Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

The Black Ferns Sevens pipped by Australia in the final of the Canadian World Tour stop today.  Lydia Ko gives an interesting explanation as to why she was a little off her game at her most recent LPGA event.  Sports commentator Phil Gifford joined Heather du Plessis-Allan.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

No surprise. We weren’t imagining it last week.  A wealth tax from Labour is definitely on the cards.  We now know this because the Prime Minister was given plenty of opportunity to rule it out this morning but refused to.  Do you need any more proof?  You’ve got David Parker dedicating $5m to investigating how much tax the wealthy pay in New Zealand. You’ve got him giving a speech on it last week...

The premier of the British Virgin Islands and the director of the Caribbean territory’s ports were arrested Thursday on drug smuggling charges in South Florida, federal authorities said. Premier Andrew Alturo Fahie and Managing Director Oleanvine Maynard were taken into custody by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents at Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport and charged with conspiracy to import...

Big hype this week about Costco, the world’s largest retailer after Walmart, opening one petrol station in Auckland’s northwest. The retailer is expected to open its big warehouse later this year, including groceries, a tyre centre, a pharmacy, a food court, and an optical and hearing aid centre So the big question is will Costco bring the gull effect to the supermarket duopoly? Costco managing di...

The merger between Orcon Group (aka Vocus NZ) and 2degrees has cleared its final hurdle after the Overseas Investment Office granted consent. The deal earlier gained Commerce Commission, GCSB and shareholder approvals. Orcon Group chief executive Mark Callander, who will lead the merged business, said: "We expect the transaction to be finalised in the coming weeks and will come together as a combi...

Auckland's mayor says the Government's Three Waters model still doesn't stack up for the city. The Government's today confirmed its ploughing ahead with reforms including a public shareholding model. Co-governance is also in the mix at a regional level with each area getting a council and mana whenua chair. Phil Goff told Heather du Plessis-Allan even with the changes, the structure does not refle...

The Warriors suffered a record embarrassment over Anzac weekend. Their 70-10 defeat to the Melbourne Storm was their record defeat, with injuries compounding onto the team’s misery. Tyson Fury has confirmed his retirement from boxing. Fury retires with an unbeaten record and intends on being a family man. Some discussion over Super Rugby players should be personally fined for poor discipline. It c...

Car dealers say mistakes in the Clean Car Scheme emissions data is costing $100,000 and altering market behaviour. Dealers have been warning for weeks the fees or the rebates the scheme calculates based on the vehicle's emissions is sometimes completely wrong. But Waka Kotahi doesn't believe there is an issue. Online Motor Group's Paul Carruthers told Heather du Plessis-Allan the issue is the Righ...

Oranga Tamariki says youth crime is not on the rise. Children as young as seven have been involved in the spate of ram raids across the North Island in the past week. There's been another raid in east Auckland early this morning, but it's unclear how old the perpetrators are. Oranga Tamariki Director for Youth Justice Strategy Ben Hannifin told Heather Du Plessis Allan crimes like this are cyclica...

While the cost of living continues to rise, so does the cost of death. Funeral directors around the country are calling on the Government to increase funeral grants for low-income families in this year’s budget. The Funeral Directors Association's Gillian Boyes told Heather du Plessis Allan the grant is currently $2300 but is proposing to increase that to the maximum amount of $6300. “So what we s...

A triumph of spin over substance. That's Act Leader David Seymour's take on the Government Three Waters announcement today. They're forging ahead with the plan to create four publicly-owned water entities and have accepted nearly all recommendations from the independent working group. The shake-up includes a public shareholding model and a council and mana whenua chair for each region. Seymour tol...

The Government is officially pushing on with its Maori co-governance plan for water. Grant Robertson and Nanaia Mahuta today announced that they’re making some changes to the plan reform but they’re refusing to ditch their sacred cow of co-governance. Iwi, under the plan as it stands, will still have 50 percent control in appointing water governance boards. The longer this goes on, the more the Go...

The Auditor-General is to launch an inquiry into how mental health and addiction services are working for young people. It comes after National's mental health spokesman Matt Doocey wrote to the Auditor-General, Parliament's independent spending watchdog, to look at the $1.9 billion for mental health allocated in the 2019 Budget. The Auditor-General normally looks at whether laws might have been b...

Moderna is seeking to be the first to offer COVID-19 vaccine for the youngest American children, as it asked the Food and Drug Administration Thursday to clear low-dose shots for babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Frustrated families are waiting impatiently for a chance to protect the nation’s littlest kids as all around them people shed masks and other public health precautions -- even though hig...

The Government could cut the number of pokie machines in pubs and make remaining machines less appealing. Consultation on possible reforms closed yesterday and minister in charge Jan Tinetti wants to implement recommendations by the end of the year. Gaming Machine Association chair Peter Dengate-Thrush told Heather du Plessis-Allan says there's better ways of dealing with problem gamblers. “We don...

It's reporting season, and a few big US tech companies have got involved. After Netflix’s stocks dropped to 45 percent last week, expectations have been low. Microsoft and Meta maintained just profit guidance, but the shares are up 6 and 7 percent respectively. Fisher Funds Senior Portfolio Manager Sam Dickie joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...

A big upset for the hospitality sector. A multi-million dollar deal to buy Nourish Group has fallen over because overseas investors couldn’t easily travel to New Zealand and are concerned about future pandemic restrictions. Nourish Group owns a number of well-known hospitality businesses around the country, including Soul Bar in Auckland and Shed 5 in Wellington. The deal would’ve been worth more...

Winter grazing rules have changed. One of the rules concerning re-sowing crop paddocks has been changed from November 1 to as soon as possible. A lot of the regulations were due to come in May 1 last year, but were moved to May 1 this year and then again to November 1. The Country Host Rowena Duncum joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ANZ’s latest Business Confidence Survey is suggesting we’re going to face more inflationary pressure still. Unsurprisingly, confidence overall is down and there are concerns over rising inflation. Activity expectations has picked up and the rate of acceleration of cost increases is slowing. NZ Herald Business Editor at Large Liam Dann joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.co...

Despite warnings that New Zealand needs to diversify, the country’s dependence on China has grown over the past four years. Almost 33 percent of all of our international exports are sent to China. That’s an increase from four years ago when it was 25 percent. New Zealand China Council Chair John McKinnon joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

Companies using the Reader’s Digest Most Trusted logo in their branding are being charged for it. Reader’s Digest Managing Editor Zoe Meunier says brands aren’t being trusted to be a part of the survey. Two ram raids took place overnight in Auckland and Hamilton. In Hamilton, a group of children aged 12, 11, 10 and 7 were all caught attempting to steal from a shopping centre in Hamilton, while wou...

Assurances the door is still open for a controversial bill which would boost Maori seats in Rotorua. The local bill would allow an equal number of Maori and general seats - granting both sides three sets a piece. But an Attorney-General report earlier this week dubbed the bill in its current form is discriminatory. Progress on the bill has been halted. Rotorua Mayor Steve Chadwick told Heather du...

Companies using the Reader's Digest Most Trusted logo in their branding have to pay for it. Reader's Digest Managing Editor Zoe Meunier told Heather du Plessis Allan the payment is for the Trust mark - but brands aren't charged to be part of the survey. She says with the rise of an e-commerce based environment, customers are looking for trust signals to help their purchasing. “There’s things like...

The Police Minister says young offenders committing crimes and posting them on social media hasn't been seen before. There were another two in Auckland and Hamilton overnight. In Hamilton, a group of children aged 12, 11, 10 and 7 were all caught attempting to steal from a shopping centre at 1 am. In Auckland, would-be thieves smashed through a glass door at Sylvia Park at around 3 am in an attemp...

Scott Morrison has insisted he’s not worried about the prospect of an interest rate rise next week during the election campaign, maintaining it’s a matter for the Reserve Bank. Traditionally, the RBA rarely hikes rates during election campaigns because it doesn’t want the issue to become a political football and it wants to remain independent. If the RBA chooses to hike rates it will be the first...