Holiday Breakfast

The Electoral Commission hopes its efforts to get voters ready for election day will help lift turnout this year.

The deadline to enrol ticked over at midnight, with just over 92-percent of eligible voters enrolled as of Saturday.

Advance voting has now opened, with people able to look up polling stations by suburb.

Chief Electoral Officer Karl Le Quesne told Andrew Dickens they've worked hard to get almost all EasyVote cards delivered before voting begins.

He says they've been emailed to people that gave their email address, otherwise they've been posted.

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After weeks of leave, Fire and Emergency CEO Kerry Gregory resigned on Friday, saying it'd become untenable for him to stay in the job.

It follows Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden accusing him of withholding significant information from her for over a year. 

Board Chair Raveen Jaduram told Andrew Dickens they're bringing in several new initiatives.

He says it includes having more clear and transparent reports, having strong accountability and the board having better oversight.

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The gang saga could expose political hypocrisy to voters, with photos coming out of multiple parties meeting with gang members.

Labour's Kerrin Leoni resigned after footage emerged of her campaigning at a Mongrel Mob event, while Green and Te Pati Maori politicians have also had contact.

Photos have since surfaced of National MPs, including Chris Luxon, posing with gang members

Political Commentator Bryce Edwards told Andrew Dickens context matters as campaigning with gangs is very different from running into them.

He says Luxon said there was no room for nuance in the debate but is now finding there is, so there's integrity issues seen across the board.

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A new energy rating system could help thousands more New Zealand businesses cut their bills.

The NABERS rating system measures how efficiently a building uses energy, allowing owners and tenants to compare performance with similar properties, and track improvements.

The assessment was only available for offices, but has now expanded to shops, warehouses and cold stores.

NZ Green Building Council Chief Executive Andrew Eagles told Andrew Dickens it's shown significant savings across the ditch.

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The Police Minister is dismissing Retail NZ's scepticism on the new move-on orders.

Police can now issue 24-hour orders to move on beggars, rough sleepers or people acting disorderly from a public place. 

Retail NZ raised concerns it could just result in relocating the problem behaviour from one retailer to another.

Mark Mitchell told Andrew Dickens the industry group is quick to criticize, but this is an issue impacting many of its members.

He says he did a meeting with Wellington retailers at the request of a Green MP, because rough sleeping was disrupting business.

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Early voting for the United States midterms has begun, with the election set for nine days from now.

With voting underway, campaigning has heated up; the Democratic Party has brought ex-President Barack Obama out on the trail, where he has lashed out at current President Donald Trump.

US Correspondent Richard Arnold says the polls show Trump at his lowest level of support and voter engagement up, with early voting in Georgia breaking a midterm record. 

He says any predictions are still difficult as polls often underestimate the actual Republican turnout.

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Oil has reached $117 a barrel for Brent crude, some of the highest prices seen this year lowering the chance of any relief before Christmas.

The price hikes come as the United States signals it may ramp up military activity in the Middle East after the midterms.

The lack of fallback in prices may keep the pressure on the reserve bank as the inflation rate looks more likely to stay in the 4% range.

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NZ band Corrella is made up of eight-members, formed in 2017 at the Devonport Navy base.

Since their debut Corrella has had a number of charting hits including Blue Eyed Māori.

Lead singer Pipi Campbell told Andrew Dickens that their music spans genres, "I wouldn't like to put us into one box, but we do reggae, we do some country, we do a bit of pop."

Their newest single 'NOT I’ is coming out Friday, July 17th ahead of a line-up of summer festivals. 

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The All Blacks are scheduled to play against Italy on Saturday in Wellington for a Round 2 Nations Championship test match.

Dave Rennie has announced a raft of changes for the run on team including two new rookies. 

Newstalk ZB's lead rugby commentator Elliott Smith told Andrew Dickens, "he's probably retained the skeleton, I guess you'd say, of the team that won this week against France in Christchurch, but also brought in some of those players you mentioned there, just to try and change things up, give them game time and see what they can do in a black jersey."

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National has confirmed they're in talks with Labour as ACT and New Zealand First refuse to back a social media ban for under-16s 

National is saying protecting children should be above politics.

Psychology PHD student and advisor to B416 Claire Reid says she is in support of the ban as 'a first step'. 

"I'm not a politician, I'm a scientist, but what I'm really clear about is that the harms to the children are real," she told Andrew Dickens.

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