Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills

On Politics Thursday this week Nick Mills was joined by Local Government Minister Simon Watts and Labour MP Kieran McAnulty. They discussed Minister Watts’ announcement that councils' rates rise will be limited to 2% - 4%. Watts and McAnulty then hit the other big political news of the week including RMA reforms for Regional Councils, water reform and amalgamation. As well as public service payouts and Andrew Coster’s resignation. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nick is joined by Wellington City Council CEO Matt Prosser for the first time in the studio. After 7 months in the job we hear how it’s going for Prosser, particularly after the Deloitte report.  How will he change the city, and make it a better place to be? We find out, as Nick asks him about the latest reports, AI use in council, and regional councils – and the likely hood of amalgamation.  Plus, how the council plans to deal with the rates cap – LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Labour Leader and MP for Rimutaka, Chris Hipkins joins Nick Mills in the studio for their final monthly catch up for 2025. Hipkins discusses the mood in Labour before the end of the year and after the Labour conference in Auckland. He explains the new GP clinic loan scheme and discusses his thoughts on the rates cap and regional council changes from the Government.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mayor Andrew Little is in studio for his last of the monthly catch ups for 2025 with Nick Mills.  He answers questions from Nick and listeners on the state of the city and the latest in council news. They discuss regional council changes, the Golden Mile review, the Deloitte report plus the $48 billion cost of local water reforms. And on December 13th James Cameron brings the Avatar Fire and Ash Australasia premiere to our city. How are the council preparing for this day – which also included a cruise ship arrival, black caps test and Te Papa exhibition opening. Will Wellington be ready? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Local councils will have to foot the $48 billion bill for the Government’s new water reform ‘Local Water Done Well’.  Nick Mills talks with Chairman of Tiaki Wai Metro Water Will Peets on how the reforms will work. They discuss the effects on ratepayers, how the bills will work, the change from Wellington Water and the appointment of new CEO Michael Brewer.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nick Mills wraps the week with former Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy and lawyer and former MP Stephen Franks. They get into the hot topics of the week starting with the latest OCR cut then into the proposed reform of regional councils.  Guppy and Franks also discuss the Tom Phillips inquiry, Luxon’s leadership coup rumours, Nationals police target and give their hots and nots for the week. Plus, the Wellington City Council Deloitte's report. What should, and will Mayor Andrew Little and CEO Matt Prosser do? Stephen Franks and Wayne Guppy share their thoughts. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For this week's Friday Sport Kick-off, All Sports Breakfast host Adam Cooper joins Nick Mills to discuss the latest in sport – including the Phoenix.  They dissect what is going wrong with the Phoenix and the crowd sand discuss their game this weekend.  They also chat about The Tall Blacks upcoming games and Golf for Good out in Kapiti starting this weekend.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Politics Thursday this week Nick Mills was joined by Labour MP Ginny Andersen and National's Ōtaki MP Tim Costley. They discussed the latest cut in the Official Cash Rate, how this will impact Kiwis and if we are beginning to see changes in the economy.  Costley and Andersen also hit the big political news of the week including Nicola Willis's statement that National may repeal the Regulatory Standards Bill. As well as leadership coup rumours, how far the coalition agreements can span, regional councils and what is going on in the Wellington North electorate race. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CEO of Infometrics and economist Brad Olsen joins Nick Mills to talk about the latest cut to the Official Cash Rate.  He gives his thoughts on the state of the economy, and how it will effect Kiwis. He also discusses the bank reaction and liquidations.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The National Party could join coalition partner NZ First and campaign on repealing the Regulatory Standards Act at the next election, deputy leader Nicola Willis says. This is despite the law, which was pushed by the Act Party during coalition talks, being less than a month old, and having been passed into law with votes from both National and NZ First. Speaking to Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills on Newstalk ZB, Willis said National had not “come up with what our party position will be after the election”. “We haven’t ruled out repealing it either. We haven’t taken a position yet, but it’s not impossible that we would go to the campaign trail saying, ‘yes, we met our coalition commitment, we supported that into law, but actually we agree with the concerns of some people, it hasn’t operated as we’d hoped and we want to repeal it’. “We haven’t come to a position yet, but we haven’t ruled it out.” NZ First leader Winston Peters shocked the coalition last week when he said his party would campaign on repealing the law it had just helped to pass. His position is that the coalition obliged his party to pass the law, but his party is free to repeal it in the next Parliament. Willis said she was “comfortable” with this position. “They joined the Cabinet, they used their votes to ensure it is passed into law – they did their bit,” Willis said. Willis is not the only National MP to float repealing the law. Last week, when her colleague Chris Bishop was asked what the party was thinking, he replied, “you’ll see our policy going into the election”. “I’m not going to give you a commitment on National policy,” he said. All three opposition parties say they will repeal the law if they have the numbers next term. Labour MP Duncan Webb has even submitted a member’s bill to the ballot which, if drawn, would give NZ First the opportunity to repeal the law this term of parliament. Peters, however, described this as game-playing and said he would not be supporting the effort. Act leader David Seymour attacked Peters’ about-turn on the law, saying it looked as though Peters was gearing up to join another Labour-led coalition, something Peters has said he would not do while Chris Hipkins was leader of the party. The Regulatory Standards Act is designed to improve the quality of government regulation by establishing a set of principles for what constitutes “good regulation”. Part of the controversy surrounding the law is the fact these principles are closely aligned to Act’s political worldview and do not constitute more universally recognised principles of good regulation. The act is also controversial for the creation of a regulations board that acts as an assessor of compliance against these principles, although power to act on what the board says ultimately still rests with ministers and Parliament. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dwell Housing CEO Elizabeth Lester joins Nick Mills to discuss the new initiative to help homelessness in the Wellington CBD.  Dwell is partnering with Downtown Community Ministry (DCM) to provide more support to our homeless population in Wellington. Lester discusses what the programme has accomplished so far and the future for the city if it were to be expanded. 40 homes are being supplied, Dwell and DCM say they now hope the Government will back an expansion of the programme.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stand-up comic and actor Alan Davies joins Nick Mills to discuss his new show touring Aotearoa next year.  The pair chat about his career history - including Jonathan Creek, his inspirations, what keeps him going, his family and discuss the All Blacks, England rugby feud.  Davies tells Nick about his memories of NZ and what he's looking forward to this time around when he comes on his tour in 2026.  Alan Davies will be performing his tour 'Think Ahead', in Wellington, Saturday 8 August at the Michael Fowler Centre General public tickets go on sale on Thursday, November 27 at 1pm. For tickets and more information, please head to livenation.co.nz  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nick Mills is joined by Dane Ambler, executive director of Buy NZ Made to discuss the new finding from Xerox that if 10% of kiwi's spending was local - it would inject $11 billion into our economy.  They talk about the campaigning days of the organisation, the impact of buying local for kiwis, and the future of NZ businesses.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CEO of Masters Builders Ankit Sharma talks to Nick Mills about the new building consumer protections announced by the government yesterday. They talk about the impact on master builders, consumers, and the future of construction in NZ.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a Hutt special Business Panel this week, Nick is joined by Henry Hutcheon, owner of Plenty Foods, and Sarah Wilson, founder of her own recruitment firm and board member of Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce. They discuss their businesses, what they do, and how it’s going at the moment. Henry’s new supermarket is three weeks old, and Sarah has been in the recruitment agency for twenty-three years and had her own business for eight years – they discuss the differences in starting independent businesses now compared to then. They also gave their thoughts on the new Hutt mayors, and how the councils impact business in the valley.  Nick asks our panel what the mood in the Hutt is with business right now, the toughest times in businesses, and their advice on starting an independent business. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nick Mills wraps the week withpolitical commentator and academic Dr Bryce Edwards and lawyer and political commentator Brigitte Morton.   They get into the hot topics of the week starting with NZ police culture, the commissioner and the email’s sent to the electorate office. Morton and Dr Edwards also discussed the rise in prisoner numbers and the building of new prisons, the new ferry announcement, the Golden Mile, the new state highway improvement plans, the uber court case and give their hots and nots for the week. Plus, Winston Peters and the regulatory standards bill. Could Winston Petersjoina coalition with Labour again? Morton and Dr Edwards give their thoughts.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For this week's Friday Sport Kick-off, Jason Pine and Adam Cooper join Nick Mills to discuss the latest in sport. They look at the recent All Blacks performance at Twickenham and look forward to this weekend Wales match.  They also give the All Blacks a score for the year, take a look at Razor’s tenure, discuss Jamie Joseph’s future as a coach and give their thoughts on the Phoenix game this weekend and the Ashes.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Politics Thursday this week Nick Mills was joined by Labour MP Ginny Andersen and National's Ōtaki MP Tim Costley.  They discussed the new Cook Strait ferry designs, and price tag and got heated over the end to puberty blockers for young people experiencing gender dysphoria. Costley and Andersen talked about the other political issues of the week including the rising prison numbers and our police culture. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ferry Holdings Ltd Chairperson Chris Mackenzie joined Nick Mills to discuss the new ferry designs and cost, revealed yesterday by Winston Peters.  They talked about the changes, the process to get to this decision and the future of the Cook Strait ferries and wharf. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Head of Events & Experiences at WellingtonNZ, Heidi Morton chats with Nick Mills on the upcoming event calendar for Wellington. They talk about the importance of events for the city and how WellingtonNZ is working to attract events to the city. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.