Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

The Rail Minister says any supply chain interruptions caused by the Interislander reducing its Cook Strait ferry fleet can be handled.  

Aratere will be retired when demolition begins on its decaying Picton dock late this year or early next, to add infrastructure for new ships. 

It's KiwiRail's only rail-enabled ferry.  

Winston Peters told Ryan Bridge it won't have an impact on the amount of freight KiwiRail is movi...

Mark Mitchell, he's got a bit on his plate at the moment.  

He'll be happy with the score he got from Audrey Young in her ranking of ministers for midterm, but I reckon he is holding on to a ticking time bomb.  

This is the case of the beautiful young Colombian woman in Christchurch living next door to a monster. She didn't know he'd been let out of prison 10 weeks before he raped her and stabbed her to death. He was on p...

The Government books are expected to reach surplus by 2029. 

Finance Minister Nicola Willis has teased slices of her Budget 2025 cake, revealing $1.3 billion in new operating spending – a cut from the forecast of $2.4 billion. 

Ministers and agencies have been asked to cut more costs, for diversion into focus areas including health, education, and defence. 

Labour’s Finance Spokesperson Barbara Edmonds told Ryan Brid...

Chaos for southwest Europe during a major power blackout. 

Spain, Portugal, and parts of France went dark yesterday due to an issue with the grid, originating in Spain.  

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says power has now been restored, and they will take all necessary measures to prevent a repeat. 

Correspondent Gavin Grey told Ryan Bridge cash registers, gas pumps, and credit cards all stopped working.  

He says ...

Canadian Liberal Party Leader Mark Carney will have a lot of issues to tackle after winning the country's election last night.  

The win means he'll continue to lead Canada – the job he took over from Justin Trudeau six weeks ago.  

It's an upset loss for the Conservative Party, which was leading the polls up until Carney took over. 

Political Analyst Nick Harper told Ryan Bridge it might be a tough start for him.&nb...

A children's support charity says a mix of heightened awareness and more abuse could be the reason for more reports to Oranga Tamariki. 

The Ministry for Children estimates its seen a 45 percent increase in reports of concern in the year to April.

It comes as Newstalk ZB reveals more than a-thousand children are overdue to be assigned a social worker. 

Child Matters Chief Executive Jane Searle told Ryan Bridge it's aware ...

You can’t say we weren’t warned Nicola Willis would be taking to government spending like a butcher to a fresh carcass.

She’s been saying it for months.  Yesterday she halved the operating allowance to $1.3 billion.

All this because she wants to do what she said she’s do, and that’s balance the books by 2029.

The recession’s cut her tax take so you either push your surplus out or you trim your spending.

Labour, of course, says...

On the Early Edition Full Show Podcast for Wednesday 30 April 2025, numbers revealed this morning show more 1,300 children are waiting to be assigned a social worker by Oranga Tamariki. Child Matters CEO Jane Searle gives her reaction to Ryan Bridge. 

Labour is already calling the upcoming budget the "slash and burn budget." But Ryan questions Finance Spokesperson Barbara Edmonds on what she would do differently. 

We get ...

A thumbs-up from the building industry over changes to certifications and inspections.  

The Government will be letting approved builders, plumbers, and drainlayers sign off their own work for simple residential dwellings.  

80% of inspections will also need to be completed within three working days. 

Master Builders CEO Ankit Sharma told Ryan Bridge there’s a lot that can be done to reduce the compliance burden on l...

A belief there's hope to solving New Zealand's plastic waste problem. 

Plastics New Zealand has released two reports with strategies for minimising plastic waste in the construction sector and in consumer, medical and seafood packaging. 

Five thousand tonnes of polystyrene packaging enters the supply chain every year, with 77% going to landfill. 

Plastics New Zealand CEO Rachel Barker told Ryan Bridge there's work to...

Tory Whanau is bowing out of Wellington's mayoral race. 

The incumbent's confirmed she'll instead stand for the council's Māori ward seat to give former Labour Leader Andrew Little a clear run. 

She says Little will do a good job, and she hopes people see her withdrawal as a gracious move. 

Little's been critical of Whanau, calling rate increases under her leadership "simply not acceptable". 

He told Ryan Bridge...

Here we go again with the whinge fest about Air New Zealand's prices. 

I get it.  I try book the same flights as everybody else and when you're trying to fly some obscure route from this province to province its gets expensive. Quickly. 

But here we are again with politicians telling us fibs - telling us they can wave a magic wand and fix all of our problems. 

This time is James Meager - going in to bat for the ...

On the Early Edition Full Show Podcast for Tuesday 29 April 2025, Tory Whanau has given up her bid to be re-elected Wellington's Mayor. Ryan Bridge got reaction from the apparent frontrunner in the race, Andrew Little. 

The construction industry is celebrating the government's to allow reputable builders, plumbers and drainlayers to self-certify their own work for certain builds. 

We get the latest from Australian as the ...

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