Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

"It was the right thing for the UK": Boris Johnson 'unapologetic' about Brexit  Boris Johnson is unapologetic about taking his country out of the European Union.   He's in New Zealand for a speaking event and to promote his book 'Unleashed'.   The former British Prime Minister says while there was panic about Brexit at the time, in the long term it's been good for the UK.   He...

Here’s how I would sum up the Government’s changes to the free speech rules for universities. It wants more Posie Parkers and less posey political statements. Which I’ve got no problem with - but I don’t think it should stop at universities. I think the Government also needs to look at other public entities, such as local councils, which actually seem to be making more posey political statements t...

Some people think the Government’s offer of a $150,000 rapid payment to Lake Alice torture survivors is an insult, but I think it’s a mistake.    Not because I don’t think compensation should be paid. It’s just that I don’t think the Government should be offering it right now for people who went to Lake Alice between 1972 and 1977 and went through electric shock treatment or had paraldeh...

If New Zealand was a company staring down the barrel of running at a loss for at least the next five years and finding itself needing to borrow $20 billion more than it thought it did just six months ago, it would be lights out, wouldn’t it?   And no amount of creative accounting could change that picture.   Essentially, that’s the state we find ourselves in after yesterday’s fiscal upda...

The Government thinks it’s getting all tough on it with local councils, but I think Christopher Luxon and Simeon Brown are just tinkering around the edges and they need to go harder.   Instead of just telling the councils what they expect of them, they should be telling councils that, for some of them, their days are numbered.     But essentially what the Government’s doing is it’s...

Christopher Luxon says he wants nothing to do with the Greens while he's Prime Minister.  Luxon's confirmed a National-Greens Coalition wasn't off the cards when James Shaw was co-leader of the Green Party.  But he says the party has changed significantly under new leadership.  The Prime Minister told Kerre Woodham he had great respect for Shaw and his commitment to the environment,...

The Salvation Army is reiterating pleas for donations for Kiwis in need this Christmas and beyond, saying every cent adds up.  The charity says its appeal this year —which launched last month— is especially important, with one in five New Zealand children living in households struggling for food.  But it says they're in a Catch-22 this year – demand is rising, but donations are declining...

Watercare’s seven year Central Interceptor project is over halfway complete.   The aim of the project is to reduce water overflow in the central Auckland area with the construction of New Zealand’s largest wastewater tunnel.  The team is about to hit the penultimate breakthrough before arriving at Point Erin Reserve in Herne Bay in March/April of 2025.  Watercare Chief Programme Del...

How did you learn about sex? Was it your parents? Your friends? A nice, dry, factual at school, or Heaven forfend, the internet? I was at a Catholic girls’ school in the 80s —that would be the 1980s, not the 1880s just for clarification— and we got pretty much nothing, as you'd expect. I received the bare basics about body functions when I was at intermediate. Girls went one night to the school ha...

The hooha over the efficacy of the boot camps hasn't gone away anytime soon, although over the weekend we did hear supporters of the scheme, along with the critics. I frightened the horses on Friday morning when I suggested that this iteration of the boot camps - and there have been many, as you know, had got off to a very bad start with one young man dying in a car accident and then two young peo...

Liam Lawson awaits his fate as his last six races are deemed an 'audition' for next year.  Motorsport Correspondent Eric Thompson says the 22-year-old has done everything required of him.  "He's young, he is quick and he is marketable, which matters at this elite level of sport." Thompson says the stars are aligned for Lawson.  LISTEN ABOVE.  See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...

Labour is accusing the Government of pushing forward with its boot camp pilot even in the face of obvious failure. This comes as two participants who fled the programmewere arrested by police officers responding to a carjacking in Hamilton yesterday. CEO of the Billy Youth Foundation David Graham says the longer the young men are in the bootcamps, the less likely they are to transition back into t...

It is customary when governments announce restrictions on farmers’ ability to do anything that there be howls of protest – but not with this one. The Government has announced sweeping changes to limit the amount of full farm to forestry conversions. And the reason that there's very little in the way of dissent is that farming groups and rural communities have been raising concerns over the amount...

Finance Minister Nicola Willis is promising tax changes ahead for charities and the closing of loopholes, and the details of that will be announced in next year's budget. And not before time, you'd have to say.   There's about $2 billion, it's estimated, in untaxed profit in the charitable sector, and politicians of varying hues have been eyeing up that revenue potential for some time. I thin...

Charities are going to be seeing some changes to their taxes from next year.  Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed that there will be tweaks to the charity tax regime, but she is mindful of striking the right balance.  They want to ensure that people can’t structure their affairs as charities while building up funds that aren’t used for charitable purposes.  Best Start and S...

As Jobseeker numbers continue to rise, the government has announced targeted management of Jobseeker beneficiaries. 8000 more people were receiving a Jobseeker benefit in the last quarter, and that'll come as no surprise to anyone who was reading the news and seeing factories closing, and more media outlets closing, and more jobs in the state sector being lost. The total number on Jobseeker benefi...

Boris Johnson is unapologetic about taking his country out of the European Union.   He's in New Zealand for a speaking event and to promote his book 'Unleashed'.   The former British Prime Minister says while there was panic about Brexit at the time, in the long term it's been good for the UK.   He told Kerre Woodham that the split from the EU came in handy during the Covid pandemic...

The Labour Party wrapped up its conference yesterday, was a big deal because it was the first time the members had got together since losing the election last year. And if you listen to Andrew Little and Chris Hipkins with Mike this morning, you would hear from them that the conference went very well, the party is in good heart and Chris Hipkins is going to lead the Labour Party to victory in 2026...

As you will have heard in the news, Australia has passed landmark rules to ban under-16s from social media. In a world first, social media firms will have to take all reasonable steps to prevent young teens from gaining access to sites like Facebook, Instagram, X - formally Twitter - and the like. The firms who own these sites will face fines of up to $50 million AUD if they fail to comply. The te...

In a year, under 16's in Australia will no longer be allowed to access social media. The Australian Senate has passed laws banning them from accessing the platforms. The ban will come into force at the end of next year -- social media companies will face fines if they fail to take reasonable steps to keep children off. Senior researcher at Koi Tu Centre for Informed Futures Dr Felicia Low, told Ke...

The first phase of the Royal Commission of inquiry into the COVID-19 response will be handed to the Government today. There’s one of finding I know is going to really resonate with a section of this listening audience and members of the wider community. The head of the inquiry, Professor Tony Blakely, says vaccine mandates caused huge pain to a “substantial minority” during the pandemic, and the g...

Who on Earth would want Chris Bishop's job? The Minister for Housing has launched a new scheme designed to make it easier for community housing providers to provide social housing. The previous administration was all about the government, we're from the government, we're here to help – people within the industry have told me of a rather bunkered attitude towards housing provision. The attitude was...

One of the questions we’ll be putting to Chris Hipkins, of course, is a question around the capital gains tax, because this is an issue that simply will not die. Labour Party members will vote on whether to formally endorse continuing work on a capital gains or wealth tax at their party conference in Christchurch this weekend. The party's been debating tax policy since losing the election last yea...

The Labour leader says New Zealand needs an honest conversation about paying for its future.   Our newsroom understands party delegates will vote on whether to support a capital gains or wealth tax at its annual conference this weekend.   Chris Hipkins says about 70% of government tax revenue comes from personal income taxes - while the OECD average is half as much.  He told Ke...

The health system, well, we're not really talking about the health system, but how not to get into the health system because every time we talk about the health system, we talk about the need to stop people getting into the health system in the first place, the need to focus on prevention rather than cure. And the Helen Clark Foundation has come up with a new report calling on politicians to take...