Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

This move by the Government to change who is ultimately liable for repairs to defective building work on new houses up to three-storeys high and renovation jobs worth more than $100,000 makes me very nervous.   At the moment, all parties involved in a project are jointly liable for any defects and repairs.   Which means, sometimes, if one of them can’t pay or if they’ve all gone under si...

I’m with the KiwiSaver providers who are saying we need to go further than just increasing contributions and we need to make them compulsory. This is after the announcement by the National Party yesterday that one of its election policies next year will be increasing contributions to 12 percent (6 percent from employers and 6 percent from employees) by 2032, to bring us into line with Australia. K...

Labour says the Government shouldn't be celebrating record high prisoner numbers.   Earlier this week Prime Minister Christopher Luxon declared it was a good thing the prison population was nearing 11 thousand people.   The Government is also celebrating a reduction by 38 thousand in the number of victims of violent crime since it came into power.   Labour's Duncan Webb told John Ma...

For me, one of the best things to come out of yesterday’s announcement about the Cook Strait ferries has nothing to do with the ferries themselves.  There’s still a bit of smoke and mirrors about the numbers and what it’s going to end up costing.   Because what it still comes down to is that the Government poured $671 million down the drain when the Finance Minister pulled the plug on fu...

Christchurch's Mayor is suggesting the city's temporary sports stadium could be redeveloped for housing.   Addington's Apollo Projects Stadium opened in 2012 when the quake-damaged Lancaster Park closed permanently.  The City Council's confirmed structures including the grandstand will be removed when Te Kaha opens in April, but the future of the Addington site remains unclear.  May...

I hope people are sitting-up and paying attention to what BusinessNZ is saying today.  Especially the people who have their heads in the sand about our ability as a country to keep paying for things like healthcare and pensions.  Because, as BusinessNZ puts it, we don’t have enough people to keep on doing that and we need a lot more people.  As one headline today says, New Zealand n...

New Zealand is about to become a dumping ground for dirty vehicles.   That’s what the electric vehicle people are saying today about the Government’s urgent changes to the clean car standards for imported vehicles.   Of course they’re unhappy. Because I reckon they are seeing and we are seeing the EV bubble about to burst.   I’ll tell you why. I’ll also tell you why you’re not going...

The city is back mingling with the country at New Zealand's Royal A&P Show in Canterbury.  Thousands are set to descend on the Agricultural Park over the next three days.  This year’s event has re-gained its royal status for the first time since 2010.  Canterbury A&P Association chair Sir David Carter told John MacDonald that the Royal Agricultural Society approached them af...

Whatever you thought of Andrew Coster as Police Commissioner, you probably felt you could trust him to do the right thing. To be upfront, honest, and certainly not hide stuff.    And if you thought the attitude within the Police towards women had changed from what it used to be – well you might be having a bit of a re-think on both of those. Because I certainly am after this damning repo...

The Labour Leader is “absolutely disgusted” by the handling of complaints against Jevon McSkimming by former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.   The Police Complaints Authority has released a report finding some of our highest-ranking Police didn't deal properly with a woman's anonymous complaints against the former Deputy Police Commissioner.  Hipkins is deeply disappointed in Coster,...

Be careful what you wish for.  That’s how I’m feeling about the Government giving Christchurch an exemption from the new housing intensification rules, which would have enabled three, three-storey properties to be built on single sections anywhere in the city. Instead, that level of intensification is going to be limited to certain parts of town, including the city centre, Church Corner, Ricc...

Just as punters hoped, showers have cleared in Christchurch in time to fling open the gates at Addington Raceway before the 122nd running of the New Zealand Trotting Cup.  The grey start's made way for some blue skies and enough sun to fry off rain that fell this morning.  Race caller Matt Cross told John MacDonald the track's in good order.  He says the afternoon forecast is pretty...

At least they’re doing something. But I don’t rate the chances of it working. That’s how I’m feeling about the Government’s declaration of war on methamphetamine, with this new plan that will see spy agencies working with customs and the defence force to target ships carrying drugs in the Pacific. It's also going to work with ports and the shipping industry. The feature of the plan that I like mos...

Slightly ironic, don’t you think, that on the day people up and down the country are turning up at work and school wearing their gumboots for Gumboot Friday, we’ve got Lifeline saying it can’t keep running on the smell of an oily rag and has to cut back on services.  Which means no one answering the phone or replying to text messages between midnight and 7am.  Call them then and you’ll g...

A reminder mental health crises don't follow timetables.  Long-time support service Lifeline will now go unanswered between midnight and 7am.  It's asking the Government for help after reducing hours because it has a $2 million annual shortfall.  Labour's Reuben Davidson told John MacDonald help's needed at all hours and mental health crises don't work office hours.  Mental Hea...

There are two types of people in this world.   There are the ones who have no qualms calling in sick, when they’re not. The ones who feel no guilt at all pulling a sickie. And it seems there is no shortage of them, with this report out today saying that New Zealand workers are taking more sick leave, costing the economy $4 billion.  Then you’ve got the other type, who only use their sick...

On Saturday night I was in Lyttelton for a gig and saw a guy sleeping on the bench outside the local supermarket, which took me a little bit by surprise.  Maybe I need to get across to Lyttelton more often.  But that’s the kind of thing we will see way more of if the Government goes ahead with this idea of banning homeless people from congregating and sleeping rough in central business d...

Mike Hosking’s interview this morning with reinstated Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua could only have gone one of two ways. She could have spilled the beans. Or she could have danced around the legalities of a gagging order. She could have spilled the beans and made Netball NZ look like a bunch of incompetents. Or she could have played it safe. Funny thing is, she didn’t spill the beans - b...

Buckingham Palace has announced that King Charles will remove all of his brother, Prince Andrew's, titles. The statement from Buckingham Palace related the announcement to the allegations of sexual abuse by the late Virginia Giuffre. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor's title will not be immediately stripped as UK Correspondent Gavin Grey said the process of removing his titles "will take some time".&nbsp...

Ever since the 1930s, when American soldiers were based all around the world, people in many countries have been antsy about foreigners getting what appears to them to be special treatment or privileges.  The phrase people used back in the day about the US soldiers was something along the lines of them being overdressed, overpaid, oversexed and over here.  And the Government seems to be...

Do we need more MPs? The NZ Initiative thinks we do - saying today that, instead of 120, we should have 170. It says the number of MPs in New Zealand is low compared to other countries with similar populations and we need 50 more to keep them accessible to voters. Another thing it’s calling for is a four-year parliamentary term. That’s a no-brainer, as far as I’m concerned. But 50 more MPs? No tha...

Labour had their Capital Gains Tax policy leaked earlier this week. The tax would only apply to residential and commercial property sales, not any other taxable areas. A decision which has led some to question if this is really a Capital Gains Tax. Labour leader Chris Hipkins had previously said that there would be no Capital Gains Tax under his leadership. However, he told John MacDonald that, 'a...

So another ham-fisted announcement from the Labour Party. In fact, it wasn’t even an announcement. Because of a leak, it was forced this morning to confirm its plan to include a capital gains tax in its policies for next year’s election. Which looks to me like a very watered-down, scaredy-cat version of a capital gains tax that won’t impress many. Because, if they were serious, they’d apply it to...

Today on Politics Friday, National MP and former doctor Vanessa Weenink, and Labour's Tracey Lee McLellan join John MacDonald to delve into the biggest topics of the week.  They discuss the Government response to yesterday's wind storm, the mega-strike, the end of home economics and outdoor education in schools, political involvement in the Netball NZ debacle, and Labour's future funding poli...

What happened to the emergency mobile alert system ahead of and during yesterday’s wind storm? One explanation for the absence of text alerts from one government MP is that, with the power out in places, the cell towers weren’t working. But the power wasn’t out in Christchurch city and there were still no alerts on my phone. What’s more, the power only went out once the wind hit - well after the E...