Morning Report for Friday 15 May 2020

6:08 AM.Kōhanga Reo say their staff have been underpaid and undervalued for too long and the budget's substantial cash injection will go some way to addressing that. 

The government is investing nearly $200… Read more Audio

6:13 AM.The Government's big spending budget yesterday laid out how it would fight the impact of Covid-19 and steer New Zealand's economy back on track.

Fifty billion is a big war chest, but it appears… Read more Audio

6:16 AM.Advocates for healthy homes say the government's budget its Warmer Kiwi Homes programme will leave thousands in the cold.

The scheme has been expanded to cover 90 percent of the costs of insulation… Read more Audio

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

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

6:37 AM.The government is being told it must do more if it wants to stop a big spike in the number of families ending up in poverty because of Covid-19.

Treasury is forecasting unemployment to hit 10 percent… Read more Audio

6:40 AM.A Fox Glacier tourism business decimated by the closing of New Zealand's borders says the sector will be in strife if the wage subsidy doesn't continue until next summer.

Yesterday Grant Robertson… Read more Audio

6:45 AM.The 2020 budget allocated $400 million towards replacing the Cook Strait ferries which provide a crucial connection between the North and South islands.

The money is just the first tranche of cash… Read more Audio

6:48 AM.An environment scientist says our climate reduction goals have taken a back seat in this year's Budget in the scramble to recover from Covid-19.

A total of $1.1 billion has been set aside in this… Read more Audio

6:50 AM.Are you completely relieved that your children are going back to school on Monday?

Or feeling slightly sad?

Google data is revealing a peak in people searching homeschooling and correspondence… Read more Audio

6:53 AM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Read more Audio

7:09 AM.A $50 billion Covid-19 rescue package poured out of the Crown coffers yesterday when the Government revealed its rebuild plan - but it's the $20 billion dollar blank cheque that's got the Opposition… Read more Audio

7:13 AM.Grant Robertson's big Budget is out.

There's been a range of reactions to the Government's big spend on $50 billion to fight Covid-19, which includes an extension to the wage subsidy, $1.1 billion… Read more Audio

7:20 AM.The Government's big spending budget lays out $50 billion to fight the impact of Covid-19 and steer New Zealand's economy back on track.

But will it be enough?

ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner… Read more Audio

7:25 AM.The Budget has been revealed and businesses are thinking about how it will affect them.

Leeann Watson, the chief executive of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce and Craig Hudson, the managing… Read more Audio

7:41 AM.An update on our story from earlier in the week about an unapproved police trial of new technology using controversial facial recognition software.

It was used to conduct dozens of searches for… Read more Audio

7:44 AM.Those hoping for a further rise in welfare payments to feature in the budget have been disappointed, despite predictions that the Covid-19 outbreak will create tens of thousands of new beneficiaries.

7:52 AM.More than $6 billion has been flagged in the budget for capital expenditure on infrastructure, including $3 billion to jumpstart projects that are "shovel-ready."

There's also cash for two new… Read more Audio

7:56 AM.The Māori economy was worth more than $50 billion before Covid-19. 

But many Māori businesses have been hit hard by the pandemic - with more than $17,000 Māori estimated to have lost their jobs in… Read more Audio

8:09 AM.The Government's big spending budget lays out $50 billion to fight the impact of Covid-19 and steer New Zealand's economy back on track.

While the numbers are big, not everybody is happy and there… Read more Audio

8:15 AM.The National Party says New Zealand is in an economic hole, and yesterday's announcements make it worse.

It says that with an additional $140 billion in debt, the country is looking at nearly $80,000… Read more Audio

8:22 AM.Yesterday's Budget prompted a range of views, after the Government revealed how it plans to spend to dig New Zealand out of the financial hole left by Covid-19.

RNZ political editor Jane Patterson… Read more Audio

8:29 AM.A new report on the nearly 40,000 people who signed on for the unemployment benefit during lockdown shows they're more likely to be first time beneficiaries, higher earners, recently returned from… Read more Audio

8:29 AM.A brief update of movements in the financial sector. Read more Audio

8:40 AM.Global voices are urgently calling for a "people's vaccine" for Covid 19.

Among them are former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark.

She has added her name to a letter from more than 140… Read more Audio

8:45 AM.Yesterday's Budget was touted as the jobs budget, but how to small business owners feel about it?

Steph Van Dusschoten runs Diveworks Charters in Whakatane and Matthew Bennett who owns Nibblish, a… Read more Audio

8:48 AM.Whānau Ora providers are skeptical the significant boost in funding announced in the budget will meet the huge demand from families doing it tough.

The government has topped up the Whānau Ora budget… Read more Audio

8:53 AM.The National Aquarium in Napier could close within two years after the government signalled it won't help pay for a multimillion dollar renovation.

The government has refused Napier City Council's… Read more Audio

8:55 AM.It's Friday so we cross the ditch to Canberra to talk to our correspondent Kerry-Anne Walsh. Read more Audio