Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

In terms of sports stories, it really doesn't get much better than this. Ryan Peake has won the 104th New Zealand Open by a stroke, finishing at 23 under par after a thriller down the stretch. Newstalk ZB's Andrew Alderson was at Millbrook and said:  “In one of the tournament’s most captivating denouements, the Australian sank a three-metre putt under the lens of a buzzing amphitheatre as rain fell for the first time across the four days on the last hole”. Ryan Peake joins the show. LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, after a spirited discussion yesterday on the potential changes to the laws around citizen’s arrests, the press conference announced the actual changes. They are amending the Crimes Act so that citizens can intervene to stop any crimes act events at any time of the day, requiring that a person making an arrest contact police and follow police instructions. Clarifying that restraint can be used when reasonable when making an arrest and changing the defensive property provisions to the Crimes Act so it's clear that reasonable force may be used.   Almost immediately, a wide range of groups and organisations slammed the proposals. The Police Association says the changes are highly risky and could have unintended consequences. Police Association President Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking this morning that the reforms are risky and unnecessary, and says it's not worth getting hurt or even killed for a few bucks or some ciggies.   “I mean, look at dairies for instance, they don't have security guards, and they have shopkeepers and family people, and there's going to be an expectation that they do it, especially if they're working for some boss who thinks they should do it. But even security guards, you look at some of these security guards – they're not really highly trained they're not highly equipped. To think of police officers, we've got all the equipment, all the training, still get assaulted every day, some really seriously. So, I don't mean to be the humbug. I get why people think on the face of it, a good idea, but when you peel it back, it's pretty risky stuff.”  Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said member businesses had “grave fears” about the proposals. “The great majority of members we have consulted have made it clear that only police should have powers to detain offenders”, she said. “Most retailers train their staff to prioritise their own safety rather than try to recover stolen goods. We cannot condone retail workers putting themselves into dangerous and volatile situations”.   The Employers and Manufacturers Association said business owners were being encouraged to put themselves and their staff in harm's way. They fear it will lead to an escalation in violence – if an offender believes they'll be met with aggression, they'll come prepared. “Far from discouraging thefts or aggression and retail workplaces”, the EMA says, they believe this will result in “swarming behaviour in which a number of offenders will be present to create numerical superiority, those are outcomes no one wants”. Goes without saying that the unions and Labour hate the proposals.   To me, what is really alarming is the group that LOVES the idea of beefed up powers for citizens. Do you know who LOVES the idea? Destiny Church. Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki says he's “excited” to receive “increased powers to police, where law and order has failed”. If Tamaki wants something, I don't. The idea of his boofheads going around deciding what's right and what's wrong and who's a criminal who's not gives me the heebies.   But the thing that gets me is, did the government not ask the police, and Retail NZ, and the EMA whether they wanted to increase the powers of citizen’s arrest? Call me naive, and in fact you did yesterday, and in fact I accept that I was, but I would have thought that before you set up a working group, that the working group was as a result of Retail NZ, and the EMA, and the police, and the dairy owners saying we really need to do something about these citizen’s arrest powers? We really need to beef them up. I would have thought that it would have the support of Retail NZ and the EMA and all these pivotal groups that are actually involved at the coal face. If they say no, no thanks very much, leave it to the police, and the police say no, no, we're highly trained and we still get hurt, imagine what can happen to people who don't have the training and don't have the equipment, who did they ask before they set this up? Who wants this apart from Destiny Church? Which really, as I say, puts the heebies up me.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are two camps when it comes to the Government’s proposal to loosen citizen’s arrest laws.  The measure is being pitched as a remedy for retail crime, by allowing workers and the public to detain suspected thieves with "reasonable force".  However, concerns have been raised about the risks involved and what constitutes “reasonable force”.  Otago University Law Professor Andrew Geddis believes the proposal is risky, telling Kerre Woodham it seems like an extreme expansion of the power for one particular problem.  He says it also runs the risk of someone carrying out a citizen’s arrest only for the police to be unable to attend to it, potentially creating a false promise for retailers.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Retailers and members of the public will soon have more ability to detain shoplifters and thieves under beefed up citizen's arrest powers. At 2pm today, the government's expected to announce a range of measures aimed at curbing rising retail theft, which have been proposed by a Ministerial Advisory Group formed to address retail crime.   It's pretty clear what the advisory group is looking for. The old rules around citizen’s arrests were absurd. Under the current legislation, making a citizen's arrest or detaining an offender could only occur at night between 9pm and 6am, because of course, there's no such thing as daylight robbery. Wrong. The Crimes Act also stated a warrantless arrest could be made by anyone if the offender was committing a crime for which the maximum punishment was at least three years in prison. So, if you're going in to protect somebody who was being assaulted, for example. It was also understood the value of the item being stolen had to be worth at least $1000. What if I went to nab Golriz Ghahraman while she was shoplifting $1000 dress at Scotties, but it was on sale? Then what? What a conundrum. Do I step in or do I not? Absurd, utter nonsense.   The changes were intended to enable shop owners or security guards to prevent a thief from leaving a retail store with the stolen goods without risking being charged for using force. Ministers Goldsmith and McKee are expected to explain the application of reasonable force in those scenarios at the 2pm stand up. It was understood that the proposed changes are intended to come into force this year, wouldn't have age limitations, and wouldn't require a minimum price for the stolen items before a citizen's arrest could be made.   Former Police Minister Stuart Nash told Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning that like everyone, he's sick of seeing people getting away with thumbing their noses at the community:  “You got a situation Mike, where if you steal stuff, which is, you know, obviously you're stealing something over $1000 that’s pretty serious. If you’re just shoplifting, then the cost of prosecuting someone is substantial compared to the crime that's being committed. But what you've ended up with is a really terrible situation where these guys just get away with it.   “So what we were seriously looking at is some form of fine, or something along those lines, which was proportionate. With the citizen's arrest, yeah you know, I’m a fan, there's no doubt about that. But it's got to be proportionate. You know, we don't want to get to a stage where big tough guys like yourself are using this to beat the crap out of someone.”  No, and that's fair enough. But that has always been the thorniest of issues. There was a real spate of farmers getting into all sorts of trouble for defending their properties and the use of reasonable force was the question being debated. What was forceful and what was not, but I think we've all had a guts full of people brazenly getting away with stealing stuff. Two fingers to the shop owner, one finger to society. Even the ones who aren't causing any physical harm ,the ones who are just walking and grabbing what they want and walking out.   It's an outrage, they're sneering at people who are doing their best, who are going to work, who are trying to budget, who are trying to squeeze every last cent out of their wallets to pay the household groceries, and then they just watch as people march by with a trolley full of crap that they load into the boot of somebody's car and off. I want to see them stopped. I want to see them stopped and the people who stop them be able to walk home and think, well, that was a job well done.   But two words. Austin Hemmings. Austin Hemmings was the brave, decent man who stepped in one ordinary after workday in 2008, to help a woman who was in clear distress and who had called out for help after a man confronted and threatened her. And so he did. He went in to help this woman and for doing the right thing, this husband and father of three was stabbed in the chest and died. He was awarded the Bravery Star, New Zealand's second highest award for bravery in 2011, and his killer will be coming up for parole either this year or the next.   So I want to see the community able to fight back and to work together to stop thugs and thieves, but I really don't want to see another family having to live with the loss of a good and decent man. And what's proportional force? Remember, the Sheriff of Ngawi? This was a man in a coastal community in Wairarapa and like the rest of us, he’d had a guts full of lowlifes coming over the hill, into their community, ransacking people's holiday homes and taking what they wanted. By the time you called the police, these thugs had put their goods up on trade me and had made their fortune.  So the townsfolk of Ngawi got together and the Sheriff of Ngawi fired a gun across the bowels of the stolen car that these thugs were attempting to make their getaway in. And for that he went to court, he was fined $3000, and he was forced to hand over his gun.   Yes, I want to see us be able to defend ourselves, but I want to know what reasonable force is. I personally think firing a gun over the heads of some lowlifes is perfectly reasonable. Firing a gun at a getaway car I think is perfectly reasonable. When it's not the first time, when the police cannot help, perfectly reasonable. But I do want to see us make more use of technology too. Supermarkets should be investing in the software that prevents thieves leaving the stores with trolleys and arm loads of stolen groceries. That technology exists. I can understand risking my life to protect the life of another, and I hope that I would be as brave as Austin Hemmings and do so. But risking my life to protect the supermarkets profits, yeah not so much.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Security Association is weighing in on speculation citizen's arrest and security guard powers are about to open up.  The Government is making an announcement this afternoon on its response to a ministerial advisory group's recommendations on retail crime.  Association CEO Gary Morrison says they've been advocating for additional security powers with training, which wouldn't apply to all guards.   Morrison says situational awareness is crucial - and the general public people would have to be very careful and know their own capabilities.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yesterday Andrew Bayly, the former Commerce and ACC Minister, revealed he had resigned from his ministerial portfolios on Friday night after grabbing a staffers upper arm during a discussion that’s been described as “lively”. It comes after a messy public relations failure in October, when it was revealed Bayly had repeatedly called a worker a loser during a visit to a South Island business. He apologised and kept the job, but this was one step too far. The Prime Minister told Mike Hosking he relied on Andrew Bayly to do the right thing, and he did:  “Look, honestly, he was doing a very good job making good contributions in two very technical portfolios. I'm sure Scott Simpson will carry that on. But look, the reality is you've got to have some standards, Mike. And you know, I watched the last lot go through a series of Ministers and it wasn't either clear... It was clear in this case and, and importantly, he recognised that he had met his own standards and that's his decision, so I respect that.”  There's a lot of people complaining that Andrew Bailey shouldn't have had to go, shouldn't have felt that he had to go, but I can't imagine a situation where I would be touched by my boss during a lively discussion – and we have plenty of them. I cannot imagine him grabbing my arm and saying listen, you're wrong. We have very lively discussions with lots of argy bargy and neither of us hold back, none of us within the conversation hold back. I just can't imagine a situation where I would be held by the arm as a way of stressing the importance of the point that I was making. If my boss ever did, I can't imagine calling for his head. I’d say ‘get your bloody hands off me’ or something like that. But if the employee didn't like Bayly and found them difficult to work with, then the former minister gave him an absolute sitter of an opportunity to get rid of him.   So Bayly’s gone from cabinet, but not from his electoral seat. The leader of the opposition is crowing. Chris Hipkins has accused the Pime Minister of handling the situation poorly, sitting on the information for two days before doing anything about it. Then, having Andrew Bayly himself resigned, not telling the public about it for several more days, then sneaking out before jumping on a plane to escape overseas. Chris Hipkins own words. He added “I think people will see that for what it is”. Nicola Willis, on the other hand, says it's about showing humanity, allowing Bayly to tell his family and come to terms with his professional demise before it became the public fodder it has become.   Look, it's just politics. National certainly uses the departure of successive Labour ministers to point to Labour's lack of credentials to govern. There were a lot of them. Iain Lees-Galloway and on we went. Stuart Nash, Meka Whaitiri resigned to go to Te Pati Māori, Kiri Allan – there were a lot of ministers whose careers ended up being in the toilet. So what's good for the goose is good for the gander and all that. If National can make hay whilst in opposition as Labour ministers came and went, then when they're in opposition, they can do the same when National ministers are doing much the same.    I really think the hoo-ha about a couple of days is neither here nor there. I don't know what the fuss is about that. Darleen Tana was suspended from Parliament on the 14th of March. She was finally got rid of on the 22nd of October, all while drawing her parliamentary salary. Two or three days I can live with, but Andrew Bayly, I'm sorry, did have to go. Parliament has had a history of being a toxic workplace and you can't have a minister being a part of that if you want to change the culture. For those complaining it's a sign of wokeness and an overreaction, really? I don't recall anybody saying that when Labour ministers were in strife. And I really don't think laying hands on staffers is considered acceptable business practice in this day and age.   He had to go, and he has. End of story.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Chinese naval ships are firing live rounds in Pacific waters, sending far reaching ripples of consternation around the Asia Pacific region, Defence Minister Judith Collins hinted that defence would see a significant boost in spending come the next budget, which is a matter of months away. This was the Defence Minister on with Mike Hosking this morning:   It is simply not credible for us to expect defence to keep on going after they've had, you know, essentially 35 years of every government hoping that everything's just going to be fine, and they wouldn't need to do anything. It is an enormous task to rebuild, and our people are doing it. Is it billions over many, many, many years? In other words, it's not the here and now. Or is it billions right here right now, and we’ve got to do something fairly big. It's a sustained effort is what I can tell you, and it is a lot of money. It’s a heap of money. But we also know that the world is changing, and we also need to be able to look at that again and say do we need to do more again? So, it's actually about how we do these things and being very aware that without national security, there is no economic security, there is nothing else. She's right. Without national security, there is no economic security. So an investment in our defense forces is long overdue. It will certainly help Judith Collins case having the Chinese ships floating around our waters. The firing of live rounds has been the catalyst for much diplomatic toing and froing and canvassing of experts. But everybody is very, very cautious, very precise in their language, no inflammatory statements. China's actions are believed to have complied with international law. The Australian Defence Force has advised there was no imminent threat to its assets or those of New Zealand’s. Analysts believe that this was an attempt by Beijing to project power and to send a message to Canberra about China's capability. Australian PM Albanese on Saturday defended China's right to carry out the exercise as it had not breached international law. He said, they could have given more notice. Yes, they could have given commercial flights had to be diverted, but as Albanese and then Judith Collins said this morning, their respective countries have a presence from time to time in the South China Sea and the activity took place outside of the exclusive economic zone, notification did occur. Soit's all very ‘let's all be nice and let's all be calm about this’,let's not be silly. Australia has coordinated its response with New Zealand, but they haven't spoken with the US since the incident. Chinese naval ships in our waters. It is clearly sending a message. More likely to Australia than to us. But I would argue the French did far, far worse.SoI think probably the temperate approach is right. I’mglad people aren't getting exercised at this point about the Chinese presence. But it will help Judith Collins case to restore our beleaguered Defence Force. It'stimely, too, that Australia's announced it's going to be spending a record $55.7 billion on defence, which equates to about 2.02% of gross domestic product. The most we've spent in 12 years is 1.45% of GDP. It's tough. I mean, everybody is screaming for more money and defense, like health, like education is a bottomless pit into which you could pour money, and you would still need more. And Judith Collins is right that everything you buy in defense is expensive, including the personnel. You know the wages are expensive, everything you put on them, that you put in their hands, that you station is expensive. Where do we start though? There is just so much to do when it comes to defense. Every time we talk about this, I get emails or texts from people who are living on bases, who say there is just no way any of these houses could pass a healthy homes test, that they've been allowed to run down to the point that they're unhealthy and unsafe for the people within them. People are leaving, there's no opportunity for promotion. Everything is so run down, it feels like they're not valued, they're not given an opportunity to show what they can do, and that's in every arm of the forces. The equipment is not just old, it's unsafe. But there's only so much we can do. The Greens would probably argue we shouldn't do anything. We should be spending any defence money on candles and combined choral choirs singing ‘Give Peace a Chance’. But in these uncertaintimes, II would argue we have to do our bit, we have to value our defence force and not allow it to be devalued, as has been the case with successive governments over the years. While there is no imminent threat, it's easy to postpone it and you can understand why governments would. You've got health, you've got education wanting more and more. And while there is no imminent threat to New Zealand's national security you can argue we don't need to worry about spending money. But I think it's crunch time. We either don't have a defence force, and I say we either commit and build up our defence forces again to do our bit to help with global security or we abandoned it altogether. We can't go on in this kind of semi/demi world that the defense force is living in. They haven't got enough to do their job properly, they're not valued. Either value them and commit or put the money into the choirs and the candles and be done with it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hints from the Prime Minister around upcoming changes to charities and taxes.  Christopher Luxon told Kerre Woodham the Goverment's speaking about whether people are "rorting the system" and taking advantage of charities registration.  He says he spoke with Finance and Economic Growth Minister, Nicola Willis, about the matter just yesterday.  Luxon told Woodham some organisations present as a charity but maybe aren't doing charitable work.  He's telling people to keep their eyes on the Budget - around taxation and charity status.  The Prime Minister's also calling for some nurses to take on roles outside hospitals to ease burden on the system.  Christopher Luxon admitted we've got a lot of nurses coming through the system, but don't always have places for them in hospitals.  Luxon told Kerre Woodham we desperately need them in primary and aged care, and in some cases, it takes weeks to get a GP appointment.  He says there's an opportunity to think about how we use our nurses - like nurse practitioners who can increasingly do the work a GP does.  The Prime Minister's also keen to reach across the political aisle in a bid to secure a bipartisan approach to infrastructure.   Luxon revealed he's been in conversation with Labour's finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds, who's supportive of elements of the Government's infrastructure pipeline plan.   Luxon told Woodham that for the Government to actually get things done when it comes to the country's infrastructure problems, a bipartisan solution must be found.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Before I came upstairs to work, I called into the coffee shop downstairs, as is my want. Coffee Theory is run by a husband and wife family team and is a small business.  We were talking about the fact that Christopher Luxon will be in tomorrow, and I said “have you got a question?” And Penny said “When will things get better? I know they're supposed to be, but when will things get better? I just wish they'd get better faster”. And that's kind of what we were talking about in the wake of the polls showing the Coalition party support slipping. People do believe things are getting a bit better, but they want it to happen faster.  Perhaps with the OCR falling by 50 points, as was widely expected by economists, things will start to look up. The floating rates dropped, some banks have dropped their loan term interest rates. And although the floating rate is more directly affected by the OCR, the long-term loan interest rates that are set by the banks are affected by other things like term deposits, and world events, and the like. Banks have been put on notice by Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr to sharpen their pencils, and they've been told in no uncertain terms to come up with better rates for their customers.  “The banks need to do better. They need to look at their own margins and chase and compete for customers much more vigorously. Their funding costs are being challenged because, you know the official cash rate is only one of the variables that go into what they have to pay when they're borrowing money to on-lend, but the margin is also sitting there at a very healthy level, so one would hope that when the competition, when people come back to the market, which they're doing in dribs and drabs now, competition is alive.”  That was Adrian Orr on the Mike Hosking Breakfast. And it is true. Once mortgage rates have been set, or loans have been set, and the interest rate for borrowing that money is a little bit lower, then there isn't as much that you have to pay, so there's a little bit leftover in your back pocket once the bills have been paid. And thus, the noose around the necks of so many homeowners and business owners will start to loosen.   Already, some sectors have recovered, come back from the very brink. Federated Farmers says farmer confidence has risen to its highest level in more than a decade, rebounding from record lows. It couldn't have got much worse for our farming communities. Remember that lovely man that rang in? I can't even remember how long ago... he was the first caller, and he spoke with such passion and with such heartfelt pain about the despair so many farmers felt as the result of being vilified for what they did. For being on the receiving end of legislation that made it nigh impossible to do their job, and yet without them, we would be completely and utterly and royally stuffed. But he was too fearful of saying what he did. Rather than saying proudly, I’m a farmer, he just didn't feel he could say that. He didn't have any confidence at all that he would get a fair or civil reception. And that prompted an avalanche of calls from those in the farming community, young and old, who felt very much the same.   So when they say it was at record lows, I heard it. Now, they say farmer confidence has risen to its highest level in more than a decade. The latest Farm Confidence survey shows that falling interest rates, rising incomes, and more favourable farming rules have played a major role in the improvement. And they say that's a significant shift in the mood of rural New Zealand. Thank heavens for that and not before time. Hopefully farmers can take a big deep breath, you might actually be getting some sleep at night and you can look forward to the future with a little bit of confidence.   What other sectors are seeing that – it just farming? Is tourism feeling the same kind of confidence, the same optimism? I imagine for retailers you might need to wait for the flow and effect of lower mortgage interest rates. But I'd be really interested to see where you are in terms of your confidence, in terms of your belief, that things are getting better and that things will be better in the short term, within the next 6 months, that things will be looking up. The farmers are feeling it, they're feeling confident. They’ve seen what lower interest rates and reasonable fair legislation can do. What about you? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I don't think this counts as breaking news, does it?   An inquiry ordered by the Prime Minister has identified significant failures with public agencies’ protection of New Zealanders’ personal information and management of conflict of interests. The investigation, which focused on public agencies actions, was sparked by allegations last year that data provided to health and social services providers at Manurewa Marae for the census and for Covid-19 vaccinations was misused. Those murmurings were rumbling for some time before the investigation was sparked.   It was claimed personal information was improperly used to favour Te Pati Māori and the Māori electorate of Tamaki Makaurau. The allegations have been denied, but the Government wanted assurances that Kiwis’ data had been properly safeguarded.   Spoiler alert, it wasn't. Among the findings of the report is that the Ministry of Health and Health New Zealand did not have control over data once it was downloaded by providers, had no means for ensuring providers were meeting contractual expectations, and had no safeguards for managing potential conflicts of interest. This really doesn't come as any surprise to me at all. Stats New Zealand was found to have insufficient arrangements to protect the shared data. The findings are so serious for Stats NZ that chief executive Mark Sowden has fallen on his sword and will leave at the end of his current term, something public services Commissioner Sir Brian Roche says is the right thing to do.   Waipareira Trust chief executive and president of Te Pati Māori John Tamihere on the other hand, is defending the use of data at Manurewa Marae, saying there's no evidence of any wrongdoing. He says they're being targeted for being Māori, a Māori organisation attracting extra scrutiny over suspicions that Māori were somehow crooked. He said whistle blowers had not been able to provide evidence that data was actually misused. He said every political party used data and Waipareira Trust, which had existed for 40 years, had built up huge data sets. He denied that the census data from government agencies that had been shared with the Manurewa Marae was then handed over to Te Pati Māori.   Labour leader Chris Hipkins on Three News last night seemed to suggest that he himself had raised eyebrows but would wait the findings of the police investigation.   “I've certainly felt that the election in that seat was unfair and the result in that seat was unfair. I think the fact that our polling booth was held at the Manurewa Marae with very active Māori party presence really did draw into question the result there. It was such a close result.”  Just to remind you of the result in the electorate of Tamaki Makaurau, Maurewa Marae CEO and Te Pāti Māori's representative Takutai Tarsh Kemp took the seat from Labour's Peeni Henare by four votes, just four. On recount, that went to 42 votes, because naturally, Peeni Henare said “I’ve held that seat since 2014. I find it very hard to believe I could have lost it. Oh, hang on a minute, no I don't.”   Should there be a by-election? If Te Pati Māori believes they won the seat fair and square, that Labour was being rolled in plenty of other long held seats, would their member be willing to put it to the test in a by-election? Where there’s absolutely no hint of wrongdoing on behalf of her party, that here we are fair and square, let's go mano o mano, go head-to-head and let's see who wins at this time. I mean, I suppose the horses bolted.   If the data has been misused, and at the moment there are no individuals you can point the didgeridoo at and say they misused that information, but there is a police investigation ongoing. There is no clear evidence that could go before a court, that the data was misused. But if it looks like a rat, smells like a rat, and it's got a long tail like a rat, it does make you raise your eyebrows. You need a definitive answer: was the data misused or not? At the moment we have suspicions, we have rumblings. And while those rumblings continue, then it puts the whole judicial process and the whole electoral process in doubt.  I mean, you look at the CEO of Manurewa Marae winning the seat and you think really, did she? Was it fair and square? I don't know. Labour was being rolled left, right and centre. She might just have got lucky. I smell rats.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.