Larry Williams Drive

How are farmers feeling? There's concern over restrictions for the red meat sector at trade talks between NZ and the EU. We've got a gold medal winner at the Outstanding Food Producers Awards. Host of the Country Jamie Mackay joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Forget about inflation... BNZ has this week raised the risk of stagflation.  The latest ANZ Business Outlook Survey proved business is feeling a bit downbeat, in particular the construction sector is beginning to struggle with rising costs. Liam Dann, NZ Herald business editor at large, joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Green Party says it's surprised by the joint US–NZ defence statement. The statement says security and defence will become an ever-more important focus between the two countries.  The Green's Global Affairs spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman says the Government needs to properly explain to the public what this commitment involves.  Golriz Ghahraman and defence analyst Paul Buchanan joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The crazy story of a $12 parking ticket that blew into a legal battle that cost more than $100k.  Is Joe Biden creepy for putting his arm around Jacinda Ardern? Provincial rugby unions have overwhelmingly voted in favour of a $200 million dollar deal with Silver Lake.  China has hit back at NZ and the US over its strongly-worded statement after the PM's White House visit. Johnny Depp has won his defamation trial against Amber Heard.  Nick Leggett, Transporting New Zealand, and Simon Wilson, NZ Herald senior writer, joined Heather du Plessis-Allan on the Huddle. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the Queen is celebrating her big Platinum Jubilee this week, Australia has appointed its first Assistant Minister for the Republic.  Matt Thistlethwaite will oversee Australia's transition to a republic and says he's doing the work now so that the country is ready to go when Prime Minister Albanese gets re-elected for a second term.  Peter Fitzsimons, chairman of the Australian Republic Movement, joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A photo has done the rounds on Twitter of Joe Biden with his arm around Jacinda Ardern's waist while looking at portraits in The White House.  It's got our newsroom wondering if this is a bit weird, a gender thing or maybe a generational difference?  Body language expert Michael Kelly joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some surprise at the quick conclusion to the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard trial.  A jury found Heard defamed Depp by claiming he abused her – awarding Depp more than 23 million New Zealand dollars in damages.  It's found Heard was also defamed and awarded three million.  LA correspondent Sean Mandell told Heather du Plessis Allan the jury didn't muck around. “That may not be surprising only because of the fact that they’ve had six weeks to go through this trial but it does show how easily they were able to reach this unanimous verdict.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand Rugby's Silver Lake deal has been approved. NZR, the Provincial Unions, the Players' Association and Silver Lake have now all agreed to the terms of the deal. The global technology firm will invest 200 million dollars in exchange for 5–8% of NZR's revenue generating activities. Mark Robinson, chief executive of NZR, joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

China has rebuked New Zealand for NZ-US concerns over Pacific. TVNZ – more details are coming to light. The Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis has stepped in on the issue of Prison riot squads. Political reporter Aaron Dahmen joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What is the gas trigger and why are reporters asking the new treasurer if he's going to pull it? Australia now has an assistant minister for the Republic, and he's already got the monarchists in a tizz. Australia signs a deal with Samoa. Australian correspondent Murray Olds joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Silver Lake deal has gone through. Black Caps v England starts tonight – have they sold any tickets yet? D’Arcy Waldegrave, host of Sportstalk, joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Police maintain they're working hard to curb Auckland's gang violence, which has been boiling over in recent weeks.  There have been another three shootings in the past 24 hours – including a man being injured in a case of mistaken identity. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told Heather du Plessis-Allan it's disappointing. “We know that gang tensions come and go and, unfortunately, in this one the tensions are not just about business so that’s probably driving a longer timeline on it than we normally see.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UK PM’s standards adviser says there is a "legitimate question" over whether the PM broke the ministerial code after getting fined for Partygate. He could be expected to resign. The first flight to Rwanda carrying migrants who cross the English Channel is set to leave in two weeks' time on 14 June. Spanish firms face fines if they fail to answer the phone to customers within three minutes. The Government has approved a draft bill setting the three-minute limit and giving consumers the right to speak to a person, not a chatbot. The penalty could be tens of thousands of euros. UK correspondent Gavin Grey joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2degrees and Vocus have officially launched their new operation... After Vocus bought 2degrees for 1.7 billion dollars.  To celebrate, the company is giving away a total of $222,000 dollars to every baby in the country that's born today.  The "new" 2degrees is headed by Mark Callander. He joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I suspect we might come to regret the changes that are about to be made to Pharmac.As a result of the review of Pharmac out today, the Government is about to change something quite fundamental about Pharmac. Up till now, Pharmac has tried to get the best health outcomes from available funding which essentially means trying to help as many Kiwis as possible with the limited money it has. So, let’s say it had $100 to spend on cancer treatment. Up till now what it would do is buy cancer drugs for let’s say 100 of us. But now, its criteria is being changed. And it has to consider whether it’s doing enough to help "priority" populations, being Māori, Pacifica and disabled communities. So, instead of helping 100 of us, it now might have to spend that $100 on helping, say, only 5 of us. Which means this actually increases the number of us who miss out on drugs. The example that’s used is that Pharmac funds Keytruda for melanoma but not lung cancer. Māori don’t get melanoma as much but they do get more lung cancer, s

Recently a poor profit report from US giant retailer Walmart sent the shares plunging nearly 20% over 2 days. Is this a Walmart specific issue or should we be concerned about the state of the US consumer? Despite high inflation and rising cost of energy can we be confident that the US consumer is holding up ok? What can we learn from Walmart and other company results recently? It sounds like the US consumer is weathering the storm so far, but how about the NZ consumer, are there any parallels that we can draw? Mark Riggall, Milford Asset Management, joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two housing reports out today, both showing national house values dropped 0.9 per cent in the last quarter.  OneRoof-Velocity and CoreLogic say main centres had the largest drops – CoreLogic's Wellington data being the steepest at a 4 per cent decline.  Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Auckland's in dire financial straits and the Mayor's proposed budget includes a six percent rates rise and cuts to walking, cycling and community projects.  Funding cuts will have to be made from next year but spending this year has been bolstered by a one-off 127 million dollars from the Government's Three Waters fund.  Ratepayers will still have to pay a one percent climate action targeted rate to help fund new bus services, cycleways and so on. Mayor Phil Goff joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The White House meeting brought up the issue of defence with both Biden and Ardern committing to working closer together on defence projects in the Pacific. Should we increase our defence spending? A review into Pharmac has said we should change our utilitarian approach to drug funding – essentially move away from the biggest-bang-for-buck approach to make sure that kids, Māori, Pacifica and those with rare diseases don't get left behind... do you agree with that? Do you reckon a councillor can do their job properly if they don't live in the town that elected them? The costs of Christchurch stadium have blown out again just weeks after the last blowout. Should the council commit to it anyway? Jack Tame, Saturday Mornings and Q&A host, and Tim Beveridge, Weekend Collective host, joined Heather du Plessis-Allan on the Huddle. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An implication the US wants us to spend more on defence. Jacinda Ardern and Joe Biden put out a joint statement after their meeting this morning... saying security and defence would become an ever more important focus of the partnership. Former Defence Minister Wayne Mapp told Heather du Plessis-Allan the last big defence expenditures were by former Defence Minister Ron Mark a few years ago. He says things have been slowly sliding backwards since then. “There needs to be a bit more of a step up here, and I think the Prime Minister is sort of acknowledging that we need to do that but it will need more than words, it will need some action.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.