Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

A new prediction on where house prices could end up. Jarden is forecasting prices will fall by 18 percent by the end of next year from a national average of $905,000 to $740,000. Research analyst Grant Swanepoel told Heather du Plessis-Allan if people are going to freak out about this, they should have freaked out when prices shot up. “House prices back in November 2019, so a few months before the...

A broken truce has led to the latest spate of gang violence across Auckland. More than two dozen charges have been laid and 19 people have been arrested thus far as investigations continue into a series of firearms incidents and suspicious fires last month. Those arrested are affiliated to the Killer Beez and Tribesmen gangs. South Auckland councillor Alf Filipaina told Heather du Plessis-Allan he...

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta and the Chinese ambassador have offered differing accounts of a meeting and discussion of a Joint Statement with the United States that drew the wrath of Beijing. Mahuta and Chinese Ambassador Wang Xiaolong met on Thursday. It was the first meeting for the pair since Xiaolong started the role in December. The meeting came amid a week of heightened geopolitical tensio...

Wellington Council is looking at lowering the speed limit for 80 percent of the cities roads to 30 kilometres an hour. Councillors will meet to discuss a speed management plan next week. Council environment and planning committee chair Iona Pannett told Heather du Plessis-Allan it doesn't include the small rural network or roads owned by the transport authority. She says it's most of the city incl...

US President Joe Biden delivered an impassioned plea to Congress to take action against gun violence in an address to the nation Thursday (Friday NZT), calling on lawmakers to restore a ban on the sale of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines after a string of mass shootings. If legislators fail to act, he warned, voters should use their "outrage" to turn gun violence into a central is...

Christchurch Council needs to bite the bullet and sign off on that stadium.  There is little point in going out for public consultation on it.  A budget blow-out of $150m is pretty extreme but the stadium is hardly going to get much cheaper.  That stadium will only get more expensive to build.  If the public or the council says no, they'll only have to come back to this very decision in another te...

What’s planned for the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations?  Ukraine are one match away from the World Cup qualification after beating Scotland.  UK correspondent Enda Brady joined Heather du plessis-Allan.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A2 milk's currently trying to join the race to patch up the infant formula shortage in the US.  This comes after some challenging conditions in its main market of China for A2 of late with birth rates dropping and strict pandemic restrictions.   So, what does all this mean for investors?  Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds joined Heather du Plessis-Allan.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...

How are farmers feeling?  There's concern over restrictions for the red meat sector at trade talks between NZ and the EU.  We've got a gold medal winner at the Outstanding Food Producers Awards.  Host of the Country Jamie Mackay joined Heather du Plessis-Allan.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Forget about inflation... BNZ has this week raised the risk of stagflation.   The latest ANZ Business Outlook Survey proved business is feeling a bit downbeat, in particular the construction sector is beginning to struggle with rising costs.  Liam Dann, NZ Herald business editor at large, joined Heather du Plessis-Allan.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Green Party says it's surprised by the joint US–NZ defence statement.  The statement says security and defence will become an ever-more important focus between the two countries.   The Green's Global Affairs spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman says the Government needs to properly explain to the public what this commitment involves.   Golriz Ghahraman and defence analyst Paul Buchanan joined Heather...

The crazy story of a $12 parking ticket that blew into a legal battle that cost more than $100k.   Is Joe Biden creepy for putting his arm around Jacinda Ardern?  Provincial rugby unions have overwhelmingly voted in favour of a $200 million dollar deal with Silver Lake.   China has hit back at NZ and the US over its strongly-worded statement after the PM's White House visit.  Johnny Depp has won h...

While the Queen is celebrating her big Platinum Jubilee this week, Australia has appointed its first Assistant Minister for the Republic.   Matt Thistlethwaite will oversee Australia's transition to a republic and says he's doing the work now so that the country is ready to go when Prime Minister Albanese gets re-elected for a second term.   Peter Fitzsimons, chairman of the Australian Republic Mo...

A photo has done the rounds on Twitter of Joe Biden with his arm around Jacinda Ardern's waist while looking at portraits in The White House.   It's got our newsroom wondering if this is a bit weird, a gender thing or maybe a generational difference?   Body language expert Michael Kelly joined Heather du Plessis-Allan.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some surprise at the quick conclusion to the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial.   A jury found Heard defamed Depp by claiming he abused her – awarding Depp more than 23 million New Zealand dollars in damages.   It's found Heard was also defamed and awarded three million.   LA correspondent Sean Mandell told Heather du Plessis Allan the jury didn't muck around.  “That may not be surprising only bec...

New Zealand Rugby's Silver Lake deal has been approved.  NZR, the Provincial Unions, the Players' Association and Silver Lake have now all agreed to the terms of the deal.  The global technology firm will invest 200 million dollars in exchange for 5–8% of NZR's revenue generating activities.  Mark Robinson, chief executive of NZR, joined Heather du Plessis-Allan.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/l...

China has rebuked New Zealand for NZ-US concerns over Pacific.  TVNZ – more details are coming to light.  The Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis has stepped in on the issue of Prison riot squads.  Political reporter Aaron Dahmen joined Heather du Plessis-Allan.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is the gas trigger and why are reporters asking the new treasurer if he's going to pull it?  Australia now has an assistant minister for the Republic, and he's already got the monarchists in a tizz.  Australia signs a deal with Samoa.  Australian correspondent Murray Olds joined Heather du Plessis-Allan.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Silver Lake deal has gone through.  Black Caps v England starts tonight – have they sold any tickets yet?  D’Arcy Waldegrave, host of Sportstalk, joined Heather du Plessis-Allan.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Police maintain they're working hard to curb Auckland's gang violence, which has been boiling over in recent weeks.   There have been another three shootings in the past 24 hours – including a man being injured in a case of mistaken identity.  Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told Heather du Plessis-Allan it's disappointing.  “We know that gang tensions come and go and, unfortunately, in this one...

UK PM’s standards adviser says there is a "legitimate question" over whether the PM broke the ministerial code after getting fined for Partygate. He could be expected to resign.  The first flight to Rwanda carrying migrants who cross the English Channel is set to leave in two weeks' time on 14 June.  Spanish firms face fines if they fail to answer the phone to customers within three minutes. The G...

2degrees and Vocus have officially launched their new operation... After Vocus bought 2degrees for 1.7 billion dollars.   To celebrate, the company is giving away a total of $222,000 dollars to every baby in the country that's born today.   The "new" 2degrees is headed by Mark Callander.  He joined Heather du Plessis-Allan.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I suspect we might come to regret the changes that are about to be made to Pharmac. As a result of the review of Pharmac out today, the Government is about to change something quite fundamental about Pharmac.  Up till now, Pharmac has tried to get the best health outcomes from available funding which essentially means trying to help as many Kiwis as possible with the limited money it has.  So, let...

Recently a poor profit report from US giant retailer Walmart sent the shares plunging nearly 20% over 2 days. Is this a Walmart specific issue or should we be concerned about the state of the US consumer?  Despite high inflation and rising cost of energy can we be confident that the US consumer is holding up ok? What can we learn from Walmart and other company results recently?  It sounds like the...

Two housing reports out today, both showing national house values dropped 0.9 per cent in the last quarter.   OneRoof-Velocity and CoreLogic say main centres had the largest drops – CoreLogic's Wellington data being the steepest at a 4 per cent decline.   Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen joined Heather du Plessis-Allan.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.