Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

It is becoming a fairly common story that debt is getting so big, people are burying their head in the sand rather than dealing with it.  Money mentalist Lynda Moore tells Kerre Woodham debt is easier to ignore in the modern day, without red-letter hard reminders arriving in the mail. Without help and support, people can very easily get lost or trust the wrong people.  LISTEN ABOVE ...

The interim report into the grounding of Interislander’s Aratere ferry has found the bridge crew didn't know how to turn off the autopilot function on a new steering control system. A report by the Transport Accident Investigation Commission was published yesterday, setting out the facts and circumstances established to this point and its inquiry into the incident, which remains ongoing. So, the i...

Should single rooms be the norm in hospitals?  Multi-patient rooms are the status quo for New Zealand hospitals, with up to five people staying in each room.  New research argues that this breaches safety and ethical concerns, saying that single patient rooms should be the most basic standard of care.  Researcher and author Dr Cindy Towns told Kerre Woodham that while it may seem co...

A community service sentence ends the saga of Philip Polkinghorne.  The former Auckland eye surgeon has returned to the High Court in Auckland today – more than a month after he was acquitted of murdering his wife Pauline Hanna.  He's been sentenced to 150 hours community work after admitting to a meth charge.   The Front Page's Chelsea Daniels spoke to Kerre Woodham from the High C...

When did parents stop wanting more for their kids? The figures out today are absolutely appalling and paint a grim future for thousands of young New Zealanders. People aged 16-24 who are on the main benefit can expect to stay there for 20.4 years. I suppose we'll take the good news where we find it – that's down from 21.3 years. But good Lord, what a miserable existence for so many young people an...

It’s not just the Government who are taking a look at building consents.  Hastings District Council has been looking into a more risk-based approach to building consents, aiming to bring the costs down for both building firms and consumers.  Council CEO Nigel Bickle told Kerre Woodham that the current system was put in place with the 2004 Building Act in response to the significant damag...

I suppose I should have, but I had no idea that it takes, on average, 569 days for a home to be built and consented right now. Nearly two years for a home to be built and consented! A decent building company could throw up a house in three months, couldn't they? But no, because of the consenting process, 569 days in this country for a home to be built and consented. No wonder we have a shortage of...

The devil will be in the details when it comes to the Government’s new building consents scheme.  The proposal would allow competent tradespeople to self-certify consents on low risk builds, and businesses with a track record on delivering bigger projects would be able to access streamlined consenting.   Pete Wolfkamp, ZB’s Resident Builder, told Kerre Woodham that it makes sense that th...

Almost four months to the day, on the 30th of June, headlines were trumpeting a police crackdown on boy racers. In Wellington, police issued 138 infringement notices, 19 vehicles were taken off the streets, five vehicles were seized by bailiffs because of unpaid fines, three were impounded, 11 were either pink or green stickered due to compliance issues, 420 people were breathalysed, one person wa...

The Police Minister is signalling a law change to crack down on boy racers after a violent brawl in Wairarapa on Saturday.  Videos of men smashing a car's windows and beating up its driver are circulating on social media.   The boy racers also threw bottles, rocks, and fireworks at police, with several people now facing charges.   Minister Mark Mitchell told Kerre Woodham he is work...

If you want to racially abuse hospital staff and demand white only nurses, fine. We will draw a curtain around your bed, and you’ll lie there and wait. You need pain relief, assistance to go to the loo, have your sheets changed, have your blood pressure monitored - make sure it's not getting dangerously high. You lie there and you wait. You wait for a white nurse to come on duty. You might be wait...

More than 30 staff at Waitākere Hospital refused to care for a racially abusive patient in a bid to get hospital managers to defuse the situation.  The male patient had asked for white-only staff, making racist and sexual remarks over a period of six weeks.  Their drastic action prompted hospital managers to escalate their response and defuse the situation.  New Zealand Nurses Organ...

Yesterday afternoon, a woman was taken to hospital in a critical condition after being seriously injured in an assault on board a bus broad daylight. Shortly before 6pm, police confirmed the person had died in the hospital – they said the victim was a passenger on the bus. They say nobody else is at risk at the moment, they know who the alleged offender is, but it's unsettling. This is not the nor...

The Government is set to appoint a Crown Observer to Wellington City Council within weeks. The writing was on the wall really, wasn't it? It was whether they were going to go the whole hog with the Commissioner, a’ la Tauranga, or settle for an Observer, and that is what they've gone with.   Local Government Minister Simeon Brown made the announcement yesterday and said he's written to Wellin...

Several thousands more offenders are likely to be captured under Three Strikes 2.0 following changes by Cabinet to toughen up the act. These changes, announced this morning, include halving the sentencing threshold for a first strike, and making it retrospective (controversial with lawmakers). That would capture several thousands of the 15,000-odd offenders with strikes to their name under Three S...

Who doesn't love hosting a good party? Who hasn't enjoyed the buzz that comes from having people from all over the world heading into town intent on having a good time? Even if you can't afford the price of the tickets to the Rugby World Cup, or through fee for Women's World Cup, or you haven't got a gin palace to head out on the water to get up, close and personal to the America's Cup racing, you...

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says it's politically viable for New Zealand to host the America's Cup as we've done it before, and if we don't step up, someone else will. She says Kiwis love to see New Zealand doing well and winning – and says we know having the Cup at home comes with economic benefits. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says the hosting decision is in the hands of Team New Zealan...

The Greens voted last night to swallow a dead rat. Even the vegans had to chew on a dead rat last night. Green Party delegates overwhelmingly decided to use the Waka Jumping law, which they hate, to eject Darleen Tana from Parliament if she decides not to quit first. Darleen Tana, the former Green MP, currently sits, useless as tits on a bull, as an independent and was the subject of a late night...

We're going to open the show today with a chat on ACC, given that it's managed to go from a $911 million surplus to a $7.2 billion deficit in the year to June. That’s got to hurt. ACC said, in it's just released annual report, that lower than expected rehabilitation performance contributed towards the deficit, and noted the cost of providing services and compensation to injured people increased by...

I remember about 25 years ago there was an absolute hoo-ha at the Grey Lynn Countdown, because staff there were speaking to one another in their own tongue in the common staff room. And there was a complaint from somebody who spoke English —that was the language they spoke, and they didn't speak any other languages— and they took great offence to people speaking in their mother tongue in the staff...

Inflation is continuing to fall and interest rates are likely to follow suit.  The inflation rate has dropped to 2.2 percent.  It's the first time in more than three years it's returned to the Reserve Bank's 1-3% target range.  The Herald's Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham the markets are now pricing in a 100% chance the Reserve Bank will cut the OCR at least 50 basis points next month....

What’s the Government’s obsession with speeding things up?   Today, it’s the queues at airport security that it wants to go faster - with Transport Minister Simeon Brown looking at bringing-in private operators to run airport security instead of the Civil Aviation Authority.    As far as I’m concerned, if you don’t get through security on time and miss your flight, it’s your own fau...

How’s that miserly $20-a-week tax cut looking now that we know the country’s budget deficit is $1.8 billion worse than expected?   You might be one of the few people who are actually better-off by more than 20 bucks a week, but you’re in the minority.   And there’s no doubt that there is egg all over the Government’s face on this one. But I told you so. And it wasn’t just me who told you...

How many reviews and reports do we need before we accept that we are nowhere near as good at emergency and disaster management as we think we are here in New Zealand?   I reckon we’ll never admit it. But we should.   In fact, we shouldn’t just admit that we’re not as good as we think - we should also be looking at some major structural change. Not just more of the tinkering around the ed...

Penalties could be on the cards for careless builders as the Government looks to strengthen professional requirements.  It's eyeing key changes to the registration and licensing regimes, with a focus on lifting competence and accountability requirements; as well as improving Building Act consumer protections. Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk confirms it's also looking into a new...