Morning Report

The first adrenaline-junkies are back in the water this morning swimming with great white sharks after a court ruling outlawing the practice was overturned.

Shark cage diving was ruled illegal by the Court of Appeal but tour company Shark Experience successfully appealed that decision in the Supreme Court in 2018.

Mike Haines runs Shark Experience and speaks to Kim Hill.

The Secretary General of the United Nations has called for greater political will to tackle climate change.

António Guterres was speaking ahead of the UN Climate Change conference known as COP 25 which begins in Madrid on Tuesday.

Mr Guterres praised young people for their efforts to improve the environment and said subsidies for fossil fuels should be scrapped.

RNZ Pacific's Jamie Tahana is in Madrid for the conference and speaks to Kim Hill.

It's Cyber Monday today but yesterday new tax laws came into force meaning overseas goods purchased online are now subject to GST.

It applies to products that cost less than $1000.

It's a move designed to make it easier for New Zealand companies to compete with massive corporations like Amazon - who up until Sunday didn't have to pay the tax.

Greg Harford from Retail NZ speaks to Corin Dann.

A brief update on the movements in the financial sector.

Thousands of protestors in Malta are demanding the Prime Minister step down.

The government is in turmoil over fallout from the ongoing investigation into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Ms Caruana Galizia led the investigation into Malta's involvement in the Panama Papers scandal, reporting that leading politicians and officials had used New Zealand trusts to hide assets.

She was killed by a car bomb in 2017.

Three men were arrested and charged with placing and detonating the bomb.

At the weekend prominent Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was charged with complicity in her murder.

Kim Hill spoke with the editor of the Times of Malta, Herman Grech who says questions are still being asked about how high up this might go.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is facing pressure to resign after his former chief of staff has also been questioned.

The Labour Party had a big weekend as its national conference took place in Whanganui.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a huge investment in education during the event, with every state school set to recieve a cash injection of up to $400,000.

RNZ political editor Jane Patterson was reporting on the Labour Party conference over the weekend.

She speaks to Kim Hill.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson signalled there will be more spending on infrastructure, from borrowing money from overseas, over the weekend.

National Party Finance and Infrastructure spokesperson Paul Goldsmith told Corin Dann he doesn't think it's necessary.

"There's plenty of money, they don't necessarily need to be making massive new borrowings if they spend the money they've got wisely now."

Schools around New Zealand know exactly how much funding they'll be getting from the Government's surprise cash injection, but details about what other infrastructure projects will get a funding boost hasn't been released yet.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson promised there would be more details in a few weeks time.

The Government might be keeping its cards close to its chest - but Paul Blair from Infrastructure New Zealand has a few ideas about where the money will be going.

He speaks to Corin Dann

Principals across the country are pleased with a surprise cash-injection from the Government - but say the allocation of funding has been a bit random.

Yesterday the Government announced a $400 million funding boost to be spread across nearly every state school in the country.

The money ranges from $50,000 to $400,000 depending on enrolment, decile and location of the schools.

The principals of Te Mata School in Havelock North and Glendowie College in Auckland - Michael Bain and Richard Dykes - speak to Kim Hill.

Black Caps bowler Tim Southee believes the second cricket test against England is evenly poised heading into the fourth day's play in Hamilton.