Episodes

  • Gary Petley: South Waikato mayor on Carter Holt Harvey looking to close Tokoroa manufacturing plant
    Sep 16 2025

    There's concern South Waikato's Tokoroa is facing another factory closure, with more than 100 jobs on the chopping block.

    Carter Holt Harvey is looking at closing its plywood manufacturing plant, the company has told staff.

    South Waikato mayor Gary Petley says he doesn't know all the details, but it's another blow for the region.

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    4 mins
  • Jessica Walker: Consumer NZ Acting Head of Research and Advocacy on Wattie's encouraging consumers to buy NZ-grown peaches
    Sep 16 2025

    The influence of the New Zealand-made label appears to be decreasing as more consumers prioritise price.

    Wattie's is ending some of its contracts with Hawke's Bay peach growers and says more people are choosing imported alternatives.

    It says the demand for New Zealand-grown peaches has seen a steady decline in recent years.

    Consumer NZ Acting Head of Research and Advocacy Jessica Walker says less and less consumers are prioritising locally-sourced products.

    "At the same time, we're seeing concerns about price, cost of food and groceries ratchet up...more people are cutting back on fruit and veg altogether, so I'm not surprised."

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    4 mins
  • Perspective with Heather du Plessis-Allan: Does buying NZ-made ever work?
    Sep 16 2025

    First of all, can I start by offering an apology to TVNZ? I gave them a bit of grief last night for starting the news bulletin with the peaches, but it turns out I was wrong and they were right.

    This has sparked a flurry of debate over whether we prefer our Wattie's peaches from Hawke's Bay or whether we don't really care if it comes from China or not.

    It's also prompted a statement from Wattie's asking us to support local growers. In other words, can we please buy New Zealand made?

    Now, that is a very nice sentiment, but let's be honest, that's all it is. It is a sentiment and it's not going to work.

    I mean, this is me, this is not me being cavalier about how hard this must be for the Hawke's Bay peach growers who are losing their Wattie's contracts. For them, this must be absolutely devastating and I feel terrible for them.

    But this is me being realistic about the prospect of any 'Buy New Zealand Made' campaign working.

    Wattie's New Zealand peaches, according to Pak’nSave's online store, are $3.90 a can. Pam's cheap peaches are 99 cents a can. That's a no-brainer, you're gonna buy the 99 cent can.

    Who is buying the $3.90 can? Grey Lynn? That makes no sense whatsoever.

    I mean - look, maybe if I thought about it a little bit, which I don't, but if I did, maybe I would pay 10, 20 cents, 40 cents at a push, more for a New Zealand made product. But I would not pay four times as much, it's far too expensive.

    And I wouldn't even do it in the first place because buying New Zealand made never works, does it? It never has. If it did, we would still be wearing Bata Bullets and buying Juliet Hogan and eating Sanitarium peanut butter.

    We wouldn't be reading about the closure of manufacturing businesses every other month, which today, by the way, is the Carter Holt Harvey mill in Tokoroa.

    I do the shopping in our house 90 percent of the time and I don't even know the provenance of the food I'm buying. I do not know where the canned food comes from, I absolutely do not know where the dried goods come from. And often, I'm not even really looking where the fresh fruit comes from.

    Yep, I know where the meat comes from, but that's basically a given, isn't it?

    It's simple economics, it always will be.

    And even if Wattie's has this tiny little hope that there might be a last-minute public rally for the New Zealand grown peaches, I think they already know the outcome, which is why they've already cut the contracts.

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    2 mins
  • Katherine Rich: Business NZ CEO on the services sector contracting for the 18th consecutive month
    Sep 15 2025

    Our largest sector is continuing to do it tough.

    Latest data from BNZ and Business NZ shows our services sector —which makes up almost three quarters of the economy— has contracted for the 18th consecutive month.

    Our manufacturing sector is also back in contraction after a period of growth.

    Business NZ Chief Executive Katherine Rich told Mike Hosking we're still seeing a tale of two economies.

    She says the primary sector is doing quite well, but the services sector is continuing to face challenges.

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    3 mins
  • Shane Solly: Harbour Asset Management expert on the latest economic data revealing things are still shrinking
    Sep 15 2025

    New data suggests New Zealand's economic turmoil is far from over.

    New economic data from Stats NZ prompted BNZ to increase its estimate of the size of the contraction in the economy in the three months to the end of June.

    Harbour Asset Management expert Shane Solly explained further.

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    4 mins
  • Jason Paris: One NZ CEO on the new service designed to show mobile outages in real time
    Sep 15 2025

    A new service has been launched that's designed to show mobile network outages in real time.

    The service builds on the Hourua partnership between Spark and One NZ, and experts believe it'll be helpful for operations taking place during natural emergencies, such as cyclones.

    One NZ CEO Jason Paris says this development means services will be able to be restored during emergencies much quicker.

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    4 mins
  • Nicola Willis: Finance Minister addresses protesters chained outside her electorate office
    Sep 15 2025

    Nicola Willis has responded to protesters chained to the outside of her Johnsonville electorate office.

    The group of Christian leaders want an urgent timeline from the Government for implementing sanctions against Israel over the war in Gaza.

    They're praying and fasting - and say they're prepared to stay overnight.

    Willis says she supports the right to protest, however they're getting in the way of people who want to get help from her office.

    She says security have been engaged by Parliamentary Services, and security have been engaging with the police.

    Five clergy were trespassed from Simeon Brown's Pakuranga electorate office earlier today.

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    8 mins
  • Louise Upston: Tourism Minister on the Government looking into changing the rules so more concerts can be hosted
    Sep 15 2025

    More events across the board could be coming to Auckland's Eden Park.

    RMA Minister Chris Bishop will lead an investigation into local rules impacting the number of concerts and sporting events that can be held and curfews impacting how long they can run for.

    Currently, only 12 music events and 25 night-time sports fixtures can be held each year, while conferences can't have more than 2000 people.

    Tourism Minister Louise Upston says Eden Park should have the flexibility to host any large-scale event that boosts the economy.

    "Whether it's an add on to a convention that we're hosting at the NZICC for 3,000 people and they want to do a dinner offsite and Eden Park makes sense - we want to be able to just get on."

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    4 mins