Holiday Breakfast

The annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner took place in Washington last night, but was cancelled part way through after a shooter with multiple weapons charged through a security checkpoint.

Washington Bureau Chief for the Guardian, David Smith, was present at the dinner. 

He told Andrew Dickens, "I heard some shouting and people diving under tables, and that kind of rippled like a wave through the room, and all of us, including me and guests at our table, we dived under."

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A nationwide survey by the Combined Building Supplies Co-operative has found that 84% of members have felt moderate to significant impact from fuel price increases. 

CEO Carl Taylor said some builders can't even afford to get to their work sites. 

"So, clients are obviously starting to look at pausing their projects, pricing becomes harder to lock in, and the confidence drops, and that's when the activity slows," he told Andrew Dickens.

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Pop-duo Foley has just spent four weeks on the Hot 20 singles chart, peaking at number 1, following their EP release 'Like an Actress'. 

The duo is made up of Ash Wallace and Gabriel Everett. 

Ash Wallace joined Andrew Dickens to chat defining genre, the New Zealand music community, and aspirations. 

"I think it's always hard to narrow your own music down," Wallace said.

"You know, you think of all your different influences and tastes, and it's always hard to really pin it down to something."

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In a Truth Social post Donald Trump announced the successful rescue of a missing crew member of a fighter jet that was shot down over Iran. 

Although Iran's military claims the US operation was "completely foiled."

Meanwhile, the historic Artemis 2 mission enters it's fifth day.

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Far-right political party One Nation, led by Pauline Hanson, has surpassed Labor and the Coalition in Queensland in the latest poll. 

"Once upon a time, Pauline Hanson was the fringe lunatic way out on the lunar right, and now, in South Australia, she smashed the conservative vote down there," Australian correspondent Murray Olds said.

Olds chats to Andrew Dickens about One Nation's unprecedented rise, and solutions to the fuel crisis.

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Endurance swimmer Jono Ridler has completed a 1367km journey, swimming the length of the North Island, in an effort to raise awareness against bottom trawling. 

After getting out of the water on Saturday, Ridler led a convoy of people to the steps of Parliament, where multiple ministers waited, and he was presented with a taonga.

Ridler spoke to Andrew Dickens about the difficult journey, "a good percentage of the time it was very tough," he said. 

"The further we got south, the tougher it got as well with the cold water, jellyfish, and, and long sessions, spending a lot of time in my own head trying to battle through all of that."

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The Government's 2034 tourism target is to lift arrivals to 4.78 million, but a report for MBIE shows that this could require up to $3.5 billion in extra infrastructure.

Regions like Queenstown are already facing pressure on their infrastructure with Destination Queenstown and Lake Wanaka Tourism CEO Mat Woods saying they are 'bursting at the seams'. 

He told Andrew Dickens, "we're having to actually release treated wastewater into the Shotover River, which is far from ideal when you consider a 100% pure sort of image that we like to give our international visitors about New Zealand."

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Actors Cliff Curtis and Jason Momoa, and director Taika Waititi, have purchased Auckland-based Studio West with the goal to bring more jobs and Polynesian storytelling to the country.

"It's still a pretty tough time for the screen industry, but it is some positive news in the middle of all of that," Screen Production and Development Association President, Irene Gardiner said. 

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US President Donald Trump has issued threats to Iran in an R-rated speech as his ultimatum to open the Strait of Hormuz comes to an end. 

He has said he will target Iran’s critical infrastructure if the strait is not reopened before Monday.

Jeffrey Price, senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, joined Andrew Dickens to chat about what to expect as this deadline rolls around.  

"President Trump is, known to be unpredictable - he's advertised, that his staff has advertised that as a virtue," Price said. 

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Australia’s new hate speech laws have hit a speedbump.  

Parliament was recalled early to pass reform that would create serious offences for hate in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.  

However, the Opposition and the Greens are refusing to accept the laws in their current form.  

Australia Correspondent Murray Olds told Andrew Dickens the Opposition is saying the timeline is ridiculous, and that the bill is unsalvageable in its current form. 

He says everyone was in favour of fighting antisemitism as hard as they could, but it's now dissolved into a political bunfight.  

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