Barry Soper: Senior Political Correspondent talks polls, Future Generations Commissioner and Labour's housing policy

On the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast for Friday, 30 October, 2026, Ali Williams says he's gutted about Netball New Zealand pulling the plug on the Mowbray domestic comp. But he's still open to making a deal. Why the Dark Destroyer nearly never made it to New Zealand for a Cure Kids quiz fundraising tour. Janet Wilson on the failings of National's election campaign. And on The Sports Huddle, Nathan Limm and Wayne Hay are at odds on what should happen with our domestic rugby competitions. Get the Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive Full Show Podcast every weekday evening on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can anyone explain to me what the hell is going on at Netball New Zealand? This makes absolutely no sense at all. Does it make any sense to anyone? Netball New Zealand didn't even let two full days pass for its players to bask in the glory of reaching number one in the world and beating Australia in the Constellation Cup before ripping the rug right out from underneath them and cancelling the Mowbray deal. There will be no Mowbray-funded league next year. Netball New Zealand has said no thank you to the enormous amount of money the Mowbrays were prepared to invest in saving netball's domestic competition. And they apparently didn't even have the courtesy to call Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams. At least according to the couple, they simply sent an email late at night. The couple say they are blindsided and devastated. What's worse is that Netball New Zealand is not publicly giving us a reason for a decision that will confound many of us. To be fair, there may be confidentiality agreements preventing them from explaining why, and I think that is almost certainly the case. But try getting that past the players. Try telling all those women why they won't be earning any money next year when there was money on the table from the Mowbrays. "Sorry, we can't tell you why." Let me remind you why netball needed to take this deal. No broadcaster in New Zealand wanted to broadcast the netball competition this year unless Netball New Zealand effectively paid for it to be on television. Netball New Zealand did that and, in the process, lost $3.7 million in a single season just trying to keep the game going. When Netball New Zealand agreed to work with the Mowbrays eight weeks ago, I said on air that it was the right thing to do. I sincerely hoped it would work because, frankly, things couldn't get much worse. Well, yes they could. Here we are and things have got a whole lot worse. Netball New Zealand has now said no to the private investment that was trying to save the game domestically. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shaun Wallace, better known as the Chase's 'Dark Destroyer' is back in New Zealand to raise money for the Cure Kids charity. He's made five previous visits with the founder of Believe it Or Not Pub Quiz Brendan Lochead, raising half a million dollars for various charities. Shaun Wallace and Brendan Lochead joined Heather du Plessis-Allan to reflect on their friendship and discuss the charity pub quiz events being run around the country. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight on The Huddle, NZ Herald Sports Journalist Nathan Limm and Sports Correspondent Wayne Hay join Heather du Plessis-Allan to the review this weeks' sports. On the table today: Netball NZ has pulled the pin on a bid to set up a private netball competition. The Silver Ferns lost the Constellation Cup Final, but won the rest of the series, so should we be complaining? And Heather asks the guys for their take on NZR's handling of domestic competitions. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

National's brought out the big guns after a poor poll result. Former Prime Minister John Key has posted a video on social media today, urging National supporters to get out and vote. This comes after yesterday's RNZ Reid Research poll - which had support for National dipping to 24.8 percent - while Labour led on 30.6. Former National Party Chief Press Secretary Janet Wilson told Heather du Plessis-Allan they've taken the wrong approach. She says they haven't properly laid out what they're going to do for people, and have instead opted for fear-mongering, rather than aspiration and hope. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.