Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Kiwis are feeling the pinch in grocery prices as the Christmas period nears. The latest Infometrics-Foodstuffs New Zealand Grocery Supplier Cost Index data shows cost increases from suppliers to supermarkets have risen by more than 10 percent in November. Around seven-thousand-800 items increased in cost, nearly three times as many items as in November 2019. Vegetables NZ chair John Murphy told Roman Travers that they've had to make up for lost time due to weather, which has played into supply woes. He says they're struggling to keep up with demand, but do see that easing closer to Christmas. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Frustration from councils over the passing of the first of the Three Waters reforms bills. The Water Services Entities Bill jumped its last hurdle, thanks to Labour's majority, yesterday. The reforms take water assets from 67 councils, and amalgamates them into one of four water entities. Communities 4 Local Democracy Chair, and Manawatu District Mayor Helen Worboys told Tim Dower the Government hasn't worked with councils like it said it would. She says they've never had any answers on why this reform will make things more affordable. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new bill to create more flexible parental leave. National MP Nicola Willis's members' bill has been drawn from the biscuit tin for a proposal to allow a baby's parents to both take maternity leave, simultaneously or one at a time. Willis says she's hoping for cross-party support, saying it's a simple legislative change to support families. She says it's a total no brainer and parents should be able to take their leave when and how they need to. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's thought Harry and Meghan's new Netflix series is unlikely to ruffle too many feathers. The first three episodes of the pair's long-awaited docu-series dropped last night, after weeks of rumour about the content. Royal Correspondent Robert Hardman told Tim Dower there's nothing terribly surprising in there. He says the rest of the family will just roll their eyes and get on with it. Hardman says it's an extended version of the complaints we heard in the Oprah Winfrey interview last March. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Young criminals will now have a support plan put in place within 48 hours of offending. The Government is launching a  $2 million youth crime package to fund locally-led solutions in Auckland, Waikato, Northland and Bay of Plenty. A new, fast-tracked intervention approach will be taken for children aged 10 to 13 - dubbed serious or persistent offenders. Youth worker Aaron Hendry told Tim Dower it's important children who offend get support as soon as possible. He says they need to be told the repercussions of what they've done and how it will be dealt with it. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A barrister says there was potential for a dangerous precedent, had the judge ruled in favour of the parents of a six-month-old who needs heart surgery. Doctors at Starship Hospital have been granted medical responsibility of the baby until the surgery is complete, and he recovers. His parents won't let doctors use donations from the Blood Service for the surgery - over claims it's all tainted by the Covid vaccine. Barrister Simon Judd told Tim Dower there could be a slippery slope if individual patients could pick and choose the services they receive, or control how a treatment is delivered. He says you could imagine the administrative difficulties and time all of that would take. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new and efficient way of getting across the Hauraki Gulf. Fullers has teamed up with sustainable boat company SeaChange, to bring a zero-emission hydrofoil onto Auckland's waters from next year. The boat is fully electric, carries 10 passengers and can reach a top speed of 55 km/h. SeaChange founder and CEO Max Olson told Tim Dower they're much more efficient than the ferries currently on the water. He says they make them out of high performance materials like carbon fibre which gets better shapes, and they have much better control strategy than normal ferries. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been five years since New Zealand brought in compensation for live organ donors. It was driven by National's Chris Bishop, allowing living donors to receive 100 percent of their income for twelve weeks after surgery. So far, 344 people have been supported. Chris Bishop joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Waikato University sports sociologist is applauding the actions of Sport New Zealand around inclusion of transgender people in community activities based on which gender they identify with. The document takes a human rights rather than scientific approach to the issue which has tended to be the focus at elite level. Holly Thorpe says the guidelines are an important first step to navigate a complex issue. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First home buyers aren't taking their eyes off the housing market. The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand's latest survey shows first home buyers remain much more interested in making a purchase than investors. It comes as agents report a new downward pressure on average sales prices. Chief executive Jen Baird told Tim Dower there's been a noticeable drop in investors in the market. She says first home buyers are seeing this as their chance to step on to the property ladder. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

National is increasing its lead over Labour. Labour has slid one point to 33 percent support in the latest 1News Kantar poll, while National is up one point to 38 percent. Act has 11 percent —giving it the backing to form a government with National— and the Green Party is sitting at nine points. National Leader Christopher Luxon says it's clear the public want change. He says they want to see a Government that actually gets things done. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

St. Edward’s Crown, the centerpiece of the Crown Jewels viewed by millions of people every year at the Tower of London, has been moved to an undisclosed location for modification in preparation for the coronation of King Charles III next year. The move was kept secret for security reasons until the operation was complete, Buckingham Palace said in a statement Saturday. The palace provided no details and didn’t say where the modification work would take place. Charles will be crowned on May 6 at Westminster Abbey in a ceremony that will embrace the past but look to the modern world after the 70-year reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II. The Imperial State Crown will also be used during the service. Versions of St. Edward’s Crown are believed to have been used by monarchs since the 11th century. The current crown was made for Charles II in 1661, as a replacement for the original, which was melted down in 1649 after the House of Commons abolished the monarchy and declared a commonwealth during the English Civil

Funding for a Cystic Fibrosis drug is being described as a miracle. A provisional agreement's been made between Pharmac and Vertex to fund the drug Trikafta for those with the condition aged six and over. The drug buying agency estimated it could give those people up to 27 more years of full health when compared with supportive care. Cystic Fibrosis Chief Executive Lisa Burns told Tim Dower they know from other countries the drug's incredible life-changing effects. “There is a different level of quality of life, there is the ability to put weight on, there’s the ability to work and attend school.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's backdown on entrenching that part of the Three Waters legislation was about as well orchestrated as it could have been. We got the release about 8am yesterday — unusual to be honest — and Chris Hipkins was available to speak to it on ZB just after 9 with Francesca. What a stroke of luck! That opens the door to the Opposition parties to have their say and I suspect that on a bad day for them, the Government's spin team would have been willing to see it play out in the 6pm telly news. So how fortuitous that Pharmac's announcement on the drug for Cystic Fibrosis was embargoed till 6pm. And obviously, given the amount of prep work that had gone into the reports on that, there’d been a couple of days warning at least. So the Three Waters backdown came in about third or fourth — coincidence? I don't think anyone emerges covered in glory over this entrenchment. Chris Luxon's belated outrage doesn't really cut the mustard. His own team should have flagged about the constitutional issues when the pape

Kylian Mbappé scored two goals and set up another for Olivier Giroud, giving France a 3-1 victory over Poland and a spot in the World Cup quarterfinals today. The Paris Saint-German forward now has a tournament-leading five goals and the 2018 champions are within three wins of defending their title. Robert Lewandowski scored from the penalty spot in second-half stoppage time for Poland. No country has repeated as World Cup champions in six decades — since Brazil achieved the feat by claiming consecutive trophies in 1958 and 1962. Italy is the only other nation to have won two straight, in 1934 and 1938. France’s quarterfinal opponent will be either England or Senegal. Mbappé scored his first in the 74th minute when he was left unmarked to blast in a long-range shot following a counterattack. He added another in stoppage time when Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny could only get a weak glove on another powerful shot from the man in the No. 10. Having also provided two assists, Mbappé has easily been the most

Big online platforms could be forced to pay a fair price for local news. The Government is drawing up legislation to make companies like Google and Meta pay local news producers for their content. They're encouraged to strike their own voluntary deals, as NZME - owner of Newstalk ZB and the Herald - already has. If no agreement is found, the Government will set bargaining terms. Gorilla Technology Chief Executive Paul Spain told Tim Dower local media are being ripped off in the current environment. “The likes of Google and Meta are taking their content and are monetising it without too much of that money heading back.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So it’s been a long hard year. I don’t know why this year feels harder than last year. I mean last year we had Covid for goodness sake, and lockdowns, and I guess a lot of us thought it couldn’t get much worse than this – but this year has been like a bad hangover that won’t go away. Inflation, cost of living crisis, petrol prices, housing prices, health crisis, mental health crisis, surge in crime. I mean it’s an ugly laundry list of stuff that’s made 2022 not quite the shiny new prospect many of us would have been hoping for this time last year. It feels like a bit of collective PTSD after all that Covid and politics and division and now we end the year with even more uncertainty, with things not really feeling like they’re going to get much better for a while yet. But let’s try and look at some positives. We opened our borders back up, we got tourism starting to fire back up again, we had Covid restrictions dropped, we got rid of lockdowns. See now I’m kind of running out of the positives. There’s a limite

A leading advocate against family violence, believes we're days away from another child being killed. Merepeka Raukawa Tait has little hope that much will happen in the wake of an investigation into the death of Malachi Subecz. The Tauranga five-year-old was killed by his carer just over a year ago, after a history of abuse. A damning report into the little boy's murder identifies five critical gaps in the system and makes 14 recommendations. They're aimed at ensuring there are interlocking safety nets in place, to make sure another child doesn't endure the same thing. The Whanau Ora Chair told Kate Hawkesby it's just another report. She says everyone gets sorry and sad about a child's death - but nothing really changes. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A long-time friend of Sir Murray Halberg says he was described as having acid, rather than blood in his veins. The athletics legend has died aged 89. He's best known for striking gold in the 5000m at the 1960 Rome Olympics, and he was also New Zealand's first sub four minute miler. President of Auckland Athletics Murray McKinnon told Kate Hawkesby he did well at secondary school, but it wasn't until he met the great Arthur Lydiard that he excelled. He says Halberg told him he would have just been an average runner and won a few national titles had he not met Lydiard. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The World Buskers Festival will celebrate its 30th anniversary in Christchurch next year. The programme has officially been announced, with more than two weeks jam packed with events. It's been three years since international buskers have taken to the streets and Festival Director Scott Maidment joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.