First Up Podcast Options

5:54 AM.If you've just woken up, the first quarantine free flight from New Zealand to the Cook islands leaves today. It has been over a year since we've been able to visit. Up early and ready to jump on that… Read more Audio

5:47 AM.Thursday's budget is being promoted as a Covid-recovery budget. Inside the lock-up for the first time will be National's Deputy Leader Dr Shane Reti. With a key interest in health, Nathan Rarere asked… Read more Audio

5:44 AM.Solo mums on the benefit say it's tough to make ends meet each week - and more money to lift benefits in this week's budget would be a huge relief. The government has promised to overhaul the welfare… Read more Audio

5:35 AM.The first quarantine free flight to the Cook Islands will leave just before 9am this morning. It will be the first time in almost 14 months that Rarotonga has welcomed tourists. Air New Zealand's… Read more Audio

5:32 AM.Samoa's Supreme Court has thrown out the Head of State's decision to call for a second election to break the political deadlock from April's election Yesterday, the court found that he had no… Read more Audio

5:22 AM.This week on TradeMe's interesting auction list...yet another hand drawn and autographed picture by our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and a small plant with a HUGE price tag. But first, producer… Read more Audio

5:13 AM.To Taiwan now where the government has imposed its toughest restrictions so far, as it tries to battle a sudden rise in Covid-19 cases. The self-governing island of about 24 million people off China's… Read more Audio

5:08 AM.To the UK now with our correspondent Alex Cadier where they're slowing reopening. Audio

5:53 AM.Back to the fighting in Gaza now, where former Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett says only Israel will decide when the military operation is complete. The leader of the right-wing Yamina Party… Read more Audio

5:48 AM.After over a year, New Zealanders are finally able to travel to the Cook Islands without having to quarantine. A travel bubble has opened between New Zealand and the Cook Islands. Australians heading… Read more Audio

5:44 AM.The Hutch Wilco Boat Show was on over the weekend. It's the oldest in New Zealand and after a year off in 2020, for the first time in 65 years, the show was back with a bang, People from all over the… Read more Audio

5:31 AM.The Ahuwhenua Young Maori Farmer Award was given out on Friday, the award is to recognise talented young Maori farmers and growers and to encourage Young Maori to think of farming as a career. Quinn… Read more Audio

5:22 AM.Time for a look at the fruit and veggie market, our Minister of Fruit and Veges, Glenn Forsyth is on the case and he's with us in the flesh! Read more Audio

5:14 AM.The Pacific Dance festival starts tomorrow after a year off during Covid affected 2020 It's the annual festival for modern contemporary Pacific Dance practisioners in New Zealand, and people have come… Read more Audio

5:06 AM.Let's start the week in the Middle East, where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said air strikes would continue in Gaza for "as long as necessary" and that ''everything possible was being… Read more Audio

5:51 AM.A Ngapuhi leader met with Webb's Auction House last night to try and secure the return of a musket purported to belong to chief Hongi Hika, which had been due to go under the hammer on Monday. Webb's… Read more Audio

5:44 AM.The country's largest primary care organisation believes that with GPs now part of the Covid-19 vaccination programme, 70 per cent of the population could have the jab by Christmas. The Ministry… Read more Audio

5:33 AM.New Zealand's Super Rugby teams resume matches against their Ozzie counterparts this weekend in the opening round of Super Rugby's Trans-Tasman. While most Kiwi fans havent paid much attention to… Read more Audio

5:26 AM.Joining us for a look at the weekend in fresh produce is our Minister of the Fruit and Veges, Glenn Forsyth - fruit buy for the weekend - mandarins! Audio

5:18 AM.Six screenwriters from New Zealand will be taking part in a 'Workshop and Mentoring' experience with leaders in the global film industry. The experience is run by Blacklist, and the 6 scripts were… Read more Audio

5:15 AM.Sam Owen is a Waikato sharemilker who's had his fair share of struggles with mental health and depression. He says his condition has seen his health, work and family life suffer. Now he talks to Young… Read more Audio

5:09 AM.Turning to India now where bodies continue to wash up in rivers as Covid-19 spreads through poor rural areas. More than a quarter of a million Indians have now died from the virus, and it's still not… Read more Audio

5:49 AM.The Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson acknowledges that his government's public sector pay restrictions have caused distress and upset, but maintains the restrictions don't amount to a pay freeze… Read more Audio

5:42 AM.A stoush is brewing over the authenticity of a musket purported to have belonged to the great Ngapuhi chief Hongi Hika ... which is expected to fetch over 100-thousand dollars at an auction on Monday… Read more Audio

5:33 AM.It looks like winter is well and truly on the way with a cold front rapidly making its way up the country. Joining Nathan Rarere is weather commentator and Tik Tok influencer with over 100,000… Read more Audio