Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

A climate expert says not all UN climate change conferences are created equal. Delegates from more than 200 countries are meeting in Egypt over the next fortnight to discuss climate action and compare progress. Victoria University's Adrian Macey says the meeting is unlikely to create any new breakthrough agreements. He says it probably won't be as influential as the 2015 Paris meeting. Macey says that meeting produced a robust agreement on emissions. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An extension to childcare funding could benefit children's education. The Government's announced the income threshold to access the childcare subsidy scheme will be raised from April - making 54 percent of the country's families eligible. The Working for Families family tax credit will also rise by nine-dollars a week for the eldest child, and seven-dollars for subsequent children. Save the Children Research Director Jacqui Southey told Kate Hawkesby that it's incredibly necessary. She says those facing steep living costs can re-direct money going on childcare to other household essentials. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I see a theme at the Labour party conference over the weekend was taking potshots at National leader Chris Luxon. It was reported that Grant Robertson made “19 references to National” and 9 to Luxon personally. When asked if all this reference to the Nats meant they were worried about them as a serious threat, Robertson of course denied it. He added some extra potshots that the Nats were ‘out of touch and inexperienced’. Which in and of itself if laugh out loud irony if ever I heard it. Out of touch? This from a government who has never seen a bigger disconnect between the real world and their beehive Wellington echo chamber? Are you kidding me? No one is more out of touch than this government, and by saying the Nats are the ones out of touch proves it. As for inexperienced.. we could take that seriously if anyone inside the Labour government had any experience or had ever run a business or knew any facts or data around their own portfolios. To top it off.. Robertson, who, disappointingly for Michelle Obama,

So predictably, sadly, the huge bushfire in North Canterbury is believed to have been started by two young people letting off fireworks. Why are we not surprised? 130 people were forced to leave their homes in an all-night evacuation. A massive amount of resource was poured into fighting the fire including four helicopters with monsoon buckets, two waterbombing planes, 7 fire crews, 70 firefighters, 12 trucks, 2 bulldozers and 2 diggers. They worked throughout the night trying to get the blaze, which spanned about 200 hectares, under control. The fire engulfed 5 and a half kilometres of the coast north of the Waimakariri River. All of that energy, resource and great expense, all because of a couple of kids with fireworks. Not even letting them off on Guy Fawkes, just randomly letting them off as soon as they’d purchased them. They only went on sale Wednesday. The rules are you can only light fireworks from your own home, and in calm conditions. Who’s taking any notice of the laws? Answer – no one. They couldn

A concern New Zealand's meth market may be becoming even more attractive to international drug manufacturers. Kiwi users pay some of the highest prices in the world with 100 milligrams costing around $100. But an increase in global supply has driven prices down around the world. Drug education company Methcon Managing Director Dale Kirk told Kate Hawkesby demand continues to outstrip supply here because we don't have many other options. He says we haven't had opioids, cocaine or MDMA take off as much here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A group of first responders are preparing to lace up their running shoes for the mental health charity I Am Hope in Christchurch. Members from the police, fire and ambulance services along with defence force and civil defence personnel will take part in a 24 hour relay tomorrow. The runners are hoping to raise $20,000 dollars for the I am Hope charity which makes it easy for young people to access counsellors. Senior Constable Glen Dawson told Kate Hawkesby it's personal to a lot of the people taking part. He says they often have a front row seat to mental health and suicide episodes. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another jammed packed weekend of rugby action is on the forecast. The All Blacks are hoping to bounce back from a shaky win over Japan when they face Wales in Cardiff on Sunday morning and the Black Ferns will be trying to keep their home World Cup dreams alive against the French at Eden Park. Dr Farah Palmer is a pioneer for the women’s game and former a Black Ferns captain and she joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A good lesson emerged out of yesterday – don’t forget what you're really about. Starship Foundation, in rejecting half a million bucks because it came from horse racing (which by the way is not illegal, nor is gambling) made a big mistake, and one they should have fessed up to straight away. Their remit is sick children and helping them and their families however they can, not spending time and money on public image and branding. Starship knew exactly what they had done a whole day before the story broke. Not only that, they knew Mark Chittick was going public with it. They knew because several media outlets frantically chased them for their response, giving them several opportunities to respond and offer up their side of the story. Nothing. They went to ground. A small written statement making not a lot of sense did them no favours, no one fronted on it. So the story ran and ran and ran.. it ran all day. It filled talkback shows, it filled newspaper comments sections, it filled up text machines and emails, S

Banks are calling on their customers to reach out if they're feeling financial stress. The Reserve Bank has predicted lending rates and household debt will continue to rise, while house price will trend downwards. Bankers' Association CEO Roger Beaumont says the levels of help will depend on income, size of mortgage and household expenses. But he told Kate Hawkesby early intervention is the best option. Beaumont says the sooner people reach out,  the easier it is for the banks to help. LISTEN ABOVE    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With Christmas right around the corner, we're being warned to be vigilant with online scams. A worldwide study by cyber security brand Norton shows almost a quarter of New Zealanders take more risks when online shopping during the holiday season. The study says inflation's somewhat to blame, as scammers are luring people in with promises of deals too good to be true. Norton Managing Director Mark Gorrie told Kate Hawkesby it's been the perfect season for scammers. He says an increase in online shopping during the pandemic caused more scams to pop up, and the holiday season can mean people let their guards down in search for gifts. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anger from the tourism industry over the lack of action and clarity from the Government. Back in May, the Government announced a $54 million recovery fund for the struggling sector as part of  the Budget. The scheme was pitched as a grant to fund innovative and sustainable tourism operations, but nothing has been paid out. Haka Tourism general manager Eve Lawrence told Kate Hawkesby all they want from the Government is action. She says the fund, its criteria and its definition of innovation needs to be clearly defined, which she says, they aren't. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’m not worried about Elon Musk buying Twitter because it’s a waste of energy. I’ve decided the only real currency we have these days is our energy; expend it at your peril. Think long and hard about what you give it to. I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately. People expend too much energy these days on stuff that isn’t real, doesn’t matter, will possibly never impact them. Don’t like Twitter? Hop off it. Delete it. Hate Facebook? Get off it. I’ve done both. It’s liberating. I don’t expend energy on it at all. My only social media outlet is Instagram, I gleefully hit the block and delete button for trolls. Why let them take up space in your head, or take up your energy and time? Pointless. If social media’s not fun or safe or informative, why bother? It seems though, that many of us do get worried about what we see online, or what others may be seeing online. Increasingly, the concern is misinformation and disinformation. I do wonder by the way, to what degree the people who're worried about this from a p

The Council of Trade Unions says National's proposed tax plan would give peanuts to the working and middle classes. It's crunched the numbers based on IRD and National Party data. The council says the cut will cost $11 billion over three years and will mostly benefit top income earners and property investors. CTU economist Craig Renney told Kate Hawkesby says there are better ways to spend that money. He says that could be spent on health, education or protecting the poorest workers. National Party Finance Spokesperson Nicola Willis has rejected the numbers saying they haven't released their entire plan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cookie Time is thanking the 'Costco effect' for a massive jump in sales. The Christchurch-based company is praising the works of the Auckland superstore, saying it's boosted sales by more than a million since opening in September. The cookie manufacturer says due to the recent success, it's now set to supply its cookies for other Costco stores internationally. Cookie Time Managing Director Guy Pope-Mayell told Kate Hawkesby the success comes as a sweet surprise.  He says Cookie Time is producing one pallet of cookies per day just for the Auckland Costco store. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I don’t think the Prime Minister's assurances that New Zealand is a great place to live will have any sway with all the potential overseas workers we could have, who’re choosing to go elsewhere.  Prime Ministers have to be cheerleaders for their country, it’s part of the job description.  They also have to be relentlessly positive, as Ardern is, when it’s a country you’ve been governing for five years and its reputation as a great place has, under your government, gone backwards.  People used to want to come here, and did come here, in their droves - now, not so much. Just one solitary investor has lined up for the new investor category visa.  A system that used to work well and attract wealthy investors, now that they overhauled it for reasons best known to themselves, is so unattractive that only one person has bothered applying.  So we’re not attracting wealth or investment into the country, but nor are we attracting workforce. A recruiter just back from two jobs fairs in the UK said there’s zero interest

An anti-Three Waters group says reform is needed, but one size doesn't fit all. It comes as Auckland, Christchurch and Waimakariri councils band together to launch a revised plan - keeping a water regulator, but ownership, control and accountability stays with councils. Communities for Local Democracy had a similar plan, but was shut down by the Government earlier this year. Chair of that group, Manawatu District Mayor Helen Worboys, told Kate Hawkesby their plan needs funding assistance, which they're happy to do. She says they support assisting communities, but their overall message to the Government is don't micro-manage them. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Concern Auckland's bus users will be left in the lurch, as a quarter of all the city's routes are cut from Sunday. Auckland Transport is suspending nearly a thousand bus services across the city in what they say will give public transport users more certainty amidst driver shortages. Public Transport Users Association co-ordinator Jon Reeves told Kate Hawkesby the Government has had two years to sort the problem out. He says Immigration Minister Michael Wood could have changed the settings two years ago to allow more drivers in the country. LISTEN ABOVE    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This weekend was a big one for sports, with the All Blacks winning against Japan, even if the score was close.  The team didn't get off unscathed though, with two key players sustaining injuries after the fact. Sam Cane fractured his cheekbone and Dane Coles injured his calf. Andrew Alderson, Newstalk ZB sportsreader joined us to recap the weekend in sport, between the All Blacks injuries and The Black Ferns securing a spot in the World Cup semi-finals. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Of all the times we hear about police not showing up to break-ins or burglaries or ram raids, we do hear about when they did show up.  This weekend they showed up at Halloween parties gone wrong, to move on kids behaving badly. One neighbour at an out-of-control party in Auckland’s Mt Albert over the weekend said about 30 Police showed up.  My first thought was, that’s a lot of police at one party, how nice of them. Be good if more could show up when stores are being broken into or ram raids are taking place.  But the common denominator here is kids behaving badly. I mean, let’s not kid ourselves that teenagers have always been so good and now they’ve suddenly all gone rogue.  Teenagers have been trouble forever, that’s what they do, but the trouble they’re getting into these days seems more intense and the age they’re getting into it is ever younger.  There are more and younger gang recruits, more and younger burglars and ram raiders.  There's an issue in this country with lack of respect, lack of fear of au

Hopes the poorest communities will benefit the most from alcohol law reform. Their aim is to give communities more of a say about new liquor outlets. Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Nicki Jackson says deprived communities are hit hardest by new outlets. She says  bottle stores aren't the only issue. Jackson says supermarkets can be bad because they normalise drinking and sell alcohol for cheaper. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.