Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

House values continue to rise out of reach of many young Wellingtonians.The latest rating valuation has been released by QV.Over the past three years, the average home value across Wellington city has increased 60.4 per cent to sit now at more than $1.4 million.All of the capital's suburbs now have an average value above $1 million and land value across the city has increased to more than $980,000.Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen told Kate Hawkesby Wellington seems to have become a millionaire's paradise.“I think the challenge that we’re seeing going forward is that still now getting into a house in Wellington, it seems to be a fair way away for a number of particularly young people.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christopher Luxon's new deputy leader of the National Party is confident the pair can overcome the party's internal divisions.Nicola Willis told Kate Hawkesby National's liberal and conservative wings came together at yesterday's caucus meeting to support them.“What we saw was an uncontested leadership, we saw everyone come in behind. All 33 of us are on that same page.”The Wellington list MP worked for Sir John Key and Sir Bill English in a variety of roles between 2003 and 2011.She entered Parliament in 2018.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A big challenge for National, to appeal to almost everyone with its next choice of leader.Former Air New Zealand boss Christopher Luxon appears to have the numbers over former party leader Simon Bridges, ahead of a caucus meeting this afternoon.Simon Bridges says the leadership will come down to a vote of MPs which insiders say Luxon is likely to win.Former National Cabinet Minister Jonathan Coleman told Kate Hawkesby he'll need to choose a deputy and front bench that unites the liberal-conservative divide.“We’ve got to be a party that appeals to that broad middle swathe of New Zealand, and frankly, the country’s changing, so we need to have a look, feel and a leadership team that reflects that and can appeal broadly.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I don’t know why we keep getting our hopes up for these announcements, they’re always such a letdown. I mean I guess we knew Auckland was starting in Red, and not just Auckland but a total of ten other districts around the country as well. That’s a lot of Red.The rest of the North Island starts with Orange, the whole of the South Island Orange. No one’s in Green, because guess what?They’re taking a “cautious approach”. Of course they are. The problem with this whole thing is the lack of definitive criteria for it. That does two things, one, gives the government all the power with little or no accountability, and two, leaves people in the dark.Can festivals go ahead or not? Can people make holiday travel and accommodation plans around that or not? A review of the traffic lights comes on December 13th. Is that enough time for festival organisers to cancel or postpone their events which start a couple of days after Christmas? Is just over ten days enough time for contractors to get the yay or nay? For festival-g

Auckland Police officers might need better protection as they respond to more firearms events.Three police officers are recovering in Auckland Hospital after being shot in Glen Eden.The offender was shot dead.Former Justice Advisory Group chairman Chester Burrows, who's also a former cop, told Kate Hawkesby police need more to respond with than pepper spray and a taser.“The Police Association has been saying for a long time they want to have guns on their hips. I would hate to think that we’d go there, but it’s difficult to find out what the other answer is.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Australian federal government has "paused" its plan to ease border restrictions from Wednesday, December 1, delaying the move by a fortnight as the world grapples with the new Omicron Covid variant.This means fully vaccinated visa holders will not be able to fly into Australia without an exemption.Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement on Monday night after a meeting of the Cabinet's national security committee was briefed on the latest information about Omicron.At this stage, the easing of border restrictions will be delayed until December 15."On the basis of medical advice provided by the Chief Medical Officer of Australia, Professor Paul Kelly, the National Security Committee has taken the necessary and temporary decision to pause the next step to safely reopen Australia to international skilled and student cohorts, as well as humanitarian, working holiday maker and provisional family visa holders from 1 December until 15 December,'' a spokesman said."The reopening to travellers

Understanding from Whakatane about why it's moving into Red under the traffic light system from Friday.Most regions will start in Orange, apart from Auckland and places with low vaccination rates, including Northland, Gisborne and parts of Bay of Plenty.Whakatane Mayor Judy Turner told Kate Hawkesby she isn't surprised because the area's still working on vaccination levels.She says a large percentage of the population lives in isolated rural communities.“To getting those services out there has been a challenge, but it is happening. We’ve got a couple of amazing providers who have just gone for broke.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Aucklanders endured their last weekend of an alert level lockdown, waiting to move into our red traffic light this weekend, Covid reminded us that it’s in the driving seat, not us. Relative freedoms just a handful of days away, inching towards some kind of normality, and then boom, news erupts over the weekend of this new variant Omicron. With hope having been dashed to shreds over this past year, it’s hard to stay positive, especially when countries start restricting travel again, re-introducing self-isolation, and not ruling out a return to lockdowns. The familiar creep of dread washes over us. We don’t know yet whether the vaccine’s effective against this variant, UK health officials say there’s a "reasonable chance" that vaccines could be less effective against it. Reports yesterday said, “early data suggests it could be several times more infectious than the original virus, and appears to be outcompeting Delta.” Michael Baker says it’s a variant causing alarm because “it has a very large number of mut

So it's November 29, a date we've all been waiting for. Originally the D-day for the announcement of all announcements, we already know on Friday we're heading to the traffic light system. But today we find out what colour each region will be going in. Sociology professor Paul Spoonley joined Early Edition. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new heavily mutated Covid variant has been identified named Omicron. It's been rapidly labelled a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation, and is already spreading to other countries, including Australia. Originating from South Africa, there's a shortage of real-world data, and no one really knows how big of a threat it poses. Principal scientist at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research professor Mike Bunce joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Surprise from Judith Collins' former and current colleagues, about how her time as National leader came to an end. MP Jacqui Dean has told the Otago Daily Times she's surprised and disappointed Collins used a conversation from some weeks ago to demote Bridges. But speaking exclusively to Newstalk ZB, Collins says she has no regrets about demoting Simon Bridges. Former colleague Chris Finlayson told Kate Hawkesby while he isn’t surprised by her departure, but he is shocked by how it happened. “It is a real doozy.” He said the frontrunners for leadership, Luxon and Mitchell, are both are very able.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Who’d be in politics, eh? I mean talk about brutal.  How do they just keep getting knocked over and get back up again. It’s so so tough. I don’t know what came over Judith, apart from obvious desperation and I actually feel a great deal of sympathy for her; she clearly felt so backed into a corner she lost all perspective. And I don’t know whose advising her anymore or if anyone did, but it goes to show how important the team around you is, the perspective, the depth of talent needed. And that’s what worries me going forward. I think a reheated Simon 2.0 is just Simon again but at a different time. There’s nothing that leaps out at me to say he’s morphed into a considered strategic and smart team player. He still seems unable to hold his cards close to his chest, keep his cool, look considered and elder statesman like. He’s more relaxed, for sure, but I don’t know that’s enough to lead this motley crew and rein them in as much as they clearly need to be reined in. Then there’s Luxon. Still new, naïve, learnin

England and France are at odds over how to deal with illegal migrants crossing the Channel, after 27 people died trying to get across. It's the largest loss of life there in a decade. Europe correspondent Vincent McAviney told Kate Hawkesby 25,000 migrants are trafficked across each year from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Eritrea. He said they're smuggled by gangs from the Netherlands, Belgium and France. McAviney said the French believe the coastline's too hard to police, so Britain's offering to send officers to help, but France is resisting that. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The retail sector is in for a much-needed boost today.  The industry is set to make about 270-million dollars from Black Friday sales. Retail NZ Chief Executive Greg Harford told Kate Hawkesby he's hoping Kiwis will get out and support businesses. “It could really be busier than Boxing Day. Black Friday has become a really significant part of the shopping calendar.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Judith Collins says history will judge her kindly, for her decision to demote Simon Bridges. Collins was removed from the leadership yesterday -- after her surprise decision to demote Bridges the night before. She says she was acting on a complaint from a female caucus colleague about comments Bridges made in that colleague's presence five years ago. Speaking exclusively to the Mike Hosking Breakfast, Collins says it was an inappropriate action, by a person in a position of power. She says in the fullness of time, people will see she did the right thing for the party, knowing there would be consequences for her. Auckland University political commentator Lara Greaves told Kate Hawkesby opinion is likely to be divided. She says the culture of Parliament isn't comfortable for women and for many people, but on the scale of what could have been, this seems to be on the minor side. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What the hell is going on inside the National Party? Here's the problem with that question. We shouldn't even be asking it. We shouldn't need to ask it. They shouldn't be making everything about them and drawing attention to themselves in this way - at a critical time for the opposition to make hay, with so much material available to them to clobber the government with. What are they thinking? This hit job on Bridges is so poorly timed, mind you, so is his clearly bungled coup attempt. But look at all the things they could be jumping on here: the staggering MIQ announcement yesterday - no Kiwis coming home for Christmas, no trans-Tasman bubble, in fact, no access for Australians at all without MIQ until April next year for goodness' sake. I mean this is the most cruel and crazy decision. In fact, even the Kiwis who can come home mid-January still have to self-isolate for seven days when they do. It's pure fortress NZ madness and ripe fodder for a functioning opposition. Add to that, the traffic light law rush

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has arrived in Canada, but little is known of what her day will entail.  It's the last leg of her first international trip in the role. She's meeting with her Canadian counterpart today Melanie Joly. But Correspondent Anna Burns-Francis, who's in Canada with Mahuta, told Kate Hawkesby it's all a bit hush-hush. She said she’s not sure what they'll discuss, saying the media wasn't even allowed to film them meeting. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many of Auckland's city slickers are upping sticks and moving north to the Hibiscus Coast. Within three days, seven coastal properties were snapped up for more than seven million dollars. Bayleys Orewa owner and manager Kirsty Macky told Kate Hawkesby inner city Aucklanders are pushing up the prices very quickly. “It’s just supply and demand. We’ve just got more buyers than we have properties for sale and so the competition for what we do have is fierce.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Businesses are welcoming back the ability to travel internationally without MIQ. Fully vaccinated Kiwis will be able travel home from Australia without MIQ from January 16, and from all other countries from February 13. All other fully vaccinated travellers will be able to come here from April 30. All must still self-isolate for seven-days. Christchurch exporter Enztech chief executive Iain McMillan told Kate Hawkesby this is great news. “We probably look to be travelling in January to Australia; it’s a nice little warm-up market for us.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A bus carrying tourists back to North Macedonia crashed and caught fire in western Bulgaria early Tuesday, killing at least 45 people, including a dozen children, authorities said. DNA tests were being carried out to identify the victims. The bus apparently ripped through a guardrail on a highway, though authorities said the cause was still under investigation. Photos taken shortly after the crash showed the vehicle engulfed in flames as plumes of thick, black smoke rose. Daylight revealed a burned-out shell with all of its windows blown out, sitting in the median. A portion of the guardrail was lying in the road. Seven survivors were hospitalized after the crash, which took place as a group of buses was returning from a trip to Turkey. Twelve children were among the dead, according to the North Macedonia chief prosecutor, Ljubomir Joveski. Bulgarian Interior Minister Boyko Rashkov told reporters at the crash site that he had "never in my life seen something more horrifying" and that the identification proces