Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

A recent survey has revealed that Kiwis are more nosy in open homes than many would expect.   The survey found that 72% of participants admitted to snooping through wardrobes, and 69% confessed to looking through drawers and cupboards.  Despite this, real estate agent and Location, Location, Location host Jayne Kiely told Ryan Bridges that she’s never had a missing item reported from an...

The Education Minister is promising a school property agency (taking over management from the Ministry of Education) will pay for itself. Erica Stanford says using offsite manufacturing and repeatable designs from now, is reducing class build costs. She's announced plans for 137 new schoolrooms in Auckland. Stanford told Ryan Bridge cost efficiencies will pay for the new property agency. Stanford'...

US President Donald Trump is now asking for some of the Epstein documents to be released.  The President, who earlier this week was calling for people to forget about the files, has now changed his approach to the situation.   US Correspondent Dan Mitchinson told Ryan Bridge, ‘I think he wants to try and get ahead of this, even though he has been trying to divert attention from it.’ &nbs...

A legal battle has swayed in media's favour - now allowed to report child sex exploitation and bestiality imagery were allegedly discovered on work devices of former Police Deputy Commissioner, Jevon McSkimming.  They were allegedly found while he was under a separate criminal investigation, the details of which can't be legally reported.  He resigned suddenly in May after being suspende...

The Police Minister is defending the focus of a new anti-corruption taskforce. The Serious Fraud Office will aim to understand threats to the public sector. The six-month pilot will be limited to six Government agencies -  Inland Revenue, ACC, Corrections, MSD, Land Information NZ, and Sport NZ.  Mark Mitchell told Ryan Bridge that globally, some of the biggest recent corruption issues -...

Prime Minister Keir Starmer will welcome Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, to the UK to sign a new bilateral defence treaty. The treaty promises tighter action on smuggling gangs, expanded defence exports and closer industrial ties between both regions. UK correspondent Enda Brady says this treaty sends a clear message to Russia amid escalating global tensions. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/...

Tonight on The Huddle, former Green MP Gareth Hughes and lawyer and political commentator Liam Hehir joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! Oranga Tamariki won't publish the reoffending rates of future youth bootcamp participants. Shouldn't we know those rates to know whether the camps are working? Scientists have warned campylobacter is on the rise, and want w...

The US earnings season for the second quarter is under way - and one expert has revealed what this means for American households. Recent data shows households are staying resilient, and there's no sign of a recession as of yet. Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds explains further. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Despite the current geopolitical environment, product prices have strongly recovered from their lows of the past couple of seasons as demand returned from key export markets. Experts claim tighter global production has contributed to improved demand for meat products. The Country's Jamie Mackay explains further. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Thursday, 17 July 2025, shocker price hike. Food prices have gone up by 4.6 percent. Economist Brad Olsen says the cost of some food groups including mince makes for grim shopping. Scientists are warning of the huge rise of people getting hospitalised for campylobacter. But Food Safety's Vincent Arbuckle says the researchers are scaremong...

The hunt is on for New Zealand's next big new start-up. Icehouse Ventures recently opened a $30 million seed round in an attempt to fund 30 new Kiwi-made business ventures. CEO Robbie Paul says they're looking to invest in new technology that can go from New Zealand to the world. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How many times have you heard the Prime Minister say this Government is different because it will set targets, track progress and be open about its actual results? That's how we're going to get back on track, that's what we've heard from National so many times. And what's more important than turning around education and getting on top of youth crime? Not much. Which is why they've got charter scho...

The All Blacks selectors have rung 10 changes to the starting XV for Saturday's third and final test against France in Hamilton. Ethan de Groot, Fabian Holland, Patrick Tuipulotu, Ardie Savea and Rieko Ioane are the only players remaining from the last run-on side. Samisoni Taukei’aho, Tyrel Lomax, Samipeni Finau and Luke Jacobson come into the starting pack. The backline changes includes promotio...

The pressure's on Oranga Tamariki - as it announces it won't release more details around bootcamp reoffending. The Ministry for Children initially confirmed teens in the pilot military-style academy programme had offended again. It's since said releasing information could've been harmful to those involved. Green MP Tamatha Paul says the agency is shifting the goalposts. "That is one of the measure...

Households are still finding it tough to pay for the basics, with high prices not easing yet.  Stats NZ has revealed the cost of food rose 4.6 percent in the 12 months to June. It's largely driven by double-digit increases for products like red meat, cheese and milk Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen says the general economy is still experiencing intense price pressure and weakness -...

Food Safety New Zealand says a study of campylobacter infection rates is unnecessarily alarmist. The Public Health Communication Centre claims more than 10 percent of the population contracted the infection from eating chicken in the past few years. It suggests it's caused 9000 hospitalisations, and at least 60 deaths since 2008.  Food Safety NZ's Vincent Arbuckle says the numbers are way off...

David Seymour's urging councils to axe what he calls 'puppy dogs and ice cream'. The Deputy Prime Minister's adding to the coalition's call for councils to focus on basic, core services - and ditch 'nice-to-have' projects. Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper explained why David Seymour's speech was so controversial. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio...

Qantas has filed court action in a bid to stop the compromised data of millions of customers being accessed or released following a recent cyber attack. The accounts of 5.7 million Qantas customers were compromised in a data breach at the end of June, with millions of phone numbers, addresses and dates of birth caught up in the leak. Australian correspondent Oliver Peterson says the airline is try...

Concern in the All Blacks camp over a hand injury to first five Beauden Barrett. While Barrett was unlikely to start in the third and final test against France in Hamilton on Saturday, he's been ruled out entirely after suffering the damage in training. Sportstalk host Elliott Smith explains further. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Retail NZ is criticising the Commerce Commission's regulatory change to card payment fees. The Commission today announced new regulations on interchange fees, reducing charges to businesses for taking Visa and Mastercard payments. Retail NZ Chief Executive Carolyn Young says it's a complex issue - and these changes won't address everything. "This is one part of the merchant service fee, there's ab...

Thousands of Afghans have moved to the UK under a secret scheme which was set up after a British official inadvertently leaked their data, according to new reports. In 2022, the personal details of nearly 19,000 people who had applied to move to the UK after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan were leaked. UK correspondent Gavin Grey says the name of the MoD leaker hasn't been unveiled, but it...

ANZ has declined a proposed settlement by lawyers leading a massive class action against the bank for giving customers the wrong information about their loans. The lawyers asked ANZ to agree to pay a penalty of up to $300 million, on top of the $35 million it has already paid more than 100,000 customers to compensate them for the error. ASB, which is also subject to the class action, is yet to res...

Ryman Healthcare's share price has gone up for the first half of July, leading experts to speculate about the company's future.  This follows a downturn from earlier in the year. Milford Asset Management's Jeremy Hutton explains further. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Wednesday, 16 July 2025, open plan classrooms will no longer be built, the Education Minister says they lead to worse learning outcomes. Rangiora High School principal Bruce Kearney tells Ryan his school spent $1.5 million to put the walls back into its open-plan classrooms. The Local Government Minister has confirmed he wants a cap on co...

Tonight on The Huddle, Jack Tame from ZB's Saturday Mornings and Q&A and Jordan Williams from the Taxpayers' Union joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!  Australia seems to have turned the corner on teenage vaping, with rates among young people dropping. Do we need to follow suit and crack down on vaping? Members of Local Government NZ have voted in f...