Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

I understand and I totally appreciate you cannot possibly fence off every waterway in the country. Imagine you've been hiking for hours through glorious back country, to come across the crest of a hill and in the near distance spy a beautiful alpine lake surrounded by a wire fence, with all sorts of health and safety warnings. That would not be the experience you'd be after. Homeowners who have a...

Is PM Chris Hipkins living in la la land?  When the announcement was made that New Zealanders would have new pathways to citizenship in Australia, with citizenship now guaranteed after four years, Hipkins said he didn't think this would lead to an exodus of New Zealanders quitting the country and heading across the ditch.  New Zealanders travel to Australia and live there regardless, he said. Peop...

According to Heritage New Zealand , there are more than 2500 shipwrecks in New Zealand's marine and fresh waters. Of those, only about 200 have been accurately located. Bill Day is a shipwreck expert. He's spent 36 years searching for the wreck of the General Grant in the Auckland Islands and he joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's been quite a bit of chat around a report that's due to come out from the IRD that looks at 400 of the wealthiest families and individuals in New Zealand. This morning there was a speculative piece in The Spinoff suggesting that that IRD report could be paving the way for an introduction of a capital gains tax. A tax that Jacinda Ardern promised would be ruled out as long as she was Prime M...

A potential breath of relief for Kiwi consumers and mortgage holders has come with the release of new data. Inflation figures have come in much lower than expected, with the Consumer Price Index measuring 6.7 percent for the year to March. Although levels are still the highest since the 1990s, 6.7 is much lower than expected by bank economists, and the Reserve Bank. NZ Herald Business Editor at La...

It is an election year, ladies and gentlemen, and let the policy start rolling out! On Monday it was the rather underwhelming announcement from the Government around teacher-pupil ratios Today, it's the turn of National who are wooing farmers, courting the rural vote. National seems to have taken a leaf out of Labour's playbook in making an announcement about an announcement.   Still, at least the...

Cast your mind back to 2016/2017. The National Government was getting hammered almost daily over the number of people who had been reduced to sleeping in cars because they had nowhere else to live. For the past two winters of 2016 and 2017 marae in Auckland had opened their doors to families in desperate need of food and showers, and a good night's sleep. Housing Minister Nick Smith said at the ti...

Three Waters 2.0. Three Waters Let's Try This Again. What did he call it? Affordable Water Reforms? Trying to come up with something so bland, so anodyne, so completely forgettable, that we forget what it's all about.  It's still the same concept, apart from the fact that there will be ten  council entities, not four.  Local Government Minister Kieran McNulty was on with Tim Dower this morning. He...

The International Monetary Fund is warning New Zealand is likely to be hard-hit in a global economic down-turn. Its 2023 outlook forecasts New Zealand will have one of the lowest GDP growth rates and one of the highest inflation rates in the Asia Pacific region in the coming years. In their projections for GDP, NZ's current account balance is reported as -8.6 percent of GDP, worse than Greece's at...

Well, water, water everywhere and who knows what to think?  I think we all accept, we all understand, that we need to improve this country's water supply, this country's water cleanliness, it's how we do it that's the sticking point.    Be that as it may, the day before the Prime Minister's announcement, a report ‘Our fresh water 2023’, was released and it makes for damning reading. Produced by th...

Three Waters is now a thing of the past, we now have the Affordable Water Reforms. The Government has made major changes to the controversial scheme, including ditching the four mega-organisations that would have delivered freshwater, wastewater and stormwater services. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says they'll be instead establish 10 regionally led, local water entities. He says they believe this...

The debate surrounding freedom of speech versus hate speech has been exacerbated after controversial activist Posie Parker visited New Zealand. Nadine Strossen, a New York Law School Professor, a Former President of the American Civil Liberties Union is a leading expert in hate speech law. Stossen is also an author, her most recent book is titled 'HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, No...

We've all seen it. The strain on the health system has become unendurable for so many health professionals, who have given far more than should ever have been asked of them. Some of them have been working quite frankly illegal hours covering for sick and absent colleagues doing jobs they were never meant to do, because there is nowhere else for people with diverse needs to go. They are every day d...

The Immigration Minister is expecting thousands of people to arrive on our shores as a result of immigration changes in the healthcare sector. 32 new health jobs have been added to the Straight to Residency pathway on the Green List. They include dentists, paramedics, optometrists and pharmacists. Immigration Minister Michael Wood told Tim Dower earlier this morning that some of these roles hadn't...

Our Government has confirmed it is discussing joining the non-nuclear part of the AUKUS alliance founded by Australia, the UK and US. Defence Minister Andrew Little said “We have been offered the opportunity to talk about whether we could or wish to participate in that pillar two [non-nuclear] aspect of it,” and "I’ve indicated we will be willing to explore it.” In the early 1980s, New Zealand wal...

You might have heard Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on the Newstalk ZB this morning saying the Government will be making a carefully balanced decision on whether to scrap the mandatory seven-day isolation period for people who test positive for Covid. Cabinet will be reviewing Covid rules with an announcement expected sometime this in the near future. They're going to be basing their decision on the...

The mandatory seven-day isolation period after a positive Covid test could soon be a thing of the past. Cabinet ministers are today considering whether to ease Covid rules, with an announcement expected some time this week. The Prime Minister says it's a careful balancing act between the impact of people being unable to go to work, and the impact of Covid spreading. To discuss, Kurt Krause, Profes...

First up health, because we really can't ignore it. What will come as no surprise to many, Te Whatu Ora,  also known as the health department, has shown that the performance of the nation's hospitals has worsened over the past year in almost every department.  ED waiting times are bad; more than 6000 patients who have been pre-approved for surgery have been left languishing, many in pain for more...

Insurance claims from the recent weather events have reached $2.47 billion. Insurers have so far paid out about 15 percent of claims. EQC’s insurance expenses were $359 million for the eight months ending February 28, up from $235 million a year earlier. Insurance Council Chief Executive Tim Grafton told Kerre Woodham they've made a good start, but most payments have been for vehicles, not houses....

For some New Zealanders, it's the difference between living with dignity or living on handouts. For other Kiwis, it's a bit of pin money that pays for the grandkids swimming lessons or is handed on to a favorite charity. The National Super is back in the news, with economist Shamubeel Eaqub calling for the Super to be means tested, and for the age of eligibility to be raised to 70. The cost of the...

The Red Cross raised nearly 18 million dollars in the name of cyclone relief. However, only 1.9 million dollars —just under 11%— has been spent in the month since Cyclone Gabrielle hit. This number includes a 1.1 million dollar contribution to the Wairoa District council, to help those with yellow-stickered homes restore them. South Auckland community leader Dave Letele met with Red Cross NZ Secre...

Discussions about raising the retirement age have continued to grow, with economist Shamubeel Eaqub suggesting that it should slowly be raised to 70 and means tested. France has been rocked by violent protests over the past month in response to President Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Labour says it will keep our retirement age at 65 while National has pledged to raise it...

Before we get on to the Stuart Nash affair itself, cast your mind back to December of last year, the Chief Ombudsman, Peter Boshier, launched an investigation after multiple claims that agencies were taking too long to respond to the Official Information Act, and the requests around the OIA. The announcement of the investigation came just two months after Boshier found that spin doctors, paid for...

Helping Wairoa residents get back on their feet is the first big ticket spend of the Red Cross New Zealand Disaster Fund. Of the nearly $18 million raised, $1.9 million or just under 11 percent, has been spent since Cyclone Gabrielle hit early last month. It includes a $1.1 million contribution to the Wairoa District Council to help those living in yellow-stickered homes to restore them. Six weeks...

It was a busy day of announcements for the National Party, with news of a second Auckland harbour crossing being fast tracked and a $200 million nationwide plan to improve the safety of police officers. Oh, sorry no, I've got that wrong. It was the Labour government who announced this. But really, they're being more National than National.  Close your eyes, if you hadn't heard which party it was,...