Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Website infrastructure company Cloudflare has announced moves designed to stop AI from scraping digital content for free. Going forward, website owners can choose if they want AI crawlers to access their content - and decide how the content gets used. Cloudflare chief strategy officer Stephanie Cohen says websites want control over who uses their output - and they can charge or block AI platforms if needed. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR and Child Fund CEO Josie Pagani joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! There's growing calls to scrap NCEA - and the Government is looking to make some changes to the qualification. What do we make of this? Coldplay's Chris Martin is now warning adulterers to disentangle before the kiss cam comes on. What do we think of this saga? Should the CEO have had to resign?  The Government has confirmed the new Waikato medical school is under way - do we see the costs blowing out? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Finance Minister says the costs involved in building a new medical school at Waikato University have been through a thorough business case. Construction will begin this year - with the school providing 120 doctor training places a year, focused on primary care and rural health. The Government's chipping in $83 million dollars, and the university and philanthropic investors will contribute $150 million. When asked what would happen if the others can't come up with the money, Nicola Willis was clear. "I'm going to say - well, you said you would, so you're in trouble now and you're going to have to find the money." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Monday, 21 July 2025, Health Minister Simeon Brown on giving the green light for the new Waikato Medical School - and how the Government managed to cut a significant amount of money from the original proposal. Inflation is up again to 2.7 percent but the Finance Minister Nicola Willis reckons the economy will have firmly turned around by the time we get to the election next year. If NCEA is too far gone, what should we replace it with? Plus, on the Huddle a controversial take from Trish on the Coldplay kiss cam incident that leaves both Heather and Josie red faced! 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.

Now, here's a prediction for you - watch those Waikato University medical school costs blowout. I reckon it's gonna blow out and there's all the signs this thing is gonna blow out. Even when the Waikato University was itself putting in less money, which is $100 million, there were questions about whether it could afford it because Waikato University's debt level is maxed out at the moment. So everybody looked at it and went, are you actually gonna be able to afford it? Well now, it not only has to put in the $100 million, it has to put in $150 million between itself and some philanthropists it needs to find. Now, what do you think happens if for whatever reason, it cannot quite find that money? Who do you think is going to be called upon to fund the gap? The long-suffering taxpayer. That's a blowout for us. Now, that's not even mentioning the chances that this thing costs much more than what they say it's gonna cost. I'm very suspicious about how it is that a $380 million project suddenly got cut down to $230 million without anything actually being cut out of it. How did that happen? And even at the higher estimate, which was $380 million, I was already worried that that wasn't really going to cover it, because there were warnings then that it was going to blow out - because the thing is being rushed. Treasury said that whenever we rush things, like the Dunedin Hospital build, we end up with unexpected and often urgent cost escalations. Now, I'm incredibly cynical about the fact that this has somehow managed to radically cut the costs of a scheme that was being questioned for being too expensive and unnecessary when we already have two medical schools. And I worry very much that we have been presented the best case scenario to get us across the line on a National Party election promise that actually wasn't stacking up anymore. And that once we've invested in this and the shovels are in the ground and the costs start to blow out, we go - well, we're already pouring money into it, we simply will have to continue pouring money into it, which is how this always goes. So I hope that this comes in under budget, and if it does, I absolutely will apologize for what I'm saying right now, but I don't think it will. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One expert is joining the calls to overhaul NCEA after the Government indicated changes were on the way. A damning report's highlighted major problems with the qualification's credibility, with some schools already withdrawing from Level One. NZ Initiative Senior Fellow Dr Michael Johnston says NCEA's had a 20-year run and it's time to rethink it. "I think a lot of teachers and schools have probably had a gutsful of it, to be honest. It imposes a very heavy workload on teachers... there's a lot that schools have to do." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Experts have offered reassurance our high inflation isn't a sign of things to come. Stats NZ figures show the Consumers Price Index reached 2.7 percent for the year to June. Inflation fell to just 2.2 percent last year - from 7.3 percent three years ago - but has been rising since. Kiwibank senior economist Mary Jo Vergara says this is likely a spike, so should go back down. "If you look at domestic inflation, that's really trending down - so I don't think this is going to be something that is persistent."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Construction will begin this year on a new medical school at Waikato University. The Government has given it the go ahead - and is providing $83 million dollars towards the project. Health Minister Simeon Brown says the school will offer a post-graduate degree aimed at other fields, such as nurses or paramedics. "This is about attracting people from those rural communities working potentially in healthcare or different roles and giving them the opportunity to upskill or become a doctor." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Consumer NZ says complaints against Noel Leeming go beyond its price-matching policy.  The tech retailer is facing criminal charges brought by the Commerce Commission - accusing it of making misleading promises.  Noel Leeming's strongly rejecting the claim, and says it will vigorously defend its stance.  But Consumer NZ chief executive, Jon Duffy, says the company's also charged with misleading people about their consumer rights.  "If people are taking things back to the store and getting mislead about their rights to a refund or a replacement, that's very concerning". LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister has confirmed a Waikato medical school's coming, with construction beginning this year. The Government's putting $83 million towards the $230-million-dollar project, with the rest coming from Waikato University and philanthropic investors. It'll offer a graduate-entry programme, focused on primary care and rural health. Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says the ACT Party quickly released a statement taking credit for driving down the price of the project. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.