Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

The Reserve Bank confirmed they'll hold the OCR in place at 5.5 percent. This falls in line with predictions that the OCR update would follow on from February's release. Milford Asset Management Sam Trethewey says some of the market was hoping for a reprieve- and they were left disappointed. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Reserve Bank held the OCR steady at 5.5 percent, but warned people about the risk that came with increased rates. Governor Adrian Orr says rates will need to stay high for a sustained period- and warned this could lead to more unemployment and financial stress 'than expected'. NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny says the RBNZ's 'engineered recession' came with risks- and we're seeing the results. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Broadcasting Minister says media is a priority for the Government, despite it being absent from the quarterly plan. It's been a dark day for media, with Newshub's closure confirmed for July and TVNZ axing its Sunday show alongside Fair Go, Midday and Tonight. Melissa Lee says she's taking a paper to Cabinet she hopes will help the industry, although she won't give a timeline. ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper wonders if a solution can really be found. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Arizona Supreme Court recently ruled that a 160-year-old abortion ban can be enforced by the state. The law was first established in 1864 - preceding Arizona becoming a state - and it makes abortion punishable by two to five years in prison, unless the mother's life is at risk. US correspondent Dan Mitchinson says this change could turn Arizona into one of the biggest battlegrounds in the upcoming US election. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two tech giants claim they've found a way to make AI smarter - and more human-like. OpenAI and Meta have revealed they plan to launch artificial intelligence models capable of reasoning, planning and storing memory. Being AI co-founder David McDonald says this technology opens up new opportunities for various industries. "It has profound impacts on productivity and what people do with their daily lives, there's more opportunities available to people." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Media Minister says the Broadcasting Act needs updating to ensure a level playing field. Warner Brothers Discovery has confirmed Newshub will shut July 5. TVNZ has also confirmed plans to cut its Midday, Tonight, Fair Go and Sunday shows. Media Minister Melissa Lee says she's written a cabinet paper, but wouldn't give any further details. "There is a Cabinet process, there is a Cabinet paper- there's a process. I'm not going to comment further on it." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Swapping red meat for herring, sardines and anchovies could save thousands of lives and help tackle the climate crisis, according to new research. According to BMJ Global Health, red meat consumption is linked to an increase in diet-related diseases and replacing it with forage fish could save 750,000 lives in the long run. Kingi restaurant owner and chef Tom Hishon says these fish are a great source of omegas and calcium. "With fish, it's important to remember you kind of don't want to cook it all the way through and take it off the heat- you always let that residual heat come through." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A sad day for Newshub staff with closure confirmed, and about 250 jobs lost. Warner Bros. Discovery have told staff there's no planned deal 'at this stage' with third parties. Newshub investigations reporter Michael Morrah says it's tough. "It's a huge loss for the country and for democracy- and of course, it's devastating for us here at Newshub." Newshub's newsroom, website and TV news will go offline on July 5. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A mortgage adviser says New Zealanders are feeling the strain of heavy home loan rates. The Reserve Bank's held the Official Cash Rate at 5.5 percent. Adviser Malcolm Knight says a lot of home owners are asking for interest-only periods or loan repayment holidays. "If you can get through this next 12 to 18 month period- just hunker down, get through the tough credit crunch period - the light is at the end of the tunnel. We should see rates coming down next year." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As you know, truancy has been a topic of some discussion in the last week, especially with Associate Education Minster David Seymour's plans to get kids back into class. I've been puzzling over it, especially since it popped up last week, over why it is that we have this truancy problem and why we have parents on both ends of the parenting spectrum who are as casual as they are about school. Why have we got what I would consider to be delinquent parents, who just don't care if the kid goes to school? And why have we also got parents who you would consider to be caring, given they're taking the kids on a holiday to Fiji- why are they happy for the kids to bunk school for a treat like this? How do we explain these quite different groups of parents both having such a casual attitude? And this morning, I realised what the problem is. Neither of those groups of parents see real value in school. And both of them are right to some extent, aren't they? NCEA is a joke qualification where you can’t really measure anymore where a child sits in their understanding of a subject. You have no idea if your child is 56 percent proficient at maths or 76 percent, and there’s a big difference. Even at younger levels, there are plenty of kids not learning to read and write and do sums at a level they should be for their age. Only slightly more than half the kids at a recent year 10 mock reading assessment passed. Which means nearly half failed, that's massive. So when the parents think it's not a big deal if Johnny misses a week of school, or a couple of days of school - are they wrong? Probably not. Because Johnny's not learning that much anyway. What this means is that forcing the kids back to class is only one half of the solution. The other half is probably more important, which is to make that class time count. Fortunately, this Government has plans to do that. They've already told primary and intermediate schools to make sure there’s an hour of reading, writing and maths every day, they’ve taken the phones out of the classroom, and they've set a target of 80 percent of Year 8 students to be at or above the expected curriculum level for their age in reading, writing and maths. But they’ve just delayed the NCEA changes by two years. To be fair, it sounds like it was out of their hands and the schools weren’t ready to implement it. But that’s at least two years away from being fixed. So absolutely, the Government is 100 percent right to force the kids back to class. But then there has to be value towards those classes- and that’s the harder bit isn’t it? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spain will scrap its 'golden visa' program geared towards foreigners who make significant investments in real estate. The program rewarded foreign investors who invested at least 500,000 euros in property to live and work in Spain for three years. UK correspondent Enda Brady says these investors were locking locals out of the property market- and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez decided enough was enough. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on the Huddle, Matt Heath from Radio Hauraki and broadcaster Paddy Gower joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more! The Government has unveiled a scheme designed to combat truancy- including publishing weekly attendance data, giving parents health guidance to decide if a child's sick enough to miss school and creating a traffic light scheme to track attendance rates. Will this work? There's a new hospital building attached to North Shore Hospital sitting unused- what's going on with that? In a time of endless wait-lists, is it madness that this is happening? Fake meat-company Sunfed is shutting down- is the plant-based meat craze dying? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand's bracing itself for another downpour- but it's not all bad news. Severe rain is expected to hit the country, and farmers across the drought-stricken South Island are hoping this forecast breaks a months-long dry spell. The Country's Jamie Mackay says some farmers have had to truck in water to keep things going. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new report from the Climate Change Commission warned New Zealand will need to tackle methane emissions to keep up with 2050 climate goals. The report warned that the nation would have to reduce stock rates by 23 percent for dairy, and 12 percent for sheep and beef by the 2050 deadline. BusinessDesk managing editor Pattrick Smellie unpacked the political debate surrounding methane emissions. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's a good polling day for the Green Party. The latest Taxpayers' Union Curia survey has the Greens up 3.3 points to 14.6 percent. ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says this is down to Chlöe Swarbrick - following on from some rocky months for the Party. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ahead of tomorrow's OCR update, one expert is challenging the Reserve Bank to start cutting rates ASAP. The Official Cash Rate is widely expected to stay at 5.5 percent, but Squirrel CEO David Cunningham believes the RBNZ should ease up. Cunningham says monetary policy changes have a one to two-year lag before they flow through to the wider economy. "What that means is- the Reserve Bank should always be looking a couple of years ahead in terms of what they do today and how they impact the future." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Inland Revenue is sending the construction sector a final warning to get on top of business tax obligations. 40,000 businesses with outstanding debt and overdue returns will be sent emails and letters in the coming months. Inland Revenue spokesperson Richard Philp says the current outstanding tax debt sits just shy of a billion dollars. "We'll be writing to most - some we'll try to prompt with a text message, but most of them we'll be writing to. It won't be the first contact we've had with them." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The lights are on and the hospital beds are in place, but the new surgical building on the grounds of North Shore Hospital remains unused. The $300 million building was supposed to open its first couple floors last December, then this month. Sarah Dalton from the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists suspects there's issues with staffing and the operational budget. "When there is that level of investment in hospital infrastructure, we want to see it up and running as soon as possible." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Associate Minister for Education says improved public health advice will help define what illnesses can keep kids off school. As part of an attendance action plan, David Seymour has announced weekly attendance reporting and is proposing categorising the worst truancy with a traffic light system. Minister David Seymour says the number of sickness-related absences has doubled in the last five years. "I know we had Covid, but that's largely subsided. The number of people who don't attend for health reasons has stayed roughly the same." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiwi plant-based meat replacement company Sunfed is shutting down as inventory runs out and investors leave. The company made chicken, beef and bacon alternatives using yellow pea protein. Founder Shama Lee has announced its closure on social media, saying the plant-based bubble's burst. Marketing expert Bodo Lang says products like this fail after not making money, despite being full of promise. "We all have inflated expectations when it comes to these really exciting aspirational products. EVs, plant-based meat- these are exciting products that can help save the planet and people." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a bright spot among major cuts at TVNZ. The state broadcaster has confirmed it's axing news and current affairs shows, Midday, Tonight and Fair Go. But it is proposing Fair Go's brand will continue on its digital platforms, with four new roles created. E Tu negotiations specialist, Michael Wood, says it is an improvement on the initial proposal. "I think some of the clear support from New Zealanders around this issue has contributed to that." Meetings are being held tomorrow discussing the future of current affairs show, Sunday. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ongoing youth curfew in Alice Springs will be extended for another six days to cover the entire school holiday period, authorities revealed. The curfew bars people under the age of 18 to enter the region's town centre between the hours of 6pm to 6am. Australian correspondent Oliver Peterson says residents has responded positively to these changes. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eden Park will play host to Saturday's Super Rugby Aupiki final - as the Warriors clash against the Manly Sea Eagles. The Blues claimed hosting rights with their final round win over the Hurricanes Poua and meet the Chiefs Manawa on Saturday. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explains further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's concerns in South Auckland, as unsupervised dogs roam neighbourhoods and kill scores of cats. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, there's been an uptick in dogs in Auckland and residents are concerned. Conifer Grove Residents' Association chair Kelvin Hieatt says a community group went out most nights between 10pm and 5am, tracking down four identified dogs. "Once the black female dog was caught, the cats stopped being killed- full stop." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you hadn't already realised it, then you will now because the closure of Sunfed Foods should have brought you up to speed - the plant-based food craze is over. I don’t wanna be the one to say- "I told you so", but I did. February 2020, I basically said fake meat is not a thing, it's not going to catch on. And that is when I met the woman from Sunfed, who actually tried to change my mind. Shama Sukul Lee came into the studio with some meat-free bacon, and it was actually delicious. Credit to her, she had a great product. And she had money behind it, she has $10 million worth of investment, which included some pretty high profile backers. But she couldn't turn a profit. And she says it’s because the "plant-based bubble burst". She's right. Look around the world, Nestlé withdrew its vegan ranges from sale in the UK last year, British sausage company Heck reduced its range of meat-free products, and the most famous one, Beyond Meat - which had Bill Gates’ money in there - reported that sales fell by almost a third last year. You know what the problem is, don't you? It's the same problem I think the EVs have got. Consumers en masse will only switch if what you give them is better. Case in point, we’ve switched from linear TV to Netflix because it’s got better content and it’s more convenient, we've switched the landline to the cell phone because you can take it with you- that's more convenient. And we switched from the horse and cart to the motor vehicle because it’s more convenient not having to keep a horse alive. But plant-based food is not better than a steak. And frankly, not enough of us think about the climate deeply enough to do it for moral reasons. There's a lot of this going on at the moment, there's hype about new products that we will switch to for moral reasons, EVs being the most obvious example right now. But look what’s happening to the EV market, there's a massive slump. And why? Because they’re still not better than petrol and diesel vehicles, particularly over longer distances. If there’s one lesson from this, it’s that moral motivation is not enough. The product you give us has got to be better. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The UN's atomic watchdog has warned the recent drone attack Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia power plant has raised the risk of a 'major nuclear accident'. Russia has claimed Ukraine was behind the attack- a claim Ukraine has denied involvement in. UK correspondent Gavin Grey says the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency has outlined the risks of this attack. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and former Labour Chief of Staff Mike Munro joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more! Trust in the media throughout New Zealand has plummeted following a steady decline since 2020, according to new research. Is the media being dragged down by biases? What lessons can news organisations learn from this research? The Government has unveiled nine targets across multiple sectors to be met by 2030. Crime, education, unemployment and healthcare are among the issues the Government seeks to tackle. Can they meet these goals? LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Climate Commission has recently released their latest targets its fourth emissions budget, covering 2036 to 2040. The Commission has urged the Government to phase out petrol car imports by 2040 and bolster renewable energy and methane-reducing tech on farms. Chair Rod Carr says changes in land use will have to take place as the climate turns around. "Already, dairying in Northland is increasingly challenging because it is getting hotter. There are other parts of New Zealand where it's going to get drier." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Luxon will travel to Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines from April 14 - 20. This trip is expected to signal the Government's commitment to deepen New Zealand’s international engagement, particularly in South East Asia. NZME business commentator Fran O'Sullivan explains what New Zealand can offer these potential international partners. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government today unveiled nine goals to be publicly reported on each quarter from mid-year. These include reducing violent crime and youth offending, shortening emergency stays and planned care waits, keeping kids in school and helping them achieve better results and sticking to 2050 climate goals. ZB senior political correspondent says the Government is taking on some extra risks with this scheme. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Finance Minister is confident the Government can meet all nine of their proposed targets by 2030. These include shortening emergency department stays and waits for planned care, increasing school attendance, reducing violent crime, and having fewer people on the Jobseeker Benefit. Minister Nicola Willis says they've picked nine things that will really make a difference to the lives of New Zealanders. "There's fewer young criminals, violent crime is down, we've got fewer people on a benefit, kids are attending school more, they're achieving more, there's fewer people living in motels and we've got our emissions down, and they'll say- that's a Government that's done its job." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another blow for New Zealand's media sector, with new research showing overall trust is down. AUT's centre for Journalism, Media and Democracy reveals only 33 percent of Kiwis view the news as trustworthy, plummeting 20 percent from 2020. AUT researcher and report co-author Merja Myllylahti says more people believe the media has a political bias. "Quite a lot of comments there saying- the media seems to be biased to the left. But quite often, you get comments from the people going- it's too biased to the right, too biased to the left, it's kind of a mixed bag." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a good chance consumers might be wasting their money if they pay for high-speed internet without the right equipment. The Commerce Commission's RealSpeed report revealed that broadband speed depends significantly on the strength of the router and devices as well. Commerce Commission spokesperson Ben Oakley says they're urging consumers to think about the quality and placement of their router while they spring for high-speed internet. "As I said, there's no point in paying for Ferrari-level speeds and getting stuck in second gear." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Social Development Minister says the Government is determined to get more New Zealanders into work. The Government has set nine targets to complete by 2030. One is reducing numbers of people on the Jobseeker Support Benefit by 50,000. Minister Louise Upston says it's a worthy goal to get more people earning their own income. "I'm unwilling to write off people- whether they've been on the Jobseeker Benefit for a matter of months or years. The opportunities that come from work are so significant." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hawke's Bay Rugby Union is ensuring a gang-related disorder that ruined a Hastings game doesn't happen again. Eight Young Maori Party players and their coach were inside a van peppered with shotgun pellets as they fled the match against Tamatea Arikinu on Saturday afternoon. No one was injured, and police say there's no ongoing risk to the public. Union chief executive, Jay Campbell, says Tamatea won't be hosting home games for the foreseeable future. "Until such time they can prove to us that they can run and operate home games that deliver safety for our officials, players and spectators- then that will be the staus quo." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over in Australia, there's growing concern users of older phones could be barred from making emergency calls in the coming months. Australia's 3G network will be shut off after 20 years, in order to free up room for more 4G and 5G technologies. Australian correspondent Oliver Peterson says there are still areas in the country that can't connect to 4G or 5G yet- and this puts people at risk. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Liam Lawson's hopes of a Formula One seat this year may have been boosted after RB Honda driver Daniel Ricciardo crashed out of the Japanese grand prix. Ricciardo is under pressure to improve or risk conceding his spot to Lawson. Sportstalk host Jason Pine explains further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Christ Church Cathedral rebuild is at risk of being mothballed if an extra $30 million isn't found by August. The total cost of the project is estimated to be at almost a quarter of a billion dollars, according to the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research. Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Limited chair Mark Stewart says they've turned to multiple sources to fill the financial gap. "We're looking for support from central Government, from the Christchurch City Council, obviously the Anglican Church itself, in terms of hopefully getting some money." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, the news media has just been given a a massive wake up call. A report has just landed from AUT showing how much trouble the media is in. These guys talked to more than a 1000 people to find out what they think of the media and they found trust in the media has fallen from 53 percent in 2020 to 33 percent this year. That is big. Four years ago, half of us trusted the media. Today, only a third. And this is not a blip, it's fallen every single year from 2020. It's gotten smaller in '21, smaller in '22, smaller in '23 and then smaller in '24. And the main reason? Bias. 87 percent of respondents said the reporting in the news is biased and not balanced and many respondents shared the view that mainstream news was "clearly biased to the left". And that is not their imagination, because that backs what journalists say about themselves. There was a study a couple of year ago asking Kiwi journos which way they lean, and 81 percent said left-of-centre. People aren’t dumb. They see it - and now we find out it's the main reason why they don't trust the media any more. Now this isn't a revelation to you and I, because we have discussed this for years now on this show -that the left leaning bias is problem for the media. And we are seeing it play out right now, with this new Government being given absolutely no honeymoon whatsoever because their conservative, liberal and centre-right ideas are an anathema to left-leaning journalists, who rail against it every single day. Now the real question is, can the media turn this around? And I'm going to make a prediction- no. Because this isn’t a revelation to you and I, but I genuinely think newsrooms up and down this country don’t believe this is true. That is my experience of talking to editors in various media. They don’t see it, or they do and they make excuses. If if they wanted to change it, the bias is so deeply ingrained it’ll be very hard to undo. So really, the benefit of this research is probably not for the legacy media, because they probably can’t change things. It's for you and I- to tell us we’re not imagining it. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The leadership shake-up at Fletcher Building continues with CFO Bevan McKenzie announcing he will quit later this year. Earlier this year, Fletcher Building posted a 26.7% drop in earnings and an after-tax loss of $120 million. Simplicity Founder and Fletcher shareholder Sam Stubbs tells Heather du Plessis-Allan the company has been poorly governed but that it is hard to know where exactly responsibility lies. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Netball NZ has announced the re-appointment of Dame Noeline Taurua as Silver Ferns coach. Dame Noeline has unmatched experience, though other strong contenders were likely to be in the running for the coaching position. Meanwhile, the New Zealand Rugby Players' Association (NZRPA) has called for the New Zealand Rugby board to step down and Tiger Woods is apparently practicing abstinence to prepare or the Masters. Adam Cooper and Nick Bewley joined Heather du Plessis-Allan to discuss this week’s sports news. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a competitive interview process, Netball NZ has re-appointed Dame Noeline Taurua as Silver Ferns coach on a two-year contract. Netball NZ CEO Jennie Wyllie tells Heather du Plessis-Allan the two year contract allows a check-in point before the next pinnacle event – the World Cup. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new jobs platform aims to match employers and potential employees based on their values. Founder of Futureful Izzy Fenwick tells Heather du Plessis-Allan the concept allows employees to put their name in a pool for future jobs – not just those currently being advertised. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government has announced a two-year delay to changes to NCEA. Auckland Grammar Headmaster Tim O’Connor tells Heather du Plessis-Allan the delay comes as a relief after poorly communicated time frames previously caused confusion. Five different websites must be visited to access information on the change rollouts. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ACT Party Leader and Associate Minister for Education David Seymour called today’s School Strike 4 Climate ‘unacceptable’. He tells Heather du Plessis-Allan children’s absence from school for the strike is ‘not accepted as a justified reason’. Seymour believes education has fallen down the range of priorities. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey appeared blindsided by news that the Suicide Prevention Office was closing. Doocey insisted the office would remain open despite Deputy-Director General of Health announcing the office would merge into a wider directorate. Labour health spokesperson Ayesa Verall weighed in that the closure was at the behest of the Government. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US President Joe Biden has had his first phone call with Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu since the strike that killed aid workers. US correspondent Dan Mitchinson tells Heather du Plessis-Allan that Netanyahu admitted the Israeli defense forces were to blame and assured Biden that the Israeli government is going to announce measures to prevent a mistake like this happening again. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is having trouble in the courts and the likelihood of going to trial before the November election is up in the air. And, workers in California may be legally allowed to ignore messages from bosses after the work day ends. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said the Government is currently looking into tax legislation for charitable entities, hinting that he wants charities who run like profitable businesses to pay tax. Charity Researcher Dr Michael Gousmett tells Heather du Plessis-Allan that New Zealand has been a little slow on updating its legislation. Legislation introduced in 1891 never expected commercial operations of today’s scale. Dr Gousmett says there is a provision in the Income Tax Act that could solve this problem without needing to change any legislation at all, but that it would be very difficult to ascertain how much tax companies would pay. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My disagreement with David Seymour on truancy has been short-lived this week - because I could not agree more with him today. Those kids out bunking school today so they can strike for the climate should be marked down as truant: Explained but unjustified absence. I think I'm less tolerant of it today than I was when these shenanigans first started up because at least the ones who were striking back in 2019 when their messiah Greta Thunberg was leading them seemed to be genuinely motivated by the delusion that the opinion of children counted. Now though, the reality must have set in. They can’t apply enough political pressure to actually affect change. You can have as many children out striking on the streets as you like - if they can’t vote, it doesn’t matter. Plus, we have a truancy crisis. We've been talking about this for months now. Regular attendance at school has fallen from 70% in 2015 to 40% at last count in 2022. The truancy crisis is more of a pressing threat to their future than the climate crisis. They are frankly at greater risk of being unable to do maths than they are at risk of a wave eroding mummy and daddy’s beach house. What are their parents thinking allowing them to do this? What a shocking attitude towards their education at a time when everyone in this country knows they need every minute in the classroom they can get. Anyway, my favourite part of their strike is that they have now expanded their kaupapa. No longer is this just a strike about the climate - it is now also about toi tu te tiriti, it is about freeing Palestine, ending the fast-track approvals bill, keeping the ban on oil and gas, and lowering the voting age to 16. It's about everything, basically. Everything except the most important thing they could be doing as children... learning. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over in the UK, the Sunak-led Conservative Party stands to face a historic defeat, according to new polls. The latest data predicts only 11 Conservative MPs will have seats in Parliament by the time the upcoming election wraps up. UK correspondent Enda Brady says the Party has plenty to be concerned about. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.