The Panel

The $5.5 billion worth of payments to nearly a million-and-a-half New Zealanders have started kicking in: the families package, the Best Start 'baby bonus' payment, extended parental leave and the money for winter fuel, the winter energy payment.

Paying to use the Transmission Gully motorway looks likely now, despite Labour being opposed to that idea in opposition.

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Paying to use the Transmission Gully motorway looks likely now, despite Labour being opposed to that idea in opposition.The $5.5 billion worth of payments to nearly a million-and-a-half New Zealanders have started kicking in: the families package, the Best Start 'baby bonus' payment, extended parental leave and the money for winter fuel, the winter energy payment. Australia's experiencing bag rage. This story may be a bit of a beat-up, forgive the pun, but Aussie media are reporting apoplexy and physical assaults on staff by shoppers irate at having the plastic bags taken away from them.

We haven't reached peak human after all. We reported not so long ago that scientists had concluded we would never live much longer than we are living now; longevity would not increase much. What the Panelists Jordan Carter and Penny Ashton want to talk about. The FIFA World Cup is now in its knockout stages, and the first fixtures featured a feast of fascinating football. Police investigating three armed robberies in Dunedin found a trail thanks to CCTV that led them to North Otago and the Oamaru home of a woman named Shelley Lee Williams, aka Shelley Fontana. In her house was the all the evidence they needed. She's been sentenced to five years.

The Auckland Council wants to sell off prime marina land to pay off debt. There's stiff opposition from those who use the marinas. They're questioning the ethos of selling public land using the Public Works Act. Euan Little of the newly-formed Auckland Marina Users Association says the Council has disregarded some legislation around the use of the marina land.

A listener tells us it's the trickle "up" effect not trickle-down. The mass of the population buys all the stuff and pays for all the services that make those at the top better off. It's another conversation today about the value and the worth of certain jobs and certain people. In China they're to cap the salaries of celebrities while in New Zealand the PSA is asking for public support for pay-rises for hospital admin staff.

The Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods has today announced the rebuild of the Cathedral will see stonemasons starting work by the end of the year. The Christ Church Cathedral Reinstatement Trust chair Peter Guthrey tells us what Cantabs are likely to see done with th budget of $104M for the Cathedral.

It seems that even after campaigns to enlighten the public there are many able-bodied who continue to park in spaces allocated for the disabled. This may be tempting in a full car park when the disability parks are temptingly empty. A listener asked us who decides on how many mobility car parks are allocated. BJ Clark from CCS Disability Action says it's not as simple as it could be.