Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

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

The Government may have missed an opportunity to address the nurse shortage. Working holiday visas have been extended in a bid to lure 12,000 more workers into the country. Some sectors, including aged care, meat processing and construction, will also be able to pay workers below the new median wage requirements. However, Aged Care Association Chief Executive Simon Wallace told Kate Hawkesby nurses have been left out of this announcement “We are short over 1,200 nurses in our sector. It’s because we don’t have nurses in aged care that we’re having to close down care homes.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Act party isn't interested in any move to make matauranga Māori and te reo mandatory for teachers. The Teaching Council has told a Royal Commission of Inquiry it believes that will eventually be the case. Act leader David Seymour says it will put people off the profession. He told Kate Hawkesby teachers already have enough on their plate, without having to worry about improving their te reo. He says the initiative is another example of something teachers have to do for the Government, rather than what students may want. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Whether you believe Guarav Sharma or not probably depends on whether you support Labour and all that it stands for, or not. Diehard Labour fans who are still defending the Covid response and lockdowns, the people who probably proudly still own Ashley Bloomfield tea towels, will tell you it’s all a storm in a tea cup. They will have signed up for a lifelong subscription to the PM’s spin and they’ll see validity in lines like, ”I reject the premise of the question’. Others though, will see it for what it is. A party steeped in hypocrisy, preaching the kindness line, advocating for mental health and wellbeing, yet not walking the talk. A party claiming to be honest open and transparent, but instead shrouded in lies, manipulation and deceit. The workshop on how to avoid an Official Information Act request is all you need to know about how these guys operate. Machiavellian and under-handed. Denying those of us who pay their salaries and voted for their representation, to even know the truth about what’s really goi

Communities near Nelson have been evacuated for a second night, as the heavy rain continues. Nelson's mayor says it will take years to recover. But there are others who don't see much point in trying, saying it would be better to just give up on some flood prone places. Professor Bruce Glavovic from Massey University is the former EQC chair in Natural Hazards Planning. He joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Electricity Authority has put a temporary block on bulk low-price power deals. It means power companies won't be to do cheap deals to supply more than 150 megawatts of power, without approval. The EA says it's a win for consumers. Consumer Advocacy Council chair Deborah Hart joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now, Dr Sharma.  The longer it drags on the uglier it gets, and there's even a whiff of the Jami-Lee Ross about the whole thing now. I saw Dr Sharma on the TV news last night and he comes across as quite convincing, even straight-up. But then he is a politician albeit a very junior one and he's had experience of pitching himself, and doing his best to come across as an honest broker. So, how seriously do we take him? Has he been bullied, or is it actually him that's the bad guy? Nno one can work with the man. Or has he, like Jami-Lee did, got a bit carried away, does he have an overblown sense of his own importance? Thing is, back bench MPs and especially the current crop of very new members on Labour's back benches, mostly know their place. Their job is to cheer at the right time...ask a pre-prepared patsy question to a Minister if it's their turn...keep a seat warm on a select committee...and so on. Back benchers make up the numbers basically. They're allowed to visit local kindies and put up social media p

Ian Foster will continue as head coach of the All Blacks until the end of the 2023 Rugby World cup. Foster has been given unanimous backing from both the board and CEO Mark Robinson, along with promoting new coach Joe Schmidt into a new attacking role. Interestingly, that was Foster's role under Sir Steve Hansen's reign. Questions have been asked as to whether it was the right call and will Scott Robertson stay or pack his bags. Former South African international and rugby analyst Kevin Putt joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Waka Kotahi will today decide whether to have a dedicated cycle lane across the Auckland Harbour Bridge. It had originally decided to have a lane for just special events, but a cycling lobby group threatened legal action. National Party Transport Spokesperson Simeon Brown says Minister Michael Wood should have been firmer in denying the lane. Brown told Kate Hawkesby it would be a total waste of time and money. He says closing a lane would be expensive and use of the lane may not be that high, especially on rainy days. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.