Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Auckland Transport is being criticised for a cycleway plan costing $8m per kilometre.  More than $144 million out of a billion-dollar city Council climate package will go on 18 kilometres of cycle infrastructure.  It's much pricier than Wellington's bike cycle plans at 1.5 million dollars a kilometre.  Greater Auckland advocacy website’s editor, Matt Lowrie joined Kerre McIvor.  “This 18 kilometre...

New Zealand is a nation of small and medium businesses. 97 percent of all firms are classified as SMEs. They account for 28 percent of employment and contribute more than 1/4 of New Zealand gross domestic product. It has never ever been easy to be a small to medium business owner. These days I don't know how you’re all surviving, what with lockdowns vaccine issues for both staff and customers, the...

Labour and National are making changes to their controversial housing bill which is being rushed through Parliament before Christmas.  The two parties came together for the bill to make it easier to build three buildings, of three storeys, on most sections in our biggest cities.  Initially, the bill allowed height to boundary ratios of 6m at the side and rear boundaries, but concerns over sunlight...

How you feeling waking up this morning knowing that the Ministry of Health thought it was a good idea for Auckland boundary restrictions to be lifted and the whole country should have been in orange, bar Auckland and Northland.  Apparently, in the recommendations to the government, there was even a wild and crazy public servant who thought it would be a great idea to start some of the South Island...

As you would have heard Mike discussing this morning, Christopher Luxon has announced his shadow ministers.  Audrey Young and the New Zealand Herald has done a great head-to-head with the shadow ministers versus Ardern and her cabinet, and there do appear to be a number of capable spokesmen and women who could ask tough questions of this Government now that the lineups been announced.   I think th...

Inland Revenue have undertaken its biggest-ever computer project, switching off its first computer system following a five-year transition to new technology.  Unisys last week unplugged the mainframe computers at its data centres in Auckland and on the Kapiti Coast that ran the tax system for more than 20 years.  The phased switch to a new software system has gone hand-in-hand with tax rules desig...

A solar farm big enough to power 20 percent of residential Christchurch is to be built at the city's airport.  Kowhai Park is 400 hectares of land at Christchurch Airport that will be used to generate renewable energy.  Phase one will deliver a 220-hectare solar array capable of generating 150 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 30,000 homes, on the airport campus.  Australian renewable ener...

An interim report into Pharmac has found issues with transparency, fairness and equity.  The independent review is the first since the drug buying agency was established more than 25 years ago, looked at how well it performs against its targets.  Pharmac Chief Executive Sarah Fitt boss accepts the drug buying agency needs to do better and they're working to be more transparent.  The ACT party have...

An interim report of a major Pharmac review has slated Pharmac over its fortress mentality as regards sharing information and its poor progress in addressing equity issues.   The review panel itself said it had been blocked from accessing information it needed, consequently making it unable to make meaningful comment about the performance of the agency.   The Act Party says the whole process needs...

When did it become a crime to own property in this country? Or indeed, when did it become a crime to be successful in this country? The attempt to destabilize the leader of the National Party has begun.    For a start, it was the religion and then that segued into his ownership of property. Remember the furor over Todd Muller's MAGA cap? He collected American political memorabilia and as a politic...

Speaking of new faces, new leader of the National Party!   The first email arrived just after the announcement, that as expected, Christopher Luxon would be the leader of the National Party. The email arrived from JG. ‘National have just lost my vote’ was the headline, and in the body of the email ‘a mere novice and another wrong leadership choice. A favourite of John Keys. How very unintelligent....

I received this text yesterday. “I'm a police officer of 12 years. Every day I wake up and say what's the point? We have no support from the top dogs. Every day could be the end. You don't feel like anyone cares.”  That was just one of the texts I received yesterday from police officers. Absolutely gutted that yet another call-out had ended in gunfire, death and hospitalisation, on top of the poli...

The closure of Kiwi YHA hostels is a massive blow to tourism. Due to financial difficulties, the eleven hostels will close from December 15. Haka Tourism has used the YHA hostels for its multi-day tours for the last few years. General Manager Eve Lawrence told Kerre McIvor the YHA had an amazing holding in New Zealand, knowing what clients want and need. “In some of the regions, this is gonna be a...

Flames are licking around the feet of Kāinga Ora bosses and Associate Housing Minister Poto Williams, as calls mount for the no evictions policy to be scrapped by the state landlord.  Litigation Lawyer Adina Thorn says the no evictions policy has to end - she's been inundated with dozens of stories from neighbours of Kāinga Ora tenants who have endured all sorts of abuse.  For example, an elderly...

Jamie Gray's piece in Monday's New Zealand Herald detailed what the Reserve Bank will do with the $55 billion in New Zealand Government bonds now Quantitative Easing is over.  There seems to be consensus the Reserve Bank will increase the Official Cash Rate today - but the question is, by how much?  Governor Adrian Orr will be making the announcement at 2pm, along with the Monetary Policy Statemen...

So, the winners and losers from yesterday's announcement - hairdressers can open as of Thursday, and spare a thought for the poor men and women behind the scissors. After more than 100 days in lockdown they will have at least 3 to 4 hundred heads to catch up on.  I can't even begin to imagine the bargaining, pleading and horse-trading going on trying to get an appointment in Auckland.   I enjoyed...

Downtown Auckland is sinking into anarchy and becoming a lot like 1980s New York City, just with fewer murders, a concerned resident has told city leaders.  "Auckland is internationally regarded as one of the safest, and most friendly big cities in the world. I think if things don't change before the borders are reopened - this is a reputation we will quickly, and irreparably lose," the resident s...

There is growing frustration over unruly Kāinga Ora tenants in south Auckland's Papakura and other areas around the country.  An internal policy at the state rental agency heavily discourages evicting problem tenants.  It's designed to prevent people being cycled through emergency and transitional housing - at a greater cost to taxpayers.  Neighbours are reporting noise, illegal parking, dumped ru...

So the noose around Auckland is finally loosening, but don't get too excited.    We have nearly a month before we can head out to other parts of New Zealand to reconnect with family and friends and inject some much-needed Auckland disposable into the economy.    And given that a number of districts most visited by Aucklanders are well below the 90 per cent vaccination target, how is it all going t...

This morning, the Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins spoke to Mike Hosking. He was explaining how, very soon, people would need to have proof of vaccination and that their boffins had been working on a digital passport - nearly a year after other countries had their passports operational.   But, nonetheless, the glorious day had arrived and people would be able to download proof of their vaccin...

When it comes to unruly Kāinga Ora tenants, the agency is hamstrung by an internal policy that stops them evicting problematic residents  It's to prevent them being recycled through emergency and transitional housing at further cost.  South Auckland Councillor Daniel Newman believes New Zealand taxpayers deserve better thank being held to ransom by bad tenants.  Daniel joined Kerre McIvor.  LISTEN...

I touched on this yesterday - stories coming out from people whose lives are being made misery because of anti-social Kāinga Ora tenants who are being protected at the expense of good law-abiding citizens.    In Avondale, a suburb of Auckland, a couple say they are at breaking point because of their Kāinga Ora neighbour.  72 noise complaints have been made against the woman in just seven months, a...

This is the one time where Chris Hipkins' many portfolios are perfectly aligned - Covid Response Minister and Education Minster.  He's made a tough call. Was it the right decision? I can't help feel that it was the only decision the Government could really make.  As a parent, I can see the impact on my children who haven't been able to see their friends. The zoom meetings just aren't cutting it. ...

Winston Churchill used to visit to bombed areas of London in a gesture of solidarity. He wasn't hunkered down.  What's our Prime Minister done? She's been down in Wellington.  She's said she knows the plight of Aucklanders. Nonsense.  She has no idea.  Tim Beveridge speaks ahead of Jacinda Ardern's first visit to Auckland in three months. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

The last time Rose Langbein joined Kerre McIvor, she was reporting from the Lower East Side in New York and was in her third week of lockdown. That was the 3rd of April 2020, when lockdowns and Covid were very new and novel! Since then, Rose has returned home to New Zealand to collaborate on her second book with her mother Annabel - Summer at Home. You can find it at your local supermarket and all...