Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Belief politicians should have skin in the public health system game.   Health workers have signed an open letter asking MPs to voluntarily waive private healthcare for themselves and their families while in office.  It says healthcare becomes personal when politicians rely on the same EDs, waitlists, and services as everyone else.  Former Health NZ Chair Rob Campbell told Andrew Dickens MPs won’t give up their healthcare any more than they’d turn down their next pay rise, but it does highlight a point.  He says that it highlights the fact that if you don’t deal with the problem, you’re probably not going to effectively deal with the problem.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Communities are voicing concerns over high strength beers being a 'court case in a can'.  The products are being sold as singles in supermarkets and liquor stores and are stronger than RTDs, ranging from 7% to 16%.  Communities Against Alcohol Harm have been raising the issue of the beers at a number of public hearings in Auckland.  Secretary Grant Hewison says the beers present a much bigger issue compared to some other products.  He says they're designed to be consumed quickly, are in 500 millilitre single cans, are cheap and are easy for someone vulnerable to stow in a pocket or bag.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast Friday 25th of July 2025, The Government's scrapped same day enrolments for general elections, Labour Justice Spokesperson Duncan Webb shares his concerns.  Should MPs have to use the public health system? Former Health NZ chair Rob Campbell shares his thoughts. Single bottles of beer are being sold with the alcohol contents of up to 16%, Grant Hewison from communities against alcohol harm tells Andrew Dickens about the dangers of having such high contents in small cans.  Plus, a Department of Justice official will meet with Ghislaine Maxwell to find out any new information about Jeffrey Epstein case, US Correspondent Mitch McCann has the latest.  Get the Early Edition Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.           LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fears changes to the way we vote will impact our democracy.  Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is planning to stop election-day enrolment, ban prisoner voting, and ban free food and entertainment offered near booths. Goldsmith says the changes will stop the vote count hold ups once poll booths close.  But Labour's justice spokesperson, Duncan Webb told Andrew Dickens says there's many reasons people forget to change enrolment details.  Webb says every single vote counts and they'd rather have a system where everyone gets a crack. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s no secret that the construction industry is in trouble.  There’s a number of factors. Firstly the boom in construction right after the pandemic years as money became cheaper and cheaper, so more and more projects were undertaken. We had a residential construction boom in 2022, with approximately 51,000 consents issued, driven by surging house prices and historically low interest rates.  But the good times weren’t to last.   A new government cut many projects, including the construction of 2500 state houses - cutting builders' lunches. Meanwhile the supply of cheap money dried up as the Reserve Bank attacked the recession by raising interest rates.  We ended out with too many builders for fewer projects.  As major infrastructure projects went on hiatus, waiting for a government wanting to spend on them, highly trained construction workers went looking for work - most often in Australia.  Construction went into a tailspin and there are claims we’ve lost 17,000 workers.  B

Rotorua's mayor says the story's the same across the country regarding people sleeping on the street.  The Government's June Homelessness Insights report shows rough sleeping's sharply increased, doubling by some measures over 24 months.   Mayor Tania Tapsell is relieved the Government is looking at finding a solution at a national level.  She told Ryan Bridge a lot of transient people are starting to go to other regions when they can't find a place to stay.  Tapsell says she spoke to other mayors at a recent conference in Christchurch, who say homeless people are coming from all over the place.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More and more Kiwis are taking a hike, with 60% of visitors to our Great Walks made up of New Zealanders last summer.   The Department of Conservation's latest visitor insights report shows 60 thousand people walked one of the trails.   International visitor numbers last summer were back to 93% of pre-Covid levels, with more than 50% heading to a national park during their stay.  Federated Mountain Clubs President Megan Dimozantos told Ryan Bridge this isn't a surprise.  She says we live in such a beautiful country, so why not get out in it?  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hopes the scrapping of guidelines around transgender participation in community sport will pave the way for smaller organisations to follow.  A Government directive from National and New Zealand First has led to Sport New Zealand dumping the principles put in place in 2022 It comes as New Zealand First leader Winston Peters threatens funding cuts for sporting codes of this nature.  Save Women's Sport's Ro Edge told Ryan Bridge many will have been waiting for this decision.  She says most international sporting federations have moved in this direction, which allows national federations to follow suit.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nobody wants to see streets dotted with tents like San Francisco or downtown LA. This much-hyped government report to Tama Potaka gives a few insights, but doesn't really nail the problem.  There are more people living rough, but we can't say for sure how many more, and even if we could, we can't say how statistically significant the change might be.  Because we had census data, we know it got way worse under Labour - up 37% from 2018-2023.  The councils are reporting —what economists might call— high frequency data that things are getting worse - the rising number of phone calls and reports of concern they're getting from the public.  The real question —which is the basis of what the Opposition's upset about— is if the Government's crackdown on emergency housing caused a wave of homeless refugees camped out on the streets? Here's some interesting numbers: the number of households living in emergency motels is down by 75%, around 85% of them went to some form of hou

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast 2025 Thursday 24th of July, the Government’s told Sport NZ to scrap its transgender guidelines, Save Women's Sport Australasia NZ Spokeswoman Ro Edge, tells Ryan she's happy with the news.  The Government's released a report on homelessness, Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell shares her thoughts. DOC summer booking have brought $13 million, President of federated mountain clubs, Megan Dimozantos tells Ryan why we've seen such a surge in domestic travellers.  Plus, UK/Europe Correspondent Vincent McAviney has the latest reaction to Ozzy Osbourne's death and the situation in Gaza.  Get the Early Edition Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.           LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's expected the Sky TV and TV3 deal will be mutually beneficial.   Sky TV's bought the channel for a dollar from Warner Brothers Discovery.   Spinoff founder and media commentator Duncan Grieve says Sky will have more options to roll out its content on TV3's free to air platforms.   He told Ryan Bridge it will be a relief for TV3, as they’ve had a reluctant owner for a while now.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Green Party says the Government needs to follow up its words on Gaza with action.   A group of nations, including New Zealand, have signed on to a declaration calling for a ceasefire and condemning Israeli attacks on Palestinians seeking aid.   Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick says we should sanction Israel to the same degree as Russia.   She told Ryan Bridge words are not enough.   Swarbrick says there's large scale starvation and Palestinians can't eat words.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Wednesday 23rd of July 2025 opposition parties are saying we need to take a harsher stance against israel as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza gets worse, Green's co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick tells Ryan what we can do as a nation. A new report from MPI and Beef and Lamb NZ estimates non-tariff trade barriers are costing us over $1 billion every year, Beef and Lamb NZ chair, Kate Acland explains what needs to be done.  Sky TV is buying TV three for one dollar from Warner Brothers Discovery, Spinoff founder and media commentator Duncan Grieve shares his thoughts.  Plus UK/Europe Correspondent Gavin Grey has the latest on a number of French cities imposing night-time curfews on young people following a spate of violence linked to drug trafficking.  Get the Early Edition Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.           LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info

A push to minimise barriers on our red meat export industry.  The Meat Industry Association and Beef and Lamb New Zealand have revealed non-tariff trade barriers are costing the industry an estimated $1.5 billion every year. Beef + Lamb Chair Kate Ackland told Ryan Bridge the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade is working on 194 different non-tariff barriers the sector's facing. She says the red meat industry is worth $10.4 billion, so $1.5 billion is significant.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This business with the supermarkets and their pricing...  Consumer NZ has launched a petition. They want change to stop prices being incorrectly labelled.  So you go to checkout and scan receipts, something's different to what you expected. Then we would get a refund on the product, and the product for free.  The idea is that if you make the punishment more than fit the crime, they'll stop doing it.  Which I get. But the supermarkets reckon —and Consumer NZ calls this spin— that there's just too many products and they honestly make mistakes.  More often than not the prices are out by a few cents - so $5.99 instead $5.95. The key question here is whether we think the supermarkets are doing this on purpose, or whether they're just large organisation that occasionally get small things wrong.  And correct the errors when spotted. Refunds where necessary.  If we're saying they are deliberately doing this, that's a whole other thing.  I'm not saying the supermarkets

Netball NZ is opening the door to overseas-based Silver Ferns.  They’ve updated their eligibility criteria, which means overseas players can be considered for national selection through a formal exemption process.   Former Silver Fern Margaret Foster told Ryan Bridge that to represent your country on a national level, regardless of where they’re playing in the world.  She says the best competition is currently in Australia, so playing overseas allows athletes to improve before bringing back their new skills to represent their country.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Inflation is coming dangerously close to the top end of the Reserve Bank’s target band.  It’s reached 2.7% year-on-year – the main drivers being council rates, increased rents, electricity prices, and food prices.  Independent economist Cameron Bagrie told Ryan Bridge that there’s not only cyclical damage to the economy from the Reserve Bank’s efforts to curb inflation, but also significant structural issues.  He says that productivity used to be, on average, 1.4% per year, but it’s now down to 0.3%.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A belief the Government's claim a new medical school in Hamilton will provide more rural doctors and GPs is yet to be proven.  Cabinet's putting almost $83 million into the $230 million new University of Waikato Medical School, opening in 2028. Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director Sarah Dalton told Ryan Bridge no doctor out of university has any specialty, and it takes years of experience to get to this point.  Dalton says everyone might hope that more people going to medical school will be GPs and rural hospital medical specialists, but this isn't guaranteed.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ACT's insistence that the Waikato University doctors school cost was out of whack and based on a poor quality business case seems to have been proven correct.  Why else would the cost to the taxpayer has shrunk by $200 million? He says it was going to cost us $280 million.  If he was right, and he's one guy at the cabinet table, how many other business cases don't stack up? There's an entire lucrative business case industry in Wellington. Some of this work is done in-house by government departments, but much of it is outsourced to the private sector.  Can we trust these reports?  MBIE had a business case train wreck a few years back when calculating the benefits of hosting events like the World Dance championships.  After questions from the media, they realised they'd been incorrectly calculating the cost-benefit analyses of events for two years - more than a dozen applications had to be fixed.  We've recently had scraps over the benefits of four-laneing to Whangarei.  This

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Tuesday 22nd of July 2025, the Government finally gave the green light for a new medical school at the University of Waikato, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Sarah Dalton shares her thoughts.  The Netball New Zealand board have voted to update its eligibility criteria for the Silver Ferns, allowing overseas-based athletes.  Inflation came in at 2.7% yesterday, independent economist Cameron Bagrie tells Ryan whether it will impact an OCR cut in August.  Plus Australia Correspondent Donna Demaio has the latest on the Australian parliament resuming for the first time since election. Get the Early Edition Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.           LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.