Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

I like to think that I care about the climate and climate change. Well, I know I care. But, like most of us —if I’m really honest— I’m all a bit token on it. Which might be why I’ve got absolutely no problem with Associate Energy Minister Shane Jones taking on the big banks for refusing to lend money to the fossil fuel industry. I’m not like some people who I actually know —friends of mine— who ar...

Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger is in campaign mode after confirmation he's seeking a second term in October's elections.  He'll battle Councillor Sara Templeton for the top job, the only other contender so far.  In his first catch up of 2025, he discussed his motivations with John MacDonald, as well as thoughts on alcohol bylaws, changing speed limits, and the lack of GPs in the area.&nb...

Generally speaking, when something isn’t making you any money, you try to get rid of it. That’s in business, especially. And it looks like that’s the approach National might want to take with state assets too. Christopher Luxon says he’s open to it, and I am too. To a point. And maybe not in the way Christopher Luxon is thinking. The Prime Minister is saying that state asset sales are not on the a...

What do you think someone in their 40s is thinking about right now?   I can think of a few things, and I bet it’s not retirement. Even though we’re being told today that that’s what someone in their 40s should be thinking about.  But I bet they’re not.  I reckon if someone is in their 40s and they’re a parent with kids at school, they’ll be cursing about all the back-to-school costs...

Do you know what the most pointless piece of road safety advice is? Drive to the conditions.   I get it and it’s well-meaning. But it’s pointless. A waste of breath. Because some people are incapable of doing it.   And it would seem from some of the reports in the past 24 hours about those two buses which went off the road yesterday on the Twizel-Tekapo highway after hitting black ice, t...

If you think the violence action plan announced by the Government yesterday has no relevance to your life - think again.   It’s one of many plans that are part of this overall 25-year strategy to eliminate family violence and sexual violence. The big strategy was launched in 2021, which means it’s got about 22 years to run.   It’s got a big price tag too, the long-term strategy...

Even as a scooter rider, I think these motorcyclists who are kicking up a fuss about their ACC levies going through the roof don’t have a leg to stand on.  It’s quite possible too that the motorbike guys will think that someone who rides a 2-stroke Vespa isn’t even a real motorcyclist.   And they’re free to think that, but even though the ACC levy is going to increase by almost 80% over...

A regular weekly contributor to the show up until last year, Gerry Brownlee is finishing his first full year as Speaker of the House.  Brownlee joined John MacDonald to reflect on his year amid the continuing drama in Parliament.   He says has been a very democratic year in the chamber.   When elected to the position this time last year, Brownlee said it was his job to protect MPs r...

When Finance Minister Nicola Willis said “I have delivered” yesterday —after announcing the Government’s so-called plan for the Cook Strait ferries— what she really meant was: “I’ve had a gutsful of this lot fighting over it and I’m out.”   She was throwing her arms in the air because she’s had enough of NZ First and ACT squabbling over what should happen with the ferries, and so she went to...

A firm answer from Christchurch's mayor on whether the Cathedral restoration levy should go into reducing a rates increase.  Households have paid $6.52 each year since 2018.  Halswell councillor Andrei Moore wants it used to help a reduce a 8.4% rates increase, while the rebuild is indefinitely paused.  Mayor Phil Mauger told John MacDonald he believes the money should stay where it...

I have never had a problem with greyhound racing so you’re not going to hear me singing the Government’s praises for banning the sport.   But I am scratching my head. Because there are so many things about this move by the coalition that just don’t make sense to me.   On one hand, the Government wants more people working, but it’s happy to see about 1,000 private sector jobs go down the...

Surely this is the final straw for Gloriavale. Or, more to the point, surely it’s the final straw for the Government.   Because it is absolutely shameful that it still exists.   This final straw, by the way, is the Court of Appeal ruling announced yesterday that the BNZ has every right to close the community’s bank accounts. For the simple reason that it doesn’t want to do business with...

The minute the defence force said it didn’t want a bar of the new youth boot camps, the Government should have put the brakes on then and there. It didn’t, though, because it had talked a tough game before the election and like hell it was going to back away from that promise now. But it should have. So, let’s give the Government another chance and let’s see if it’s prepared to stop being so gung-...

I’ve been reading a report the OECD released this morning, and it’s occurred to me that, if we want our businesses to survive, there is a very simple thing we could or should be doing to help.   When I say we, I’m meaning the government upfront. But, for this to happen, I think we’d all pretty much have to agree to it as well.   That’s because it would mean giving businesses a better dea...

Today on Politics Friday, National’s Matt Doocey and Labour’s Megan Woods joined John MacDonald to dig into this week’s political news.   Electricity prices are still rising – would ensuring businesses get a lower rate keep them from going out of business?  Will National actually miss their police force target, or is it achievable in the 12 months remaining?  And how about Ayesha Ve...

Let me paint you a picture. A picture of over-the-top traffic management.   So you’re heading up Riccarton Road in Christchurch, and you get to the traffic lights near Hanson’s Lane where the Athol McCully garden shop used to be back in the day – just before the Woolworths supermarket.   You get to that intersection and the lights are red. So you stop, of course. And then, when they chan...

In relation to what happened in the Christchurch District Court yesterday, I could be telling you right now how outraged I am about All Black Sevu Reece getting a discharge without conviction for causing damage to a car and a garage after he was kicked out of a party for being a drunken pain in the backside.   I could be thumping the table, going on about All Blacks being role models and how...

Chris Hipkins is expecting the next two years leading into the next election to be very competitive.  Recent polls have Labour and National neck and neck, with Hipkins edging in front of Christopher Luxon in the preferred Prime minister rankings.  The Labour leader says that they’re getting a very good reception out there, even better than they were in the lead up to the last election. &...

There is no way I would pay $8 to ride a bus, but we’re being warned today that that’s what we could end up paying in just three years.   That’s because the Government has told councils right around the country that they need to find more money for public transport, so that they don’t have to rely so much on rates and government money to keep the buses and trains going.   That’s the poli...

Chris Hipkins  was talking tough at the Labour Party’s annual conference in Christchurch yesterday, saying he is determined to make the current Government a one-term government.    And sounding like he reckons he’s the guy to topple them. Saying the party’s internal polling shows it slightly ahead of National and putting him slightly ahead of Christopher Luxon as preferred Prime Min...

Do you think the last government spoiled things for everyone? There’s a question! Let me clarify that a little bit. Do you think the last government spoiled things for every politician from here on in, with the way it handled the COVID-19 pandemic? Because if we believe the COVID report which came out yesterday, then Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson, Chris Hipkins etc ruined the party for every oth...

Today on Politics Friday, John MacDonald was joined by National’s Matt Doocey and Labour’s Tracey McLellan to wrap this week’s political stories.  They discussed Phase 1 of the Covid Inquiry and Kiwis’ shaken trust in the government, whether Labour will commit to a capital gains tax as they head into their party conference this weekend, and Matt Doocey touched on the recently revealed texts h...

‘If you think I’m a Jacinda Ardern puppet, you’re going to get a huge surprise’.  Who’s saying that, do you think?   It’s Professor Tony Blakely – the epidemiologist and public health expert who has chaired the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into New Zealand’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.    And I’m feeling the same way he’s feeling about the COVID vaccina...

If there’s one city council facility in Christchurch that never seems to have a bad word said about it, it’s the He Puna Taimoana hot pools at New Brighton.    I would actually say that the pools are one of Christchurch’s great post-earthquake success stories.   What’s more, they don’t run at a loss. How often can you say that about anything run by a local council?   ...

I reckon former Labour Party leader David Cunliffe might have just done the best sell job on a capital gains tax that any politician in New Zealand —or anyone for that matter— has ever managed to do.  It might have something to do with the fact that taxes —of any sort— get people rather fired up, and a lot of people are anti-capital gains tax. In my experience, even people who say they’re on...