Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

There’s support for some aspects of the ACT Party's personal grievance policy, and scepticism over others. ACT wants all personal grievance cases brought before the Employment Relations Authority resolved within a month. Its proposed legislation would see staff who don't manage that facing dismissal. The Employers and Manufacturers Association says the current timeline of cases is too long. Head of Advocacy Alan McDonald told Kate Hawkesby that firing ERA staff because of the deadline may not be practical. He says it seems harsh because there's a backlog that needs to be cleared. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yesterday Te Pāti Māori released their tax policy ahead of the election. The policy wasn’t a huge surprise. At their election campaign launch a few weeks ago they made it clear their tax reform policy would have a focus on redistributing wealth. So the proposal for a new wealth tax, an increase in income tax for those earning over $200,000, and a tax free threshold for income up to $30,000 are all expected. During Matariki, Co leader Rawiri Waititi said, “100,000 people are homeless in New Zealand, 60,000 of those are Maori”, so it’s no shock they’re also pushing for new taxes for land banking and vacant houses as well as a capital gains tax. They’ve clearly decided to go all out. So also plan to raise the corporate tax rate from 28% to 33%, as well as new taxes for foreign companies. They call the policy radical and transformative and representative of their values - but there’s plenty of debate as to whether these policies will encourage or hinder productivity. It’s easy to take a radical approach when you’

The man who killed a New Zealand-born London police officer will spend the rest of his life in prison. Met Police Sergeant Matiu Ratana died of a chest wound after being shot with an antique gun smuggled into a custody block in September 2020. The judge has handed down a whole life sentence to 26-year-old Louis De Zoysa. UK correspondent Vincent McAviney told Francesca Rudkin he's only the 65th person ever to receive that punishment. He says that means he will never be let out, no matter what appeals he tries to make. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An economist says removing GST from fruit and vegetables can become very complicated in practice. National claims it is part of Labour's election tax policy, but Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is refusing to either confirm or deny it. Nicola Willis says she has been leaked the information. ASB Senior Economist Mark Smith told Francesca Rudkin the extra administration to do this comes at a cost. He says ideally you would take a targeted approach, but that is hard to do. Smith says other countries ask people show their income to get the discount, but it comes with problems. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How do you feel about electric tractors? The first one arrived in the country this week and Forest Lodge orchard owner Mike Casey has been trialling it out. It's 40 horse power on the small side, and costs about $150,000 - $200,000 if you include shipping. Mike Casey spoke to Francesca Rudkin. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Netball fans will be fizzing as the kick off for the 2023 World Cup draws closer. The first game is 7pm NZ time tonight, in Cape Town, South Africa with the Silver Ferns taking on Trinidad and Tobago. ZB Sports Reporter Nathan Limm spoke to Francesca Rudkin. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The President Joe Biden’s son Hunter is today expected to plead guilty to tax crimes and possession of gun. US correspondent Mitch Mccann talked to Kate Hawkesby.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I was at the supermarket this week and I got to witness first-hand the theft that is taking place on the daily. In fact it’s more than a daily basis; it’s like hourly, according to the checkout operators. My check out operator by the way, I’m convinced, was some kind of angel on earth. She wanted to help the thief. The guy, who to be fair looked dodgy and if I was in the business of profiling customers who may be stealing, I would have picked him all day long: hoodie, head bowed, scruffy, sifting through the aisles looking uncertain, and in his trolley just a couple of packets of meat. Anyway he’s in front of me at the checkout and the operator puts through his small amount of groceries then looks at him and says, “Hey I just wanna let you know, you’ve been spotted by security, they know you’ve got stuff on you and I just want to give you the opportunity to hand it over to me now so you don’t get in any trouble.” I’m thinking - wow this woman is brave, he looks angry, he shakes his head and denies he has stol

The government is merging CERT NZ - who help the public with cyber-attacks - and the GCSB together. This decision's had huge opposition who say it's been rushed through. GCSB minister Andrew Little says he's after a single front door for cyber security reporting, triage and response. Darkscope Technical Director Joerg Buss talked with Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A former Customs Minister is cooling hopes of making trans-Tasman travel easier. A taskforce is being set up by our government and Australia's, to look at ways to make travel more seamless. Maurice Williamson told Kate Hawkesby he doesn't believe new efforts in the space will lead to much progress. He says the speed you can travel between the two countries is quite fast now - and he doesn't believe we'll get to a point where travellers won't need passports. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Severe staffing shortages gripping Christchurch are being viewed as a replica of the pressure healthcare systems are facing nationwide. Pegasus Health's after-hours medical centre shut it's doors at midnight, and won't re-open until 8am. This comes as Christchurch Hospital faced its busiest 24 hours ever, earlier this month. Association of Salaried Medical Specialists former executive director Ian Powell told Kate Hawkesby it's happening across the country. He says it's not just in urgent care facilities - but hospitals and emergency departments - and is now normal rather than abnormal.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With all the travelling that’s taken place these last few weeks with school holidays and people bailing to beat the winter blues, I’m confounded more and more by the state of Auckland airport. It’s a shambles. Now during and immediately after Covid, you can accept staffing’s an issue, that a few things aren’t right, that it’s not running as well as it should be. You can forgive the dysfunction. But all this time later, it’s still a shambles. It still appears to have staffing issues, it still doesn’t function. Why? Why have they not got it together yet? Worse still, it’s the gateway to our country, it’s currently welcoming FIFA guests and tourists, and it’s just an abomination. You wait forever for an air bridge so you can disembark, then you wait forever for your bags, then you get into the world’s longest queue for MPI clearance – which in my case at the weekend involved the biggest queue I’ve ever seen and no ‘nothing to declare’ lane. It was just a seething mass of people, including flight crew, all having

Wellingtonians have come down with a severe bout of football fever. Over 30,000 people packed into Wellington Regional Stadium for the Football Ferns match last night. But the crowd couldn't stop the result, New Zealand went down 1-0 to the Philippines. Newstalk ZB's Voice of Football and Weekend Sport Host, Jason Pine told Kate Hawkesby for some reason players couldn't find the same confidence they had in their opening win. He wonders whether the occasion got the better of them. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Warnings the wildfires scorching the Mediterranean are likely to get worse before they get better. Impacts are widespread across the region, with forest fires killing at least 34 people in Algeria. In Greece, two pilots are dead after their water-bombing plane crashed attempting to put out a blaze spreading across the island of Evia. Europe Correspondent, Gavin Grey, told Kate Hawkesby close to 3,000 tourists have been evacuated from Rhodes. He says it's being described as a living nightmare and 19,000 people have evacuated from the island as temperatures reach 40 degrees. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People are back buying cars and doing home renovations again - with demand for credit on the rise. A quarterly report by financial services company Equifax shows a 5.3 percent rise in applications in the three months to June - however mortgage finance remains subdued. Equifax New Zealand Managing Director Angus Luffman told Kate Hawkesby says it follows seven quarters of decline. He says the increase is being driven by unsecured credit among applicants 30 years and older. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A children's health charity says the government needs to do more to support young people's vaping addiction. A loophole in a new law banning specialist vape stores from setting up within 300 metres from schools or marae from October, exempts dairies and supermarkets. The Health Ministry has confirmed general retailers can still set up from October 1. Life Education Trust chief executive John O'Connell told Kate Hawkesby schools need more health access to support addicted students.  He says schools are struggling for solutions - and too often it becomes a behavioural issue and a child is stood down, when they need health support. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The end of Kiri Allan’s political career throws up a couple of key questions. One, does it also spell the end of the government as in, the final straw? They look too unstable as a party, they are losing too many ministers, they have no one else to take on serious portfolios and the management of our country now looks like a school project. And two, was enough duty of care employed by the Labour leadership to look out for her? Labour is desperately trying to paint itself as not responsible for any of this. They did their best, they offered her help, counselling, mentorship, they say. Hipkins says he spoke with her and was reassured she was fine. But how often do people in a hole, or a bind, tell you they are fine when they are not? How much exploratory work was done on whether she truly was fine? And given many of us could tell just from the small snippets we saw of her in the media and from what we were hearing that she was clearly not fine, how did the Labour leadership misread it so badly? There is an onus

A Kiwi Manuka honey company continues to break its own records. The true honey co. has just harvested a Manuka honey that's got the highest unique Manuka factor in the world. So aside from an expensive jar of honey, what on earth does that all mean? The founder and CEO of True Honey Company Jim Mcmillan talked to Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington is set to reap the economic benefits of the FIFA Women's World Cup for a long time to come. The capital is one of the four New Zealand cities hosting matches for the international tournament. Kick-off for the Football Ferns game against Philippines in Wellington is half past five this afternoon. Wellington Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive, Simon Arcus says the event is a real winner for businesses. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A political analyst says Chris Hipkins is playing a dangerous game in choosing not to spread the load among his MPs. Kiri Allan has resigned as Justice Minister after crashing a car on Sunday night - she's been charged with careless driving and refusing to accompany police. Police Minister Ginny Andersen is taking over the Justice portfolio. Political analyst Bryce Edwards told Kate Hawkesby it adds up to a lot of weight on her shoulders. He says it goes to show Hipkins is making the same mistake as Jacinda Ardern, by loading up too few Ministers with too many heavy roles. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.