More turmoil could be waiting in the wings for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.  

He won't be standing down in the wake of his press secretary and chief of staff resigning.  

Starmer's former deputy leader, Angela Rayner, has set up a website as part of a potential leadership challenge.  

UK correspondent Mike Pearse told Ryan Bridge an upcoming byelection could be another blow for Starmer.  

He says the polls have Labour coming last which would be a massive challenge for Starmer. 

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Foreign Minister Winston Peters' politicking around the India free trade agreement is nothing new.  

There's been weeks of back and forth within the coalition about the contents of the deal, which still hasn't been publicly released.  

Peters has spoken out about the deal prohibiting a specific cap on Indian student visas. 

Queen City Law managing director Marcus Beveridge told Ryan Bridge Peters made similar criticisms about 20 years ago, but was shut down by Helen Clark. 

He says Todd McClay and Christopher Luxon have been a bit more feeble and weak on this one, so Peters has more mileage.  

Beveridge says we don't cap any foreign students, so the whole thing is a bit of a red herring. 

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Critical minerals are starting to be wielded as a geopolitical weapon.  

The Trump administration's ramping up pressure on allies to strike a deal in order to shore up US supply.  

Talks with New Zealand officials are said to have been picking up steam.  

US Critical Materials Executive Director Harvey Kaye told Ryan Bridge the US is aware of China's dominance in this space, and won't accept it. 

He says innovation in every area of human development from medicine to defence to AI, is dependent on having a ready supply of rare earth. 

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There’s no evidence retail crime has fallen, despite claims the Government’s Retail Crime Advisory Group delivered more change than ever before.  

The Justice Minister has confirmed the group will be disbanded early, months ahead of schedule, after several members resigned. 

Chair Sunny Kaushal says he doesn't think there is any other Ministerial advisory group that's delivered eight key reforms in two years.  

But Retail NZ CEO and former group member Carolyn Young told Ryan Bridge it's an election year, he's a politician and he wants votes.   

She says people must focus on what's headline news and what's actual news, to see what's been put in place and has actually made a difference.  

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Labour's getting flak, especially in Auckland, for their capital gains tax. 

Rightly so. 

But National's approach, as is usually the case with centre-right parties, is user-pays. 

It's a way to get revenue without appearing to tax-grab your starving constituents. 

Yesterday it was whacking a new tax on our power bills in order to make them cheaper - we hope. 

Last week they scrapped the full driver licence test but then NZTA came out and said they may need increase fees for the first test and other bits to make up costs. 

We'll pay tolls to get the roads we want. We're about to get hit with congestions charging.

International tourists pay the tourists' tax. Domestic tourists pay to use DOC huts and, more recently, carparks at peak places.

Wellington will probably soon get a targeted special rate for pumping their number twos into the Cook Strait. 

Now, so long as this stuff is ring-fenced, I prefer things are charged this way because if you don't want to use a toll road, use a taxed one.

User pays make more sense and is fairer to those who use, and more importantly, those who don't use a particular good or service.

But at some point, your household budget is hit with so many fees and charges that you have to stop and ask how long it can continue. 

It's death by a thousand cuts. 

And then you ask, can't the government cut wasteful spending elsewhere to cover some of this stuff or give me some back in tax?

In case you needed examples of that, this week, Shane Jones' half-billion slush funds would be a good place to start, I would've thought.

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On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Wednesday the 11th of Feburary 2025, Todd McClay's confirmed the FTA with india will not allow the Government to cap the number of students coming in from India, Managing Director & Immigration Lawyer at Queen City Law, Marcus Beveridge shares his thoughts. 

The Retail Crime advisory group is being disbanded in early May, Retail NZ CEO Carolyn Young tells Ryan where it all went wrong. 

US Critical Materials Executive Chairman Harvey Kaye tells Ryan what a Critical Minerals deal could look like between the US and New Zealand. 

Plus, UK/Europe Correspondent Mike Pearse has the latest on Keir Starmer refusing to resign and organisers at the Winter Olympics have been forced to apologise to some athletes after their medals broke.

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A promise of certainty and hopes of cheaper power prices with a facility to import liquefied natural gas. 

The Government’s confirmed it will build a liquefied natural gas import facility in Taranaki, with a contract expected by mid-year. 

It says the project will save the country about $265 million annually – roughly $50 per household. 

Energy Resources Aotearoa CEO John Carnegie told Ryan Bridge it’s a necessary dry year insurance policy, as the country faces a massive fuel shortage. 

He says there will be a large upfront cost, but officials say the investment will effectively take the heat out of the electricity market and lower peak prices.  

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More consistency across the Tasman in the standards for goods and services could reduce administrative burdens and free up business capacity. 

A new agreement aims to streamline operations, reduce costs, improve quality, and meet regulatory requirements in New Zealand and Australia.

Infometrics chief executive Brad Olsen told Ryan Bridge we were out of kilter with the Aussies on about 24 standards, so businesses effectively had to hire someone just to handle the paperwork. 

He says it's a main below-the-surface issue and barrier for businesses that can put them off doing the work. 

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This Government's running into similar problems Jacinda's one did on energy - they're getting too much 'official' advice and reports. 

The problem when you ask 'the experts' for advice on every thought that pops into your head, is that they tend to agree with it. And if they don't, you tend to ignore them.

And what does that tell you about the need for the advice in the first place? 

Latest case in point is the LNG terminal in Taranaki. A billion bucks. We'll be paying a levy on our power bills to fund it. 

Big announcement at the Beehive theatrette yesterday. 

The 'official advice' from MBIE and the rest was that this is the way to go. This will save us all, on average, apparently, $1 a week on electricity. 

If we're lucky. Because remember, as with all advice, there are caveats. The caveats are "depends on this" and "depends on that".

So, we've got an announcement and we hope for the best and this thing will be built, come hell or high water, bar a change of government, by 2027. 

When the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine, we'll import LNG and keep the lights on.

BUT. 

Last year we had the Frontier Economics report. Same issue but different set of 'advisors'. They're an independent global consultancy crowd and what they said was quite different. 

They told us it would basically be a dumb idea to build an import terminal because you've got a massive fixed cost spread over a relatively small amount of output, because you're only using this as a back-up. 

You can't sell an LNG terminal once you're finished with it. These particular advisors made the point that it's quite a specific piece of kit and could well turn it one of this country's biggest white elephant investments. 

Yet here we are less than a year later with a different set of advice and another vague plan. 

There's no doubt this country needs a plan to deal with energy security, but depending on who you ask, this is either brilliant or batshit.

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On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Tuesday the 10th of Feburary 2025, The Government's given the all clear to build an LNG import facility to help with energy security, Energy Resources Aotearoa Chief Executive John Carnegie shares his thoughts. 

The Government's signed a new standards agreement with Australia, Infometrics CEO and Principal Economist Brad Olsen explains. 

Plus, Australia Correspondent Donna Demaio has the latest on a multi million dollar boost to help veterans transition to civilian life and an investigation into work conditions on a luxury cruise liner docked in Darwin.

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