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Hundreds of jobs could be on the line at Te Whatu Ora, as it works to streamline teams that provide corporate or back office roles to better support frontline care. The health agency is consulting on a proposal to cut up to 16-hundred jobs. Te Whatu Ora says it's moving ahead with the next phase of changes,  so it can be as prepared as possible for winter. Auckland University Medical Emeritus Prof...

An outdoor education camp turned into a rescue mission in Whangamatā for a couple of Papamoa College students.  15 years olds Ryan Teixeira and Sam Clark rescued a tourist who was barely above choppy water after being separated from his kayak.  Ryan Teixeira told Andrew Dickens he noticed the tourist while he was on a kayak trip himself.  "We instantly went oh no, we've got trouble on our hands,"...

Kiwis on the minimum wage will have an extra $1.50 an hour in the pocket from tomorrow. The increase, which comes in from April 1st, brings the wage to $22.70 an hour.  The government says the impact on inflation will be minor, but the ACT Party says thousands of job losses are now possible.  NZ Initiative Chief Economist Eric Crampton told Andrew Dickens it's possible, especially if the economy t...

Donald Trump is using his indictment to grab the political spotlight.   The former US President has been indicted by a grand jury and is expected to surrender early next week. Trump has been under investigation for his alleged role in paying hush money to a porn star during the 2016 election. Former BBC US correspondent and political analyst Nick Bryant told Andrew Dickens this might actually help...

This week's gone from bad to worse for Stuart Nash -- with the country's top watchdog reopening a probe. Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier is investigating whether an email revealing Cabinet discussions should have been released two years ago under the Official Information Act, also known as the OIA. Boshier says while an inquiry was discontinued last May, the complainant has now asked him to reopen t...

National's pledging to unleash the renewable energy sector. The party's announced a new policy to reduce carbon emissions and double the amount of renewable energy in New Zealand. It focuses on increasing renewable electricity generation to replace coal, gas and petrol-fuelled transport. Plus, there's a particular focus on natural resources including solar, wind, and geothermal. National's Infrast...

With the news cycle dominated by the Nash controversy, the agitation that Marama Davidson's politics always involves and the ruckus over Posey Parker's visit, some very important stories have been kept off the front page. No story for me right now is bigger than the Government asking Health New Zealand to cut $100 million off the construction budget for the new Dunedin Hospital. The story could be...

French travellers will have to brace themselves for a full month of cancelled or disrupted flights. Air traffic controllers throughout France have confirmed they will be striking for the entire month of April to protest their pay and working conditions. UK correspondent Enda Brady says these travel disruptions will hit people's planned Easter getaways hard and French airline Ryanair has cancelled...

Tonight on The Huddle, Mike Munroe, former Labour Chief of Staff and current director at Mike Munroe Communications and Taxpayer's Union Executive Director Jordan Williams joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day: The Government has announced that construction on a second Waitematā harbour crossing will begin in 2029. Five combinations of tunnels and bridges have been reveal...

Australian unions are calling for a 7 percent increase to the minimum wage to keep up with inflation. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) have sent a proposal to Australia's Fair Work Commission for their annual minimum wage review. If granted, Australia's new minimum wage would be $22.88 and the national minimum would be $45,337 per year. Australian correspondent Murray Olds says this m...

FIFA are reportedly considering banning rainbow armbands at the upcoming women's World Cup. No decision has been made yet, but FIFA's rules state that team equipment should not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements and images. Sportstalk's D'Arcy Waldegrave says it's also likely that FIFA will be looking to avoid a repeat of the OneLove armband controversy at last year's Qa...

The battle between Microsoft and Google heated up today, as Google launched their answer to ChatGPT. Bard is an AI chatbot that uses natural language processing to generate human-like responses to prompts or queries. Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds explained that there's a key difference between Bard and ChatGPT, as both systems have been trained on different data sources and models. "Bard's hooked u...

The Country brought a pop-up pub to Puketapu to treat the flood-affected residents to free beer and barbecue. Emerson’s Tiny Pub was set up on the outskirts of Napier and hosted on Binks and Dave McCurdy's farm off Glengarry Rd. The Country's Jamie Mackay sadly wasn't there because he was stuck in Auckland, but he explained what he missed. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

Several organisations have announced significant job cuts- yet the labour shortage is still alive and well.  Warehouse, Xero, Sky TV, MediaWorks and Auckland Council are among several companies who have confirmed job cuts. Despite this, 90 percent of employers still struggle to find staff. NZ Herald business editor Liam Dann says there's a definite mismatch in the industries cutting staff and indu...

New SEEK data shows that advertised salaries are growing at a solid pace. Advertised salaries in New Zealand grew by 4.4 percent in the year to February 2023 during the second-fastest recorded growth rate. NZ SEEK Country Manger Rob Clark says 4.4 percent wage growth is a high figure compared to the 2.7 percent recorded in February 2020. Rob Clark explained that this rapid growth can be attributed...

Pacific leaders are hoping the Government will finally listen to their plea to grant amnesty to migrant overstayers. Immigration Minister Michael Wood has confirmed he's considering the policy, with the last amnesties granted in 2000. It's a change the Pacific community has petitioned the Government on for years. Aotearoa Tongan Response Group's chair says they don't condone overstaying, but Pakil...

Hoteliers across Auckland have concerns about the Council's proposed budget cuts to tourism. Auckland Council plans to cut a further $28 million from the tourism budget, on top of the already slashed $17 million. Hotel Council Aotearoa's strategic director James Doolan says these budget cuts would dispense destination marketing and event attraction and effectively gut the department in charge of t...

Concerns about what becomes of the inquiry into forestry slash in Gisborne following Stuart Nash's sacking as Forestry Minister. The probe was launched after woody debris was blamed for making flood and cyclone damage worse. Federated Farmers spokesperson Toby Williams says the enquiry is halfway through, with tomorrow the last day of public consultation. He says a new panellist also started today...

The Transport Minister says we need to crack on with a second Waitemata Harbour crossing in Auckland. He's released five options for the project, now set to begin in 2029, and people can express their preference until May 1. Michael Wood says it will take years, no matter what plan's picked - and who's in Government. He says this has to happen. "The North Shore is going to grow by 150,000 thousand...

A rare sign of bipartisanship from technology moguls. Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak are among a thousand AI experts calling for a pause on developing big Artificial Intelligence software for six months. They want to be able to study the capabilities and dangers of AI like Chat GPT, to mitigate risks. Tech commentator Paul Spain says we need to think about how much control we give AI...

The Government has today announced that construction on a second Waitematā harbour crossing will begin in 2029. Five possible combinations of tunnels and bridges were revealed at Chris Hipkins and Michael Wood's media announcement this morning. The Government also confirmed there will be a regular walking and cycling connection across the harbour for the first time. ZB's senior political correspon...

Come on, are we really going to play this game? Where we all pretend that just because Chippy and Michael Wood announced they would start building the new Auckland harbour crossing by 2029, that it’s actually going to happen?  2029 is six years away, it’s not happening. Here’s why; because this is what happens in construction in six years. Light Rail- Six years ago, 2017, Jacinda Ardern promised A...

Plans are moving forward to house UK asylum seekers in barges, ferries and former military bases instead of hotels. The UK Government says it's spending £6.2m ($12.2m NZD) per day on hotels for migrants. Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick is due to make the announcement in a matter of hours. UK correspondent Gavin Grey says ministers have been working on a solution for housing asylum seekers for...

Tonight on The Huddle, David Farrar from Kiwiblog and Curia and Jack Tame, host of Saturday Mornings and Q&A joined in on a discussion about the following: Should Stuart Nash force a by-election? Would it help the people of Napier? Hipkins has asked the Cabinet Press Secretary to conduct a review of correspondence between Nash and his donors - is that needed? Marama Davidson is still committed...

Filled job numbers rose again in February by 0.4 percent, following on from the 0.8 percent boost in January. Employment in service industries and tourism are leading the charge, and jobs in professional services, transport, and public administration are up significantly. Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen says the growth in jobs is concerning at a time when we're trying to slow down the e...