Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Early vote totals on Tuesday night in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin appeared to give President Donald Trump a comfortable edge over former Vice President Joe Biden.But those numbers were never complete, and those tallies were changing overnight and into Wednesday as mail-in ballots from heavily Democratic areas in those states were counted.A big reason for the delay: Laws in each state barred election officials from getting a head start on processing and counting the record number of mail-in ballots voters used amid the Covid-19 pandemic.Take Pennsylvania. The Republican-controlled legislature refused to change state law to allow county election officials to start processing mail-in ballots until 7 a.m. on Election Day. That left local election officials with mountains of absentee ballots to process and count on top of the in-person vote cast on Tuesday.Overall, Pennsylvania received nearly 2.6 million mail-in ballots, according to the state's election website. Officials say that's 10 times the number of absentee ballots it receives in a normal election. In the Democratic stronghold of Philadelphia alone, officials received more than 350,000 absentee ballots that they could not start processing until polls opened Tuesday.Further delaying results in the Keystone State: Nine Pennsylvania counties, according to CNN's reporting, opted to not start processing and counting ballots until Wednesday morning.Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar on Wednesday tried to publicly nudge lagging counties to speed up reporting totals after a number of them appeared to have counted 0% of mail-in ballots on the state's website. "We're going to be following up with all those counties to say, 'Hey, make sure you get us the files,' " she told reporters.Biden's campaign encouraged Democrats to vote early -- while in-person votes likely favored Trump -- so it's no surprise that the former vice president's vote tally would grow as officials count more mail-in votes.The shifting count angered the President."They are finding Biden votes all over the place -- in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan," he tweeted Wednesday "So bad for our Country!"But Richard Hasen, an expert on election law at the University of California Law School at Irvine and a CNN analyst, said "there is nothing sinister going on.""In those three states, election officials begged for extra time" to process ballots and largely were thwarted by state legislators, he said."Ballots aren't processed randomly, so you get swings in outcomes" once election officials add absentee ballots to the count, Hasen said.Michigan, which received more than 3.1 million absentee ballots, faced similar restrictions in the run-up to Election Day.A new state law gave cities with at least 25,000 residents a little more time than usual to process, but not count, mail-in ballots -- an extra 10 hours on November 2, the day before the election. (Processing includes removing ballots from their outer envelopes and preparing them for tabulation.)The short window to process mail-in ballots in states such Pennsylvania and Michigan stands in sharp contrast to Florida, where officials began processing ballots weeks before Election Day, allowing them to swiftly report results.That's a part of the reason Trump was quickly projected as the winner in Florida.In Wisconsin, election workers had to wait until 7 a.m. Tuesday to begin most processing on nearly 2 million absentee and early vote ballots.A surge in Wisconsin results overnight that largely favoured Biden raised conservative ire, but it reflected the Democratic stronghold of Milwaukee reporting more than 169,000 absentee votes.A separate battle between the political parties could play out in the weeks ahead over another batch of ballots: Mail-in votes that arrive after Election Day. Trump has railed against a Supreme Court decision that allows...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Calls for a rethink of the school system before it drains curiosity out of our children.A University of Auckland study has found opportunities for kids to explore new ideas in schools are shrinking.Scientist Sir Ray Avery told Kerre McIvor we're dumbing our kids down, and weakening their ability to use applied knowledge.“We need to put creativity on the curriculum.”He says an apple drops to the floor at about 33 feet per second - but you don't need to know that, you just need to know there's an energy source there you can use.Sir Avery says we have to rethink for tomorrow’s world because our children are getting educated with a system that’s totally inadequate.He says arts is a good way to introduce creativity and agrees that the addition of more arts curriculum could help.Sir Arnold says purpose within the community is essential.“Why not teach kids how to be good social citizens… and there’s none of that in the curriculum.”He says a whole change to the system is not needed just a few areas.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Ministry of Social Development has started charging people in motels and other emergency accommodation by 25 per cent of their income.The policy came into effect on Monday and is part of a broader plan to address homelessness.ME Family Services CEO Peter Sykes says charging for emergency housing was "taking from the poor and giving to the rich".Mr Sykes told Kerre McIvor the problem they are having in Mangere is there is not enough investment going into providing a stable housing plan."The lack of that long term strategy misses the point that people are not choosing to be homeless, people are not choosing to be in transition, but we don't have any long term strategies in place."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pharmac is struggling to cater to the demand of Kiwis.Chief executive Sarah Fitt says the drug buying agency works for the best health outcomes for New Zealanders, within its budget.Ms Fitt told Kerre McIvor they want to fund new medicines, but cannot afford everything."Our job is to look at the evidence and make robust evidence-based clinical decision for the best of the whole country."She adds the demand for a bigger bite of the health budget is a global issue, not just in New Zealand.A New Zealander with advanced breast cancer has a 40 per cent greater chance of dying compared to someone in Australia, due to access to drugs.Ms Fitt says the model in Australia is different to New Zealand's. She adds over the years they have developed their model and are continuing to do so going forward."The model we've got is the model we've had for the last 27 years, and we're always keen to keep looking at the model and ensure that it's fit for purpose."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Housing was a big talking point in this year's election, just as it was in the 2017 election and deservedly so.There were 19,438 on the State House waiting list, up from 5,844 applicants on the Housing Register at the end of the month before the change of Government. And more than four thousand people are in emergency accommodation in motels. The situation is dire and not helped by the fact that a number of private landlords have left the property market, leaving charity providers and the state to pick up the slack.Again, the unintended consequences of good intentions. The Ministry of Social Development has started charging people in motels and other emergency accommodation a fee for the roof over their respective heads - 25 per cent of their income.  And predictably, this has brought howls of outrage from charity groups.They say it’s taking from the poor and giving to the rich and that most people in emergency accommodation were on benefit payments which were already low and those payments will now be cut by a quarter. However, the policy change brings emergency housing into live with other state funded housing like transitional homes and state houses.In part to its designed to recoup some of the costs associated with emergency housing - which has cost the country 83 million dollars for the last three months alone - up from 8 million per quarter in 2017. It's an eye watering amount of money which I'm sure few of us would begrudge if it was being spent to house humans in their own, sustainable, long term healthy home.But it's not. It's being spent keeping them, basically in holding cells, until the government comes up with a plan for housing that actually works. And I'm sure it’s going to be tough seeing your income go down by a quarter - but surely if you are one of those in the motels, who's been paying nothing for months, you're going to have to learn how to budget for rent sooner rather than later.Otherwise you're only going to come to grief when you are finally put into a home of your own. There needs to be a plan to immediately find permanent, or semi-permanent solutions for these people. We simply cannot keep spending 83 million dollars every three months for what is, in effect, nothing. No change. No benefit. No improvement. Dear me. A year of those payments would buy 4000 houses at market rates around the country. Problem solved.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The incoming Health Minister is being urged to overhaul the system, in the wake of Covid 19.Auckland University Emeritus Professor Peter Davis says Jacinda Ardern's appointee to the role has a raft of issues to address.He says there's an operational gap between ministry bureaucrats in Wellington and healthcare providers.Davis told Kerre McIvor the pandemic has exposed weaknesses in our digital health infrastructure, and shows a need to reduce DHBs."When the focus moved from small-scale measles and rheumatic fever events, to a wide-scale outbreak, it was hard to bring the various manual, regional systems together."Davis is recommending having four regional health agencies in main centres.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, that's the election done and dusted, and the polls did in fact translate into votes on the day. Jacinda Ardern has led Labour to an historic victory and has been given a mandate to deliver the policies she promised three years ago. There was a failure to deliver on those three years ago. Excuses can be found and made and accepted for reasons why that was so, but there can simply be no excuses. There will be no handbrake in the form of New Zealand First. National and ACT will barely be able to scrape together a decent opposition. So this is the opportunity for Labour to deliver policies that will shape the way they believe New Zealand should be - as previous Labour administrations have done. Jacinda Ardern has promised that she will be a leader for all New Zealanders:In her victory speech, she thanked New Zealanders for giving them their vote and their trust in the Covid recovery.“For those amongst you who may not have supported Labour before, and the results tell me there was a few of you – to you, I say thank you. We will not take your support for granted.”It's not going to be easy though.  Yes, Labour has a mandate to govern alone but these are extraordinary times and things are going to get tougher before they get better. National Party leader - for the moment, at least - Judith Collins warned of the dire economic situation looming.She told her supporters that the country will need to see better fiscal policy.So whether your team won or not, are you relieved the election is over and we have some certainty for the next three years?  What do you want to see this government prioritise? And if you were a former National voter, what is going to bring you back to the fold if you're a disillusioned centre right voter?I was talking to Chloe Swarbrick yesterday, and she said that if the day comes that she takes the job for granted, where she feels blasé about it, she will want to get out.I think some of the National Party people need to do that to themselves – have a long, hard rule at the reasons why they are there.That born to rule mandate that many of them feel they have just doesn’t exist anymore. If they haven't got the passion and they haven't got the fire and they have forgotten why they are there, then this is probably a good time to stay out or get out, and really rejuvenate the National Party.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The pressure is on Jacinda Ardern to make use of her new mandate to affect real change.Labour has secured 49.1 percent of the vote in last night's election - with National on 26.8 percent, Act on eight percent and the Greens on 7.6 percent.Political commentator Shane te Pou told Kerre McIvor there will be huge expectations on Ardern, now that she isn't reliant on New Zealand First."If a party is given a mandate like this, it needs to use it, otherwise there is no point to it."Political commentator Clare de Lore told Kerre McIvor Judith Collins will need to step down, and National will need to reshuffle from the top down.She says Collins has been handed an almost inevitable defeat, and the party needs to start again.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

NZ First leader Winston Peters has thanked voters, volunteers and NZ First staff around New Zealand at the Duke of Marlborough in Russell."Ladies and Gentleman elections are bout democracy and what the people wish and we should never stop trusting the people," he said."We committed ourselves three year ago to be a constructive partner with government."To provide certainty and stability in a fast-changing world."To those who have been successful tonight - our congratulations," he said."For 27 years, there has been one party which has been prepared to challenge the establishment."As for the next challenge, we'll all have to wait and see," he said.NZ First MP Shane Jones said the results of tonight would be the "fruits of democracy" however the night ended for the party.But he added that it should be said he and NZ First has stuck to its promise to the regions of the country, pumping investment into areas long neglected."No one will ever say of the last three years that NZ First and Shane Jones, for the North and the provinces, did not deliver."Northland, sadly, had been neglected for a long period of time."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The country's "unapologetic Māori voice" is returning to Parliament with Rawiri Waititi wresting the Waiariki seat off Labour's Tāmati Coffey."The people have spoken and I am absolutely overwhelmed that they have put their trust in me to represent them for the next parliamentary term," Waititi said."I cannot thank them enough for having the belief in us as te iwi Māori to champion our own mana motuhake and to return our authentically and proud Māori voice to Parliament, ka nui te mihi aroha e te Waiariki."Speaking at his election night party in Tāmaki Makaurau co-leader John Tamihere called the return of the party, eliminated at the 2017 election, an "incredible outcome"."This is rewriting the political history of our country," Tamihere said, as the roughly 200 supporters gathered at Et Tu Bistro in Te Atatu erupted into chants of "Māori Party".But it was a bittersweet moment for Tamihere, losing Tāmaki Makaurau to incumbent Peeni Henare of Labour."I want to mihi Peeni and his whānau, for the way he conducted his campaign," Tamihere said.He thanked Māori Party supporters in the Waiariki electorate, and for voters listening to their calls to split the Māori vote, giving the Māori Party the electorate vote and their party vote to Labour, whose Māori MPs, including Coffey, would all get in on the list anyway.There was also a chance of the party getting another MP with their party vote hovering around 1 per cent and potentially rising, meaning number one on the list Debbie Ngarewa-Packer could enter Parliament for the first time."I think there is a very strong possibility Debbie will get in too," Tamihere said.Asked how he felt about the fact, sitting at seven on the list, he wouldn't be joining them, Tamihere said he wasn't disappointed, and it was his duty as a co-leader to stand behind them.It wasn't over though for Tamihere, signalling another run in 2023."Next time around it will be all seven [seats]," he said, again to a huge reception.The fate of the Māori Party sat on a knife's edge all election night.The closest seats, as predicted, were in Tāmaki Makaurau, Waiariki and Te Tai Hauāuru, with Labour's leads over Māori Party in the mere hundreds in each for much of the night.In Te Tai Hauāuru co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer lost to Labour's Adrian Rurawhe.Labour won the four other Māori electorates.The 2020 election saw the Māori Party launch a fighting campaign.The 2017 election resulted in a tumultuous shift in Māori politics, with all seven Māori seats going to Labour candidates.It eliminated the Māori Party after nine years in Government alongside National, ending the careers of stalwarts Marama Fox and Te Ururoa Flavell, defeated by the very party they were established in protest against, following the Foreshore and Seabed debacle.But despite being outside the Beehive, the party remained active and vocal in its criticism of Government actions and outcomes for Māori.Jacinda Ardern's Labour-led Government ushered in a record number of Māori MPs, making up about 23 per cent of representatives, despite making up only 16 per cent of the population.Yet despite this, Māori remained at the bottom rung for most outcomes, including health, education, and housing, much of it fuelled by persistent inequality and racism, and leaving the door open for an independent Māori voice.The party had a refresh, appointing new leaders in former Labour MP and Cabinet member Tamihere, and Ngarewa-Packer, a Ngāti Ruanui iwi leader.The pair brought their own unique flair to their roles, with Manurewa Marae chairman and party member Rangi McLean once referring to Ngarewa-Packer as providing "balance" to Tamihere, whom he called a "taniwha", who is infamously not shy of political controversy and/or outright offence.Its wider membership were also proactive over the past few years in raising issues...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.