Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Spark said this morning it has reached a deal with TVNZ, which “will become the home of the majority of Spark Sport content, subject to rights holder agreement, from July 1, 2023.” NZ Cricket public affairs manager Richard Boock told the Herald that domestic cricket will be free-to-air on TVNZ and free-to-stream on TVNZ+. The public broadcaster will not paywall any content. TVNZ will take over the production of domestic cricket, but that Spark will continue to pay NZ Cricket the rights fee over the remaining three years of its contract, which has been put at between $26m and $36m per year. General Manager of Sport and Events, Melodie Robinsonm joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fresh GDP data shows solid economic growth. The New Zealand economy grew 2.0 per cent in the September quarter, greatly surpassing expectations. Economists had expected just 0.9 per cent in the quarter. Services industries were up 2.0 percent and led the charge. NZ Herald Business Editor at Large, Liam Dann, joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may have seen the the documentary series that's aired on Three over the last two nights. "The Gangs ...14 Years Later" is made by Pam Corkery (also a former politician and documentary maker), as a follow up to her 2008 docos about New Zealand gangs. Pam goes back into the gang world to find out what's driving the massive changes we're seeing today - the increase in crime, violence and use of guns, and the influence of the 501 deportees from Australia. Pam Corkery joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As has been much discussed over the last 24 hours, the days of cheaper fuel and transport are coming to an end. Transporting New Zealand says the Government’s announcement is a kick in the guts for the transport industry. Transporting New Zealand Chief Executive Nick Leggett joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nobody, surely, would want a child to take up smoking. It's a ruinously expensive habit that is indisputably bad for your health and the Government has gone about protecting young people in a novel way by banning the sale of tobacco to anyone born after the 1st of January, 2009. It's one of the measures towards a goal of a Smokefree New Zealand, Smokefree Aotearoa. The others being reducing the amount of nicotine that's allowed in smoked tobacco products and decreasing the number of retailers that sell tobacco. Now the ACT party has released a tone deaf press release: ‘Labour's smoking bill kills dairies’. No. What's killing dairies, and in a few tragic cases dairy owners, are criminals being allowed to operate seemingly at will. But ACT is right when they say this will drive up the trade of black-market tobacco with high nicotine, and may well drive those addicted to cigarettes to turn to crime to feed their habit. The gangs, says ACT, will be rubbing their hands with glee, a sentiment ASH chair professor Robert Beaglehole echoed. He said despite the fact he supports the new legislation, he is concerned about a potential explosion in the black market.  But surely for there to be a black market, there has to be a market, and if tobacco is not readily available to a generation then that demand won't be there. I know it's not as simple as saying thou shalt not. If it were that easy, we'd all be living in a perfect world. But surely, given that New Zealand smoking rate is already so low with around 8% of adults smoking daily, that's not a big number, being smoke free by 2025 is one of the more achievable aspirations of this Government and may well be the only one they ever do achieve. Surely you would not want kids smoking. Even if you love your durries - it's an extravagance that you enjoy, that you can afford, that you're not going to give up - you wouldn't want your kids doing it. Although cigarettes are easy to transport, easy to hide, easy to become a currency on the black market, surely it's worth it if it means generations of New Zealanders never ever pick up a cigarette.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On occasion, I receive emails and texts asking me why I am so critical of the Government.  Fewer texts and emails are arriving this year than in previous years, to be fair, as it becomes more evident to even the most fanatical of devotees, that ideological decisions made with the best of intentions are actually harmful to the country and too many New Zealanders. To be fair, I would be critical of a Government of any hue that behaved with such misguided, myopic, ideological idiocy - and on the flip side, intransigent arrogance. I'm critical of this Government because they built up so much expectation and have failed to deliver to the very people they promised to help and who voted them in. People needing safe secure housing. Kids needing a decent education to give them a chance of escaping the poverty trap. Businesses who just want the opportunity to determine their own futures, without being hamstrung by rules and regulations and a lack of staff. Shop owners wanting to know that they can go to work and come home without their face smashed in or their goods looted, or losing their lives just to earn their keep. People who want to feel safe in their communities. This is not an exhaustive list by any means of people who have been let down, but just some of those who can feel justifiably disappointed by this Government. They were a Covid-Government in 2020, given a huge mandate by a largely febrile population had been whipped into an absolute frenzy at the thought of catching Covid. And the fact that they survived, just as the statistics said they would, they attributed to and gave thanks to St Ashley Bloomfield and Jacinda Ardern, the Mother of the Nation.   Yet despite this, report after report slammed the Government's response to the pandemic.  And now we have a ruling on the cruelty of the MIQ system and the High Court has found that the Government overstepped the mark in terms of the fundamental rights of Kiwis, I knew that and you knew that. The suffering caused by this government because of their blinkered and simplistic approach to the pandemic will be felt for generations. And yet, Grant Robertson says that there's no need for the Government to apologise.  You wonder why I'm critical of the Government? Report after report after report after report written by people I trust and respect say they have failed so many times and in so many ways - and that is just in the pandemic response. I'd be critical of any government that had such a poor performance, and if you had half a brain, you'd be critical too. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I suppose it's a bit unfair to conflate the two because there is absolutely no correlation between licensed firearm users and illegal gun use, I get that. And I suppose that an increase in the cost of a firearms licence is fair enough, given that licensing fees have remained static since 1999, according to the police. The police also point out that the cost - $126.50 or thereabouts, is less than 15 per cent of the true price to issue a licence. So okay fair enough. But it's just the optics of the thing, pinging licensed firearms users on a weekend where there were firearms incidents in three Christchurch suburbs, in Hamilton, in Auckland, and in a year which have seen rates of injury and death caused by firearms tracking higher than ever before. Why ping the licensed firearms users? And I, I know intellectually and with clarity that the two are completely unrelated, but they're not. Because we were told when the Prime Minister announced in the wake of the Christchurch mosque shootings, that the Government was taking action on behalf of all New Zealanders to strengthen gun laws and make our country a safer place. That was the promise, that New Zealand would be a safer place, and it patently is not. Over the past 12 months police have attended 4% more jobs where guns are involved than the previous 12 months. There's been a 74% increase in injuries. And if you look at the past 12 months and compare it with ten years before that, there is a 53% increase in gun crime and a 327% increase in injuries caused by guns. So New Zealand is not a safer place thanks to the gun laws that were introduced. That's the problem with ideology over pragmatism. Just wanting something to be so, hoping something to be so, doesn't make it so. Buying back semi-automatic weapons from law abiding gun owners was never going to make New Zealand a safer place. Illegal firearms use has nothing to do with lawful gun ownership, so the police should be able to increase licensing fees for all the reasons they've given, without there being any kickback. But there will be, A) because the firearms licensing process is imperfect, and firearms owners don't see why they should fund a bureaucratic mess. And B) because at a time when criminals are using illegal firearms, seemingly at will, I'd rather hear announcements about how police are investing, time and money going after the crims rather than raising the prices for lawful gun owners.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I thought, given that it's FriYay, we could start today's show with a bit of good news, a bit of positivity. Incredibly to me, a survey commissioned by small business lender Prospa showed that New Zealand's small businesses are feeling positive heading into the Christmas holiday period. 514 businesses with between one and 49 employees - 73 percent of those said that they felt good about their overall business health. 63 percent are optimistic about their business growth potential over the next year. 80 percent feel prepared for the holiday season and just under half expect their business revenue will increase in the next 12 months. So that's fairly significant. That's 514 businesses, SMEs. 73 percent of those surveyed felt good about their overall business health. Most of them expect business growth. 80 percent feel prepared for the holiday season.   Maybe it's the nature of talkback that we tend to accentuate the negative. Maybe people are more motivated to phone in when they're stressed or worried than when they're feeling positive and hopeful. Given the owners of SME's that I've spoken to in the past, the Prospa results really surprised me. The people I've talked to on the show are concerned about staffing. They don't know if they'll be able to make hay while the sun is shining. They're concerned about the rising cost of everything they are exhausted. They certainly didn't sound as though they were heading into the holiday season spirits high and loins girded, ready and able to face the challenges to come. Barry Soper, our Political Editor, was talking to Mike Hosking this morning and he said there was a malaise around the country. Agreed, and I would have too. But, I guess, although we are the top rating radio station and the top rating morning show, we don't talk to everyone. We're not everybody’s tasse de thé! So maybe we are our own little microclimate where a deep depression always looms over the frequency and beyond our sphere there is a community of people who are happy and positive, and not at all concerned about the looming recession and the closed borders. I mean, I am. I'm nervous about next year. I'm nervous that the recession will bring about an increase in unemployment. I'm nervous that rising interest rates are going to put real pressure on young families, especially if they have mortgages. I'm nervous about the growing division between so many different factions in our country. I'm nervous about the election. But maybe that's just me.   And most Kiwis are like these 514 SME’s that are feeling positive about the next year. I hope so. I would far rather that people felt empowered and confident. Give me some of what you're having for breakfast, if that is the case!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Campbell's series on young offenders called Tough Love, which is running during One News couldn't be more timely given the agonising over what to do and how to deal with offenders as young as 10 years old. In this series, we've seen Craig Clark from Counties Manukau police and Jane King from Oranga Tamaki, and they realize that many of the young people that come to their attention come from homes where police and Oranga Tamariki are not trusted. They're not welcome in the door, it's a blanket rejection of anything they have to offer.  So between them, they began to assemble a team from within the community from south Auckland. The result was Kotahi te Whakaaro (Think as One). They take local resources, local staff,  local NGOs, local understanding, and use them to get entry into the homes where these young offenders are. So every morning this group meets to review all suspected youth crimes in their area overnight. This is every single day. There are eight groups who are part of this particular organisation.  Reconnect Family Services, which is an NGO, local iwi, police, Oranga Tamariki, Counties Manukau Health, the Ministry of Education, Kāinga Ora and the Ministry of Social Development. They get together and they discuss who the best people are to approach that particular family. So it's individual by individual. There's a tailored response for each child and they are children. They're between 10 and 13, although under the new package just announced they go out to 17 now.   That's just the sort of initiative that the Government is going to be funding in its latest attempt to break the cycle of youth offending.   $2 million spread across four regions; Auckland, Waikato, Northland and Bay of Plenty to fund locally led solutions to reduce youth crime.  So they're going to look for unique community approaches, using all sorts of different agencies to try and get a response. Now I know that there is a call to lock these kids up and throw away the key and. I get that. But if it works, and it appears that Kotahi te Whakaaro does, then surely what works should be what's funded?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A key part of the Government's controversial Three Waters reforms has just passed its third reading in Parliament - the Water Services Entities Bill. It's the first of several bills to establish the new national water system. Deputy Political Editor Jason Walls told Kerre Woodham the bill has passed despite vocal opposition. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.