Politics Central

University of Otago Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker joins us on Politics Central
He says keeping the Omicron variant out of New Zealand will be important while so much is unknown and looking overseas to see the effect it's had on different countries won't tell us the full story.
He also discusses our border opening policy and thinks that we may need to rethink plans.
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ACT Party leader David Seymour joins us on Politics Central..
We discuss the successes of ACT and how far their MPs have come over the year
Also what their strategy is going forward, and how important it is for both ACT and National to keep polling high
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National's Police spokesperson thinks the Government have got the Northland checkpoints completely wrong.
About 300 officers will be stationed on the Northland border with Auckland.
This will include recruits who haven’t finished with training with no powers and iwi with limited training experience.
Mark Mitchell told The Weekend Collective there will be massive gridlock regardless even if you stop every fifth or sixth car.
"It's gonna be a mess, it's irresponsible and it'll fail and fall over within days."
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A prediction two northbound checkpoints between Auckland and Northland will only last a matter of days.
They'll begin operating from Wednesday and be run by police and Te Tai Tokerau Border control.
46 recruits will be deployed for one week, followed by 46 staff who've just graduated Police College the week after.
National's Police spokesperson Mark Mitchell told The Weekend Collective there's going to be a massive gridlock even if they only stop every fifth or sixth vehicle.
"Look, in my view, it's gonna be a mess, it's irresponsible and it'll fail and fall over within days."
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A top health expert doesn't think any region can change colours in the Traffic Light System yet.
There were 103 community cases across the country today, up from 63 yesterday.
It comes ahead of the Government meeting to review New Zealand's traffic light settings tomorrow.
The decision will be based on factors including vaccination rates and case numbers.
Professor of Epidemiology at Auckland University Rod Jackson told The Weekend Collective it's too early to move.
“I’d say Auckland needs another week, we need to see what happened on Freedom Friday. The rest of the Red areas, they got to get up to 90 per cent vaccination.”
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A top health expert doesn't think any region can change colours in the Traffic Light System yet.
There were 103 community cases across the country today, up from 63 yesterday.
It comes ahead of the Government meeting to review New Zealand's traffic light settings tomorrow.
The decision will be based on factors including vaccination rates and case numbers.
Professor of Epidemiology at Auckland University Rod Jackson told The Weekend Collective it's too early to move.
“I’d say Auckland needs another week, we need to see what happened on Freedom Friday. The rest of the Red areas, they got to get up to 90 per cent vaccination.”
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The dust has settled from the leadership change in the National Party and Deputy Leader Nicola Willis chats to The Collective.
Nicola shares her thoughts on how National are going to win the next election and where she thinks the voters will come from
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The dust has settled from the leadership change in the National Party and Deputy Leader Nicola Willis chats to The Collective.
Nicola shares her thoughts on how National are going to win the next election and where she thinks the voters will come from
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Big promises are easy to make, but delivery is entirely different.
That's the response from National Party leader Judith Collins to the Government's pledge to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030.
It's come on the eve of the climate change conference in Glasgow.
Ms Collins told The Weekend Collective that emissions have gone up, rather than down under this Government.
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The Government's announced New Zealand will reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent by 2030.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Climate Change Minister James Shaw made the announcement today ahead of the United Nations climate change conference.
It's the Government's new Nationally Determined Contribution figure to meet the Paris Agreement.
The change comes after the Climate Change Commission recommended a higher target.
Mr Shaw told The Weekend Collective that while a small country, New Zealand's contribution is important.
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