Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

A claim the health system needs to do more to help Maori parents get their children vaccinated.In Counties Manukau, on-time immunisation coverage for Maori eight-month-olds fell from 85-percent last May to 68-percent this year.A report found racism and cultural incompetence in the health system were barriers to immunisation.National Hauora Coalition Clinical Director Rawiri Jansen believes told Mike Yardley this morning, Plunket should also take some blame."The organisation was started by white supremacists, and we've got evidence that it still does this differential of its clients so that's problematic."Plunket Chief Executive Amanda Malu says Plunket totally rejects Mr Jansen’s assessment.“He's describing our founder, Truby King, and we're very clear in our own communication that we do not subscribe to his views around white supremacy and eugenics at all.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Not such a good morning for the people of Westport many of whom have been left homeless after the devastating floods that swept through the district over the weekend. The clean-up of the town, population 4600, will likely take months and its estimated hundreds of houses have been damaged. Kris Faafoi speaking to Mike Yardley this morning says dozens of Kainga Ora houses have been rendered uninhabitable so the government too is busy trying to find rental accommodation for its tenants and working out whether they repair or rebuild entirely. And where the labour and materials will come from for the rebuild. Many locals will spend the next few days in evacuation centres as authorities wait for the flood waters to recede to get a better idea of what they'd going to be dealing with over the next few months. The government has announced a $300,000 dollar grant to the mayoral relief fund and a further $100,000 for the Blenheim Marlborough region - and a separate $200,000 has been committed for flood affected farmers and growers across both regions. Doubtless there will be people pointing to the farmers protests on Friday and who will deride them for being quick to criticise the government but even quicker to accept a helping hand - but $200,000 is a drop in the bucket compared to the costs faced by farmers and growers in the wake of the floods and a derisory amount when you think what has been granted to former gang members for drug rehabiliation as a for instance.So love to hear from those of you in the district and how you're faring and also how you feel the farmers protests went.We were absolutely inundated with callers on Friday morning.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First up: The Good News. The Shorter family, whose son Josh was assaulted in an Auckland bar on Friday night and who is lying in a coma in Auckland Hospital, have been told they can apply for a critical purpose visa and should soon be on their way from the UK to their son's bedside.Immigration New Zealand officials said the family met the very high threshold as we were discussing yesterday. To be fair to Immigration NZ, they hadn't actually said no to the family, they were still processing their application, but time is crucial for this family so it's wonderful to hear that they should soon be travelling across the world. That's that. Now, where to start with the vaccinations?There's the mass vax event to be held in Manukau.  There's the four out of five Kiwis who are now willing to be vaccinated.  There's the dodgy Ministry of Health graph further undermining confidence in the department.  There's the Fiji rugby team who have reluctantly acquiesced to wearing Vaccinate Fiji on their team jerseys this weekend as the death toll rises in the island nation, but have completely and utterly undermined the message by insisting on having Its Your Choice on the jerseys as well.Really where to start?Let’s start with the max vax event, its targeting Manukau Institute of Technology students, staff and family and its aimed to address the failure so far to vaccinate vulnerable groups. Māori are nearly 40 per cent behind Pākehā per capita and Pasifika are 20 per cent, despite both groups being identified as high-risk of Covid. So, will the party atmosphere encourage reluctant groups along to be vaccinated?And how is it that our 21-year-old colleague has been invited along for his vaccination, when those of us who could be considered more at risk have not?Ashley, was it something I said? And then there's the Fijian rugby team.  If they can't get the messaging right, then don't wear the message.  12,032 cases and 59 deaths, highly vulnerable population, and the best the Fijian rugby team can do is ‘Vaccinate Fiji - It's Your Choice.’ Hardly a resounding clarion call to action is it?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If we can let in the Wiggles, even though they didn't fill in the paperwork, if we can suddenly find places in MIQ for hundreds of Kiwis who've been in New South Wales, surely to goodness we can find a place for the parents of Josh Storer. Josh is in intensive care after undergoing two brain surgeries and his family, in a zoom call with his doctors, were told there were three options for Josh. One, he could die.  Two he could survive but with brain damage, and three he could recover almost back to his old self.  Josh has been living and working in New Zealand for the past three years - he works for a drainage company - and his family are in the UK.  The family, naturally, is desperate to be by his bedside. We all know the difference it makes having family with you when you're in dire straits, but Immigration New Zealand says their hands are tied. When it comes to granting exemptions on humanitarian grounds, they had to consider a range of factors.Sorry, but come on.As I say, if the bloody Wiggles can be let into the country, surely we can let in a family whose son has been assaulted and left for dead in our country. Dawn, Josh's Mum, says the family is vaccinated, their bags are packed and they're willing to jump through any hoops to be with their boy.At the same time, this very week, we have convicted criminal Karel Sroubek staging a behind closed doors appeal to be allowed to stay in NZ.  So clearly from the Wiggles, to stranded Kiwis, to Czech drug dealers, this government can and will make exceptions to its rules. The Storer family needs to be with their boy and the red tape needs to be cut to allow them to do so.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Orchards across New Zealand are facing worker shortages in the tens of thousands, leaving their fruit to rot on the ground without a labour force to pick it up.There is now the expectation that fruit prices will skyrocket due to the lack of availability.NZ Apples and Pears Chief Executive Alan Pollard spoke to Kerre McIvor about the harsh season they’ve faced.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The not-for-profit housing sector is trying to fill a big whole in New Zealand's property crisis, and is having some success.The Kaitiakitanga Housing Community, one of three new Salvation Army housing projects in Auckland, has 36 two-bedroom units, another 10 single units, all entirely self-contained.The Salvation Army projects were built with a $40 million community bond put together by Community Finance.Investors get a 2 to 3 per cent return, which they know is reliable, and an important bonus; they get to know their money is doing some good in the world. Community Finance CEO James Palmer told Kerre McIvor housing needs to be a collaborative effort.“Housing is a very complicated thing, particularly for those that can’t afford it. So it’s about what is it that government can reasonably do, what is that the private sector can do and what is it that the community housing providers can do.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Concerns over a new Mongrel Mob-led rehab programme.Almost three-million-dollars in funding seized from gangs, is being used to fund Kahukura.It's based in the Central Hawke's Bay, and aims to get people off the debilitating drug.Mayor Alex Walker says any efforts to stop drug-use are good, but this raises questions."The part of the shame of this for me too is that it's been connected to a place-based or a community-level initiative, but actually this is not about Central Hawke's Bay, this is about Mongrel Mob."Walker is questioning whether the Ministries of Health and Justice made the appropriate checks before providing funding.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An issue has arisen around what to do with children who don't fit into the cookie cutter environment of our education system.Mt. Hobson Middle School in Auckland, which caters for neuro-diverse children, faces closure after Education Minister Chris Hipkins  turned down not one, but two applications to fund the school, saying there are existing supports for all learners in existing state schools.Chief Executive of Autism New Zealand Dane Dougan told Kerre McIvor his organisation would like to see investment in the education sector that will allow parents the freedom to send their kids to whichever school they choose, regardless of their child's learning needs."We need to look at systemic change. There needs to be training on autism at teacher training college, and even wider than that obviously.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

National has slammed the government's decision to  lapse and refund 50,000 temporary visa applications. Immigration spokesperson Erica Stanford says its further evidence this Government has no plan to reopen New Zealand up to the world post-vaccination and isn’t listening to the desperate calls from businesses for international labour.  And Immigration lawyer, Alister McClymont says the government's decision has nothing to do with Covid, it's all about closing off New Zealand.We've talked until we're blue in the face about the desperate need for more workers to either have their visas extended or be granted entry so that businesses can survive. Every single sector is crying out for workers of every shape and hue, Trade Me saw over 80,000 job vacancies - the most job listings ever onsite - that's up 25 per cent when compared to the same quarter in 2019, prior to Covid-19 - and yet the only people we have to fill those jobs are the ghost workers, eating their ghost chips at smoko. And yet we come back to the way Covid has exposed a tale of two New Zealands.  There are plenty of people who are quite happy shutting out foreigners.  Foreigners are responsible for all New Zealand's social ills and they are most definitely responsible for the stratospheric house prices. These are people who are not business owners, not forging their own destinies, not trying to keep their companies afloat so the few people they do employ can keep their jobs. The ones I've heard on the radio who are quite all right with us being the Gloriavale of the South Pacific are those on pensions, benefits, employed by the government or with pre-existing health conditions. We need profitable businesses to fund New Zealand Inc - we cannot keep shaking the Wellington money tree forever. Even if Treasury's forecasts are miles out, we all, intuitively know that they money we're borrowing to keep New Zealand afloat has to be paid back. And it has to be paid back by people who generate income, not people who suck it out of the system.  And these people can only generate income if they are productive. And if they can't get the workers they need to grow their business, they will become less productive.  And there will be less money to pay pensions, pay civil servants, pay back our debt. We don't have to have wholesale hollus bollus immigration allowing every man and his dog to come into the country, buy up our housing stock, and never live here. We want people who want to live here and raise their families here and add value to our country - not fly by night investors. And surely we can put boundaries around that. But just to shut up shop and close NZ for business is not what we signed up for.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government has been told by its own independent expert advisory group that there is a ‘strong case for adopting saliva testing as the main method for testing in New Zealand’, yet nothing is being done about it.Sir Brian Roche’s September 2020 report said ‘all efforts’ should be made to introduce saliva testing as soon as possible.Those involved are scratching their heads as to why there has been no change.Leon Grice is the Executive Director of Rako Science, a private provider of saliva tests, and he told Kerre McIvor saliva testing has been proven as effective in tracing Covid-19, yet that finding has not been passed onto the Government."We did a head to head comparison in the lab between nasal swabs and saliva and were able to demonstrate it’s at least as, if not more accurate than nasal testing but that information never went to Mr. Hipkins."LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.