Morning Report for Wednesday 20 October 2021

8:53 AM.We're hours away from the start of the NBA basketball season in the United States - where much of the hype has surrounded the banning of Brooklyn Nets superstar Kyrie Irving.

Irving's refusal to be… Read more Audio

8:49 AM.The government's plan to reduce our refuse is being rubbished itself by recycling specialists.

After revealing its draft proposals to reduce waste, it now wants public feedback.

Hamish Cardwell… Read more Audio

8:44 AM.The Equal Pay Act turns 49 today. Yet, Maori, Pacific people, women and those with disabilities continue to be underpaid.

Mind the Gap is a year-long campaign starting today to make some significant… Read more Audio

8:42 AM.A former security guard at Oranga Tamariki who has retrained as social worker says it's changed his life.

Fifty-six-year-old James Cherrington began studying nine years ago and this year he graduated… Read more Audio

8:28 AM.Auckland students are struggling to deal with the uncertainty around schools reopening.

Minister Chris Hipkins will provide further advice on face-to-face learning today. With exams looming, the… Read more Audio

8:20 AM.Consumer New Zealand and the Food and Grocery Council have written to MPs urging them to back an overhaul of the supermarket industry.

The organisations say consumers and suppliers are being held to… Read more Audio

8:14 AM.The Minister of Housing is downplaying the suggestion Mayors were blindsided by new densification rules.

National and the government teamed-up to slash red tape by August 2022, with the aim of making… Read more Audio

8:09 AM.Air quality experts are looking to the government's pandemic school plan due out today to do more to protect students in classrooms.

They have just met with the Ministries of education and health to… Read more Audio

7:57 AM.Waiheke Islanders have their fingers crossed the first ever case from the Covid-19 delta outbreak will be their last.

The person had been tested on the mainland in Auckland, but travelled to the… Read more Audio

7:52 AM.The Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency says more than 90 percent of Māori would've received both doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine by now, if its vaccine rollout proposal it handed to ministers in… Read more Audio

7:47 AM.The Covid-19 vaccination programme in Taranaki may need to rollover into next year to get Māori in the region up beyond a 90 percent vaccination rate.

Just 62 percent of Taranaki Māori have received… Read more Audio

7:45 AM.There are growing calls for the government to waive NCEA exams for students in Auckland.

Principals are floating options including cancelling level one exams or allowing teens in the region to choose… Read more Audio

7:40 AM.While many mayors support the new Housing Supply Bill, some say it won't work without better infrastructure funding.

National and Labour have joined forces to design new housing density rules, which… Read more Audio

7:35 AM.Skill shortages, limited infrastructure, and rampant material costs are stopping houses being built and an incoming law change won't fix that.

That's the take of Auckland city's planning committee… Read more Audio

7:28 AM.A Covid-19 modeller says daily numbers could top out at around 150,200 cases a day by the middle of November, but New Zealand is also risking a New South Wales-style blowout.

The country hit a new… Read more Audio

7:19 AM.National Party leader Judith Collins says her party would end lockdowns when vaccinations reached between 85 and 90 percent or on 1 December, whichever comes first.

Currently 67 percent of the… Read more Audio

7:12 AM.Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says people should prepare themselves for increasing numbers of daily cases.

On Tuesday the number of community cases reached a pandemic daily high for New… Read more Audio

7:09 AM.Some Auckland secondary school principals want students back in the classroom next Tuesday.

Auckland schools have been shut for nine weeks because of the delta outbreak.

Education Minister Chris… Read more Audio

6:50 AM.While many businesses in Auckland are struggling badly in the tenth week of lockdown - its not all doom and gloom .

With not much else to do, Aucklanders are turning to local takeaways, and home… Read more Audio

6:45 AM.Senior secondary students are just weeks out from exam leave before final exams begin on 20 November - but Aucklanders are still in lockdown, and waiting to learn what the government's latest advice… Read more Audio

6:41 AM.The Mayors of some of the country's largest cities have been caught off guard by the Government's housing density announcement.

National and the government have teamed-up to slash red tape by August… Read more Audio

6:21 AM.Thousands of people arrested over the roles in Myanmar anti-coup protests will reportedly be freed in what the ruling military says is an amnesty on humanitarian grounds.

State media is reporting… Read more Audio

6:15 AM.Pacific Islands are relieved that New Zealand has finally delivered on a climate pledge made six years ago.

New Zealand's promise of $1.3 billion over four years to countries most vulnerable to… Read more Audio

6:12 AM.Auckland students and teachers are waiting to learn what's in store for them next, in a government update later today.

But schools still face a rush to bring pupil's learning up to scratch by the end… Read more Audio

6:08 AM.Auckland school kids have been stuck at home for more than two months now - and teachers are doing what they can to help whanau who are struggling.

On Wednesday, the government is set to announce… Read more Audio