Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

The Resource Management Act is officially bound for the scrapheap. The Government's replacing the hefty legislation with two new laws - one based around planning, and the other on the environment. The new laws will cut consent and permit numbers by 46-percent, and speed up those still required. Barry Soper told Ryan Bridge that he's 'overwhelmed' with the scrapping of the Resource Management Act, and says he agrees with Chris Bishop's claim that this is the largest economic reform in a generation.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many aesthetic changes to buildings will no longer need consents - under the Government's Resource Management Act shake-up. The replacement Planning and Natural Environment Bills are being introduced to Parliament today - and will pass next year.  RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop says planners won't be able to block projects because of visual changes - as long as other people aren't affected. He told Ryan Bridge that planners have got involved in some cases, to a ridiculous degree.  Bishop says that includes the direction doors face and where televisions were placed in living rooms.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Greens are warning student debt is stopping New Zealanders coming home for Christmas. Its survey of 400 expat Kiwis found 71 percent were overdue on payments - and 82 percent are worried about their loan. The Green Party's calling for a cross-Parliament inquiry into the repayment scheme for Kiwis living overseas. Spokesperson Lawrence Xu-Nan told Ryan Bridge that inflexible repayment schemes, interest rates and penalty fees are driving people away. He says these are people with skills gained overseas we want to eventually attract back to contribute to New Zealand. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A push to get Kiwis talking about systemic issues leading to child abuse. The Dear Children campaign has launched today - with a letter to kids and parents countrywide, focusing on preventing all forms of child maltreatment Children's Commissioner Claire Achmad says child homicide cannot be ignored. She told Ryan Bridge on average, one child is killed every five weeks, but it's not too late for change, so eventually children will grow up in New Zealand feeling safe. She says it starts with awareness. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Public transport users in the Capital can start using debit and credit cards and phones on buses and trains - from next March. Greater Wellington Regional Council will introduce contactless payments - at a cost of 5.5 million dollars.  It's jumping the gun on the Government National Ticketing System, scheduled for mid-2027.  Council Chair Daran Ponter told Ryan Bridge they don't trust the timeline.  He says he's sick of telling Wellington commuters they can't have something that's available in Auckland and Australia. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Monday, 8 December 2025, the EMA's Alan McDonald outlines why tomorrow's RMA overhaul is so desperately needed and why he thinks the Government is coming with the bazooka approach. Will the big Netflix-Warner Brothers deal lead to fewer films in cinemas? Media commentator Duncan Greive weighs in. The Children's Commissioner has launched a campaign against child homicide, but are the country's worst parents really going to pay attention? Labour's Chris Hipkins rejects Andrew Coster's assertion he'd been briefed about the McSkimming affair - and says he has a witness. Plus, the Huddle debate the Children's Commission's campaign against child homicide and whether the days of boozy and lavish Christmas parties are over. 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.

Smaller electricity retailers and generators are worried impending power market reforms won't create the level playing-field promised.  The Electricity Authority's proposed a non-discrimination rule that will force gentailers to play fair when deciding to sell electricity to itself or other companies.  Some smaller players, including Electric Kiwi, have written to the authority saying the rule doesn't go far enough.  Its Chief Executive Huia Burt told Ryan Bridge the rule only applies to leftover electricity.  But she says that could be a very insignificant amount of the total volume - which doesn't create a level playing field.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’ve had it with people running around pretending we’re going to solve big global problems. Australia’s banning kids from social media on Wednesday. They’re going to lead the world. Sounds very appealing. Stop the brain rot, etc. Except kids will be kids and will get around it. They’ll do this the same way I was able to use Facebook in China—despite the big firewall—by using a VPN. You just log in to an app and piggyback off another country’s internet. Or they might get a fake ID, or set up a fake account in another jurisdiction. Good luck with this actually working. Same goes for climate change. Remember when we were once world-leading? Well, the problem with being world-leading is that you actually need others to follow. Otherwise, you’re not world-leading—you’re just an anomaly. What’s the point in stopping your cows from burping if the Aussies keep mining, the Chinese keep burning coal, and the Saudis keep drilling for oil? Climate change and the internet pose similar problems because they are global in nature. And because they are global in nature, you need kumbaya from all corners of the globe to address them. Look how that’s working out for the UN. It doesn’t. The truth is this: if we really wanted to solve these problems, the quickest, most effective way would be individual action. We could, each and every one of us, tomorrow, take phones off children and put them in the bin. We could walk to work and stop driving our cars. But we won’t. A poll out of Australia says 70% of parents support the ban. Guess how many said, in the very same poll, they would actually enforce it on their own children? Less than a third. It’s that same logic that has seen the Ford Ranger ute—a gas guzzler, big macho bull of an A-to-B—be the top-selling vehicle in this country for the past ten years running. And that’s the real problem with these global issues: governments make a big song and dance, but fundamentally, individually, we don’t actually see them as real problems, do we?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A geopolitical expert says it's a good thing a New Zealand navy ship was on its own in waters around East Asia - when it was shadowed by seven Chinese warships. The vessel was patrolling last month as part of international efforts to monitor and restrict North Korea’s nuclear and missile activity. The Defence Force says the Chinese ships followed at a safe, professional distance. Geoffrey Miller told Ryan Bridge we'll have to wait and see if there are further repercussions. He says China's usually more offended by joint actions with other Five Eyes countries - so it's probably better our Defence Force was alone. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Falls for the Greens and Te Pati Maori in the latest 1 News Verian Poll - which gives the coalition more than enough seats to govern. National is on 36 percent, up two - while Act is also up two to 10 percent, and New Zealand First steady on nine. In the left bloc, Labour was up three to 35, but the Greens dropped four to seven, and Te Pati Maori - after weeks of infighting - fell two points to one percent. Finance Minister Nicola Willis told Ryan Bridge they're focused on doing things to make sure people are better off, can get ahead, and have strong public services. She says it's positive to see that most people, if given the chance to vote tomorrow - would re-elect the current Government. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.