Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Farmers can't catch a break in Bay of Plenty. It's the region's worst maize harvest in decades with around 60 percent of crops wiped out due to the weather. But is it all doom and gloom? Bay of Plenty Federated Farmers provincial president Brent Mountford joined Kate Hawkesby to discuss. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Water New Zealand's boss says we need to focus on what's at stake when it comes to Three Waters - and that's the need to invest in infrastructure. New Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty has been asked to refine the policy, but Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says the need for reform is unquestionable. Water New Zealand Chief Executive Gillian Blythe says the commentary has focused too much on co-governance. She told Kate Hawkesby we need to remember the words of a Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment more than 20 years ago. Blythe says Morgan Williams said the model is not fit for purpose, and the longer we leave it to address, the harder it will get and the more complex it will be. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some of you will be about to get back in it, I was in it yesterday and it was hell on earth. I’m talking about rush hour, I’m talking about the school run and in Auckland in particular - it was as hellish as they predicted it would be.  It feels like a long time between drinks. A long time since we’ve been back in cars, kids have been back in uniforms, bags have been back on shoulders and kids trudging back off to school. February is never an easy month anyway given the humidity and heat, especially if your uniform fabric is nice and thick and scratchy.  But the traffic, honest to God, I don’t know how it’s possible but it seems even worse. I left home for an eight minute journey, I returned 40 minutes later. It was chaos. Bumper to bumper madness.  And I know the zealots say hey get a bus, or get a train, or get out on your feet and walk but that’s not always practical or possible depending on where you live. So for us it was the car and we joined the throngs of everyone else doing the same thing.  And here’

The Prime Minister is set to drip feed the Government's policy changes. Chris Hipkins’ policy cull will be a topic at today's cabinet meeting, with all eyes on the RNZ-TVNZ merger. It comes after a newly reshuffled Cabinet was asked to take another look at its priorities, in a bid to get back to political basics. Political commentator Clint Smith told Kate Hawkesby we'll likely see some announcements, but not everything in one go. He says the advantage the Opposition has is that it can just make an announcement and that's its policy. But Smith says with the whole machinery of government behind things, decisions have to be taken at Cabinet, and that takes some time. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Concern over the latest data on online dating and romance scams. The Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report surveyed just over 1,000 New Zealand adults, and found a quarter have fallen victim. More than half have suffered financial losses, on average $264. Systems Engineer Dean Williams told Kate Hawkesby we're not alone, with other countries showing similar rates. He says overall it's quite alarming, and shows this is another cyber issue we need to be conscious of. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Appalling scenes in Turkey and Syria as rescuers continue to search for earthquake survivors. Around 23 million people are thought to be displaced after the two 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude quakes in southern Turkey and the death toll has now passed 6,000. President Recep Tayyp Erdogan has declared a three-month state of emergency in the ten worst affected provinces. Europe correspondent Kay Oliver told Kate Hawkesby it's a dangerous and dreadful rescue mission. She says tremors are continuing, and help is very limited as people are spending a second night out in freezing conditions. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A cutting edge development in the fight for sustainability in the food and fibre sector. New Zealand based company Environmental Decontamination has cracked a way to grind mussel shells into calcium carbonate. It's a product used in paper, concrete and paint. New Zealand currently processes around 100,000 tonnes of green-lipped mussels, which generates around 55,000 tonnes of waste per year. Project lead, Kapish Gobindlal told Kate Hawkesby the new technology offers a step towards a more sustainable future for the food sector. He says the very fine powder can now be used in the construction industry and in commercial goods. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thousands of tourism businesses remain desperately short of staff, with the latest figures showing the sector could be short as many as 80,000 staff - around 13,000 more than last year. As tourism returns to our shores, many visitors have found businesses closed or operating on limited hours due to staffing issues. General manager of Haka Tours and ANZ Nature Tours Eve Lawrence joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So another Waitangi weekend done and dusted.. and what did we learn? Well, not much. I think part of the disconnect around it these days is the coverage of it. Why does it always have to get so petty?  What we learned was – who spoke with notes and who didn’t, who spoke te reo and who didn’t, who attended what and who didn’t. How is that taking us anywhere or telling us anything or bringing us closer as a nation?  We are not being well served here when we let the sneerers on the sidelines get news headlines out of their pettiness.  David Seymour went to the trouble of doing his entire speech in te reo – the only coverage of that? The Greens Marama Davidson sneering at him as he did, and afterwards telling the media.. ‘it’s still racism it doesn’t matter what language it’s in.’  So the fact the media made a big deal of that was either A, because they don’t know any better and are happy to allow themselves to be hijacked by pettiness, or B, because they wanted to let her comment speak for itself. Hopefully it’s

Concerns increasing delays in court hearings could be putting people at risk. Newstalk ZB can reveal the number of family court applications older than two years,  has doubled from October 2022 compared to 2017. Victims Advocate Ruth Money told Kate Hawkesby it means children's safety and domestic violence protection orders are on hold. She says it's a 'warzone' trying to get a family court lawyer, let alone a time in court. The Justice Ministry says these are pandemic delays, and they're trying to work through the backlog. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the travesties of this week’s floods in Auckland has been the acrimonious fallout that’s happened at Council level over the whole response - mainly the beef between the media and the Mayor.  I just want to preface this by saying that I think the way the Auckland Mayor has handled this has been appalling. But here’s the thing about calling the media drongos; is he wrong?  I myself am in the media, I take it on the chin, we are drongos, some of us more than others, but come on, it’s a bit precious to be offended by that, we’ve heard a lot worse surely. And why can’t you call the media drongos?  So often these days the media manage to make themselves the story, make it all about them and then get so mortally offended when they get called out for their bias or their BS.  In Wayne Brown’s case, he probably had a right to be peed off. He got ignored at a press conference by media who didn’t know who he was, he got ignored when he bothered to take a helicopter up with his own money to assess the damage in Auc

National is accusing the Government of having its head in the sand, about the prospect of a recession. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has told Newstalk ZB he's confident New Zealand can still avoid a recession, despite the Reserve Bank's efforts to engineer one. But a new forecast from Infometrics suggests a recession is inevitable, given the slowdown in sectors like construction. National Finance Spokesperson Nicola Willis told Kate Hawkesby on Early Edition Robertson is being naïve. She says New Zealand will look back on this time in history, as the moment the Government didn't act to prevent an avoidable recession. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A suggestion health planners are flying blind due to a lack of data. An editorial in the latest Medical Journal raises questions about why we're not appropriately measuring Unmet Secondary Elective Healthcare Need. That's otherwise known as non-urgent hospital treatment. Christchurch Professor of Surgery Frank Frizelle told Kate Hawkesby without the information we can't plan. He says a lack of this sort of data has led to the situation we're in now, where we can't get cancer or urgent cases treated because there's not enough infrastructure. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Supporters of the monarchy are looking forward to the latest royal touchdown. Princess Anne will visit New Zealand later this month for 100th anniversary celebrations at Linton Military Camp in Palmerston North. She will also stop off in Wellington and Christchurch in the first royal visit since the Queen's death. Monarchy New Zealand Chair Sean Palmer says the Princess Royal is a well respected member of the Royal family. He says her trip will be a fantastic opportunity. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thank God the flooding and torrential rain's abated and for parents thank goodness school's back. Although is it? The Ministry of Education spun the wheelie on school closures, but it’s been an incredibly frustrating process as a parent. And not just me, I’ve heard from countless parents absolutely exasperated about the way this has yo-yoed around.  From saying all Early Childhood Centres will be closed, to then backtracking and saying some can open, to shutting schools but not making it a clear directive.  Hence the likes of Auckland Grammar announced they’d be opening regardless - only to then have to email parents again late that night and backtrack saying the Ministry had said they couldn’t.  I heard from primary parents who’d been told that even though school was shut they’d still run a school holiday programme for children in the school hall, only to then have to tell them no, they weren’t allowed to do that either.  My daughter’s school emailed initially to say the school was undamaged and would open a

Concern from a former Football Fern over reports Saudi Arabia will be a major sponsor of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The partnership between FIFA and Visit Saudi, the Kingdom's national tourism board, has come under fire, due to the nation's widely publicised history of oppression of women. The deal, which is yet to be formally announced, is part of a new commercial partnership structure that FIFA set up to allow brands to specifically support the women's game. Former Football Fern Rebecca Sowden told Kate Hawkesby the deal is a complete misalignment with how the tournament has been promoted. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Clear areas for immediate improvement with Oranga Tamariki. The latest Independent Child Monitor shows the agency is still not meeting the minimum standards for children in care. One third of children are placed in care before caregiver assessments are completed, and social workers are only making 29 percent of caregiver visits they're supposed to. Save the Children Rights Advocacy Director Jacqui Southey told Kate Hawkesby there are two areas that should be top of the list to fix. She says that's getting the social workers with their children when they need to be, and making sure children are well supported and listened to. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A vote of no confidence in Chris Hipkins from Act after the extension of the fuel tax cuts. The new Prime Minister yesterday announced the 25 cent tax cuts and half-priced public transport will now be extended until June. It will cost an estimated $718 million, which opposition parties say is a continuation of old Jacinda Ardern policies. Seymour told Kate Hawkesby Labour's spending on tax cuts needs to be reined in. He says if this is Hipkins' new leadership style, then really it's just the same Labour with a someone different at the helm. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Cabinet reshuffle yesterday was all the confirmation we needed, as I said yesterday, that this is the same old government doing the same old stuff.  Which is to be expected because they were never going to be able to just bring in fresh new experienced faces to shake everything up, because they don’t have any.  So Police Minister Stuart Nash is back for another round, the very likeable but politically inexperienced Ayesha Verrall is now Health minister, I feel for her. That’s got to be the worst portfolio ever to be handed out. You’re never going to win with that one – and she seems like a nice person – which is possibly why they gave it to her – maybe she seemed less edgy and prickly than Andrew Little. Maybe they hope she’ll be a bit smoother in the role and rub up against the media in a less combative way. I don’t know, I just know Health is fraught, and I’m not sure she’s up for the political jousting that comes with being Health Minister.  But here’s the biggest scandal in the whole thing, the most a

New figures out this morning will reveal just how much the tight job market is driving inflation pressure in the economy. The latest official unemployment rate is being released at 10.45am. Some economists expect the rate to dip back down to a record low, with wage growth continuing to accelerate. But Westpac Acting Chief Economist Michael Gordon told Kate Hawkesby he expects the unemployment rate to remain steady at 3.3 percent. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.