Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

A new initiative has been launched targeting young offenders entering the justice system. The Young Adult List will give 18 to 25-year-olds extra support in an effort to stop reoffending. Judge John Walker, the Principal Youth Court Judge who led the development of the programme, says often offenders come from a background of being exposed to trauma and abuse and those challenges do not expire whe...

Tenants rights could be strengthened soon. The Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill is due for its second reading in the House tomorrow. It will end no-cause evictions, meaning landlords' must offer more robust reasons for getting rid of tenants. Herald property editor Anne Gibson told Kerre McIvor it's a pathway towards creating tenants for life - similar to New Zealand's employment laws. "People...

Victorians will have to stay disciplined for at least six weeks -- after a state of disaster was declared yesterday. An overnight curfew has come into effect and there's also a ban on travelling further than five kilometres from home. The latest stats show 671 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours. Jase and PJ from the KIIS FM breakfast show in Melbourne join Kerre with their thoughts! Listen above ....

A former television personality is among many New Zealanders living overseas calling quarantine fees unfair. Belinda Todd lives in Brazil, but is back visiting her father in Christchurch.  Ms Todd told Kerre McIvor the Government has not taken into consideration those Kiwis' contribution to the economy before they left. She says many expats contributed a lot to New Zealand prior to them moving and...

Nearly one in five of Canterbury's 5 year olds has tooth decay - and Christchurch is New Zealand's only metropolitan centre without a fluoridated water supply.   Tooth decay is one of the most common causes of hospitalisation of New Zealand children - and we can do something about it as parents or grandparents and the politicians can do something about improving outcomes if they have the will. But...

New Zealand would be hard-pressed to follow Britain's approach to tackling obesity, with our lax advertising rules. The UK has launched a healthy eating campaign, backed by the Prime Minister after his diagnosis of Covid-19. The strategies include a ban on TV and online ads for unhealthy food before 9pm, and restrictions on store food placement. Auckland University professor of population nutritio...

New Zealand's effort to eradicate the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis has made significant progress, Biosecurity and Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor says. The number of infected properties has dropped to new lows, three years to the day since it was first detected in New Zealand, he said in a statement. "To date, 250 properties have been infected by the disease – with all but four now clear o...

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern's office has called a press conference at 11am. It won't say what the press conference is about. National leader Judith Collins says she's had a tip-off about inappropriate behaviour by a current Labour Minister. She says she's passed it on to the Prime Minister's office, which says it has no comment 'at this stage'. Newstalk ZB political commentator Barry Soper told...

Industry leaders say a number of infrastructure jobs could be lost if the full list of shovel ready projects isn't revealed. Early this month the Government announced it had selected 150 projects valued at nearly $3 billion. Four weeks later, details of only 30 have been released. Infrastructure New Zealand chief executive Paul Blair told Kerre McIvor contractors feel they have been left in the da...

A protest over DOC's new tahr culling programme brought traffic to a crawl in the Mackenzie District yesterday. The New Zealand Tahr Hunting Foundation wants an end to the programme to eliminate the Himalayan mountain goat from the area. Foundation spokesperson Willy Duley joined Kerre McIvor to discuss yesterday's protest and what they want to see happen enxt. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/list...

Kerre McIvor has torn into the Government and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern over the continued handling of the Covid-19 crisis.  Yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern outlined the framework of the next steps of the Covid-19 response. Amongst the plans was that another outbreak of community transmission could see alert levels enforced in different regions or communities. Ardern said the country...

Two high profile MPs have decided they don't have a future in a Judith Collins-led National Party. Nikki Kaye and Amy Adams have announced they'll retire at this year's election - having both served their respective electorates for 12 years. Former leader Todd Muller convinced Adams to rescind her original resignation, and lead the party's Covid response. But Adams told Kerre McIvor things have ch...

National leader Judith Collins has just announced her new shadow cabinet. She will be the Minister of National Security. Gerry Brownlee will be Minister for the SIS, GCSB and Covid recovery. Paul Goldsmith will retain the finance portfolio. Simon Bridges will be Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Justice. Shane Reti had already been confirmed as Minister of Health - and Nicola Willis has...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered Huawei equipment to be purged completely from Britain's 5G network by 2027, risking the ire of China by signalling the world's biggest telecoms equipment maker is no longer welcome in the West. The seven-year lag will please British telecoms operators who feared they would be forced to spend billions of pounds to rip out Huawei equipment much faster, but it...

National party leader Todd Muller has resigned, saying the job has become untenable from a health perspective. New Zealand Herald political editor Audrey Young told Kerre McIvor she's been lead to believe Todd Muller has had a mental breakdown. "I think he's largely pointed towards that himself.  It has all become too much for him, and last week was just the breaking point." Young says the pressur...

A former National cabinet minister says voting for a 'caretaker' party leader would be an injustice to the party and the country. The sudden resignation of Todd Muller will see the National Party caucus gather today to decide on a new leader. In the meantime, Nikki Kaye is the party's acting leader. Former Finance Minister Steven Joyce told Kerre McIvor his read of things is the mounting pressure...

Watch Sol3 Mio perform Three Little Birds for Kerre McIvor above NZ's greatest opera trio are back in town and taking to the stage once again in Auckland's Spark Arena next month. Sol3 Mio announced the news this morning. Following on from their hugely popular live streamed Spark Session during lockdown, Spark Sessions: Sol3 Mio will see the group perform with a live orchestra on Thursday August 1...

Kerre McIvor looks at a piece written by The Spectator's Kate Andrews, " The Magic Money Tree - What can Possibly go wrong?"  The UK government is being kept financially afloat through money printed by the Bank of England and the sums are vast. The magic money tree can't keep blossoming forever and questions are being asked as to how long this artificial market can continue.  Is the same thing hap...

Rio Tinto has announced its New Zealand Aluminium Smelters company will wind up operations in August 2021 - due to high power costs and poor outlooks for the industry. The Tiwai Point plant employs a thousand workers directly, and has created 1600 jobs in the wider community. Invercargill MP Sarah Dowie told Kerre McIvor thousands of people will lose their livelihoods. "Rio contribute are large am...

Former National Party president Michelle Boag has stood down from Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye's campaign for the upcoming election, a spokeswoman has confirmed. Kaye told the Herald Boag no longer has a role with the campaign. "Michelle held a position on the Auckland Central electorate and was on the campaign committee. She has stood down from both roles," the spokesperson said. Last night, MP...

text by Belinda Feek and Michael Neilson A new report that prefers Manukau Harbour over Northland for a new port is being slammed with the Government being urged to get back the $2 million that it paid for it. The Government officially today released the major new report on the options for relocating the Port of Auckland's freight operations, but deferred any decision on the issue to future govern...

Jacinda Ardern says a transtasman bubble is on "the horizon and real". Prime Minister is live on Newstalk ZB for an hour this morning, talking about a turbulent week in politics including David Clark's resignation and allegations of fraud by America's Cup officials. The fallout from the America's Cup yesterday saw the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment suspend further payment of monie...

China's parliament has passed the controversial national security law for Hong Kong, setting the stage for the most radical changes to the former British colony's way of life since it returned to Chinese rule 23 years ago. It comes in response to last year's often-violent pro-democracy protests in the city and will allow Beijing to punish acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with...

A New Zealand duo The Chicks gave their blessing for a Grammy-award winning band to change their name. Suzanne Lynch and Judy Hindman rose to fame as The Chicks when the sisters formed a singing duo in the 1960s, and had a string of hits make the NZ charts. They're known for their hits Miss You Baby and Stoney End, and Lynch went on to have a successful solo career. Lynch tells the Herald about th...

Chinese and Indian military commanders have met for the first time since a confrontation in the Himalayas that left at least 20 soldiers dead. India and China say they want peace but blame each other for a clash in which soldiers of the two sides savagely fought each other with nail-studded clubs and stones on their Himalayan border. Meanwhile, in China, state media has revealed draft national sec...