Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Australia's Opposition party is backing Anthony Albanese's proposed changes to stage three tax cuts.

This follows on from weeks of leader Peter Dutton criticising the new policy.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says the party eventually had no choice but to vote for the changes.

"If they hadn't backed the changes, it would have been a drawn out fight with the Opposition standing in the way of cost of living support for those on the bottom end."

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Auckland's mayor is hitting back at the Government over the scrapping of the Auckland fuel tax.

It will be gone on June 30.

Wayne Brown says the decision will leave a $1.2 billion dollar shortfall in transport funding over the next four years.

He says it could lead to the pausing of bus upgrades, cycleways, the freight network and ferry charging infrastructure.

He says he wants to be making decisions about what projects go ahead.

"We've got to decide, and we want to decide what goes in Auckland. This is my city, not theirs."

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Good news for Kiwi rugby and league fans, as Sky promises a new dose of free-to-air sport.

Friday Night Footy will see 25 NRL games shown for free- plus 19 Super Rugby Pacific matches, all available through Sky Open.

Hurricanes CEO Avan Lee is 'surprised' by this decision, considering how much Sky pays for rugby.

"To put a decent amount of content on free-to-air is quite a change, quite a shift. It's fantastic, great for Super Rugby fans."

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A human element will be key factor during Foodstuffs North Island's facial recognition technology trial.

Up to 25 New World and Pak'nSave stores will have the technology trialled over the next six months, to potentially reduce retail crime.

The technology analyses facial features and matches them against the store's record of offenders and accomplices.

Foodstuffs North Island general counsel, Julian Benefield, says they have a minimum accuracy threshold of 90 percent before staff intervene.

"Two highly trained store team members then need to look at the image and confirm that for themselves that it is the repeat offender before they take any action."

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Kiwi sports fans are set to benefit from Sky's latest free-to-air lineup.

Friday Night Footy for NRL and Super Saturday rugby matches will launch on Sky Open from February 24.

Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explains further.

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Scrapping of funding by the Government for pre-sentencing cultural reports has been criticised.

The reports consider how an offender's personal, family or cultural background may have contributed to their crime.

Convenor of the Criminal Law Committee Chris Macklin says the process has evolved from Judges asking for more information.

"These reports are not just full of excuses, they often have within them a whole ambit of things- running from very poor decision-making, through to some very tortured -and difficult to hear - background stories."

Those before the court who wish to provide a cultural report will have to fund it themselves.

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It's official, the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax is gone-burger from 1 July.

Aucklanders will not have to pay $11.5 cents a litre more everyone else in the country every time they fill up their cars. Toyota Hilux drivers will save $9.20 a fill and Toyota Corolla drivers will save $5.75 a fill.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

That was a rort, wasn’t it? Remember what Auckland was supposed to get for that?

We were supposed to get upgrades to Mill Road, the road I'm obsessed with because of how desperately the city needs it- running from Manukau down to Drury as an alternative to the jam-packed Southern Motorway.

Did we get it? We paid for it for six years.

Did we get it? No, of course we didn't.

Did we get the Lake Road upgrade we’ve been talking about since at least 2017? No, we didn't get that.

Did we get the Glenvar Road upgrade we’ve been talking about since at 2016? No, we didn't get that. And the list goes on.

Instead, the money got used for cycle lanes and speed humps. And do I need to remind you about those speed humps?

How about the one got laid in Three Kings, then got ripped up two years later and laid again because AT stuffed up- and it cost us $600k? How about that one?

Mayor Wayne Brown is not happy about the loss of funding. He's released a list of projects at the end of a press release, with no explanation for the list.

The inference, I'm thinking, is that these are the projects that are going to get cut, because they haven't got the funding.

Let me list some:

• Mangere West cycleway.
• Road safety programme, including high-risk intersections.
• The safe speeds programme, aimed at reducing vehicle speeds near schools.
• Small scale projects to improve local cycling connections.
• New low cost cycle ways to improve safety and travel options.
• Upgrades to multi-modes roads, paths, and intersections to support Kainga Ora.

I doubt very much that many Aucklanders are going to cry tears over this because of one reason.

We have paid this under the mistaken belief that we were paying for better roads. What we got instead was AT squandering money on their own inability to just construct a basic pedestrian crossing.

But more importantly, what we got was a city that is now more congested and harder to drive around.

So as far as I can see, very little has improved for what we've paid, and much of what we're seeing is worse.

I'm happy to defund Auckland Transport.

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Prince Harry returned to the UK shortly after his father's diagnosis was revealed.

King Charles is being treated for cancer, which was discovered during a separate procedure for benign prostate enlargement.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey says reports claim Harry spent a half-hour with the King- and has no plans to meet with William or other family members.

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Tonight on The Huddle, Jack Tame from ZB's Saturday Mornings and Q&A and Trish Sherson from Sherson Willis PR joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day- and more!

How do we feel this week's Waitangi event went for the Government? Was it better than predicted- or worse?

King Charles has been diagnosed with cancer- what will this mean for the royal family? Who else can step in to fill in for the King?

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Increased unemployment figures are a sign of a stronger overall economy, claims one expert.

Stats NZ figures show unemployment has crept up to 4 percent- the highest level since June 2021.

Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen says the number of employed people in the country has also increased over this quarter.

"When we looked through the numbers, we saw that the labour force in December was about 15,000 people larger than it had been back in September. Of those 15,000 who were looking for work, 12,000 got it and 3,000 didn't."

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