The Front Page

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the changing nature of trade, and how it impacts New Zealand. Hosted by Frances Cook. The world trade environment has profoundly changed over the past few years, as world superpowers the United States and United Kingdom both retreat into protectionism. It's not just abo...

The protests in Hong Kong have now been going for more than 100 days, and it seems neither side is willing to give up. It started with plans to allow extraditions to mainland China, but has now grown into a wider movement questioning the entire relationship between Hong Kong and the mainland. Herald reporter Keith Ng has been on the ground in Hong Kong, and joined me on the Front Page to talk abou...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the Covering Climate Now campaign, and the groundswell of urgency. Hosted by Frances Cook. Climate change is an issue that's being treated with increasing urgency, as voters take up the cause, and politicians take notice. Data from the Pew Research Centre shows that int...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the troubling details of foreign political donations. Hosted by Frances Cook. Serious questions are being raised about political donations and whether they're leaving us open to foreign interference. A Herald investigation has found former trade minister Todd McClay hel...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's where to draw the line when holding politicians to account. Hosted by Frances Cook. Australian radio host Alan Jones practically caused a trans-Tasman diplomatic incident after saying on air that our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern needed a sock shoved "down her throat",...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the worrying financials of Fonterra, and what it means for our farmers. Hosted by Frances Cook. Fonterra's numbers aren't looking good, with the dairy giant saying it expects a full-year loss of $675 million. It's the second annual loss in a row, and comes when Federate...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the increasing numbers of highly wealthy people, and the problem of how to tax them. Hosted by Frances Cook. The number of super-rich in New Zealand has increased by 75 per cent in the past five years. That means 350 people here are worth more than $50 million. But with...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's how a lack of money is causing serious health problems. Hosted by Frances Cook. Major problems are bubbling up in our health system, and the root cause always seems to come back to a lack of resources and money. We've seen it within the last week, where a series of Hera...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the disturbing stories coming out about Oranga Tamariki. Hosted by Frances Cook. Four inquiries are under way into Oranga Tamariki, the organisation that is supposed to keep vulnerable children safe from harm. There was video of a highly distressing baby uplift, and sin...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the government changes aimed at getting you into a greener car. Hosted by Frances Cook. This podcast was first available a week earlier, to Herald Premium subscribers. The Government is making green cars cheaper, and the big polluters more expensive. It's only for newly...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the plastic bag ban, and what really needs to happen to protect our environment. Hosted by Frances Cook. Single use plastic bags are now banned, as the Government tries to crack down on pointless waste in our lives. It's surely one of the smaller changes we'll need to m...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's how ANZ got into trouble, and how worried we should be about it. Hosted by Frances Cook. ANZ is in hot water lately, with its CEO departing under a cloud. There are questions over how much he enjoyed perks he wasn't entitled to, like filing expenses for wine storage and...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the mood for change in transport, and whether it will actually happen. Hosted by Frances Cook. Emotions run hot over traffic in this country, and it's no wonder when you see how frustrating our transport systems can be. Well the debate is now wide open again, as the Gov...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's whether we can trust polls any more. Hosted by Frances Cook. People love to rag on political polls, and for the latest lot, they might actually have a point. Newshub and 1 News released polls on the same night that showed drastically different results. One where Labour...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's what you need to know about changes in our housing market around the country. Hosted by Frances Cook. If you've paid the slightest attention to the news over the past few years, you will have noticed house prices shooting up - causing happiness for those who already own...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the rising fear we're not doing enough to save our planet. Hosted by Frances Cook. Eco-anxiety is on the rise, with a growing sense that we're not doing enough to look after our environment and fight the looming threat of climate change. People are dealing with it in di...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the movement to tackle our entrenched domestic violence problem. Hosted by Frances Cook. Every year one million New Zealanders are affected by family or sexual violence. It's a shocking number, and one that both the Government and private groups seem determined to bring...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's what needs to come next, after the Christchurch Call to Action summit in Paris. Hosted by Frances Cook. The world was shocked when a gunman went on a rampage in Christchurch, weaponising social media to livestream gunning down innocent people. Now world powers are decid...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the second wave of meth swamping New Zealand communities. Hosted by Frances Cook. New Zealand has been fighting meth for 20 years, and yet it's now more available than ever. A new documentary from the NZ Herald talks to drug users, drug dealers, police and rehabilitatio...

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the shocking rise of amputations caused by diabetes. Hosted by Frances Cook. In New Zealand, a first-world country, people are losing limbs when they don't need to. They are suffering from diabetes, and a medical system overwhelmed with patients isn't able to keep up. C...

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A sweeping audit has revealed our environment is under attack from virtually every direction – with climate change now also adding to the pressure. The Government's Environment Aotearoa 2019 report gives a largely bleak stocktake of our natural heritage. Problems range from polluted waterways in farming areas and our myriad under-threat species, to our dismally high per-capita emissions and the em...

There will be no capital gains tax. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says Cabinet could not reach a consensus. She says she still believes such a tax would have made a difference, but a Government that reflects the majority of New Zealanders has not been able to find support for this proposal. Ardern says the Labour Party has campaigned on this for three elections, but it's now off the table. She has...

The growing number of New Zealanders who do not own their homes are in for a tough retirement. That's according to a study out of the University of Otago that argues for a revamp of NZ Super to better protect Kiwis who will still be paying a mortgage when they stop working. Data from the Commission for Financial Capability says that while today 70 per cent of people over 65 are mortgage-free, anot...

A New Zealand nurse has been held captive by Islamic state for almost six years - but until now, it was kept secret. Louisa Akavi's identity was kept under wraps until today because of fears it would put her life in danger. The 62-year-old nurse was named in the New York Times today with confirmation from the International Committee of the Red Cross. It effectively ends a five and a half year agre...