Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

The cyclone has given the battered Coromandel Peninsula another whack — with more on the way. Crews are working to clear widespread damage to the roads, with a lot of land unstable. There have also been power outages. Coromandel-Thames Civil Defence Gary Towler says that the region probably has up to 36 hours left of the storm to ride out. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

49 percent of New Zealanders believe the country is on the wrong track. 42 percent believe it's going in the right direction. 77 percent of people feel poorly or not so good about the economy. 22 percent think it's good or excellent, and this is one of the largest gaps since the pandemic. And yet, National is only slightly ahead of Labour in the latest polls from Talbot Mills, they also run Labour...

Sensible or cynical? Yesterday, the Prime Minister announced the first of the Government's policies it will be scrapping in a bid to win back the support of those who have become disillusioned by Labour's lack of action and incoherent messaging. The TVNZ/RNZ merger has been scrapped for now. The hate speech reforms have gone back to the Law Commission. The Workplace Insurance scheme has gone, and...

A storm system creeping towards New Zealand has similarities to Cyclone Gita, which hit several years ago. Cyclone Gabrielle is now sitting off Queensland's coast in the Coral Sea, and is on track to hit the North Island at the end of this week. WeatherWatch’s Philip Duncan joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government has announced the minimum wage will increase by $1.50 to $22.70 an hour from April.   According to the ACT Party, the Government has now made it harder for businesses to take a chance on a young worker who is looking for a chance and are putting another cost on businesses at a time when about 30 percent of retail businesses aren’t sure they will survive the next 12 months. Leader Da...

You know it's an election year, don't you, because crime, law and order is front and centre. Although to be fair, crime has been making headlines since the ram raids, and since the Government kept telling us crime was going down and we didn't really feel like it was. Now, National’s police spokesperson Mark Mitchell has produced a set of figures from police that show the number of reported retail...

It’s back to school today for many children and if your household was anything like ours, it's full of nervous excitement and brand-new school bags for a brand-new class. Old mates and new mates. We cannot wait to hear the stories fresh off the playground on the first day back, and school should be exciting. It should be something that children do look forward to. It should be a safe place where c...

Now Stuart Nash is back as Minister for police, the first thing he wants to do is see the removal of ciggies from dairies as he thinks that's the answer to preventing ram raids. Steps have already been taken to get cigarettes out of corner shops, not because of the ram raids, but because of the health effects and the Smokefree Aotearoa policy. We have the prohibition of the sale of smoked tobacco...

1News broke the news last night that there may be a breakthrough in the management of forestry on the East Coast. Four cabinet ministers attended the meeting; Ministers Stuart Nash, David O'Connor, Kiritapu Allan and Meka Whaitiri. There was also Federated farmers, the forestry owners, Gisborne District Council, local mayor and Mana Whenua present.  To discuss this local minister and Regional Deve...

The first of stats are in regarding mortgage holders' ability to deal with the new and increased mortgage interest rates, and so far so good. Those with homes and mortgages collectively paid $3.5 billion of interest to banks in the December quarter, 53 percent more than just over a year earlier when interest rates were the lowest on record.   Record high wages have helped when it comes to mortgage...

The Student Volunteer Army has organised a Big Clean-Up of flood-damaged areas around the Auckland region for this weekend. Spokesperson Robbie Nicol joined Kerre Woodham to discuss the plans. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We have the cabinet reshuffle, of course, and although to me it's simply shuffling the same pack of cards, the same deck that has the same jokers and the same wildcards in it. You would have to say that Labour's done a pretty good job of rebranding itself as new and shiny and exciting. We no longer have a Minister for Covid, thank heavens. We do have a Minister for Auckland the first time since Ju...

A business leader claims Kiwi companies are being hit hard by a workforce shortage. Stats NZ's latest labour market figures for the December quarter, showing unemployment has inched up to 3.4 percent. Employers and Manufacturers Association head, Brett O'Riley, told Kerre Woodham we don't have enough highly skilled people. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There have been many stories emerging from frustrated travellers still stranded overseas because of flooding at Auckland Airport.   Leanne Geraghty, Air New Zealand Customer and Sales officer joined Kerre Woodham with the latest developments. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Auckland, Northland and the Coromandel Peninsula have been given red level weather warnings, the most severe warnings as more rain is forecast to fall on the sodden regions. NEMA has issued a safety warning that the heavy rain could cause flooding, slips and damage because the ground simply can't take any more. And one way of trying to minimize the load on already stretched first responders and em...

Timothy Welch, a senior lecturer in urban planning at the University of Auckland writes in The Conversation , when it comes to the Auckland floods, even stormwater reform isn't enough. He says we need to become a 'sponge city' to avoid future disasters. Auckland University's Timothy Welch joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One Auckland restaurant was forced to evacuate mid-service last Friday. Cassia owner Chand Sahrawat told Kerre Woodham that the prep kitchen was completely flooded. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Insurance Council Chief Executive, Tim Grafton told Kerre Woodham that for people with damaged homes, the most important thing is to photograph everything. He advises people to contact their insurer if they're experiencing vulnerabilities. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I am not surprised at all at the complete and utter chaos surrounding the transport to and from Elton John's concert at Mount Smart Stadium tonight. I'm really not. It's Auckland Transport for heaven's sake. Anybody who has lived in Auckland who has visited Auckland will know that AT are not terribly good at planning – and a massive piece of understatement - nor are they any good at executing, eve...

Look, we're not much into the year, are we? I suppose we're almost at the end of January. But there's another awful story about emergency housing about motels and the people being sequestered away in motels because authorities say there is nowhere else for them to go. In this case it is young people. It absolutely beggars belief that Oranga Tamariki can consider motel accommodation the best option...

New Zealand's annual inflation rate is 7.2 percent. Stats NZ has just released its Consumers Price Index for the 12 months to December 2022. It follows a 7.2 percent annual increase in the September quarter. The country's had months of high inflation - with prices frequently rising faster than at any time since the early 1990s. After housing and household utilities, the next largest contributor to...

Now some of you when we were talking about roading last year and the potholes and the damage being done to cars and trucks, the state of the roads, some of you might have been wondering what on Earth were banging on about? Most of us don't drive far. Short car trips under 2kms make up nearly a third of all car trips. So, listening to people talking about the appalling state of our roading infrastr...

Today on the show, Daniel Gerrard, CEO of Water Safety NZ called in to give Kerre his two cents on the recent drownings cropping up around the country. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I have come back rested and recharged and really looking forward to the year ahead. Especially given the PM's bombshell announcement last week. Any working parent of a young child would know exactly how Jacinda Ardern felt. This is a huge job, and while other prime ministers have faced challenges, Jacinda Ardern faced more than most. I think to pick herself up, to put herself out there for a year...

Here's a bit of good news. Good news… that seems a bit counterintuitive, but nonetheless we'll take it. We'll take any good news going. We've heard a lot this year about the anxiety young people are experiencing. Preventing them from attending school regularly in some cases, from going into the workplace, participating in the office life, or taking up employment altogether. And yet, according to a...