Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Kerre McIvor shares her thoughts on housing intensification and NIMBY-ism below, and chats with National Party leader Judith Collins about finding the balance.  Residents in Christchurch are up in arms about ugly intensive housing developments popping up in their neighbourhoods.  They've started a petition, and National MP David Bennett is also behind a petition in Hamilton to halt a Kainga Ora ho...

The stoush between Rawiri Waititi and the Speaker of the House is absolutely absurd. If Waititi wants to wear a hei tiki shaped taonga around his neck into Parliament for goodness sake, he should be able to.  This stoush has been brewing for some time. Late last year, Waititi was warned that he faced being ejected from the House if he did not wear a tie, after refusing to wear one.  Well, after re...

A Royal Society of New Zealand panel has been brought in to improve students' declining maths results. The Ministry of Educations National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement shows only 45 percent of students in Year 8 are achieving at the expected curriculum level. It comes after a survey late last year found Kiwi students' maths knowledge in the first year of high school, is below all other...

It is still a big regret of mine that I lost my way with maths.  I was really enjoying maths for years and years and then I hit fifth form and either it was the change of teacher or I'd just reached my natural limit but one minute I had it, and the next minute it was gone.  One minute I was enjoying the glorious purity of solving equations, the next the numerals and symbols were just incomprehensi...

A chance to help young people through the justice system, and reduce reoffending. The Young Adult List separates 18-25 year olds from adult court, and offers extra support. It's being trialled for 12 months at Porirua District Court, and is being described as a huge success. Principal Youth Court Judge John Walker told Kerre McIvor one of the biggest problems the programme addresses is the complic...

A maths expert thinks politics are at play in New Zealand's record low maths results. An expert panel's been called in by the Ministry of Education for advice on improving students' maths results. A survey has found Kiwi students' math knowledge in the first year of high school ranks below all other English-speaking countries. Massey University mathematics professor Bobbie Hunter told Kerre McIvor...

Whatever your views on climate change, wherever on the spectrum you might be - from total denier to a Chicken Licken who thinks the world is going to end every time a Club Sport drives by - whatever your view, it doesn't really matter.  The world's governments believe that there is a moral and social imperative to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and they are enacting legislation to ensure that...

The Government is set to bring in Clean Car Import Standards from next year. Legislation will be passed this year, with a target to reach 105 grams of CO2 per kilometre by 2025. In the US, General Motors has announced they plan to eliminate gasoline and diesel cars and SUVs by 2035.  They say they'll invest heavily in electric vehicles and become carbon neutral by 2040. And now, a new study on Ele...

Here's a great example of making the most of having to quarantine. A 40 year smoking habit stubbed out in just 14 days. Twenty Russian and Ukrainian seamen kicked the habit during their MIQ stint - thanks to the help of one Canterbury nurse. Some 570 foreign mariners have made their way through Christchurch quarantine facilities since October. Amber Rex, a nurse working in MIQ, started a smoking c...

New Zealand First is being told it needs to turn back the clock if it has any hope of a comeback. Tracey Martin has left after 11 years in Parliament, saying the party struggles with women in leadership, and no longer reflects her values. The former Minister for Children and Internal Affairs told Kerre McIvor, in its prime, party members had a stronger voice. She says the public assumed Winston Pe...

Australia is taking an cautious approach to New Zealand's latest community case. All flights to Australia have been immediately suspended for the next 72 hours. Additionally, anyone who has arrived in Australia since January 14, are being told to self isolate and get a test. Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt says they took a number of factors into consideration beforehand. He says it was down t...

Well, as the experts have been saying it was only a matter of time.  A 56 year old woman, who completed her managed isolation after returning from overseas, has tested positive for Covid 19 after returning two negative tests.  She left MIQ on January 14th and on January 22nd, she was tested and shortly afterwards she received confirmation that she had the virus.  That's why Ashley Bloomfield was t...

These double standards around MIQ places has really get me riled.  Covid is supposed to have levelled us all. Those in jobs that were previously considered glamorous - airline pilots, adventure tourism operators, entertainers - have been left reeling from the international lockdown of countries. Those who are among the most poorly paid have shown just how vital they are in keeping communities goin...

An Auckland events company is hitting a brick wall seeking Health Ministry approval for an offshore conference. Promoters are finding applying for international acts more difficult. Fortis Events had planned a ship charter for a corporate client, to a replace a conference slated for Bali last year. Managing Director Joelle Talbot told Kerre McIvor the Ministry has suddenly limited them to 100 pass...

Sympathy from a New Zealand tennis tournament director, for the Australian Open tennis players facing quarantine across the ditch. Seventy-two players are now in hard quarantine and unable to train outside their hotel rooms for 14 days,  after positive Covid-19 tests on tournament charter flights. Authorities have ruled out giving them an exemption from the strict isolation rules. But Karl Budge,...

The happiest of New Years to you all - with all the nonsense in the States it looked like it was shaping up to be 2020 redux, but if we focused on what was happening in this country, things were rosy.  Beautiful, beautiful weather - young and not so young Kiwis heading off to music festivals - swimming, fishing, travelling the country and making the most of exploring stunning locations.  For many...

The New Zealand Foodbank Network is a new charity that opened in July in a bid to address food poverty from the Covid-19 pandemic. With a huge team behind them, The New Zealand Food Network will be delivering food to more than 650 frontline community groups across the country, feeding 15,000 people as this Christmas will be tougher than usual for a lot of New Zealanders NZ Food Network CEO Gavin F...

The dairy sector says they are already cracking down on nitrogen use on farms.  Earlier this week, Heather du Plessis-Allan spoke Nieve O'Flynn, the Greenpeace New Zealand Programme Director. Asked her what her top call to action for Climate Change was, O'Flynn says that there needs to be a phase out of synthetic nitrogen fertilisers. The very same day, Fonterra and Nestlé announced they are teami...

After months spent in lockdown, Kiwi musicians are getting back out and about around the country for the summer festival season. Amongst those heading on the road again is country star Marlon Williams. His latest album, Plastic Bouquet, came out last week, his first in two years, and he is heading on tour in February and March, with multiple dates already sold out. Williams joined Kerre McIvor to...

Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier has released a report after a surprise inspection of the Paremoremo facility, that claims there is a culture of containment, rather than rehabilitation. Just how we rehabilitate prisoners is the million dollar question. By the time you get to a prison like Paremoremo, is there an ability to change? Brain development educator Nathan Wallis joins Kerre McIvor to share h...

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced yesterday the Government has agreed in principle to a travel bubble with Australia next year, subject to decisions by Australian ministers. As we gear up to travel again, many people are wondering how travel insurance will work in the post-Covid world. Emirates was the first airline to offer complimentary global Covid-19 cover for travellers back in July, -...

I cannot go past Trevor Mallard's actions this morning. Maybe it's just me, but I find what he's done utterly appalling. It’s bad enough to call a man a rapist, when he is not one. I can’t think of many things worse than being called a rapist. Mallard than issues a personal apology on the very same day the inquiry into the mosque shootings are released. In effect, he was hiding under cover of the...

In the wake of the Government announcing a climate change emergency and a move to buying EV's, Genesis Energy has announced it's plans to replace its fossil-fueled electricity with renewables. Genesis wants to cut its annual emissions by 1.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2025. The plan will double the pace of Genesis’ earlier goals – and is equivalent to removing more than 272,000 petrol car...

Finally, the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch mosque shootings was released yesterday and I don't think there was anything that was news to us was there.  The intelligence agencies were focused on terrorism being solely the domain of Islamist extremist.  The police stuffed up when it came to granting the terrorist a firearms licence.  The officers didn't pay enough attention to th...

The Prime Minister and the Police Commissioner have apologised for failings connected to the Christchurch terror attack. The Royal Commission of Inquiry found police didn't meet required standards when they granted Brenton Tarrant a firearms licence. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster accepts they could have done more. He unreservedly apologised and says that administration of the Arms Act has not...