Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

I am liking the sound of a law change being introduced in New South Wales, where they are no longer going to allow good character references to be factored into court sentences. You know the drill. Someone is found guilty of a crime, they get their mates to write to the judge saying what a great person they are and how they’ve done all these good things. The judge reads all these glowing reference...

Talk about déjà vu.  The smell from the burnt-out wastewater treatment plant at Bromley has been a shocker this week and people have had a gutsful.  City councillor Yani Johanson says making people wait for another three years is totally unacceptable and the council needs to get it sorted sooner. I think it’s ridiculous that it has taken over four years for the problem to still exist. &n...

Before the weekend, questions were already being asked as to why the campground at Mt Maunganui wasn’t evacuated before last week’s devastating landslide. That will be one of the things looked into as part of this independent investigation the local council is initiating. There will be all sorts of questions and, hopefully, a lot of answers.   But there is one thing we know for sure already....

I reckon we should have signs up at our international airports saying: “Welcome to the people’s republic of pushovers”. Because of our crazy ACC system which, a lot of the time, makes those of us living here fight tooth and nail but tells anyone coming here for a visit that they can tie themselves to bungy ropes, jump on skis, do whatever they want - and we’ll pay for their treatment. It seems eve...

If you bump into Chris Hipkins today, can you tell him he’s dreaming? Because, now that we know this year’s election is happening on 7 November, Chris Hipkins is saying that Labour can get more than 40 percent of the party vote and form the next government. He also wants Labour to win back Auckland. He’s dreaming. Because I don’t think voters, generally, are ready yet to give Labour another chance...

Phil Goff agrees with the Christchurch City Council's response to a Government proposal of capping rates to no more than 2 to 4 percent per year. Goff says the Government is not performing in lowering the cost of living, but a rates cap is not the right answer. The former Mayor of Auckland told John MacDonald the Government sees local councils as an "easy target". Christchurch City Council has res...

Hats off to the Christchurch City Council. Which is telling the Government today that its idea of forcing a cap on council rates increases is “unrealistic and unworkable”. Which is a polite way of saying “rates caps are a daft idea, so just drop it right now”. And that’s what I think too. I’ve always thought it’s a daft idea to force local councils around the country to increase rates by no more t...

In his state of the nation speech yesterday, Christopher Luxon continued the great New Zealand tradition of kicking the retirement age can down the road. He said raising the retirement age was “inevitable”. But that was it. And, when I say kicking the can, it was more like nudging the can with his foot really. Because what the Prime Minister and every other politician should be doing, is showing s...

The personal responsibility brigade will be going ape over Pharmac looking into funding weight loss drugs. This wouldn’t be for anyone wanting to lose a few kilos here and there. This would be for people who are obese and at risk of serious health complications. Around 200 potentially serious health complications, actually. Such as Type 2 Diabetes.   I think it’s a no-brainer. Because we...

After yesterday’s half-year fiscal update from the Government, the canary in the mine is gasping for air and the elephant in the room is walking all over everything. And economist Cameron Bagrie is saying that we can’t ignore either of them - particularly in relation to the long-term outlook and what it means for superannuation and retirement planning. He says, with Government debt forecast to blo...

You would think that, having had a major terror attack here, we’d be the last people that needed to be told after what happened in Bondi on Sunday night that we’re too complacent.  But that’s what security experts are saying. That New Zealand remains complacent and naive, despite 51 people being killed in the mosque attacks in Christchurch in March 2019.  And I think we are getting to th...

I’m glad I’m not a volunteer firefighter. Because, if I was, I would be brassed-off that an attempt to get volunteer firefighters the same ACC cover as full-time firefighters has gone nowhere. A petition calling for the change has been rejected by a parliamentary select committee because it doesn’t want to set a precedent. The committee is trotting out all the usual platitudes but the fact remains...

Australia pressed go yesterday on the social media ban for kids under-16 and a Parliamentary select committee here thinks we should do the same. I don’t. Nor does retired district court judge David Harvey, who is saying today that a ban would be a cop-out for parents. He says it would be another example of outsourcing parental authority to the state. He might have a point, but I think a lot of par...

Chris Hipkins is hitting out at the Taxpayers' Union as it prepares to launch a campaign against Finance Minister Nicola Willis.  The lobby group is questioning Willis's track record on the economy.  Willis has responded, challenging chair and former finance minister Ruth Richardson to a debate.  The Labour Leader told John MacDonald the Taxpayers' Union has a view of "entrenched pr...

There’s a lot to take in with these planning law changes. But what it comes down to is the Government wants people to be able to do more with their own property with less red tape.  If you want to do something that has no impact on anyone else, you’ll be able to do it. Your house, your castle.  That’s where there could be a few sticking points, because who determines what impacts others...

These researchers calling today for a ban on alcohol marketing and sponsorship sound to me like they’re living in the past. Maybe it’s the circles I mix in. But I reckon things have come ahead leaps and bounds when it comes to our drinking culture in New Zealand. And before you start yelling “what about things like crate day mate?” - I’m not saying we’ve got it perfect. But I think we’ve moved on...

The eagle has landed. One of the police Eagle helicopters from Auckland is in Christchurch for the next two months as part of a crackdown on these criminal kids doing-over dairies and committing other crimes.  I think it’s brilliant that it’s here and I think we need one here permanently.   For several reasons: Christchurch is New Zealand’s second-largest city; we have a level of crimina...

A couple of advisors at the Christchurch City Council have ripped into the Government’s plan for regional councils and have said to councillors that they reckon there’s a better way. Or more correctly, two better potential ways. Instead of having local mayors run regional councils for two years and, during that time, work out how they’re going to get by without a regional council. At a briefing me...

You might recall a poll result that came out back in September which proved that 75 percent of us are idiots. It’s these idiots that the Government is pandering to with the council rates cap it announced yesterday. And the 75 percent of people who said in that poll that they support the Government forcing rates caps on councils will be very happy today. Because, from mid-2029, annual increases won...

Is it time to have a re-think about what’s done with the residential red zone on the east side of Christchurch? I think it’s fair to say that mayor Phil Mauger thinks so. And so do I. Phil’s saying today that he wants to see red zone land used for housing as soon as possible. With the first cab off the rank being land on the edge of the area already zoned for it. This includes land the city counci...

It’s taken 46 years and we’ve still managed to stuff up the decision as to where to have a memorial for the 257 people who died in the Mt Erebus air disaster.  It was 46 years ago today when the Air NZ DC-10, flight TE901, ploughed into the side of Mt Erebus.   And, yes, nice job making the memorial announcement in time for the anniversary, but Cracroft Reserve in Christchurch is not whe...

How interested are you in the quality of your drinking water? For example, would you like to be able to look up your address and get credible, reliable information from an official source about the nitrate levels in the water coming through your taps? I would. Because I just don’t know whether to believe some of the alarming stuff that’s been coming out of Greenpeace this week about the nitrate si...

You know how at work you can get people leaving and, instead of hiring new people, they just dish out the work to other people? Then it gets to the point where the other people look up and realise they’re overworked, overloaded, and burnt out.  I wonder if that’s how mayors around the country are feeling about the prospect of them not only running their own councils but taking over their loca...

Christchurch City Council's been selected to act as a one-stop consenting authority for large-scale supermarket developments.  Finance Minister Nicola Willis says it's the latest step in the Government plan to make New Zealand attractive for new operators.  She says developers previously had to navigate up to 66 different councils, processes and responses.  Willis says the aim is to...

Labour Leader Chris Hipkins says he's not clear what the Government's aiming for in its plans to change local government. It's proposing replacing the country's 11 regional councils with boards made up of local mayors. Hipkins agrees there's an obvious need for change. But he told John MacDonald he thinks this looks like an attempt to make councils amalgamate. Hipkins says if that's what they want...