Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

If Santa's listening, I wouldn't mind a Tesla for Christmas.  They're gorgeous looking cars, and by all accounts, go like stink.  But I wouldn't be able to head up to the Hokianga in it.  Wouldn't be much use on the metal roads or for actually doing any grunt work.  You wouldn't see many of them with pigs tied to the bonnet outside the Opononi pub. Yesterday, while announcing a climate emergency,...

What on earth does declaring a climate emergency actually mean?  Is it any more than hot air - which as we all know is damaging for the environment?  In the past that's all it has been.  Jamie Morton from the NZ Herald has written an excellent piece on this - he points out that, as of this year, 28 countries have declared a climate emergency along with 1400 local governments.  Nelson City Council...

The MP who first proposed a climate emergency declaration, hopes it will result in real change. Jacinda Ardern will introduce a motion to Parliament today to declare a emergency, similar to those passed by many councils around New Zealand and governments around the world. Green MP Chloe Swarbrick proposed a similar motion last year. Swarbrick told Kerre McIvor she's glad Ardern has taken up the id...

The government has acted with alacrity and introduced legislation requiring employers to offer all their employees 10 days annual sick leave.    A number of employers already do that – we have 10 days sick leave at this company, and I think half of the employers in New Zealand offer more than the legal limit. It has opted not to increase the maximum amount of sick leave that can be stockpiled by a...

Agri-Women’s Development Trust recently celebrated it's 10th birthday. The organisation came about as while women made up half of New Zealand’s primary sector, from farms to boardrooms, they had little involvement in decision-making but much to offer. AWDT has been quietly dismantling the idea of ‘the farmer’s wife’ - cultivating a new generation of female farmers and primary leaders one person an...

I'm sure the Helen Clark Foundation and the NZIER mean well with their calls for a big minimum wage boost.  They say the fallout from Covid - the lack of skilled migrants coming into the country; the cheap money that's gushing from the money fountain in Wellington - means that we're in a unique position to build a more inclusive economy that shares the gains.  NZIER deputy chief executive Todd Kre...

Last week, the world saw some optimism in the Covid world. Pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced final results from the late-stage trial of its COVID-19 vaccine. Results showed it was 95 per cent effective, with Pfizer saying the efficacy of the vaccine was consistent across age and ethnicity demographics, and there were no major side effects, a sign that the immunisation could be employed broad...

The old adage when it comes to children is one for mum, one for dad and one for the country, but the fertility rate among New Zealand women had fallen to the lowest level on record 1.63 - not even one for dad.  Statistics NZ figures show the fertility rate hovered around 2 for much of this century, even getting above the 2.1 replacement level in several years.  But in the past five years, figures...

In a Newshub report last night, new figures reveal Australia's crackdown on Kiwi criminals has caused an escalating crime wave in New Zealand. Since 2015, Australia has sent back over 2000 people and more than half have committed offences since being back in New Zealand. In total, they've now committed 9000 offences including home invasions, assaults, and child sex crimes, and more than 2000 insta...

The media last night and this morning - the television news channels, the newspapers, the radio stations - were all leading with the story that the Reserve Bank has put gasoline onto an already blazing hot housing market with the announcement that LVRs are set to return come March.  Theoretically, requiring a bigger deposit, which is what the loan to value restrictions require, will calm down the...

What to do about National?  At the moment, they are struggling to form themselves into a decent opposition far less an alternative government.  It's going to be hard - it's a bit like a poker playing sitting there with a couple of decent cards and a few duds.  You can shuffle them as much as you like but it's still not a winning hand.  Not the full house that Labour has.  I feel for Judith Collins...

Yesterday, we finally saw Joe Biden and Kamala Harris take to the stage as President and VP elect of the United States.  It was expected and has been anticipated for days now, but without Donald Trump conceding, it made things just a little more fluid, shall we say.  Trump has claimed voter fraud, without any real evidence, and although he has asked for recounts and is still threatening legal acti...

Sol3 Mio tenor Pene Pati could be on his way home from London next week after being denied an emergency application for a quarantine spot. The performer was in Germany when authorities announced they were going into a new Covid-19 lockdown, and after other performances in Europe were scrapped, Pati was forced to head home. However, Pati was kicked off the tarmac in London because he did not have a...

We still don't have a US president and we probably won't have one anytime soon.  At the moment, it looks like Biden will get the 270 electoral votes he needs, but Trump could conceivably get there as well - although a betting man wouldn't put money on it.  Speaking of Trump, I could not believe the righteous little tit that was on Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive show last night.  This young woman s...

Early vote totals on Tuesday night in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin appeared to give President Donald Trump a comfortable edge over former Vice President Joe Biden. But those numbers were never complete, and those tallies were changing overnight and into Wednesday as mail-in ballots from heavily Democratic areas in those states were counted. A big reason for the delay: Laws in each state ba...

Calls for a rethink of the school system before it drains curiosity out of our children. A University of Auckland study has found opportunities for kids to explore new ideas in schools are shrinking. Scientist Sir Ray Avery told Kerre McIvor we're dumbing our kids down, and weakening their ability to use applied knowledge. “We need to put creativity on the curriculum.” He says an apple drops to th...

The Ministry of Social Development has started charging people in motels and other emergency accommodation by 25 per cent of their income. The policy came into effect on Monday and is part of a broader plan to address homelessness. ME Family Services CEO Peter Sykes says charging for emergency housing was "taking from the poor and giving to the rich". Mr Sykes told Kerre McIvor the problem they ar...

Pharmac is struggling to cater to the demand of Kiwis. Chief executive Sarah Fitt says the drug buying agency works for the best health outcomes for New Zealanders, within its budget. Ms Fitt told Kerre McIvor they want to fund new medicines, but cannot afford everything. "Our job is to look at the evidence and make robust evidence-based clinical decision for the best of the whole country." She ad...

Housing was a big talking point in this year's election, just as it was in the 2017 election and deservedly so. There were 19,438 on the State House waiting list, up from 5,844 applicants on the Housing Register at the end of the month before the change of Government. And more than four thousand people are in emergency accommodation in motels. The situation is dire and not helped by the fact that...

The incoming Health Minister is being urged to overhaul the system, in the wake of Covid 19. Auckland University Emeritus Professor Peter Davis says Jacinda Ardern's appointee to the role has a raft of issues to address. He says there's an operational gap between ministry bureaucrats in Wellington and healthcare providers. Davis told Kerre McIvor the pandemic has exposed weaknesses in our digital...

Well, that's the election done and dusted, and the polls did in fact translate into votes on the day.  Jacinda Ardern has led Labour to an historic victory and has been given a mandate to deliver the policies she promised three years ago.  There was a failure to deliver on those three years ago. Excuses can be found and made and accepted for reasons why that was so, but there can simply be no excu...

The pressure is on Jacinda Ardern to make use of her new mandate to affect real change. Labour has secured 49.1 percent of the vote in last night's election - with National on 26.8 percent, Act on eight percent and the Greens on 7.6 percent. Political commentator Shane te Pou told Kerre McIvor there will be huge expectations on Ardern, now that she isn't reliant on New Zealand First. "If a party i...

NZ First leader Winston Peters has thanked voters, volunteers and NZ First staff around New Zealand at the Duke of Marlborough in Russell. "Ladies and Gentleman elections are bout democracy and what the people wish and we should never stop trusting the people," he said. "We committed ourselves three year ago to be a constructive partner with government. "To provide certainty and stability in a fas...

The country's "unapologetic Māori voice" is returning to Parliament with Rawiri Waititi wresting the Waiariki seat off Labour's Tāmati Coffey. "The people have spoken and I am absolutely overwhelmed that they have put their trust in me to represent them for the next parliamentary term," Waititi said. "I cannot thank them enough for having the belief in us as te iwi Māori to champion our own mana m...

Sir Cullen Michael says Labour's historic victory is a green light for much needed changes in climate action and transport infrastructure. But it is not a mandate for a lurch to the left in terms of tax or welfare reform, and any attempt to do so quickly could risk "middle-ground voters jumping off a cliff", the former Finance Minister told the Herald. Last night Labour secured a parliamentary maj...