Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Tonight on The Huddle, journalist Clare de Lore and former Labour Minister Stuart Nash joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!  ACT leader David Seymour says the Paris Agreement needs to be reformed - or else New Zealand should walk away. Is he right? Will National get on board for it? Helen Clark and John Key are set to attend China's big military parade alongside Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. What do we make of this? Will Luxon and Winston be glad they don't have to go? The Polish CEO who made headlines after he snatched a child's hat at the US Open has since apologised - do we believe this?  NZI says we have three times as many ministerial portfolios as we need - do we need to make some cuts? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Finally, we have a serious party who has spent time thinking about it - and is now seriously suggesting that New Zealand should pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement. Now, that was what came from that ACT Party announcement that I told you would be coming today that you needed to keep an eye out for. ACT says Paris isn't working for New Zealand and it says we should push for the agreement to be reformed - and if it isn't reformed, then we should pull out of it. It isn't working, ACT says, because it's pushing up our food prices and it's pushing up our power prices and it's forcing the farmers off the land to make way for trees. And you can add to that list something that we've seen a lot of this winter and last winter - it is shutting down industry because of those high power prices. Now, there will be a lot of people who hear this from ACT and write it off as nutty climate change denier stuff. It is not. Think about the Paris Agreement critically, right? Set aside, you know, your vibes, whether you want to help the climate, set all of that stuff aside. Just think about this critically as to whether it works or not.  And you can see it doesn't work. I mean, I stand to be corrected, but I cannot see any country that is meeting the targets. We will not meet the targets. The US, one of the world's biggest polluters, has pulled out. China, the world's biggest polluter, is still building coal-powered plants. I mean, we are fretting about the one coal-powered plant that we've got and they're building heaps of them. India, another one of the biggest polluters, is also doing the same with coal-powered plants. In which case, why would a country responsible for 0.17 percent of the world's emissions - or something like that - continue to persist with the Paris Agreement? Because we're not saving the planet, we're just making Kiwis poorer. And power is so expensive that we now have people who cannot turn on the heater every time Huntley burns expensive coal. Coal, by the way, which is not expensive, but which we have decided to artificially make expensive in order to save the planet. Now, the Nats have shot this down already and say it's not happening. That's smart politics for them, because they've got to hold on to the swing voters who might react badly, you know, without thinking things through to anything that looks like climate change denial. The Nats might want to be careful about what they rule in or out hard before the election, because they might need flexibility afterwards, given both of their coalition partners want out of Paris. ACT officially wants out unless things change, New Zealand First keeps hinting at it. And if National is honest with itself, they should want to get out of it too, because Paris is making us poorer, but not doing anything to save the planet. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's hopes the promised 1,000 new jobs created from Amazon's locally based data centres will go to Kiwis. The tech giant's investing $7.5 billion into the Auckland-based centres, which go live today. It'll mean New Zealand customers can use the new cloud region to run workloads and store data locally. Amazon Web Services country manager Manuel Bohnet says they're taking a long-term view with this project. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Changes could be in store for gang legislation after a judge handed back a patch to a Mongrel Mob member.  Police were ordered to return the patch after its owner was arrested for wearing it publicly.  Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says he can't comment on decisions of judges, but isn't ruling out changing the law.  "There's a legal process to go through, it may be appealed - I don't know. We'll wait and see how it all plays out, and if we find that we've got a problem, we'll fix it." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A luxury real estate agent says there's huge interest only in two areas of New Zealand, with the Government's planned loosening of the foreign buyers ban. By next year, Active Investor Plus visa holders will be able to build or buy homes worth at least $5 million. They’ll still need to invest another $5 million separately to qualify. Forbes Global's Anthony Mosinkhof says Auckland and Queenstown are the main options for foreign buyers. "The problem with this legislation is - the concentration of these buyers will be diverted to those two areas. It's a little bit of a shame that they aren't able to put more into the regions." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A defence of Wellington's City to Sea Bridge as it faces demolition.  Work to demolish the earthquake prone bridge could start this week after the High Court tossed out a judicial review to save it.  Wellington City Councillor Nicola Young says even if people think it's ugly, it does serve an important purpose.  "It's a safety aspect - it's a lovely way to cross over to the waterfront rather than going over a pedestrian crossing." Nicola Young's concerned the replacement bridge will take too long to put in place.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's hopes from David Seymour that he can convince National to get on board with ditching climate change targets.  The ACT leader wants New Zealand to leave the Paris climate change agreement - unless we can negotiate a better deal. But Prime Minister Chris Luxon says leaving the deal will only hurt our farmers, as international consumers value New Zealand's clean brand.  David Seymour says his party is influential.  "We've got a pretty good track record - if you look at the influence that ACT has had over this Government, I think it's profound. So watch this space."  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's been plenty of debate about New Zealand's future in the Paris Agreement, following some comments made by David Seymour. The ACT leader wants New Zealand to pull out of the global climate agreement, unless the targets are realistic. Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says Luxon won't withdraw from the agreement - at least not until the 2026 election is over. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Police believe Dezi Freeman is receiving additional help as the surge for the alleged gunman continues on. Freeman is accused of shooting Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart at his Porepunkah property, before escaping into the bush. Australian correspondent Murray Olds says Freeman was heavily armed when he made his escape - and there's been no sign of him since. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Could the All Blacks halfback curse have claimed another victim? Uncapped Wellington and Crusaders number nine Kyle Preston sought treatment for an ankle injury at training this morning ahead of the test against the Springboks at Eden Park on Saturday. Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explains further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.