Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

I said yesterday when I left you at midday that I thought I'd brought you one of the nicest stories that we'd done all year, which you clearly loved, and one of the saddest. The nicest: the interview with the musical director of the Auckland Pasifika Secondary Schools Choir, the choir who sang the national anthems for New Zealand and South Africa at Eden Park. The saddest: the shooting of a police...

Everyone has an opinion and as technology has progressed, it’s become easier and easier for people to make their opinions known.  And while this has allowed for greater communication and debate around various topics, it’s also allowed for people to share waves of vitriol, hatred, and unhelpful commentary.  Clinical Psychologist Dr Dougal Sutherland told Kerre Woodham that with social med...

One of the highlights from Saturday night's rugby test were the anthems sung by the Auckland Pasifika Secondary Schools Choir. Students from Auckland Girls Grammar, Avondale College, De La Salle, Kelston Boys, Kelston Girls, Glen Eden Intermediate, Marcellin College, Marist College, Mt Albert Grammar, Southern Cross, St Marys, St Paul’s College and St Peter's College.  Music director Nainz Tu...

The New Zealand First convention took place at the Distinction Hotel in Palmerston North over the weekend. And all these silver fern, pin-wearing NZ First faithful gathered, along with a few wannabes, like Stuart Nash, he spoke. Just a few formalities to go through and it looks like Stuart Nash will be a signed-up member of NZ First and one of their high-profile names going forward at the next ele...

The Government is cracking down on serious immigration breaches. It's announced it will strengthen deportation settings on the same day that Immigration New Zealand revealed there are more than 20,000 people who have overstayed their visa. Immigration Minister Erica Stanford says there are gaps in the current system. For example, under the current rules, someone who commits a serious crime can't b...

The battle over intensification of housing has reached cabinet level, with the Deputy Prime Minister and the Housing Minister at odds over Chris Bishop's plan to get hundreds of thousands of houses built in the super city.   “It's 2 million,” I hear you say. “They want to build two million houses.” Well, the Housing Minister addresses this in his column in this morning's Herald. There will be...

ACT Party Leader David Seymour has set the cat among the pigeons, or the Huntaway among the cattle, by calling for New Zealand to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. The Paris Agreement is a pact that’s part of the UN's framework convention on climate change, which started in 1992 with the Rio Earth Summit. The main goal of the Paris Agreement is to keep long-term global temperatures from warming 1...

A former Climate Change Minister believes New Zealand should stay in the Paris Climate Agreement.  ACT leader David Seymour's announced a policy to leave the global pact unless rules are loosened for our farmers.  New Zealand First has also floated the idea of withdrawing, as some larger nations have ditched it.  Tim Groser told Kerre Woodham this goes against public sentiment.&nbsp...

Pulling out of the Paris Agreement could cause more problems than it solves.  Act and New Zealand First have expressed interest in pulling New Zealand out of the agreement unless more realistic emissions targets are produced.  Sir Lockwood Smith, former MP and Diplomat, says he sympathises with famers and Seymour on the subject, but we just pull out of the accord.  He told Kerre Woo...

The number of emergency housing applications being declined has soared as the Government tightens restrictions.  Data obtained by our newsroom under the Official Information Act shows applications have dropped significantly to the end of June, but the number being declined continues to rise.  More applications are being declined than granted in Auckland.  Associate Housing Minister...

You might remember, those of you who were listening around about a month ago when the Prime Minister was in the studio, taking your calls. Steve rang in and gave the PM a bit of ginger over the economy. He said, "I know you're between a rock and a hard place, Prime Minister, with the economy. Not really any more levers you can pull to do much, and you guys are just treading water. It's a PR machin...

The Government's offering up to 30-million dollars in loans from the Regional Infrastructure Fund to smaller airlines.  It's also approved funding for a digital development that will allow regional transport bookings to be integrated with the platforms of major carriers.  Associate Transport Minister James Meager says most regional airlines couldn't opt to charge more as a solution to to...

There's confidence the right balance can be found when it comes to housing intensification in Auckland.  A public meeting was held in Mt Eden last night, over proposals to allow 10 to 15-storey developments near transport hubs and town centres.  Most of the meeting was civil, but things got tense when a young planning student suggested older people were standing in the way of change.&nbs...

Around 200 people packed out the Mt Eden Village Centre in Auckland last night, and they were pretty riled up. In fact, many were furious over plans for high rise apartments and the loss of special character status for hundreds of villas and bungalows in the wider neighbourhood. And this is the kind of feeling that is being felt across many different Auckland suburbs, and it will be coming to a ci...

The Education Minister says there was no option to do nothing when it came to changing NCEA. The proposed changes include replacing the qualification with a system emphasising literacy and numeracy more. Erica Stanford told Kerre Woodham changes were already underway with Labour updating the Level 1 curriculum, so there was no option to do nothing. She says they either had to continue rolling out...

A new visa to attract businesspeople to New Zealand has been established by the Government, and really, it's only a matter of days, perhaps weeks, before a loosening on restrictions for foreigners being able to purchase residential property here is announced. Christopher Luxon, the Prime Minister, when he was last in-studio with me, said we’ll be announcing that shortly. I said you’ll never get th...

More money could soon circulate through the economy as the Government opens up the country to more overseas businesspeople.    Under its new Business Investor Visa, foreign investors who put at least $2 million into a Kiwi business will be granted a 12-month fast-track to residence pathway.  People who invest $1 million will be given a three-year work-to-residence option.  ABC...

We all know that New Zealand is a trading nation. We need to sell stuff to make the money we need to build hospitals, pay our teachers and police officers, pay for benefits and Super, pay for roads and cycleways, and the like. To maintain our standard of living we have to earn our keep, and that's what our exporters do. We need good exporters, and we need to be able to get our stuff to market. &nb...

Do younger Kiwis still have that No.8 wire mentality?  While some are concerned the younger generation is settling as opposed to striving and investing in their ideas and futures, others believe the worry is unfounded.  Icehouse Ventures, a venture capital company that backs Kiwi startups, hosted their 15th Annual Showcase last week, in which nine Kiwi founders presented to over 1,500 in...

There’s a call to completely reset our supply chains.   The Cargo Owners Council says there's been a 30% drop in productivity since 2019.  Chair Brent Flavey says New Zealand is in the bottom 20% for port efficiency, and we aren’t keeping up with the rest of the world.  NZ Customs Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation CEO Sherelle Kennelly told Kerre Woodham without some hard co...

I don't know about you, but I was truly surprised to hear Judge Russell Collins send a young drug driver to jail on Friday. In the Napier District Court, Judge Collins heard Alexander Kerr had dope in his system when he crashed his car - killing his mate and leaving another in a wheelchair for life. Kerr had no previous convictions.   His mate, the one in the wheelchair, the one he didn't kil...

Labour's Tāmaki Makaurau candidate Peeni Heare is standing by a comment that he’d repeal the gang patch ban. He agreed with the notion at an event on Wednesday night. Now, this is despite Chris Hipkins saying no, no, that's not true, we're not going to repeal the gang patch law. Peeni Henare told RNZ he was asked his personal view on the issue, which is informed by whanau experience. He understand...

Finance Minister Nicola Willis all but invoked the old adage ‘the beatings will continue until morale improves’, when commenting on the state of the economy yesterday. In a stand up with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon after the Reserve Bank cut the OCR by 25 basis points to 3%, she blamed the sluggish economy on doomsayers from the opposition benches who were talking the economy down, and all bu...

More students are attending school regularly.   Figures released today show 58.4% of students regularly attended school in Term 2 - the highest since 2021.   It's a drop from Term 1 where 66% of students showed up regularly, but this is partially explained by winter illness.   Associate Education Minister David Seymour says messaging from the government has changed to remind parents...

Former Speaker Trevor Mallard is returning early from Ireland, ending his job as Ambassador.  Winston Peters has appointed senior foreign affairs staffer Angela Hassan-Sharp as his replacement, saying his behaviour during the anti-mandate occupation at Parliament should've disqualified him from the role.  Peters says only experienced diplomats, not former politicians, should be posted ov...