Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Friday, 24 April, 2026, National Cabinet minister Simeon Brown gives us details about the complaint he's lodged against TVNZ. Sail GP NZ co-chief executive Blair Tuke is gutted the event won't be coming to Auckland but hopes it'll make a comeback. ChristchurchNZ on why the Garden City is the place to be right now, with more people moving there. And on the Sports Huddle, Matt Brown and Jeff McTainsh on a huge weekend of Super Rugby to christen Christchurch's new stadium. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Good on Chris Luxon for ditching his regular spot on Breakfast. That’s from Tina. I disagree with Tina. I don’t think Chris Luxon should have given up on Breakfast the way he has, pulling out of his weekly slot. I mean, obviously it’s his prerogative to do it. And the truth is, in New Zealand—and in our media—we actually have more access to our Prime Ministers than in many other countries. Loads of other Prime Ministers—think Australia—do not take the number of questions after news conferences that Chris Luxon does. They don’t turn up to news conferences as often as he does, or as Jacinda did, or Helen did, or John Key did. In some countries, like Canada, you can go a very long time between drinks when it comes to hearing from the Prime Minister. The truth is, Chris Luxon isn’t good at media interviews. A lot of the trouble he’s faced has come from stuffing them up. You had Tova with the “how many Māori ministers do you have?” stuff-up recently. You had Mike Hosking last year with the “will you or will you not have fired Andrew Bayly?” stuff-up. And then there was the “I don’t know how to be any clearer with you guys” bollocks from earlier this year. There’s just a long list of mistakes he’s made in media interviews. So if he’s not good in media interviews, on balance, he’s probably better off not doing them—especially in an election year. The trouble is, people will see this for what it is: that he’s running scared. Or, as Mike Hosking once said of Jacinda when she didn’t want to appear on his show, running for the hills. He’s trying to get away from situations he can’t handle very well and those situations are media interviews. And by the way, it’s not just Tova O’Brien on Breakfast—it’s Jack Tame on Q+A as well, both on TVNZ. Now, I don’t think he can credibly blame the Maiki Sherman door-knocking situation or the Benedict Collins perceived bias for this. These are different programmes. That’s the press gallery reporting to One News; this is TVNZ Breakfast. They’re different. But I don’t think people are going to care. And I say this having analysed the situation: most people out there just don’t care. They hate the media, so they’re going to say, “Fair enough.” But this is what Jacinda started. When she did it, I said, watch this, this will start a thing and it will happen all over the place afterwards. And if you didn’t like Jacinda doing it, then you have to hold the same standard. You can’t hate what Jacinda did and then love what Chris Luxon has done. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US Correspondent Dan Mitchinson joined Heather du Plessis-Allan to chat about the latest in the fuel crisis and Iran war. They also discussed the rise of going 'no-contact' as 60% of Gen Z say they will cut contact with friends or family if they face disrespect or negative effects to their mental health. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Senior National MP Simeon Brown has accused TVNZ news staff of breaching parliamentary rules this week by following National's Stuart Smith into a corridor area and "aggressively banged on" Smith's door for several minutes. Simeon Brown told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "ultimately what we're seeing here is behaviour which I think most New Zealanders would say is unacceptable." This evening Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has pulled out of his weekly TVNZ interview slot, but it isn't clear if these events are connected. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Between tonight's opening of the One NZ Stadium, a booming job market, and lower cost of living Christchurch is becoming a hot spot for kiwis relocating. ChristchurchNZ Chief Executive Ali Adams told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "things like this don't happen by accident. This is a curated and deliberate team effort ... across the city to really turn things around and to build a city that is really made for economic growth." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Commuters in London face more disruption as a second 24-hour Tube strike starts later this week. No further talks have taken place to settle the dispute and drivers in the RMT union are set to continue industrial action. UK correspondent Enda Brady says this is likely to frustrate commuters. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Victorian Hydrogen is proposing a $3 billion urea plant to be located 30km northeast of Invercargill. The company says it could deliver 1.5 million tonnes a year of urea fertiliser (using 3 million tonnes of lignite), making New Zealand's agricultural sector fully self sufficient. The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ACT leader David Seymour says the Government should stick to a planned increase to petrol taxes, despite the Middle East conflict driving up fuel prices. Transport Minister Chris Bishop has claimed it's 'unlikely' the taxes will go up by the planned 12 cents per litre early next year. David Seymour says no one knows what the fuel prices will be like by 2027 - and we shouldn't cancel the increase as a result. "The roads do need to be built, they do need to be maintained and the National Land Transport Fund is actually not funded by taxpayers, it's exclusively funded by road user charges and the excise tax on petrol." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, Tō Waha Media's Carmen Parahi and Jordan Williams from the Taxpayers' Union joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! The spike in fuel thefts has lead to police encouraging petrol stations to utilise pre-pay in order to bring crime down. Do we think this is a good idea? Chris Hipkins has apologised after making a comment Nicola Willis took objection to. Do we think this was out of line? LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Thursday 23 April. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What a surprise, Labour has agreed to support the India free trade agreement - although it wasn’t really a surprise when it was announced today. I told you last week it would happen this week and Labour would give it the green light because there was really no other way for them to go. If Labour had said no and blocked the agreement, they would have been accused of stopping New Zealand businesses - like apple growers - from making money that is effectively there for the taking. I think Labour simply dragged this out for political reasons. Saying yes straight away would have meant acknowledging they liked what Todd McClay and National had done. Instead, they dragged it out, looked like they were agonising over the decision and pretended they improved the deal by getting National to hire 14 more inspectors to focus on migrant worker exploitation. All of that was done to give the impression the deal isn’t actually as good as it seems, while still saying yes so businesses can benefit from it. And let me remind you: this is an incredible accomplishment when you think about it. Remember when Chris Luxon said during the 2023 election that he wanted this deal signed in his first term? He was poo-pooed for dreaming. Ambitious, yes. Likely, no. And yet here we are. Todd McClay - a trade minister who keeps knocking it out of the park with the Gulf States FTA and the United Arab Emirates FTA - has done it again. Even more impressively this time because this is India. A huge market and New Zealand has just secured access. And by the way, who do you think was more painful for McClay to negotiate with - the Indians or Labour? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Finance Minister says politicians should see our downgraded Moody's economic outlook as a wake-up-call, as she pieces together her Budget. The rating agency's moved our designation from stable to negative, but reaffirmed our triple A credit rating. Nicola Willis says she's got a clear set of goals for the 2026 Budget - and she's committed to sticking with them even during the ongoing crisis. "The most urgent thing I'm having to do, pretty much every day at the moment, is say no to spending more...many New Zealanders are saying cut the petrol tax, do this for us, do that for us - I get it." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Police are urging petrol stations to switch to pre-pay only, to stop people stealing fuel. Fuel app Gaspy is pricing 91 at an average $3.28 a litre today, with diesel sitting on $3.44. Police say they're being called to about 100 more thefts every week, since the fuel crisis began. Assistant Commissioner Tusha Penny says recently, diesel thefts from rural properties have been rising. "At the beginning of March, it was probably around 20 per week we were looking at, and as of April, we're looking at 50 offences per week - that's a significant increase." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More kids are reportedly feeling nervous about going to the toilet in public, and one expert is looking to explain why this is. A study out of Australia says the fear of using the toilet is getting more widespread, with more kids holding it in during school hours, which impacts their learning. Psychologist Sara Chatwin says it's important to make sure kids feel comfortable doing what they need to do at school. "If we are, no pun intended, messing things up at this point, it can lead to a lot of physical and psychological problems further down the track." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's launching a new HIV campaign - with the goal of having zero transmission by 2030. The '80's Calling' campaign's looking to correct false information from the AIDS crisis 40 years ago. It claims the stigma against HIV is still felt at some level - by nearly three-quarters of Kiwis. Burnett Foundation CEO Liz Gibbs says there's still plenty of ignorance around the condition, and the organisation welcomes this support. "We really welcome the fact that the Government has invested in this really important campaign." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Labour's leader is doubling down on his concern about the India-New Zealand free trade agreement's $33 billion Kiwi investment target. The party's finally agreed to support the FTA, but is warning businesses to proceed at their own risk. Chris Hipkins says the multi-billion-dollar target is unrealistic. He says down the line, it could affect businesses that redirect exports to India. "You've redirected product where you've developed a market - you could find that the constraints that have stopped you doing that until now are suddenly reimposed." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Labour's agreed to support the India-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement, but isn't speaking highly of the negotiations with the Government. National needed Labour's support to pass the FTA into law, because it was opposed by coalition partner New Zealand First. Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper explained why the agreement is better for New Zealand's future. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ratings have slumped in The Kyle and Jackie O Show's former slot, and the duo's former employer is looking to recoup millions in lost profits. Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson both face a counter-suit from ARN, which claimed the pair cost them key advertising revenue after their sacking. Australian correspondent Murray Olds unpacked ARN's case. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hurricanes co-owner Malcolm Gillies has warned he'll walk away from his Super Rugby investment without drastic change. Five months into his involvement, the board chair says the current model isn't set up for investors, players or New Zealand Rugby to succeed. He's pushing for privatisation of the competition - and says he won't be patient awaiting change. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explained further. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An ACT MP believes she was targeted by a haka over the weekend. The haka, performed by former Te Pāti Māori president Che Wilson at a Waikato festival, appeared to mock Indian culture. Parmjeet Parmar wasn't at the event, but says she believes she was targeted - as she supports equal rights for Māori and immigrants. "I would say that it's deeply concerning, because it's not just about me, it's about the wider community as well. Any anti-migrant sentiment - that needs to be called out." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.