Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Yet more inconsistency and fluffiness from the government around rules for Aucklanders. Aucklanders are being encouraged to travel to prop up the terminally ill travel industry, and yet at the same time, they're being told that they shouldn't be attending conferences out of the city. What on earth is the difference between eating in a Queenstown restaurant and sitting in a Queenstown conference room, both in a socially distanced, safe kind of way? Apparently, according to the government, the alert level restrictions in Auckland meant people should not be attending gatherings of more than 10 people in the city so if Aucklanders are travelling to other parts of the country the same rules should apply. And yet you can travel on a plane or a bus, you can go to a restaurant - all places where there are numbers of people in one space - why can't you attend a conference if all the social distancing rules are in place?  It seems counter intuitive. It seems clear that the rest of the country wants - needs - Aucklanders credit cards; but they don't want Aucklanders Covid Cooties.  Auckland has by far the biggest economy - in fact if you added the next three biggest regional economies together - Wellington, Canterbury and Waikato - gives combined annual GDP of $93.3 billion, still $8.1 billion, or 8%, smaller than Auckland's GDP.So let's ask you - are you comfortable with people from Auckland travelling to your region?  Or would you rather Aucklanders stayed in their bubble for the foreseeable future? The conference industry is huge,  or rather, was.  I had about ten conferences booked for the year in February - all of them have been cancelled. The events industry, like the tourism industry, has been decimated and they're calling for clarification from the government about what can and cannot be done. The government takes its advice from the people of New Zealand - what do you want?  For Aucklanders to pick up their wallets and travel around the country?  Or for Aucklanders to stay in their lanes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Normally when somebody apologises, that's it, it's over. If you do it properly, there's an admission of guilt, acknowledgement of suffering, a promise to never do it again, and an explanation of the lessons learned. However, the apology from embattled Greens co leader James Shaw has done nothing to quell the outrage over his decision to hand over nearly $12 million dollars to an alternative learning campus in Taranaki. He is reported to have held up the allocation of $3 billion dollars worth of shovel ready projects unless The Green School was given an 11.7 million dollar grant.  Newshub has obtained an email that went to Government ministers and the Treasury from Shaw's office and it included a stark ultimatum.  In his midday mea culpa yesterday, Shaw said the best outcome might be for the school to treat the grant as a loan between the crown and the school's private owners but that will be entirely up to the school's owners if they choose to do that. There is a grave risk this could spell the end of the Greens, given the backlash from Green Party members who are incredulous that Shaw would grant such an enormous sum of money to a private school when the party's own education policy is against the funding of private schools. Chloe Swarbrick needs to win Auckland Central or the party needs to poll above five per cent for the Greens to get back into Parliament.  As Newsroom's Sam Sachdeva puts it, the whole sorry saga confirms the stereotyping of Greens as chardonnay socialists whose talk about supporting the poor isn't backed up by action and as Morris dancing, science hating kooks. James Shaw has said he doesn't think this is a resignation level event. What do you think?  Is this a resignation level event?  Do you  have any confidence in the due diligence being done on the Covid-19 recovery shovel ready projects? Should the decision making be taken out of the hands of government ministers and given to an independent body capable of assessing the viability and appropriateness of the projects?  Is this just the way of the political future - huge slush funds of money being made available to ministers who can then use it to further their political interests - looking at you Shane Jones - or to be doled out to pet projects? If so, I don't like this vision of the future.  There doesn't seem to be any accountability around taxpayer money.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A doctor advocating against the End of Life Choice Actl is concerned it doesn't let doctors have a say.Palliative care doctor and University of Otago clinical senior lecturer Amanda Landers says it feels like an incoming freight train.She joined Kerre McIvor for an hour of talk back on the referendum, and says the Bill should have more reference to the medics who it affects."A lack of safeguards, no real consultation with medicine, no real consultation with nurses or pharmacists who are also named in the act." Landers also thinks the bill would place an unfair burden on doctors. She says that doctors can refuse to administer the procedure, but they still have to link the patient up with someone who will."That's like leaving a loaded gun in the House. And after that point, there's nothing I can do. I can't say to the person, please give me a bit more time to make this better for you." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Air New Zealand is reporting an underlying loss of $87 million for the 2020 financial year, compared to earnings of $387 million last year.Covid-19 has wiped out its first half result and statutory losses before taxation, which include $541 million of other significant items, were $628m, compared to earnings of $382 million last year.The after-tax loss was $454m and the airline is not making any guidance about the year to come although another loss is forecast.Non-cash items of $453 million reflected most of the other significant items, including the $338 million aircraft impairment charge related to grounding of the Boeing 777-200ER fleet for the foreseeable future.Chairwoman Dame Therese Walsh said the airline was acting with speed and agility to lower the cost base, and pivoting quickly to ramp up domestic and cargo services to help keep the New Zealand economy moving."Now, nearly 6 months following the declaration of a global pandemic, the $87 million loss we are reporting today, our first loss in 18 years, reflects the quick and severe impact Covid-19 has had on our business."Short-term liquidity as at August 25 was approximately $1.1 billion, made up of cash and the $900 million standby loan facility from the Government.Due to the strong cash position pre-Covid-19, swift action taken by management to reduce cash burn and a better than expected return of domestic demand after the initial lockdown was lifted in New Zealand, the airline has not yet utilised the standby loan facility.However, it expects to start drawing on these funds in the coming days.Cash burn averaged approximately $175 million a month from April to June, including higher than average refunds, redundancy payments and fuel hedge close out costs, but this reduced to $85 million for July.The airline is estimating the go forward average monthly cash burn to be in the range of $65 million to $85 million while international travel restrictions remain and assuming resumption of domestic travel with no social distancing requirements, as well as a continuation of government-supported cargo flights.She said the Board is focused on preserving Air New Zealand's liquidity across a range of potential demand recovery scenarios.Given current financial pressures as the airline manages the impact of Covid-19, the Board has determined that it will not declare a final dividend for the 2020 financial year.The airline said the Government had recently reaffirmed the Crown's long-standing commitment to maintaining its majority shareholding in Air New Zealand, having regard to the unique and critical role the company has in New Zealand's economy and society.This is reflected in the Crown loan facility that provides Air New Zealand with liquidity support whilst the airline works through to a permanent solution.''Air New Zealand is engaging constructively with the Crown as it continues to assess its capital structure and funding needs.''Chief executive Greg Foran said Covid-19 has highlighted once again that the core strength of the airline is its people and their ability to respond to change quickly."Whether it be volunteering to crew repatriation flights to unfamiliar ports, dealing with substantial increases in volume at the call centre, or our cargo team's efforts to keep New Zealand exporters connected to global markets, the response of our people has been nothing short of remarkable" he said.He said it had been a particularly trying time for customers with the mass cancellation of flights and continuing uncertainty regarding international travel.''I would like to apologise sincerely for the fact that we didn't live up to customers' expectations in the way we handled the processing of customer credits. I would also like to thank our customers for their ongoing support and patience" he said.In June and July, the airline experienced heavy demand for...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new report has revealed that a Ministry of Social Development initiative to provide emergency housing in fact made the housing crisis worse and lined the pockets of a small group of landlords and real estate agents who were in on the lurk. The country has been paying for an emergency accommodation scheme put people in motels and hotels at market rates of more than $120 dollars per night for every room rented. However, from 2018 MSD extended the scheme to include private homes,  paying the same motel room rates to landlords for every room in the house they would rent. A three bedroom house rented out at a hotel rate of up to $150 per room per night could bring in $3000 per week in areas of the country where the median rate for a similar house was $550. From March this year, Covid-19 changed things, with motel accommodation freed up and MSD was able to consider moving people from private rentals into motels.However, once the MSD informed landlords they wouldn't be receiving subsidies after June 30 families started receiving eviction notices and social workers began scrambling to find motels rooms for stressed out families.  Listen above as Newroom reporter Dileepa Fonseka and the Ministry of Social Development's Karen Hocking discuss the matter with Kerre McIvorSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week, Kerre McIvor Mornings hosted former PM Helen Clark to talk about why cannabis should be legalised.Today, she talks to Aaron Ironside from Say Nope to Dope to discuss the other side of the campaign.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Age is just a number for a group of teenagers arguing to lower the voting age.Arguments are underway in the High Court at Wellington to decide whether the voting age is discriminatory.They say the current age of 18 is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights Act.Lawyer for Make it 16 Jason McHerron says international law doesn’t back restricting voting to those over 18.If anything, he argues it supports lowering the age.McHerron says the royal commission found the only justification for excluding people from voting is competence – so 18 is probably too old.17-year-old Julia Randerson says people who dismiss the idea of a lower voting age don't recognise how politically engaged youth can be."There's always going to be a small amount of people in every age group who aren't engaged in politics, but we don't see it to be any lower in 16 and 17 year olds than it is in any other age group."Isobel Smith told Kerre McIvor that 16 and 17 year olds tend to be more settled in their lives, living at home rather than at university or flatting. "In Scotland and Austria, where the voting age is 16, there is a higher voter turnout among 16 and 17 year olds than those in their 20s."The case outcome will not impact this election.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENTThe number of people losing their lives to suicide has seen a marked decrease, with the latest statistics showing the rate to be the lowest in three years.The annual provisional suicide statistics, released this morning, show that in the year to June 30, 2020, there was a drop from 13.93 per 100,000 people to 13.01.That is a decrease of 31 deaths. In comparison, last year's rate was the highest it had been since records began 13 years ago.Chief Coroner Judge Deborah Marshall said although it was encouraging to see the suspected suicide rate decrease in the past year, it was important to remember that there were still more than 650 families around New Zealand grieving for someone who had died in tragic circumstances during that time."My sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who died by suspected suicide in the past year," she said.With the release of the provisional results, Judge Marshall also called out those who had offered what she dubbed "unhelpful" commentary in relation to the effect the Covid-19 pandemic was having on people and the connection to suicides."Throughout this year, there has been unhelpful and irresponsible public commentary on the effect Covid-19 would have on the suicide rate."During the first lockdown period, I said it was unhelpful to release figures for such a short time frame, as it is nearly impossible to draw sound conclusion," she said.Lower stats for young people, higher for old"Nor do I believe such public discourse is helpful to people in distress."Within the newly released figures, results showed the rate of suspected suicides among Māori and Pasifika had both dropped - from 21.78 per 100,000 people to 20.24 and from 8.94 to 7.07 respectively.The rate for European Kiwis also went down from 13.02 to 12.08. The rate for Asians, however, went up by 20 deaths - from 5.09 to 7.91.Twelve more people aged between 80 and 84 years old died in the last year - up from six deaths last year.While the rates for deaths by suicide among young people decreased - particularly in those aged between 15 and 19 years old (73 to 59 teenagers) and those aged 20 to 24 years old (91 to 60 deaths).'There is always hope' - survivorJazz Thornton (right) with the police officer, constable Meikia Campbell, who saved her life when she was 19. Photo / SuppliedThis year's lower rates shows there is always hope, mental health advocate Jazz Thornton said."This is greatly encouraging news and may suggest things are changing for the better."Thornton is the co-founder of mental health advocacy charity Voices of Hope. She is also a survivor - having attempted suicide a number of times."If we continue to encourage safe and responsible discussion about mental health, then people feel much more comfortable being open about issues the may be facing and reaching out for support," she said.Director of the Suicide Prevention Office, Carla na Nagara, said the statistics should also end the "harmful speculation" about suicide numbers."Inaccurate, speculative and distressing information about the relationship between suicide risk and the Covid-19 response is unhelpful and has the potential to cause significant harm."While the Covid-19 response may have significant, long-term effects on people's lives, an increase in suicides is not inevitable," na Nagara said."There have been speculative comments on a wide range of platforms on media and social media of suicide numbers over recent months."This is distressing for families and communities, can be triggering for vulnerable people and further stretches the people who are working hard to provide support."We need to make sure that we are dealing with only the facts and remember that the Chief Coroner is the sole authority on real-time data for suspected suicides," she said."While it...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeremy called into the show to talk about Epidemiologists interpreting Covid-19 data the wrong way.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There will be no ban on the private sale and use of fireworks.Last year, a parliamentary select committee heard submissions on a potential ban after three separate petitions to ban fireworks sales garnered thousands of signatures.This week, the committee has decided to leave regulations and the current law unchanged.Auckland Council early last year voted in favour of asking the Government to ban the private sale of fireworks.Auckland councillor and dog owner advocate Cathy Casey told Kerre McIvor it's unacceptable that the law won't be changed."We need help to solve a problem that harms children, harms animals, puts enormous pressure on our emergency services, and puts enormous pressure on our maunga."A number of fire crews responded to the blaze on Mt Wellington last night. Photo / Will TraffordDuring Guy Fawkes celebrations last November, fire crews have put out a huge blaze on Auckland's Mt Wellington, while firefighters were called to more than 50 fireworks-related blazes throughout the country overnight.Auckland Council's plea to the Government received enormous support. Of the 7997 people who submitted on whether the council should call on the Government to ban fireworks, 89 per cent were in favour of it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.