Morning Report Podcast Options

6:44 AM.The Electoral Commission is assuring Māori voters they will get the correct ballot papers at voting booth's this election. 

It received 40 complaints from Māori last election about poor voting… Read more Audio

6:42 AM.Farmers straddling the Auckland-Waikato regional boundary are frustrated they haven't been able to check stock or get essential supplies because of the Alert Level 3 restrictions.

Auckland Federated… Read more Audio

6:38 AM.The government's yellow and white QR code posters will become mandatory of all businesses from noon today, so customers can scan in with their phones for contact tracing.

The Ministry of Health says… Read more Audio

6:22 AM.News from the rural and farming sector. Read more Audio

6:20 AM.A brief update from the business sector. Read more Audio

6:10 AM.A small group of MPs have returned to the capital for a stripped back version of Parliament - with the government's Covid response, in particular the country's border at the top of the agenda.

It was… Read more Audio

6:09 AM.How did an isolation hotel maintenance worker get Covid-19 from an infected guest he had never met?

A modeller says the man could have sparked a large cluster if he wasn't picked up by routine… Read more Audio

8:51 AM.The Democrats are holding their national convention this week - but it's not a convention as you'd know it.

Gone are the balloons and the big crowds and hoopla of old.

Instead the convention is… Read more Audio

8:43 AM.A Whakatāne primary school is disappointed it is the only school in the town that is not in the government's free school lunch scheme.

St Joseph's Catholic School is worried it will lose enrolments… Read more Audio

8:38 AM.Epidemiologists say New Zealand needs a new, more generic pandemic plan which caters to worst case scenarios.

They say the Ministry of Health's national pandemic plan didn't properly account for a… Read more Audio

8:31 AM.A brief update of movements in the financial sector. Read more Audio

8:27 AM.A former Labour Party president says the Prime Minister's decision to postpone the election by four weeks is a sensible compromise.

The country will now go to the polls on 17 October instead of 19… Read more Audio

8:13 AM.Businesses are labelling the wage subsidy extension a short-tem quick fix and they're wanting much greater certainty long term.

A new nationwide subsidy to cover the period Auckland is in Alert Level… Read more Audio

8:10 AM.An Auckland principal says letting schools decide whether some year 12 and 13 pupils should return to class is unnecessary.

The Education Ministry has told schools that they can allow these students… Read more Audio

8:06 AM.The Hurricanes coach Jason Holland is certain that Jordie Barrett will be starting fullback for the All Blacks under new coach Ian Foster. Read more Audio

7:56 AM.The Bay of Plenty DHB is confident that testing of all 6000 workers at the Port of Tauranga will be completed by the end of the week.

Testing got underway at midday yesterday, with priority going to… Read more Audio

7:50 AM.WorkSafe is stepping in to investigate if quarantine hotels are keeping their staff safe.

This comes after the debacle over the lack of testing of frontline border staff for the virus.

Worksafe is… Read more Audio

7:39 AM.An Auckland councillor says a lot of work needs to be done to restore ratepayers confidence in its water company following the surprise resignation of Watercare's chief executive.

Raveen Jaduram, who… Read more Audio

7:39 AM.A move to make it easier for workers to get sick leave while they wait for their Covid-19 test is being criticised for not going far enough.

From Friday employers will no longer have to show their… Read more Audio

7:23 AM.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she thought testing was taking place for all border workers, asymptomatic or not, before Auckland's latest Covid-19 outbreak, but it was not.

"Our view was that… Read more Audio

7:19 AM.MPs will return to the Capital today - for three weeks at Parliament no one expected.

The 2020 general election has been pushed back four weeks to 17 October, which means politicians will reconvene… Read more Audio

7:12 AM.It won't be known for several more days whether the level three lockdown in Auckland has done enough to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

That's the view of Otago University epidemiologist Michael… Read more Audio

7:09 AM.Exhausted lab workers working long hours on Covid-19 testing are warning safety could be compromised if the huge demand continues.

Auckland laboratories have been smashing their previous daily… Read more Audio