Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

I have to say looking at the Herald this morning, you wonder whether the Government, whether the media, whether I, have a take on what people are really concerned about because I came back and I'm reading the paper and there's a full-page report in the Herald on what we can expect from the Government and its master plan to cut emissions when the Budget’s released.The headline in Stuff is 'Emissions plan could herald the biggest set of changes in New Zealand since Rogernomics'. It will detail ways in which the Government will reorient the economy towards one that actively tries to drive down emissions to get New Zealand to a position of net zero emissions by 2050. So they're saying the economy and therefore society is going to be yanked into a completely different direction from one which we have known since Rogernomics. Which will be huge if that is so. And yet when households are struggling to put food on the table and petrol in the car, is climate change the most important and meaningful area for the government to focus on? To yank society into a completely different direction?I look at the headlines saying we're about to experience seismic change, the like of which we haven't seen since Rogernomics to deal with reducing our emissions and I wonder if the world has gone mad?!Why do we have to rearrange society when all that really matters is that you have enough food on the table for the kids and that they're getting educated? So that they have a chance to make a difference in the world.Why is it that this Budget that we're all waiting for breathlessly has at its very core fuel emissions and the cutting thereof within CO2, when all I want to be able to do is know that I can feed the kids for a week? That's what matters, surely? The rest is ideological BS.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson delivers his fifth Budget on Thursday, with an emphasis on health and climate change.However, there are doubts this week's Budget will address New Zealand's cost of living crisis.In an opinion piece in the NZH, National's finance spokesperson Nicola Willis says this is not the time to be adding more unnecessary costs or embarking on big bureaucracy-building ventures.Nicola Willis joined Kerre Woodham.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been hard to miss the publicity that's been circulating on-screen, and in radio and print media around the Road to Zero campaign which has been led by the NZ Transport Agency/Waka Kotahi. In response to this, there's a story today about one man, Geoff Upson, who is campaigning in in the other direction ... campaigning to ,quote, Keep it 100.Now for those of you who may have missed it, the Road to Zero campaign involves a vision of zero deaths and serious injuries on New Zealand roads. It's a campaign that has been met with a lot of scepticism from people, including me, who are concerned that, as we saw with the Government approach to Covid with the lockdowns and extreme measures, we're going to see increasingly extreme measures, all in pursuit of a target, which frankly is ridiculous.I don't mean ridiculous because I don't value life. I mean ridiculous because life is not wrapped up in one big ball of safe cotton wool.Now I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little sick of this patronizing tone coming from Government agencies who just know best and when the Government agency is capable of gaslighting, not just us but itself, into thinking that there is actually Road to Zero, they really surprised that there's some form of pushback from New Zealand public. You also end up with the accusation that somehow you’re callous and have no thought for the value of human life. They push out statistics like every 1% increase in the speed results in a 3 1/2% to 4% increase in fatal crashes.I'm all for trusting New Zealand motorists a little more -  investing in better driver training, investing in defensive driving courses, and better roads. But please, if you want to win us over, stop this patronising nonsense and demonising people for expressing what, for many, is a common-sense point of view and a response to the self-delusional bureaucratic spin.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Piopio home invasion case.I'll be honest, my initial reaction to the not-guilty verdict was that I struggled to contain my Glee. But that was because when the case first broke and I looked at the facts and I predicted,  two or three weeks ago, that no jury was ever going to convict the father and son of the charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.The question is, did the jury, in finding Bill Burr senior and his son not guilty,  did the jury get it right?In my view, this was always going to be the verdict. It was the only one that the jury could deliver.  Having said that, from a legal point of view, I'm suppressing a sense of outrage in a way because I actually reckon, legally, they got it wrong.What it boils down to is whether there was a defence to the charges on the basis of reasonable force, acting in self-defence.If I was going to put my legal hat on, I would say it's quite possible to make a strong case that subduing the pair at gunpoint was all that it took and that their actions up to that point were reasonable, but that the severing of the end of the little finger was something that was done, probably out of anger and vengeance.Here's the thing though, for these charges to be proved, the jury would have had to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, that within the defendant's mind, this wasn't a reasonable response to the threat that they were facing.No jury was ever going to convict these guys for their response, especially given this prevailing public suspicion. We've got around New Zealand that in every other aspect of our approach to crime, we're soft. I reckon this was an opportunity for the jury to decide that's enough, we're just going to say enough. So while I could write you a lovely legal dissertation that the jury may have got the decision wrong legally, when it comes to justice in this case, they got it right.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Employment court has ruled ex-Gloriavale members were employees from six years old, not volunteers.Hosea and Levi Courage, and Daniel Pilgrim, have now left the religious community, but sought a declaration on their status after leaving school and working at the commune and its businesses.The Employment court found the work can't be described as chores or education, because of the commercial nature.The commune claimed work done from the ages of six-to 14 are chores, at age 15 it's part of schoolwork, and from 16 it was voluntary.Employment Specialist with the Whitehead Group, Max Whitehead said with more judgements to come, this could create huge implications for the community.“Now this ruling’s been set, these people are employees those other questions are going to be asked and look, this could bankrupt Gloriavale.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I moved to the North Shore of Auckland in November of last year. After years and years of living in the central city it was a big move to go across the bridge. I fell completely and utterly in love with the North Shore lifestyle. It's completely different to being in the city.The one big negative that people warned me about was Onewa Road.That's the main road linking many different suburbs on the shore to the motorway, yet for six months I had absolutely no idea what people were talking about.I moved during a lockdown, along came Omnicron at the beginning of the year, so people continued to work from home and I breezed along merrily enjoying a trouble-free commute.23 minutes door to door. What were people going on about?Well, last week, I found out everything changed after the school holidays. It seems there was a seismic shift, certainly in Auckland. My 20-minute commute has become a near 40-minute commute. That is a significant chunk of time.If Auckland transport and the Government have their way, not only will I be sitting in traffic for 20 minutes longer, but I'll be paying for that privilege.To be fair, it’s not just this Government that wants to see a congestion charge introduced. Labour, National, the Greens and ACT all support some form of congestion charging, but what's holding them back is the certainty that it's low-income households that will be hit hardest by congestion charges.For congestion charges to work, that is to get people out of their cars and into alternative forms of transport, we have to improve public transport options. Congestion is a huge issue in our cities. In Auckland alone, the city loses up to $1.3 billion a year in productivity and that is only going to get worse as the city grows. So given this Government, of course, is keen on introducing a congestion charge, so is National, so are the Greens, so is ACT, it’s going to be a fact of life. What needs to change before you change? Before I change?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government is expected to announce next week that a congestion charge is on the cards for Auckland's CBD in 2025.A Helen Clark Foundation report has found such a charge could cut congestion by 12 percent, but researchers say the process needs to be brought in fairly.The Infrastructure Commission released its first long-term strategy at the start of the month. They believe we need to ease congestion in our cities and make use of tools like congestion charging to make better use of transport connections.Te Waihanga NZ Infrastructure Commission General Manager of Strategy Geoff Cooper joined Kerre Woodham.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, you can't say all those millions spent on PR consultants and market researchers and communications advisors and spin doctors, you cannot say all those millions of dollars have been wasted, can you? Because look at this, the public registered a vote of no confidence in Police Minister Poto Williams with the Newshub Reid Research poll out last week, we talked about that nearly 2/3 of those polled thought the Minister and by default, the Government, was soft on crime. A spooky coincidence, in a pre-Budget announcement that the Government has pledged more than $550 million to fund more frontline police, establish a new firearms unit, and they've promised businesses they'll help protect them from RAM raids. Poto Williams, the Police Minister, talked to Mike Hosking on the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning, explaining there'd be something for businesses, once they talked to businesses about what businesses might need. And the fact that it wasn't just police who could pick up RAM raiders, it was families who could learn how to parent. It's not really going to help in the short term is that there was a promise though to tackle gangs and organized crime. There's a new firearms unit to ensure guns don't fall into the wrong hands. The sound of the stable door closing as the hoofbeats of the galloping horse disappear into the distance spring to mind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Starship have launched a youth mental health app as self-harm events abound young people spike.Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, admissions of children and adolescents to hospital following self-harm events have increased by 25 percent in the 15-19 year age group and 50 percent in the 10-14 year age group.  Over 5600 young people presented to hospital emergency departments around the country with self-harm in 2021 alone.Founded on the premise that it takes a village to raise a child, the app is designed to help rangatahi take control of their mental well-being by connecting them with a network of trusted individuals, friends or whānau, called “buddies”.Starship Child Psychiatrist and Paediatrician Dr Hiran Thabrew joined Kerre Woodham.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The public has registered a vote of no confidence in Police Minister Poto Williams as youth crime spirals out of control.The latest Newshub-Reid Research poll asked: Is the current Police Minister too soft on crime?More than two-thirds - 68.3 percent - said yes, while just 18.3 percent said no.Minister Williams doesn't think it's fair. She said to Newshub "For me, you're either soft or you're a thug or you're smart and I choose to be smart."National Party Police spokesperson Mark Mitchell sees it differently and he joined Kerre McIvor.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.