/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 Thu, 12 Feb 2026 15:49:51 Z en /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-i-would-love-a-dispassionate-clear-headed-analysis-of-the-covid-response/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-i-would-love-a-dispassionate-clear-headed-analysis-of-the-covid-response/ For those of us with PCT, post Covid trauma, I've just given it a name and an acronym, the news that Nicola Willis is launching an inquiry into the actions of the Reserve Bank during Covid is going to bring back some bad memories, but I guess that's what National's relying on. During the pandemic, you'll recall the Reserve Bank cut the Official Cash Rate to a record low and for the first time printed about $55 billion worth of digital money – $55 billion that was pumped into the economy to keep it afloat. Many other countries did that too. Most didn't do it to the same extent we did, but most countries, most Western economies did the same thing. But they, like we, found that there is a cost to free money. High inflation, massive increase in house prices, businesses struggling to pay the money back. Was the hangover worth it? That's what Finance Minister Nicola Willis wants to find out.  “I think this is about the future. It's less for me about who was to blame and who we can tell was wrong. What it is about is saying, well, if you were doing it again, how would you prevent some of the overspending? How would you prevent some of the overuse of this money printing tool? How would you make sure you got it right? And so actually this is about the future and doing it better in the future. If we were to repeat the mistakes of Covid and just blindly ignore the lessons of history, I think that would be a major failure.  “I fully acknowledge support for the economy was required. And so the question that we are asking is, well, the benefits that occurred because there was this money printing and this borrowing are known, but let's examine what the costs were and then do a weigh up of the benefits of the costs and ask ourselves, did we just maybe go a bit too far? And in future, how would we calibrate that better? And look, I think the idea that New Zealanders shouldn't have this information before the election is really wrong because actually it does have a bearing on the democratic process. It does have a bearing on the way that people position themselves for the future.”  The timing is interesting. Reminding everyone of the Covid experience just before the election – who's that going to work for? You'd have to ask yourself. National promised during the last election campaign that they would order an independent review of the actions of the Reserve Bank and that review did not happen until now, and that's the start of the next election campaign. Willis says, oh come on, it's not about that. I was just really, really busy doing other stuff. I had a lot on my plate, I had a lot to deal with, which is true. I was updating the Reserve Bank's mandate to a sole focus on fighting inflation. I've had a lot on my plate. I'm only just getting round to it now.   Still and all, I am not averse to an inquiry and I don't want it to be a witch hunt. And I think it would be really, really, really good to have a truly independent and dispassionate look at decisions made in the heat of the moment and weigh up whether you would make those same decisions next time. Obviously there'll be slightly different circumstances, but if people have to stay home and businesses have to shut down, how do you manage that? How do you manage that over the short term? How do you manage that over the long term?   I would have really liked to have seen that happen with other decisions made during Covid, like having a long hard look at the way health and Covid health was prioritised over everything else. The decision makers at the time said the hospitals would have been overwhelmed and therefore all health would have suffered. You look now at the cancer waitlists and the deaths from people who weren't picked up while the hospitals were in shutdown mode and you say, okay, alright, so that happened, as a result this happened, was it worth it?   I would love to see a dispassionate, cool, clear-headed look at the decisions that were made and... Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:10:14 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/kelly-coe-augustine-owner-and-designer-on-the-decision-to-stop-making-plus-sized-clothing/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/kelly-coe-augustine-owner-and-designer-on-the-decision-to-stop-making-plus-sized-clothing/ A Kiwi clothing brand will no longer make plus sized clothing.  In a post on social media, Augustine owner Kelly Coe explained they’re focusing on the core of their business and what works best for them.  “We tried for years to dress our curvy babes and in the end we just got left with so much stock that ends up in our outlet store, it's simply not sustainable."  Coe told Kerre Woodham that in the beginning, there wasn’t the same competition from international brands and cheap fast fashion that there is now.  She says their plus sized garments did really well in the beginning, but they don’t anymore, and they just can’t keep growing bigger and bigger to cater for everybody.   Around 90% of their sales are in the size 8 to 16 range, Coe says, and has been for quite a while.  LISTEN ABOVE  Wed, 11 Feb 2026 23:36:25 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/graeme-caller-breaks-down-the-reserve-bank-covid-inquiry-what-money-does-and-the-impact-on-the-economy/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/graeme-caller-breaks-down-the-reserve-bank-covid-inquiry-what-money-does-and-the-impact-on-the-economy/ The Government's announced an independent review of the fiscal response to the Covid pandemic.  Finance Minister Nicola Willis says it will look at any lessons the country could learn to improve its monetary policy response to future events.  It will probe decisions by the Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee and advice it received – including the decision to print $55 billion in digital money during the pandemic.  Graeme, a caller on Kerre Woodham Mornings, decided to break down exactly how the concept of “printing money” works, what impact it has on the market, and the impact it had during Covid.  LISTEN ABOVE  Wed, 11 Feb 2026 22:57:35 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/mike-casey-rewiring-aotearoa-ceo-says-we-should-burn-our-coal-stockpile-instead-of-importing-lng/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/mike-casey-rewiring-aotearoa-ceo-says-we-should-burn-our-coal-stockpile-instead-of-importing-lng/ One renewable energy advocate believes New Zealand would be better off burning our coal reserve than building a liquefied natural gas terminal.   The Government’s aiming to sign a procurement contract for a Taranaki LNG site by mid-year, and hoping to have it running by late next year or early 2028.  An electricity levy of two to four dollars per megawatt-hour will fund the build, which is expected to save each household around $50 a year when up and running.   Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey told Kerre Woodham that while he likes to think of himself as a renewable energy advocate, he’s also a pragmatic person.   He says that the dry year problem has to be solved, but we should use the fuel we already have and import, instead of importing a new, incredibly expensive fuel, at a capital cost that would lock us into using it for a very long time.  LISTEN ABOVE  Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:07:16 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-this-is-winston-doing-as-winston-does/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-this-is-winston-doing-as-winston-does/ Ah, Winston. Winston, Winston, Winston. He is the embodiment, as his namesake Winston Churchill famously said of Russia, of a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. The canny campaigner knew exactly what he was doing when agreeing to job share the Deputy Prime Minister role with ACT leader David Seymour during the Coalition Government's startup. He, Winston, would take the first 18 months, positioning himself as a senior statesman and Foreign Minister par excellence. And indeed, he has done a very good job as Foreign Minister. Then after that 18 months, he would step aside, making way for David Seymour, more importantly, making time to campaign right up to the next election, which is just a matter of months away. It's exactly what he's doing, stirring up xenophobia in the wake of the Government, or rather National and ACT, securing a Free Trade Agreement with India. A Foreign Minister that doesn't like foreigners, all of a sudden, just in the last year.   As Toby Manhire says in his piece in The Spinoff, that Winston Peters and New Zealand First are opposing the Free Trade Agreement with India is no surprise. They also opposed the Free Trade Agreement with China 18 years ago. Then as now, says Manhire, Peters was Foreign Minister. Then as now, he said it was a bad deal for New Zealand. Then as now, he invoked an agree to disagree provision in the governing arrangement. So without New Zealand First support, National will need Labour to get the Free Trade Agreement across the line. Surely that should not be a problem – although you can't blame Chris Hipkins for playing hard to get and maximizing the political capital out of the situation. As far back as 2004 Helen Clark was leading trade delegations to India, although formal negotiations only began in earnest in 2010. It has taken a long, long time and much work from our trade delegates to get to this point. And Trade Minister Todd McClay says although it's inevitable that there will be politicking around the agreement, New Zealanders should understand that this is a very important, very big deal.  “Number one, there was always going to be a bit of politics around this because it is a very big deal. It's 1.4 billion people. You know, I've seen a lot of speculation about tens and tens of thousands of Indians just having the absolute right to come to New Zealand. Mike, this is a trade deal, it's not an immigration deal. They do not have that ability. The New Zealand Government has reserved the right to change visa settings as we need to. And the final point would be, we have now a trade deal, one of the best India's done with anybody. We're 5 million people, they're 1.4 billion. This is a very good deal for New Zealand, and each party in Parliament's going to have to decide how they're going to make the case of where their support lies.”  And on the point of Winston's claims that New Zealand will be overrun with Indian families, Todd McClay had this to say:  TM: The debate at the moment has moved to students, whether or not we can cap the number of students. And actually, there has never been a cap on the number of students. We've never said we want them from Australia, we don't want them from the UK. And I don't think any future government would ever do that. It makes no sense to. But what we have always done is we have changed the visa settings, the conditions that you have to meet to be able to get a visa to come and study in New Zealand. If we jump back to when we were in government previously, there were a very large number of students in New Zealand. As a result of COVID, it went down, but the previous government and we have changed those settings to make sure that actually the number of places and students coming in matches our requirement and what we do. And we can continue to do that.”  MH: But this is general, Todd, this is just immigration policy the way it's always been. Yes?  TM: That's exactly right.  Of course, we ne... Tue, 10 Feb 2026 22:40:53 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-until-we-have-sustainable-reliable-alternatives-we-need-to-stock-up-on-fuel/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-until-we-have-sustainable-reliable-alternatives-we-need-to-stock-up-on-fuel/ The headline on one of the stories this morning said, "vital or bonkers?". Is the new liquefied natural gas terminal announced by the Government yesterday a vital piece of infrastructure that will save New Zealand households hundreds, shore up gaps in our energy supply, give confidence to our manufacturers, or as the Greens are saying, absolutely bonkers for the planet and for our country's energy resilience?   Energy Minister Simon Watts announced yesterday that the new terminal to be built in New Plymouth should be ready by next year, and will mean that Kiwis no longer need to suffer through an endless series of winter bill shocks. The idea is that liquid natural gas can be imported in large volumes, we'll store it, and then it will be re-gasified to be used when shortages occur during dry years. It's expensive. It's an expensive way of doing it. An expensive “just in case”, but Simon Watts says, well we can't afford not to, otherwise it means the end of businesses.   Greens co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick says the decision to build a terminal is cooked. Well, you wouldn't be able to cook it unless there was some form of energy supply, so it's not a terribly good analogy because something can only be cooked when there's energy, and what they're doing is providing energy. She said Christopher Luxon has once again chosen to throw New Zealanders' money at fossil fuels, which is bad for power bills, energy security, and the planet. But as Simon Watts told the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning, this will quite literally power New Zealand's economy and we can't afford not to do it.  “The reality is renewables are nice, but the sun doesn't shine during the night and that's when we need firming capacity and thermal capacity. In a dry year when we don't have enough water in those lakes, we have to make that from either gas, diesel, or coal. Coal only covers 50% of us, we've still got a massive gap. That's why there's a price premium in people's bills. Having the certainty of supply of gas to come into that market when we need it means that that risk is mitigated and therefore that price premium that's in people's bills comes off. That's the rationale of what we're doing here.   “This is a strategic investment also for national security because guess what, if you can't have energy then other aspects of your economy is at risk and we've got to protect those industries that can't run on coal and surprisingly can't run on electricity. There's a lot of industry, heavy industry that needs gas and if we haven't got it domestically in the short term, we need to be able to import it.”  Yeah. Like absolutely phase out fossil fuels, totally, let's do it and we've been talking about it since probably the 70’s – possibly earlier than that. I mean that's when I first started reading newspapers when I was at primary school and that's when I can remember talking about the need not to rely on fossil fuels. All for it. But you have to have a reliable alternative – a sustainable, inexpensive alternative. You can't just stop producing energy without providing another sustainable source of power. Hoping and wishing for something better and nicer and cleaner and greener is not a strategy.   You can't just legislate sustainable energy out of thin air. Look at the disastrous result of various governments around the world legislating to force car manufacturers into producing more EVs to save the planet. Major automakers and EV startups have collectively incurred more than $114 billion , and those are real dollars, $114 billion in losses on EVs in the US and Europe, in basically three and a half years between 2022 and early 2026, driven by aggressive government electrification targets that outpaced consumer demand. People weren't convinced. Show me the electrical network that can sustain me being able to power these vehicles. Show me that they're safe. Show me that they're suitable for all terrains and all weather. As of Febr... Mon, 09 Feb 2026 22:36:45 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-our-jury-system-has-an-efficiency-problem/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-our-jury-system-has-an-efficiency-problem/ Today, we thought we'd have a look at jury duty, given a story in the New Zealand Herald this morning. I've only been called for jury service once, a couple of years ago, before Covid, which isn't really a couple of years, is it? It's like six years ago. I was keen as mustard. Couldn't wait.  Fortunately, I have a very supportive employer who's able to sustain me doing my jury service. So I was able to take the week off and I duly reported to the Auckland District Court on the Monday along with a million other people. So we sort of sat around for a while and then somebody with a clipboard called us all together and I was absolutely chuffed to be selected in the first pool of potential jurors, but I didn't make the final 12 We were sitting in the courtroom, but my name wasn't called. Really did feel like I'd failed an audition. So we trooped back downstairs, those that didn't make it, and I found the person with the clipboard and said, "Look, if I do get called, can we make sure it's a short, sharp jury trial because I'm off to Europe at the end of the week?" And she said, "Oh, don't bother. It's fine. Don't bother coming back." Thanked me for my service and that was that. Couldn't have been easier. There were a lot of people milling around waiting to do their jury service and I knew about three of them. Very convivial. I'd brought a book, but I didn't really need it. One of those who milled recently, though, a 57 year old Auckland chap, is in the Herald this morning. He said it was a terrible time. He's incredulous that we have such an inefficient, expensive way of administering justice. He added up the daily rate paid to would be jurors and the reimbursement for parking fees, and although to each individual it's a pittance, it all adds up. And he says given that it's taxpayer money, there needs to be a better way of doing things. He didn't put this in his calculations, but could have. What about the lost productivity to companies that release their employees or for self employed people who have to give up their work to do their civic duty? Official Information Act figures from the Herald, they were supplied by the Ministry of Justice, shows that 7,138,000 was paid in fees and expenses to potential jurors who attended jury service in New Zealand in 2024 Like, it is an individual pittance, but man, he's right, it does add up. More than $7 million, and how much of that is wasted money? Help is on the way. Acting Minister of Justice, Courts and Justice Services Policy Acting General Manager Megan Noyce said the Regulatory Systems Courts Amendment Bill includes two amendments aimed at making the jury selection process more efficient. The Justice Committee has examined it and it's recommended that it be passed. The first amendment will enable summoned jurors to attend court only when required by the court. It would allow multiple jury panels to be convened in a week, one for each trial, instead of all jurors summoned for that week attending every day. The second amendment would allow the first part of jury selection to take place outside the court precinct, so you don't have to sit there and mill and catch up with old mates and read your book. It can be done electronically. Electronic balloting would be introduced in the future once the bill is passed and only jurors selected in the ballot would need to attend court. The remainder would only need to attend if they're selected for another trial during that week. So that bill's at the second reading stage. Presumably, there would be no strong objections from any party to it passing. Should we take the savings we make on jury selection and pass them on to those who actually make it onto the jury? Defence lawyer John Munro told the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning that a decent fee might be a way to reinforce that it's important to do your civic duty. Given the low figures, I'd actually like to see jury members get more money for sitting on juries because You reckon tha... Sun, 08 Feb 2026 23:31:15 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/peter-dunne-political-commentator-and-former-mp-discusses-nz-firsts-kingmaker-status/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/peter-dunne-political-commentator-and-former-mp-discusses-nz-firsts-kingmaker-status/ In an opinion piece in 九一星空无限room, former United Future leader and Political Commentator Peter Dunne writes about "How to stop NZ First from playing the two main parties off against each other". Under our MMP system, NZ First often holds the "kingmaker" position, allowing them to leverage the two main parties, National and Labour, against each other during coalition negotiations. Currently, NZ First is polling strongly (between 9% and 12%), suggesting they may again be in a pivotal position for the November 2026 election. Former MP and Political Commentator Peter Dunne joined Kerre Woodham to discuss what NZ First's position as 'kingmaker' means for this years' election. Sun, 08 Feb 2026 23:11:52 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-unemployment-figures-make-for-grim-reading/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-unemployment-figures-make-for-grim-reading/ Stats New Zealand released the labour market statistics yesterday while I was on air talking to my caller Troy, and the numbers were not good.  KW: The unemployment rate is 5.4% in the December quarter, up 5.3 in September. So we'll discuss that with Liam Dann in a minute. There we go.   T: Interesting in an election year, that will be interesting for sure.  Interesting in an election year for sure, Troy. For a government that campaigned on fixing the economy, getting people back into work, the figures are a cold hard dose of reality. An unemployment rate of 5.4%, total unemployed 165,000 – that's 5,000 extra people without a job since the last quarter. 16,000 without a job since this time last year. The underutilisation figures made for pretty grim reading too. Underutilisation includes the unemployed, the underemployed, part time workers who are wanting more hours – they might have been looking for a full-time job, all they can get is a part time, but they'll take it while they keep looking. And the potential labour force, people who want to work but aren't actively seeking it. I don't quite understand those people, do they just expect somebody to come knocking on their door saying, you're it, you're perfect. 150,000 and a car, come on in"? I don't know how they expect to find work, but there we go. The number of underutilised people rose by 2,000 over the quarter, by roughly 52,000 to 71,000 over the past year depending on all sorts of metrics. What it does end up with is a record high of 409,000 people.   So there's a lot of people doing it tough. The Finance Minister Nicola Willis says, just hold your nerve, we'll come right.  “We have been waiting for an economic recovery and there is some impatience, but all of the signs are there.”  Yes. Well, are they? To be fair, look at the alternative. If you don't like what the Coalition Government is doing, have a look at Labour, Greens, and Te Pāti Māori and think, could they do better? But that's of cold comfort to the thousands of Kiwis that have had to relocate, they've had to pivot, they've had to reevaluate to get themselves into work, to get food on the table, the rent paid, to look after the kids.   Another caller yesterday who had rung me previously told me he'd applied for more than 200 jobs. He's bought himself a business. Others have moved themselves and their families into different regions. The figures don't show the Kiwis who moved to different countries, nearly 73,000 to Australia – imagine how grim the stats would have been otherwise. Now there are some people really who could have expected to lose their jobs. If you were one of the many, many thousands of people who took a job with the public service in Wellington in the last six months of '23, come on. When you've got Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon both saying the public service needs to be cut, if you took a job then really you couldn't have expected to keep it. It would have been luck if you did.   But for others, the slowing down of the economy has had a dramatic effect on them. The youth, because people hold onto their jobs longer, people don't take on trainees, they don't, can't afford to take a risk with a newbie or an apprentice. The business just can't sustain that. People 50 to 60, they might have been laid off. They've got many, you know, 10, 15, 20 years left in them. Try telling that to a prospective employer. Tough. So I would love to hear from those of you who have been looking for jobs, who have found jobs, who have pivoted, like my caller yesterday who after 200 rejections thought, “you know what? I'll do it myself," and bought himself a business. Those who've gone seeking a job in another part of the country. In Canterbury the figures are better than the national average. It's a tale as we've heard before of two economies. South Island's doing fine, North Island not so much.  Wed, 04 Feb 2026 23:59:18 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/shannon-barlow-frog-recruitment-managing-director-on-the-unemployment-rate/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/shannon-barlow-frog-recruitment-managing-director-on-the-unemployment-rate/ The job market's remaining tougher, for longer, than many economists were expecting.  Unemployment's reached a ten-year high of 5.4% in the December quarter, and the broader under-utilisation rate is close to a ten-year high as well, at 13%.  Finance Minister Nicola Willis is trying to point out silver linings, saying the data also shows more jobs have been created, and hours worked are increasing.  Frog Recruitment Manging Director Shannon Barlow told Kerre Woodham that it’s a little early to get a clear read on the market, but there are positive signs already.  She says there was a lift in permanent roles and businesses who were keen to hire in December, and January has been solid as well – notable since it’s normally a dead month.   Barlow says it gives the idea that business confidence is beginning to translate into real hiring and growth decisions.   LISTEN ABOVE  Wed, 04 Feb 2026 23:48:51 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/liam-dann-nz-herald-business-editor-on-unemployment-rising-to-54/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/liam-dann-nz-herald-business-editor-on-unemployment-rising-to-54/ Unemployment's risen again to a ten-year high, with 165 thousand Kiwis currently out of work.  Stats NZ data shows the unemployment rate was 5.4% in the December quarter, up from 5.3% in the September quarter.  It's now the highest it's been since September 2015.  The Herald's Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham while today's rise is small, it's also unexpected.  He says there was some hope we had seen the peak of unemployment, but it appears we haven’t.  LISTEN ABOVE  Tue, 03 Feb 2026 22:46:01 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-i-wish-the-drivers-license-overhaul-was-tougher/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-i-wish-the-drivers-license-overhaul-was-tougher/ Remember the terror of the driving test? Your heart in your mouth as you drove around the mean streets of Timaru or Ashburton, or in my case Tauranga, with a gimlet-eyed traffic cop watching your every move. The parallel parking, the hill starts. I only got my license because the cop took pity on me, I'd have lost my job if I didn't pass the test. But it's been 40 years now and I haven't had any major incidents in that time, fingers crossed. His faith was justified. Getting your driver's license is a rite of passage. But now Chris Bishop has announced a swathe of changes, the first to the testing regime since 2011 for drivers and for wannabe drivers, as he explained to Mike Hosking this morning.  “Firstly, we know that younger drivers are more dangerous on the roads. We know that inexperienced drivers are more dangerous on the road. You add alcohol and drugs to that, it's a really toxic mix. So we've gone for a zero-alcohol rule for anyone on their learners and restricted. We've made sure that people under 25 spend longer on their learners as a default. They can lower that down by doing an approved driving training course, which again we know the evidence shows makes a difference.   “And it's all about road experience, so that's why we've gone for a longer period of time at the front end in terms of spending time on your learners. But then at the other end, we don't think it makes a lot of sense to make people go and do a second practical test after they've been driving for a long period of time on their restricted and have got used to the road code and they've got that practical experience. We just didn't think it made sense to have people spend all the time and money to go and get a second test. Most countries don't do that, so we're bringing ourselves in line with that.”  So, once you sit your practical on your restricted and get your restricted, no more second test. Longer time spent on the learner licenses for under 25s, so 12-month learner period, an increase of six months. You can reduce that learner period by six months if you record practice hours or complete an approved practical course. It'll be cheaper to get a full license, it will reduce by 80 bucks under the new system. If you get demerits, you'll face a further six months on your restricted. There'll be fewer eyesight screenings, so that will only be required at the first license application and at each renewal. Chris Bishop explained about the zero-alcohol rule, no learner or restricted driver will be able to have a drop of alcohol in their blood. And there'll be stronger oversight of the training providers. NZTA can suspend driver training course providers if they think there's something iffy going on. So some good changes, but as the Driver Training Association told Ryan Bridge this morning, it's a bit of a mixed bag. I'd have liked to have seen a few more changes, like resitting your license at 60 and then 80. Like those who hold overseas driver's licenses having to sit a full test on New Zealand roads. Our roads are markedly different to those of other countries, our driving conditions are markedly different, so I would like to see anyone who holds an overseas driver's license having to sit a driver's license here. Like having to resit your license or go to traffic school if you're pulled over for three driving offences in a certain timeframe. I think we should have been tougher. It's a privilege, not a right, to be on our roads. I do like some of the changes, but I really would have liked to have seen the government go further.  Tue, 03 Feb 2026 22:36:26 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/josie-vidal-minerals-council-ceo-on-the-discussions-around-potential-minerals-deals/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/josie-vidal-minerals-council-ceo-on-the-discussions-around-potential-minerals-deals/ The Government wants to open New Zealand up to mining investment from all countries, not just from the US.  New Zealand's one of dozens of countries negotiating with the US on a potential minerals deal.  Ministers from New Zealand, Australia, the US, UK and EU are also meeting in Washington DC this week to discuss a potential security alliance over critical minerals.  Minerals Council CEO Josie Vidal told Kerre Woodham New Zealand has a real opportunity to promote the fact that our mining is responsible, that we have really high standards for employment and health and safety.   She says she can’t think of anywhere else on the planet that has stricter environmental regulations than we do.   LISTEN ABOVE  Mon, 02 Feb 2026 23:59:16 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-how-is-a-childs-lack-of-basic-skills-not-the-parents-responsibility/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-how-is-a-childs-lack-of-basic-skills-not-the-parents-responsibility/ As children head off to school this week, many of them for the first time, a woeful number of young ones are ill-prepared for the classroom.   A recent survey conducted by the Auckland Primary Principals' Association and released by the ECE sector partnership, found nearly 90% of Auckland primary schools have reported an increasing number of children starting school without basic skills, such as talking, eating, and toileting. To be very clear, these are not children who have mental and or physical disabilities. These are erstwhile normies, kids who should be able to do all of these basic, basic skills. The same survey, undertaken with 120 primary and intermediate schools, said all but 2% of those who responded said there's a real prevalence of new entrants having trouble with following directions and sharing. 92% of schools have new entrants who don't know the letters of their own names. Schools also reported new entrants who have real challenges dressing, identifying their name, they're unable to hold a pencil or drawing utensil, those fine motor skills.   Now, probably there'll be retired teachers sitting there muttering, going, well this is nothing new, there have always been children in new entrant classes who have required extra help. But the schools in the survey have around 15 children per cohort, per new intake cohort, who need extra help in getting them learning ready. That's a lot of kids, and a lot of extra time and effort to spend on children to get them to the same start line as the other new entrants. One of the schools has introduced, in effect, streaming. At Massey Primary, they've set up two new entrant classes to support children at the different ends of the school readiness spectrum. So, those who are able to identify their names, who are hungry to learn, who can hold pencils, they're in one class, those who need help in going to the toilet are in another class. It's a sensible solution to a problem that really should not exist.   The report is, in effect, talking up the value of quality early childhood education, and it's calling for more funding for the sector. It can make a huge difference to the school readiness of a child, which is quite true. But so too does a parent who takes an interest in their child. The report, while talking up ECE, is very quick to excuse parents. It says this should not be attributed, the lack of school readiness should not be attributed to parents who are juggling a myriad of obligations in an increasingly busy environment that includes a cost of living crisis.   So the lack of a child's ability to be ready for school should not be attributed to parents who are juggling myriad of obligations in an increasingly busy environment that includes a cost of living crisis. Come on – how can it not be a parent's responsibility? I would have thought it would take an enormous effort to dumb a child down to the extent that some of them are turning up at school. Children are naturally curious, they want to learn. That's why we're not still primordial slime – we have a natural, innate desire to know. Children also naturally want to be clean, they don't want to be in a nappy at six, unless that's what they've had to get used to. It doesn't have to cost anything to develop a child's natural curiosity, it's just time spent with them. Every single child psychologist will tell you that, those first 1,000 days. It's not about the flashiest pens and pencils and buying them books and it's not even, it's just having a safe, warm, dry place, which can be difficult for some, but then spending time with them. And if you're not confident about answering questions or reading to them, or you can't be bothered taking them to the park, then you can send them to childcare where the well-trained educators will do the hard work for you. There's free hours at childcare centres.   Please, when we're talking about the readiness or not of children for school, sure, talk up ear... Mon, 02 Feb 2026 23:53:23 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/lucy-naylor-auckland-primary-principals-association-president-on-new-entrant-students-missing-basic-skills/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/lucy-naylor-auckland-primary-principals-association-president-on-new-entrant-students-missing-basic-skills/ It's believed the pandemic can't be used as an excuse for why a growing number children aren't ready for life in the classroom.  Some primary schools are reporting record levels of children arriving without basic skills such as talking, eating, and toileting.  Auckland Primary Principals' Association President and Milford School Principal Lucy Naylor told Kerre Woodham this was the case immediately after Covid, but it's still continuing.  She says some Covid babies are now well established in school, so it's concerning there's been no improvement.  LISTEN ABOVE  Mon, 02 Feb 2026 22:36:06 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-are-12-month-prescriptions-too-much-for-community-pharmacies/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-are-12-month-prescriptions-too-much-for-community-pharmacies/ We thought we'd start with the new 12-month prescription rules. They came into force this weekend and are designed to save time and cut GP visits for patients. But community pharmacists say this could be the straw that breaks the camel's back because it's the latest in a raft of changes in a sector that is fighting to survive. The rules mean that people with long-term stable conditions can now get prescriptions of up to a year from their prescriber. And the government says this could save you up to $100 and more in GP fees annually. So that's got to be a good thing and you would think that the GPs would be in support of this too because if they have concerns about their patient's health and well-being, then they can say, well no, I'm not going to give you the one-year prescription, you'll have to come back more regularly. So they can decide. But if they do have an otherwise healthy patient, they can do the year-long prescription, then that frees them up for other patients. They say that there are too many for them to deal with, the workload is too much. Hopefully this reduces the workload. But for pharmacists, they say the increased competition from Chemist Warehouse and Bargain Chemist, the moves to allow pharmacists to prescribe medicines, and now this, the year-long prescriptions. It's a lot of change that they're having to deal with. They say there's going to be no real financial change as a result of the year-long prescriptions, but what it may well mean is less foot traffic through the pharmacies and for these smaller neighbourhood pharmacies, it's the retail sales that help them stay viable in the wake of the competition from these huge hypermarket-type chemists. Health Minister Simeon Brown told the Weekend Collective though that it's a no-brainer that for certain conditions, annual prescriptions become the norm. Ultimately, GPs and prescribers will make the decision on a case-by-case basis in consultation with their patients. And ultimately, it'll be people with long-term stable conditions who most likely are going to benefit. So for example, someone like myself, I've got asthma, it's a long-term stable condition. In consultation with my GP, those would be the conversations. You think about diabetes, epilepsy, other conditions as well where there's patients with a long-term condition. At the moment, they're having to go back to their GP every three months to get their prescription renewed. Well, actually under this new policy, they'll be able to the GP will be able to give them a 12-month prescription. They'll still have to collect their medication from the pharmacy every three months, but it will save them that prescription renewal and of course the cost and time that goes alongside that for what is medicines that they need and have had probably for many years. I would have thought absolutely that GPs would think, yes, excellent. You know, I've got healthy patients who have asthma, here's your year-long prescription and now I can see those that need more time. I was amazed at the number of people when we first talked about the proposed changes, I was amazed at the number of people who had a real relationship with their chemist. Like to me, I've got a lovely chemist just up the road and I quite like her, but if I'm in the mall, I'll pop into the Chemist Warehouse and pick up all sorts of things. They have a range of products at really low prices and then I'll pick up things that I might otherwise have got at my neighbourhood chemist. But there were people who were passionately loyal to their neighbourhood chemist because they might have diagnosed conditions that GPs had missed or picked up on prescription errors that GPs and more than one caller phoned in about that. And they say that their chemist provide excellent holistic care. They were really really loyal to their neighbourhood chemists. They were really worried that the supermarket chemists were going to put their local pharmacists out of business. But a... Sun, 01 Feb 2026 23:03:41 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-back-to-the-future-with-specialist-schools-for-complex-needs/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-back-to-the-future-with-specialist-schools-for-complex-needs/ I've always understood the theory behind mainstreaming. We're all different, we all have different abilities, different attitudes, and a classroom of individuals with diverse personalities and levels of learning prepares young people for the real world. You're not among your own kind once you leave school and enter the workplace, enter the community. Mainstreaming means that kids who are different physically, intellectually, socially, aren't siloed or separated or marginalised. They're part of the wider school community and if they need extra time or attention, well in an ideal classroom, the teacher gladly offers it and the other students make space, accepting that some people need more resources than others.  That's the theory. In reality, for many families, mainstreaming is brutal for teachers, for students, both the normies and the diverse students, the families of the normies. It can work, but only if there are the resources and the goodwill to make it happen. In reality, overworked teachers simply do not have the time or indeed the training to be able to offer the sort of specialised education that children with diverse and complex needs need.  Now the Government has announced funding for two new specialist schools, catering to children with high needs and disabilities. They are the first schools for such kids to be built in 50 years, which is how long the prevailing ideology of mainstreaming clearly has been going on. Education Minister Erica Stanford and Finance Minister Nicola Willis made the announcement yesterday at Queen Elizabeth College in Palmerston North. That college's campus will host one of the schools, which will open in Term 2 of 2027. The other will open next to Ngākōroa School in Drury in South Auckland in Term 1 of 2028.  The announcement of the two special schools, together with the Autism New Zealand education hubs that opened in Term 3 of last year for neurodivergent secondary students struggling with traditional schooling, really will give some parents, some kids, some choices. The charter schools sponsored by Autism New Zealand are operating from campuses in Wellington and Auckland, 96 students to begin with, and utilises homeschooling, online learning and community-based learning as a way to transition students back into the classroom learning face-to-face.  Autism NZ has accepted that there are many young people with autism for whom mainstreaming simply does not work. It doesn't work for them, it doesn't work for the other students, it doesn't work for the teachers. And so to get the best out of young people, they have created a curriculum that best suits them. It makes sense. Of course there are naysayers. Some education academics believe more money should be put into mainstream schools to cater for those with diverse needs rather than building special schools for them.  But that won't work for every child. What do they say? If you've met one neurodiverse child... There are some children for whom mainstreaming absolutely works, but not every child is going to enjoy being a square peg trying to squeeze through a round hole. Some will, but surely the alternative education hubs that have opened and those that are being planned make sense for parents who recognise that their child's potential can only be realised with specialist teachers in a school that's built to accommodate complex needs. It's back to the future, and those who are not blinkered and blinded by ideology know that there are lessons to be learned from the past.  Thu, 29 Jan 2026 23:22:17 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/erica-stanford-education-minister-on-the-opening-of-two-new-specialist-schools/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/erica-stanford-education-minister-on-the-opening-of-two-new-specialist-schools/ The Government is building two new specialist schools for children with complex learning needs.   The schools in Palmerston North and South Auckland will open in 2027 and 2028 respectively.   Education Minister Erica Stanford says debate has raged on whether such children should be in mainstream or special schools.   She told Kerre Woodham that there’s an argument that every single child should be mainstream no matter the degree of need, but it was never going to happen.  Stanford says they’re the first government in a very long time to draw the line and say it’s about choice – if your children need highly specialised care, then that should be a choice that is available to you.  LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 29 Jan 2026 22:45:08 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/tim-van-de-molen-waikato-mp-on-fire-and-emergency-nz-banning-the-use-of-powered-watercrafts-by-local-fire-stations/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/tim-van-de-molen-waikato-mp-on-fire-and-emergency-nz-banning-the-use-of-powered-watercrafts-by-local-fire-stations/ Concerns that banning the use of boats and jet skis by fire stations is a box ticking exercise.  Fire and Emergency NZ banned the use of all powered watercrafts by local fire stations in May of 2025.  The decision means that Waikato’s volunteer fire stations are unable to use their jet skis and boat during emergency situations on the Waikato River.  Yesterday saw Fire and Emergency face tough questioning on the subject at the Governance and Administration Select Committee.   Waikato MP Tim van de Molen told Kerre Woodham it’s a classic case of bureaucracy and red tape stifling practical, common-sense solutions.   He says that every brigade needs to be able to operate to safe standards, but the brigades in question have undertaken significant effort to ensure they’re doing exactly that.   LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:01:31 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-its-not-our-opinions-on-climate-change-that-matter/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-its-not-our-opinions-on-climate-change-that-matter/ I have said it before and I'll say it again. We can argue for hours, we can have online debates, we can write letters to the editor about whether extreme weather events are the result of anthropomorphic activity or whether we're just in the middle of a natural cycle that's occurred for millennia, but ultimately, what we think about climate change doesn't really matter. It's what banks and insurers and councils and the Government thinks that matters. And when they decide climate change is making some homes uninsurable, there's no arguing about it. Insurance companies just will not insure you, which means you won't be able to get a mortgage, which means you won't be able to buy a home in certain places unless you can buy it on your EFTPOS card, like Westport.  There's a story on Radio New Zealand's website today. A major insurance company has temporarily stopped offering new home insurance policies in Westport because of the fact that the town floods and floods again. AA Insurance, which has approximately half a million New Zealand customers, wrote to Buller District Mayor Chris Russell at the end of 2023 to tell him AA would halt new business home and landlord insurance policies for properties in the 7825 postcode, which covers Westport, Carters Beach and Cape Foulwind. The company said existing policies would stay in place and it had put a transfer policy in place for anyone looking to buy or sell a home that was currently insured with AA.  Tower Insurance is another one. People who own properties in locations where Tower deems the risk is too great are now being denied insurance cover outright. Beware signing up to a sale and purchase agreement before you can be sure you have insurance. A couple of legal firms are saying would-be buyers have found when they apply for a mortgage that they've signed up for a property on an insurer's red-lined list. Because they can't get insurance, they can't get the mortgage. But with no insurance condition in their sale and purchase agreement, they still have a contractual obligation to settle on the purchase.  Back to Westport. The West Coast Regional Council Chief Executive said the first stages of the Resilient Westport project involved building 17 kilometres of stopbanks. Most of that work's in the planning and design stages, but two sections have been built already and that will be protecting around 30 houses that hadn't had that protection before. And in the next few months, they'll be progressing more of the flood bank, which will result in more houses being protected. And the council plans to show that to insurers who'll be visiting the town at the end of next month as different stages of the flood protection scheme are completed.  So AA has said to Westport that if its flood exposure drops below the maximum exposure limit in the future, if they believe the flood banks will do the job of protecting the homes, then they'll reopen books to new customers. But they're not the first insurer to stop insuring where they deem the risk is too great, and they certainly won't be the last.   So as I say, we can argue all we like about climate change and who's responsible and whether anyone should be held responsible at all. It really doesn't matter because policies are being drafted, policies are being enacted that take climate change into account. And whatever we believe, we will be denied insurance, paying the increased premiums, reshaping our towns and communities as a result of what the banks, the insurers and the council believe.  Wed, 28 Jan 2026 23:40:12 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-slow-decline-of-nz-postal-services/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-slow-decline-of-nz-postal-services/ The arrival of Netflix and other film streaming services was the death knell for video rental stores. Five years after Netflix arrived in New Zealand in 2015, the majority of stores, once mainstays of our weekends —who didn't go in and spend an hour or so in the video rental store trying to decide what to choose for the weekend?— had closed across the country.   Yet despite 99% of New Zealanders saying they used email regularly in that same year, 2015, postal services have endured. Now sure, they've reduced as mail volumes have dropped off. 2015 was a big year because that's when postal deliveries went from six days a week to three as the mail volumes declined. But at least my toll payment notices and my cards from Aunt Barbara are still arriving in my letterbox three days a week.   The decline of video stores was relatively quick, if not painless. The decline of postal services is long and slow and may yet not be terminal. Take the announcement yesterday that New Zealand Post is to remove its services from 142 franchise partners. On the face of it, grim news. Yet in the same press release, New Zealand Post GM of Consumer announced that many of the remaining stores will be upgraded and new retail hubs featuring modern spaces designed for parcel sending, collection, and returns will be opening across the country. All well and good.   But for the franchises, those businesses that had New Zealand Post services in their stores, they say people do still send letters and parcels. They do still contribute significantly to their businesses. The owner of Marsden Books in Karori, Briony Hogg, told Ryan Bridge this morning that having the post office in store brings in a number of people.  BH: For us as a small bookshop in a suburban area, it's all about the people that it brings into the store. People would come in to do their posting and while they're in there, they'll buy a card and they'll buy a book and they'll have a chat and we build a relationship with these people and yeah, we're really, really disappointed that we've lost that.  RB: Do you know what sort of impact it might have on your bottom line?  BH: It's going to be pretty significant. It is a large portion of our revenue. So now we're going to have to think about ways that we pivot, ways that we change in the way we do business. And it's been a pretty exhausting couple of years to be a small business owner. I'm sure there's people out there that just don't have the energy to do that sort of pivot anymore. So yeah, it's going to be really, really significant, not just on me, but on all the other 141 outlets that got closed yesterday.  Yes, it's interesting too the choice of franchise owners that NZ Post has chosen to keep. I am no NZ Post GM Consumer, but a bookstore seems to make more sense for a New Zealand Post franchise than a service station, but there we go.   The fact remains it's a government-owned company and if it's making a loss, that's a loss the taxpayer has to wear. In the 2024 financial year, the state-owned enterprise reported a loss of $14 million. Chump change if you're a former Labour government, but nonetheless $14 million. The moves announced yesterday are part of the plan to return to profitability.   In a way, it would be quite freeing to not have postal services anymore. I'm still hung up on sending cards to denote formal occasions, but I faff around. I still owe a thank you card to generous hosts from Christmas. A month has now gone by. Their generosity was such that I need to acknowledge it, and an email just doesn't do it. Yet I would have sent an email within days of Christmas. But because I'm still trying to find the right card and get an actual physical voucher, it'll probably be Easter before I post my thank you. And a thank you delayed is an ill-mannered ingrate. So if there was no postal service, I could use that as an excuse rather than just faffing around. But I still love sending cards... Tue, 27 Jan 2026 22:08:53 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-is-it-time-to-rethink-where-we-build-our-communities/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-is-it-time-to-rethink-where-we-build-our-communities/ And here we all are, another summer, and while for many people it was fun in the sun and family catchups, for others it was dealing with floods and landslides. Specialised crews are still working, and will be working for some time yet, on recovering the bodies of the missing Mount Maunganui campers. Families are mourning the loss of a Welcome Bay grandmother and grandson killed in another Bay of Plenty landslip, and around the country communities are dealing with being cut off from main thoroughfares and facing lengthy drives to access any kind of amenities, probably counting their lucky stars that their family members are not among the dead and injured from this year's summer storms.  It's horrifying, but it's not unexpected, is it? Ever since humans have attempted to tame the environment around them, they've had to deal with the fact that often they will come off second best. So, do we need to rethink how and where we build our communities? It's the definition of madness to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results, and yet that is what we do.   Cabinet's meeting this morning and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking they'd be discussing the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to fix major roading damage from this year's summer storms. Last year they met to discuss the hundreds of millions of dollars that would be needed to fix roads, the year before that they needed to fix kilometres of roads around the country, and that too would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. A large part of the Waioeka Gorge, which connects Gisborne and Bay of Plenty, will be closed for several weeks to clear slips from the roads. Farmers in the region are calling for a plan B and a more resilient road network because they say they can't handle being cut off from the rest of the country every 18 to 36 months.  There are some communities that are looking at other options, rather than rebuilding every time there are floods and doing that every 18 to 36 months. You've got the town of Westport that's looking at a long-term managed retreat strategy, where they're not going to build a new town per se, but gradually any new projects will be built on higher, safer ground away from the severe flood risk, and there'll be plans for a new hub and infrastructure to encourage gradual relocation over generations.   There's also a proposal to shift Kumeū's town centre over a number of years. That was tabled by the Auckland Council around about this time last year. A proposal to shift Kumeū and Huapai area because it has a repeated history of flooding, and yes, you can pay the higher insurance rates and you can rebuild and do it again and again, but why would you if there is an alternative? Infrastructure proposals are also being put forward, but a number of community leaders are saying it's pointless, it's putting your finger in the dyke. The better option is to concede defeat and build somewhere else.   Certainly there are ways to mitigate damage from flooding and landslips, there are ways of predicting which areas are more prone to flooding and landslips, technology's improving all the time. In some instances though, do we just need to acknowledge that we are no match for the power of nature, concede defeat and step away?  Mon, 26 Jan 2026 22:07:12 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/liam-dann-nz-herald-business-editor-on-the-annual-inflation-rate-rising-to-31/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/liam-dann-nz-herald-business-editor-on-the-annual-inflation-rate-rising-to-31/ Inflation's officially higher than it's supposed to be.  Latest Stats NZ data shows inflation's reached 3.1% – up from 3% at the last update three months ago.  That's above the Reserve Bank's target range of 1 to 3%.  The Herald's Liam Dann told John MacDonald it's also well above the Reserve Bank's forecast of 2.7%.  He says there were hopes inflation was starting to fall again, so to see a rise like this isn't good at face value.  LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 22 Jan 2026 22:38:29 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/michael-morrah-nz-herald-investigative-reporter-gives-an-update-on-the-rescue-efforts-in-mount-maunganui/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/michael-morrah-nz-herald-investigative-reporter-gives-an-update-on-the-rescue-efforts-in-mount-maunganui/ Ambulances have been seen coming and going from the site of a major search operation at the base of Mount Maunganui.  Multiple people remain unaccounted for after yesterday morning's landslide, with crews working through the night to shift a massive amount of dirt and debris.  A source has told the Herald as many as nine people are potentially trapped.  Herald Senior Investigative Reporter Michael Morrah is on the scene and told John McDonald there's a huge amount of activity.  He says the disaster identification team, search and rescue team, and sniffer dogs are working through the debris.  LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 22 Jan 2026 22:16:43 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/brian-kelly-newstalk-zb-sports-reporter-on-the-slip-that-hit-tents-and-campers-at-a-mount-maunganui-campsite/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/brian-kelly-newstalk-zb-sports-reporter-on-the-slip-that-hit-tents-and-campers-at-a-mount-maunganui-campsite/ People still aren't accounted for in Mount Maunganui's Beachside Holiday Park after a landslide roared into the campsite at the base of the mountain at about 9.30 this morning.   Images show a caravan on its side inside the nearby the hot pools.   九一星空无限talk ZB Sport reporter Brian Kelly says about 30 police cars have arrived – the most he's seen in the town.    He says there’s a couple of helicopters, seven or eight fire engines, and a digger on scene, and the only comment he’s gotten is from a police officer who was sprinting past, saying the slip is bad.  The torrential rain that's lashed the North Island's east coast has caused flooding, slips, and road closures.  LISTEN ABOVE  Wed, 21 Jan 2026 22:32:40 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/best-of-2025-christopher-luxon-still-wants-to-raise-the-retirement-age-despite-opposition/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/best-of-2025-christopher-luxon-still-wants-to-raise-the-retirement-age-despite-opposition/ The Prime Minister's keen to raise the retirement age -- but it's not possible in coalition with New Zealand First. The Government is halving its KiwiSaver contribution rate -- and canning if people earning more than 180-thousand dollars. The default rate of worker and business contributions to KiwiSaver will rise over time. Chris Luxon told Kerre Woodham pushing out the retirement age to 67 makes sense. He says Labour doesn't think it’s a good idea, and New Zealand First does not want to move that forward. Luxon also spoke about the cuts the government made to make funding available elsewhere.  Budget 2025 includes 21 billion dollars of cost-savings - 13 billion of that from the controversial change to pay equity law - raising claim thresholds. Prime Minister Chris Luxon told Kerre Woodham these are difficult choices, but there's no way they could afford that. LISTEN ABOVE OR WATCH HERE Fri, 26 Dec 2025 19:30:39 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/best-of-2025-kerre-woodham-ask-not-what-your-country-can-do-for-you/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/best-of-2025-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.... Sun, 21 Dec 2025 02:30:53 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/chris-bishop-infrastructure-minister-wraps-2025-looks-ahead-to-2026/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/chris-bishop-infrastructure-minister-wraps-2025-looks-ahead-to-2026/ With all the hats he wears, Chris Bishop has been busy this year.  He’s the Minister for Infrastructure, and also holds the portfolios for Transport, Housing, RMA Reform, and the role of Leader of the House.  While wrapping up 2025, Bishop told Kerre Woodham he’s proud of how the Fast Track legislation has been tracking.  He says things like the Waihi North mine expansion and the Port of Auckland expansion would have normally taken years to break ground, but the legislation means they’re both underway.  Plus, he told Woodham, there are big housing developments, renewable energy projects, and many more coming through his office.   LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 18 Dec 2025 23:23:54 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/andrew-hoggard-biosecurity-minister-on-the-efforts-to-stamp-out-the-yellow-legged-hornet-in-auckland/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/andrew-hoggard-biosecurity-minister-on-the-efforts-to-stamp-out-the-yellow-legged-hornet-in-auckland/ Hornets are on notice as the Government commits $12 million to stamp them out in Auckland.  The yellow-legged hornet was detected on the North Shore earlier this year.  They pose a serious threat to honeybees and, by extension, to the agricultural sector.  Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says since the start of November, 37 queen hornets and 28 nests have been destroyed.  More than 730 traps have already been deployed.  Hoggard told Kerre Woodham they’ve searched over 6000 properties so far.  LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 18 Dec 2025 23:02:12 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-rejecting-the-waihi-gold-mine-project-wouldve-made-no-sense/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-rejecting-the-waihi-gold-mine-project-wouldve-made-no-sense/ You can take the girl out of Waihi, but you can't take the Waihi out of the girl, I tell you.  九一星空无限 that Oceana Gold's Waihi North project has been approved makes good sense, as far as I'm concerned. The permit that was confirmed yesterday guarantees the securing of 350 existing jobs, the creation of 100 plus new roles, the project to be in operation until at least 2042, so that gives some continuity, some certainty, which is fantastic, and a billion-dollar investment from Oceana Gold.  Now, having lived there for five years when I was growing up, gold is a huge part of who Waihi was and is. It was also a really strong union town as well. Gold was first discovered in Waihi in 1878 and by 1905, Waihi not only possessed the most productive gold mine in New Zealand, but was the third largest inland town in New Zealand because of the gold. You had the 1912 Waihi miners' strike. That was a six-month pitched battle that ended in violence and a miner killed by police, and shaped New Zealand politics for the next 60 odd years. And that's very much a part of the town. It's a gold mining town, it's a working town. It's a beautiful town.  The Martha Mine was and is living proof that there is gold in them there hills. The Martha Mine extracted 174 tons of gold, and the total district surrounding district, there was more than 31 million pound in gold value in the old currency from 1882 to 1954. So this is an area that has been mined for more than 100 years and is a community that knows mining, that is mining. When Dad was the bank manager in Waihi, I'm pretty sure, and it's not me making things up, but memory is an unreliable witness, I used to work in the bank in the school holidays and there were gold ingots in there, and that was fascinating, in the vaults, like you see in the cartoons.  So this is an area that knows mining and for any kind of permit to be denied, it would make no sense whatsoever.  Anti-mining activists have their place, and nobody wants to see pristine conservation parks torn up and destroyed, but that's not modern mining anyway. Even if they were to go into a conservation park, you don't tear it up and destroy it. That's not how you mine these days. As Oceana Gold president and CEO Gerard Bond says on the Heather Du Plessis-Allan show this morning, it shows that the new fast-track consenting process is working well.  GB: I think New Zealand has the best development permitting system globally presently. It's rigorous. It is difficult to get something permitted anywhere in the world, and New Zealand is no different. Our application was substantial. We did a lot of work, but the great thing about this process is that it's done in a timely way.  GB: New Zealand leapt up the mining attractiveness index in a annual global survey this year already off the base basis of that legislation being passed, and I think our success will further solidify New Zealand as a place that you can do business in.  HDPA: Part of the problem in New Zealand though is attitudes towards mining. Do you think that's changing?  GB: Well, we have tremendous support where we mine from local communities, and I understand during the course of last year, we saw the public support for mining has improved dramatically in New Zealand. And I think that's because people see that we do it safely, we do it responsibly, have done so for 35 years, and will continue to do so. And this is an industry that generates real high-paying jobs that are very, very productive. So, I'd like to think that New Zealanders would welcome the fact that they have a a robust mining industry.  So, yes. I just simply cannot see the problem. Had the permit been denied, it would have made no sense whatsoever. And those who do live in towns where there are where mining is an industry, do well. You know, people have good jobs. They're not subsistence jobs, they're not service jobs, they're not tourism jobs depending on the season.... Thu, 18 Dec 2025 22:02:39 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/nicola-willis-finance-minister-reflects-on-2025-looks-ahead-to-2026/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/nicola-willis-finance-minister-reflects-on-2025-looks-ahead-to-2026/ It’s been a tough run for the economy this year, but the Finance Minister is celebrating the progress that was made.  Nicola Willis told Kerre Woodham the economy is growing, which means that when they look back on 2025, they’ll be able to say it ended a lot better than it started.  She says that looking into next year, it’s set to grow much faster, with many more jobs being created.  “People can look forward to their incomes rising faster than inflation and ongoing low interest rates – that's a positive way to start the next year.”  LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 18 Dec 2025 00:05:30 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/john-reeves-public-transport-users-association-national-coordinator-on-auckland-trains-shutting-down-over-summer-for-maintenance/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/john-reeves-public-transport-users-association-national-coordinator-on-auckland-trains-shutting-down-over-summer-for-maintenance/ Trains will be offline across the Auckland rail network from December 27 to January 28.  KiwiRail says the closure is needed to allow for urgent repairs and maintenance which is needed for the upcoming City Rail Link, set to open in the second half of 2026.  Public Transport Users Association National Coordinator Jon Reeves told Kerre Woodham that shutting down the trains over the summer for maintenance purposes is the classic cliché that's been going on for about 25 years.   He says it's become a bit of a joke, and a different way to make these upgrades needs to be found.   LISTEN ABOVE   Wed, 17 Dec 2025 23:55:27 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/liam-dann-nz-herald-business-editor-on-the-gdp-rising-by-11-in-q3/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/liam-dann-nz-herald-business-editor-on-the-gdp-rising-by-11-in-q3/ New Zealand's economy grew more than expected between July and September.  But between April and June, it shrank more than previously thought.  GDP rose 1.1% in the September quarter, surpassing all expectation but Stats NZ has revised the numbers for the June quarter, finding GDP actually fell 1%, not the previously-reported 0.9%.  That means the economy shrank 0.5% in the year to September.  NZ Herald Business Editor Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham the data is showing there’s some momentum in the economy, especially within manufacturing and business services.  He says consumers take a bit longer to feel upbeat, but the business core of the economy is picking up.   LISTEN ABOVE  Wed, 17 Dec 2025 23:35:21 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-auckland-is-far-behind-the-eight-ball-when-it-comes-to-trains/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-auckland-is-far-behind-the-eight-ball-when-it-comes-to-trains/ For those who have been here over summer, Auckland is a lovely place to be.  A lot of residents push off, and it feels like the city is yours to explore, and visitors are very welcome and make a welcome addition to the city, new people with new energy and seeing things that you don't see, seeing the city through new eyes.  But it's going to be a little bit tricky to get around, unless you fancy a bus on a sweltering day or you bring your car, because Auckland trains have announced that they're delivering the last big push on the rail network rebuild and other critical city rail link preparations.  There'll be more than 1,300 people involved in repairing tracks, building new platforms, pedestrian bridges, removing level crossings, and testing the timetable. So, thank you very much to those 1,300 who will be working in the heat over summer to get the CRL up and running, but it does mean the closure of the Auckland rail network from the 27th of December to the 28th of January.  It'll be fully closed for most of the time, with the exception of some southern eastern and Ōnehunga line services returning between the 19th and the 26th of January. Auckland Trains say balancing delivery with minimising disruption to passengers and freight is tricky to get right. So, using holiday periods when demand is lower means we impact fewer people, they say. For those staying in Auckland or working right through, we understand this is frustrating – and it will be. If you're one of those essential workers working right through, it will be frustrating to know that an efficient public transport option is closed to you, quite literally.  And for those who are looking to be the first people in the world to welcome in the new year in Auckland City Central, I mean, it's a hell of a spectacle. You've got SkyCity with the fireworks display and Vector with their lights, great music and it is a happy fun time, but imagine having good times and energy and well factor and then hopping on a bus crammed to the gunnels, chugging back out to Pukekohe. Is that really how you want to begin your new year? It's hardly the hoots wahay you're looking for, is it?  A bus is not a train. Showing that I understand mechanics and engineering, a bus is not a train. Several buses are not one train.  I do get it. I really do. There has to be some short-term disruption for long-term gain. And I do want to be able to travel hither and yon on public transport if I can do so safely and efficiently, as I do in other cities, I love jumping on the subway or the metro and even the buses. But Auckland's so far behind the eight ball. London opened its first deep-level tube line with electric trains in 1890. The New York subway opened in 1904 and Paris's metro a few years earlier in 1900. So, it's taken us a hot minute to get with the program, even allowing for economies of scale.  People will use public transport if it's efficient and it's safe and it's going. They're not going to use it when it's shut. We're seeing increasing numbers of people choosing other modes of transport other than the car, according to the latest AA survey.  Now, you'd expect people who belong to AA, you know, to love their cars, and they do. 97% of the 7,000 members who responded drove in the four weeks before taking the survey, but 60% also walked where they needed to go, 15% had cycled, 15% had bussed, and 6% had hopped on a train. Imagine how many more there would be if we did have an effective public transport system that was actually running.  Wed, 17 Dec 2025 23:18:09 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/mark-mitchell-police-minister-reflects-on-2025-looks-ahead-to-2026/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/mark-mitchell-police-minister-reflects-on-2025-looks-ahead-to-2026/ Mark Mitchell is acknowledging the wins he had in 2025.  It’s been a busy year, the Minister dealing with a range of emergencies across the country, plus the hefty police portfolio.  He told Kerre Woodham that although there’s a lot of negative headlines throughout the year, we should be extremely proud of ourselves as a country.  Mitchell says there’s a lot more going on than there is bad.   LISTEN ABOVE  Tue, 16 Dec 2025 23:44:46 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/liam-dann-nz-herald-business-editor-on-the-state-of-the-governments-books/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/liam-dann-nz-herald-business-editor-on-the-state-of-the-governments-books/ Treasury's Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows more delay to getting the books back to black.   The deficit's expected to deepen to a depth of $16.9 billion and not narrow to $60 million dollars until 2029-30.  Economic growth is expected to be just 1.7% next year.  NZ Herald Business Editor Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham that the problem isn’t in how much we borrow, but the efficiency of government spending.   He says there's a big lack of trust in the government, as people would be able to cope with higher borrowing if it was going towards amazing infrastructure projects, but we haven’t seen that over the last decade.   LISTEN ABOVE  Tue, 16 Dec 2025 22:42:00 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-finance-minister-is-charting-a-tough-course/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-finance-minister-is-charting-a-tough-course/ We're going to start this morning with the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update, which was actually the Three-quarter Year Economic and Fiscal Update. It delivered news we all expected, and that is that we're getting there as a country. It's just taking longer than we thought.  Treasury's half-year update, published on Tuesday, predicted a return to surplus in 2029/30, a year later than it forecasted in May. Finance Minister Nicola Willis said she'd continue to aim for 2028/29 and said we're on target to return the books to surplus faster than they will in Australia, the UK, Canada, and many other advanced economies, while maintaining a prudent debt position.  She's doubled down on what she calls her disciplined plan for returning the books to surplus, and says she's not willing to implement more brutal spending cuts, as the Taxpayers' Union have been advocating for, warning that their prescription would deliver human misery and hurt frontline public services and depress already weak demand in a recovering economy. She points out that the Taxpayer Union proposed, among other things, scrapping all Working for Families tax credits, reducing the average weekly income of the recipients by about $180. She said beneficiaries and low-income families would be at the brunt of any change like that, delivering a level of human misery she was not prepared to tolerate. She said of Labour's criticism, that their approach to spending is reckless and would further delay a return to surplus.  She said that the Government had delivered about $11 billion a year in savings during its term. Without this disciplined approach, she says the year's deficit would be $25 billion, and debt would be on track to blow out to 59% of GDP. So, according to Finance Minister Willis, she and her government are on track, and that being castigated by the Taxpayers' Union for being too soft, too wimpy, and being criticized by Labour for being too harsh, means she's charting the right course.  It is a fine balance she has to strike. You, me, everybody can see where she can make cuts. The winter energy payment, making it a needs-based payment, making a number of allowances needs-based, the fees free, that sort of thing. There's a lot of low-hanging fruit you could pluck off and save a few cents here and a few cents there. What a lot of households have done over the past few years. But she is bound by her agreements with coalition partners. There are some things she cannot touch. She's working in an MMP environment. There are plenty of things I'm sure she'd love to do, things that Ruth Richardson could do, but even allowing for the human misery factor, there are coalition partners she has to placate, and the Government wants to get re-elected.   It is utterly pointless steering the right course, but only for three years. It is utterly pointless saving a few billion here, only for it to be squandered next time round. So what do you suggest she does? I'm sure she gets plenty of reckons from all sorts of people – the most recent and the most high profile was former Finance Minister Ruth Richardson, who really should pipe down. I'm glad that debate's off. That was just farcical. But Ruth Richardson needs to pipe down because she could do things, and did do things, that simply aren't possible for this Finance Minister to do under MMP.  And also, it's a lot harder to get elected under MMP and to have a big say in the direction of the government unless you've got a big platform. So anything Nicola Willis does has to be with an eye to being the biggest party to form a government.  So, I tend to think she's right, that if you've got the Taxpayers' Union going, you're too soft, you're too wet, you're too pathetic, you've got Labour going, you're too cruel, you're too harsh, you're too brutal, then she's pretty much on the right track.  Tue, 16 Dec 2025 22:08:40 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-how-do-we-heal-our-countrys-divisions/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-how-do-we-heal-our-countrys-divisions/ I remember back when I first started talkback, a million years ago at nighttime, it must have been the semicentennial of the waterfront workers strike of '51, or the lockout, depending on which side you're on. It was the biggest industrial confrontation in New Zealand's history for those who don't know of it. It was 151 days from February to July, and at its peak, 22,000 waterside workers, or wharfies, and associated unions were off the job, out of a population of just under 2 million.  It took place at a time of Cold War tensions, so name calling was rife. The opposing sides denounced each other as Nazis or commies, traitors and terrorists. Not all unions were on board with the Waterside Workers Union. Some of them thought they were way too militant, way too stroppy, so the unions weren't completely aligned. There was even the difference between the strike, which is what the employers and government called it. For the unionists, it was a lockout.  Things got so bad that a railway bridge near Huntly was dynamited at the time of the tensions. An act of terrorism, basically – that's certainly what the Prime Minister at the time Sid Holland called it. No one was hurt, but coal supplies were severely disrupted. So, we've got bridges being blown up, we've got people on strike, we've got families who would have starved were it not for supporters feeding them. But if you were found out that you were supporting a wharfie's family, you could be ostracised, even if you were a working-class family, it hit you. Your union had to be aligned with the waterfront workers. So it was incredibly divisive.  On the 1st of June, police dispersed up to 1,000 marchers in Queen Street, using truncheons and heavy-handed, fairly heavy-handed tactics. There was a lot of argy-bargy. There were fractured skulls and lacerations and concussions. The Government broke the strike really by bringing in new unions, and new unions of workers. They were denounced by the unionists as scabs, and the wharfies' position was becoming increasingly hopeless. Eventually, after five months, they conceded defeat on the 15th of July. So after 151 days.  But the ugliness and the bitterness remained, because we were talking about the strike, and a man rang me from Huntly, and he said there was a scab living in his town, and he wouldn't be in the same shop, he wouldn't be in the same pub, and he would cross the street. 50 years later, that bitterness and that anger remained.  Then we had in '81, probably the only comparable thing in recent times, was the Springbok tour, and the protests over that. That was the largest civil disturbance seen since '51. More than 150,000 people took part in more than 200 demonstrations. 1,500 were charged with offences that resulted from the protests. It was a clash between baby boomers and war veterans, between city and country, between young versus old. It's the Britain of the South versus an independent Pacific nation. There were real tensions and families were divided within themselves.  And then along came Covid, more recently.  I guess what I'm wondering about is how do we heal ourselves? Because we're at a time in history and at a time globally where tensions are running really, really high. Can we learn any lessons from our past? Our own past. We can't look at the world and try and fix that, but we can certainly try and heal ourselves here. We can look at the civil, not civil wars here, but civil division, civil fractures.  I mean, if you look back and you and your family were divided over the Springbok tour, not expecting anyone still to be around from 1951, but if you look at the division you might have had with your parents during the Springbok tour, you can't cut ties forever with your parents, can you? You can't cut off your kids because they went on a protest march. So surely on a micro level, if you can heal your differences and still come together at Christmas and birthdays and things... Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:47:28 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/sam-cliffe-nz-blood-service-ceo-on-the-need-for-blood-and-plasma-donations-over-the-holiday-period/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/sam-cliffe-nz-blood-service-ceo-on-the-need-for-blood-and-plasma-donations-over-the-holiday-period/ The NZ Blood Service is encouraging people to donate, saying the demand doesn’t stop.  Although the amount of hospital activity and the number of surgeries slow down over the holiday period, CEO Sam Cliffe says things like accidents, births, and long-term conditions are still prevalent.   She told Kerre Woodham that they try to over-collect in the two weeks up to Christmas and for a little bit after, as their stocks tend to get a little bit spikey in January.  Additional mobile donation stations have been set up across the country, so even if you’re not at home, there are options available.  LISTEN ABOVE   Tue, 16 Dec 2025 00:31:11 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/simeon-brown-health-minister-reflects-on-2025-and-explains-focus-for-2026/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/simeon-brown-health-minister-reflects-on-2025-and-explains-focus-for-2026/ A year into the job Health Minister Simeon Brown is celebrating early signs of success on reducing wait times.  He took over the heath portfolio in January of this year, succeeding Dr Shane Reti.  Brown told Kerre Woodham he attributes reinstated health targets as one aspect that's made a difference.  He says the number one focus remains improved access to health care.  LISTEN ABOVE   Mon, 15 Dec 2025 23:49:51 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/john-battersby-senior-fellow-at-massey-university-centre-for-defence-and-security-studies-discusses-mass-shooting-at-bondi/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/john-battersby-senior-fellow-at-massey-university-centre-for-defence-and-security-studies-discusses-mass-shooting-at-bondi/ At least 16 people are dead and 38 others injured in a terrorist attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney. Hundreds of people had gathered at Bondi for an event to celebrate the first day of Hanukkah, when gunmen opened fire. Massey University Centre for Defence and Security Studies Senior Fellow John Battersby told Kerre Woodham that police responded as quick as they could, but it can be difficult to predict these attacks.  "Law enforcement agencies and intelligence agencies are pretty good at what they do, but they do not have a crystal ball." LISTEN ABOVE Sun, 14 Dec 2025 23:23:13 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/dave-cade-on-the-draining-of-lake-rotomanu-in-the-fight-against-the-invasive-gold-clams/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/dave-cade-on-the-draining-of-lake-rotomanu-in-the-fight-against-the-invasive-gold-clams/ A New Plymouth lake is being drained in an effort to stop invasive clams.  Lake Rotomanu's been closed to motorised watercraft since the gold clams were found there last month, marking the first discovery of the species outside of the Waikato River.  The lake's outlet was opened yesterday, and it will take about four days to drain completely.  Dave Cade told Kerre Woodham it’s the worst biosecurity threat to New Zealand’s freshwater that the country’s ever faced.  He says the clams reproduce asexually, and they’ll smother the bottom of lakes, smothering native organisms and clogging hydro stations.   LISTEN ABOVE   Thu, 11 Dec 2025 23:36:30 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/david-farrar-kiwiblog-author-and-co-founder-of-the-taxpayers-union-on-the-debate-between-nicola-willis-and-ruth-richardson/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/david-farrar-kiwiblog-author-and-co-founder-of-the-taxpayers-union-on-the-debate-between-nicola-willis-and-ruth-richardson/ Nicola Willis is defending her economic track record in the face of a lobby-group's satirical campaign.  The Taxpayers' Union has sent MPs Nicola Willis-branded fudge, claiming she favours treats today and taxes tomorrow.  It suggests Willis should cut spending more.  Willis says the Government has reduced taxes and delivered significant cost savings while keeping frontline services.  Kiwiblog author and co-founder of the Taxpayers' Union, David Farrar told Kerre Woodham that putting aside personalities, it’s not a bad thing for people to realise we still have a real fiscal challenge in New Zealand.   He says that while the Government has cut spending in a number of areas, we’re still spending more than we’re bringing in in taxes.   LISTEN ABOVE   Thu, 11 Dec 2025 23:27:23 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-willis-and-richardson-debating-would-be-a-pointless-waste-of-time/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-willis-and-richardson-debating-would-be-a-pointless-waste-of-time/ Do you see any advantage or benefit to the country in having a former Finance Minister and the current one debating fiscal policy?  The current Finance Minister, Nicola Willis, has challenged the former Finance Minister, Ruth Richardson, to a debate. Now, that is misguided in my view, but to be fair, she was grievously provoked. Ruth Richardson is the chair of the Taxpayers' Union. The Taxpayers' Union is a pressure group, a ginger group, founded in 2013 to scrutinise government spending, publicise government waste, and promote an efficient tax system.  Its basis is its membership is mainly conservative, centre-right, right-wing figures, and it's regarded as a right-wing pressure group. Normally you would think they'd be scrutinising Labour and Labour's spending. Last week, the Taxpayers' Union sent out a provocative pamphlet and an accompanying box of fudge, accusing Nicola Willis of not delivering on her election promises to rein in reckless spending, unsustainable borrowing, and the hiring of endless bureaucrats. The Union accused Willis of failing to deliver the goods and fudging it, hence the fudge that arrived with the press release.  Provoked and incensed beyond reason, Nicola Willis swiped back. She said, "My message for Ruth Richardson is a very clear one: come and debate me face-to-face, come out of the shadows. I will argue toe-to-toe on the prescription that our government is following. I reject your approach, and instead of lurking in the shadows with secretly funded ads in the paper, come and debate me right here in Parliament. 'm ready anytime, anywhere, I will debate her." So you can see she was a little bit brassed off.  Willis said she stood by her decisions in government and wanted Richardson to defend her legacy, having introduced the infamous Mother of All Budgets in 1991, when her government under Bolger came in and were left with, I would argue, an even worse fiscal mess than this government inherited.   It's all got very personal. I don't think there's anything wrong in critiquing decisions made by government ministers, looking at how they're going, giving updates, having a reckon, especially when the ministers came in on a campaign of fixing the economy and reining in irresponsible spending, it's fair enough to say, "Okay, have you?" The Coalition Government possibly hasn't done enough, been innovative enough to suit the Taxpayers' Union agenda. They wanted more. They wanted cuts in spending, they wanted slashing of and wholesale firing of bureaucrats. That's what they wanted, but the Government's in the tricky position of having to be responsible stewards of the public purse and get re-elected.  And that's a tricky one. The Taxpayers' Union doesn't have to worry about getting elected. It's a stand-alone lobby group. The Taxpayers' Union has criticised Nicola Willis for a measly 1% reduction in public servants, but as David Farrar from Kiwiblog points out, this may well be the first government in history to actually reduce the number of public servants. They're the first ones to have done it.  It was never going to be easy inheriting the situation left by the previous government, and it never is. The Labour governments spend, that's what they do. But there's also nothing wrong with critiquing the performance of the government. The Taxpayers' Union shouldn't have made it so personal. Nicola Willis should have showed superhuman restraint and not lashed back.  The debate is a pointless waste of time in my view. I know that we're all political tragics here and we take far more interest than the average person does and if I thought there was any merit whatsoever, and if lessons could be learned or if as a country we would benefit from having these two Finance Ministers thrashing out points of economic order, fine. I just don't see it. I think it's egos have been wounded and it is the equivalent of challenging somebody to 50 press-ups – a pointless exercise. Ju... Thu, 11 Dec 2025 22:21:24 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-beyond-the-headlines-of-the-cancer-report/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-beyond-the-headlines-of-the-cancer-report/ Whenever I hear or read news headlines these days, I know that the headlines will be just that for so many people. Headlines. People won't hear or they won't read beyond the headline, and then they'll form their own opinions based on nothing more than 20 words or fewer. I've got numerous examples of that. Even people that I would have thought would understand the media, like journalists, they'll look at a headline and think, "Oh, you know, subscriber only, I'm not going to pay. I'm just going to draw my own conclusions from the headline," which they know is flawed and ridiculous.  You have to read the body of the story. If you just go on the headline, then you are going to be misinformed. It's a bit like the cancer diagnosis headline that's in the news today. "Cancer diagnosis numbers set to skyrocket by 50% over the next two decades". As soon as I read that, I could write the text to this show myself.  Example: Yeah, have a look at how many of them were vaxed. Join the dots, and variations on that theme. Or I could imagine people thinking, "Oh my god, cancer diagnoses are up. I'm going to die." Or putting my young activist cap on, Māori are around 1.6 times more likely to die from cancer than Pākehā or other ethnicities. So the young activists are like, "Yeah, that's right, man, institutional racism inherent in the system. Yeah. It's colonialism. That's what's causing that."  In fact, when you look beyond the headlines, when you read beyond the headlines, there's actually a lot of good news in the story, if you are willing to take the time to read it or listen to the interviews. Since the first state of cancer report five years ago, there has been encouraging progress in key areas of prevention, early detection, and treatment. Cancer diagnoses might be skyrocketing, but that's because they've got better diagnostic tools. We can find it before it does the damage. The chance of surviving cancer has improved over the last 20 years. The five-year net survival for all cancers has improved by 15% in the last 20 years, probably due to the screening and the advances in treatment.  And even better is the news that many, many of the cancers that afflict us can be prevented by us. We have the power to reduce our risk of some cancers, as Dr. Chris Jackson, Professor of Oncology at University of Otago and practising medical oncologist, explained to Heather du Plessis-Allan this morning.  CJ: 20% of all cancers are related to smoking, 20%. So if you get rid of smoking, you would cut the number of cancers by 20%. So that is undisputed.  HDPA: Even though the numbers are so small nowadays?  CJ: Yeah, well, it's probably going to, certainly it is going down, but those people who've been smoking are still going to be going through the system for that amount of time. The number the number two cause is obesity. So New Zealand's what, the third most obese country in the world now, I think? And we're seeing a rise in some obesity-related cancers now also, and I think if we could fix that, that would be the other big thing in terms of prevention. The other key thing, which is a very New Zealand thing, is our love affair with the sun. And as we come into summer months, I think we have to reflect on the old slip, slop, slap thing. Australia has done the sun prevention thing better than we have, and our skin cancer rates are now higher than theirs.  Absolutely. There are still many, many mysteries around cancers.  There are cancer clusters within families, there are rising rates of healthy young people being diagnosed with bowel cancer. There is much work for cancer researchers to do. But they've also done a lot of work in the field of many cancers and have found the cause and effect. Smoking increases your risk of cancer, obesity increases your risk of cancer, ignoring sun warnings increases your risk of cancer.  So we need to pay heed, if we want to. Make the changes you need to your lifestyl... Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:12:19 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/phil-lester-victoria-university-ecology-and-entomology-professor-on-the-efforts-to-stamp-out-yellow-legged-hornets/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/phil-lester-victoria-university-ecology-and-entomology-professor-on-the-efforts-to-stamp-out-yellow-legged-hornets/ Efforts to stamp out yellow-legged hornets in New Zealand are widening.  Biodiversity New Zealand is expanding the 5-kilometre surveillance zone in Glenfield and Birkdale on Auckland's North Shore further out to 11-kilometres, to ensure only one population is at large.  Victoria University Ecology and Entomology Professor Phil Lester told Kerre Woodham hornets target worker bees one by one and will hurt more than our honey sector.   He says bees support our dairy, kiwifruit, and avocado industries, and if they get established it will be a real problem.  LISTEN ABOVE   Wed, 10 Dec 2025 23:35:27 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/josie-spillane-highlands-motorsport-ceo-on-the-street-smart-driving-programme-lottery/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/josie-spillane-highlands-motorsport-ceo-on-the-street-smart-driving-programme-lottery/ The Street Smart programme is a hands-on, one-day driver training course for young drivers, teaching crucial real-world skills beyond basic testing, helping reduce road deaths across New Zealand.  The course focuses on decision-making, hazard perception (like "rabbits" on the road), distraction management, peer pressure, and emergency manoeuvres in a controlled environment with professional coaches.  Highlands Motorsport CEO Josie Spillane told Kerre Woodham they’re deeply committed to making generational and legislational change around driver training in New Zealand, but until they get to that point, they’re doing what they can to ensure young drivers have the tools to make key split-second decisions.   The Trust has launched their first lottery to fund the programme, giving Kiwis the chance to win one of three 2025 Subaru WRXs, and go into the draw for three once-in-a-lifetime motorsport experiences.  With only 10,000 tickets at $100 each, Spillane says the odds are better than Lotto, and help make a life-saving difference for youth on the roads.   LISTEN ABOVE   Wed, 10 Dec 2025 00:17:39 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/hamish-firth-mt-hobson-group-director-on-the-governments-rma-reforms/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/audio/hamish-firth-mt-hobson-group-director-on-the-governments-rma-reforms/ An urban planner says the Government’s RMA reforms are well overdue.   It's unveiled plans to replace current Resource Management Act laws with two new pieces of legislation, one for the environment and one for planning.   It sets clear limits on council regulations and is expected to save $13 billion in consenting costs.  Mt Hobson Group Director Hamish Firth told Kerre Woodham we’ve been bungling along with a system that results in us all having horror stories.   He says there’s continuous subjectivity in the Resource Management Act, and the Government’s doing the right thing in replacing it.  LISTEN ABOVE   Tue, 09 Dec 2025 23:44:11 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-supreme-court-ruling-on-disabled-carers-makes-sense/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-the-supreme-court-ruling-on-disabled-carers-makes-sense/ Two parents who care for their severely disabled adult children have been recognised as homeworkers and are now entitled to receive the minimum wage, along with other associated employment conditions, after a landmark ruling yesterday from the country's highest court. They're now deemed to be employees of disability support services. And the families who battled to be recognised for the work that they do are hopeful the Supreme Court decision paves the way for other carers who are in a similar situation.  The case was brought by two parents, Christine Fleming and Peter Humphreys, who each care for their severely disabled adult children. Their physical and intellectual disabilities require constant supervision and around the clock care. Were it not for the care provided by their families, the two adult children would be needing 24/7 care somewhere, and some substandard accommodation, and that would be funded by the taxpayer.  The decision to deem the parents to be employees was unanimously reached by the five judges of the Supreme Court, and it comes seven years and seven months after the case was first filed in the Employment Court, and more than two decades after family carers first went to court, complaining they had the right to be paid for the care they provided that the taxpayer would otherwise have to provide.  From what I recall of the story over those two decades, it's complicated because there are some family members who believe it is their sacred duty to care for their children, and that by becoming employees it diminishes that bond. So not everybody thinks the same way. You know, you might share similar circumstances, but you look at it in different ways.  But it just makes sense, doesn't it? That if you have a child, be they seven months, seven years, 17, 27, however old they are, and it has been deemed that they need 24/7 care, and you are providing that care, you should be reimbursed for it, whether you've got a sacred bond between parent and child or not. Otherwise, we, the taxpayer, would have to fund it some other way.  It's similar to a story I covered on Fair Go a trillion years ago. A young man had been left tetraplegic in a car accident. He was legally entitled to 24/7 care, but he only received limited funding to cover that care. So unless his caregivers gave their time voluntarily, and many chose not to, and fear it, they weren't being paid, but he would be left alone and abandoned. He nearly died a couple of times because there was nobody there, despite the fact he was entitled to it, but the money didn't cover 24/7 care.  It seems that some government departments rely on the bonds between parents and their children and the kindness of strangers to provide the care that legally, by right, should be afforded our most severely disabled New Zealanders.  I can't imagine what it would be like as a parent of a disabled child, knowing that time is ticking by. You try to set your children up so that they will be looked after when you're gone. But it would be terrifying having to try and care for the child in the here and now, while making provision for them in the future. Quite often it falls to other siblings to provide that care.  There's a need to try and work to afford the sort of care that the adult child is going to need now and in the future. Like the love you would get from knowing your child, fabulous. But there's also the basic needs you have to provide for. You know, you get a lot out of being with your child, no matter what age. You know, it's a relationship that you have. It is one that is special, unique, but it's also a job, and if you weren't doing it, somebody would have to.  So I would love to hear from those families who are in that situation and what that means for you from here on in. Not all family members will want to be workers of disability support services, and I get that, but at least the pay it paves the way for there to be the opt... Tue, 09 Dec 2025 22:35:25 Z /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-is-there-still-a-place-for-te-p%C4%81ti-m%C4%81ori-in-parliament/ /on-air/kerre-woodham-mornings/opinion/kerre-woodham-is-there-still-a-place-for-te-p%C4%81ti-m%C4%81ori-in-parliament/ 2024 was an epic annus horribilis for the Greens - you remember Golriz Ghahraman, Darleen Tana, Julie Anne Genter, et al. It went on and on. It was arguably the worst year on record for any political party in this country ever. But wait, hold my beer – we have a new champion.  2025 is shaping up to be an even more horribilis of an annus for Te Pāti Māori, who may well factionalise themselves into extinction. It all started so well. And by started, I'm going back to 2004 when Labour MP Tariana Turia's protest against her own government's Foreshore and Seabed Bill led to her establishing Te Pāti Māori. Despite it being pretty much a single issue party at genesis, it lasted the distance thanks to the political pragmatism and mana of Dame Tariana and Sir Pita Sharples, the other co-leader.  They were able to walk in both the Pākehā world and Te Ao Māori, and they kept the party together. Te Pāti Māori winning six out of the seven electorate seats in the 2023 election was a triumph. As was its opposition to the coalition government's Treaty Principles Bill and galvanising everybody together. But since then, Te Pāti Māori has turned upon itself and the ugly mudslinging being played out in the public arena has seen support for the party plummet.  This time last year, Te Pāti Māori got 7% in the 1九一星空无限 Verian poll. Last night in that same poll, they recorded just 1%. Bang, crash, pow, brace for impact, as Maiki Sherman might have said, but didn't, when reporting the results last night.  Te Pāti Māori threw out two of its MPs amid accusations of a dictatorial style by its leadership. The dispute took a new twist in court last week though, when a judge ruled MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi should be reinstated as a party member. John Tamihere emerged from the party's AGM in Rotorua over the weekend absolutely triumphant and grinning like a Cheshire cat, the cat that's got the cream. Those opposed to his presidency simply didn't have the numbers to get rid of him.  According to the party's constitution, it appears the only way Tamihere can be removed from the role of president is if there is consensus among the electorate council representatives. So he has a stranglehold on Tāmaki Makaurau, Waiariki, and Te Tai Hauāuru – Waikato seems to be neutral. Ikaroa-Rāwhiti said they weren't happy about the expulsion of Whaitiri and another MP, Ferris. Te Tai Tokerau, Te Tai Tonga, they want John Tamihere gone.  But it looks like he'll be clinging on. May well be a Pyrrhic victory. If Te Pāti Māori can't find a way to work through their differences, and I don't see how they possibly can. Tamihere will be the head of a political party that isn't in Parliament, that is completely and utterly irrelevant. He'll have his toys, but no one to play with.  While all of this infighting is occurring, as Christopher Luxon said, not one single piece of legislation has been crafted by Te Pāti Māori MPs to further the betterment of their constituency, of their people. As he said, not one of them has turned up with ideas, with a plan, with a way to make the world a better place for the people who voted them in, to use the machinery of Parliament to advance the cause of their people. They are simply not doing their job while they're involved in this sort of infighting.   I would very much like to hear from those who have supported Te Pāti Māori in the past, who as recently as 2023 might have installed a Te Pāti Māori MP in Parliament by voting in the electorate – where to now? Is there still a place for Te Pāti Māori in Parliament? They look like they're doing their level best to disembowel themselves and eat their own entrails in front of us all.  It's unedifying, but worse than that, it is letting down the very people who voted them into Parliament.  Mon, 08 Dec 2025 23:36:52 Z