for seemingly anything - food, fertiliser, sunscreen and nutraceuticals. Today's event is jointly organised with a couple of groups, one of those being the Sustainable Seas Challenge Project...

National is warning people are in for a pummelling as the Reserve Bank continues to hike the Official Cash Rate. Five 50 basis point rises in a row has the OCR at 3.5 percent. National Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis says every signal is interest rates will need to go higher to get inflation under control. She told Roman Travers government spending is having an influence. Willis says the more s...

Wasn’t it sad yesterday to hear the news about Sir Dave Dobbyn and his recent diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease? I admire his honesty and the way he let people know through a Facebook post, saying he’d been feeling shaky for a while, and was diagnosed with the disease back in July. He now has a tremor in his right hand, and it’s giving his guitar playing "a new kind of twang". Sir Dave also says th...

The tide is high for the aquaculture industry as it gets a $210,000 government boost. The funding will be used for a strategy to boost the sector's workforce which is currently struggling, like every industry, to fill vacancies. Sanford CEO Peter Reidie joined Roman Travers. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A suggestion from the Cancer Society that regulating ads children are exposed to could help prevent cancer. It's funded an Otago University study that's found children see ads relating to gambling seven times, alcohol 4.5 times and junk food 27 times every day. Cancer Society medical director, Kate Gregory, says children are vulnerable to messages, which increases consumption of these products. Sh...

National is warning people are in for a pummelling as the Reserve Bank continues to hike the Official Cash Rate. Five 50 basis point rises in a row has the OCR at 3.5 percent. National Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis says every signal is interest rates will need to go higher to get inflation under control. She told Roman Travers government spending is having an influence. Willis says the more s...

Canstar have released a survey of 700 small business owners, which shows many small business owners feel positive about their futures, having survived the struggles of recent years. Along with feeling optimistic, more than a third of small businesses say their revenue has also increased in the past twelve months. Jose George is the general manager of Canstar New Zealand, and he joined Roman Traver...

The Reserve Bank is widely expected to deliver another 50 basis point hike to the Official Cash Rate today, as it moves to try to head off inflation in the economy. That would be the fifth 50 basis point hike in a row, an unprecedented run, and would take the OCR from 3 per cent to 3.5 per cent. To discuss further, Westpac acting Chief Economist Michael Gordon joined Roman Travers. LISTEN ABOVE  ...

The Post Primary Teachers' Association wants to ban streaming in schools by 2030. Streaming is grouping students together based on their perceived ability. Auckland's Sacred Heart College principal Patrick Walsh told Roman Travers international evidence proves it doesn't work, even for top academic students. He says it does have a detrimental effect on Māori   and Pasifika students in terms of sel...

Here’s something I’ve learnt over the years; never ask anyone how they are unless we truly have time to hear the truth.   Good health is often something we take for granted until we don’t have it - and good mental health precedes everything else in life.   Covid-19 and the ensuing fallout has manifested in so many ways for so many different people.    The initial inability to work followed by inab...

A breakthrough for those with inoperable lung cancer. Pharmac is funding a new immunotherapy medicine, called infensey for those with New Zealand's deadliest cancer. It's the first medicine of its kind funded for lung cancer and will be available for anyone to access. Lung Foundation CEO Philip Hope says this is a massive step forward in the fight against cancer. He says the drug gives patients di...