Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

Fears changes to the way we vote will impact our democracy.  Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is planning to stop election-day enrolment, ban prisoner voting, and ban free food and entertainment offered near booths. Goldsmith says the changes will stop the vote count hold ups once poll booths close.    But Labour's justice spokesperson, Duncan Webb told Andrew Dickens says there's ma...

It’s no secret that the construction industry is in trouble.  There’s a number of factors. Firstly the boom in construction right after the pandemic years as money became cheaper and cheaper, so more and more projects were undertaken. We had a residential construction boom in 2022, with approximately 51,000 consents issued, driven by surging house prices and historically low interest rates.&n...

Rotorua's mayor says the story's the same across the country regarding people sleeping on the street.  The Government's June Homelessness Insights report shows rough sleeping's sharply increased, doubling by some measures over 24 months.   Mayor Tania Tapsell is relieved the Government is looking at finding a solution at a national level.  She told Ryan Bridge a lot of transient peo...

More and more Kiwis are taking a hike, with 60% of visitors to our Great Walks made up of New Zealanders last summer.   The Department of Conservation's latest visitor insights report shows 60 thousand people walked one of the trails.   International visitor numbers last summer were back to 93% of pre-Covid levels, with more than 50% heading to a national park during their stay.  Fe...

Hopes the scrapping of guidelines around transgender participation in community sport will pave the way for smaller organisations to follow.  A Government directive from National and New Zealand First has led to Sport New Zealand dumping the principles put in place in 2022 It comes as New Zealand First leader Winston Peters threatens funding cuts for sporting codes of this nature.  Save...

Nobody wants to see streets dotted with tents like San Francisco or downtown LA. This much-hyped government report to Tama Potaka gives a few insights, but doesn't really nail the problem.  There are more people living rough, but we can't say for sure how many more, and even if we could, we can't say how statistically significant the change might be.  Because we had census data, we know...

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast 2025 Thursday 24th of July, the Government’s told Sport NZ to scrap its transgender guidelines, Save Women's Sport Australasia NZ Spokeswoman Ro Edge, tells Ryan she's happy with the news.  The Government's released a report on homelessness, Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell shares her thoughts.  DOC summer booking have brought $13 millio...

It's expected the Sky TV and TV3 deal will be mutually beneficial.   Sky TV's bought the channel for a dollar from Warner Brothers Discovery.   Spinoff founder and media commentator Duncan Grieve says Sky will have more options to roll out its content on TV3's free to air platforms.   He told Ryan Bridge it will be a relief for TV3, as they’ve had a reluctant owner for a while now.&...

The Green Party says the Government needs to follow up its words on Gaza with action.   A group of nations, including New Zealand, have signed on to a declaration calling for a ceasefire and condemning Israeli attacks on Palestinians seeking aid.   Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick says we should sanction Israel to the same degree as Russia.   She told Ryan Bridge words are not...

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Wednesday 23rd of July 2025 opposition parties are saying we need to take a harsher stance against israel as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza gets worse, Green's co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick tells Ryan what we can do as a nation. A new report from MPI and Beef and Lamb NZ estimates non-tariff trade barriers are costing us over $1 billion every ye...

A push to minimise barriers on our red meat export industry.  The Meat Industry Association and Beef and Lamb New Zealand have revealed non-tariff trade barriers are costing the industry an estimated $1.5 billion every year. Beef + Lamb Chair Kate Ackland told Ryan Bridge the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is working on 194 different non-tariff barriers the sector's facing. She says th...

This business with the supermarkets and their pricing...  Consumer NZ has launched a petition. They want change to stop prices being incorrectly labelled.  So you go to checkout and scan receipts, something's different to what you expected. Then we would get a refund on the product, and the product for free.  The idea is that if you make the punishment more than fit the crime,...

Netball NZ is opening the door to overseas-based Silver Ferns.  They’ve updated their eligibility criteria, which means overseas players can be considered for national selection through a formal exemption process.   Former Silver Fern Margaret Foster told Ryan Bridge that to represent your country on a national level, regardless of where they’re playing in the world.  She says the b...

Inflation is coming dangerously close to the top end of the Reserve Bank’s target band.  It’s reached 2.7% year-on-year – the main drivers being council rates, increased rents, electricity prices, and food prices.  Independent economist Cameron Bagrie told Ryan Bridge that there’s not only cyclical damage to the economy from the Reserve Bank’s efforts to curb inflation, but also signific...

A belief the Government's claim a new medical school in Hamilton will provide more rural doctors and GPs is yet to be proven.  Cabinet's putting almost $83 million into the $230 million new University of Waikato Medical School, opening in 2028. Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director Sarah Dalton told Ryan Bridge no doctor out of university has any specialty, and it tak...

ACT's insistence that the Waikato University doctors school cost was out of whack and based on a poor quality business case seems to have been proven correct.  Why else would the cost to the taxpayer has shrunk by $200 million? He says it was going to cost us $280 million.  If he was right, and he's one guy at the cabinet table, how many other business cases don't stack up? There's an en...

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Tuesday 22nd of July 2025, the Government finally gave the green light for a new medical school at the University of Waikato, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Sarah Dalton shares her thoughts.  The Netball New Zealand board have voted to update its eligibility criteria for the Silver Ferns, allowing o...

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Monday 21st of July 2025, inflation figures are out today which will help paint a picture of how the economy is doing, ASB Senior Economist Mark Smith tells Ryan where he thinks the figure will land.  Andrew Alderson has the latest on the weekend's sport.  The Government's promised movement for six billion dollars worth of infrastru...

A warning that a stretched workforce could threaten the future of the country's infrastructure.   Six billion dollars of projects including roads, schools and hospitals will kick off between now and late December. Civil Contractors New Zealand Chief Executive Allan Pollard says 15-thousand construction workers have lost their jobs over the past year.  He told Ryan Bridge the next six mon...

If we could mark NCEA level One... would it even get an achieved. let alone a merit or excellence? We heard at the weekend about an ERO report.  Basically, said the whole system is too flexible. Kids are scooping up credits from all corners of the classroom. It's too broad and flexible, they reckon. As a result, students aren't being properly taught core subjects. The government's looking it....

Unlike last week, the All Blacks team for the final clash against France is filled with changes.   Ethan de Groot, Fabian Holland, Patrick Tuipulotu, Ardie Savea and Rieko Ioane are the only players remaining from the last run-on side.  Rugby Commentator Tony Johnson told Andrew Dickens that Scott Robertson and the other selectors certainly fulfilled their promise to be bold with their s...

We may have to get used to paying more for butter.  Kiwi consumers are now consistently paying more than twice as much for butter as they were a decade ago, according to latest Stats NZ figures.  Supermarkets and suppliers have been under pressure to lower prices.  Federated Farmers Dairy Chair Karl Dean told Andrew Dickens there’s been a global trend towards consuming more butter,...

The UK's Labour Party believes allowing the younger generation to vote could have positive ripple effects.  It's lowering the country's voting age to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to have their say.   The change will take effect at the next general election and brings the electorate into line with Scotland and Wales.  UK Correspondent Vincent McAviney told Andrew Dickens youth want to f...

On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast Friday the 18th of July 2025, jobseeker benefit numbers are continuing to climb, former welfare advisory group member Phil O'Reily shares why.  It's final All Blacks test against the french tomorrow night at FMG stadium in Hamilton, Rugby commentator Tony Johnson shares his thoughts on the line up.  Dairy prices around the globe...

A welfare expert's pointing to the lack of jobs being the main reason more people are ending up on the benefit. Ministry of Social Development statistics show almost 8 thousand more were receiving a main benefit in June compared to March.  It follows the Government instating new requirements for beneficiaries in hopes of getting more into the workforce.  Former Welfare Advisory Group mem...