Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

The country's infrastructure industry is describing National's $500-million road transport policy as a good start. The party has declared it will redirect funding from road safety initiatives to pothole repairs and road renewals, if it wins the election. Infrastructure New Zealand Chief Executive Nick Leggett told Kate Hawkesby that the man power exists to make this promise a reality, but there has to be a guaranteed pipeline of work. He says if the work is there, the resources will follow. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A chance for businesses to reconnect with a changing China. The China Business Summit began in Auckland at 7am this morning. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will speak —covering topics like trade and investment— and insights from his recent trip to China and Nato Summit attendance. The Chinese Ambassador and the New Zealand China Council are also attending. Council Executive Director, Alistair Crozie told Kate Hawkesby that it's significant, being the first in-person summit since Covid. He says no-one's been to the market until recently and this event gives businesses a chance to get to grips with how China's evolved. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Labour released its party slogan over the weekend and it says ' In it for you', which as some cynical person observed sounds like something you'd say on Tinder to secure a date. What it says to me, is that the two main parties slogans this election year very much reflect their parties approaches. One is a slogan which is ambiguous:  what's it even mean, 'in it for you'? Sounds kind, has the feel good factor I guess, sounds like it got work shopped in a focus group on a white board and people went 'oh yeah, sounds nice.' But what's it actually mean? And that's the problem. It's just more words, platitudes, word salads, things that sound potentially kind or good, or about us, but we're not sure. The great irony of course being that this party, since its 2020 mandate, has been in it for them. One hundred percent for them, not us. In fact their raison d'etre has been to tell us how we should all be living, what we should be doing, whether we should drive cars or take public transport, when we're allowed a RAT tes

I said earlier this week that my hero of the week was any CEO who walks the talk and works the floor and gets amongst the team. That was off the back of my parents having Greg Foran, Air NZ CEO, check them in at Auckland airport. He’s out there often apparently, doing various jobs inside various departments to learn more about the airline and be present, and it’s a good look – it’s appreciated. But then I’ve found something else this week that I appreciate; common sense. Or at least people who speak it – and we seem to be thin on the ground on those people these days. But in light of the Sam Cane pitch invader saga All Blacks forwards coach, Jason Ryan, has come out and blasted pitch invaders. Which is good, because for a while there it was looking like we were busy apologising to them and handing them a bunch of free rugby merch for their troubles. Which made no sense to me, but then a lot of the weird woke stuff that goes on these days doesn’t make sense to me. Like how we seem to kowtow to offenders more t

Plastic pollution in Lake Rotorua is reportedly comparable to lakes in Europe and the US. Three places in New Zealand have been part of a global analysis of plastic pollution levels in freshwater lakes. Deniz Özkundakci is a University of Waikato Associate Professor and freshwater ecologist. He told Kate Hawkesby it's disappointing we're seeing high levels here. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

News that business owners are struggling to make ends meet isn't surprising to some in the sector.  Research by accounting software company Xero shows almost half of small to medium business owners aren't paying themselves. Business mentor and Whanganui Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Helen Garner told Kate Hawkesby the statistics are dismaying. Garner says there are ups and downs in business, but with money not moving as it should be, these are not ideal times. She says there is no way of telling at the moment how long this will last. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Capital gains and wealth taxes may not accomplish the goals advocates think they might. After investigating, Chris Hipkins has ruled out those changes while he's Prime Minister.  Deloitte tax partner Robyn Walker says wealth taxes don't bring in a huge amount of revenue, but create higher administration and compliance costs. She says there are unintended consequences which have been seen in overseas countries,  like Norway. Walker says the wealthy and "the want to be wealthy" have fled the country. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s no evidence a BBC presenter who allegedly paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos committed a crime, London police says as the broadcaster’s wife publicly identified him for the first time as veteran news anchor Huw Edwards. Metropolitan police said it made its decision after speaking with the alleged victim and that person’s parents. The parents had complained to The Sun newspaper last week that the BBC had allowed the presenter to remain on air after they told the broadcaster in May that he paid the youth more than $72,000 starting in 2020 when the person was 17. As the scandal remained atop the news all week, colleagues at the BBC had called for the unnamed presenter to come forward. Edwards is one of Britain’s best-known news broadcasters. Photo / BBC It was only early Thursday morning that his wife, Vicky Flind, issued a statement identifying Edwards. She said her husband was suffering from serious mental health issues and was hospitalised. Flind said after “five extremely difficult days fo

So more than a hundred million users have signed up for Meta's new Threads platform - making it the fastest growing online platform in history. Can you believe that? How do more than a hundred million people still have so much to say that they need to say it on a whole new platform? It was set up to rival Twitter; it's kind of a Twitter 2.0 but they’re trying to make it ‘kind’, they say. Clearly they don’t understand how the internet works. Anything that even for one moment purports to be ‘kind’ is corrupted eventually - the internet is just not a ‘kind’ place. Even Instagram, which started out as the least nasty of all the social media platforms, still has keyboard warriors coming for you, still has trolls lining up in your DM’s to ask if you were wearing a seatbelt in that last video, or if you really should let your children walk around without shoes on. But with the proliferation of platforms, there are just more outlets for more people to say more stuff - most of which is either irrelevant or of no impor

The court system backlog continues. Families are waiting on average nearly 500 days for answers to Coronial cases - and over 170 for District Court case resolutions. Family Court decision wait times have tripled in five years, forcing people to wait over 1000 days for answers. King's Counsel barrister Marie Dyhrberg joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We shouldn't see any surprises from the central bank on the Official Cash Rate today. Most economists are picking no change after Reserve Bank head Adrian Orr indicated they were done. It's expected to be confirmed around 2pm this afternoon. Christina Leung, Principal Economist at the New Zealand institute of Economic Research joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

People are questioning the BBC's response to allegations of inappropriate behaviour against a high-profile presenter, with a second person coming out with complaints. The second lot of allegations are from a person in their 20s, who met the presenter on a dating app and allegedly received abusive messages and was pressured to meet with them. The BBC has confirmed it didn't speak to the presenter until last week, despite initial claims being made in May. UK Correspondent Gavin Grey told Kate Hawkesby the BBC took only two attempts to contact the complainant. He says the presenter's identity is still unknown but they are suspended. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I tell you what’s a good look - CEOs who walk the talk - and we’re seeing a bit more of it these days which is great. Because I think we’re at a time now where we expect more of our leadership, one of the things we expect most is that they’re the real deal. That they ‘walk among us’ and seem a little bit human. More and more you’ll see bosses or those in leadership roles sitting at desks in open plan offices rather than being squirreled away in a vault somewhere removed from the hoi polloi. When I started out my media career many moons ago as a naïve 21 year old intern at TVNZ, bosses were tucked away in upstairs offices. You got summoned to them by a PA who would brief you before you went in – so as to prepare you for ‘face time with the boss’. “He’s in a good mood today you’re lucky..”, or “hope you’re not going to be too long in there because he’s flat out today..” There was this constant middle man go between, between you and the manager. Even walking up to see the manager was a big deal. People would see

A new study has confirmed exercising before an operation will substantially improve your recovery. Researchers at Otago University collated data from their own and other existing studies and found high intensity interval training can reduce the risk of surgery complications by 56 percent. Lead researcher Dr Kari Clifford says even a brief four week programme makes a difference, while also giving patients agency at a time when they may not feel in control. Clifford says it's something meaningful they can do before their surgery that will actually improve their outcome. She adds getting people out of recovery sooner will alleviate pressure on the sector. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dwelling consents have fallen 10 percent this year - slowing down demand for residential building. Latest CoreLogic figures show construction costs still increased by 0.6 percent in the June quarter, in line with March figures. But it's a decrease on the average quarterly rise of two percent which we've seen in 2021 and 2022. Chief property economist Kelvin Davidson says the sector is slowing down, but that doesn't mean new-builds will get cheaper. He says wages are still a big component of the new-build price - and those aren't going to fall. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Pasifika representative says the community will hold the Government to account if changes aren't made to Dawn Raid practices. An independent review suggests the Government should make deep changes to the Immigration Act - and out-of-hours visits should be only the last resort. It also calls for the consideration of those, like children and the elderly. Auckland Councillor Alf Filipaina told Kate Hawkesby the recommendations are clear. He says the Government needs to be held accountable for the changes that need to be made to the practices. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the BBC's leading presenters has been suspended over allegations that he paid a teenager for sexually explicit photos. The broadcaster says it's working to establish facts around the unnamed male presenter, who's a regular presenter and a "household name". London's Met Police says while no formal referral or allegation has been made, it's received initial contact from the BBC. UK correspondent Gavin Grey told Kate Hawkesby that the broadcaster is taking the allegations very seriously. The allegations are that the presenter paid the equivalent of 70 to 80-thousand NZD for explicit photos of the teenager over a three year period. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A criminal lawyer is casting doubt on the benefits of throwing the book at troubled youth. The Act Party wants 17-year-olds to be charged as adults, and for youth justice facilities to be run by Corrections, not Oranga Tamariki. Steve Cullen told Kate Hawkesby that the policy would make problems worse. He says putting 17-year-olds in prison would create a fertile source for gang recruitment. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So while we were away the news from home was pretty much standard. Another MP facing conflict of interest questions (looking at you Peeni Henare), another MP in meltdown and on leave, another Dairy owner attacked, the (entirely predictable) revelation that government debt was way higher than forecast, the disturbing news of half a billion dollars on almost expired RAT tests being stored in a warehouse exemplifying the very worst of this government’s wastage of our money, more youths on roofs being handed KFC for their troubles, and some more gaslighting by Ministers regards how we’re all feeling. Fresh from her ‘we’re all feeling safer’ tone deaf blunder, Police minister Ginny Andersen was busy alleging that Labour hasn’t failed on crime.  She ‘does not accept,’ it was reported, that the Government's record on crime is a "social and moral failure". Not even ‘hammer wielding offenders storming a Dairy and injuring two people’ could sway her. Nope, nothing to see here. No issues with crime, it’s all hunky dory

Yesterday was a big milestone for the FIFA World Cup here in New Zealand. The first of the 15 teams, Norway and Vietnam, stepped off planes at Auckland Airport. They received a warm welcome in the arrivals area, which has been transformed into a football field, signed autographs, high fived the FIFA mascot and headed to their bases.   The FIFA World Cup kicks off in New Zealand on 20th July - and I’ve got to say: where’s the hype?   This tournament is huge for New Zealand - even if it’s shared with Australia. It's set to be the biggest event New Zealand has ever hosted. FIFA estimates the tournament will bring more than $200 million into the New Zealand economy.   30,000 spectators are expected to arrive in the county to watch the tournament, throwing extra income into local economies. Tourism New Zealand is working hard to promote New Zealand to the potential 1.5 billion international viewers expected to watch the games. It’s all good. The benefits for both the country and women’s football are massive.   But