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A major new music festival is set for Rotorua in January, with hopes of it going international.

New Zealand reggae band L.A.B and their record label Loops have launched '8th Wonder'.

The one-day family friendly event is expected to attract 10 thousand people to the lakefront, showcasing Kiwi talent.

L.A.B's Frontman Joel Shadbolt told Mike Hosking the aim is to go big after the initial show.

He says they want to take Aotearoa music to the world – they'd love to see something like this go off in places like Hawaii.

8th Wonder will take place in Rotorua on the 23rd of January, 2027 – the line up consisting of L.A.B, Sir Dave Dobbyn, Te Wehi, Aaradhna, Betty-Anne (Ardijah), Corrella, Che Fu and The Kratez, The Elovaters, Ladi6, and Son & Water.

Tickets are on sale from 12pm tomorrow at 8thwonder.live.

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Blues CEO Karl Budge believes a revamped Super Rugby Pacific format for 2027 will enhance interest in an improved on-field product.

10 teams will play 16 regular season matches with an ANZAC Day Bledisloe test break, before the top two teams get direct passage to the semi-finals while the next four ranked teams face off – no Lucky Loser.

While the draw is yet to be released, Budge is glad that the new format retains a greater sense of jeopardy and makes for bigger games throughout the competition.

He told Mike Hosking it means teams will play for meaningful outcomes right through to the end of the season.

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The ACT Party says it has killed three birds with one stone as new workplace legislation is passed.

The bill reverses a number of changes in the 2015 Health and Safety at Work Act, and will shift focus to critical risks.

It passed its third reading in Parliament yesterday, despite criticisms from New Zealand First.

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke Van Velden told Mike Hosking it grows the economy, supports small businesses, and stops wasting money.

However, the legislation will no longer be implemented in November – instead pushed back until April.

Labour is also promising to repeal the legislation, if elected.

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Open home attendance is picking up, despite the housing market remaining soft.

Cotality’s latest Home Value Index shows the national median fell 0.2% in June, slipping 0.9% on last year.

It's 17.5% below its 2022 peak.

Independent Property Commentator Tony Alexander told Mike Hosking the market remains fundamentally weak, but we're back from the brink because of events overseas.

He says a net 27% of agents are seeing fewer people at open homes, down from 51% two months ago.

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The Finance Minister believes all signs are pointing to economic growth this year.

The International Monetary Fund's recommending the country continue to hike taxes and make spending cuts.

It predicts the economy will grow by 2% throughout this year, rising to 2.7% next year.

Nicola Willis told Mike Hosking the IMF's quite optimistic about our growth this year, and she believes the economy's ready to bounce back.

She says they see it starting to recover after a difficult few months, and all of the bank economists agree.

The IMF's also broadly happy with the Government’s targeted response to the oil price shock.

It believes the annual inflation rate will peak at 4% within the next few months thanks to high oil prices, before dropping back.

Willis told Hosking inflation would've been a huge problem if the Government unfurled the money hose like a lot of people wanted.

She says there was a lot of talk about cutting petrol tax, and giving people extra cash in their back pocket.

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Labour will not have move on orders and Labour will undo the social housing changes, which don’t actually start anyway until next year.

These are their latest policies and it's these ideas and policies that will lead to their election loss.

Social housing assistance is being adjusted so the money can be offset in the private sector, so those paying more can get a better deal. It's a perfectly logical policy.

It's unfair for a person in social public housing to get a better deal than a person in social private housing, unless the state provides every social house, which it doesn’t and never will.

One person pays less because of their luck. Labour thinks that's good policy. They are wrong.

The main problem with the current version of Labour is they are not the Labour aligned to Mike Moore or David Lange or Annette King or Helen Clark.

Middle Labour. Sensible Labour.

Move-on orders deal with people who cause trouble, mainly downtown. It's not the homeless per se, as pedalled by Labour and the media. It's not some poor, tragic soul quietly in a corner wondering what's happened to their life.

It’s the troublemaker, the violent, threatening thug, the person who abuses you, attacks you, causes trouble and a scene, often as a result of too many drugs.

They frighten people, they kill business. They have no more rights than the rest of us and yet it's those people Labour support.

Can't move them on because they deserve more rights than the rest of us.

Now, Labour are entitled to believe this, and they are entitled to promote it as a reason to vote for them.

The trouble is this version of Labour is hopelessly out of touch with middle New Zealand and middle New Zealand wins and loses elections.

Opposing the Government for the sake of it is not mature or well thought through.

Explain the logic of a person in a state house paying less just because it’s a state house. It literally makes no sense and yet because the Government did it, it must be wrong.

Explain to the business owner why the drugged-out deadbeat blocking your shop door has more right to be there than the customer who can't get in.

That's Labour 2026. And that’s why they're going to lose.

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The death toll from last week's twin earthquakes in Venezuela is expected to increase as search efforts ramp up.

More than 1,700 people have died, with tens of thousands still missing.

More than 5,000 people are known to be injured, and nearly 16,000 people have been displaced.

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking some 27 countries have responded to the disaster, with more than 2000 rescuers involved.

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