First Up for Thursday 4 May 2023

5:51 AM.Parliament has a new independent MP this morning Former senior Labour politician Meka Whaitiri will remain in Parliament after announcing her intention to stand for Te Pati Maori in this year's… Read more Audio

5:46 AM.Nathan Rarere spoke with our royal correspondent Henry Riley from London just before we came to air and asked him about protests being allowed during the coronation this weekend - will we see people… Read more Audio

5:44 AM.We're on countdown now for the coronation of Charles the third - which gets underway at 9.30 Saturday night our time. Reporter Leonard Powell has been asking a few people at Mission Bay in Auckland -… Read more Audio

5:35 AM.As Royalists are getting revved up for the big shindig in London this weekend - republicans have also been getting worked up in their own way. Among them - former Wallaby Peter FitzSimons who's a… Read more Audio

5:25 AM.Now we're crossing to Craig Ashworth - our Local Democracy Reporter in Taranaki where councillors in New Plymouth have been warned that a push for more Maori art risks treading on artistic freedom. Audio

5:14 AM.The resignation of 75 year old Artificial Intelligence Pioneer Jeffrey Hinton from Google has been headline news over the last day or two, with many asking if AI has become too powerful? Nathan Rarere… Read more Audio

5:07 AM.We begin this morning in Europe where Russia has blamed Ukraine for a drone attack on the Kremlin. With Nathan Rarere from Sweden is our correspondent Anita Purcell-Sjölund. Audio