First Up Podcast Options

5:36 AM.In Australia, a New Zealand doctor is dealing with as many as a hundred covid cases a day at the epicentre of the massive Melbourne outbreak. Former Wellingtonian Megan Robb is the director of… Read more Audio

5:31 AM.After years of lobbying successive governments, iwi on the East Coast have finally received funding and support to restore the dying Raukumara Forest. The government has invested 34 million dollars to… Read more Audio

5:11 AM.A brand new 45-million dollar film studio for the Wellington region is being bankrolled by just one Upper Hutt family. On the site of an old data centre, the studio will feature two… Read more Audio

5:06 AM.Let's cross now to the USA where presumptive Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden is expected to pick his running mate sometime within the next 24 hours. Traditionally, vice-presidential… Read more Audio

5:53 AM.A warning there could be an exodus of Cook Islanders to New Zealand if a clearer timeframe for a travel bubble isn't announced soon. Liana Scott, who manages the Muri Beach Club Hotel in Rarotonga and… Read more Audio

5:49 AM.A Cook Islands travel bubble could be on the cards before the end of the year - but the government's only looking at quarantine free travel there and the other realm countries - Tokelau and Niue. That… Read more Audio

5:38 AM.In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, business is booming for an Auckland divorce coach. Kimberlee Sweeney, who has been in the job for five years, says couples are untying the knot in numbers she's… Read more Audio

5:34 AM.A set of swings stolen from a Taumarunui park were found when police executed search warrants in the area, that also uncovered firearms, drugs and cash. The Cherry Grove Park swings went missing… Read more Audio

5:25 AM.A sketch by Labour Leader Jacinda Ardern has reached a record price on TradeMe this week, and if you missed out on that - perhaps a personally autographed cardboard cut-out of Ashley Bloomfield will… Read more Audio

5:10 AM.We go to London for the latest in the UK. Indira speaks with our correspondent Henry Riley about the rise in the number of migrants crossing the English Channel from France and race issues and police… Read more Audio

5:50 AM.As election season enters full swing, it seems the doors to parliament could be swinging shut on New Zealand First. With the party sitting at just 2 percent in the most recent polls, a win for Shane… Read more Audio

5:45 AM.New Zealand's presence in Antarctica this summer will be around a quarter of the size it usually is due to Covid-19. It doesn't mean science projects will stop, but they'll be more concentrated and… Read more Audio

5:35 AM.Sports broadcaster Nathan Rarere was in Christchurch over the weekend for the Crusaders game yesterday and he also talks about Lydia Ko's golfing comeback, and the Warriors picking a new coach. Audio

5:24 AM.For a look at the week's fresh produce news is our Minister of Fruit and Vege Glenn Forsyth who has visited Moore Wilsons in Wellington and found Buddha's Hands and purple broccoli. Audio

5:52 AM.'The most damning report of all I have read' - that's the reaction of one Maori leader to the latest Oranga Tamariki report by the Chief Ombudsman. He Take Kohukihuki, A Matter of Urgency, found… Read more Audio

5:48 AM.A section of provisions under the Oranga Tamariki act, allowing for the removal of subsequent children, are set to be repealed. Currently, if a parent has had a child previously removed from their… Read more Audio

5:44 AM.A new blue tooth powered "CovidCard" for contact tracing is set to be trialed in Rotorua. The credit card-sized device would be worn around the neck when in areas such as public transport, workplaces… Read more Audio

5:26 AM.Our Minister of Fruit and Veges Glenn Forsyth joined Indira to talk through the weekend best buys and his unusual orange cucumber sandwiches. Audio

5:19 AM.New Zealanders are being given the chance to follow in the footsteps of Prince, Ed Sheeran and the Royal New Zealand Ballet - by treading the boards of Auckland's Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre. From singers… Read more Audio

5:09 AM.Around 3 billion dollars worth of clothing orders have been cancelled by big retailers because of Covid-19. The cancellation of orders has left factories around the world with piles of unsold stock… Read more Audio

5:51 AM.75 years ago today the US ended the world war in the Pacific by dropping the first atomic bomb over the Japanese city Hiroshima. Taeko Yoshioka Braid was just 13 years old and at high school just out… Read more Audio

5:47 AM.With international tourism still on hold due to Covid-19, Kiwis are exploring their own backyard. But is our biggest city being overlooked as people opt for getaways out of town? Louise Ternouth… Read more Audio

5:43 AM.An entrepreneur behind a plan to run private-sector managed isolation hotels hopes to attract experts to help re-build the economy. Nicola Alpe and her husband Chris - who heads Jucy Rentals -… Read more Audio

5:35 AM.Doctors are pleading with the Ministry of Health not to further delay a cervical cancer self-screening test they say will save lives. The test for the virus which causes the cancer, is much less… Read more Audio