Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

Te Papa is collecting relics of our very recent past. The national museum has been adding momentoes from the Covid-19 pandemic to its long-term collection. Among them are concrete barriers, tennis balls thrown at journalists during the anti-mandate outside Parliament, face masks, and PPE. Te Papa spokesperson Kate Camp told Kate Hawkesby she finds the posters from the early days of lockdown partic...

Vehicle importers are shining a light on apparent faults within the the Government's Clean Car rebate scheme. The Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association is pulling its support on the programme. It claims the programme isn't appropriate for its supply dynamic, and the Government won't work together on a suitable scheme. Chief Executive David Vinsen told Kate Hawkesby there's an unnecessary lev...

I note the average time to wait to get in to see your GP is three weeks. That’s the average. For many it’s longer than that. And for some rural areas in this country, you’d be hard pressed to see a GP at all, far less one close to you. You may have to drive for miles to get to even get to one. So we know it’s a problem, but how to fix it? President of the Royal NZ College of GP’s, Samantha Murton,...

An employment law expert says the Kamahl Santamaria saga should send a clear warning about the dangers of hiring friends. TVNZ Head of News Paul Yurisich has resigned, after a review found he did no reference checks before hiring the former Breakfast presenter. The pair had previously worked together at Al Jazeera. Employment law expert Max Whitehead told Kate Hawkesby TVNZ has suffered huge reput...

The Reserve Bank is being urged to show more urgency in its efforts to curb inflation. Governor Adrian Orr has acknowledged interest rate decisions he has made during the Covid pandemic, have contributed to inflation reaching the level it has. National is now calling for an independent review of the central bank's monetary policy response. Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told Kate Hawke...

The heat is steadily seeping out of the country's property market. A new quarterly overview from Core Logic shows the slowdown of sales activity at the start of the year has flowed through to a decline in property values. Property values have tumbled for three months in a row to an average of just over $1 million, down 2.3 percent from the peak. But Core Logic chief property economist Kelvin David...

I’m just wondering how many of you who’ve been overseas these past couple of weeks, maybe for school holidays or just a winter escape, whether you’ve come back refreshed and feeling better. Was it the elixir you needed? Did it revitalize your soul? Has it washed away the pall of gloom over most of us at the moment? I ask because I’ve heard mixed reports. Some say it was everything they needed and...

It's depressing the amount of crime we’re seeing these days isn't it? Racist attacks, brazen ram raids, people getting shot or stabbed or beaten up, it’s actually disgusting and not representative of who we are, collectively, as New Zealanders. And there's still a lack of action on this low-rent crowd of trouble makers. I see retailers are now so stressed about lack of action on burglaries and rep...

Less than half of students are regularly attending school. The latest truancy data shows regular attendance in term one dropped to just 46 percent. It's down on 72.8 percent in 2019 - pre Covid - and 50.5 percent in 2020. Post Primary Teachers' Association President Melanie Webber told Kate Hawkesby the numbers don't surprise her. She says irregular attendance is having more than two days off scho...

Fears for the impact foot and mouth disease could have on the economy, should it reach New Zealand. Biosecurity has been keeping an eye on Indonesia's outbreak for several weeks. And in the past week, non-infectious traces of the disease have been found on meat imported to Australia. Federated Farmers National President Andrew Hoggard told Kate Hawkesby the disease would be catastrophic for this c...

Generation Z has a new obsession. Subtitles have become popular thanks to TV shows like Stranger Things. Screenshots of the show's creative captions have been flying around the internet, with things like "squelching wetly" both delighting and horrifying viewers. Tom Augustine is a film and TV writer and joined Kate Hawkesby to discuss this latest trend. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener f...

The Greens trying to roll James Shaw is about the most active thing I can think of that the Greens have done during this whole electoral cycle. As a party you don't hear much about them doing anything, in part I guess because they're so wrapped up with the Labour party now that there's less theatrics and vocal opposition to things. So it’s good to see them exercised about something - although a pa...

A former Green MP is pulling no punches with her opinion of James Shaw's leadership. The Party was thrown into disarray on Saturday when the co-leader was not re-elected at its AGM. Any potential contenders now have a week to confirm a challenge against Shaw, who's indicated he is likely to run again. Former Green MP Catherine Delahunty told Kate Hawkesby he's not what the Greens are about. She sa...

All Blacks head coach Ian Foster has confirmed he has the support of the dressing room after asking senior players to assess the current situation the team find themselves in and how to turn it around. After dropping a series at home for the first time in almost three decades with their loss to Ireland earlier this month, the team announced they have parted ways with forwards coach John Plumtree a...

Water Safety New Zealand says it would be wrong to blame lifeguards and coastguard staff for the uptick in drownings. It's released its updated final report into drownings last year, with 90 people dying in the water. It's the worst year since 2011, when 91 people died. Water Safety New Zealand chief Daniel Gerrard told Kate Hawkesby there are real challenges, but front line services aren't the pr...

Big things are happening in the small west coast town of Reefton. An economic boom has increased demand for housing, but zero rentals are available and few houses are for sale. Buller District mayor Jamie Cleine joined Roman Travers. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kmart is shifting south. The retail giant is moving its distribution centre from Auckland to the Ruakura Superhub in Hamilton. It will be a bigger and better facility that spans four rugby fields and is set to open late next year. Chris Wilkinson, Managing Director of consultancy company First Retail Group joined Roman Travers. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A call for the Government to show more restraint, with its spending on advertising. Newstalk ZB can reveal advertising spending by public sector and Crown agencies has increased 122 percent since 2017. The Government says the spending is needed to provide critical information about issues like Covid. But National's Public Services Spokesperson Simeon Brown told Roman Travers much of the increased...

One thing many of us have in common because of the global pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns is the ability to watch endless episodes of quality drama or movies on demand.  Sadly, that may well be about to change. Soon we might be paying more for fewer good options.  You might recall earlier this year when Netflix disclosed that it  lost subscribers  for the first time in a decade. When the str...

Wayne Naylor: Hospice NZ acting CEO says there could be issues if euthanasia rules are altered See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tim Alpe: Jucy Managing Director on their opening of a 300-bed pod hotel in Auckland See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Phil O'Reilly: Former Immigration NZ boss on changes to migrant investor visas See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Roman Travers: What is holding us back from further limits on firearms? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Roman Travers: How do we encourage people to vote in local body elections? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gavin Grey: UK correspondent as nation breaks record for highest temperature as Europe sizzles See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.