Larry Williams Drive

The Security Association says it'll take a serious incident before security guards are given the powers they need. Security guards can currently only defend themselves, with no powers beyond that. Association Chief Executive Gary Morrison says they want the ability to detain - particularly shop lifters. He says rather than allowing people to leave with goods - if appropriate and safe they'd like the power to detain them until police can arrive. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Taxpayers are expected to cover at least $55,000 in legal fees following former Speaker Trevor Mallard's trespassing of Winston Peters from Parliament. Winston Peters was the most high-profile name issued a trespass notice for attending the 23 day vaccine mandate protest outside Parliament earlier this year. Barry Soper, ZB's political editor highlighted that Trevor Mallard has cost the taxpayers a lot in legal fees, especially coming after the $330,000 taxpayers had to foot after Mallard falsely accused a Parliamentary staff member of rape. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over in Australia, oil and gas prices are still on the rise, and citizens are feeling the impact. The Federal Government has expressed displeasure at these rising prices, which are set to further affect Australian homes and businesses. According to a recent Government report, oil and gas companies have also been taking advantage of the war in Ukraine impacting production, and have been selling them overseas, ignoring domestic demand. Australian correspondent Murray Olds explained the political pressure the current Australian Government is facing under the unique circumstances affecting these resources. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Black Ferns are set to play in the Women's Rugby World Cup semi-finals, with the action kicking off Saturday November 5th. Ahead of the match, D'Arcy Waldegrave from Sportstalk joined us to talk about the team and some minor tweaks to the lineup. A New Zealand vs England final sounds exciting, but D'Arcy Waldegrave warned that this outcome may not be likely, based on France's track record against us. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A former Auckland local board member is claiming foul play over local body elections. Will McKenzie - who sat on the Albert-Eden Board - claims the postal voting system is failing to protect the integrity of our elections. He says he's heard stories of ballots being taken from other people's letterboxes, filled out and sent in. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Supermarket giant Foodstuffs has put a moratorium on its suppliers, stopping them from changing prices for a minimum of 12 weeks over the Christmas period. Retail consultant Nick Hogendijk has read the documents that show this and he joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Kiwi woman has discovered it's cheaper to do her food shop via an Australian supermarket online and get it shipped over, rather than doing the food shop here. She paid $100 for the groceries in Australia, and $140 dollars for the comparative shop here. She got shipping waived, but if she hadn't, it was only $15 dollars. With us now is Australian retail consultant Nick Hogendijk, who has been following our Commerce Commission study into the supermarkets, joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Michael Wood needs to abandon his immigration reset. He is hurting the economy. Look at that unemployment number today. 3.3 percent.   That is above sustainable levels.  We can’t carry on like this. We do not have enough workers to run this country. Fullers has suspended ferries between Auckland and The Coromandel because they don’t have enough staff. AT has cut nearly 1000 bus services in Auckland because they don’t have enough drivers  Hospitals aren’t admitting high risk patients who need surgery because they don’t have enough medical staff. Meatworks can’t process carcasses because they’re short workers. Restaurants aren’t opening every day because they can’t find chefs.  Prisoners can’t get visitors because we don’t have enough Corrections guards.  We’re short up to 8000 truck drivers, 4000 nurses, 400 prison staff, 20,000 construction workers. Fullers and AT and Corrections will not be able to find the workers to fill their vacancies any time soon. And even if they did by some miracle fill all their spo

A report out of the UK shows that an extraordinary sample of surveyed candidates may have jobs as police officers despite having questionable background details.   The report states that 131 working police officers have posted objectionable content to social media,  one officer had domestic abuse charges and one had been accused of sexual assault.  These officers, despite doing things that should have disqualified them from vetting checks, were cleared to have jobs in England and Wales. UK correspondent Gavin Grey explained the survey results and suggested that the UK's desperation to fill roles on the police force may have lead to organisations forsaking background checks. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dairy NZ is the latest farmer lobby group to take a stand against the Government's He Waka Eke Noa emissions tax scheme.  The group has threatened to pull support from the Government unless changes are made to the climate emissions pricing scheme, believing no deal is better than a bad deal. The Chairperson of Dairy NZ, Jim Van De Poel, clarified that this stance isn't new for them, and that they don't want to agree to a legislative change that won't work for the farming community. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The third quarter of the US earnings season is still going on, and the tech and media industry has been taking a hit. Share prices for Amazon and Google have dropped down, by 7 percent and 10 percent respectively, but Meta's results showcase a 26 percent shares loss. Deborah Lambie from Milford Asset Management explained why Meta's shares are being impacted so hard. Slowing advertising speed, competition from TikTok, and the Metaverse losing more cash than it generates are key factors. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand's official unemployment rates remain unchanged at 3.3 percent. This is a near record low, but how long will these numbers stay the same?  Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen explained that the market is still running quite hot, and the odds of these unemployment numbers going up are quite high.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on The Huddle: Ben Thomas from Capital PR and Jack Tame, host of Q&A and ZB's Saturday Mornings joined us to discuss the following topics- and more! Over in Gore, the mayoralty vote being close enough couldn't justify a recount. Former mayor Tracy Hicks didn't realise that, should the rules be overturned? Starship can't take $570k of race horsing money due to existing partnership obligations, how appalling is this? Labour's newly announced Hamilton West candidate turned up a protest against Labour today, what do we make of this? Pharmac is seeking feedback on them wanting to do a review on stopping automatic funding of paediatric cancer medicines and looking at the fairness of that - agree with that review? Is this Government regulation over Buy Now Pay Later schemes needed? South Taranaki mayor not happy that new seal is being applied on roads over unrepaired potholes, what a mess! LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government has recently announced that they will be running affordability checks on 'Buy Now, Pay Later' schemes to ensure Kiwi consumers don't get themselves in debt.  The checks are said to kick in for loans over $600, and platforms like AfterPay and Laybuy (the biggest BNPL providers) will need to have a hardship process and belong to a disputes team.  Jake Lilley, FinCap Senior Policy Adviser, approves of more regulations, but would have preferred the affordability assessments be applied to all purchases. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gore's mayoralty is confirmed after a judge declined a request for a recount. Ben Bell has been confirmed in the top job, replacing Tracy Hicks, who lost the role by eight votes. Hicks says he's disappointed and surprised by the call. He says he's been told a close voting result isn't a good enough reason for a recount, which is news to him. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rage in Taranaki after potholes have reopened on a main road one week after repairs were completed. State Highway 45 had been resealed and repainted at Tokaora, but the holes in the road still weren't fixed. South Taranaki Mayor Phil Nixon says it's unbelievable. "The whole thing is rough, there's hollows where they've dug out and repaired in the past that you still sort of rock through all sealed over, and there's one area where there's a pothole and it's been sealed over and a white line along the side of it."  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A charities law expert says it's advisable charities have a donations policy online. Horse breeder Mark Chittick says he was told Starship Children's Hospital couldn't accept his offer of $570,000 dollars, because it was associated with horse racing. The Starship Foundation says it's unable to accept all donations due to existing partnership obligations. Charities law expert Sue Barker, says guidance in the UK mentions reputation impacts of accepting a donation that doesn't align with a charity's values. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A leading economist says house prices still have some way to drop because they're coming off a high base. The Reserve Bank's today released its twice-yearly Financial Security Report, predicting lending rates and household debt will continue to rise, and house prices keep falling. It comes on the same day Stats NZ figures show unemployment is stagnant at 3.3 percent. Kiwibank's Jarrod Kerr says house prices will continue trending downwards. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Georgie Dansey, the Labour Party's candidate for the upcoming Hamilton West byelection was spotted at an ambush protest against Andrew Little. The TEU ambushed Andrew Little at a University of Waikato event where Andrew Little was announcing the contents of a spending package aimed at improving students' mental health.  Political editor Barry Soper shared his thoughts on this event and what it may mean for Labour's chances in the December byelection. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, people have been wondering about how to proceed with the platform. Top executives are leaving the platform, and Elon Musk has laid off many board members and plans on implementing more changes going forward. Left-leaning celebrities and advertisers are growing wary as well, as Elon Musk has made some concerning statements about what he plans to do with the platform in terms of fees and moderation. US correspondent Dan Mitchinson discusses which advertisers and companies plan on leaving, and addresses the debate surrounding leaving vs staying on Twitter going forward. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.