On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Friday, 7 February 2025, Health New Zealand Chief Executive Margie Apa calls it quits before her term is up - Health Commentator Ian Powell talks about what's gone wrong at the top level?

Three vehicles have failed to stop after hitting a person on an Auckland motorway overnight... we ask why people are fleeing accidents?

Cam Mitchell Athletics CEO discuss the return of the 'mile' running event for the Commonwealth Games 2026.

Plus, the Sports Huddle on why Caleb Clarke has pulled out of Super Rugby Fantasy.

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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Sky City says a February opening date for its International Convention Centre is prudent.

The Centre was initially planned to open in 2020, but a major roof fire in 2019 - followed by the Covid-19 pandemic - set the project back substantially.

Fletcher Building will now hand it over in June.

Chief Operating Officer Callum Mallett says the next stage of commissioning and operational work will take several months.

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Medal events for the 2026 Commonwealth Games have been announced - and there's a surprising change to a popular race.

The 1,500 metre race will be replaced by a returning event - the Commonwealth Mile.

The Mile was last run in 1966, where New Zealand had two athletes compete.

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Three drivers who fatally hit a man walking on Auckland's South-Western Motorway are being urged to come forward.

Not one stopped, despite striking the man after he entered the northbound Dominion Road offramp about 1:30am.

Former Police Detective Lance Burdett says it's highly unusual to have three vehicles not stopping.

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Relationship issues and organisational structure are thought to be contributing factors to Health NZ CEO Margie Apa's resignation.

She's left the job six months early - saying a different leadership approach is needed.

Health commentator Ian Powell says Apa's relationship with Health Commissioner Lester Levy was untenable.

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BussinessDesk reports sources say supply issues meant the country got down to its last 50 rounds of artillery ammunition.

NZDF is adamant it has the stock it needs - but isn't answering whether supplies got so diminished.

Former Defence Minister Wayne Mapp says if stocks get too low, training stops.

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This week another police officer was struck by a vehicle, this time in Huntly. The officer suffered moderate injuries.

It comes after the horrible New Year's Day incident in which Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming was killed and another officer injured after being struck by a vehicle in Nelson.

Police Minister Mark Mitchell said on the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning, Police and first responders are increasingly dealing with violence. Not just here in New Zealand, but globally as well.

It's good to hear Mitchell, alongside Paul Goldsmith, is planning to bring new legislation into the house in the first quarter of this year to bring in tougher sentencing for violent behaviour towards first responders and prison officers.

It would have been better if it had been included in Goldsmith's sentencing reforms, which had its first reading in Parliament last September.

Those reforms too are to ensure criminals face tougher consequences and victims are prioritised.

This new legislation aimed at offenders towards first responders will not just impose tougher sentences, but also clearly define emergency service workers, and require sentencing to be cumulative rather than concurrent.

It's aimed at being a preventative measure, but something tells me offenders will get the message through experience rather than media headlines.

We owe our first responders as much support as possible.

They go to work and deal with a level of risk the rest of us don't have to confront. These laws show we as New Zealanders appreciate their work and are prepared to do what we can to protect them.

I hope the work to clarify who is a first responder - generally thought of as police, paramedics, and the fire service - is extended to hospital emergency staff, and possibly even other health workers.

The need for this legislation, this growing anger and agitation experienced by many in public facing jobs - especially those in retail - makes you wonder what has happened to us as a wider community.

You rarely go into a shop without signs telling you kindness is appreciated, or that they will not tolerate abusive behaviour.

Is this a post-Covid thing? Have we just got more angry with the world? Is it a need to be seen and heard?

We seem to have forgotten that the consequence of anger is often more damaging than what made us angry in the first place/

Hopefully the least these tougher laws will achieve, is help bring that back into perspective.

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A mass shooting in Sweden has left 11 dead, with many more still in hospital after the attack.

A gunman opened fire at an adult education centre in the city of Örebro, west of Stockholm - and police have yet to discover any links to gangs or organised crime.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey says the suspected assailant was among the dead, and investigations are still ongoing into a motive.

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