/on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/rss 九一星空无限 KERRE WOODHAM MORNINGS Audio Opinion This is the show that delivers a little bit of everything. 九一星空无限, opinion, analysis, lifestyle and e Sat, 18 Oct 2025 23:52:46 Z en /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-should-there-be-name-suppression-for-child-sexual-abusers/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-should-there-be-name-suppression-for-child-sexual-abusers/ I can't think of much worse than being labelled a child abuser, a child pornographer. It's such an abhorrent, vile, aberrant perversion of a crime. All crime is evil. But when it involves children, there's something particularly sickening about it.  Those who collect images of babies and children being sexually abused, in my opinion, are as culpable for the torture of these children as the men and women who actually inflict the damage. They deserve a special place in hell. And let's face it, the next world may be the only place where true justice will be delivered, because justice doesn't often get delivered in this world.  Last month, a member of an affluent New Zealand family convicted of having extreme child abuse material gave $50,000 and a bit of change to charities days before he was due to be sentenced.  The judge worked out his sentence this way: a starting point of five and a half years imprisonment with no mitigating features to his offending. So five and a half years, I think that's a bit light, given that without sick creeps like him, there wouldn't be an industry in child abuse, but there we go.  So five and a half years is the starting point. Then we get a 25% discount for the early guilty plea, 5% for remorse, 10% for rehabilitation attempts. He's had 50 one-on-one counselling sessions, and isn't he lucky he comes from an affluent family, so he can afford them, there was a further 3% reduction to represent the donations he made, for previous good character, there was another 5% discount. And the judge also outlined his long history of mental unwellness. ADHD and referred to a traumatic incident the man had suffered. For these factors, his sentence was reduced by a further 8%. An overall discount of 56%. He ended up with two years and five months imprisonment. He'll be out in no time. The man was automatically placed on the child sex offenders register. So that's good, isn't it? Because then you'll be able to find out who he is and if he's going to be working around children again, or if you decide to take up with him because he seems like a well-presented educated man and you're single and he's single, and oh, then you find out he's on the child sex offenders register.  But no, the man's name, his family's name and their high-profile company were permanently suppressed.  As we all know, nature abhors a vacuum, and human nature abhors a vacuum when it comes to information on offenders from prominent families. So, if the court won't name him, the internet will. And it doesn't matter if they get the wrong person because the internet's the wild west and no one's accountable. If the court's not going to give us the right person, well, bugger it. We'll just go out and we'll name everybody. Anybody and everybody, even if they're not 46. Even if they're not in prison. We'll just name them anyway. I simply do not believe anything I read or see on the socials. Mainstream media gets it wrong all the time, but at least we are accountable. If we go out and name Wayne Wright Jr or Matt Mowbray as the prominent New Zealander with child abuse material, we have to retract, we have to expunge the content off the internet, we have to apologise, we have to pay enormous fines.  Spreaders of disinformation on the net don't have to do a thing. And so anyone and everyone can be named and shamed, and if you come from a prominent or an affluent family, and a member of your ilk, your social cohort has received name suppression, well, you're in the firing line.  Same if you're a prominent sportsperson. They use the term prominent sportsman or prominent sportsperson, if you've once played pickleball for a masters age group tournament in Noosa. They use it for just about everybody and everything. So anybody who's ever played sport at any level, could be included as a prominent sportsperson.  In the case of this child abuser, Wayne Wright Jr and Matt Mowbray have alre... Fri, 17 Oct 2025 00:25:03 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/wayne-wright-jr-businessman-on-name-suppression-in-child-abuse-cases/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/wayne-wright-jr-businessman-on-name-suppression-in-child-abuse-cases/ A businessman from a prominent family, Wayne Wright Jr was falsely identified on social media of being a name suppressed individual from a wealthy family who was charged and sentenced for knowingly possessing thousands of objectionable material files and knowingly importing the content. Mat Mowbray was also incorrectly as the person, but the Herald and a document from the Ministry of Justice have confirmed it's not him. The men believe that people convicted of sexual offences against children should never have name suppression.  Wright says he is lucky to have a platform to defend himself but less prominent individuals could have their lives ruined by these type of rumours. LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 16 Oct 2025 23:43:15 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-state-houses-are-a-launchpad-not-a-permanent-solution/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-state-houses-are-a-launchpad-not-a-permanent-solution/ Fewer state houses, more private rentals. The New Zealand Initiative believes that giving tenants vouchers to spend on rent could help more vulnerable people and save taxpayers money. And Sir Bill English agrees. In a rare interview on the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning, the former Prime Minister says providing state housing is not just about putting a roof over the head of a vulnerable family.  You know, the point of social housing is to change lives. And that means focusing on the people more than the houses. And it means who owns the houses is less important than what you're doing to support the tenants. All housing solutions are local, and all housing solutions are about individuals and families. So, you know, how many houses should someone own who is supporting and understanding the needs of tenants and taking part in a community?  Well, you need a bit of scale, you know, probably a few thousand houses. I think Tāmaki Redevelopment Company has got about 5,000. That looks about a good scale. What we found though, was impressive energy and innovation with everyone from Autism New Zealand to Iwi and NGOs, private developers who can do a better job of this than Kāinga Ora.  Well, yes, this is not new, but it's been spelt out fairly explicitly in the New Zealand Initiative report, “Owning Less to Achieve More”. In the report, the authors said the large-scale government housing ownership was problematic, wasteful, and not the most effective way to help people into homes.  On the evidence, it is plausible that both taxpayers and tenants could be better off if the government were less dominant as a landlord, and if its subsidies empowered tenants by giving them a greater choice of landlord. That's according to the report author, New Zealand Initiative senior fellow Dr. Bryce Wilkinson.  The report went on that state housing agency Kāinga Ora's maintenance costs were nearly twice that of a private landlord, and it had not been good at managing rent debt or dealing with troublesome tenants.  We know that. We've heard from contractors during the Labour years of the absolute rorting that went on when it came to invoicing for work done. As soon as the job came in and you knew it was a job for KO, you simply inflated the invoice. Nobody was going to be checking. They told us that was going on all the time across every division of Labour. Matt Crocket, who's running KO right now, is doing a good job of getting back to basics, but the point remains that there will be people and agencies who can and do a much better job, not just of housing people, but as Bill English said, of getting people into a position where they can get into their own home, or when that's not possible, of helping them live truly meaningful lives.  I remember Bernie Smith too, the former Monte Cecilia Housing Trust CEO, saying that the reason they didn't have as many problematic tenants in their social housing was because they had case managers who knew the tenants. Their case managers weren't overwhelmed with tenants and problematic tenants. They knew the tenants' trigger points, they could head off trouble before it started.  The report says government issued vouchers for people to spend on rent would give people more choice and empower them.  And according to the report, that way the government could help people without having to own the houses and give money where it was most needed.  The report author says the person uses it to find the best trade-off for themselves. If they've got extra expenses for children with disabilities, they might choose a cheaper house at less rental and use the cash to help pay for their education or medical services or vice versa.   Empowerment. Now, there's a thing. Choice. There's a thing. But it will come down to an absolute clash of ideology. The idea of giving vulnerable people choice and empowerment is completely alien to the previous ethos, which was, we will... Wed, 15 Oct 2025 23:55:51 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/paul-gilberd-ceo-of-community-housing-says-focus-should-remain-on-helping-the-most-vulnerable-people/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/paul-gilberd-ceo-of-community-housing-says-focus-should-remain-on-helping-the-most-vulnerable-people/ A report by The New Zealand Initiative finds the Government's ownership of 77,000 state houses has maintenance costs nearly twice that of a private landlord. It finds it also doesn't respond quickly enough to issues like rent arrears, and troublesome tenants. CEO of community housing Paul Gilberd told Kerre Woodham that the top priority for government housing is to support society's most vulnerable people.  'We're seeing huge surge in, youth and older adult and women's homelessness, which is very much hidden because women in particular are not safe on the streets.' LISTEN ABOVE Wed, 15 Oct 2025 23:37:40 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/clare-de-lore-chair-of-the-press-gallery-under-jim-bolger-pays-tribute-to-late-prime-minister/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/clare-de-lore-chair-of-the-press-gallery-under-jim-bolger-pays-tribute-to-late-prime-minister/ Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger has died at the age of 90. He was New Zealand's 35th prime minister, in power from 1990 to 1997. After leaving Parliament in 1998, Bolger became New Zealand's ambassador to the United States and later Chancellor of the University of Waikato. Clare de Lore is a journalist who was Chair of the Press Gallery at the time Jim Bolger was Prime Minister, and a close friend of the family. She told Kerre Woodham that, 'it was a really happy environment in which he was until very recently when he had to go to hospital.' LISTEN ABOVE Wed, 15 Oct 2025 23:20:52 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/bosses-unfiltered/episode-2-rod-duke/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/bosses-unfiltered/episode-2-rod-duke/ Rod Duke has been selling things since he was 16. First shoes, then appliances, and eventually homewares and sportswear.   Born in Adelaide, Duke came to New Zealand in 1988 to spruce up a flailing Briscoes for sale. Two years later he scored the best Briscoes deal ever, he bought the whole company himself for $2.   He ended up with 12 shabby stores, where dusty wine glasses were sitting on the shelf for $2.71 each.   But it didn’t take long for Duke to turn the business around. Today, there are almost 100 Briscoes and Rebel Sports stores around the country, and Briscoes is a listed company that’s been defying the odds of the economic downturn.  The Briscoes boss unpacks it all with Kerre Woodham on the latest episode of Bosses Unfiltered.  LISTEN ABOVE Wed, 15 Oct 2025 22:45:12 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-failure-of-fees-free/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-failure-of-fees-free/ Do you want another example of Labour's ideology over pragmatism? I really, really hope that the previous Labour ministers have learned from their previous terms in government that thought bubbles and bright ideas do not sound policy make.   Remember Fees Free? The policy was introduced in 2018 and was a key part of Labour's election campaign. The first year of tertiary study would be free for students. It would progressively roll out to cover three years, which never eventuated. We, the taxpayer, provided up to $12,000 in tuition fee payments for the first year of provider-based study or the first two years of work-based learning. The idea behind the objective was sound and worthy.   The Labour Government, Jacinda Ardern, Chris Hipkins, et al, billed it as improving equity and opening the doors to higher learning for disadvantaged people for whom the doors would otherwise be closed. Labour expected to see a first-in-family effect. There would be students who would be the first in their families to attend higher education, now a significant cost barrier would be removed.    Did that happen? Thank you for asking, no, it didn't.   Over the years 2017 to 2022, European, Māori, Pacific, and Asian participation rates stayed relatively steady. The failure to shift the dial, the New Zealand Herald reports, was so evident that in 2020, Labour shifted the policy's purpose to reducing student debt levels. All right, well we can't get disadvantaged kids to university, we can't get first in family. Oh, I know, we'll use the taxpayer money to reduce student debt level.   The failed objectives were to increase participation in tertiary study, expand access by reducing financial barriers, and support lifelong learning. Nope. First year fees-free was limited to learners with little to no prior study, limiting lifelong learning support, the analysis said from the Ministry of Education. It described the scheme as a lot of money for little behavioural change, or as they put it, a high deadweight cost.   From this year, the Coalition Government has changed the scheme so it applies to the final year of study, with payment following the completion of studies. The policy has three objectives: to incentivize learners, particularly disadvantaged learners, to finish their studies, to reward learners who complete their program of study, to reduce the overall cost of study.   The Ministry of Education officials say this is going to fail too. Particularly for degree level study, once a learner reaches their final year, they are already far more likely to complete than those first entering study. So basically, they said it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.   By the time you reach your third year, you're going to finish whether the taxpayer is paying for your final year of fees or not. You're motivated enough to stay. They say the second goal is essentially meaningless. Of course there's going to be a completion of qualifications. And the third objective, will most likely succeed, to reduce the overall cost of study. And it will at least help the government's books, the trade-off being an estimated $230 million a year in student debt or more debt repayments than would otherwise occur.   So thought bubbles don't make sound policy. The thing that really concerned me in the early years of Labour was that they were ideas I'd think of – ‘Oh, I know, let's do this’. Which is great, but you have to think it through, and you have to listen to your advisors, and you have to listen when people say, "Mm, I'm not entirely sure that we're going to be able to build 100,000 houses." "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but what about if we do this?" And we just throw as much money as we possibly can at it.    And on the face of it, taking away that first year of paying your fees – "Hey, gang, I've got an idea. Let's take away that first year of fees so that disadvantaged kids will see university as a great option." I mean, it... Tue, 14 Oct 2025 23:55:52 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/mark-mitchell-police-minister-on-the-support-available-for-those-wanting-to-leave-gangs/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/mark-mitchell-police-minister-on-the-support-available-for-those-wanting-to-leave-gangs/ What do you do if you want to leave a gang?  A coroner has found that Napier Mongrel Mob leader Neil Angus Benson, otherwise known as Heil Dogg, felt trapped in his position in the gang in the months leading up to his suicide in December 2024.  In his report, Coroner Wilton said Benson appeared to be under "psychological strain of his leadership position in the Mongrel Mob gang".  “He also described an internal dilemma: wanting to exit the gang lifestyle, but recognising he was too deeply involved for a straightforward exit.”  So if you want out, what can you do?  Police Minister Mark Mitchell told Kerre Woodham that from a government perspective, there is a significant amount of support they can provide.  He says if someone makes the decision to leave and has the fortitude to follow through, the Government will get alongside them and help them.  LISTEN ABOVE  Tue, 14 Oct 2025 23:49:19 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/kirk-sargent-first-foundation-ceo-on-the-programme-supporting-lower-socioeconomic-students-through-tertiary-study/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/kirk-sargent-first-foundation-ceo-on-the-programme-supporting-lower-socioeconomic-students-through-tertiary-study/ Another option to go alongside fees free study.  The Labour Government introduced First Year Fees Free in 2018, providing tertiary students with up to $12,000 in tuition cover for the first year of provider-based study, or the first two years of work-based learning.    The Coalition Government has changed the scheme from this year, applying it to the final year of study instead.   The policy had three objectives, to incentivise learners, particularly disadvantaged learners, to finish their studies; to reward learners who complete their programme of study; to reduce the overall cost of study.  However, officials say, like its predecessor, this policy is likely to fail too.   First Foundation is a wraparound programme that picks up academically talented but low-income students in year 12, giving them support, mentorship, and financial assistance for university.    First Foundation CEO Kirk Sargent told Kerre Woodham they’d welcome the chance to grab that $12,000, invest it into young people and get more people coming through the tertiary environment.  He says New Zealand has a productivity issue, and programmes like this could be a solution that would benefit the economy in the long run.   LISTEN ABOVE  Tue, 14 Oct 2025 23:39:28 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-our-kids-are-back-on-track/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-our-kids-are-back-on-track/ I love the fact that New Zealand Education Minister Erica Stanford and the Prime Minister presented improved reading stats to the nation yesterday. Erica Stanford was very quick to praise teachers for the much-improved results in phonics reading. She said this is an incredible improvement in reading scores in less than half a year and reflects the brilliant work teachers are doing, and it does.  Teachers have had a difficult time with changes in curriculum and dealing with increasingly disruptive children and school closures during Covid – it has been a difficult time. But when given a challenge, and when given a mandate, and given the tools to help do it, they rose to the challenge and the results have been, in these very early stages, remarkable.   There needed to be a turnaround. New Zealand's reading results have been declining since 2006 in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, which is done every five years, and just about every international test where we mark ourselves against other countries we have been on a downward spiral. Interestingly, educators, teachers, principals insisted that it's just tests. Our kids don't like tests, they don't like being compared, it's a very crude way to measure achievement. No, not really, it's not. It's an accurate assessment of where we were at. And where we were at was dismal.   The results from this year look extremely promising. Data showed 58% of students were at or above expectations at their 20-week phonics check in Term 3. That's up from 36% in Term 1. So they were measured after Term 1 – the little five-year-olds were at or above expectations, 36% of them in Term 1, and that has moved to 58% in Term 3.  In Term 3, 43% of students were classed as exceeding expectations, more than double the Term 1 rate. For Māori students in mainstream education, 47% of them required further support with phonics in Term 3. That is down from 62% of them needing support in Term 1. So to put it in another slightly more positive way, in Term 1 a quarter of Māori students were at or above expectations, by Term 3, that was 43%. So that's a significant difference. Education Minister Erica Stanford says this is only the beginning.    “From next year, twice a year, every year in reading, writing and maths, there'll be a progress monitoring check-in. I do not call it a test. But we will be essentially assessing every child from year three to make sure that they're on track with their reading, writing and maths. And that includes higher level literacy like comprehension.”  I have absolute faith that we'll see a lift in children's educational achievements under the new curriculum. Structured literacy, which involves explicitly teaching word identification, including through phonics, became mandatory in schools at the start of this year. Certainly it was used in many schools before this, but not necessarily by every teacher at every year level. It was very much hit and miss, and that was one of the things they talked about in the election campaign. They didn't want educational success to be by postcode because one principal did things one way and another principal did things another way. They wanted a standardized education for every child right across the country, and one that worked.  Labour leader Chris Hipkins was quick to claim credit for the structured literacy program, telling reporters after the press conference yesterday the scheme had been underway under the previous Labour government. It was being rolled out, he said. We were in the early stages of rolling it out, but then we lost the election. Clearly, we believe in it, we developed it, the vast bulk of the work around structured literacy was done when Jan Tinetti was Associate Minister of Education and I was the Minister. Right. You had six years to make the changes, being generous, to look at the science and introduce a best practice for all of our Kiwi kids, but you didn't. You d... Mon, 13 Oct 2025 23:00:57 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-voting-matters-dont-scramble-at-the-last-minute/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-voting-matters-dont-scramble-at-the-last-minute/ Well, better late than not at all. On Saturday morning, I went upstairs and said to my daughter, "Have you seen the orange envelopes that had all the voting?" "Oh, hell. Today, isn't it?" she said. "Yes." So we scrambled around and found it in that drawer that has everything, where they'd been since they arrived in the mail. And we had until midday to vote, so both got down to it, and I took hers in with mine to drop into the local library. I knew who I wanted to vote for, so that was relatively simple. And picked up her voting papers in the sealed envelope and mine, and went to our local library, and dropped them in.   Which is what I did last local body elections. Scrambled around, but I had to make a special vote because I couldn't find my papers and posted them in Hamilton, at a library in Hamilton, just on the stroke of midday. I didn't even know if my vote counted, but hopefully it did. Hopefully I made it in time, and this time it certainly should. I wasn't the only one leaving it to the last minute, and I wasn't the only one scrambling around trying to get a special vote, as I'd done in the previous local body elections. The library was absolutely chocker when I went in there to post the envelopes. There was probably around about 30 odd people sitting on chairs and another 20 waiting to cast a special vote. At least we were trying to have our say. At least, even though we'd left it to the very last minute, we were trying to have our say in local body elections. And hopefully, by the time all of the special votes have been counted, the voter turnout will come up slightly because at the moment, it's the lowest voter turnout in 36 years. Less than a third of us, 32.65%, bothered to have our say. Of those who did, typically, it's the lazy city goers who were the most useless. In metro areas, only 28.8% cast their votes. Those in the provinces, 38.3%. While the rural turnout, yet again, it's the rural folk doing the heavy lifting, 43.6%. Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch saw mayors elected with a landslide, if you can call it that when you've got such a low proportion of voters turning out. Local Government New Zealand wants to get voter turnout to 80%. As they say in the Placemakers ad, tell him he's dreaming. Mayor Brown called it a strong endorsement to finish what he started, which is over-egging the omelette. Andrew Little felt thrilled, excited, and somewhat daunted by the job ahead as Wellington Mayor. And Phil Major was surprised at the size of his majority. To be honest, I'm not particularly enthused about re-electing Wayne Brown. I did, but because there was very little in the way of options. He's not the most engaging of personalities, but, you know, when you're looking for a mayor, he turns up sober, gets things done, hasn't bonked anyone in the Ngati Whatua room. You know, so go Wayne. Better than you can say about other mayors around the country and in the past. And that's kind of how you get elected these days. If you're vaguely adequate, then people voters just think, thank heavens, and give you the tick. How on earth do we get a better turnout and more engaged communities? Councils matter. In 2024, councils across the country were responsible for $217 billion dollars' worth of assets and employed 39 and a half thousand staff. They had a collective spending power of $20 billion dollars. It really matters. That's our money. Political parties know the power of controlling these assets. Blocks of politically motivated people try to get on councils to push their agendas through. And they can do that because of the apathy of the voters. I mean, look what happened in Wellington. But what do we do? I think I'm preaching to the converted here. I imagine most of you would have been very sensible and cast your vote long before Saturday morning like me. But you and I are interested in politics. We know that we have a responsibility to vote. Don't we? I'm imagining that most of you would have turn... Sun, 12 Oct 2025 23:41:25 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/sir-lockwood-smith-former-speaker-of-the-house-on-the-governments-new-methane-targets/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/sir-lockwood-smith-former-speaker-of-the-house-on-the-governments-new-methane-targets/ The government has changed methane targets, aiming to make the changes easier for farmers.  The Government's slashed the 2050 targets to 14% to 24% below 2017 levels, it was previously 24% to 47% lower than previously. Former Speaker of the House Sir Lockwood Smith told Kerre Woodham that this change is the right decision.  He said that it would be a bad idea to impede New Zealand's meat and dairy production when the business will fall to 'countries that actually put out more methane and more carbon dioxide in producing it.' LISTEN ABOVE Sun, 12 Oct 2025 23:36:16 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/andrew-geddis-otago-law-professor-on-why-postal-votes-for-local-elections-should-be-phased-out/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/andrew-geddis-otago-law-professor-on-why-postal-votes-for-local-elections-should-be-phased-out/ This year’s local government elections have seen the lowest voter turnout in 36 years, with less than a third - or 32% - bothering to have their say. Of those who did, the contrast between the urban rural divide was stark. In metro areas, only 28.8% cast their votes, provincial people made up 38.3% while rural turnout was 43.6% Local Government New Zealand says it is clear local elections have to change urgently - they'd like  to see a voter turnout of at  least 80%. University of Otago Law Professor Andrew Geddis told Kerre Woodham that moving away from postal ballots could be the way forward.  'We can't keep using postal ballots because the postal service is disintegrating.'  LISTEN ABOVE Sun, 12 Oct 2025 21:48:23 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-te-p%C4%81ti-m%C4%81ori-and-their-continued-breaches-of-protocol/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-te-p%C4%81ti-m%C4%81ori-and-their-continued-breaches-of-protocol/ Orini Kaipara gave her maiden speech in Parliament yesterday, and she's just the sort of person you want to see entering politics – she's young, she's smart, she's passionate. And I don't know about you, but I love seeing an electorate MP, somebody who has been overwhelmingly selected by voters, given a mandate by voters to be their person in Parliament, as opposed to sliding in on the list.   But when she agreed to enter Parliament, surely she is agreeing then to the rules and conventions that govern Parliament. Her maiden speech focused on the importance of te reo and that we must respect and honour everybody, despite the colour of their skin, despite the language that they speak. All well and good.   But the message was marred by a number of violations of House rules. Her maiden speech ran well over time, causing clear frustration for Speaker Gerry Brownlee. Maiden speeches are allocated 15 minutes of Parliament's time, and Kaipara's went well over that.   "This is not on," the Speaker thundered, as he rang the bell for a third time to signal she had run out of time for her speech. I have no doubt she felt moved to tell the House and her supporters what it had taken to get her there, what inspired her, her reason for being there.   But every maiden MP has a story. Every maiden MP from every party has a group of people who have guided them to where they are today and their very, very real reasons for being there. Kaipara's are important, but no more important than any other MPs from any other party in the House.   Then, after a waiata and a haka followed her overlong speech, Gerry Brownlee had enough and suspended the House. He had given permission for a waiata, but not a haka. Permission has to be sought before you can do either. And before anyone jumps up and down and says a haka should be able to be performed anytime, anywhere, whenever the wairua takes you, rules are rules, man.   As Brownlee put it, when the House resumed after half an hour, "We have a protocol here. This is our tikanga. That tikanga is based on agreement." He said there'd been no agreement for the haka, nor for the speech to go on and on as it did. And he said he was going to investigate whether the haka had been spontaneous —I suspect it was, that's what you do at graduation ceremonies and the like and as a sign of enormous respect— or planned by a political party. He says for people to decide they are not going to participate in that process, they put themselves very firmly in contempt of Parliament.   Would Te Pāti Māori members accept breaches of protocol on the marae? Continued breaches of protocol? I doubt it – especially if they were deliberate. Ignorance you can kind of accept. It's annoying that people don't know the rules of your church or your golf club or your marae or your Parliament, but hey ho, that's life. Gentle correction and people are back on course. Continual breaches, when you know better, it's a different story. That's contempt. If a person or a group of people continually stick two fingers to your organisation and the way you do things, would you keep them in that organisation?   So what does the Speaker do about Te Pāti Māori, who have made it abundantly clear time and time again that they simply do not respect the values and the rules of Parliament?  Fri, 10 Oct 2025 00:41:16 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/sir-lockwood-smith-former-speaker-of-the-house-on-the-haka-disrupting-house-proceedings/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/sir-lockwood-smith-former-speaker-of-the-house-on-the-haka-disrupting-house-proceedings/ A former Speaker of the House is reiterating the importance of the rules of Parliament after a haka disrupted proceedings.  The House was suspended last night, after a haka broke out in the public gallery, following Te Pati Māori MP Oriini Kaipara's maiden speech.  Speaker Gerry Brownlee said the agreement was that a haka was not to take place.  Former speaker Sir Lockwood Smith told Kerre Woodham rules are there for good reason.  He says there are plenty of opportunities for culture to be expressed, but it has to be done in accordance with the rules and agreements with the Speaker.  LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 09 Oct 2025 22:50:07 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/liam-dann-nz-herald-business-editor-on-the-ocr-cut-inflation/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/liam-dann-nz-herald-business-editor-on-the-ocr-cut-inflation/ The Reserve Bank's continuing to walk a fine line, with its move to cut the OCR 50-basis points to 2.5%.  Economic data suggests inflation has now hit 3%.  Finance Minister Nicola Willis is blaming rising rates, saying they’re having a disproportionate impact on overall inflation, whereas other sectors are stabilising.  NZ Herald Business Editor Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham we almost seem to be in a self-fulfilling negative spiral.  He says we should be feeling better, but we aren't, and then we start questioning ourselves and the economy.  LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 09 Oct 2025 00:58:53 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-ocr-cuts-have-not-restored-the-most-important-thing-confidence/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-ocr-cuts-have-not-restored-the-most-important-thing-confidence/ Hopes for an economic recovery have been given a significant boost by yesterday's decision from the Reserve Bank to frontload cuts to the official cash rate. The RBNZ delivered a 50 basis point cut to the OCR and indicated it was prepared to cut again in November if required. After that, they're kind of starting to run out of ammo.    Dropping mortgage interest rates though is not the panacea to cure all economic ills. Mortgage holders account for around a third of households. So of all the households in New Zealand, one third are paying mortgages. Two thirds, those who rent and those who've paid off their homes, and who are watching in horror as interest rates on their savings accounts plummet, do not have mortgages.   Is the country's economy really going to be invigorated because a third of householders will see their mortgage reduced by a few hundred to a $1,000 a month? It'll be a good start, I suppose. And the 50 point cut will cut the costs of those with business loans, most of those are on floating rates, but what businesses really want to see is not reduced costs, but increased spending, increased revenue, and that is only going to come with confidence in the economy.   I know a number of people who are seeing their mortgages coming onto a lower rate before the end of the year, but they're not planning a big spend up, even with Christmas on the horizon. They've been burned by the higher interest rates, and yes, yes, yes, I know Boomers had 22% and they managed and we don't know we're living, but it's all relative. It's much bigger mortgages. For many people seeing them go to 7 - 8% was a shock after mortgage interest rates were around 2%.   So they are coming onto a a lower rate, but they have been burned, and the increased cost of living has also scared them. They've run down their savings, and over the next few months they're going to pay a few bills, get ahead of the bills, and start stashing some money away in case there's another economic shock. Which is probably not what businesses want to hear.   Nor would the government be all that thrilled to hear that anecdotal story. They need people, they need us to start feeling better and soon, given the parlous state of the National Party's fortunes in the latest poll. They really need people to feel better. It's not good enough to say look at law and order, look at the ram raids, look at the changes we've made to education which are going to be the most positive thing we can do with our young people. Look at what we're doing with housing, increased housing which will bring the cost of first homes down. They can point to a whole lot of things that they have done and are doing and we're like, “ Still tough out there. It's really hard. You said we'd feel better. We don't." And that's what the polls are reflecting, so we need to start feeling better soon.    It's a tricky balancing act with the Reserve Bank trying to stimulate the moribund economy while at the same time keeping a weather eye out for inflation. And there are no absolute answers about what is right and what is wrong.  What is the best way to restore confidence?  Look at the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research. Their members know a bit about how economies work, and they have a monetary policy shadow board. They look at the same figures as the Reserve Bank monetary policy committee and they make their own decisions.  They look at monetary policy and come up with their reckons based on that. Their Monetary Policy Shadow Board recommended a 25 point basis cut, reflecting the view that excess capacity in the New Zealand economy provided scope for a small cut to support recovery and activity without affecting inflation.   Several of their members said that because of the much weaker than expected June quarter GDP, there should be a 50 basis point cut now. One said it should stay on hold, given the recent spike in inflation and the fact that... Wed, 08 Oct 2025 23:31:22 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/bosses-unfiltered/episode-1-dame-wendy-pye/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/bosses-unfiltered/episode-1-dame-wendy-pye/ Dame Wendy Pye is one of the most successful businesspeople in New Zealand. She’s a rich-lister, her publishing company Sunshine Books has sold over 300 million books worldwide, she's met countless more world leaders, and she was the first living woman to be inducted into the New Zealand Business Hall of Fame.   But it hasn’t all been easy. Dame Wendy has gone through a life changing redundancy, legal battles, and had many deals that couldn't be closed.   She joined 九一星空无限talk ZB's Kerre Woodham in studio for the first episode of Bosses Unfiltered.  LISTEN ABOVE Wed, 08 Oct 2025 23:15:52 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/tanya-wilton-and-mark-lawrence-hutt-hospital-ed-specialist-and-psychiatrist-on-the-impact-and-cause-of-new-zealanders-declining-health/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/tanya-wilton-and-mark-lawrence-hutt-hospital-ed-specialist-and-psychiatrist-on-the-impact-and-cause-of-new-zealanders-declining-health/ A new report from the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says the health of New Zealanders is declining.  It showed working age people reporting excellent health almost halved between 2011 and 2024, while psychological distress had increased among all adults.  The report called on the government to address and reverse the decline by investing in housing, poverty reduction, education, improved nutrition and physical activity, as well as a stronger commitment to addressing the impact of tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food.  Hutt Hospital ED Specialist Dr Tanya Wilton told Kerre Woodham she sees people who have struggled to obtain adequate income, housing, and security, and it’s harder to eat and stay healthy when you don’t have the money to do so.   She says you can’t get away from those social determinants of health in terms of those key areas.  Tauranga-based Psychologist Mark Lawrence told Woodham that when it comes to psychological distress, the biggest challenge is a lack of extensive long-term investment to addressing societal stressors.  LISTEN ABOVE  Tue, 07 Oct 2025 23:53:40 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-unhealthy-habits-are-a-matter-of-choice-not-a-lack-of-education/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-unhealthy-habits-are-a-matter-of-choice-not-a-lack-of-education/ A new report says the health of New Zealanders is declining, and that it's costing us dearly- in the billions of dollars with more billions to come. The report, released by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists showed working-age people who reported they were in excellent health almost halved between 2011 and 2024, while psychological distress had increased amongst all adults. The report called on the government to address and reverse the decline by investing in housing and poverty reduction and education, improved nutrition, physical activity, as well as a stronger commitment to addressing the impact of tobacco, alcohol, and unhealthy food. If the trend continues, the report estimates that only 6.6% of adults will be in excellent health, while almost 20% would be in fair or poor health. How can this be so? What is the point of spending more on education when you know, and everybody knows, what we need to do to live a healthy life?  We have never been more aware of how to live a healthy life. We know how to do it. Whether we choose to do it is entirely another matter. Social media provides recipes for those who are on slim budgets. If you think, well, I don't know how to cook, there's Tik Tok and Instagram that will show you how to cook, or YouTube tutorials. If you say, "but I've only got this amount of money to spend on food", there are endless accounts that will show you what to do with meagre resources. You might not be able to afford the finest organic meats, most people can't. But there are ways of turning out nutritious food using the most basic ingredients. There are free exercise programmes for any exercise you care to think of. You can even walk barefoot around the block. You don't need special exercise gear or gym memberships or to belong to a swimming club or a Taekwondo club or a basketball club. There are so many ways that you can move if you want to. Why would we spend more on physical activity when people are choosing not to?  There are accounts that you can follow for free to assist you in coping with the world. If you're suffering from anxiety, there's anti-addiction programmes. There has never been a time where people have been more open in discussing mental health issues, where there's been greater acceptance of people who are struggling with mental health issues, where mental health days are a matter of course.  How can we be declining? How can you not know what is good for you and how you can improve your mental health and your physical health? Whether you want to or not is another matter.  I'm not pointing the finger, I'm looking at myself in the mirror. I knew the amount I was drinking wasn't healthy for me, but I did it anyway, until I stopped. Until I thought, no this can't go on. This is silly. You're fat, you're unhealthy, you're falling over, broke a bone, enough. And so you stop. But you do it until you don't.  I cannot believe that the kids that are going into the dairies before school that I used to see on my commute, who were buying the virulently coloured soft drink and the pie for breakfast, I cannot believe that they did not know that was an unhealthy breakfast. They know it's unhealthy, but they choose to do it.   You could throw all the money in the world at education programmes. Until people decide they're worth more, they deserve more in their life. They are the ones, individuals are the ones who have to decide for themselves that they deserve better in life, that they deserve to look after their bodies.  And I don't know how you do that. I would love to hear from you on this. Is there anybody in the world that doesn't know how to live a healthy life? It's all a matter of choice. Tue, 07 Oct 2025 23:53:06 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-a-different-view-point-does-not-permit-you-to-invade-someones-home/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-a-different-view-point-does-not-permit-you-to-invade-someones-home/ When I heard the Green Party co-leaders were holding a press conference yesterday, I thought fleetingly, ever the optimist, "Oh, they might be holding a press conference calling for the cessation of protests outside the home of a fellow parliamentarian."   Undoubtedly they'd couch it in greeny language – they would call out the Foreign Affairs Minister for his lack of courage at the UN, etc, etc, but ultimately they would make the point that protesting in a personal sphere is wrong, and they would call off the hounds and remind people that yes, we have a right to protest, but with that right comes responsibility and it is quite clearly irresponsible to make the attacks personal and bring the protest to the door of an MP's home. That's what I thought, fleetingly. But no, nothing of the sort.   In fact, it was a PR stunt for the flotilla to Palestine. No mention was made of the protesters outside Winston Peters' home. In fact, one of them was alongside the Green co-party leaders. Chlöe Swarbrick lectured us again about our responsibility to ensure the safety of the three New Zealand citizens detained by the Israeli government after the flotilla was intercepted, and that was that. A bit of tearful beseeching of the government to do something. Love for the detainees, and that was about it.   Can you imagine what would happen if Groundswell decided to protest Green policies, and they decided to take that protest to the door of Marama Davidson's home or Chlöe Swarbrick's home? I would be absolutely appalled, and I would demand they be arrested or leave immediately. There is absolutely no excuse for it. You might disagree vehemently with policies, you might think you have moral, intellectual, scientific right on your side, on the side of whatever argument you're putting forward, but there are standards and there are limits and there are boundaries.   The lot outside Winston's house, you're perfectly entitled to hold a point of view. You may well feel that you're on the right side of history. That does not give you carte blanche to invade a man's home, and that's exactly what you're doing, and that of his neighbours. The noise invading somebody's home. You know, if you have had really ugly neighbours who have made your life hell because of the noise they're making, It's an invasion. So too is the bloody rock through the window.   If anybody thinks that the new legislation around protests at people's homes is going to provide any protection at all for public figures, for anybody, think again. The bill is before the Justice Select Committee. Submissions on it closed yesterday, but critics say it's way too vague to do much good. Constitutional law expert Graeme Edgeler said as much to Mike Hosking this morning.   “There are offences which deal with this already. And I, my suspicion is that the new offence, that the draft, at least at the moment, is so complex, perhaps so difficult to prove, you know, was that the reason they're doing that? Was it, you know, just all the difficulties in proving it, that police may just continue to use the criminal offences that already exist, which kind of have the similar penalties.   “And when people aren't sure what's covered and it's a criminal offence, courts tend to err on the side of, well, if you wanted to make this clearly legal, you'd have done a better job of writing it. So if it's not clear, you tend to favour on the side of the criminal for criminal cases. And so, hopefully the government can sort of narrow this and fix it to cover exactly what it is they want. I mean, it's sort of protests near residential areas. I mean, Queen Street's got massive apartment buildings on it – are those residential areas and no protests down Queen Street? I mean, no one's going to apply the law that way. The police aren't going to apply that law that way. The courts aren't going to apply the law that way. And so it’s really going to do much of anything.”  No, it'... Mon, 06 Oct 2025 22:24:10 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-a-tough-but-fair-change-to-the-benefit/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-a-tough-but-fair-change-to-the-benefit/ On the face of it, it seems tough. Telling young people to get out there and get a job when the economy is tanked and unemployment is high, is you'd think, unrealistic. From November of next year, young people wanting to get job seeker support or the equivalent emergency benefit will have to take a parental income test to see whether their parents can support them instead of the taxpayer.  About 4,300 18 and 19-year-olds were estimated to become ineligible for support, with 4,700 remaining eligible in the 27-28 financial year. As I said, this kicks in from November of next year, so from 2026. As of June, there were just over 15,000 18 and 19-year-olds on job seeker support.  It's a lot of young kids. There is no doubt it is difficult right now for young people to find work, to be taken on as apprentices. When the economy contracts, young people tend to be the first laid off, having fewer skills and less work experience. Last on, first off kind of thing. As well, they can be in casual or part-time employment, jobs that are more easily dispensed with.  But of course, look beyond the headlines. They're not being told to go out and find a job in a really tight labour market. They have to find a job, they have to be studying, or they have to be training. They have three options. What they can't be, according to this government and the Prime Minister, is reliant on the taxpayer.  The bigger issue here is we're trying to reset expectations with young people that you just can't partially attend school and then just drift on into unemployment benefit. And it is a bit of a reset for under 25s to say, I'm sorry, you're expected to get connected with work or employment or training or education.   $65,000, where do you why how do you land on that?  It's basically the income cut-out point for the supported living payment. And so it basically says if you're coming from very low-income families, we're exempting you. But we know it's quite low, but the reality is it puts the pressure back on parents to say get those young people into work or education.  That was Chrisopher Luxon, Prime Minister, talking to Mike Hosking this morning on the Mike Hosking Breakfast. A youth worker who was spoken to in relation to the story, to the announcement, said, and I quote, "I've never met a young person that doesn't want to find work." Really? You need to get out more. I think the vast majority of young people do want to work. They want to study, they want to train to be able to work so that they can become self-determining, to stand on their own two feet. Not all of them. We have had young people say as much on this show. Nature boy, anyone?   And you'd have to wonder about Barbecue Man, whether his children are fine upstanding productive citizens, because generally welfare dependency leads to welfare dependency and further down the generations it goes. There are fantastic stories of young people who were struggling, who got the kick up the bum they needed and managed to achieve beyond their wildest expectations.  One of the owners of a New World supermarket started life as a trolley boy in Whakatāne when his mum said, "If you're not going to go to school, you are getting a job. You are not staying under my roof and not contributing." "Oh, I can't find an apprenticeship." Well, get any job, she said. And he started life as a trolley boy. And one thing led to another. He discovered not only did he actually like work, he was actually productive and respected by his peers, he was really good at it, to the extent that he ended up owning his own supermarket.  And I could not agree more with Rod Bell, Chief Operating Officer for Blue Light, who spoke to Mike too this morning.  The big danger is if a young person starts down the track where a benefit becomes part of their life, as the stat shows, that they end up probably at least a minimum of 18 years of their life on the ben... Sun, 05 Oct 2025 23:47:25 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-you-need-to-know-how-to-play-the-system-to-enact-change/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-you-need-to-know-how-to-play-the-system-to-enact-change/ I've always thought that if you want to change the system, if you feel that the system, whatever it might be, doesn't work for you, the best way is to change it from within. When you live in a democracy, that is one of the beauties of a democracy. You don't have to riot in the streets, you don't have to depose tyrannical dictators, you can use the ballot box to effect change.   You can also enter the system and change it from within. But only if you take the time to learn how the system works, and only if you're prepared to settle for incremental change rather than spectacular seismic show-stopping change.   Plenty of people think they can go into Parliament and make a real difference and retire hurt, basically, realising that the system is too big for them to grapple with, that they're not best suited for Parliament. That's across all parties. I remember my own former colleague, Pam Corkery, entered Parliament with the Alliance Party, thinking instead of talking about making change, she'd enter Parliament and try and make the change from within. But she was frustrated – the system stymied her. You’ve seen it with New Zealand First, you've seen it with National, you've seen it with Labour.   And as Eru Kapa-Kingi has pointed out, activism and politics are completely different beasts. Kapa-Kingi is the driving force behind the protest movement Toitū Te Tiriti, largely responsible for last year's nationwide hikoi to Parliament that drew tens of thousands of protesters. Yesterday, the movement announced it was distancing itself from Te Pāti Māori.   Eru Kapa-Kingi, he's the son of Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi and a former party vice president, said yesterday that Toitū Te Tiriti was not a lobby group for the Māori Party. He went further, claiming Te Pāti Māori had a problematic leadership style, which amounted to effectively, he said, a dictatorship model, as reported by Te Ao Māori 九一星空无限.   I thought Te Ururoa Flavell spoke really well this morning on the Mike Hosking Breakfast, outlining the problem with activists entering Parliament to advance their goals.   “I mean, the statement that he's made is politicians need to stop being activists and activists need to stop being politicians, which I think is a fair call. So and in that regard, trying to separate out the movement that he set up, Toitū Te Tiriti, he said that's their focus around the obligations to the Treaty of Waitangi and keeping those at the forefront of the New Zealand society. And then the second part of course is what is the point of a political movement in Parliament and how can they best achieve goals for the best interests of the nation.”    Right now, Te Pāti Māori are incompetent and impotent politically. They have their core base of voters, much the same as the Greens. The Greens, it's hard to see how effective they could be in Parliament as part of a government.   Dame Tariana Turia's Te Pāti Māori was not an impotent political force. Dame Turia understood how politics worked. She entered Parliament on the Labour ticket but resigned in 2004 over the Foreshore and Seabed Bill to set up the Māori Party, Te Pāti Māori. She understood politics, she understood the importance of compromise.   As the Spinoff said in her obituary, an architect of Whanau Ora and Smoke-free Aotearoa, Turia's legacy is one that belies a waning art in politics, knowing when to compromise and how to make it count. In no way was she a sell-out. She stayed true to her own beliefs, she stayed true to acting as a voice for her people, but she knew how to work the system from within. She knew how to make the system work for her and the people she represented.   Labour would need the Greens and Te Pāti Māori to form a government based on current polling. Yesterday Labour leader Chris Hipkins said Te Pāti Māori looked like they're quite a long way away from being ready to play a constructive role in any future government.... Fri, 03 Oct 2025 00:05:25 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/bosses-unfiltered/bosses-unfiltered-every-thursday-on-kerre-woodham-mornings-and-iheartradio/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/bosses-unfiltered/bosses-unfiltered-every-thursday-on-kerre-woodham-mornings-and-iheartradio/ Kiwi businesses have been navigating the biggest economic turmoil in decades. Wherever you look, business leaders are making tough calls: staff cuts, putting payroll on the credit card, or worst case… closing the business altogether.   They thought they had it all: a great idea, solid marketing, and a healthy amount of capital.  So where did it all go wrong?  And can they ever turn things around?  In Bosses Unfiltered, Kerre Woodham, interviews prominent Kiwi businesspeople who’ve experienced failure and adversity and lets them tell their story. When did they realise their dreams weren’t coming true?  How big was their fall from grace?  How did they pick themselves up and where are they now?   Bosses Unfiltered tells the real story behind the headlines.  About what it’s really like being in business, in a raw and vulnerable way, while showing that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that success can quite often come from failure. Listen to Bosses Unfiltered every Thursday morning from 11:30am during Kerre Woodham Mornings, and follow the podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. Thu, 02 Oct 2025 02:46:08 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/wattie-watson-professional-firefighters-union-national-secretary-on-the-firefighters-strike/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/wattie-watson-professional-firefighters-union-national-secretary-on-the-firefighters-strike/ The firefighters union says workers don't want to strike, but Fire and Emergency needs to take their concerns seriously.   Professional firefighters will walk off the job for an hour at midday on October 17th –protesting pay, staffing, and ageing equipment.  The previous offer from Fire and Emergency was 5.1% over three years, made in June.  Further bargaining is set for the end of next week.  Professional Firefighters’ Union National Secretary Wattie Watson told Kerre Woodham in reality the offer would’ve been over five years, not three, as they haven’t had a pay rise since 2023, meaning it would actually be less than 5.1%.   She says it’s a sinking lid kind of scenario, the longer it takes to ratify the pay increase, the less it is.   LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 02 Oct 2025 00:10:53 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-give-the-firefighters-a-pay-bump/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-give-the-firefighters-a-pay-bump/ More than 11,500 allied health staff —the physios, the social workers, the health assistants— will strike on the 23rd of October, later this month. The same day as tens of thousands of primary school teachers and workers go on strike. And a week before, well, six days before, firefighters across New Zealand are set to strike over a dispute about pay and conditions (tell me there's a centre-right government in office without telling me). Although, bless, the firefighters are already striking for an hour because of public safety concerns.   New Zealand has about 13,500 firefighters – 2000 of the Professional Firefighters Union members are striking, and more than 11,000 volunteers, mostly in rural and smaller areas, will continue to support their communities and respond as needed.   We've covered a lot of the grievances of the health and education workers who are striking, but we haven't touched on the fireys – why are they striking? Thank you for asking, I can tell you. The NZPFU, the Professional Firefighters Union, said firefighters hadn't received a pay increase since July 2023. And they wanted progress in pay, staffing, and resources. They say the lack of staff, working excessive overtime, and the dire state of appliances are all factors in the level and intensity of mental health issues for members.   Furthermore, they say, Fire and Emergency New Zealand has refused to provide funding for health, well-being, and fitness activities, despite the wealth of evidence that demonstrates the link between healthy living and better mental health. I'm kind of with you on the pay and the appliances – paying for the Pilates memberships, not so much. Fire and Emergency and the Professional Firefighters Union had been negotiating since July 24. Fire and Emergency says the offer of a 5.1% pay increase over the next three years was sustainable, balances cost of living pressures being faced by individuals, alongside the fiscal pressure being faced by Fire and Emergency.   So, at the moment, everybody's grumpy. Everybody wants things to get better. Everybody's sick of doing it tough. Everybody wants more money. Block of cheese in the groceries would be nice once a week.   In the case of the firefighters, I think their complaints about the dire state of appliances is fair enough. You've got to have the equipment to do your job. And when you've got the kind of numptiness that they're facing, you can understand the exasperation. The country's newest fire trucks can't be used at rescues because they're too small to fit all the life-saving gear they need to carry. Shades of the Tasmanian ferry that was built that couldn't fit the terminal – doesn't need anybody to get the tape measure out first?   Firefighters say managers have even talked about cutting holes in them to make room for the gear. Fire and Emergency, in a massive piece of understatement, says yes, well, the situation's not ideal, but we're working on a solution.   Fire and Emergency spent millions of dollars and five years shipping the 28 medium-sized fire trucks to Britain to get them fitted out. They've now returned, and the two trial runs at packing gear on them last month did not go well. According to the firefighters who put the refitted appliances through their paces, the trucks would be a lot better than the existing trucks if all they were doing was pumping water. They're very good at pumping water – better than the old trucks. But 11 of the 28 trucks are meant to be rescue tenders equipped with a broad range of gear for fire rescues, car crashes, and storms.   Firefighters are so much more than firefighters. They are attending all sorts of rescues, and they need the equipment to keep members of the public safe and themselves safe. I do not think this is unreasonable. And imagine how much the person is paid who made the decision to send the fire appliances to Britain to get them fitted out, who didn't get the tape measure. You kn... Wed, 01 Oct 2025 23:55:47 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/leeann-watson-and-viv-beck-business-canterbury-ceo-and-heart-of-the-city-ceo-on-rejuvenating-a-city/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/leeann-watson-and-viv-beck-business-canterbury-ceo-and-heart-of-the-city-ceo-on-rejuvenating-a-city/ The state of central cities is a big issue as local body elections loom.  Both Wellington and Auckland’s CBDs are suffering, with the percentage of empty retail spaces jumping.   In Auckland, major retailers such as DFS Galleria and Smith & Caughey have left or closed their doors.  So how do you rejuvenate a city?   Leeann Watson, CEO of Business Canterbury, and Viv Beck, CEO of Heart of the City, joined Kerre Woodham to discuss the topic.  LISTEN ABOVE  Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:28:52 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-a-massive-press-conference-to-tell-us-very-little/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-a-massive-press-conference-to-tell-us-very-little/ Well, a great deal of expectation and excitement. We all gathered around the wireless to listen to the 8am announcement about reform of our electricity and power sector and, wow, a lot of hullabaloo and hype over a meh kind of announcement.   This government has announced there is money to invest in critical energy infrastructure. Woot. Good to know. We used to criticise the previous government for its announcement of announcements, but by crikey, Nicola Willis has picked up that ball and she's run with it. There was a lot of talk in the press release and at the press conference – reliable and affordable energy is key to New Zealand's prosperity. Well, yeah. Energy powers every part of our economy. We know.   But what's happening right now is a gas shortage that is driving New Zealand manufacturers out of business. What's happening right now is that people are really struggling to pay power bills that go up year on year. And what have the Finance Minister and the Energy Minister told us? That they wish to correct the perception that the Government won't invest in the electricity sector. Cool. I thought exactly what Mike said this morning when he was talking to Simon Watts: why didn't you just ring the bosses at Genesis, Mercury, and Meridian and tell them the chequebook was open? Not hold a massive press conference to tell us really very little.   There was also an announcement that there's going to be a procurement process started for an LNG import facility, which may or may not be around in two years. Again, announcement of an announcement.   The only thing that really stands out for me looking at it is developing new rules to ensure the lack of dry year backup supply, which has a massive ongoing effect on the economy, doesn't happen again. But again, no detail on how that will happen or what energy source will be used as backup. Simon Watts was talking up the government's package on the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning.   “We've got a pretty significant renewable pipeline. I don't doubt that. But am I seeing that flow through in terms of the price of energy? No. And that is what is hitting hard Kiwi households and Kiwi businesses. That's the issue that we need to deal with and this package of announcements and actions, taken as one, is some of the most significant bundle of energy market package announcements that we've seen in a long time. It's going to need to be seen as one package, not as individual parts, but together, we are confident that it'll make a significant impact.”  Really, Simon, is it so significant? If you're a manufacturer wondering how on earth you're going to stay in business given the lack of gas and the soaring cost of energy, what will this announcement do for you? If you're trying to juggle the family's household budget and looking at a power bill of $500 bucks, are you going to feel particularly grateful that Nicola Willis and Simon Watts have announced what?   According to Meridian, and we'll be talking to Meridian CEO a little later, it's bold. ‘We acknowledge the government's commitment to help the country move forward. It will add greater momentum to our development pipeline and building new generation’. But we know that with the fast tracking of resource consent.   This government really does need to stop being so underwhelming in terms of how they report to voters. They get excited about the dry policy wonk stuff and your average voter, not so much.   I like a lot of what they're doing. I really do. And if you think about it, you probably do too. I like the health targets. I like the focus of the new curriculum in the schools. I like the improvement in school attendance. I like the banning of gang patches, the fast tracking of projects, Chris Bishop's plan for improving housing supply. Compare that to the pie in the sky of 100,000 Kiwi Build homes. I like the refocusing of Kāinga Ora on its core job of providing homes for people who need... Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:09:50 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/mike-roan-meridian-ceo-on-the-governments-measures-to-tackle-issues-in-the-energy-sector/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/mike-roan-meridian-ceo-on-the-governments-measures-to-tackle-issues-in-the-energy-sector/ The Government's opted against a significant energy shake-up -- rejecting calls to re-nationalise or split up the big gentailers.   Instead, it'll offer the Crown-controlled companies more capital to invest in generation projects.  It will also establish a Liquified Natural Gas import facility, give the Electricity Authority greater power, and speed up consenting renewable energy projects.  Meridian is supportive of the announcement, calling it bold.  CEO Mike Roan told Kerre Woodham the affordability of electricity is a challenge that’s mitigated by the investments made into new generation.  He says the Government is trying to bolster those investments to bring stability and certainty back to the market.   LISTEN ABOVE  Tue, 30 Sept 2025 23:47:40 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-an-overreaction-that-caused-more-pain-in-the-long-run/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-an-overreaction-that-caused-more-pain-in-the-long-run/ At last, a triumph of common sense over well-meaning legislation designed to protect every life, everywhere, no matter how much the cost. The “every sperm is sacred” approach to lawmaking has been in place for about eight years, where every life matters, no matter the cost to business, to taxpayers, to everybody else.   The Government announced yesterday that earthquake strengthening legislation will only capture buildings deemed to pose a genuine risk to human life in medium and high seismic zones. The Building and Construction Minister, Chris Penk, said the current new building standard used by engineers was too broad, too inconsistent, and will be scrapped. The rules were brought in under 2017 changes following the Canterbury earthquakes and the subsequent Royal Commission of Inquiry.   Penk said the current system is well-intentioned, but had led to an overwhelming financial burden on building owners. He said the price of strengthening buildings often ran from hundreds of thousands of dollars to well into the millions. He said, as a result, these buildings are often left empty and become derelict, making them even more dangerous to bystanders in an earthquake.   Buildings need to be lived in. You have to have people in homes and commercial buildings, otherwise they become derelict very, very quickly. Cities and regions, he says, are losing the businesses, churches, town halls, and classrooms that are essential to their local economies and community spirit. And you'll have seen it everywhere and every town, no matter how big or small. Beautiful buildings that have been left abandoned, for all intents and purposes, because their owners cannot afford to modernise them to the level that has been required under legislation, without any kind of purpose, to what point? It has to be at this level. Why? Because we say so. Is it because it's especially risky? No, these are the rules.   So what they've done now is say, okay, well, let's look at where there is danger, and buildings must be fortified there. Where there is a limited risk —you can never rule out risk altogether, otherwise you might as well stop living— the changes don't have to be made to such an extent. Auckland, Northland, and the Chatham Islands will be made exempt from earthquake rules due to low seismic risk. And that makes sense. Auckland is at risk of a volcanic eruption, not earthquakes. That's not the main risk. It's not to say they won't happen – we're not called the Shaky Isles for nothing. But the risk isn't considered as high as that of a volcanic eruption.   The response to the overhaul has been positive. Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau says the news was a huge win for her city. She said the number of earthquake-prone buildings in Wellington will roughly halve, saving building owners a billion dollars. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown also welcomed the changes. He too points out the risk of an earthquake for Auckland and Northland is less than that of a volcanic eruption. He said we can't expect Aucklanders to be lumped with unnecessary costs, especially now. The previous requirements were expensive and unnecessary. He said it's been a very stressful time, and these changes will be a game changer for example, for apartment owners who will now be spared the cost and financial pain of making upgrades that didn't make sense.   And I get it. After you've had a tragic loss of life, and a loss of life that could have been prevented had proper building standards been followed, had more been done —it's a crisis in the country— the pain is very, very real. You see the numbers of grieving families in a country as small as ours, you don't want that to happen again. But what we've seen is Governments overreact. We saw that with the health and safety legislation as well after Cave Creek. There is always going to be a certain amount of risk in life, but you can't legislate away all of that risk.   There have to be sensible protocols in p... Mon, 29 Sept 2025 23:42:25 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/geoffrey-miller-international-geopolitical-analyst-on-donald-trumps-proposed-gaza-peace-deal/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/geoffrey-miller-international-geopolitical-analyst-on-donald-trumps-proposed-gaza-peace-deal/ While it looks to be a solid plan at first glance, there’s at least one major flaw in Donald Trump’s proposed peace plan for Gaza.  If agreed to by Hamas, the war would end immediately, with Israeli troops withdrawing and Hamas releasing all hostages.  No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and Israel won't occupy or annex the territory.  The US President would lead a new transitional government, made up of Palestinians and experts like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.  But International Geopolitical Analyst Geoffrey Miller told Kerre Woodham that along with the fact that only Israel has been involved in the negotiation of this deal, there is no timeline outlined.  He says the deal mentions providing a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood, but there’s no timeline as to how it would be achieved, so it makes you wonder if it’s been added in to make it sound good.   LISTEN ABOVE  Mon, 29 Sept 2025 23:05:24 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/hamish-firth-mt-hobson-group-on-the-changes-to-the-earthquake-prone-building-system/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/hamish-firth-mt-hobson-group-on-the-changes-to-the-earthquake-prone-building-system/ A significant slash to the number of quake-prone buildings.  The Government's introducing an Amendment Bill to scrap and replace the New Building Standard – estimated to save building owners more than eight billion dollars.  It'll see Auckland, Northland, and the Chatham Islands removed from the regime.  Mt Hobson Group Director Hamish Firth told Kerre Woodham the review has come up with a system that is better balanced, more nuanced, and more proportionate to the risk.  He says the kneejerk reaction in the wake of the Christchurch earthquake was perhaps right for the time, but it’s probably taken too long to do a review and ensure the system is working.   LISTEN ABOVE  Mon, 29 Sept 2025 22:49:52 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-what-will-come-from-our-decision-not-to-recognise-palestine/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-what-will-come-from-our-decision-not-to-recognise-palestine/ The state of Palestine is recognised as a sovereign nation by 157 UN member states, and that represents 81% of members. New Zealand is not one of them. Not yet. Like Singapore, like Japan, Germany, South Korea, most Pacific states. New Zealand says, oh, sure, we support recognition, just not yet. Winston Peters, in his speech to the UN over the weekend, said Palestine did not meet the traditional benchmarks for state recognition. But as the Herald's Audrey Young points out in her column, Palestine is a unique and complex situation, not a post-colonial independence state where it's easier to apply the markers of statehood. I don't even know where to begin on this because so much damage has been done by so many people over so many years. Starting with the British who kicked off the whole mess more than 100 years ago with the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, 77 years after the creation of Israel and the British mandate of Palestine. And you've got to look to the various governments led by Benjamin Netanyahu, who have propped up Hamas, to try and prevent President Mahmoud Abbas or anyone else in the Palestinian Authority's West Bank government from achieving its goal of a Palestinian state. As the Israeli Times put it, thanks to Netanyahu, in the bid to hobble Abbas, Hamas was upgraded from a mere terror group to a legitimate organisation with which Israel held indirect negotiations, and one that was allowed to receive infusions of cash from abroad.  Winston Peters in his speech said recognising Palestine just gave Hamas more metaphorical ammunition in the propaganda war without actually improving the lot of the poor benighted souls who live there. With a war raging, Hamas still in place, and no clarity on next steps, we do not think that time is now. Recognising Palestine now will likely prove counterproductive. That is, Hamas resisting negotiation in the belief that it is winning the global propaganda war. Well, it kind of is, when you've got 81% of the UN recognising Palestine as a state, when you have image after image of those children starving in the arms of their mothers. It kind of is. And although we might think no one cares about what we do as a nation, Israel will use this. It needs to take what it can get in terms of international support. Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians across Gaza. On the 7th of October 2023, of course, Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people, taking 251 hostages, and there are 47 Israeli hostages still held in the most appalling, you can't even imagine what kind of conditions they're being held in captivity. Hamas justified the attack knowing full well what would happen, knowing exactly what was going to happen. They justified the attack because of what it sees as decades of Israeli oppression, the killing of Palestinians, and the years-long blockade of the Gaza Strip. Of course, you've also got Egypt who's complicit in that. They also said their attack on Israelis had put the plight of the Palestinians on the world's political agenda.  It was necessary, they said, to raise an alarm in the world, to tell them that here, there is a people who have a cause and have demands that must be met. So they launched an all-out attack on Israelis at a music festival to raise the alarm to the world. They felt that the ends justified the means. That by killing these people, knowing full well the wrath and the fire and the brimstone that would come down upon the Palestinian state, to raise alarm and attention.  Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour says he's proud of the fact that New Zealand hasn't the hasn't followed the mob. I mean, why say anything? It seems extraordinary that the best chance of attaining peace in that desperate strip of land that has the same population of New Zealand living in a total land area of 6,000 square kilometres, we are 268,000 square kilometres, to give you some kind of contex... Sun, 28 Sept 2025 23:42:57 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/peter-ambrose-new-zealand-property-investors-federation-president-on-falling-rental-prices/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/peter-ambrose-new-zealand-property-investors-federation-president-on-falling-rental-prices/ Good news for renters as prices are on the decline.  At least a third of those taking out new tenancies this year are paying less in rent than the prior tenants, according to Ministry of Housing and Urban Development data.  TradeMe Property has also seen rents fall, with supply outstripping demand. They say the market is offering more options and less competition.   New Zealand Property Investors Federation President Peter Ambrose told Kerre Woodham the reason behind increased supply is twofold.  He says there’s been a fair bit of new construction coming onto the market, and at the same time, people are increasingly leaving major cities and the country itself.  LISTEN ABOVE  Fri, 26 Sept 2025 00:50:18 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-what-are-the-impacts-of-falling-rents/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-what-are-the-impacts-of-falling-rents/ If you're a renter, it's jolly good news. At least a third of people taking out new tenancies this year are paying less rent than the tenants who lived there before them.   According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, for new tenancies since January 1, 30% were paying weekly rent lower than the initial weekly rent for the previous tenancy at that address. The data used a 500-day limit between the start of the last tenancy and the start of the newest tenancy, which gave a sample of around 33,000 homes, so, you know, a fairly sizable sample.   Trade Me Property has also seen rents fall as supply outstrips demand. According to Trade Me Property, after a period of record highs in 2024, we're now seeing a market that offers more options and less competition, which is driving prices down in most regions.   Nationally, rental listings on Trade Me Property were up 13% year on year in July, while demand fell 19%. Wellington recorded the largest drop. The median weekly rent there fell $50 or 7.7% to $600 compared with July of 2024. Wellington also saw a 27% rise in rental stock and a 6% fall in demand. Auckland's median weekly rent dropped $20 to $660 in July. And most other regions also saw rents go down, except for Southland, Nelson-Tasman and Taranaki. Southland hit a record high of $500 a week – what's happening in Southland? Taranaki climbed 3.3% to $620, so you'd be paying more for rent than you would be if you were renting in Wellington.    So what does all that mean for landlords? Yesterday, I read an email from Bob, which in part said the tax cuts should never have happened except for the most needy. And I received a text in response saying, well, remind Bob, Kerre, that are rents not the lowest they've been for years? Is that not a direct result of the tax clawback for landlords? Well, I don't know, is it? Is it the fact that landlords can now get the rebate and claim for expenses? Does that mean that is being passed on to tenants, or is it simply that supply is outstripping demand, and when supply outstrips demand, prices fall, which is a fundamental principle of the law of supply and demand. Is that what it is?   There are more places to rent available, new builds, perhaps people holding on to their homes but renting them out while they either go overseas or go into a retirement village or whatever it is they've decided to do, holding on to the homes and renting them out while they wait for the property market to recover. I don't know.    The texter says it's because of the tax clawbacks for landlords and that's why we've seen the drop in rent. I'd love to know from landlords if that is in fact the case. And I'd love to hear from renters. Are you able now to do some horse trading over the rent? Instead of taking a number and going to the back of a very, very long line, waiting to get into see an overpriced piece of mouldy tat, are you now being able to be a bit more selective? And if you're in a place you like, are you able to negotiate for a better rent? Now, when your lease comes up, you say, yes, I'd like to stay here, but given the state of the property market, could I pay a bit a little bit less?   I also wonder whether when times got tough, the part-time landlords, the ones that been felt the pressure to get onto the property ladder and save for your retirement, thanks to all the ads we played, buying up investment properties. It wasn't really your bag, it wasn't really your thing, you just thought you had to do it, otherwise you'd be missing out. Is that another reason that the part-time landlords got out of the business, leaving only the professional landlords there now?  Thu, 25 Sept 2025 23:51:08 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-ask-not-what-your-country-can-do-for-you/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-ask-not-what-your-country-can-do-for-you/ New Zealand Inc. is in trouble and it's on us —you and me— to fix it. Not politicians, not economists, not even our blessed farmers who've got us out of trouble time and time again – it is on us, New Zealand voters.  It doesn't matter whether we vote left or right, red, blue, green, yellow, or black. We all have to give our political parties the cojones they need to enact the policies that will save this country. Treasury's been warning us for years now, decades. Current government policies —whichever government has been in— are not sustainable.  Treasury's 2025 long-term fiscal statement says population ageing is going to put unbearable pressure on New Zealand's long-term fiscal position. You know this. If you know anything about news, if you know anything about New Zealand politics, if you know anything about New Zealand society, you know this to be true.  ANZ senior economist Miles Workman says Treasury's report should be on the reading list of every New Zealander. Because, he says, I don't think politicians are going to be able to make the changes that are needed here until the voting public is behind those changes. And he's right.  In short, fiscal pressures will accelerate in coming decades with costs of superannuation and healthcare expected to rise significantly as the population ages. There is no one solution. In 1965, there were seven working-age New Zealanders for every person over 65. So that was seven working New Zealanders paying taxes for every person over 65, and for the most part, in 1965, those people on the Super weren't working. Today, we have four working-age New Zealanders to one person over 65. In 40 years, which is not a very long time, it'll be just two working New Zealanders to every person over 65. Successive governments have known this. Voters have known this.  But political parties need the support of voters to make the changes that are needed, as Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen told Ryan Bridge last night.  “The worry a little bit is that we've had these warnings before. We had something very similar from the Treasury four years ago in 2021. And realistically, I think what the Treasury is continuing to highlight is that there's, there's a lot of big challenges in front of us. We don't have to solve them all tomorrow, but we really do have to start sometime soon to get us out of what looks like a very unsustainable pathway going forward. But, and here's the biggest kicker for me, you can't do any one thing and it will magically solve our sort of fiscal challenges. There's a lot that's going to have to happen that will be unpalatable to politicians across the political spectrum, but by goodness, we've got to start soon.”  It's only going to be “unpalatable” if political parties expect voters to act out of self-interest. And that's what I mean, it's on us to affect the changes.  I was talking earlier this week about the need for political parties to have a bipartisan approach to important issues like infrastructure and health and education curriculum. It's absolutely imperative. They can tinker around the edges, but it is incumbent upon them to have an infrastructure plan to stop the waste of money. And it's incumbent upon us to take a grown-up approach and look at the good of the country as a whole, not our immediate needs.  If you've got your Super, calm the farm – your gin money's quite safe. Nobody's taking it off you now. But those of us in the 45 to 60-year age group need to realise that we're the ones that need to affect the changes needed to keep the country alive by allowing politicians to introduce policies that if they tried to introduce them previously would have sent them to political oblivion.  There are options: raising the age of Super eligibility, broadening the tax base, (euphemism for fiscal drag and wealth taxes), index linking super payments to inflation rather than wages, means testing – these are all options.... Thu, 25 Sept 2025 01:10:02 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/steven-joyce-former-finance-minister-on-the-treasury-report-and-raising-the-age-of-superannuation/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/steven-joyce-former-finance-minister-on-the-treasury-report-and-raising-the-age-of-superannuation/ A former Finance Minister's discussing the Superannuation age in the wake of an alarming Treasury report.  Treasury's long term fiscal statement notes the importance of responding to challenges with an ageing population.  It suggests the cost of NZ Super could be kept stable by steadily increasing the age of eligibility, requiring it to rise to 72, by 2065.  Steven Joyce told Kerre Woodham Superannuation policy gets more urgent every time it's left alone.  He believes the age should be getting gradually older as we live longer, and says he had a plan to lift it with 20 years notice before doing so.  LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 25 Sept 2025 01:03:48 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-government-has-a-lot-of-work-to-do/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-government-has-a-lot-of-work-to-do/ I have to say that the Herald's Mood of the Boardroom survey pretty much sums up my mood too. Yes, there are some excellent and capable ministers doing great work within their portfolios, and let's not forget how rare and wonderful that is, given the past administration. Come in Erica Stanford, Winston Peters, Chris Bishop, Simeon Brown – all good performers, all doing well, all delivering.   But when it comes to the economy, one of the main platforms upon which National campaigned, the performance is less than impressive. CEOs have sent a clear message to Finance Minister Nicola Willis in the survey. She has to hold the pro-growth line, sharpen delivery, and set out a long-term vision that brings investors back on side. The Government's going for growth agenda has five key pillars: developing talent, competitive business settings, global trade and investment, innovation, technology and science, and infrastructure, which form the backbone of Willis's economic strategy.   In the beginning, New Zealand's business leaders gave Willis the benefit of the doubt. In 2024, the CEOs credited her with a strong start. Not anymore. She failed to make the top 10 top performers in the survey. As did Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. He came in for some criticism. Business leaders said he needs to listen more. He's got a mantra that's started to grate, and he knows that. They say he rates very highly when it comes to ensuring his cabinet ministers are focused and delivering. True. He actually rates reasonably well on keeping a coalition together. But the report found Luxon did not score well for building business confidence, his own political performance, and on transforming the economy. So, on those areas, he's got a lot of work to do, as Forsyth Barr managing director Neil Paviour-Smith told Mike Hosking this morning.    “There are reasons to be optimistic, but hoping is not a strategy. And the business community is looking for stronger leadership from the Prime Minister and Finance Minister around some of these core long-term issues and the structural deficits of New Zealand.”  They are mainly concerned, the business leaders, with boosting productivity. They want a step change that includes a boost in skill, innovation, and technology, not tinkering around the edges. They say they need to see a programme for retraining and reorienting the workforce, especially those at the lower end of the wage spectrum. They say that tax and regulatory settings need to be reformed. We need to accelerate research and development and grow high-value sectors. Infrastructure, well we talked about that yesterday. There's a need for delivery of infrastructure, not just more announcements. They want shovel-worthy projects ready as financing costs ease. Immigration and education settings came through strongly. We've lost a lot of highly skilled people out of the construction industry in the last 18 months.  Now with the taps about to turn on, how do we ramp up to ensure there's capacity in the market? They also called for a compelling vision that stretches beyond a three-year election cycle. Again, what we were discussing yesterday. So there's a lot to work on. And Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis would do well to heed the advice, the criticism, and the positive remarks made by the business leaders. All of these things we know, and all of these things we've said.   And while it is true that Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori aren't inspiring confidence amongst business leaders to put it mildly. As a country, we need more, we should want more than the least rubbish of two coalition governments. Waiting for the economic cycle to finish its rotation is not the vision New Zealanders were promised when a centre-right government was elected.   They said there would be growth, there would be productivity, that good times were coming. Yes, it was a mess. They said they had the answer. They promised that. This coalitio... Tue, 23 Sept 2025 23:47:56 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/nick-leggett-infrastructure-nz-ceo-on-the-413-infrastructure-project-investment/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/nick-leggett-infrastructure-nz-ceo-on-the-413-infrastructure-project-investment/ Infrastructure in New Zealand is being called out for being too political.  A significant jolt to the construction sector thanks to Government investment to hospital and school infrastructure.  Almost half a billion dollars will go towards upgrades and maintenance projects across the country.  Construction activity is at a six year low, with thousands of jobs lost in the last two years.  Infrastructure NZ CEO Nick Leggett told Kerre Woodham the mindset we apply to infrastructure is too political – too stop/start.   He says there’s often too much division within government, with each portfolio responsible for their own projects, and we don’t centralise the good skills and capabilities.  LISTEN ABOVE  Tue, 23 Sept 2025 00:58:38 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-infrastructure-needs-to-be-beyond-party-politics/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-infrastructure-needs-to-be-beyond-party-politics/ The Government hopes to give a much-needed boost to the building and construction industry with the announcement of $413 million worth of accelerated school infrastructure projects. This follows a raft of school property announcements and the establishment of a new school property agency in July to oversee the planning, building, and maintenance of new school buildings.   Hopefully, there will be some opposition input into this new agency, some opposition oversight. Because back in 2019, Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins, surrounded by adoring children, announced funding of $1.2 billion over four years for school property – a new primary school, 200 new classrooms in Auckland amongst them. The new buildings would be needed for the estimated 100,000 extra students who will enter the school system over the next 10 years. So far, so good.   At the time, Ms Ardern said there were too many kids getting taught in cold school halls and prefabs, and our plan, she said, will turn that around. It's important we plan ahead for growth, so parents can be confident they can send their child to their local school, and their local school will have enough warm, dry and modern classrooms to learn in, something the previous government failed to do.   Then they were voted out in 2023 and in came National, and the next year the Education Ministry put hundreds of projects on hold. Now, why would they do that? Obviously, there are more young people who are going to need classrooms, schools are already overcrowded. There are children being taught in halls and prefabs that are less than ideal.   Well, they did that because Labour had absolutely no concept of fiscal control. Their idea of building new classrooms was to go to a groovy young architect and say, "Come up with something fabulous," and they did. Groovy young architects have got amazing ideas and visions, and they can help children reach their full potential and development with the kind of environment that they can create with an unlimited chequebook.   So, in came boring, grumpy old National. Hundreds of projects went on hold and $2 billion was saved, they say. The value for money review considered 352 projects at 305 schools with a combined estimated cost of $4.6 billion. It decided 110 projects would go ahead with changes such as removing non-essential aspects of the build or using off-the-shelf rather than bespoke design.   If you are going to have an agency that's going to look ahead and plan and build and maintain school buildings, you've all got to be on the same page. Otherwise, what is the point? It makes sense to plan ahead for the future. It makes sense to build new schools where they're needed and to build new classrooms. But not if they're going to be, oh, I don't know, a vision came to me and I just drew something on paper and then it's like, you know, my ancestors are speaking to me and all of a sudden I've got this amazing creation for the cost of a billion dollars.   If you could have three schools built for the same amount of money, then that's the way you go. We go for bespoke award-winning design buildings when we are an oil-rich nation who just doesn't know what to do with its money. What will we do? Oh, I know. We'll give gorgeous young architects, brilliant young things, the opportunity to use their talents and create amazing public buildings. This is a good thing if you can afford it, and we cannot.   Do school buildings really need to be architecturally designed and award-winning buildings? I would argue right now they don't. They're beautiful and they're clever, but that level of expense is not necessary.   It's the same with social housing. We all know Kāinga Ora was given a mandate under the last government to build houses at whatever cost, and away they went. Architecturally designed, beautifully appointed housing communities, which again is all very well and good if you can afford it. But the triumph of ideolog... Tue, 23 Sept 2025 00:41:38 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-is-there-anything-good-about-pine-trees/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-is-there-anything-good-about-pine-trees/ Is there anything good about pine trees? Apart from for the people who own the commercial forests, the foresters. What earthly good do they do? Sure, they bring in much-needed export earnings, an estimated $5.89 billion for the year ending June 2025. So that helps towards the GDP. But look at the costs associated with the Pinus radiata. And they're mainly on the taxpayer, not on the industry itself. The foresters have said, look, if we had to pay the true cost of cleaning up the damage, cleaning up the rubbish, cleaning up the slash, we wouldn't have a business. And when you look at the sums, you can see why. We've seen the extensive damage that slash causes to farms and to infrastructure and beaches during floods. The debris chokes rivers, creates devastating debris dams and leads to environmental disasters with long-term ecological impact. And this is creating ongoing crises for local communities, for tourism, for fisheries. And last night, Country Calendar on TVNZ1 highlighted another problem with the pine forests, wilding pines. Steve Satterthwaite, who with his wife Mary owns and operates Muller Station in the Awatere Valley in Marlborough, says we absolutely need to act now to tackle the problem of wilding pines. If we don't stop these trees, eventually, the pastoral country from here to Kaikoura will succumb to being a forest of wilding pines. The downstream effects of that are water yield. So the Marlborough grape industry would be massively at risk of the rivers running dry, particularly the Awatere. And then you've got the risk of fire. If these mountain ranges got covered in pine trees, then the fire risk would be horrendous. It is so frustrating that despite it being the biggest environmental wilding disaster in New Zealand, it has not been funded at all under the national wilding conifer control programme. Well not strictly true Steve. In May of this year, the government announced a 20% increase in funding to tackle the spread of wilding pines. Then in August, it was announced that $3 million over three years of this international visitor levy revenue will go to the National Wilding Conifer Control programme, in particular for work in the Molesworth and Mc Kenzie Basin areas. This government says, and successive governments, previous governments have said  that they've understood the risk that wilding pines pose to the environment. And they've said the government is focused on protecting the productive heart of New Zealand's economy. Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay said wilding pines cost the rural community significantly, often the bane of farmers' lives, we have an obligation to work with them to control their spread and reduce on-farm burden. More than 2 million hectares are affected by wilding infestations with more to come, as Steve pointed out. The baby trees are already seeding and spreading their seed. It's only going to get worse. Untreated areas are expanding by an estimated 5% each year. Left unchecked, the economic impact could reach $3.6 billion over 50 years. So you add that the cost of the cleanup of the slash to the cost of the wilding pines. Are we really making any money from our export earnings? The reason that commercial forests and the Department of Conservation planted pines were good initially, in the first instance there was a desire to prevent the spread of erosion. It was thought that the pine trees would help stabilise land. It hasn't been entirely successful in some parts of the country, but it was thought that would happen. Yet again, it's unintended consequences. Now we've got more problems really than the pines are worth, haven't we? If the foresters are saying they can't really afford to clean up after themselves, otherwise their business is unsustainable. If you look at the cost of the wilding pine control, and hasn't the horse bolted? I mean, can you ever really get it back under control now? If you look at the cost of the slash, and then you balance tha... Mon, 22 Sept 2025 00:33:22 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/richard-dawkins-federated-farmers-pest-animal-and-weed-spokesperson-on-invasive-wilding-pines/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/richard-dawkins-federated-farmers-pest-animal-and-weed-spokesperson-on-invasive-wilding-pines/ Wilding pines, the invasive species also known as Pinus contorta, are posing a massive threat to the environment. It was highlighted on Country Calendar last by Steve Satterthwaite, who runs Muller Station in the Awatere Valley in Marlborough. He said the wilding pines don't just choke up pastoral land, there's also the downstream effect of  loss of water yield into the rivers, and in Marlborough, that effects the vineyards. Federated Farmers pest animal and weed spokesperson Richard Dawkins told Kerre Woodham that more funding and support is needed to properly tackle the spread of these invasive plants. 'It is possible to get it under control, but it just comes down to resourcing, right? So we need more funding.' LISTEN ABOVE Sun, 21 Sept 2025 22:55:03 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/rod-baxter-the-kings-trust-ceo-on-the-charity-art-in-the-park/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/rod-baxter-the-kings-trust-ceo-on-the-charity-art-in-the-park/ It’s the last days of Art in the Park this weekend – a uniquely curated art show held annually at Eden Park.  It showcases the works of both emerging and established New Zealand artists.   The King’s Trust has been the charity partner of the event for the last four years – an organisation formed in 1967 with the vision that every young person should have the chance to succeed.  It’s been running in New Zealand for six years, and CEO Rod Baxter told Kerre Woodham that in terms of economic value, they’ve quadrupled every dollar that was invested.  He says it’s not just about the success of the King's Trust and the Government, and the corporate supporters, but also the success of the community off young people.  LISTEN ABOVE  Fri, 19 Sept 2025 02:28:37 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-surely-weve-reached-the-bottom-of-the-economic-cycle/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-surely-weve-reached-the-bottom-of-the-economic-cycle/ The news came in around quarter to 11 yesterday, and it was unwelcome confirmation of what many people had been experiencing, had been feeling. The economy had contracted, and worse, it had shrunk 0.9%, far worse than economists had been predicting.   Economists at the Reserve Bank had forecast the economy would shrink just 0.3% during the June quarter. Retail banks said, "Oh, I don't think so. I think it'll be closer to 0.5." In fact, the figures released by Stats NZ yesterday showed GDP fell almost a full percentage point in the three months ended June, with declines in most industries.   Manufacturing fell the hardest. It dropped 3.5% in the quarter, led by transport equipment, machinery, and equipment manufacturing, which fell 6.2%. Food, beverage, and tobacco manufacturing fell 2.2%. And that was reflected in the decreased export volumes of products such as meat, which we referred to yesterday when we were talking to Infometrics Chief Economist Gareth Kiernan. He was saying it was the drop in exports – if you haven't got the produce, you can't export it. Construction was down 1.8%, reversing a 1.2% increase in the three months ended March.   So what does it all mean? Well, it means fewer jobs, it means fewer people earning, it means less money being earned. It means people scared of spending money if they do have money. It means less money sloshing around in the system. It means people doing it tough.   Roger Douglas, he of Rogernomics fame or infamy, and the Finance Minister in the Fourth Labour Government, called for the head of Nicola Willis. He and Robert MacCulloch, the economist, released a statement yesterday that said Willis was sending New Zealand bankrupt by failing to get to grips with our ballooning fiscal deficits and public debt. Her own Treasury, they said, contradicts her claim that New Zealand is on a path to surplus. They say it is not. Treasury's long-term fiscal forecast showed out of control deficits due to pensions and healthcare spending from an aging population. Willis, they say, is not up to the job and is not levelling with the New Zealand public.   Willis ignored that criticism, and looking at the GDP figures, says Trump's tariffs had an outsized impact on local business confidence, far out of proportion to what actually happened. She said yesterday's data is backward-looking. It's looking at what the economy was doing months ago, and she says that the economy is in fact improving.   “I think when you think about your average Kiwi, they're saying, well, actually, I need to have confidence that I can pay my mortgage, maybe that I can buy a bigger house in future, that I can buy a house at all. And the biggest tailwind for that is lower interest rates. And we know that they are what has spurred previous recoveries. That's actually good economics. Our government has done everything we can to create the space for the Reserve Bank to do this, and they just have to keep doing that job.   “For our part, we've chosen a balanced course of consolidating the books over a few years, which has been endorsed by international economists, by ratings agencies who say that our fiscal plan is a good one. We've delivered significant savings while investing in more infrastructure, in health services, and education services. I completely stand by that approach. And Roger Douglas may want me to slash spending overnight. That would be the wrong thing to do in terms of the commitment we've made to voters, but actually it would be the wrong thing economically.”  So that was Nicola Willis holding the line. John Key, former Prime Minister, came on the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning and put the blame squarely on the Reserve Bank.   “This is a saying that Ruth Richardson once had, which was monetary policy needs mates, and that was her argument when she was really tightening up the economy, that the Reserve Bank needed that support because they were in tandem working... Fri, 19 Sept 2025 00:51:59 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/eric-crampton-nz-initiative-chief-economist-on-the-gdp-contracting-09/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/eric-crampton-nz-initiative-chief-economist-on-the-gdp-contracting-09/ How much blame for the GDP drop can be placed at the feet of the Reserve Bank?  GDP's fallen 0.9 percent in the June quarter – a much sharper drop than economists had been expecting.  NZ Initiative Chief Economist Eric Crampton told Kerre Woodham what we’re feeling is an effect of getting inflation back in line, but he wouldn’t necessarily blame the Reserve Bank for the drop.  He says it’s one big job is keeping inflation in the 1-3% band, and it largely forgot what it’s job was in 2020 and 2021, and went overboard with the spending.  Crampton says he wouldn’t blame the bank’s current round of tightening, but rather the prior round of exuberance that required it.   LISTEN ABOVE  Fri, 19 Sept 2025 00:40:28 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-unions-seem-to-have-struck-themselves-into-irrelevance/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-unions-seem-to-have-struck-themselves-into-irrelevance/ Back when I was a kid, you knew the school holidays were coming up when the Seafarers Union went on strike. Sure as God made little apples, a week before the school holidays, the unions would be all out, brothers and sisters, and then there'd be all night negotiations between the cloth caps and the capitalist overlords, while parents waited anxiously to see if the annual road trip —south in our case— would take place to go down and see the Christchurch rallies. Generally, at the last minute they would, so it was a mad dash to Wellington, over the Cook Strait to Christchurch for the school holidays. Every single time.   Union representatives were household names in New Zealand – Ken Douglas, Sonja Davies, Blue Kennedy, everybody knew them. The strength of unions abated over the years after the reforms of the Fourth Labour Government. But since the demise of the last Labour Government and the arrival of this centre-right Government, unions have certainly been flexing their muscles.   Primary school teachers have voted to go on strike on October 23rd. “Kerre, isn't that the Thursday before Labour Weekend?” That's correct, it is. So what's that going to do? A glorious long weekend, and two days off school for the kids. Secondary teachers are on their rolling strike this week, again, right before the school holidays, massively disrupting senior classes and school attendance. Nurses walked off the job recently and senior doctors go on strike next week. They are perfectly entitled to do so, but it's a delicate balancing act holding on to public support while pressuring the government to give in to their demands for pay and conditions.   Political commentator Bryce Edwards made a very good point in an article yesterday, which just reinforces what we know. Unions take a softly, softly approach with Labour governments generally, because they don't want to damage Labour-led governments by striking. Unions affiliated to Labour contribute their members' dues to the Labour Party, and unions have voting rights on Labour's leadership under the current constitution that the Labour Party has.   So, in the main, they don't want to embarrass a Labour-led government. That is not to say they don't strike. Teachers held rolling strikes throughout 2023 because the Labour Government was stonewalling on negotiations. And in part, teachers say it's because the last Labour Government mucked them around for so long that they're striking again. They can only settle pay and conditions in the three-year blocks. And by the time Labour settled with the PPTA last round, it was time to begin negotiations again. But they are much more likely to strike than to negotiate. That's what the head of the Public Service Commission, Sir Brian Roche said – that we offered them a good deal, they didn't bother negotiating, just said, "Right, we're striking”.  The disruption to kids and their parents is far, far more than just the one day they strike, though. By choosing to strike right before the school holidays, kids don't see the point in going to school for the last week. They're lumped together in mixed classes. There's no real learning taking place. Teacher-only days in many schools on the Friday. What the hell is the point?   It's a real struggle for people I know who have teenagers to get them to school because they'd go if they were learning, they'd go if it mattered, they'd go if they felt they were going to get something out of it. When all they're doing is being lumped together in one mess class with a couple of duty teachers to make sure people don't go missing or harm one another, that's basically the end of it. It's basically babysitting for a couple of days, and the kids know that, so they think, why bother?   At what point do you lose sympathy for striking public servants? At what point as a teacher or a nurse do you lose patience with your union? I think most of us have sympathy with teachers, and nurses and doctors... Thu, 18 Sept 2025 01:15:09 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/mark-knoff-thomas-newmarket-business-association-ceo-on-the-crowded-places-strategy/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/mark-knoff-thomas-newmarket-business-association-ceo-on-the-crowded-places-strategy/ The country's getting up to scratch on teaching Kiwis how to manage possible lone wolf attackers in crowded spaces.  Police are promoting the mantra 'escape, hide, tell' to show the public what to do during an attack.   The Crowded Places Strategy includes information on how to detect possible attackers, and how to conduct security audits.   Auckland's Newmarket Business Association CEO Mark Knoff-Thomas told Kerre Woodham there have been situations where people freeze or start filming, which isn’t ideal.  He says they want to make sure people are armed and educated with the best knowledge possible, as even if it’s not applicable in New Zealand, it may come in useful overseas.  LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 18 Sept 2025 01:04:07 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/gareth-kiernan-infometrics-chief-forecaster-on-the-gdp-falling-by-09-in-the-june-quarter/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/gareth-kiernan-infometrics-chief-forecaster-on-the-gdp-falling-by-09-in-the-june-quarter/ Our economy's been shrinking much faster than economists thought.  Latest data just out from Stats NZ shows GDP fell 0.9% in the three months to June.  That follows six months of growth, after six months of contraction.  Infometrics Chief Forecaster Gareth Kiernan told Kerre Woodham it's far worse than any economists were expecting.  He says this number is completely "off the charts", as far as they're concerned.  LISTEN ABOVE  Wed, 17 Sept 2025 23:57:48 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-gas-what-are-the-options-what-are-the-alternatives/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-gas-what-are-the-options-what-are-the-alternatives/ Shane Jones' warning was clear and concise. As of 2029, if no new gas fields are found or an alternative energy source is not found, there will be no gas available for industrial, commercial, and domestic use.   “In simple terms, what's going to happen in 2029-2030 in the event that we either don't import gas, or we don't find a major find, is that the demand will still be there, but the supply will be below the demand. And there'll be a fraction of gas available, but for those big users, and quite frankly, the energy companies use quite a lot of gas and they can pay because they hand it on to you and I, that's what the crisis will be. There will be too many businesses in New Zealand still dependent on gas and the supply of the gas will be below their need for gas.”  Shane Jones, as other commentators have noted, does talk a big game and is prone to hyperbole to make his point – should have been a journo. Gas NZ Chief Executive Jeffrey Clarke says homes and small businesses accounted for less than 13% of gas demand last year and are likely to have gas for longer than 2029, if only because other bigger customers will find alternatives, and because domestic and small business are profitable.   But there's no doubt that the brutal reality is that we don't have as much gas in our gas fields as we thought we did, and that existing fields are going to run out sooner rather than later. Worse, according to an explainer story in The Post, gas industry sources believe that the aging Maui gas field will require expensive maintenance work in the middle of next year, raising the very real possibility that its overseas operator OMV could simply look at the bill for the maintenance, look at the life of the gas field and say, you know what? Don't worry about it. We'll shut it up early. Close the field.   And some businesses won't survive that. In Shane Jones' report to Winston Peters, where he made the dire warnings, Jones says without profound action, the die is cast. There'll be a rust belt decline in New Zealand with a widening gap in societal well-being.   We're already seeing it. Carter Holt Harvey shuttering its Eves Valley sawmill near Nelson, Kinleith closing and Tokoroa, and now Carter Holt Harvey closing the plywood plant there. Timaru's meatworks gone, Winston Pulp closing its factory in Ōhakune - small town New Zealand is once again fighting for its very survival.   What are the options? What are the alternatives?   According to Gas NZ, homes and small businesses account for less than 13% of gas demand. It doesn't mean that they are going to be really struggling to find alternatives to keep themselves going. The small manufacturing plants, we've already seen it, it's the cost of energy that is closing them, the manufacturing plants around New Zealand.   Can you find alternatives to gas before 2029? If you are living in a small town where your major employer is owned by a multinational, the answer is they'll probably just shut up shop, as we've seen happen in other small towns. They'll look at the cost of finding an alternative energy source and go you know what? No.   If you're a small town locally owned business, you might think differently. There might be more skin in the game for you. You might be willing to make a huge capital investment in resourcing the power supply to keep the plant open. But ultimately, once you do the sums on the back of an envelope, it just comes down to whether you can afford to or not.   And in that case, what is the future of small-town New Zealand? Is the die cast? Are we looking at a rust belt decline and a widening gap in societal well-being unless we can find alternative fuel or simply another way of keeping small town New Zealand alive?  Wed, 17 Sept 2025 00:28:17 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-right-to-free-speech-and-its-consequences/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-right-to-free-speech-and-its-consequences/ When US conservative activist and media personality Charlie Kirk was shot and killed on Wednesday, a lot of people had an awful lot to say.   Those on the right of the spectrum mourned the senseless violence and deplored the actions of the left. Many of those on the left rejoiced, were gleeful. And there's no other word for it when you look at some of the posts on social media.   For others of us, it was a deep dive into why Charlie Kirk was so well-regarded by conservatives in the US. I was aware of him, but I certainly wasn't aware of the breadth of his reach in the US. So, for me it was an information-finding exercise. And what I saw was a lot of grieving, a lot of mourning on the right, and rejoicing and jokes on the left.   Some took a righteous tone, like New Zealand investment manager and Kiwi Saver fund provider boss Sam Stubbs. He posted on LinkedIn on Saturday saying, "We should mourn the violence but not the man, and we certainly cannot eulogise a racist, sexist and bigot. RIP Charlie Kirk, I wish your ideas had died with you."   It certainly wasn't the worst thing I'd seen posted about Charlie Kirk's death, not particularly charitable, probably unnecessary.   Now, the Simplicity boss has apologised on LinkedIn and deleted the post. Stubbs said his first post on Kirk's death was sent in haste. Odd, given he wrote it on Saturday and Kirk was murdered on Wednesday. Three days should give you enough time to consider what you want to say.    Anyway, he went on, "It did not come across as I intended, and I apologise to anyone who took offence." Well, of course they're going to take offence. "Here's what I intended to say," he said. "Murder is murder, anyone celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk is celebrating acts of wilful vengeance. That is wrong, full stop."   He said he found much of what Kirk believed as sexist, racist and profoundly objectionable, but in a democracy, he said, he has the right to speak and to live to say what he thought. And let's hope his supporters feel the same way about those who disagreed with him, he added. Probably unnecessarily. Fairly grudging, and you'd wonder why he bothered. Why on earth would you bother?   Is he going to lose enough business to see a dent in his company? I wouldn't have thought so. Possibly he might be concerned about not getting a visa into the US. In the wake of the rejoicing from opponents of the ultra-conservatives, there's been a backlash in the US. Numerous workers have been fired for their comments on Kirk's death. Teachers, firefighters, journalists, nurses, politicians, a worker for a prominent NFL team. And the Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau, posted on X, "In light of yesterday's horrific assassination of a leading political figure, I want to underscore that foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country. I have been disgusted to see some on social media praising, rationalising or making light of the event, and have directed our consular officials to undertake appropriate action. Please feel free to bring such comments by foreigners to my attention so that the State Department can protect the American people." Well, in they came. People have been more than willing to dob in their fellow countrymen, including the hosts of Breakfast TV. A poster put up the clip of the crew shooting a Trump doll with Bug-A-Salt back in 2023. You can imagine the reaction to that. "Never let these people into the country," and on it went. It's not the first-time people have lost jobs over things they say publicly, but in the US, the speed of the firings has raised questions about free speech rights. And it does seem odd that a passionate proponent of free speech, like Charlie Kirk, should see people sacked in his name because they're exercising their right to free speech. It seems a bit incongruous, but there it is. Are you aware that if you do post, and especially in this day an... Mon, 15 Sept 2025 23:16:46 Z