Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Spark said this morning it has reached a deal with TVNZ, which “will become the home of the majority of Spark Sport content, subject to rights holder agreement, from July 1, 2023.” NZ Cricket public affairs manager Richard Boock told the Herald that domestic cricket will be free-to-air on TVNZ and free-to-stream on TVNZ+. The public broadcaster will not paywall any content. TVNZ will take over the...

Fresh GDP data shows solid economic growth. The New Zealand economy grew 2.0 per cent in the September quarter, greatly surpassing expectations. Economists had expected just 0.9 per cent in the quarter. Services industries were up 2.0 percent and led the charge. NZ Herald Business Editor at Large, Liam Dann, joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may have seen the the documentary series that's aired on Three over the last two nights. "The Gangs ...14 Years Later" is made by Pam Corkery (also a former politician and documentary maker), as a follow up to her 2008 docos about New Zealand gangs. Pam goes back into the gang world to find out what's driving the massive changes we're seeing today - the increase in crime, violence and use of g...

As has been much discussed over the last 24 hours, the days of cheaper fuel and transport are coming to an end. Transporting New Zealand says the Government’s announcement is a kick in the guts for the transport industry. Transporting New Zealand Chief Executive Nick Leggett joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nobody, surely, would want a child to take up smoking. It's a ruinously expensive habit that is indisputably bad for your health and the Government has gone about protecting young people in a novel way by banning the sale of tobacco to anyone born after the 1st of January, 2009. It's one of the measures towards a goal of a Smokefree New Zealand, Smokefree Aotearoa. The others being reducing the am...

On occasion, I receive emails and texts asking me why I am so critical of the Government.  Fewer texts and emails are arriving this year than in previous years, to be fair, as it becomes more evident to even the most fanatical of devotees, that ideological decisions made with the best of intentions are actually harmful to the country and too many New Zealanders. To be fair, I would be critical of...

I suppose it's a bit unfair to conflate the two because there is absolutely no correlation between licensed firearm users and illegal gun use, I get that. And I suppose that an increase in the cost of a firearms licence is fair enough, given that licensing fees have remained static since 1999, according to the police. The police also point out that the cost - $126.50 or thereabouts, is less than 1...

I thought, given that it's FriYay, we could start today's show with a bit of good news, a bit of positivity. Incredibly to me, a survey commissioned by small business lender Prospa showed that New Zealand's small businesses are feeling positive heading into the Christmas holiday period. 514 businesses with between one and 49 employees - 73 percent of those said that they felt good about their over...

John Campbell's series on young offenders called Tough Love, which is running during One News couldn't be more timely given the agonising over what to do and how to deal with offenders as young as 10 years old. In this series, we've seen Craig Clark from Counties Manukau police and Jane King from Oranga Tamaki, and they realize that many of the young people that come to their attention come from h...

A key part of the Government's controversial Three Waters reforms has just passed its third reading in Parliament - the Water Services Entities Bill. It's the first of several bills to establish the new national water system. Deputy Political Editor Jason Walls told Kerre Woodham the bill has passed despite vocal opposition. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I heard Mike Hosking this morning talking about the significant pay rise expected to be given to professional firefighters later this year.   Firefighters will get a 24 per cent wage increase under a $145 million settlement agreed upon by Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) and the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union (NZPFU) today. It signals the end of a gruelling 18 months of negotiati...

You may have seen this documentary on television last night, Patrick Gower's latest offering is "On All The Drugs".   The doco attempts to answer a very broad and complex question: should we decriminalise drugs in New Zealand? Gower presented a variety of perspectives, from that of Australian MP Karen Andrews who’s firmly in the “war on drugs” camp, to University of London’s Professor David Nutt,...

First up, the Royal Commission of Inquiry. Finally, finally, the Government has acceded to requests from a number of different agencies and parties to launch a royal inquiry into the Government's handling of the Covid pandemic. Do not hold your breath waiting for the findings. Given the scope and breadth of the inquiry, it'll be mid-2024 before we can see any kind of official report.   It is being...

I hope you had a great weekend if you were at Billy Joel, wasn't it fabulous?! What a showman. What an amazing performer. I mean, Eden Park is not ideal acoustically, I guess for somebody like Billy, but he made it work. The crowd made it work. It was a wonderful, wonderful experience.  So if you were lucky enough to go as I was, then I hope you had a great night. We looked at getting a bus. My da...

The Government's backed down on a highly controversial element of its Three Waters reforms. It's dumping the entrenchment clause against water privatisation, which was voted through under urgency. Leader of the House Chris Hipkins says entrenchment was a mistake, and had wider implications that Government isn't comfortable with. It'll be ditched as soon as the House resumes tomorrow. Hipkins has w...

Not much of a feel-good Friday I'm afraid, given the report from Dame Karen Poutasi on the glaring errors and failings made by multiple Government agencies that resulted in the death of Malachi Subecz.  Most of us I think have a dead child that's ours. The one whose story we remember. Whose name we will never forget. Mine is Delcelia Witika.  She's would have been the same age as my daughter had s...

A damning report into the murder of five-year-old Malachi Subecz by his carer has found five critical gaps in the system. It makes 14 recommendations aimed at ensuring there are interlocking safety nets in place, so another child doesn't endure the same thing. A key recommendation is mandatory reporting from people in the field of suspected child abuse, which Cabinet will consider next year.   Chi...

I was listening to Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor this morning on the Mike Hosking breakfast as he big-upped our primary industry exports. About how they do reach a new record high of $55 billion in 2023, that they’re tracking strongly towards a 4 percent increase in the year ending June 2023, despite the global downturn. Damien O'Connor says there's some comfort knowing that demand for food...

Well wouldn't you know it, over the last few days, all of a sudden, the Government has become concerned about the victims of crime. Not just trying to love the ones who commit it into submission.   The focus seems to have switched. The police too are saying they're focused on catching criminals and what's more, they prepared to do tough things to catch them. Quite the seismic shift.   Police top b...

The controversial Three Waters Bill, which the Government hopes to pass through Parliament in time for Christmas it throw up another interesting and unusual issue last week - the question of entrenchment.  Entrenchment is a tool that is normally reserved for constitutional matters, governing how our elections run, for example: things like the voting age or the length of a parliamentary term or the...

A public law expert says he won't be surprised if the Government back tracks on moves to entrench part of the controversial Three Waters reforms. Under a last minute change, 60-percent of MPs would have to agree to overturn part of the Bill protecting water assets from privatisation. A group of legal academics have written to the Government, raising concerns about the entrenchment of non-electoral...

Sunny Kaushal, Chair of the Dairy and Business Owners Group, has been saying it for ages. This is a quote from an interview he gave some months ago. “Be under no illusion, it's just a matter of time before someone is killed or seriously injured and the Government will be to blame because they've taxed cigarettes to be worth more than a bottle of whiskey.”   That was when he was talking about the c...

National Party leader Christopher Luxon joined Kerre Woodham mornings to take calls and discuss the biggest issues New Zealand is currently facing. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The fatal stabbing of an Auckland dairy worker is being described as inevitable and entirely preventable. An offender entered Sandringham's Rose Cottage Superette about 8 last night, armed with a knife and took the cash register. The worker was stabbed, later dying in hospital from his injuries.   The offender is currently on the run. Dairy and Business Owners Group chair Sunny Kaushal joined Kerr...

Yesterday, after a young caller called in talking about the fact he hadn't been able to go into work because of issues around his mental health, I was surprised at the number of texts and emails I received almost immediately. These were from people who were either experiencing similar stress and anxiety themselves, or had family members who were. The texts came flooding in and now seeing the data...