On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Thursday, 19 June 2025, New Zealand has pulled almost $20 million of funding to the Cook Islands. Cook Islands News journalist Rashneel Kumar broke the story, he tells Heather how he found out and how terrible our relationship is right now.

Kiwibank's Jarrod Kerr is celebrating a surprisingly good GDP number for the first three months of the year - but still thinks more cuts to the OCR are desperately needed to boost the economy.

Another talkback-walkback! The Government u-turns on proposed changes to Fringe Benefit Taxes for utes.

Heather speaks to the only one person in the country who can prescribe magic mushrooms, Professor Cameron Lacey.

Plus, the Huddle debates whether it was a mistake to pull funding from the Cook Islands.

Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer recently chaired a meeting to discuss the UK’s response to the crisis in the Middle East.

There's growing concerns the conflict could escalate further, should the US enter the conflict between Israel and Iran.

UK correspondent Enda Brady says the UK Government will be weighing up a series of options, as the US hasn't revealed what actions they plan to take.

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Tonight on The Huddle, Auckland councillor Maurice Williamson and Wellbeing Economy Alliance director Gareth Hughes joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!

Farmers are up in arms over new changes to the FBT that could potentially impact ute owners. What do we make of this? Do we see the Government changing this?

Was it a mistake for New Zealand to pull funding for the Cook Islands? How bad do the optics look here?

Shane Jones is floating the idea of getting rid of regional Government altogether. Is this a good idea?

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