Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Requesting a ride has become one of the easiest things to do, you pull out your phone and with a touch of a button a driver has been sent to your location. However, if you live with a disability and use a wheelchair to get around, you are more likely to get your rides cancelled on the spot or have the other problem of nobody turning up due to the lack of accessible vans. Barney Koneferenisi is a New Zealand Paralympian who has represented us in wheelchair rugby and is fundraising to launch an accessible rideshare service for people with disabilities. Barney Koneferenisi joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand now has one of the lowest smoking rates in the world. The annual New Zealand Health Survey shows that New Zealand smoking rate has fallen to a historic low of 8% of adult smoking daily, down from 9.4% a year ago. However, vaping is now more popular than cigarettes, with more than 40,000 Kiwis vaping daily and it's rising rapidly among young people. Dr Kelly Burrows is an associate professor at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland. She joined Kerre Woodham to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government has announced more funding to the tune of $540 million to build infrastructure for thousands of extra homes around the country. Minister of Housing Dr Megan Woods made the announcement early Thursday and said that laying the literal groundwork with funding for roading, Three Waters infrastructure and flood protection will allow land to be prepared ready for affordable homes. Dr Megan Woods joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is Environment Minister, David Parker, the David who has tamed the RMA Goliath? The Resource Management Act as an absolute monster that's chewed up and spat out politicians of yesteryear, who have attempted to tame it in the past and bring it under control.  Now David Parker says he has done that. He and previous Ministers have noted that the Resource Management Act has failed at two of its key tasks; to allow development to take place and to protect the environment. The two should not be mutually exclusive. You should be able to allow for development, but not at the cost of the environment.  So the Government has come up with three new laws to replace the act. One law will focus on planning. One will set rules for land use and the allocation of resources, and one will deal with the effects of climate change. One hundred RMA plans will be reduced to 15 - one for each geographical region. They have promised that the new laws will be cheaper, faster and better. The Government will set a directional framework and then the 15 regions will operate with. There will be more of a general idea of what's expected and required rather than ad hoc, willy-nilly decisions.  That is the theory. What do the poor people at the coalface of dealing with the RMA have to say about the changes? Well, some are cautiously optimistic. Might work, might be faster, and might be cheaper. Some say the Act is fine. It's just the way it was misused and abused.  I mercifully haven't had to have any dealings with the RMA to my knowledge, other than as a taxpayer. But for those of you who have had to try and interpret it, do your interpretive dance according to the instructions in the manual, I’d love to hear your views. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government plans to repeal the ailing RMA for new legislation by the next election. It will eventually slash and merge the 100-plus plans produced under the RMA, to just 15. The transition is expected to take roughly 10 years and is expected to cut costs to users by almost $150 million a year, as well as shorten the time to get a building consent. But will the new system stack up? Mt Hobson Group is a specialist Urban Planning and Resource Management consultancy and Director Hamish Firth joined Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran joined Kerre Woodham Mornings live in studio to take your calls. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Honestly, a budget of $2.9 billion and this is the best Waka Kotahi can come up with? They've announced sweeping speed limit decreases on state highways around the country, saying it is our, Waka Kotahi’s, responsibility to do better as this year's road toll surpasses 2021’s deaths, with more than a month and a public holiday to come.  This is how they do better? I cannot believe the amount of money that is spent on the people within the organisation, the consultants, the studies, the research, and the answer is; ‘go slow’. Dylan Thompson, the AA Road safety spokesperson, was on Early Edition this morning and said that lowering speed limits does make a difference to the road toll.  And we’ve seen that in places like Ponsonby Rd in Auckland. A very busy strip full of restaurants and cafes where you have people whose judgment perhaps might be slightly clouded, you know, attempting to step out into traffic. When they lowered the speed limit on that busy inner city street to 40kms, it's made a difference. There are fewer pedestrian injury crashes. But it's an inner city street, big difference to a highway.  National’s transport spokesman Simeon Brown says the responses, a shortsighted quick fix, attempt to address the problem of road safety that is overly simplistic and doesn't deal with the underlying issues. Darn tootin’ Simeon. With a budget of $2.9 billion, perhaps Walka Kotahi can assist people into safer, newer cars. Then you'd see the numbers come down. With a budget of $2.9 billion, perhaps you can fix a few potholes so that when somebody in an old unsafe vehicle hits one, they don't go careering off and crash and kill themselves. Put in a few median barriers. Their answer is that speed kills.  Well of course it does. You can't come to grief if you're stationary, can you? And that's what the answer seems to be for Waka Kotahi and this Government overall. Have us all sitting there still, stationary, going nowhere. Ahh, but at least we'll be safe. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I hope your weekend was as splendid as mine. There’s nothing like catching up with friends, spending time with the family on a glorious summer's day. It was just wonderful.  It did involve a lot of toing and froing across the harbour bridge of course. Living on the North Shore as I do now, there were things to do in town and people to see in town and then back we come, which means that a harbour crossing upgrade, a second harbour crossing, has become of more than theoretical interest for me.   Talk of a second harbour crossing for Auckland has been going on for decades, as you would well know. Matt Lowry gives a great summary of the history of harbour crossings or discussions there of in greaterauckland.org.nz. He said in a series of op-eds in the Herald, in 1975 the great visionary Sir Dove Myer Robinson said that a decision on a new bridge or tunnel was urgent, claiming the bridge would reach maximum carrying capacity by 1981 to 1982. So that was in 75. You had the Mayor saying this is a matter of some urgency.  I mean, there have been studies up the wazoo. There have been more studies than factories have produced toilet paper. The NZTA has spent 25 million on investigating another crossing and 55 million on property purchases for things that might happen in the future, but haven't been decided on yet. A decision has to be made. It's not going to get any cheaper. Previous generations have bitten the bullet and understood the necessity of funding big scale projects that will future proof the country. Somebody needs to have the cojones to make a decision that successive administrations have failed to make since 1975. Because the Hail Mary’s, Inshallah’s or hoots wahey’s are only going to protect us for so long before inevitably tragedy happens. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Fraud Awareness and with that comes a fresh warning to be vigilant when it comes to fraud, as complaints increase. Financial Service Complaints Limited says it's seen an increase of about 20 percent in the past year. Financial Ombudsman Susan Taylor says complaints range from people ripped off in investment scams, to people having their identity stolen and used to obtain credit. FSCL Financial Ombudsman Susan Taylor joins Kerre Woodham. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The story of Moana. On the face of it, it’s a no-brainer. A traumatised and neglected little girl is placed with a family who love and care for her in a safe and healthy environment, and what do you know? She blossoms. They love her and they adopt her to make her officially part of the family. Everyone is happy. Except the little girl is Māori , the family is Pākehā and Oranga Tamariki decided that the child should be removed from the Pākehā family and be placed with a Māori  woman because they did not think the Pākehā family could provide for the child’s cultural needs.  So it went to court. A family court judge ruled that the little girl would remain in the care of her Pākehā parents. The judge slammed Oranga Tamariki for putting ideology before the child's best interests.  The birth mother of the little girl appealed the decision. She was supported by Oranga Tamariki and by the Māori  woman who wished to care for the little one. So the case went to the High Court. And now the High Court has ruled in favour of the Pākehā family. Justice Cull emphasised that the overarching and paramount consideration of the Act was child wellbeing and best interests. Justice Cull said, preference should be given to placements of children within their family group where they're able to meet the child needs for a safe, stable and loving home from the earliest opportunity.  However, if that wasn't possible, then they go where they are safe.   I can totally understand people wanting to keep a child within the same background.  I mean when you look at intercountry adoption, that's what's happened as well. You have countries who say ‘don't come to our orphanages and take our children away’. Support the orphanages so that the children can grow up in a safe, loving environment where they're within their own culture and surrounded by their own people.   Understanding where you come from is a basic human need. Understanding who you are, what your family tree looks like on a genetic level, is a basic human need, but so too is being safe.  So too is being fed, so too is being loved, so too is being protected. So when you have these competing needs, how do you balance them? I think the judges have decided.   When you have a little girl who was severely traumatised and neglected, who after four years is blossoming and thriving, it really doesn't matter a fat rat’s bum what the colour of the family’s skin is.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.