Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

Young people are being encouraged to take baby steps when socialising again.The Graeme Dingle Foundation has found 14 to 24 year-olds doing its programmes are disengaging from their peers, education and society.Victoria University clinical psychologist Dougal Sutherland told Kate Hawkesby many people are used to interacting over Zoom, so jumping in at the deep end socially, can make them want to stay home more.He suggests reconnecting with one or two people you know well, before going out into big groups.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government is trying to get more older workers to stay in the workforce and not retire.They say they have an employment action plan to try and achieve this.It comes as one third of our workforce are considered older workers.CEO of Age Concern Karen Billings-Jensen joined Kate Hawkesby.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hopes the Government will take some responsibility and acknowledge the issues within MIQ.A High Court decision found the lottery system to get a spot was unfair, and the criteria for emergency vouchers, too narrow.Journalist Charlotte Bellis made headlines when she initially couldn't get home from Afghanistan while pregnant.She told Kate Hawkesby to hear the Government say it will do better, and not be defensive, would go a long way for a lot of people.Bellis says no one expects people to be perfect, but the Government should appreciate there are always things to learn from emergency situations.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I know many of you will have gone away for Easter holidays or school holidays, or perhaps be planning to go away soon given we are now finally free and able to travel. But I’m shocked at how expensive it is – and how under staffed many areas still are.My sister took her kids to the Gold Coast – paid way too much money in my opinion for flights to Brisbane – more than 8 grand for 4 people, and she then paid way too much for some 4 star accommodation which when she got there, told her they weren’t servicing rooms because they had no staff to do that. So you pay a fortune to travel and support struggling sectors, but the reality is they’re still struggling themselves, and therefore many of the services you might expect at that level or at that expense, are gone. So is that satisfactory if you’re parting with your hard earned money right now?As the price of everything is rocketing up, should we expect lower prices and poorer service? And if so, for how long?My sister said all the restaurants they went to were way up on pre Covid prices. Entrees 30 dollars and mains at 50 bucks.And this is just for your standard bistro type bar restaurant. So it’s big, big dollars to travel right now.I know of someone else who travelled and got to Auckland Airport only to find most of the shops, I think bar about two, were closed. Why? Can the airport not get their shops staffed either? My brother had a similar experience flying to the States, Air NZ air crew telling him they’ve come back to worse conditions and they’re still woefully under staffed, some said it was shambolic. He certainly experienced that at check in which took just shy of two hours standing in a queue waiting, only to be told there was only going to be one check in line for everyone that night. I know of someone else who bought two glasses of wine and two sausage rolls at the Auckland airport bar and was charged 74 dollars for the pleasure. 25 dollars per glass of wine, 12 dollars per sausage roll.Surely that’s taking the mickey?So here’s the alternative. Instead of burning up your hard earned cash on expensive but unsatisfactory overseas experiences, how about staying local? My girlfriend based in Sydney came over to Queenstown for Easter, she could not speak highly enough of her experience there. She said everyone was just so grateful to have visitors; they just couldn’t do enough for them. They’d call to book a jet boat ride or to go quad biking and the response was invariably, “We can take you now? Would you like to go now?”She said business owners were stepping in and doing long hours if they couldn’t find staff and just making it happen. In fact they had such a good time they’ve booked to go back again. She said the service was brilliant. I was so relieved to hear that, because a place so low on staff like Queenstown could easily have left a bad taste for guests, but tourist operators there are pushing through. They’re going above and beyond, they’re pulling out all the stops, and I reckon that’s the sort of attitude that deserves our support.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The National Party thinks Labour just wants to tax people more.Revenue Minister David Parker is introducing a new bill focussing on principles of fairness in our tax system.He says the data on tax paid by New Zealand's wealthiest is close to useless, with a lot on low or middle incomes and very little on the wealthy.National Party finance spokesperson and deputy leader, Nicola Willis, told Kate Hawkesby if IRD has concerns about someone not paying enough tax, it can audit them.She says Parker's looking for tools to dream up new ways to tax people.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Questions around why a creature from the deep has washed up in Otago.The 3.6 metre oarfish was found on Aramoana Beach on Monday afternoon.The species was last spotted around Dunedin in 2015.Otago University marine biologist Bridie Allan told Kate Hawkesby the fish caught the attention of everyone on the beach.She considers herself lucky to have seen it in the flesh.The oarfish died after failed attempts to put it back to sea, and its body washed away.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter has been met with cheers - and jeers.The billionaire added the social media giant to his empire in a deal worth $66 billion.While some have welcomed the move, others are worried that misinformation and hate speech will be allowed to thrive.Former White House Senior Cybersecurity Director Samir Jain says some people have already started leaving the site.He told Kate Hawkesby we will have to wait for the dust to settle to see his impact on the site.Jain says while there may be a knee jerk reaction to the purchase, we don't know what he'll do with the site.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I see gangs are now ruffling the feathers of Wellingtonians. It was only a matter of time.Ask anyone in Auckland, the Waikato, the Bay of Plenty, Hawkes Bay, Northland.. gangs are a scourge at the moment so no surprises they’ve started to upset those in the capital. One Wellington Councillor was reported calling it “unacceptable” and “scary.” Well yes it is. And it’s something we’ve been banging on about for a while now.Wellington’s incident involved a shooting in the inner city. Not just one, but two shooting incidents, two people wound up in hospital critically injured, and Police arrested seven people.They’ve said there may be even more arrests.So this Wellington City councillor has asked a great question - why is there gang warfare in central Wellington? Well I can answer that for her; because there’s gang warfare everywhere in this country these days.Her solution? She wants to get the gangs round the table in some Jada Pinkett-Smith style chat fest.And while I’m all for trying to hear people out, I really think we’re at the stage where we need more dooey, less hooey, actually.We just need some consequences, some boundaries, some enforcement of rules, some semblance of expectation around acceptable social norms and behaviour.Because it feels like we’ve lost a lot of that. It feels like we’ve lost the plot a bit on gangs and ram raiders and trouble makers in general. And for all the people offering to chat with gangs and hear them out, and have them as part of the solution, has it ever worked? Are we in any better shape? Plenty would argue gang crime and culture is currently the worst it’s ever been. It doesn’t help to downplay the seriousness of what they’re up to either. And there’s been plenty of that over the years.. oh they’re harmless, oh they’re about community, oh they’re just one big family, they’re doing a lot of good stuff it’s not all bad stuff.Well, actions speak louder than words. It was disappointing to hear Wellington’s Mayor Andy Foster try to take that line of dismissing the seriousness of it. He put on his best optimistic voice and called them ‘isolated incidents’. To be honest, that’s irrelevant. It's still two shooting incidents in one city in one weekend. I think it’s disingenuous to put your head in the sand on it. Foster did accept, however, that more needs to be done. But alongside the hopeful Councillor, he also thought sitting around a table talking to gangs would be useful. I just don’t believe there’s much merit to that at all. I think we’re way past pleasantries and polite chat with these thugs. Let’s see it for what it is, and call it what it is.Intimidation and thuggery, on our main streets, in our CBDs, on our motorways, in front of our children, and at an increasing and I’d say alarming, rate. If you think a pow-wow with these guys around a council table with some instant coffee and some round wine biscuits is going to solve anything, then I think you’re dreaming.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was just last week that urgent calls were made for an inquiry into the safety of port workers.Another port worker has been killed, this time at Lyttelton.The man was believed to be crushed by coal, and is our second port death in less than a week.Merchant Service Guild vice president Iain MacLeod joined Kate Hawkesby.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you want to get close to the Melbourne Storm, everything has to go right.At AAMI Park on Monday night, just about everything went wrong for the Warriors – after a promising first half – as they fell to a record defeat in the Anzac clash, eventually losing 70-10.They conceded a staggering thirteen tries, in what ended up as the biggest loss and worst humiliation in the club's history.The Warriors had only trailed 16-10 at halftime, but three tries in six minutes early in the second half ended their resistance.The Storm disappeared out of sight after that, as the Warriors could barely completed a set in the second half.The visitors were left to rue costly errors in the first half, which gifted two tries to the Melbourne team when the contest was still in the balance.To compound their nightmare, the Warriors also lost Josh Curran and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to serious injuries.It was the Storm's 12th successive win over the Auckland team, a run that dates back to 2015.The manner of the defeat will be a hammer blow for Nathan Brown's team, after they competed well in the first period before completely falling away in the second.The Storm are a brutally efficient machine and once they clicked into gear, there was no respite for the Warriors.There was a late switch before kick-off, with Jazz Tevaga moving to lock, Josh Curran to the right edge and Bayley Sironen supplanting Eliesa Katoa on the bench.After a wonderful, poignant Anzac ceremony, the Warriors made a solid start, before an oh-so-typical Melbourne Storm try out of nothing, with Jahrome Hughes finishing a 90 metre counter attack after an unfortunate Ed Kosi spill, with the visitors hot on attack.That was tough to take, but the Warriors rebounded quickly and a superb flat ball from Chanel Harris-Tavita sent Dallin Watene-Zelezniak across in the corner.The Warriors then enjoyed their best period of the first half – with some flat passes and dynamic offloads – but an impetuous Reece Walsh kick released some pressure, then another Kosi fumble gifted Xavier Coates a try.The same unfortunate pattern continued, with Nick Meaney intercepting a risky Shaun Johnson no-look pass, to extend Melbourne's lead.But the Warriors didn't buckle and a superb Johnson chip – and devilish bounce – put Wayde Egan in beside the posts on the half hour mark.That lifted the Auckland team, though they needed some impressive scrambling defence, with Harris-Tavita then Euan Aitken coming up with vital stops on a flying Ryan Papenhuyzen.Papenhuyzen penalties either side of halftime extended the Storm's lead, before Curran limped off with a knee injury.Things got much worse quickly, as Watene-Zelezniak was stretchered off after an awful collision with Nelson Asofa-Solomona, as he unsuccessfully tried to defuse the prop's bomb, which was instead collected by Papenhuyzen.That double blow felt like the end of the road and that was confirmed by Nick Meaney's try three minutes later, after Walsh had – for the second successive game – sent the kick off long.Harry Grant powered over, before Coates grabbed three more tries, as things started to get embarrassing, with the Warriors shellshocked and their edges all at sea, before Hughes, then Bromwich, then Justin Olam completed the rout.Warriors 10 (Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Wayde Egan tries; Reece Walsh goal)Storm 70 (Jahrome Hughes 2, Xavier Coates 4, Nick Meaney 2, Ryan Papenhuyzen 2, Harry Grant, Jesse Bromwich, Justin Olam tries; Ryan Papenhuyzen 7 goals, Nick Meaney 2 goals)Halftime: 16-10- Michael Burgess, NZ HeraldSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emmanuel Macron is promising to reunite France.He's made history by becoming the first president in 20 years to win a second term.Paris correspondent for the Guardian, Angelique Chrisafis says far right opponent Marine Le Pen took more than 13 million votes, but around the same number refused to vote.She told Kate Hawkesby Macron's promising a new way of working.Chrisafis says one of his priorities is the cost of living crisis in France, which Le Pen capitalised on.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I want to pay tribute to our beloved colleague Bruce Russell .. who died Sunday night – at work.. ironically, I can’t think of a time he wasn’t at work. I don’t think anyone worked longer hours than Bruce. He seemed omnipresent here. From news reading, to overnights, to his show ’In My Day’.. he was part of the fabric of this place. But he was very beloved not just because he was part of the furniture here, but because he had such a loyal and dedicated following of listeners, many of you whom I'm sure are still reeling from the news this morning. His listeners were fierce in their loyalty to him; they truly felt part of his community and his conversations. And he was loyal back to them. And I know many of them – there’s a crossover between his show and mine in that I come on right after him, so there’ll be those who were tuned into Bruce who'll still be tuned in at 5am when I come on, and I know how devoted to Bruce they are. My condolences to not just his family this morning, but all those who'll really feel his loss here. And that’s in large part his huge following who tuned in to chat to him, feed back to him, ask his opinions or advice.Bruce was a stickler for history and information, and in that he was a true old school broadcaster, he knew his stuff. He had institutional knowledge. He was also very sceptical about newcomers here. You had to prove yourself to Bruce. When I first started here many moons ago as a newsreader on the then Paul Holmes Breakfast, he was very sceptical of me, another TV person coming to radio, he wasn't sure. Years later, when I started this show, as a host coming on right after him, we were in studios side by side so as he left his studio, I’d be walking into mine and we’d have a brief chat, but he was still quite sceptical of me. And then one day – Meghan Markle blew onto the scene – and I was – it felt like at the time, the only person saying I don’t trust her, something’s not right .. and that was it. That was the moment Bruce decided - I think - that he liked me. I got such serious heat for saying what I thought about Markle, but Bruce agreed with me. He saw what I saw. I’ll never forget the day he bowled into my studio just before my show started and said – “Meghan Markle... you’re onto it!”I told him I was getting serious backlash for saying I didn’t trust her.. and he said, “don’t pay any attention to it – stick to your guns.” So I felt I had his seal of approval at that point, and from then on he would chat to me about the royals on a regular basis, he would sometimes come out into the newsroom in his breaks and show me texts he’d printed off about subjects he thought I’d like or laugh at, he always asked my thoughts on any unfolding Harry and Meghan drama.He was very supportive of our show and very kind to us. It can be a very lonely place pre-dawn in a newsroom, so the small team who work these crazy hours have a natural affinity for each other, we’re all in the same boat – limited sleep, wacky work hours. So I will miss our morning chats as we passed the baton between our shows. He will be extremely hard to replace, and he'll be sorely missed by his loyal listeners. So my condolences to all those feeling his loss.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Queen has marked another milestone in what has been a tumultuous year for the royal family.After 70 years on the throne, the Queen is quietly celebrating her 96th birthday with a private gathering at her country retreat, Sandringham, in Norfolk.Royal Correspondent Phil Dampier joined Roman Travers.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Companies are being warned they could go out of business, if they don't lift prices.Annual inflation's hit 6.9 percent - a 30-year high.Auckland Business Chamber CEO, Michael Barnett, says businesses are paying more for shipping, fuel, and transport and have higher staff costs.He told Roman Travers consumers will have less money in their pockets, so businesses need to ensure their products have the necessary margin for them to survive.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Kiwi oil company is hoping to meet the demand for sunflower oil in New Zealand, which would usually be meeting by imports from Ukraine.Pure Oil currently grow 300 to 400 hectares of sunflowers a year, but would like to expand that up to 1000 hectares while supplies are short.Pure Oil Managing Director Nick Murney joined Roman Travers.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s hard to believe that we’re nearly at another ANZAC Day commemoration. I can still remember when annual events like this seemed to take forever to get to.When I was 21 I spent a month travelling through Turkey and went over to Gallipoli for the day. It was a day I’ll never forget. What I saw, I never want to see again. I have never seen so many headstones for so many people in one place.It’s also hard to believe that large parts of Europe are once again dealing with a maniacal, megalomaniac with strong narcissistic traits seemingly undeterred by some of the strongest sanctions ever imposed.How can it be possible that all these years after the First World War and then the second, that we are once again faced with an event that in this day and age should be foreseen and resolved behind the scenes with high-level diplomacy.Like me, you are probably eternally grateful to have a life with such incredible freedom. I will always remember those who have so much so that we’re able to have what we have now.There wouldn’t be many generations surviving today that know what it’s like to sacrifice so much of your life for so many. Many of those that were lucky enough to come back, went on to live lives of physical and mental suffering with little significant recompense.The terminology may have changed from shellshock to post-traumatic stress disorder, but the level of suffering was visceral and unforgiving. Both for the ANZACs and families they returned to.I hope you manage to find some time to find serenity and silence and remember those who gave so much for us. We will always remember them.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So while the property market might be cooling in some parts of the country, this might make your eyes water this morning.A new record has been set in Tauranga, where a penthouse apartment at Mount Manganui has sold for $10.2m.To put in context, the rateable value was only about $6 million. Questions are being raised as to how a such a big purchase is justified.Bayleys luxury home and apartment specialist in Tauranga Peter Clarke joined Roman Travers.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christopher Luxon has been dubbed out of touch following his comments on axing a public holiday.The National party leader made calls to scrap Labour Day to make way for Matariki yesterday.But he has since back-pedalled, saying he was being facetious, and doesn't care what day gets cancelled to make way for it.Council of Trade Unions Policy Director Craig Renney told Roman Travers no public holiday should be cancelled - especially Labour Day.He says Labour Day commemorates the struggle for an eight-hour working day, won in New Zealand back in 1840.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This morning's inflation rate will be historically high - but economists are divided on how high inflation will be, and how long it will last.Stats NZ will release its latest Consumer Price Index data just before 11am.ASB Economist Mark Smith told Roman Travers the big uncertainty is whether the high inflation continues into next year.“The longer these prices stay up, the more the cost of high inflation becomes embedded in the economy and the more work the Reserve Bank will have to do to try and raise interest rates.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I often wonder how different things would be for myself if I didn’t listen to the news, the news makers and those with editorial licence. Do you sometimes find yourself buying into impending doom and global catastrophe only to find that things don’t change for you personally?The past few years has been like living through an incredibly drawn out and poorly directed Netflix series that’s sucked you in for every episode of every season.There have been times when I’ve been very down about the pandemic, the uncertainty, the way it’s been managed, job security and then there’s inflation and CPI. We are completely at the will of The Reserve Bank and our commercial trading banks… and like you, there is virtually nothing I can do to change what they decide.What I hate to see is the level of genuine anguish our children are now experiencing. At a time in their lives when the future should be exciting and one awesome adventure; they are now faced with a whopping nations debt that will have a huge impact upon how New Zealand will look when they get to my age.ASB economists are tipping that New Zealand mortgage rates will peak higher and earlier than previously thought as the Reserve Bank of New Zealand hikes the Official Cash Rate to counter rising inflation.The ASB forecasts that The Reserve Bank will whack on 50 basis-points to the OCR next month taking it to 2.0%, followed by a sequence of hikes getting to a 3.25% OCR peak in early 2023.If ASB’s 3.25% OCR forecasts come to fruition and are passed onto New Zealand mortgage holders, then the average floating mortgage rate would rise to 7.33%.Perhaps there is little this or any government can do to curb this grotesque barrier to progress, but like many of our unforeseen hurdles in life; I genuinely hope that this one isn’t insurmountable - for us and those that come after.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our Veterans Affairs Minister is preparing to fly to Turkey, after two years of missed Anzac commemorations at Gallipoli.Meka Whaitiri will visit Commonwealth and Turkish memorial sites and tour battlefields on the peninsula.She is scheduled to meet the Governor of Canakkale and attend a castle opening - before hosting a New Zealand trade and enterprise event in Istanbul.Whaitiri says it's wonderful to be going back, as New Zealand is reconnects with the world.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been revealed top health officials agreed last November MIQ was no longer justified.A memo from the Director of Public Health to Dr Ashley Bloomfield, said the risk posed by international arrivals transmitting Covid-19, was no longer higher than the risk of domestic transmission.MIQ was kept open for another three and a half months.Travel technology consultant Mike Moore told Roman Travers he's not surprised.He says it's an extension of what he calls the deception that's maintained the ongoing climate of fear and control for a terribly long time.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Do you still have concerns about the high numbers of CCTV cameras throughout the country that, in some communities, film your every move once you're on the road or just wandering about town?When New Zealand began installing security cameras en masse, there was an initial outcry from some sectors of society more than others, of 'this is an invasion of privacy' but perhaps the reasoning offered by civil libertarians was justified. We now have more than 10,000 CCTV cameras looking at you and me in our public outdoor spaces; along with a plethora of other cameras owned by local or central government agencies.In Auckland alone, Auckland Transport and Auckland Council own 5685 cameras. Over the top, perhaps? Overkill, without question when the level of crime in Auckland appears to be rapidly on the rise.You might think that spending millions of hard-earned dollars in central government tax and our council rates was justified through a demonstrable reduction in crime, right? I don't think you'd find many opposed to the ongoing expansion of CCTV in our lives if that was a proven outcome. But sadly, it isn't.A senior lecturer at Victoria University specialising in crime says there is very little evidence that CCTV deters crime. The only place they look to be effective is in car parks.Those of us that remain rational would never think to commit a crime, but those that do are often fuelled by alcohol and other drugs or acting under the direction of one of the seriously unstable gangs who often operate with impunity. Come the election, I'll be eyeing up a political party that promises to vastly increase our police numbers and provide us with a greater police presence. Keep the cameras - but only if they can be proven to assist the police to do the job we expect of them.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister re-starts in-person trade negotiations today.Jacinda Ardern sits down with Singapore's Prime Minister this afternoon.It's her first meeting with a foreign leader overseas since the pandemic began.A delegation of trade and business leaders are with her, including Zespri.The company's External Relations Director Michael Fox told Roman Travers the Asian market is incredibly important.He says Japan is their second largest market and one of the fastest growing - and Singapore is also important with a number of global team members there, including their CEO.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 lanes crossing main roads and pedestrian ways and wonder who won earth designed them.I also often wonder why we spend millions of dollars building cycleways but very rarely if ever free them of the debris that causes many riders to avoid using them.It’s one thing to renew all of the delightful green paint and signage but unless cycleways are cleaned then all you can expect is more cyclists to avoid them.That old adage of ‘build it and they will come’ is certainly true apropos New Zealand cycleways and we are seeing cycling going off like a dog in a butchers shop, especially in Christchurch where cycling has always been big and Wellington has a plethora of pathways in the planning.But nothing will make the general motoring public fizz at the bung more than seeing cyclists navigating through the texting traffic and not using these incredibly expensive designated cycleways.Continuous punctures trying to do the right thing leaves me feeling incredibly deflated. Why spend millions on cycle lanes and not maintain them?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 would be the mask rules.. and yet that was the very thing he seemingly knew nothing about. Not only that, he took a wild guess and got it wrong. So wrong that he had to apologise for giving the wrong information. No.. at the pulpit of truth? A mistruth? How is this possible? He admitted to not having ‘refreshed himself’ with the guidance around mask use before he came to do the press conference. He apologized, admitted he should have been better prepared, but said that “there’s been a lot going on.” Not really an excuse when you’re a senior Minister in Cabinet and your one job as Covid Minister is to actually know and be able to explain the rules you’ve invented around where and when to wear a mask. Which by the way is so confusing in Orange I won’t even try to explain, but you can look it up. Suffice to say it’s probably safest to keep a mask on you at all times just to be ready for the different circumstances they’re required. He wasn’t the only senior minister caught short yesterday though. Megan Woods, Associate Finance Minister, didn’t even know what the official cash rate was until she googled it. Winston Peters said there was something dramatically wrong with that, he said “if you don’t know these things, then what exactly are you bringing to the Cabinet when you come to make decisions?” I’m not sure how, in a week when the biggest story out of Australia was Albanese’s gaffe at not knowing the cash rate, how you don’t think to school up on that here? How you think you won’t get asked? Surely you must assume it’s likely and you should know it. And how do they not know this stuff anyway? The details of their own portfolios should be apparent to them at all times surely? An Associate Finance Minister should know the cash rate, a Covid Minister should know the mask rules. Apologists will tell you they’re busy and tired, aren’t we all? But sadly ‘having a lot on’ is not really an excuse that washes when you’re in government. Being in government by its very definition is to have a lot on. It’s a privilege. But look, they got us to an orange light at long last, so for that today, I give them top marks.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 flights to Australia, but she said they’re just so desperate to travel, she figures it’ll be worth it. I hope so. But what we want to know here is how many Aussies will come in, how long will they stay, and crucially, how much will they spend while they’re here? Most CBD’s in this country are desperate for the return of tourists. Christchurch’s Central City Business Association chair Annabel Turley said recently [in one report] that tourists will be crucial for central businesses. She was reported as saying that "three years ago Australian visitors spent more than a million dollars in the city over just four days of Easter," and they’d gladly welcome that sort of spending back. Further south, ski field operators seem to think it won’t be until winter that we see more Aussies arrive. Skiing being the obvious drawcard. And if you go as far as the glaciers, they say they’re waiting for summer to get busy. I think most of the arrivals over the next few weeks will be family and friends reconnecting. We’ve got a family member coming home to visit after a long time locked away, and that’s very exciting, but family visitors are not really tourists are they. I mean they may go out and spend a few bucks on dinners out or a few drinks, but they’re not dropping tourist size bundles of cash, and they’re not partaking in touristy activities. But for those who do arrive to see the sights and frequent the tourist hotspots, are those hotspots ready for them? I know in Queenstown the struggle for staff is real. My brother was down there the other day and said sadly so many shops were either shut due to lack of staff, or open for reduced hours only. He was concerned tourists arriving would not get the usual good service and treatment they were used to. And that the knock-on effect could be that it puts them off. Word of mouth is a powerful thing, and the last thing you want is for visitors to be told that although we say we’re open for business, we’re not really. So I have my fingers and toes crossed that it goes gangbusters.. that we really do look and feel open for business, and that we welcome the Australians in with open arms.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 their heads in the sand on this one? Why is lawlessness and this scourge of ram raids being allowed to continue without any kind of consequence or punishment? Business owners say that because it’s so rife, offenders are emboldened that it’s easy to get away with, so there’s more and more of it. There seem to be very few attempts to stop it. The Dairy and Business Owners Association say they’ve lost faith in the police and justice system. They say there are just no consequences for ram raid theft. In Auckland, Heart of the City boss and Mayoral Candidate Viv Beck has been jumping up and down about this for ages. She’s been asking for the reinstatement of the CBD Police station – can you believe they got rid of it? She’s been asking for help and support for an already struggling CBD hit hard by Covid, she wrote an open letter to the Police Minister, calling for action and a meeting.. nothing. There seems a vacuum of leadership here, and we are paying the price for it. And it’s not even the stolen goods which are the biggest headache. It’s the damage, repair job and wait time afterwards to get shops fixed back up that takes forever and costs a fortune. Time spent closed, staff freaked out, urgent measures have to be put in place to prevent it happening again. One Dairy owner in Ponsonby said he can't get bollards up because local residents objected saying they'd ruin 'the look' of the area. Council takes months to sign off on bollards anyway, so many of these places are hamstrung as to how they can solve their own problems. It’s added stress they just don’t need. So, I can understand why these business owners are feeling abandoned here. Under this government’s watch, we’ve had gang violence increase, Police response times lengthen, the Police budget shrink, Police stations closed down, gun crime seemingly on the up, and now, a disturbing trend of repeat ram raids. I’m just wondering at what point the Government wants to, A) acknowledge we have a crime problem, and B) actually do something about it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Leclerc, whose Ferrari was the quicker car under race conditions in Melbourne.The drivers' championship leader, who pitted on Lap 22, confirmed that when posting the fastest lap of 1 minute, 20.260 seconds with a final-lap flourish.He is the first Ferrari driver since Fernando Alonso in Singapore in 2010 to complete a racing "grand slam," having claimed the pole position, led wire-to-wire, claimed the race and also posted the fastest time."Honestly, what a car today. Of course, I did a good job all weekend, but it was not possible without the car," he said.His teammate Carlos Sainz, who finished on the podium in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, had less luck in a testing weekend.After an issue in qualifying resulted in him starting from ninth, he dropped back further in the field with a slow start and then lost control on the second lap, ending his race.But Leclerc believes Ferrari has demonstrated it is going to be competitive in the manufacturers' championship this year."Obviously we are only in the third race, so it is difficult to think about the championship," he said. "But, to be honest, we have a very strong car, a very reliable car too, and for now we have always been there. I hope it continues like this and if it does, we probably have chances for the championship."The Mercedes team has endured problems so far this year and is off the pace of their Ferrari and Red Bull rivals.But Russell was pleased with the improvement in his car this weekend, though he conceded they received some luck with Verstappen's misfortune."We got a little bit lucky today … but we will take it. To be standing on the podium is special," Russell said."We are never going to give up. We are going to keep on fighting. We have to keep this up while we are on the back foot, I'm sure we will get there after a few more races."Verstappen said the Red Bull was "already miles behind" Ferrari."I don't even want to think about the championship at the moment," he said. "I think it is more important just to finish races, because today was, in general, just a bad day again. It is pretty frustrating and unacceptable."I knew there was a problem and it was always going to be a question mark for finishing the race, but these kind of things, if you want to fight for the title, cannot happen."-APSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 is go to a now very long overdue orange light, but I’m not going to predict they do that.I think what they will do, is sadly, make another announcement of an announcement. I know, it’s laughable that they could keep this up, but I think they will. They’ll signal an orange light – but not yet, they’ll make us wait for it and they’ll buy themselves another media moment at their beloved Pulpit. Which by the way no one’s watching anymore, to be frank, most of us have moved on and couldn’t care less what the Government says at these conferences, most of us are doing our own thing these days anyway. The city feels almost back to normal, streets are busy, people are out and about, traffic’s back in full force, shops are full, normality is creeping back in despite the never-ending fear-mongering. But if they move us, it won’t be instant I don’t think.And worst-case scenario – and we can’t rule this out – is that they will continue to keep us in Red – which would surely be political suicide at that point. Auckland Business groups have banded together and asked the government to fast track the decision and the announcement. They want it today, instead of having to wait for Thursday and you can’t blame them. There’s no reason to drag it out. Likewise, tourist operators must surely be desperate to know. We do after all have the welcome mat out to Australians this week and there’ll be many hoping for a flood of those, as opposed to a trickle. But will the Aussies, like many businesses, also be waiting to see if we go into an Orange Light? How many Australians are stumping up the big bucks it costs at the moment to fly across the Tasman, just to come here and hang out in a Red Light?So the Government’s under pressure to move us, and surely the lowering case numbers and hospitalisations make a compelling case. But we are heading into school holidays, Easter holidays, and with the Aussies coming in, lots of movement around the place. So you can’t rule out the old abundance of caution may be back in action, and if that’s the case, we sadly won’t be seeing anything but red this week again too.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday announced plans to build more nuclear power plants, boost renewable energy production and further tap domestic oil and gas reserves to help the U.K. reduce its dependence on Russian energy following the invasion of Ukraine.Critics quickly panned Johnson’s energy security strategy for focusing almost entirely on boosting supplies while doing little to increase energy efficiency and cut demand. As a result, they said, the plan offers no relief to consumers pummeled by soaring utility bills and risks undermining Britain’s commitment to cut carbon emissions in response to global warming.“This takes the U.K. backwards not forwards,” said Professor Matthew Paterson, an expert in the politics of climate change at the University of Manchester. “It is a knee-jerk response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine that goes back to old, tired solutions focused on expanding energy supply, and does so in ways that contradict the U.K.’s climate strategy.”Johnson announced the strategy three weeks after he said Western countries had made a “terrible mistake” in failing to wean themselves off Russian energy following President Vladimir Putin’s annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea eight years ago. That emboldened Putin to invade Ukraine in February and left Europe vulnerable to “blackmail” amid Russian threats to cut off energy supplies, he said at the time.Oil and natural gas prices have soared in recent months, first as demand for energy increased following the COVID-19 pandemic and more recently amid concern that the war could curtail supplies from Russia. High energy prices are fueling a cost-of-living crisis in Britain, where household gas and electricity prices jumped 54% this month.The government on Thursday responded to these issues with what it called a strategy to boost “long-term energy independence, security and prosperity.”“This is about tackling the mistakes of the past and making sure that we are set well for the future,” Johnson said at Hinkley Point C, a nuclear power plant under construction in southwest England. “And we are never again subject to the vagaries of the global oil and gas prices, and we can’t be subject to blackmail, as it were, from people such as Vladimir Putin.”That includes plans to build eight new nuclear reactors by 2050, tripling U.K. production of nuclear energy to 24 gigawatts, or a quarter of projected electricity demand. A key challenge in meeting this goal is the development of as yet unproven technology for small modular reactors that are less than a third the size of existing reactors, the government said.Paul Dorfman, an associate fellow at the University of Sussex Science Policy Research Unit, was particularly critical of the focus on nuclear power, which is expensive and slow to develop. He described it as a “boys and their toys” response that the government is portraying as a magic solution to the problem.“The reality is these things will turn out to be white elephants and very, very costly white elephants,” Dorfman told The Associated Press. “There really is no logic to it, especially given the low-hanging fruit to start off with is energy efficiency, demand-side management and energy conservation.’’In addition, the strategy targets a 10-fold increase in production of electricity from offshore wind farms and an unspecified boost from onshore wind farms in a “limited number of supportive communities.”Community opposition has curtailed onshore wind projects, which currently account for less than 8% of U.K. electricity generation capacity.The government also announced a new round of licensing for oil and gas projects in the North Sea, saying these fuels would be key to U.K. energy security and as a transition to low-carbon renewable energy. The government also argued that domestically produced oil and gas would have a lower carbon footprint than overseas energy that has to be...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Questions over whether the current Police Minister is up to the job.New figures show police response times have risen in almost every part of the country over the past five years and tripled in some regions.Minister Poto Williams responded by saying it's an operational matter and Covid-19 was playing a big part. Former minister National's Paula Bennett told Kate Hawkesby Williams needs to be doing more to address the wait times, increasing gang numbers and violent crime.“There’s a whole lot of laws and leadership that she could be showing that we’re not seeing. Instead, she hides through her Commissioner from scrutiny and denies that there’s even a problem.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Consumers are hoping to weed out the rotten eggs in the chocolate industry this Easter.The annual Chocolate Scorecard study surveyed 38 confectionary companies across the world.They found more and more are trying to improve ethically sourcing ingredients and their environmental impact.Be Slavery Free co-director Fuzz Kitto told Kate Hawkesby there's pressure on the companies to act.“Consumers are more and more aware and are wanting ethically sourced cocoa and chocolates.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’m not averse to banning fizzy drinks in schools. I know many schools have already done it, some schools even have a water-only policy for drink bottles, and that all happened without too much pushback. There was, a few years ago, a big push to clear out tuck shops of all junk food too. Remember in the bad old days when we could get donuts, pies, Chelsea buns with icing, hot chips? Those days were brought to a grinding halt off the back of the good food movement and around the same time Jamie Oliver was busy trying to clean up school lunches in the UK. The sanitising of tuck shop food got more push back than the drinks did, but kids seem to have adapted and like all things, over time it becomes all they know.Younger generations will never know their school tuck shop used to serve sugar-laden carbs dripping in icing, or deep-fried treats. So I’m not sure what the holdup is with fizzy drinks. I know there’s the ‘don’t demonise food’ brigade, and the “don't tell us what to do” brigade, (I'm in that brigade actually to be honest) but on this, I'd have to agree that young children are not particularly good at choosing the healthy option. We know from taking them to the supermarket that if given half a chance, they’ll fill the trolley with junk food before they pick up a broccoli. So it makes sense, in this case, to just take the choice away from them. Yes, you could argue it’s pointless if the Dairy next to school is still selling Fanta, they’re just going to buy that on the way home anyway, but if you’ve removed at least one other avenue for them to buy it, consume it, or think about it, then you may well be able to contribute to healthier habits being formed. And that’s surely all it is.If every time you open the fridge the only option is Coke, then that’s all you know, you may not even know it’s a bad thing. But if it’s taken out of schools – for a reason, and that is – it’s bad for you and it will rot your teeth, then you’re going to think twice about it, you’ll at the very least be more educated about your choices. So the proposal’s out for public consultation and if it passes it’ll mean primary schools will have to ban the fizz, and all sugary drinks, leaving only water and milk as options. And for primary school-aged kids I’m not sure what’s wrong with that? It’ll be harder on teachers of course, once something gets demonized kids are really quick to call you out on it.A cheeky Coke Zero in the staffroom is not going to get past an eagle-eyed 9 year old ready to tell on you. I remember when plastic wrap got demonized by schools and we all had to invest in recyclable containers or paper bags for school lunches. God help you if you sent your child to school with anything wrapped in Glad wrap. And it turned out the children were the biggest policers of all. Once they were told it was bad, we never heard the end of it. The minute one of our kids saw Glad wrap on the bench at home, we’d get a lecture on how we were killing the planet. So I do sympathize with those who’ll be on the receiving end of another round of virtuous youngsters telling us how bad we are.And that'll be the most unbearable part of it, to be honest, being lectured by sanctimonious seven-year-olds.But at least they won’t be getting rotten teeth.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rules requiring local body candidates to put residential addresses on campaign advertisements are being described as outdated.Stories of harassment towards public figures, particularly women, are rising.They come as we head towards local body elections in October.Waitaki Deputy Mayor Melanie Tavendale, who's not standing for re-election, told Kate Hawkesby it feels like an invasion of privacy.“I had a very young family when I first stood and you didn’t like the idea of people that could be quite grumpy if they’re turning up on your front doorstep in front of your family. It’s not ideal.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This time yesterday I was talking about the disconnect between Wellington and Auckland and how much of an echo chamber it is; how out of touch they are. I referenced the way Ashley Bloomfield had dismissively written off the red light as no big deal. He seemed dismissive and over it, and just a few hours later we learned why. He’s going. And who can blame him? I get it. Who wouldn't be over it by now? For a while now we’ve been saying how tired he looked, how sick of the politics he looked, and maybe he’s figured out he just doesn’t need all that stress anymore. That explains why he may’ve been so dismissive. What a relentless couple of years working that closely and that intensely with the Labour party for that long, that would surely take its toll on anyone. He was quick to rule out any future in politics when asked and that’s completely understandable. If you think about his role, as a public servant, he was never supposed to get that politicised anyway, but the past two years of such a close working relationship with the government did turn him into a political animal. When he was stationed next to Chris Hipkins or the PM day in day out for press conferences, which were always loaded with politics let’s be honest, then he just couldn’t help but get sucked down that rabbit hole. And a very revealing comment from Hipkins I thought, when he said that Ashley had a terrible poker face. Was he meaning that he doesn’t lie as smoothly as other politicians? Why did they need him to have a poker face? That was an odd thing to say. The reality of the role was that Bloomfield held enormous power over our lives, and we very early on lost the ability to scrutinise him because he was deified by the media into some kind of Women's Weekly pinup. On top of that, the public decided he was a celebrity, instead of an incredibly powerful public servant requiring accountability. Turning him into tea towels and t-shirts did us no favours, nor him. For us, it became sacrilege to ask questions like where's the PPE you promised? Where are the flu vaccines? Where are the Covid vaccines? Where are the RAT tests? Why are we still in lockdown? The push back on questioning or critiquing Ashley was insane. And for him, that intense worshipping in the public eye, alongside looking like an extra member of the Labour party, muddied the waters of what his role actually was. Add to that the PM's constant interrupting and answering for him at press conferences, and it was very difficult for Bloomfield to look like anything other than another Labour party puppet. But it's not just him heading for the exit, top Ministry figures are following; Caroline McElnay and her Deputy are also off. So, what does that tell you about the future of the health reforms in this country? The Health Ministry these guys signed up for, will be a very different beast by this time next year given the sweeping reforms coming, and I don't doubt for one second that they haven't seen that as a cluster waiting to happen and they're bailing. Who needs all that bureaucracy and even more stress to deal with, when you’ve already had two years of a pandemic to handle?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.