Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

The Central Pulse have won all four quarters of an ANZ Premiership netball game for the first time this season, defeating the Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic 52-39 in Rotorua.The Pulse letting the same 11-goal three-quarter lead slip in their extra time loss to the Southern Steel last week.Relief for Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire after his side won their first NRL league game of the season.Halfback Jackson Hastings has kicked the match-winning field goal to snatch a 21-20 win over Parramatta.Maguire and his team had suffered five straight losses.Joelle King has won squash's Manchester Open for a second time - she's beaten number one seed Sarah-Jane Perry in straight games.A trifecta of suspensions from the latest round of Super Rugby - Highlanders lock Josh Dickson and Hurricanes hooker Asafo Aumua are out for three weeks but Crusaders captain Scott Barrett is banned for four.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Russia’s war with Ukraine enters the third month, with no end in sight, many of the Russians who fled Russia at the start of the war, are now heading back.Part of this is said to be due to many Russians having hit the hard realities of emigration abroad.Questions are being raised as to how much of this can also be owed to Russian government influence.Senior political scientist at Rand Corporation Elina Treyger joined Roman Travers.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I hope you managed to get out and do some of the things you love to do over the delightfully long Easter weekend. Or perhaps you’ve tried something completely new.I’ve been a cyclist since I can remember, which is a very long time; so this weekend I got out and rode my bike every day, clocking up 240 kilometres over the whole long weekend. Not bad for a middle aged burnt out man in lycra.But as much as I love cycling, I usually avoid the designated cycle lanes. That’s because they’re usually filled with life’s little crap. It’s the little things that make a big difference and I’m talking glass, staples, pieces of metal and nails. All of that stuff naturally drifts from the main lanes to the sides where the cycling lanes are.Designated cycling lanes very rarely - if ever - seem to be cleaned and after many punctures over a short period of time, I tend to avoid them like Covid-19.Like many cyclists who also drive a car, I often look at the absolute dogs breakfast of ubiquitous signage, traffic lights and cycle

One economist says the Reserve Bank has needed to increase the Official Cash Rate for a while. It's gone from one to 1.5 percent. Infometrics Chief Economist, Gareth Kiernan, welcomes the central bank coming to the party, and realising we don't need interest levels so low. He told Kate Hawkesby the housing market's been running rampant and there's been strong household spending. Kiernan says that was great when we thought Covid was going to hammer the economy, but that hasn't happened. He's been looking at the low unemployment rate and the housing market for the last nine months or so, saying something's got to change. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Concerns have been raised about masks not needing to be worn at schools.  Now in Orange, masks are still compulsory at retail stores, public transport and planes or when visiting a public or healthcare facility.   But they're dropped for hospitality patrons and in schools.  Developmental paediatrician Jin Russell told Kate Hawkesby while it's not mandatory - it's still strongly recommended.  She says the pandemic's not over - there are still thousands of Omicron cases circulating in the community and some of those will pop up at schools. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Data suggests that 18-39 year olds could become a "lost generation" as a lot of our young people are planning to try their luck overseas. Questions are being raised as to how we keep skilled young talent from taking their skills offshore. Auckland Central MP Chloe swarbrick says we need to make our CBDs more attractive for young people. AUT Professor of Management Jarrod Harr joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hallelujah, praise the Lord, kudos to the Government today for coming to their senses, for ignoring the howls from the epidemiologists, and for finally putting us all where we need to be – into an orange light.  I’m thrilled for the tourists arriving, for the hospitality sector, for retailers, for the events business, for nightclubs and bars, for everyone who’s been hamstrung by a red light.  Not only that, there’s no big delay on it which I thought there would be. Into an orange light – boom, as of midnight last night, no mucking around, that’s what we like to see. Decisive bold action.  I couldn’t work out why the PM wasn’t there to deliver this resoundingly positive news in person. I mean surely, she’d want to be the face of such good news? But no, it was left to Chris Hipkins. Who, I have to say, turned up woefully under prepared which I also thought was unusual. Why did he not have the rules of Orange at his fingertips? How did he not know there’d be questions on that? Surely the most obvious part of it

There are calls to replace aging underground pipes in Christchurch. An Otago University study has found evidence of asbestos fibres being released by aging underground pipes across the whole city, but the amounts detected don't exceed levels of concern for human health. Study co-author Dr Sarah Mager says it was concerning to find some of the pipes pre-date 1950. She says by global standards many of these pipes would be considered to be well past their prime. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marketing efforts to draw Australians to our shores are being ramped up. Fully vaccinated Aussies can now come here without needing to isolate, with the first flight touching down from Melbourne just after midnight. Tourism New Zealand chief executive, Rene de Monchy, says the organisation has been lightly promoting New Zealand to keep people interested. He told Kate Hawkesby with the border reopening, it's now activated a new campaign called Beyond Your Wildest Dreams. De Monchy says they'll soon be launching a winter campaign because Australians are a crucial audience. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Jones is leaving Lambton Quay in Wellington. This will leave a huge hole in the city as in a short time, David Jones became a flagship store for the area. Foot traffic has been down in Wellington due to Covid, the protests and the council's removal of a lot of on-street parking. Retail NZ's Greg Harford joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As of this morning, Australians are welcome back to our shores. The long-awaited welcome mat gets laid out as the border creaks open. It’s going to be interesting over the next few weeks in terms of how many take up the opportunity – will they come now? Or wait for the ski season? Will our red light put them off? Can they get decent priced flights? Can they get good hotel rooms in parts of the city that might be bustling, as opposed to shut or low on staff? And what about Kiwis? How many of us are heading away? And I don't mean the exodus for the brain drain.. which is estimated to be now around 50,000 Kiwis who are going to up sticks and bail.. could even go as high as 125,000 they say. But I don't mean them, I mean the holidaymakers. I know my sister snapped up seats to cross the Tasman for the school holidays. It cost her a pretty penny though. She spent about two thousand dollars per person return, for her family to go away for a week. I asked her if she thought it was worth it to spend that much money on

Welcome relief for farmers as the Government announces it's allowing 1600 primary sector workers into the country. They'll include 500 each for the dairy industry and red meat sector, and nearly 600 for forestry workers, wood processors and manufacturers.  But Federated Farmers employment spokesperson, Chris Lewis, told Kate Hawkesby it's a slow, frustrating process to bring them here. He says Filipino workers have to wait six weeks to get a medical certificate in their country, then need their visas processed here. Lewis says they won't get the green light until the middle of June, then have to find a flight. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand is deploying a c-130 Hercules with 50 Defence Force personnel to Germany.  They'll assist with transporting and distributing donated military aid.  We are also spending $7.5 million to help the UK acquire weapons for Ukraine. Former Defence Minister, Wayne Mapp, joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over 40 per cent of Kiwis agree the Government should forcibly bring house prices down to pre-Covid levels.  That would be around a 20 to 25 per cent drop in prices.  These numbers come from a One-Roof consumer link survey.  Kelvin Davidson, Core Logic's chief property economist joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’m not sure how many times cars need to ram through the front windows of shops before Police accept ram raids are a problem. And an increasing problem. Ask Gucci and Louis Vuitton Queen Street who got hit yesterday. Ask any Dairy owner, any Liquor store owner, any retailer with glass front doors. They’re fed up.  They’re shelling out of their own pockets for bollards, fog machines, security cameras, alarms, the works.  And it’s not cheap. And it’s not foolproof. Some are being hit more than once. Many Mum and Dad retailers or small business owners say their impression from the Police is that they don’t care, don’t have enough resources to deal with it, or can’t deal with it, because a lot of the time the offenders are too young to charge. It’s been reported that Police who do turn up and catch offenders usually drop them back home or send them off to youth court. And it’s only a matter of time before those offenders are back to their old tricks. So why have the Police Minister and Police Commissioner got the

A lot of anticipation for Prince Harry’s tell-all book out later this year.It’s now being alleged he may go for Prince Charles and Camilla in the memoir.One royal author says Harry can’t stand Camilla and takes issue with her becoming queen.It’s also alleged that he’ll touch on his rift with his brother Prince William.Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams joined Kate Hawkesby.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Charles Leclerc has completed a dominant weekend in his Ferrari after converting his pole position into a comprehensive triumph in the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.The 24-year-old Leclerc extended his lead in the drivers' championship while claiming his second win of the season following victory in the season-opening race in Bahrain.Leclerc was able to hold off Red Bull rival Max Verstappen during the opening laps and defended well mid-race under safety car conditions to pull away for a decisive 20.524-second victory.Sergio Perez overcame a slow start to take second ahead of the Mercedes' combination of George Russell, who secured his first podium finish for the season, and Lewis Hamilton.McLaren pair Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo finished fifth and sixth.Verstappen, the world champion, endured another frustrating race when a mechanical failure ended his hopes while he was running second 39 laps into the 58-lap race.Verstappen, who was clearly disappointed after the race, never really challenged Lecler

So as we slide towards the Easter break this week there will be many in tourism and hospo keeping their fingers and toes crossed that this week sees the long-awaited move to the Orange Traffic Light.Remember at the last announcement of a possible announcement we were told we’d get another update this week? Thursday the Pulpit of Truth will be returned to, for more conjecture on the state of our Covid situation. Which to be frank surely can’t be pumped up to be anything more than what it currently is – a declining trend – even the experts are saying we’ve passed the peak. We are seeing record low case numbers at the moment.So given that, surely nothing but good news is coming our way? I’m not going to be as naively optimistic as I was last time; I made the classic mistake of overestimating the government and underestimating their abundance of caution routine. I thought they’d have a bit more heart, I thought they’d read the room, but no, I got that horribly wrong.So the obvious thing to do this week of course

Ukraine's President says his country is bracing for a "hard battle" to come in eastern Ukraine.Volodymyr Zelenskyy says while everyone would like to see a diplomatic end to the war, Ukrainians are ready to stand their ground.Officials are urging civilians to flee eastern regions, particularly the south-eastern Donbas region.Europe correspondent Gavin Grey told Kate Hawkesby there's now a race to get weapons to the region to fend off an incoming convoy of Russian soldiers.“Certainly, aerial footage shows a massive amount of troops gathering, making their way to that south-eastern region.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A former senior Labour MP says the party's treatment of Louisa Wall looks bad for Labour.The outgoing MP told TVNZ's Q+A programme that Jacinda Ardern said she would never be a cabinet minister under her leadership.She says she often felt unwelcome in the party.Peter Dunne left Labour to set up United Future and told Kate Hawkesby what Wall's saying doesn't reflect the party's stated values.“The Labour Party says it’s inclusive. The Labour Party says it tolerates the diversity of viewpoints being expressed. None of these things tends to apply in Louisa Wall’s case.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.