Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

A fresh and intelligent start to your day - catch the very latest international and domestic news developments, sport, entertainment and business on Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, on Newstalk ZB.

  1. HACE 3 H

    Ryan Bridge: Labour shouldn't automatically back the Unions

    Last week ended with a bizarre situation where Labour effectively came out against a pay rise for teachers. They did this because that’s what the unions wanted. And what the unions want, the unions usually get. Union strategy 101 is getting everyone who’s not a member to become one. The tactic is peer pressure. If you can deprive non‑union members of a pay rise while dragging out pay negotiations, that’s leverage. Labour last week got rid of Willow‑Jean Prime, who scored an F in the portfolio. Ginny Anderson has been lumped with it at a time when National is seen, across a bunch of polls this term, to be either better or at least as good as Labour on education. Which is saying something. Like health, it’s usually the purview of the left. But something’s shifted, and Ginny probably needs to take a good, hard look at which battles she blindly follows her comrades into. Charter schools are another example. I was reading at the weekend about the breadth of subjects and students these schools cater to: seven Māori schools, a Pasifika girls’ school (which we’ve featured on the show), autism‑focused schools, French, sport, Cambridge. Last week the principals’ union said all those schools — there are 19 applicants so far — should be closed.The money, they said, should be put back into the mainstream system. They don’t believe schools are failing certain cohorts of young people, which is the very reason charter schools exist. To an average parent, an average person, but most importantly, an average voter, this looks political, not practical.I think most Kiwis accept that mainstream schooling doesn’t work for everyone. Most also accept that teaching needs to be better paid, regardless of union affiliation. To rail against these things just because your union mates demand you do so is hardly going to win back public support in an area where ground has clearly been lost. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    2 min
  2. HACE 3 DÍAS

    Terry Collins: AA Fuel Spokesperson weighs in on rationing fuel as oil prices spike

    New Zealand is still a long way off from car-less days, AA fuel spokesman Terry Collins predicts.  Government ministers yesterday were receiving advice on emergency fuel measures that could be taken if fuel stocks got too low as a knock-on effect of Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz.  But Collins told Ryan Bridge Early Edition the Petroleum Demand Restraint Act, which allows for carless days and other options like fuel rationing, is very old fashioned.  “In those days we didn't have things like working from home and all the types of IT that we do today that makes us maintain productivity in another way.”  New Zealand also has a fuel security plan which was updated last year. “We hope it never has to be implemented, but at least we've got a plan and we've got legislation that if it's needed, we can implement.”  There have been reports South Korea could ban exports of refined fuel products to ensure they had sufficient supply at home. That would have major impacts here as New Zealand receives 48% of its refined fuel from the east Asian nation.  In that event, New Zealand would have to look for different markets including Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia, Collins said.  “We get a tiny bit out of places like India and the US, but basically we'd be in the same scramble as many other countries.”  Oil prices are “so unpredictable”, he said. “One thing history's taught me is America tends to underestimate how long they stay in conflict. So I'm very concerned when they talk about weeks when it looks like it could be months.”  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    3 min
  3. HACE 3 DÍAS

    Ryan Bridge: You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone

    We're learning a few hard truths this week and the old saying rings true - you don't know what you've got 'til its gone. Parties on the left and the right all crying out for more oil. Turns out, it's actually still quite important. A decent supply of it at a stable price. And we're a long way off from that strait opening and running at full capacity again. Trump's talking victory. Winston told me this week the war will be over before people think. But there are sea mines and rocket launchers and drones hitting that strait. No shipping company, or insurer, is going near there for a while yet. The uprising we were told would happen hasn't happened. We've go the old boss' son in charge, and they've just killed his mum, dad and most of his family. He's not giving up anytime soon, is he? More important than oil is food. We've got the Wattie's plant closures. The frozen vegetables are grown here. Peas and beans. Like peaches before them, there'll be some cheaper imported alternative filling the shelves. The farmer's complaints? Regulation. They're drowning in it. Paperwork up the wazoo. It was the same story with pork. Again, you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone. So once this crisis is over, perhaps we remember how important food and oil are to our daily lives and stop demonising the very people trying to keep our tummies and gas tanks full. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    3 min

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A fresh and intelligent start to your day - catch the very latest international and domestic news developments, sport, entertainment and business on Early Edition with Ryan Bridge, on Newstalk ZB.

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