Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

There is growing frustration over unruly Kāinga Ora tenants in south Auckland's Papakura and other areas around the country. An internal policy at the state rental agency heavily discourages evicting problem tenants. It's designed to prevent people being cycled through emergency and transitional housing - at a greater cost to taxpayers. Neighbours are reporting noise, illegal parking, dumped rubbish and violence. Kerre McIvor spoke to Manurewa-Papakura Ward Councillor Daniel Newman, he says Kāinga Ora is too soft.   National's Housing Spokesperson Nicola Willis called in to Newstalk ZB, she is hot on the issue, asking questions of the Associate Housing and Public Housing Minister Poto Williams. Kāinga Ora Chief Executive Andrew McKenzie joined Kerre McIvor. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So the noose around Auckland is finally loosening, but don't get too excited.   We have nearly a month before we can head out to other parts of New Zealand to reconnect with family and friends and inject some much-needed Auckland disposable into the economy.   And given that a number of districts most visited by Aucklanders are well below the 90 per cent vaccination target, how is it all going to work?  Well, thank you for asking, but amazingly, none of this is clear.   If you thought the unvaccinated wouldn't be able to travel, well, it appears they can.  Despite an implicit message from Ardern and Hipkins earlier this month that travel would be the privilege of the vaccinated, nope.  You will need either to be double vaxxed OR to have had a negative test within 72 hours.   So, if you haven't been vaxxed you're free to leave.  I actually think the testing makes sense because as we know, even if you are vaxxed, there's a chance you could have Covid and pass it on.   So, before I head north, I will take a test - just to do a belt and braces job.  And how will we know that everyone will comply?  Again, thank you for asking.  We won't know. It's another high trust model.  There will be no hard boundaries, no checkpoints heading south out of Auckland - just random spot checks from police, in much the same way as they do drink driving spot checks, WOF and rego checks.   It will apparently be a bit stricter at the northern border, given Northland's low vaccination rate, so police will be working with iwi - it will be interesting to see how that works.   And why aren't we loosening that border right away, given Auckland has achieved 90 per cent 1st vaccination?  It's because, yet again, we're pandering to the minority.   Nine per cent of the country has yet to be vaccinated.  Based on the percentages, the public health system should be able to cope that number.   It makes me very, very grumpy that I have to wait, my friends have to wait, to see family because the Government has decided that people who don't want protection, need protection and are being given one last final chance to get it.   I suppose it's something to look forward to but after this long, gruelling, punishing lockdown, joy and optimism is a lot harder to find than it used to be.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This morning, the Covid Response Minister Chris Hipkins spoke to Mike Hosking. He was explaining how, very soon, people would need to have proof of vaccination and that their boffins had been working on a digital passport - nearly a year after other countries had their passports operational.  But, nonetheless, the glorious day had arrived and people would be able to download proof of their vaccinations and they'd be good to go, ready to show their permission to attend church, or go to a bar, or head to a sporting event. Really seamless, hey?  Yeah, not so much.   Has anyone been able to download theirs yet?  A chocolate Santa to the first person who has.   And even if you do get into My Covid Record are you able to find out where to download the vaccination certificate?   I wasn't able to get on at work. I will be able to at home because I've set myself up - I've just forgotten my password - but the boss did. And he's technologically competent.  More than competent. But he couldn't find the open sesame to get through to the digital passport.  Why do we have to reinvent the wheel when there are digital passports that have been operating successfully overseas for months?  Couldn't we just have bought the technology off them?   And is the two-tier system of the vaxxed and the unvaxxed becoming a reality now for those who haven't had the shot? Does the concept of being denied access to many public places and spaces make you feel resentful or sad?   Or are you happy enough on your own with your own family living your best vax-free life?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When it comes to unruly Kāinga Ora tenants, the agency is hamstrung by an internal policy that stops them evicting problematic residents It's to prevent them being recycled through emergency and transitional housing at further cost. South Auckland Councillor Daniel Newman believes New Zealand taxpayers deserve better thank being held to ransom by bad tenants. Daniel joined Kerre McIvor. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I touched on this yesterday - stories coming out from people whose lives are being made misery because of anti-social Kāinga Ora tenants who are being protected at the expense of good law-abiding citizens.   In Avondale, a suburb of Auckland, a couple say they are at breaking point because of their Kāinga Ora neighbour.  72 noise complaints have been made against the woman in just seven months, and residents in the neighbourhood say screaming and fighting is also a problem as well as the woman's visitor, an intimidating and threatening patched gang member who's a frequent visitor.   Then you have two pensioners living in a Kāinga Ora property in Whangarei who say they've had death threats from their neighbours - one of them a patched gang member - who allegedly threatened to slit the 82-year-old's throat and watch him bleed out.   And I told you about the Papakura man yesterday who was so fed up with the violent and abusive behaviour of his state house neighbours he sold his property and moved to the South Island to protect his family. And Kāinga Ora's response to complaints from existing law-abiding tenants?   That THEY be moved from their homes - that THEY be forced to leave the neighbourhood because, apparently, an internal policy exists that prevents the agency evicting difficult tenants, to prevent them being recycled through emergency and transitional housing at further cost.   And presumably so that the housing numbers don't look worse.   There are 24,000 people waiting for a home to live in - enormous numbers, and most of them would be grateful for the opportunity to have a roof over their head.   So why can there not be a ‘three strikes and you're out on your arse policy’ with Kāinga Ora?  How is it that police can be called at least 50 times to a home - as was the case with the Papakura property - and still the tenants are allowed to stay?  How can people trash their state house homes and still be allowed to live in them? I get that some people are very high needs - that they have in effect been raised by wolves and struggle to fit into civilised society. But how are they going to learn what the rules of civil society are if they are excused appalling behaviour and implicitly told to continue what they're doing.   That crime does in fact pay?  Yes, they may well end up in transitional housing - but that means somebody in transitional housing right now can get a home of their own who may well appreciate it more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is the one time where Chris Hipkins' many portfolios are perfectly aligned - Covid Response Minister and Education Minster. He's made a tough call. Was it the right decision?I can't help feel that it was the only decision the Government could really make. As a parent, I can see the impact on my children who haven't been able to see their friends.The zoom meetings just aren't cutting it. Tim Beveridge on the Government's decision for school's to return from November 17. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Winston Churchill used to visit to bombed areas of London in a gesture of solidarity. He wasn't hunkered down. What's our Prime Minister done? She's been down in Wellington. She's said she knows the plight of Aucklanders. Nonsense. She has no idea. Tim Beveridge speaks ahead of Jacinda Ardern's first visit to Auckland in three months.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The last time Rose Langbein joined Kerre McIvor, she was reporting from the Lower East Side in New York and was in her third week of lockdown. That was the 3rd of April 2020, when lockdowns and Covid were very new and novel! Since then, Rose has returned home to New Zealand to collaborate on her second book with her mother Annabel - Summer at Home.You can find it at your local supermarket and all good bookstores. The book will also be available online for those who are abroad.Rose and Annabel Langbein joined Kerre McIvor.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The long-awaited announcement around MIQ was made yesterday and yet again, people with loved ones overseas, people who are desperate to travel for business - people who just want to get off the island have been told to wait.   ‘Eventually’, ‘soon’, ‘shortly’, seemed to be the most used words in Chris Hipkins speech.  Sure, those who have been lucky enough to secure MIQ rooms will have their stay in isolation reduced. From November 14, they will spend just one week at their MIQ hotel, not fourteen days.  They will be able to isolate at home after seven days, provided they test negative throughout their stay.   But, Hipkins warned that reducing the stay didn't mean that the number of rooms available for Kiwis wanting to travel would double.  The rooms that WILL be freed up as a result of the shorter stays will be used to isolate community cases of Covid who are unable to travel at home.   No reviving of the trans-Tasman bubble, no self-quarantining at home for the fully-vaxxed until at least the first quarter next year and no hope for people stranded overseas without the possibility of securing work because their visas have expired. I tend to agree with Sir Ian Taylor - There's not a lot of forward thinking or innovation in the Government's plan. But then I guess the Government knows they're onto a winner.   It's shocked me how many people like being locked up and told what to do.  It's shocked me too how small minded so many people are.   I'd love to talk to the travellers, the explorers, the adventurers - those who were waiting desperately for some good news from the Government on MIQ and who were let down once again.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand Herald Political Reporter Thomas Coughlan has written a great breakdown of Three Waters and he joined Kerre McIvor.LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.