Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Most teachers are expected to be on board with mandatory vaccinations.School staff who have contact with pupils will have to be fully vaccinated by January 1 and schools will have to keep track of which students are vaccinated.However, there are concerns over what prolonging the return of students to school will do to their learning and also their mental welfare.May Road School is a primary school in Auckland's Mt Roskill and principal Lynda Stuart joined Kerre McIvor.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A delighted Sir Ian Taylor has been given approval by the Government to trial a private self-isolation system for international travel, designed to free up spaces in MIQ for returning Kiwis.The Animation Research founder received approval yesterday from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to run a privately funded trial that Taylor is calling #151 Off The Bench.He wants to prove he can fly from Dunedin to Auckland, on to Los Angeles and San Francisco, and return to New Zealand safely using the latest technologies available and without taking up a space in a hopelessly overloaded MIQ system.The approval is a victory for Taylor who has outlined his plans in a series of articles published in the Herald, saying his staff need to travel, like other business people, but they do not need to take up MIQ spaces and deprive other Kiwis from returning home.travellers privately will free up much-needed spaces in MIQ hotels. Photo / Michael CraigLast month when the Government announced 150 places for business people who wanted to run a private, self-isolation system, Taylor said he didn't want to take up one of those spots either. Instead he lobbied the Government to allow him to trial his own system, #151 Off The Bench, which he is convinced will be Covid-19 proof."We're not asking anything of MIQ. What we want to do is create a system that runs parallel. That means those people who don't have the kind of resources we have can get those bids and get home. I would feel terrible to take an MIQ slot, I wouldn't take one."His will be a quick visit to the US in November, just time for a meeting about golf with Fox Sport in LA and another with Major League Baseball in San Francisco. Taylor has a lot at stake, knowing that his trial will be very public and open to scrutiny."This is about doing a full-view test showing how businesses can operate in order to keep the economy running."If he can prove it works, he sees no reason why the "road map for the future" could not be expanded outside of business to include sports and cultural teams, Government officials, film crews who are currently taking up MIQ spaces.At aged 71, Taylor is well aware he's in the high-risk category if he caught Covid-19 despite his double vaccination."I'm well and truly in the danger zone, but this is how confident I am. Yes, I'm susceptible but that's why my mask is not coming off. That's why I've got the best mask you can buy, "he said."I will have tools and tests with me so I can test every day just to make sure I haven't picked it (Covid-19) up. I will not be going anywhere near a restaurant, or a cafe or a pub. I'm there for a meeting, and most importantly, I'm there to make sure I don't get Covid because otherwise I'm not coming home. I don't get on the plane until I prove I am negative."Once back in Auckland Taylor will then self-isolate in an hotel and will continue testing.Taylor paid tribute to how quickly the Government had accelerated his proposal, particularly Minister of Economic development, Stuart Nash, Associate Finance Minister David Parker and Carolyn Tremain, chief executive of MBIE."They have been really tremendous. When they saw my plan they were really interested in my idea and the technologies I was finding, especially the New Zealand-based one."Now Taylor will work with MBIE to merge his #151 plans with the 150 private business spots."The primary objective was to say "we're here to talk. Can we help?'Taylor hopes a private MIQ system will help open up the economy and give businesses needing to send staff overseas some surety. And he is confident #151 will work. His "road map" includes technology including a geo-fence watch that will act like a virtual fence around Taylor's room when he is self-isolating in Auckland on his return."That watch when I put it on my wrist, I can't take it off. The minute I take it...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

D Day today on the announcements, and I don't think anyone's expecting good news - not with 60 community cases yesterday and more to come. It's not the number of cases of the Delta strain that is the problem - it's the fact that unvaccinated or people who are not fully vaccinated are more likely to end up in hospital and that’s the problem. Good to see rates of vaccination picking up as the reality of having Covid in the community kicks in - although how you reach some people is beyond me. Take the Stuff story - they went into the suburb of Aranui, a suburb with one of the lowest rates of vaccination in the country and spoke to a number of vaccine resistant residents. One of them was a woman who looked like she had lived a full life.  She was puffing away on her ciggy, and enjoying a beersie of a sunny morning - and far be it for me to point the digit at anyone enjoying a beerise on a sunny morning. But she wasn't going to get the vaccine because I quote 'I'm scared it's going to kill me.' And the gangs - they're a bit hesitant because they don't know what's in it.  Since when have they ever given a fat rat's bum about what they put into their body or where indeed they put their body parts.  It is time for the authorities to get tough on people like the huckory moll who did the tiki tour of Northland with her dodgy mate.  Once she's out of quarantine, she can spend a bit more time staring at four walls - hopefully in a cell.  She's a criminal nuisance but hopefully she won't prove to be the Typhoid Mary of Northland - and hopefully her selfishness and callousness will be the spur some vaccine hesitant need to get the vaccine. As well as getting tough on rule breakers, the Government also needs to mandate vaccinations for essential workers, not rely on the employer to do their unpopular work for them. That would be one small thing the Government could do that would help out businesses without costing them a cent.  And the Government needs to let the South Island go - if they want to move down a level.  What is the point of everyone languishing if they don't have to?  Talking to my family on the Kapiti Coast, it made me aware of how quickly you become institutionalised.  They went away for the weekend, visited vineyards in Martinborough, went out to dinner in Greytown, their uncle took the kids to the swimming pools - bliss. And it seems utterly foreign and exotic sitting north of the Bombays.  The sooner we bring out vaccine passports the better - if we've been double vaxxed, let us visit loved ones in aged care homes.  Let us travel to other cities to be with family and friends.  Let us dine out.  Let us be like Sydney.But again, because I've become so institutionalised, I really don't expect any good news, leadership or bright ideas.  I will be very, very happy if I'm proved wrong.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Roadside drug testing is going ahead, despite concerns from a number of organisations and commentators that the tests are unreliable.   You can absolutely understand why police, others working as first responders, A and E professionals would want some deterrent against drug impaired drivers.   Studies in New Zealand have found about one in three drivers in fatal and serious injury crashes had some type of drug in their system, mainly cannabis, but usually a cocktail of drugs.   In 2017, 79 fatal crashed involved drug impaired drivers, in 2019, it was 103.  The Government is set to pass legislation into law by December, despite criticism from a number of health professionals saying the tests right now are not supported by reliable scientific evidence and that the presence of drugs doesn't relate to direct impairment.  You've had the Royal NZ college of GPs, the Royal Australian and NZ College of Psychiatrists, back in 2020 you had the attorney general, David Parker, saying the original bill appeared to breach the bill of rights act in a number of places,  Dog and Lemon.com editor and road safety activist Clive Matthew Wilson agrees.  Roadside tests can show the presence of cannabis, but these tests cannot reliability say a person was affected significantly, even if the recorded drug concentration is very high. That’s quite different to tests for alcohol, which can reliably say a person was drunk and that their driving would have been affected.” “In fact, the driver who gets busted in a police roadside test may not have willingly consumed cannabis at all. He or she may merely have been sitting in a room where cannabis was smoked.  The NZ Medical Association with a distinct lack of hyperbole says the science is “not quite sufficiently adequate”. Dr Bryan Betty of the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP) says it’s unusual so many health groups have raised the issue. “This needs serious consideration by our politicians and policy makers before it is turned into law. The Bill was originally introduced by the Green Party’s former Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter, yet despite being the bill's, she was a complete and utter shambles when asked about it on TVNZ News last night.   “The reality is we don't have evidence one way or the other about what the impact of this bill is going to be,” Genter said. Maike Sherman asked if the legislation was a test-run, and she replied “well you never know how any policy is going to work until you implement it”. In a select committee report into the legislation. both the Green Party and ACT said “it's likely that a number of unimpaired people will be subjected to infringement or criminal penalties”. Roadside drug testing would allow police to randomly stop drivers - and that's another concern especially for the Maori Party who voted against the bill.  Maori are stopped more often than non Maori and that's a fact. Anyone failing two saliva tests will be fined, while those opting for a blood test risk being slapped with a conviction. The new law expected to be passed in parliament in December.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Calls for a signal New Zealand is, or will be, open for business.That's the sentiment from this year's Mood of the Boardroom, which surveyed 151 of the country's CEOs and senior directors on what businesses want, as we prepare to come out of Covid-19.  Many want more tools to keep people safe from the virus like mandates for staff to be vaccinated, and antigen and saliva testing.NZME Head of Business Fran O'Sullivan joined Kerre McIvor.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The headline this morning was that a Mongrel Mob boss was granted an essential worker exemption to travel to Auckland. Sonny Fatupaito, from the Mongrel Mob Kingdom in the Waikato, travelled in and out of Auckland last weekend. The PM was asked about this this morning on Radio Hauraki, after a track from Queens of the Stone Age and a question as to which vacuum cleaner she and Clarke used, and what would she recommend, Jeremy Wells asked her about the headline.I can imagine that if you are someone who is desperate to get across the border to see family and friends, or who has been denied essential worker status and is watching your business flounder, this would set your teeth on edge. This news has probably completely rarked up those who believe, justifiably, that this Police Commission and this government is soft on gangs.  But I have to say, in this case, I support the decision. I agree with the PM.   Contact tracers who are on minimum 20 bucks, median 27 dollars per hour, are unlikely to get the information required from gang members with Covid. Sonny Fatupaito will. According to a press statement released to selected media:“This work initially started with a cluster at the Assembly of God Church in Manukau which then extended to a Mongrel Mob Kingdom Chapter based in Auckland.This required immediate intervention from the senior leadership in the Waikato Kingdom, and this onsite intervention ensured compliance and welfare assistance was provided as needed. The Kingdom has collaborated closely with providers South Seas Healthcare and The Cause Collective based in South Auckland.A request for assistance from the Crisis Management Team in South Auckland was made to Sonny, to facilitate the process of members and their whānau being tested. Sonny was given exemption to cross the Auckland boundary, to complete this essential work, this travel was conducted under strict Covid-19 protocols enforced by Health Authorities and the Police.The high-level of risk is far from over, the Mongrel Mob Kingdom will be facilitating further educational health programs in the Waikato. To this end, a Covid-19 Education Workshop on 16 October will be held in Hopuhopu, with indigenous health experts, Dr Rawiri McKree Jansen from Te Ropu Whakakaupapa Uruta (National Māori Pandemic Group) and Associate Professor, Collin Tukuitonga from the Public Health department at the University of Auckland.This event is designed to give our members and their whānau, accurate and relevant information towards protecting their whānau from Covid-19 and will give our members the opportunity to question the experts, particularly surrounding much of the online social media content about the Covid vaccine. The event will also include a pop-up vaccination site for members wanting to vaccinate themselves and their whānau.”I know it must seem galling to see a gang leader get an essential worker exemption - but hey, at least he applied for one, rather than using the underground railway other gang members do. And none of us will be travelling around the country any time soon unless controlling the community spread and overcoming vaccine hesitancy is achieved. So, in this instance, Sonny Fatupaito has more to offer than that posturing narcissist Brian Tamaki.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been a month since all New Zealanders over 12 became eligible for the vaccine and only 55 percent of Māori have had their first dose. Less than 50 per cent of eligible Māori have received their first vaccination in Northland, among the worst rates in the country. Auckland's Papakura Marae opened the first marae-based drive-through vaccination centre, which also provides provide wrap-around services including a testing centre and food bank. Papakura Marae CEO Tony Kake joined Kerre McIvor. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The pandemic continues to disrupt international freight. Among the issues is a shortage of shipping containers causing delays for both importers and exports around the world. President of the New Zealand Custom Brokers and Freight Forwarders Federation and Managing Director of Go Logistics Chris Edwards joined Kerre McIvor. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A regional medical practice closed its doors to new patients after losing a doctor due to immigration issues. Last year, the Government suspended Expressions of Interest selections for the skilled migrant category, because of Covid-19. After waiting a year for things to change, Ōtaki GP Harding Richards gave up and returned to Wales. He had more than 1300 registered patients. Ōtaki Medical Centre chief executive Kiwa Raureti joined Kerre McIvor.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Mental Health Awareness Week, in New Zealand the theme is is “Mā te kōrero ka ora” which translates to 'talking saves lives'. The aim is to get more Kiwis talking about how they feel, and what they can do to improve their mental health. It's especially important when we are locked down in a pandemic. Psychotherapist and Host of The Nutters Club on Newstalk ZB Kyle MacDonald joined Kerre McIvor.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.