Morning Report for Friday 19 March 2021

6:08 AM.Tourist towns are welcoming the positive noises coming out of the Beehive about a trans-Tasman bubble being on the way.

The Te Anau community says it's been struggling for 14 months, and any longer… Read more Audio

6:25 AM.A brief update of movements in the financial sector. Read more Audio

6:27 AM.News from the rural and farming sector. Read more Audio

6:39 AM.Queenstown business owners are saying 'hallelujah" in response to the promise that the tourist tap will soon be turned back on.

Government ministers are actively working towards a trans-Tasman… Read more Audio

6:44 AM.National says that a surprise decline in GDP shows that the government's shovel ready projects have failed to stimulate economic activity.

The 1 percent drop in the December quarter appears to be… Read more Audio

6:49 AM.The EU's drug watchdog says the benefits of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine outweigh the risks following an investigation into reports of blood disorders that prompted more than a dozen nations to… Read more Audio

6:55 AM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Read more Audio

7:09 AM.Business groups want the government to get on and rubber stamp a travel bubble with Australia.

RNZ understands the plan is to have a safe travel zone in place between Australia and New Zealand by the… Read more Audio

7:13 AM.New Zealand's economy went into reverse at the end of 2020 as closed borders and a fall in commercial construction projects offset a hot housing market.

Official numbers show GDP fell 1 percent for… Read more Audio

7:23 AM.A disconnected telephone helpline, missing files that detailed sexual abuse, and a serious lack of training.

These were some of the Anglican Church's more embarrassing admissions at yesterday's… Read more Audio

7:27 AM.More than $140 million has been paid out to businesses in the latest iteration of the covid-19 wage subsidy scheme.

The scheme was triggered when Auckland went into alert level 3 for seven days at… Read more Audio

7:37 AM.National MP Nicola Willis and Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson have gone head to head over accusations of racism and classism.

Earlier this week Stuff published a story that Nicola Willis… Read more Audio

7:40 AM.Queenstown wants a date.

The tourist town's chamber of commerce chief executive says news of a Trans-Tasman bubble opening soon is great news.

But she says a definite date is needed so businesses… Read more Audio

7:43 AM.A Pacific social justice movement is calling on the New Zealand government to formally apologise for the dawn raids of the 1970's.

The Labour and then National governments of the time authorised… Read more Audio

7:48 AM.The government insists an unexpected drop in GDP is an expected moment of turbulence after New Zealand's stronger-than-expected third quarter.

The absence of international tourism and a decline in… Read more Audio

7:54 AM.A Taranaki composting business at the centre of a consents renewal wrangle is sitting on a 20,000 tonne pile of contaminated waste that could take up to 40 years to safely break down.

A regional… Read more Audio

8:06 AM.India survived some final-over drama to beat England by eight runs in the fourth T20 cricket international in Ahmedabad and level the five-match series 2-all. Read more Audio

8:11 AM.Tourism operators say they are looking forward to hearing that Aussie twang in their midst again - especially over winter.

Paul Button from Canopy Tours in Rotorua says while Kiwis have been out in… Read more Audio

8:16 AM.Epidemiologist Michael Baker says if New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific get a travel bubble right we could be a model for the world.

But there are still questions to answer.

Will New Zealand… Read more Audio

8:26 AM.A Christchurch renter who has been plagued with problems in her home is frustrated she can't get through to Tenancy Services to complain.

Calls to Tenancy Services have jumped up by more than a third… Read more Audio

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

8:37 AM.The Dental Association is overjoyed by a government plan to give the Director-General of Health control over water fluoridation.

This will shift decision-making on fluoride from local authorities to… Read more Audio

8:44 AM.The dreams New Zealand teenagers have for the future are, according to new research, limited by gender and racial stereotypes. 

Researchers from the University of Canterbury interviewed hundreds of… Read more Audio

8:49 AM.Residents in the Wairarapa town of Carterton are still being asked to boil their water, after E-coli was detected in the water supply.

The town has been on a boil water notice since the harmful… Read more Audio

8:52 AM.Millions of dollars are being poured into digital artworks - or "non-fungible tokens" - in a speculative craze that has set the internet ablaze.

So-called NFTs are tradeable, collectable digital… Read more Audio

8:56 AM.It's Friday so we cross the ditch to Canberra to talk to our correspondent Kerry-Anne Walsh. Read more Audio