Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Google maps have led a pair of German tourists stuck Queensland bush for a week.

The pair rented a four-wheel drive vehicle to drive through wilderness in Cape-York - but the map app sent them into a bog.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says Google Maps work differently in such isolated places.

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Controversial cricket player David Warner was booed by a Wellington crowd ahead of his T20 match.

The Australian opener's no stranger to a hostile New Zealand crowd given his brash on-field chatter and 2018 cheating scandal against South Africa in the test format.

Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explains further.

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Sky TV has made a strong start to the financial year, with a 10 percent rise in net profit for the half-year to December.

The broadcaster experienced a 3 percent dip in customers to 1.02 million- but a 4 percent rise in revenue to $393 million.

Chief executive Sophie Moloney says she's excited about these results, despite the 2023 entertainment strikes impacting content.

"We haven't had those key titles, but they are coming back. White Lotus, Handmaid's Tale will be coming out next financial year, we've still got good content."

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Air New Zealand's half-year earnings have taken a dive, according to today's report.

The airline has announced earnings before taxation of $185 million for the first half of the 2024 financial year- down 39 percent on the same period last year.

CEO Greg Foran says these earnings reflect a 'normalisation' following a huge surge in demand.

"Last year, we made, based on the amount of kilometres we flew, more money than we've ever made. So what you're seeing now is more of a normalisation, it's heavier going." 

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Some Auckland parents have been left outraged after a visit to the New Lynn community centre.

A 36-page booklet detailing graphic sex acts featuring male dolls caught the attention of several children- and Auckland Council has since apologised and pulled it.

Body Positive Executive Director Mark Fisher has labelled the removal an 'overreaction'.

"I know they have a lot of rainbow groups at the community centre, and for teenagers, I think it's an important resource that's been taken away from them."

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The Black Caps will look to make a mindset shift in the field after a messy display contributed to going down 1-nil in their T20 series against Australia.

Several dropped catches and uncharacteristic mis-fields in Wellington helped the Aussie batters reel in New Zealand's large total with the bat.

Top-scoring batsman Rachin Ravindra says he's been doing what he can for the team.

"You take it, you do what you can for the team, and I've been lucky enough to have a good few situations to be in."

Game two takes place tomorrow night at Eden Park

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ACT's Tertiary Education and Skills spokesperson says the last Government's first-year fees-free university policy failed by every measure.

The Tertiary Education Commission has acknowledged there's no discernible evidence it changed the distribution of low-decile school students going to university.

It was one of the policy's key goals.

But Parmjeet Parmar says it didn't improve other issues.

"It has failed to increase enrolment overall as well, and it has also not changed the completion rate- which sits at 67 percent. Which, in my view, is quite embarrassing." 

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A political commentator says it's telling only one person's been held accountable after multiple leaks from the public service.

Casey Costello had to apologise in the House this week, after claiming she hadn't sought advice on freezing tobacco excise tax, despite notes leaked to RNZ showing she did.

The Health Ministry's confirmed the person responsible for the leak is no longer employed.

Former MP Peter Dunne says this isn't the only leak there's since the Government's formed.

"It just makes me wonder whether they found someone who's being a bit of a scapegoat for all of the leaks, even if they're not responsible for them."

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Inflation and the rising cost of living are contributing to worsening child poverty.

Stats NZ data shows more than 140,000 children were living in material hardship for the year to June 2023.

Save the Children Advocacy Director Jacqui Southey says the cost of living is significantly challenging families on the lowest incomes.

She says measures - like free school lunches and period products - need to continue being funded.

"The other things we want to see is- commit to income adequacy. Make sure children on the lowest incomes are not losing any of their income during this term of Government."

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If National is looking for an excuse to get out of paying for Labour’s dumb free year of university, they may have just got it.

The Tertiary Education Commission has admitted that the first year free of tertiary study has led to no discernible evidence that it increased the number of students from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Which basically means it hasn’t worked, because that was the point of doing it.

That was why Jacinda said- "next year’s on us!". Because she wanted to help poorer and disadvantaged kids get into uni.

Obviously, it wasn't going to work, because it wasn’t needed. Because cost is not a barrier.

It is easy to go to uni and pay for it. You take a loan, there is no interest on that loan- and what you're borrowing is only a fraction of the actual cost, the rest is subsidised.

Kids who don’t go to uni have other - valid, in my opinion- reasons, maybe they want to work or they want to travel or they want to start a business or whatever.

All up, Labour’s vanity spend or student bribe - you decide - cost us $350 million in the year to June last year.

Now, Christopher Luxon said before the election that he was keeping it and instead switching it to the last year.

But he also said on Sunday this week that the economy is in a fragile state and there are tough decisions that we need to make together.

Let this be one of those tough decisions. Cut the spend.

It's a lot of money, which could be spent elsewhere to help people that actually need it- and it actually doesn’t help the people it's supposed to.

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