Larry Williams Drive

Migrant worker advocates are calling for regulators to speed up the investigative process into exploitation claims. Over a thousand migrant worker exploitation complaints have been filed within the past year, and ninety percent of those complaints haven't been followed up with an investigation. First Union says that there aren't enough labour inspectors to handle all of these investigation claims, and that a lack of enforcement renders current labour laws useless. National Manager Labour Inspectorate, Stu Lumsden explained why these investigation numbers are as low as they are.  "You can get that many complaints, but that doesn't mean all complaints are capable of being investigated. Some are anonymous, and we can't follow up. We can't entertain the facts and it's not worth taking any further."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Middlemore hospital has been undergoing a wait time crisis, with people being unable to receive medical care for hours after arrival. This has become more apparent after a five page report was released that confirmed Middlemore hospital was dysfunctional, overcrowded, and unsafe.  The Chair of Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, Kate Allan, agreed with the contents of the review that indicated wait times were a significant issue, and that these problems have persisted for years. According to Kate, many factors are contributing to this current crisis, including overcrowded facilities and system blocks preventing people from being admitted properly. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AUT is currently undergoing budget cuts due to two years of Covid impacting their profits. As such, they've had to cut costs by letting professors go, and shutting down various facilities, including their city campus childcare centre. AUT justifies this decision by highlighting that not many students use it, but parent and PHD student Courtney Basnayake doesn't like this outcome, as she appreciated the convenience of having the daycare as a resource in her studies. "Is it better to have my son closer to me on campus in the city, or do we look for something closer to home? I guess it's a bit of a process. We only have two months now to find something, so time is of the essence." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Air New Zealand customers will be forced to upgrade on some routes. The airline is cutting seat-only tickets for flights to Honolulu, Perth and Tahiti. Short Haul General Manager Jeremy O'Brien says customer feedback showed that people preferred having entertainment and a meal. He says cutting the basic option won't be a huge loss. O'Brien says less than five percent of customers were opting for the seat only option for Honolulu and Perth flights. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former Labour MP Gaurav Sharma's confident he has the support to form a new party. The Hamilton West MP today revealed he's quitting Parliament, but will run as an independent in the by-election his departure's creating. He needs at least 500 people to back his yet-to-be-named party. "People are looking for smaller parties and within the MP system, this is one of the times we've got the least number of minor parties around. So what I'm looking at is a centrist party which is focused on action and outcome rather than ideologies."  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All eyes are on the Reserve Bank - for its next moves on our high inflation. The latest Consumers Price Index reveals inflation's at 7.2 percent - confounding economists prediction of a drop to below seven. Some thought it'd go as low as 6.3. Former Reserve Bank economist, Michael Reddell says that forecasting inflation can be a mug's game, because things move around so much. Australia's inflation rate is sitting at 6.1 percent, and economists there expect a rise to 6.9 next week. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Gaurav Sharma surprised everyone today by abruptly resigning from his role in Parliament. This decision has caught plenty of people off guard and generated discussion as to whether or not this will trigger a by-election. Deputy political editor Jason Walls explained what's happening so far, and addressed Jacinda Ardern's resulting statement. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over in Australia, gambling company Star Entertainment Group is facing legal consequences for failing to stop money laundering at a Sydney casino. The casino will still be able to keep trading in the future, but Star Entertainment group has been hit with a $100 million dollar fine, as well as a temporary suspension.  Australian correspondent Murray Olds explained why the casino is too big to fail, and how that stopped it from getting a harsher penalty for turning a blind eye to organised crime infiltration.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The T20 opening matches are well underway, and Scotland surprised everyone with a strong start. Scotland defeated the West Indies in their starting match, with a 42-run victory.  D'Arcy Waldegrave, host of Sportstalk, joined us to explain what this means for Scotland and the qualifying teams following the match.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Transport Minister Michael Wood has called the Restore Passenger Rail protesters stupid and dangerous. This morning they abseiled down the Mount Victoria Tunnel and hung a banner across lanes of traffic, closing the motorway. Veteran protester John Minto talked about effectiveness of this protest, and how he believed this course of action would have benefits in the long run. “In the long term, this group have been trying over the last ten days, and they really want to make a serious mark and they're saying we cannot leave this issue to bureaucrats and politicians. We must have serious action now. And in that regard, they're keeping this issue in front of the public." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over in the UK, Prime Minister Liz Truss's popularity is still in decline, more Tory MPs are pushing for her resignation. Over 100 individual MPs have written letters of no confidence about Liz Truss in the course of her first six weeks in office. There has been discussion to speed up a resignation from various MPs, with talks of coordinated resignations to force the process forward, in a way that echoes Boris Johnson's exit. UK correspondent Kay Oliver explained further. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Dunedin tech company has come up with a high tech proof-of-origin mark that can distinguish New Zealand made wines. It's a little more advanced than a standard 'made in New Zealand' label on a bottle, as it uses advance science to determine whether or not the wine was actually made in New Zealand. Tech company Oritain partnered with Pyramid Valley wines to bring forth this latest form of CSI for supply chain technology. Their Head of Strategic Sales, Sam Lind, joined us to talk us through this launch. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grant Robertson, deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister is on a business delegation in New York. This trip was done to reinforce our nation's "New Zealand is open for business" theme, in a way that directly addresses offshore investors. He was able to meet with the IMF and US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell within this first week. He wasn't travelling alone, as a dozen CEOs, and some journalists went along too, one of which was NZME business commentator Fran O'Sullivan. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A South Auckland charity chief says he feels as if he's been kicked in the face. David Letele, who's also known as Brown Buttabean, says he's gutted his food bank has been broken into. Meat and vegetables were stolen, which Letele says he'd have happily given to anyone who'd come and asked for it. Letele says he's asking the community to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. "All I can say is that I hope they needed it. But you know, the silly thing is, if they just came today, we would have given them it. But it's a sad state of affairs and a sign of the times, I guess. Even the police I spoke to today- they've never seen a food bank targeted." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on The Huddle- we have Nick Leggett, Chief Executive of Transporting NZ and Ali Jones, senior consultant at Red PR talking about the following: Sophie Carey, the nurse who moved from Australia to New Zealand for a better life. And house prices, since she went to the West Coast. She's bucking the trend!  This Shakespeare funding is quite the talker- the Shakespeare Globe Centre who are no longer receiving the funding certainly can't believe it. We're in the midst of an aged care crisis - yet Ryman is having to downsize its hospital care due to what it says is a lack of state funding? How worrying is the future for New Zealand's ageing population? Maybe Wayne Brown is onto something... 50 middle managers at Eke Panuku earn an average of 143k a year. Are you fine with that? Bird of the Year voting has begun! It's always a chaotic time. This year the Kakapo is excluded because it does too well, which is honestly ridiculous. Who's got your vote? All of these topics will be discussed here today on The Huddle!

A common scenario New Zealanders are familiar with involves skilled professionals moving to Australia for the higher wages, opportunities, and weather. Greymouth-based nurse Sophie Carey has bucked the trend by moving from Australia to New Zealand's West Coast. She explained to Andrew Dickens why she chose to leave Australia and how it compares to Greymouth in terms of living and work-life balance. Sophie was also drawn in by the nation's housing market most of all. "We found it really easy to enter the housing market over here on the coast, and that was after doing a bit of looking and searching around in Christchurch. A lot more affordable, and a lot less stress trying to find a way to enter the property market over here."  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A key player has bowed out of the running for Bird of the Year. Voting opens today for the annual competition, aiming to raise awareness of our native birds. But two-time winner the Kakapo is not part of the 2022 competition. Neither is the controversial 2021 winner the Pekapeka, or the Long Tailed Bat running this year either. Forest and Bird's Ellen Rykers says it's important to give other contenders a shot. "I guess it comes back to the ultimate purpose of Bird of the Year, and that's to raise awareness for all of our awesome native species. And we want to keep it fresh and interesting, so it'd be nice to share the spotlight that Kakapo enjoy so much with some of our other amazing birds." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Council controlled organisation Eke Panuku says Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance appears to be mistakenly referencing its team of senior subject matter experts - as middle managers. The Ratepayers' Alliance has claimed Eke Panuku has 50 middle managers averaging $143,000 a year. Campaign manager Josh Van Veen says it's not clear Eke Panuku provides value for money. Eke Panuku says the Alliance seems to misunderstand the nature of some roles within the organisation. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hopes an expected drop in inflation in figures out tomorrow - will help with the cost of living. Economists anticipate overall top line will fall from 7.3 percent to between 6.5 and 7. ANZ economist, Finn Robinson says that drop will come almost entirely from reduced petrol prices -- not from across the economy. He says we should be looking at whether underlying inflation pressure is easing. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand has a new ram-raid capital, with the dubious honour being designated to Waikato. As the region has experienced 12 ram-raids between September 1st and September 22nd, according to data provided by Police Minister Chris Hipkins, this title is accurate.  Deputy political editor Jason Walls is explained how Waikato's ram-raid statistics compared to other highly targeted districts (with Waitemata and Auckland City coming a close second), and how these districts are trying to counteract ram-raiding incidents.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.