Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

An economist says it will be tough to achieve the numbers set out in Labour's fiscal plan. 

The party says all its election commitments are fully costed - with the country returning to surplus in 2028/29. 

Labour would keep the Budget operating allowance tight at 2.4 billion dollars - and reinstate its pay equity scheme at a cost not yet determined. 

Economist Cameron Bagrie tells Andrew Dickens health seems to be the big winner from the plan - but there are trade-offs in other areas like education. 

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The cost of living is once again a key issue in the election 

But what seems strange to me is that somehow New Zealanders believe it’s a problem that only  affects us. A cursory skim through international papers shows it’s an issue for every market on earth 

Here much blame has been heaped on supermarkets 

Our duopoly of massive supermarkets are viewed with suspicion with many, including politicians believing they’re rorting us and every party having some sort of proposal to reign them in 

National and New Zealand First want to break the duopoly up forcibly in classic command economy style normally  associated with the left 

The Green Party want to spend billions on a state owned Kiwimart 

While ACT just want to cut red tape  

So yesterday Chris Quin from Foodstuffs appeared on Q + A to defend supermarkets.
 
He pointed out we are the 13th cheapest grocery market in the OECD and that supermarkets make 2.3 cents in the dollar. 
  
This is a very important point.  Our supermarkets seem profitable purely because of the volume of sales they put through. 

The Mega supermarkets we shop at each day don’t really exist for much of the world. More intensified cities don’t have the big supermarkets.  We drive and buy in bulk.  In Europe they walk with a trundler and shop more often 

The ignorance of the economies of supermarkets is what has driven the outrage and the politicians are just following the outrage for approval. 

I’ve got a problem with the cost of living, but I don’t have a problem with the duopoly.  In fact, their very size makes an awful lot cheaper than it could be. 

And now we have a load of politicians of all colours sticking their noses into personal property rights and that doesn’t sit well with me at all. 

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Election campaigning is well underway, with the first week complete. 

So how are all the parties faring?  

Political Commentator Brigitte Morten told Ryan Bridge so far, National seems to be on the front foot and Labour on the back. 

She says they both started out strong with their campaign launches, but PREFU bolstered National's position, while attention on Labour's student loan policy died pretty quickly, and PREFU has put pressure on them. 

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Strong support from tourism operators for more domestic-like trans-Tasman travel. 

If re-elected, National will trial a fully digitised airport process for Australians travelling here or Kiwis heading across the ditch. 

Eligible travellers could get through gates on facial recognition without the need for a passport. 

Destination Queenstown and Lake Wānaka Tourism CEO Mat Woods told Ryan Bridge some people don't have passports due to the costs and processes involved.  

He says making a trans-Tasman flight more like a domestic one creates fewer barriers and opens up the market to more people. 

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A commercial law expert's hesitant over whether Labour's proposed fee and subscription laws would actually do their job. 

The Party's promising to protect consumers from hidden costs by requiring all mandatory fees be included in the upfront price. 

It would also see subscriptions as easy to cancel as it is to sign up. 

But Auckland University Professor Alex Sims told Ryan Bridge she's unsure whether it would work in practice. 

Sims says we have lots of strong consumer laws that get ignored and questions the point of adding more when current ones aren't enforced. 

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On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Friday the 2nd of October, week one of the campaign down, political commentator Brigitte Morten provides analysis. 

Labour's campaigning on getting rid of "hidden fees", Auckland University Professor in Department of Commercial Law, Alex Sims explains how much control a government can have over businesses's. 

National's promising passport free travel across the Tasman, CEO Destination Queenstown & Lake Wanaka tourism tells Ryan how much of a difference this would make. 

Plus, UK/Europe Correspondent Gavin Grey has the latest on hundreds of prisoners across England and Wales are being released early today under a new scheme designed to free up prison space and the governor of the Bank of England has warned Artificial intelligence could trigger financial market shocks and the UK needs to be prepared for them.

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Trump's getting desperate to fix gas prices ahead of the midterms and usually when he's trying to do something for America, there will be losers and that could well be the rest of us.  

We spoke a few weeks ago about the fact he was looking into a ban on diesel exports. The industry didn't like it – they thought it wouldn't bring prices down. They lobbied the White House and said the idea could actually push prices up.  

Well, Trump's now had advice on it.  

He's also shoulder tapped some allies to let them know what might be about to happen.  

The Brits are worried enough to hold meetings with the Europeans.  

Unlike New Zealand, the UK still refines fuel. But it doesn't refine enough diesel to meet its domestic demand.  

So it imports it. In the past three months, about a quarter of diesel imports came from the US.  

Much more comes from third parties, who in-turn source it from America.  

If supply gets cut, we'd be screwed on price. We, along with Asia and the Aussies, could see shortages.  

Even a partial ban or cap could push prices way higher than the $3.18 average at the pump right now.  

That'll have a big impact on prices, transport, and farms.  

So, here's hoping for our sake, America doesn't come first. 

Just another reminder of the potential economic hits that could be around the corner, and the need for a strong balance sheet in Wellington. 

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A warning our Emergency Departments are in a state of crisis. 

A report from the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine finds admissions rose 21% over the past decade, far exceeding the 13% population growth. 

It says more money has to go into building capacity and numbers of doctors working in EDs. 

Association of Salaried Medical Specialists' Sarah Dalton told Ryan Bridge the report shows that while on the surface funding has increased, but when you look at the complexity of care needed, increased admissions and population growth, it's not keeping pace with the real level of need. 

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There are concerns funding cuts will have even wider impacts on the screen industry's future.  

The New Zealand Film Commission is cutting its annual Core Funding Programme, saying it wants to put the money into fewer and higher investments.  

It currently provides more than a million dollars in support to ten industry groups each year.  

Screen Production and Development Association President Irene Gardiner told Ryan Bridge they'll have to find a way through.  

She says it's concerning but at the same time not shocking, given the current economic climate. 

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On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast 2026 EDs saw a record 1.4 million patients last year, Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director, Sarah Dalton shares her thoughts. 

The NZ Film Commission’s cutting its core funding supporting 10 film and screen organisations, SPADA President Irene Gardiner tells Ryan how this will impact the film industry. 

The PPTA is urging teachers to keep control of marking their students work amidst a rise in marking by artificial intelligence, Associate Professor of Digital Education Futures at University of Canterbury Kathryn MacCallum shares her thoughts. 

Plus US Correspondent Mitch McCann has the latest on US forces formally withdrew from Iraq on Wednesday, ending a two-decade military presence and death row inmate Christa Pike, convicted of murdering a schoolmate three decades ago, is due to be executed in Tennessee on Wednesday, becoming the first woman that state has put to death in more than two hundred years.

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