Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Well there's a funny old thing. Last week, I received a text from someone saying that we needed to be aware that Māori were being appointed to conservation councils replacing elected councillors and that this was being done without any consultation. I'm pretty sure I read it out - it was a big week and maybe I thought I just did - but we did pass it on to our news room. And then what do you know, on Sunday the National Party releases a document that shows the body tasked with reviewing conservation policies has been recommended that the Conservation Act be reviewed and replaced with a system that better honours the Treaty of Waitangi.   It also suggests that the government reforms all conservation entities including Doc and that the Crown revoke its ownership of indigenous species.  And to provide for the delegation, transfer and devolution of functions and powers within the conservation system to tangata whenua.I get that Māori can make a strong claim that they are better kaitiaki of the environment than the government or local councils when you look at the state of the nation's oceans and rivers. But surely any kind of bold transformation of the Conservation Act should involve all parties concerned.  If 85 per cent of the West Coast is affected, then should Coasters be involved in the decision making? Inter-generational recreational fishers and hunters, professional hunters - shouldn't they too have a right to have their voices heard? I like going for the odd tramp or bush walk and as a family we want to do more of that.  There's no suggestion we won't be able to access DOC parks in the future, no suggestion that parts of New Zealand will be closed off to some New Zealanders and not others. We saw that with the transfer of ownership of mountains to iwi - for example, the 14 tupuna maunga of Auckland that were part of the settlement of 2014 -  technically they are in the custody of their traditional iwi but they are held in trust for the common benefit of the iwi/hapū of Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau and the other people of Auckland.So undoubtedly there will be much comment, much debate - especially as government review committees seem to be recommending Maori have a seat at the table in many areas of government.  We had health last week, conservation this week.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A concerned father has spoken out after his 8 -year-old daughter was confronted by the sight of a naked man sunbathing while she was collecting rubbish on Pāpāmoa Beach.Dave Laidlaw, 41, was walking along the beach towards the Mount from Pacific View Rd with his two young daughters and was shocked when they saw the naked man because there were no signs indicating it was a nudist area, the Bay of Plenty Times wrote."[She] spotted some plastic, and with the tide right up was walking along the base of the dunes looking for more rubbish to collect when she stumbled on to a fully nude man. It gave her a hell of a fright."Laidlaw did not lay a complaint with the police or council because he understood it was a designated nudist area.He told Kerre McIvor that he is not worried about nudity, but he has a problem with a naked man out on a public beach with an erection. "I'm just asking for clarification - is it a local nudist area, or is it just an unwritten rule that everyone knows it's a nude part of the beach."He says there are no signs to warn people whether they mind nudity or not. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Police Association have slammed the government's public sector pay freeze as an unacceptable bombshell, and I couldn't have put it better myself. Bombshell is right. Had we been warned that New Zealand was facing a period of belt tightening in the wake of Covid, had we been advised that we must all be prepared for a time of austerity as we pay back the awful cost of lockdowns, had the government not been handing out money hand over fist including 25 dollars extra per week to beneficiaries, increasing paid parental leave by twenty dollars a week and extending the period of paid parental leave.Not to mention boosted the Families Package by 75 dollars a week, boosted the Best Start payment by 60 dollars a week for the first three years of a child's life, introduced a free period products scheme throughout our schools, if we hadn't been spending a million dollars a day on motels for the homeless, invested 700 million dollars into shovel ready projects which as it turns out aren't shovel ready.If as recently as yesterday, the Finance Minister hadn't announced that he'd found damn near a billion dollars down the back of the couch. If they hadn't been shaking the Wellington Money Tree until it’s damn near been stripped bare, then my loins would have been well and truly girded in preparation for a period of austerity. But, because this government has been so free and easy with the cash, because they have done what Labour government’s traditionally do, and that is spend, this pay freeze IS indeed a bombshell. Public sector workers earning more than 60 grand, those are your front line workers doing the toughest jobs, can only expect pay increases in exceptional circumstances; those earning more than 100 thousand won't get a cent more over the next three years. Talk about a kick in the guts.  There's money for everyone it seems, except the workers.Nope, they'll be off to Oz, as will any other public servant with transferrable skills.  Look, spending is what Labour governments do, they build up the state sector. In Ardern’s first government, the number of public servants increased 5.2 per cent to nearly 50 thousand.They look after workers and beneficiaries, and primarily that's because National governments run down public departments and reduce spending. But to be all kind and generous with taxpayers’ money, to give until it hurts, to bleed taxpayers until the pips squeak; and THEN to announce a pay freeze? Bloody hell. It's the stuff of the Muldoon days. Next thing, they'll mandate carless days when we'll all have to cycle to work one day a week to get some use out of the hundreds of millions of dollars they've spent on cycle ways.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trevor Mallard is again facing pressure to stand down.The Speaker sparked a testy debate with National MPs last night after he said under Parliamentary Privilege a worker had committed sexual assault.Mallard has previously apologised to the worker for wrongly accusing him of rape.Leader of the House Chris Hipkins says the debate didn't reflect well on Parliament or the people involved, and Jacinda Ardern will release a statement on the matter today.Former Speaker Sir Lockwood Smith says members should be able to make personal statements.But he told Kerre McIvor as Speaker, he made sure that right was never abused.“That personal statement had to be explaining something with respect to the member themselves, not someone else, so there are meant to be important boundaries around these things.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Speaker of the House needs to go. He has continued a vendetta against a former staffer, a man he labelled as a rapist - a claim that cost taxpayers more than $330,000. We paid Mallard's $175,000 legal fees, this is a man who earns $296,000 per year plus expenses and who has been paid by the taxpayer since he was MP for Hamilton West since 1984. You'd think he'd have enough stashed away to cover his own legal bills, but there we go. We also paid a $158,000 ex-gratia payment to the former staffer to settle the defamation claim. Now he's re-litigated the affair all over again, trying to paint himself as a champion for women and victims and using Parliamentary Privilege to denigrate the staffer all over again. He told the house he did not agree that he'd destroyed the former staffer's life; he did that when according to Mallard, he sexually assaulted a woman. According to Barry Soper, Newstalk ZB's political editor, what the staffer did was hug the woman, which might have been unwelcome, but does not constitute serious sexual assault.  Barry says we should all care about what Mallard said and where he said it because it's a gross abuse of power and privilege.  So, I think we do need to care. You may think it’s knocking the government, what’s $330,000 when we are paying a million a day to hoteliers? As National MP Chris Bishop says, come out and say it without the protection of privilege.He won’t, because then he’ll be personally liable.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a very interesting piece in the Business Herald written by Tamsyn Parker.Bruce McGechan is an entrepreneur and business exit planning expert, who has written a book about selling your business without any regrets.He warns that many business owners who plan to cash up to fund their retirement are setting themselves up for disaster, if owners count on selling a business to fund their retirement and it doesn't sell, it can leave them without the retirement they want or had planned for.Bruce McGechan joined Kerre McIvor to talk all about it.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Politicians criticising a Government Minister for attending a Mongrel Mob event are being told to come and visit for themselves. The Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson and Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt attended a gathering at the Hamilton gang HQ on Saturday.They discussed human rights, justice and racism in front of a room of patched members.It's sparked criticism from National and ACT Party MPs, but Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom adviser Louise Hutchinson says the media attention is unfair.She told Kerre McIvor critics don't know what was said at the event."We are an organisation that's working bloody hard in the community to turn around the wrongs of the past." Hutchinson denied that the gang is still dealing meth or engaged in criminal activity, asking McIvor: "Why do you keep referring back to criminal activity?" She says that other Ministers have come to visit, but do it "under the radar" due to concern about criticism. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Politicians criticising a Government Minister for attending a Mongrel Mob event are being told to come and visit for themselves. The Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson and Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt attended a gathering at the Hamilton gang HQ on Saturday.They discussed human rights, justice and racism in front of a room of patched members.It's sparked criticism from National and ACT Party MPs, but Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom adviser Louise Hutchinson says the media attention is unfair.She told Kerre McIvor critics don't know what was said at the event."We are an organisation that's working bloody hard in the community to turn around the wrongs of the past." Hutchinson denied that the gang is still dealing meth or engaged in criminal activity, asking McIvor: "Why do you keep referring back to criminal activity?" She says that other Ministers have come to visit, but do it "under the radar" due to concern about criticism. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Carmel Sepuloni says her ministry could keep better track of how much its paying out for damaged motel rooms.The Social Development Minister fronted to Kerre McIvor after reports from RNZ that unknown sums of money has been paid to moteliers over damage caused by emergency housing tenants.McIvor described it as "wanton disregard for taxpayer dollars"."I really, really don't mind paying higher taxes when I know the money is going to people who need it, and that it is being valued and prudently managed by the government department that receives it."This is not happening and the Ministry owes it to all of us who are carrying the weight of paying for the rest of the country to show us where and how our money is being spent. It simply isn't good enough."Sepuloni admitted here's no record of reimbursements to moteliers for breakages caused by beneficiaries in emergency housing.She says it's difficult to collate such data because the system's clunky."This is what MSD has said to me, and I've gone back to them and they've said let's look at whether or not we can do that better."Sepuloni says beneficiaries will have to pay for any damage to motel rooms, but when families stay in motels for longer periods, there will inevitably be some damage.She says sometimes there is ill-intent - but that's in complex cases."People with mental health issues in some instances, people with drug and addiction issues, but the alternative to them not being in accommodation is them being on the street." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why is it that children only ever seem to need a doctor after hours? When my daughter was little, it was ear infections.  She didn't get them all that often - about twice a year - but it was always at night time and I would have to head along and pay through the nose for an after hours medical service. It can cost nearly $100 to visit an after hours practice and that's money a lot of people simply do not have.  And that's why they present at their local A&E, putting strain on the hospital system. Now with the announcement of a shakeup of the entire health system, the question is being asked should we pay to visit the GP.  Critics of the current system of funding GPs say its outdated and absolutely flawed and Health Minister Andrew Little agrees – but talking to Mike Hosking this morning, he doesn't appear to know what the answer is or how to fix it.  There has been criticism too of the lack of information sharing between health agencies and that urgently needs to be rectified – Andrew Little says a single database for all health services including GPs and other community health services is the goal.  Let's hope the public service has learned lessons from the Novopay debacle.I wholeheartedly support a transformation of our healthcare system - I just wish it had included dental services, but I shudder at the talk of billions here and billions there. Surely the money tree in Wellington has been shaken almost bare.  Who on earth is going to be paying for all of this?  Have you seen the number of for lease signs around the country? Still, money's cheap right now, the government hasn't had to spend as much as it thought it might have to in terms of Covid recovery and the government - any government - shouldn't be afraid to spend on essential infrastructure. The government says it wants a health care system that treats people before they need to present to hospital - ultimately that will be better for the patient and more cost effective to boot.  But when GP visits can be up to $100 a trip, that's not going to happen. Should there be an incentive - an extension of the Green prescription perhaps?  People who are within a healthy weight range and whose bloods are fine receive a free gym membership – rewarding people for doing the right thing rather than constantly spending on those who don't.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.