Larry Williams Drive

Will they or won't they introduce a wealth tax?  The Prime Minister has been pressed to rule out a wealth tax for the future... After David Parker put it on the table as an option last week.  Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Grant Robertson joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Golfer Lydia Ko finished two shots behind the winner in a tie for third on the LPGA tour in California... But it was her interview afterwards that's got us talking... As she acknowledged period pain had been giving her some grief on the course. Lydia O'Donnell is a running coach who focuses on getting women to run in tune with their cycle. Lydia joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Property Investors Federation reckon they've got a plan to tackle the growing rental crisis in NZ.  Their five-point plan includes raising the maximum bond payment to twelve weeks’ rent – in a bid to incentivise renters to be well-behaved.  The President of the Property Investors Federation Andrew King joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It looks like the Prime Minister is gearing up to make a back-flip on introducing a wealth tax. Back in 2020 it was definitely not going to happen. But fast forward to today it sounds like a plausible option all of a sudden.  Craig Elliffe, law professor at Auckland University, was a member of the tax working group that looked at the wealth tax. Craig joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister has thrust a wealth tax well and truly back into the limelight today. What has been the opposition's reaction? Christopher Luxon has given a pre-budget speech: What did he have to say? Chief political reporter, Jason Walls joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Qantas orders heaps of new planes to fly from Sydney to New York, Paris and London. Halfway through the election, campaign polls indicate Anthony Albanese will be the next Prime Minister. NSW Government ministers reportedly advised not to use the word “mate” at work. 6PR Perth Live presenter Oliver Peterson joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A nationwide shortage of workers means aged care facilities around the country are closing their hospital wings. Leaving elderly and vulnerable patients displaced from their families and support networks.  It's estimated that aged care facilities around the country are down 20% of the nurses they need to meet demand – in real terms, they're short a thousand staff and it only seems to be getting worse.  CEO of the Aged Care Association Simon Wallace joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Black Ferns Sevens pipped by Australia in the final of the Canadian World Tour stop today. Lydia Ko gives an interesting explanation as to why she was a little off her game at her most recent LPGA event. Sports commentator Phil Gifford joined Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

No surprise. We weren’t imagining it last week. A wealth tax from Labour is definitely on the cards. We now know this because the Prime Minister was given plenty of opportunity to rule it out this morning but refused to. Do you need any more proof? You’ve got David Parker dedicating $5m to investigating how much tax the wealthy pay in New Zealand. You’ve got him giving a speech on it last week. You’ve got him refusing to rule out a wealth tax at the next election, only saying he has no plans to introduce it this term. And now you’ve got the PM leaving the option open too. Awkward, because if that happens… it’s yet another broken tax promise from Labour. Now we have to assume she will still be PM going into the next election, so that would mean a broken promise. Now the question is, what kind of wealth tax is Labour planning. The best-case scenario is that they only tax the very, very wealthy in New Zealand – the Bob Joneses and Graeme Harts and Rod Drurys – leaving most of us untouched by it. That has downsid

The premier of the British Virgin Islands and the director of the Caribbean territory’s ports were arrested Thursday on drug smuggling charges in South Florida, federal authorities said.Premier Andrew Alturo Fahie and Managing Director Oleanvine Maynard were taken into custody by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents at Miami-Opa-locka Executive Airport and charged with conspiracy to import cocaine and conspiracy to launder money, according to a criminal complaint. Maynard's son, Kadeem Maynard, faces the same changes in the alleged scheme, according to the records."Anyone involved with bringing dangerous drugs into the United States will be held accountable, no matter their position," DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a statement. "Today is yet another example of DEA’s resolve to hold corrupt members of government responsible for using their positions of power to provide a safe haven for drug traffickers and money launderers in exchange for their own financial and political gain.”Fahie and Oleanvi

Big hype this week about Costco, the world’s largest retailer after Walmart, opening one petrol station in Auckland’s northwest.The retailer is expected to open its big warehouse later this year, including groceries, a tyre centre, a pharmacy, a food court, and an optical and hearing aid centreSo the big question is will Costco bring the gull effect to the supermarket duopoly?Costco managing director Patrick Noone joined Heather du Plessis-Allan.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The merger between Orcon Group (aka Vocus NZ) and 2degrees has cleared its final hurdle after the Overseas Investment Office granted consent.The deal earlier gained Commerce Commission, GCSB and shareholder approvals.Orcon Group chief executive Mark Callander, who will lead the merged business, said: "We expect the transaction to be finalised in the coming weeks and will come together as a combined business on June 1."The combined business would be known as 2degrees, Callander said.Orcon Group's various sub-brands, including Orcon, Slingshot, Flip and 2Talk will continue to be used. The firm also owns a nationwide fibre network spanning more than 4000km, a small power retailer (Switch Utilities) and provisions service for Sky TV's Sky Broadband.The new company will combine 2degrees' mobile network with Orcon Group's more landline-focused business for what analysts see as a stronger number three competitor to Spark and Vodafone.The merged company's combined revenue will be around $1.2 billion next to Spark's $

Auckland's mayor says the Government's Three Waters model still doesn't stack up for the city.The Government's today confirmed its ploughing ahead with reforms including a public shareholding model.Co-governance is also in the mix at a regional level with each area getting a council and mana whenua chair.Phil Goff told Heather du Plessis-Allan even with the changes, the structure does not reflect the unique position of Auckland which has already amalgamated.“We don’t get any benefit from economies of scale and extra professionalism. It’s what we lose and what we lose is that direct control and accountability of the water service's entity back to the people of Auckland.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Warriors suffered a record embarrassment over Anzac weekend.Their 70-10 defeat to the Melbourne Storm was their record defeat, with injuries compounding onto the team’s misery.Tyson Fury has confirmed his retirement from boxing.Fury retires with an unbeaten record and intends on being a family man.Some discussion over Super Rugby players should be personally fined for poor discipline.It came from comments from Jeff Wilson and Sir John Kirwan in a plea to try and reduce the issue.Phil Gifford and Jason Pine joined Heather du Plessis-Allan to discuss the week's sports newsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Car dealers say mistakes in the Clean Car Scheme emissions data is costing $100,000 and altering market behaviour.Dealers have been warning for weeks the fees or the rebates the scheme calculates based on the vehicle's emissions is sometimes completely wrong.But Waka Kotahi doesn't believe there is an issue.Online Motor Group's Paul Carruthers told Heather du Plessis-Allan the issue is the Rightcar website for identifying vehicles in Japan to import is ambiguous its information provided.“So, trying to buy that car out of Japan and import it is effectively like throwing a dart at a dartboard and hoping you hit the right target.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oranga Tamariki says youth crime is not on the rise.Children as young as seven have been involved in the spate of ram raids across the North Island in the past week.There's been another raid in east Auckland early this morning, but it's unclear how old the perpetrators are.Oranga Tamariki Director for Youth Justice Strategy Ben Hannifin told Heather Du Plessis Allan crimes like this are cyclical.“Six months ago, fleeing drivers was a big thing. A year or so ago, it was aggravated robberies and our young people going into the dairies with weapons, and now with the fleeing drivers, it seems to be the same cohort are moving into driving those cars into shop fronts.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While the cost of living continues to rise, so does the cost of death.Funeral directors around the country are calling on the Government to increase funeral grants for low-income families in this year’s budget.The Funeral Directors Association's Gillian Boyes told Heather du Plessis Allan the grant is currently $2300 but is proposing to increase that to the maximum amount of $6300.“So what we see now is that’s round about what those essential costs would be and we think $6300 would give choice to families.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A triumph of spin over substance.That's Act Leader David Seymour's take on the Government Three Waters announcement today.They're forging ahead with the plan to create four publicly-owned water entities and have accepted nearly all recommendations from the independent working group.The shake-up includes a public shareholding model and a council and mana whenua chair for each region.Seymour told Heather du Plessis-Allan there's an implication if you're Maori then you're more caring towards the future of this country and you've got something to offer in Three Waters governance that others don't.“I am part Maori, I’ve been looking inside myself for the special insight, I can’t find it, and I know that most New Zealanders will find that deeply offensive.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government is officially pushing on with its Maori co-governance plan for water.Grant Robertson and Nanaia Mahuta today announced that they’re making some changes to the plan reform but they’re refusing to ditch their sacred cow of co-governance.Iwi, under the plan as it stands, will still have 50 percent control in appointing water governance boards.The longer this goes on, the more the Government refuses to budge on the co-governance aspect, the more it looks like this reform isn’t really about cleaning up your water at all, is it?It’s actually about entrenching a new way of running things in New Zealand, isn’t it? it’s about entrenching Maori co-governance as a system.This is how it’s going to work in terms of the water assets: The Government’s going to take all council water assets and then throw them together into one of four big water bodies across the country divided up geographically.Councils will still own their water assets, that’s one of the changes today, they’re going to be assured that they

The Auditor-General is to launch an inquiry into how mental health and addiction services are working for young people.It comes after National's mental health spokesman Matt Doocey wrote to the Auditor-General, Parliament's independent spending watchdog, to look at the $1.9 billion for mental health allocated in the 2019 Budget.The Auditor-General normally looks at whether laws might have been broken around the spending of public money, not the merits of individual spending decisions.In a letter published today, John Ryan said he believed there was already sufficient oversight of that Government investment, through reviews by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet's Implementation Unit, and the Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission, which recently reported that investment had not seen improvements "materialise" as hoped.Rather than duplicate the processes, Ryan said his office would focus on the effectiveness of mental health and addiction services for young people "a group with an increasing need