Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

The Government is pumping $13 million into growing the local organic medicinal cannabis industry. The Beehive reckons cannabis could become the new wine when it comes to exports. The money is going to Marlborough-based organic cannabis growing company Puro. Puro managing director Tim Aldridge joined Andrew Dickens. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Medical and teaching staff have lost a High Court case against the Government over vaccine mandates. The review was brought to the court by New Zealand Teachers Speaking Out with Science and New Zealand Doctors Speaking Out with Science. But in a reserved decision released on Friday, Justice Cooke determined that the mandates were lawful - deemed a demonstrably justified limit on the right to refu...

President Emmanuel Macron is the clear favorite in France's presidential race, yet a big unknown factor may prove decisive: an unprecedented proportion of people say they are unsure who to vote for or don’t intend to vote at all, bringing a large dose of uncertainty to the election. The pro-European centrist is still comfortably leading 11 other candidates in the polls ahead of Sunday's first-roun...

Residents of Shanghai are struggling to get meat, rice and other food supplies under anti-coronavirus controls that confine most of its 25 million people in their homes, fueling frustration as the government tries to contain a spreading outbreak. People in China's business capital complain online grocers often are sold out. Some received government food packages of meat and vegetables for a few da...

Dan Carter is inching ever closer to that 1598th kick after nearly 24 hours. The All Blacks legend is on track to hit that target, averaging 66 kicks an hour.  Dan Carter joined Andrew Dickens to provide an update on his progress almost 24 hours after he started yesterday. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Warriors are coming home. They’ve been looking forward to coming home for a while and will have an emotional homecoming at Mt Smart Stadium. But this week, NZRL announced a test against Tonga at Mt Smart for July 3, one week before the Warriors’ first home game in two years. Warriors CEO Cameron George joined Andrew Dickens. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Arts Minister says the extended events support scheme will provide the sector with certainty. The Government will underwrite established events up until January 2023 in a bid make sure more events go ahead. Minister Carmel Sepuloni says this is an important step to help keep the arts sector trucking along. “We recognise that there’s some uncertainties for the sector. We want to encourage event...

A word of caution for EV drivers going through Transmission Gully. There are no charging stations or service stations along the 27 kilometre route. AA Motoring Affairs General Manager Simon Douglas told Andrew Dickens because the route is also steep, EV motorists need to be careful when using the new motorway. “Be prepared. I think EV owners will notice that it takes a bit of extra charge to get o...

NATO has agreed to step up efforts to help Australia and New Zealand combat China's growing influence. It came after Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta attended a virtual NATO meeting last night to discuss Russia's invasion into Ukraine. Tensions are rising in the Pacific after the Solomon Islands negotiated a security deal with China. Former ambassador to the United States Tim Groser told Andrew Dick...

America is sending thousands of more weapons to Ukraine. It includes roughly another $100 million worth of weapons, 12,000 anti-armour systems and hundreds of 'suicide drones'. US Correspondent Dan Mitchinson told Andrew Dickens nearly $2 billion worth of assistance has been offered so far. “They gonna continue to back this dark horse here and showing Russia that although Ukraine’s army is smaller...

Researchers in the Dunedin Study say we need to take into account the childhoods of those opposed to the vaccine. This world-famous study found that 13 per cent of their group were resistant to the Covid vaccination. When they dug down deeper, the researchers found that many became distrustful of adults at a very early age and now believe that authority is only there to take advantage of them and...

And so we come to the end of a week where I have barely mentioned Covid. A week where the Director-General of Health has resigned. And he told us he wanted to finish the job, Dr Bloomfield leaves his position in July. With that departure date, you can get no better indication that this phase of the pandemic is coming to an end. Which is not to say some new twist might yet emerge. But let's not go...

It’s no secret that stock markets have been very volatile this year and investors have had a tough time. And now investors in bonds, which are always considered to be safe and conservative, are all over the shop as well. This year, the return from investing in a global government bond is down more than 8 percent on average so far and the return from investing in a global corporate bond is down mor...

Local businesses are being impacted by a proposed new cycleway in Wellington which goes through Newtown up to the Basin Reserve. They say they’ve had virtually no consultation and they aren’t happy about the cycleway as it’ll take away carparks. The businesses in the area have launched their own petition to take to Wellington Council. Four Seasons Florist owner Laura Newcombe joined Andrew Dickens...

Grammy Award-winning songwriter Ed Sheeran won a U.K. copyright battle over his 2017 hit “Shape of You" on Wednesday, then slammed what he described as a “culture" of baseless lawsuits intended to squeeze money out of artists eager to avoid the expense of a trial. The British pop star and his co-writers, Snow Patrol’s John McDaid and producer Steven McCutcheon, had denied allegations that the song...

It’s looking at costing up to $1 million to repair the Parliament lawn after the protests. And it’s not just repairing the lawn as well, as the mess from Parliament has to be tidied up. The lawn has been completely ruined due to being infested with rats and human defecation. The Country host Jamie Mackay joined Andrew Dickens. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicola Willis and Grant Robertson have been interviewed for the NZ Herald. Inflation was the big issue that was brought up in the interviews. With tackling inflation, their approaches aren’t actually that much different but are dressed differently. NZ Herald Business Editor at Large Liam Dann joined Andrew Dickens. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you’re in KiwiSaver, chances are part of the appeal of signing up is that you get a regular financial contribution to your retirement from your employer. So it’s come as a bit of a shock that depending on your contract, that employer contribution may be coming out of your pay packet. Current law allows this under a total remuneration clause in employment contracts, and Consumer NZ says this is...

The Greens want an immediate rent freeze and rent controls for the future. Co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, but Ardern said the plan wouldn’t work. Davidson said that she would still push for the plan to become law. Meanwhile, the Dairy and Business Owners Group have called the resignations of Police Minister Poto Williams and Justice...

A woman in Whakatane has been going around town with a tattoo on her ankle of Tammy Wells aka the Briscoes Lady. With the portrait of Wells is a picture of a toaster saying 40 percent of and a quote underneath saying “You’ll Never Buy Better”. The woman who has the tattoo is Radio 1XX breakfast host LJ Dobbins. LJ Dobbins joined Andrew Dickens. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

Marama Davidson hasn't been deterred by the Prime Minister shooting down her rent control policy. The Greens co-leader wrote an open letter to Jacinda Ardern calling for the policy to be adopted. Ardern poured cold water on the plan saying it wouldn't work. But Davidson told Andrew Dickens she'll still push for the plan to become law. “Obviously we don’t have the full housing and economic leaders...

The Greens have sent an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for rent freezes. Co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson based this on a November 2021 report by the Ministry of Social Development which found that more than 60 percent of low-income renters were spending more than 40 percent of income on rent in 2018. Meanwhile, it’s been revealed that the police are taking too long in respondi...

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta will take part in a virtual NATO meeting overnight to discuss the response to Russia's invasion into Ukraine. Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says it's not the first time we've been asked to take part in a NATO meeting. She told Andre Dickens she attended a meeting in 2007 when we were involved in the international mission in Afghanistan. Clark suspects we'll large...

The Dairy and Business Owners Group are calling for resignations from the Ministers of Police and Justice Ministers. Police call-out response times have more than tripled in some regions over the past five years. In Auckland, the average wait time has ballooned from less than half an hour to almost two hours. Chair Sunny Kaushal told Andrew Dickens both ministers have failed miserably and aren't t...

If you thought yesterday's rainfall in Sydney was heavy, welcome to Thursday. By 9am, the city had reached its average total of rainfall for an entire year - a whole nine months ahead of schedule. More than 1214mm of rain has already fallen on the city, with even more set to come. Major Flood warnings Nepean and Georges rivers. Torrential rain and flash flooding today ##Sydney and #Illawarra. Sydn...