Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

More than 82,000 community service hours have been wiped between January and August this year, with the Government claiming Covid reasons. Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the majority of sentences that had their community hours cut were for "minor offending" - but questions have been asked as to whether delays of sentences that meant offenders would still have to carry out their hours may have been more appropriate. Victims' advocate Ruth Money joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rishi Sunak's won the day, set to become Britain's youngest Prime Minister. The 42-year-old says he's humbled and honoured to have his colleagues support, and is promising stability and unity. Boris Johnson had been plotting a comeback, but he ultimately decided against running. He claims to have had 102 backers, although only 57 MPs publicly declared their support. Political commentator Iain Dale told Kate Hawkesby those who were backing Johnson feel let down, after he led them up the garden path. He says some of them were made to look very stupid for supporting him. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I was pleased this week that Police Minister Chris Hipkins finally got around to meeting Dairy and Business Owners Association head Sunny Kaushall. That only took about six months of chasing by Sunny So they met, which was good, Sunny got to express his concerns, which was good, they posed for amicable photos afterwards which was good, but what we really want to see is action don’t we? Get that money where it needs to go, and fast. We know of the $6 million set aside, that just under $200,000 grand has been spent. Pitiful. Of the hundreds of dairies and retailers hit by ram raids, only seven have seen some of the money. Not good enough. One local business association leader made the very salient point that the Government should send the money to local business associations and they’d very quickly get it sent out to the businesses that need it. It's a good idea and I don’t know why the Government doesn’t talk to local business more and engage local communities, who’re at the coalface, and enable them to help.

Groundswell organisers are defending yesterdays low turn-out and condemning criticism from the Agriculture Minister. Hundreds of protesters across 60 convoys jumped in their utes, trucks and tractors in opposition of the Government's proposed farm-level emissions pricing scheme. Organisers had been predicting thousands 24 hours earlier. Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor described the size of the crowds across the country as 'embarrassing.' Groundswell Organiser Bryce McKenzie told Kate Hawkesby O'Connor's comments are very disappointing. He says while he'd hoped for higher numbers, it's a very busy time on the farming calendar. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

National wants to turn our attention away from the fact the number of people on welfare is going down. More than 21,000 people moved off a benefit and into work in the three months to September. National's Louise Upston says the more important figure is that 35,000 more people are staying on a benefit for more than a year. She told Kate Hawkesby the National party isn't willing to see people write their lives off and become welfare dependent. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There’s an interesting dichotomy going on in terms of leadership in our big cities at the moment - and I refer specifically to Auckland’s Wayne Brown versus Wellington’s Tory Whanau. We had Tory on the show yesterday, she’s great talent, bubbly, vivacious, chatty, easy to talk to. You can see why she does a lot of interviews, she’s got good chat, and media love to have people like her on. Good talent is good talent, and they often make the headlines and get the coverage because of it. But does that make her a good Mayor? Does that effusive personality make her any better at her job of running and managing a city? Because the obvious contrast is Wayne Brown. Also a guest on this show pre his election win and at the time I said to him at the end of the interview that he could probably work on his rapport with interviewers and be a bit more personable. He was gruff, direct, not interested in winning favour or friends, he was laser focussed on a job he had to do and he didn’t really give the impression he wanted

There's been a big uptick in sponsorship deals across women's sports. A major international report has revealed a 20 percent increase year-on-year in 2022, with the arrival of blue chip global sponsors further fuelling growth. It comes, of course, as we're hosting the Rugby World Cup Women's event. Rebecca Sowden, former New Zealand Football Fern and founder of women's sport sponsorship consultancy Team Heroine, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Claims the entire justice system has failed the five women sexually violated by Jayden Meyer. The Crown's appeal of the teen rapist's nine-month home detention sentence, has been dismissed. Meyer was convicted of raping four 15-year-old girls and sexually violating a fifth when he was 16. He's now 18. The judge says the sentence was "manifestly inadequate" but to sentence Mayer to prison now would undermine his rehabilitation programme. Women's Refuge chief executive Ang Jury told Kate Hawkesby the women have been totally let down. She says they were brave to come  forward with the process, which isn't an easy thing to do. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Questions for the Government over the lack of progress on light rail. It's spending $16 million on scope to cost the next phase of light rail in Auckland, a $14.6 billion project. More than two-thirds of the almost $66 million already spent on the project has gone to consultants - with none yet spent on construction. National Transport spokesperson Simeon Brown told Kate Hawkesby it's become a circular economy. He says the Government has failed light rail it had said would be completed by 2021. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guarva Sharma’s stuck it right up the Government by jumping ship before they could invoke the Waka Jumping Bill to push him off it. He was already sacked by caucus in August, but yesterday fired a new salvo – he quit as a party MP entirely. He says because he found out that the party was going to invoke the Waka Jumping Bill six months before the election, thus avoiding a by-election, but he claims it would’ve left his electorate of Hamilton West without any representation, and that’s undemocratic. So he blindsided them and quit before they could forcibly remove him. The PM, though, came out swinging – in a statement she sounded pretty angry as she refuted Sharma’s claims and said they were not considering the Waka Jumping legislation. Weren’t they though? Who’s telling the truth here? Sharma would argue Labour has form fudging the truth. He pointed out that the last time they lied was when they said they wouldn’t meet behind his back to discuss him - and as we know, it turned out they did exactly that. So he

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has an even harder job on her hands winning back the public,  as well as her party. A YouGov poll released shortly after her tax cut plan U-turn, found that 55 percent of Conservative voters think she should resign. A further poll on who should replace her, found that 32 percent want her predecessor Boris Johnson, while 23 percent back Rishi Sunak. UK correspondent Kay Oliver told Kate Hawkesby another poll found her to be the most unpopular political party leader ever. She says Truss has a worse rating than former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and disliked more than Prince Andrew. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Latest figures show the housing market continues to decline, with decade-low sales numbers and dropping house values. CoreLogic's latest Market and Economic Update shows the total value of residential real estate has fallen from a peak of $1.73 trillion early this year to $1.62 trillion at the end of September. Property values fell 6.3 percent over six months, with the average home price now under the million dollar mark. Chief Property Economist Kelvin Davidson says it shows the striking weakness of the housing market. He says it's a real downturn and something that hasn't been seen in at least a decade since the Global Financial Crisis. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Senior doctors at Middlemore say working conditions are so unsafe, a trainee teaching programme should be scrapped. A letter signed by 60 doctors is asking for the hospital's training accreditation to be revoked. It also follows a damning review which found its ED was dysfunctional and overcrowded. Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director Sarah Dalton told Kate Hawkesby they're at the point where they can do nothing more to make the service safe. She says this is a cry for proper resourcing and a road map out of these problems, and that Middlemore has lost sight of clinically informed decision making LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It probably comes as no surprise to any of us who watched on from the confines of our homes as the Ministry of Health bungled its way through Covid, that they’ve just discovered a ’coding error’.  It means the number of hospitalisations they recorded was not, in fact, accurate.  Turns out when they said just over 14,000 people were hospitalised with Covid, they meant almost 19,500.  Whoops.  A ‘coding error’ led to the under count. Just the 5,000 odd cases out. No biggie.  Unless you’re interested in accuracy of course, or facts and real hard data, which one assumes a Ministry of Health department might be, but beggars can’t be choosers.  And when it comes to healthcare in this country, we appear to be beggars, sadly. From our delayed vaccine rollout, to our lack of PPE, to our shortage of flu vaccines, to our appalling lack of cancer treatment services, to our shortage of GP’s and nurses, to our bungles and errors, it’s not exactly a sector firing on all cylinders is it?  And then we hear yesterday that ‘the

A large development including more than 700 new homes near Queenstown will be fast tracked for consenting. The Te Putahi project at Lake Hayes has been approved under the Government's Covid-19 recovery act, one of three projects to be allowed to skip some of the usual RMA hoops you have to jump through. 748 houses will be built along with a park-and-ride public transport area and potentially a school. New Queenstown Lakes mayor Glyn Lewers joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cost of living pressures are expected to ease, but will remain at a much higher level than usual. Statistics New Zealand’s poised to unveil the latest inflation figures later this morning.  The highly anticipated Consumer Price Index is tipped to drop from the recent record high of 7.3 percent, to closer to 6.5.  That’s according to ASB, whose Senior Economist Mark Smith says New Zealand’s probably past peak inflation levels. But he says the expected CPI dip won't stop the Reserve Bank from increasing the Official Cash Rate over the coming months. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More than 30 Rotorua bars and restaurants have closed their doors today to protest a lack of Government support. Hospitality NZ Bay of Plenty spokesperson, Reg Hennessy, says many are turning away  business because they can't get the staff they need. But Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says working holiday visas are a big source of hospitality and seasonal workers. She says we've had tens of thousands of working holiday visas issued in as little as 14 working days. Ardern says the issue is then when people are choosing to travel here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The new U.K. Treasury chief on Sunday insisted Prime Minister Liz Truss retains control of her government despite having to roll back her signature economic policies weeks into her premiership. Jeremy Hunt was drafted in to lead the Treasury after Truss sacked Kwasi Kwarteng amid rising pressure following the turbulent market reaction to the new administration’s “mini-budget.” “The prime minister’s in charge,” Hunt, a former foreign and health secretary, told the BBC when he was asked whether he now held all the power at Downing Street. Truss and Kwarteng had slowly unraveled key elements of their economic vision, including tax cuts for top earners and a halt on corporation tax rises, before the prime minister gave in to financial market instability and tanking polling figures and fired Kwarteng. Hunt has now said taxation will rise and public spending will shrink, despite Britain’s growing cost-of-living crisis. He said he had been surprised to receive the call to return to the Cabinet, but he was “honored”

Is it just me or does it feel like Groundhog Day at the moment?  As soon as I saw Winston and his ‘usual suspects’ lineup of a few hardcore supporters at the NZ First party conference, it felt like being in a time warp. How are we back here again? How are we back to him sniggering at reporters and giggling as he disparages anyone who dares downplay him? I’m pretty sure last election, or even the one before the that where he put Labour into power as an act of spite to National, that I said I was done talking about him. But here we are again talking about him.  He makes sure of it. He knows this is a good time for him. There’s lots of disharmony and angst around and his is a party for the angry and disgruntled.  He finds key controversial issues that he knows are bugging people – co-governance, the Treaty, climate change, immigration, gangs, you get the gist.  If there’s a gripe to be had on something, he’ll elevate it for you and tell you he’s the man to fix it. But can you trust him?  2017 would tell us firml

A third quarter comeback has helped the Silver Ferns to a 2-0 lead in netball's Constellation Cup, beating Australia 52-48 in Tauranga. The victory leaves the Ferns needing just one win from the two games in Australia to retain the prestigious trophy. The Peta Toeava and Grace Nweke combination proved difficult for Australia once again, with the visitors' circle defenders struggling to break their partnership. Australia led by one goal heading into halftime, but crucial defensive gains to goal defence Phoenix Karaka and wing defence Kayla Johnson edged the home side ahead, with New Zealand winning the third stanza 15-9. Coach Dame Noeline Taurua says her side came out firing after halftime. "When we kept ball in hand it meant we could push ourselves forward. That grind that happened out on court and absorbing the pressure - because there were moments where it was touch and go - I'm really pleased." It was once again the Toeava show, with the wing attack notching up 36 feeds. She won't be part of the Australia