Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

A sense the fall-out isn't over, after Te Pāti Māori's National Council has ejected two MPs from the party. Tākuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi are calling it unconstitutional, and will sit as independents in Parliament for now. It's after weeks of party in-fighting playing out in public. The party's co-leaders say they haven't considered invoking the waka-jumping law, but didn't rule it out.   Former co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell says that seems to be the leadership's intention. "I still think there's a little bit of water to go under the bridge as yet - I understand there may well be some sort of legal challenges to process." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rainfall today at Tongariro National Park has helped dampen the fire that's rampaged across nearly 3000 hectares since Saturday.  Fire and Emergency says a flyover his afternoon's revealed no signs of live fire. Crews will use thermal imaging to detect hotspots tonight - which they'll target tomorrow.  Ruapehu mayor Weston Kirton says they'll investigate what caused the fire.  He says hundreds of hectares will need to be restored - but most areas damaged had little public access.  "Organised tracks will be open to the public as soon as we get that 7 days lifted...and when it's safe to do so." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Te Pāti Māori's co-leaders won't share why their National Council decided to expel Tākuta Ferris and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. The Council met last night to decide on the two MPs' fate.  The expulsion comes after weeks of public sparring between the pair and Party President John Tamihere. Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper explained the situation further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australian radio legend John Laws has died. The 90-year-old affectionately dubbed 'Golden Tonsils' died in Sydney, after being hospitalised last month. Australian correspondent Oliver Peterson looked back on his radio legacy. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A $2.5 billion dollar boost for our largest bank. ANZ New Zealand's announced a 21 percent increase in its annual profit. It's largely down to a good year for the bank's hedging - investments designed to offset financial risks. Chief Executive Antonia Watson says the bank also grew its balance sheet, and adjusted funds set aside for covering unpaid loans.  "In a sign of green shoots, we've actually released some of the credit provisions that we took in previous years." Westpac has had a 13 percent profit increase - and BNZ's had no change. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Friday 7 November. 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.

A new three-level luxury department store is set to open on Auckland's Queen Street next year.  The new store will be located at 131 Queen St and is set to include valet parking and an espresso music bar. Luxury retailer Faradays is behind the $30 million development.  Faradays Co-Founder and Chief Executive Eddie von Dadelszen said to Heather du Plessis-Allan, "the building itself, we're inheriting something truly, truly unique ... it's just an amazing historical embrace to do something contemporary and fresh and modern inside." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I think I am more interested in seeing how Zoran Mamdani goes than any other Democrat that I can remember in a very, very, very long time, because I genuinely am not sure if this is gonna go brilliantly for him. And he's the next big thing, or he's the next big disappointment, because there is no way, is there? Like, no way at all he's gonna be able to do everything that he's promised. I mean, he might be able to do a rent freeze in New York City. Sure, that's an easy thing to do. That's a stroke of a pen. Off you go. But it might backfire. Like it might lead to fewer housing units being added, which ultimately makes the problem worse. He can pick something else to do. He could do free childcare, hugely expensive. He could add a 2% tax on incomes over $1 million, but he may find those incomes start disappearing from his city. Either way, he's gonna have to pick some of his pet projects and go with just a few of them, because doing absolutely everything is just not gonna happen. And that's gonna lead to disappointment surely for the voters who truly believe he can do all these things. My gut though says that the disappointment will not be great, because if there's one thing we learned from Donald Trump, it's that breaking promises doesn't actually really matter that much if you represent something to voters. Donald Trump represented the anti-establishment, so people stuck with him even when he broke his promises. Mamdani represents the anti-Trump, so I think people will stick with him even if he breaks his promises. I actually suspect, by the way, that this is going to be very good for Donald Trump. I think he's going to love having Mamdani around because he will be able to use everything that Mamdani does to berate him and the Democrats. Every time a promise is broken, he's going to, because Mamdani is the opposite of him, right? So Mamdani just becomes the bad guy in all of his stories from here on and he pumps himself up.  However this goes for Mamdani, I think we can all agree this is now turning into a must-see show. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ACT leader David Seymour's controversial school lunch programme is getting a makeover going into it's second year of operation. The changes include catering giant Compass Group no longer providing lunches to primary schools- but they will still provide meals for secondary schools and intermediates.  Seymour told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "a subcontractor failed in term one of this year, there was a lot of publicity around that. We fixed it, with the help of Compass, and that's why they continue to supply the bulk of meals." The $3 meal cap is also gone with costs now reaching up to $5 per meal.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Donald Trump has announced to reduce the costs of some weight loss drugs, or as he calls them 'fat shots'. The Trump administration claims that Americans could lose 61 billion kilogrammes combined because of this deal. A US$1 trillion pay package, endorsed by Tesla shareholders, could be headed for Elon Musk . Meanwhile, the Government shutdown, which has now reached 37 days, is leading to flight delays and cancellations at US airports.  Jonathan Kearsley told Heather du Plessis-Allan, "what this is now doing is spreading the pain far beyond federal workers ... straight into American travellers." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.