Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

One City Councillor reckons the Wellington mayor's business delegation could've been cheaper.

Tory Whanau and several council officials are visiting China, Japan, and South Korea to promote Wellington as a city to live and do business.

It comes at a cost of around $50,000.

Councillor Ray Chung says not everyone who's on the trip needed to be there.

"What reason would a wellness manager have to go on a trip like this?"

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The countdown is on to this election's first Leaders' Debate.

Labour's Chris Hipkins and National's Chris Luxon go head-to-head on TVNZ from 7pm.

Former National Prime Minister, Sir John Key, says Luxon's the under-dog - and may have the tougher job.

"There are actually a lot of people who want to vote for him and want to vote for National- so they will just be making sure he's the real deal. So there's a lot to play for Chris Luxon."

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Expect a full-strength Warriors side to be named for Saturday's NRL preliminary final against the Broncos in Brisbane.

Halfback Shaun Johnson and forwards Marata Niukore and Mitch Barnett trained separately from the team as they nurse injuries, but all are set to play.

ZB's D'Arcy Waldegrave shares his line-up predictions here.

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Expect a full-strength Warriors side to be named for Saturday's NRL preliminary final against the Broncos in Brisbane.

Halfback Shaun Johnson and forwards Marata Niukore and Mitch Barnett trained separately from the team as they nurse injuries, but all are set to play.

ZB's D'Arcy Waldegrave shares his line-up predictions here.

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A u-turn from Labour.

The Party says it'll dump its 2018 target of reducing the prison population by 30 percent within 15 years.

It says the crisis has been averted and a target's no longer needed.

National Party Corrections spokesperson Mark Mitchell says it's an extraordinary change.

He says it's been Labour's core justice policy for the past 6 years.

"At the same time, they had no plans to keep the public safe. And we've seen just a tsunami of violent crime and disorder in our country over the last 6 years."

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Prison population targets will be no more if Labour gets back in Government, because it says they've served their purpose.

In 2018, the Labour Government promised to reduce the prison population by 30 percent within 15 years.

Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says the target was set because prisons were bursting at the seams when Labour took office, describing scenes of triple bunks and mattresses in hallways.

ZB Political Editor Jason Walls says this policy change came as a shock to several key members of the Labour Government.

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A Christchurch City Councillor is firmly against new city speed limits.

The Council's 'Draft Safer Speed Plan' includes a reduction to 30 kilometres an hour in residential areas - and 50 on roads like Blenheim Road and Memorial Avenue.

Its Transport Operations Manager, Stephen Wright, says the evidence shows safer speeds save lives.

Councillor Aaron Keown disagrees.

He claims there's no evidence lower speeds save lives.

"Since 'Road to Zero' started in 2019, the road toll's slightly up. We've spent billions and done a lot of advertising and lowered a whole lot of speeds- and haven't put a dent in the road toll."

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Newstalk ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper has been admitted to hospital and is to have open-heart surgery to remove a blockage.

“I’d been feeling a bit out of breath walking up hills over the past few weeks and decided to go to my doctor for a check-up,” Soper said today.

“They ran some tests and it turns out I have a blockage near my heart, which needs to be removed through surgery this coming Friday. They’re keeping me in hospital as a precaution before I have the op.”

Soper said the diagnosis had come as a “bit of a shock”.

Soper is married to Newstalk ZB Drive host Heather du Plessis-Allan; the couple have a toddler son, Iggy.

Du Plessis-Allan told her listeners today that they had caught the issue with “a matter of weeks to spare”.

“We’re through the worst of it in terms of the shock and stuff like that, cried all the tears, we need to cry,” she said.

Soper said: “I feel completely fine day to day, but I’m glad I got it checked out”.

 “I’m hoping for a quick recovery following surgery so I can get back to normal life running around after Iggy and hopefully playing a part in covering what’s going to be one of the most exciting elections in a generation!”

Newstalk ZB broadcasters Barry Soper and Heather du Plessis-Allan. Photo / Greg Bowker

Du Plessis-Allan said her husband would be off air for the next few weeks.

“He went to his doctor a couple of weeks ago, turns out – and we only found this out yesterday. A bit of a shock as you can imagine. He actually needs a bypass which will require open heart surgery, which is massive.

“As you can imagine, it’s been difficult for everybody here, especially for his family.

“He’s OK. He’s in hospital now, which is the best place for him to be. And he’s got surgery later this week and the staff are being amazing as they always are.”

She said if listeners were wondering why she was still at work, “I think routine is probably just about the only thing that’s going to keep me sane”.

There were three lessons from the saga, she said.

If your family has a recurring health problem that’s affected more than one person, get checked for exactly that issue.

“Barry’s cousin died of an unexpected heart issue a few years back,” she said. “He was a marathon runner. He was unbelievably fit and just dropped dead.”

Barry’s uncle died in a similar manner.

“So we had Barry’s heart checked, but we didn’t check for exactly this,” she said.

“We thought he was fine. We didn’t check for exactly this and we needed to, we probably caught this, without a word of a lie, with a matter of weeks to spare.”

Secondly, if you were feeling dizzy or short of breath, get your heart checked until you knew exactly what was wrong, she said.

“And number three for God’s sake, listen to your wife. Honestly, this should actually be rule number one.”

If she says don’t walk up the hill or don’t lift a bag, listen to her.

“You should always know this, put this in the front of your brain – my wife is always right and if you live according to what your wife says, you’ll live a long time.

“Otherwise, what you find is that your wife is very cross with you today, loves you a huge amount ... and wants you around for a long time.”

Boy oh boy, she said, “is your wife cross with you today”.

“Barry is fine. He’s having a lovely time eating all of the food, watching all of the Netflix, just relaxing ahead of his surgery ... it’ll be absolutely fine.”

Newstalk ZB's Barry Soper, pictured here with wife Heather du Plessis-Allan, was honoured for his outstanding contribution to radio at this year's Radio Awards. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

NZME chief radio officer Jason Winstanley said the company was providing Soper “all the support we can”.

“All our thoughts and best wishes will be with him, Heather and his family on Friday. We’re wishing him a very speedy, full recovery and we look forward to having him back in the ZB office when the time is right.”

Earlier this year, Soper was honoured by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and invited guests at a function at Parliament, to mark his 42 years on the press gallery frontline.

The former Newstalk ZB political editor – he moved from that role to his commentary role at the start of this year – has been in the privileged position of having an extraordinary peek behind the curtains of power and witnessing the peccadilloes of 11 prime ministers and other MPs.

At the time, Soper said politicians needed to look at journalists “as though we’re theatre critics”.

“I’ve probably pissed off all the politicians in that room [at his function] at some stage but I’m a theatre critic.

“So, I look at them, look at what they’re doing. Look at how they do it, how they approach it, and the end result, and then you go, ‘Well, hang on. It should have been done better than that’. I would have been the most brilliant Prime Minister, of course!” he joked.

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Nurse Lucy Letby seeks to appeal against her convictions after murdering seven babies and attempting to kill another six.

Letby was sentenced last month to life in prison with no chance of release after a jury found her guilty of the seven murders between June 2015 and June 2016.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey says this news comes after another hearing was confirmed to determine whether the Crown Prosecution Service will pursue a retrial for Letby's six counts of attempted murder.

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It's been rumoured in business circles that Luxon is scoping top Kiwi figures as part of his potential administration. 

Fraser Whineray and Andrew Grant have reportedly been courted by National's leader ahead of the election.

NZME business commentator Fran O'Sullivan says the pair have declined so far, but Luxon has expressed interest in partnering with Whineray and Grant.

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