Larry Williams Drive

Parents, friends and partners of Taylor Swift fans will have the opportunity to take a college class on the pop star. Glasgow Clyde College aims to educate students on Swift's songs, 'evolving wardrobe and hairstyles' and crowd chants ahead of her tour's stop in Edinburgh. UK correspondent Gavin Grey says the course has been designed to get casual listeners up to speed on all things Taylor. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Restaurant Brands New Zealand is enjoying a strong first quarter for the 2024 financial year. The restaurant operator reported $302.6 million in sales, a 7.9 percent increase from the same period last year. Milford Asset Management's Jeremy Hutton explains Restaurant Brands' financial recovery. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government plans to tax commercial property owners an extra $575 million a year in order to fund residential property and income tax cuts.  Finance Minister Nicola Willis is standing by her decision to remove ability for commercial and industrial owners to deduct depreciation as an expense going forward. NZ Herald Wellington business editor Jenee Tibshraeny explains the impact of these changes. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Question marks over the Christchurch Call, as Budget Day approaches. Newstalk ZB's revealed the organisation led by Dame Jacinda Ardern has been accused of pressuring its advisory network to not publicise critical reports. Prime Minister Chris Luxon says it's done good things - but now there's a conversation to be had, on how the organisation evolves now, five years on. ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper wonders if the Christchurch Call can serve a purpose. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Insurance Council is backing calls for Kiwis to lift their understanding of the risks of natural hazards. The Reserve Bank has released an excerpt on insurance in its upcoming Financial Stability Report. It says insurers, Government, home buyers and lenders all need to up their knowledge, so that future insurance affordability challenges, can be better managed. Insurance Council chief executive Kris Faafoi says it's likely more places will become harder to insure as more risks are identified. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Foreign Minister Winston Peters has delivered a speech to the Institute of International Affairs at Parliament. Peters laid out the the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand's foreign policy - touching on the war in both Ukraine and Gaza. He outlined our position in AUKUS, saying we must first be invited to join in the first place. ZB political reporter Sophie Trigger says Peters says the Government will need to weigh up the economic and security benefits and costs of any decision either way. A woman interrupted Peters, holding up a sign protesting AUKUS before being thrown out. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Wednesday, 1 May 2024, the unemployment rate has risen to 4.3% - the highest it's been in three years. BNZ's Stephen Toplis tells Heather whether this means we'll see interest rates drop soon. The Real Estate Institute is disappointed the Government doesn't want to regulate property managers anymore. Former National MP Simon O'Connor reveals how he found out he was targeted by Chinese hackers - but the Government didn't tell him. The Huddle gets into a rowdy debate over whether the Hamilton-Auckland train is worth our money, and whether we should keep testing the elderly before reissuing their drivers licences. Plus the best bits from James Shaw's final speech in Parliament. 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.

Tonight on The Huddle, Matt Heath from Radio Hauraki and Jack Tame From ZB's Saturday Mornings and Q&A joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! New reports show the Hamilton-Auckland Te Huia train service is meeting all its targets. Does this mean the Government should keep funding it? How long can the service last? The Government has scrapped a Bill designed to regulate property managers, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop blaming the added costs to property managers and marginal benefits. Do residential property managers need more regulations? Advocacy group Grey Power is calling for changes to elderly driver assessments, claiming the current process penalises licence holders in most need. Is this fair? What do we think? LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's hope that the Te Huia train service from Hamilton to Auckland is on track for more funding after July. An interim performance assessment of the past two years shows increased demand with targets for 250 passengers a day on weekdays and 100 on the weekend being achieved. It's also meeting its net emissions goal 80 percent of the time. Waikato regional councillor Angela Strange says the service has been exceeding established targets. "What the report doesn't show is that since we've added new services, we're smashing those targets out of the room." LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grey Power is calling for a change in elderly driver assessments, claiming the current process penalises licence holders in most need. The SIMARD-MD and Mini-ACE are cognitive tests designed to identify drivers at risk, but these tests have faced criticism for not accounting for driving ability.  Grey Power vice president David Marshall says people have labelled these tests 'demeaning'. "A vast majority of the patients aren't at that stage, so they go through the stress of these tests - and then they can forget and fail and then have to be sent on for additional testing." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A former National MP has revealed details of being targeted by Chinese state-sponsored hackers in 2021. Simon O'Connor and former Labour MP Louisa Wall claim they were specifically hit in the cyber-attack, revealed last month. Both say they weren't informed by the current or previous Government - and want an investigation. Both represented New Zealand on the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. O'Connor says the hackers sent a dodgy pixel in an emailed image. "If we'd opened it, it would have sent information such as what browser we'd been using, what's our IP address - and that's then sort of the first steps for a further attempt to be made to extricate more information from our systems." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Economists forecast unemployment will climb higher. New data shows it reached 4.3 percent in March, up from 4 percent in the December quarter. This comes at a time where higher interest rates are biting, as the Reserve Bank tries to rein in inflation. BNZ Head of Research Stephen Toplis says it could go as high as 5.5 percent. "We're really sort of experiencing, I think, the worst of things at the moment. But before the labour market turns around, you're probably looking at another six to nine months after that. So I think the unemployment rate keeps rising until the middle of next year." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over in the US, police are still out in full force at New York's Columbia University. Hundreds of officers have cleared a campus building occupied by students holding a pro-Palestinian protest. US correspondent, Dan Mitchinson, says police have been asked to stay through the middle of the month. He says it's sparked activism on dozens of campuses. "I don't think we've had demonstrations like these probably since the 60's - not since the Vietnam war protests." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kirk Penney has become just the second New Zealander to earn selection in international basketball's Hall of Fame. The Tall Blacks icon will join Pero Cameron - selected in 2017 - as a FIBA Hall of Famer. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explains further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's disappointment a Bill that would have regulated property managers more has been withdrawn. Housing Minister Chris Bishop has scrapped the Property Managers bill, saying the cost-benefit was marginal at best. He says it would have cost tenants and landlords. Real Estate Institute CEO Jen Baird says the figures involved were small. "Some of the numbers that I've seen have been 43 cents per property per week, up to about $2.50 per property per week." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prince Harry is set to visit the UK for the Invictus Games's 10-year anniversary - but he won't be meeting with his father. Reports suggest King Charles' diary is full and the monarch will be 'too busy' to see Prince Harry this time. UK correspondent Enda Brady says this shows tensions are still high between the rest of the royals and Harry. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The latest ANZ Business Outlook survey shows confidence is declining. Business confidence dropped 8 points to +15 in April, expected own activity fell 9 points to +14, and past own activity dropped 13 points to -20. Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen explains what this means for the state of the economy.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australian financial markets appear to be bracing themselves for bad news. They've made a sudden shift from pricing in rate cuts to pricing in potential rate hikes, and economists fear increases to the OCR are coming. HSBC chief economist Paul Bloxham says interest rates aren't likely to be dropping any time this year. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia's farmers have been struggling under ongoing droughts and low rainfall. The unfavourable weather conditions have led to farmers de-stocking or selling their stock at a significant loss. The Country's Rowena Duncum warns it'll take more than one rainstorm to address this. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A newly-released report from the entity tasked with setting MPs' pay has recommended multiple pay rises over the coming three years. The Remuneration Authority's recommendation would see the Prime Minister's salary incrementally go from $471,000 a year now, to $520,000 a year in July 2026. ZB political correspondent Barry Soper says the perception is this is concerning, in light of recent cuts to the pay of medical workers. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.