Larry Williams Drive

New Zealand exported a record $3.1 billion worth of kiwifruit in the year to August, a 20 percent lift on the previous season. The figure was largely made up of gold kiwifruit, jumping 24 percent on the previous year to a value of $2.4 billion. Zespri Head of Global Public Affairs Michael Fox says this is great news for growers and businesses. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Monday, 23 September 2024, Philip Polkinghorne has been found not guilty of murdering his wife Pauline Hanna. NZ Herald journalist Michael Morrah tells Heather what Polkinghorne told reporters outside court and what his mistress has had to say. Finance Minister Nicola Willis explains why she's issued a notice to public servants to stop working from home and come back to the office. Plus, the Huddle debates Tory Whanau's car crash Q&A interview and the confusing question of whether or not she sold her car to help pay for the bills. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fletcher Building is looking to put its problems in the past, as it aims to raise an extra $700 million. The construction giant plans to issue $292 million in new shares for investors, to cut into its $1.8 billion debt. Fletcher Building has announced a group net loss of $227 million last month. Harbour Asset Management's Shane Solly says this is part of the company's bid to reduce additional losses.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and Josie Pagani from Child Fund joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! Wellington mayor Tory Whanau's in hot water after she got caught flip-flopping on whether she sold her car to pay the bills. What's going on here? Is this a bad look?  The Government has put the hard word on public servants and urged them to stop working from home and go back to the office. Is this a good call?  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Public Service Minister has put the hard word on Government departments and urged them to call their staff back to the office. She says there are performance downsides to working-from-home arrangements - and harmful impacts on local businesses. Willis says these changes will begin with public service departments updating their remote working rules. "Then we can compare one agency with another - that's when we can really take a close look at whether this is working the way people would expect. Because if everyone's taking Fridays off, we're going to have some questions." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's further calls for Government intervention in Wellington City Council after a rough TV interview from the mayor. Tory Whanau has faced criticism following a Q&A interview where she backtracked on why she sold her car, contradicted herself, and got confused on questions. Local councillor Diane Calvert has been calling for a Crown facilitator on the council. She now says people have lost trust in the council. "A lot of people have rung me, texted me, or stopped me in the street - we're really sad about what's happening in our city. It needs some leadership and it's not there." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's ordering public servants back to the office, with a crackdown on working from home. Public Service Minister Nicola Willis has outlined new expectations for agency bosses to make flexible working an agreement, not an entitlement. She says there are performance downsides to such arrangements - and impacts on local businesses. Public Service Association national secretary Duane Leo says the Government's blaming public servants for a problem of its own making. "If the Government really cared about the Wellington economy, why did they sack thousands of public servants this year? That's one of the issues that the Wellington economy is struggling with at the moment." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gasps from the public gallery as Philip Polkinghorne was declared not guilty of murdering his wife Pauline Hanna in 2021 - nor of manslaughter. He's been discharged, but will be back in court in November for sentencing on meth possession charges. NZ Herald reporter Michael Morrah was in court. He says it was very tense as the verdict was announced. "Some people in the public gallery were in tears, Polkinghorne himself just stood still, head down - and was pretty much expressionless when that verdict of 'not guilty' was read out." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Working from home is not an entitlement, it's an agreement. That's the Prime Minister's message to public servants today, claiming routines begun during Covid - now risk undermining performance. From now on, it'll only be agreed when Working from Home doesn't compromise agency objectives. ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says more data is needed regarding the benefits and drawbacks of flexible working arrangements. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia's leading supermarket giants are set to face court after allegedly misleading consumers through fake discounts. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission claims Coles and Woolworths bumped prices of products by 15 percent for brief periods before selling them at a discount. Australian correspondent Oliver Peterson says the supermarkets can expect to face fines and additional penalties over these misleading discounts.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's belief New Zealand wouldn't have been involved in a bribe to free Kiwi Philip Mehrtens. The pilot was released last Saturday after 19-and-a-half months of captivity in West Papua. RNZ has reported the West Papua National Liberation Army claims it was paid a bribe, but Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says that's entirely unsubstantiated.. West Papua Action Aotearoa spokesperson Catherine Delahunty says no one thinks New Zealand paid it. "I think if a bribe happened, it happened between local people within the area of West Papua." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So after eight weeks in court, and more than three years of living under suspicion - Philip Polkinghorne is not guilty. This verdict today will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone who's been following this trial closely. The Crown simply did not have a good case, at no point, really, was it actually convincing. But when it came to closing arguments last week, it became really obvious how weak the case against him was. The best piece of evidence they had, according to them, was that Pauline Hanna had told someone one time that he tried to strangle her about a year before she died. That was the best they did - that's not much, is it? So, no surprise it took the jury only 10 hours to decide to find him not guilty. I don't know where this leaves Philip Polkinghorne, because the jury made it clear today with that questions to the judge that most of them don't think Pauline Hanna killed herself.  But some didn’t think there was enough evidence against Philip Polkinghorne. And after 8 weeks of his intimate deta

Listen to the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Friday 20 September. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former Harrods owner Mohamed al-Fayed has been accused of raping and sexually assaulting a string of women employed by the department store. Five women have accused him of rape and an additional 20 have claimed he sexually assaulted them. UK correspondent Gavin Grey says al-Fayed would identify and target young, female assistants before isolating and assaulting them. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The US Federal Reserve surprised economists with its first interest rate cut in four years. Rates have gone down by 0.5 percent to about 4.8 percent - a significant shift after two years of high rates designed to tame inflation. Fisher Funds expert Sam Dickie says the markets responded well to this move after pricing in potential cuts.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two key players looking to help Kiwi farmers reduce their emissions have given a new company some additional funding to craft a methane vaccine. AgriZeroNZ and the New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre are providing $13.5 million ($8.5M and $5M respectively) to Lucidome Bio to fund their research. The Country's Jamie Mackay explains what this move could mean for farmers. LISTEN ABOVE    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Experts say today's GDP figures paint a dire picture of our economy - and it's unlikely things will recover right away. New data shows GDP dropped 0.2 percent in the second quarter of 2024. NZ Herald business editor at large Liam Dann explains why the economy is unlikely to recover in the coming months. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, Ali Jones from Red PR and Early Edition host Ryan Bridge joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!  A group of Wellington taxi drivers have been suspended from the airport ranks after they used the parents' room to heat up food on their late night shifts. Is this unfair? The GDP dropped 0.2 percent in Q2 and things aren't looking too hopeful for the next quarter. When do we see the economy turning around? The Government wants to reduce the number of jury trials to reduce the backlog of cases in the courts, with Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith unveiling some new ideas for the public to consider. Do we need changes?  More deadly explosions took place in Lebanon - how scary is this? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Thursday, 19 September 2024, how can we cure our sick economy? Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr spoke to Heather after our economy contracted 0.2 percent in Q2. Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith wants to reduce the number of jury trials to deal with the backlog of cases waiting to get to court. Plus, The Huddle debates whether Wellington taxi drivers should be allowed to use the microwave in the airport parents room. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington Airport has suspended five taxi drivers from using its taxi rank after they used the parents’ room to heat their dinners. The airport contacted the taxi companies two months ago to warn against drivers using the parents’ room for privacy and hygiene reasons - but this was not passed on to all taxi staff. One anonymous driver who avoided suspension has labelled this move 'unreasonable'  "I did it after asking two of the food officials in airport uniform if we could heat the food in the microwave in the parents' room and they happily said they didn't mind as long as we cleaned up after." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.