Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

I think the trans-Tasman bubble being popped is no surprise to anyone.This government was always going to act with its standard ‘abundance of caution’ and with the backing still of the majority of New Zealanders loving being a hermit kingdom, it’s a win-win.Caution and safety.. check.Political points.. check.Protect ourselves from any potential border cock ups creating a fiasco with a Delta outbreak… check.It’s not a win-win for everybody however.Anyone in the productive sector of the economy crying out for staff, will be bristling at this.Get it and understand it as they well may, it doesn’t help their plight.Those strapped for staff, those who’ve lost or are losing their immigrant workforce due to visa delays, those in small towns unable to hire locally.I saw some of this first hand when I was in Queenstown during the school holidays.Which by the way, if you’re thinking of travelling to tourist hotspots like Queenstown or Rotorua during school holidays when borders are shut, think again.It was heaving.What

Little surprise at a new report highlighting the housing sector's increasing impact on the economy.Analysis commissioned by the Property Council shows the industry makes up 15 percent of our GDP.It also reveals the sector has grown by $19.6 billion between 2009 and 2019.Infometrics Senior Economist Brad Olsen told Kate Hawkesby the growth is in line with other data.“The general economy in New Zealand grew about 25 percent over the same period. So you're seeing property trend in that similar sort of position.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Tokyo Olympics could be a good chance to get more young people interested in sport.New Zealand athletes will be back in action today in the triathlon, shooting, rugby sevens, tennis, cycling and hockey.They'll also be out on the water in the surfing, rowing, swimming and sailing.Sport New Zealand National Sport Development Manager Alex Chiet told Kate Hawkesby it's a good time for sport.“Kids and families are captivated by seeing different athletes in different sports. It's great for young people to see different sports than they'd usually see here in New Zealand.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All the action from the second day of the Tokyo Olympics that you may have missed late last night.Stunning swim17-year-old Erika Fairweather last night swam the race of her young life in the 400m freestyle heats in Tokyo, qualifying with the fourth-fastest time for this afternoon's Olympic final.Fairweather set a new national record with a rapid effort from lane eight at the Olympic Aquatics Centre, stopping the clock at 4:02.28 to best the previous mark set by Lauren Boyle at London 2012 by more than a second.Late thrillerThe Black Sticks men got their Olympic campaign right back on track, edging a seven-goal thriller against Spain.Jacob Smith's goal three minutes from fulltime proved the winner in an action-packed encounter in Tokyo, helping New Zealand to a 4-3 victory.Wouda, Shoulda, CouldaThe Oly Whites suffered a bitter – and slightly bizarre – defeat to Honduras, leading for most of the match but ultimately going down 3-2.The New Zealand side had the game under control with less than 15 minutes to play

There is an old maxim that goes back to pre-Christian times, divide and rule.Julius Caesar modified it to divide and conquer.Fast forward a couple of thousand years, and to this current discussion about White Privilege, which is very significant in a country like New Zealand.According to emails released under the Official Information Act, the Education Ministry has spent $700,000 dollars teaching civil servants about it.People who go on the course are apparently told that recognising white privilege acknowledges New Zealand's colonial history.And it probes the impact of white privilege on society, both in the past and today.Now, at AUT, previously the University of Technology, these days they have a Diversity Professor.Edwina Pio says white privilege is alive and it needs to be addressed with rational compassion, whatever that means.Is it just me?Am I coming from a position of white privilege to suggest that when you tell someone they've had a bad deal often enough, they'll begin to believe it.Or is there rea

New Zealand’s home of rugby, Eden Park, is branching out, into the world of art.This weekend, the stadium hosts its first ever art show, featuring more than 100 New Zealand artists.Art in the Park is what they’re calling it and director Cary Cochrane told Tim Dower with the amount of work on display, there is something for everyone.“We have 105 fantastic artists and incredibly, nearly 2000 artworks that are going to be on display; painting, sculpture, photography and print.”LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're expecting to find out today what cabinet has decided on the quarantine-free travel bubble.Ministers have been considering their options, with clusters in Australia still out of control.The tourism sector can only sit, and wait.Cardrona and Treble Cone Ski Area general manager, Bridget Legnavsky told Tim Dower she is preparing to have no Australian tourists this season and will have to rely on domestic business.“The domestic market is actually really strong, right now were in the middle of the New Zealand school holidays so we’re actually really busy.”LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The comments made by the Police Minister in her interview with Mike Yardley have to an extent obscured the important discussion.Poto Williams told Mike she does not support general arming of police; and I don't like it much myself.But the Minister shot herself in the foot with her reasoning, and the comments she went on to make about what she said were the communities she represents.Now National's accusing Williams of not backing her own officers, and saying she should be sacked.And she probably should go. She obviously doesn't have a clue.I personally like the fact that our police don't routinely carry weapons, or at least that they don't routinely carry a handgun on their hip that we can all see.There are lots of studies that show when police are routinely armed criminals are more likely to carry weapons.And once you've got used to carrying a weapon it's not so much of a leap to use it.When you go to a country where police carry handguns you notice it right away it changes the dynamic between the police and

What is it about true crime documentaries that draws so many people in?TV, film makers; and according to ABC Australia nearly half of all podcast users have a taste for it.Research also shows that more women are listening to true crime podcasts than men.Tim Dower asked Associate Psychology Professor and crime psychology expert Amanda Vicary if a fascination with true crime is healthy.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Extreme heat and dry conditions are fueling raging wildfires in the western US, charring more than a million acres, requiring evacuations and creating smoky conditions visible from space.Smoke stretched early Wednesday all the way to the East Coast, including New York City, because high-level winds carried them thousands of miles from the West.The smoke mixed down to the surface in New York City, creating an eerie scene Wednesday morning -- though a cold front is expected to usher the smoke out of the area later in the day.In the West, the fires have caused power outages, destroyed structures and prompted the deployment of the Oregon National Guard.As extreme drought still grips most of the West and the fires have become so intense they've created their own weather systems, the threat of more fires remains.In Oregon -- where eight fires have burned nearly 475,000 acres -- officials said the current fire season is unlike any they've seen before."I would categorize this fire season thus far as historic in terms

It is hard to imagine a time when the real estate sector has had it so good.With the huge price increases we've seen, agents' percentages are steady, so they too are banking big pay increases.On a sale of $900,000, around $30,000 will go to the agent.The question therefore remains, in a sellers' market; does it make sense to cut out the middle man?Graham Squires is with Massey University's school of Economics and Finance and he told Tim Dower he can see a future where more New Zealanders take a DIY approach to selling property.“There’s going to be a few sellers, I would imagine, who want to, as you say, cut out the middle man and start to  take more of a DIY ethos when they see such a high proportion of the house price being ripe for the pickin.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Makers of the film about the Christchurch mosque attacks are expecting taxpayers to subsidise the venture.The director Andrew Nicoll has been looking to cover 40 percent of production costs by way of the film subsidy.Nothing is confirmed yet, but if the movie does go ahead, it would likely qualify for that.A question to come out of this is whether taxpayers should fund a movie depicting current politicians?Eric Crampton, chief economist at the NZ Initiative told Tim Dower more often than not, it’s the filmmakers that end up winning.“It’s kind of a losing game for taxpayers, internationally; filmmakers come out of it pretty well. Countries bid against each other to try provide the largest subsidies to attract international film productions and when countries do that, the winners wind up being the film companies.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The America's Cup post-mortem report has revealed a lot of juicy gossipy stuff about what went on during the event.And to me it raises questions about who was calling the shots, and who ought to have been calling them, given that it was the sorry old taxpayer that funded the whole thing.But the headline take-out from it all is of course, the spectacular financial failure.All up NZ Inc is almost $300 million worse off as a result of it.Auckland Council has also quietly admitted it put in 92 million more than it had previously said. That's a scandal in its own right.You can partly blame it on the pandemic, and a lack of challengers, plus the lack of international visitors. But when you get below the lid, there's a string of dysfunctional stuff-ups and of course the usual pettiness and one-up-manship we've all come to associate with this event.Bottom line: we put far too much public money in, so Auckland alone has a deficit of $146 million dollars.On the upside, lots of people in lockdowns in other part of the w

The 7.5 billion dollar trip to the edge of space by Jeff Bezos [ bay zoss]  is being seen as bad timing.The world's richest man has soared more than 100 kilometres above the Texas desert, with three others, and returned safely.Fellow billionaire Sir Richard Branson took a similar flight earlier this month.Oxfam New Zealand's Jo Spratt told Tim Dower the coronavirus is sweeping the world, with second and third waves, and our close neighbour Fiji has some of the highest rates of the disease in the world.“It’s just not the time to spending massive amounts of resources going to space, when we could be helping our fellow human beings.”Jeff Bezos has a multi-billion dollar Earth Fund for battling climate change.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Disney is widely regarded as the very symbol of childhood innocence.Disney and Disneyland have apparently fallen victim to cancel culture.The Jungle Cruise ride has needed a facelift, after being criticised for its depiction of indigenous Africans.But it's not the only part of the organisation under scrutiny.Architectural historian and author of "Walt Disney's Disneyland" Chris Nichols told Tim Dower attitudes and perceptions have changed since Disneyland was originally built.“Disneyland is changing constantly, things come and go and we can see bits of 1950s Disneyland still peeking through and to some people some of things can be out of place in the 21st Century.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Covid-19 has left its mark on the balance sheet of New Zealand's hosting of this year's America's Cup.Analysis found that financially, New Zealand was almost $293 million worse, but when net benefits are considered, the loss shrinks to $156 million.The impacts of the pandemic, having fewer challengers and high public investment contributed to significant deficits.AUT sailing professor Mark Orams told Tim Dower even within our closed borders, the event was held - at various times - under Covid levels two and three.“And that really constrained all of the hospitality sector, the movement of people, the ability of even New Zealanders to engage in the event in the way that was originally planned.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Act Party, as part of their Law and Order Policy, want gang members to receive their benefits on a card, which would restrict spending on alcohol, gambling and tobacco.However, it doesn't address why young people are still being drawn into gang life.Patched member of the Mongrel Mob Aotearoa Wairoa chapter and youth worker Bronson Tither, is trying to redefine what it means to be in a gang.Bronson Tither told Kerre McIvor he knows many gang members who don't use drugs, alcohol or gamble and singling them out isn't the solution."The solution needs to be more focused around doing the type of mahi with the gang members to change their mindset, so that they want to not be on the unemployment benefit and they can be supported into another pathway, another way of thinking."LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wouldn't New Zealand be the perfect place if it weren't for the gangs?Over the years you've probably heard dozens of politicians promise gang crackdowns, tough policies to curb them, rein them in, or just lock 'em up.Electronic Income Management is new terminology to me, but the idea itself has been around a fair while.The Act Party says it wants to impose it on gang members when they're receiving benefits.The idea is to make sure children being raised in the homes of gang members have their basic needs met.So, money coming in from a benefit would be controlled electronically so it couldn't be spent on, well, you know where it goes.Instead, Act wants it used on the children, making sure they're properly fed and clothed.In principle, I have no objection to that at all.Not so long ago, Simon Bridges was talking refusing benefits altogether if a gang member couldn't prove where their assets had come from, and that they'd been paid for legitimately.What about the kids caught up in that? They didn't get to choose

A man who was brought up in a gang, says education will benefit gang members' children more, rather than controlling benefit spending.The Act Party wants gang members to receive their dole on an electronic card that would restrict spending on alcohol, gambling and tobacco.Dave Letele, who also runs the Manukau food bank, told Tim Dower you're much better off educating and empowering people, rather than trying to do this.“It’s limiting and monitoring spending, it’s not dealing with the issue of why people are joining gangs and that’s the real issue here.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The pause on quarantine-free travel with Victoria's been extended until at least tomorrow.The Health Ministry says it needs a better understanding of the developing situation in the Australian state - including the number and pattern of Covid-19 cases.Correspondent Lesley Yeomans says Victoria was supposed to come out of lockdown tonight, but that's been delayed."The Premier Daniel Andrews indicated they still neds some more time and we're waiting to see what the numbers are today."Our Health Ministry will review the quarantine-free travel pause with Victoria and New South Wales tomorrow.Ministry staff are keeping in contact with Australian authorities about each state - including keeping a close eye on South Australia, which has a new community case.Meanwhile, Fiji has announced another 784 new cases and 15 new deaths overnight.LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.