Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Punted Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan has spoken of deep-rooted issues in the sport across the Tasman. It comes less than 48 hours after he was given his marching orders from the organisation's board, as the World Cup failure, appointment of Eddie Jones and a centralisation push came to a head. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explains further. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener f...

Again, it's looking pretty positive on the formation of Government today. Here's the update for the day- The policy work is now actually done, all three parties have now reached agreement on the policy agenda for the next three years. This seems like a minor step forward from yesterday, because yesterday ACT and NZ First had reached agreement with National. Today, ACT and NZ First have signed off...

Reports British police have interviewed comedian Russell Brand about alleged sexual offences. The Sunday Times and BBC claim the 48 year old was grilled at a London police station last week. Metropolitan Police say a man in his 40s attended a south London police station, under caution, in relation to three non-recent sexual offences. UK correspondent Gavin Grey says it's likely authorities will pr...

Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and current affairs commentator Josie Pagani joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more! National's Chris Luxon says his coalition partners have made a breakthrough in post-election negotiations, but Winston Peters isn't on the same page. Who is trying to strongarm who in these discussions? Labour leader Chr...

APEC leaders agreed on a reform of the World Trade Organisation- but many were divided on several other key issues. The ongoing conflict in Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine war divided leaders across the Pacific Rim during the two-day summit. NZME business commentator Fran O'Sullivan recapped the highlights of the event. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris Luxon says he and his soon-to-be coalition partners have achieved a milestone in Government-forming negotiations. The incoming Prime Minister says the policy element of talks with ACT and New Zealand First concluded last night. Luxon says the last remaining step is formalising Cabinet positions - but the end is in sight. ZB political editor Jason Walls says NZ First and ACT still need to app...

Kiwisaver advisors are urging New Zealanders to care about where they put their retirement funds. National Capital's latest Value for Money report finds the difference between top and bottom-performing funds can be as much as 2.55 percent, or $88,000 by the time of retirement. Director and KiwiSaver advisor Clive Fernandes says it's import for Kiwis to consider several key factors before they dete...

National is celebrating a breakthrough in negotiations, claiming they've agreed to policy deals with NZ First and ACT. Despite what he called significant progress, Luxon wouldn’t say whether it was likely a Government could be formed by the end of the week. Finance Minister-elect Nicola Willis says all three parties still need to sign off on a final deal before the new Government is formed. "We're...

A $1.5 million project is underway to revert Rangiora High School's modern open learning space to single cell classrooms. Its giant classroom fitting 500 students opened in 2017 but was found difficult to work in, due to noise, visual distractions, and fluctuating temperatures. Principal Bruce Kearney says they're determined the open structure doesn't suit their vision for the school. "A lot of pe...

Iwi groups are proposing renaming the Hutt Valley suburb Petone as Pito-one. The bid to change the spelling and pronunciation is going before the City Council tomorrow, before eventually being seen by the Geographic Board. Pito-one is the original name, which was switched by colonial settlers. Palmerston North Maori Reserve Trust Chair Liz Mellish says many places in the area already use the old s...

National says Labour leader Chris Hipkins' call for a ceasefire in Gaza was a surprise. Hipkins yesterday said he believes Israel's Defence Force's response has been disproportionate and indiscriminate. National's Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, Gerry Brownlee, says calling for a ceasefire has no point if both sides aren't willing to cooperate. Brownlee says National backs negotiating efforts from p...

ACT's David Seymour says he's no longer gambling on when coalition negotiations will wrap up. Prime Minister-elect Chris Luxon today announced the three parties have reached an agreement on policy. But the leaders of ACT and New Zealand First say they're not all the way there just yet. Seymour says he's closed his account at the TAB - given last week he wrongly predicted a deal was just days away....

Australia have won the Cricket World Cup for a sixth time, chasing 241 to beat India by six wickets with seven overs to spare in Ahmedabad. Man-of-the-match Travis Head made 137 off 120 balls. ZB sports commentator Elliott Smith recaps this victory. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The boss of Australian telecommunications company Optus has resigned after a nationwide outage affected millions. CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin quit after a senate grilling last week. She'll be replaced by the Chief Financial Officer. A major cyber attack last year - also under her tenure - compromised personal documents of two million customers. Australia correspondent Oliver Peterson says her handlin...

Warnings malls will only get busier, after shoppers at Westfield Newmarket were trapped inside the carpark for hours on Saturday afternoon. The Auckland shopping centre is apologising to customers left sitting in queues to get out for at least three hours. Newmarket Business Association's Mark Knoff-Thomas says demand will only rise the closer we get to Christmas, with Black Friday likely to be th...

A survey of our 200 largest and fastest growing tech exporters shows the sector is booming. Revenue for the so-called TIN 200 increased 11.8 percent to $17 billion in the past year. Current Managing Director at TIN, Greg Shanahan, told Heather Du Plessis-Allan that “the sector is reaching maturity, and the number of large companies is growing dramatically”.     LISTEN ABOVE     See omnystudio.com/...

The Auditor General has slammed the public service after looking at how tax payer money is spent. He's found a lot of them don't measure whether the money they're spending is making a difference. Performance measures for the Education Ministry include how many times the website is visited. Former Work and Income boss Christine Rankin told Heather du-Plessis Allan the timing of this is evident.   L...

An Auckland Doctor has been found to have committed professional misconduct after writing thousands of prescriptions for ADHD medication without specialist approval.  Dr Tony Hanne argued that he saw a need to prescribe the medication to help people with the diagnosis.  Heather Du Plessis-Allan spoke to Clinical Psychologist Dougal Southerland who said although he agrees there are negative consequ...

The Act Party Leader says we are still days, not hours, away from a government arrangement. Today marks two weeks since the official vote count, and party leaders say they're getting close to a final deal but negotiations are expected to remain in Auckland over the coming days. Winston Peters earlier said the finish line was closer than people thought, but David Seymour told Heather du Plessis All...

Signs Winston Peters is pleased with today's progress in government-forming talks. Party leaders say they're getting close to a final deal but negotiations are expected to continue in Auckland over the weekend. Peters earlier emerged from a two-and-a-half hour meeting with Luxon. Political Editor Jason Walls told Heather du Plessis Allan he was chipper.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener f...

Rishi Sunak is determined to push through emergency legislation to resurrect his plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. The UK's Supreme Court had previously ruled this proposal was unlawful in a unanimous rejection. UK correspondent Enda Brady says Rishi Sunak outlined his next steps to push the legislation through before Christmas. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

Tonight on The Huddle, Nick Mills from ZB's Wellington Mornings and Auckland Councillor Richard Hills joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more! The three main parties have stayed quiet about the details of their coalition negations, but some National MPs have said they're close to forming a Government. What do we think of this? Are we over the waiting period?  Auck...

There's been a significant upswing in global equity markets in the past couple of weeks. The Nasdaq is up by 12 percent, the US Equities Market is up by 10 percent, Europe's markets are up by 6 percent, and even China is reporting an increase. Fisher Funds expert Sam Dickie explains this current burst of optimism, and what to expect from 2024. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...

Alliance Group this week announced a significant loss for the 2023 financial year. The co-operative lost over $70 million, as geo-political tensions, inflationary pressures and weakening global markets continued to affect the red meat sector. The Country's Jamie Mackay says the current volatile market has created extra pressure for the struggling sector. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener fo...

New data from REINZ showed the New Zealand housing market cooled in October. Prices declined 2 percent nationally on a seasonally adjusted basis, in the first monthly reduction in house prices since April. NZ Herald business editor at large Liam Dann says prospective buyers are feeling less optimistic as interest rates continue to soar. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...