Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

I could not have put it better than ACC Minister Matt Doocey did yesterday. He wants ACC to lift its own game before it starts raising levies.   The Accident Compensation Corporation has just begun a one-month consultation on suggested rises of more than 7% on levies for motorists, and more than 4% for employers and earners. I mean everybody else is raising their rates, aren't they? So here goes A...

The number of New Zealanders with dementia is expected to double in the next 20 years, with social disadvantages playing a big role.   Public Health Communication Centre's briefing reveals the risk of developing dementia is 60% higher for people living in the most deprived areas in New Zealand.   Director of the Centre for Brain Research, Sir Richard Faull told Kerre Woodham that there are about 1...

It won't be a particularly good morning for the people of the central North Island. There was a sense of inevitability really, though, with the announcement that Winstone International will be closing its two mills near Ohakune. For months now, Winstone have been working on trying to find a way to keep the mills open in the face of declining commodity prices and astronomically high power prices. M...

As much as I hate the gangs profiting from misery and tying up police time with their internecine feuds, the late amendment to the gangs bill, banning people from wearing their gang patches in their own homes, seems ludicrous for the reasons that have been given.   The Gangs Bill, as it was tabled in July at the Justice Select Committee, will give police the power to disperse gatherings and to ban...

A reminder to construction workers to keep looking out for each other on World Suicide Prevention Day.    MATES in Construction's recent survey finds 85% of workers reported good mental health last year, an improvement from previous years.   But also last year, 80 workers died from suspected suicides, a jump from previous years.   Dr Chris Bowden, MATES in Construction’s Academic Director, told Ke...

This is one that has been discussed before and will no doubt be discussed again. Can pine forestry and livestock farming coexist in this country, or does one have to make way for the other?   For the last decade, there have been major concerns about productive farmland, not only being converted into subdivisions, but being converted into forests. These concerns were ramped up in recent times with...

A new white paper warns there will be a significant transition of sheep and beef farms into pine forestry unless current Government policies and economic signals are reconsidered.   Called “Why Pines?”, the paper summarises the results of four recently completed research programmes, funded by Our Land and Water.   The four research programmes used different techniques and perspectives, but all fou...

Well, that's one way, isn't it, to deal with your problematic pupil attendance record – do away with attendance requirements altogether.   Hagley College in Christchurch will allow some of its students to work from home two days a week, in a trial to believed to be a New Zealand first. The college is offering 20 NCEA Level 2 students the chance to do hybrid learning. There'll be 16 hours of math,...

A Christchurch school hopes to address falling attendance rates by allowing some students to work from home two days a week.   The trial will be run by Hagley College, who will be offering 20 students the opportunity to do “hybrid learning”.   Students will attend 16 hours of the core subjects —maths, science, and English— a week, with three days of in-person learning, and two days of online learn...

It’s been nearly a year since the Government changed hands, and Opposition Leader Chris Hipkins is back with Kerre Woodham to answer the hard-hitting questions.    Hipkins is pointing his finger at the coalition for slowing infrastructure down because of a lack of bipartisanship.   Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop has been urging parties to work across the House to secure a solid building pipe...

We're going a little bit back to the future today because the annual report card into the grocery industry came out yesterday, and we were overrun with health talk. So we'll go back to that report and look at the ramifications for the industry, for the suppliers, and for us, the consumers.   So according to the report, we are paying higher prices, specials are confusing, and loyalty schemes aren't...

A new recycling scheme has launched today.   Developed by the Packaging Forum, it aims to capture and recycle the myriad of plastic and metal caps and lids that currently make their way to landfill.   Approximately 16,000 tonnes of caps and lids are in circulation annually, the equivalent of approximately 900 trucks of waste.   Collection boxes will be placed in supermarkets in Auckland, Christchu...

There’s another option for those struggling to access a GP.   General Practitioners Aotearoa have said the concept of a “family doctor” is dead as the sector is crushed by rising costs, shortages, and high demands.   It can be difficult for people to get a consultation, with many clinics offering video calls instead of in-person consultations.   Southern Cross Health Insurance offers free online G...

I did want to have a look at the state of our primary healthcare – this is something we've looked at before, and I have absolutely no doubt that we will look at again. I do tend to agree with the GP advocacy group, General Practitioners Aotearoa, that the concept of the family doctor is dead. You're not going to get a Dr Finlay's Casebook again any time soon on the telly. You're not going to see a...

The coalition government has announced the next three years of transport projects, and it should come as no real surprise there's nothing for speed bumps.    Simeon Brown: We're cutting the funding for speed bumps. We're, in fact, I call it an infestation of speed bumps that we've seen across our roads, whilst potholes have been remaining unfilled. So actually I want to see that money going into f...

Ticket prices have increased exponentially over the years as retailers take advantage of dynamic pricing schemes.   Otherwise known as surge pricing, dynamic pricing sets flexible prices that change depending on the demand.   Many fans of Oasis wound up forking out double the advertised price of £148.50 (NZ$313.38) for the band’s reunion tour, spending £355.20 (NZ$749.58) instead.   The UK Governm...

I wanted to start with something that always generates a lot of chat and that is the inevitability about raising the age of eligibility for superannuation and, to a lesser extent the introduction of a capital gains tax. National under Bill English came very, very close to getting the age lifted to 67. It wouldn't have happened until 2040, but it would have happened. So John Key left and came Bill...

Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop announced yesterday what National had promised all the way through the election campaign. The government's new National Infrastructure Agency will be established this year, unlocking access to more capital for infrastructure and strengthening the government's private finance and commercial capability. So, from the 1st of December, Crown Infrastructure Partners...

You could hear yesterday the sadness and the contempt and the disbelief in Inspector Tony Wakelin’s voice:   “Look, can I just say I thought that was disgusting. It really was. I mean, I saw some of the footage, it was filmed before emergency services arrived. There were close-ups of people deceased in the van and injured lying on the road. As I say, I thought it was horrible. As I said, a lot of...

The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission's released a report showing how funding from the 2019 Wellbeing Budget has been spent.   It shows 92% of the $1.9 billion has been spent or committed.   There's around $163 million that is unspent, and almost $62 million was set aside for capital works.   Chief Executive Karen Orsborn says they know there's a high degree of public interest in the funding,...

Yesterday the Prime Minister announced what we all know to be true, that we have an energy security crisis.   We seem to have been having them for a while now, every winter there are concerns about brownouts. The Electricity Authority put it into plain English on their website - winter sees the highest demand for electricity, obviously, also when it's unseasonably cold in autumn or spring, that ca...

It was interesting seeing the Governments backed down on the Fast-track Approvals Bill. And that's the thing about being in government, isn't it? Well, really any position of authority. You will be criticized whatever you do. It's a truism that you cannot please all of the people all of the time, you just simply can't. So when the government announced it would introduce the Fast-track Approvals Bi...

Well, that was a bit of a shock wasn’t it. It seems everyone was a bit taken aback to hear that assistant coach Leon MacDonald would be leaving the All Black’s group. Less that 24 hours out from the All Blacks heading to South Africa for two Rugby Championship tests, New Zealand rugby confirmed MacDonald would not continue in the role. Fronting the media, head coach Scott Razor Robertson outlined...

Yesterday the Prime Minister spoke at the Local Government NZ (LGNZ) conference, warning councils to restrain their spending to the basics or run the risk of having your hand forced by central government.     Apparently, the remarks got a frosty reception – possibly because no one likes being told off and possibly because since Covid all some councils have been doing is going through their budgets...

I’m not a perfect parent. I’ve learnt a lot on the job, but one thing I got right was making the call that I was not the right person to teach our children to drive – for both my sake, my children’s sake, and other drivers' sake.     It’s got nothing to do with my driving ability.  It's to do with temperament and patience and bravery – all characteristics my partner and their father excels in.    ...