Larry Williams Drive

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Friday, 21 June 2024, how did a power pylon just topple over and plunge a massive power outage? Electricity Authority boss Sarah Gillies speaks to Heather with two investigations now trying to figure that out.  Cabinet is reportedly about to sign off on a funding boost for Pharmac to fulfil its promise to fund more cancer drugs. Pharmac Minister David Seymour tells Heather it's important Pharmac's independency is preserved.  Chiefs Assistant Coach David Hill is confident ahead of the blockbuster Super Rugby Final, and the Sports Huddle weighs in on who will be named as All Blacks captain on Monday.  Plus, Rocket Lab has powered through another record and become the fastest commercial space operator to successfully launch 50 missions.  Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gave Russian President Vladimir Putin a pair of Pungsan dogs, a local breed, state media KCNA reported on Thursday.  Asia Business Correspondent Peter Lewis told Heather du Plessis-Allan “Three’s very few places left that Putin can go to.”  Lewis said “He’s become an international pariah because of the Ukraine war.”  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

London hospitals declared a critical incident after a cyber-attack led to operations being cancelled and emergency patients being diverted elsewhere.  It applies to hospitals partnered with Synnovis - a provider of pathology services.  UK Correspondent Gavin Grey told Heather du Plessis-Allan “This was potentially one of the worst cyber-attacks in the UK.”  Grey said “Overnight, the ransomware company dumped 400 gigabytes on their darknet site – including patient names and dates of birth.”  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, the Prime Minister's Air Force plane broke down in Papua New Guinea.  Senior Political Correspondent Barry Soper breaks this down, as he wraps the political week.  Soper told Heather du Plessis-Allan “They’re very good planes – but it’s like anything – if you don’t use them, they’ll break down.”  Soper said “They’re only used as VIP aircraft about 15% of the time.”  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Commerce Commission is pushing out its timeline for approving the Foodstuffs merger, due to "unresolved issues".  It now expects to reach a decision in October.  The North and South Island co-operatives - which run the Pak'nSave, New World and Four Square supermarkets - sought clearance to merge last year.  Foodstuff's North Island Chief Executive Chris Quin told Heather du Plessis-Allan “We knew this could happen, but we remain committed that this is the right thing to do.”  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On The Huddle tonight: All Sports Breakfast Wellington Host Adam Cooper, and sports journalist Jim Kayes.    The Blue will face-off against the Chiefs tomorrow night – only one will reign victorious.     Adam Cooper told Heather du Plessis-Allan “The Crusaders have been incredible – because we’re celebrating the fact they're not there.”    Jim Kayes said “The Chiefs have really surged in the playoffs - if that momentum continues, they’re going to be really for The Blues tomorrow.”    LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Blues captain Patrick Tuipolotu will make a remarkable return from a knee injury, playing lock in the starting side facing the Chiefs at Eden Park in the Super Rugby Pacific final tomorrow night.  However - many of the 44,000 sold-out Eden Park crowd will be coming up from Hamilton.   Chiefs Assistant Coach David Hill told Heather du Plessis-Allan “We understood last year that we had a really good squad – but ultimately we didn’t come away with the final.”  Hill said “That experience – as harsh as it was – it really helped us.”   LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Invercargill Mayor Nobby Clark has ignored requests for his resignation from his council today.   Clark was found to have breached the code of conduct after comments he made at a United Fire Brigades' Association prize giving - which he blamed on surgery brain fade.   The council voted to diminish his duties around public events, due to his health.   Invercargill Councillor Ian Pottinger told Heather du Plessis-Allan “I don’t know if he’s going to listen to the council ruling.”  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The future of National's promise around 13 cancer drugs is set to become clearer.   The Government's due to make a Pharmac funding announcement – which could bump up its medicines budget by 40%.  Pharmacy Minister David Seymour told Heather du Plessis-Allan Pharmac could be instructed to fund specific drugs, another entity could be set up (like the previous government did for Covid vaccines), or more money could be allocated to Pharmac - protecting its independence.  Seymour said “Pharmac at any given time has its options for investment lists”  He said “I wouldn’t be able to ask them – the whole point is that they’re at arm's length from politicians and they’re independent.”  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Energy Minister Simeon Brown wants appropriate accountability over a fallen electricity tower.   Thousands of Northland residents experienced outages yesterday after a transmission tower toppled northwest of Auckland.  The Electricity Authority says it's investigating and Simeon Brown's asked WorkSafe to do the same.  Electricity Authority Chief Executive, Sarah Gillies, told Heather du Plessis-Allan “Consumers have a right to have confidence in their electricity supply.”  Gillies said “We’re the regulator – and we’re independent.”   LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Electricity Authority says Northlanders deserve answers - as it launches an investigation into a toppled electricity tower.   The region experienced outages yesterday after a transmission tower fell down northwest of Auckland.  Transpower says its workers were carrying out maintenance at the time and has started an investigation.  Senior Political Correspondent Barry Soper told Heather du Plessis-Allan “It knocked out power to 100,000 users.”   Soper said “Simeon Brown was there today – he said the event was completely unacceptable.”  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US President Joe Biden recently unveiled a halt to asylum-processing at the U.S. border with Mexico when illegal entries reach a certain threshold.  About 4,000 people already are entering the U.S. each day.   Biden has received Republican criticism over an unprecedented surge in new arrivals in an election year.  US Correspondent Dan Mitchinson told Heather du Plessis-Allan the cartels are offering ‘VIP packages’ for trafficking illegal immigrants across the border.  He said “Experts say the return on investment for trafficking humans has overtaken drugs.”  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Super Rugby finals clash is tomorrow night at Eden Park – selling out hours after tickets went on sale.  A crowd of more than 44,000 is expected – with many coming up from Hamilton for the event.  Weekend Sport host Jason Pine told Heather du Plessis-Allan “I think Blues will win – they've got a lot stacked in their favour – it's a home game, they’ve had an extra day of rest.”  Pine said “They’ve got their inspirational skipper back – after a fortnight.”  He said “Having said all of that – The Chiefs are a good team, with more genuine gamebreakers – it could come down to moments.”  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, Transpower has given us a master class in how to look guilty, hasn't it?   I mean, come on. Who doesn't now think that the crew took the bolts out of the leg, which caused the thing to fall over, which caused the entire region of Northland to lose power? And why do we think that? Because Allison Andrew, the Chief Executive, sounded guilty as all hell in her media interviews this morning.   “I didn't want to talk about it, it's really unhelpful to speculate at the moment, we have to focus on the power restoration.” - I mean, come on. In 2024, when modern communication is in your pocket – no one believes that Allison Andrew doesn't already know what happened. Of course she does. If she doesn't, then she sucks at her job.   Because in any decent organisation, the first thing that happens when there is a major snafu is the boss calls the points person who's on the ground and gets a preliminary idea of what happened. And they do that because if there’s a bigger problem, they need to know what happened.   You

Rocket Lab is entering a league of its own --reaching 50 space launches in the shortest space of time.  Its latest electron rocket launched this morning from the Mahia Peninsula, is taking a French satellite into orbit.  Rocket Lab’s Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Morgan Connaughton, told Heather du Plessis-Allan “A lot of rockets don’t get past ten – and we're talking globally here – it's a massive deal.”  Connaughton said “To get there faster than anyone else... it puts us up there with the best rocket companies in the world – it's us, and Space X.”  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A pair of Just Stop Oil protestors painted two jets orange at a London airport, hours after Taylor Swift touched down for her next tour stop. The climate activists carried out the vandalism with fire extinguishers, in an act reminiscent of their previous protest at Stonehenge. UK correspondent Enda Brady says this will likely spark an investigation into the group. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One expert says investors have had to pay more attention to their long-term goals this year. Ongoing inflation and changing economies have led investors to chop and change their short-term predictions as 2024 went on. Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds explains further. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Minister Shane Jones is still keen to bring back live animal exports sooner rather than later. In an interview on The Country, Jones made it clear in no uncertain terms that live animal exports would be good for the economy. The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand's GDP grew 0.2 percent in March, according to new data. This officially takes the country out of a technical recession, but on a per-capita basis, it went backwards 0.3 percent. Experts predict a weak economy for the latter half of this year. NZ Herald business editor at large Liam Dann says the economy isn't likely to bounce back just yet. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government has launched a new review designed to ensure earthquake-prone buildings are up to standard. The current NBS system has run into controversy, with the inadequate review of a Wellington hospital unit sparking concerns. Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says the current standards are very complicated - and he aims to make it easier for people. "In a lot of cases, people simply can't afford to remediate, they're not necessarily allowed to do that in the way that they want or need, sometimes they can't even demolish it because of heritage status." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.