Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Matthew Hooten joined Kerre McIvor to talk about his 'National goes from sickly to looking terminal' opinion piece in the NZ Herald.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is not our first rodeo.  We know what to do.  As we move up the alert levels, our behaviours change and certain things are expected of us.Wearing masks in public places and on public transport, no crowds larger than 100, staying away from others at the first sign of a sniffle, checking in religiously - yep, we've all got it. So why haven’t the government and the Ministry of Health?  There were reports yesterday that people were being turned away from testing stations in Wellington and frustration building as people who were trying to do the right thing were unable to fulfil their social contract by being tested. Tim Dower questioned the Health Minister on this this morning asking why there wasn't a plan in place to activate when a Covid case has been identified in the community.We've seen what happens when there are reports of Covid cases cropping up, people want, people need, people are told they need to be tested. Of course people aren't sitting around twiddling their thumbs, but isn't there a flying squad of testers that can be galvanised within 12 hours, rather than slowly creaking into gear over two and a half days?For heaven's sake.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Restrictions on fishing and new marine protection areas are being introduced to protect Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.Gulf X is a major marine restoration project launched by The Sustainable Business Network in 2019.GulfX works with businesses to, among other things, reduce marine plastic pollution and cut transport pollution through promoting copper-free brake pads to cut down on heavy metals in storm water polluting the Gulf.Sustainable Business Network CEO Rachel Brown told Kerre McIvor protecting our marine environments is more than just about fisheries.“A real problem that we still haven’t solved is sediment, that’s the stuff we’ve been trying to look at… it sits in the harbour and makes that regeneration of fish stocks and mussels really slow.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Women’s Refuge has released a first-of-its-kind research report into what children need to feel safe after family violence.The Women's Refuge system was set up with women in mind and hasn't always looked at what safety looks like from a child's perspective.Most of the children who they talked to for the Kids in the Middle research wanted a place that was safe, they needed to know how they would enact an escaped plan if there was violence in their home and of the importance in having their own advocates.Women’s Refuge professional development and research advisor Cleo Arathoon says they hadn't really considered children and their needs before."Now we're really able to do that. We've explained the burden of exposure to violence. It doesn't go away when they arrive at [Women's] Refuge."LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A change has been proposed to encourage commercial fishers to only catch the fish they actually want.The Government's making it so fishing vessels has to bring everything they catch back to land, including bycatch.By limiting what can be returned to the sea, and installing onboard cameras on 300 vessels, there's hope companies will be forced to catch only what they want.The move will cost $68 million over four years.Minister for Oceans and Fisheries, David Parker, says unless other countries follow suit, New Zealand will have about a fifth to a quarter of cameras on fishing vessels worldwide.“That should further improve our brand and every little thing helps to maximise the New Zealand brand and get good value, whilst at the same time we’re improving the sustainability of our fisheries.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand has again avoided a recession.Broad-based growth in this year's first quarter has driven a 1.6 per cent rise in GDP.It follows a 1 per cent fall in the December quarter.The Herald's Liam Dann told Kerre McIvor the first quarter of the year had been expected to be tough."It's the peak of the tourist season, the cruise ships are usually in, we're usually having the arrival of a whole wave of international students who didn't turn up."LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's a no from Team New Zealand to the Government's $99 million offer for hosting the next America's Cup.The board has informed Auckland Council and the Crown that's not enough.Minister-in-charge Stuart Nash says it's disappointing they couldn't reach agreement within the exclusive negotiation period.He says the talks are commercial-in-confidence - but the offer involved cash and support worth about 99 million dollars.Nash says Team New Zealand's now free to look for commercial sponsors or other avenues.He told Kerre McIvor it's clearly a shame."I think Kiwis will have every right to feel disappointed, but the commercial reality is that this is more than just a sporting event and men and women on boats racing against each other."He says ultimately, professional sport is a business that needs to make money."The commercial reality is that we couldn't agree on something. Kiwis will feel disappointed, but that's the 21st century reality."Mayor Phil Goff says he's disappointed in Team New Zealand's decision - but there's a limit on what the city can contribute."You can understand why ratepayers would not want to see me or council throwing money at one particular sport, as against all the other things we support - the sports grounds and the parks we provide for the kids of this city."LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Surely there is no reasonable person who would object to the government apologising for the way Pacifica people were treated during the 1970s when they were subjected to the dawn raids.   It was a time when the New Zealand Police was instructed by the government to enter homes and/or stop people on the street and ask for permits, visas, passports – anything that proved a person’s right to be in the country. Even though, technically, everyone in the country was covered by this stop and search, it was applied almost exclusively to Pacific Islanders, even though during the 1970s and into the 1980s the bulk of overstayers (individuals who remained in New Zealand after the expiry of their visas) were from Europe or North America. The islands had always provided New Zealand with a source of cheap labour, immigrants who were willing to do the jobs New Zealanders didn't want to do. For the people of the Pacific, they came to New Zealand for job opportunities, money, and most importantly their children’s education, which was viewed as the key to success in life. A proportion of wages earned in New Zealand were sent back to the Pacific, allowing some families to build new homes. For a time, it was win win. But then in the 70s New Zealand's economy suffered a couple of devastating body blows -  In 1973 New Zealand’s major trading partner, the United Kingdom, joined the European Economic Community, severely impacting New Zealand’s export economy.That same year, Middle Eastern oil producers slashed production and crude oil prices soared from US$3 a barrel to nearly US$20 virtually overnight. Like most industrialised economies, New Zealand relied heavily on oil imports and suffered severe consequences.Higher petrol prices meant higher freight costs, higher costs for goods and inevitably, higher retail prices. Unemployment was also rising, at the same time as increasing numbers of Pacific Islanders were arriving in New Zealand on visitors’ permits. Many remained in the country to work.As unemployment levels grew, these ‘overstayers’ became scapegoats for those looking for someone or something to blame for the social and economic problems facing the country. Pacific Islanders were often falsely portrayed in the media as taking New Zealanders’ jobs away from them.  And thus it began. I can't imagine how terrifying it must have been to have been subjected to a dawn raid.  But you could see the pain was still very real for those who had been raided.  Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio, who stood alongside the PM when she announced there would be an apology, wiped away tears as he talked about the raid on his family home when he was a teenager and how seeing his father, a leader at the Samoan Catholic Church in Otara being reduced to a helpless victim in the face of the police invasion. The dawn raids were a stain on New Zealand's history and an apology is long overdue.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government has agreed to apologise for the Dawn Raids of the 1970s on Pasifika, Maori, and other people of colour.Police also randomly forced them to show proof of residency in public.Pacific Peoples Minister Aupito William Sio says the apology will be significant for Pasifika communities and those affected.Auckland councillor Efeso Collins, who is of Samoan and Tokelauan descent, welcomes the apology but told Kerre McIvor he hopes that "meaningful actions will follow the words -  like an amnesty and compensation".LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A landmark report by the New Zealand Education Institution has found primary school teachers face increased demands, but staff numbers are mostly unchanged.The report recommends the current primary school staffing model be completely revampedThat includes reducing student ratios, more teacher aides, and giving teachers a weekly release day.NZEI President Liam Rutherford joined Kerre McIvor.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.