Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

My mouth began to open in gobsmacked incredulity and then just as quickly snapped shut again.  Yes, the Herald investigation that found Auckland Transport is spending on average $470,000 a pedestrian crossing is shocking. But those of us with memories, and indeed arses, like elephants, remember how much the Wellington City Council spent on their pedestrian crossing on Cobham Drive out towards the airport.   Let's Get Wellington Moving. Was there ever a more poorly named organisation? Let's Get Wellington Moving spent $2.4 million on that one pedestrian crossing. I think it was slightly more in the end. Of that $1.86 million was for construction costs, $535K was for consultants. It is absolutely and utterly ludicrous.   AT is defending the cost of their, when you look at it, quite cheap pedestrian crossings. When you compare $470K with $1.86 million and well $2.4 by the time you take ... anyway, they're defending the cost of their $470K pedestrian crossing, saying they need 27 crossings. Having signals makes them more expensive as well, but they need them because it's part of the Vision Zero strategy and the crossings are necessary to save lives in areas where there is a high safety risk, for example near schools. Auckland Councillor Maurice Williamson is absolutely horrified at the cost and the attitude of saving lives, no matter how much money you have to spend.  Honestly. The thing is the Vision Zero strategy is not saving lives. It's not even working. For that money AT set a target of reducing deaths and serious injuries to no more than 537. I don't know where that figure came from, but nonetheless, 537 lives in 2022.   So that was the target. Let's keep deaths and serious injuries to no more than 537 and in 2022 there were 649. Good one. The other thing that absolutely gets my goat is that they don't spend. And when I say they, I mean just about every council I can think of, don't spend this enormous amount of money and get the job done once and right. Time and again they have to come back and redo the bloody job.   AT spent $346K on a raised light controlled pedestrian crossing in the inner city. Faulty work was picked up during construction. It was seven months before the problems were fixed, causing more disruption. Hello orange cones, how I've missed you said no one in Auckland, ever!   With the staggering amounts of money chucked at them, with the millions of dollars spent on consultants, stuff ups happen time and time and time again. Would this happen if it was their own money? Do we do this? We're doing renos on the home, we get the architects in and you know the builders in and oh, there's a stuff-up.  I've noticed that you've put a door there instead of a window. What the hell? Let's just start again and do it all over again. It doesn't matter about the money. Don't be silly. We'll just get more of it.   This is what incenses me. You could possibly make a justification that you could spend this sort of money. If you did it once, you did it right and it saved lives. It's not ticking any of those boxes. Justify yourselves. Justify the expense on these consultants. How very dare you come to me and say I want you to pay more rates, when your incompetent fools waste money with the cavalier disregard of a Labour Government. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now, a little bit of background. I'm no manager. I have only ever managed a couple of restaurants briefly and I wasn't a terribly good manager. I ended up about 3 months into my managerial position being sued for constructive dismissal after trying to say somebody was a bit rubbish at training the other waitresses, but he was still very good at what he did and he could stay on the same money. Apparently that's constructive dismissal. There we go. Expensive learning curve for the restaurant and for me - I'm a rubbish manager, far better employee. But reading this letter that was sent from senior emergency department doctors at North Shore and Waitakere Hospitals pleading for dedicated security guards to be allocated to their wards, is an absolute no brainer management decision, even from a numpty like me. These senior doctors wrote to Te Whatu Ora, and not for the first time, and said- please, more security is needed to keep us and to keep the patients safe. So as a management decision, surely, and please put me right, but surely this is not as complicated as juggling stuff rosters, trying to get staff out of nowhere. You haven't got enough staff already and then they've been slammed by nasty flus and Covid and just life, that would be complicated. I would find that a difficult thing to do trying to find enough people with the different skills required to keep the hospital running. It would also be difficult trying to keep up the merry-go-round of hospital beds required. We have too many people clogging up the exit pipe because there isn't the at home care to allow them to recover safely at home, so they stay in wards in beds that are needed. That would be complicated. That would take time. That stuff would be tricky. But when my senior doctors tell me that they, or one of their colleagues, or one of the patients in their care could be killed or seriously injured if security is not improved, when I know for a fact that they're not making this up, they're not over exaggerating, they're not over dramatizing, there have been incidents where doctors have been assaulted, where patients have been assaulted, where the panic button has been hit 1000 times in a matter of months. They're not being silly. They’re not being hysterical. They're responding to a real threat to their well-being and safety. So when they tell me that - and I know this because the reports have to come across my desk- as a manager, I would suspect that there's been under reporting of all the incidents, only the most serious come across my desk. So this comes across my desk. They say somebody is going to die unless you listen to us. Surely, as the manager I think, hmm, well, I've left it a year. No, they're pretty serious. And I have seen a lot of incidents come across my desk.  What do you do as a manager? I would jump onto the computer, Google security companies, check that they're with the Security Guards Association, check their reviews, and phone their referees. Even with those checks and balances in place, I should have extra security that very night, being trained up to ensure the safety of my staff and my patients. Even going back to the security guard whom you use right now. Have you got enough guards to add to the roster? If you don't, can you recommend another security company with the same kind of dedication to service that you've shown us? It wouldn't be that hard, would it? Surely that is a very easy one to fix in the middle of a highly dysfunctional public health system. At the moment, though, the hospitals are covered by a team of up to five guards. The doctors say they value them highly. However, there's simply not enough of them. And of course, they're not often able to immediately respond to incidents of violence and aggression in the EDs. I've seen the security guards at work in the ED at North Shore Hospital. He was really good, as were the medical staff and the police officers involved. They were kind, they were respectful, they were firm, they were brilliant examples of being human. But if, as the doctors say, there are only 5 guards, have you seen the size of those hospitals? They'd have to cover all the wards a and when required, all the access points into the hospital, as well as areas outside. That's a pretty tough ask for five security guards. As I say, this request has not come out of the blue, doctors and nurses have been asking for full-time security at the hospitals since last year, after a growing number of assaults and aggression directed at staff and patients. This is simply unacceptable behaviour on behalf of the aggressors. Who the hell do you think you are, coming to a place where you are only going to get the utmost respect and kindness and care and turning on the very people who are helping you? Appalling behaviour. But it's also unacceptable behaviour for management. A year on and nothing's happened. A year on, and if the worst happens, as the doctors predict, then the blood of any staff or patients will be on the hands of Te Whatu Ora management. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A survey of our 200 largest and fastest growing tech exporters shows the sector is booming   Revenue for the so-called tin 200 increased 11.8 percent to 17 billion dollars in the past year...  The Former Managing Director at TIN, Greg Shanahan, told Heather Du Plessis-Allan that “the sector is reaching maturity, and the number of large companies is growing dramatically”.     LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Just when you thought it was safe to turn on the radio... Covid.   We're experiencing a fifth wave of Covid-19 infections, with an increase in the number of infections. The officials are going by wastewater testing, which gives us a far better idea of the levels of Covid within the Community than the self-reporting numbers.   When you test, when you find out you've got Covid, you're supposed to report it to the Ministry of Health. I'm not entirely sure people are doing it with the same head girl, scrupulous rigidity that we were doing it during the other years.    Hospitalizations have surged, and the number of deaths are rising as well. These are the highest hospitalisation figures in six months, and epidemiologists are putting it down to the removal of mandatory self-isolation requirements. We ended those back in August, and also the mandatory wearing of face masks in certain places was also done away with in August. It is still recommended that you stay home if you're sick, it's just no longer a legal requirement to do so.   Basically, now we're having to treat Covid the same way we would with any other virus, or flu, or a head cold, or anything else that we have that is contagious.   When I was in France, they were experiencing a surge in Covid cases there too. And a number of people I know caught Covid while they were there. Others of us within the tour group caught terrible colds and flus. Many of my group are still recovering from the effects of those viruses.   I know of a number of people who have never had Covid who have finally succumbed to it in this wave and have not had a pleasant time of it at all. I'd be interested to hear from those who have flown recently, the last of our group, who went on to Ireland after France, they are heading back to New Zealand today from Europe when they checked in online with Emirates last night, they had to agree to wearing a mask on the flight. They weren't sure if it was an old advisory or a new one in line of the increase in cases.   But ultimately, surely it has to be left up to us to manage illness. Whether it's Covid, whether it's a nasty flu, whether it's measles, whether it's anything contagious, there are all sorts of ramifications, especially for the immune-compromised. And we have to be prepared to manage that ourselves.   I've had a couple of nasty head colds throughout the year. I will wear a mask if I have to go out to pick up supplies and then limp back to bed. I don't want other people to feel as crappy as I do. I'm not worried about abiding by Ministry of Health, but it's just common courtesy, surely. And that's one thing that it's taught us, you don't want to pass on nasty viruses to anybody else. You don't want them to feel as bad as you do. Whatever the bug may be.   We as a population have to show that we can manage ourselves, manage our health, and look after the community, because the last thing we want, surely, after what we've been through, is to have a government or government departments decide that they will manage our health for us.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Te Whatu Ora is reminding us about the availability of Covid-19 antiviral medications for people at high risk, as we see a spike in cases.  Recent testing has showed an increase in the virus in wastewater and there's been a rise in reported cases and deaths.  They're also recommending that if people haven't had the booster that was recommended in April and May, they should get it now.  General Practice New Zealand Chair, Dr Bryan Betty, told Kerre Woodham that one of the important distinctions to make between Covid and the flu is that the flu is a seasonal illness.   He said that because Covid circulates continually throughout the community, new waves can break out at any time.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Congestion charging... coming soon to a city near you!   It might be Auckland Mayor, Wayne Brown, floating the idea for now, although he doesn't call it congestion charging. Last night with Heather du Plessis-Allan, he called it ‘time of use charging’, but you know potato, potato. But you can bet the dollars that will be flying out of your wallet that once it's in place in Auckland, other cities will be quick to follow.   In fact, we had a caller just recently who suggested that Tauranga is looking at the imposition of a congestion charge. But given the red cones in that city, given the road works in that city, it's hardly congested. They'd be desperate for people to come into Tauranga City, I'd have thought, but nonetheless she said that this was something that the administration was considering.   Congestion charges are designed to free up traffic at peak times, and when Wayne Brown spoke to Heather du Plessis-Allan last night, Brown said he was looking at placing the charges on State Highway 1 between the Penrose and Green Lane on ramps, and on State Highway 16 between the Lincoln Rd and Te Atatu ramps and this is just during peak times.  According to Brown it's easy to avoid travelling at peak times. He said kids shouldn't be travelling to school in BMW's. It's not the law that says they have to and then he dropped the classic boomer line, ‘In my day you got to school on your own’. Yes, but these days kids are not walking dusty roads in bare feet, are they? Kicking cans and pulling wacky japes with the girls from the classroom next door. They're living in a very sprawled out city, with parents who work. So it's a bit different from back in your day.   He also says that people should start thinking about when they start work. Maybe they start a bit late and go home a bit later. Which is all very well and good if you have choice in your working hours, but for many people, and generally those who are less well paid than others, who have fewer options than others, the time they start is when they start and there's no negotiation.   He also said there was no point in building new roads when they were empty most of the time.  Seriously? When are any of Auckland's motorways empty during the day? Does he actually travel out of the inner city? I mean, sure, I accept that there's less traffic from 11pm at night through till about 5am in the morning, but after that she's pretty much choker all day.   However, be that as it may, do, congestion charges actually work? Do they do the job of reducing traffic on the motorways at peak times? Well, the City of London has had congestion charges for some years, and according to the data, yes, in London they do work. When the charges were introduced by the city's mayor, Ken Livingstone, he hoped the charge would reduce congestion, radically improve bus services, make journey times more consistent for drivers and increase efficiency for those distributing goods and services throughout the city.  And according to the data, as I say, it's been a success. In 2006, Transport for London reported that the charge reduced traffic by 15% and congestion, that is the extra time a trip would take because of traffic, by 30%.   Imagine what that would be like if you were one of the many, many drivers delivering goods and services around the city. It would be bliss. And this effect has continued to today according to the data. Traffic volumes in the charging zone are now nearly 1/4 lower than a decade ago, allowing central London road space to be given over to cyclists and pedestrians.   Other cities have charges. Singapore was the first country to introduce congestion charging. That was way back in 1975, and since then we've had London, Milan, Stockholm, Gothenburg ,and a few other cities who have put in the congestion charge.   In 2020, the Government, the Auckland Council, and several government agencies produced a report which recommended congestion charges could be phased in from 2025, starting with central Auckland. As I stay starting… once Auckland starts, the others will be sure to follow.   It found the scheme would generate benefits but cause financial hardship for many households who would require help. And again, that comes back to the point of if you can negotiate your working hours, fine, but for many who are on minimum wage it's take it or leave it. The report suggested prices of between $1.50 and $3.50 during the peak and shoulder hours and no charge off peak. Mayor Brown is talking $5 per trip. And if you were coming into work every day $10 a day, 50 bucks a week, that is going to make a difference, that is going to hit you in your pocket if you are earning a basic wage.   How many of you have the option of choosing when you work? The hours that you work? Would you choose to travel at off peak times? As Wayne Brown says, start later, work later. How many of you could and would take public transport if congestion charging was introduced? How many of you would just suck it up, pay the money and keep driving?   According to London, it does work. I imagine that Courier drivers would be thrilled to the boots if we're all on buses leaving the streets free for them to deliver their goods on time without the hassle of trying to find parks or trying to negotiate their way through road works and other motorists.   Would it change the way you operated in the morning, dropping the kids off at school, then going on to work yourself?  I'd be very interested because it looks like this is going to be something that is introduced, not if, but when. There have been reports, they've been talking about it. It's a bit like the bed tax, not a case of if, but when. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A couple of good news stories in the news cycle today - a rare and marvellous and wonderful thing!   In light of the traffic and roading conversation we were having yesterday, great news that State Highway 25A between Kopu and Hikuai will reopen to traffic in time for Christmas, three months earlier than anticipated and under budget. I mean, it shocked me.   The decking is complete on the new 124 metre viaduct bridge, which spans the abyss that severed the highway in late January. So fantastic news there. Well done to all involved and it must be a huge relief for the people of Coromandel, knowing that you are going to have hopefully your Christmas visitors, your Christmas trade, which will make the difference I imagine for many between surviving and not surviving. So great news there.   Another good news story really and that is that 501 deportations from Australia to New Zealand have halved under a common-sense approach adopted by the Australian Government. That basically means that for those people who have lived most of their lives in Australia, who came as children, or who were born to New Zealand parents in Australia, if they have been ordinarily resident in Australia during and since their formative years, then considerable weight will be given to that fact. In the past, they didn't give a fat rat's bum. You know, if you had arrived in Australia as a child, as a baby, you had no connections back in New Zealand, you had done all of your living, all of your schooling in Australia, and then you offended, you were packed off back to New Zealand. Now under the common-sense approach, considerable weight must be given to where the offender spent their formative years, and that is a good thing. The current 12-month rate is the lowest since the policy came into force in 2015. Nearly half that of before the pandemic. The name 501, incidentally, in case you've ever asked on a Stuff trivia quiz, came about because of section 501 of Australia's Migration Act, under which a minister can cancel a visa or refuse one on character grounds if someone has an extensive criminal record or has been sentenced to 12 months imprisonment or longer.   Now, countries are perfectly entitled to deport non-citizens that they see as undesirable. We do it ourselves. From 2013 to 2018, New Zealand deported more than 1000 people to Pacific nations. 400 of those were criminals. And that in turn, has led to major problems in those Pacific nations. Criminal deportees, as they are here, are a significant contributor to the growth of transnational crime in the region.   But to deport people who have lived much of their lives in Australia and with no personal connections or links in New Zealand, means that many of these people arrive in this country with little more than the clothes on their back and to all intents and purposes are abandoned. Gangs have picked up the slack here. There are reports of gang members waiting at airports and recruiting 501’s as they walk off the plane. With nowhere to go, no one to help them. You can understand why taking up the gang's offer of hospitality might be an option.   There's no doubt that 501s have been a major headache for police. More than 2570 people were deported from Australia to New Zealand between 2015 and 2022, more than double the number expected when Australia began the policy in 2015. I think they upped the ante in Australia because it was very popular. It was seen as a gutsy, no nonsense move on the part of governments and was famously called ‘taking out the trash’ when 501’s were deported.   Almost half, 49%, of the 501’s have reoffended since arriving in this country, with crimes ranging from very violent offences to drug and traffic violations. So good news that the number of people being deported has come down from 44 a month to 18. But that's still 18 people a month arriving who will need support and help to integrate into this society into this country. Surely the law-abiding community here can offer better support than the local gang chapter. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So another week, another five days of negotiations it appears as National, Act and NZ First hammer out the conditions required for forming a government.   Christopher Luxon, the Prime Minister-in-waiting, was on with Mike Hosking this morning and he says while the three parties may agree on most issues, there are sticking points - tax and ACT’s referendum on the Treaty clearly being two of them, given the pause of inner turmoil that occurred when Mike Hosking put the acid on Christopher Luxon.    He said is it the referendum on the Treaty and tax? And there was a long pause and then the Prime Minister-in-waiting started to reply. And Mike said nope, too long, given it away, to which he laughed.   Christopher Luxon says in all likelihood, he won't be heading off to APEC. The deadline for leaving would be midday Wednesday, and he says he doesn't think negotiations will be wrapped up by then. Besides, he says it's more important to put together a government that can stand the test of time than head off to APEC.   And I would agree. I think that it's more important that he be here forming a government than it is to head off to APEC. The gains will be greater for New Zealand if he stays here and gets that government together.   But there are going to have to be compromises. Even though National garnered the lion's share of the votes out of those three parties, they're still going to have to compromise. ACT is going to have to compromise. And I know it's not in Winston Peters' vocabulary, but he too will have to compromise.   So if you voted National, ACT or NZ First, what policies from your chosen party's manifestos would you be willing to ditch in order to reach a compromise? Are there some that you die in a ditch for? Others you think, all right, I can live with ditching that one, we'll live to fight another day.   Christopher Luxon, it appears has already considered reversing the ban on foreign buyers be sacrificed. Tax cuts, nonnegotiable for National for the middle to lower income New Zealanders, he said that time and time again, but there have been hints that reversing the ban on foreign buyers might be sacrificed if it means being able to form a government.   I'm sure National voters could live with that, could you not? If you voted National and all of a sudden because of Winston's intransigence, the ban on foreign buyers was not reversed could you accept that?   But you will have to find the money for the tax cuts somewhere else. And while MBI has already announced there will be redundancies, and the $27-a-head donation towards the Christmas party that is paid for on behalf of staff will be scrapped. There's going to have to be a lot more $27 donations to Christmas parties to be scrapped if you're going to make up the money required for the tax cuts.   Christopher Luxon said it was worth taking the time now to thrash out the principles of a new government because he was looking to establish a government that could stand the test of time, looking ahead to three terms or nine years.   So what could you live with? If you voted ACT and the referendum on the treaty proved to be a sticking point, could you live with the fact that they might compromise on it?   If perhaps, the commitment to licensed firearms owners that they would start again and rewrite the Arms Act if they said well, you know we're going to give them that, but we get to keep the treaty.   You know there is going to be horse-trading. And some of the promises made by the parties who are now trying to form a government will not be delivered on. So what can you live with? What are you willing to sacrifice in order to get a centre-right government that can stand the test of time? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I am absolutely confident that there is no corruption within our Electoral Commission.   I do not believe for one wild second that they have been manipulating the voting system to get the result they want. Nor do I believe that they're being paid by Russia to produce the results Russia wants. And the reason I'm so confident is that they are so incompetent they wouldn't be able to deliver on the contract.   They simply wouldn't be able to do it.   The Electoral Commission has confirmed that along with three voting places that awarded votes to the wrong party, (this was a Herald investigation that found that three booths had wrongly assigned hundreds of votes to fringe parties, while the National Party received none) the data entry error led to hundreds of votes being assigned to the Leighton Baker Party and the New Conservatives, so the Electoral Commission said oops, soz, let's have a look at other places and they've confirmed there are 15 vote places that have entered data incorrectly.   They have had weeks to double check these results too. It's not like it happened overnight and they're just checking now - 15 vote places that have entered data incorrectly and a whole box of votes from the East Coast was forgotten about entirely. Good one.  See what I mean? Could the Electoral Commission really come up with a cunning plan and execute it efficiently? I doubt it.   And what are we doing with Excel spreadsheets anyway? What are we doing entering data into an Excel spreadsheet? Why aren't we using computers for heavens sake?   National’s Campaign Chair Chris Bishop told Mike Hosking this morning that these stuff ups with the votes come on top of other issues, like the computer system going down and rural voting places being closed on Election Day. And he says it's not good enough.  I'm coming around to the view that we need to do a short, sharp ministerial inquiry the moment the new Government formed into the events of the 2023 election to get to the bottom of exactly what's happened, and then of course, you know, things will flow from those consequences and improvements.   In totality it's a very messy election and you know we are one of the longest unbroken democracies in the world and you know New Zealand share confidence in the electoral system and the integrity behind it You know, there's just a whole series of messy incidents that add up to not a good look for New Zealand.  No, it's not a good look. And we've got to have confidence in the democratic process.   It's bad enough when you've got all those barking mad individuals in the United States, including Trump himself, who are going, oh, it's all rigged and you know, the Russians are buying votes, and you can't trust the electoral system. It's ridiculous.   And yet, when you have stuff ups like this, it does undermine the confidence you have in our democratic processes and when you have marginal seats where people are only declared the winner by 4 votes or by 29 votes, or by 129 votes, then every single vote counts.   I'm sure there were plenty of people working for the Electoral Commission who did a jolly good job. Those who worked hard did what they were supposed to do, like enter the votes correctly for the right party, and are probably burning hearing about these numpties in other voting places who've let the team down so badly.   There must be an inquiry, as much as I'm sick to death of reviews and inquiries and commissions and working groups and the like. There does need to be an inquiry to find out what went wrong? How did it go so wrong? And how do we ensure it does not happen again?   So, I'm with Chris Bishop on that. But how did it go wrong and did we have people who could enroll on the day which delays everything as well? Time for computer voting?   Seriously. Data hackers couldn't do much worse than the pencil wielders who were in the voting places this year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In December 2021 Brittany Kremers, a then 25-year-old woman who was denied desperately needed facial surgery at the eleventh hour by the Christchurch DHB.  The reason given was there was no funding available.  Brittany had had her jaw and skull base removed, along with a life-threatening tumour, in 2006.  A family friend set up a Give-a-little page which raised over $280 thousand dollars.  Fast forward to now, nearly two years later and Brittany is still waiting for her life-changing surgery.  Brittany's mum, Dawn Kremers, joins Kerre Woodham to chat about the situation.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.