Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Crikey, a week is a long time in politics, especially with an election looming! Thomas Coghlan from the New Zealand Herald wrote this last week, “It's been a scratchy week in parliament.” He was talking about last week with MP's embarrassing themselves at every opportunity. Well, this week they've done it again. We've got National MP Tim van de Molen being stripped of all his portfolios after bein...

The Government and councils affected by this year's floods are slowly working their way towards a resolution of the buyout of residents of the most affected properties in Hawkes Bay, Auckland, Coromandel and the Far North. The Auckland relief package has just been announced, well, in excess of a billion dollars in terms of costs, however, the Government and council contributions will be net of any...

With the news that Auckland Council are expected to approve a buyout package for about 700 properties damaged in extreme weather events - Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazelhurst joined Kerre Woodham Mornings to provide an update on where the process sits currently for residents following Cyclone Gabrielle. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Auckland Council is expected to approve a buyout package for about 700 properties damaged in extreme weather events. Our newsroom understands the measure will cost well in excess of $1 billion and could be paid for by extra borrowing and rates rises. Mayor Wayne Brown and Finance Minister Grant Robertson sealed the deal on Tuesday and its understood the deal will have a 50/50 cost sharing approach...

We were rather overtaken by events yesterday, but it didn't really matter because Labour kept changing its views on the best policy to combat youth vaping. In June, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Health Minister Ayesha Verrall announced the Government would be stopping new vape shops from being allowed to open within 300 metres of schools or marae, cutting down on disposable vapes and restrictin...

The ‘vote for me’ bribe policies continue. National was promising yesterday to pay for 13 cancer treatments not currently available to patients in New Zealand. They're available in Australia, not in New Zealand. The New Zealand Cancer Control Agency recently identified 13 treatments for lung, bowel, kidney and head and neck cancers that provide significant clinical benefits - and they are funded i...

First up, and this is something that I know is near and dear to all our hearts: ACT has vowed to crack down on the public services. As they pointed out yesterday, Government spending has grown from $80.6 billion a year in 2017 to $137 billion in 2023. New Zealanders, including Labour voters, according to ACT’s polling, believe that public services are far worse now than they were a few years ago, ...

The FIFA Women's World Cup has been an absolute feast of sport, culminating in Spain winning its first ever Women's World Cup, last night in Sydney. It was a triumph for not just 'women's sport’ but sport in general. Almost 2 million people attended 64 matches across nine host cities. In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised $200 million to improve sporting facilities and equipme...

The Government's making it compulsory for every school in the country to teach reading, writing, and maths the same way. Education Minister Jan Tinetti said it's not always clear how core areas should be taught - and this will set out a clear mandate. This follow's yesterday's announcement that if elected, financial skills would become a core part of the school curriculum. The Party's promising to...

What the Dickens is this Government doing? They take away GST on fruit and veg with one hand, in a blatant vote buying grab, then they slap on 12 cents to the fuel tax with the other hand. Admittedly, over a period of years, but they seem to have absolutely no idea what they're doing. Having demanded that we all jump on our unicycles and use cycleways over the past six years, having halved the cos...

Yesterday the jury in the Lauren Dickason trial reached its verdict. They'd been deliberating since early afternoon on Monday, and they reached a majority verdict, which is a verdict agreed to by all, except one juror and can only occur if the foreperson states an open court there is no probability of the jury reaching a unanimous verdict. It’s a case that really did shock the country, I think. I...

Costs and delivery of Ka Ora, Ka Ako, the healthy school lunches programme, have been much discussed in recent weeks. Kate McNamara wrote a piece New Zealand Herald about the value for money of the school lunches programme. The cost of free school lunches is up to $325 million a year and best estimates are that we’re feeding fewer than half the hungry school children in New Zealand. Co-Chair of He...

The Government has formally replaced the old Resource Management Act, with the passing of the Natural and Built Environment Bill and Spatial Planning Bill. It's hoped costs will be lowered and approval times reduced - with the new rules phased in region by region. Also, the amendments to the Government's Three Waters bill passed its third reading in House last night. National has promised to repea...

The cost of school lunches is $325 million a year. Is it value for money?  Anecdotally, some schools say yes, absolutely.  They have seen levels of concentration improve, they have seen children able to settle into their class, that they are happier, that they are healthier. That's anecdotally.  Treasury, who have crunched the numbers, says no, $325 million a year is not value for money. A report...

So the announcement that all Covid-19 requirements have finally been removed by the Government brought me no particular joy.   For me, the beginning of the end was when the lockdown in Auckland was finally lifted after months. Following increasingly absurd and farcical and unenforceable rules, in what seemed to be a Government bid to force the refuseniks to get vaccinated to reach an arbitrary tar...

All feels a bit ground hoggy day, doesn't it? Nicola Willis, the deputy leader of the National Party, broke the news that Labour would be removing GST off fruit and veg weeks ago and we discussed it then. Anyone who knows anything about tax, and that includes our very own Minister of Finance, has thought it's a silly idea. And that if the aim is to make life a bit easier for those families who are...

You might have heard Mike Hosking this morning relaying the conversation we had during the news break in the office. I told him that as soon as I heard Winston Peters this morning on the drive into work, being his typical curmudgeonly self; I switched over to Coast and had the great good fortune to land on Wham! and Wake Me Up Before You Go, Go,and - I sang along merrily till the end of the song....

Well, the stats speak for themselves, really don't they? Since October 2017, there has been an 83 percent increase in sexual offenders serving an electronically monitored sentence and a 133 percent increase in gang members sentenced for violence offences serving an electronically monitored sentence. As at the 30th of June 2023, there are 917 people serving an electronically monitored sentence in t...

Christopher Luxon joined Newstalk ZB Kerre Woodham Mornings live in studio to take your calls. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are hopes from our Conservation Minister past successes in protecting the ocean can be replicated. The Government has proposed expanding marine protections to the Goat Island and Cathedral Cove Marine Reserves. The proposed legislation would also create 19 new marine protection areas. It will also eliminate bottom trawling in large parts of the Hauraki Gulf. Conservation Minister Willow-Jean...

We have three ongoing investigations into three separate shooting incidents resulting in death. You have to say that Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Clements’ comments haven't aged all that well, have they? Back in 2019, just four years ago, he said during the first weekend of the gun buyback scheme, if we take tens of thousands of firearms off the streets during the next six months, then absolute...

It was 10 years and about a month ago that John Key, then Prime Minister of New Zealand, got up on his hind legs at the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and laid out the National Party's plan for a new harbour crossing. There was going to be a freight corridor in Onehunga mooted, as was an inner-city rail link, a cost of $2.86 billion. Two options were floated: tunnels near the existing harbour bridge...

New Zealand’s aged care sector is in crisis. Aged care has been chronically underfunded by successive governments, resulting in a lack of capital investment in facilities. This comes as the sector grapples with rising costs and an acute shortage of 1200 registered nurses. Many providers have had no option but to close beds, with a number closing their doors for good. In the past year, over 1000 be...

In 2013 Sir John Key announced a second harbour crossing at an Auckland Chamber of Commerce meeting when he was outlining the then-National Government's transport policy. A decade later Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Transport Minister David Parker announced the proposal for a second Waitematā crossing: two three lane tunnels and a light rail linking Albany to the CBD. Sir John Key joined Kerre...

Criticism is coming in thick and fast for the Government's plan for a second Waitemata Harbour crossing. It wants to build two three-lane tunnels for vehicles and a light rail tunnel, with a route eventually linking Albany and the CBD. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown claims both National and Labour have failed to cooperate with the Council on big transport plans. He says it's exploring better, faster a...