Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

We can take it as a given, can we not, that dental health is part of your overall health and well-being. Besides the pain of rotten or broken teeth, you're also predisposed to a range of other health ailments. Poor oral health can impair your general health and well-being by creating or exacerbating health conditions such as heart and lung disease, and stroke.There's a direct correlation.Also, your dental health can exacerbate social anxiety and depression. If you've got a mouthful of gappy teeth, you don't smile as much, you’re less inclined to speak up, you become very self-conscious and you hide yourself away.And that's for the adults.When we look at the state of oral health among our children, it's absolutely appalling. In 2019, more than 40 percent of 5-year-olds in New Zealand had tooth decay. Ministry of Health Data showed the number of zero to 14-year-olds requiring general anaesthetic for rotten teeth removal increased from 4500 to 7500 between 2001 and 2016.The latest Newshub poll asked whether people thought the Government should subsidise dental visits, in the way we subsidise doctor visits.  83.7 percent of people who were polled said yes, the Government should subsidise trips to the dentist.There are hopes this will be addressed on Thursday's Budget. Labour promised in the 2020 election campaign there would be money available for more emergency dental grants, but surely, it’s better to have a comprehensive cradle to grave dental health plan that fits in with an overall health plan for New Zealand citizens.There are so many people living in pain, not living their best lives, not achieving all they could do because they cannot afford to go to the dentist.Do you believe that this is something that you would prioritise as a taxpayer?  It's our money that's being distributed. Should it be a key plank in our physical well-being budget that trips to the dentist are subsidised by taxpayers?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A call for the Government to put more money towards dental care in tomorrow's Budget.The Dental Association is calling for raft of changes, starting with increasing grants for access to urgent dental care.President Kate Ayers told Kerre Woodham despite their best efforts, many people develop dental issues they simply can't afford to fix.“It’s just not fair that they need to continue on with it because they can’t afford to get it fixed.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's offering up new transport options, rather than kicking people out of their cars.Included in their Emissions Reduction Plan is more than half a billion dollars towards pushing electric and hybrid vehicles.The money will help lower and middle income households scrap their fossil-fuel burning cars for a climate-friendly alternative.A pilot of the scheme will involve up to 2500 vehicles and begin next year.To discuss this, David Vinsen, Chief Executive of the Imported Motor Vehicle Association joined Kerre McIvor.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I have to say looking at the Herald this morning, you wonder whether the Government, whether the media, whether I, have a take on what people are really concerned about because I came back and I'm reading the paper and there's a full-page report in the Herald on what we can expect from the Government and its master plan to cut emissions when the Budget’s released.The headline in Stuff is 'Emissions plan could herald the biggest set of changes in New Zealand since Rogernomics'. It will detail ways in which the Government will reorient the economy towards one that actively tries to drive down emissions to get New Zealand to a position of net zero emissions by 2050. So they're saying the economy and therefore society is going to be yanked into a completely different direction from one which we have known since Rogernomics. Which will be huge if that is so. And yet when households are struggling to put food on the table and petrol in the car, is climate change the most important and meaningful area for the government to focus on? To yank society into a completely different direction?I look at the headlines saying we're about to experience seismic change, the like of which we haven't seen since Rogernomics to deal with reducing our emissions and I wonder if the world has gone mad?!Why do we have to rearrange society when all that really matters is that you have enough food on the table for the kids and that they're getting educated? So that they have a chance to make a difference in the world.Why is it that this Budget that we're all waiting for breathlessly has at its very core fuel emissions and the cutting thereof within CO2, when all I want to be able to do is know that I can feed the kids for a week? That's what matters, surely? The rest is ideological BS.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson delivers his fifth Budget on Thursday, with an emphasis on health and climate change.However, there are doubts this week's Budget will address New Zealand's cost of living crisis.In an opinion piece in the NZH, National's finance spokesperson Nicola Willis says this is not the time to be adding more unnecessary costs or embarking on big bureaucracy-building ventures.Nicola Willis joined Kerre Woodham.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been hard to miss the publicity that's been circulating on-screen, and in radio and print media around the Road to Zero campaign which has been led by the NZ Transport Agency/Waka Kotahi. In response to this, there's a story today about one man, Geoff Upson, who is campaigning in in the other direction ... campaigning to ,quote, Keep it 100.Now for those of you who may have missed it, the Road to Zero campaign involves a vision of zero deaths and serious injuries on New Zealand roads. It's a campaign that has been met with a lot of scepticism from people, including me, who are concerned that, as we saw with the Government approach to Covid with the lockdowns and extreme measures, we're going to see increasingly extreme measures, all in pursuit of a target, which frankly is ridiculous.I don't mean ridiculous because I don't value life. I mean ridiculous because life is not wrapped up in one big ball of safe cotton wool.Now I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little sick of this patronizing tone coming from Government agencies who just know best and when the Government agency is capable of gaslighting, not just us but itself, into thinking that there is actually Road to Zero, they really surprised that there's some form of pushback from New Zealand public. You also end up with the accusation that somehow you’re callous and have no thought for the value of human life. They push out statistics like every 1% increase in the speed results in a 3 1/2% to 4% increase in fatal crashes.I'm all for trusting New Zealand motorists a little more -  investing in better driver training, investing in defensive driving courses, and better roads. But please, if you want to win us over, stop this patronising nonsense and demonising people for expressing what, for many, is a common-sense point of view and a response to the self-delusional bureaucratic spin.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Piopio home invasion case.I'll be honest, my initial reaction to the not-guilty verdict was that I struggled to contain my Glee. But that was because when the case first broke and I looked at the facts and I predicted,  two or three weeks ago, that no jury was ever going to convict the father and son of the charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.The question is, did the jury, in finding Bill Burr senior and his son not guilty,  did the jury get it right?In my view, this was always going to be the verdict. It was the only one that the jury could deliver.  Having said that, from a legal point of view, I'm suppressing a sense of outrage in a way because I actually reckon, legally, they got it wrong.What it boils down to is whether there was a defence to the charges on the basis of reasonable force, acting in self-defence.If I was going to put my legal hat on, I would say it's quite possible to make a strong case that subduing the pair at gunpoint was all that it took and that their actions up to that point were reasonable, but that the severing of the end of the little finger was something that was done, probably out of anger and vengeance.Here's the thing though, for these charges to be proved, the jury would have had to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt, that within the defendant's mind, this wasn't a reasonable response to the threat that they were facing.No jury was ever going to convict these guys for their response, especially given this prevailing public suspicion. We've got around New Zealand that in every other aspect of our approach to crime, we're soft. I reckon this was an opportunity for the jury to decide that's enough, we're just going to say enough. So while I could write you a lovely legal dissertation that the jury may have got the decision wrong legally, when it comes to justice in this case, they got it right.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Employment court has ruled ex-Gloriavale members were employees from six years old, not volunteers.Hosea and Levi Courage, and Daniel Pilgrim, have now left the religious community, but sought a declaration on their status after leaving school and working at the commune and its businesses.The Employment court found the work can't be described as chores or education, because of the commercial nature.The commune claimed work done from the ages of six-to 14 are chores, at age 15 it's part of schoolwork, and from 16 it was voluntary.Employment Specialist with the Whitehead Group, Max Whitehead said with more judgements to come, this could create huge implications for the community.“Now this ruling’s been set, these people are employees those other questions are going to be asked and look, this could bankrupt Gloriavale.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I moved to the North Shore of Auckland in November of last year. After years and years of living in the central city it was a big move to go across the bridge. I fell completely and utterly in love with the North Shore lifestyle. It's completely different to being in the city.The one big negative that people warned me about was Onewa Road.That's the main road linking many different suburbs on the shore to the motorway, yet for six months I had absolutely no idea what people were talking about.I moved during a lockdown, along came Omnicron at the beginning of the year, so people continued to work from home and I breezed along merrily enjoying a trouble-free commute.23 minutes door to door. What were people going on about?Well, last week, I found out everything changed after the school holidays. It seems there was a seismic shift, certainly in Auckland. My 20-minute commute has become a near 40-minute commute. That is a significant chunk of time.If Auckland transport and the Government have their way, not only will I be sitting in traffic for 20 minutes longer, but I'll be paying for that privilege.To be fair, it’s not just this Government that wants to see a congestion charge introduced. Labour, National, the Greens and ACT all support some form of congestion charging, but what's holding them back is the certainty that it's low-income households that will be hit hardest by congestion charges.For congestion charges to work, that is to get people out of their cars and into alternative forms of transport, we have to improve public transport options. Congestion is a huge issue in our cities. In Auckland alone, the city loses up to $1.3 billion a year in productivity and that is only going to get worse as the city grows. So given this Government, of course, is keen on introducing a congestion charge, so is National, so are the Greens, so is ACT, it’s going to be a fact of life. What needs to change before you change? Before I change?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government is expected to announce next week that a congestion charge is on the cards for Auckland's CBD in 2025.A Helen Clark Foundation report has found such a charge could cut congestion by 12 percent, but researchers say the process needs to be brought in fairly.The Infrastructure Commission released its first long-term strategy at the start of the month. They believe we need to ease congestion in our cities and make use of tools like congestion charging to make better use of transport connections.Te Waihanga NZ Infrastructure Commission General Manager of Strategy Geoff Cooper joined Kerre Woodham.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.