The Manus Island refugee offer is likely to remain a thorn in the side of Trans-Tasman relations for some time.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she'll again discuss New Zealand's offer to take some of the refugees from the Island.

ABC host Michael Rowland told Mike Hosking the Australian government has no appetite to confront it.

"Every key relationship has irritations and I think going forward the Manus island situation and the New Zealand offer will be one of those flashpoints that won't be resolved anytime soon." 

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW AND AUSTRALIAN NEWS WRAP WITH MIKE HOSKING

Business leaders are calling for changes to bring New Zealand and Australian markets closer together.

Jacinda Ardern is in Sydney, where she'll address hundreds of senior business leaders with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at the trans-Tasman leadership forum.

New Zealand Co-Chair of the forum Adrian Littlewood told Mike Hosking there are some small moves they're hoping for.

"Simple things like making it much easier for New Zealand companies in the construction, supply and services market to qualify to participate in Australian projects and vice versa."

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW ABOVE WITH MIKE HOSKING

A Chief Economist says there are substantial problems in the research supporting a sugar tax.

It comes after The New Zealand Initiative were released documents under the Official Information Act revealing the Ministry of Health's scepticism towards a sugar tax.

They revealed advice to then Minister Coleman that there was insufficient evidence a sugar tax would reduce obesity.

The Initiative's Chief Economist Dr Eric Crampton told Mike Hosking public health experts presented a well-supported campaign in favour of a sugar tax, but he thinks the documents suggest something different.

Crampton agrees with the Ministry and says there are problems with the way the data is measured. 

"There are substantial problems in the way that they've the estimated the attack on consumption. Those problems would be obvious to economists but not to public health practitioners.

"If an excise tax comes in that increases the price of soda, maybe you're not spending as much on it because you've shifted from Coke or Pepsi down to homebrand."

Crampton says you could potentially be consuming more sugar, while reporting you're consuming less.

A former lawyer who was subjected to sexual harassment in the profession says it's futile trying to bring it up with senior staff.

Olivia Wensley has spoken out about sexually inappropriate behaviour many women are subjected to in the law workplace.

She believes three-quarters of female law staff in New Zealand are subjected to sexually inappropriate behaviour in the industry.

Wensley believes the legal profession attracts a certain type of male characters, which accepts sexual harassment as normal, describing it as an endemic.

She told Mike Hosking it's futile trying to address it as it gets laughed off by senior staff.

"They defend it as 'Oh, he's just joking, oh it's his sense of humour'. They just try to defend it, it's quite appalling."

She says the profession requires a certain personality to do the job.

"Law's a really traditional profession and not a lot of change. I think there's this real hangover, this archaic approach.

"The culture hasn't changed in a lot of firms, it's sort of like working in Mad Men in the 1950s."

In the piece she wrote on her LinkedIn account, Wensley acknowledged that although there were many good people within the sector, she was among those to witness and experience crude and seedy behaviour from others within the industry, in law firms here and overseas.

In one incident she wrote about, a partner in a firm told a male colleague: "I've just hired a nice little piece of ass for you.''

The worst incident was when she was approached by a senior colleague who sat next to her at a Christmas function and promptly put his hand on her thigh.

Wensley says there are more women in law school than men, but more men are being promoted to senior positions, which creates an imbalance of power.

LISTEN TO OLIVIA WENSLEY TALK WITH MIKE HOSKING ABOVE

Aucklanders are spending close to 80 hours stuck in motorway traffic congestion each year, time that the AA describes as a "noose" around motorists' necks.

The Automobile Association is calling for a raft of initiatives to tackle the problem, including encouraging parents to send kids to school on foot or by bike to put a brake on the number of cars.

However, spokesman Barney Irvine told Mike Hosking people need to stop thinking that there's one 'right' answer.

"No one single approach is going to solve this for us. Whether that's just building roads or public transport or walking and cycling or managing demand like congestion charging. It has to be a combination of all of those things."

Irvine says it's important to understand the impacts this is having on Kiwis.

"It represents a pretty big cost in terms of personal happiness and in terms of productivity over the course of the year."

Latest figures show about 40,000 more cars jammed Auckland's roads in 2017 compared to the previous year.

Between the hours of 7am and 9am drivers were travelling at an average speed of 43km/h on Auckland motorways last year. This slowed even more on our arterial roads - where drivers were crawling at just 34km/h on average.

The rapid pace and scale of Auckland's population growth - the city grew by 121,000 people, the size of Tauranga, in the past three years - is largely to blame.

In a speech delivered last night focusing on Auckland's 10-year Budget and 30-year transport plan, Auckland Mayor Phil Goff called transport the "single most frustrating issue we have to face in Auckland".

Congestion was costing the city around $2 billion in lost productivity each year.

"It's frustrating and it is eating into our productivity."

Goff said the focus needed to be on public transport and utilising existing networks and cycling.

- with content from NZ Herald

LISTEN TO BARRY IRVINE TALK WITH MIKE HOSKING ABOVE

An experienced helicopter pilot says human error is often the problem when it comes to flying.

The Department of Conservation has stopped using Robinson helicopters after a number of fatal crashes involving mast bumping.

The Transport Accident Investigation Commission has put Robinson helicopters on its "watchlist" - but the Civil Aviation Authority says the choppers are safe if the flight manual is followed

Wanaka Helicopters owner Simon Spencer Bower told Mike Hosking you shouldn't take a boat out in a storm, and the same goes for helicopters.

"You've got to use your vehicle, whether it's a car, or a boat, or a helicopter for what it's intended for. You're not going to go four-wheel driving in your Suzuki Alto and vice-versa.

"In all these accidents we've got to understand that's no different to a car or a boat, there's always a human element in there."

A Professor of Psychology believes we gravitate towards more dominant and power-hungry bosses.

Florida State University's Jon Maner categorises leaders into prestige and dominant traits and although people would prefer a prestige leader, we're often attracted to dominant bosses because they're perceived as strong.

He told Mike Hosking the best kind of bosses are the ones who can balance both traits.

"In fact most people have the capacity for both. The best leaders are able to split fluidly from one style of leadership to the other, depending on the situation."

Maner will be doing a public lecture about the science of leadership at the University of Auckland this week.

LISTEN TO JON MANER TALK WITH MIKE HOSKING ABOVE

In most people's daily jobs, trying to hack someone else's computer would be frowned upon.

But for our national spy agency, that's just part of the job.

The GCSB is on a recruitment drive, looking for mathematicians, computer experts, engineers and lawyers to join the ranks, especially women.

Former intelligence officer and Massey University lecturer Rhys Ball told Mike Hosking it would be an interesting career and allows you to do things that would normally be illegal.

"Whether it be stealing secrets or cracking codes or preventing someone from hacking your computer."

Ball says GCSB recruits could make a difference in the world, stop things from happening and make the country and the world a safer place.

LISTEN TO RHYS BALL TALK WIH MIKE HOSKING ABOVE

South Africa's president is adamant it won't be following in the footsteps of Zimbabwe.

Its parliament's voted in favour of a new rule allowing white-owned land to be confiscated without compensation.

South African correspondent Jean-Jacques Cornish says the move is very concerning for many landowners.

READ MORE:South Africa votes to confiscate white-owned landSouth African land may be taken by 'political elite' 

He told Mike Hosking that president Cyril Ramaphosa is trying to counter that concern.

"He is saying we will have expropriation of land because there is a call for it within the party, but we are not going to allow it to affect the economy and we are not going to allow it to affect food security."

He says that Ramaphosa is adamant that the country won't follow in the same footsteps as Zimbabwe, which launched a similar policy in the 1980's that is wildly seen as contributing to its third world status.

"In other words, we're not going to take land away from productive farms, which is what happened in Zimbabwe which turned the great basket of the sub continent into the basket case of southern Africa."

LISTEN TO JEAN-JACQEUS CORNISH TALK WITH MIKE HOSKING ABOVE

A former lawyer who was subjected to sexual harassment in the profession says it's futile trying to bring it up with senior staff.

Olivia Wensley has spoken out about sexually inappropriate behaviour many women are subjected to in the law workplace.

She believes the legal profession attracts a certain type of male characters, which accepts sexual harassment as normal, describing it as an endemic.

She told Mike Hosking it's futile trying to address it as it gets laughed off by senior staff.

"They defend it as 'Oh, he's just joking, oh it's his sense of humour'. They just try to defend it, it's quite appalling."

She says the profession requires a certain personality to do the job.

"Law's a really traditional profession and not a lot of change. I think there's this real hangover, this archaic approach.

"The culture hasn't changed in a lot of firms, it's sort of like working in Mad Men in the 1950s."

In the piece she wrote on her LinkedIn account, Wensley acknowledged that although there were many good people within the sector, she was among those to witness and experience crude and seedy behaviour from others within the industry, in law firms here and overseas.

In one incident she wrote about, a partner in a firm told a male colleague: "I've just hired a nice little piece of ass for you.''

The worst incident was when she was approached by a senior colleague who sat next to her at a Christmas function and promptly put his hand on her thigh.

Wensley says there are more women in law school than men, but more men are being promoted to senior positions, which creates an imbalance of power.

She believes three-quarters of female law staff in New Zealand are subjected to sexually inappropriate behaviour in the industry.

LISTEN TO OLIVIA WENSLEY TALK WITH MIKE HOSKING ABOVE