Grant Robertson takes a seat with Jake Tame on Q+A as his memoir drops and the Royal Commission into C19 ramps up again.The decisions of Luxon's govt are not favoured by the business community with a scathing article released in the Sunday Star TimesMajor building consent changes and Seymour goes after helmets, all in the name of cutting red tape.=================================Come support the work we're doing by becoming a Patron of ⁠⁠#BHN⁠⁠ www.patreon.com/BigHairyNews⁠=================================Merch available at www.BHNShop.nz Like us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/BigHairyNews Follow us on Twitter.@patbrittenden @Chewie_NZFollow us on BlueskyPat @patbrittenden.bsky.socialChewie @chewienz.bsky.socialEmily @iamprettyawesome.bsky.socialMagenta @xkaosmagex.bsky.social

Associate professor Dr Awanui Te Huia joins us LIVE tonight to talk about the harm removing te reo from early readers school texts can cause. Critics of the Government’s decision to phase out nearly all Māori words from early reader books are describing the move as damaging.An Israeli government minister has hit out at New Zealand and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, after he said Israel’s prime minister had “lost the plot” following his “utterly appalling” bombing of Gaza.Government Ministers slam Labour ministers' no-show at Covid-19 public hearing in day two of the fall out of Jacinda Ardern and her former colleagues not seeing the need to answer questions they have already answered, but this time in a three ringed circus=================================Come support the work we're doing by becoming a Patron of ⁠⁠#BHN⁠⁠ www.patreon.com/BigHairyNews⁠=================================Merch available at www.BHNShop.nz Like us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/BigHairyNews Follow us on Twitter.@patbrittenden @Chewie_NZFollow us on BlueskyPat @patbrittenden.bsky.socialChewie @chewienz.bsky.socialEmily @iamprettyawesome.bsky.socialMagenta @xkaosmagex.bsky.social

The final fee to settle the cancellation of the i-Rex ferries has been announced: $144m which brings the cost of the cancelled ferries to $671m with nothing to show for it.Documents release reveal that Department of Internal affairs prompted Brooke Van Velden with specific talking points for the chair of the Royal Commission into the Covid-19 Response.Wayne Brown and Auckland council tell govt to "stick it" sharing their frustration with govt overreach into what Local Councils can and can't do.That and your weekly meme round up to send you off into the weekend.=================================Come support the work we're doing by becoming a Patron of ⁠⁠#BHN⁠⁠ www.patreon.com/BigHairyNews⁠=================================Merch available at www.BHNShop.nz Like us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/BigHairyNews Follow us on Twitter.@patbrittenden @Chewie_NZFollow us on BlueskyPat @patbrittenden.bsky.socialChewie @chewienz.bsky.socialEmily @iamprettyawesome.bsky.socialMagenta @xkaosmagex.bsky.social

Former prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern and other former Labour ministers have declined a request to appear publicly to give evidence at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Covid-19.The Speaker has 'named' Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick for refusing to leave the House. Fellow politicians including Te Pāti Māori's Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and New Zealand First's Winston Peters have spoken in her defence, the former re-using the 'C-word' in Parliament, and the latter defending Swarbrick despite voting to have her ejected.Education Minister Erica Stanford has imposed a near-total ban on Māori words in new additions to a series of books used to teach five-year-olds to read. She says the inclusion of Māori words can confuse young readers. But Primary school principals say the evidence doesn't support that=================================Come support the work we're doing by becoming a Patron of ⁠⁠#BHN⁠⁠ www.patreon.com/BigHairyNews⁠=================================Merch available at www.BHNShop.nz Like us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/BigHairyNews Follow us on Twitter.@patbrittenden @Chewie_NZFollow us on BlueskyPat @patbrittenden.bsky.socialChewie @chewienz.bsky.socialEmily @iamprettyawesome.bsky.socialMagenta @xkaosmagex.bsky.social

Chloe Swarbrick has been ejected from ejected Parliament "for the rest of the week" after refusing to withdraw and apologise a comment about ACT vetoing the recognition of Gaza. We also see that Helen Clark, with the group 'The Elders' visited the border between Israel and Gaza, saw first hand aid trucks being turned around by Israel in a situation she called "heart breaking"Jack McDonald joins us tonight to talk over the above issues. McDonald is a campaigner and political commentator who has worked for Te Pāti Māori and the Green Party, and works for the Council of Trade Unions.Chris Hipkins was on the NZ Herald this morning talking about bi-partisanship and was asked why Willow Jean Prime didn't interact with the Minister of Education. He also spoke about who would be in this cabinet, as in are his current front bench be who is there post election.TVNZ will have more polling out tonight which as of the publishing of these show notes we do not have confirmation what they are looking at.Staff shortages, nurses 'afraid to come to work' at Canterbury's Mental Health Services, review finds+++++ +++++ +++++ +++++ +++++Please be aware that the flow of information and news is very changeable at the moment so the live show tonight may include other stories not listed, or the removal of some of these stories should more important ones supersede them.+++++ +++++ +++++ +++++ +++++=================================Come support the work we're doing by becoming a Patron of ⁠⁠#BHN⁠⁠ www.patreon.com/BigHairyNews⁠=================================Merch available at www.BHNShop.nz Like us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/BigHairyNews Follow us on Twitter.@patbrittenden @Chewie_NZFollow us on BlueskyPat @patbrittenden.bsky.socialChewie @chewienz.bsky.socialEmily @iamprettyawesome.bsky.socialMagenta @xkaosmagex.bsky.social

Action Station Aotearoa's director Kassie Hartendorp joins us tonight LIVE at 9pm to talk Māori Wards and the billboard last week using Ellen Tamati's image by Hobson's Pledge.

Education Minister Erica Stanford was on Q+A in the weekend where Jack Tame asked her about the impact her proposed scrapping of NCEA and implementation of a new assessment regime may have for students with diverse needs.

Christopher Luxon was on with best mate Mike Hosking this morning where Luxon professed loudly that he would love the left to run on a CGT demonstrating again that he has no idea that this is no longer a controversial policy and in fact has broad appeal to a majority of New Zealanders

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Alex Baker, Mayoral candidate for Wellington, joins us Live to talk about his bid for Mayor, his experience, priorities and policies.Chloe Swarbrick sits down with Mihingarangi Forbes on MATA to talk through the govt failing New Zealanders. We also look at her interview with Dave Letele.Ministry of Education has removed a children's book to aid reading for having too many Māori words. Bruce Jepson, the Māori Principles Association calls it racist and white supremacist.=================================Come support the work we're doing by becoming a Patron of ⁠⁠#BHN⁠⁠ www.patreon.com/BigHairyNews⁠=================================Merch available at www.BHNShop.nz Like us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/BigHairyNews Follow us on Twitter.@patbrittenden @Chewie_NZFollow us on BlueskyPat @patbrittenden.bsky.socialChewie @chewienz.bsky.socialEmily @iamprettyawesome.bsky.socialMagenta @xkaosmagex.bsky.social

Christopher Luxon was on Newstalk ZB today for an hour explaining how much he enjoyed the format of discussing issues "a bit deeper" all while not going in-depth at all in any way just continuing on the same old talking points.We asked questions last night about how we'd be charged road user charges "like a power bill" without mass surveillance. Seems the answer is the way the government wants to do it...is by using mass surveillance.The 'nobody is surprised' award goes to Jordan Williams and his The Campaign Company who Don Brash confirmed this morning was the group being using Rotorua kuia, Ellen Tamati's, face on a Hobson's Pledge billboard against Māori Wards. The Israeli government has told so many lies since Oct. 7. In under three minutes, Mehdi Hasan debunks the top 10 Israeli lies about the genocide in Gaza.Primary School teachers reject a 1% pay increase offer, meaning they would be going backwards in real terms, about 2% based on current inflation=================================Come support the work we're doing by becoming a Patron of ⁠⁠#BHN⁠⁠ www.patreon.com/BigHairyNews⁠=================================Merch available at www.BHNShop.nz Like us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/BigHairyNews Follow us on Twitter.@patbrittenden @Chewie_NZFollow us on BlueskyPat @patbrittenden.bsky.socialChewie @chewienz.bsky.socialEmily @iamprettyawesome.bsky.socialMagenta @xkaosmagex.bsky.social

Finance Minister Nicola Willis remains hopeful that unemployment will start to reduce sometime this year but given global economic uncertainty with Donald Trump's trade wars she won't give a more exact time frame, Labour's Barb Edmonds joins us LIVE to discuss. ‘Biggest change in 50 years’: Petrol tax to go, everyone to pay road user charges as the Government signs off on the first steps towards scrapping petrol tax and shifting all vehicles onto electronic road user charges, calling it the “biggest change to how we fund our roading network in 50 years”.Ellen Tamati's image was used without her knowledge in a billboard campaign opposing Māori wards. Her face appeared on at least two billboards by lobby group Hobson’s Pledge, which is campaigning to remove Māori wards from local government elections. Tamati says she is “mortified” by this.=================================Come support the work we're doing by becoming a Patron of ⁠⁠#BHN⁠⁠ www.patreon.com/BigHairyNews⁠=================================Merch available at www.BHNShop.nz Like us on Facebookwww.facebook.com/BigHairyNews Follow us on Twitter.@patbrittenden @Chewie_NZFollow us on BlueskyPat @patbrittenden.bsky.socialChewie @chewienz.bsky.socialEmily @iamprettyawesome.bsky.socialMagenta @xkaosmagex.bsky.social

Join Craig Renney from the BHNetwork as we review unemployment data freshly released by Stats NZ. Ask questions and find out what is really going on with jobs in Aotearoa.