Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Tensions in a small Clutha town, where residents pay vastly different levies from those set 25 years ago. The Waipori Falls Village- which has about 33 properties- attempted to have a meeting to resolve the problem on the weekend, but got nowhere. Clutha mayor Bryan Cadogan says there's vast discrepancies in costs that aren't reflecting what a leaseholder should pay. He says the first landholders...

Efforts to increase patronage on Auckland Transport services are in line for a boost. Auckland's mayor is including an immediate $20 million public transport injection in his final budget proposal. AT Chief Executive Dean Kimpton says they hope the current 80 million passengers a year will rise another 20 million, by later this year or early next. "Everything we're doing is focused on bringing it...

Overseas gambling websites may soon be banned for New Zealanders. TAB has handed everyday running of its operations to international betting agency Entain, in a deal the Government has rubber-stamped. The Racing Minister says officials are also considering blocking people in the country accessing offshore competitors. Kieran McAnulty says the goal is harm minimisation, and restoring the TAB's orig...

Transpower says at times of high demand, homes could still face short outages to avoid a major blackout. The grid-operator was two weeks ago fined $150,000 for 34,000 homes losing power in August 2021. Chief Executive Alison Andrew says changing conditions and demand spikes can use up the buffer they maintain within the system. She says if that still isn't enough, they have a difficult choice. "We...

The police officer who tasered a 95-year-old woman in a New South Wales aged care home has been suspended- with pay- during investigations. Dementia patient and great-grandmother Clare Nowland is now in end-of-life care after being tasered, allegedly when she didn't drop a steak knife. Australian correspondent Murray Olds says the officer wasn't a rookie. "12 years service, senior constable, 33 ye...

High Performance Sport New Zealand is calling for a top-up from corporate funding. For Olympic sports to maintain their current level of competition, HPSNZ's chief executive suggests  the country's top sports seek sponsorship from the business world to 'maximise the revenue'. Former Olympic rower Mahe Drysdale says most of New Zealand's biggest sports have corporate partners already, but it can be...

Here we go , we might be in for a tough winter   again . Transpower is already warning us that they might have to ask us to turn off our appliances at peak times in the morning and winter on really cold days . Otherwise, they might have to cut power to houses   or end up with blackouts  for days . Because we  might have a really tight power supply again this winter . It’s already got tight three t...

Home secretary Suella Braverman will likely face questions following recent allegations of disobeying speed limits. Suella Braverman was caught speeding in a 50mph zone in 2022, and requested civil servants to arrange a one-on-one speeding awareness course instead of attending a regular group course. She later opted to pay a fine and get points docked from her licence, after the provider didn't ar...

Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and Ali Jones from Red PR joined in with Heather on a discussion about the following issues of the day. The Government has made a deal with NZ Steel to install an electric arc furnace at their Glenbrook site for $140 million, halving their coal use and reducing emissions. Will this work to offset emissions, or is this Government looking f...

Chris Hipkins' appearance in Papua New Guinea is being framed as significant.  Hipkins is present for security pact between the US and Papua New Guinea that may give US armed forces uninhibited access to the nation's airspace and territorial waters.  NZME business commentator Fran O'Sullivan says Papua New Guinea put all the Pacific forum nations together with the US, which will be important for t...

The Finance Minister is standing by his decisions in the 2023 Budget, despite concerns regarding inflation. Economists fear that Budget 2023 will lead to higher interest rate increases over a longer timeframe, adding to inflationary pressures. Finance Minister Grant Robertson says there's a slight increase in the operating allowance to fund the cyclone recovery. "When you look at the numbers in th...

Te Whatu Ora today launched legal action to stop nurses in Gisborne from striking. Acute medical nurses at Gisborne Hospital plan to hold a one-hour strike this coming Wednesday to bring awareness to acute staff shortages, stress and untenable workloads. New Zealand Nurses Organisation chief executive Paul Goulter says the nurses at Gisborne Hospital have been pushing for safe staffing levels sinc...

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hopes to visit China by the end of the year. This was met with disapproval from the Opposition, who say Albanese shouldn't make the trip until all trade sanctions have been lifted.  Australian correspondent Oliver Peterson says it's likely Anthony Albanese will visit in October, 50 years after former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam went over. LISTEN ABOVE Se...

 Brooks Koepka has ended a four-year major drought, winning the PGA Championship for a third time. The now five-time major champion has spent most of those years battling injuries and subsequently signed with the LIV golf breakaway when he was fit again. Sportstalk host Jason Pine says Koepka is the first LIV-aligned player to win at a major. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

A Coroner's set to rule in coming weeks on one of New Zealand’s most baffling missing persons cases. John Beckenridge broke a court order to pick up 11-year-old stepson, Mike Zhao-Beckenridge, from his Invercargill school in 2015. A week later, their car went over a cliff near Curio Bay, with no bodies found.  ZB journalist Courtney Winter says the court's heard unusual texts from the pair, includ...

A small holiday town is at war with its council over parking spaces. Tasman District Council is proposing a shared cycle-path in Pohara, at the expense of some parking outside local businesses. Of the 520 people who live in the area, 373 have signed a petition in protest. Pohara General Store co-owner, David Hix says it'll halve parking outside his business. "It's not that we don't want a cycleway...

There's a third party involved in the Government's partnership with NZ Steel to reduce emissions. Contact Energy will provide 30 megawatts of renewable electricity in a flexible off-peak arrangement. Contact Energy CEO Mike Fuge says the company has had a long-term relationship with NZ Steel and there's been extensive engagement in the past through their subsidiary. "Remember, the New Zealand Stee...

Police Minister Ginny Andersen's under fire for claiming New Zealand is safer with more cops on the ground. Andersen says the increased number of reports of thefts and violence is because it's become easier to lodge a report with a new app. But ACT leader David Seymour says he's afraid of reading the news, as grotesque events grow around the country. Seymour says criminals are making a mockery of...

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins today explained military presence doesn't necessarily signify militarisation. Chris Hipkins is at the US-Pacific Summit in Papua New Guinea on the same day America's expected to ink a cooperation deal with PNG. The agreement has prompted concerns about increased militarisation. ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says there are concerns surrounding the Papua...

The United States and Papua New Guinea are set to sign a bilateral defence cooperation agreement. The region has taken on renewed importance for the US as it seeks to bolster influence in the Pacific amid rising tensions with China. Victoria University professor of Strategic Studies Robert Ayson says this deal is significant, as Papua New Guinea is the largest and most important country in the Sou...

Do you feel safe in this country right now? Safer than you did five years ago?  The Police Minister thinks you do. She went on TV yesterday, and when asked if we feel safer she said: ‘More police on the beat make our communities safer’ and then tried to gaslight you into thinking that the crime isn’t as bad as you think it is. The reason the retail crime numbers are up is because there is this gre...

Alarms over a borer infestation have been raised after a Northland mother found holes and sawdust in her recently purchased wooden serving tray. Kmart has recalled the line, and has warned customers to be on the lookout for any signs of the invasive insects. Consumer NZ's Jon Duffy told Heather du Plessis-Allan that it's important to report situations like this to MPI, so that they can track the d...

Lock it in ; it looks like a very good chance that your mortgage rate is going up, because Grant opened the money hose too much yesterday. The economists at almost every one of our big retail banks   have come out in the last 24 hours now predicting a bigger hike in the OCR either next week when Adrian Orr resets it , or in July when he comes back for round two . BNZ says the Budget is the straw t...

A 48-year-old man has appeared in court in relation to the Loafers Lodge fire today. He's charged with two counts of arson, and Police haven't ruled out more serious charges in relation to the deaths in the blaze. Herald reporter Melissa Nightingale was in court. She told Heather du Plessis Allan that the man stomped back and forth in the dock and made strange wavy motions with his hands. She says...

The Budget's being described as the straw that will break the camel's back on pushing up the Official Cash Rate. Bank economists are predicting bigger interest rate hikes after the release of Finance Minister Grant Robertson's annual spending programme yesterday. BNZ Head of Research Stephen Toplis says that there were already several reasons for the Central Bank to keep lifting the OCR. He says t...