Larry Williams Drive

Mariameno Kapa-Kingi’s membership of Te Pāti Māori has been reinstated after she took her expulsion from the party to court. Although, the decision is an interim measure ahead of a substantive hearing on February 2, where legal expert Graeme Edgler believes her reinstatement will be reversed.  Edgler told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "ultimately, if Te Pāti Māori wants to get rid of this person from their party, they'll probably be able to do it, and the courts will probably let them." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2021, the night before the infamous January 6 insurrection, bombs were placed at Democratic National Convention and Republican headquarters. Police were able to deactivate the bombs, but, until now, the culprit was a mystery.  On December 4, the FBI arrested a 30-year-old Virginia man, Brian Cole Jr., for the crime. And, the US continues to target alleged drug boats, yesterday killing four people in the pacific.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here's a question for you... is our summer holiday too long? Are we going to the beach and staying away from the office for too long? There's a chap called Toss Grumley who thinks so, he's written a column about it. He's a young mover and shaker, business advisor, director, investor in multiple New Zealand entities. He reckons that our summer breaks are so long now that we're pretty much winding down from November and then we're only sparking up again in February, which means that we're taking about 10 weeks of productive conversations out of the business calendar and it's hurting our productivity. And we have no retail spending in January really to speak of, and businesses have poor cash flow at the start of the year when they come to have a look at it in April, May because they are taking excessively long shutdown periods. Now, I think Toss has got a point here. We do this. This is why you'll see the Reserve Bank leaves the economy basically in park for two months until they come back in February. But then

German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier is currently visiting the UK, marking the first UK state visit by a German head of state in decades. "The overriding two themes from this state visit is the brilliant relationship between Berlin and London now, and strength and solidarity for Ukraine from these two countries," UK Correspondent Edna Brady told Heather du Plessis-Allan.  Brady also touches on the large sum of seized Russian money, which Europe hopes to use to rebuild Ukraine.  LISTEN HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle broadcaster Mark Sainsbury and Thomas Scrimgeour from the Maxim Institute joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! We could be looking at the next Netball scandal... at NZ Cricket. A bunch of ex Black Caps have signed an open letter highly critical of a new independent T20 competition. What do you make of their concerns? Ikea is open, and people either hate the hysteria or are totally buying into it, while The Warehouse is trying to remind people to buy local. What have you made of the whole drama?  And, are our summer breaks too long? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Thursday 4 December. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Next week a social media ban for anyone under-16 will take effect in Australia. Some Meta accounts have already been deleted as the deadline looms.  Former Facebook Australia New Zealand CEO Stephen Scheeler told Heather du Plessis-Allan he believes an under-16 ban will become the 'new normal'.  "Now there are benefits to social media for many teens as well, but the negative effects, I think, are just too pronounced," he said. LISTEN HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Post Primary Teachers' Association (PPTA) members voted to accept the Governments recent pay offer, officially bringing an end to the striking... for now. The settlement includes a 4.6 percent pay increase over two years, and increased allowances for teachers who have management roles or other special responsibilities. PPTA president Chris Abercrombie told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "we're pleased that we're going to be able to start the new year in a settled environment." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper talked to Heather du Plessis-Allan about today's political hot topics. Expelled MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi was heard by Justice Radich in the Wellington High Court in regard to her interim injunction against Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon attended the IKEA opening in Auckland today. And, head of the Justice Ministry, Andrew Kibblewhite, defended Sunny Kaushal’s work as chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Group (MAG) for victims of retail crime, including more than $227K in pay and a $3200 morning tea. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Swedish flat-pack furniture giant IKEA opened in Auckland today with a more mild turnout than expected. But, as customers are expected to flock to the new store in the weeks leading up to Christmas, questions over it's potential market domination arise.  Forsyth Barr retail analyst Paul Koraua believes IKEA may put positive pressure on other companies to perform better for their customers. "I think it's a good thing for the end consumer because a lot of these retailers are going to be working on their products, working on their pricing, working on the ranging," he told Heather du Plessis-Allan.   LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia has announced plans to force gas companies to keep more fuel onshore.  The Labor Government is set to announce an east coast gas reservation scheme in the coming weeks with the hopes it will lower gas and energy prices in the country.  Meanwhile, raising tobacco prices has come back to bite the Government as the black market grows exponentially. Australian correspondent Murray Olds told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "here's the thing ... a packet of durries can be bought for $10 or $12 so the government tax take is down dramatically to $7 billion this year." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government announced some changes to retirement villages today following thousands of submissions.  The changes aim to support residents by giving the villages a specific timeframe of 12 months to repay residents after they vacate a unit.  Until now there was no repayment deadline.  Retirement Village Residents Council spokesperson Carol Shepherd told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "to be realistic and pragmatic we wanted some definition, some definite time frame about when we could get our money back, and 12 months seems to be a logical time frame." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former Prince Andrew will get to stay in the Royal Lodge for another year, but likely won't receive compensation for the early termination of his lease.  A shipment of German ammunition, thought to be 20,000 rounds, has been stolen from a delivery lorry after the driver for a civilian transport company left his truck in an unguarded parking lot. The Bank of England has warned of a potential "sharp correction" in the value of major tech companies amidst fears of an AI bubble. UK Correspondent Gavin Grey told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "the bank is outlining that the growth of the AI sector in the next 5 years will be fuelled by trillions of dollars of debt, raising financial stability risks if then companies go bust." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the end, I think Andrew Coster had to go. Look, you realize he's won a big victory today, don't you? Cause it's a big admission from the Public Service commissioner today that Andrew Coster didn't do anything wrong himself. He hadn't committed any personal wrongdoing and it's a big admission also that there was no cover-up. And the reason that it's a big admission is because of the number of times lots of ministers and also the new police commissioner went out there in media and said cover up, cover up, cover up, and then also in some cases said corruption. Now what I think this proves is exactly what I had intimated a few weeks ago. Yes, this was a scandal, but it was not the A plus plus plus plus plus plus scandal that these guys were kind of racking it up to be. That was politics. They wanted to play the game of the bad guys are out, we're the new guys, it's a new broom, that kind of thing. I didn't rate Andrew Coster as a police commissioner. I think he was rubbish at that job, but I always thought tha

Tonight on The Huddle Auckland councillor Maurice Williamson and Ali Jones from Red PR joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! Andrew Coster has quit his role as CEO of the Social Investment Agency. He'll get paid three months notice, like a few other high profile servants who have recently "resigned". Are you uncomfortable that we're paying people out to quit rather than just sacking them? The school lunch drama between principal Peggy Burrows and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour continues. Who do you think is telling the truth here? Do you care at all? Half of us apparently drive around with lapsed car registrations and WOFs. Is your registration and WOF up to date? Is it too much admin? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Wednesday 3 December. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster resigned from his position as CEO of the Social Investment Agency following an Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report into how police handled complaints against former Deputy Commissioner Jevon McSkimming. Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said the result was 'appropriate', but shared positive experiences working with Coster.  Roche told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "I believe him to be a person of integrity and very values-driven." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2021 retired veterinarian and ex-mayoral candidate Leo Molloy was convicted for knowingly publishing a name in breach of a suppression. In a forum on the NZ Premier Racing Community’s website called “Main Street Cafe” Molloy made a post identifying Jesse Kempson as Grace Millane's killer before he was publicly named.  The Veterinary Council is now seeking censure and a $23,000 fine. "Not one veterinarian ever complained about what I did, and not one member of the public complained for that matter," Molloy told Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper talked to Heather du Plessis-Allan about today's political hot topics. Ex-Police Commissioner Andrew Coster resigned from his role as the CEO of the Social Investment Agency amid an inquiry into his involvement in the McSkimming case. The Treasury is over halfway through a review of state asset ownership, but they say the review is not driven by hope of asset sales.  And, Donald Trump says he can abolish income tax because of how successful the tariffs are.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Accusations of mouldy school lunches from Haeata Community Campus has caused much back and forth between principal Peggy Burrows and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour as blame is passed around.  In an effort to get to the bottom of who is telling the truth Heather du Plessis-Allan grilled Seymour about the facts of the situation. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.