Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

1News broke the news last night that there may be a breakthrough in the management of forestry on the East Coast. Four cabinet ministers attended the meeting; Ministers Stuart Nash, David O'Connor, Kiritapu Allan and Meka Whaitiri. There was also Federated farmers, the forestry owners, Gisborne District Council, local mayor and Mana Whenua present.  To discuss this local minister and Regional Development Minister Kiritapu Allan joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first of stats are in regarding mortgage holders' ability to deal with the new and increased mortgage interest rates, and so far so good. Those with homes and mortgages collectively paid $3.5 billion of interest to banks in the December quarter, 53 percent more than just over a year earlier when interest rates were the lowest on record.   Record high wages have helped when it comes to mortgage holders resilience, although the rising cost of living is eating into that.   And these are only the first of the stats - around half of the country's mortgage debt is due for refixing this year and that will increase the number of borrowers who face high interest debt. Massey University's Claire Matthews joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Student Volunteer Army has organised a Big Clean-Up of flood-damaged areas around the Auckland region for this weekend. Spokesperson Robbie Nicol joined Kerre Woodham to discuss the plans. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We have the cabinet reshuffle, of course, and although to me it's simply shuffling the same pack of cards, the same deck that has the same jokers and the same wildcards in it. You would have to say that Labour's done a pretty good job of rebranding itself as new and shiny and exciting. We no longer have a Minister for Covid, thank heavens. We do have a Minister for Auckland the first time since Judith Tizard was Minister for Auckland. You wouldn't have to do much to better her performance. So you know, Michael Wood doesn't have a terribly high threshold. After leaving Auckland to languish and lockdown for the better part of a year, the Prime Minister has decided that Auckland is in fact important, and important enough to have its own minister.   More interesting is going to be rather than the reshuffling of the deck is what policies are going to be put on the back burner and what the PM has decided to forge ahead with.  He's made it very clear that the focus is going to be on cost of living, on the fact that people are doing it tough. And this new look Government will be focusing on that. So more interesting to me is going to be the policies. What's he going to shelve? What's he going to focus on to reinvigorate the economy? You can't just keep taxing people to get your money. You need to have successful small business to have a successful country. So that is what the Prime Minister is going to need to focus on. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A business leader claims Kiwi companies are being hit hard by a workforce shortage. Stats NZ's latest labour market figures for the December quarter, showing unemployment has inched up to 3.4 percent. Employers and Manufacturers Association head, Brett O'Riley, told Kerre Woodham we don't have enough highly skilled people. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There have been many stories emerging from frustrated travellers still stranded overseas because of flooding at Auckland Airport.   Leanne Geraghty, Air New Zealand Customer and Sales officer joined Kerre Woodham with the latest developments. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Auckland, Northland and the Coromandel Peninsula have been given red level weather warnings, the most severe warnings as more rain is forecast to fall on the sodden regions. NEMA has issued a safety warning that the heavy rain could cause flooding, slips and damage because the ground simply can't take any more. And one way of trying to minimize the load on already stretched first responders and emergency workers is to minimise traffic on Auckland's roads while vital infrastructure is repaired.   Accordingly, businesses were told to ask their employees to work from home and the Ministry of Education responded by directing all of the regions school', early childhood centres, and tertiary institutions to stay closed until the 7th of February. So again, there has been criticism about how this was communicated. Most schools found out thanks to the media after some confusion as to whether they should be opening, and eventually the Ministry of Education took the decision to impose a lockdown, in effect, on schools in Auckland for a week.   I totally understand why they want to minimize any chance of first responders being stretched thinly. I get that. But when you look at school attendance, truancy has never been worse. It's been steadily declining since 2015. Covid exacerbated the problem and that decline in school attendance has been across every decile, every year level, every ethnicity, in every region, and the biggest drop among primary and intermediate kids, who are the very ones that we can't afford to be skipping school.   Fewer than 60 percent of students currently attend school regularly. So you've got kids who haven't been at school for more than two years, who are street smart but educationally below the line and who are using their street smarts to survive.  We had callers last year saying they found it really difficult to get their teenagers to school. And these are kids from erstwhile “good” families where there is an expectation that young people will attend school. But you can hardly drag a six foot two, 100kg bloke into his school uniform and into the through the school gates. They have to want to go. But when the schools haven't prioritised attendance, when they've said look, you can learn at home. Why would you bother going?  I think they are between a rock and a hard place that you need to give first responders and emergency workers the opportunity to patch up and repair what's broken before the forecast heavy rain.  But we have seen just how badly school closures have impacted young people. The principals warned that there would be a spike in youth crime with the Covid closures. Schools should be shut as a measure of last resort, surely?  The schools in the worst-affected areas can be shut. Schools that can open should open. Schools have their own unique characters, personalities and communities. Surely they can decide for themselves what is best for their children and their families. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Timothy Welch, a senior lecturer in urban planning at the University of Auckland writes in The Conversation, when it comes to the Auckland floods, even stormwater reform isn't enough. He says we need to become a 'sponge city' to avoid future disasters. Auckland University's Timothy Welch joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One Auckland restaurant was forced to evacuate mid-service last Friday. Cassia owner Chand Sahrawat told Kerre Woodham that the prep kitchen was completely flooded. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Insurance Council Chief Executive, Tim Grafton told Kerre Woodham that for people with damaged homes, the most important thing is to photograph everything. He advises people to contact their insurer if they're experiencing vulnerabilities. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.