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So the prospect has been raised of David Seymour as Finance Minister if the centre-right is re-elected. He was on Newstalk ZB with John MacDonald in Christchurch and said it was very possible he could have the job after the election, given, I suppose, that Nicola Willis might not be there because of the projected National Party overhang. Chris Luxon shot it down immediately. He said the job is Nicola's, probably because he's trying to manifest the overhang threat away. Seymour then promptly pulled his head in and started downplaying it, presumably because he saw the absolute political target Chloe Swarbrick turned herself into by publicly demanding the job a few weeks ago. But, honestly, here's the question: would that be a bad thing? Would it be a bad thing to have David Seymour as Finance Minister? Could you do worse? Because I suspect he's more prepared than almost any National Party MP to make the cuts necessary to get the public service and government spending back down to an appropriate size. Properly cutting back the public sector and government departments is one of his key campaign pledges this election. His party is the one that found the enormous pay equity savings and had the courage to wear the political blowback that came with delivering them in Budget 2025. He has expressed frustration, budget after budget, at identifying savings, taking them to the Finance Minister and seeing them brushed aside. Now, if you accept that, as a country, we're spending too much on public servants and not getting better services for it than we were nine years ago, and if you accept that the government has not cut nearly as many public-service roles as voters were led to expect, and if you accept that money would be better spent on cancer medications and hospital beds than on bureaucracy, then would it really be such a bad thing if David Seymour took the job, assuming there was a vacancy after the election? LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Friday, 30 October, 2026, Ali Williams says he's gutted about Netball New Zealand pulling the plug on the Mowbray domestic comp. But he's still open to making a deal. Why the Dark Destroyer nearly never made it to New Zealand for a Cure Kids quiz fundraising tour. Janet Wilson on the failings of National's election campaign. And on The Sports Huddle, Nathan Limm and Wayne Hay are at odds on what should happen with our domestic rugby competitions. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can anyone explain to me what the hell is going on at Netball New Zealand? This makes absolutely no sense at all. Does it make any sense to anyone? Netball New Zealand didn't even let two full days pass for its players to bask in the glory of reaching number one in the world and beating Australia in the Constellation Cup before ripping the rug right out from underneath them and cancelling the Mowbray deal. There will be no Mowbray-funded league next year. Netball New Zealand has said no thank you to the enormous amount of money the Mowbrays were prepared to invest in saving netball's domestic competition. And they apparently didn't even have the courtesy to call Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams. At least according to the couple, they simply sent an email late at night. The couple say they are blindsided and devastated. What's worse is that Netball New Zealand is not publicly giving us a reason for a decision that will confound many of us. To be fair, there may be confidentiality agreements preventing them from explaining why, and I think that is almost certainly the case. But try getting that past the players. Try telling all those women why they won't be earning any money next year when there was money on the table from the Mowbrays. "Sorry, we can't tell you why." Let me remind you why netball needed to take this deal. No broadcaster in New Zealand wanted to broadcast the netball competition this year unless Netball New Zealand effectively paid for it to be on television. Netball New Zealand did that and, in the process, lost $3.7 million in a single season just trying to keep the game going. When Netball New Zealand agreed to work with the Mowbrays eight weeks ago, I said on air that it was the right thing to do. I sincerely hoped it would work because, frankly, things couldn't get much worse. Well, yes they could. Here we are and things have got a whole lot worse. Netball New Zealand has now said no to the private investment that was trying to save the game domestically. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shaun Wallace, better known as the Chase's 'Dark Destroyer' is back in New Zealand to raise money for the Cure Kids charity.  He's made five previous visits with the founder of Believe it Or Not Pub Quiz Brendan Lochead, raising half a million dollars for various charities.  Shaun Wallace and Brendan Lochead joined Heather du Plessis-Allan to reflect on their friendship and discuss the charity pub quiz events being run around the country.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Senior Political Correspondent Barry Soper joins Heather du Plessis-Allan to review the week in politics.  The polls have yielded a mixed bag of results, but National still aren't looking good.  The Opportunity party proposed a Future Generations Commissioner, who would remove the politics from long-term infrastructure and environmental projects.  And Labour released a housing policy that would help state tenants buy their own homes.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, NZ Herald Sports Journalist Nathan Limm and Sports Correspondent Wayne Hay join Heather du Plessis-Allan to the review this weeks' sports.  On the table today: Netball NZ has pulled the pin on a bid to set up a private netball competition.  The Silver Ferns lost the Constellation Cup Final, but won the rest of the series, so should we be complaining?  And Heather asks the guys for their take on NZR's handling of domestic competitions.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

National's brought out the big guns after a poor poll result. Former Prime Minister John Key has posted a video on social media today, urging National supporters to get out and vote. This comes after yesterday's RNZ Reid Research poll - which had support for National dipping to 24.8 percent - while Labour led on 30.6. Former National Party Chief Press Secretary Janet Wilson told Heather du Plessis-Allan they've taken the wrong approach. She says they haven't properly laid out what they're going to do for people, and have instead opted for fear-mongering, rather than aspiration and hope. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray have said Netball New Zealand abandoned their private domestic netball league without calling them. The governing body has pulled the pin on the Auckland FC investors’ attempts to save the ailing competition after a board meeting decision on Wednesday. Ali joins Heather du Plessis-Allan to share his side of the story, and discuss why the deal fell apart.  LISTEN ABOVE OR WATCH BELOW See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ground has been broken on one of the Government's biggest infrastructure projects.  The Warkworth-Te Hana motorway is a 26km 4 lane highway that the government says will 'connect the north to Auckland.' Transport Minister Chris Bishop told Heather du Plessis-Allan that the motorway will be, "big for Northland, big for Auckland too, actually, and, big for the government." LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UK Chancellor John Healey has unveiled his first Budget today, and it's prompted mixed reactions among experts. People are in for some winter relief, as 20 million households will get a £100 energy payment. UK correspondent Enda Brady says landlords and banks will be hit hard by this, as they'll be taxed extra to fund this payment.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two more of the big tech companies posted their results, and they're quite different as both companies move forward on AI. Despite growing their AI output and data centres, Microsoft's shares have gone up after posting their earnings, and Google's taken a nosedive. Fisher Funds expert Sam Dickie explained further - and revealed what this all means for investors. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Auckland's city centre is set to see a lot more rural industry faces, with the International Dairy Federation's World Dairy Summit set to take place. The event will run from November 15th to 20th, and over 1000 global delegates will be gathering at the International Convention Centre to discuss the dairy sector's future. The Country's Jamie Mackay explained further. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Thursday, 29 October, 2026, how do you stop people voting multiple times - and getting away with it - in the upcoming election? How you can get to Bali so much easier from Christchurch. Why Heather says Barry's in love with Winston Peters. And speaking of passion, on The Huddle one of Matt Ball and Brigitte Morten says Dame Noels is a national treasure for what she's done with the Silver Ferns. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, Brigitte Morton from Franks Ogilvie and Property Investors Federation Advocacy Manager Matt Ball joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more! National has dropped below 25 percent in a new poll, and it's prompted concerns among the party. Is this poll just a one-off - or is National seriously panicking? And how close will this election be? Winston Peters has labelled the 2026 election campaign 'one of the worst he's ever seen'. Do we agree with this? What do we think of the 2026 election? Were we surprised by yesterday's OCR call?  The Silver Ferns lost to the Diamonds last night - but still won the Constellation Cup 3-1. Is Dame Noeline Taurua being too hard on herself, or is it good that the Ferns are striving for excellence?  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Christchurch's travel options are set to open up, with a new direct route to Bali being available from next winter.  Air New Zealand has announced it will operate a seasonal route to Bali from Christchurch airport - and this comes after Jetstar announced new direct routes to Perth.  Christchurch Airport chief executive Justin Watson says Christchurch is the international gateway into the South Island - so this development is good for tourism. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.