Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Well, you can't say all those millions spent on PR consultants and market researchers and communications advisors and spin doctors, you cannot say all those millions of dollars have been wasted, can you? Because look at this, the public registered a vote of no confidence in Police Minister Poto Williams with the Newshub Reid Research poll out last week, we talked about that nearly 2/3 of those polled thought the Minister and by default, the Government, was soft on crime. A spooky coincidence, in a pre-Budget announcement that the Government has pledged more than $550 million to fund more frontline police, establish a new firearms unit, and they've promised businesses they'll help protect them from RAM raids. Poto Williams, the Police Minister, talked to Mike Hosking on the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning, explaining there'd be something for businesses, once they talked to businesses about what businesses might need. And the fact that it wasn't just police who could pick up RAM raiders, it was families who could learn how to parent. It's not really going to help in the short term is that there was a promise though to tackle gangs and organized crime. There's a new firearms unit to ensure guns don't fall into the wrong hands. The sound of the stable door closing as the hoofbeats of the galloping horse disappear into the distance spring to mind.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Starship have launched a youth mental health app as self-harm events abound young people spike.Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, admissions of children and adolescents to hospital following self-harm events have increased by 25 percent in the 15-19 year age group and 50 percent in the 10-14 year age group.  Over 5600 young people presented to hospital emergency departments around the country with self-harm in 2021 alone.Founded on the premise that it takes a village to raise a child, the app is designed to help rangatahi take control of their mental well-being by connecting them with a network of trusted individuals, friends or whānau, called “buddies”.Starship Child Psychiatrist and Paediatrician Dr Hiran Thabrew joined Kerre Woodham.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The public has registered a vote of no confidence in Police Minister Poto Williams as youth crime spirals out of control.The latest Newshub-Reid Research poll asked: Is the current Police Minister too soft on crime?More than two-thirds - 68.3 percent - said yes, while just 18.3 percent said no.Minister Williams doesn't think it's fair. She said to Newshub "For me, you're either soft or you're a thug or you're smart and I choose to be smart."National Party Police spokesperson Mark Mitchell sees it differently and he joined Kerre McIvor.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Founder and CEO of chemicals company DGL, Simon Henry, has criticised My Food Bag for putting an image of brand ambassador Nadia Lim in its prospectus, referring to Lim as 'Eurasian fluff'.National Business Review ran an article featuring an interview in which the comments were made.Kiwi Wealth in the process of adding DGL to its exclusions list in response to the derogatory comments he made.Kiwi Wealth CEO Rhiannon McKinnon joined Kerre Woodham.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If a politics wonk was to ever put the time and effort into ranking the best and worst of New Zealand parliamentary speakers, I am willing to lay good money on Trevor Mallard being cited as the worst speaker of the house in the country's history.Now obviously I can't go back to the late 19th century and the early 20th century. But I'm still willing to be it. He would be the worst.He's an unlikely speaker. In a 2000 press release by Independent MP Peter Dunne,  Mallard was labelled parliament's worst behaved MP, based on the amount of times the MP had been expelled from the chamber or asked withdraw.  He often violated the rules of the House while he was an MP, and now he's keeping them. Talk about poacher turned gamekeeper.He has a professional reputation for being a bully, pugnacious petty, and utterly incapable of saying sorry.Now in another petulant hissy fit, the Speaker has delivered trespass notices to some of the people who were at protests in Parliament grounds.Some are deserved - no problem there. But to use the occasion to dish out a little bit of light revenge is an abuse of office.It's a grim day when we have to choose between Mallard and Winston Peters. But on this occasion and on this day, I am reluctantly forced to be Team Peters, much as I think he should just push off out of public life, join a bowls club and retire with dignity. I do not know how Mallard can hold that post any longer given his history, given his current behaviour, and given the fact that nobody has respect for this referee. Helen Clark was able to just keep him in line. I mean fighting with Tau Henare in Parliament, brought it all back to me when I was going back through Mallard’s history. It was ugly. And it's just got uglier, using his position to score petty personal political points with his opponents as an abuse of the position.Jacinda Ardern will not keep him in line, but somebody has to.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Is it any real surprise that the Property Investors Federation says rolling back changes that have been made to the rental industry by this government will fix soaring rents and a shortage of rental properties? Probably not. You would expect such a position from the federation, but the real point is, are they right? Yesterday, the Property Investors Federation launched a five-point plan, which it says will fix the rental property crisis. We've seen soaring rents. We've seen limited properties available for people to rent  So, they say, if you bring in this five-point action plan, we'll see more houses come on the market, and because of that there will be competition and the prices will come down. In effect, they want harsher penalties for bad tenants. They want to return the bright-line tests to two years. They want the right for landlords to issue no-fault 90-day notices making it easier to get rid of troublesome tenants and they want mortgage payments made tax-deductible. They've also proposed that there be a public list of bad tenants, those who own money who have damaged properties or who have had antagonized the neighbours. On the positive side, they came up with a suggestion that is used in Germany, where people have security of tenure that in effect the house is theirs in everything but ownership papers. So, in effect, the landlord supplies the walls, the floor, the ceiling, and the infrastructure for water and electricity. The bare shell, the bones of a house and the tenant makes it a home and supply everything from the oven to the fridge to light fittings, and then you have it. For life, if you so wish And if you are or were a landlord, does this action plan from the Property Investors Federation make your think all right then, I'll get back into it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all know that the first 1000 days are the most important days in a child's life. Forget saving up to send them to the best possible secondary school. Forget putting aside money to help them through university or an apprentice training scheme. Invest in a child in the first 1000 days say all the child development experts and you will reap the rewards.As the child psychologists and developmental experts say, it only takes one person to care about a child, to nurture a child, to take an interest in a child. One educator to believe in a child to transform lives. If you're looking to our early childhood sector to mitigate some of the damage you're looking in the wrong place. It's going downhill, and it's a sector heading backwards. It is child farming and early childhood education is a wreck. That is not the opinion of dissatisfied parents who want the very best for their Henry's and Henrietta's. Harsh and brutal criticisms of the sector are the opinions of the very people who work in it. These are the views of 1000 men and women working right across early childhood education and centres, kindergartens, home-based care and other areas and early childhood. There's a story in the New Zealand Herald that is well worth reading if you have young people in your lives.These 1000 men and women have little confidence that the Government will deliver on pay parity. They feel the quality of care for children has worsened in the past four years. Qualified teachers are hard to come by and centres are struggling to afford anything but the minimum staff numbers.According to the respondents, New Zealand was once a leader in early childhood education, now says one we should be ashamed of the care being offered to our children. It sounds absolutely dire and frightening if you have a child or a grandchild and early childhood education. But it's on par with the rest of our education system, which has been going downhill rapidly for a very long time now.I've got a grandchild in early childhood education. To me, the teachers seem incredible. They're proactive, they're positive. We get constant feedback.She's happy there. She's engaged. The teachers seemed absolutely onto it. I would not have believed this report until I read it in the Herald, and what is really concerning as one that the criticisms come from the people within the sector themselves.To quote an oft used talkback phrase that hasn't been used for some time, it's going to hell in a handbasket. And I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that early childhood education is suffering from the same malaise as the drop in standards in our primary schools and our secondary schools.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tourism operators are welcoming the return of international accents again.New Zealand is opening up to visitors from around 60 visa-waiver countries from today.Like Australians, international tourists can arrive without isolation, if they're vaccinated and do a pre-departure and arrival test for Covid-19.Kerre Woodham caught up with tourism operators who had called her during the pandemic in 2020, namely Bevan Newlands of Skyscape.co.nz; Blair Huston, Managing Director of Fortis Travel and Justin Hutton, owner of River Rats Rotorua.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There has been much discussion in recent times about the diversity of our local councils, with Local Government New Zealand launching a campaign to ensure councils reflect the people they represent.Currently only 14% of councillors are under 40 years old, with the average age being 56 - 60. The majority are men, while 41% are women. There's also a lack of ethnic diversity with 14% of representatives Māori.Newstalk ZB Nights host Marcus Lush is also an Invercargill City councillor and he joined Kerre Woodham to discuss life in the job and the discourse around diversity.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The path forward for Three Waters reform is now less murky.The Government's accepted nearly all recommendations for our country's water system, from an independent working group.A public shareholding structure will be put in place and shares will be held by councils on behalf of communities.There'll also be regional representative groups...with a council and mana whenua chair for each region.Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta says they've listened to concerns, and made changes.She says they've strengthened protections that ensure locals will always have a strong say, in the delivery and management of their water.Newstalk ZB political reporter Aaron Dahmen was at the announcement and joined Kerre Woodham.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.