Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

Lucrative pay and enticing housing packages are luring a number of Kiwi police officers across the ditch.

Australian police figures show 77 officers are leaving to work in Queensland, and close to 20 are heading off to the Northern Territory.

Constables starting out in the region start out on $100,000 a year, and experienced officers could expect a $118,000 base salary- with $20,000 on offer to cover relocation costs.

Police Association president Chris Cahill is concerned these numbers could snowball if officers who leave are open about these incentives.

"The real concern is- if they get over there and what they see is as good as they've been told. They'll start telling their mates, one tells one etc. It's a real concern."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sixty years after the onset of Beatlemania and with two of the quartet now dead, artificial intelligence has enabled the release next week of what is promised to be the last “new” Beatles song.

The track, called “Now And Then,” will be available Thursday, Nov. 2, as part of a single paired with “Love Me Do,” the very first Beatles single that came out in 1962 in England, it was announced Thursday.

“Now And Then” comes from the same batch of unreleased demos written by the late John Lennon, which were taken by his former bandmates to construct the songs “Free As a Bird” and “Real Love,” released in the mid-1990s.

Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison worked on “Now And Then” in the same sessions, but technological limitations stood in the way.

With the help of artificial intelligence, director Peter Jackson cleared those problems up by “separating” Lennon's original vocals from a piano used in the late 1970s. The much clearer vocals allowed McCartney and Starr to complete the track last year.

The survivors packed plenty into it. The new single contains guitar that Harrison had recorded nearly three decades ago, a new drum part by Starr, with McCartney's bass, piano and a slide guitar solo he added as a tribute to Harrison, who died in 2001. McCartney and Starr sang backup.

McCartney also added a string arrangement written with the help of Giles Martin, son of the late Beatles producer George Martin.

As if that wasn't enough, they weaved in backing vocals from the original Beatles recordings of “Here, There and Everywhere,” “Eleanor Rigby” and “Because.”

“There it was, John's voice, crystal clear,” McCartney said in the announcement. “It's quite emotional. And we all play on it, it's a genuine Beatles recording. In 2023 to still be working on Beatles music, and about to release a new song the public haven't heard, I think it's quite an exciting thing.”

Harrison's widow, Olivia, said he felt in the 1990s that the technical problems made it impossible to release a song that met the band's standards. With the improvements, “he would have wholeheartedly” joined Paul and Ringo in completing the song now if he were still alive, she said.

Next Wednesday, the day before the song's release, a 12-minute film that tells the story of the new recording will be made public.

Later in the month, expanded versions of the Beatles' compilations “1962-1966” and “1967-1970” will be released. “Now And Then,” despite coming much later than 1970, will be added to the latter collection.

The surviving Beatles have skillfully released new projects, like remixes of their old albums that include studio outtakes and Jackson's “Get Back” film, usually timed to appeal to nostalgic fans around the holiday season.

This year, it's the grand finale of new music.

“This is the last track, ever, that you’ll get the four Beatles on the track. John, Paul, George, and Ringo,” Starr said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

- by David Bauder, AP

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, once seen as a reform-minded contender to the country’s top leadership role, died of a sudden heart attack early Friday in Shanghai, state media reported.

He was 68 years old.

Li, who was nominally China’s No. 2 leader until late last year, served as the country’s premier – traditionally in charge of the economy – for a decade from 2013 to March this year under strongman leader Xi Jinping.

During his time in the role, Li navigated the world’s second-largest economy through a challenging period of rising technology and trade tensions with the United States, mounting government debt and unemployment, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

In his final year in power, the economist by training had been a strong voice warning of challenges to China’s economy amid widespread Covid-19 lockdowns.

He backed efforts to boost employment and maintain economic stability.

As the news of Li’s death broke Friday morning, social media users circulated a line from Li’s annual address to China’s rubber stamp parliament in 2022, where he pledged that, “No matter how the international environment may change, China will keep the course of wider openness.”

Li, known to use his English language skills on occasion in appearances outside the mainland, was seen as representing a different approach to China’s ties with the world, at a time when the country’s relations with the West have grown increasingly strained.

“China and the United States have common interests,” Li said in response to CNN’s question at his annual press conference in March 2021. “The two countries need to put more energy on their common ground and expand converging interests.”

Li is also remembered for his focus on addressing societal ills – with social media users on Friday also pointing to his 2020 comments noting that China still had 600 million people with a monthly income of 1,000 yuan ($137).

Those remarks came at a time when China was touting its success in lifting millions out of poverty as a point of national pride.

Li, a highly educated technocrat with degrees in law and economics, was considered friendly to the private sector. He was seen to have an increasingly diverging economic policy stance from Xi, who tightened party control over the economy.

Li is widely seen as a protege of Xi’s predecessor, Hu Jintao, who presided over an era of rapid growth in China from 2002 to 2012. The men shared economic sensibilities and rose to power through the Communist Party’s Youth League, once seen as a training ground for future leaders.

The faction was known for producing reform-minded leaders hailing from humble family backgrounds, but its influence is believed to have been crushed by Xi since he came to power.

The relationship between Li and Hu was in the spotlight last year when the former top leader was unexpectedly led out of the closing ceremony of the October 2022 Communist Party Congress, where Xi further consolidated power.

In a moment of drama during a usually highly choreographed event, Hu was escorted from the room, pausing on his way out to pat a stony-faced Li on the shoulder, who nodded and turned to watch the former leader depart. State media later suggested Hu left due to health issues.

Under Hu, Li was named to the party’s top leadership body, the Politburo Standing Committee, in 2007.

He previously held key roles as party chief in industrial Liaoning province and was provincial leader of Henan, an agricultural base.

Born in Anhui, Li spent his late teens doing manual labor with the Dongling Production Brigade in the eastern province during the Cultural Revolution, a decade-long social and political upheaval launched by late Chinese leader Mao Zedong.

Li was among the first batch of students to sit the college entrance exam after it was reinstated following the end of the Cultural Revolution. In 1978, he enrolled at the prestigious Peking University, where he studied law and later obtained a doctorate in economics.

Unlike Xi, Li is not considered one of China’s princelings hailing from a prominent party family. He held positions in the Communist Youth League Central Committee during the 1980s and 90s.

His time in the top echelons of China’s Communist Party came to a close last October, when he was not named to the party’s Central Committee during a twice-a-decade leadership reshuffle that saw Xi surround himself with key allies.

Then 67, Li was one year short of the unofficial retirement age for senior Chinese Communist Party leaders.

He was succeeded as premier earlier this year by former Shanghai party chief and Xi loyalist Li Qiang.

- by Simone McCarthy and Steven Jiang, CNN

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All eyes were on Fletcher Building and how shareholders would react at their AGM.

Among the issues it’s dealt with recently include the Iplex pipes, directors’ fees and the poor annual results.

Business commentator Rod Oram joined Jack Tame.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wellington City Council officials knew about the Town Hall budget blowout six months before councillors did.

This week, the council voted to increase funding to earthquake strengthen the Hall, which could reach up to $329 million.

But the council’s project team realised the costs were fast increasing at the start of the year, told the Council chief executive in June and told Tory Whanau in September, and councillors found out until this month when they asked for a cash injection.

Wellington City Councillor Tim Brown joined Jack Tame.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The All Blacks are just one win away from sporting immortality.

After being largely written off after the opening defeat to France, all that stands in the way of them and the Webb Ellis Cup is the Springboks with their bomb squad bench.

Both teams are on three titles, and are vying to stand above the other with a fourth win.

But the game could be overshadowed by World Rugby’s new tournament.

World Rugby has announced a 12-team Nations League from 2026, with promotion and relegation in 2030.

The 2027 tournament will also be expanded to 24 teams.

But less than 12 hours prior to kick off, the Black Caps will be in action in India.

They take on Australia in Dharamshala as they look to move on from last weekend’s loss to India.

Abby Wilson and Scotty Stevenson joined Jack Tame to discuss the week’s sports news

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former All Blacks coach John Hart thinks the Springboks have made a massive gamble with their 7-1 stacking of forwards on the bench.

It was a tactic that worked during when they beat the All Blacks 35-7 at Twickenham before the Rugby World Cup.

Meanwhile, the All Blacks have made one change from the team that beat Argentina 44-6 in last week’s semifinal.

All Blacks legend Sir Michael Jones joined Jack Tame.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sport Canterbury has described Christchurch's new sport centre price blow-out as gob smacking.

Contractor CPB has increased its claim by more than $200 million to $439 million, sparking a legal dispute with government delivery agency Rau Paenga — formerly Otakaro Limited.

Sport Canterbury chief executive Julyan Falloon told Jack Tame the prospect of further delays is heartbreaking.

“But to question Rau Paenga’s design at this stage when the facility’s 70 percent completed is sort of becoming a little bit farcical from our perspective.”

The increased claim will bring the project's total value to $696 million.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pharmac’s board is backing the CEO and bringing in external contractors to help implement a plan to fix the organisation’s internal culture.

I get it, people make mistakes, we all understand that, but in my eyes, Pharma’s leadership has made a couple of massive errors in recent months.

The first — if you cast your minds back was the rollout of the Trikafta funding announcement. I personally just thought it was incredibly inappropriate that Pharmac appeared to turn the whole thing into a made-for-TV moment.

Medicines funding is so sensitive. Pharmac is literally making decisions about peoples’ lives. The whole Pharma model is supposed to remove emotion from the equation as much as possible.

So think about what making a made-for-TV Oprah-style moment means in the context of drug funding and medicines funding. It feels really, really icky to me and in my view, it only incentivises pharmaceutical companies to launch really big, emotional PR campaigns in order to get their medicines funded regardless of how much they cost.

Which ultimately undermines the whole purpose of Pharmac’s model.

But not only that, they appeared to very deliberately mislead journalist Rachel Smalley when she found out about the funding decision ahead of their PR moment and she started making calls.

And then the pièce de résistance: internal emails showed senior leadership making incredibly unprofessional comments about Rachel Smalley.

I just do not understand how you can rise to a senior leadership position in an agency such as Pharmac and not realise that your emails can be made public.

What does it say about the judgment of those leaders? Not just the comments, but that they made them in writing.

The external contractors might help to change the culture within Pharmac. Internally, they might be successful in making some big cultural changes.

But when it comes to an organisation like Pharmac, public perception matters just as much, if not more. And this won’t fix it.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Council of Licensed Firearms Owners is hoping ACT can score them a win in coalition negotiations.

Party leader David Seymour says he wants to get rid of the Firearms Registry, but will have to convince their coalition partner National.

Hugh Devereux-Mack told Jack Tame registering their firearms is burdensome and makes them a target.

He claims the register potentially puts them at risk by saying where they live, who is in the household and where the guns are stored.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.