Westport’s only air link could be cut within months.

Originair won’t guarantee its Westport-Wellington service beyond May after failing to secure Government and local funding.

NZ Airports Association CEO Billie Moore says Westport is one of the last remaining airports still co-owned by the taxpayer.

She told Ryan Bridge taxpayers already cover half the airport’s annual shortfall, just to keep essential services running.

Moore says the public contribution needs to be beneficial.

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A Wellington City Councillor says he's frustrated to see yet another example of the capital's water infrastructure failing.

Heavy rain flooded the city's wastewater treatment plant's lower floors, causing sewage to leak into Tarakena Bay, writing off equipment and forcing the plant to shut down.

Untreated wastewater is currently flowing into the southern coast, with Wellington Water saying it could take days to fix.

Wellington Eastern Ward Councillor Sam O'Brien told Ryan Bridge it's an ongoing issue, and this isn't an isolated thing.

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On the Early Edition with Ryan Bridge Full Show Podcast Thursday the 5th of Feburary 2025, unemployment’s jumped to a 10-year high of 5.4%, EMA Head of Advocacy Alan McDonald tells Ryan what the outlook is for the rest of the year.

Wellington's water is contaminated after an equipment failure flooded multiple floors of the moa point wastewater treatment plant, Eastern Ward Councillor Sam O'Brien tells Ryan what's being down to stop the contamination.

In less than 18 months in, Originair could be axing its Westport to Wellington route, NZ Airports CEO tells Ryan why the airline can't stay afloat.

Plus US Correspondent Mitch McCann has the latest on Trump's "border tsar" saying he will reduce the number federal immigration and border patrol agents in Minneapolis and Bill Gates interview on Epstein allegations.

Get the Early Edition Full Show Podcast every weekday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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The job market's remaining tougher, for longer, than many economists were expecting.

Unemployment's reached a ten-year high of 5.4 percent in the December quarter.

The broader under-utilisation rate is close to a ten-year high, at 13-percent.

EMA Head of Advocacy, Finance and Strategy Alan McDonald shares his thoughts.

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You’ll probably see and hear a bit of argy bargy up north today as the pollies get welcomed onto the Treaty Grounds.

If you’ve never been up there, it’s easily one of the best ‘kiwi’ weekends you’ll experience. The sunshine’s guaranteed. People are friendly. The grub’s good and there’s plenty of watering holes filled with political chats flowing long into the night.

Protest is an important part of democracy. It lances society’s boils and keeps powerful people in check.

But it must be peaceful. The minute you start throwing fists, pushing cops and shoving people round you lose the room.

I’ve seen that happen at Waitangi several times. I’ve seen that happen at many protests about a whole bunch of different issues.

I hope it doesn’t happen this year. There’s a group of twenty online who apparently say they’re ready to be arrested in the name of protest. What a shame that would be.

If there’s one thing we’ve shown each other as a country over the last fortnight; with the storms, flooding, landslides and then the clean-up; it’s that we are still the united and down-to-earth country.

The politicians might argue. The lobby groups hiss and roar. But at its heart, New Zealand is mostly made up of decent people who look out for each other.

We saw marae house, feed and water their neighbours. I saw farmers being fed by kuia on marae. We saw farmers helping clear Māori-owned land of debris.

We saw tradies and workers leap in to help tourists trapped under rubble.

They might fight about race in Parliament but the reality on the ground, as you know and most of us know, is way more chill than they make out.

Much more chill than we in the media make out, too, to be fair.

We’re basically a nation of hard-working people, of all different cultures and colours, who sometimes disagree but mostly get on with life and look after each other.

Of course, there are exceptions but that’s exactly the point, they’re exceptions not the rule.

And this Waitangi Day, especially given how badly some other democracies have gone to dogs, that’s something surely worth celebrating.

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A view more practical training for drivers will be essential, with the full licence test in the rear-view mirror.

After passing the restricted licence test, drivers under the age of 25 will have to wait out a mandatory 12-month period before they can apply for a full licence.

Those aged over 25 will have to wait six months.

Institute of Driver Educators President Mark Revill-Johnson told Ryan Bridge it's important to get training all the way to a full licence.

He says lots of people fail that test for things like speeding and failing to follow stop and give way signs.

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Growers are counting the cost as drinking habits change.

Around 100 thousand tonnes of grapes —a fifth of the crop— were left on the vine last year after exports couldn’t keep up.

Soljans Estate vineyard manager Tai Nelson told Ryan Bridge they just haven't been able to sell their product.

He says demand generally has dropped.

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The economy appears to be turning a corner, and we'll learn today whether the unemployment rate will follow suit.

Stats NZ is providing its latest employment update at 10.45am.

Economists are divided on whether the unemployment rate will remain unchanged at the historically high 5.3%, or will dip slightly to 5.2%.

Westpac Senior Economist Michael Gordon told Ryan Bridge jobs have started to trickle through, but it’s just enough to stabilise the rate, rather than bring it down.

He says they’re expecting things to turn towards the middle of the year, improving over the course of the next year or so.

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