Midday Report

Why New Zealand's youth unemployment is surging; Health and Disability Commissioner still faces complaint backlog; Wrapping the week in politics with Paddy Gower.

An update on the latest news and results from RNZ's sports team.

Patrick Gower joins Guyon Espiner to discuss the week in politics.

An update on the latest news from RNZ's rural team.

The latest news from RNZ's business team.

A growing number of New Zealanders are making complaints to the Health and Disability Commissioner. The Health and Disability Commissioner says it's finally getting on top of a huge backlog of complaints, but more than 1,300 are still waiting to be assessed, and its funding has been cut again. Health and Disability Commissioner, Morag McDowell spoke to Guyon Espiner.

New Zealand's youth unemployment rate has climbed to levels last seen around the Global Financial Crisis, and economic recovery alone may not solve the problem. The unemployment and underutilisation rates are being driven by a perfect storm of a sluggish economy, business uncertainty, AI and unhelpful policy responses, according to the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, which has just released its Public Good Insight report. Daniel Hamill, senior economist at NZIER, spoke to Guyon Espiner.

National wants to cut benefits for people who have been on welfare for two out of the last three years in a move they say will rip half a billion out of the welfare system Louise Upston joined Guyon Espiner. The falling Kiwi dollar is pushing up the cost of living.David Seymour joined us on his claim that currency crunch is partly the world reacting to what he calls a dumpster fire of election campaign policy. And the ethics of being a billionaire: it's emerged as a campaign question and Tamatha Paul from the Greens joined Guyon with her answer.

An update on the latest news and results from RNZ's sports team.

It emerged as an election campaign question after Jack Tame put the question to Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins in the TVNZ leaders' debate on Tuesday night. Green MP Tamatha Paul also fired up saying it was immoral to be a billionaire. Paul spoke to Guyon Espiner.