Larry Williams Drive

Scott Robertson has said he’s open to overseas offers. The Crusaders coach is the people’s favourite to replace under-fire All Blacks coach Ian Foster, with Robertson saying his snubbing after the 2019 World Cup taught him to keep his options open. The fallout from Manly’s pride jersey jumper continues. Now former NRL player Frank Puletua has said the Pasifika league community isn’t homophobic and has appealed to those players who refused to wear the jersey ahead of their Friday match. Sportstalk host D’Arcy Waldegrave joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former US President Donald Trump's been back in Washington for the first time since he left the White House. US correspondent Dan Mitchinson told Heather du-Plessis Allan he's been teasing a vision for a run at the presidency in 2024. He suspects Trump to announce he's running over summer, in the absence of any alternatives. “Who on the Republican side is going to step up? He is still the de facto leader of the Republican Party at this point, which is kind of sad.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Belief that interest should be reinstated on student loans to allow learners to borrow more while studying. One economist says because the Government is subsidising the interest costs of student borrowing, it's up against lending constraints. NZ Initiative's Eric Crampton told Heather du Plessis-Allan the zero-percent interest scheme was intended enable greater access to study, but no longer achieves that. “But because students can't sufficiently borrow against a future income, because the Government just can't let everybody borrow as much as they would want to borrow at zero percent, it just shuts people out.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ACT Party is concerned about a new local Government which would require councils consider adding Māori wards or constituencies. Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has introduced a policy which would make it the first priority during their regular representation reviews each six months. David Seymour told Heather du Plessis-Allan the bill doesn't sit right with him. He says councils will feel pressured to implement them even if they don't want to. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Think you’ve got enough subscriptions services already? How about a steady supply of house plants delivered to your door? Kiwi business Plant Baby, the brain child of Sophie Cooper and Siobhan Vermaak sends out a new mystery house plant to clients each month. It’s tapping into the growing trend of house plant enthusiasts which has skyrocketed since the pandemic. Plant Baby co-owner Siobhan Vermaak joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is concern over what support measures are in place for students covering hospital shifts as the nursing shortage compounds. Dunedin Hospital was so desperate on the weekend, it called in 21 students to help out. A mixture of years 1-3 students, as well as Enrolled Nurse graduates responded, and were paid in Countdown vouchers. NZNO's national representative chairperson Jade Power told Heather du Plessis-Allan they're not against what happened. “It was a desperate move because we are in a crisis and I think we were just worried about the support that was in place for these students. But the students were really positive and they wanted to help.” Students were supervised by a registered nurse. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a clever move by Nanaia Mahuta to try to essentially force Māori wards on councils, or at least make it very hard for councils to resist introducing Maori wards. Mahuta has slipped a change into a piece of legislation that will make it mandatory for councils every six years to consider whether they should introduce Maori wards. When they meet for their six-yearly Representation Review, the first step councils must take must be a decision about whether to establish Māori wards or constituencies. That makes it very likely, doesn't it, that a lot of councils will opt to introduce Māori wards. Because if they consider the wards and then actively choose not to introduce them, what are they?  They’re racists. And no one wants to be called a racist so they’ll probably just end up taking the easy option and introducing the Māori wards. Clever politics, Nanaia.  And what’s more, because she popped these changes into an omnibus piece of law with a whole bunch of other boring, technical changes for local electio

Figures show relief teachers are leaving the job in droves. The number of available substitutes has dropped by a third. NZEI president Liam Rutherford told Heather du Plessis-Allan Covid's meant people are searching for more secure employment. “A large part of our reliever workforce is made up of people returning from paternity leave. There’s also an increasing number of people who haven’t found their first full-time job that end up in relieving.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Farrar and Ali Jones joined Heather du Plessis-Allan on The Huddle. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What an own goal from the Manly Sea Eagles.   They’ve just apologized for a “significant mistake”   The rugby league club decided to rebrand its jersey for this week's game by adding some rainbow trim to celebrate inclusiveness and diversity.  But seven players have refused to wear the jersey for religious reasons, which I’m assuming is Christianity.  Three of those players are Kiwis: Josh Aloiai, Toafofoa Sipley and Christian Tuipulotu and they will not play this week's game.  If you have to pick who has done more harm here, either the club for trying to force players to wear a rainbow pride jersey, or the seven players who are refusing to wear it - you’d have to say the club.   Because why did they do this?   Presumably, for their own personal branding.  But they didn’t consult their players first, so what they've ended up doing is revealing a problem we didn’t know existed.  We didn’t know there were seven players with bigoted views in the club.   Now we do.    So, it’s done the opposite of what it was sup

A constitutional law expert is telling the Government to close what he says is a loophole in political donation rules. This is in relation to the high court acquitting two men accused of mishandling $750,000 given to the NZ First Foundation. The judgement found shadow entities, in this case the foundation, are able to bankroll political parties without needing to know where the money is coming from. Justice Jagose contended in his final judgment that the two men had not received the payments directly, but rather as trustees of the foundation and previous fund-raising entities. As a result, he didn’t see their actions as satisfying the charge of “retention of control of the money”. He said there was nothing inherently dishonest about obtaining the money, as they expressly sought to support the party, meaning the defendants could not be found guilty of the deception part of the charge. One of the defendants in this NZ First case has talked to Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive on this; Newstalk ZB has disguised his

Parents are being warned not to use weighted blankets and weighted sleep sacks for babies and young children this winter after two deaths involving them were recorded overseas. Major fundraiser Red Nose Australia has issued a new urgent warning about weighted blankets and sleeping bags, cautioning they could pose a suffocation risk for babies and small children. While the charity recognised the benefits of weighted blankets for adults and older children who require additional support before sleep, Red Nose Australia chief executive Keren Ludski reported that at least two infants overseas have died using models made for adults. Ludski said the deaths, which included a 7-month-old baby in the US, who died after being covered with a weighted blanket which was half his weight, highlighted what could happen if a baby or child cannot remove a blanket if they need to. "When you put a weighted blanket for an adult anywhere near a baby or a child, the risk of something really awful happening is significantly really hi

Auckland Transport's controversial parking strategy has been pushed back until after the local body elections, when there's a risk of it being scrapped. The hot button policy would see AT removing parking spaces across the city for cycleways and bus lanes, and charging at park and ride stations, in a bid to unlock choked roads and reduce congestion. But the Herald can reveal that public feedback has drawn strong opposition and there are also concerns about the level of engagement with Māori. The policy is now in danger because only a slim majority of councillors currently favour rewriting the city's parking rules, and that could change after the polls close on October 8. The parking strategy is one of the biggest transport upheavals undertaken by AT since the Super City was formed in 2010. It works to the principle that kerbside parking is the "lowest priority" on arterial roads and will automatically be removed for cycleways and busways, except under exceptional circumstances. Busy arterial roads like Mt E

Former Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler has taken a swing at central banks all over the world, including our own. He's co-authored a report accusing central banks of overdoing interest rate cuts and quantitive easing. He goes on to say the banks should admit their serious mistakes, which led to increased inflation. Don Brash, a Former Reserve Bank Governor himself, joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Newstalk ZB Political Editor Barry Soper joined Heather du Plessis-Allan as National Leader Christopher Luxon has admitted he took an overseas holiday during Parliament's three-week winter recess - while posts on his Facebook page made it look as though he was visiting regional New Zealand. Soper provided the latest update on the Green Party co-leadership situation as well as legislation having its first debate today that will mean anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, will never be able to purchase tobacco products. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Newstalk ZB Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave joined Heather du Plessis-Allan to shine a bit more light on the Manly Sea Eagles' controversial Pride jerseys. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Isolation rules are causing long Covid for businesses, according to the Auckland Business Chamber. The Chamber says hotels are closed, flights can't depart and there are no busses to get to the ski-fields with so many workers isolating as household contacts. Business Chamber CEO, Michael Barnett joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Finance Minister is staying tight-lipped on whether another extension to fuel tax cuts is on the horizon. The Government pushed out the 25-cent reduction to petrol prices until the end of January, to ease the sting from high inflation. Low road user charges and half-price public transport fares are enjoying a similarly long stay of execution. Grant Robertson told Heather du Plessis-Allan the intention is to stick to that plan - to balance the cost of the lost income. But he says Covid-19 has taught us we must be nimble, flexible and responsive. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our new code of practice to tackle online harm has come under fire. It's been signed by Netsafe, NZ-Tech and the big five tech companies in Meta, Amazon, Ggoogle, TikTok and Ttwitter. But user-advocacy groups are criticising its lack of accountability. Tohatoha CEO Mandy Henk joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick has ruled herself out from running for the party's co-leadership. In a statement posted to Facebook, Swarbrick said there had been a lot of speculation in recent days since co-leader James Shaw was ousted from the position at the Greens' annual conference. "What happened at our AGM was unprecedented and I, like all of our Green MPs, wanted to respect the process and take time to reflect and listen. That reflection will continue in the coming days and weeks. "I am not in the running for the Co-Leadership. Thank you to all of the lovely and kind people who've expressed their confidence in me. I will continue my work as Auckland Central's MP, in my Parliamentary portfolios and on Finance and Expenditure committee." Earlier today Shaw confirmed he would contest the leadership, saying he was quietly confident of being re-elected. "I am in it to win it," Shaw told reporters saying he had spoken to party members and family and had decided to stand again as Green Party co-leader. Shaw made th