Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

At least one Wellington mayor says it's time district councils combined into one. The Government's proposing replacing regional councillors with boards of district mayors.  They'll have two years from establishment, to put up a regional plan for future local Governments. Porirua mayor Anita Baker says the Wellington region should grab this opportunity.  She explained Hutt City and Porirua residents have already said yes to amalgamation, and Wellington city mayor Andrew Little doesn't seem opposed either.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Reserve Bank's outgoing Governor says New Zealand's economy may be doing better than we realise. The central bank has cut the OCR 25 basis points today - to 2.25 percent. Christian Hawkesby says the economy already appears to be recovering from this year's downturn. He says what's unclear - is its pace. "The recovery could be faster and stronger than we expect, because we have cut interest rates a long way and it could really start coming through quite quickly." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government recently unveiled their plans to make changes to local Government, and it's prompted additional speculation. It's proposing replacing the country's 11 regional councils with boards made up of local mayors. NZ Herald political editor Thomas Coughlan speculated about some further changes. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ukraine officials say they've agreed to the 'essence' of a peace deal with Russia, but some sensitive issues are still to resolve. US President Donald Trump says a deal is close and US and Russian officials have been meeting separately in Abu Dhabi on discussions. Reports indicate it's now expected Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet within the next week. US correspondent Jonathan Kearsley says the final deal will come down to whether or not Russia accepts the proposed changes. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Black Caps cricketers have been grouped with Afghanistan, South Africa, Canada and the UAE for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8. The marquee pool fixture will see India and Pakistan meet on February 15 in neutral Colombo.  Sri Lanka will also host any play-off matches involving Pakistan, due to the latter's ongoing political tension with India. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explained further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A promoter says concerts in New Zealand have a bright future, despite some high-profile cancellations.  Tauranga reggae festival One Love and Taranaki's WOMAD have called off their 2026 showings. Promoter Brent Eccles says other festivals like Electric Avenue are doing very well.  He says there are plenty of future opportunities.  "And I think you'll find that next year, with this new Government scheme that's going on, a lot will be announced." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Tuesday, 25 November 2025, regional councils are about to get the axe. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop explains what will replace them, and why it's hopefully going to lower your rates. Massively promising results from the new maths curriculum, as kids are finally seeing a turnaround in their dropping results. GPs are welcoming plans to digitise the health system - to allow hospitals and doctors to all have access to a patient's health history. Plus, on the Huddle, freshly minted Labour candidate Craig Renney and Tim Wilson debate the changes for regional councils and Black Friday deals. 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.

Over in the UK, concerns have been raised over a new kind of brain drain as migration remains a consistent issue. A total of 257,000 British nationals are now thought to have left the country last year, 180,000 more than the initial estimate of 77,000. UK correspondent Enda Brady says rich-listers are among the high-profile Britons leaving, including steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal - who voiced displeasure with proposed tax changes. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, Tim Wilson from the Maxim Institute and Labour candidate for Wellington Bays Craig Renney joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!  The Government has confirmed it plans to make major changes to regional councils, including axing regional councillors and replacing regional councils with groups of local mayors. Do we think this is a good idea?  New reports show more universities are giving out more 'A' grades and it's prompted concern from some. Are we diluting excellence?  Black Friday's coming up this week, but the deals are already in full swing. Are we getting into it? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government has announced this afternoon that it is scrapping regional councils - and I reckon you need to put this on your list of some of the best news that you have heard in a long time for turning this country around. Regional councils have got to go. It's not so much the elected councillors, right? I mean, obviously they have to go as well.  But we simply don't need that layer of bureaucracy with regional councils, when we already have city and district councils and we already have central Government. It's just far too much. But scrapping the elected guys, that's only gonna save us a little bit of money. We're talking peanuts here. The real money is going to be saved in the stuff that happens in the back office at the regional councils, the stuff that's done by the unelected officials and the consultants that they bring in. And when I'm what I'm talking about here is the plans. Now let me tell you about the plans - you probably don't realize it because this stuff is so boring it will put you to sleep - but regional councils around this country are blowing tens of millions of dollars and wasting years upon years on planning new rules. The Waikato Regional Council's Healthy Rivers Plan Change 1, let's just call it PC1 for short - PC1 at last count has cost $23 million. That was about 3 years ago. The plan is not even fully implemented yet, so you can add to that $23 million. Now, that is just the plan for the rivers in the Waikato. It's not the plan for rivers anywhere else in the country, it's for nothing else in the Waikato, just the rivers in Waikato - and it's already cost $23 million. Bear in mind every single region, and there are 11 of them, makes its own plans. So you could take that $23 million and just add to it. Around this country, we're just racking up the millions. This stuff, as I said, takes years. The Waikato river plan, PC1, that was notified in 2016. A decade on, it's still not in full operation because of appeals and all kinds of wrangles around it. And this is where huge amounts of the rates that you pay are wasted, right? So scrapping the regional councils is potentially a massive, massive saving for us. The question is  - what do the Nats replace it with? If they then replace the regional councils with a system where maybe we have just one set of rules or four sets of rules or ten sets of rules that regions can choose from, pre-written rules that they can roll out that they don't have to plan themselves rather than designing their own, that may in fact be a better system. Now the devil is in the details, but so far this has the potential to be some of the best news for this country. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.