The Panel with Mai Chen and Allan Blackman (Part 1)

There's speculation in Australian media that Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull will call an early election after he staved-off a leadership challenge in the form of Peter Dutton. The PM carried out a risky strategy of declaring his position vacant leading to the vote. The Australian newspaper reports that Mr Turnbull's 18 Liberal cabinet colleagues have lost confidence in him. First the government announces a pay freeze for MPs anmd now today the Renumeration Authority is abolishing bonuses for public service CEOs. The Renumeration Aurhority has decided being a mayor is a full-time job and are adjusting their salaries accordingly. Southland and Otago mayors will receive a pay rise of between 2.8 per cent and 12 per cent. Gore District Mayor Tracy Hicks is on the bottom rung. He tells us what his full-time mayor duties consist of. We'll have to go from 9 new recruits entering the Police force a week to 9. How can this be done? And the Justice Minister Andrew Little's summit will conclude that we need to replace prison with better alternatives and improve rehab. The executive director of Arts Access Aotearoa Richard Benge defends a claim from a listener that arts programmes in rehab don't work.