Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

High demand is expected to drive up the cost of flights.Air New Zealand is warning it's going to have to hike fares due to rising fuel costs, as more people start to fly again.One aviation industry expert has compared our air fares to the same expensive prices we saw in the 1970sFormer aviation boss Irene King told Andrew Dickens Air New Zealand has a lot of cost pressures on them.She says this is a classic supply and demand problem, underpinned by fairly savage price increases in their basic inputs.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Police Association hopes the new minister will listen to those on the front line.Chris Hipkins replaces Poto Williams as Police Minister after she faced strong criticism.Jacinda Ardern says she and Williams agreed the focus of the portfolio wasn't where it needed to be.Association president Chris Cahill told Andrew Dickens he thinks Hipkins will be more directBut he says they'd be naïve to think he can solve gang problems and drive by shootings in Auckland overnight.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A push to prioritise people over cars on Auckland's main street.Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick and the City Centre Residents' Group are calling for the council to pedestrianise Queen Street, changing it from a thoroughfare to a destination.They say it will transform the area into a cultural hub and living space for 40,000 residents.Chlöe Swarbrick told Andrew Dickens you only have to look at George Street in Sydney to see how the idea can succeed.She says they closed four and half thousand square metres to traffic.Swarbrick says they committed to their plan and it got even better - and no one can imagine it going back to the way it was.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yesterday's minor cabinet shuffle became a major one after two resignations.Trevor Mallard steps down as speaker, much to everyone’s relief. Laughingly one of the least diplomatic members of Parliament is moving into a diplomatic position in Europe.  Cynics, like ACT, have suggested that it’s so he can get a knighthood before the Government changes at the next election.Meanwhile, Kris Faa’foi steps down to spend more time with his family. Cynics would say he checked out a while back and I think that’s true. Immigration in particular has been bogged down and needs a strong hand to whip it back into action and Kris wasn’t that man.I wish he’d admitted his priorities earlier but he goes with my support and good wishes.So those two big moves gave the Prime Minister the chance to attack some glaring weaknesses.Most notably, Poto Williams, who loses Police to Chris Hipkins.Poto Williams was immensely unsuited to the Police role. She lacked confidence and the ability to speak straight.  Like many in Labour’s caucus

It is no secret that tourism is struggling to recruit workers, but the extent of the shortage is becoming apparent.The sector lost 65,000 workers at the beginning of the pandemic, and they're not all coming back.Migrants on working holiday visas are not making a difference so far.That creates flow on effects, slower service and shorter opening hours, and some say this could affect our reputation to overseas tourists.Director at Hotel Council Aotearoa James Doolan joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tech experts say National's proposed plan to stop gang insignia on social media could be tricky to do.If it came to power, the party says it would ban gang patches in public - including online.It would also stop gang members gathering in public and accessing guns.Gorilla Technology chief executive Paul Spain told Andrew Dickens if there's legislation putting pressure on social media companies, they may monitor it themselves.He says there likely wouldn't be enough resources to monitor it in Police - as it would end up needing a huge number of people.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I was really disappointed that Christopher Luxon hung his hat on the patch banning gangs policy, mostly because the policy is not new. It's proposed every time a political party want to be perceived as tough on crime - and it has been discredited every time it's been proposed.And it has been tried before in Whanganui.  Michael Laws argues it was a success, and yes it kept gang patches out of the city centre for a while.  But it didn’t decrease gang crime.Embarrassingly for National, Chester Borrows, who was part of National at the time and argued for its use, stated in the Sunday papers that it never really worked.The former Court Minister and cop and MP for Whanganui passed a Prohibition of Gang Insignia into law 13 years ago.As National calls for a similar law to be introduced nationwide, Chester Borrows was quoted yesterday as saying it would be ineffectual and it's purely designed for big headlines.It's not the answer National makes it out to be.Even more confusingly it saw National Party members who have

The Queen will skip the upcoming Commonwealth Games, it's been reported today.The Games are set to take place for two weeks from July 28 in Birmingham, two hours north of London. Daily Mail reports that the Queen will not be in attendance, with Prince Charles expected to fill in for her.The outlet reports that the 96-year-old monarch, who has grown increasingly frail, will stay home, with Prince Charles expected to stand in for her during the opening ceremony and other events. Other royals are expected to attend many events, given the Games are happening on home soil.It comes after the Queen sat out many key events at her Platinum Jubilee celebrations last weekend.One royal expert has today suggested there was a selfless reason for the Queen missing several of her own celebrations, claiming the monarch wouldn't have wanted to risk worrying people with a fall or stumble."She would not want to stumble – not for her own sake but for the distress, it would cause other people," royal historian Robert Lacey told Pe

Twitter plans to offer Elon Musk access to its "firehose" of raw data on hundreds of millions of daily tweets in an effort to push forward the Tesla billionaire's agreed-to $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform, according to multiple news reports.Lawyers involved in the deal would not confirm the data sharing agreement. Musk made no comment on Twitter, although he has previously been vocal about various aspects of the deal. Twitter declined to confirm the reports and pointed to a Monday statement in which the company said it is continuing to "co-operatively" share information with Musk.Musk, who struck a legally binding agreement to buy Twitter in April, contends that the deal can't proceed unless the company provides more information about the prevalence of fake accounts on its platform. He has argued, without presenting evidence, that Twitter has significantly underestimated the number of these "spam bots" - automated accounts that typically promote scams and misinformation — on its service.O

It’s fair to say I’ve been seething for the past few days since the news that Ports of Auckland’s automation experiment has crashed and burned.This was a story that we knew was happening and yet the people at the centre of it refused to admit it.Time and time again the media and the council put questions to the management of the Port.Time and time again we were told there was no problem and the tone was that we didn’t know what we were talking about so leave us alone.Well it turns out the Ports didn’t know their own business or what they were talking about and the whole country has paid a price.The automation project was cutting edge. It was not best practice. It was a mightily huge experiment that has cost us dearly.The reports we’ve heard is that the scrapping of it will cost $65 million. That’s just the cost of the useless software that we can’t even re-sell.The cost of this screw up is in the billions. The snarling of our major port.  The self-inflicted supply chain difficulties in the time of pandemic ca

The building industry will have to think outside the tool box.GIB is still desperately sought after across the country, with reports of it being stockpiled, stolen and sold on Trade Me for six times the retail price.There's only one manufacturer of the plasterboard in New Zealand.Combined Building Supplies Co-op Chair Carl Taylor told Andrew Dickens the industry has to look at alternative methods.He says there are other materials such as plywood, which aren't ideal, but we have to stop relying on just one product.Taylor says there are other products we can get from overseas such as the US, Malaysia and Australia.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A scatter gun approach to the cost of living.The OECD says the Government needs to do more in the inflation fight, arguing for more targeted spending, which could include delaying some infrastructure plans.Economist Cameron Bagrie says we have petrol relief and a transport package for everybody and 2.1 million people getting a cash injection.But he told Andrew Dickens you want assistance to be targeted to those most in need.Bagrie says we need to look at maybe expanding Working for Families, or the timing of construction projects.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles and dozens of other women who say they were sexually assaulted by Larry Nassar are seeking more than US$1 billion from the FBI for failing to stop the sports doctor when the agency first received allegations against him, lawyers said today.There's no dispute that FBI agents in 2015 knew that Nassar was accused of assaulting gymnasts, but they failed to act, leaving him free to continue to target young women and girls for more than a year. He pleaded guilty in 2017 and is serving decades in prison."It is time for the FBI to be held accountable," said Maggie Nichols, a national champion gymnast at Oklahoma in 2017-19.Under federal law, a government agency has six months to respond to the tort claims filed Wednesday. Lawsuits could follow, depending on the FBI's response. Larry Nassar. Photo / APWhite noted the 2018 massacre at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The FBI received a tip about five weeks before 17 people were killed at the school, but the tip was neve

The red meat sector is urging the Government to support the alternative to the Emissions Trading Scheme.Overseen by He Waka Eke Noa, it would see those in the agricultural sector assess their own liability for levies.It also looks at rebates for any effort to reduce emissions for things like planting trees.Meat Industry Association Chief Executive Sirma Karapeeva told Tim Dower the ETS treats everything in the same way.She says with the ETS, there are no incentives, no encouragement and no ability to tweak operations to do better and adjust.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The rush to home school our children that happened during the pandemic seems to be running out of steam.Applications peaked last November, now though; rural schools are seeing enrolment applications bounce back.Principal at Tauriko School just outside Tauranga is Suzanne Billington who joined Kate Hawkesby.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The idea of remote earning is being expanded to overseas.Tech companies overseas already hire remote workers to take advantage of lower pay rates, but this is being expanded into sectors like law and accounting.Immigration lawyer Aaron Martin says there are trained lawyers working remotely here for British law firms, to take advantage of time zone differences.He told Tim Dower that it creates an entrepreneurial bent to people's lifestyles, and if people want to get involved, they can find it lucrative, diverse and rewarding.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a sense of if you can't beat them join them about this He Waka Eke Noa scenario.Farmers don't like it much, but they do know they're not going to be excused from facing up to agricultural emissions forever.Sooner or later, regulation is coming, so it makes sense to be proactive and try to influence things as much as you can.The alternative is to have some bureaucrat in Wellington who doesn't even own gumboots conjure up something crazy that'll cost a fortune, and won't make any difference.The bare bones of this system is that every farm that's GST registered and has more than 550 animals; or 50 dairy cattle; or 700 swine; or 50,000 poultry will be liable.It's a self-assessment system and it recognises carbon sequestration on the farm and any other emissions cutting efforts.To me, this represents a turning point in the relationship and confirms the agricultural sector has recognised it needs to get on the front foot here.There's still a long way to go. We don't know what the Government thinks yet and a

Australia's 501 deportation policy will be back under the spotlight when the Prime Minister heads across the Tasman.Jacinda Ardern will travel across the ditch to meet with new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese tomorrow.Otago University international relations expert Robert Patman told Tim Dower the Prime Minister has a fighting chance at getting change.He says Albanese has already indicated he won't be changing the policy per se, but he might be open to looking - in greater depth - at individual circumstances.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a long weekend, the idea of a regular four day working week often sounds more tempting.In the UK, more than 3000 workers are taking part in the world's largest trial of the four day week.They'll get their normal pay, as long as they can maintain productivity.Andrew Barnes is the Kiwi that helped launch The 4 Day Week global movement and he joined Kate Hawkesby from the UK.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We don't need to revisit the injustice of Australia's 501 deportation policy - and how destructive it's been on this side of the Tasman.It's eight years now since the deportations began, it applies to any foreign citizen who gets a jail sentence of a year or more.The vast majority have been New Zealanders, well into the thousands now - and of course Australia's not just deporting the people, it's deporting the crime they commit.Our police attribute more than criminal 8000 offences to 501s so far including violence, drugs, dishonesty and even sexual crimes.And that’s to say nothing of the explosion in the gangs.It all began when John Key was Prime Minister, he tried to fight it, saying it goes against the "Anzac bond and Anzac spirit".And while his government was more ideologically aligned with the Aussie regime at the time, he got nowhere.The problem for us is that the Australian public really likes the 501 policy.Scott Morrison was looking at making the rules even tougher, just ahead of their election.Now, A