Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Well there's a funny old thing.  Last week, I received a text from someone saying that we needed to be aware that Māori were being appointed to conservation councils replacing elected councillors and that this was being done without any consultation.  I'm pretty sure I read it out - it was a big week and maybe I thought I just did - but we did pass it on to our news room.  And then what do you kno...

A concerned father has spoken out after his 8 -year-old daughter was confronted by the sight of a naked man sunbathing while she was collecting rubbish on Pāpāmoa Beach. Dave Laidlaw, 41, was walking along the beach towards the Mount from Pacific View Rd with his two young daughters and was shocked when they saw the naked man because there were no signs indicating it was a nudist area, the Bay of...

The Police Association have slammed the government's public sector pay freeze as an unacceptable bombshell, and I couldn't have put it better myself.  Bombshell is right.  Had we been warned that New Zealand was facing a period of belt tightening in the wake of Covid, had we been advised that we must all be prepared for a time of austerity as we pay back the awful cost of lockdowns, had the govern...

Trevor Mallard is again facing pressure to stand down. The Speaker sparked a testy debate with National MPs last night after he said under Parliamentary Privilege a worker had committed sexual assault. Mallard has previously apologised to the worker for wrongly accusing him of rape. Leader of the House Chris Hipkins says the debate didn't reflect well on Parliament or the people involved, and Jaci...

The Speaker of the House needs to go.  He has continued a vendetta against a former staffer, a man he labelled as a rapist - a claim that cost taxpayers more than $330,000.  We paid Mallard's $175,000 legal fees, this is a man who earns $296,000 per year plus expenses and who has been paid by the taxpayer since he was MP for Hamilton West since 1984.  You'd think he'd have enough stashed away to c...

There's a very interesting piece in the Business Herald written by Tamsyn Parker. Bruce McGechan is an entrepreneur and business exit planning expert, who has written a book about selling your business without any regrets. He warns that many business owners who plan to cash up to fund their retirement are setting themselves up for disaster, if owners count on selling a business to fund their retir...

Politicians criticising a Government Minister for attending a Mongrel Mob event are being told to come and visit for themselves.  The Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson and Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt attended a gathering at the Hamilton gang HQ on Saturday. They discussed human rights, justice and racism in front of a room of patched members. It's sparked criticism from National and AC...

Politicians criticising a Government Minister for attending a Mongrel Mob event are being told to come and visit for themselves.  The Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson and Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt attended a gathering at the Hamilton gang HQ on Saturday. They discussed human rights, justice and racism in front of a room of patched members. It's sparked criticism from National and AC...

Carmel Sepuloni says her ministry could keep better track of how much its paying out for damaged motel rooms. The Social Development Minister fronted to Kerre McIvor after reports from RNZ that unknown sums of money has been paid to moteliers over damage caused by emergency housing tenants. McIvor described it as "wanton disregard for taxpayer dollars". "I really, really don't mind paying higher t...

Why is it that children only ever seem to need a doctor after hours?  When my daughter was little, it was ear infections.  She didn't get them all that often - about twice a year - but it was always at night time and I would have to head along and pay through the nose for an after hours medical service.  It can cost nearly $100 to visit an after hours practice and that's money a lot of people simp...

There was quiet, just for a moment, as hundreds of people standing in the intersection at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue crowded in to listen to the news. “They’re announcing the verdict!” someone shouted, calling for silence. Then thunderous cheering filled the place where George Floyd was pinned beneath a police officer's knee nearly a year ago, begging for air and his mother. Many people wept....

A group of 12 elite English, Spanish and Italian clubs dramatically split European soccer on Sunday by announcing the formation of a largely-closed Super League. They are leaving the existing UEFA-run Champions League structure despite warnings they could be kicked out of their domestic competitions and face legal action. The seismic move to shake up the world's biggest sport is partly engineered...

Nanaia Mahuta's speech on China isn't likely to have come as a surprise to Chinese officials. In a speech to the New Zealand China Council, the Foreign Minister says we need to diversify, and develop other trading relationships. The Foreign Minister says it won't be a shock to exporters that we need to become less reliant on China for trading. She says big exporters are already thinking of buildin...

The latest report from the Environment Ministry highlights concerns that highly productive agricultural land is being being eaten up by housing developments. The area of highly productive land lost to housing increased by 54 percent between 2002 and 2019. This will only increase as demand for land grows as our population grows. So just how do we provide quality urban housing that people want to li...

And here we go again. We find that a border security guard has not been tested since last November and that there is no system in place to ensure front line border workers are in fact getting their tests and their vaccinations.  MIQ authorities have relied on individual employers and paper trails to ensure workers are complying and the PM has laid the blame fairly and squarely on the security guar...

Claims of a Government attack on Reserve Bank autonomy. An economist is criticising the unprecedented pressure over property inflation. Finance Minister Grant Robertson asked the bank in February to act to support sustainable house prices. Otago University's Dennis Wesselbaum told Kerre McIvor it's raising red flags. "Former US Presidents Nixon and Trump tried to interfere in monetary policy, and...

In my year of living fabulously, the year I had off while I waited for this role to become vacant, I did lots of things that I suddenly found I had time for and one of those was jury duty.  I would have done it before but I'd never received the call up.  Now all of a sudden, my name had come up on the electoral roll and I was being called to fulfil my civic responsibility and I was thrilled to the...

Kiwi kids' science skills are suffering. The Education Review Office has released a report into improving science studies. Only 20 per cent of Year Eight students are achieving at the desired level, and the performance of Year Nine students has declined. The ERO says this is concerning, and indicates an urgent need to strengthen science teaching in New Zealand. "Covid-19 has showed us how importan...

Most of us have debt - anyone with a mortgage has an eye watering amount of debt but when push comes to shove, that's good debt.  You are investing in an asset - hopefully - and you know that the payments you are making are putting a roof over your family's head.  Even student loans, which is the first big debt that many young people incur, can be seen as an asset if you've chosen your courses wis...

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is making the case for a global minimum corporate tax rate, saying it's important to make sure the ‘global economy thrives based on a more levelled playing field.' Yellen has called on OECD countries to agree on a global corporate minimum tax rate. They've proposed 21 percent - and surprisingly, some big players are on board like Amazon's Jeff Bezos. NZ Herald Bu...

Disappointment there's still no announcement from the government on international students. CEO from Aspire2 International Claire Bradley says they thought the trans Tasman bubble would free up more space in MIQ for students. But she told Chris Lynch the Government's looking to disestablish some facilities. Bradley says the sector desperately need a plan from the Government LISTEN ABOVE See omnyst...

The public housing waiting list has hit new highs. At the end of January, more than 22,803 households were waiting for a place to live, that figure is thousands higher than it was the previous year. Meanwhile, more than a million dollars a day is being spent on motels to use as emergency housing. More and more families are struggling to afford to washing and are accessing a mobile laundry service...

The Government has been praised for spending it up and providing a fairer New Zealand, but who is paying for it in these post-Covid times? Back in February 2020, Alison Brook from Massey's Knowledge Exchange Hub wrote in a piece for interest.co.nz that while many advanced countries have suffered from falling productivity growth since the global financial crisis, New Zealand’s productivity performa...

Yesterday the Prime Minister confirmed another rise in the minimum wage.  The minimum wage went up last year to $18.90.  On Thursday, it will rise to $20 per hour.  Benefits will also increase this Thursday - and the PM says the changes represent real and long overdue changes.  She says that the level that the previous benefit rates were set at were far too low for people to survive.  She's not wr...

Does the housing market need a price correction to get New Zealand through the crisis?  That's the argument made by NZ Herald business writer Liam Dan. He wrote yesterday: "Markets where prices never fall are unhealthy and almost always artificially distorted by bad policy." At some point there needs to be a correction as "corrections lessen the risk of more damaging, uncontrolled crashes." Dann j...