Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

First up, and this is something that I know is near and dear to all our hearts: ACT has vowed to crack down on the public services. As they pointed out yesterday, Government spending has grown from $80.6 billion a year in 2017 to $137 billion in 2023. New Zealanders, including Labour voters, according to ACT’s polling, believe that public services are far worse now than they were a few years ago, and I think we’d agree with that, wouldn't we? ACT says there's a growing disconnect between what the Government considers priorities and good performance, and the quality of services the public experiences. So, looking at the expensive and poorly thought out pet projects like restructuring the health or polytech systems, or the light rail, they are treated as goals in and of themselves. Ministers are so focused on getting their pet projects through that they lose sight of whether it's actually going to improve New Zealander’s lives. And ACT says that the problem is that performance reporting of public services is haphazard. Measures can be cherry picked. Results can be reported in a way that isn't coherent, and it's difficult or nigh impossible to track trends over time.  So you don't know whether a policy or a plan is delivering because they don't track it. And we've seen that.  I've had interviews with public officials on this show who haven't had a clue how to measure the success of a policy that is costing you and I millions and millions of dollars a day.   So really at first reading, doesn't this make sense?  We've been demanding to know the results of so many of the ideologically driven projects that Labour has put in and they can't tell us. But for those who do work in business or have worked in the public sector, can a Government department, should a Government department be run like a widget factory? Is it even possible to do so? There are so many competing priorities for our tax dollars right now, and over the next few years, that we simply cannot afford to throw good money after bad. I want to know if these projects are working. If they're not, we get rid of them, we try something else. But are there any pitfalls in requiring the public service to perform professionally. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The FIFA Women's World Cup has been an absolute feast of sport, culminating in Spain winning its first ever Women's World Cup, last night in Sydney. It was a triumph for not just 'women's sport’ but sport in general. Almost 2 million people attended 64 matches across nine host cities. In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised $200 million to improve sporting facilities and equipment specifically for women and girls, following the history-making performance of the Matildas. How will the World Cup's success translate here in New Zealand? Kerre Woodham was joined by Group Chief Executive of Sport New Zealand, Raelene Castle, to discuss what the impact may be. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's making it compulsory for every school in the country to teach reading, writing, and maths the same way. Education Minister Jan Tinetti said it's not always clear how core areas should be taught - and this will set out a clear mandate. This follow's yesterday's announcement that if elected, financial skills would become a core part of the school curriculum. The Party's promising to make teaching financial literacy compulsory from 2025. Minister of Education Jan Tinetti joined Kerre Woodham to discuss the proposals. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What the Dickens is this Government doing? They take away GST on fruit and veg with one hand, in a blatant vote buying grab, then they slap on 12 cents to the fuel tax with the other hand. Admittedly, over a period of years, but they seem to have absolutely no idea what they're doing. Having demanded that we all jump on our unicycles and use cycleways over the past six years, having halved the cost of public transport so that we fall in love with sitting, sweaty cheek by unshaved jowl with one another on the buses. After having sneered at anyone who has the temerity to suggest that actually be quite nice to drive your car from point A to point B now, with an election approaching, they've fallen in love with roads.   $20 billion worth of love in fact.  Road improvement up the ying-yang. You've got a road, they'll improve it.   I just don't understand how the Government can say, oh, cost of living crisis, here, let's take GST off fruit and veg. And by the way, we're going to add 12 cents to fuel tax. How is that supposed to help the poorest and those who need assistance more most? There have got to be other ways of doing it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yesterday the jury in the Lauren Dickason trial reached its verdict. They'd been deliberating since early afternoon on Monday, and they reached a majority verdict, which is a verdict agreed to by all, except one juror and can only occur if the foreperson states an open court there is no probability of the jury reaching a unanimous verdict. It’s a case that really did shock the country, I think. I don't think that's an overstatement. Dickason never denied killing her children. 6 year old Liane, 2 year old twins Maya and Karla, in September 2021. But she pleaded not guilty to murder, claiming she was suffering such severe mental distress that she could not be held criminally responsible for her actions.   I really feel for the jury in this trial. It must have been gruelling sitting there listening day in, day out to the details of such a dreadful case and the judge made mention of that when he discharged them. There's talk of an appeal, but as it stands, Dickason will face a life sentence for the murder of each child. There are so many questions and issues that arise from this case, that are greater than this case as well. First of all, Dickerson is not remanded in custody in prison. Instead, she's under a compulsory treatment order at Hillmorton Hospital, where she has been since the days after the murders.   The judge who presided over the case, Justice Mander, is seeking expert reports on her mental state and to help him decide what sentence would be appropriate for her.   Should the case have been heard in front of a judge alone, given the expert testimony upon which both the Crown and defence relied so heavily, both diametrically opposed to one another too? Are our laws still fit for purpose? Chris Gallivan in the interview with Mike this morning says our laws are a dog's breakfast around murder. Should we have degrees of murder? To understand that not all murders are committed with the same forethought with the same set of circumstances. And then, the question of how anyone can be allowed to endure 17 rounds of IVF?  I know of women who've undergone two rounds and found it physically and psychologically gruelling.   Do we need to have a rethink about how we select jurors? Do we have a panel of professional jurors? This is something that's been talked about before, too, as have degrees of murder. So many questions after this case has come to an end, if indeed it has, there may well be an appeal, because that's certainly what the defence lawyers indicated.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Costs and delivery of Ka Ora, Ka Ako, the healthy school lunches programme, have been much discussed in recent weeks. Kate McNamara wrote a piece New Zealand Herald about the value for money of the school lunches programme. The cost of free school lunches is up to $325 million a year and best estimates are that we’re feeding fewer than half the hungry school children in New Zealand. Co-Chair of Health Coalition Aotearoa Professor Boyd Swinburn wanted a chance to put his assessment of the programme to us and joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government has formally replaced the old Resource Management Act, with the passing of the Natural and Built Environment Bill and Spatial Planning Bill. It's hoped costs will be lowered and approval times reduced - with the new rules phased in region by region. Also, the amendments to the Government's Three Waters bill passed its third reading in House last night. National has promised to repeal Labour’s RMA replacement bills by Christmas 2023 if elected, and both ACT and National have promised to repeal Three Waters. National’s RMA Reform and Urban Development spokesperson Chris Bishop joined Kerre Woodham to discuss the developments. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The cost of school lunches is $325 million a year. Is it value for money?  Anecdotally, some schools say yes, absolutely.  They have seen levels of concentration improve, they have seen children able to settle into their class, that they are happier, that they are healthier. That's anecdotally.  Treasury, who have crunched the numbers, says no, $325 million a year is not value for money. A report into the lunches in schools scheme, which launched four years ago, shows there's been no impact on school attendance - that's what I was really hoping for. For Māori learners there has not been better levels of concentration in class. Anecdotally, we might have heard that some teachers have seen improvements, but we've also heard anecdotally of teachers taking lunches home so they don't go to waste. We’ve heard of lunches being donated to food banks and at least one pig farmer in the Waikato, building up a glossy, plump drift of pigs thanks to the drums of discarded school lunches that would otherwise have gone to the tip. I am all for feeding hungry children. Every single time the six-year-old in my house says I'm hungry and I can feed him, I do not take it for granted, nor do his parents.   They need food for their brains and their muscles to grow and if they're not getting it at home, all for them getting it at school. But when we’re spending $325 million a year just so some kids don't feel whakamā or shame, so that a farmer's pigs can grow healthy, and we get the best bacon ever - there's got to be a better way of doing this. There really does.  Jan Tinetti is quite wrong when she says any money spent on children is money well spent. Quite clearly, quod erat demonstrandum, it is not.  NOTE: This article has been updated to revise a statement suggesting the cost for the school lunch program was half of Pharmac’s budget.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So the announcement that all Covid-19 requirements have finally been removed by the Government brought me no particular joy.   For me, the beginning of the end was when the lockdown in Auckland was finally lifted after months. Following increasingly absurd and farcical and unenforceable rules, in what seemed to be a Government bid to force the refuseniks to get vaccinated to reach an arbitrary target, set from memory, by the New Zealand Herald. I knew people who were never, ever, ever going to be vaccinated. They and their children had never had any contact with the public health system, with welfare officers, with any government agency. They took no dull or sickness benefit, they lived off the grid and they didn't ask for anything from the Government other than to be left alone. We could still be in lockdown and they wouldn't be vaccinated. Then there were others of the school of Novak Djokovic. The sort of people who calibrate in the most forensic detail what goes into their body. The questions they had about the vaccine weren't being answered by authorities. Then there were the absolute tits who were quite happy to pump in the Botox, the fillers, and the class A drugs. But yeah, nah, it's not really for me. You just don't know it's unproven. And then you get right into the Woo Woo territory where people think the vaccine introduces a chip or a bar code into the person being vaccinated and becomes a foot soldier for the army. So that was then. This is now. No more seven day mandatory isolation. No wearing of face masks for visitors to health facilities, although what I have taken from that mad and ridiculous time was ‘If you have a cold. If you have the flu, if you are unwell, stay away. If you must go out and get supplies wear a face mask.’See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All feels a bit ground hoggy day, doesn't it? Nicola Willis, the deputy leader of the National Party, broke the news that Labour would be removing GST off fruit and veg weeks ago and we discussed it then. Anyone who knows anything about tax, and that includes our very own Minister of Finance, has thought it's a silly idea. And that if the aim is to make life a bit easier for those families who are struggling, there are way better and more effective ways of doing that. But that was before Labour started dropping in the polls, sinking like a stone. And Chris Hipkins wants to win this election. Doesn't matter if he has to join forces with the Greens, Te Pati Maori and Uncle Tom Cobbley and all. Doesn't matter if a policy has been discussed and then dismissed because it's not workable, and it's an effective. Let's bring it back. Even if only a couple of months ago the Finance Minister was ruling out removing GST on fruit and veg.   That was Grant Robinson only a few months ago and he said this morning on the Mike Hosking Breakfast that three factors have since changed his mind. Happy to be supporting the policy, my big toe. He's swallowing rats and that's exactly what's happening because they want to win the election and you know, that's their job. You're a politician. You want to be in power. And you want to be the one creating policy because you think you've got all the ideas. Do we want to remove GST from fruit and veg? Hell yes. But it's exactly the sort of policies that Labour's been producing over the past six years. Feel good, sound good stuff, when they can't actually deliver anything, and it hasn't made a blind bit of difference and bettering the lives of New Zealanders.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.