Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Kiwifruit exports are on the rise, with values now at their highest point ever.  Exports for the fruit were worth $3.1 billion in the year to August.  It's an increase of just over half a billion from 2023, with gold kiwifruit rising by 24%.  Green kiwifruit were up 9.9%.  Motueka grower Evan Heywood told Ryan Bridge the number of Ruby Red kiwifruit exported is also increasing.  He says it's early days, but the demand is there for a good future in the market.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington businesses could reap the benefits of calling public servants back to the office.  Public sector agencies are being told to enforce stricter Working From Home guidelines.  It's suggested the move could help Wellington's struggling economy, as well as boost productivity and collaboration.  Backbencher Pub owner Alistair Boyce told Ryan Bridge it will absolutely make a difference.  He says they've been missing key public sector clients.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a travel advisory for the city of Wellington: do not travel to New Zealand's capital. Environment considered dangerous.  Basic necessities like flat whites and pints are difficult to find.  The government-ordered a crackdown on civil servants is currently in action. A warning other civil servants may be hiding inside homes and not immediately visible on city streets.  Risk of political turmoil and unrest is extreme. Infrastructure is in a perilous state.  Access to fresh water is limited, burst water and sewerage pipes scattered across the city.  Check for faeces before swimming in the harbour, water’s freezing too. In case of an emergency - carparks are difficult to find.  There are cycleways aplenty, but treacherous weather and wind conditions make use incredibly difficult.  The city is in a state of utter chaos with little to no control by lord Mayor Tory Whanau.  Specific populations asked to avoid Sky Stadium include the All Blacks - they've lost six tests in a row at the venue, chance of further

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast for Tuesday 24th of September, a jury has found Auckland eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne not guilty of murdering his wife, Pauline Hanna. Criminal Defence Lawyer Roderick Mulgan gives his analysis.  The Government wants public sector workers to stop working from home and return to the office. What has the impact of working from home had on central Wellington businesses? Backbenchers Pub Owner Alistair Boyce joins the show to explain.  Kiwifruit exports have reached a new record value, hitting $3.1 billion in the year ending August. Are growers seeing the returns? Motueka grower Evan Heywood speaks to Ryan.  Get the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yes to a four year term please. Our politicians are too short sighted.  Think about infrastructure, think about productivity, think about immigration settings, basically take your pick at any long term problem in this country.  We need longer terms.  Yes, it will suck if it's not the party that you like in at the time that it's introduced, but it needs to happen for the better of the country, doesn't it?  The government's looking at this because it is in the coalition agreements with both Act and New Zealand First.  There's no strict timings in those coalition agreements, but on Friday, Luxon was talking to a Bloomberg Q and A and seemed to indicate that we might have a referendum on this at the next election.  It's a no brainer, we have big problems in short terms in this country.  The big question is who will get the first one? Will it be that lot, will it be your lot?  Those are the big questions, and also will it be a binding referendum? Which is what New Zealand first is pushing for.  I say just do it, g

The number of families living in emergency housing has reduced by 57%, according to new figures from the Ministry of Social Development and Housing and Urban Development.  Community Housing Aotearoa Chief Executive Paul Gilberd tells Ryan Bridge getting children out of motels is fantastic.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The far right could be on the brink of it's first election victory in Germany. Brandenburg, close to Berlin, has been governed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) ever since German reunification. But two million voters are heading to the polls today for a tightly fought regional election that Alternativ für Deutschland (AfD) stands a chance of winning. Plus, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has accepted tens of thousands of British pounds in gifts, hospitality and tickets to events since becoming Labour leader. This includes nearly £66,000 over the last year for accommodation, clothes and "multiple pairs of glasses". UK & Europe correspondent Gavin Grey tells Ryan Bridge the PM has now said his top team won't accept any more clothing. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ZB Sports Andrew Alderson joins Ryan Bridge to wrap the weekend in sport.  Lando Norris eased to a Singapore F1 Grand Prix win despite twice hitting a wall.  The win lets Norris eat further into Max Verstappen’s lead in the overall championship.  Plus, the Black Caps chances of a test cricket win over Sri Lanka remain alive heading into the final day.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New research has revealed New Zealand lawyers and law students are the unhappiest professionals globally.   Compared to international lawyers, those in New Zealand revealed higher levels of depression, anxiety, stress and psychological distress.  Law Association Vice President Julie-Anne Kincade KC tells Ryan Bridge lawyers are needed in high stress moments and deal with a lot of pressure.  Kincade questions the small sample size of the survey with just 800 of NZ’s 10,000 included.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast for Monday the 23rd of September. The government says there has been a 57% reduction of families living in emergency housing motels since December, so what are community housing providers seeing on the ground? Community Housing Aotearoa Chief Executive Paul Gilberd joins the show.  A new study has sound New Zealand's lawyers and law students are the unhappiest in the world. Law Association Vice President Julie-Anna Kincade speaks to Ryan.  McLaren have extended their lead in the F1 constructors championship with a win from Lando Norris. Andrew Alderson has your weekend sport wrap.  Get the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A former department store owner is said to have raped and sexually assaulted a string of women who worked for the chain.  More than 20 women have claimed they were sexually assaulted by former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, five of whom have said they were raped.  The women say the assaults were carried out at the company’s offices, in Al-Fayed’s apartment in London, or on trips overseas.   UK Correspondent Gavin Grey told Ryan Bridge that Harrods not only failed to intervene, but also helped cover up abuse allegations when Al-Fayed was in charge.  The department store’s current owners say they’re “utterly appalled” by the allegations, and the store sincerely apologises.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The All Blacks are coming up to a big test this weekend, facing off against Australia in the first match of the Bledisloe Cup.   It’s been almost two weeks since their back-to-back losses against South Africa, so what went wrong and do they have the time to fix it?  Former All Blacks captain Ian Fitzpatrick told Ryan Bridge that if the All Blacks can start like they did against the Springboks in Johannesburg, then they’ve got a good chance.  He said you can say what you like about the previous games, but this is a different beast altogether.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are expectations that cuts to the Official Cash Rate are now going to keep on coming.  Yesterday's Stats NZ figures show our GDP contracted 0.2% in the three months to June.  In the March quarter, 0.1% growth was recorded.  ASB Chief Economist Nick Tuffley says the numbers show inflation's falling within the Reserve Banks expectations.  He told Ryan Bridge they're now going to continue cutting the OCR to get it from 5.25% to around 3%.  Tuffley says if they cut a quarter every meeting, we'll reach that target by October next year.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A barrister has doubts about increasing the threshold for the right to a jury trial.   Currently a defendant can choose between a jury or a judge-alone trial in cases where the maximum penalty is two or more years in jail.   The Government's seeking feedback on increasing this to three, five, or seven years, in a bid to address court delays.   Philip Morgan KC told Ryan Bridge he questions the number of jury trials that will drop because of the threshold change.  He says that's because he thinks the number of jury trials where the maximum penalty of the offence is two or three years in jail, is very small.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I've not seen Luxon this tetchy and brassed off before.  "Guys, no disrespect, but it's not about the frickin targets, it's actually about the outcomes, and the outcomes here are actually reducing violent crime."  He was being asked about the national gang list which the cops have been sanitising. Hygienically cleaning it apparently to remove the dead and those who've said goodbye to thug life.  The reason he's worked up is the targets: they're off track and he's being peppered, or assaulted, depending on how you look at it, with questions.  This morning in the Herald, beneficiary numbers are projected up, not down. The Jobseeker target is a reduction of 50,000 people, but the forecast is an extra 11,000, which is set to peak in January 2025.  So the question for the government, and all of us, is whether the targets are worth it?  Politically for Luxon they're clearly causing some frustration. Is the political cost of constant updates and inquisition worth the end result? The answer is of course yes.  Ask any

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast for Friday 20th of September. New Zealand's GDP has dropped, but it's not quite as bad as the forecasts. So where to from here and when will we start to see growth? ASB's Chief Economist Nick Tuffley joins the show.  A new solution to tackle backlog in the count system - the Government wants to reduce the number of jury trials to save time. KC Phillip Morgan speaks to Ryan about the proposed changes.  Former All Blacks Captain Ian Kirkpatrick speaks to Ryan about NZ's chances of winning against the Wallabies this weekend, following two back-to-back losses against South Africa.  Christopher Luxon's getting a bit tetchy and brassed off by questions about his targets - he's set the goals, now he needs to meet them, and perhaps be a little more relaxed about the questions along the way.  Get the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for priva

Technology is at the forefront of priorities for the new Retail Crime Advisory Group.   The group will offer the Government ideas on law and order legislation.   Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has appointed four sector leaders alongside dairy and business owner group leader, Sunny Kaushal.   They include Retail NZ CEO Carolyn Young.  She says enabling facial recognition technology is of particular interest to the sector.   She hopes it can be implemented with robust privacy safeguards.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An economist says another GDP contraction today would be in-line with the idea we've been in a rolling recession for almost two years.   The March 2024 quarter showed just 0.2% growth.   BNZ is picking a 0.4% contraction in the second quarter.   Chief Economist Mike Jones told Ryan Bridge the Reserve Bank's anticipating a 0.5% contraction, so it would take a real clanger to throw it off course.   He says the bigger piece of news for interest rates in New Zealand and the Reserve Bank might be what the US Federal reserve does with interest rates.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The White House says it wasn't aware of the simultaneous pager explosions across Lebanon before the attacks.  Thousands were injured and at least 12 killed when pagers, used by political group Hezbollah, detonated yesterday.   Today —a day later— at least nine people are dead and 300 injured after walkie talkies exploded.   Hezbollah believes Israel is responsible   US correspondent Benji Hyer told Ryan Bridge there was a quick phone call between the defence secretaries of Israel and the US minutes before pagers started exploding.  He says Israel told the United States they would be conducting an operation in Lebanon, but no further details were shared.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The eight week murder trial of Philip Polkinghorne is nearing a verdict, with the jury beginning deliberations this morning.  The judge summed up the case yesterday.  The Auckland eye surgeon's accused of killing his wife, Pauline Hanna; his defence argues she took her own life.   Herald reporter Craig Kapitan told Ryan Bridge the jury only has two decisions - if it was murder or suicide.  He says it likely won't be a quick decision, and if the jury need to deliberate past today, court won't sit tomorrow.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.