Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

An economist says the economy has some forward motion.  Stats NZ data shows a 1.1% GDP increase in the September quarter.  Independent Economist Cameron Bagrie says he expects to see 2 to 3 percent growth over the next 12 months is likely.  He told Francesca Rudkin there are other statistics trending in a positive direction.  Bagrie says that includes more hours worked and greater bank lending into the business sector.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Confirmation that the economy grew strongly in the third quarter of the year is welcome news before Christmas”, Finance Minister Nicola Willis stated in the first line of her press release yesterday.   ‘Welcome news’ may be a bit of an understatement, given the context of recent attempts to undermine Nicola Willis and the Government’s approach to righting the economy.  Willis also needed the good GDP news after a disappointing Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update on Tuesday, in which almost every economic and fiscal indicator moved ever so slightly in the wrong direction.   The GDP results showed the economy did better than expected in the September quarter, growing 1.1%. GDP per capita rose 0.9% for the quarter, if that's how you prefer to measure it. The increase in economic activity was broad based, with increases in 14 of the 16 industries that Stats NZ looks at. This is good news.   But the problem with GDP figures is they’re provisional and often revised. That’s what has happened wi

It's thought there are few silver linings to come from the Government's road cone hotline.  The pilot, which encouraged the public to report excessive cone use, ends tomorrow, six months ahead of schedule.  Site visits found 86% of worksites were already compliant, and Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden says the trial has done what it needed to do.  CEO of traffic management company Parallaxx Dave Tilton told Andrew Dickens some of the data collection may be useful.  He says it brought the road control authorities including NZTA, WorkSafe, and councils together well.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the major banks is predicting some of the best quarterly GDP figures in years.  Stats NZ is releasing the economic figures for the three months ending September this morning, with the Reserve Bank's forecasting growth of 0.4%.  Westpac predicts a 0.9% gain, putting that down to a jump in activity across the board.  Chief Economist Kelly Eckhold told Andrew Dickens it would fill in a hole from the previous quarter.  But he says there needs to be two or three quarters of growth before people can be confident the country is on an upward trend.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The self-inflicted deaths of six Northland young people reveals dangerous flaws in our suicide prevention system. An inquiry by Northland Coroner Tania Tetitaha into the deaths calls for a single, coordinated system.  The youths had worked with up to 17 agencies - that hadn't seemed to identify or follow up on their need for support.  Mindworks psychologist Sara Chatwin told Andrew Dickens we don't need more thinking groups and documentation, but rather people who have the skills and willingness to deal with these issues.  She says in New Zealand, we clearly have a huge problem that other countries are very aware of.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’m still in slack mouthed shock at Barbara Edmonds' performance on this programme yesterday. After the release of the Government’s books showing we’re still in deficit and will be in deficit longer and with every day that passes our debt grows, Labour was quick to say National has screwed things up and we should have voted Labour onto the Treasury benches. I would have thought that would mean they knew how to do things better. Therefore, they could perhaps tell you and I what should have been done.  So, we gave them the opportunity to share their superior knowledge, particularly with you the voter, yesterday morning And what did we get? Nothing other than slogans and a general tone of "just trust us things could have been better and we’ll tell you why next year".  Now to be fair, she did criticise National's tax cuts. That was the moving of the thresholds and reinstating the rebates for landlords.  That had the effect of reducing government revenue by $14 billion dollars. $14 billion that coul

On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast Thursday the 18th of December 2025, it's the final GDP for the year, Westpac Chief Economist Kelly Eckhold tells Andrew what he's expecting.  The Government's announced the road cone hotline will close as it hits it's objectives, Dave Tilton, Chair of the Temporary Traffic Management Industry Steering Group shares his thoughts.  Coroner Tania Tetihaha says the system is broken after probing the suicides of six young people, Psychologist at Mindworks Sara Chatwin shares her thoughts.  Plus, US Correspondent Jagruti Dave has the latest on Trump announcing a "blockade" of sanctioned oil tankers in and out of Venezuela and the White House reaction to Trump's chief of Staff Susie Wiles's Vanity Fair interviews.  Get the Early Edition Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.           LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A transport voice says there's some sense to the Government's new mega-Ministry idea.  It wants to abolish the environment, housing and urban development, and transport ministries and introduce a new Ministry of Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport – M CERT.  It argues these areas are undergoing reforms and right now the system's too fragmented.   Transporting NZ's Dom Kalasih told Andrew Dickens navigating across multiple agencies can carry challenges, and sometimes "less is more".   He says transport's one part of a larger eco-system so taking a more unified connected approach makes some sense.  However, there’s a worry that projects that are already on the go, such as road user and congestion charges, may not be achieved as efficiently.  Kalasih says the sector’s just started to gain momentum in these areas.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Labour believes it's more financially responsible than the current Government following the release of Treasury's Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update.  It's predicting economic growth of just 1.7% in 2026, well down on the May Budget's 2.9% forecast.  Labour's Finance and Economy spokesperson Barbara Edmonds was asked by Andrew Dickens whether her party would have increased taxes to get back in black faster.  She says they would have followed the same plan they had in 2023, before the election, but ultimately it comes down to choices.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A belief whistleblowers are vital to exposing voting failures after a South Auckland local body election was overturned. Judge Richard McIlraith ruled irregularities altered the outcome of the Papatoetoe vote for the Otara-Papatoetoe Local Board. The case involved stolen voting papers and fraudulent use. A new election must be held by April 9. Transparency International NZ CEO Julie Haggie told Andrew Dickens there’s no sign of wider system problems nationally. She says it does seem to be picking up them, as someone made a case for a district court inquiry and got a result. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast  Wednesday the 17th of December 2025, The Government's books are worse than expected, with the surplus timeline pushed back to 2029/30, Labour Economic Spokesperson Barbara Edmonds shares her thoughts. Transport, environment and housing are being merged in to one ministry, Transporting NZ Chief Executive Officer Dom Kalasih tells Andrew what he thinks of the idea.  There are concerns about the integrity of our elections after a South Auckland local body result was thrown out over claims of voter fraud, Transparency International NZ CEO Julie Hague shares her thoughts.  Plus, UK/ Europe Correspondent Gavin Grey has the latest on the jail sentencing for man who used his car to plough into more than 130 people at Liverpool Football Club and Donald Trump suing the BBC for defamation.  Get the Early Edition Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.           LISTEN ABOVE

Well, ladies and gentlemen, we’re broke.  The Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows we’re still in debt and the debt is getting bigger. So, we’re broke. Not enough money, everything's more expensive so it’s off to the money lender before the bailiffs come in and sell everything. Sounds like a lot of households around me.  Ideally, we’d be in a surplus - that’s when we have more money than costs. But we aren’t and the possibility of that happening has got further away.  Make no mistake, deficit is bad, but surplus is only okay. That’s how bad we are. And we’re getting more and more in debt. The Government has a debt to GDP ratio of 41.8% and it’s forecast to rise to over 46% before it starts going down.  But lets put another lens on this: the New Zealand Government has posted a surplus 17 times since 1980. That's 17 times in 45 years. So the government has been broke 62% of the time since then. Being broke is our normal. And if I applied the surplus/deficit/debt ratio to my own finance

Lawyers say they can't pinpoint the reason there's been an increase in complaints.  The Law Society's annual report reveals more clients are raising their concerns, particularly around incompetence.   New Zealand Law Association Vice President Julie-Anne Kincade told Andrew Dickens with more people using AI to research their legal issues, they're needing to manage expectations.  She welcomes clients doing their own research but it's important people remember lawyers are the experts.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ll get a clearer picture of the Government’s spending plans heading into an election year this afternoon.  Treasury’s releasing the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update at 1pm, alongside the Budget Policy Statement, setting out the economic outlook and spending priorities.  Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen Andrew Dickens governments are often expected to loosen the purse strings in an election year.  He says the Government might spend less than they hoped if the books aren't looking too flash.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A deadly terror attack at Sydney's Bondi Beach is feeding speculation of potential intelligence errors.  Two gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration on Sunday evening, killing 15 people and wounding dozens more.  A 24-year-old suspect remains in hospital under police guard, while his 50-year-old father, the other alleged offender, was shot dead.  The younger man, who's suspected of orchestrating the attack, had previously been investigated by the country's security agency and hadn't been considered a threat.  But Massey University Defence Studies Professor John Battersby says we shouldn't jump to conclusions until more details emerge.  He told Andrew Dickens intelligence capabilities are always limited by the resources put into them.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast for Tuesday 16 December. Get the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yesterday was a sad, morose day reflecting on the Jewish deaths and their horror, made worse by a never-ending stream of video coverage from every angle. Never has a massacre been as documented and then distributed. The power of citizens with broadcast studios in their phones. The uncensored images spread by the very social media that Australia banned for the under 16s this past week.  And we saw the victims - dead, dying, and being given CPR. In their summer shorts and flip flops ready for a day of family fun by the sea. They looked like us. Because they are us.  Meanwhile the father and son looked unremarkable. Portly. Fat on the life of comfort Australia gave them and yet they did what they did. The face of evil is so often banal.  Second: are you now realising that Winston Peters knew what he was talking about when he refused to back a state of Palestine? I was one of the few who agreed - there is no state, there is no governing authority or governance legitimacy. But underneath it all ther

Today marks the beginning of road side drug testing - starting exclusively in the Wellington District. The scheme's pilot will see police conducting random roadside saliva tests - screening for cannabis, methamphetamine, MDMA, and cocaine. The initiative begins in the capital before scaling up from April until coverage is nationwide by mid next-year. Any drivers whose tests come back positive, will need to do a lab test which also checks for 25 other substances. Positive tests can result in 12 hour disqualifications from driving and possible infringement notices. Police Association President Steve Watt shares his thoughts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After Bondi It now seems obvious that antisemitism is out the gate. Particularly in Australia with a large population who hail from the middle east, but increasingly so in this country and around the world. and I don't think the genie is going to be put back in the bottle any time soon. The conflict in Gaza starting with the Hamas attack on the music festival in October 2023 has only intensified the conflict between faiths. and you don't want to victim blame but Israel's reaction to the original attack has not calmed the situation but further radicalised Moslems. Presenting talkback on the Gaza situation over the past 2 years I have been at pains to separate the Israel State from the Jewish faith but that has been impossible for both sides. Not helped by Netanyahu who goes out of his way to make sure you know the faith is the state and vice versa. Any talk of Gazan bloodshed by Israel is always pulled back to October the 7th 2023. And any talk about the Hamas atrocity is always linked back to the Israeli coun

On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast Monday the 15th of December 2025, Police begin roadside drug testing from today, Police Association President, Steve Watt tells Andrew what officers are preparing for.  UK police tighten security around synagogues celebrating Hanukkah following the Bondi Beach shooting in Australia, UK/Europe Correspondent Gavin Grey has the latest.  Elliott Smith has the latest on the weekend's sport.  Plus, James Cameron's warned about the future of our film industry, Chair of Screen Music and Sound Guild, John McKay shares his thoughts.  Get the Early Edition Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.           LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.