Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will no longer claim a $52,000 accommodation allowance for living in the Wellington apartment he owns - and will re-pay $13,000.

His U-turn came mere hours after he told media in Queenstown that he was entitled to claim the money. Earlier today it was revealed he was claiming an 11 per cent top up to his own $471,000 salary in the form of a $52,000 optional accommodation allowance.

The allowance is meant to pay for Luxon to find accommodation in Wellington. However, few prime ministers have claimed it - Luxon is the first in at least 34 years.

Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s Heather du Plessis-Allan this evening, Luxon said he was now going to return all the money he had received since becoming Prime Minister.

Luxon said the issue had become a “distraction” he did not want to deal with, so he had rolled back his defence of claiming the allowance.

He would pay back $13,000, which had only just been deposited into his bank account recently.

Speaking to reporters in Queenstown earlier today Luxon was adamant he was entitled to the allowance.

“As I came away [from a press conference] I thought ‘Wow, people are pretty fixated on the allowance’. I thought ‘what’s going on’.”

Luxon said he then listened to Newstalk ZB and heard the discussion on talkback.

He then changed his mind about the allowance.

“For me, I’m well within the rights, and well within the rules, but frankly it’s a distraction- I will live on my own costs,” Luxon told du Plessis-Allan.

Luxon said it would cost “millions and millions” of dollars to bring Premier House up to spec for him to live in.

“We’re trying to find a way to avoid spending millions and millions at Premier House. Obviously, it’s very difficult for us to think about how we spend that money, but we’re working through that.

“We know the house has long-standing maintenance and repair issues - It’s a 160-year-old house,” he said.

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The six defendants in the White Island case have been ordered to pay a collective $10.21 million in reparations and almost $2.5 million in fines.

The biggest penalties were for Whakaari Management Limited, which runs the island itself.

White Island Tours, were operating the boat tours to the island, including the tour group present on the island when it erupted.

Richard Raymond KC is the lawyer representing White Island tours, he told Heather Du Plessis-Allan that the fines were 'roughly' what they expected.

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Prince Harry has lost a High Court challenge over his royal security arrangements.

The Duke of Sussex took legal action against the British Government over a decision to lower his personal level of security, after stepping back from Royal duties.

UK correspondent Enda Brady says Harry is now expected to hand over at least $2 million in legal fees.

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Tonight on The Huddle, David Farrar from Kiwiblog and Curia and Ali Jones from Red PR joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more!

Yesterday, Melissa Lee said she wasn't concerned about New Zealand having just one TV news station and that there was still a 'plurality of voices'. She's since clarified and claimed she misspoke after copping some backlash- could she have done better? 

The Government has designated the political and military wings of Hamas - which governs parts of Gaza - a terrorist organisation. Was this the right decision?

A coroner has suggested we make helmets mandatory for e-scooter riders. We do it for motorcycles and bicycles- is it time to include e-scooters?

Blink-182's bassist was filmed slagging off Christchurch on stage during their Melbourne show. Was this out of line?

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Households can breathe a temporary sigh of relief following yesterday's announcement from the Reserve Bank.

The Bank has held the OCR steady at 5.5 percent, in line with with what most economists were predicting.

NZ Herald business editor at large Liam Dann says it's going to be a long battle to get inflation down, so the future's uncertain.

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The world's biggest sheep-shearing event is kicking off in Masterton today.

Over 500 shearers and wool-handlers are taking part in the three-day event, an increase of 25 percent on the previous year.

The Country's Jamie Mackay says finding sheep has been tougher this year- but they've managed to get at least 3500 ahead of the event.

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There's growing concern that the proposed closure of Newshub could be a sign of tougher times for the media industry. 

Warner Bros. Discovery revealed they planned to shutter newsroom operations from July, forcing hundreds out of work.

AUT media researcher Merja Myllylahti says the entire industry is in trouble, revenue-wise.

"For example, results from NZME were not as good as expected because of an advertising slump. This is the same thing the New York Times is going through, most of the industry is in turmoil." 

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There's salt in the wound for Christchurch Blink-182 fans after bassist Mark Hoppus was filmed ripping on the city.

It comes after the band announced they were cancelling their Christchurch show, just two weeks ahead of the event taking place.

Consumer NZ Communications and Campaigns Manager Jessica Walker says the band's actions have encouraged fans to seek extra compensation beyond tickets.

"It's worth seeing if you can get your money back under the Consumer Guarantees Act, or maybe even the Fair Trading Act- that's where we've landed with this."

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Health New Zealand says it's going as fast as it can to combat huge delays in implementing pay rises.

It's been three months since senior doctors and dentists settled pay negotiations, but most still haven't received agreed increases.

The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says some of its members have been told they won't get the extra money until June.

Health New Zealand Chief People Officer Andrew Slater says their systems are the problem.

"Most of our payroll systems aren't compliant with New Zealand law, they haven't been for over 10 years. Many of our hospitals- we still use paper time sheets."

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ACT Party leader David Seymour is investigating making TVNZ pay dividends.

He's asked Treasury to look into the returns the station is offering tax-payers, after 1News' competitor Newshub revealed it was broke.

Warner Bros. Discovery has proposed shuttering Newshub from July, axing one of the country's biggest commercial news operators.

Seymour says it's possible requesting dividends could improve returns- and competition.

"It's one possibility- having one big state competitor that gets a pretty easy run in terms of getting taxpayer capital and paying dividends is distorting the marketplace."

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