Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Former Labour MP Stuart Nash has suggested the party needs to have some conversations about its future. NZ First leader Winston Peters has ruled out working with Labour after the 2026 election if Chris Hipkins is still in charge. Nash says this doesn't necessarily mean Peters has ruled out working with Labour - and the party will need to make some big decisions. "You go into politics to be in Gove...

Air New Zealand is bringing domestic jets back to Hamilton, for the first time in 25 years. Airbus A320 Jets will fly the airline's Hamilton-Christchurch route from September. It'll add about 25,000 seats a year between the cities. The airline's general domestic manager, Kate O'Brien, says it's one of their fastest growing regional routes. "We've had a number of our aircraft out - we're starting t...

The Police Minister is attempting to clarify the meaning of a memo to staff on lower-value retail crime cases. The nation-wide directive told staff not to investigate shoplifting worth less than $500 dollars - and less significant petrol, online and retail theft.  Mark Mitchell says that's not explicitly what the memo intended. He's promised police will respond to crime, and says the directiv...

Police have revealed more about the death of a teenager, after a combative run it straight-style game with friends on Sunday.  It involves people running fill tilt into each other, with no protective gear. The 19-year-old died in hospital yesterday, and our newsroom's been told he's Ryan Satterthwaite. Manawatu Area Commander Inspector, Ross Grantham, has outlined more details. "I understand...

The Police Minister expects the Commissioner to continue to tackle retail crime.  Police staff have been directed to not further investigate theft below $200, petrol drive-offs below $150, shoplifting under $500, and online fraud below $1000 dollars.  But Mark Mitchell is promising retailers officers will always turn up when they have the resources. Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Wal...

A new police task force has been established to address an increase in gang violence in Sydney after two were shot dead in broad daylight in the city's west. Taskforce Falcon will be led by the State Crime Command and will investigate shootings, arson attacks and kidnappings as far back as late 2024. Australian correspondent Murray Olds says there's been a notable increase in violence in Sydney ov...

A 19-year-old has died after suffering a head injury during a tackle game - known as run it straight - with friends on Sunday.  Police say the impromptu event was based on a social media-driven competition, where people run into each other for full-contact collisions without protective gear. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explains further. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...

Labour's leader thinks talk of potential coalitions is premature. New Zealand First leader and veteran politician Winston Peters has ruled out working with Labour post next election if Chris Hipkins is still in charge. Peters has described a potential trio of Labour, the Greens, and Te Pati Māori as a 'woke circus'. Chris Hipkins says Labour will set out bottom lines before the election. He's take...

US President Donald Trump has agreed to extend a deadline to negotiate tariffs with the EU until July. Last week, Trump expressed frustration with the pace of talks and threatened to raise the tariff rate to as high as 50 percent as soon as June 1. UK correspondent Gavin Grey says this will be a significant relief to parts of Europe. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information...

The Reserve Bank is set to make another Monetary Policy Statement on Wednesday, and experts have predicted another 25-basis-point cut. The cut, priced in by financial markets and widely expected by economists, would take the OCR to 3.25 percent. Despite this, Kiwibank chief economist Jarrod Kerr believes the Reserve Bank should cut the cash rate down to 3 percent - saying the economy needs stimulu...

On Friday, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose 50 percent tariffs on the EU from June 1 due to slow progress on discussion. He also threatened to put a 25 percent tariff on Apple (-3%) and other device makers if they don’t start moving production to the US. Harbour Asset Management spokesperson Shane Solly revealed how the markets responded. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for...

Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and Child Fund CEO Josie Pagani joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!  RNZ reports police staff have been directed to not investigate shoplifting below $500 and online fraud below $1000. There's also a new 'value threshold' to determine which retail crimes will be investigated - what kind of mess...

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Monday, 26 May 2025, Superintendent Blair MacDonald explains why police are no longer going to attend shoplifting crimes where less than $500 was stolen unless there's good reason to. Health Minister Simeon Brown says prefab hospital buildings are the way to go to build a cheaper (and faster) hospital in Nelson. Finance Minister Nicola Wi...

Nicola Willis says National still hasn't decided on its superannuation policy ahead of next year's election. The Finance Minister says keeping eligibility at 65 is increasingly expensive - and Prime Minister Luxon has expressed interest in making changes. Willis says discussions will need to take place about the matter as a caucus. "What that will look like will be different from the last election...

Dame Marilyn Waring says a high-powered committee of 10 former MPs has the know-how to lead debate on the Government's revamped pay equity system.  Waring's established the 'people's select committee' to do the job she says Parliament failed to carry out by passing impactful pay equity law changes under urgency.  That includes receiving submissions, and interviewing oral presenters. She...

The Health Minister's not buying Opposition's criticism of Nelson Hospital's brought-forward upgrade. A temporary site will be in place in about a year, and a 128-bed inpatient building will be delivered by 2029. Meanwhile, Labour is calling the move a downgrade - as while they were in Government, they announced an upgrade with more beds than under the coalition's announcement. Simeon Brown says t...

Police say they can't get to all retail crime - after revelations revealed they won't investigate some lower-level crimes.  RNZ reports staff have been directed to not investigate shoplifting below $500 dollars and online fraud below $1000 dollars.  Police say they may not take a further look into crime below the threshold - and lacking evidence.  Superintendent Blair Macdonald says...

I totally understand that retailers want an urgent meeting with the Police Minister. This is over the revelation that police aren't bothering to investigate shoplifting below $500 bucks anymore. They're clearly worried, because what's happened is there's been a revelation from a memo that was sent to police staff a couple of months ago, saying that from now on, across all districts, cops will no l...

Infometrics' Principal Economist says the Government's not entirely ignoring the lack of budget funding allocated for lifting KiwiSaver employer contributions.  The Greens say the Government hasn't accounted for the cost to public services, which could cost more than $700 hundred million.  Finance Minister Nicola Willis says that's being worked on - and will be in next year's Budget.&nbs...

The Green Party has accused the Government of having a three-quarter-billion dollar hole in the Budget. As part of the 2025 Budget, released last week, the Government announced that the default KiwiSaver contribution for employees and employers would lift to 4 percent. But the Greens say the Government had not accounted for that increase for its own employees in its books, and over the Budget fore...

Over in Australia, machetes will be removed from shop shelves in the coming days after a violent gang brawl forced a busy shopping centre into lockdown.  Shoppers were left terrified after a conflict by rival gang members armed with machetes at Northland Shopping Centre in Melbourne's north took place over the weekend. Australian correspondent Oliver Peterson says Victoria Premier Jacinta All...

No grand-final for Auckland FC - and coach Steve Corica's making it known the officiating is the reason why. Melbourne Victory's 2-nil second-leg win in Auckland's clinched a 2-1 triumph on aggregate. Sportstalk host Jason Pine explained further - and explained why Auckland FC is likely to be feeling flat this week. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Salvation Army says sanctions on beneficiaries which force people to find volunteer work for a few hours a week isn't the best use of resources. New 'non-financial' sanctions are set to come into force for beneficiaries who don't meet their obligations - including having part of their weekly benefit put on a payment card or finding volunteer work for at least 5 hours a week. But Salvation Army...

Listen to the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Friday 23 May. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Let's talk about this business with the pension age. Chris Luxon has said today twice that he wants the pension age to go up to 67. He said it once on Kerre’s show this morning, and then at a post-budget lunch speaking to business leaders, he repeated it and he told them that this is basically going to be election policy for National next year. Now, regardless of how you may feel about this, I mea...