Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

The Christchurch City Council has voted "no" to implementing the Government's new housing intensification policy which will allow three, three-storey properties to be built on a single section. And voted “no” by quite a significant majority too - ten councillors said “no”, five voted “yes” (that included the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor), one councillor abstained and another one wasn’t there for the...

Tony Simons is the Chair for the Riccarton Bush-Kilmarnock Residents Association and has heaped a wave of pressure on the Christchurch City Council to push back against housing intensification plans for the city.  Simons spoke to Newstalk ZB Canterbury Mornings about the vote yesterday, which saw ten councillors vote against the changes. He said he expected it to be close, but was delighted with t...

Sara Templeton was one of five Christchurch City councillors for voted yes to the housing intensification changes that will see up to three properties on one section be build without needing consent.  Sara spoke to John MacDonald today on Newstalk ZB Canterbury Mornings to explain why she voted that way and the rationale behind her decision.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

The traffic light system is gone, most of the mask requirements are gone and the vaccine mandates will be gone by September 26 - although employers will still be able to decide whether or not they want to stick with the mandates. The only place the Government will require us to keep wearing masks is in places where health services are provided - so hospitals, GP practices etc. I’m not going to lie...

In our final chat with Lianne Dalziel as Christchurch Mayor, Newstalk ZB Canterbury Mornings spoke to her about the decision being made about the public holiday today to honour the late Queen. John asked the Mayor about the Kantar poll and customer satisfaction survey, where she revealed how frustrated she has felt in local government by decisions made for them by central government.  LISTEN ABOVE...

I was talking to someone last night who is a staunch royalist. Ever since news of the Queen’s death came through on Friday morning, this person has been glued to the coverage. On radio, on TV. She’s all over it. In fact, this person is such a royalist that she very nearly jumped on a plane and flew to London when Princess Diana died 25 years ago. And when this person did make it to London, I think...

Dick Tayler is cemented in our memories as he won Gold at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Christchurch, Games that saw Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip visit. Dick joined John MacDonald on Newstalk ZB Canterbury Mornings and revealed that his medal wasn't the only cherished memory from those Games. But in fact the time he spent with the Queen on her ship, Royal Britannia, following his...

I remember someone telling me once that the more children she had, the more conservative she got. She said that, when she was younger, she was a real risk-taker but, after having kids, she’d become a bit more scaredy-cat and worried about things a lot more - mainly about things to do with her kids, and making sure she was keeping them safe. And I remember saying at the time that I felt the same wa...

General Manager of the New Zealand Agricultural Show, Tracy Ahern, joined John MacDonald on Canterbury Mornings. Tracy gave an update on all the amazing new initiatives that are on offer this year, including free entry for kids, Rural Games and Have A Go events, and also the new night time events that are sure to be a hit with Cantabrians this year. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...

There’s a lot of talk at the moment about the Government being too full of themselves and arrogant. And I actually think that is rubbing off on the public service which does the grunt work delivering the Government’s policies and services. In fact, I’m going to go further than that and say that I think the public service is even more arrogant than the Government itself. It’s not necessarily a new...

I had a bit of a ‘come to Jesus’ moment yesterday. In fact, I had several of them. It was after hearing the harrowing stories people shared with us on Newstalk ZB about the impact methamphetamine has had on their families. The conversations we had were incredibly moving. We heard some desperate, desperate stories - although one did have a happy ending with the chap who told us about his daughter w...

If you found out that your son or daughter, or grandson or granddaughter, or your wife or your husband, or partner - anyone close to you - was addicted to P or methamphetamine, would you want them treated as a criminal or would you want them treated for their addiction?  I’m willing to bet you’d want them treated for their addiction. You may have even been in this situation already with someone yo...

Today on Canterbury Mornings, John MacDonald spoke to Christchurch Mayor, Lianne Dalziel. The discussed the housing intensity bill, and congestion charges which were included in the draft transport plan recently released. The council has also funded a patrol to control antisocial behaviour from homeless people in the city, and does the mayor support lowering the voting age? LISTEN ABOVE See omnyst...

I saw a discussion on one of those community Facebook pages the other day about kids being little monkeys and knocking on people’s doors at night and running away. The person who put up the original post wasn’t happy that this was happening to one of their elderly neighbours and wanted parents in the area to make sure it wasn’t their kids doing it. What followed was a pretty heated discussion abou...

Today on Politics Friday on Newstalk ZB Canterbury Mornings, John MacDonald spoke to National's Nicola Grigg, and newly sworn in Labour List MP, Dan Rosewarne. They discussed the rising rate in youth crime and what can be done to stop it, where does the issue lie? Also the Kiwi Soldier killed in Ukraine, where Dan reflected on his army background to help us understand why the soldier would be ther...

Do you think the Christchurch City Council should make it easier or more difficult for you to drive your car into the central city? From what we’re seeing, it looks like it’s setting out to make it more difficult with what a couple of city councillors are describing as “radical initiatives”, including congestion charges and road tolls. Councillors are deciding whether or not to publicly release wh...

Yesterday, a politician who said he was being bullied was kicked out by his Labour Party colleagues. Today, another politician - who quite a few people think is a bit of a bully himself - resigns with the very best wishes of his Labour Party colleagues. Yesterday it was Gaurav Sharma. Today, it is Trevor Mallard, who officially stand-downs ahead of packing his bags and heading-off to become New Ze...

Was I the only person in the country taken by complete surprise yesterday when Finance Minister Grant Robertson announced that the Government is going to spend $2.1 billion to buy Kiwibank? $2.1 billion. And even then people in the banking and finance sector are saying that it won’t mean much because, for Kiwibank to live up to its true potential, it needs a whole lot of investment if it’s going t...

Red rag to a bull. That’s what the suggestion from the Teaching Council that te reo Māori may eventually become mandatory for teachers has been. But no surprises there. Because we live in a country where some people go nuts over some weather presenters on TV using what they consider to be too much of the Māori language and we live in a country where people get all hot and bothered about New Zealan...

Why the Government didn’t launch an independent inquiry into these allegations by rogue MP Dr Gaurav Sharma, I will never know. But if it wants to get out of this hole that the Hamilton West MP is digging for it, it's going to have to. Some of his latest allegations are being described as “explosive”. For a lot of people, I think what he’s been saying about how the Government bends over backwards...

John MacDonald was joined by National's Matt Doocey and Labour's Megan Woods for Politics Friday. MacDonald pressed Woods on the Sharma situation, following allegations of bullying within the Labour party and asked why there has not been an inquiry. They also discussed today's strike by Fire and Emergency New Zealand, the Mega Polytechnic situation and housing intensification changes.  LISTEN ABOV...

A group of Christchurch residents associations have delivered a letter calling on Mayor Lianne Dalziel and her Council to take a stand against the government-directed planning changes that will rezone almost all of Christchurch for medium and high-density housing. Tony Simons, who fronted the letter, spoke to John MacDonald about the implications these changes have on our communities and explained...

Who would want to be coach of the All Blacks? I wouldn’t. I’m not saying I wouldn’t want the job because of all the scrutiny and criticism that comes from fans and the media. That’d be fine. I’m not saying I wouldn’t want the job because of the headaches that must come with managing professional sportspeople and their egos. I’d keep them under control. I’m saying I wouldn’t want the job because it...

John MacDonald spoke to National Party Leader Christopher Luxon regarding the current situation with Sharma and the Labour Party, and asked why the details of the report on Sam Uffindell will be kept private. They discussed National's Tax Policy poll results, published early this week, and should Labour and National form a grand coalition to control extremist parties entering Parliament?  LISTEN A...

John MacDonald spoke to National Party Leader Christopher Luxon regarding the current situation with Sharma and the Labour Party, and asked why the details of the report on Sam Uffindell will be kept private. They discussed National's Tax Policy poll results, published early this week, and should Labour and National form a grand coalition to control extremist parties entering Parliament?  LISTEN A...