Morning Report

An early morning sports news update.

The latest market updates and news from RNZ's business team.

New Zealand's gender pay gap is at 5.3% in the June quarter, slightly up from the same time last year when it was 5.2%. That's according to the latest numbers from Stats New Zealand, which compares the median hourly earnings between men and women. Jo Cribb is the founder of Still Minding the Gap, an advocacy group. She spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

New Zealand has approximately 170,000 children living in what's defined as "material hardship" and more than 350,000 children in financially insecure households. The Child Poverty Action Group has launched a manifesto to reduce child poverty. Lyn Amos, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group, spoke to John Campbell about the group's challenge to political parties.

The National Party this week ruled out a bed tax, despite the city deal with Auckland committing to exploring one in 2027. It comes as the government announces a rates cap from 2029. Mayor Wayne Brown spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss about what the changes could mean for Auckland.

An early morning update from RNZ's business team.

Starship Hospital is deferring less urgent cases to cope with a spike in young children with flu symptoms. Pharmac has announced it will fund the flu vaccine for all children under five for next year's flu season. Currently - for children at least - only those under 4 who have been hospitalised for respiratory illnesses are eligible for no-cost jabs. Starship Hospital respiratory paediatrician Dr Cass Byrnes spoke to John Campbell about dealing with the downstream effects.

Hundreds of people are feared dead after a flash flood and mudslide on the Nepal-Tibet border. Entire villages have been swept away. At least 95 people have been killed, and hundreds of others are missing, including foreign tourists. The BBC's Global Affairs Correspondent, Anbarasan Ethirajan spoke to Ingrid Hipkiss.

A home-grown agritech tackling painful udder infections in dairy cows looks to be going global meanwhile selling fertiliser is proving profitable for New Zealand co-operatives. Rural News on Morning Report with Gianina Schwanecke.

An early morning sports news update.