Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

How would you feel about New Zealand building small nuclear reactors to generate more power? That’s what the Maxim Institute think-tank is calling for. Saying that, if we did, more of the world’s biggest technology companies could be attracted here to establish big data centres and that would add billions of dollars to the economy. Thomas Scrimgeour from the Maxim Institute says the rest of the wo...

When I first heard about the police shooting and killing someone they had actually gone to help, like most people, I wondered how the hell that could happen.   This is the shooting in Bryndwr in Christchurch overnight on Wednesday, which left a woman dead and a man critically injured.   As always happens, the armchair experts haven’t been slow in coming forward. For example, demanding to...

The Mental Health Minister's defending claiming his Government's inherited Hillmorton Hospital and its failings from the Labour-led Government of the time.   A review of Canterbury's mental health services reveals significant failings, contributing to murders by patients in 2022 and 2024.   Minister Matt Doocey told John MacDonald it's a fact.   He says the report lays bare the stat...

Ronan Keating has been performing for over 30 years.  He debuted in 1993 as the frontman of Boyzone, going on to have an extremely successful solo career from 1999.   Keating joined John MacDonald to talk about his rise to fame, life as a grandfather, and what we can expect to see at Selwyn Sounds in 2026.   LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I can recall a conversation I had about a month ago with Labour leader and former Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins about Part 2 of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into his government’s pandemic response.   And he was saying that he was waiting to be invited to appear, and wouldn’t be asking for an invite, and wouldn’t be gate-crashing. That was around the time that he was also saying the Inqui...

Like anyone, if I can get something for free - I’ll take it. But if it’s something I have to pay for, then I’ll pay it. Which is how I’m feeling about all this fuss over the new Woodend Bypass, north of Christchurch, being a toll road. Granted, I won’t be a daily user, so the financial impact on me won’t be the same as it will for someone who uses it every day. But let’s get a grip. Toll roads are...

If I asked you who you would rather go and have a beer with, Christopher Luxon or Chris Hipkins, who would you choose?   I’d choose Luxon any day. One slight technicality is that he doesn’t drink. But he’d have a lime and soda or whatever he likes to drink, I’d have a beer and we’d probably have a very nice time.   Reason being that on the occasions that I’ve met him in person, he comes...

TOPIC 1 EDITORIAL: STADIUM TRAIN I love this plan for an express passenger train to get people into Christchurch for events at the new One New Zealand Stadium, which is due to open in April next year. But I’ll love it even more if the councils around here chip-in to pay for a new railway station at the corner of Moorhouse Avenue and Colombo Street, which the rail company behind the plan is describ...

You can tell council elections are coming up, because that’s the only reason the Christchurch City Council is going to start using high friction road surfaces at pedestrian crossings, instead of speed humps.     Even though it knows that speed humps are safer. Even though it knows that it won’t slow down traffic. But you’ve got to keep people sweet when there’s an election coming up. &nb...

Local politicians from both sides of the political divide are slamming police process around the proposed restructure in wider Canterbury.     Federated Farmers, City Councillors, and schools are concerned at the lack of community consultation.   Banks Peninsula MP Vanessa Weenink told John MacDonald the communication, for a start, hasn't been well managed.   She says police wi...

When I heard Transport Minister Chris Bishop talking about the Government’s changes to the road user charges system, I had a bit of a Max Bradford moment.   Max was the National Party minister who told us back in 1988 that his reforms of the electricity sector were going to mean cheaper power prices.   Which is what Chris Bishop was saying yesterday about the plan to ditch petrol taxes a...

With the Government wanting artificial intelligence to be used to mark high school exams, I asked a ChatGPT bot how it felt about that.    And here’s what it said: "If the Government were to ask me to mark high school exams, I would feel (if I could feel) cautious optimism, with a big dose of responsible hesitation."   The bot said, on the upside, it could process thousands of scrip...

The Opposition leader says he's worried Police are retrenching from rural communities.  A planned staffing restructure could move some permanent posted rural officers move to work from 24/7 hubs in Rolleston and Rangiora.  Officer headcount won't drop.   Chris Hipkins told John MacDonald he's been through this in his own area, in Wellington's Upper Hutt.  He says it means Polic...

Canterbury police say they'll still serve rural communities under a plan to centralise officers.   They're mid-way through two weeks of internal consultation on a plan to shift some officers from smaller rural stations, to larger 24/7 hubs in Rolleston and Rangiora.   District Commander Superintendent, Tony Hill, told John MacDonald rural liaison officers will still work with smaller are...

Yesterday, when the Government announced that it was getting rid of NCEA, my immediate reaction was that it was a mistake.   That we would have been much better sticking with the system we’ve got and improving it.   Twenty-four hours later, I still feel the same.    There are some aspects of the changes that I think are brilliant. But the more I’ve found out about it, the more...

Just because someone can afford to do something, it doesn’t always mean they should do it.  Which is how I’m feeling about Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger using his own money to pay engineers to design a replacement for the controversial Park Terrace cycleway which, he says, is under-utilised and causing traffic congestion.  According to council data, 648 cyclists use it every week day. W...

It must be tricky being at school and feeling like you’re not doing anything to prepare you for what you actually want to do when you leave.  The Government is starting to think about that after this new report from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority which says NCEA is too focused on kids wanting to go to university.  The report was prepared for Education Minister Erica Stanford wh...

Matt Doocey and Duncan Webb joined John MacDonald to give their thoughts on the biggest political stories of the week.  Changes are likely coming to NCEA – are they needed? And should trades be given more support in schools?  A lawyer is calling for the Government to step in and shut down Gloriavale, but should this be their responsibility?  Doocey has launched a petition against a...

It’s believed the government has the ability to shut down Gloriavale.   The West Coast religious commune's 85-year-old leader Howard Temple is a sex offender, having plead guilty to 12 charges, including indecent assault, mid-way through a trial.   The charges relate to offending back to the 1990s.   Leavers' lawyer Brian Henry told John MacDonald there are laws that allow the remov...

The gangs were right, the Government was wrong.   That’s one way to interpret the news that, for the first time, the number of people on the national gang list is higher than 10,000.   The gangs were right. Because they said right from the outset that the Government could do what it wants but they will never go away.   And the numbers don’t lie, do they?   At the time of the 20...

I understand what the Prime Minister is saying about these pay increases for board members at Crown agencies, such as Health NZ and Kāinga Ora, but I’m not buying it.    The top payment was $90,000. It’s now $160,000.   Christopher Luxon says the Government needs to offer higher pay for these board roles so they can attract the best people. But tell that to the 28,000 people who hav...

The news today that half of the departments at Christchurch Hospital are operating below full staffing levels doesn’t surprise me. In some departments, they are less than 80 percent of what they should be. So, if I’m not surprised, does that mean my expectations of the hospital system are pretty low? The answer to that is “yes”. I expect that the basics are covered and that’s about it. That our ho...

There will be no shortage of people today thinking that it's a brilliant move by the Government to ditch official guidelines for including transgender people in community sport and leaving it to the sporting organisations themselves to handle it.   But I think it’s just going to open a can of worms, and these people who think it’s great might think differently if they were on the committee of...

The former frontman of English new-wave band Spandau Ballet, now a solo act, Tony Hadley is popping over to our shores early next year.  He’s part of the line up for the 2026 Selwyn Sounds, performing alongside the likes of Ronan Keating, When The Cats Away, and Opshop.   Hadley joined John MacDonald for a chat about his career, influences, and gave an insight into why Spandau Ballet won...

Phil Mauger is back on board the climate change bandwagon today – just like he was before the last election.   I remember asking him three years ago what he thought the most pressing issue facing Christchurch was and he said climate change.   And he’s at it again today. So is current city councillor Sara Templeton, who also wants to be the city's next mayor.  It won’t be any surpris...