Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Auckland Council is aiming to reduce drownings and improve safety by upgrading its Navigation Bylaw.  The most significant change would make life jackets mandatory for everyone on vessels under six meters long whilst it’s in motion.  Current rules only require for them to be carried, with the person in charge of the vessel making the decision on whether it’s necessary.  Auckland Cou...

Auckland Council wants to hear from you. It's consulting on proposed changes to the Auckland Navigational Bylaw. Right now, Clause 20 of the bylaw requires personal flotation devices, also known as life jackets, on vessels six metres and under. Unless, and here comes the thorny bit, unless the person in charge gives permission not to wear one. So that makes it all pretty cloudy, doesn't it? The pr...

The Health Innovators' Summit takes place in Auckland tomorrow with this year's discussion centring around ideas to create a world-class, high performing health system for New Zealand. The keynote speaker is one of the world’s foremost health policy experts and author of Which Country Has The World’s Best Health Care?, Dr Ezekiel Emanuel. He joined Kerre Woodham to chat about the state of New Zeal...

It's good to see some parties releasing policies, looking at you Labour, whether you agree with them or not, given it's less than six months to the election. ACT released its immigration policy over the weekend, a six point plan that ACT says will welcome people with shared values and who play by the rules. ACT leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said New Zealand was a settler society t...

You'll have heard it in our news, since Monday the 20th of April, 18 people have been killed in 14 separate crashes on our roads. As of this morning, 12 more lives have been lost on New Zealand roads so far this year compared to the same point last year. To give some context though, our road tolls today are nothing like the bad old days. Back in 1973, long before many of you were born, when we had...

You know it's an election year, don't you? You know it's an election year when Winston's fermenting merry mischief, when the leader of the opposition is happy to put himself up for an hour of questions on talkback, and when lobby groups are releasing their election wish lists.  The Cancer Society has released its election manifesto and is calling on the next Government, however it looks, to s...

Labour Leader Chris Hipkins is standing by the decision to wait until after the Budget to announce the party's election policies.   The party has come under fire from the Coalition for its lack of policies so far.   Labour's has revealed plans for a Capital Gains Tax, a Future Fund, and a plan to boost the video game sector rebate from 20% to 25%.   It's promised three free doctors...

Do you have to get your car serviced by the dealer to avoid voiding the warranty?   While you don't necessarily have to, manufacturers require specific equipment and supplies to be used during the servicing process, and using alternatives can impact the warranty. The independent mechanic also has to adhere to the servicing schedule and keep complete documentation.  Motor Trade Associatio...

The topic of tax has been in the news recently and it will stay in the news. It’s set to become an election issue with one of the few policies that Labour's actually committed to being a Capital Gains Tax – possibly more taxation/revenue measures. Watch the politicians dance on the head of a pin in the lead up to the election. The Fitch report, which looks at New Zealand's ability to pay its bills...

The headline in the Herald read “New Zealand population bombshell” – but is the news really that much of a bombshell? We know we have an ageing population. We know that we're not replacing ourselves with babies. And we know that there's going to be a real crunch when it comes to finding sufficient workers in the next 20 odd years.   According to a report that the Herald quotes from Sir Peter...

The New Zealand Liberation Museum – Te Arawhata, located in the historic fortress town of Le Quesnoy, France, commemorates one of New Zealand's most daring and successful military feats of World War I. The museum opened on 11 October 2023 to provide a permanent place of remembrance for New Zealand's contributions on the Western Front. Patron of the New Zealand Memorial Museum Trust, Sir Don McKinn...

I like David Seymour's idea of teaching children the basics of money management by giving them $500 each. He floated the idea during a speech at a business event in Christchurch. The way it would work: the roughly 60,000 Year 11 s in this country would be given $500 in a controlled investment account with a structured pathway into real investing, possibly supported by investment platforms Sharesie...

It’s another slow patch for the property market, with some who bought in the post-Covid boom now tossing up their options.   Cotality's latest data shows property sales down 2.4% in March, compared to the same time last year – the third consecutive month to fall.   Property investment coach Steve Goodey says they’re seeing a large number of people struggling with whether to swallow a pap...

Labour's written to the Prime Minister supporting the India Free Trade Deal being signed in New Delhi next week.  National needed their support to pass the deal into law, since it was opposed by coalition partner New Zealand First.  But Chris Hipkins remains concerned about the commitment to promote billions of dollars of investment in India, saying it's not affordable.  Labour’s Tr...

Remember back in February, the Government announced it was proposing to give police officers the power to issue move on orders to deal with, as it's described, disorderly behaviour in public places. What they mean is antisocial homeless people who are startling the horses, putting people off coming into the city, creating all sorts of disgusting messes for business owners to clean up. People who d...

The reputations of the five MPs believed to be frustrated with Christopher Luxon’s leadership are suffering.   Luxon passed a vote of confidence at yesterday's lengthy caucus meeting, but MPs aren't revealing details of the vote, including how many of them supported Luxon.  The MPs responsible for leaks to the media are understood to be Joseph Mooney, Andrew Bayly, Sam Uffindell, Barbara...

It was a masterful piece of politicking yesterday from the Prime Minister. The first time I think I've seen him as a politician rather than a CEO. He told his caucus to put up or shut up. He sent a message to the disaffected and the dissatisfied in the party to lay their cards on the table. And when it came down to it, the halt, the lame, and the dispossessed simply didn't have the numbers, the al...

Things are getting tougher for Kiwis.  According to ASB’s estimates, households will see an average of $55 a week added to their living costs this year, thanks to global effects of the conflict in the Middle East.   This compounds the struggle for many, with Stats NZ reporting in 2025 that just over half of renters and nearly 40% of mortgage holders didn’t think their income matched thei...

Inflation was higher than it should be, even before factoring in the full impact of the war on Iran.  Stats NZ data shows the inflation rate remained unchanged at 3.1% in the March quarter.  Internationally driven tradeable inflation dipped to 2.5% and the domestically driven non-tradeable rate was unchanged at 3.5%.  The Herald's Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham these figures come befo...

They're damned if they do and damned if they don't, aren't they? Last week people were castigating MetService for overhyping the incoming storm. And I would argue it wasn't MetService who were overhyping it, it was the media making an absolute meal out of it. Today, people are calling out MetService for not getting enough warning about the life-threatening rain and winds that are slamming Wellingt...

While I was away over Easter and then another week, I was not a slave to the news cycle. I opted out for a while because I figured the insanity would still be here when I came back on duty and I was right. The Straits of Hormuz are still closed, Trump is still threatening to obliterate Iran. New Zealand homes are still being flooded, roads are still being closed in weather events, they're just in...

The story that has made the front page of the Herald this morning and dominated the conversation was the leadership of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. He is facing what party insiders describe as “the most difficult fortnight of his leadership”, with growing speculation about his support within National's caucus as Parliament returns next week. Sources say that the whip, Stuart Smith, tried to p...

Bunnings have begun rolling out facial recognition technology in its New Zealand stores, saying it's needed to protect staff and customers because violent incidents continue to rise, despite the fact we've got tough on crime, and we've had a bit of a crackdown. The first two stores to switch on the facial recognition technology are in Te Rapa and Hamilton South, both in the Waikato, but a nationwi...

I want to start off with the Bendigo-Ophir mine near Cromwell, and the question is should it get fast track approval? The Australian company Santana Minerals has applied to build four open pits in the Dunstan Range near Cromwell, the largest of which would be one kilometre long and 300 metres deep, and it's alongside a two kilometre long tailings storage dam which would stay there forever.  ...

A community split in Central Otago as the fast-track panel considers a gold-mine proposal from Australian company, Bendigo-Ophir.   Santana Minerals estimates it could extract $4.4 billion of gold from hills above the Clutha River with open pit and underground mining  Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Simon Upton warns it has considerable environmental risk.   Local may...