Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

More pressure on Pharmac boss Sarah Fitt to resign. The Board Chair has met face to face with the Senior Leadership Team today over inappropriate emails sent about journalist Rachel Smalley. The chair instructed them to identify what can be done to prevent a situation like this from happening again. Two cancer patients have written an open letter asking for her resignation. Signatory Geoff Dawson...

The death of ACT's Port Waikato candidate Neil Christensen will trigger a by-election. The Electoral Commission says party votes in the electorate will count for Saturday's election- but those for a Member of Parliament won't. Chief Electoral Officer Karl Le Quesne says this has a flow-on effect. He says once the by-election is run and we know who the successful candidate is- that will result in 1...

New Zealand First's leader won't say how long it could take for them to strike a coalition deal if they hold the balance of power following the election. National has sparked fears there could be a long negotiation period if they can't form a Government with ACT alone. Winston Peters says they have a responsibility to deliver a strong, stable Government. "The reality is, if it takes time to get it...

Israelis are questioning how Palestinian militant group, Hamas, breached the border from Gaza to attack Israel. More than 1100 Israelis and Palestinians have died since the surprise attack and at least 100 Israeli citizens have been taken hostage. Israeli tanks have moved along the border of neighbouring country, Lebanon, launching retaliatory strikes. Newshub correspondent Lisette Reymer, reporti...

Every Monday until the election, The Front Bench will take on the biggest talking points of the election campaign. Heather du Plessis-Allan, Newstalk ZB Senior Political Correspondent Barry Soper, former Business NZ CEO Phil O’Reilly and Auckland Councillor Richard Hills have the insight word and analysis.   This week the The Spinoff’s Editor-at-Large Toby Manhire steps in for Barry Soper. Our exp...

ZB political editor Jason Walls spoke to Heather about National having to admit their tax cuts won't cover everyone, the polls showing Winston will be needed, Chris Hipkins spending the week in lockdown, and where things stand for the last week of the campaign.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UK Correspondent Gavin Grey talked to Heather about setbacks in the SNP quest for an independent Scotland, supervised tooth brushing in England, and whether Banksy will finally be unmasked.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Asia business correspondent Peter Lewis talked to Heather about the high costs of owning a car in Singapore, China hopes Golden Week Holiday will deliver an economic boost, and Asia facing one of the worst economic outlooks in half a century.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well you might have noticed that we haven't talked to Rod Oram for a few weeks. That's because he's been on his bike. He's just completed a 5000km journey from Kazakhstan to Turkey. Rod spoke with Heather about his trip.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The All Blacks have locked in their quarterfinal at the Rugby World Cup. They weren't off to the best start this morning, failing to score for the first 19 minutes, but they ended up beating Uruguay 73-0. Newstalk ZB rugby reporter Elliott Smith is in France and spoke to Heather about the game.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you're yet to use your Air New Zealand credit from Covid times, you have an extra two years to do so. The airline today announced it's extended the deadline until 31st of January 2026.  It's still got $200 million worth of credits on its books and wants to find as many travellers who might not realise the money is sitting there in the meantime. Air New Zealand CFO Richard Thomson spoke to Heath...

Tonight on The Huddle, host of the All Sports Breakfast Adam Cooper and Newstalk ZB rugby commentator Paul Allison joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more!  Crusaders coach Scott Robertson has reportedly been banned from attending All Blacks games, with officials saying he would be too much of a distraction. Is there any possible justification for that? The All Bl...

The 24 year old accused of the stabbing at New Windsor dairy was on electronic monitored bail. Today the prosecutor told the court the accused took his bracelet off before going into the dairy. The prosecutor says police wanted media to publish the fact police opposed giving him bail at the time. He is now in custody. National justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith talked to Heather about it.   LISTE...

Act leader David Seymour's putting the latest poll result down to telling hard truths not everyone wants to hear. Both the Tax Payer Curia poll and the Talbot Mills Research poll both have the party on nine percent. In one of those polls Act has fallen by 5 percent. Seymour told Heather du-Plessis Allan he won't shrink from taking on the challenges the country faces.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio....

With a week and a day to go voting, you would have to say the biggest disappointment of this campaign is Act . We have got a couple of polls out today: The Taxpayers Union Curia poll and the Talbot Mills research poll both have Act in the single digits for the first time in their polling since April. ACT has been sliding this entire campaign and a lot of it will be because of David Seymour’s perfo...

The boss of Pharmac has come under fire today for writing disparaging emails about journalist Rachel Smalley. Sarah Fitt wrote several emails to her team about Smalley and in one of them Fitt shares one of Smalley's articles about cancer patients with the subject line "sigh". Other emails have staff members making fun of the journalist, writing a limerick about her and celebrating when she lost he...

US President Joe Biden will use money left over from Donald Trump's term to extend a border wall. A portion of border in Texas separating the US and Mexico will be expanded as the country continues to manage an influx of migrants. US correspondent Dan Mitchinson told Heather du-Plessis Allan this is a head-scratcher as Biden has been against Trump's idea of a wall for some time.   LISTEN ABOVE. Se...

Two new election polls show that National Party leader Christopher Luxon will need to call Winston Peters if he wants to form a government. Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls spoke to Heather about it, and what is happening in the last few weeks of the campaign.   LISTEN ABOVE.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Black Caps despatched England in a nine wicket victory in their first Cricket World Cup pool game, where Devon Conway and Rachin Ravindra both smashed unbeaten centuries and put on a record 273 for the second wicket, helping New Zealand easily overhaul England’s 282-9. Meanwhile, the All Blacks roared into the quarter finals with a 73-0 victory over Uruguay in their last pool game.  Weekend Sp...

It's not uncommon for us to tell you on this show that a judge has discounted a criminal's sentence because of a cultural report. Generally this is because the report mentions that the person has poverty, trauma, addiction or something else in their background that means they should receive a lighter sentence. Well it turns out there is actually no legal requirement for cultural report writers to...

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has proposed raising the smoking age year by year, until cigarettes are eventually phased out. Sunak says these incremental changes mean children who turn 14 this year and those younger would never be able to legally access cigarettes. UK correspondent Enda Brady says this proposal could bring down cancer rates- but also open up a lucrative black market within a few y...

Tonight on The Huddle, Ali Jones from Red PR and former National staffer Ben Thomas joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more!  Sir John Key got involved in a last ditch effort to turn out voters for National, following growing fears of a three-way coalition with ACT and NZ First. Is this a sign of desperate times for National? Grant Robertson has labelled National'...

New Zealand reached its hottest September on record this year, according to new data. NIWA’s Climate Summary for the month said the nationwide average temperature was 11.9C, 1.3C above the 1991-2020 September average. The Country's Jamie Mackay says we're staring down the barrel of a dry El Nino summer- which has consequences for the rural sector.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...

New Zealand's official cash rate has stayed in place at 5.5 for the last four months- yet several banks have hiked their mortgage rates. Anyone who has re-fixed a mortgage in the past few months has felt the sting of increased rates ticking upwards. NZ Herald business editor at large Liam Dann says these hikes are proof New Zealand is at the mercy of international market forces, namely the US and...

Independent milk processor Tatua has announced a record-shattering payout for their farmer-shareholders. The company has paid out $12.30/kgMS for milk supplied last season, beating out last year's $11.30/kgMS. Tatua chief executive Brendhan Greaney says the company's had an odd start to the year, with fluctuating commodity ingredient prices having an impact on their overall earnings. LISTEN ABOVE...