Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

The effects of Covid-19 are pushing many small to medium business to the brink. We heard it yesterday from many of our callers in the events or travel industries. One lady had a staging business involving marquees. She is upset that the events that are going ahead, are bringing their marquees and equipment in from overseas. Another caller responded that if you already own your marquee, you'll save...

This Mt Roskill Evangelical Church needs to be taken metaphorically speaking by the scruff of the neck and have its nose rubbed into the mess it’s made.  The church, which has now been linked with 43 Covid 19 cases, including all six reported yesterday, has been unhelpful, resistant and downright defiant in the face of edicts from the Director General of Health.  While people are in hospital, whil...

More than 5500 overseas based student loan borrowers have returned to NZ since April - nau mai, haere mai.  Welcome home.  But now you're here, if - and this won't apply to all of you - but if you're one of the bludgers who have refused to pay back your student loan, time to cough up, kids.  The arrogance of particularly overseas based student loan defaulters is legendary.   I've been banging on a...

We were talking on Friday about the shocking UNICEF report that showed how poorly our children are doing on so many many markers.  I'm sure you'll have seen the results by now - we were failing on just about every measure except air quality and water pollution.  And then as if to prove the point, a 10 month old baby dies in Starship Hospital over the weekend from injuries inflicted in the home.  A...

Yet more inconsistency and fluffiness from the government around rules for Aucklanders.  Aucklanders are being encouraged to travel to prop up the terminally ill travel industry, and yet at the same time, they're being told that they shouldn't be attending conferences out of the city.  What on earth is the difference between eating in a Queenstown restaurant and sitting in a Queenstown conference...

Normally when somebody apologises, that's it, it's over.  If you do it properly, there's an admission of guilt, acknowledgement of suffering, a promise to never do it again, and an explanation of the lessons learned.  However, the apology from embattled Greens co leader James Shaw has done nothing to quell the outrage over his decision to hand over nearly $12 million dollars to an alternative lear...

A doctor advocating against the End of Life Choice Actl is concerned it doesn't let doctors have a say. Palliative care doctor and University of Otago clinical senior lecturer Amanda Landers says it feels like an incoming freight train. She joined Kerre McIvor for an hour of talk back on the referendum, and says the Bill should have more reference to the medics who it affects. "A lack of safeguard...

Air New Zealand is reporting an underlying loss of $87 million for the 2020 financial year, compared to earnings of $387 million last year. Covid-19 has wiped out its first half result and statutory losses before taxation, which include $541 million of other significant items, were $628m, compared to earnings of $382 million last year. The after-tax loss was $454m and the airline is not making any...

A new report has revealed that a Ministry of Social Development initiative to provide emergency housing in fact made the housing crisis worse and lined the pockets of a small group of landlords and real estate agents who were in on the lurk.  The country has been paying for an emergency accommodation scheme put people in motels and hotels at market rates of more than $120 dollars per night for eve...

Last week, Kerre McIvor Mornings hosted former PM Helen Clark to talk about why cannabis should be legalised. Today, she talks to Aaron Ironside from Say Nope to Dope to discuss the other side of the campaign. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Age is just a number for a group of teenagers arguing to lower the voting age. Arguments are underway in the High Court at Wellington to decide whether the voting age is discriminatory. They say the current age of 18 is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act. Lawyer for Make it 16 Jason McHerron says international law doesn’t back restricting voting to those over 18. If anything, he argues it su...

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT The number of people losing their lives to suicide has seen a marked decrease, with the latest statistics showing the rate to be the lowest in three years. The annual provisional suicide statistics, released this morning, show that in the year to June 30, 2020, there was a drop from 13.93 per 100,000 people to 13.01. That is a decrease of 31 deaths. In comparison, last...

Jeremy called into the show to talk about Epidemiologists interpreting Covid-19 data the wrong way. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There will be no ban on the private sale and use of fireworks. Last year, a parliamentary select committee heard submissions on a potential ban after three separate petitions to ban fireworks sales garnered thousands of signatures. This week, the committee has decided to leave regulations and the current law unchanged. Auckland Council early last year voted in favour of asking the Government to ba...

Helen Clark is throwing her weight behind cannabis legalisation because she says the drug's already widely available. The Former Prime Minister told Kerre McIvor the referendum is a once in a generation opportunity to get this law right. Clark says there is currently an illegal market where organised crime profit. “It doesn't make sense to criminalise people who take this widely used drug. “ Helen...

In the past, I have been all for easing border restrictions, letting in foreign students, opening up travel corridors with safe countries.  That's because I assumed that what was happening WAS actually happening.  That border staff were being tested, that new arrivals were being kept apart from those who'd been quarantined longer and that they were being tested for Covid before being allowed back...

The Prime Minister's election decision was inevitable. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced the election will now be held on Saturday 17th October, four weeks after it was due to be held on September 19th. While the Electoral Commission said voting could safely happen under Alert Level Two, Ardern says she also had to factor in participation of voters, fairness and certainty. However, Arder...

Gerhard Sundborn, epidemiologist at University of Auckland and member of the Covid Plan B group, called into Kerre McIvor Mornings with his thoughts on the Government's Covid response.  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the country went back into lockdown yesterday, Auckland level 3 and the rest of the country level 2, it seemed a lot of people were mentally more fragile, despite knowing what was ahead. To share some advice, psychotherapist and co-host of the Nutters Club on Newstalk ZB Kyle MacDonald joined Kerre McIvor. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sorted's Money Week kicked off yesterday - this year's theme is about encouraging people to ask questions about money. 'Just wondering' reflects the explosion of questions about money Sorted have seen since the start of Covid, which for many has been a time of change and financial uncertainty. To answer your financial questions, Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson joined Kerre Mcivor in studio....

"Right from the very start of the coronvirus response, I have been confused by the government and the health ministry's response.  For the first three or four days, you had the police and the health ministry contradicting one another over what was and wasn't allowed under Level 4 lockdown. Neither the Police Commissioners office nor the Prime Minister's office could agree, initially, on what peopl...

National will require car insurer details to be displayed on registration labels if it wins the election. Leader Judith Collins revealed the policy on Newstalk ZB during an hour of talkback. National also wants to link the motor vehicle database with insurer details, to help assist in the smooth exchange of information. Collins told Kerre McIvor it'll make things easier for insured drivers. “What...

Long-time landlord and founder of Ockham Residential, Mark Todd, has written an opinion piece in The Spinoff titled, "Important message from a landlord: Calm the hell down about the new renting law". The article argues that the new legislation is welcome and hysterical critics need to get a grip. Todd also says "It is a privilege to be a private landlord. And it comes with a responsibility to be d...

A former Cabinet minister fears a line has been crossed in exposing extra-marital affairs of politicians. In an interview with Kerre McIvor, Steven Joyce said cheating by politicians was being "weaponised" and those levelling accusations and exposing the actions needed to press pause. "I think some of it has crossed the line because everyone is human," said Joyce. "Nobody is perfect and there's as...

GPs are still trying to work out how to safe and easily carry out Covid-19 testing alongside normal operations. The Government's urging anyone who is offered a test to take it. Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners president Dr Samantha Murton says access to tests has become varied across the country as testing facilities are scaled back. She told Kerre McIvor testing at general pract...