Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

It’s annoying to see reports that Covid cases are on the rise again – although I guess we shouldn’t be surprised. Open border equals case numbers up. That’s basic maths. But I think there’s a certain degree of PTSD for us seeing those headlines. Yesterday’s headline by the way if you missed it, was that “Covid infections jump by 1500 in 24 hour period.” The PTSD creeps in particularly for those of us who had Covid quite badly. I know for people who didn’t have it, or people like my husband who had the mildest dose imaginable, eye roll eye roll eye roll… it’s a non-event. But we do not need the alarming reports do we? Or do we? Are we still vigilant? Does anyone still care? The people at the coal face care. I felt for the poor Pharmacist in Picton the other day who said he had passengers coming in from the docked cruise ship Ovation of the Seas, which had 129 people on board with Covid. The passengers coming in were showing cough and cold symptoms he said, they were also not wearing masks. Despite the fact he

Fair Pay Agreements have been passed into law amidst a fiery debate in parliament. Legislation for the agreements passed its final reading in Parliament last night - making it easier for workers to band together and negotiate better conditions and pay. The bill has received major opposition from the business sector, with National and ACT vowing to repeal it. New Zealand Initiative Chair Roger Partridge told Kate Hawkesby that the bill is highly undemocratic. He says when 10 percent of workers can dictate basic terms for all employees, it removes staff freedom to negotiate their own personal terms. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A concern Kiwis are underinsured. Research from CoreLogic suggests almost a third of respondents don't think they have adequate cover for their property. It also shows the average person reviewed their home insurance cover two and half years ago. Head of Insurance Solutions Matthew Walker says that's not good enough. He says people need to know how comprehensive their coverage is, and how much it would cost to replace their home. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Getting to live across both city and country gives me good insight into what’s happening in both places. I can tell you first hand, rural living is where it’s at. And now stats back that up. We’re leaving the cities. In the year to June this year, Auckland lost almost 9,000 people. A lot went overseas; it looks like the rest went North or into the regions - and I’m not surprised. Our cities are a shambles, Auckland in particular is just an assault of congestion, crime and cones, if you had the option to work remote or from home – you’d be mad not to take it. Suburb-wise it was downtown Auckland from Westmere to Newmarket which had the biggest population decline, the biggest loss in the country, down 5.8 percent. Drive through the inner city Auckland suburbs one day and you’ll know why. Auckland wasn’t the only city people bailed from though. Christchurch and Wellington had net losses, so did Dunedin, but many of them didn’t go far. Christchurch’s Selwyn district saw an increase in population growth of 4.8 per

Pen licences are well and truly becoming a thing of the past. School kids will soon be able to get an ‘online licence’ as public schools roll out an interactive programme teaching them how to stay safe online. The eSmart Digital Licence programme is targeted at 10 to 14 year olds and is being brought to our schools by NetSafe. CEO Brent Carey joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the afternoon of December 9 2019, commercial helicopter pilot Mark Law sprang into action as Whaakari/White Island erupted in Bay of Plenty. Today, he's being recognised with the New Zealand Bravery Star - our second highest bravery award - in this year's honours list, recognising his bravery in a situation of danger. Mark and his workmates located 20 causalities on the crater floor - flying 12 to hospital over the course of 40 minutes. Mark joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is hope the Planned Care Taskforce's report will work to address the differing blockages in our health system. It's released 101 recommendations for improving equity, increasing access, and reducing waiting times. Thirty will start being implemented in December, while the rest will be phased in through a number of years. Resident Doctors' Association National Secretary, Deborah Powell told Kate Hawkesby a hard look at our systems is long-overdue. She says the devil remains in the detail, which is why the recommendations will take so long to implement. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More than 82,000 community service hours have been wiped between January and August this year, with the Government claiming Covid reasons. Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the majority of sentences that had their community hours cut were for "minor offending" - but questions have been asked as to whether delays of sentences that meant offenders would still have to carry out their hours may have been more appropriate. Victims' advocate Ruth Money joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rishi Sunak's won the day, set to become Britain's youngest Prime Minister. The 42-year-old says he's humbled and honoured to have his colleagues support, and is promising stability and unity. Boris Johnson had been plotting a comeback, but he ultimately decided against running. He claims to have had 102 backers, although only 57 MPs publicly declared their support. Political commentator Iain Dale told Kate Hawkesby those who were backing Johnson feel let down, after he led them up the garden path. He says some of them were made to look very stupid for supporting him. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I was pleased this week that Police Minister Chris Hipkins finally got around to meeting Dairy and Business Owners Association head Sunny Kaushall. That only took about six months of chasing by Sunny So they met, which was good, Sunny got to express his concerns, which was good, they posed for amicable photos afterwards which was good, but what we really want to see is action don’t we? Get that money where it needs to go, and fast. We know of the $6 million set aside, that just under $200,000 grand has been spent. Pitiful. Of the hundreds of dairies and retailers hit by ram raids, only seven have seen some of the money. Not good enough. One local business association leader made the very salient point that the Government should send the money to local business associations and they’d very quickly get it sent out to the businesses that need it. It's a good idea and I don’t know why the Government doesn’t talk to local business more and engage local communities, who’re at the coalface, and enable them to help.

Groundswell organisers are defending yesterdays low turn-out and condemning criticism from the Agriculture Minister. Hundreds of protesters across 60 convoys jumped in their utes, trucks and tractors in opposition of the Government's proposed farm-level emissions pricing scheme. Organisers had been predicting thousands 24 hours earlier. Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor described the size of the crowds across the country as 'embarrassing.' Groundswell Organiser Bryce McKenzie told Kate Hawkesby O'Connor's comments are very disappointing. He says while he'd hoped for higher numbers, it's a very busy time on the farming calendar. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

National wants to turn our attention away from the fact the number of people on welfare is going down. More than 21,000 people moved off a benefit and into work in the three months to September. National's Louise Upston says the more important figure is that 35,000 more people are staying on a benefit for more than a year. She told Kate Hawkesby the National party isn't willing to see people write their lives off and become welfare dependent. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s an interesting dichotomy going on in terms of leadership in our big cities at the moment - and I refer specifically to Auckland’s Wayne Brown versus Wellington’s Tory Whanau. We had Tory on the show yesterday, she’s great talent, bubbly, vivacious, chatty, easy to talk to. You can see why she does a lot of interviews, she’s got good chat, and media love to have people like her on. Good talent is good talent, and they often make the headlines and get the coverage because of it. But does that make her a good Mayor? Does that effusive personality make her any better at her job of running and managing a city? Because the obvious contrast is Wayne Brown. Also a guest on this show pre his election win and at the time I said to him at the end of the interview that he could probably work on his rapport with interviewers and be a bit more personable. He was gruff, direct, not interested in winning favour or friends, he was laser focussed on a job he had to do and he didn’t really give the impression he wanted

There's been a big uptick in sponsorship deals across women's sports. A major international report has revealed a 20 percent increase year-on-year in 2022, with the arrival of blue chip global sponsors further fuelling growth. It comes, of course, as we're hosting the Rugby World Cup Women's event. Rebecca Sowden, former New Zealand Football Fern and founder of women's sport sponsorship consultancy Team Heroine, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Claims the entire justice system has failed the five women sexually violated by Jayden Meyer. The Crown's appeal of the teen rapist's nine-month home detention sentence, has been dismissed. Meyer was convicted of raping four 15-year-old girls and sexually violating a fifth when he was 16. He's now 18. The judge says the sentence was "manifestly inadequate" but to sentence Mayer to prison now would undermine his rehabilitation programme. Women's Refuge chief executive Ang Jury told Kate Hawkesby the women have been totally let down. She says they were brave to come  forward with the process, which isn't an easy thing to do. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Questions for the Government over the lack of progress on light rail. It's spending $16 million on scope to cost the next phase of light rail in Auckland, a $14.6 billion project. More than two-thirds of the almost $66 million already spent on the project has gone to consultants - with none yet spent on construction. National Transport spokesperson Simeon Brown told Kate Hawkesby it's become a circular economy. He says the Government has failed light rail it had said would be completed by 2021. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guarva Sharma’s stuck it right up the Government by jumping ship before they could invoke the Waka Jumping Bill to push him off it. He was already sacked by caucus in August, but yesterday fired a new salvo – he quit as a party MP entirely. He says because he found out that the party was going to invoke the Waka Jumping Bill six months before the election, thus avoiding a by-election, but he claims it would’ve left his electorate of Hamilton West without any representation, and that’s undemocratic. So he blindsided them and quit before they could forcibly remove him. The PM, though, came out swinging – in a statement she sounded pretty angry as she refuted Sharma’s claims and said they were not considering the Waka Jumping legislation. Weren’t they though? Who’s telling the truth here? Sharma would argue Labour has form fudging the truth. He pointed out that the last time they lied was when they said they wouldn’t meet behind his back to discuss him - and as we know, it turned out they did exactly that. So he

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has an even harder job on her hands winning back the public,  as well as her party. A YouGov poll released shortly after her tax cut plan U-turn, found that 55 percent of Conservative voters think she should resign. A further poll on who should replace her, found that 32 percent want her predecessor Boris Johnson, while 23 percent back Rishi Sunak. UK correspondent Kay Oliver told Kate Hawkesby another poll found her to be the most unpopular political party leader ever. She says Truss has a worse rating than former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and disliked more than Prince Andrew. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Latest figures show the housing market continues to decline, with decade-low sales numbers and dropping house values. CoreLogic's latest Market and Economic Update shows the total value of residential real estate has fallen from a peak of $1.73 trillion early this year to $1.62 trillion at the end of September. Property values fell 6.3 percent over six months, with the average home price now under the million dollar mark. Chief Property Economist Kelvin Davidson says it shows the striking weakness of the housing market. He says it's a real downturn and something that hasn't been seen in at least a decade since the Global Financial Crisis. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Senior doctors at Middlemore say working conditions are so unsafe, a trainee teaching programme should be scrapped. A letter signed by 60 doctors is asking for the hospital's training accreditation to be revoked. It also follows a damning review which found its ED was dysfunctional and overcrowded. Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director Sarah Dalton told Kate Hawkesby they're at the point where they can do nothing more to make the service safe. She says this is a cry for proper resourcing and a road map out of these problems, and that Middlemore has lost sight of clinically informed decision making LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.