Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Watching Chris Hipkins igniting the bonfire of Labour's vanity projects when he took office earlier this year reminded me of the old Groucho Marx quote: “These are my principles, and if you don't like them, well, I have others.” I was reminded of this again when I heard Chris Hipkins rule out a wealth tax and capital gains tax as long as he is leader of the Labour Party. This had been something th...

The Finance Minister is putting on a brave face after news his work on a wealth tax won't come to fruition. Although proposals were considered by Cabinet, Chris Hipkins ruled out introducing a wealth tax or a capital gains tax while Prime Minister. To discuss, Dentons Kensington Swan Partner and tax expert, Bruce Bernacchi joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...

Finally, finally, it appears that the motley, bedraggled, half plucked chickens that are Labour policies are coming home to roost. For me, my belief has been beggared that there is still people who will say, when asked by pollsters, ’why yes, I do believe Labour is the party for me when it comes to managing the economy and the country.’ When, surely, they have shown beyond a shadow of a doubt that...

A high-level meeting between New Zealand and the UN nuclear watchdog took place on Monday, after a controversial go-ahead for dumping treated nuclear radioactive water into the Pacific. After a two-year review, the International Atomic Energy Agency have given it the green light - stating the release - over 30 to 40 years - will have a negligible impact on the environment. The water was tainted du...

A new poll shows the gap between Parliament's left and the right wing blocs is the biggest it's been since 2017. Talbot Mills numbers show National and Act have a commanding lead over Labour and the Greens. Labour is down five points to 31 per cent support, with National and Act on 36 and 12 respectively. Newstalk ZB Political Editor Jason Walls joined Kerre Woodham to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE See om...

The election is just a matter of months away, and although nothing is certain, one thing we can be fairly sure of is that no one party will win a majority the size Labour did last time round, and that the next New Zealand Government will be cobbled together with minor parties. We'll either see a National/ACT, maybe another minor party coalition government or a Labour/Greens/Te Pati Maori kind of g...

It's an election year, so of course the law and order drum is being beaten. It's beaten every time there's an election, with one side saying the other isn't doing a good job - but it's not just because it's an election. The law and order drum is being beaten because innocent New Zealanders are being beaten in their homes and their places of work, in the street. The hammer attack on a woman behind...

At least 20% of New Zealanders are believed to be neurodivergent, but there is very little awareness, understanding and support for people with conditions such as ADHD, Autism and Dyslexia. Sonia Gray has a neurodivergent daughter and is an ADHDer herself. In a 10-part series she talks to dozens of experts and people with a lived-experience of neurodiversity to better understand how we can support...

There are fears students won't be taught relevant science knowledge after a leaked copy of the proposed new science curriculum was released. The new draft focuses on contexts - the Earth system, biodiversity, food-energy-water, and infectious diseases. The writers argue they are going for a holistic approach, and that basic physics, chemistry and biology haven't gone ignored. Crimson Global Academ...

Newsroom reported on its website yesterday that targets or output measures for issues such as the time taken for police to respond to traffic emergencies and burglaries have been dramatically adjusted. Police have twice as long to get to emergency events in urban areas, 45 minutes in town, 60 minutes in rural areas, and they are required to respond to fewer burglaries within 48 hours. In a briefin...

Paying for groceries is now the biggest financial burden affecting Kiwis during the cost of living crisis. Allyson Gofton, one of New Zealand's leading food icons, joined Kerre Woodham to share healthy eating tips during this tough financial time. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now, if you were told that you would be dead in 10 years but you had the potential to save yourself if you chose to do so, would you? Rationally, intellectually, of course you would. Especially if it was as simple as taking a pill. You'll be dead in 10 years, take this pill, you'll save your life. You'd do it to see the kids grow up and spend time with the people you love, you'd take the opportuni...

The Green Party has announced another plank in their bid to end poverty, and that is a limit on how much landlords can increase rent every year. An earlier policy of the Greens, also designed to end poverty, was their wish for a minimum level of income, and that would be funded by a wealth tax. Now they want to see renters protected through a limit on increases, and a register setup of property ow...

In the wake of news that a whole raft of cost-of-living subsidies and temporary tax cuts are set to end tomorrow, along with all the other news headlines, I had to Google reasons to be optimistic this morning. We've got the end of the fuel tax discount and the subsidy for road user charges for diesel vehicles coming to an end. Half-price public transport fares will stop for most as well. Children...

Yesterday I touched briefly on the fact that yet another study has come out showing that alcohol is considered one of the most harmful drugs and numerous studies around the world, the latest from New Zealand, show the level of harm it does to others, as well as the level of harm it does to users. And of course more people use alcohol than they do meth, so obviously more people are going to be affe...

20 different councils who have joined New Plymouth District Council calling for more central funding for the repair and maintenance of the roads. New Plymouth District Mayor Neil Holdom joined Kerre Woodham to discuss the proposal. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There used to be ivory towers of academic learning, elitist, only a few could enter. Now they’re businesses that live or die based on the number of bums they can get on lecture hall seats - and yet they still seem to be lost in the past and unable to forge away into the future. Universities around the country are facing the reality of having to lay off staff and cut classes. It's the loss of inter...

Senior journalist Dileepa Fonseka has written a piece in BusinessDesk . It addresses the lack of junior doctors in our healthcare system and the fact we are not recruiting the graduate international student doctors. They are not being hired by Te Whata Ora, and if they are, the process is long and involved and they are bottom of the list. Dileepa Fonseka joined Kerre Woodham from China. LISTEN ABO...

Well, the National Party delegates and the party faithful didn't have a weekend off. This was their party conference weekend, so it was all guns blazing as the faithful gathered together to hear how New Zealand would look under a National government,  and more specifically, how National was going to get them the votes that would enable them to form a government. They didn't really introduce anythi...

Basically, I'm going to let Nicola Willis do the opener for me this morning. After the discussion we had earlier this week about the absolutely callous disregard with which local and central government treat our money, how timely was this report from the Auditor General's office? They were charged with deciding whether the $640 million spent on projects during Covid, left over from the Provincial...

Political journalists and commentators have been having an absolute field day over the past 18 hours dissecting the downfall of former Transport Minister and Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood. Wood had been on notice since it was revealed he had failed to sell his shares in Auckland Airport, a clear conflict of interest for a Transport Minister. But he resigned yesterday as a minister after it e...

There's a perception that a generation of New Zealand homebuyers are greedy, acquisitive and are locking young Kiwis out of the property market. Why buy another house when you already have one? Some economists have urged New Zealanders to put any savings into the share market so that local businesses can grow, but if you look back at this country's economic history; you can perhaps understand why...

My Tuesday morning started quite well. It's not raining. Sun’s out, nice drive into the city. And then I got to work and read the story from Wellington about the brakes being hit on the Wellington speed reduction plan, after a councillor spotted that the cost-benefit-analysis had been overstated by $250 million. So they've gone back to the drawing board.  The whopping error means that papers that...

The headline in the Herald this morning says, “Auckland surgeons must now consider ethnicity and prioritising patients for operations”. But I think this has been going on for some time, certainly the texts I've received over the past year indicate that this has been going on for some time. ACT party leader David Seymour backed that up when he told Mike Hosking this morning that he's had surgeons,...

Surgeons are now being required to consider a patient’s ethnicity alongside other factors when deciding who should get an operation first. Several surgeons say they are upset by the policy, which was introduced in Auckland in February and gives priority to Māori and Pacific Island patients, on the grounds that they have historically had unequal access to healthcare. The other categories on the wai...