Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

There are pleas for more investment in the country's water infrastructure.  Otago University research shows 21% of piped water is being lost – in comparison, the Netherlands loses 5% and Germany 6%.  They're also wasting around $122 million each year.  Water New Zealand chief executive Gillian Blythe told Francesca Rudkin different technologies like thermal imagery or acoustic devices need to be utilised.  She says there are leaks throughout the system, not just the ones that show in your house or on the street.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast for Tuesday the 21st of January. Donald Trump has been sworn in as President for his second term. Election expert Sean Trende joins us from the U.S. Water New Zealand's Chief Executive reacts to a new report which has found our water infrastructure is leaking at a very high rate compared to other countries. Auckland Council is considering big changes to dog walking. What does it mean for you and professional dog walkers?  Get the Early Edition with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump has been inaugurated President for the second time. It's the first time since 1893 a president has been sworn in for a second non-consecutive term, the last being Grover Cleveland. Trump has promised to to issue multiple executive orders on day one, with immigration and border protection a big focus. Real Clear Politics Senior Election Analyst Sean Trende says things have changed since his first term. "He won the most votes this time around, unlike 2016. And so I think there's just a general sense of legitimacy about this presidency that there wasn't in 2016." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, it’s a big day in the United States today - and in Panama, Greenland, Canada, Mexico, and the many countries who are going to feel the weight of President Trump’s return.   Today is a day of ceremony, tradition and balls; but most importantly a day of action as Trump begins to fire off the first of the many executive orders promised on the campaign trail.   What I find most interesting about this Presidential transition is how transactional it has been. The New York Times reports there are at least a dozen billionaires among Trump’s cabinet picks or in line for senior roles in his administration. Another publication worked out that the combined net worth of the wealthiest members of his administration could surpass $460 billion.   Many are his richest donors, such as Elon Musk, who we all know spent a large sum getting Trump elected. Some of the roles these billionaires are taking on will see them become responsible for sectors they’ve been involved with.   Off the back of this, Pres

Following last minute strikes over Gaza and a three-hour long delay, an Israel-Hamas ceasefire has begun.  Israel is expecting to receive 33 hostages from Hamas over the coming weeks. The first three hostages have been returned to Israel, after spending around 15 months in captivity. Hamas says for every hostage released, 30 Palestinian prisoners will be released from Israeli jails. UK and Europe Correspondent Gail Downey joins the show to discuss the details.  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nicola Willis will pick up a new role with a new name in the Economic Growth Portfolio - formerly the Economic Development Portfolio occupied by Melissa Lee. Willis told Francesca Rudkin she is planning to identify the barriers for small businesses, industry leaders and entrepreneurs.  The change is among a variety of shakeups to cabinet - Doctor Shane Reti has lost the health portfolio, Simeon Brown has become the new minister for health and handed over his portfolio to Chris Bishop.  Finance Minister Nicola Willis joins the show.  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Black Foil's finished fourth in front of a home crowd in the Sail GP over the weekend.  Beat out by our rivals across the Tasman, Australia's Tom Slingsby said recovering after a technical scare was what helped them win the maiden final.  Sports reporter Elliott Smith joins early edition, giving a run down of the weekends sailing, the powerhouses taking on the Australian Open and Auckland FC is back in action.  LISTEN ABOVE.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The stage is set for President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration.  In less than 24 hours he will be sworn in as the 47th United States President, however dangerously cold temperatures are threatening the ceremony's outdoor venue.  The former President isn't missing a beat with promises to conduct 100 executive orders on day one of his second term.  Marco Rubio's former chief of staff Matt Terrill joins Early Edition to discuss what can be expected this time around.  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast for Monday the 20th of January. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has reshuffled his cabinet with health and the economy the renewed focus. Minister for Economic Growth Nicola Willis talks to Francesca about her expanded role. Matt Terrill joins the show live from the United States a day before Donald Trump's inauguration as president for the second time. It was a busy weekend of sport with Australia winning Sail GP in Auckland. Elliott Smith has your weekend sport wrap. Get the Early Edition with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has made a series of changes to his cabinet for the new year. Melissa Lee has been demoted from his ministerial team, taking her economic development and ethnic communities portfolios off her. Lee’s economic development portfolio had morphed into economic growth, which has been given to Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “[Willis'] focus will be on leading the Government’s growth agenda to unleash the potential of our businesses to grow, develop talent and attract investment,” Luxon said. Nicola Willis says signs of economic recovery are already starting to show. "Our plan is about more than simply getting through the recent economic downturn."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Like many of us over the summer, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon used his downtime to reflect on the year that had been, and like many of us put together his in and out list for 2025. This is the way young people do New Year’s Resolutions these days. But what’s in and out took on a new rather crude spin yesterday afternoon when he announced a reshuffle of Ministerial roles for National MPs.  Melissa Lee lost all her portfolios. Matt Doocey is handing over ACC, Tourism and Hospitality, and Youth to various other MP’s to focus on his Mental Health and Associate Health roles. And Dr Shane Reti passes on the Health portfolio to Simeon Brown, instead picking up a new Universities roles, plus Science, Innovation and Technology.   The emphasis on health and economic growth is not a surprise, and while the Prime Minister continues to express confidence in Reti, and spoke of his achievements last year, it’s clear he’s decided his Minister’s skills are better used elsewhere.   However, the health goals

According to the group who are upset about the monopoly-duopoly that's happening in our grocery sector, you could save, at most per person, about $74 per year. That's if they were to have perfect competition in the sector, which obviously would be very hard to achieve.    Do you know what else costs you $80 a year?  A friend and I were chatting at the gym the other day and he showed me his rates bill, which he had kindly brought to the gym to encourage him to run faster.  There's an $80 targeted rate for the food compost bin. He said, what's that for? And I was like, it's the green bin that's on the street that no one uses. Then he was running faster than I've ever seen him run on the treadmill.  So apparently 60 to 65% of us don't use them. I know they have them in other parts of the country, in Auckland we've only got them just recently, so we're all getting a bit used to them. But $80 a year is what you have to pay.  And I got quite angry because if you're on a fixed income, $

I've got an amazing wonder drug to tell you about New Zealand, and it saved me in the last couple of weeks.  People are talking about it from top of the country to the bottom and it's not Ozempic.  No, I'm not taking Ozempic, though, I wouldn't mind trying it. I think a lot of people are curious.  David Seymour made this drug a priority. Yes, I'm talking about pseudoephedrine.  I felt sick, I took it, the symptoms disappeared.  I had a wedding recently and people said they wouldn't have come without it.  What must it be doing for our productivity as well?  Fewer sick days.  I spoke to a friend of mine who's a mum, she's got young kids, and you send your kid to daycare, they get all the bugs under the sun, they bring the germs home. The kids are gross and they pass it on to mum and dad.  Mum and dad go down like flies, they take time off work, et cetera, et cetera. And then bam, pop the miracle drug. Pseudo mums and pseudo dads.  So they are absolutely over the

Guilty verdicts have been reached in France's mass rape trial.   Dominique Pelicot's been jailed for 20 years after drugging and raping his wife Gisele and inviting dozens of strangers to do the same for over nearly a decade.   He was also found guilty of taking indecent images of his daughter and his two daughters-in-law.   Of the other 50 men on trial, 46 were found guilty of rape, two of attempted rape, and two of sexual assault.  Europe Correspondent Vincent McAviney told Andrew Dickens that there’s been some disappointment around the sentences for the other men, as they received sentences of between 5 and 8 years.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's teaming up with the private sector to get on top of text scams.  When people report scam texts as junk on some phones, text messages will soon go directly to the Department of Internal Affairs.  It can then share the info with telcos so they can be blocked.  Rush Digital founder and chief executive Danu Abeysuriya told Andrew Dickens we have to work together to solve this problem.  He sees it as a good approach because if you get a few reports of spam, thousands of further texts can be blocked.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stabilising the economy is not as simple as investing more.  Stats NZ figures out yesterday show GDP fell 1% in the three months to September.  They also revised the preceding quarter down to 1.1% contraction, with both figures putting us in deep recession.  ANZ Economist Henry Russell told Andrew Dickens the Government should be investing more, if it weren't dealing with its own deficits.  He says there is going to be another shock on the horizon and the country needs to be prepared to respond to that.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast for Friday 20 December. Get the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The government has announced changes to free speech rules for universities, saying it's concerned that they are currently taking a risk based approach and need more diverse opinions. The new rules will set out expectations for universities on how to approach freedom of speech issues and each one will have to adopt a free speech statement. They will also be prohibited from taking positions on issues that don't relate to their core functions. Tertiary Education Union President Sandra Grey says there isn't a problem here that needs to be fixed. "It feels like we've got a heavy-handed approach from a government that apparently is anti-regulation but is now going to put in place the whole lot of requirements on a community that just doesn't need it." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is my last editorial for the year.  What a year it’s been, we started in January with Golriz shoplifting, we watched 10,000 jobs go from the public sector and the private sector follow suit as cash stopped bouncing around the economy. National blamed Labour for everything and Labour blamed National. We watched Scott Robertson fail to be the second coming but when the All Blacks were good they were very good. The Treaty Principles Bill debate came, saw and divided. The hikoi invaded parliament, but didn’t set up camp. The entire Newshub newsroom disappeared and others seem vulnerable so that’s less eyes on the game.   Construction crashed, power surged in price, mills closed and towns pondered what their citizens will do next. The snow fell late, a football team landed on the ground running, we found out state care was not caring. A war in Ukraine rolled on, a war in Gaza started, a country finally expelled it’s dictator, Iran bombed Israel and Israel bombed Iran and world war 3 seemed closer th

Many Americans could be in trouble this Christmas.  Amazon workers across a number of facilities in New York, Illinois, and Southern California are gearing up to strike later this week.  The strike would take place the week before and during Christmas and Hanukkah, the two biggest gift giving holidays in the US.  US Correspondent Toni Waterman told Andrew Dickens the workers are calling for better wages, benefits, and working conditions.   She says they’re currently at a bit of a stalemate, as Amazon is refusing to recognise the union representing the workers.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.