Politics Central

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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A prediction the status quo is likely to remain when it comes to Covid-19 alert levels in various parts of the country.
Cabinet will review the settings in Auckland and Waikato tomorrow.
New Zealand recorded 143 new community cases today - 135 in Auckland, 6 in Waikato and 2 in Northland.
Epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker says he doesn't think a move could be justified in Auckland because the numbers are still rising very steadily.
Professor Baker told The Weekend Collective there's a slightly higher possibility for the Waikato, however suspects Northland will stay put at level two, as will Christchurch given there's no evidence of any unknown chains of transmission.
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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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Victorian Premier Dan Andrews has revealed just what freedoms the state can expect once it hits a major milestone.
Case numbers in Victoria have experienced a drop as fully vaccinated residents enter their first weekend of freedom. The state reported 1935 new infections – a slight increase from Saturday's 1750 cases – and 11 deaths.
Meanwhile, NSW has recorded 296 new cases and four deaths, with cases expected to rise over the coming days due to the state's eased restrictions.
Queensland has recorded no new local cases despite being on high alert after a rideshare driver was infectious in the community for 10 days.
Authorities said the man is "so sick" he can barely speak with contact tracers.
Victoria is expected to reach its 90 per cent double dose milestone on November 24 - and it will mean "very few rules" for the vaccinated.
"There will be no caps anywhere," Victorian Premier Dan Andrews said.
"There will be no density questions anywhere. Masks will only be required in high-risk indoor settings, such as public transport, prisons, hospitals, aged care, to give you some examples."
Vaccinated economy 'here to stay' in Victoria
Andrews stressed that many of these freedoms will only be available to the "vaccinated economy", which is "here to stay".
"We will retain the vaccinated economy, all those requirements, although settings, where you only get in if you are double vaccinated, and you can tap and verify that for everybody," he said.
"But the vaccinated economy is here to stay. It will not be being folded up moments after it gets too full peak.
"In fact, we will add to the vaccinated economy by asking and mandating that all non-essential retail will have to be vaccinated as well, both to go in, and also to work on those settings."
But as the state opened up, Andrews said Victorians could expect two rules in place through next year.
"Some masks in some settings, principally indoors, where there is a greater risk, and the economy being open to you only if you have had to shots, only if you are fully vaccinated," he said.
"They are two rules that be enduring. They are the two rules that will be with us right throughout 2022."
Victoria
Victoria has recorded 1935 new Covid-19 infections as the virus sweeps through a large cohort of unvaccinated people.
Eleven more Victorians also died from the virus in the past 24 hours, the Department of Health also confirmed.
About 90.3 per cent of Victorians above the age of 16 had received one jab of the Covid-19 vaccine, and 73 per cent were completely inoculated.
Earlier, it was confirmed one group of Victorians was experiencing more infections with the virus than anyone else.
Twenty-nine per cent of all of Saturday's new cases were in Victorians under the age of 19.
That day, there were 1750 infections.

Victoria Police Special Operation Group are seen during an anti-vaccine protest in Melbourne during lockdown in September. Photo / Getty Images
Children aged under 12 remain ineligible for any Covid-19 vaccine available in Australia.
In Victoria's Metro areas, two-thirds of all positive cases were now under 40.
In regional areas, three-quarters of cases were under 40.
"I call out to the young Victorians among us that you are particularly vulnerable at this point in time," Victorian Covid-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar said earlier.
"You're running into friends and associates who are Covid-positive so take every care to make sure you don't become one of those statistics."
Victorians were granted a raft of new freedoms this weekend after the state hit its 70 per cent double-dose vaccination target on Thursday.
From 11.59 pm on Thursday, restrictions to leave home, as well as the curfew, were scrapped.
There was no travel limit within metropolitan Melbourne, but travel authorisation was still required to enter regional Victoria.

Calls for Northland to move to Level 3.
This is despite Northland having one new case today, after four yesterday.
Chamber of Commerce CEO Steve Smith told the Weekend Collective there are some sense in moving to Level 3.
"There is some sense perhaps in just making sure we can broaden testing, things of that sort, and just see just if there has been any spread. There may be, there may not have been."
But on the other hand, Smith recognises that the business community is not in robust health after seeing the economic reports.
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Opposition leader Judith Collins joins us to talk the Government's Covid Framework and whether Northland needs to move into level 3.

Vaccinations for Maori made great progress on Super Saturday.
A record 21,000 vaccines were administered to Maori yesterday.
Associate Minister for Health Peeni Henare told the Weekend Collective the total number is a good thing, but those that came forward for their first dose is just as important.
"Over half of those numbers were first-time vaccinators, so that's absolutely fantastic, but we still know we've got more to go, but we'll tick the box on yesterday and call it a success."
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A suggestion more work needs to be done following the Super Saturday vaccination drive.
Just over 130,000 doses were administered nationwide.
It means at least 85 per cent of the eligible population has had their first dose.
But Auckland University epidemiologist Professor Rod Jackson told the Weekend Collective the vaccine push is far from over.
“500,000 eligible Kiwis who are not vaccinated, and that’s where we need to turn our energy to now. We need a different approach.”
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National's health spokesperson is hailing Super Saturday as a "wonderful" day and a real success.
A record-breaking 130,002 people got a Covid-19 jab across the country yesterday.
Deputy Leader Shane Reti spent the day vaccinating in a coastal community in Northland.
He told The Weekend Collective he's happy with the day's numbers.
“I thought if we got anything over 100,000, so the target’s been about 50,000 a day and I thought if we can double that, that it was going to be a good outcome. So I think we should all be pleased to have achieved that.”
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