Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Tell you what—I'm not feeling terribly hopeful about the situation for vulnerable kids in this country after reading the coroner’s recommendations following the death of Malachi Subecz. You’ll remember the case of Malachi. I’m not going to go through the details again; sufficient to say it happened about four and a half, nearly five years ago, and it fired up public anger because of the number of times his wider family tried to warn authorities that something was going to happen—and yet he was not protected. One of the recommendations the coroner has made today in her report is that Oranga Tamariki—OT, formerly CYFS—run a public awareness campaign to help people identify possible signs of abuse and understand how to take action. To be fair to her, that idea isn’t new. It came from an earlier review. She’s simply pointing out that it still hasn’t happened, and is reiterating that the campaign should go ahead. But really? Is that what we need in this country—a public campaign to tell us what child abuse looks like? I think we all know what child abuse looks like. I struggle to believe that there are people who do not know that breaking a child’s bone is abuse. So isn’t this just the kind of thing well-meaning people suggest to make themselves feel like they’re doing something, when really it changes nothing—because maybe there’s very little you actually can do? The problem in Malachi’s case wasn’t that people didn’t know what child abuse looked like. People did see the abuse. They absolutely recognised it as abuse. And they went to OT and said, “Hey, Malachi is being abused. Here’s the proof.” By my count, they did that about five times—if not more. And OT didn’t stop it. That is the problem. And it’s the problem in so many of these tragic cases. When a child dies, we often discover afterwards that OT already knew the family—and yet the child ended up dead anyway. The problem isn’t that you and I don’t know what child abuse looks like. We do. The problem is that the agency responsible for stopping it apparently doesn’t know what child abuse looks like—or at least doesn’t act when it sees it. Never mind a public campaign. Fix that fundamental problem at Oranga Tamariki, and you might actually save a lot of lives. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A memoir has been written by shamed business titan Ron Brierley who was imprisoned and lost his knighthood after his conviction for possession of child sex abuse material in 2021.  The book, titled The History of Brierley Investments Ltd - Not As Boring As You Think, is being published by Henry Newrick. Newrick defended his decision to publish the book saying, "he's perfectly entitled, anybody's entitled to, write about whatever they want to write about." He told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "I did it on a matter of principle, and also because I found the subject interesting." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Wednesday, 11 February, 2026, Nicola Willis tells us why the Government's now decided to do an inquiry into Reserve Bank actions during Covid-19. We ask the Safeguarding Children chief executive if an abuse awareness campaign is likely to be effective in the wake of the murder of five-year-old Malachi Subecz. The publisher of a new book on Ron Brierley explains why he thinks people need to hear the disgraced businessman's story. And on the Huddle, Jack Tame and Maurice Williamson on whether they'd sample a michelada - beer with tomato juice. 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.

An independent external review of the Teaching Council was carried out by consultant Debbie Francis late last year. It has found that the agency has lost focus on its core function of safeguarding children and needs transformative change. CEO Lesley Hoskin is on agreed leave pending the outcome of an independent investigation into her conduct. The report identified multiple issues in the operations of the council. Education minister Erica Stanford told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "those two things together are a recipe for disaster: we think that we're a friend to the profession, and we're not hiring people who are actually have any experience." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malachi Rain Subecz was 5 years old when he was murdered by his caregiver, Michaela Barriball, who is now serving a life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years. Coroner Janet Anderson has now made several recommendations including the development and implementation of an awareness campaign to encourage the identification and reporting of suspected child abuse.  Safeguarding Children CEO Willow Duffy told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "I think a very well designed public health campaign would be excellent, but it cannot just be done on its own. "It needs to be supported by many other factors that we know work to make a public health campaign successful." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US correspondent Dan Mitchinson joined Heather du Plessis-Allan to chat about today's biggest news in the USA.  Congress is seeing a mass exodus with 51 House members and nine senators choosing to not stand for re-election this year.  Mitchinson said the departures have been partially attributed to a 'toxic partisan atmosphere'. They also spoke about the news that one person has been detained over kidnapping of TV anchor, Savannah Guthrie's, mother Nancy Guthrie.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced a surprise inquiry into the actions of the Reserve Bank during the Covid-19 pandemic with a stated purpose to identify any lessons that could be learned to improve the monetary policy response to future major events. Adrian Orr was the Reserve Bank governor from 2018 until his resignation last year.  Former Reserve Bank governor Michael Reddell welcomes the inquiry but believes the actions of the Reserve Bank were not malicious. "It wasn't political, it wasn't intentioned to generate high inflation. It was just badly misreading the economy," he told Heather du Plessis-Allan. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister of the UK is fighting for political survival - after fallout over his appointing a controversial Ambassador to the US.  Peter Mandelson's been sacked after his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein came to light, but it's thrown Keir Starmer's leadership into uncertainty.  UK correspondent Enda Brady revealed what this news could mean for Starmer's political future, or what this could mean for Labour ahead of the next UK election. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiwi shearer Rowland Smith has advanced to one of the nation's biggest competitions. He just made the Shearing Sports New Zealand team for the 2026 Golden Shears World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships. The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Anti-Corruption Taskforce's first report suggests public sector fraud is almost certainly under-reported. It analysed six agencies - including Corrections, Inland Revenue and Sport New Zealand. The Serious Fraud Office-led taskforce found 446 suspected cases of internal fraud or corruption, over 15 months.  Transparency International NZ executive director Julie Haggie says this is a 'significant' report highlighting many internal issues.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.