Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Wellington Water believes a Council top-up could help with a feared water shortage this summer. The City Council is giving the water entity up to $2 million dollars. The Wellington region loses about 45 percent of its supply in leaks. Wellington Water Chief Executive Tonia Haskell says they are asking the regional council to let it also take more water from rivers. "We're going to try as hard as w...

It's fair to say that the GDP figures out this morning came as a shock- it's a lot weaker than economists were expecting. Economists were tending to forecast a bit of growth, around 0.2 percent to 3 percent, and instead what they saw was the economy slumped 0.3 percent for the third quarter, which is July through to September. And if you calculate it per capita to account for all the extra people...

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has faced a battle within his own party over his controversial flagship Rwanda bill. The legislation comfortably passed its first Commons hurdle with a majority of 44- but the bill is expected to face further opposition in the new year. No Tory MPs voted against the bill, but some critics on the right of the party rebelled by abstaining. UK correspondent Gavin Grey ex...

Tonight on The Huddle, Jack Tame from ZB's Saturday Mornings and Q&A and David Farrar from Kiwiblog joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more! The UN General Assembly has called for a ceasefire in Gaza – the US voted against amongst a tiny minority, is the public opinion really turning against Israel? Air New Zealand is laying out some new gimmicks- new snack me...

Technology continues to evolve and spill over into the world of work, allowing more robots to fit into modern workplaces. More companies have turned to robot workers to fill jobs that are difficult to recruit for, primarily the manufacturing sector. Milford Asset Management's Deborah Lambie explains what this means for the years ahead. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

New Zealand’s current account deficit remains stubbornly high, according to the latest data. A new report shows the country spent $30.6 billion more on imports than it earned from exports in the year to September, the equivalent to 7.6 percent of GDP. NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny explains what this data means for Kiwi spending habits. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listen...

New Zealand, and more than three-quarters of the General Assembly, have called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza - despite the US not being in favour. 153 UN members voted in favour on humanitarian grounds, 10 voted against. Earlier today, Prime Minister Chris Luxon joined the leaders of Australia and Canada in calling for a pause. ZB political editor Jason Walls says these leaders know a ceasefi...

The deal's off - with two new mega-ferries for the Cook Strait no longer going ahead. KiwiRail has confirmed it will terminate a contract signed in 2021 to build the new ships in South Korea. The Government has turned down KiwiRail's funding request to cover the escalating cost for the new ships and port infrastructure. Chief Executive Peter Reidy says this is 'disappointing news for him and the K...

The Auditor-General has left a 'scathing' review of the previous Government's $15 billion infrastructure spend-up during Covid-19. This report addressed the $12 billion New Zealand Upgrade Programme and $3 billion Shovel-Ready Programme designed to boost the economy and long-term infrastructure in 2020. John Ryan says neither of these projects had any real business cases backing them.  "A lot of t...

A Nelson charity giveaway for Christmas ended in pushing, shoving and fighting over gifts. Helping Families hosted the event, which saw hundreds pouring through the door and stepping over each other to clear out the room in half an hour. Helping Families founder Kristy Rowe the aggression was overwhelming for volunteers, who were subject to verbal abuse. "We had positive comments, and we want to t...

The Finance Minister says the Government's looking at other ferry options after turning down KiwiRail's request for more Interislander funding. The cost of two mega-ferries and upgrading port infrastructure had ballooned to about $3 billion- and KiwiRail says it can't proceed without help. Nicola Willis says that project is over, and they'll explore other options. "The option that had been on the...

Napier's mayor accepts a report finding the city was hugely unprepared for Cyclone Gabrielle. RNZ reports the City Council commissioned an independent review of its response. The Resilient Organisations report shows the Council wasn't set up to cope with such an event, and only a few staff had emergency management training. Kirsten Wise says it's good to get the feedback - to plan for future event...

International public opinion is turning against Israel bombing Gaza. 153 members of the UN General Assembly, including New Zealand, voted today to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Former UN Development Programme head and former Prime Minister, Helen Clark, says even the US President - a staunch advocate - has acknowledged Israel is losing support. She says the situation in Gaza is dire and...

US President Joe Biden has slammed Republican lawmakers, as he reiterates his support for Ukraine. His Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, visited Washington DC to ask lawmakers to continue supporting their war efforts. A support deal's been held up by an impasse in the US Congress on tightening immigration and border policies. US correspondent Mitch McCann says it's unlikely the Republica...

Relief from the New Zealand Sail GP team their home regatta has been rescued by Christchurch. Lyttleton will shoulder hosting responsibilities for the event in March after Auckland was ruled out as a viable location due to spectator facility issues. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave breaks these events down. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Grocery Commissioner is shining a spotlight on grocery prices this festive season. Pierre van Heerden is challenging supermarkets to implement Everyday Low Pricing on staple items before Christmas. Demand typically rises at this time of year - and van Heerden says prices often do, too. He says groceries have been this year's biggest driver of cost of living pressures. "Supermarkets can actuall...

Look, I feel like we are now at a global tipping point with Israel and I think tolerance is running very short- and probably about to run out completely for their bombardment of Gaza. A lot has happened in just the last few days, even just today, to indicate that this is on the cards now. We've had New Zealand, Australia and Canada putting out a joint statement this morning calling for a sustainab...

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak raised a few eyebrows with his refusal to share his WhatsApp messages during the Covid response inquiry. Sunak claimed he had changed phones many times in recent years and never backed up his messages- leaving no evidence from the pandemic period. UK correspondent Enda Brady says Boris Johnson also lost 5,000 WhatsApp messages during that period, and reached for a sim...

Tonight on The Huddle, Ali Jones from Red PR and projects director at Still, Sam Johnson, joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more!  FIFA's latest report into online abuse reveals players at the football Women's World Cup were 29 percent more likely to be subject to online harassment. Can anything be done to address this? Is abuse just a drawback that comes from be...

2023 is drawing to a close, and economists are predicting what lies ahead for the new year. New Zealand is still fighting a long, drawn-out battle with inflation, which is set to impact jobs and house prices. HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham says the uptick in migration is set to boost demand for goods and services- meaning inflation will be stickier for longer. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/li...

New Zealand's biggest rural telethon is set to kick off this Thursday from 6am. The Big Feed will be hosted by TV personality Matt Chisholm, former boxer Dave Letele, and Meat the Need co-founder and Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford. The Country's Jamie Mackay says the telethon aims to raise enough for 1.2 million meat and milk meals for food banks nationwide. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystud...

More local councils appear to be drawn towards attempting asset sales. The Bay of Plenty Regional Council has begun the process of selling a chunk of its majority share in the Port of Tauranga.  Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington are also investigating potential asset sales. BusinessDesk managing editor Pattrick Smellie explains the benefits and drawbacks of this process. LISTEN ABOVE See omnys...

The Commerce Commission has filed criminal charges against two construction companies and their directors for alleged cartel conduct. The pair were accused of colluding to rig bids for their publicly-funded infrastructure projects in Auckland. Commerce Commission Chair, John Small, says their cartels team investigated this historic case right away. "It's obviously, with a criminal standard, the st...

A new FIFA report has published some eye-opening stats into social media abuse. Players at the football Women's World Cup were 29 percent more likely to receive online abuse than those at the men's tournament in 2022, according to new data. One in five Women's World Cup players, a total of 152, received "targeted discriminatory, abusive or threatening messaging". Former Football Fern Katie Duncan...

A Tauranga iwi hopes its Treaty of Waitangi Tribunal claim is accepted and heard sooner rather than later. The Ngāi Te Rangi Settlement Trust is accusing the Government of bending Treaty rules with its policies. Ngāi Te Rangi chief executive   Paora Stanley claims the Government has launched an attack on culture and language. He says they are attempting to extinguish the language within multiple a...