Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

In the wake of news that a whole raft of cost-of-living subsidies and temporary tax cuts are set to end tomorrow, along with all the other news headlines, I had to Google reasons to be optimistic this morning. We've got the end of the fuel tax discount and the subsidy for road user charges for diesel vehicles coming to an end. Half-price public transport fares will stop for most as well. Children under 13 remain free, as do half price fares for community card holders and people under 25. But for most people, especially those who rely on public transport to get to work, fares are going to go up and fuel is going to go up. Budget advisers say the additional increase in spending on fuel and transport is going to put people doing it tough right now under even more pressure, further into hardship. They say that about 10 to 15 percent of the weekly income is spent on petrol and transportation - for those who need budget help and budget advice, this is just going to make it even tougher for them.     How long do you think the tough times are going to last? Economists say about 18 months. Are you going to be able to weather the tough times and for some of you are you looking at the news headlines and thinking well that doesn't apply to me, things are fine here.   We're noticing it in our household. We've three working adults who have all got jobs. We're certainly not on the bread line, but if we're noticing it, I shudder to think what it's like in some households.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yesterday I touched briefly on the fact that yet another study has come out showing that alcohol is considered one of the most harmful drugs and numerous studies around the world, the latest from New Zealand, show the level of harm it does to others, as well as the level of harm it does to users. And of course more people use alcohol than they do meth, so obviously more people are going to be affected. But when you look at just a sample of drunk driving stories - this is a handful.   A 19-year-old woman's drink driving breath test was very high. Police said at the time of her arrest, another motorist had followed her when she became concerned by her driving and when the car stopped, the motorist removed the key. The woman was fined $800, sentenced to six-month supervision, disqualified from driving for 28 days, after which she must have an alcohol interlock device fitted.   A man who police described as one of the worst recidivist drink drivers in Whangārei has been sent to jail for his 13th drink driving conviction. Shailendra Kumar Deo was so drunk behind the wheel on two occasions within two days of each other that members of the public had to pull him over and call police. The court heard how he was so incapacitated that on both occasions he was unable to complete breath testing procedures.   A third story. A recidivist drink driver who killed a woman while once again driving under the influence initially blamed the fatal crash on a rabbit running onto the road. The judge said there was only one reason why a person was killed and that was because Holley Levorsen-Persson got behind the wheel while drunk. She was sentenced to 11 months home detention for drink driving, killing a person and driving while disqualified. So is this a health issue - an addiction issue? Should we be focusing more on the addiction centres, the rehab centres? If you've got people who are being sentenced for drunk driving appearing on the 8th, 9th and 11th, 13th charge - then that says that's a much bigger problem than just drink driving, surely. But people need to be safe from these recidivist drink drivers.   It would be fine if the only people they killed were themselves – but once they stick that key in the ignition, they're making a choice to drive. But it's not only them that they kill. They kill innocents on the road as well. Is it a failure in policing issue? Certainly Naila Hassan, who spoke to Mike Hosking this morning, from the police, inferred that if police were dealing with so many mental health issues and family harm issues, then perhaps they'd have a better chance of meeting their target. But again, a lot of the mental health issues are around alcohol. A lot of the family harm issues have alcohol in them as well. Are we doing this wrong? I mean, according to the AA and according to a crash investigator the checkpoints work. The police had a target of 3 million drivers being breath tested for a reason. Because they too believe it works. They haven't met that target because they're doing the job of social workers and mental health workers. So is it more police? Is it trying to get the focus back onto road policing? Getting those checkpoints up, keep making them visible? Or is it a health issue that we should be dealing with?   Either way – it’s unacceptable. 111 drunk driving deaths in 2022. I don't know how many of them were innocents and how many got what they quite frankly deserved, but I'd love to hear from you.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

20 different councils who have joined New Plymouth District Council calling for more central funding for the repair and maintenance of the roads. New Plymouth District Mayor Neil Holdom joined Kerre Woodham to discuss the proposal. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There used to be ivory towers of academic learning, elitist, only a few could enter. Now they’re businesses that live or die based on the number of bums they can get on lecture hall seats - and yet they still seem to be lost in the past and unable to forge away into the future. Universities around the country are facing the reality of having to lay off staff and cut classes. It's the loss of international students that's made a big dent in university revenue, with student numbers yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, despite the border reopening last year. Young Kiwis are also opting not to go to university; jobs are readily available. They don't want to run up a huge student debt. Some of them see a university degree as irrelevant - by the time they've got the degree, the learning will be out of date. And so AUT, Victoria and Otago universities have announced staff layoffs at each of their campuses - more than 200 at each of the universities. And the Government is poised to announce a rescue package for the tertiary education sector. I wonder if that is just good money after bad?   Are universities what they used to be as a young person growing up? It was aspirational to think of going to university. I did my journalism degree. It was only one year at the Polytech, but I always in the back of my mind, wanted a degree. I didn't feel fully educated until I had one. I wonder if universities hold the same cachet today for young learners. There was much talk from Helen Clark of the Knowledge Economy. More New Zealanders, more young New Zealanders, becoming more educated. But again, I wonder if the universities have delivered?   If one in three students fails to finish their degree, who are they delivering to? Clearly, young people decide university is not for them and they are left with the student loan that still has to be paid off and nothing to show for it. Universities themselves can't seem to attract enough people to fund themselves. So what is the taxpayer getting out of it? Do we have to rethink the whole university model, instead of coming up with rescue packages that are just going to prop up a system that seems to be failing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Senior journalist Dileepa Fonseka has written a piece in BusinessDesk . It addresses the lack of junior doctors in our healthcare system and the fact we are not recruiting the graduate international student doctors. They are not being hired by Te Whata Ora, and if they are, the process is long and involved and they are bottom of the list. Dileepa Fonseka joined Kerre Woodham from China. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, the National Party delegates and the party faithful didn't have a weekend off. This was their party conference weekend, so it was all guns blazing as the faithful gathered together to hear how New Zealand would look under a National government,  and more specifically, how National was going to get them the votes that would enable them to form a government. They didn't really introduce anything new and experimental. The party stuck to its greatest hits, fixing the economy, pointing out Labour's out of control spending and the big one, law and order. The policies announced were largely around law and order, among them imposing a new 40% limit on the amount by which a judge can reduce a sentence. A victim's advocate is welcoming Nationals plan.  Ruth Money says while a judge's discretion is important, some discounts had got way out of control and did not give justice to victims. And I absolutely agree that victims need to feel that they have received justice, not just that they have sat there and witnessed the law being administered. But often the perpetrators background does make a difference. It's not an excuse, but it is an explanation. And that's why I support the fact Nationals basing its law and order policy on two pillars - punishment and rehabilitation. Ruth Money herself said the same and she's the victim's advocate. It's important that prisoners on remand can access rehabilitation, as currently nearly 1/4 of them spend their entire sentence on remand, during which time they're unable to access even the most basic of services. There's absolutely no doubt that Labour has reduced the numbers of people in prison. The prison population has fallen by 20%. And they're saying it's going to be really expensive to put more people back in prison. But the cost of crime on society is expensive. I mean, just look at the numbers of security guards having to be employed by just about every retail store. And criminals have to be punished, otherwise we lose faith in the justice system, and we lose faith in our authorities, and we lose faith in each other. If you do wrong, you have to be seen to be being punished. But at the same time, criminals must be rehabilitated as best they can be. Otherwise, it's just an expensive money-go-round and a complete and utter waste of human potential.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Basically, I'm going to let Nicola Willis do the opener for me this morning. After the discussion we had earlier this week about the absolutely callous disregard with which local and central government treat our money, how timely was this report from the Auditor General's office? They were charged with deciding whether the $640 million spent on projects during Covid, left over from the Provincial Growth fund, whether that was money well spent. Fair question. Money was allocated. Was it well spent? Auditor General's office can't tell us. “We have no position on whether the PGF does or does not represent good value for money. At the moment, we can't see how it's tracking.” Funding was approved for several projects, including in the rail ports, construction, renovation and workforce training sectors but there was little to no evidence of record keeping or note taking.   It’s just the way they cannot account for where any of it goes! If I was paying that wack of taxes, as I have been for most of my working life, and knew it was going to pay nurses more, improve resources for schools, that it was going to create an infrastructure that would see New Zealand into the future – fine! Even some of these half-asked Mickey Mouse policies that Labour has come up with, if they were working OK, fine. But there is no evidence there is there is. No evidence of where half of the money they've spent has gone. And that is not money from a money tree. That is money that you and I have gone out and earned. Some of you have to get up and the early hours of the morning and work through the day. Some have to get up in the middle of the night, some have to go out in weather like this. And the Government takes that money and doesn't give a damn about how you've earned it. About how hard you've had to work. Because we are, we’re just warm ATMs. I am so sick and tired of it and it just doesn't seem to stop.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Political journalists and commentators have been having an absolute field day over the past 18 hours dissecting the downfall of former Transport Minister and Minister for Auckland, Michael Wood. Wood had been on notice since it was revealed he had failed to sell his shares in Auckland Airport, a clear conflict of interest for a Transport Minister. But he resigned yesterday as a minister after it emerged he held thousands of dollars’ worth of additional shares in a trust, some of which raised potential conflicts of interest with decisions that went before him as a minister and cabinet as a whole. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins indicated he would have sacked Wood if Wood had not offered to resign. He looked clearly frustrated and exasperated at the press conference yesterday. The additional shareholders were held in a family trust, of which he is both a trustee and a beneficiary. The trust holds thousands of dollars of shares in particular a stake in Chorus, Spark and the National Australia Bank - and having those shares raised questions around potential conflicts.   You've got a Prime Minister who's lost three ministers in three months, which is incredibly careless to lose three ministers in three months. Will it even matter? Will people see it as a Prime Minister losing control of his cabinet or a Prime Minister getting rid of all the dead wood, so to speak, that his predecessor didn't have the nous or the inclination to manage? I mean, we've known for a while that there is not a great talent pool within that enormous Labour caucus. There aren't many shining stars and those who are shine brightly. So is this Hipkins paying attention to detail and getting his ministers to be accountable for their actions? Or is it a minister losing control of his cabinet? He looked frustrated and annoyed. He's heading off to China. He doesn't want any more surprises like Meka Whaitiri when he's offshore. And can anybody explain the inaction of Michael Wood? Sixteen times he was told to sell his shares. Sixteen times he failed to do so. I'm not a great details person and I've paid dearly because I'm a not a details person, but I tell you what, if my boss said to me, ‘Kerre sell your shares or lose your job’. I'd sell my shares.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a perception that a generation of New Zealand homebuyers are greedy, acquisitive and are locking young Kiwis out of the property market. Why buy another house when you already have one? Some economists have urged New Zealanders to put any savings into the share market so that local businesses can grow, but if you look back at this country's economic history; you can perhaps understand why older New Zealanders want their money to be as safe as houses. We've had the Bank of New Zealand teeter on the precipice twice. The first episode occurred in the late 80s and early 90s, after a rural land boom based on credit in the 1870s. The second time the Bank of New Zealand needed bailing out occurred in the late 1980s as a result of another credit driven asset price boom and bust cycle, following financial deregulation. That was when the real damage was done in the 80s. Specifically, the ‘87 stock market crash that affected all share markets around the world, but none more so than New Zealand's. Most of the share markets around the world recovered quite quickly, but by the end of February ‘88, New Zealand's market had fallen almost 60 percent from its peak. And on a capital index basis, without factoring in dividends, the local Stock Exchange has never ever gone past the ‘87 peak. The economy went into recession in 1988 and a generation of investors, the baby boomers, turned away from capital markets and put their savings into property and property focused finance companies. Then the finance companies went belly up. And in recent years, interest rates have been minimal. Great news for mortgage holders, not so good for people with money on term deposit. So little wonder so many Kiwis put any spare cash they had into houses and perhaps a reason - this is a long way of getting to the point of the Commerce Commission’s investigation - perhaps a reason not to beat up on our banks. Yes, they make huge profits. No, we don't like our mortgages doubling and swallowing a good proportion of our income. But as New Zealand Banking Association CEO Roger Beaumont says, it's in everyone's best interests for banks to be successful. The Government announced a Commerce Commission market study into the banks yesterday and there's been no real reason why, other than we don't like high mortgage rates. And really, historically, they're not that high. It's just that they have been historically low in recent years and now they're not. Both Labour and National and the Greens, of course see some political capital in lining up to bash the banks, pointing to the profits, pointing to the high cost of living and saying it's not fair that so many New Zealanders are doing it tough. Seeing their mortgages double while the banks are making huge profits. So, no real reason given. There are 16 retail banks, there is competition. You can swap between them. We're in recession and the price of money is more expensive than it used to be, so you can see how it happens.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My Tuesday morning started quite well. It's not raining. Sun’s out, nice drive into the city. And then I got to work and read the story from Wellington about the brakes being hit on the Wellington speed reduction plan, after a councillor spotted that the cost-benefit-analysis had been overstated by $250 million. So they've gone back to the drawing board.  The whopping error means that papers that were sent out for public consultation are worth little more than toilet paper, consultation will be halted and it's back to square one for a new speed management plan.   So the time and money wasted on this is indicative of so many, many stuff-ups, abandoned plans and utter incompetence at a public service level. I mean, this is relatively minor in terms of the cost, but there is still a cost involved, in terms of the time and the money spent on drawing up this plan and based on completely fabricated numbers. Here's another example, this one from Auckland. Auckland Transport spent months in West Lynn shopping village digging up Richmond Rd. Realigning the footpaths, car parks and pedestrian crossings, moving the bus stops, removing car parks, adding a dedicated cycle lane on both sides of the street and was it a bucolic cyclist paradise? No, it wasn't. In a shocking twist, some of the shops flooded every time it rained because they built them with slopes from the road down to the shop doors. I'm no civil engineer, but even I know that water runs downhill. So there were sandbags all along the shops. The cycle lanes are unsatisfactory and unsafe. The sighting of the new bus stops was highly controversial and it's questionable how much traffic has been calmed.   My lovely morning turned to custard really when I started a cursory search of money wasted. When most of us are having to tighten our belts as the cost of living bites. When it's harder to do business, it's harder to make money for people who actually do stuff, make stuff, sell stuff, people who generate an income. We then give it to the Council and the Government, and what do they do with it? They squander it irresponsibly and I want people to be accountable for that. I want people to own up, say where they got it wrong, say how they've fixed it, say that it won't happen again -  because it's been happening time and time and time again.   And in the same way, all that money that you and I are working hard to make, we’re trying to hold on to as much as possible so we can pay the mortgage and we can buy the groceries and we can fill the car, and we can pay our taxes and pay our rates. They have no respect for us or for the work that's required to generate that sort of money. They see it as some public purse that they can dip into, make myself a bit of a stuff up there, without any accountability - and it has to stop.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.