Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

A Wairarapa secondary school says its plan for random drug searches is about identifying issues students may have and nipping them in the bud.Kuranui College in Greytown will have handlers and their dogs sweep the property during school time, including classrooms and lockers - but won't search students themselves.Principal Simon Fuller says it's not about kicking students out of school, but rather part of a wider education initiative.He says they're not immune to outside society influences and are trying to take a more proactive and rigorous approach to teaching students.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We've talked a lot about the 501 deportations lately and how unjust and downright grubby that Australian policy is.Just a week ago the Prime Minister was in Australia and most New Zealanders backed what she was saying, how it's wrong, immoral even, for the Aussies to send back crims when they've got no connections here, and haven't lived here since they were tiny kids.Here’s a bit of a tricky situation.A former inmate here is due to be deported back to Samoa.Immigration was actually serving Mose Vaipapa with deportation papers at the same time Jacinda Ardern was in Australia, putting our case to Anthony Albanese.Open Justice reports he's a 29-year-old, originally from Samoa, who came here at the age of four.Now he's done 15 years for two rapes he committed at the age of 14.While he was inside he seriously assaulted two guards, and got his sentence extended.He's done his time like the 501s and because he's not a New Zealand citizen and there's obviously nothing desirable about his character, we want him gone.B

Markets see, markets do.Global markets have been following US stock market trends, which investors say has gone down because of worse than expected US inflation rates.The NZX was down 2.6 percent yesterday, and over the last 100 days has gone down by 20 percent.Harbour Asset Management Portfolio Manager Shane Solly told Tim Dower the NZX is heavily influenced by the US.He says the US federal reserve, the US central bank, are likely to put in a point 75 increase in the next few days, which will push interest rates to the highest they've been since 1994.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A report into ACC has found privacy issues among staff.The independent review found the agency doesn't adequately monitor and audit staff access and use of client information.It follows the revelation last October, that more than a dozen employees were sharing private client details on social media app Snapchat.Auckland University commercial law expert Gehan Gunasekara told Tim Dower the sharing of personal information is appalling.He says it's very sensitive health information that ACC's clients would expect to be the object of social derision.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If someone in your family suggests you have a look at Patrick Gower's alcohol documentary, perhaps you should take the hint.I watched it before coming to work this morning and I've read some of what's been written about it online.The way I understand it, Gower didn't set out on a journey of self-discovery.The plan to begin with was a serious investigation of New Zealanders' relationship with alcohol, and why we're some of the heaviest boozers on the planet.But it became very personal.Now, I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, but the are some very candid, revealing, awkward and downright embarrassing scenes of Patrick Gower off his face.So what's the value of that you might ask? You can walk around any main centre of any town in the country at night and you'll see that.I think the value of it was to show very bluntly, and in a way anyone can understand, how normal it is for us to see alcohol being used to excess, even if we don't do it ourselves.And for the most part, we think it's funny

Football fans will be up early to see if New Zealand can book a spot in the Fifa World Cup.The All Whites are taking on Costa Rica and the score is 1-0 to the South Americans at halftime in Doha.If they pull it off, they'll be in the World Cup for only the third time.Ricki Herbert coached the team into their last World Cup run in 2010.Herbert joined Early Edition.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

High demand is expected to drive up the cost of flights.Air New Zealand is warning it's going to have to hike fares due to rising fuel costs, as more people start to fly again.One aviation industry expert has compared our air fares to the same expensive prices we saw in the 1970sFormer aviation boss Irene King told Andrew Dickens Air New Zealand has a lot of cost pressures on them.She says this is a classic supply and demand problem, underpinned by fairly savage price increases in their basic inputs.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Police Association hopes the new minister will listen to those on the front line.Chris Hipkins replaces Poto Williams as Police Minister after she faced strong criticism.Jacinda Ardern says she and Williams agreed the focus of the portfolio wasn't where it needed to be.Association president Chris Cahill told Andrew Dickens he thinks Hipkins will be more directBut he says they'd be naïve to think he can solve gang problems and drive by shootings in Auckland overnight.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A push to prioritise people over cars on Auckland's main street.Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick and the City Centre Residents' Group are calling for the council to pedestrianise Queen Street, changing it from a thoroughfare to a destination.They say it will transform the area into a cultural hub and living space for 40,000 residents.Chlöe Swarbrick told Andrew Dickens you only have to look at George Street in Sydney to see how the idea can succeed.She says they closed four and half thousand square metres to traffic.Swarbrick says they committed to their plan and it got even better - and no one can imagine it going back to the way it was.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yesterday's minor cabinet shuffle became a major one after two resignations.Trevor Mallard steps down as speaker, much to everyone’s relief. Laughingly one of the least diplomatic members of Parliament is moving into a diplomatic position in Europe.  Cynics, like ACT, have suggested that it’s so he can get a knighthood before the Government changes at the next election.Meanwhile, Kris Faa’foi steps down to spend more time with his family. Cynics would say he checked out a while back and I think that’s true. Immigration in particular has been bogged down and needs a strong hand to whip it back into action and Kris wasn’t that man.I wish he’d admitted his priorities earlier but he goes with my support and good wishes.So those two big moves gave the Prime Minister the chance to attack some glaring weaknesses.Most notably, Poto Williams, who loses Police to Chris Hipkins.Poto Williams was immensely unsuited to the Police role. She lacked confidence and the ability to speak straight.  Like many in Labour’s caucus

It is no secret that tourism is struggling to recruit workers, but the extent of the shortage is becoming apparent.The sector lost 65,000 workers at the beginning of the pandemic, and they're not all coming back.Migrants on working holiday visas are not making a difference so far.That creates flow on effects, slower service and shorter opening hours, and some say this could affect our reputation to overseas tourists.Director at Hotel Council Aotearoa James Doolan joined Andrew Dickens.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tech experts say National's proposed plan to stop gang insignia on social media could be tricky to do.If it came to power, the party says it would ban gang patches in public - including online.It would also stop gang members gathering in public and accessing guns.Gorilla Technology chief executive Paul Spain told Andrew Dickens if there's legislation putting pressure on social media companies, they may monitor it themselves.He says there likely wouldn't be enough resources to monitor it in Police - as it would end up needing a huge number of people.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I was really disappointed that Christopher Luxon hung his hat on the patch banning gangs policy, mostly because the policy is not new. It's proposed every time a political party want to be perceived as tough on crime - and it has been discredited every time it's been proposed.And it has been tried before in Whanganui.  Michael Laws argues it was a success, and yes it kept gang patches out of the city centre for a while.  But it didn’t decrease gang crime.Embarrassingly for National, Chester Borrows, who was part of National at the time and argued for its use, stated in the Sunday papers that it never really worked.The former Court Minister and cop and MP for Whanganui passed a Prohibition of Gang Insignia into law 13 years ago.As National calls for a similar law to be introduced nationwide, Chester Borrows was quoted yesterday as saying it would be ineffectual and it's purely designed for big headlines.It's not the answer National makes it out to be.Even more confusingly it saw National Party members who have

The Queen will skip the upcoming Commonwealth Games, it's been reported today.The Games are set to take place for two weeks from July 28 in Birmingham, two hours north of London. Daily Mail reports that the Queen will not be in attendance, with Prince Charles expected to fill in for her.The outlet reports that the 96-year-old monarch, who has grown increasingly frail, will stay home, with Prince Charles expected to stand in for her during the opening ceremony and other events. Other royals are expected to attend many events, given the Games are happening on home soil.It comes after the Queen sat out many key events at her Platinum Jubilee celebrations last weekend.One royal expert has today suggested there was a selfless reason for the Queen missing several of her own celebrations, claiming the monarch wouldn't have wanted to risk worrying people with a fall or stumble."She would not want to stumble – not for her own sake but for the distress, it would cause other people," royal historian Robert Lacey told Pe

Twitter plans to offer Elon Musk access to its "firehose" of raw data on hundreds of millions of daily tweets in an effort to push forward the Tesla billionaire's agreed-to $44 billion acquisition of the social media platform, according to multiple news reports.Lawyers involved in the deal would not confirm the data sharing agreement. Musk made no comment on Twitter, although he has previously been vocal about various aspects of the deal. Twitter declined to confirm the reports and pointed to a Monday statement in which the company said it is continuing to "co-operatively" share information with Musk.Musk, who struck a legally binding agreement to buy Twitter in April, contends that the deal can't proceed unless the company provides more information about the prevalence of fake accounts on its platform. He has argued, without presenting evidence, that Twitter has significantly underestimated the number of these "spam bots" - automated accounts that typically promote scams and misinformation — on its service.O

It’s fair to say I’ve been seething for the past few days since the news that Ports of Auckland’s automation experiment has crashed and burned.This was a story that we knew was happening and yet the people at the centre of it refused to admit it.Time and time again the media and the council put questions to the management of the Port.Time and time again we were told there was no problem and the tone was that we didn’t know what we were talking about so leave us alone.Well it turns out the Ports didn’t know their own business or what they were talking about and the whole country has paid a price.The automation project was cutting edge. It was not best practice. It was a mightily huge experiment that has cost us dearly.The reports we’ve heard is that the scrapping of it will cost $65 million. That’s just the cost of the useless software that we can’t even re-sell.The cost of this screw up is in the billions. The snarling of our major port.  The self-inflicted supply chain difficulties in the time of pandemic ca

The building industry will have to think outside the tool box.GIB is still desperately sought after across the country, with reports of it being stockpiled, stolen and sold on Trade Me for six times the retail price.There's only one manufacturer of the plasterboard in New Zealand.Combined Building Supplies Co-op Chair Carl Taylor told Andrew Dickens the industry has to look at alternative methods.He says there are other materials such as plywood, which aren't ideal, but we have to stop relying on just one product.Taylor says there are other products we can get from overseas such as the US, Malaysia and Australia.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A scatter gun approach to the cost of living.The OECD says the Government needs to do more in the inflation fight, arguing for more targeted spending, which could include delaying some infrastructure plans.Economist Cameron Bagrie says we have petrol relief and a transport package for everybody and 2.1 million people getting a cash injection.But he told Andrew Dickens you want assistance to be targeted to those most in need.Bagrie says we need to look at maybe expanding Working for Families, or the timing of construction projects.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles and dozens of other women who say they were sexually assaulted by Larry Nassar are seeking more than US$1 billion from the FBI for failing to stop the sports doctor when the agency first received allegations against him, lawyers said today.There's no dispute that FBI agents in 2015 knew that Nassar was accused of assaulting gymnasts, but they failed to act, leaving him free to continue to target young women and girls for more than a year. He pleaded guilty in 2017 and is serving decades in prison."It is time for the FBI to be held accountable," said Maggie Nichols, a national champion gymnast at Oklahoma in 2017-19.Under federal law, a government agency has six months to respond to the tort claims filed Wednesday. Lawsuits could follow, depending on the FBI's response. Larry Nassar. Photo / APWhite noted the 2018 massacre at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The FBI received a tip about five weeks before 17 people were killed at the school, but the tip was neve

The red meat sector is urging the Government to support the alternative to the Emissions Trading Scheme.Overseen by He Waka Eke Noa, it would see those in the agricultural sector assess their own liability for levies.It also looks at rebates for any effort to reduce emissions for things like planting trees.Meat Industry Association Chief Executive Sirma Karapeeva told Tim Dower the ETS treats everything in the same way.She says with the ETS, there are no incentives, no encouragement and no ability to tweak operations to do better and adjust.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.