Morning Report for Monday 12 October 2020

6:08 AM.It's three-years since farmers staged a protest in Jacinda Ardern's home town of Morrinsville just one week out from the 2017 general election.

They were worried about the possibility of a… Read more Audio

6:10 AM.The Waitaki District Council is taking control of the cordon around the fire damaged village today but access will remain restricted for some time. 

The fire in the Lake Ōhau village which started… 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

6:36 AM.The Māori Party is throwing its weight behind their Waiariki candiate Rawiri Waititi, who is nipping at the heels of Labour incumbent Tamati Coffey. 

It will be a three-way race in the electorate… Read more Audio

6:41 AM.Labour leader Jacinda Ardern came to power three years ago promising to lift thousands of children out of poverty.

Official statistics aren't conclusive as to whether she's made any in-roads, so what… Read more Audio

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

7:09 AM.It's the last week of the election campaign.

On Saturday the votes will be tallied and the country will know which party or parties will be lining up to govern for the next three years.

It was a… Read more Audio

7:14 AM.Record numbers of voters have cast their votes early for the election.

Around 500,000 people were predicted to cast their vote over the weekend.

Political editor Jane Patterson speaks to Susie… Read more Audio

7:19 AM.A record number of early votes are set to be cast for this Saturday's election, with New Zealanders having already hit polling booths in surprisingly large numbers.

At the last count on Thursday… Read more Audio

7:26 AM.The Government has done a deal over facial recognition technology that throws access to it wide open.

The Internal Affairs Department has signed a master agreement with a leading global biometrics… Read more Audio

7:31 AM.The All Blacks have held the Bledisloe Cup since 2003 but this year's series has been blown wide open following last night's 16-all draw in the opening test in Wellington.

The Wallabies, under new… Read more Audio

7:38 AM.Five-days before the last general election in 2017, 500 farmers took part in a noisy protest in the Waikato town of Morrinsville to complain about what they perceived as Labour's and the Greens'… Read more Audio

7:43 AM.Against a backdrop of an unprecedented global crisis, one of the most unusual elections in a generation will be over in under a week.

So in the last week of campaigning we're attempting to catch up… Read more Audio

7:51 AM.Reducing child poverty formed the centrepiece of Labour's 2017 campaign with leader Jacinda Ardern personally leading the charge.

But three years on has anything got better under the coalition… Read more Audio

7:57 AM.Learner drivers in small towns and country areas are taking to the roads illegally because the tests to get their licence have been banned outside of bigger main centres.

Teenagers often have their… Read more Audio

8:06 AM.The All Blacks coach Ian Foster doesn't believe being held to a 16-all draw by the Wallabies in Wellington puts them on the back foot for the Bledisloe Cup series.

In his first match in charge… Read more Audio

8:10 AM.The race for Tāmaki Makaurau is tightening up

A new Māori Television-Curia Market Research poll has the current MP, Labour's Peeni Henare, at 35 percent with the Māori Party's John Tamihere just six… Read more Audio

8:17 AM.Melbourne's emergence from a gruelling, months-long lockdown may be delayed again - as the rate of new coronavirus cases has stayed stubbornly above the levels set to trigger the relaxation of… Read more Audio

8:22 AM.Labour has failed to get DHB deficits under control this term despite going hard on underfunding when in opposition.

At the moment 19 of the 20 DHBs are in the red but the problem of health boards… Read more Audio

8:25 AM.Test rugby has returned in nail-biting style, with the All Blacks somehow escaping with a 16-all draw against Australia in yesterday's first Bledisloe Cup Test in Wellington.

The teams couldn't be… Read more Audio

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

8:39 AM.There are fears Picton's air quality could suffer thanks to an expanded ferry terminal.

The plans include a new cruise ship berth, almost right in front of the township.

Tracy Neal reports. Read more Audio

8:44 AM.An inner city Auckland rehab centre has seen a steep increase in the number of people taking synthetic cannabis and says Covid-19 stress could be to blame.

Hundreds of people suffering from drug use… Read more Audio

8:48 AM.Work begins today on shoring up Wellington's Ngaio Gorge, reducing the arterial road to a single lane.

It will take two years and $11 million to remediate and reinforce the area affected by… Read more Audio

8:52 AM.Rafael Nadal's reign as the King of Clay Court tennis has rolled on in Paris after a comprehensive three-set win over Novak Djokovic in a heavyweight men's final of the French Open overnight.

Spanish… Read more Audio

8:55 AM.The world's first competitive shearer to win a hundred titles has been found and he hails from the small South Canterbury town of Fairlie.

Former world champion Tony Dobbs became the first person to… Read more Audio