Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

The move to Orange setting means we can now mingle at bars, nightclubs and restaurants mask free - with no capacity or distancing requirements. It's welcome news for the hospitality industry. Chand Sahrawat and her husband Sid run The French Cafe and Cassia restaurants in Auckland and Chand Sahrawat joined Kerre McIvor. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was worth a try, I suppose. I understand the concept of policing by consent, but surely that only works when you're trying to police people who understand the rules of living together in a community who want a peaceful life who choose not to commit crime, who understand consequences?  For those who make their living out of crime, whose lifestyles and very raison d'etre revolves around crime and committing it, I imagine policing by consent would be a yeah nah from them.  Poto Williams, the Minister of Police and Police Commissioner Andrew Coster were appointed to their roles by this government because they are, or appear to me, to be passionate about wanting to help create a better, fairer, more humane New Zealand. And that's worthy. Worthy aspirations. And thank heavens, there are people like them in the world. But not on the roles they inhabit currently. Poto Williams comes from a background of community health and welfare, and she's very heavily involved in tackling the issue of family violence, which is incredibly good work. Very creditable. When she became part of the Labour Government, she had to be persuaded to take on the role of police minister, possibly the clincher for her was that this Government was looking for a cultural change in the police.  Poto Williams made it very clear from the start that the decisions she would make around policing are informed by the people she represents. So, is this new style of policing working for those very communities that Poto Williams is concerned about and says she represents? I would love to know. We need a Police Minister really who understands that while they can try to change the culture of the police, the culture of the criminal underclass is what really needs to be changed. Changing the police to be a social service is all very well and good, but unless you can change the mentality of the crims, the stats are going to go in the wrong direction. We are not going to see the problem of increasingly violent gangs, increasingly wealthy gangs who are attracting huge numbers of recruits - that's not going to be changed while we've got Andrew Coster and Poto Williams in charge.  Poto Williams did not aspire to be Police Minister. It was not her every desire to be a Police Minister. Relieve her of her duties and put her into an area where her passion and her experience can be a help and not a hindrance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new policing unit is finally ready to tackle retail crime. Everything from ram raids to robberies to shoplifting. The intention to form such a unit was first announced back in November, now it's ready to launch. It will be known as the Police National Retail Investigation Support Unit. Not quite your Strike Force Raptor, but nonetheless, hopefully it will do the trick. The unit will primarily be made up of police, with specialist staff, seconded from within the retail sector and other crime prevention organisations. Five years ago, an Otago University study found retail theft meant more than one billion dollars in lost income, while retailers spent half a billion dollars annually on security.  It is not a victimless crime. Shoplifting hits everyone in the pocket as prices are raised in an attempt to cover losses, and indeed, pay for the half a billion dollars on security. Apparently, the total hidden cost of retail crime is $800 per household, per year and it's growing. Retail crime is organised, it is violent, it's brazen and repeat offenders are stealing to order.  These are not 7-year-olds who steal a packet of lollies from the local store and then get marched back by a parent, told to apologise, and work in the store for a week to make up for it. They are young kids who are stealing cars and smashing them into shops, to take what they want, because they feel like it. It's really concerning and they don't care because there are no consequences.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Police National Retail Investigation Support Unit will come into force this month, tackling everything from ram raids to robberies to shoplifting. Young people are, in the main, responsible for the current spate of ramraids, and questions are being raised as to how you turn a young child's life around if they've had the worst possible start to life. Neuroscience educator Nathan Wallace joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You would have to wonder if Plunket's days are numbered. The iconic parenting organisation that is as Kiwi as Buzzy Bees, as the All Blacks, as Edmund Hillary, has announced that its parenting programmes will finish at the end of June because they cannot afford to keep them running. Other of Plunket's programmes will continue including the Well-Child Tamariki Ora service - that's the early checks that many, many newborn babies have. 85 per cent of Pakeha babies, 50 per cent of Maori babies have those Whanau Ora checks. But the parenting program that's been running for five years will finish at the end of June because it can't afford to keep running. Chief Executive of Plunket Amanda Malu says, as with any charity that relies on donations and grants, Plunket has limited resources.Amanda Malu says they have to make tough decisions now to ensure the organisation is financially resilient for the years ahead. Whanau Awhina Plunket turns 115 next month.  Amanda Malu says she wants to make sure they're around for another 100 years.The first 1000 days are the most vital of a child's life. It is absolutely imperative that parents and their children get the best possible start. And no matter how well prepared you think you are for parenthood, when it happens it can be an absolute roller coaster of emotions.You need care. You need guidance. When you're a new family starting off Plunkett has provided that for many, many families for many, many years. Is it fit for purpose now?I'd love to know where you got your support from. Whether you think Plunket is fit for purpose in this day and age. The parenting programs have been cut, which is a jolly shame. Is this the beginning of the end?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Plunket has announced it will no longer run its parenting education programme.It comes after a month-long staff consultation, and means the loss of five permanent and 17 casual roles while a further 16 people will have their hours reduced.Chief executive Amanda Malu says the charity can no longer afford to run the programme at its current deficit of $400,000 a year.She says the courses will stop at the end of June – but she's reassuring the community it's just one type of parent support they offer, with others still available.Whānau Āwhina Plunket Chief Executive Amanda Malu joined Kerre Woodham.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now you might have heard this on Drive yesterday. The Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling for a temporary wind freeze and she says, well, if that encourages some landlords to sell up, all well and good. The Greens say the situation is dire and that the Government can freeze rents it as.The will does not seem to be there, despite the fact the number of New Zealanders renting has risen exponentially as the cost of housing in this country has gone through the roof.Rents have risen in 2019. Nearly 1/3 of Kiwi households spent 30 percent of their income on housing costs. A quarter of renters spent 40 percent or more. There have been numerous reports into this. One of those is the spotlight on housing produced last year, which found the proportion of people renting is increasing, that homeownership is at its lowest in years and years and years.A third of Kiwis are half of the adult population are now renting. It also notes that 32 percent of rental properties are poorly maintained, compared with 14 percent of houses occupied by their owners. The rents have risen in the past year, just in the last year by 5.8 percent and so on and so forth. I'm not going to check.There will always be a place for renting, always. It's not everybody bag to own their own home, but if you are sitting there paying rent which is more than the mortgage you could be paying if you could get that deposit together, it must be galling. And it must be really tough seeing those rents go up and up and up.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last Thursday we had a two-hour discussion on planning for your retirement.When you're in your 20s and 30s retirement seems a million years away, but it was interesting to hear from some of our younger callers that they are thinking about and putting plans in place to be comfortable in retirement.According to figures released by Massey University, a two-person retiree household, living in the city where they had choices by which Massy means some luxuries, would need to have saved $809,000.In the provinces, it's around $500,000, but that is contingent on having paid off the mortgage.Martin Hawes is a financial author with his new book out about how to make your retirement savings go the distance and joined Kerre Woodham for an hour.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Who on Earth would be a copper these days? Maybe the job is more rewarding than the news reports suggest. Certainly, the young men and women I dealt with from about 7 different countries and ethnicities who were all part of the New Zealand police when my car got stolen –they were onto it. They seemed positive they had a really wonderful worldview. They were good people and they seem to have enjoyment in their job. They were proactive in finding the little former 501s that had ripped off my car and used it to commit some armed robberies. They were really, really wonderful young men and women. And I thought, well Police are in some pretty good stead if young people like that are joining. But the stats seem to tell a different story. A report out last night on One News shows that police response times have become remarkably slower under this government and police have come under criticism for that. Now you can't be across everything. I get that. But if you're a minister, don't you want to get your teeth into the portfolio and get into it and make it your own? Wouldn't you make it your business to know operational matters? I think police response times are something that a government minister should know. Let's face it, the pay doesn't keep people in jobs. You're not going to be a police officer because of the pay, are you? You're going to do it because you believe in your community because you believe in service because you believe in people because that's ultimately what the job is all about. Job satisfaction keeps people doing what they do. How many officers can still hand on heart say this is the job they signed up for? When it comes to the public, how many of you have faith that the police will be there when you need them? The vast majority call the police because they need them, not because they quite like them to be there.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An alarming rise in the time Police take to respond to serious crime. New figures show average response times increasing in most parts of the country – doubling in Northland, and tripling in Auckland and Waikato over the past five years. In Auckland City, the response time has increased from 25 minutes to an hour and 50 minutes. National's Mark Mitchell told Kerre Woodham Government needs to look at how to reinforce the front line. “That might be reassigning staff off day duties back onto the front-line to actually support them because the anecdotal information that I get is that they are under enormous strain and they just don’t have the numbers and they just can’t get to the jobs.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.