Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Another victory for Lydia Ko - the Kiwi golfer's won her third major, her first since 2016. Ko triumphed by two strokes at the British Open after finishing at seven-under par overall at St Andrews.  Sportstalk host Jason Pine says this is a 'spectacular' end to Lydia Ko's career as she looks to call it a day. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Surface flooding is continuing in the wider Wellington region, with commuters bracing for more downpours. High tides are coinciding with torrential rain to spell a perfect storm of disruption, and motorists are being warned to expect delays. Metservice forecaster Lewis Ferris says the rain is persisting, but the worst should have passed. "It does look like the heaviest of the rain is kind of on th...

ANZ and ASB may have to refund interest to more than 100-thousand customers with home loans. Plaintiffs are seeking the refund after the banks breached consumer rights contracts. The Court of Appeal has ordered affected customers will be automatically included in the case. Class action lawyer Fionnghuala Cuncannon told Heather du Plessis Allan the banks failed to comply with their disclosure oblig...

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Friday, 23 August 2024, Kamala Harris has become the official Democratic nominee in the presidential race. US correspondent Simon Marks speaks to Heather from the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Labour's Chris Hipkins has apologised to councils for the prime minister's criticism of their wasteful spending... saying they deserve...

It's a tough result for Spark today... reporting a 72% drop in full year net profit... with revenue down 14%.   The big drop comes after last year's results were boosted by the sale of spark's cell tower network... but the company has acknowledged it's been a challenging year in tough economic conditions.   Spark's chief executive Jolie Hodson told Heather du Plessis-Allan it has been a tough year...

Today on the Sports Huddle Heather was joined Oceania Football confederation media manager Matt Brown and Newstalk ZB rugby commentator Paul Allison for a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! Why do you think Leon Macdonald left? will the All Blacks be better or worse off for it? How good a storyline would it be if he went to the wallabies? How will Shaun Johnson be remembe...

Labour's Local Government spokesman's pushed back on the Prime Minister's characterisation of councils across the country. On Wednesday, Chris Luxon launched a broadside against local government -- telling them to get back to basics with theirs spending. Chris Hipkins today apologised to councillors and mayors for the PM's attack; and Kieran McAnulty told Heather du Plessis-Allan that Luxon was ou...

The Democrats convention has wound up in Chicago with Harris confirmed as their nomination for President. Dad Seymour has been labelled an idiot for his Treaty Principles Bill. Taxpayers Union got it wrong comparing council spending to spending on an international dance competition. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The number of cafes and restaurants has gone backwards for the first time in more than 20 years according to stats NZ. It's a small drop...to 8958 cafe and restaurants…But that's almost twice as many as in 2000...    Economist Shamubeel Eaqub says there are still too many hospitality businesses in tough economic times like today.    Chef and restaurateur Al Brown told Heather du Plessis-Allan  all...

Divers searching the Bayesian, the superyacht which sank off the coast of Sicily, have found five bodies and recovered four of them, according to local authorities.  It's believed British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter were among the bodies brought up from the wreck. UK correspondent Enda Brady says investigations are ongoing - and the Kiwi who captained the yacht will be ques...

Market experts are convinced 2024 will conclude with a soft economic landing. This contradicts initial predictions that a global recession would disrupt things.  Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds unpacks why predictions have changed. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prices have bounced back in the latest Global   Dairy Trade auction - with an impressive 5.5 percent increase across the board. The sixth event of the new dairy season, it is the largest percentage lift since March 2021, and a far cry from the the beginning of July when prices plunged 6.9 percent. The Country's Jamie Mackay explains what this means for the primary sector. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystu...

The Government has moved on Auckland apartment developer Du Val Group, taking the rare step of placing it in statutory management. The move follows the group of companies being placed in interim receivership on August 2 after an application by the Financial Markets Authority. NZ Herald property editor Anne Gibson says investigations are still ongoing. "We don't really know what's going on here - w...

Tonight on The Huddle, Jordan Williams from the Taxpayers' Union and Ali Jones from Red PR joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! Prime Minister Chris Luxon has urged local councils to rein in unnecessary spending. This speech has prompted some backlash - why do we think this is? All Blacks assistant coach Leon MacDonald has stepped down after just a handful of...

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Thursday, 22 August 2024, an All Blacks coach quits. Rugby editor Elliott Smith examines what's behind Leon McDonald's shock resignation. Wellington Regional Councillor Thomas Nash is very upset that Chris Luxon told off councils for their spending habits. The Education Review Office has found an alarming number of kids turn up to school...

Kiwibank's net profit increased 15 percent - and it says it is fulfilling its role as a disruptor. The state-owned bank brought in $202 million and grew its lending book by 9.3 percent to $32.4 billion in the 12 months to June 30. Deposits also increased $2.4 billion, or 9.4 percent, to $28.2 billion. CEO Steve Jurkovich says the bank has commited to supporting people as best as it can. LISTEN ABO...

There's been complaints from local Government officials following the Prime Minister's 'back to basics' speech. Speaking at the LGNZ Conference, Chris Luxon has said councils need to rein in spending, even calling the Takina convention centre hosting the event a 'waste of money'. Regional councillor Thomas Nash slammed the speech on social media as mana-diminishing, paternalistic, and visionless....

Research suggests many new entrants start school without needed language skills, impacting literacy skills. Nearly two-thirds of teachers surveyed in the Education Review Office's research say Covid has affected children's language development. It's alongside more than two-thirds of parents saying their child had some language difficulty before starting school. Early Childhood Council Chief Execut...

An energy boss says predicted rain will take the strain off New Zealand's power supply. Winstone Pulp plans to close its central North Island pulp and saw mills because of spiking electricity prices, putting more than 200 jobs on the line. Transpower is now offering power generators early access to emergency hydro-lake reserves - with levels massively below average for this time of year. Meridian...

There's shock across the rugby world as Leon MacDonald exited the All Blacks coaching staff - seemingly out of the blue. MacDonald confirmed his departure today, leaving on the eve of the team's departure to South Africa, just five tests into the Scott Robertson era. ZB sports commentator Elliott Smith says it was likely Razor's decision to axe MacDonald. "If he wanted Leon to stay, he could have...

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has made a case against ACT's controversial Treaty Principles Bill. Peters claimed he wouldn't support the Bill beyond the first reading - and outlined an alternative approach. ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper unpacks Winston's arguments. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jetstar is on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit over its decision to hand out travel vouchers to customers who were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The lawsuit filed in the Federal Court claims the airline was legally obliged to refund tickets and is pushing for the money to be returned directly to customers with interest. Australian correspondent Oliver Peterson says tens of thousand...

Rugby philosophies going in different directions. That's what All Blacks coach Scott Robertson is singling out as the main reason for Leon MacDonald's surprise departure as one of the team's assistant coaches. The former Blues mentor was part of Robertson's original pitch for the job back in 2019 - while the pair played together for both the Crusaders and All Blacks. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegr...

The Deputy Prime Minister has muddied the waters around the conditional Government support of ACT's Treaty Principles Bill. Answering on behalf of the Prime Minister in the House, Winston Peters seemed to suggest he was open to changing his mind after the first reading. Peters clarified he would not be supporting the Bill. "We voted to have a first reading, and therefore - we will not be supportin...

I don't know if you remember - but not long ago on the show we had a debate about screen time and how bad it is for kids. The question we were asking is - are we all just having a moral panic over screens, or are they as bad as the experts say they are? And I think we’ve just got more evidence that the latter is true - that screens are a particularly pernicious problem of our age for the little on...