Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Yesterday we learned that a young driver, jailed for killing five of his teenage mates in a horror car crash near Timaru, has been released from prison.   You will remember this story. Parent or not, this is this tragic story that hit a nerve with all of us. It was just such a sad waste of young lives, families destroyed, and a community torn apart. Just a horrible, horrible story.   The young driver, the only survivor of the crash, pleaded guilty to five charges of dangerous driving causing death. He was jailed for two years and six months. He was 19 years old at the time of the crash. He had been drinking alcohol and had obtained a restricted licence just three days earlier, and one of the victims was in the boot of the car.   At the time, the families of the five teenagers aged between 15 and 16, they were pleased to see the driver jailed, but felt 2 1/2 years was not long enough. The sentence, which took place in June 2022, considered the aggravating factors of the case, but discounts were also taken into consideration. 25% discount for the early guilty plea, 15% for youth, 10% for remorse and 5% for good character. You can understand how the family felt 2 1/2 years was not long enough.   Last month, the Parole board heard that there was no further treatment available to this young man in prison. He was assessed as low risk of reoffending. He had a good release plan in place and showed remorse apparently, as this was second time round that he'd been through the parole system and so has been released on parole. And it was no surprise that last night one of the fathers of the deceased said it was a system about the living, not about the dead.   The sentencing of this young man and his release is not going to have any impact on the outcome and that is that those young boys are never coming back. But those victims need to be considered, their families need to be considered, and only those in a situation such as this, who have lived through a tragic situation like this, can tell us the impact of the sentence and the parole on them. It won't take away the pain, but I'm sure it goes some way to offering some comfort.   Obviously, we will all be thinking about the role of discounting and sentencing in general and the parole system. If discounting can play a part, then surely parole should not be an option until a longer length of the sentence has been fulfilled. The restrictions on this young driver, they're good. He's not out living a free life. The consequences of his actions will still weigh on him. In place until the end of 2024, he is subject to a curfew from 9:00 PM to 6:00 AM daily. He will have electronic monitoring in order to monitor this. And once this curfew expires, he must reside at an address approved in writing by a probation officer.  Until December 2024 he's banned from entering the Timaru or Temuka districts and the eastern suburbs of Christchurch without permission. He must not possess, use or consume alcohol or controlled drugs. He's got to attend alcohol and drug and psychological assessments. He cannot have any contact or associate with any victim, and he cannot drive. He cannot be in the possession of, or have an interest in, a motor vehicle, so they have put quite a lot of restrictions on him.   So, being out of prison in the community, being monitored like this, under these restrictions, is it possibly a better way to rehabilitate this young person to make sure he goes on to be a good man? Or maybe like one of the parents said, honours her son and the other boys by being the person that makes change, that teaches people about the dangers of drunk driving.   Then maybe the system, even if it does work in favour of the living is a good way forward. Or does releasing this young man just a year into his sentence, pretty much make a mockery of the system. I believe it probably does. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Goodness me, the National government elect haven't hasn't even parked its buns around the cabinet table yet and some gang leaders are already having a wah about the proposed legislation around gangs and gang membership.   Waikato mongrel Mob Kingdom leader, often in the news, Sonny Fatupaito said the new National government will be devastating to gangs. Well, yes, Sonny, I think you'll find that one of the reasons why Labour was roundly rejected at the polls last Saturday, and one of the reasons why half the electorate went right was precisely because National has measures in place to tackle the gangs.   National has warned repeatedly in the election campaign that if you choose to remain in gangs peddling drugs and misery in our communities, life will be a lot more difficult under a National-led government.   Mark Mitchell, National’s Police minister-in-waiting offered an olive branch too. At the same time he was warning, he said there is a simple solution - leave the gangs at once. National will work with and support any gang members, especially those with families, who wish to leave and rejoin society. The door is open to the prodigal sons. People I was talking with this week and you may have heard them, who live in previously solid Labour electorates, said yes, the lockdown contributed to their swing to the right, but it was also the flagrant and blatant criminal activity, especially in Auckland that swayed them right.    Here's just some news stories:   Open gang warfare and brazen shootings in Auckland saw recorded gun crime spike during a single month in the city, with an average of more than three per day. There were 109 gun crimes in May, according to figures supplied by the police under the Official Information Act. The reduction, because it had just started to drop off, is thanks in part to an uneasy truce prevailing between two formerly allied gangs who locked horns in an explosion of public conflict that contributed to the downfall of a police minister.   Another story, drive-by shootings more than doubled at the height of inter-gang conflict between the Tribesmen and Killer Beez last year. An official Intelligence Report found gang members got the target house wrong several times, putting civilians in the firing line. The Gang Intelligence Centre found there were thirty reported drive-by shootings of individuals, vehicles or properties, up 17 more than the previous quarter. There were 30 during quarter two of 2022. Of those shootings, there were multiple instances where mistaken addresses, housing people who were not gang members were targeted. Which shows that the Gang Intelligence Centre might need to rename itself, because not a lot of intelligence shown by the gangs if they can't get the right house.   Another comment from people in West Auckland. People were saying they're getting fed up with the ram raids, the shootings, it feels lawless. We know it's not just in West Auckland, it just shows you how widespread gangs are and that is what is scary for people. Another one - a brother of a man killed in a double shooting in South Auckland believes he died as a result of gang activity gone wrong.  'Hame' Tu'uheava, aged 28, was found dead next to a seriously injured wife, Mele, who's 25, in Mangere. They leave an 8-year-old son.   I could go on and on and on. I restricted the search to this year and last year. So many stories.   I know that gangs will always be around. There are people who will be drawn to the gang lifestyle. There are people who have been in gangs and will be gangs forever. It's multi-generational. But for the love of all that is holy, let's not make it easy for them to do criminal business.   If you want to have a job, and many do, and belong to a gang and not commit crime - fill your boots! But if you are engaging in criminal activity, and many are, at least have the community put up a token show of protest. You should have to earn a seat at the table, not be given one by a government focused on policing by consent. Fair enough, they tried a different way of policing. You know, it might have worked. It didn't. The gangs saw the conciliatory measures by authorities as weaknesses and exploited them.   Enough.   Again, I know not all gang members are criminals. Just as not all people who vote for right leaning parties are racist, anti-gay, anti-trans, filthy rich swine out to suck the marrow out of the downtrodden and the dispossessed. They're just people who are fed up.   We've all become crude reductionists in the way we stereotype anyone who doesn't share our point of view. There needs to be a bit of nuance, I get that. But the resources that have been sucked up while gangs play out their petty macho rivalries and protect their highly worthwhile patches and by patches, I mean the patches where they do business, has been immense. The hospital resources, the police resources, the amount of lost productivity while roads are closed off and diverted. While they play out their… I don't know what kind of movie they're playing in their mind.   It would be nice, for a while, if people could go about their business without the criminal element within gangs interfering in their day-to-day life. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apparently we've been doing ops in our hospital theatres on the weekends now for more than twenty years.   Who knew?   Probably the doctors, nurses, and technicians performing the operations did, and the people had their bits and pieces snipped and stitched probably did, but I didn't know until I heard the President of General Surgeons talking to Mike this morning.   In times of surge, apparently, weekend theatres are cranked up in a bid to reduce the number of people on waiting lists. And it seems like a good idea, and it is, but it's jolly expensive because that's overtime being paid. But ultimately when you look at the numbers of people who could be working, that can't because they can't get a relatively simple operation, it makes monetary sense, and that's without taking into account the alleviation of human suffering.   Operations might be quite simple in a surgical sense, but they can cause people a lifetime of suffering and absolutely limit their horizons, limit their lives, and limit their ability to get any sort of enjoyment of life, while they're waiting for what is a relatively simple operation.   Of course, the real push point is the staff. Weekend theatres are only possible if staff can manage their workload. And our health care staff have had to deal with all the restrictions put around health care during the Covid pandemic. The toll of being sick themselves and having to cover for their friends and colleagues, who then become sick in their turn, and round and round it goes, and the sheer grind of trying to do the best job they can while politicians and management and yes, I accept the media, continue to get in the way.   Chief Executive of Te Whatu Ora, Margie Apa, has issued a directive to hospitals that no person should be waiting more than a year for surgery by the end of 2023, which is a nice, neat target. We all understand a year, we get that, we can all work towards that. But what is the cost of this in terms of the strain on staff and resources?   The departing former health Minister Andrew Little didn't put nurses on the priority list for migration when the borders finally creaked and inched open. I think he told me - I think he came on and got a bit grumpy and said look for even sake we know what we're doing, the nurses want to come. Well, they haven't arrived. You know, they may well be coming, but it's been an awfully long time that our existing nurses, technicians and doctors have been carrying the load and there's only so long a human body can go on and surely people working with bodies should understand that better than anybody else.   The cost in terms of getting that public wait list down, I'd really love to know what impact that's having on staff right now? How many days are you working? What is needed to realistically get waiting lists under control? More technicians? More nurses, more doctors? Fewer of us getting sick, I suppose.   There are some things that can't be avoided but many, many, many people in our health system are there with surgeries that could be avoided with changes in lifestyle before they even get to the hospital. So I think that's a really important area of health that we need to focus on. Looking at yourself Kerre, needing to get the steps up. Yes, looking at myself.  Under a publicly funded health system what do you think is a realistic wait time? Is a year reasonable in your mind? If you're going to be getting an operation that would cost you tens of thousands of dollars if you had to pay for it privately. Is a year a realistic wait time for, say, a hernia operation or a gallbladder removal or getting your fibroids removed. What do you think is acceptable?   In an ideal world, I would love to see a health system where the focus was on not getting into hospital, just as much as we have a focus on our hospitals right now. I would absolutely love to see people given the resources, staff put into educating people about the best possible way to avoid getting many of the diseases and the health complications that see them end up in a hospital needing surgery.   So very much like to hear from you on this one. How much overtime do you want to do? How much time is it safe to do? How tapped out are you and how long do you think is reasonable to wait for an operation that would cost tens of thousands in the private system? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Inflation has defied many expectations by falling in the third quarter.   Figures show it rose 5.6% in the year to September, a drop from 6.0% in the year to June.  The Reserve Bank had predicted it would be six%, and many economists picked between 6.1-and-6.2%.   Herald Business Editor at Large, Liam Dann, told Kerre Woodham that it shows the Reserve Bank is making the right moves.   He says monetary policy is obviously working and getting people to put their wallets away.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Council of Trade Unions is hoping the new Government will be more responsive to their needs.  The CTU want to see the new government's plans for infrastructure, solving child poverty, and post-cyclone recovery.  They believe the loss of fair pay agreements will impact many industries, such as those working in hospitality.  Council of Trade Unions President Richard Wagstaff told Kerre Woodham that individual workers are vulnerable.  He said that it’s not easy for them to stand up to their employers if they feel they aren’t being paid fairly.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the lead up to the election, National was clear that they would be rolling back a number of policies that Labour introduced, including fair pay agreements.  Business NZ has called for the fair pay agreement to be scrapped sooner rather than later, and they would also like to see 90-day trials reintroduced, and a commitment to a long-term programme of infrastructure.  Business NZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope joined Kerre Woodham to discuss the proposals.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The weekend. Discuss.   No there's more than that isn’t there? What a weekend. I owe my texter Muz from Hawkes Bay a bottle of Pinot of his choice. He said that it would be a walkover, that it would be absolutely obvious that National would do well and that they would have partners to support them.   I thought the election would be a bit closer, a bit tighter. But ultimately, although it wasn't a complete rejection of the left, it was an absolute decimation of Labour. Not as bad as 2014, but jolly close, and with ramifications for years to come.   Those on the left who couldn't bring themselves to vote right went to the Greens. Some to TOP (TOP got the same amount of party vote as Te Pati Maori) but of course, they didn't get the electoral seat of Ilam, which they were hoping for. And Te Pati Maori did a fantastic job taking the Maori seats from Labour. The Greens did very well too, holding on to Auckland Central and winning Wellington Central, so it wasn't a complete rejection of the left.    What it was was a rejection of Labour. Labour wasn't Labour enough for those on the left. And they were utterly hopeless for those in the middle. National did better than expected. ACT and NZ First were about what everyone was predicting in the final week of the election. I flicked around the media a bit before settling on Newstalk ZB’s coverage for the night. And I found it really entertaining. Thank you, team. I don't think I'm biased, (probably biased) but I thought it was jolly good.   Chris Hipkins's speech was odd and sort of sums up why Labour lost, in my opinion. He talked about the many, many amazing things that Labour had done and how impressive they'd been in the face of so many odds. Oh, how magnificent they were, proving yet again that by spending so much time in Wellington he is completely out of touch with what people have been feeling for at least two years.   The best moment of the speech came with the mic drop of hey, I'd like to thank my new partner Toni. Everyone said “Toni? With an I? With a Y? Who's Toni? Where's Toni?” It was that bit that got my attention.   He doesn't seem to understand how Labour lost so badly. So, my recommendation, if he's remotely interested, for him to come to a come to Jesus moment and understand what happened, would be to sit himself quietly in a corner, away from sycophants and people who just think he's the bee's knees, open up the New Zealand Herald and read Simon Wilson's column. Because Simon Wilson, who is a left-leaning columnist, has had a road to Damascus moment in his column where he talks about Labour's ability to win the war. They were fit to win the war, but not for peace. A bit like Churchill's World War II Government.   Simon Wilson writes, it isn't Labour's fault that the fallout from the pandemic has been difficult to understand. People isolated from loved ones and hardship and grief, children traumatised, businesses collapsed and still collapsing. Anger and intolerance on the rise, the health system almost broken - the social trauma has been far deeper and more widespread than expected and it will roll on for a long time to come, he writes.   Yes, we know! Is this not what we've been talking about for the past couple of years? If Simon or Chris Hipkins or whoever had turned off Nat Rad, or Concert Radio for 10 minutes and tuned into ZB, they would have known this long before Saturday night. Simon Wilson goes on: Co-governance was always going to be opposed by racists, but Labour allowed a lot of other good-hearted people to feel estranged by it too. Yes, the messaging was so poor, their delivery of it was so poor, that as Simon Wilson says, people who would normally be quite moderate and quite tolerant were like, “What the Dickens?” And Simon's, like, wow, who knew?   We did. We knew. Simon Wilson goes on: build a light rail, okay, but make sure the existing bus networks are highly functional on existing roads. Reform education, of course, but get kids back into classrooms and do not wreck the universities or the technical institutes. And yes, reform the health system, but the priority has to be the front line.   Yes, Simon. We know. We've been saying this all along. Where were you? Where were you in the lead up to the election saying this? This is why people turned against Labour, because they could see all of this ineptitude. Not because they're racist, or anti trans, or venal money grubbing capitalists who want to squeeze more out of the oppressed working men or women.   Basically, it's because Labour were completely and utterly hopeless at delivering all the myriad promises they made to New Zealanders. And when it came down to it, they simply could not deliver what New Zealanders needed and wanted. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I had no desire to watch that debate last night.   What was the point? I'd interviewed both leaders within the past week. I'd had the ability, as had you, to hear their vision for the country over an hour (commercial hour of course, I know you grumble about the ads). What they thought they could do right, what they thought the others were doing wrong. Rather than spend an hour watching two tired men snipe away at each other, I would much rather have spent it with my family, reading books, playing board games, having great chat with a six-year-old and a four-year-old instead of hearing recycled tropes from both sides.   But the boss had a face like a twisted sneaker when I told him I'd nearly missed the last debate due to technical difficulties, so as a dutiful employee I sat and watched terrestrial TV and it was every bit as awful as I thought it would be.   When you look at Chris Hipkins’ boyish face you forget that he can be a nasty piece of work. He's had to be. He was doing a lot of Jacinda Ardern's dirty work during the Covid response. The hard jobs, making decisions that had the most terrible implications for so many families. Dishing dirt on a journalist who was locked out of the country pregnant. He got shirty with her so out came the information that really he shouldn't have been leaking. He's not the sweet, wee boy from the Hutt who's found himself an accidental Prime Minister.   But you forget that until the comment last night. That comment about a National backbencher in the bed leg, I thought, was unforgivable. Christopher Luxon quite rightly pointed out Hipkins had lost five ministers, when Hipkins doubted Luxon's ability to control a coalition government.  He said you won't be able to manage ACT and NZ First.  Luxon said will you lost five ministers from your own Government, you can't even look after your own party. Hipkins snapped back that at least none of my MP's beat people up with a bed leg, referring to Sam Uffindell’s confession of being a bully at high school.   For the record, Uffindell says he doesn't remember ever bullying with a bed leg, but nonetheless. I know we can all say stupid things under pressure. I say them regularly. We can all say cruel things when trying to score points. I've done it and in one case I hurt a former friend badly, as a result, I've never taken part in a debate since. I think Hipkins should apologise. It was dirty, dirty pool and it reflected on him badly.  Christopher Luxon looked exhausted and a bit shell shocked at the level of hectoring coming his way. I also found it really interesting reading the blow-by-blow accounts of the debate on both Stuff and the Herald - they were supposed to report in real time what the leaders were saying. Only the Herald bothered to report the response from a woman invited to ask a question of the leaders.   Agnes Magele, from Auckland Action Against Poverty, wanted to know what both parties would do to protect and support beneficiaries. When Hipkins tried to say that Labour was the friend of the beneficiaries and had lifted children out of poverty, Agnes Magele interjected from the audience and said sorry, but in saying that Mr Prime Minister, Labour hasn't done anything to eliminate it at all.   The New Zealand Herald saw fit to report that, and I think it was a valid point coming from someone who would know. Stuff chose not to.  What, they didn't hear it? Selective reporting? What? What is the point of these debates other than looking for cheap headlines? Thank God I don't have to watch another one for the next three years, and even then, I wonder if they're not past their use by date. They're not debates. We don't hear the core points about policy.   It’s the Colosseum all over again with a couple of exhausted lions, snarling and tearing at each other and trying to draw blood.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

National Leader Christopher Luxon joined Kerre Woodham live in studio to take calls and answer questions from listeners. WATCH ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you listen to Labour's ads, and you can't really avoid them right now as we lead up to final days of the election. If you listen to Labour's ads, you'll be able to go in and make an appointment to get all that dental work you can't afford right now done, once the dentists open up at 7am next Monday. If Labour become the next Government.   Wrong.   Taxpayer-funded dental work is going to only going to be for the under 30s. It only kicks in at the next election in 2026, three years away, and it only covers the very basics. Those wisdom teeth and implants you'll still have to pay for.   If you listen to National’s ads, which you can't avoid and that lead up to the election, households all over the country will be showered with money when their tax bracket adjustment kicks in.   Well, no.   Most households won't get the $250 that's been the razzle dazzle figure of the campaign ads. Sure, there was an ‘up to’ $250 in there and ‘an average household’ in there, but people only really hear what they want to hear, don't they?   If you listen to Labour and you're on the Super, they'll tell you that Super will end should the Nat’s become the Government. Clear message - They win, you lose.   Wrong.   What National have said is that they'll gradually increase the age of eligibility to 67, with adjustments not beginning until 2044, 20 years after the legislation is passed. This change wouldn't affect anyone born before 1979. So if you're getting the pension now, whichever government gets in, you'll be getting it till you turn up your toes.   Oh, but if those Nat’s get in, say Labour, they're going to cut the winter energy payment, leaving frail old ladies shivering in the cold. These weren't ads, but this was expressed on Labour MP's Facebook pages. They're going to cut the winter energy payment. You're going to freeze to death.   Wrong again.   And in fact, National’s been roundly criticised for not doing away with the winter energy payment. The Taxpayers Union says it needs further targeting to go to those who actually need it, and this is exactly the kind of wasteful spending that National should be campaigning against. Instead, they're choosing to do what they think is popular. National will continue to fund the winter energy payment for all retirees, regardless of whether they need it or not.   So misinformation. National would have you believe that if Labour cobbles together a government, it'll be with the Greens, Te Pati Maori, and the gangs. And it won't, of course. I mean, Labour's given money to gang affiliated community programs, as indeed have National in the past. But you know, it’s an example of hyperbole - driving home the point that the Nat’s are going to get tough on gangs, Labours soft on gangs and they'll be part of the Government. Of course they won't be an official part of the Government. And yet there are people that believe it.   The misinformation and negative campaigning is part of modern life, I suppose, and part of the final days of election campaigning. But it is a bit dispiriting. You roll your eyes, and you think surely people know that that is not strictly true. You only have to go to any of the parties' websites and see their policies for yourself, it's really not difficult to find.   But people don't do it. They'd rather take the snackable bites that come through the media as advertising and believe them to be true. Even though mistrust in the media is huge, according to polls, doesn't matter, people will believe what they want to hear. If they perhaps are biased against Labour or biased against National, they will hear what they want to hear. They will stop all deductive reasoning and critical thinking.   If you still haven't voted yet, just have a long hard think about why are you going to vote? How you want the country to look? What direction you want it to go?  And don’t listen to the ads. Because that's all they are, they’re ads that are, at the very best, gussying up information to try and appeal to you. To try to frighten you into voting.   It's a bit of a shame, really, it it'd be better to go for the positives. This is what will happen. This is what we can do and to represent it truthfully. But I guess that is too much to hope for in 2023, Anyway, only three days to go. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.