Larry Williams Drive

The Official Cash Rate is on its way down.  The Reserve Bank has cut the OCR by 50-basis points, from 5.25 to 4.75%.  It says inflation is within its 1-3% target range and this cut will help maintain that while avoiding unnecessary instability in parts of the economy.  Katlyn Parker of Milford Asset Management joined Jack Tame to unpack the cut and the impact it will have on the market.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on the Huddle, Jordan Williams from the Taxpayers Union and NZ Herald Senior Writer Simon Wilson joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! The Reserve Bank cut the OCR by 50 basis points this afternoon.  The Government has called for Sport NZ to update transgender inclusive community sport guidelines.  University of Auckland and Otago University both drop in just-released world rankings.  Another popular American store is opening their first New Zealand shop.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government have today asked Sport New Zealand to review and update their principles for the inclusion of transgender people in community sport.  It outlined that the current guidelines do not reflect expectations that sport be about fairness and safety as wekk as diversity, inclusion, and equity.  Chris Bishop is the minister of sport and recreation and he joins Jack Tame to discuss further.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pop quiz! What of these causes the highest number of premature New Zealand deaths?  Bowel cancer? Diabetes? Road crashes? Melanoma? Air pollution? This will seem unbelievable to many Kiwis, but according to the Ministry of the Environment and Statistics New Zealand, here in good old clean-and-green New Zealand, air pollution kills more people than all of those other causes, combined.  Think about that! Diabetes, bowel cancer, road crashes and melanoma... Put them in a blender and add them all together, and air pollution still comes out at the top of the macabre pops.  According to the study released today, even though air pollution standards have improved, in 2019, air pollution was associated with 3200 deaths!  In a country our size, with our wealth, and our regulatory framework, that's a disgraceful figure. According to the triennial study, one in ten deaths in 2019 was attributable to air pollution. The social costs are in the billions of dollars, and that doesn't include the increasing

Cinnabon is coming to New Zealand! The popular American bakery will open it's first store in Westfield New Market next month.  It will start off selling many of it's classic cinnamon scrolls and blended frozen drinks, which come in flavours like mango, strawberry, and cookies and cream.  Kathan Parikh is the director of Cinnabon New Zealand who acquired the franchise rights, he joins Jack Tame with more.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Florida is bracing for 'the storm of the century' with Hurricane Milton now upgraded to a category five, with wind speeds of 270km/h.  Residents are evacuating by the millions, with officials saying it's a 'matter of life and death'.  Alison Piotrowski is Channel Nine's U.S. correspondent on the ground in Florida.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A bold move from the Reserve Bank as it has decided to cut the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 50-basis points, from 5.25% to 4.75%. It's the second cut in a row, after the OCR was lowered in August - which was the first drop since May 2023.  All of the larger banks predicted the rise, but a 25-point drop was thought to be just as likely.  Co-operative Bank Chief Executive Mark Wilshire joins Jack Tame to discuss how this will impact homeowners.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Less than two weeks after Hurricane Helene hit the east coast of the United States, Floridians are gearing up for a new storm.  Hurricane Milton is currently a Category 5 storm, and locals are expecting it to be much more catastrophic than Helene.  Katherine Firkin is a U.S correspondent and joins Jack Tame with the latest.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two former members of a committee tasked with checking over assisted deaths to ensure the law worked as it should say the system is so broken they wouldn't have known if someone had wrongly died.  Doctors Jane Greville and Dana Wensley repeatedly raised concerns about incomplete information about a patient's health and the risk of coercion.  In one case, a patient with suspected dementia who could not speak English was approved for assisted dying without a translator in the room.  ACT Leader David Seymour was behind the End of Life Choice Act and joins Jack Tame to discuss how this happened.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I fix my entire mortgage in three weeks' time, and find myself with the curious kind of conundrum that most of us with bog-standard family home mortgages couldn't have imagined at any point the last few years.  I waited for the email to land from the Monetary Policy Committee... Speed-read the Reserve Bank's statement and found myself with a simple question: Instead of fixing my mortgage at the end of this month, am I better to roll the dice, float for four weeks and hold out for another cut in November?  50 basis points is a meaningful cut. If you've got a $400,000 mortgage, and you're coming off a 7.2% to the market-leading 5.7% being advertised today... That's a difference of $500 a month.  What's clear from the Reserve Bank's comments though is that, like it was on the way up, the cutting cycle is likely to have disproportionate impacts depending on different personal circumstances as the OCR comes down.  Our economy is groaning. International growth is slowing, and the Middle East con

Listen to the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Tuesday 8 October. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on the Huddle, CEO of the Maxim Institute Tim Wilson and Ali Jones from Red PR joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! A sea turtle was filmed struggling in an oil spill near the HMNZS Manawanui wreck site. How much money should we be putting into fixing this disaster? Auckland dog shelters are forced to euthanise more dogs than at any point in the past decade - 11 per day.  Sophia Crestani coronial findings and calls for improved safety at student parties. How feasible is this? Tui's 'Yeah right' billboard referencing Philip Polkinghorne falls flat with social media users.  Bluebridge ferry Connemara damages a wharf on Picton in a berthing mishap.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Retirement Commissioner is calling for action on the size of houses being built, with downsizing issues causing a headache for retirees and older people.  Two-bedrooms are fewer than 20% of the new stock and one-bedroom homes are less than 10%, with new terraced housing being unsuitable.  Jane Wrightson is the Retirement Commissioner and joins Jack Tame to discuss the urgent need for smaller homes.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I went for a walk along K Road the other night and saw something I hadn't seen in the longest time: A new restaurant.  I didn't even step inside but it felt like a drink of cold water for a parched man in the desert. When was the last time I saw one of those?  It is, of course, a rarity. And hardly a sign that the entire economy is ready to take off. The number of new restaurants in that part of town is still comfortably outnumbered by the number of 'For Lease' signs. But as the Reserve Bank prepares for tomorrow's call on the OCR, two things give me optimism that they'll be leaning more towards 50 basis points than 25.  The first is if the economists are right, inflation is already back down within the target band or maybe even closer to 2% than we dare to hope.  It occurs to me that migration inflows have really significantly slowed over recent months. That in turn is reducing pressure on rents, which was one of the stickier parts of the inflation picture over the previous few quarters.&

Tui Beer are under fire after referencing Philip Polkinghorne in their latest 'Yeah right' campaign. The new billboard reads: "Back to being a respectable meth smoking, sex worker loving doctor then. Yeah right." Polkinghorne was acquitted last month of murdering his wife, Pauline Hanna, after an eight week long trial in the High Court at Auckland.  Marketing expert Mike Hutcheson joins Jack Tame to discuss whether this was a bad move.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Coroner says the death of 19 year old Otago University student Sophia Crestani was a preventable tragedy. She died at an overcrowded flat party on Dundas Street five years ago.  Coroner Heather Mackenzie is recommending students take better safety measures at large parties.  Otago University Students' Association president, Keegan Wells, joins Jack Tame with more.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fears continue to grow surrounding the impact the Manawanui Defence Force ship sinking will have on Samoan sea life.  The Navy says the ship - which sunk after hitting a reef on Saturday - had 950 tonnes of diesel fuel onboard.  Samoan locals say turtles have perished and oil can be smelt on Samoan beaches, while officials are scrambling to assess the damage.  Waikato University marine scientist Chris Battershill join Jack Tame with more.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New South Wales government clashes with pro-Palestine group over the future of demonstrations in Sydney, the former leader of the Opposition in South Australia leaves Parliament amid a drug scandal, and Australians are being flown home on emergency flights from Lebanon.  Murray Olds is an Australian correspondent and he joins Jack Tame with all the latest.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Less than half of all dogs impounded in Auckland last year made it out alive, with an average of 11 euthanised each day.  Auckland Council euthanised just over 4000 dogs in the last financial year, up 50% from the year prior.  It marks the first time in a decade that more dogs were euthanised than rehomed and returned to their owners, and the council is pleading to potential owners to properly consider if they can commit to caring for a dog.  Auckland Council's manager of animal management, Elly Waitoa, has more.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Newsflash: Tui 'Yeah Right' billboard accused of being bad taste.  Whoa, for a moment there I thought I'd been transported back to 2006. Is it in good taste? No. Of Course not. It's a billboard for a beer company, for goodness' sake. Of course it's in bad taste. I don't think anyone has ever accused Tui of good taste. Given the extent to which the sensational details in the Polkinghorne case have scandalised the nation, it's hardly a surprise to see the billboards pop up. I'll be honest with you: It doesn't upset me. But if I were Pauline Hanna's family I might, quite reasonably, feel a bit miffed at a company trying to cash in on something related to my death.  And here's the thing: Even if it did upset me, sometimes the most effective strategy to oppose something is to contain your outrage.  I actually feel the same way about aspects of the Treaty Principles Bill. I wonder if the most extreme opposition to ACT's proposal might not ultimately help ACT's cause. And perhaps a more considered opp