Surely that judge throwing out the election result in Auckland has started the clock ticking on postal voting.

This case may not seem a big deal given that it involves just 79 votes, in just one subdivision, in just one relatively small local board election in Auckland.

But the 79 may just be the tip of the iceberg. It may be that hundreds of ballot papers in that subdivision were stolen from letterboxes, filled in and sent in as legit votes.

Now Ken Turner from the Waitakere's is also considering legal options because he reckons something funny happened with 212 votes in his election too.

None of this is a surprise to me because years ago when friends of mine were flatting, as happens, mail turned up for previous tenants.

Some of that mail was voting papers. So my friends filled the papers in and sent them all back in as legitimate votes and no one ever got in trouble for it.

We all know the mail voting system is ripe for being gamed.

But perhaps in our naivety we hadn’t imagined it would go from a bunch of silly flatties to what seems like may have been an orchestrated rigging of an election.

Postal voting should go the way of the horse and cart. It's not the only reason so many of us can’t be bothered with council elections, but it is a significant part of it.

You get the mail, pop it on the counter, forget about it, find it after election day is well past, or find it too hard to remember where to find a post box.

Not only does it make it harder to vote, it also makes it harder to trust the election outcome.

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It’s not a Kiwi summer without Six60, and the county’s highest selling live band is rolling on.

They’ve dropped their latest single, ‘We Made It’, coming in the wake of their bestselling Australian performance at the Sydney Opera House.

They’ll also have the honour of being the first live act to perform at the new One NZ Stadium in Christchurch and are curating a new country and roots music festival, taking place this summer in Matakana.

Lead singer Matiu Walters told Heather du Plessis-Allan it’s just a one-day festival at the moment, but they have plans to grow.

“It’s definitely a tough time for the arts, music, and for everyone really, to be fair,” he said.

“We didn’t, we never want to kind of just, to like, rest on our laurels.”

Over the years they’ve been performing, Six60 has smashed records, being labelled as the country’s first-ever Chart Icon at the 2025 Aotearoa Music Awards, and Walters says their drive stems from their desire to do “cool stuff”.

“Our goal was, was always just to write and perform music, and my purpose is to sing and play guitar, and all these things that kind of happened around us,” he told du Plessis-Allan.

“We’re aspirational dudes.”

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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast with Heather du Plessis-Allan Full Show Podcast for Thursday 18th of December, we speak to the new Deputy Police Commissioner and preview the Q3 GDP number.

The Government is saying the road cone hotline's performed as desired, so they’re shutting it down – six months early.

Six60 lead singer Matiu Walters stops by for a chat and performs their new single 'We Made It'.

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A Kiwi classic with added convenience.

Rotorua has its first hot pie vending machine, stocked with the famous Maketū Pies.

All ten varieties are on offer in the machine, which sits just outside the I-site and besides the Redwoods Treewalk.

General Manager Craig Williams told Heather du Plessis-Allan the site was selected for visibility, with around 700,000 tourists passing through per day.

He says a lot of international tourists are looking for a hot pie as part of their Kiwi experience, and the novelty of the machine will capture attention.

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Hopes a Reserve Bank move will translate to better prices for borrowers might be overly optimistic.

It is changing the mix of capital banks are required to hold, aiming to reduce funding costs and freeing up around $5 billion in equity across the sector.

It’s also targeting closing the gap between bigger and smaller banks, making the market more competitive.

Financial Markets and Banking Expert Andrew Body told Heather du Plessis-Allan that the change might result in a couple more chicken dinners for your average borrower, but nothing substantial.

He says the big deal here is competition, which will require political leadership like we’ve seen in housing, education, and health to solve.

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The Government maintains its road cone hotline has been worthwhile.

The pilot, which encouraged the public to report excessive cone use, ends tomorrow, six months ahead of schedule.

Site visits found 86% of work sites were already compliant.

Workplace Relations Minister Brooke Van Velden told Heather du Plessis-Allan the hotline has found there are issues with the traffic management plans councils design.

She says the people on the ground putting the cones out aren't the problem.

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Newly minted Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Pannett says he's up for the challenge as he starts the job.

His predecessor Jevon McSkimming was given nine months home detention yesterday, for possessing objectionable material.

Pannett told Heather du Plessis-Allan the reputational damage from McSkimming is something police need to take into account.

He says policing is even more complex and dynamic now than it has been in the past, and there’s some big challenges ahead of them.

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Schools and kura could have an important role to play in preventing youth suicide.

Coroner Tania Tetitaha's inquiry into the self-inflicted deaths of six young people finds they were effectively lost in a fragmented system.

Children's Commissioner Claire Achmad says we need to make sure getting help is as easy as possible at the earliest stages of distress.

She told Heather du Plessis-Allan school-based services like counselling and social workers provide a lot of benefits.

Achmad says their presence makes them more accessible and more trusted by children and young people.

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