Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Recent data shows there were 27,850 fewer jobs in New Zealand in June compared to the year before, and young Kiwis are being hit hard by a tightening labour market. Over 12,000 of those lost jobs came from the construction sector, manufacturing lost 5850 jobs, professional, scientific and technical services lost 5150 jobs and admin and support services lost 4860 jobs. Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen explains what's behind this change. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and former Labour minister Stuart Nash joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! The Government is banning retailers from charging credit card surcharges - but banks are still allowed to charge the retailers. What do we make of this? Is this unfair for retailers?  Prime Minister Chris Luxon got booed at the ANZ Premiership grand final yesterday. Is this a bad sign? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Finance Minister has hinted changes are on the way for the supermarket sector, with a further update due out by the end of August. Speculation indicates the Government will make an announcement to address the situation. Nicola Willis says Prime Minister Luxon has confirmed the Government will be making an announcement this quarter. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Monday, 28 July 2025, a combative interview with Commerce Minister Scott Simpson who is announcing a ban on credit card surcharges - but will retailers pass on the cost anyway? Israel is finally letting some aid back into Gaza. Heather asks Claire Manera from Doctors Without Borders whether the aid is actually getting to people in need. Bad news if you love a lie-in - life expectancy is worse for people who sleep too much, compared to those not sleeping enough. Plus, the Huddle debates what we can read into the Prime Minister being booed at the netball last night. 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.

The news of the day, politically, is that surcharges are gone, as the Government's just banned them. You know what I'm talking about here, right? They're the little extra amount that you get pinged when you turn up at the dairy and you use your credit card, or you use your paywave - it's gone from May next year. The big sell behind this is basically that it's to help you with the cost of living crisis. Now, I hate to do this because I know you're thinking, "Oh, yay." And I'm totally gonna rain on that parade for you. Don't get excited, this is gonna fix nothing. You are still gonna end up paying that cost somehow, probably just through the cost of the bottle of milk that you're buying. Or your haircut, or your sushi or whatever it is - it's gonna be built into the price because the business still has the cost. Nothing is changing there. They've still got to pay that merchant fee. Now, a merchant fee is a very complicated set of charges which the business gets lumped with. And most businesses actually have no bloody idea what makes up that merchant fee. There's a fee from the credit card companies, there's a fee for moving money from the banks, there's the EFTPOS providers - the whole thing gets lumped into the merchant fee and that has not gone away. What's only gone away is the business's ability to be able to recover the cost of some of that through the surcharge. And by the way, the cost of that thing is actually quite big. I've read about one business - just one shop - that pays about $14,000 in a year just for that, just for the merchant fee, to be able to do business electronically. Now, what's going to happen if you go to that shop is, because that guy can't now pass it on to you with a 2 percent, 0.7 percent, 1 percent surcharge or whatever, he's simply going to add it to the cost of his product so that across the year, he makes that $14,000 back. Also, another reason why you shouldn't get excited about it is that this ban does not include anything that you buy online. So you're buying your Air New Zealand tickets? You're still gonna be paying that little $6 handling fee. You're buying some tickets for a concert from Ticketmaster? You're still paying that handling fee. Maybe you want to head along to Banksy? Yep, you're still gonna be paying yourself a nice little $8 handling fee. And the problem with that is that these are some of the most egregious examples, I would have thought, of surcharges just bearing no resemblance to reality - but they still slip through this. So instead of actually sorting out the backroom problems and the real gnarly issues - what has been charged by the banks and the EFTPOS companies and the credit card companies and really excessive surcharges - the Government's just taken the easy option and brought in a ban on the little stuff you buy from the dairy. Good headline. Unfortunately, though, just a charade. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's recent ban on on payment card surcharges has been met with criticism from the retail and hospitality sectors. The Government's announced it will scrap extra in-store card fees by next May. The Commerce Commission has already reduced bank interchange visa and master card fees for businesses. Dairy and Business Owners Group chair Ankit Bansal says these proposed changes are 'unfair' as the banks can still charge whatever transaction fees they like. "These will likely have to be passed on to the consumers - the problem is, we would have to do it across the board. So even if someone was paying with cash, one way or another, we're paying for these charges." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Humanitarian groups say there's zero evidence to support the claim that Hamas is stealing humanitarian aid meant for Gaza.  Trucks and airdrops are reaching the Strip after Israel's paused fighting to open some aid corridors.  International pressure's been mounting as starvation deepens.  Doctors Without Borders coordinator Claire Manera says Israeli authorities are the only ones she's seen blocking aid.  "While I was there on the ground, all I could see was medical supplies were going into the hospitals that we worked in - and we were trying to deliver aid into the population." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's no shortage of research on the dangers of not sleeping enough, but sleeping too much has been found to be worse for your health than expected. New research has revealed that people who sleep over nine hours per night are 34 percent more likely to live shorter lives than those who sleep the ideal 8-9 hours a night. Dr Alex Bartle from the Sleep Well Clinic says if you frequently sleep longer than the ideal timeframe, you'll need to consult your GP. "If that's not sufficient - particularly if you're a snorer for example - then you need to check for sleep apnoea." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's scrapping card surcharges at the till, which collectively cost Kiwis $150 million each year. Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Scott Simpson confirmed they'll ban in-store credit and debit card surcharges, like paywave fees.  He says it's important for consumers to have transparency when it comes to pricing.  "In a competitive world, businesses understand the price-competitive nature of the businesses that they operate and the goods and services they provide. Surcharges are annoying, they're pesky and most customers don't actually know whether they're paying the full price."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A frosty reception for the Prime Minister at the ANZ Premiership grand final in Auckland yesterday - with booing from the crowd. Chris Luxon is brushing it off, and says he was well-looked after at the event. Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says Luxon's taken the backlash in his stride, and acknowledged the backlash that comes with politics.   LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.