Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Waikato horse riders are continuing their fight to be able to ride their animals on Raglan's beaches. In 2020, the local council began enforcing a by-law banning horses and vehicles on the main beach, but a procedural error means it's not legal. The council is now planning to create a new by-law to rectify its mistake, and block horse access to beaches again. Horse Advocates Access Waikato Secretary Sarah McKinlay says it's a blow to local riders. She told Kate Hawkesby it's estimated 20 percent of the country's equine population is in the Waikato region. McKinlay says there's a lack of safe spaces for the public to ride their horses, despite the massive figure. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A victims' advocate is joining calls for an overhaul of the youth-justice system. National wants tougher penalties for young people who commit robberies and ram raids. It says while there's been a halving of prosecutions of young people since 2017 – ram raids have increased 518 percent under Labour's watch. Ruth Money told Kate Hawkesby tougher punishments aren't the solution, as there are major systemic issues in the way young offenders are dealt with. She says better resourcing is needed, and it's not as simple as putting offenders through an Oranga Tamariki-run family group conference. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“All I do is cry” was the quote that broke my heart over the weekend. The ODT had a story about the state of Queenstown at the moment, and it talked to café and restaurant owners who’re still in dire straits over lack of staff. They claim there’s no light at the end of the tunnel, and that this is worse than Covid was.  Hospitality NZ’s regional manager was quoted as saying that it’s such a pressure cooker situation that, ''It's becoming a luxury for our operators to open at the moment.'' Imagine that. A luxury to even open your doors. As a business, that has to be soul destroying. They’re over worked, under staffed and burning out. And I feel for them. Because they’ve been promised time and time again that it will get fixed, and it just isn’t getting fixed. So much so, that some operators are leaving hospo altogether. One café operator said that .. ''chefs don't want to be chefs anymore — [they’ll] go work as a labourer instead, and they get paid really, really well to do that.'' Even though this café owner

Toni Street has a brand new podcast called We Need To Talk. I was a guest on the first episode of the season, and this is the conversation Toni and I had about recovering from Covid, Dogs and Nutrition. I hope you enjoy it! If you like what you hear, follow We Need To Talk With Toni Street here.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you know we can start voting for our mayors and local councillors in about a month's time? Are you going to? Apathy is the problem with local body elections. Always has been. We don’t know who anyone is, we can’t be bothered, we don’t care. But actually, we do care about our communities don't we? Don’t we care about what's happening to our local shops and our streets at the moment? I know particularly for Auckland, it's so depressing watching the decline of our city, the ram raids, the graffiti, the closed up shops, the struggling cafes, the road works, OMG the road works - you can’t move around Auckland without encountering road cones.  All the new sets of traffic lights going in, new speed humps, new elongated pedestrian areas are an absolute cluster - makes the city impossible to drive around. And they seem to be never ending in every city – digging up more road to take it off cars and give it to pedestrians or bikes. I wish they’d fix the potholes and the terrible state of our roads before they did all

Doom and gloom is on the economic horizon. Higher interest rates, lower spending and low population growth are all pointing towards a higher chance of recession for the first two quarters of the year. Westpac Senior Economist Satish Ranchhod says while he thinks there won't be a recession, our growth will be soft. He told Kate Hawkesby he's expecting a pretty weak end to the year in retail spending. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dairy owners fear someone will die as ram raids surge. There's been a 400 percent increase in the crime in the last five years, with the Police Minister revealing it's happened 129 times since May. Chris Hipkins has also confirmed almost all of these people are under 18 years old, with the median age being 15. Dairy and Business Owners Group Chair Sunny Kaushal told Kate Hawkesby we need a solution now. He says if we don't get on top of this soon, we will create a generation where crime is normalised. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today is Daffodil Day. And for the first time in two years, the famous Daffodil Day street collections will be making a comeback. And with more Kiwis getting cancer this year than ever before, there's an increased need for support. Cancer Society NZ National chief executive Lucy Elwood joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the wake of a couple of revealing surveys, I’m pleased to see businesses agitating for change a bit more. I’m talking about the traffic light system. Two surveys recently showed how much we’re fed up with all this. TV1 had a survey showing 65 percent of us want all Covid restrictions dropped, not surprising at all. Then a survey the Government did showed them the reality of what’s going on – fewer of us are wearing masks, fewer of us are reporting RAT results, fewer of us are willing to isolate for seven days. So given that, why are we still sitting in Orange with all these restrictions? We’re over it. And so it turns out are international tourists. If we truly want to be an open country, ready for business and tourism and holiday makers, then we need to unshackle ourselves from all this ideology keeping us looking like a hermit kingdom. “Global hotels and management operator Accor wants New Zealand to move to a green light setting as the industry works to bring international tourism back to pre-pandemic l

More calls have come for reduced taxes to help ease supermarket prices. The Government will force Foodstuffs and Countdown to sell groceries to competitors at regulated prices, if they don't supply them on the wholesale market fairly. Retail NZ Chief Executive Greg Harford says the real problem is how expensive it is for new businesses to enter the market. He told Kate Hawkesby the best way to reduce supermarket prices, would be to drop GST. Harford says consumers spend an average of four-thousand dollars a year on groceries and very close to that paying the Government in GST. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Disturbing figures from the Abuse in Care Inquiry. A report has found one in three children in state care end up in prison later in life. For Māori , 42 percent serve custodial sentences as adults. Voyce Whakarongo Mai advocates for children in care. Spokesperson Tupua Urlich told Kate Hawkesby he's not surprised by the figures. He says if you take a young person and fill their childhood with trauma and abuse, and they go without support, that does show up later in their lives. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Far North health provider has made the "very difficult decision" to close its after-hours services temporarily due to ongoing staff shortages. There will be no doctor available on-site at Rawene Hospital after hours from 5pm to 8am Monday to Sunday, starting next week. Hauora Hokianga announced the planned closure with "great reluctance" on Tuesday morning in a Facebook post by chief executive Margareth Broodkoorn. "Over the past couple of years, Hauora Hokianga has been challenged with the recruitment of our health workforce and more recently is facing critical medical and nursing workforce issues which are impacting our ability to provide services. Rural GP and Associate Dean Rural Health at Auckland University Dr Kyle Eggleton joined Kate Hawkesby to discuss. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Andrew Windsor has reportedly gone to his mother Queen Elizabeth II and asked for a new role within the royal family. This comes as he retired from official duties in 2019 over his links to Jeffrey Epstein. But now he's apparently informed the Queen that he can't spend the rest of his days sitting around and riding horses. But is there any pathway for him to come back? Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams joined Early Edition. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I think what the protesters did yesterday was remind most of us that we’re not interested in going backwards, as a country. And it felt like that’s what yesterday’s protest was doing. Going backwards. Banal pleas like locking up the PM, ‘when I say Cindy, you say jail time’ was one of the chants. And while I’m as sick of the Prime Minister as you are, this ain’t it. This is not how you effect change, this is not how you get people on board. It’s certainly not how you get rid of a Prime Minister.  To be a great leader, or to even gather a credible movement, you need to have buy in from a large swathe of people, not just your cultist followers who’d go anywhere and chant anything for you. Which is what the rabble yesterday looked like. It looked like a fringe event, filled with Destiny Church followers who would march anywhere if Bishop Brian was at the front. The annoying thing is, for all the people who say – well you’re the media, you shouldn’t be covering it, why are you giving them airtime?’ The problem is

Trevor Mallard could go down as one of New Zealand's most contentious Speakers. He's moving on from the post to become Ambassador to Ireland, to be replaced by current deputy Adrian Rurawhe. Newstalk ZB's Deputy political editor Jason Walls told Kate Hawkesby Mallard's tenure has not been without controversy, including making a false rape allegation several years ago. He says a phrase thrown around is "poacher turned gatekeeper" because Mallard went from being one of the worst behaved MPs to being in charge of them all.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Not-for-profit organisations running on the smell of an oily rag are taking aim at the Government over a lack of financial support. Plunket is being forced to sell its assets and cut services due to inadequate funding. Outgoing chief executive Amanda Malu has written a scathing op-ed saying not-for-profit services are being deliberately under-funded by successive governments. Grant Thornton Non-For-Profit Services Co-Leader Barry Baker told Kate Hawkesby these services do well managing the finances they have. He says when factors such as inflation are taken into account, organisations have to cut services or they'll fall away altogether. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The amalgamation of Wellington, Porirua and Lower Hutt is being put back on the table. A pre-election Wellington Chamber of Commerce report, released exclusively to our newsroom, reveals business leaders would like the three cities to merge. A previous merger proposal was axed by Wellington in 2015. But Porirua Mayor Anita Baker, a supporter of amalgamation, told Kate Hawkesby it should be revisited. She says with Transmission Gully, the whole region is now very connected, and becoming one city makes a lot of sense. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Keeping Kiwibank New Zealand publicly owned has been dubbed a political move. The Government has announced its intent to purchase 100 percent of Kiwibank for $2.1 billion. Massey University banking expert David Tripe told Kate Hawkesby the purchase is a risk. He says many of the state owned banks around the world have been financial failures. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Winston Peters says some of the claims of Gaurav Sharma are alarming. Sharma says MPs are trained in methods to avoid information being obtained through Official Information Act requests. Jacinda Ardern says the caucus will decide whether to expel him this morning and says the party doesn't intend on triggering the waka jumping law to force him out of Parliament altogether. New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters told Kate Hawkesby he's never heard of workshops to get around OIA requests. He says when the Prime Minister claims to be the most transparent Government ever, it's terrible. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A couple of weeks ago I told you guys the story of the relief teacher censured and embroiled in court action, over removing an ear bud from a Year 10 student’s ear because he refused to remove it himself, and the teacher had asked him to stop listening to music and pay attention. The student had been verbally abusive and refused to oblige and this relief teacher had had a gutsful. I pointed out that despite crying out for teachers, and not being able to get a relief teacher these days for love nor money, the Teachers’ Complaints Committee and the Teachers’ Disciplinary Tribunal had over reacted in siding with the student. I argued that, in my opinion, it fed a growing issue with a sense of entitlement among young people in classrooms, which in turn fed into disrespect of teachers, and that this guy being told his actions could ‘adversely affect their wellbeing’ was basically over the top. Many of you agreed with me at the time. But the next day my producer received an email from the Media and Communications A