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Auckland will soon have Police on the beat 24/7. 

Community Beat Teams will be based in major centres, with 63 officers in Auckland, 17 in Wellington and 10 in Christchurch. 

It's the Police and Government's newest plan to crackdown on crime rates. 

Police Minister Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking “We want to make sure that we have a safe city – not one that’s plagued with sleepers drug dealers and disorderly behaviour.” 

Mitchell said “They’ve already increased foot patrols in the city – but now they’re increasing the number of dedicated police officers that will be out there and highly visible doing their work.” 

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King Charles will likely skip New Zealand during his upcoming tour to the South Pacific. 

According to The Mirror, he and Queen Camilla are set to visit Australia and Samoa - but have dropped New Zealand. 

The visit was never officially announced - just rumoured to be on the agenda. 

UK Correspondent Gavin Grey told Mike Hosking “His Majesty is said to be like a caged tiger - desperate to do more, while undergoing chemotherapy and having the cancer diagnosis.” 

Grey said “It’s been decided he’d be better off doing a ten-day trip.” 

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I think we got enough out of Nicola Willis on the programme Friday to know that today, cabinet’s gonna sign off this money for Pharmac to solve the cancer problem.  

The big outworking of this is - I hope they've learned their lesson.  

This government has a couple of problems. The biggest one is the mess they inherited. We are going to spend at least the next year deep in it.  

Two years of economic misery is a lot to ask of an electorate, and it's a lot to expect of a government to rectify.  

Even on a good day - with plenty of intent and hard work - voters get grumpy with whoever’s in charge, whether it was their fault or not.  

So given that, problem #2: self-inflicted wounds. The cancer promise was mad. It was mad because governments don't pick drugs.  

That's what Pharmac is for. If you don't like Pharmac, fine, change it. But don't keep the same system while trying gerrymandering.  

They also put out a list of thirteen drugs, some of which aren't even fit for purpose anymore.  

And then, Problem #3: failure to deliver, I mean OMG – did they learn nothing from Labour?  

And then last week, scrutiny week, Shane Reti says they'll deliver the 13. Nicola Willis says they will deliver some. David Seymour says he can't make a comment because Pharmac is independent.  

Three people, three messages. Mixed messaging - is that problem #4?  

So this week, an answer. And seemingly, an elegant one - more money.  

The money gets spent on stuff that's needed. Not automatically the 13. It's spent by Pharmac. And it might well mean some spending on other drugs as well.  

So, sorted. But big lesson: it never had to be this way.  

And if all they're doing this week is handing out money, why didn't they do it in the budget when they had the chance?  

Delivery and confidence, that's what we want from governments.  

If this is a one off, they'll get away with it. If it's a habit. They're toast. 

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The Blues dominated the Chiefs on Saturday night to take the 2024 Super Rugby title at Eden Park - beating the visitors 41-10.  

Caleb Clarke scored a hattrick as Akira Ioane and AJ Lam got a try each.  

It's the first time they've won the competition in more than two decades. 

Newstalk ZB Sports Anchor, Andrew Alderson, told Mike Hosking “I thought it was going to be closer – but the Blues were so convincing.” 

Alderson said “Ever since I’ve been working here, we’ve been talking about the Blues resurgence – and it’s finally come.” 

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The Government’s expected to announce a $600 million boost in funding for Pharmac today.  

If approved, it would bump the medicine budget up 40 percent - and cover the 13 cancer drugs the Government initially promised, and more. 

Patient Voice Aotearoa Chair, Malcolm Mulholland, told Mike Hosking “From our perspective – this was always going to be the option that the government would land on.” 

Mulholland said “The problem doesn’t go away – but we expect it will put a significant dent in Pharmac’s options for investment lists.” 

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Labour’s lead in the UK election is holding steady as the Tories deal with a scandal. 

The party has admitted that their campaign head, Tony Lee, placed bets on the timing of the vote, allegedly just days before Sunak went public. 

The BBC revealed that Tory candidate Laura Sanders, wife of Lee, is also being investigated by Britain’s Gambling Commission. 

UK Correspondent Vincent McAviney told Mike Hosking that it’s a huge scandal that these people have seemingly used insider information to infringe the UK’s betting laws. 

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