Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

I see the latest attempt by councils to control our lives and get us all out of our cars is to axe the school drop off. Actually it’s not fair to just lay the blame at the feet of councils; these powers are allegedly going to be given to them by the Minister of Transport Michael Wood. So it’s more anti-car government ideology creeping into our lives at every turn. You’ve probably already noticed the spate of extra speed humps, pedestrian crossings, increased sets of traffic lights and cycle ways squeezing our roads. But wait, there’s more. The Minster wants councils to ‘restrict traffic outside schools to encourage parents and children to walk and cycle’. As if that will work. The same way getting us all on buses and bikes haven’t worked. The government claims it will improve exercise safety. I say it will just add to more congestion. You tell me how many parents, in the middle of a wet winter, with kids battling all kinds of winter ills and chills, how many of them are going to suddenly pop all those kids on a bike – with all their bags, in teaming rain, to cycle to school? They can put in as many cycle ways as they like, do you see any more people on bikes? Me neither. Is the Government going to ensure the buses that get cancelled or don’t turn up or run woefully late are all suddenly front and centre and on time so all these children can get to school punctually? Didn’t think so either. It’s all theory no reality. The worst part of this plan is the government wants to give the council this power to ‘reshape our streets’ without consultation. Sorry? I thought we lived in a democracy? Turns out we don’t. Dictators will dictate how the streets look, how your child gets to school, and where your car can drive on the roads. So clearing cars from school gates – as theoretically climate friendly as that may be, and as pretty as the planter boxes they’ll put in the way so we can’t drive near the school may look, I still don’t see how you’re doing any more than just pushing the traffic further up the road. You can’t force people out of their cars. You can’t force kids onto bikes. You can’t make people struggling with a cost of living crisis, buy bikes for all their children or buy bus tickets for them all, if they’re used to taking 3 kids to school in one car on one trip at one price. It’s madness. Carving up streets, removing carparks, installing speed bumps and cycleways, has become an obsession with this Government. They want to unilaterally change the way families operate, mess with their logistics, run a reward system for people who can afford public transport, and people who can afford bikes. Not to mention all the scooters and skateboards this will make way for, which in my humble opinion will probably cause more accidents and harm to kids than cars at school gates do. All this so they can ‘help meet the country's climate change emission reduction targets’. Punishing parents in cars and school students, to fulfil government pipe dreams and ideology, is about as crazy as a cycle lane over the Harbour Bridge. But knowing this lot, that won’t stop them.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All eyes are on the Labour Party with bullying accusations against MPs. Hamilton West MP Gaurav Sharma has accused party whips and the Parliamentary Service of bullying. But Sharma himself has also been accused of bad behaviour by previous staff. A senior staffer has also made allegations against first term Tukituki MP Anna Lorck. Former Labour Party staffer Shane Te Pou told Kate Hawkesby from what he can see, whips handled Sharma appropriately. He says Sharma had a high turnover of staff, so the party put a staffing freeze in place and tried to provide support. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A grim milestone for Afghanistan; today marks one year since the Taliban's takeover. A year on, a new World Vision report paints a dire picture with the country's children facing starvation, forced child marriage and child labour. World Vision Afghanistan National Director Asuntha Charles told Kate Hawkesby the situation on the ground is changing day by day. She's concerned people no longer care. With crises increasing globally, she says people are forgetting about Afghanistan, but the crisis is not yet over. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I see the latest outburst of thuggery from our youth happened at a Palmerston North shopping mall. 30 teens ‘rampaged through it’, stealing, smashing things, throwing glass at staff, kicking them. Here’s the rub: they came back the next day bold as brass to skite about their performance and mock staff they'd abused. Understandably, businesses are fearful. As well as this group’s destructive spree through the place where they also threw chairs, they assaulted a young worker while other offenders cheered on. Police took 20 minutes to arrive apparently, despite the station being two minutes from the mall, and by then a bunch of the teens had escaped, they only managed to round up two girls. But this gang of thugs are relentless, they carry BB guns and knives according to mall businesses, and they don’t fear police. I tell you who is living in fear though, retailers. A contact recently told me a well-known jewellery chain in this country is struggling to get staff to work there anymore given the recent spate of attacks on jewellery shops. We have a youth crime wave that is now seriously out of control and shows no signs of abating. And it’s no longer just an Auckland problem. My Christchurch-based sister was asking me the other day how I can stand living in Auckland with so much violence around the city. Not just our CBD but through the suburbs too. She’d heard about the six ram raids in one night and the brutal street brawl between rival teen gangs, she said Auckland didn’t sound appealing at all. And that’s a worry too isn’t it? What all this does to our reputation if we’re not seen as a safe country anymore. And I just wonder if we’re all a bit punch drunk by so much of this that we’ve become a bit too immune to it all. For the people at the forefront of this though – can you imagine? Their livelihoods are being crushed here, as well as their spirits. And having a government say they’re going to get on top of it – then nothing happens must be as soul destroying as it is frustrating. The PM was interviewed recently about ram raiders and the lack of consequences for them and she 'rejected that'. Are we surprised she rejects anything anymore? It’s so predictable it’s laughable, but she said that the police and Government are taking youth crime seriously. She said they want to stop young people entering a life of crime, and that ‘a group of ministers’ were all looking at what’s contributing to young people choosing crime. But what about consequences? The PM couldn’t say what the consequences were, she just rejected that there were none. Police on the ground say kids are bored, that lockdowns didn’t help, and that young people feel they’ve got nothing to lose. Many of them are repeat offenders; they get some kind of notoriety out of it. I would’ve thought the most obvious place to go looking for the clues would be asking young people themselves. A group of teenagers recently said they do it because they get away with it. They do it because they can. They know the cops won’t chase them. So I would have thought that’s your answer. While departments and ministers and politicians are all hunting for the why’s and how’s of these kids offending, the kids are just getting out there doing it knowing they can. We should be demanding more of government ministers than just letting them say they’re looking into it. Or in the PM’s case, that she rejects the premise of the question.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Surprise about scathing bullying allegations from a back-bench Labour MP. Gaurav Sharma has hit out at bullying between MPs and from parties towards MPs.. He says it's facilitated and promoted by the Prime Minister's Office, the Parliamentary Service, party leaders' offices and party whips' offices. Newstalk ZB Deputy Political Editor Jason Walls told Kate Hawkesby it's rare to see an MP break ranks like this. He says for an MP to call out their party in such a public way is extraordinary. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There will be a lot of nervous rugby fans heading into this weekend. The All Blacks have their redemption test match against the Dpringboks on Sunday morning. But all week, there has been an enormous amount of scrutiny and criticism of the team. Most of it is directed at coach Ian Foster, with pundits warning this could his last match. Sports psychologist Gary Hermansson joined Kate Hawkesby to discuss the impact this criticism may have. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Changing university terms may not address the tourism worker shortage, but it could help fill other gaps. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash has suggested moving the university year by six weeks so more students can work in tourism and hospitality over summer. It follows the release of a new plan, aimed at boosting the sectors' workforce. Tourism Export Council Chief Executive Lynda Keene told Kate Hawkesby many tourism businesses need workers with particular qualifications, but she isn't opposed to the idea. She says for industries like horticulture, the idea could be very helpful. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although we’re crying out for teachers, I don’t think we’re doing ourselves any favours. Well, certainly not the Teachers Complaints Committee and the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal. Stuff had a story yesterday about a relief teacher at Mt Maunganui College, who objected to two ten year olds in his class sharing headphones listening to music from a cell phone, and drumming on the table, refusing to stop apparently. The teacher tried unsuccessfully to take the phone away, so removed an ear bud from one of the students instead. Cue the hanging offence. This, the committees from on high decreed, was an act of ‘serious misconduct’ and one that could “adversely affect the students wellbeing..” Now I don’t know if you’ve been in a school lately but there is some serious attitude going on inside many classrooms, and some pretty reprehensible behaviour, much of it stemming from a lack of any respect for authority. So I can understand this teacher’s frustration. These days you’re expected to be not just teacher but also social services manager, wellbeing overseer, and part time parent, yet god forbid you try to discipline your students. The grievous actions of this relief teacher in trying to get a couple of students to pay attention in his class, was labelled by the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal as.. “actions [that] could bring the teaching profession into disrepute.” Fighting this through an appeals process, which he lost, has cost this teacher $55,000 so far and he says it could yet cost him another $20,000. He’s been censured, his teaching registration’s now lapsed and he’s decided to just retire. He said the whole process has been ‘farcical.’ He was quoted saying his advice to other teachers would be to .. ‘not, under any circumstances, feel any responsibility for the welfare of your students, because it will cost you big time.’ And therein lies the rub for teachers. You’re expected to be compassionate, holistic; all round guardians for these students, yet at the same time don’t even think about disciplining them or trying to set a boundary. In this case all the teacher was after was a bit of attention in his class, I assume so that some learning could take place, but unfortunately, the students right to listen to music instead of doing maths, appears more important. That kind of logic is so topsy turvy I shudder to think how hard it must be for teachers, it’s no wonder youth crime is at an all-time high. If kids know they can get away with disrespectful behaviour then you’ve lost the battle before it even starts. They’re not listening. This teacher said he was doing his ‘best to control some of the most unruly behaviour’ he’d ‘witnessed in his 40 years as a teacher.’ He was reported saying he'd ‘never been abused like that in [his] life.’ Which speaks to the state of young people these days, but also to the current climate of pandering to the offenders not the victim. The fact a teacher is getting abused at all, is something we should be disgusted by, but we’re not, sadly we’re barely surprised. But the fact a Disciplinary Tribunal then decides a student’s wellbeing may be ‘adversely affected‘ by having an ear bud flicked out of his ear, shows how far down the road we’ve gone on promoting an inflated sense of entitlement among young people.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So, Sam Uffindell has now been stood down from caucus while the National party investigates some new allegations that have come to light from when Uffindell was a uni student. He's been accused of banging on the bedroom door of a female flatmate in 2003, screaming obscenities, she claims he was a bully. The former flatmate says she lived with Uffindell and three other students for several months in Dunedin in 2003, she says he was verbally aggressive. She says he excessively used alcohol and drugs, and that she didn't feel safe. She eventually moved out, her Dad corroborates her story. And there were other details reported like the flat had no furniture in it, handles had been broken off doors etc. That part of the story I'm afraid is probably to this day the state of many Otago Uni student flats, if not worse. And you could mount an argument that that's flatting culture in a student town like Otago - students sitting around drinking, smoking weed, yelling obscenities, trashing flats. Doesn't make it right, I'm not defending it, but having had and continuing to have many family members through the flatting scene in Dunedin, that part's not that shocking. It's a problem with Otago flatting culture and student party lifestyle and that's another story for another day. This incident and allegation is what counts and how this woman was made to feel. She says she was scared. She's clearly traumatised by it. Uffindell has responded to the allegations by saying he did engage in a 'student lifestyle' but that he rejects any accusation that he engaged in behaviour that was intimidatory or bullying. He says that simply did not happen. So it's his word against hers, hence a QC's now been hired to look into it independently, and in the interim, he steps aside. The first thing that comes to mind for me here is that I believe Uffindell when he says he's not now the person he was back then, he sounds back then like a thug and a bully and frankly an idiot. I wouldn't have wanted a bar of it either if I was his flatmate. But he does seem changed these days, and genuinely remorseful in the case of the Kings College incident, I mean he grew up obviously, and tried to make amends by way of an apology. He has also in the past 24 hours said in interviews that there's nothing else - he was asked directly if there was anything else in his background that could come to light now, any other incidents of bullying, and he said no. He denies these Otago Uni flat accusations, says it simply didn't happen. He says a number of flatmates fell out in the second year of uni and two of the flatmates left midway through the year. So he's either a lying bully with a history of aggressive behaviour, or he's telling the truth. The QC will decide. In the interim, and more importantly what are the optics of this, what will the public make of it, the people of Tauranga, and National supporters? It is a giant unwelcome distraction which does the party no favours. And it actually points to a bigger issue within National of how seriously they take candidate selection, how thoroughly they're vetting people, and how much brainpower they're applying to the process. No matter which way it goes for Sam Uffindell, that's the bigger problem for National.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Concerns from National about the prospect of driving fines being linked to a person's income. The Ministry of Transport is giving the Government advice on potential changes to the system of fines, which have been largely unchanged for the past two decades. Possible options include a move towards income-based fines, and greater use of demerit points. National Party Transport spokesperson Simeon Brown told Kate Hawkesby he'd be concerned if ministry officials are recommending income-based fines. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The relationship between gun owners and the Government is continuing to sour. A new law passed by Parliament overnight will mean anyone with a serious conviction may be banned from having a gun or being in places where guns are likely to be for ten years.Council of Licensed Firearms Owners Chairman Michael Dowling says he's concerned about how those places will be defined. He told Kate Hawkesby gun owners feel they're being ignored during each change to gun law. Dowling says they've lost trust and confidence in Police and the Government. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Small businesses are still finding it hard to fill vacancies. A snapshot from MYOB shows 59 percent of SMEs have increased their wages, but a third are still struggling to find workers. Questions are being asked as to who fills the gaps. Doug Jarvis owns two butchers stores in Tauranga, and is having to work seven days a week, just to keep things operating. Doug joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Qantas has asked corporate executives to work as baggage handlers after getting itself in a pickle during the pandemic. The airline asked senior executives and managers to join a new contingency programme working as handlers up to five days a week for three months, overseas media reported. The Australian newspaper said Qantas bosses had previously worked at airports in peak times, but the new programme showed how severe worker shortages now were. The newspaper said the airline's head of operations wanted at least 100 volunteers to work at Sydney and Melbourne airports. Jobs would reportedly include loading and unloading bags as well as driving vehicles to move luggage around airports. Late last month, Qantas domestic and international chief executive Andrew David admitted the airline was struggling in some areas. "Much has been said about Qantas in the last few months. Some of it's fair, as we're absolutely not delivering the service that our customers expect, but some of it fails to take into consideration what's happening across the industry here and around the world." He added: "Some have pointed to Qantas's decision to outsource ground handling as a key reason the restart has been hard. This is not true." David said Qantas finished its ground handling changes before Easter 2021 when domestic travel was back to almost 100 per cent. He added: "The pandemic was very tough on aviation. Economically, most airlines were on their knees. Early in the pandemic we were 11 weeks from bankruptcy and have since posted $6 billion in losses and over $24 billion in lost revenue." The labour market this year has been tight in Australia and New Zealand, with low unemployment in many sectors. A Qantas spokesman told The Australian: "We've been clear that our operational performance has not been meeting our customers' expectations or the standards that we expect of ourselves."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government says National is oversimplifying complex issues, with its new plan to tackle youth unemployment. National has unveiled a policy to get under 25s off the Jobseeker benefit and into employment.It includes incentives for people to take up jobs -- and sanctions such as money management or benefit reductions for those who don't take part. Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni told Kate Hawkesby the Government's policies are working, and National's policy won't. She says National is trying to demonise young people as if they don't want to work, when the vast majority do and just need some support. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Imagine being Ian Foster right now. Worse than being the most hated politician, is being an under fire AB’s coach surely. We seem to be more aggressively passionate about rugby in this country than anything else. Not even the way the country is run, apparently compares to how the AB’s perform, in our eyes. So why are we so harsh? Why are we so invested in how a sports team performs? Is it because for so long our identity as a nation was wrapped up in having a strong rugby team? Did we idolise them and put them on a platform so early on that they became too high on the pedestal. You know how the saying goes – the higher up you are, the further you have to fall. It’s who gets the bulk of the blame I’m interested in though. Everything seems to be falling squarely on the coach’s shoulders. NZRU management and culture took a bit of heat for a while there with a spotlight on how things are being run top down. Players always take a bit of heat if they’ve committed some egregious sin like not kicking or passing the ball properly. But the weight of the country’s anger and disappointment seems to be largely sheeted towards coach Ian Foster. Former coach Steven Hansen recently spoke out about the attacks on Foster, he described social media reactions to him as, "cruel, nasty, malicious, spiteful, vicious, straight out bullying..". And he wasn’t just referring to social media but mainstream media journalists too. The treatment has been savage, so what’s going on with us that there’s such a pile on when we lose rugby games? We tolerate a lot of stuff in this country, but not losing rugby obviously. Which makes the job of coach surely unappealing at this stage, at a time when there’re so many questions about how rugby’s being run. Questions over culture, questions over the structure and support offered by the NZRU. If I was Scott Robertson I’d be having a good long hard think about whether this is something you really want to take on right now. And for the players, it must be so tough for them to feel confident right now, or mentally robust, in the face of such heat. We surely don’t do ourselves any favours as a country when we turn on them and want them lynched. How is that supposed to make them able to perform any better when all of their fan base and supporters suddenly ditch them? I can’t work out if this is just New Zealand’s ugly tall poppy syndrome at play, or whether this level of vitriol is unique to rugby because we feel we have some kind of ownership of the game. Like we all know better or could do better? The armchair pundit is surely the worst kind; it’s pretty easy to sit at home and criticise when you’re not the one in the public eye, in the arena, slugging it out in real time. Yet our collective outrage seems to fuel a truck load of pressure right to the athletes and coach’s feet. Pressure that many of us may not be able to withstand, so why are we so quick to dish it out?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Your weekly grocery shop isn't likely to get cheaper any time soon. New analysis from Infometrics and Foodstuffs shows the prices supplies charge supermarkets has increased nearly eight-percent in the past year. The increases are being passed on to consumers. Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told Kate Hawkesby the increase follows minimal rises over previous years. He says throughout 2019 and 2020 supplier cost changes were minimal, but they've now been accelerating since April 2021, and it shows the pressure on suppliers. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The All Blacks play their first test in South Africa since 2018 this weekend. It means a wake up time of 3am Sunday morning, you could just roll over in bed and flick the radio on, there will be live commentary on ZB. The stakes are very high; Ian Foster is facing big pressure to make up for the series loss against Ireland. South Africa sports correspondent Sias du Plessis joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another wave of supply chain disruptions is predicted this coming summer, just as exports are due to peak. Massey University’s mid-year risk outlook highlights a bunch of factors converging. Ant Boyles chairs the New Zealand Council of Cargo Owners and joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Regulatory changes may be needed to bring more competition to the building supplies sector. A Commerce Commission draft report into the building product sector has found competition in the market isn't working as well as it should be. The watchdog has found it's too difficult to get innovative products to market, and established players are blocking land use by their competitors. Building Industry Federation Chief Executive Julian Leys told Tim Dower a national products register with information about each product could be one piece of the puzzle. He says access to information improves decision making, will make it easier for new products to enter the market, and will increase competition. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sighs of relief in some quarters after the Commerce Commission report on building supplies came out. ComCom says competition isn't working as well as it could in the sector and a lot of people in the industry said…er...tell us something we didn't know. ComCom also raised the issue of rebates; big volume buyers get a better discount, but is there anything too surprising about that? If you were a big buyer, you'd expect a better price too wouldn't you? There are some comments about restrictive land covenants and exclusive leases, these sound a lot like what we heard in the supermarket report. But overall, the message from this lengthy probe seems to be, you know what, there's nothing much to see here. So has the ComCom missed the glaringly obvious, or are there reasons we pay so much more for building stuff than the Aussies do? People often take pot shots at the bigger companies, with the supermarkets it seems justified as some of their conduct has been appalling. But is it the same in construction? If so, this report hasn't found it. And surely the very nature of a business is that it wants to grow, either by expanding into new markets, or exporting, or coming up with new products, or buying smaller competitors. Funnily enough, it was only last week that ComCom OK'd Fletcher buying up another half a dozen building products stores, and a frame and truss manufacturing plant. So it's obviously not concerned about a large company getting larger. Perhaps the real problems in construction have more to do with incompetent government departments and unwieldy regulations. We've seen it with the Gib crisis; it's not the fault of the few giants dominating that market. It's more about the regulators making it nearly impossible for new competitors to get a foothold. Regulators who, of course, have a monopoly on rule-making. Perhaps ComCom could achieve more if it looked at the competence, or lack of it, in some of those office towers in Wellington.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the price of food the way it is, lest we forget we are in a ‘cost of living crisis’, I have become hyper-alert at the supermarket these days in terms of what I’m paying. And it seems I’m not the only one. Headlines these days say shoppers are fed up and looking to go elsewhere than a supermarket. It used to be, back in the good old days, that the supermarket was the best deal for food. You’d be mad to buy cereal or butter at the local dairy because it was smaller scale so sold at a premium, you could guarantee back then it would always be the more expensive option. You’d also be less likely to get the freshest products in terms of use by dates. But these days I think that may have changed. Not on everything, but on some things. When a block of butter the other day turned out to be four dollars cheaper at The Warehouse than it was at Countdown, it was apparent the gap’s now enormous. But here’s the thing, who has got time to drive round all these places comparing prices? For all the people who say it’s up to the consumer to shop around, have you been a consumer lately? It’s exhausting. We don’t have hours and hours in the day to endlessly trawl supermarkets, dairies or The Warehouse looking for the cheapest price. Most shoppers going to get groceries have limited time, they’re sticking to their local hood for various reasons including the price of petrol, so they’re not driving all over the place to check butter prices. That’s what your local supermarket is banking on of course, it’s preying on our desire for convenience, but to get a step ahead of them is hard work on our part. So it behoves the supermarkets to do better by us doesn't it? Their success was artificially inflated by the Government during lockdowns when they decreed from on high that supermarkets could be the only places to open. And that was a travesty for the local fruit and vege shops, bakeries and butchers, but I’ve decided they’re the best places to shop. You can guarantee you get the freshest produce, way fresher than a supermarket, you get the personable interaction of others in your community, and you’re supporting small, locally-run businesses. The new moves by the Government to monitor supermarkets, off the back of that Commerce Commission report don’t come into effect until next year, so if you think supermarkets are already responding, you can think again. They’re still at it, and they know they’ve got us over a barrel when it comes to convenience. I wonder how many of us who planted vege gardens during lockdown still have them going? How many who took up baking their own bread are still doing that? I mean when push came to shove we sure did get creative with food provisioning, but back to normality means back to our old habits. And I don’t know that’s necessarily a good thing? Not if we’re getting fleeced at the checkout, surely? So I’m actively trying to spend less time in supermarkets these days, shop smaller and locally more often, and buy in season. It doesn’t mean I’ve gone as far as baking my own bread, but I’m not ruling it out.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some coastal communities are now facing the very real prospect of having to desert their homes due to climate change. The Government has released its first national strategy for adaptation. It includes plans for the likely retreat of entire communities or towns affected by sea level rise. GNS Science Environment and Climate Research Lead Richard Levy told Kate Hawkesby some people will simply have to pack up and move on. He says insurance companies are going to have to do what's called "insurance retreat", where some places may become uninsurable, forcing people to leave. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Council of Trade Unions says more needs to be done to protect low income workers. The latest wage figures show inflation has increased, but the union says pay isn't being matched. Meanwhile, despite forecasts, unemployment has slightly risen. Union economist Craig Renney joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nancy Pelosi's controversial trip to Taiwan could have ramifications for the whole world, for a long time to come. The US House Speaker has wrapped up her visit to Taipei, where she expressed solidarity with the Taiwanese government. China has condemned the trip, calling it a violation of China's sovereignty under the guise of democracy. SAIS China Global Research Centre director Andrew Mertha told Kate Hawkesby it could have flow-on effects for international relations around the world. He says the US and China are the only two world powers that can come together to solve certain bilateral and multilateral international issues. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Families who were split up by the borders being closed, may now be inflating a surge visa numbers. Immigration stats show a 73 percent increase in visitors on pre-Covid figures. Most are either students or tourists. But, Into NZ Immigration Advisor Katy Armstrong told Kate Hawkesby many will be family members who've recently been able to apply to come into the country. She says they had to wait till July 31, to apply for their spouses to come via the visitor visa category. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’m pleased midwives are asking for justification of the ongoing Covid vaccine mandate, surely we need to let it go by now. Surely it’s not even relevant anymore, in a world where we are learning to live with Covid, where we are gaining herd immunity anyway, and where the evolution of the virus is such that keeping up with never ending variants and relevant vaccines is going to become impossible to patrol. Let’s be honest, how many of us are going to keep up with all the new vaccines that may be available over time against all the new evolving variants? How many of us are boosted and going to get re boosted and re boosted and how do you keep tabs on that and enforce that without becoming an all-controlling, micro managing, nanny state? Surely we are at a point now with such desperation in our health workforce that we have to be more realistic? And when it comes down to it, would you rather have babies delivered safely and new mothers cared for? Or, stressed and alone because there just isn’t a midwife available? It’s been reported that the College of Midwives has been asking for a review of the mandates for a while. They apparently first wrote to Ministers back in May, asking for a ‘robust review’ into evidence supporting mandating midwives, "given the critical nature of the midwifery workforce shortages". Their logic is sound and hard to argue with. If they’re daily RAT testing, and they’ve got PPE, then what’s the problem? You weigh that up against the alternative; no midwives or a glaring lack of them, then it’s a no brainer surely. Frustratingly, the Government replied to this plea in June with a standard ‘thanks for your letter’ type response, and just reiterating that they regularly review Covid response settings. Do they though? Or is that just the ideology behind it? Oh we should keep looking at this, when was the last time they looked at the traffic light system? When did they think about a mask review? What’s their idea of ‘regular’ reviews really? But I think when you’ve got even a vaccinologist on board, surely you’re onto something? University of Auckland vaccinologist Helen Petousis-Harris even said "the conversation has definitely changed" and it was "very reasonable" to review evidence for having mandates. So we either value quality maternity care or we don’t, I guess is what it boils down to. And in a country struggling so desperately with no health workforce surely it behoves us to have all options on the table, including the option of an unvaxxed midwife. What would you rather have? An unvaxxed midwife, or no midwife at all? I think it’s naïve and backward thinking of the Government not to engage in this with midwives, but not just them, with many aspects of the health workforce. Surely it’s time we had another look at how relevant mandates really are now, and surely other sectors of the health workforce put pressure on here too. Because for a government that claims to be ‘regularly reviewing’ all this, it doesn’t really feel like it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There has been overseas news with the US killing the leader of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri. It comes ten years following the killing of the group's founder Osama bin Laden. Zawahiri helped coordinate the 9/11 attacks and was known as bin Laden’s right hand man. But now questions are being raised about whether the Taliban gave sanctuary to the al Qaeda leader. Jason Campbell is the former country director for Afghanistan in the office of Secretary of Defence for Policy and he joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I mentioned yesterday, with the return of cruise ships to our now fully open border, who’d be game enough to get on a cruise? The horror of those ships stuck like floating prisons when in the early days of Covid people got stuck on them unable to move. I thought that might put people off for life. But, apparently not. I was inundated with messages from people already back out cruising, not only that, they’re loving it. And so far so good, touch wood. It’s been drama free. I mean there was that cruise ship Coral Princess, last month in Brisbane, which got hit with a Covid outbreak. They had to offer up refunds to passengers after the ship was held in Sydney while the two thousand odd passengers had to choose whether to disembark, while positive cases had to isolate on board. Cruise aborted. And surely after two years of a pandemic and no cruising, that’s just the worst luck ever. I’m not sure any of those passengers would be back. But the people that are into it, love it, they’re devout about it. I thought it was largely for old people, but then my cousin whose in her 40’s has just done one, she loved it. My parents are hard core cruisers, the first thing they booked post-pandemic was a cruise. It didn’t bother them at all the thought of being tucked up at sea on a boat with thousands of other people, they weren’t remotely worried about Covid. This surprised me, because I can’t think of anything worse than a cruise ship being the place you end up getting it. So far so good though, touch wood again, they say temperatures are taken every morning, masks are worn on all forms of transport between destinations like tenders or buses, and no unvaxxed passengers are allowed on board. So far they’ve kept the cruise Covid-free. But on top of that, no one’s talking about Covid overseas anymore, which hopefully we're getting to the place of here, where it’s just not front of mind anymore. No one talks about Covid abroad because no one is thinking about Covid, in fact I was surprised they’re even bothering with masks, given most places overseas appeared to have ditched them. Which makes me wonder what cruise passengers here must be thinking this month, when they start disembarking and coming back into mask land. They’re quite possibly going to be bemused by it but find themselves having to comply with it when and if retailers or tourist operators remind them of our ‘Orange light’ rules. I wonder whether they find that cute and endearing, or just think we’re all nuts. Here’s the other thing about new international tourists off cruise ships arriving into our city wharf; is Auckland city ready? I’m just not sure a main street of for lease signs and homeless people is quite the welcome they’d be expecting? Boarded up shop fronts and graffiti? A lot of closed shops? I’m hoping their impending arrival has focused the mind of Queen Street retailers to rev it up a notch and throw out the welcome mat. I’m hoping enough tourists pour up that street to breathe new life into it, likewise into the hospo venues in the viaduct. They deserve it, they desperately need it. And I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed for big numbers that not only take the CBD off life support, but see it thriving again.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A nursing union says it would have liked to have been consulted in new Government efforts to plug gaps in the health system. The raft of efforts includes payments to entice former nurses back to work, and doubling the number of nurse practitioners being trained. Registration fees for incoming foreign nurses will also be covered, along with the induction period for overseas doctors. Nurses' Organisation President Anne Daniels told Kate Hawkesby they weren't party to the package. She says there's a few other things they would have liked to have added, but they can't do that unless they actually talk to the Minister. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EV owners in Wellington are getting frustrated. Despite a big push for us to ditch our petrol guzzlers for the electric life, we don't have enough chargers in the city. This is leading to some businesses hogging the chargers, with residents complaining of fleet vehicles parking at the chargers for hours at a time. Liz Yeaman is managing director of Retyna, a consultancy focusing on EVs joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Taxpayers' Union is crying foul on Kainga Ora's plans to hire more staff. A leaked briefing obtained by Newstalk ZB reveals the housing agency wants to take on nearly 500 more full-time staff, in the coming year. It's now gone back on that figure, saying the number will be 465, and that almost half are needed to fill existing vacancies. Taxpayers Union Executive Director Jordan Williams told Kate Hawkesby the payroll has been growing fast. He says it only had 1200 staff in 2017, but that jumped to 2200 last year, and it is now on track to reach 3000 by next year. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Kiwi HR company says wellbeing sessions at work or 4-day weeks are never going to be the work/life fix employees are currently demanding. Greaterthan has worked with Callaghan Innovation, Edmund Hillary Fellowship, AJ Hackett International, and other New Zealand organisations to address the changing attitudes of workers since the pandemic. Partner Lucia Die Gil says it’s the dog-eat-dog nature of getting ahead in the work place which is leading to high staff turn-over, burnout and poor productivity. Lucia Die Gil joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Newstalk ZB sports reader Andrew Alderson joined Kate Hawkesby for a wrap of Team NZ's Day 3 at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We seem to have a culture of excuses thriving in this country at the moment that is top down. When apologists are at the helm it’s I guess where we end up. I noticed over the weekend it’s now crept into our policing. We're now making excuses for repeat raiders of retail stores, the same way we made excuses for ram raiders. (Who, to refresh your memory, apparently only needed a bit of a talking to by their parents.) But reports of retail crime have nearly doubled in five years under Labour. That includes shoplifting, vandalism, ram raids, the whole gamut. Police and the retail sector confirm it’s ‘a violent trend.’ So why then are we making excuses for it? How does that go anywhere towards fixing it? National says this spike in violent retail crime is evidence of a government soft on crime. Hard to argue with? Well not if you’re the Labour party, or it seems even the Police. Police national retail investigation manager was reported saying, "[The increase] is not actually a bad thing.” The increase is not actually a bad thing? Well apparently the increase means it’s helping identify ‘hotspots’ so preventative measures can be focussed there. So the spike in violent crime is useful, because it’s helping Police work out where the issues are. And what this spate of crime has told them, is that the hotspots are ‘urban areas.’ No kidding. Are you serious? Did we need to wait to watch repeated and violent raids take place on retailer after retailer, before we could start figuring that out? Is that how we police now? Wait until a whole bunch of people get hit repeatedly, until we can start working out where resources may be needed? Retailers in CBDs and main streets have been crying out for months, telling you until they’re blue in the face where the problem areas are. But wait it gets worse. This article also quotes a ‘youth advocate’ who ‘rubbished the calls for more punitive actions, saying 'young people are being let down.’ He said what we need is.. “more of a focus on restorative justice.." he says, "they're dealing with trauma, they're hurt... we are failing them, we are not providing enough support.” So it’s us failing them. And the theory then is that if we just pitched in and helped them more, the crime would stop. I wish it were that simple, I really do. I wish we all had all the time in the world to help out our local crims, but the harsh reality is, we don’t. Most honest law-abiding New Zealanders are working to support their family, they’re paying mortgages and school fees, trying to put food on the table and petrol in the car. They’re juggling busy lives and schedules as they work to contribute to society. They could choose a life of crime I suppose, or some cheap thrills with a crowbar into the window of a jewellery shop, but most people don’t. A youth advocate and a Police retail investigation manager saying, ‘oh let’s just be more understanding,’ only goes to show they've never clearly had their front door broken down by thugs carrying axes. Fearing for their life and livelihoods, only to have to endure it all over again from a repeat offender who decides this is so easy I’ll give it another crack. The last thing stressed retailers need to hear is that Police are finding this crime surge helpful to identify hotspots, and that we should be more understanding of the offenders.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Overseas-based Kiwis are "confused" and "embarrassed" at being told they would receive the Government's cost-of-living payment tomorrow and critics say including those living out of New Zealand in the scheme is "disrespectful" to hard-working taxpayers. Kiwis as far afield as the Netherlands, Sydney, London and Dubai have expressed their concern to National's Nicola Willis, who said many of them felt guilty and that they did not deserve the money. One man working in Dubai had not been a New Zealand resident for nearly 22 years, yet received the same email as more than 2.1 million Kiwis: that his first payment would be in his account within the next two days. His mother contacted the Herald irate at what she said was "incredible wastage of our taxpayers' money". Numerous members of a Facebook group for French travellers in New Zealand also received the payment email despite no longer being in the country. One person had been away for 13 months while others' visas had been cancelled so they couldn't see how they were eligible. An Inland Revenue spokesperson acknowledged it was possible people no longer living in New Zealand could get the payment. "If someone has left the country and hasn't told Inland Revenue they're not living here currently we will have treated them as resident and they may receive the cost of living payment." They also said people who weren't in paid work in New Zealand during the 2021/22 tax year could receive the payment if they have income from bank interest. The spokesperson said that IRD is "using a variety of information" to determine eligibility, including addresses, bank accounts and tax residency status. "People must have had a 2022 tax assessment with eligible income such as salary and wages or bank interest," the spokesperson said. The cost of living payment was a surprise addition to the May Budget. Eligible New Zealanders will get roughly $27 a week for three months, adding up to $350. To be eligible for the payment, you had to earn no more than $70,000, not be receiving the Winter Energy Payment, be 18 years or older, a New Zealand tax resident and be present here and not be in prison. The first payment will be $116.67, followed by another payment of the same amount on September 1. The final payment of $116.67 will be on October 3, the first business day of that month. The projected cost of the rollout is $816 million. Willis, who is National's deputy leader and finance spokeswoman, said people outside New Zealand receiving the funds showed "how cavalier" the Government had become with taxpayer cash. "The Government should be treating every taxpayer dollar as carefully as the taxpayers spending it right now, we are in very tough times, wages are not keeping up with prices, Kiwis are doing it tough and they have a right to expect that the Government will be careful with their money." Willis maintained that this was "disrespectful to taxpayers who work hard, who are suffering with the cost of living and are now learning that the Government is spraying their money around offshore". She had received many messages over the last few days from people saying they were "embarrassed" to receive the underserved money. Some were "very confused", saying that they were not only paying tax to another country, but also paying off student loans, so surely this would have alerted something within the IRD's system. "The Government was explicitly warned that ... by doing this policy on the fly, there would be all sorts of unintended consequences," Willis said. "They were warned that it would be difficult to target people effectively, warned that people who shouldn't be eligible for it would get it regardless and that is exactly what's happening." The payments are designed to help Kiwis battle the rising cost of living, with annual inflation hitting 7.3 per cent in the June quarter. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday didn't accept that the payments would themselves help stoke inflation and said they were expected to have minimal impact on any rise. "The advice that we got from Treasury is that because it was time limited and targeted would lessen the potential impact on inflation," she told TVNZ's Q+A. "The responsibility we have is to help New Zealanders get through it and that's where you'll see that we've been so squarely focused on where we can take that pressure off. "You'll see that we've tried to be agile to the circumstances we see and we'll continue to see what impacts these are having on New Zealanders and do what we can, we have a way to go with getting the food costs down which is another big project for us." Ardern said she'd be prepared to take an "honest" look into the drivers of inflation in New Zealand but reiterated that the country is in company with the rest of the world.She said the main cause of inflation was global drivers rather than government spendingSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prince Charles has landed himself in hot water over a series of dodgy financial dealings. The Sunday Times reports he's accepted nearly $2.5 million from the family of Osama bin Laden. The Prince of Wales's Charitable Fund took the cash from two of Osama Bin Laden's half-brothers in 2013 - two years after the al-Qaeda leader was killed. UK correspondent Gavin Grey told Kate Hawkesby it comes on the back of lots of accusations of bad judgement, and is not a good look for the heir to the throne. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games are about to get underway. The opening ceremony began at 7am New Zealand time. Newstalk ZB sports reporter Kate Wells is in Birmingham and joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A regional visitor levy is back on the cards to cover the costs of tourism on small communities as borders fully re-open on Sunday. The proposal was a common theme in new destination management plans written by regional tourism organisations following the Covid-19 lockdowns. Many say they need more financial support to manage the effects of tourism. Regional Tourism New Zealand chair David Perks joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This year is on track to be one of our deadliest on record. Latest figures show 320 people died on our roads last year, down more than 11 percent on the road toll in 2018. But the AA says this year's road toll is on track to reach 350 to 360. Road Safety Spokesperson Dylan Thomsen told Kate Hawkesby usually when fuel prices jump, road deaths decrease due to less people driving, but that isn't happening. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Te Papa is collecting relics of our very recent past. The national museum has been adding momentoes from the Covid-19 pandemic to its long-term collection. Among them are concrete barriers, tennis balls thrown at journalists during the anti-mandate outside Parliament, face masks, and PPE. Te Papa spokesperson Kate Camp told Kate Hawkesby she finds the posters from the early days of lockdown particularly interesting. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vehicle importers are shining a light on apparent faults within the the Government's Clean Car rebate scheme. The Imported Motor Vehicle Industry Association is pulling its support on the programme. It claims the programme isn't appropriate for its supply dynamic, and the Government won't work together on a suitable scheme. Chief Executive David Vinsen told Kate Hawkesby there's an unnecessary level of complexity and confusion. He says customers are incised into a yard with the expectation they'll get a rebate, only to find out they might have to pay a fee. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I note the average time to wait to get in to see your GP is three weeks. That’s the average. For many it’s longer than that. And for some rural areas in this country, you’d be hard pressed to see a GP at all, far less one close to you. You may have to drive for miles to get to even get to one. So we know it’s a problem, but how to fix it? President of the Royal NZ College of GP’s, Samantha Murton, wrote a piece for the Herald yesterday saying how it’s not an easy fix. “We can’t magic away the chronic GP shortage”, she said. She puts it down to the low number of trained GP’s. She says that “our Med student numbers are lower than in many other first-world countries”, and that “they have little opportunity to train outside of hospitals, and early career doctors are not encouraged to work in general practice.” And I know that to be true, we have a daughter at Med school currently and she would concur that not a lot of her peers are there to wind up in a GP’s office. Advocates for the work of GP’s will tell you it’s dynamic and ever changing, it can be a lovely interface with the community, Murton says it’s complex work and it’s never the same day twice. Although I find that hard to believe at the moment, where surely every second patient is a respiratory illness. I know that when I tried to see my GP recently it was nigh on impossible to get in, and when I eventually did, she told me I was one in a long line of patients she was seeing with all of the same symptoms and ailments. But that’s Covid and the flu for you isn’t it. The crux of Murton’s piece is that we need to give “serious consideration to supporting other health professionals working in general practice” and I just wonder if the current Government's cognisant of that. Because it feels like they’re more focused on delivering bureaucratic overhauls, increasing bureaucracy and paperwork and not throwing much at the frontline where it’s needed. But if Murton is right about no magic fix other than long term good investment in encouraging more people down the GP career path, then we need to surely start by offering more training to more students. Limited spaces at only two Med schools in this country, is not enough. And if we can’t train enough here then we just have to let more into the country and enable them to be able to work here, without having them end up driving taxis, because they don’t meet strict NZ requirements. Or because we force them to re-sit a bunch of tests they’ve already sat and passed and yet we throw them back to square one. We don’t have time for that luxury and to be that pedantic. What’s galling is that having been through a pandemic and two years of closed borders, and with the health workforce crying out for help from every corner for so long, we still haven’t had the foresight to improve things. In fact it’s only gotten worse. It’s a problem of successive governments in terms of neglect, but Murton’s point is that if we don’t start proactively doing something about it right now, we are not going to be any better off in another ten years, in fact, it may even be worse.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An employment law expert says the Kamahl Santamaria saga should send a clear warning about the dangers of hiring friends. TVNZ Head of News Paul Yurisich has resigned, after a review found he did no reference checks before hiring the former Breakfast presenter. The pair had previously worked together at Al Jazeera. Employment law expert Max Whitehead told Kate Hawkesby TVNZ has suffered huge reputation damage. He says this is one of the most foolish things he's seen someone do. Phil O'Sullivan will remain TVNZ's Acting Head of News and Current Affairs until a permanent replacement is chosen for the role. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Reserve Bank is being urged to show more urgency in its efforts to curb inflation. Governor Adrian Orr has acknowledged interest rate decisions he has made during the Covid pandemic, have contributed to inflation reaching the level it has. National is now calling for an independent review of the central bank's monetary policy response. Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told Kate Hawkesby central banks, both here and overseas, should have acted sooner once they knew the impact the pandemic was going to have. “When the facts change, when the economy started to shift, when we saw inflation starting to come forward, we had to react. In fact, we took far too long to move from one foot to the other.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The heat is steadily seeping out of the country's property market.A new quarterly overview from Core Logic shows the slowdown of sales activity at the start of the year has flowed through to a decline in property values. Property values have tumbled for three months in a row to an average of just over $1 million, down 2.3 percent from the peak. But Core Logic chief property economist Kelvin Davidson says it's important homeowners wanting to sell up don't lose perspective. He says moving house in a slowdown can sometimes pay off - because the next property may have lost more value, providing an opportunity. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’m just wondering how many of you who’ve been overseas these past couple of weeks, maybe for school holidays or just a winter escape, whether you’ve come back refreshed and feeling better. Was it the elixir you needed? Did it revitalize your soul? Has it washed away the pall of gloom over most of us at the moment? I ask because I’ve heard mixed reports. Some say it was everything they needed and just the serotonin boost they’d been missing. Others say it was almost too much, because coming back to cold and wintry old NZ has been a bit of a down buzz and anticlimactic. Others say it’s still a bit of a cluster travelling internationally at the moment, because although they’re not doing masks and they’re over the Covid obsession, there’s still a lack of resources, staff, the airports are chaotic, it’s a gamble whether or not your bags turn up and there are too many queues. The experience is not quite back to its heyday. So as someone who’s yet to leave the border, I’m curious. Because I feel like what we all need right now is some hope. Some optimism, some light relief. We need to exhale. The angst and uncertainty and stress of the past two years is weighing heavily on everyone, being shut up and shut in feels claustrophobic, so does getting out help? Because, my hope is that that’s not the only elixir. We shouldn’t need to leave our own country to lift the malaise, and yet I’m not sure how else we do it. Do we just have to head offshore for a reset and an attitude adjustment? Be around happy people for a while and see what that feels like? My son who’s bailed off overseas says it’s a seismic shift in mood to be around happy people who’re not bogged down with fear and anxiety. He says it’s intoxicating and puts into perspective just how much of a funk NZ is in. And as parents we do try to encourage our kids to chase their dreams don’t we and find enjoyment in life and always look for silver linings. But what do we do when increasingly their answer is – well I need to leave New Zealand in order to do that. Kids are smart, they’re not blind. They see the rise in crime, the senseless violence, the looseness of a society unplugged. They see how many kids are not turning up to school anymore. Less than half by the way, if you missed those truancy stats, less than half of students are showing up regularly for school these days. It’s an appalling stat. But kids are also cognisant of how much change there is going on around them. They see the social engineering, they feel the creep of change into their curriculums, and they see where it’s going. They know mediocrity’s getting rewarded over and above achievement. They see diversity being played around like a political football. In fact success is less likely to be rewarded these days, the intensity of division and tribalism seems to have Tall Poppy syndrome at a peak. So what do we do to turn this ship around? Because my concern is that we’ve gone so far down this doom and gloom rabbit hole, we’ve lost sight of how to get out.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's depressing the amount of crime we’re seeing these days isn't it? Racist attacks, brazen ram raids, people getting shot or stabbed or beaten up, it’s actually disgusting and not representative of who we are, collectively, as New Zealanders. And there's still a lack of action on this low-rent crowd of trouble makers. I see retailers are now so stressed about lack of action on burglaries and repeat raids that they’re suffering ‘very high levels of anxiety’, according to one Business Association. And I think it’s a twofold problem. On the one hand, raids and burglaries are still occurring all too often, but also, it’s more and more becoming the victims’ problem. The targets of these raids and burglaries are the ones suffering. They’re the ones having to bolster security, spend excess amounts of money, retrain or counsel staff, and spend sleepless nights worrying about security. How is that fair? How is it possible that hard working, decent retailers are left anxious, out of pocket and scared, while thieves brazenly run amok? How are the thieves allowed to carry on with their despicable raids, while retailers lie awake at night filled with anxiety? There’s something very wrong with this picture, but also very familiar. It has parallels with the motorists and commuters who were trying to make their way along main highways in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch this past weekend, only to find Waka Kotahi had shut the roads so protestors could march along them. It's the gang funeral convoys all over again. That’s the other problem with this stuff; it’s all too familiar these days. So the retailers are being punished the same way commuters were. When did we get so scared in this country to take action against law breakers? When did we start pandering to the lowest common denominator? When did we start making the gripes of the minority a problem for the majority? When did police decide to just stop reacting and acting? And I don’t mean frontline police, who as we know are stretched, exhausted and over it, hamstrung by bureaucracy and ideology. I mean at the top. At what point does the Government, Police Minister and Police Commissioner snap out of the ideology of just hoping criminals and law breakers find a better way and instead look like they might actually want to do something tangible about it? Because I’m not seeing it. The retailers aren’t seeing it. All we’re seeing is the denigration of a country into a free for all for causes, protests and crime. The word “brazen” is bandied around a lot because they are brazen. They’ve been emboldened by a lack of any consequences. They know they have the upper hand. They know no one will stop them, far less charge them. And even if they do get charged, what will happen? And so the cycle repeats. There's got to be a line drawn in the sand at some point. If at least for the anxious retailers, losing sleep and money, stressed about this. It just doesn't seem fair.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Less than half of students are regularly attending school. The latest truancy data shows regular attendance in term one dropped to just 46 percent. It's down on 72.8 percent in 2019 - pre Covid - and 50.5 percent in 2020. Post Primary Teachers' Association President Melanie Webber told Kate Hawkesby the numbers don't surprise her. She says irregular attendance is having more than two days off school a month. Webber says while that adds up and isn't ideal, there is huge variation in the data. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fears for the impact foot and mouth disease could have on the economy, should it reach New Zealand. Biosecurity has been keeping an eye on Indonesia's outbreak for several weeks. And in the past week, non-infectious traces of the disease have been found on meat imported to Australia. Federated Farmers National President Andrew Hoggard told Kate Hawkesby the disease would be catastrophic for this country. He says if it emerges here, meat exports would be stopped immediately until we got on top of it. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Generation Z has a new obsession. Subtitles have become popular thanks to TV shows like Stranger Things. Screenshots of the show's creative captions have been flying around the internet, with things like "squelching wetly" both delighting and horrifying viewers. Tom Augustine is a film and TV writer and joined Kate Hawkesby to discuss this latest trend. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.