Larry Williams Drive

The Finance Minister says the Reserve Bank should have given the reasons behind Governor Adrian Orr's abrupt departure - sooner. It released documents yesterday showing Orr resigned over Government funding being well below the Budget allocation he sought. Nicola Willis criticised the central bank's delay in outlining the reasons. NZ Herald political editor Thomas Coughlan explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Pentagon is launching a fresh review of the AUKUS security pact with Australia and the UK. A US defence official says the review aims to ensure the pact meets Donald Trump's 'America First' agenda. Australia is relying on the agreement to acquire nuclear-powered submarines. Australian correspondent Murray Olds says there's growing calls among Australians for the nation to back out of AUKUS - but Australia needs the alliance. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The final of a controversial 'run it straight' event offering $200,000 to the winner has been shifted from Auckland to the Middle East amid calls for it to be banned. Australian-based Runit Championship League held two trial events at Trusts Arena last month - but the West Auckland venue pulled out of hosting the final, citing safety concerns. Now, the organisation has announced the final will be held in Dubai this month, with the date yet to be confirmed. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explains further.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

According to a new report by NZIER, Kiwi households are wasting thousands worth of food every year. New Zealanders waste $1500 worth of food annually, and new data shows the country is among one of the highest producers of general waste in the OECD - and that it has some of the lowest material productivity in the world. WasteMINZ CEO Nic Quilty says Kiwis don't treat waste as a resource - and it's a problem. "When you buy something, think about how long you're going to use it for, is it good quality and is it going to end up in a landfill? We don't want these things ending up in landfill, we want them to continually remain in our economy for as long as possible." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ten people have been killed in a high school shooting in the Austrian city of Graz in the country's deadliest shooting attack since World War Two. Dozens more have been injured. A 21-year-old former student - thought to be the gunman - is also dead. UK correspondent Gavin Grey says the area has been 'devastated' by this attack - and a three-day period of mourning has begun.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The NZ sharemarket lifted today as Fletcher Building announced it had received inquiries from parties interested in buying its businesses. The S&P/NZX 50 Index closed up 0.33% or 41.51 points, rising to 12,605.93, with 39,702,689 shares changing hands to the value of $139.77 million. Milford Asset Management's Sam Trethewey explains further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are fears Finance Minister Nicola Willis is opening a can of worms by potentially allowing young farmers to dip into their KiwiSavers to buy farms. She explained she was seeking advice from the IRD on the matter, which is yet to be considered by Cabinet. NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny weighed in on the debate. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, Jack Tame from ZB's Saturday Mornings and Q&A and Jordan Williams from the Taxpayers' Union joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!  Groundswell is calling on the Government to pull New Zealand out of the Paris Agreement. Do we see ourselves leaving - or will the agreement fall apart on its own? Biotechnology company 23andMe is being taken to court by multiple US states over plans to auction off customers' personal genetic information without their consent. Have we ever done one of these tests? What would happen if this data got sold? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Education Minister Erica Stanford has called in some help from international experts in a bid to get the nation's education stats on the up. Former UK Minister of Schools, Sir Nick Gibb, led similar charges a decade ago - and the UK went from the bottom of OECD ranking to 4th in the world for reading and 11th for maths. He's consulting with Erica Stanford - and he's revealed what New Zealand can learn from its international counterparts. "We looked to East Asia to see how maths was taught - the people at the top of the tables - and we basically copied and learned from those countries and we brought that method into England. That's why we have risen in terms of reading and in terms of maths as well." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I think in the end, Groundswell is gonna be proven right - but I don't think they're gonna get what they want right now and I don't think they should get what they want right now. Because what they want is for New Zealand to pull out of the Paris Agreement. Now, we cannot pull out of the Paris Agreement. At least, we can't pull out right now, right? We cannot be one of the first to pull out, because the first lot of countries that pull out of the Paris Agreement are going to be the ones who are blamed for destroying the agreement, and they will pay for it reputationally. And frankly, here in New Zealand, we rely way too much on our good guy reputation for tourism and trading and so on to risk being seen to not care about climate change. But I think that eventually we will pull out - or more likely, the agreement will fall apart by itself because it's not working. I mean, just look at the numbers. We are supposed to hit our first significant target - the 2030 target - in five years' time. We're not g

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Wednesday, 11 June 2025, the real story of why Adrian Orr quit his Reserve Bank Governor job is out... so what was all the secrecy about? The Israeli ambassador speaks to Heather after the NZ Government imposed a travel ban on two Israeli Ministers. A luxury real estate agent reckons we could attract hundreds of millions of dollars in investment from overseas if only we let foreign investors buy homes here. Former UK education Minister Sir Nick Gibb on how he turned around shocking reading and maths rates in the UK. Plus, the Huddle debates the use of DNA tests as 23andMe gets sued for trying to sell people's genetic data. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An open letter has been written to the Prime Minister urging Luxon to ease the ban on foreign house buyers. This letter comes after multiple NBR Rich Listers told NBR that making it easier for foreign investors to buy homes here would make New Zealand a better place to do business. Luxury property real estate agent Anthony Morsinkhof provided the open letter - and he says he has clients looking to invest in New Zealand. "I've got clients there that want to invest into big land developments for residential houses, I've got a biotech company that wants to come to New Zealand  - I've got a lot of different sorts of people who want to invest here in New Zealand and they want to buy properties."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An Israeli diplomat is criticising New Zealand's sanctioning two of his country's ministers.  Our Foreign Minister's barred the two high-ranking politicians from travelling here, following the lead of Australia, the UK, Canada, and Norway.   Winston Peters says they are extremists who've advocated for violating international law.  Ambassador to New Zealand, Alon Roth-Snir, says he wishes international allies would instead help work on a ceasefire.  "We are for talks, we are for dialogues, we are not for putting blame or putting whatever was done yesterday to our ministers." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Biotechnology company 23andMe is being taken to court by over 27 US states over plans to auction off customers' personal genetic information without their consent. The company has collected biological samples and genetic information from over 15 million customers - including many here in New Zealand. Privacy lawyer Rick Shera says 23andMe's built a tempting service - but you never know where this stuff will end up. "We don't know what they're going to do with it, and that's the problem. Terms of service and privacy policies can be changed almost willy-nilly these days." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New research paints a stark picture of the consequences of Oranga Tamariki's system not helping young Māori enough. An Independent Children's Monitor report shows tamariki and rangatahi Māori are over-represented - and being let down. They make up two-thirds of those in care and more than three-quarters in youth justice custody. Monitor Chief Executive Arran Jones says young Māori adults involved in the system as children are nine times more likely to have lived in emergency housing. "This report makes the case for that investment approach - putting the right people in place at the earliest time." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A former Reserve Bank economist is calling out his former employers' lack of transparency. The bank today revealed Adrian Orr quit as Governor in March, when the five-year funding for the RBNZ was much less than anticipated.  Michael Reddell says the bank waited far too long to say why Orr left so abruptly.   "It's just extraordinary - maybe they couldn't tell us the full story on the day, but the new Reserve Bank funding agreement was published on the 16th of April. There's absolutely no excuse at this point for lack of clarity."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Revelation of long-awaited details of Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr's March resignation. In February, Orr emailed his board - saying there were significant differences in the funding needed and how much the Government would provide. The bank confirmed its board agreed to a lesser amount of funding and that caused Orr's resignation. NZ Herald political editor Thomas Coughlan says it's unclear why the central bank was so secretive about this matter. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Protesters are being arrested one-by-one in downtown LA's mile-square curfew zone. Mayor Karen Bass called the curfew after looting and violence at the protests over the President's migrant deportations. Californian leaders are slamming Donald Trump for sending in Marines and troops to California, and demonstrations have broken out in other US cities. US correspondent Dan Mitchinson says many believe the US president has over-stepped his authority. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Golfer Ryan Fox is refusing to buy too much into his victories at Myrtle Beach and Toronto as an indicator for potential US Open success. Four of the last five PGA Tour tournaments have been won by Fox or three-time major winner Scottie Scheffler. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explains further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Groundswell is using Fieldays' first day to call for New Zealand to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement.  The grassroots advocacy group seeks to halt or rewrite what regulations impacting farmers it calls 'unworkable'.  Co-founder Bryce McKenzie says the agreement's costing New Zealand money and farming land.  He says the wind's changed on this issue.  "And I think Winston is certainly going to look at it and it's going to be more of an election issue, I think, than anything else. We all know Winston's pretty astute at picking where the people are going." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.