Larry Williams Drive

The Greens have sent an open letter to the Prime Minister calling for rent freezes.Co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson based this on a November 2021 report by the Ministry of Social Development which found that more than 60 percent of low-income renters were spending more than 40 percent of income on rent in 2018.Meanwhile, it’s been revealed that the police are taking too long in responding to crimes.Figures released to National under the Official Information Act show Aucklanders face an average wait time of up to 2 hours, up from 26 minutes in 2017.Louisa Wall has been named the new Pacific Gender Equality Ambassador.Her role will establish new partnerships and programmes that support the full in effect participation by women and LGBTQI+ and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels and decision-making in political, economic and public life in the Pacific.Newstalk ZB Political Editor Barry Soper joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta will take part in a virtual NATO meeting overnight to discuss the response to Russia's invasion into Ukraine.Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says it's not the first time we've been asked to take part in a NATO meeting.She told Andre Dickens she attended a meeting in 2007 when we were involved in the international mission in Afghanistan.Clark suspects we'll largely be in listening mode.“Nanaia Mahuta will also say that the Government has made a range of decisions with respect to Russia on sanctions and there was also the announcement about sending intelligence analysts.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Dairy and Business Owners Group are calling for resignations from the Ministers of Police and Justice Ministers.Police call-out response times have more than tripled in some regions over the past five years.In Auckland, the average wait time has ballooned from less than half an hour to almost two hours.Chair Sunny Kaushal told Andrew Dickens both ministers have failed miserably and aren't taking accountability.“We would like to be safe, we would like to feel safer. The dairy owners and business owners – they should not be living in such a fear every day.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you thought yesterday's rainfall in Sydney was heavy, welcome to Thursday.By 9am, the city had reached its average total of rainfall for an entire year - a whole nine months ahead of schedule.More than 1214mm of rain has already fallen on the city, with even more set to come. Major Flood warnings Nepean and Georges rivers. Torrential rain and flash flooding today ##Sydney and #Illawarra. Sydney has now passed it's annual average rain with >1214mm. LIVE coverage all day on Sky News Weather. #SydneyStorm #NSWFloods @SkyNewsAust @SkyWeatherAUS pic.twitter.com/G3S6brqeuK— Thomas Saunders (@TomSaundersSNW) April 6, 2022 The inclement weather has led to warnings that major suburbs in the city's west, including Liverpool, could flood later in the day as swollen rivers burst their banks. Already, train services have been disrupted near Sydney.And it's not just Sydney – a vast swath of New South Wales is seeing large falls as far inland as Dubbo and Orange, as well as along much of the coast."The rain event

Another step towards healthier school lunches.The Government is seeking feedback on a plan to get unhealthy drinks out of primary and intermediate schools.If implemented, schools and Kura will only be required to only supply healthy drinks to years one to eight students the likes of water and milk.CEO of Libelle Group Johannes Tietze told Andrew Dickens good inroads have been already been made since the healthy school lunches programme was introduced two years ago.“Part of that agreement was to not include drinks in that because the understanding was that there’s existing programmes and quite a strong movement by schools across the country to go water only.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So let's talk about the warIs it Ukraine versus Russia?Yes. On one level.But Russia's beef is with NATO's influence in Ukraine. So it's really a proxy war of Russia versus NATO. And the big cheese in NATO is America.Sure France and Germany and Spain have big concerns because the fight is on their continent.But in terms of global geopolitics, this is the States' circus.So will it escalate to a full World War?Well NATO seems to want to inflict an unconditional defeat on Russia. One where Putin goes, that's regime change.  That's a biggie. That's messing with another country's sovereignty.You've got to leave the loser with dignity.  We achieved regime change in 1918 and we ended out back in an even bigger war 21 years later.So it will continue and maybe escalate until Putin finds a way to either win, or lose and save face.Now Putin will not be saving face if people like UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson keeps saying things like sanctions against Russia will continue, no matter what Russia’s position is or Biden

The US Federal Reserve has started to raise its rates to combat inflation, which will have an effect on bonds.In New Zealand, the bond index has already fallen 5 percent year to date and 13 percent since it peaked in 2020.This will have implications on funds but is also expected to have huge implications on households with the cost of borrowing going up.The Reserve Bank of NZ is expecting rates to reach over 3 percent by the end of the year.The effects of higher rates are already coming through here on mortgages, and over 50 percent of fixed mortgages are going to be refinanced.Milford Asset Management’s Katlyn Parker joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Commodity prices are on the up.The ANZ World Commodity Price Index hit a new record in March with a lift of 3.9 percent.Meanwhile, global shipping is being driven up due to the continuing lockdowns in China.Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A suggestion to lower the retirement age for Maori.Maori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi has suggested lowering it eight years to 57 given Maori die younger than Pakeha on average.Dr Ashley Bloomfield has announced his resignation as Director-General of the Ministry of Health.Bloomfield will step down in at the end of July after a four-year tenure dominated by Covid-19.Listen above as Jack Tame and Ben Thomas discuss the day's news with Andrew Dickens aboveSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The European Union’s executive branch proposed Tuesday a ban on coal imports from Russia in what would be the first EU sanctions targeting the country's lucrative energy industry over its war in Ukraine.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU needed to increase the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin after what she described as “heinous crimes” carried out around Kyiv, with evidence that Russian troops may have deliberately killed Ukrainian civilians.Von der Leyen said the ban on coal imports is worth 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion) per year and that the EU has already started working on additional sanctions, including on oil imports.She didn't mention natural gas, with consensus among the 27 EU countries on targeting the fuel used to generate electricity and heat homes difficult to secure amid opposition from gas-dependent members like Germany, the bloc’s largest economy.Until now, Europe had not been willing to target Russian energy over fears that it would plunge the European

A new brain drain may be upon us, but that doesn't necessarily mean the brain gain is over.Tony Austin is a Kiwi who has held senior roles at eBay and Amazon, and he's coming home to take a position with tech start-up Partly.Austin was an early investor in the online auto parts firm and he's now been hired as Chief Strategy Officer.Tony Austin joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tourists are returning to New Zealand very soon.Some may be wanting to do campervan tours and looking at firms like Tourism Holdings.When the borders were closed, a lot of their campervans were sold to private customers with little international demand, but they charged at domestic prices for those they kept.Tourism Holdings CEO Grant Webster joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A measure of support for lowering the superannuation age for Maori.Maori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi has suggested lowering it eight years to 57 given on average, Maori die younger than Pakeha.Ngai Te Rangi CEO Paora Stanley told Andrew Dickens it's a good start in addressing the issue of Maori health.“This gives us an ability to sit down as decent people and have a discussion about why this is happening and why Maori health is at such a terrible state.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ashley Bloomfield is resigning as Director-General of the Ministry of Health.Bloomfield will step down from the role at the end of July with more than a year left on his current contract.Meanwhile Jacinda Ardern has had to defend the Government’s efforts in helping Ukraine.It comes after Defence Minister Peeni Henare had requested to send javelin missiles to Ukraine, but was turned down.Newstalk ZB Political Editor Barry Soper joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kowbucha has had a successful early trial.Kowbucha is a probiotic that's being fed to a sample group of calves to stop them from burping.The name is a play on the current kombucha craze.Fonterra Programme Manager of Scientific Affairs Shalome Bassett joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New research has identified a major gender gap in KiwiSaver.The data shows that women have, on average, 20 percent less saved in the scheme than men.The research was done on behalf of the Retirement Commission.Retirement Commission Director of Policy Dr Suzy Morrissey joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Health Minister has labelled Ashley Bloomfield an absolute hero.The Director-General of Health resigned earlier today, and will finish up in the role in late July - a year before his contract ends.Bloomfield says dealing with a pandemic is a 24/7 job and it's time for a break.Minister Andrew Little told Andrew Dickens Bloomfield has kept politicians and the Health Ministry focused on the fight.“I could not think of a person who has had to juggle as many issues and various other things that Ashley has done and done it with his low-key, very measured approach as well.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a forthcoming book, a pair of New York Times reporters and CNN political analysts report that President Joe Biden "assessed" Fox News "as one of the most destructive forces in the United States."The reporters, Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, say that Biden was even more critical of Fox Corp patriarch Rupert Murdoch.According to the book, Biden told an unnamed associate in mid-2021 that Murdoch was "the most dangerous man in the world."The description comes many chapters into "This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future," which comes out in May.The book describes Fox as a "torrent of anti-Biden programming, stoking skepticism about vaccines and disseminating wild conspiracy theories about the January 6 attack."Many Biden allies have denounced Fox for those reasons and have blamed Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan, the company's CEO, for enabling hosts like Tucker Carlson.But Biden has never spoken about either Murdoch in public, according to the Factba.se database of the pres

And so Ashley Bloomfield will leave the building in 4 months.A decision he made late last year. Even though he has another year and a bit on his contract.As he said he wanted to leave when the country was in a good place with the Covid pandemic.So there's some certainty for you. In 4 months we should be sweet.I've never envied Ashley's job. It's been 24/7. The decisions have been necessary but never palatable.But he's always been there. Dr Ashley Bloomfield is a smart but simple man. He reads the science and applies it.He's been honest and calm and unrattled. He shied away from overly emotive language.He has communicated the need for some drastic actions well and always with charm. It's that charm that has been his greatest ally.Sir Geoffrey Palmer noted that it's been a long time since any public servant became so well known.For that you must blame the Prime Minister who co-opted his charm and shared the podium.  It was unnecessary. But perhaps the joining of a politician with a technocrat was the reason our

If you're in Christchurch, you'll now need a resource consent to rent out accommodation through Airbnb or any other online booking platforms.The consent won't expire once you've got it, but to get it will cost at least $1000.Airbnb don't like it and are calling the move the most restrictive and outdated home sharing laws in Australasia.Christchurch City Councillor Mike Davidson joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.