Larry Williams Drive

Tonight on The Huddle, Phil O'Reilly from Iron Duke Partners and NZ Herald senior correspondent Katie Bradford joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! Nicola Willis has confirmed more cuts will be made to the public service sector. Do we think changes are needed here? Ae we worried about the job losses? A former contractor at property coaching company Wealth Mentor has released a video appearing to show the company’s chief executive slapping her in the face during a studio filming session. Is this out of line? What do we make of this?  A religious sect has ordered its members to get rid of their pets after after a young family member of leader Bruce Hales was attacked by a dog. What do we make of this?  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new partnership between the New Zealand Game Animal Council and Wild Game Recovery Trust has been launched to donate meat to households in need. Using the Hunt and Share platform, the programme connects hunters, butchers and foodbanks while supporting safe and traceable meat donations from hill to table.  The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following the release of last week's Budget, there's growing claims that Australians are looking across the Tasman with 'genuine envy'. A recent article in The Australian claimed that with no capital gains tax, no stamp duty or land tax, and the opportunity to negatively gear, business owners and property investors have taken more interest in New Zealand as a result. Australian independent economist Saul Eslake says this is likely just wishful thinking as a response to the recent Budget. "People look over the ditch and see that New Zealand's top rate of 39 is lower than our top rate of 46...and that you don't really have a capital gains tax, other than on assets that are held for less than two years, so they might think that looks more attractive than Australia." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As you’d expect, I’m a huge fan of Nicola Willis’ plan to cut down the size of the public sector. This is the second issue I’ve been harping on about to her. The other one was, obviously, the fees-free year for university students. So I’m stoked that, on this show, we’re two from two in terms of agitating for cutting back on wasteful public spending. The public service in this country is too big. There are 63,000 public servants. There were only around 47,000 when Jacinda and Grant started throwing money around. We have 39 Government departments and ministries. Ireland has 18. Australia has 16. We have 39. We have Government departments like the Ministry for Women that don’t appear to do anything other than write reports and make work for themselves. Now, anyone arguing against cutting back public servants - and there are some people doing this - needs to explain why. And if the answer is, “Oh, because it’s someone’s job,” well, that is not an answer. Because if it’s a job we don’t need, but we keep it just t

Kiwi members of a religious sect may have to chose between their faith and their pets.  The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church has told followers to get rid of their animals after a young family member of leader, Bruce Hales, was attacked by a dog. Reportedly, many have already done so. Massey University religious studies expert, Peter Lineham, says members are being required to declare what they’ve done with pets at church meetings this month. "We can expect possibly some people who love their dogs more than God will leave the Brethren over this."  The church is refuting claims members have been told to euthanise their pets.   It says it’s simply restating its existing position on them, and says that members should re-home their pets without harm to a willing neighbour, colleague, or local animal shelter.   LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Experts are flagging the dangers of some sleeping devices, after a five-month old's death in 2022.  The baby boy was found unresponsive and died after being left in his sleeping pod on his stomach, with blankets around his face. The Coroner says the pods, also called loungers, are unsafe - and recommended more restrictions.   Emeritus paediatrics professor Barry Taylor says sleeping pods differ from pepī-pods, made of hard plastic. "If you put your face hard against the hard surface, you've still got spaces in the creases between the nose - so it's not like it's moulded against the face."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The New Zealand Initiative is praising Government plans to slash almost 9,000 public service roles by mid-2029. It also intends to reduce Government departments and immediately start cutting agency budgets.  The free-market think tank says it's a great step, but ministerial portfolios should also be cut.  Board chair Roger Partridge says there's too much duplication.  "Some policy areas, like housing, report to as many as 10 different portfolio-holding ministers - and some departments, like MBIE, report to over 20 ministers." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Labour has admitted key details about its Future Fund, including the cost to the Crown and which state assets will be rolled into it, will not be released until after voters have gone to the polls. Labour’s finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds admitted the party doesn’t itself know which public assets will go in the fund, and won’t know until it gets advice from officials after the election. Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper has dismissed this as 'rubbish' - and questions what this means for Labour's capabilities.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Opposition leader Angus Taylor has left the door open to a partnership with One Nation ahead of the next election. One Nation is continuing to outpoll the coalition, and Taylor has expressed interest in doing whatever he can to beat Labour. Australian correspondent Murray Olds says the next election is set to take place in 2028 - but the chance of this arrangement happening is 'slim'. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Warriors assistant coach Slade Griffin expects a smooth change in the halves against the Dragons on Saturday, despite a potentially season-ending knee injury to halfback Tanah Boyd. The likely - and ironic - replacement is Luke Metcalf, who last week announced his commitment to St George-Illawarra from next season. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A disability advocate has slammed Louise Upston moving to close the door on treating family carers as state employees. The Disability Issues Minister is introducing a bill to enshrine support services in law. It would reverse a Supreme Court finding they were employed by the Government - and instead give carers support packages.  Advocate Jane Carrigan says there are isolated families with little control over their children.  She says flinging money at them isn't the answer. She explained people need more support and to be treated as more than an employee of MSD - but for the past 30 years, they've been completely shafted by the system.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Things are heating up in the world of UK politics, as Manchester mayor Andy Burnham backs away from Brexit stance.  Burnham's supporters say it’s unhelpful the debate has centred around the UK re-joining the EU after his main opponent for the job said he’d prioritise binning Brexit. UK correspondent Gavin Grey explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI) rose 2.7 points to 48.9, up from 46.2 in March. A reading below 50 indicates the sector - which accounts for nearly three-quarters of the economy - is contracting. Harbour Asset Management expert Shane Solly explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ukraine has approached New Zealand about a deal to build military drones, in a new push to sell its Russian-killing technology around the world. Ukraine has 20 countries interested and four signed agreements on drones, including Germany, Canada, Norway and Japan. Otago University's Robert Patman explains why Ukraine is looking to move forward in this area.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and Child Fund CEO Josie Pagani joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! Luxon's comments about immigration have raised a few eyebrows, especially from Labour's Chris Hipkins. What do we make of this? Winston Peters has expressed interest in buying back BNZ. Do we think this is a good idea? Will this really fix our economic issues? Is National right to scrap 'good character' assessment for sex offenders' sentencing? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here’s a question for you: if you really like Winston Peters’ idea of buying back the BNZ - why? What problem do you think will be solved by buying it back? Do you think the banks are ripping you off because they’re owned by Australians, and that if only one of them were owned by us again, they wouldn’t? Take a look at the home loan rates Kiwibank is offering right now. They’re basically the same as - if not higher than -those offered by the Australian-owned banks. Do you think this might improve competition? In that case, how does taking BNZ and Kiwibank and combining them into a single bank - leaving one fewer bank in the market - help competition? Do you think it will stop $1.5 billion in profit heading to Australia, making us richer? Sure, the logic stacks up at first glance. But first, we’d have to borrow huge amounts of money to buy the bank and pay significant interest on that debt. It could take 10 to 20 years before we start seeing those profits flow into New Zealand rather than going toward int

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Monday, 18 May, 2026, former Finance Minister Ruth Richardson on why we can't buy back the BNZ as Winston Peters suggests. Finance Minister Nicola Willis reveals part of her pre-Budget speech will be on setting a target of reducing the number of public servants to 1% of the workforce. We talk to chief victims adviser Ruth Money about why removing character references for sex offenders' sentencing is a good thing. And on The Huddle, Trish Sherson and Josie Pagani discuss whether taking "weed" helps you exercise. 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.

Ahead of Budget 2026, the Finance Minister has hinted towards incoming changes for certain Government departments. Nicola Willis says she's planning to tell ministries and departments to come up with plans for amalgamation, with more details to be revealed tomorrow.  Willis went on to explain that the Government's agreed that there's too many ministries and that they need to amalgamate agencies.  "Just as every business and household in the country is always working to get more value for money, we need to, too." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New research shows anxiety is spiking during downpours, as more weather disasters threaten people's property and safety. A new survey shows 73 percent of respondents in the Hawke’s Bay region feel anxious about the weather and 57 percent of respondents nationwide are concerned. Professor Holly Thorpe from the University of Waikato says people in Hawke’s Bay and Gisborne, who were hit hard by Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023, reported impacts on their mental health as a result of adverse weather conditions. "The rain anxiety, the stress, the worry, the new kinds of experiences of vulnerability, were affecting people across the community." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some people have turned to an unexpected source to help boost their workouts. A piece in the New York Times claims people in pot-friendly US states have turned to marijuana ahead of their workouts - to treat energy levels, anxiety and pain. Health advocate and activist Dave Letele raised questions over these claims, but he phoned a friend to see if there's anything to this. "Apparently, it's a thing...apparently, it's the gummies, maybe we're all doing it wrong."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.