Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

The Finance Minister-in-waiting is letting nothing slip on coalition negotiations.

National is in talks with ACT and New Zealand First, after special votes revealed all three are needed to form a Government.

A former New Zealand First MP, Andrew Williams, told Mike Hosking this morning leader Winston Peters would want to be Treasurer.

But Nicola Willis wouldn't be drawn on it.

"One of the things that's been really great about this process, and I think you've seen it from David Seymour, from Chris Luxon, from Winston Peters- is our respectful desire not to negotiate via the media."

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Concerned Christchurch residents have been monitoring a woman with a reported history of harming local cats.

A 400-strong Facebook community dubbed this woman the 'harmful cat feeder' and claim she's feeding their pets questionable food and making them sick- or worse.

One resident, Kate Russell, says this woman has been creating problems for years, but her behaviour has intensified over the last 18 months.

"She has been told again and again, to the extent that people have put signs up on their property asking her not to feed, which she rips down. Local businesses and local medical centres have signs in their windows- she has no permission at all from anyone."

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She's dressed royals, A-list stars and even Prime Ministers- and now Emilia Wickstead's designs will be part of Air New Zealand's uniform refresh.

The London-based Kiwi designer is set to craft new looks for the airline's 5,000-strong cabin and ground crew.

They will be revealed late next year for a wearer trial, before taking to the skies in 2025.

Wickstead expressed excitement with this creative opportunity and looks forward to bringing her designs back to her home country.

"Essentially, it's like a full circle, when I was a little girl, I had a dream and took it away and built a business abroad- and now I've come full circle and I'm so proud to be doing this."

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Chris Luxon has shot down ACT's wish for a Treaty referendum, but there's suggestions there could be a consolation prize.

The Prime Minister-elect says it would be divisive and unhelpful.

He's in negotiations with ACT and New Zealand First, who need to combine to govern.

Former National Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson says there is a case for looking at the Treaty of Waitangi Act.

"The tribunal's coming up to 50 years old- so what's the role of the tribunal in the future once it's dealt with historical grievances?"

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A report has suggested the average Auckland house deposit could reach $1 million by 2045.

The report was shared exclusively with One News.

Enable.Me financial adviser Katie Wesney says it's not an inconceivable amount.

"A million dollar deposit in 22 years, that's a 6.5 percent rate. And in all reality in the last 10 years, Auckland house prices have risen by 7.8 percent."

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Labour MPs are not expected to oppose Chris Hipkins staying as party leader when they meet tomorrow.

It'll be the first catch up since Friday's full election result revealed who will stay and go.

They'll discuss the campaign and the political road map for the next three years- and they'll also vote on Labour's leadership.

ZB political editor Jason Walls says Hipkins is expected to win handsomely.

"I've been hitting the phone and speaking to MPs- and the sense that I'm getting is that Chris Hipkins is going to be safe."

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High-profile scientist Siouxsie Wiles left a courtroom in tears after recounting a threat made against her on Christmas Eve.

She's taking legal action against her employer, the University of Auckland, saying it didn't seriously respond to those threats until more than two years after Wiles first complained.

Herald reporter Isaac Davison says Wiles and colleagues with complaints of harassment counted about 60 emails and 7 meetings before they felt the university was responding.

He says the university initially got external security advice- and her complaint was much of it was reactive.

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Once again, thanks to MMP, we're back in a state of suspension and waiting for the conclusion of coalition talks. Which for all the parties' claims- are barely progressing.

And I think it's important for our collective sanity that we concentrate on what we know, rather than all the ifs, buts, maybes and reckons which we might imagine to be the case.

What is it that we actually know? We know that National and ACT and NZ First are willing to form a coalition, and that's pretty much it so far.

The big thing we need to do now is to get the three to meet. Now what we know about that was revealed in Winston Peters' only interview thus far, with Sean Plunket- which was held on Friday.

And he said two things- he said that all three parties should meet together at the same time. Not National-ACT, then National-NZ First, then ACT-NZ First. All three, at the same time, in the same room.

We can also presume that based on his telephone tag with David Seymour this weekend, he would like all of that to happen face to face. No-one on the phones, no-one on the conference call- all three walk into the room at the same time.

His other thing that he said in the interview was that the nuts and bolts of the coalition deal should be negotiated by chiefs of staff, and not by the leaders.

Now, those two ideas came out first thing on Friday. I mentioned this to Chris Bishop. And I actually think they're good ideas.

I think the leaders should be seen entering the same room, just to show that they're seriously considering a strong, stable, united Government. At the moment, I don't even know if they're in the same city.

And this is all so important that a phone call really isn't enough to nail it.

The other thing I feel is that NZ First is afraid of being thought of as an afterthought. Tacked on to the end of a National-ACT agreement. They feel they're just as important as the other two players.

Numerically smaller, but without them- there will be no Government.

Winston Peters believes he's an equal to the other two leaders. In fact, comparing his experience to the other two, he'll probably consider himself their superior. And his standing needs to acknowledge that, because we all know he has an ego.

Leaving the chiefs of staff to thrash it out is a good idea too, it means the leaders don't get sucked into all these arguments about minor details and hate each other. Then at the end of the day, they all gather for a symbolic signing- it's all how international treaties are negotiated.

All the chiefs of staff do it, and then the Presidents and Prime Ministers gather together to shake and wave.

So far on those two ideas mentioned- first thing on Friday, there's been no movement from National. I asked Chris Bishop about party talks on Friday, he says it's too soon to discuss.

All the other debates about what jobs the various MPs get in the coalition are still way down the track, which is why I didn't believe Andrew Williams' earlier claims on Mike Hosking.

Now, the really important thing in this whole process is not to underestimate Winston Peters. It's not his first rodeo, he's a lawyer. And he may not have started his own business, but he started his own party.

He hired all the staff, he chose all the candidates, he did all the branding, he made all the ads and got finance for the whole thing- that's a big job, and he's been the master of the rat king needed to be a political leader since he entered Parliament 45 years ago.

Don't underestimate Winston Peters.

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The Black Caps are approaching the pointy end of the Cricket World Cup group stage.

New Zealand is hanging on to fourth in the group stage table, ahead of fifth-placed Pakistan on run rate.

Tomorrow's clash with Pakistan is one of their two remaining clashes, and need a win to all but secure a semi-final place.

Black Caps batting coach Luke Ronchi joined Andrew Dickens.

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Elon Musk declared artificial intelligence “one of the most disruptive forces in history” in a sit down conversation with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that dove into the dangers and opportunities of AI on Thursday, capping off the UK’s inaugural AI Safety Summit. 

“AI will be a force for good most likely,” Musk said. “But the probability of it going bad is not zero percent.” 

The two men spoke in an interview-style chat from a stage at Lancaster House, a government venue in central London often used for diplomatic purposes, before the conversation was opened up to questions from journalists. The conversation was then posted for streaming on Musk’s personal account on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter that he owns. 

Musk was present throughout the two-day event held mainly at Bletchley Park, the headquarters for the Allied Forces codebreaking program during World War II, along with US Vice President Kamala Harris, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and other notable politicians and global tech leaders. Chinese officials were also present at the event. 

“I’m glad to see at this point that people are taking AI seriously,” Musk said to Sunak on Thursday. “Thanks for this summit. I think it will go down in history as quite important.” 

Musk unpacked several predictions for AI, including a future where no jobs would be necessary and AI companionship would be one of the highest forms of friendship. 

In office for just over a year, Sunak has restored some calm to British politics, but also faced challenges over his elite background, having studied at the exclusive Winchester College, Oxford and Stanford universities. Before entering politics, he worked for banks and hedge funds, including Goldman Sachs. 

In the first day of his AI event, more than 25 countries and the European Union signed the Bletchley Declaration, agreeing to work together to create a united approach to oversight in efforts to deploy AI technology in a “human-centric, trustworthy and responsible” way, underscoring the “potential for serious, even catastrophic, harm” that many tech leaders have expressed concern over. 

Musk’s conversation with Sunak is one of numerous chats with world leaders the SpaceX and Tesla CEO has joined in the past few months. It showed his growing influence in geopolitical affairs as well as various technology and industrial sectors. 

Musk met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in September, weeks before the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Netanyahu met with Musk to discuss artificial intelligence and antisemitism on the Musk-owned social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, at a time Musk was warring with the Anti-Defamation League. 

Musk also sat down with French President Emmanuel Macron numerous times in the past year. Other big names that recently made time for Musk in their schedule include Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in June, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in September. 

At the event Thursday, Musk noted that if the AI powerhouses such as the United States and the UK “are aligned on AI safety, that is a good thing.” And he suggested other global powers such as China should also remain involved in discussions. 

He compared AI to a magic genie and noted that fairy tales with magic genies that grant wishes “don’t end well” and cause people to “be careful what you wish for.” 

Musk has increasingly become a fixture in international affairs, making headlines not only for his meetings with heads of state but also for the provision – or lack thereof – of SpaceX’s Starlink satellite services in war-torn regions. 

The billionaire received backlash this week for pledging to provide aid organizations in Gaza with Starlink satellite service as the besieged strip struggles with internet connectivity. The Israeli Minister of Communications Shlomo Karhi said on X that Hamas “will use it for terrorist activities.” 

“Perhaps Musk would be willing to condition it with the release of our abducted babies, sons, daughters, elderly people. All of them! By then, my office will cut any ties with starlink,” Karhi posted. 

Musk made the announcement on X after US Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that “cutting off all communication to a population of 2.2 million is unacceptable.” 

“Starlink will support connectivity to internationally recognized aid organizations in Gaza,” Musk said in a post replying to Ocasio-Cortez. 

In Walter Isaacson’s new biography of the eccentric billionaire titled “Elon Musk,” it was revealed that Musk secretly ordered his engineers not to turn on his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the Crimean coast last year to avoid supporting a Ukrainian sneak attack on the Russian naval fleet. 

“There was an emergency request from government authorities to activate Starlink all the way to Sevastopol. The obvious intent being to sink most of the Russian fleet at anchor,” Musk posted on X in September. 

Musk’s decision, which left Ukrainian officials begging him to turn the satellites on, was driven by an acute fear that Russia would respond to a Ukrainian attack on Crimea with nuclear weapons, a fear driven home by Musk’s conversations with senior Russian officials, according to Isaacson. 

“If I had agreed to their request, then SpaceX would be explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation,” Musk tweeted in September. 

The billionaire’s presence at the UK’s summit brought an increased level of media attention to the event that is key to Sunak’s hope for global AI regulation. 

Sunak and Musk discussed how digital super-intelligence could affect the public and require regulation the same way industries such as aviation and cars require regulation. 

“I agree with the vast majority of regulations,” Musk said. “A referee is a good thing.” 

At the same time, Musk reiterated his “fairly utopian” belief that AI could create an “age of abundance” with “no shortage of goods and services.” He says AI could lead to a future where “no job is needed” and people enjoy a universal high income. He mentioned a world of AI tutors and companionship for people like his son who has learning disabilities and difficulty making friends. 

The next AI safety summits are set to be hosted by Korea and France and are scheduled for 2024. 

- by Jennifer Korn, CNN

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