Larry Williams Drive

Another snapshot of how political parties are faring in the polls is out at 6pm - in another One News -Verian poll. Its figures last week had National leaps and bounds ahead of Labour, which have been on stubbornly low 20s for weeks. Newstalk ZB chief political reporter Aaron Dahmen says even a one percent bump would help Labour. National has been criticised for not releasing costings for its multi-billion-dollar tax cut package- and Dahmen says that could play into today's rankings. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elon Musk has hinted that Twitter, now X, could soon go behind a paywall. Currently, the platform only charges users for the service X Premium, which offers benefits such as a verification badge. US correspondent Dan Mitchinson says Elon believes the fee would keep bots and artificial accounts away, an issue that has plagued the platform.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris Hipkins revealed an unexpected policy announcement in last night's debate. During last night's event, Hipkins said he wanted to ban sugary drinks in secondary schools- claiming they already were in primary schools. Today, he claimed he'd misremembered banning sugary drinks from primary schools, but had consulted on this issue as Education Minister. Health Coalition Aotearoa co-chair Boyd Swinburne said Chris Hipkins had the opportunity to introduce tougher measures against sugary drinks in schools.  "It was a kind of policy that didn't have much impact. But it was put on the table by the Ministry of Education and went out for consultation about what schools should be doing in this respect." LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Black Caps will decide whether senior pace-bowler Tim Southee will be available for next month’s ODI Cricket World Cup in India. The veteran seam bowler will have surgery on his broken thumb tomorrow, with a decision on his availability for the World Cup to be made early next week. Sportstalk host Nick Bewley explained Southee's selection will swing on whether he can tolerate the pain when he returns to training. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

London police have received an accusation of sexual assault dating back 20 years, following media reports about accusations against comedian and actor Russell Brand. The statement from the Met Police says the assault took place in 2003 in central London's Soho. Brand's accused of sexual assaults and rape dating from between 2006 and 2013. UK correspondent Enda Brady says this has led to several stand-up performances being outright cancelled. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, Neale Jones from PR firm Capital and Paddy Gower from Paddy Gower Has Issues joined in on a discussion about the following topics- and more! Labour appears to have quietly scrapped their prison reduction target- is this a big deal? They had achieved a 30 percent drop in the last two terms but it's since climbed again to 20 percent. Does it seem to you also that Hipkins accidentally announced this?  More young people are behind violent crimes- in the last couple days, we've seen an 18-year-old in court following a deadly car accident and a 16-year-old accused of murder at Albany. What's going on? Is this nation growing more violent?  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A leading economist believes New Zealand's economy is at the "bottom edge" when compared to other developed countries. This follows the Government laying out their Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Update and revealing a surplus has been pushed out an extra year amid a lower tax take. HSBC's Paul Bloxham says inflation isn't coming down fast enough, when compared to other countries. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week, political parties polling above five percent squared off at Hamilton's Mystery Creek Events Centre. Labour's Damien O’Connor, National's Todd McClay and others faced off in the Rural Issues debate, hosted by ZB's Heather du Plessis-Allan. The Country's Jamie Mackay recapped the highs and lows of the debate. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Labour and National are facing scrutiny as they promote their respective tax policies ahead of the election. Both parties will also have the additional challenge of getting New Zealand back to budget surplus by 2027. BusinessDesk managing editor Pattrick Smellie explains why both parties should release a pre-Christmas budget ahead of the election. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia's NSW south coast has had its fire danger warning upgraded to 'catastrophic', following high winds and soaring temperatures. The upgraded warning came as Sydney airport recorded its highest temperature since 2000 and several schools in the area were forced to close. Australian correspondent Murray Olds says this warning comes 4 years after the infamous fire storms wreaked havoc across the region. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A dark web ransomware site claims to have stolen user data following a cyber attack on Auckland Transport. The transport agency's ticket payment system was temporarily shut down following last week's attack, and hacker group Medusa is demanding a ransom. Darkscope technical director Joerg Buss says there's no indication that the group found any personal information at this point. "We haven't found any indication that they really found personal information or anything like that- and some of these groups are really good at bluffing." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Petrol is expected to rise to $3.50 a litre for 91 octane by Christmas. High oil demand globally is a contributing factor - as well as a weak New Zealand dollar - trading for about $59.2 US cents. AA principal motoring affairs policy advisor Terry Collins says prices for crude oil have steadily increased in the last few months. "The scary part is, in the last few weeks, it's gone up 14.5 percent. And we haven't seen those prices come through yet- that $95 a barrel quoted? That's October's oil." LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris Hipkins has just confirmed Labour is dropping its plan to get people out of jails. When they first took over six years ago, Labour set a target of reducing the prison population by 30 percent in 15 years. That target is now gone. Hipkins was asked about it today, and says there is no target for the next term. This is massive, because Labour was celebrated for this. On November 29, 2018, there was a huge write up in the Guardian about how great Kelvin Davis was. “The man on a mission to get New Zealand’s Māori out of prison”- said the headline  Labour's never backed down from this target, never admitted this was a mistake. As crime rose, as our concern over crime rose, as people with ankle bracelets on committed crimes- Labour stood by this.  And now they’ve backed down today. This is an admission that it was a bad idea, because of course it is. How many crimes do we now have to point to where offenders have ankle bracelets on? They’ve already got in some sort of trouble, but they’re out in the communit

One City Councillor reckons the Wellington mayor's business delegation could've been cheaper. Tory Whanau and several council officials are visiting China, Japan, and South Korea to promote Wellington as a city to live and do business. It comes at a cost of around $50,000. Councillor Ray Chung says not everyone who's on the trip needed to be there. "What reason would a wellness manager have to go on a trip like this?" LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The countdown is on to this election's first Leaders' Debate. Labour's Chris Hipkins and National's Chris Luxon go head-to-head on TVNZ from 7pm. Former National Prime Minister, Sir John Key, says Luxon's the under-dog - and may have the tougher job. "There are actually a lot of people who want to vote for him and want to vote for National- so they will just be making sure he's the real deal. So there's a lot to play for Chris Luxon." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Expect a full-strength Warriors side to be named for Saturday's NRL preliminary final against the Broncos in Brisbane. Halfback Shaun Johnson and forwards Marata Niukore and Mitch Barnett trained separately from the team as they nurse injuries, but all are set to play. ZB's D'Arcy Waldegrave shares his line-up predictions here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Expect a full-strength Warriors side to be named for Saturday's NRL preliminary final against the Broncos in Brisbane. Halfback Shaun Johnson and forwards Marata Niukore and Mitch Barnett trained separately from the team as they nurse injuries, but all are set to play. ZB's D'Arcy Waldegrave shares his line-up predictions here. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A u-turn from Labour. The Party says it'll dump its 2018 target of reducing the prison population by 30 percent within 15 years. It says the crisis has been averted and a target's no longer needed. National Party Corrections spokesperson Mark Mitchell says it's an extraordinary change. He says it's been Labour's core justice policy for the past 6 years. "At the same time, they had no plans to keep the public safe. And we've seen just a tsunami of violent crime and disorder in our country over the last 6 years." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prison population targets will be no more if Labour gets back in Government, because it says they've served their purpose. In 2018, the Labour Government promised to reduce the prison population by 30 percent within 15 years. Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the target was set because prisons were bursting at the seams when Labour took office, describing scenes of triple bunks and mattresses in hallways. ZB Political Editor Jason Walls says this policy change came as a shock to several key members of the Labour Government. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Christchurch City Councillor is firmly against new city speed limits. The Council's 'Draft Safer Speed Plan' includes a reduction to 30 kilometres an hour in residential areas - and 50 on roads like Blenheim Road and Memorial Avenue. Its Transport Operations Manager, Stephen Wright, says the evidence shows safer speeds save lives. Councillor Aaron Keown disagrees. He claims there's no evidence lower speeds save lives. "Since 'Road to Zero' started in 2019, the road toll's slightly up. We've spent billions and done a lot of advertising and lowered a whole lot of speeds- and haven't put a dent in the road toll." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.