First Up Podcast Options

5:14 AM.Last year the pandemic impacted the arts sector to no end, with shows cancelled across the globe. And now the latest level three lockdown in Auckland has interrupted both the Pride and Fringe… Read more Audio

5:08 AM.We cross to the United States to our Washington correspondent Simon Marks who tells us about the winter storm cutting power to large parts of Texas and conservative talkback host Rush Limbaugh has… Read more Audio

5:51 AM.Nathan Rarere discussed the alert level changes with University of Otago professor of Epidemiology Dr Michael Baker. Audio

5:48 AM.The alert level change was met with relief - and a bit of anxiety - on the streets of Auckland, as our reporter Ella Stewart found out. Audio

5:36 AM.The Pike River Recovery Agency has reached the furthest point that it plans to go to in the mine re-entry operation. On Tuesday, recovery workers reached the roof fall - 2.26 kilometres up the mine… Read more Audio

5:31 AM.We have heard a lot lately about the collapse of international tourism and the impact of that on the West Coast glacier towns of Franz Josef and Fox - which relied on it. Franz is still waiting to… Read more Audio

5:22 AM.James Wenley is a lecturer in Theatre at Victoria University of Wellington but this week he's putting down the white board marker to be on stage himself. The academic has been working on an… Read more Audio

5:14 AM.This week's new MP is Labour's Northcote representative, Shanan Halbert. Mr Halbert took the Northcote seat off National's incumbent Dan Bidois in the 2020 General Election and says it was a hard… Read more Audio

5:10 AM.Nathan caught up with our Vienna, Austria correspondent Catherine Walbridge where Austria's neighbour is closing its borders. Audio

5:52 AM.We'll find out later today when Auckland will come out of Level 3 lockdown. A 4.30 this afternoon the Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will hold a press… Read more Audio

5:47 AM.The Finance Minister Grant Robertson has said that the Government will set up a new Resurgence Support Payment for businesses affected by any resurgence of COVID-19. They say businesses that can show… Read more Audio

5:38 AM.For the second day in a row there were no new community cases of Covid-19 in the country yesterday, despite a testing blitz which saw over 15-thousand people swabbed in the previous 24 hours. We'll… Read more Audio

5:32 AM.If you would like a job in space then have we got great news for you! The European Space Agency is looking for new astronauts. Hopefuls have 8 weeks to apply on thet Agency's website from the 31 March… Read more Audio

5:25 AM.We're continuing to get to know some of the innovative and creative small businesses New Zealand has to offer. This morning we'll hear from Hollie Hales-Whitaker and her growing business which sells… Read more Audio

5:15 AM.COVID-19 appeared from nowhere last year and changed the world as we know it. But a number of scientists have been working on ways to predict where the next coronavirus might emerge. A new study out… Read more Audio

5:09 AM.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has had a crack at Australia for dumping responsibility for a woman and two young children detained at the Turkish border on New Zealand. The PM says the woman, who had… Read more Audio

5:53 AM.We stay with the Covid outbreak now, which has Auckland under an Alert Level 3 lockdown and the rest of the country at level 2. Who better to talk us through developments than microbiologist Dr… Read more Audio

5:48 AM.As of yesterday afternoon, community testing centres had swabbed close to 2300 people in Auckland alone. A pop-up testing centre has been set up at Papatoetoe High School, while New Plymouth - where… Read more Audio

5:36 AM.The first Covid-19 Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines have landed. They'll be administered to frontline border workers from this Saturday. Health officials expect all New Zealanders aged over 16 to be… Read more Audio

5:16 AM.The amount of wastewater tests for Covid-19 has increased across Auckland and New Plymouth in response to the discovery of new community cases of the virus. ESR are now testing daily for Covid-19 in… Read more Audio

5:13 AM.A petition started by the Green Party calling for the urgent banning of conversion therapies has reached 80-thousand signatures in just 38 hours. Last night First Up producer Matthew Theunissen spoke… Read more Audio

5:08 AM.To the UK now where Nathan Rarere was joined by our correspondent Henry Riley where the big news is the quarantine hotels which are up and running from today. Audio

5:51 AM.Nathan Rarere spoke with the latest Covid lockdown developments is University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker. Audio

5:45 AM.The Green Party says the government could be liable for war crimes over the exports of military equipment to Saudi Arabian forces. Documents received by RNZ show a New Zealand exporter obtained… Read more Audio