Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

The Resources Minister is insistent Crown funds should help heat the geothermal sector. A Government strategy has been released on its plan to double the use of geothermal energy by 2040. It's also ring fenced $50 million from the Regional Infrastructure Fund for the development of geothermal energy projects.  Resources Minister Shane Jones says it's a worthy investment. "The Crown stepped up to the plate in the 1950s, did an enormous amount of drilling - not always successful, but a number of those drill holes have turned into major electricity suppliers."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New reports indicate young people aren't going to op-shops as often, and experts have raised questions as to why this is. Despite the ongoing cost of living, it seems like younger people wanting discount fashion prefer other options - with less barriers. Otago University professor Lisa McNeil says the extra effort to look for quality pieces is perceived as a lot of extra labour, and young people are put off. "It's hard for them, it's expensive when they compare it to some of the cheap new options that are available in the market." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A top economist advises thinking about working from home to save fuel. Iran's maintaining its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz - retaliating to the continued bombing assault by the US and Israel. It's led Sri Lanka to move to a four-day working week from tomorrow.  Westpac economist Kelly Eckhold says unless things change quickly, something will have to be done within the next three weeks.  "Through the Covid period, we were able to save quite a lot of fuel with the hard lockdowns. We're not going to save anywhere near that amount, but it'll certainly help provide more fuel for the higher-priority users of it."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's fears there'll be no slowdown any time soon to the rapid rise in food prices. Stats NZ figures show they rose 4.5 percent in the year to February. Steak, mince and chocolate all shot up more than 20 percent. Infometrics head, Brad Olsen, says the spike in oil prices because of the war in Iran will do nothing to help.  "We know that not only oil prices are key to transport costs, but also just the production. Now if you're a farmer, you've got to use diesel to move stuff around to run the tractor and everything else. So this is going to hit." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A return towards decentralisation is being painted as Health New Zealand's next chapter. The Government's reverting to giving hospitals more control - letting them decide staffing, budgets, and service delivery from July. It's adamant it's not a return to District Health Boards, with planning still done nationally. Acting chief executive Andrew Brant says Health NZ's finances are looking good and it's delivering more, but this ensures improvement continues. He explained the key change is bringing the operating model much more into the frontline - and communities into decisions. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chris Hipkins says he won't discuss family matters publicly - verging on tears at a press conference this afternoon.  On Sunday, his ex-wife Jade Paul posted allegations on social media, none relating to unlawful conduct. The Labour leader denies them and says he hasn't spoken to Paul, who is overseas. Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says it's clear Paul felt like she needed to speak out as Hipkins makes more campaign promises ahead of the election. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Australian Reserve Bank has increased interest rates by 0.25 percentage points, up to 4.1 percent. This is the second month the RBA has lifted rates, with the bank hiking up to 3.85 percent in February. Australian correspondet Murray Olds says the vote to increase rates was divided, but there's concerns about inflation brought on by the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government is copping heat today for cancelling the EV subsidy a couple of years ago. Critics now say it looks like a mistake, because oil prices are rising and, as a result, petrol prices are rising too. They argue that, of course, we’d all be better off in electric vehicles - which we supposedly would have been if the Government hadn’t cancelled the subsidy at the end of 2023. Now let me tell you why it was not a mistake to cancel it, why what’s happening right now actually proves that, and why the lovies saying this are wrong. What’s important in this argument is being specific about who would have owned those electric vehicles if the Tesla subsidy had continued. It wouldn’t have been workers living all the way out in Pōkeno, driving into the city, it wouldn’t have been people out in Silverstream commuting into Wellington, it wouldn’t have been solo mums trying to make ends meet - they can’t afford new EVs. It would have been well-heeled people living in central-city leafy suburbs, getting eight grand knocked off the price of their nice new cars. Those are not the people who need help when fuel prices shoot up. So if we were going to do something like this - if we were going to repeat some form of Government help - wouldn’t it be far more useful to take the $620 million that helped nice people into their nice cars and instead redirect it toward people who are poorer? The proof that we didn’t need that subsidy up to this point is in what’s happening right now. I told you earlier: BYD sold 80 cars in New Zealand on Saturday alone. They sold 800 cars in Australia on the same day. That is happening in New Zealand without the subsidy. Which tells you this - when rich people decide they want themselves a nice EV, they will go and buy it without Government help. They don’t need it. They just have to want EVs - and they didn’t want them before because it didn’t stack up until fuel prices went up. Now look, I do think there’s a place for Government help in this crisis if it gets worse. But it’s not to help rich people buy new cars. It’s for poorer people - the people who will actually be stung by rising petrol prices if they keep going up. So no, it was not a mistake to cut the subsidy. Eighty BYDs sold in New Zealand on Saturday is your proof. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to send warships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz amid ongoing concerns. US President Donald Trump has reportedly called for reinforcements to keep an eye on the waterway after the Middle East conflict led to a spike in oil prices.  UK correspondent Gavin Grey says Starmer isn't offering to help police the area, but Donald Trump has spoken to other world leaders about the matter. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Monday, 16 March, 2026, we talk to the Retail NZ chief executive about an increase in card spending - will it last? The boss of Freightways says people are getting a bit 'hysterical' about petrol price rises. We talk to an entertainment reporter in the US about this year's big Oscar winners. And on The Huddle, Josie Pagani and Phil O'Reilly on whether Nicola Willis' 1pm press conference brought back any unfortunate memories.  Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.