Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Deciding on a process for electing Jacinda Ardern's ultimate successor will be up for discussion at the Labour Party's annual conference this weekend. Party members will meet online, to vote on a proposed change to how Labour elects its leaders when the time comes for Ardern to go. It would allow a new leader to be elected by caucus alone if more than two thirds of caucus voted for a new leader within a week of the job coming up. Political commentator Peter Dunne told Kate Hawkesby they'll also be discussing how to sell the party's bold reform agenda. “They’ve got to get out there and try shift the focus off being a ‘Covid Government’ to a government that’s got policies on a whole range of other areas they’re seeking to implement.” The centrepiece of the conference will be Ardern's keynote speech tomorrow afternoon. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Keeping Auckland's Covid boundary in place over Christmas could take a huge toll on tourism-dependent regions. The Government is working on plans to require people to prove their vaccination status and provide a negative Covid test each time they cross the border. But Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins says no final decisions have been made on how it will work. Jereon Jongejans, the owner of Northland's Dive Tutukaka, told Kate Hawkesby if Aucklanders can't easily get in and out of the region, the rest of the country will suffer. He says it’s not sustainable. “If we, in Northland, don’t have the Auckland trade, I would say that 50% of the businesses will go broke.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“A small but active group”.  This the new catchphrase we can expect to hear more often from the Government as it faces the reality of popularity slipping. When the chips are down and things don’t look good, it’s important to minimise, diffuse, and distract. That’s why in Northland when the PM was confronted by a heckler, she quickly told the crowd it was “just one person”, in fact there were four of them.  Then in Whanganui, when numbers of hecklers and protesters escalated to about 250, we were told it was “a small but active group”. Like we couldn’t see the throng of people there for ourselves. A second protest saw the PM cancel another press conference, nothing to see here. This is clearly a disconcerting time for our beloved PM because she’s had a golden run, is used to fawning photo ops and easy stand ups, and turning out to adoring crowds on university campuses. Not so much now. The wheels are coming off and it’s not pretty. It doesn’t make for good photos; it doesn’t warm the cockles of the heart.  The

A sociologist says we can expect more protests.  The Prime Minister yesterday abandoned a scheduled press conference in Whanganui after about 250 protesters gathered outside a vaccination centre she planned to visit.  The day before, Ardern had moved a Northland press conference indoors after being heckled by activists. On Saturday about five-thousand people gathered at the Auckland Domain and marched through the streets of Newmarket. Massey University sociology professor Paul Spoonley told Kate Hawkesby as we head towards 90 percent vaccination, protests are becoming more public. “They’re also going to disrupt others to make their point so yes, I think it will escalate.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you want to get in and out of Auckland this Christmas you may have to book in advance, and be prepared to wait. The boundary between Auckland and the rest of the country is likely to remain in place -- with people prevented from travelling if they aren't fully vaccinated, and don't have a negative Covid test. Covid Minister Chris Hipkins says people could be given an allocated time, but it's still likely to be a "time-consuming process". Tech commentator Paul Spain says told Kate Hawkesby the Government will be trying to iron out a system that works and is fair to everyone. “We have seen other areas where the Government has struggled on technology and that’s partly because it takes time to get these systems up and operating.” LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’m not sure what’s worse at COP26, the private jets they all flew in on, the hot air they’re spouting, Greta Thunberg doing her usual spit the dummy routine, or Joe Biden living up to his nickname and falling asleep. I mean it’d be funny if it wasn’t so tragic. UK PM Boris Johnson, having lectured them all on cutting down on travel emissions, then hopped back on his private jet to head back to London. He excused that hypocrisy as being about ‘time constraints’. We get it, you’re so busy saving the planet, you also need to pollute it as you come and go. Ironically, moments before Boris boarded his jet, he told a roundtable of leaders that, “When it comes to tackling climate change, words without action, without deeds, are absolutely pointless.” Then there’s Sleepy Joe. He dozed off during the first few speeches, again showing us that world leaders are really only interested in talk fests if they’re stimulating and perhaps climate ‘blah blah’ as Greta puts it, just isn’t that scintillating. Which leads me to t

Doctors are calling for better regulation of health supplements, as demand surges during the Covid pandemic. Sales in New Zealand supermarkets reached 130-million dollars this year by September. However, some say they're expensive, we don't need them, and they can be dangerous. Medical Association chairman, Dr Alistair Humphrey, told Kate Hawkesby people are wasting their money taking supplements. “They haven’t been tested and so we have no idea whether they work or not, potentially they can be harmful. Their claims are quite extreme.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Police are undergoing a research project investigating whether they have unconscious bias towards Māori. It will be examining whether bias exists within Police, and how to eradicate it. Over in the US, Philadelphia has become the first big city to ban minor traffic stops. Police can't pull people over for broken tail lights or expired inspection stickers. Could something similar be done here? Criminal justice advocate Sir Kim Workman joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hopes for a silver lining in Northland's third lockdown in as many months. The top of the Far North has moved to Alert Level Three at least until Monday after two Covid cases were found in Taipa in Doubtless Bay, with no known link to the wider Delta outbreak. The boundary slices through the Hokianga Harbour across to the Mangamuka Junction, to Kaeo and out to East Bay, east of Whangaroa Harbour. Far North mayor John Carter told Kate Hawkesby community, iwi and business leaders are using the developments to get as many people vaccinated as possible. “We’re all now working together united and the levels of vaccination and testing has gone up, and I think we’ll find we’ll end up with a good rate out of it.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Auckland enters week 12 of lockdown, there must be a small sigh of relief for businesses. I mean another whole week, but at least a date is set to open. Which is just as well, because had they not given businesses a green light to open, I would’ve suggested they just stop waiting for permission and get on with it anyway. Leo Molloy it. Ian Tayor it. Set a date, make some rules, band together in a cohesive body and just make it happen. I think some business associations were already looking at that. But a reprieve of sorts yesterday – an ‘in principle’ decision for next Wednesday morning for retailers to throw open the doors. Lucky Aucklanders, Christmas shopping can be done in person, the couriers can get some respite, the online bingeing can be replaced by the bricks and mortar experience. Waikato of course gets better news, doors can open as of tomorrow morning, thrilling for them. So why not now for Auckland? Well according to the PM she wants to allow an extra week to let the school changes ‘bed in’, w

Irish-trained and Australian-owned nine-year-old Twilight Payment will attempt to become the first horse to successfully defend a Melbourne Cup since Makybe Diva won her third in a row in 2005 in Tuesday's race at Flemington. The stayer will go into the 3,200-meter race having finished runner-up in the 2,800-meter Irish St. Leger, a placing that was one better than his final lead-in run in the same race last year. Part-owner Nick Williams says the St. Leger finish will be an advantage for Twilight Payment and British stayer Spanish Mission in their bid to beat Caulfield Cup winner and favorite Incentivise. "Our horse and Spanish Mission are proven over the distance at the absolute top level in the world," Williams said. "We'll see on Tuesday whether Incentivise is up to that level at that trip." Twilight Payment is the Melbourne Cup top weight with 58.5 kilograms (129 pounds) after being asked to carry 3 kg (6.6 pounds) more than 2020 as he tries to become the oldest winner of the race. Jye McNeil will ride T

There seems to be bit of a grey area when it comes to whether we should make young children wear masks. While parents and officials want to protect kids against Covid, they also don't want to get in the way of a child's development. Each country is doing it differently, countries like France and Italy are masking kids six and over, but in the US, they want kids as young as two masked up. Developmental psychologist at University of Toronto Dr Kang Lee joined Kate Hawkesby from Beijing. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well the climate change summit we all know the name of now COP26 is underway in Glasgow. Apart from a stoush between France and Australia, the main takeaway has been world leaders giving pretty grim outlooks on the future. The UN Secretary General says "we're digging our own grave" "either we stop it, or it stops us" and the UK Prmie Minister Boris Johnson says the world is at "one minute to midnight".  But what is New Zealand's attendance going to achieve, and what does the farming community want to see? CEO of Dairy NZ Dr Tim Mackle joined Kate Hawkesby.LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the corporate world, they call it avoiding death by a thousand cuts. It’s a smart marketing strategy and one I think the Government's currently employing. Get all your bad news out at once - more crudely referred to in some sectors as “flushing all the turds in one go”. When Steven Joyce wrote at the weekend about the wheels coming off this Government, he wasn’t wrong. Ramming through Three Waters, announcing a fanciful $15 billion light rail project, keeping Auckland locked down, butchering the MIQ messaging and changes. The wheels are well and truly off. And you’ll note, fronting all that bad news was Chris or Grant - anyone but Jacinda. That’s the other strategy of course - keep your most popular player away from bad news.  Save her for the good stuff. And here’s where the play is smart. The good stuff is coming. Matthew Hooton was the latest of many cynics to forecast a loosening of restrictions and an opening up - albeit an abandonment of the ambitious vaccine target - by November 29.  He said we coul

A crucial U.N. climate summit opened Sunday amid papal appeals for prayers and activists' demands for action, kicking off two weeks of intense diplomatic negotiations by almost 200 countries aimed at slowing intensifying global warming and adapting to the climate damage already underway. As U.N. officials gaveled the climate summit to its formal opening in Glasgow, the heads of the world's leading economies at the close of their own separate talks in Italy made pledges including stopping international financing of dirty-burning coal-fired power plants by next year. But much of the agreement was vague and not the major push some had been hoping for to give momentum to the climate summit.  Government leaders face two choices in Glasgow, Patricia Espinosa, head of the U.N. climate office, declared at the summit's opening: They can sharply cut greenhouse gas emissions and help communities and countries survive what is becoming a hotter, harsher world, Espinosa said. "Or we accept that humanity faces a bleak futur

The message to young kiwis who don't want to head overseas on their OE, is go to rural New Zealand instead. Think Rural, launched today, is a local government campaign, aiming to attract young people to rural areas for work. Otorohanga Mayor Max Baxter says told Kate Hawkesby we should treat an OE in New Zealand, like an OE overseas. “Certainly while we’ve been in Level 3, I mean the opportunity for freedom, a bit of space. The jobs are still out there in the rural community.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So it seems the vocal minority of anti-vaxers and anti-lockdown protesters, otherwise known as 'freedom fighters' has got louder over the weekend. At least 5000 people gathered in Auckland domain on Saturday for the third major protest in six weeks. Protesters also targeted Dominion road yesterday grinding it a halt, and vandalised a vaccination centre in Panmure. So how do we deal with these people? How do we get through to these people? Professor Stephan Lewandowsky is a world-renowned cognitive scientist currently based in Bristol and he joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hawkes Bay's water park Splash Planet is closing over summer for the first time since opening in 1998. Although Hawkes Bay isn’t reporting any Covid cases, there are concerns around low vaccination rates and how they would manage social distancing. Nigel Bickle, Hastings’ District Council CEO - who are in charge of Splash Planet – told Kate Hawkesby it’s become too complicated to open the park. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UK and Europe Correspondent Vincent McAviney was aboard Sir David Attenborough's research vessel today to hear Sir David talk about the upcoming Climate Change Summit. He joined Kate Hawkesby to discuss this and how France has detained a U.K. fishing boat as the battle for fishing in the channel heats up. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I feel for the South Island, with their gradual waking up to the fact that Delta is real. A couple of weeks ago I said to my sister, who lives in Christchurch, when she called me en-route from her pilates class to her café lunch, before probably going on to the hairdresser, that she was living in a parallel universe. I told her I figured the South Island was where the whole of NZ was 11 weeks ago, when we thought Delta was just a “somewhere else” problem. We smugly watched from the comfort of our crowded cafes as chaos unfolded across the Tasman and we thought – oh lucky us, it’s not real for us here. And then boom, there it was. And how our lives have changed. I told her it would show up on her doorstep, it was a matter of when not if. She was confident it wouldn’t and that they’d all be so well vaccinated by the time it did, that it’d be no worries. And then wham. Yesterday’s news of two positive cases in the city. I called her and suggested she go get her hair done and have her last café coffee. But she wa