Larry Williams Drive

An Oranga Tamariki Youth Justice senior leader's keen to see youth offender boot camps continue beyond the pilot.  The 12-month military-style camp trial with 10 of New Zealand's most serious young offenders has wrapped.  Eight completed the programme, seven re-offended requiring them to return to camp, and one passed away in a road accident.  Oranga Tamariki Deputy CEO Ian Chapman says this was the last stop shop before a life in corrections.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Israel's expanding its military occupation of Gaza - forcing more than a million Palestinians out of Gaza City.  Israel's security cabinet's approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan - in a nine hour meeting today. It involves moving Palestinians out of the main population centres - and into compounds in southern Gaza.  Israeli journalist Haggai Matar told Heather du-Plessis Allan that Israel already controls over 85 percent of Gaza - and forbids Palestinians from going into it.   He says it's basically pushing Palestinians into smaller areas of land - mostly areas that have been uninhabited and are very difficult to sustain life on.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The US President has said he would be happy to have a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.  The focus of this meeting will likely be around peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.  US Correspondent Jonathan Kearsley told Heather duPlessis-Allan that Donald Trump wants to be the middleman to this peace deal.   ‘He would want to make it look like he is the peacemaker.’  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So I don't know what's worse, the fact that Willow Jean Prime is a lazy, disinterested waste of space in Labour's team, or the fact that Labour's been busted almost lying about this. So let me get you across what happened, and you can decide for yourself.  In March, Willow Jean Prime took over the Labour Party education portfolio from Jan Tonetti, and her National Party counterpart, Erika Stanford, sent her a text to say congrats and I need to get you up to speed with the NCEA change process. It would be good if we could meet first and I can run you through where we're at. There is a policy advisory group of principals who are working on the details. You can have access to them as well as my officials and also NZQA.  Willow Jean does not bother to reply.  Two months later in May, Erica's office sends an email saying, basically, haven't heard from Willow Jean, would like to ensure cross-party engagement can continue. Can we set up a meeting?  Willow Jean doesn't bother to reply.  A mon

Donald Trump has informed his allies that he aims to meet with Vladimir Putin as soon as next week, with an additional three-way meeting including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the cards. When asked later if the leaders would attend the summit, Trump told reporters there was a 'very good prospect that they would'. UK correspondent Enda Brady explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2025 has been regarded as a challenging year for economic forecasting, with experts stumped about what decisions to make. Traditional indicators have been regarded as contradictory, but one expert's developed a workaround. Sam Dickie from Fisher Funds explains further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australian researchers have developed a vaccine to protect livestock during an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. The five-year research project was a partnership between Meat & Livestock Australia, Tiba Biotech and the NSW Government - and cost $20 million to develop. The Country's Jamie Mackay explains further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rare thing to be able to say- but Wellington City Council has just made a sensible decision and voted against erecting a fence along the entire length of Kumutoto and Queen's Wharf. Now, if you know the part of Wellington that I'm talking about here, it's the area seaside of the TSB Bank Arena and Fergs and Shed 5 and Foxglove and so on.  That whole area at the moment has beautiful concrete walkways that have been laid, lovely seating and lighting and so on.  And then there's a little barrier either side. If there's sea on the other side, there's a little barrier that comes up to a concrete barrier, maybe mid-shin for you. Now, council officials planned to erect a fence instead - a full-length fence either side of every walkway, up to about 1.2 meters or so, lining almost the entire walkway, 3.5 km of it, at the cost of maybe as much as $30 million. And they wanted the council - probably because they realized how this is going to go down with people - to rush through voting on it without talkin

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Thursday, 7 August 2025, Ballance, one of the biggest names in agriculture business, might have to put its operations on hold for four months because gas is getting too expensive. CEO Kelvin Wickham talks to Heather. Did Auckland Council get your rates bill wrong? Heather tells you how you can find out. Nurses Organisation President Anne Daniels is worried about the impact on EDs when St John volunteers stop their work in hospitals. Wellington Councillor Tim Brown explains why he doesn't want a fence lining the waterfront - despite a number of deaths. Plus, the Huddle debates just how damning Treasury's report on Labour's Covid spending is. 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.

Tonight on The Huddle, Jordan Williams from the Taxpayers' Union and former Auckland mayor Phil Goff joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!  Wellington Council has voted down a proposal to build a fence around its waterfront. Do we think this was the right move? High gas prices are set to bring down another company - this time it's fertiliser manufacturer Ballance. How many more of these incidents can our economy take? What can we do to stop this? It's been revealed the Government spent too much during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new reports. What do we make of this? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fuel taxes are set to be replaced by road user charges for all vehicles - and it's left many wondering how these changes will be implemented. Eroad has welcomed this development, and their share price has risen in the hours since Transport Minister Chris Bishop made this announcement. Eroad co-CEO Mark Heine says the company's been making use of electronic road user charges (eRUC) for years and says the technology's there to get this going. "We're still working through with the Government for the pricing for that, but our target is to get it as cheap as possible." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One school principal is not phased by mistakes being found in a Ministry maths resource book.  18 errors have been found and fixed - including incorrect sums and a Te Reo Māori typo. Auckland Primary Principals' Association President Lucy Naylor says it's not ideal, but the resources only make up about five percent of what's taught. She points out they didn't cost schools. "Given the maths resources have been given free to schools by the Government, it kind of outweighs the errors." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington councillors have voted against advice to fence parts of the waterfront. They were considering a proposal to immediately spend $7 million installing fences on the Kumutoto and Queens Wharf precincts - without community consultation. Councillor Tim Brown says he feels they've spent $8 million dollars improving lighting and other initiatives around the waterfront. He says he feels they've met their safety responsibly. "The best thing for us to do in terms of common sense approach was to sit back and have a look at the effect of what we've already done - before we decided we needed to do something additional." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's fears St John's cutting of community programmes will put more pressure on health workers. The organisation's new community health direction will see the Therapy Pets and Hospital Volunteers and Community Carers programmes wrap up by next June. NZNO President Anne Daniels says logic suggests these cuts have been made due to declining funding. "Even though these volunteers don't get paid, there is an infrastructure cost. And like everybody these days, funding is less than it should be - and I suspect that's the same for St John. But I can't say, hand on heart, that I know that for a fact." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A temporary shutdown may be on the cards for fertiliser manufacturer Ballance as it struggles to secure affordable gas. The farmer and grower co-op says it may close its Kapuni plant for up to four months as a contingency. The company manufactures about a third of New Zealand’s urea fertiliser each year. Chief executive Kelvin Wickham says they aren't able to secure gas on a long-term basis.  "We are hunting for short-term gas - and if we can find some short-term gas, we'll use that. But if we can't, then we'll be forced into a short-term shutdown." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's putting product labelling regulations under the microscope in another attack on red tape. The Ministry for Regulation's reviewing labelling standards, and expects to be finished by the end of the year. Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls says Minister for Regulation David Seymour has pointed out the compliance standards companies are subject to - and he's looking to make some changes. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Australian Government is facing renewed calls to increase the GST, but hand taxpayers a hefty rebate set to shield low-income earners. The new proposal, put forward by teal independent MP Kate Chaney and economist Richard Holden, would raise the GST from 10 percent to 15 percent. Australian correspondent Murray Olds says this change would leave Australia's lowest earners better off than under the current system. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richie Mo'unga will return to New Zealand Rugby next year, via the NPC with Canterbury. The 56-test All Black has signed an 18-month contract to return to New Zealand Rugby in July next year - after three seasons playing in Japan. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explains further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some Auckland ratepayers have been getting nasty surprises when opening their newest bills for the year. The Herald has identified a number of properties who've been overcharged, including a $3.9 million multi-unit property with an incorrect $444,766 - 11.4 percent - rates bill. Auckland Council Group chief financial officer Ross Tucker says they process the rates bills for a huge volume of properties in Auckland. "The best information we've got is - we think it's quite isolated...the four properties where there's been some issues are not just a single property, single house, it's ones where there's multi-units. That's one rates bill that covers multiple units." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Taxes must rise in the coming months in order to reach financial targets, according to one UK-based economic think tank. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research recommends 'a moderate but sustained increase in taxes' to cover a £41.2 billion gap. UK correspondent Gavin Grey explains further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.