Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

The result is in for New Zealand Rugby’s long-awaited governance vote.  Proposal Two, the structure put forth by the country’s provincial unions has won with 69 votes.  The proposal includes a stipulation that at least three of NZR’s nine board directors must have experience serving on a provincial board, in contrast with proposal one —backed by NZR and the players— which wanted all nine directors to be entirely independent.  ZB’s Rugby Correspondent Elliott Smith told Kerre Woodham that it hasn't been a pleasant period, and the arguments and division hasn’t been a great look for the game.  He said that what happens next is anyone's guess.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prolific author and former investigative journalist Jake Adelstein has quite an extensive knowledge of the Yakuza.  He was a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper, between 1993 and 2005, and from 2006 to 2007 he was the chief investigator for a US State Department-sponsored investigation into human trafficking in Japan.   He’s written for outfits such as the Independent and The Guardian, as well as writing three books: ‘Tokyo Vice: a Western Reporter on the beat in Japan’, ‘The Last Yakuza: Life and Death in the Japanese Underworld’, and ‘Tokyo Noir’.  ‘Tokyo Noir’ is his latest, covering his life post-journalism as well as some details of Japan’s criminal underworld.  He joined Kerre Woodham to discuss his life, career, and extensive knowledge of the Yakuza.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fundamentally, I would have thought that limiting debt-to-income is a good idea.   The debt-to-income ratio is the ratio of your total debt —mortgage credit cards, child support payments, hire, purchase, and the like— relative to your total pre-tax income. So, for example, if you have a total debt of $500,000 and your total gross income is $80,000, your debt-to-income ratio is 6.25. It means your total debt is 6.25 of your total gross income. So, as I say, to estimate your debt-to-income ratio, start by adding up all your debt payments, any large fixed payments you simply can't afford, and divide them by your pre-tax income.   From July the 1st the Reserve Bank will put in place new debt-to-income ratio restrictions on the banks. That means they will have to limit the volume of high debt-to-income lending that they can extend. So, up to 20% of new loans to owner occupiers can be issued to borrowers with a DTI ratio of more than 6. Only up to 20%. Anything beyond that, it has to be below 6. Up to 20% of new loans to investors could be allocated to borrowers with a debt-to-income ratio above 7, the rest have to be below.   However, just to throw some more letters into the mix, the bank will ease the loan-to-value ratio restrictions (LVR's) and that means banks can lend on more low deposit loans. So, before you had to have a high deposit before you could get into a house, now they're saying you could have a lower deposit, but your debt-to-income ratio will be the figure that is scrutinised.   The Reserve Bank argues that by adjusting these levers it's managing different types of risk to the financial system. With LVR restrictions, it's targeting default risks from undercapitalised loans where you didn't have enough in there and now your debt is so high you can't pay it, while DTIs address default risks from income insufficiency. So, you've just got too much debt for your income to sustain, there's your pay packet groaning under the strain of all the debt repayments, and they're saying that they're going to help you by not letting you get into that predicament.   However, some people see this as a very bad thing, including property commentator Ashley Church, who pulled no punches when he was discussing the new restrictions with Mike Hosking this morning.    “Oh, terrible. And in fact, I was thinking the other day I must do something for the release on this. This will be the single most stupid move that the Reserve Bank has ever made. And I don't make that statement lightly. He’s made some stupid moves. He's made some stupid ones. The LVR restrictions a few years ago were pretty bad, this is worse. If I was going to make a prediction on this, it will be reversed within three years. It will completely screw up the property market at a time when we should actually be looking for it to recover from what it's been for over the last three or four years.”    Now Ashley, of course, is a property commentator and you know he's in the business of property and wants to see it booming. But it seems the Reserve Bank is trying to stop just that. Trying to stop the boom and bust housing cycle, so that you can only take on a debt if you can afford to repay it. I mean, there's good debt and bad debt. HP is probably bad debt; you would consider that bad debt. AfterPay is bad debt. Good debt is taking on, say, a home in which you can live. It doesn't have to be as an investment, but if you are renting, then a lot of people see that as just empty money, dead money. If you are putting that into a home you can call your own, many see that as good money. So, it might be the biggest debt you ever have, but it's considered good debt as opposed to credit card debt or AfterPay debt.   Now the Reserve Bank, Ashley Church said, has made some very stupid decisions and by trying to tinker with the economy. You know, we're in the position we are in where we've got high interest rates and unemployment is starting to rise and that, it appears, is what the Reserve Bank wants. They're trying to engineer a recession so that the spending stops, demand stops, and then the interest rates can come down, and it means those with mortgages can breathe a little easier.   But surely it is a good thing if the property market is a lot more even, a lot more level? We don't want booms and busts, nobody does. Well, some people make a fortune out of them, but the majority do not, and nobody wants more debt than they can manage. There is nothing worse than that feeling of being strangled or crushed by debt. Borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. Having to make decisions month on month about what you're going to fix first or what you're going to pay off first. Trying to keep the slavering wolves from the door.   And there is the capacity to be able to borrow more by lowering your debt-to-income ratio by paying off bad debt. You know, if you pay off your student loan, you can borrow more. If you get rid of the credit card and pay that off, you will be able to borrow more.   Ashley, as I say, pulled no punches, but then he has interests vested in the property market. I mean at first reading; I see this is not a bad idea. You know, there are a lot of people who are crushed by debt. By restricting how much they can borrow, surely that's in everybody's best interests, including the banks.   So I'd very much like to hear from you on this one and if it affects you in terms of your plans for home ownership. By having a lower deposit and having a reasonably good debt-to-income ratio, are you going to be able to get into a house? But if you're only earning, say $80,000, can you get a house for what the bank is willing to lend you on your debt-to-income ratio? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A petition has been set up asking for students on placement to receive a stipend from the Government, because as part of their qualifications many students, like those in healthcare, social work, and education, are required to complete unpaid placements to practically apply what they've learnt. And it's a really, really good idea because quite often, the theory bears no real relation to reality. You might think you want to be a nurse, and then you're in amongst the blood and the gore and you think, ‘maybe not. Maybe not. Maybe I'll go to being a researcher, apply all that knowledge and learning to being a researcher rather than being at the grunt end of things.’ So, you need to know what you're getting yourself in for, otherwise it can be a waste of training.   However, masters student Bex Howells says unpaid placements are causing huge financial hardship for students. They need to take on extra work to pay their bills, but if you're working all day, studying the rest, you've got between the hours of 1am and 3am to find work. So, eight months ago Bex started Paid Placements Aotearoa as a social media movement to get students paid for their placements, and that led her to launch a petition to get students in health care, social work, and education paid for the work that they do.   It's not a new idea. As of next year, the Australian government will pay teachers, midwives, and nurses $320 a week (that would be $350 odd New Zealand dollars a week) during their mandatory placements, but it will be means tested. So, campaigners and students here have been fighting for a similar payment. Previous Health Minister Andrew Little had considered it for 3rd year students. Bex Howells says there are ways and means to make a stipend work.   “My proposal is that we pay students a stipend, which effectively is like topping up their study link allowance so that they're being paid at least equivalent to the minimum wage because they have huge amounts of costs involved with training on top of actually doing the unpaid labour, and they need to be able to meet those costs of training so that they can actually prioritise learning and working rather than survival.”  Yes. So, I mean, I think we all know that a lot of the med students, the nursing students, the midwifery students are really putting in the hours and to all intents and purposes they’re another set of trained hands on the wards, and yet they're not. They're supposed to be students, they're supposed to be learning, they're supposed to be shadowing. She says we pay police to train, we pay prison officers, customs officers, the military, yet for some reason, if you're a nurse, a teacher, a social worker, or a midwife you're not paid to train.    We heard from a couple of people a few years ago who were in just this bind. Living in and training in one city but their placement’s in another city, so they have to give up a flat or else they have to keep paying for the flat while finding alternative accommodation in the city or town that they're being placed in. You're not always placed just down the road from where you live, so it's an extra financial burden on top of what is already a tough time, and yet you're expected to work. You're not expected to just sit there taking notes.   So, it seems reasonable, does it not, to give them a bit more than the student allowance? A number of these students, these teachers, these midwives are older. They're coming into it as a second career. So, they might have children and childcare, and it's a huge juggling act. And that's their choice and they know to a certain extent what they're getting into, but I don't think anybody has any real idea till you're in the thick of it. And great if you've got the Bank of Mum and Dad, supportive parents that you can tap into, but we don't want these careers only open to those families who can afford to subsidise their children on behalf of the rest of the taxpayers. We're all going to benefit by having these people well trained, well suited for their careers. And it's asking a lot of these young people, and of these mature students, that they give up the opportunity to work extra hours to make ends meet because they simply can't when they're on placement, they're studying and on placement.   So, what do you think is fair?  I'm quite happy to pay for them in terms of paying them a stipend that helps them cover the cost of their bills while they are unable to do extra work, while they are focused on their training. Sign them up for a bond if needs be. You know, if you if you take the stipend that gives you an extra $150 a week, or however much it is it. We're not talking of fortune here. If you take the stipend, that means you don't have to worry about trying to find extra work, then we'll bond you for a couple of years and that seems to be a good quid pro quo. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the best teachers at my daughter’s intermediate school, Ponsonby Intermediate, was a former chippy-turned-teacher. He was a great example of somebody who'd trained in one career then decided to move into another — teaching. And there's a whole bunch of kids who are very, very glad he made that choice. It was a great pre-Budget announcement from Erica Stanford, who said yesterday $53 million will be going towards recruiting and training teachers, teachers who are desperately needed in all sectors of education and specifically looking at people who have trained in one career, and wanting to move into teaching. So there'll be more places available within the classroom for people who are looking to change careers or return. And this is especially important too I think, after the Education Review Office report a week or so ago said too many new teachers feel poorly prepared for their jobs. Remember that one? The ARO said 60 per cent of the principals it interviewed said new teachers were not ready. Over a third of teachers said they were not able to manage classroom behaviour when they started in the role. A third of new primary school teachers said they were unprepared to teach science, and presumably maths as well. Education Minister Erica Stanford says over the next three years we need to find an estimated 680 more secondary teachers. And while it would be ideal to train New Zealanders to fill those places, there simply isn't time and we have to look at other options. “There is a demand for teachers coming in from offshore, especially since we moved the secondary school teachers straight to residence pathway on the green list. I did that because those numbers of secondary school teachers’ prediction over the next three years is quite grim. We're looking to be about 680 short, we can't train our way out of that. We are going to need to supplement it with some overseas teachers. And so there is quite good demand. But you know, of course I'd much rather train local people and that's why this on site training program is exciting because a lot of the people have been using it so far in the small scale trial, the mid career change people who decided to leave accounting or whatever they were doing and come and give back to young people.” Great idea. That was Erica Stanford Education Minister talking to Mike Hosking this morning. The way we train teachers, I think we have recognised, is not ideal. Our young people who are going from school into education, some of them will adapt amazingly. Some are finding that managing classroom behaviour, realising that there are deficiencies in their own education so you can't teach something you do not know or do not understand, even when you have the resource material if you don't understand what you're teaching, you're not going to be able to impart that to the kids. I think if you come into teaching with a little bit of life experience, a little bit of understanding of how to work with all types of people, if you have your own children, that might give you another facet when it comes to your interaction with the children.   You don't have to have your own children to be a good teacher, but having all types of humans teaching, I think, is a very good thing for our kids. If you've got all sorts of people, a broad spectrum of people, different ages. You know everyone will have their own particular passion subject. This is a good thing. And I'd love to know if you have ever thought about changing careers and moving into teaching. If you come from a family of educators, then it's likely that you either become an educator yourself or you say I never I am never going to do it, but always at the back of your mind you're thinking maybe, just maybe? I come from a family of teachers as well and I've always thought I would love to be in the classroom but I think I'd be hopeless because I'd have favourites and if they didn't want to learn, I'd think well bugger you then, go and be slave labour somewhere in the third world and see just how lucky you are to have this free education. So I think I'd be a bit hopeless.   So if you have ever thought about changing careers, I would love to hear from you. I would also love to hear from those who perhaps have been in the classroom. It makes so much sense to put new teachers and to put those who are thinking about becoming teachers into a classroom. I don't think you can prepare yourself for what it's like until you're there. Of course, that means that you have to have a school that has people capable of being mentors, and who have the time to be able to harness the energy and the talents of the wannabe teacher so that they're in addition to the classroom rather than detracting from what's going on in the classroom and that too is a gift as, as we know, when we were talking about good managers and bad managers, when we were talking about bullying a couple of weeks ago. You know to be able to get the best out of somebody is a gift and needs to be rewarded. So not every teacher who has a newbie shadowing them is going to be the best person to show them the ropes unless they have been specifically chosen for their skills and talents. But I would love to hear from you because I truly think teaching is one of those incredible jobs. We all remember the teacher who changed our lives for the better. There are so many stories of young people who have overcome terrible starts in life because of it. Free education and a great teacher. I remember all of mine that made me hunger for knowledge and more,  to see the world as a much bigger place. I think it's an amazing career and vocation. And the two are separate. Some are born to be teachers, some can be shaped to be teachers. And I would love to know, with the incentives we're getting from the government, whether it's something you would think about.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Firearm-owners say they aren't reaching out when struggling, for fear their firearms could be taken away by police. With an estimated one in five people struggling with mental illness each year, that means up to 50,000 licence holders refusing to seek the help they might need. General Practice NZ Chair and Porirua GP Dr Bryan Betty joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Resource Minister Shane Jones is all for opening up our extraction industries.   He says New Zealand has an opportunity to double the value of its mineral exports and mine for elements that are heavily sought after for electric technologies. He released a minerals strategy document with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) yesterday and has been consistent with making a strong case for mining - New Zealand has a rich history of mining and the sector has played a significant role in how the country has developed over the past 200 years. He said that Māori excavated pounamu, obsidian, and adzite and they used them for tools, weapons, and ornaments. Then when the Europeans arrived, they found gold and coal. He says the mineral sector exported just over $1 billion in 2022, and Jones hopes to see that number double by 2035, that would see an annual growth rate of just over 7% every year.   He has acknowledged that mistakes have been made in the past around unsafe working environments and environmental despoilment but says the industry and regulators have learned from those mistakes and won’t make them again. The Chief Executive of Energy Resources Aotearoa John Carnegie says the industry is ready to go.   “It’s about having the right conditions in place, and the government’s taking all the right steps to ensure that those things can be unlocked. So, yeah, I’m certainly more positive, you know. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t utilize the wealth that’s under our feet. Export, we, we, have high grade coking coal, and coal used in steelmaking. We export that, there’s no reason why we can’t export a lot more of it. And we have a rich set of resources of critical minerals which we should explore that will help us with developing our technology, and renewable space batteries, wind turbines, so on and so forth.”  That’s John Carnegie, the Chief Executive of Energy Resources Aotearoa talking to Mike Hosking this morning.  Now, naturally you’ve got people who are utterly opposed to anything being dug out of the ground. Forest and Bird is one of them. Hardly a surprise. Richard Capie saying the plan is a “love letter” to offshore mining companies. He said we’re living in a climate and biodiversity crisis, in a country with the highest proportion of threatened species in the world, where all types of public conservation land are valuable and home to endangered plants and animals.  However, Shane Jones is having no truck with that. He says the lands been mined before; it can be mined again. Opening up our land and seas to mining will create regional jobs, economic resilience, and will mean the country is not relying on minerals extracted under poor conditions overseas. And that’s where he’s got a point. Like, you know, would I be happier if not one leafy piece of grass in New Zealand was dug up and overturned? And yes, you know, let nature do its thing and let it be beautiful and fabulous, but then that means I can’t drive a car. I can’t heat my house, I can't use the mobile phone, because if you accept that other people can do it, other people can do it overseas, over there where I can’t see it, that is so hypocritical. If you’re going to be utterly passionate about extraction industries being bad, surely you have to follow through on that, all extraction anywhere is bad, don’t you?  And if you’re talking about unsafe mining practices, you know, unsafe working conditions and unsafe workplace practices, do any of these passionate young greenies who are so against New Zealand being opened up to mining look at the conditions that young African kids are working in overseas, in the mines. Just pick a country in Africa, any country, it’s been raped and pillaged for hundreds of years. And the children there don’t have the option of wagging school, they’re sent down to the mines. And if they’re quite happy using their mobile phones to message each other to go and join the climate march to bring about world peace and stop everything in Gaza, and stop mining, and stop everything. How on earth do they think that those mobile phones are made?  Would it not be better to, and I mean, there’s something about mining. It doesn’t have a good public relations company working for it, other than Shane Jones who seems to be doing quite a good job, because he’s making arguments that you, intellectually, you can’t really argue against. Can you?  Opening up our land and our seas to industries where there has already been mining will mean that the country is not relying on minerals extracted under poor conditions overseas. And that’s exactly what happens if we don’t do it, we buy it from over there from those people, and we can’t see it so it’s okay. And unless you take a purist view saying right, I’m not going to use anything that has been constructed, developed, made, needs to use minerals that come from extractive industries, I’m not going to use any of it, then I’m going to march in the streets against mining in New Zealand, then fine.  But if you’re going to continue to use those products that are ubiquitous in the developed world, then how on earth can you be opposed to mining here? Would you just rather the poor people did it in other countries? And that’s the case Shane Jones is making, and it’s hard to argue against. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Parts of our economy are continuing to provide inflation pressures for the Reserve Bank.   It's decided to keep the OCR at 5.5% and has signalled a rate cut no sooner than the second quarter of next year.  The move to keep the OCR the same was anticipated, but many were hoping for rate cuts to come earlier.  Corelogic’s Chief Property Economist Kelvin Davidson told Kerre Woodham that this is the monetary policy tightening cycle in action.  He said you have to squeeze the economy a bit to get inflation down, which means that a lot of people are doing it tough as a result.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I first heard the catchphrase Survive to 25 when I was talking to be at large, Liam Dann.  It appears to have come out of the US and implies that if mortgagees and small businesses can just hang on till next year things will start to come right. Because let's face it, we're not going to see interest rates drop any time soon. Despite some of the banks predicting that there would be a drop in mortgage interest rates towards the end of the year, the Reserve Bank poured cold water on that. Great for those with term deposits, less welcome news for anyone with debt.    Finance Minister Nicola Willis made it abundantly clear that the Reserve Bank had just one job and that was to get inflation back to target - 3 then 2%. She says the tax cuts will not be inflationary because the government itself has really cut back on its spending. That they’re not borrowing, she says, to pay for tax cuts, they’re coming from savings. And she says that most people who receive the tax cuts will use them to pare down debt, so it’s not going to be inflationary. Adrian Orr is not budging, so people are just going to have to white-knuckle it to the end.   You have to wonder what is the end? What is it gonna look like? What’s the trading landscape going to look like by the time we hit 2025? Some people have used up all their reserves. I’ve heard from some traders, some small business owners that things need to turn, and need to turn pretty quick. Consumer confidence needs to pick up for businesses to survive. Forget ‘survive to 25’, they’re just hoping to survive the next three months. But is it an unequal recession as well? Are some businesses going gangbusters while others are doing it tough?   For those with mortgages, if the Reserve Bank keeps the OCR at 5.5% until September of next year, many borrowers are going to be caught short when they come to refix their loans. Borrowers have, for some time, been betting on the OCR falling sometime soon, sometime this year. Since the start of last year, people are just fixing for one year. I was talking to some young colleagues in the newsroom. They’ve got mortgages coming up in a few months, they’re going to fix for a year, hoping that by next year things will look better.   Survive to 25. The popularity of one-year mortgages has taken off since the start of the year. Fixing for six months has become more common at the cost of two-year mortgages. So if you have a mortgage coming up and it needs to be refixed, are you going to go for the six month, the one-year, the two year? If you are a small business owner, ‘Survive to 25’, is that your mantra? Is that the reason to hold on, that by the time we get to 2025, things will have improved? Consumers will have a bit more in their pocket, they’ll have a bit more money around for treats like bouquets of flowers, new pair of shoes, that sort of thing.  We hear all the decision makers having their say, making their predictions, implementing their policy, having their reckons because ultimately, that’s all they are about: what is it going to do to the economy long term? But for those of us at the business end of things, at the sharp end of things, where are you at? Can you survive through to 25? And for those who've been around for a while who've been in business for a while, how does doing business now compare to doing business during the global financial crisis? That was a tough time with unemployment, with an absolute contraction of the economy, with businesses wondering how they were going to survive.   There is still, as I mentioned the other day, incredible young people who are opening businesses, who have faith, and optimism, and belief that they have a product or a service that is amazing, that people will want to buy. That they will be able to make a living doing what they’re good at, doing what they love. Even in this market, there are baby businesses being born every day.  There is so much to battle.  I mean, you must feel like one of those characters in a video game where you are deflecting missiles that are coming at you left, right, and centre with high inflation, and decreasing human confidence, and high staff wages, and online sales. Deflecting left, right, and centre, and yet still businesses are being born every day, which is a credit to the entrepreneurial spirit, and a credit to people who put a stake in the ground and say no, I have a vision. I have something that I can sell. I'm going to damn well get out there and do it.  Can you survive to 25? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I know we have no money.  I know the government is in dire straits and making really tough decisions when it comes to spending and where that spending is targeted, but I will be so sad if First Home Grants is one of the schemes that gets cut in the review of housing projects that is under way. The review is necessary because the previous government and its agents mismanaged Kainga Ora to the extent that New Zealanders not even born yet will be paying off its debts. If it hadn’t gotten into so much trouble, there would be more money to go around and go around everywhere.  And I know —we were having the conversation yesterday— that there is a desperate need for social housing. But surely there is also a moral imperative to acknowledge people who are doing the right thing, who are working hard, who are saving , who are young, who are the future of this country. They don't have addictions, they don't appear before the courts, they’re not ‘victims’. They simply want to live a good life, look after themselves, look after their families, enjoy their mates, and enjoy all this country has to offer. All those good kids who make up the majority of New Zealanders. And you might say that living well is its own reward, but at a time when housing is so prohibitively expensive every little bit helps, and would it really hurt the country if we diverted $60 million of the housing budget to first home buyers to reward them for their discipline and hard work?  When you are getting together the deposit for your first home, you’re scratching, you haven’t been working that long, you’ve paid off your student loan —if you had one— or if you’ve been in the trades you’ve been living at home and saving the money you get and putting it in a pot. You’re not going out and you’re making the right choices, and you’re getting that money together. Having a grant of $5000 for an existing home or $10,000 for a new build to first home buyers who meet the income threshold is a really powerful incentive to have a stake in this country. To not take off and chase the money overseas.  Those young people are saying we believe in this country, and we believe in sticking here, and we believe in putting down roots, and having a home, and having a family, and staying here and contributing. And I would love to see that those grants stay because there’s precious little for people who are doing the right thing.   The coalition is reviewing all housing support initiatives, and it was Shane Jones’ loose lips who dropped the fact that first-home grants might be under it. Labour's housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said scrapping the grants would be a cynical move.  McAnulty said the scheme, which was originally started by the previous National government, was a good idea, and Labour had expanded on it. I really do think there needs to be room within the government, not just to focus on the minority who cost us so much money, so much of our taxes goes towards people who are doing the wrong thing, who make mistakes, who deliberately set about, you know, imploding, destructing, destroying their lives, so much of the money goes there.  What about the quiet, hardworking, good young men and women who don’t want government help per se, but an acknowledgement that they are able to be disciplined, and thrifty, and hardworking, and we say as fellow taxpayers, hey, thank you very much. Here’s a tiny bit towards your first home. Thank you for staying here, thank you for putting down roots in this community and contributing to a future New Zealand.   We’ve had far too many fatted calves slaughtered for the prodigal sons, sometimes the hardworking son who stays on the farm and fulfils his obligations deserves a reward too.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.