Podcast appearances and mentions of andrew dickens

Neil Quigley marched off into the sunset at 5.49pm on Friday. Late enough for the news to miss the TV 6pm bulletin. It's an old PR trick. Leaving the shock value to dissipate over the weekend before the start of play on Monday. It was evidence to me that successive governments and the Reserve Bank have failed to respect each other or realise that even though they are independent their actions combine and affect all of New Zealand In the Covid years the Reserve bank reacted and made money essentially free. But the Labour government wanted to be seen to be doing something, so they started overspending and throwing borrowed money away. The result was a superheated economy that crashed spectacularly and spectacularly quickly So, then the Reserve Bank made money expensive again to attack the overheating. But the new Government, this time National, again wanted to be seen to be doing something so they cancelled government expenditure throwing us into a deeper economic funk than anyone had expected. In both scenarios the governments didn't seem to realise what was happening at the Reserve Bank. And the Reserve Bank was too proud to take into account the stupidity of governments. Government's need to heed the advice that they give Council's. Stick to the knitting. Their job is to do the basics. Fund Health, Education and the Police. And build us stuff to help us do business like roads and rail and ferries. Not to worry about the price of butter or the number of supermarkets. And keep the borrowing as low as is reasonable Meanwhile let the Reserve Bank worry about inflation and the big financial stuff. That's how successful governments respected the independence of the Reserve Bank and how the last two amateur governments did not. The saga also shows how political Treasury is. Their advice wavers in the wind of whoever is in power and is not to be trusted. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Concern tertiary students are having to choose extra work over studying - to keep up with increased living costs. More than 34-million-dollars in hardship funds has been given out by institutions since 2020. Victoria University's Student Association spokesperson, Aidan Donoghue, says things haven't improved much since Covid. He told Andrew Dickens they received 940 applications for their Winter Energy Grant this year, compared to 265 two years ago. Donoghue says every application is limited to one address - so that's 940 households.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey reveals most violent crimes have been dropping in the past two years. It finds the number of sexual assault victims steadily increased over this time. More beat officers are being deployed in Auckland to act as a deterrent to crime. Chief Victims Advisor Ruth Money told Andrew Dickens that these numbers are highly volatile. She says there's lots of high pressure times, like Christmas which can see an uptick of crime in the community. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So the big question of today is whether New Zealand should join other nations in recognising a Palestinian state. Now this is a much bigger question than it seems. For some it's easy - call Palestine a state and then they have a legal foothold to fight for some land I guess. And in a way, we already have done that by calling publicly for a two state solution to the conflict in the Middle East. But it's easy to confuse nations and states. States have a multi-layered definition. A state is a political and legal entity with sovereignty over a defined territory and population. It's focus is governance, law, and authority. So many of those provisos are missing. Obviously there is no defined territory. Or maybe there was, but it's been pretty much destroyed now. There is no authority that is recognised by most, with Hamas having lost the mandate in the eyes of many countries and the Palestinian Authority long since discredited. A state can easily be confused with a nation, which is a group of people who share common cultural elements such as language, ethnicity, history, or traditions. Māori are a nation of people within New Zealand. Palestine can be a nation, but that doesn't mean land. And that's where the rubber really hits the road. It's hard to recognise a Palestinian State when there is no land for it to belong in. Declaring a Palestinian State is therefore a piece of global virtue signalling. A stance with little of no practical application other than political pressure on Israel. New Zealand and its Government has been accused of kicking the can down the road because it's going to consider it's position over the next month. To be fair, we are. But this is a delicate move which on the outside seems so easy to many, but is full of pitfalls. And seems to be putting the horse before the cart when we don't know where this state would be in the world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The world's eyes will be on New Zealand over the next month as it weighs up a decision to recognise Palestinian statehood. Australia's declared it will recognise Palestine at the UN General Assembly in September. It's following suit behind other Western countries including the UK, France, and Canada. Massey University defence and security studies professor John Battersby told Andrew Dickens there's widespread public opinion that something has to be done to pull Israel's action back. He says there's internal dissent within Israel itself over the effect of its actions, so any move in this direction may be able to temper that. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's believed our trans-Tasman friends are keeping tourism strong in Queenstown. Skyline Operators, who run the luge and gondolas, have seen international luge rides increase by 32.6% from 7.46 million in the last year to close to 10 million. Gondola rides have also risen more than 21%. Queenstown Mayor Glyn Lewers told Andrew Dickens they're crossing the ditch in numbers. He says the latest stat from the airport shows routes from Aussie are up 145% on pre Covid numbers. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Household budgets remain under pressure from rising costs, a credit expert says. Centrix's latest credit indicator shows consumer arrears fell by 7,000 in June to 478,000, representing 12.36% of the credit-active population. But Centrix managing director Keith McLaughlin said there has been an increase in pressure on household budgets: “The slight year-on-year improvement in arrears we've observed so far this year has plateaued … and that just seems to be sticky." “Consumers have cut back on discretionary spending … and were managing their non-discretionary [spending] quite nicely." But he says there's a flow through of the increase in things like insurance and rates. 79% of mortgages due to be repriced over the next 12 months, many borrowers may benefit from lower rates. Increases in rates, insurance, and power does make it very hard to get the benefit out of those reductions in interest rates. Looking for the positive, the number of accounts reported in financial hardship in June was 14,450, down 550 from the prior month, Centrix said. But year on year, financial hardships increased 7.1%. We've plateaued in an uncomfortable place, so the question is what could we do to make things better? Insurance is off the table and councils have had the hard word to decrease rates, but what else is there? My family rarely buys takeaway coffees these days, but I fear all I'm doing is hurting small businesses. We've had an audit of streaming and subscription services, but that means we have less news sources in the house and less entertainment. I bought an EV 18 months ago and that has radically lessened my petrol bill, even with the road user charges. There's any number of household hacks to stretch the household budget, but what can we do as a country? Australia has just written off $16 billion in student loans. Albanese says getting an education shouldn't mean a lifetime of debt. Paying off student loans does curtail the young, which is why they're buying houses and starting families later and later. Is that something we could do here? If not a full amnesty, then perhaps some partial easement that makes things easier. My 29 year old son is just two pay packets away from wiping off his student debt from two degrees in environmental management, which is what he does for a job. He's counting down to liberation day and to finally have money to invest in his future rather than his past. Now we're poor compared to Australia, and governments are dependent on the repaying of that debt to fund the country, and the liability is viewed as a positive on our balance sheet. But it's mythical money – could this help the young trying to start the sort of lives that previous generations who had no debt enjoyed? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So the national emergency alarm that bugged a nation was the big talking point in New Zealand today. There's a million stories about the alarm, and here's mine: The first alarm yesterday afternoon at 4:30pm I welcomed. I'd been out and about and didn't know about the Russian earthquake. So I looked up the story and quickly ascertained there were hours before this could become a problem. This was important because my partner was commuting home on a ferry at 5:40pm and we needed to know if anything would happen. I checked the AT app and phoned her and the day continued on as normal. The next alarm this morning was interesting. We knew of the threat and we knew that it was around about then that waves would arrive. So I expected an update on the wave strength after tsunami monitoring across the oceans. None of that info was there. It was the same alert as last night. So, again, we looked up the story and again, we decided it would be fine so Helen went off to catch the 8am ferry. As she left, she said if there's going to be a wave then she'd rather be on a big boat than on the esplanade. I think that was a joke. As it turned out everybody ignored the alert this morning. People walked dogs on beaches. The north-western motorway causeway did not close. Nor did Tamaki Drive. Then the Minister came on with Kerre to explain why we had these alarms. I thought the main takeaway from that was so that we could make an informed decision. Which my family did. So I don't mind the alerts. I'd rather have a false alarm than no alarm at all in a dangerous decision. But the fear here is that people will begin to ignore all alerts and not make informed decisions - and that could end badly. But my main concern is that the information did not seem to be updated in the 12 hours after the earthquake hit. I wonder if our ocean monitoring is working - and if it isn't, then that's the real concern. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Homelessness has increased, but by how much is unclear, according to a government report. This is the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development's latest Homelessness Insights Report drawn from data in Census 2023, and observations collected from government agencies, councils, and the general good sorts in the sector. The report defines homelessness as living situations where people are forced to live; without shelter, in temporary accommodation, shared accommodation with a household, or living in uninhabitable housing. The Opposition was hoping that the report would show the government's ditching of emergency housing was to blame. It doesn't say it's not to blame, but nor does it say it is. What it found was that 60 days after leaving emergency housing 37% were housed in social housing, 29% went into transitional housing, 19% received the accommodation supplement. That leaves 14% who may be living without shelter, but there's no way of confirming this. Housing Minister Chris Bishop says it's an issue he takes very seriously. He says it's a better outcome than the last government who spent $1.4 billion on sticking people in motels with all the consequent problems that entailed. Homelessness is not a new problem, but there is no doubt the problem is getting worse – blame the economy, and the pandemic hangover, and any number of factors. And there's no quick fix. But good souls are trying their best. In Rotorua there's an initiative just starting up called Adopt a Streetie. It's designed to help rough sleepers off city centre street. It would involve rough sleepers being matched with volunteer local hosts willing to offer free rent in exchange for their guests completing odd jobs. There is no knowing whether there will be enough good folk prepared to Adopt a Streetie, because it's not an easy job. The homeless are not easy people. They've not had an easy life. They have big hard personal problems. It takes a very good Good Samaritan to run the gauntlet of adopting a streetie. I commend you if you're helping and I thank you but it's gotta be tough. The idea is the brainchild of Love Soup, the organisation behind Rotorua's Village of Hope. That village shelters homeless people in sleeping pods set up in secret locations, but it's struck problems with compliance issues. And that's just one of the problems that affect solutions – a lot of our rules don't suit people who have chosen to live outside society and its rules. Once upon a time I helped a friend help a bloke. She befriended him, I met him a few times. She organised some emergency housing for him in Papakura, a warm little brick and tile and one weekend she helped him move in. Bought some furniture from an op shop. But two weeks later he was back living rough downtown, because in Papakura he was lonely. His people were fellow rough sleepers, and he valued their company more than a warm house. Now this is not a tale to say that housing the homeless is useless because they want to live this way, but it does acknowledge that while they don't like living rough, it's what they know and safer than the solution. So the Minister and everybody says it's not good enough, and it isn't, but finding a solution is very hard indeed. But while the problem is hard, at least we should be able to understand it. Because that is the first step in learning how to solve it. See 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. But in every cloud there is a silver lining. Construction firms are now offering large discounts to avoid collapse - some offering discounts of up to 50% to keep their workers busy. These are in the firms that are left. 687 firms have been liquidated this past year - it's a threefold increase in just 3 years. The firms that are left should be hailed as heroes. Prepared to work through the bad times rather than cutting and running. And if you're thinking about a commercial or residential build, can I suggest that there is no better time than now. You'll never get a better deal going forward. And maybe. Just maybe we might be able to work our way out of a construction bust that was all our own making. 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 appears we're living in an age where it's okay for politicians to swear to the press. Donald Trump is leading the way, dropping the F bomb over Russia and using the word bullshit more often than anyone ever had. It's a sign of the times, and you could argue it makes politicians more relatable because heaven knows we're all a lot more potty mouth in private. But you could also say that leaders of countries should be held to higher standards, and it's not hard to not swear – ask broadcasters. So the PM almost dropped an F bomb yesterday because Chris Hipkins was calling the FamilyBoost programme a failure. Are you okay with politicians having a swear in public, or is it something they should have the maturity to control? Now what is the FamilyBoost programme that got Chris Luxon so fired up that he called the Leader of the Opposition “fricken” Chris Hipkins after he criticised it. The FamilyBoost programme is a New Zealand government initiative designed to help families with the cost of early childhood education by giving you a refund on what you've paid. Families can claim 25% of their weekly cost of childcare, up to a maximum of $75. There's a cap, if you earn over 180,000 dollars you can't claim it. The government initially estimated that up to 100,000 families could benefit from FamilyBoost, with 21,000 potentially eligible for the full payment. Chris Hipkins claims that rather than 21,000, the number claiming the full benefit was 153. 60,000 families have received some form of payment – so it has kind of worked. The low uptake is likely due to a combination of factors, including a lack of awareness of the scheme and complex eligibility requirements. It's not the first time the policy has been criticised. Back in May it was revealed that nearly a quarter of the money spent on National's flagship FamilyBoost policy has gone towards running the scheme, instead of helping families – $14 million out of $62 million. Are you sick of these virtue signalling schemes where if you have the ability to run the scheme, you have the ability to run a multi-national corporation, because applying is so complex, but all you're doing is applying for a benefit? The Government has since announced changes to the scheme to increase eligibility and encourage greater participation. These changes include expanding eligibility to more families and increasing the income threshold for the full rebate. It's also looking at ways to simplify the scheme and make it easier for families to access the benefits. Blah blah blah blah. We're living full lives running a family here. Is this worth the time to interpret all the rules and fill out all the paperwork, because when you look at this whole thing, it seems to be written in something other than English? So the question is this: in an age of fast track this and too much bureaucracy that, is applying to get a benefit just too hard? Is the fear of being taken advantage of by a small minority of an already small minority too great? Or is the bureaucratic minefield that is the benefit application process a good thing? Because it limits the number of people taking taxpayers money to make ends meet so we can spend that revenue on more doctors and transport options? And can politicians fricken swear? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all know we need more doctors. A lot more. Considering how long it takes to train a doctor, this is something that someone should have probably thought about 20 or 30 years ago. New Zealand's population has doubled since the last med school was opened, so you can see how far behind we are. But now we have a proposed new medical school in the Waikato. This was dreamed up last electoral cycle by the University with the help of a report and analysis by Stephen Joyce with his consultation hat on. Shane Reti was heavily involved with the university. The University called the school a present for National's second term. Low and behold, it became National's policy at the last election, and it seemed a vote winner. After all, we know we need more doctors But then it all got sticky with bureaucrats and coalition partners suggesting the idea might not fly. Now it's back with a miraculous cut in budgeted costs and a substantial expectation that generous benefactors would make up any underfunding from the government. And if they didn't, the University had the means to cover any shortfall. The two universities that already have medical schools don't support it. They say just give us more money and we'll make more doctors. A PWC report last year said a school was duplicative and expensive. And with the need for doctors so urgent there's the time factor – to get a school up and running takes a while. You need all sorts of specialised spaces. The Waikato Graduate School of Medicine is scheduled to open in 2028 —three years from now— versus two schools who claim they could grow intake from next year. The whole thing seems a bit rife of political necessity. They promised it, so it has to happen whether it's a good idea or not. It reeks of wasteful government spending as a payback to loyal supporters. It preys on the largesse of the wealthy. Is it a good idea? If it was a good idea why has not been part of our long-term planning for longer? Training to become a doctor in New Zealand typically takes 12 to 17 years, depending on the chosen specialty. But a third school has suddenly landed in our lap. I'm not against Waikato having a medical school in the future – health experts have said rural-origin students who train in rural areas and are trained by rural health professionals are six times more likely to work in those rural areas post-graduation. Now Hamilton is quite rural, but frankly so is Otago so I'm not sure that's a reason to have a school there. But right now, it seems a bit rushed and political. So do you support the establishment of a school in Hamilton? And then there's all the other issues around medical staff. The proposal to date aims to produce proportionately more rural and primary care doctors via a four-year graduate programme, largely based in the community and the wider region's general practices, yet drawing also on the many excellent clinicians at Waikato and other regional hospitals, so that graduates (as at Otago and Auckland) are equipped to go into any area of medicine. Many in the medical sphere say the real problem in banging out doctors is not in the number of places at a school, but where they go to get on-the-job training – placements So to train more doctors we need more doctors to train more doctors. And this school does nothing to solve that problem. Once they're trained in theory, how do we train them practically? Once they are trained, how do we pay them properly, and then how do we keep them from disappearing overseas? And then there's the question of where we find people with the ability and desire to go through the arduous process of training to be a doctor. Because doctors don't grow on trees. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So here we go again. A national conversation about whether NCEA is C.R.A.P A damning Government briefing presented in June has raised significant concerns about the credibility of New Zealand's main secondary school qualification. It's worried about the flexibility built into NCEA, including regarding what assessments students sit, means courses can be structured around those perceived to be “easier” to accumulate credits. The briefing says the system encourages students to stockpile credits across often disconnected subjects at the expense of engaging in a “coherent” course that supports a clear pathway for their future. The kids are also passing courses based on internal assessments. Many are avoiding external examinations. More than 250,000 kids students skipped exams last year. The briefing says that the qualification is hard to assess if you're an employer and it's hard to compare it with anything internationally. So Erica Stanford is working on proposals, and I'd like to know what you think she should do with the system. This morning Mike Hosking asked Auckland Grammar's Headmaster Tim O'Connor what he would do: "I think you change it to an examination based system. We make it pretty simple. Here's a thought, we assess at against the national curriculum because currently in NCEA doesn't do that. So the primary mode of the system is examinations that would give benchmarking across the country. Every student whether you're in Invercargill through to Auckland. you'd know where you stood. And you can have some internal assessment in it because not all types of content, you know, are best under exam conditions, but these should be marked by NZQA. Teachers wouldn't mark their students own work, no, and they shouldn't receive their marks back before they get their externals back." Now, both my boys did NCEA and they're literate and numerically great. It did not fail them In fact my oldest had the choice of doing NCEA or International Baccalaureate. So, why did we go NCEA? It's because that boy was dyslexic and dyspraxia. He cannot write well and his spelling is atrocious. So a system that had a large quotient of internal assessment catered for his learning difficulty. But the difference between his school and others is that the school made sure that the standards of IB were replicated in their teaching of NCEA The concentrated on the basics, which is not just reading writing and arithmetic. They also included science and social studies. Social science, including history and not just New Zealand history, but the history of the world over the past 200 years in particular. They didn't include the so-called cheat courses like barista studies reasoning if you want to learn how to be a café worker you can enrol in extramural courses He got a great education and has gone on to have double degrees and a thriving professional life My point here is that one of the main problems of NCEA is not the system, but the way the schools teach it and the abdication of parental input into the student's choices. You can't just sit back and complain that you don't understand how it works as a parent. You have to educate yourself if you want your children to be adequately educated for their future and the chance to do even better than you did. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We may have to get used to paying more for butter. Kiwi consumers are now consistently paying more than twice as much for butter as they were a decade ago, according to latest Stats NZ figures. Supermarkets and suppliers have been under pressure to lower prices. Federated Farmers Dairy Chair Karl Dean told Andrew Dickens there's been a global trend towards consuming more butter, especially in the last five years, ramping up even further in the last twelve months. However, he says, what goes up normally comes down, which these bubbles normally do. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Unlike last week, the All Blacks team for the final clash against France is filled with changes. Ethan de Groot, Fabian Holland, Patrick Tuipulotu, Ardie Savea and Rieko Ioane are the only players remaining from the last run-on side. Rugby Commentator Tony Johnson told Andrew Dickens that Scott Robertson and the other selectors certainly fulfilled their promise to be bold with their selection. However, he says, that comes with a considerable risk against the French team, who still feel that they can take something out of the series. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A welfare expert's pointing to the lack of jobs being the main reason more people are ending up on the benefit. Ministry of Social Development statistics show almost 8 thousand more were receiving a main benefit in June compared to March. It follows the Government instating new requirements for beneficiaries in hopes of getting more into the workforce. Former Welfare Advisory Group member Phil O'Reilly told Andrew Dickens the Government needs to up public spending to help the lagging economy. He says it's about trying to reinvigorate the construction sector, which has seen 17 thousand jobs lost in the last 18 months. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all know the Covid Inquiry is looking at MIQ, amongst other things. And we all know that MIQ had noble aims and notable successes. But we also know the execution was far from perfect, and many people ended up feeling ostracized from the rest of New Zealand. The idea of the Inquiry is to find out what went wrong so we do better next time. And yesterday, Les Morgan, the Chief Operating Manager of Sudima Hotels, wrote an exceptional piece in the Herald on the rights and wrongs of MIQ and in the middle of his piece he took my heart away with a stunning piece of writing. He learnt at a 1pm briefing that his hotel had been requisitioned for an MIQ facility. Except no-one had told him and his team and their first refugees were expected that very day. He wrote this: "The hotel in question had been closed indefinitely, meaning staff had moved on and there were no consumables or PPE gear on site. "Once I had run the gauntlet of shock and bad language, our team swung into action and I am proud to say our local staff welcomed the first guests by 8pm the same day with full PPE equipment and comprehensive operational procedures. (The military and public health teams involved arrived on-site equally unprepared but also rallied.) "These were staff who had left the business earlier in lockdown but came back to bravely face an unknown health risk and the enormous task of recommissioning a hotel, all because they thought it was the right thing to do to help save the lives of fellow New Zealanders. They are all heroes, and they deserve to be properly recognised by the Government." Damn right. In London there is a Covid Memorial Wall on the banks of the Tames opposite the Houses of Parliament. It features over 240,000 individually hand-painted red hearts. Each heart represents a person in the UK who died with COVID-19 listed as a cause of death on their death certificate. It's all ages, but particularly the young and the old. We have nothing like that in New Zealand. This Inquiry will not give everybody want they want. It will prove MIQ to be neither right or wrong. But it will remind us that there are silent heroes in New Zealand who we have not thanked nearly enough. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The UK's Labour Party believes allowing the younger generation to vote could have positive ripple effects. It's lowering the country's voting age to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to have their say. The change will take effect at the next general election and brings the electorate into line with Scotland and Wales. UK Correspondent Vincent McAviney told Andrew Dickens youth want to feel catered for, and Labour's keeping their word. He says there's some thinking in the party that young people tend to be more left-leaning and could support Labour. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

News the Government's set to shred half a million books from the National Library is being described as standard management. Books including religious texts, Shakespeare, and Virginia Woolf are among them, with the cull expected to save about a million dollars in storage costs. Library and Information Association Executive Director Laura Marshall told Andrew Dickens books are destroyed to make room as part of collection management. She says it's specific to the particular library or institute, and if they kept every book published, they'd need a 50 storey building. Around 50 thousand books were offered to other libraries, Marshall says, and another 50 thousand to charities, adding at some point a book's time is up. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast Friday the 18th of July 2025, jobseeker benefit numbers are continuing to climb, former welfare advisory group member Phil O'Reily shares why. It's final All Blacks test against the french tomorrow night at FMG stadium in Hamilton, Rugby commentator Tony Johnson shares his thoughts on the line up. Dairy prices around the globe are soaring and Kiwi's are footing the bill, Federated Farmers dairy chair Karl Dean tells Andrew Dickens why prices have become so high. Plus, UK/Europe Correspondent Vincent McAviney has the latest on the UK lowering the voting age to 16 at the next general election expected in 2029. 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.

So the Local Government Conference is underway and the Government took advantage of it to talk down to councils like a stepdad telling off their stepson. They've been told to reign in wasteful spending to keep their rates increase down. It'd be good if the government that is currently spending more than any other ever practiced what they preached. But anyway, the Government is talking about bringing in rate caps. Sounds good. A simple idea we can all understand, but will it work? The fact is the idea is in place in Australia. Melbourne and Sydney have them, but individual councils can apply for exemptions. And in Melbourne it means that some councils have imposed 10% rates. But they don't have them in Brisbane, and Brisbane has the lowest rate increases in Australia. So why is that? Successive councils have kept the debt low. They've had smart long term plans with cross-party support. They have a suburbs first policy so that improvements are made where people actually live. 85% of their budget is spent on this - it's also cheaper than grand projects. And they like public transport. A record $210 million is being spent on it, which is a lot cheaper than building roads, roads, roads. Here public transport and alternative transport options are the first to be cut in hard times. And because of their resident friendly, suburban centric approach combined with fiscal prudence, they have some wriggle room. Senior citizens in Brisbane get the most generous rebates in the country, cutting their rates in half. And it means that Brisbane can pursue some big stuff like the Olympics. But there they show some balls as well, canning the re-development of the Gabba because the business case didn't measure up. Rates caps are good slogan policy. It sounds like a simple answer to a complex situation, but they didn't work in Sydney and Melbourne. In fact there they're suffering from rates catch up. If you defer projects then eventually someone is going to pay for them. Whanganui will find that out in the future. Work on the Opera House has been deferred, saving $8 million, but that work hasn't gone away and will cost more in the future. The reason we're in the hole we're in is false promises of rate cuts by previous councils that resulted in a rates catch up. Wellington's water sound familiar. We don't need rates caps, what we really need is sensible long term fiscally prudent governance. Look for that next election. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's concerns the Government's being too black and white with its decision to pull the plug on open plan classrooms. The idea was introduced by John Key's Government in 2011. The Education Minister Erica Stanford says now all new builds will have more traditional layouts. Auckland's May Road Primary School Principal Lynda Stuart told Andrew Dickens it shouldn't be a binary discussion. She says it works well when you've thought about neurodivergent children, others that need the space to move and you've designed an environment for them. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's being suggested we need to generate more power if we want to fix our electricity market. Major power companies will soon be required to charge less for power during off-peak periods and pay more for solar and battery power during peak periods. The Electricity Authority hopes the measures will drive down power prices over time. But Paul Fuge —the manager of Consumer NZ's Powerswitch website— told Andrew Dickens the ultimate driver of price is supply. He says the market is not delivering the amount of electricity needed for New Zealand's growth, and the country needs more power stations being built. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast Thursday the 17th of July 2025, the Government's ditching open-plan classrooms, May Road Primary principal Lynda Stewart shares her thoughts on whether the classrooms work. New deals will soon become available to bring down your power bill, Consumer NZ Powerswitch manager Paul Fuge tells Andrew Dickens the difference it'll make. Multiple major religious texts will be shredded at the National library, Laura Marshall from the Library and Information Association shares her thoughts. Plus, US President Donald Trump has said Attorney General Pam Bondi should release "whatever she thinks is credible" on late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, 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.

The future of the latest BBC MasterChef UK series is up in the air. John Torode is leaving after a report upheld allegations he used an "extremely offensive racist term". It comes after an independent report substantiated 45 of 83 allegations about the behaviour of former co-judge Gregg Wallace. UK correspondent, Gavin Grey told Andrew Dickens there are calls to scrap the already filmed series. But he says competitors and the winner have worked hard to get there, and ideas around replacing them with voice overs will be almost impossible. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones is floating the idea of special economic zones as an answer to New Zealand's energy security. The Government's asking for feedback on its new long-term fuel strategy. The special economic zones are areas where businesses can get tailored policies on regulation, financial support, and access to infrastructure. Major Electricity Users' Group Chair John Harbord told Andrew Dickens it could give independent generators a better chance than they currently have. He says the only big players that independent generators can sell to are the big four gentailers, and it's just cheaper for the gentailers to make it themselves. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast Wednesday 16th of July 2025, The Government's cracking down on councils - forcing them stick to their core business, Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell shares her thoughts. There's calls for fringe benefit tax breaks to help kiwis pay for the rising cost of health insurance, Enrich Retirement founder Liz Koh tells Andrew Dickens the difference it would make. Shane Jones is pushing ahead with his desire to implement special economic zones to boost electricity generation and fuel security. Plus, UK/Europe Correspondent Gavin Grey has the latest on MasterChef TV presenter John Torode sacked by the BBC. 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.

The Government wants to scrap local councils' four well-being provisions. A amendment bill has been introduced to remove the social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing provisions from the Local Government Act, to refocus councils on their core services. The Government wants councils to give more value to ratepayers. Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell told Andrew Dickens she's looking forward to the removal of the four wellbeing clauses. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I'm always amazed at how much credence the United Nations is given in domestic New Zealand politics. The left loves the UN pronouncements on New Zealand's stances because if reinforces their view that we've got much to feel guilty about. Meanwhile the right somehow believes that the UN can supersede our sovereignty and is an enemy to be repelled at all costs. But the UN is actually an ineffectual bureaucracy. A giant global virtue signaller judging its signatories to an idealistic standard that is often unachievable in the modern world. There's nothing wrong with the UN writing these reports because it might be nice to live in a world full of unicorns, but they're just words and often have little deep context. David Seymour obviously took offence at one such report and in a fit of pique late one night, drunk on the power of being Deputy Prime Minister, fired off an angry letter signed Grumpy of Epsom. That's obviously not his job, and it's right that he's been told off about it. And that's about that. It's caused a minor tiff amongst the coalition partners because of process and pecking order, but it's not the major crack in the coalition that some claim. And don't worry about so called international embarrassment because the world has a lot more to be embarrassed and worried about rather than some little report by an arm of the UN that criticises one piece of legislation in a very small country globally. So, chill out about the UN. They're not the boss of us. They're not the boss of anyone. That's their biggest problem in getting anything tangible done. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Should your job provide health insurance coverage? There are calls for a fringe benefit tax break as a Council report reveals people are twice as likely to have car insurance than life or health. It says 78% of Kiwis pay for their own insurance, rather than employers footing the bill. Enriched Retirement Founder Liz Koh told Andrew Dickens that New Zealanders tend to think they're bulletproof, and they don't tend to put health insurance at the top of their priority list. She says that if you don't have good health, it impacts your ability to work, and employers have a vested interest in making sure their employees are healthy. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A turning point for Auckland. The third annual State of the City report has been released, showing how we compare on a global scale. It highlights strengths in sustainability, resilience, and culture, but says we lag behind in prosperity, skills, and innovation development. Deloitte's Future of Auckland Lead Kate Sutton told Andrew Dickens that Auckland's at 40% of GDP while the productivity per capita is about 20% lower than comparable cities around the world. She says we're doing more for less, and a step up needs to be done to deal with the structural reasons behind it. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Concerns we're narrowing the focus too much in the push to improve literacy and numeracy rates. Small improvements were seen on last year with 57% of NCEA students achieving the numeracy standard, 61% achieving the reading standard and 55% achieving the writing standard. Secondary Principals Council Chair, Kate Gainsford told Andrew Dickens the focus hasn't been spread across other important subjects like science or languages. She says we need to ensure we don't neglect other parts of the curriculum while also looking at the basics. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast Tuesday 15th of July 2025, Secondary Principals Council Chair and Aotea College Principal Kate Gainsford joins Andrew Dickens to discuss the number of students passing the NCEA literacy and numeracy co-requisite tests slowly on the rise. Dr Sandra Grey, National Secretary of the Tertiary Education Union, shares her thoughts on the Government's plan to replace Te Pūkenga and return to a more localised polytech model. Kate Sutton, Future of Auckland Lead at Deloitte, breaks down a new global report comparing Auckland's strengths and weaknesses on the world stage. Plus, Australia Correspondent Donna Demaio has the incredible story of a German backpacker found alive after surviving 11 days lost in the harsh outback. 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.

Here we go again. The polytechs that were centralised by the last government are going to be de-centralised by the current mob. It's not quite back to the future because it won't be the same as we had before the politicians started tinkering. There will now be ten polytechs run locally, six others will have to prove their financial viability, but it still feels like we're going back to where we started from. And this ideological flip flop isn't free. The Labour Government allocated hundreds of millions of dollars over several years to support the merger and transformation of the vocational education sector. And now National has budgeted $200 million to fund the reversal. Key Cost Drivers in this change include swapping out the IT and systems integration across multiple institutions from centralised to local. Obviously, staff restructuring, which includes finding new staff for the polytechs and firing some staff created in the centralisation. Then there's branding and communications and legal and compliance costs. It isn't cheap and at the end of the day, we're back to square one. The same things happening over at Health New Zealand. It's happening all over the country as the government reverses Labour's changes. People are packing up their desks that they packed up four years ago. Now who to blame? Labour for coming up with the new ideas in the first place, or National's dogged determination to reverse everything the last mob did because they've built their brand on not being Labour? I don't know about you but the whole thing feels like wasteful government spending, and are we substantially better off?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's unveiling new initiatives in hopes of doubling the international education sector. Education Minister Erica Stanford wants it to contribute 7.2 billion dollars to the economy by 2034. The Government's plan begins with expanding work rights to all tertiary students in approved exchange programmes. It's also allowing eligible students to work 25-hours per week - up from the current 20. It will also investigate a new short-duration work visa and streamlining multi-year visa application. Act Tertiary Education Spokesperson Dr Parmjeet Parmar told Andrew Dickens she welcomes the news.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I find it ironic that the government and the electorate are once a gain keen on getting rid of some of the layers of our council bureaucracy. First NZ First's Shane Jones publicly questioned the role of regional councils, pondering whether “there's going to be a compelling case for regional government to continue to exist”. Then Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking that the Government was looking at local government reform. On Friday Matthew Hooten wrote a piece about Regional Councils reiterating Chris Bishop's question that he's been asking many local councillors. Is there any point in having regional councils. So it's on the table. Of course the battle against bureaucracy is alive and well around the world. Duplication of services and excessive layers of governance means that savings could be made easily and safely and it's something we've always discussed. Last term the government reformed District Health Board from 20 boards into a single entity Health New Zealand or just that reason but the new government has taken against that and they've announced a return to locally delivered healthcare because they believe that in regional decision making is the best way to go. We're still waiting to see what that will look like. Meanwhile reform of regional councils looks awfully like the formation of Auckland's Super City. A reform that has a heap of enemies because of it's devolution of power away from communities. As Hooten says the reason we hate the Super City are the Council Controlled Organisations a move that was supposed to replicate State Owned Enterprises. But the problem there is that we can't but shares in CCOs so they become the worst of things. A mongrel hybrid of Council bureaucracies and Private Monopolies. So we seem to like amalgamating public bodies but then when it happens we moan that our voices are no longer heard and that bureaucracies have become too huge and out of control. So, what is it people.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mortgage-holders will be holding their breath in after yesterday's OCR announcement. The Reserve Bank's opted to keep the Official Cash Rate unchanged at 3.25% while signalling the possibility of further cuts. But new ASB research suggests interest rates remain volatile, with several opposing forces at play. Finance and Mortgage Association Country Manager Leigh Hodgetts told Andrew Dickens that they're holding out hope for a cut in August. She says that people are looking for a bit of relief in their household spending, which would come from interest rates coming down. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another poll. Another rush of fevered opinion, and yet still so far away from an election. The poll business is booming. Once upon a time we had just the two TV networks in the game, but now they've been joined by others. Keeping the opinion writers in business and politics as the leading news driver in this country. So this one was paid for by the Taxpayers Union and it breathlessly reports that New Zealand First is on the rise and is now the third most popular party. Winston may be 80, but it looks like he's here to stay. And the two major parties are pretty equal at 30 odd each - there is no dominant party right now in New Zealand. Other than that, the other take away is that we don't like the leaders of the major parities. Both leaders have popularity rankings less than 20%, and that's because they're both demonstrably a bit average. That's particularly concerning for National and the Prime Minister, who learned that 80% of New Zealanders don't rate him as PM. It reflects a deep dis-ease about where the country finds itself. In a week where we found that we grew not one jot in the last financial quarter, people are wondering why we've got so stuck in the mire. National's easy answer at the last election was that Labour was useless. But 18 months into National's governance I feel people are still wondering where we're going and whether, maybe, they're a bit useless too. I blame politics and the urge to politicise every issue and polarise the voters. Our current default position from our politicians is the other side is crap. Vote for us. But the country is saying you're both crap. There is no truth teller out there leading the way through the murk. And in this vacuum of leadership Winston shines by just doing the basics as a Foreign Minister well and not being useless. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New migration numbers may be painting a bleak picture of our economy. New Zealand saw it's highest net migration loss to Australia in the year to December in more than a decade - with 30 thousand leaving. Overall net migration for the May 2025 year levelled out at a gain of just under 15 thousand. But ASB Senior Economist Mark Smith told Andrew Dickens net migration is normally about a 30 thousand person inflow. He says over the past few years, there's been a sharp slowdown in the number of people coming in, and we've also seen record numbers leaving - which reflects the weakness in the economy. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast Friday 11th of July 2025, the Government's going to address the country's scamming issues head on with a anti-scam alliance, NZ Banking Association Chief Executive Roger Beaumont, tells Andrew Dickens the difference it will make. The All Blacks are taking on France this weekend in Wellington, Newstalk ZB's Jason Pine shares his thoughts ahead of the game. Just under 30 thousand New Zealanders left the country for Australia last year, the highest level of emigration across the ditch since 2012. Plus, UK/Europe Correspondent Vincent McAviney has the latest on a new deal between the UK and France which addresses small boat crossings. 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.

The Rural Support Trust believes beneficiaries will make a difference to the flooding clean-up in the upper South Island. The Government's activated a beneficiary task force in Tasman and Marlborough, to support those affected by severe weather. Tasman has 600 work-ready beneficiaries. Rural Support's Top of the South chair, Richard Kempthorne told Andrew Dickens the initiative's worked well before. He doesn't know what happens if people are physically and mentally capable and refuse to do the work. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Andrew Dickens Full Show Podcast Thursday 10th of July 2025, the Reserve Bank kept the OCR at 3.25%, Finance and Mortgages Association country Manager Leigh Hodgetts tells Andrew Dickens what this means for mortgages. Our video game sector is having a major boom due to a government tax rebate, NZ Game Developers Association Executive Director Joy Keene shares his thoughts. Some Jobseeker beneficiaries are being sent to Tasman and Marlborough to help with the clean up of flooding, Rural support trust top of the South Chairperson and Former Tasman District Mayor Richard Kempthorne tells Andrew how much of a difference they're making for clean up support. Plus, US Correspondent Mitch McCann has the latest on the Texas floods and President Trump meeting with African Leaders Following USAID Cuts. 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.

A tax rebate scheme's helped boost the number of people employed in the video game sector by more than 20%. The four-year, $160 million Game Development Sector Rebate allows eligible studios to claim back 20% of their spend. Forty studios will receive a share of $22.4 million this year, for its second year. Game Development Association Executive Director Joy Keene told Andrew Dickens the sector's booming compared to a few years ago. She says it's been a game-changer, as a lot of New Zealand studios were looking to move to Australia because of their rebate. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a while now I've been thinking that the Reserve bank and the Government are working at cross purposes for the country. Yesterday the Reserve Bank kept the OCR at the same rate it's at. The reason: increasing inflation and little or no growth in GDP. Now the Government has an agenda of growth, growth, growth. So reduced interest rates could help stimulate the economy that has some very flat spots in between primary produce and tourism. But the Reserve Bank's purview is inflation, and low interest rates fire on consumerism and inflation. So, the rate isn't lowered. It's fair to say the Reserve Bank won't do what the Government would like it to do. Meanwhile, the Government pulls back on all government spending, including stuff that fires on an economy, like construction, public builds, roading, and more. If you want proof: Government accounts in the 11 months to the end of May for investing and operational activities was $3 billion less than forecast and $6.4 billion less than the same 11 months a year ago. So, the money isn't stirring. And as the interest rates have fallen, we're not using the cheaper cash to spend. Our farmers and our businesses and households are choosing to pay back debt instead. The Government wants private capital to invest in this country, but the cash isn't cheap, and the investments aren't coming, and as I said before why would anyone want to invest in this country when even the government is keeping it's wallet shut? So welcome to year three of recession with no change in sight unless the policies of the Reserve Bank and the Government work in tandem.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast for Wednesday 9th of July, the OCR has been cut six times in a row... what will happen today? ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner joins Andrew Dickens to discuss why a cut should happen, but probably won't. Business NZ Advocacy Director Catherine Beard explains what the Government's new AI strategy means for business. And Mayor of Hamilton Paula Southgate reacts to Les Bleus snubbing a stay in the Tron for the final test in the series. Get the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hamilton's not losing sleep over the French rugby team's decision to snub the city. The Les Bleus are basing themselves in Auckland for as long as possible before the third test against the All Blacks in Waikato next week. A spokesperson says the team prefer the facilities in Auckland. Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate told Andrew Dickens the city does sporting events very well, using its co-hosting of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup as an example. She says the event was very pleased with the facilities at FMG Stadium and believed Hamilton's hosting was some of the best. The Mayor says thousands of visitors are heading to the city for the game. Southgate says they're going to pack out local business and accommodation and thinks it's the French team's loss. The second test is on Saturday night in Wellington. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, the Government's KiwiSaver contribution was halved under budget changes. Employers will also have to fork out a mandatory 4% contribution to adjust for the deficit left by the Government's contibution. That bump's expected to stifle potential salary increases, and in turn, our retirement funds - leading many to question what changes we really need, and what we can do for ourselves, to support our golden years. Retired financial advisor and writer Martin Hawes joins Andrew Dickens for Smart Money... LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apartment blocks are being heralded as the best way to get on the property-ladder, but is there a better route? Will these properties be worth it? How confident can we feel with where the market's heading with intensification? Additionally: Wellington house prices are dropping, but what risks are there for buyers? Andrew Dickens is joined by Property Expert Nichole Lewis... LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.