Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Two Hollywood directors have signed on to make the long awaited America’s Cup Reality TV show a reality. The show will go behind the scenes of 2024’s Cup, held in Barcelona. Sports Marketing Expert at AUT Marilyn Giroux joined Heather du Plessis-Allan to discuss the show. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After fifteen months of collecting cobwebs, Hutt Valley’s Birthing Centre is reopening with a new lease on life. Instead of birthing, the centre will now be used for Post-natal care. The centre was privately run, and its doors closed last year amid controversy and a struggle to obtain DHB funding. Former DHB Board Member Prue Lamason joins Heather du Plessis-Allan to discuss the reopening. LISTEN...

The Waikato Chamber of Commerce says simply cutting speed limits is a “wet band aid on a gaping wound.” Waka Kotahi is reducing the limit on State Highway 1 between Cambridge and Piarere to 80 kilometres and bringing in other safety measures like median barriers and rumble strips. The area's been a crash hot spot. Chamber CEO Don Good told Heather du Plessis Allan that the only rational solution i...

Air New Zealand is flying into the future with a date for its first emissions-free flight. The national carrier's joining developers to turn the aviation game green - including launching a zero emissions aircraft here by 2026. The airline is promising to replace its Q300 domestic fleet with a sustainable substitute by 2030 - likely using hydrogen or a battery hybrid. Head of fleet strategy Baden S...

A Taupo man has plead guilty to seven counts of sabotage - the first person convicted of the charge in New Zealand. Open Justice reports IT professional and anti-vax campaigner Graham Philip was initially charged with wilful damage in December - which was upgraded to sabotage charges this year. Details are suppressed out of fears of copy-cat offending. Waikato University law professor Alexander Gi...

New numbers out of the UK show that the amount of foreign born people in the region has reached 10 million. This accounts for 1 in 6 people in the UK, which is a new record. The number of Romanians in particular has gone up following working restrictions being lifted.  Josella Waldren, UK correspondent, broke these statistics down further and explained how these rates look compared to census data...

We had Australia’s Central Bank announce a slower rate hike earlier this week and the U.S Federal Reserve just went up another 75 basis points. And we're not far away from hearing what the Bank of England is going to do, as they’re set to announce their interest rates in a few hours. Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds talked us through the lead-up and explained why a historically high basis points raise...

Dairy NZ has recently taken a stand against the Government's He Waka Eke Noa tax scheme.  The organisation has been aligned with the Government, but Chairperson Jim Van De Poel threatened to pull support unless changes were made to the tax scheme, because no deal seemed better than a bad deal to them. Jamie Mackay, host of The Country, stated that this is a strong position for Dairy NZ to take, as...

A 'Rebuilding Better' series will be out in the Herald tomorrow about how New Zealand can rebuild - economically and socially - post Covid-19. The project will be focused around examining aspects of New Zealand life, starting with the economy, but covering health, social division, crime, and national identity to find out if New Zealand can emerge as a fairer and more prosperous nation post Covid. ...

A2 Milk has finally got the all clear to sell its infant formula in the U.S. It applied for the approval back in May when America announced a nationwide shortage, and finally got to break into the market this month. Adrian Allbon, Jarden's director of equity research, considers this a positive development. The approval process only lasts til January currently, but A2 Milk has an opening to extend...

Today on The Huddle: Simon Wilson, NZ Herald senior writer and Nick Mills, Newstalk ZB Host, joined us to talk about the following topics- and more! First Union say this two year collective agreement that includes wage rises of 12 percent could lay the ground work for a Fair Pay Agreement - is First Union too optimistic? Do you think there's enough integrity in our postal voting system? Is it too...

The rising price of diesel is burning a big hole in one company's pocket. Yesterday, the cheapest diesel in Tauranga was $2.39 at Gull Speedlane, while 91 petrol was $2.28. Rotorua-based Patchell Group, transport trailers and equipment manufacturers, say diesel cost the company an extra $87,000 dollars in the first six months of this year. Chief Executive of Brent Whibley says they didn't expect i...

18 thousand supermarket workers have accepted better pay offers. Members of First Union at Countdown supermarkets have voted in favour of wage increases starting at 11.5 percent, the supermarket chain's also implementing a starting living wage and more options for sick leave. Increased pay means Countdown workers will be some of the highest paid in the sector, with the union celebrating what they'...

Consumers can't buy electric utes in New Zealand, but they remain a popular and useful vehicle. How can we get around this? James Hardisty, a farmer turned electrician, may have found a solution to the puzzle by developing his own. James Hardisty has converted a 1983 Toyota Hilux into an EV, and he talked us through how he constructed and developed this ute. Despite costing him $80,00 to finish, h...

Lately, a subset of farmers have been refusing to fill in the Agricultural Census, despite it being a legal requirement.  Groundswell is a driving force behind these farmers, as they're united in wanting to protest the Government's emissions tax. Co-founder of Groundswell, Bryce McKenzie, says that he's noticed this protest is having some effect on the Government, as they've extended the Census co...

The Security Association says it'll take a serious incident before security guards are given the powers they need. Security guards can currently only defend themselves, with no powers beyond that. Association Chief Executive Gary Morrison says they want the ability to detain - particularly shop lifters. He says rather than allowing people to leave with goods - if appropriate and safe they'd like t...

Taxpayers are expected to cover at least $55,000 in legal fees following former Speaker Trevor Mallard's trespassing of Winston Peters from Parliament. Winston Peters was the most high-profile name issued a trespass notice for attending the 23 day vaccine mandate protest outside Parliament earlier this year. Barry Soper, ZB's political editor highlighted that Trevor Mallard has cost the taxpayers...

Over in Australia, oil and gas prices are still on the rise, and citizens are feeling the impact. The Federal Government has expressed displeasure at these rising prices, which are set to further affect Australian homes and businesses. According to a recent Government report, oil and gas companies have also been taking advantage of the war in Ukraine impacting production, and have been selling the...

The Black Ferns are set to play in the Women's Rugby World Cup semi-finals, with the action kicking off Saturday November 5th. Ahead of the match, D'Arcy Waldegrave from Sportstalk joined us to talk about the team and some minor tweaks to the lineup. A New Zealand vs England final sounds exciting, but D'Arcy Waldegrave warned that this outcome may not be likely, based on France's track record agai...

A former Auckland local board member is claiming foul play over local body elections. Will McKenzie - who sat on the Albert-Eden Board - claims the postal voting system is failing to protect the integrity of our elections. He says he's heard stories of ballots being taken from other people's letterboxes, filled out and sent in. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Supermarket giant Foodstuffs has put a moratorium on its suppliers, stopping them from changing prices for a minimum of 12 weeks over the Christmas period. Retail consultant Nick Hogendijk has read the documents that show this and he joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Kiwi woman has discovered it's cheaper to do her food shop via an Australian supermarket online and get it shipped over, rather than doing the food shop here. She paid $100 for the groceries in Australia, and $140 dollars for the comparative shop here. She got shipping waived, but if she hadn't, it was only $15 dollars. With us now is Australian retail consultant Nick Hogendijk, who has been fol...

Michael Wood needs to abandon his immigration reset. He is hurting the economy. Look at that unemployment number today. 3.3 percent.   That is above sustainable levels.  We can’t carry on like this. We do not have enough workers to run this country. Fullers has suspended ferries between Auckland and The Coromandel because they don’t have enough staff. AT has cut nearly 1000 bus services in Aucklan...

A report out of the UK shows that an extraordinary sample of surveyed candidates may have jobs as police officers despite having questionable background details.   The report states that 131 working police officers have posted objectionable content to social media,  one officer had domestic abuse charges and one had been accused of sexual assault.  These officers, despite doing things that should...

Dairy NZ is the latest farmer lobby group to take a stand against the Government's He Waka Eke Noa emissions tax scheme.  The group has threatened to pull support from the Government unless changes are made to the climate emissions pricing scheme, believing no deal is better than a bad deal. The Chairperson of Dairy NZ, Jim Van De Poel, clarified that this stance isn't new for them, and that they...