Larry Williams Drive

Could former First Lady Michelle Obama be on the ballot in the next US election?  Several Democratic leaders certainly think so, with Former White House and Pentagon official Douglas MacKinnon saying she has the 'it' factor to succeed in the polls. US correspondent Dan Mitchinson says Michelle Obama doesn't have much of a track record as a politician and people could project their ideas onto her with limited evidence. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ardie Savea has been handed a one-week ban for Friday's throat-slitting gesture. The Hurricanes captain was sent before a SANZAAR judicial committee, where he was handed a short suspension sentence for 'persistent offending'. The committee said the controversial gesture came close, but didn't warrant a red card. Because the warning was issued along with a yellow card for the gesture, Ardie Savea was briefly suspended. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explained the terms of Ardie Savea's punishment. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yet another high-ranking public servant is under pressure for taking jabs at the National Party. Ruth Dyson, deputy chair of Fire and Emergency New Zealand, disparaged Chris Luxon's Waitangi address on social media last month. Earlier today, the Prime Minister forgave the ACC and Pharmac board chair for penning politically-charged columns online. Just last week, the board chair of Te Whatu Ora, Rob Campbell, got the sack for slamming National's Three Waters policy on LinkedIn. Former Government statistician Len Cook says the Code of Conduct for political neutrality is fairly new. "There are huge amounts of ambiguity for people who run boards, this needs to be clarified." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Issues at Auckland Hospital's emergency department are being described as symptoms of a bigger disease. Ambulance workers stepped in to care for patients on Sunday and Monday because ED beds were not available. Visitors say several dozen patients had been placed in a café on the same floor while they waited for treatment. Chair of Australasian College for Emergency Medicine Kate Allan says it's evidence of a broken and under resourced system. "It's worse than it's ever been, it's continued to accumulate over the summer months when generally we do go a little bit quieter. There's often a wee peak around Christmas/New Year and then it slows down again, but we haven't had that slow-down."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A litigation lawyer says there's no question a tenant that's forced a Wellington council flat into 24 hour surveillance should be evicted. Two security guards have been monitoring the Central Park Flats since February 20 after residents raised issues about a neighbour with gang ties. Adina Thorn says the council needs to get rid of the tenant. "I've never heard of two human security guards 24/7 over one block of flats. I mean, this is beyond the pale." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sarah Everard's killer has been sentenced a further 19 months for prior indecent exposure. Prior to the murder, Wayne Couzens was found to have exposed himself to three women, with the latest happening three days before his encounter with Sarah Everard. UK correspondent Enda Brady says it's appalling that this wasn't dealt with before Sarah Everard's murder. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On tonight's edition of The Huddle, former Labour Chief of Staff and current director at Mike Munroe Communications and ZB host Tim Beveridge joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day: Chair of ACC and Pharmac, Steve Maharey has been writing articles criticising The National Party, drawing comparisons to sacked Te Whatu Ora board chair, Rob Campbell. Should the same rules be applied to Maharey? Two guards suffered hand injuries while one was hospitalised with a concussion after tussling with streakers at Friday's Warriors game in Wellington. Should the streakers face consequences? Today is Census day- did you do yours yet? National's Chris Luxon has proposed to cut funding for consultants if elected in October. The core public service spent $1.2 billion dollars on contractors and consultants for the 2021 to 2022 financial year. What do we think of this? What do we think of people who smoke in cars with children not being slapped with fines for their actions? LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.

Chair of ACC and Pharmac, Steve Maharey is facing criticism for penning articles critical of National. These comments draw comparison to former Te Whatu Ora board chair Rob Campbell, who was sacked after attacking the opposition on LinkedIn. Minister-in-charge Ayesha Verall has rejected Maharey's offer of resignation. Barry Soper, ZB's senior political correspondent says that the same rules around political objectivity should be applied to Steve Maharey's comments, and he should be let go. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hurricanes captain Ardie Savea is awaiting disciplinary action for controversial throat-slitting gesture. Ardie Savea was brought before the Citing Commissioner yesterday to determine the consequences for his role in Friday's on-field scuffle against a Melbourne Rebels player. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave says Ardie Savea will likely receive a brief suspension, with the Citing Commissioner setting him up as an example.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Australian Reserve Bank has increased the OCR by a further 25 basis points to 3.6 percent. This has been the 10th rate rise in a row, putting the OCR at its' highest point in 11 years in an attempt to curb inflation. HSBC Chief Economist Paul Bloxham is not surprised by this rate hike, saying economists predicted this was coming. Paul Bloxham says the RBA might consider pausing their rate hike cycle sometime soon after this recent burst of increases. LISTEN ABOVE    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Farmers are concerned the latest relief fund boost won't be enough to cover all the cyclone damage. The Government announced yesterday that another $26 million dollar support package to help farmers and growers devastated by Cyclone Gabrielle would be given out. The Country's Jamie Mackay says there's no easy way out of this, as the final stats around the Cyclone Gabrielle damage are still unknown. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's been some growing opposition to the proposed RMA reform. The Government is seeking to replace the Resource Management Act (RMA) with the Natural and Built Environments Bill (NABE) and debates about the bill have cropped up following Cyclone Gabrielle. BusinessDesk managing editor Pattrick Smellie says that this Government has pushed a lot of controversial reforms through, and the RMA proposal has the potential to become the next Three Waters. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington brewery Parrotdog is looking to expand into Auckland. The brewery is seeking up $4 million in capital raise to fund this brand expansion, and have already received $1.2 million towards this goal. Parrotdog Brewery managing director Paul Watson says he's happy with how the raise is progressing and looks forward to a strong finish. Paul Watson is confident that there's demand for craft beer in Australia and New Zealand, despite global interest declining over the last three years.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pharmac has announced they will be funding two new lung cancer treatments from April 1st. Keytruda and Tecentrig are commonly used to treat people with locally advanced and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who fit the criteria. The Cancer Society approves this funding decision, as lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in New Zealand. Cancer Society CEO Lucy Elwood says 700 patients a year stand to benefit from affordable access to these treatments. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It looks as though the ACC and Pharmac Chair will keep his job after criticising the National Party. Steve Maharey is in a similar position to that of dismissed public servant Rob Campbell, however the Prime Minister says Campbell went further and the pair aren't in the same category. Former politician and political commentator Peter Dunne says if you're serving the Government, you need to be impartial. "But he's been going out there and actively shooting his impartiality, just as Campbell was. Campbell gets sacked, Maharey looks like he might survive. And that just seems to me to be a complete and utter shambles." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I think the Nats are onto something by targeting the Government’s consultancy spend over the last year. It is huge, $1.2 billion dollars on record. The year before, it was closer to $900m, so it went up by a third in one year.  That should've set off alarm bells for anyone in The Beehive, but they just pushed on with it. Such is their attitude, I suspect, to using money. A lot of this is just a complete waste on projects that have gone absolutely nowhere. Like the RNZ/TVNZ merger- up to $16m on consultants. The bike bridge to Birkenhead- $51m on consultants. Light Rail- $53m on consultants. So you and I have paid the mortgage of these consultants, but we have literally nothing to show for it.  No bridge. No merger. No light rail yet.  Just wasted money.  It’s got so out of hand in Wellington that there are jokes about the fact that there are three branches of Government: the legislature, the judiciary, and Martin Jenkins. Martin Jenkins isn't even one of the big ones. The big ones raking in consultancy fees a

Australia's cash rate has been hiked for the tenth time in a row to its highest point in 11 years. The Reserve Bank of Australia has increased it by 0.25 percent to 3.6 percent in an attempt to reduce inflation. Correspondent Murray Olds says this will affect people across the board. "More pain for people who are renting, because of course people who are renting have to pay the rent to someone who's paying off that property. And the rents are going up inexorably as interest rates go up." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A sign of the times in Auckland as tens of thousands of eager fans flock to see Harry Styles. The star's performing at Mount Smart Stadium tonight, with queues starting to form outside the stadium from 4:00am this morning. One concert-goer, Emily Calbert says she was in line from 6:30am. "They said that the doors would open around 8, and that was our original plan, but then we did actually speak to a security lady yesterday and she said that there would be people lining up most likely a little bit before that." LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three security guards were left injured by streakers at the Warriors game on Friday night. It's sparked calls for stricter punishments toward pitch-invaders. Two guards suffered hand injuries while one was hospitalised with a concussion after tussling with streakers at the game in Wellington. Sky Stadium CEO Shane Harmon says $5,000 fines should be in place for all sporting events. "Those fines are already in place for major events like World Cups, so they're already within the Major Events Management Act, they just don't apply to business-as-usual sport in New Zealand."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Warnings consultants might be slipping bias into Government. The core public service spent $1.2 billion dollars on contractors and consultants for the 2021 to 2022 financial year. A political analyst says big consultancy firms are advising Government, but also have commercial clients. Victoria University's Bryce Edwards says we can't trust they're playing with a straight bat. "In the health sector for example, Deloitte's been used a lot more by the Ministry of Health, but they also have health technology clients and these things aren't declared." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.