Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

The September inflation movement is the highest it's been in a generation.The Consumer Price Index rose 2.2 per cent in the September quarter — bringing annual inflation to 4.9 per cent.NZ Herald Business Editor Liam Dann told Kerre McIvor excluding quarters impacted by GST increases, it's the highest since June 1987.“That is a bit of a shock, surging past what economists had dared to forecast.”The main drivers were housing-related costs such as construction and local authority rates.Prices for new house construction were up 12 per cent in the year.Local authority rates and payments rose 7.1 per cent in the quarter.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thames-Coromandel Mayor Sandra Goudie has doubled down on her anti-Pfizer jab stance - adding she believes it is "absolutely wrong" that some people should be mandated to have the vaccine.Goudie went public this week saying she won't be being vaccinated until the Novovax vaccine is used, potentially, in New Zealand.At present, the Pfizer vaccine is used in the nationwide roll-out.That stance has been criticised, including by Green Party co-leader James Shaw who says people in public, leadership roles should be vaccinated now to ensure the health and safety of people around them.Goudie said her vaccine decisions were a matter of personal choice, and people should respect each other's opinions.Novovax is yet to be approved for use in New Zealand and when questioned about why she wouldn't get the Pfizer vaccine, she declined to elaborate.Goudie told Tim Beveridge on Newstalk ZB this morning she wouldn't be taking part in Saturday's vaxathon and that she had made her stance clear."I'm not taking the Pfizer vaccine, that I will wait for the Novovax because I have that personal choice and everybody has that personal choice."She said it shouldn't be mandated and people shouldn't have to lose their jobs."I think that's absolutely wrong."As for why Novovax, she said it was "her personal choice, I've got the right to make that personal choice".She said she "reads a lot of information"."I'm only going to make comment around that I have a personal choice ... I'm not going to vilify people for their choices."Asked if she felt a responsibility to explain her reasons to wait for Novovax, Goudie said she wasn't an anti vaxxer, she had vaccinations in the past."I'm waiting for the Novovax to come into New Zealand."Asked if she was encouraging people to get vaxxed, she said she had been buoyed by the numbers of vaccinations in her district, despite then being told by Beveridge the district's numbers were quite low compared to others."My understanding was that [district] was [doing well]. They may have changed," she said.Asked about having an obligation, as a public official, to encourage people to get vaccinated, she said people should be able to "have the freedom of choice for themselves"."There comes a time when everybody is confronted with these sorts of decisions ... if they are in strong positions of leadership. But whose to say that people in positions in leadership can't also have the right to express their personal choice and freedom."Should I be denied that right?"When told she was being criticised for not explaining her reasons around her decisions, she said she had "that's my personal choice as well. I have the right to make these choices and decisions.. I'm making these decisions for myself and my decisions should be respected. They're mine."Asked about trusting scientists, she said she wouldn't "make any comment about that whatsoever".Asked about whether she respected the scientific advice in New Zealand, - "I haven't contemplated a view on it."Straight off the bat you're expecting me to respond to that question? Get real."Earlier, she told the Herald yesterday she disagreed with those who argued she was putting herself or others at risk by not getting vaccinated"Obviously I'm not agreeing with them. And I'm exercising my personal choice. And my rights, in terms of the Bill of Rights."She said Covid-19 legislation should be consistent with the Bill of Rights.The High Court at Wellington last month considered if the Covid-19 Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order infringed on the right to be free from discrimination under the Bill of Rights Act.After a judicial review, the High Court decided that it did not. The case emerged after a sacked Customs worked challenged the lawfulness of the vaccinations order.When asked by Mike Hosking on Newstalk ZB...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government is confident there'll be a good bounce-back when the country emerges from Covid-19 restrictions, because its books are in good shape.Treasury figures show a deficit of $4.6 billion, about ten billion less than expected, due to a higher tax take and lower expenses.The Crown's net worth has also jumped by $40 billion in the year to June 30.Finance Minister Grant Minister says the post-lockdown rebound will cut across two quarters, there'll be a hit, but the resilience and strength of the economy will help us rebound.Former Finance Minister Steven Joyce joined Kerre McIvor.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are many, many tragic stories that have come out of this pandemic - not so much from the deaths themselves, although they are undeniably sad for the families concerned. But it's the people desperate to get into NZ who can't because of our MIQ system. It's those who haven't been able to be at the births of their children, or to be at the bedsides of family members who are sick or who might be dying, and its being denied the opportunity to grieve together as a community when a loved one does die. Unless you're a gang member and that seems to be OK. But the stories that have broken my heart and keep breaking my heart are the stories of couples who being kept apart because of restrictions at aged care facilities. You may have heard some of the callers on my show or some of the emails I've read out from men and women who have been married for fifty and sixty years - who are each other's soul mates - one is in an aged care facility, one is not. And despite the fact both parties are double vaccinated, despite the fact that the pain of being apart is causing physical decline, Health Department rules mean they are denied access to one another. And now the boss of a retirement village operator is calling on the Government to allow aged care residents to reconnect with the people they love.  Oceania Healthcare boss Brent Pattison says the current restrictions are playing havoc with the mental health of residents, especially when they know outside of the homes, restrictions have eased.Anyone who has an elderly parent or older friend know that isolation and loneliness is as much a killer as Covid.If the healthcare operators believe they can allow visits safely, for goodness’ sake, let them.They know what they're doing. They know one slip up and it’s their residents at worst and their reputation at best that suffers. Please, show some humanity, and let these poor people who have been isolated and cut off from their family and friends get the opportunity to be with those they love before it's too late.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Good morning — and a special good morning to the South Island.  I see you. I know you're there.  Even if other people seem to have forgotten about you — I know it's important for those regions in stricter lockdowns to hear the news regarding their alert levels first but surely a — and that means the South Island must stay in Level 2 for the meantime — wouldn't have hurt.  Anyway, the news was pretty much what I expected to hear when I listened to ZB at 5.  Although I heard the collective groans of parents when the announcement was made that school-aged children would not be returning to school on the 18th.  Parents who've been hanging on, glancing up at the calendar on the wall when things get tough and counting down the days to the 18th, circled in red, must have despaired when they heard the kids would be staying home for the foreseeable.  And the children themselves — many of them must be yearning to get back to some sort of structure and routine, to be with their mates.  And that's just the kids who are safe and well, who are loved and have a warm home and food on the table.  What about those poor little tykes living in less than ideal homes?  Whose best meal of the day came with the school lunch provided for them?  There are about 158,000 children living in hardship in this country.  There'll be plenty more living in misery and I wonder how they are being protected and cared for — Oranga Tamariki is still working but that's only for the most extreme cases. So how is the welfare of children living in poverty being monitored?  I hope they're not forgotten.  And businesses — Michael Barnett says there should be a wider vaccine mandate to support businesses who are otherwise being left to police this on their own.  Heart of the City's Viv Beck says there needs to be a deadline for mandatory vaccine passports, to create urgency and focus.  Even epidemiologist Rod Jackson has said that businesses should have been given the mandate yesterday to introduce compulsory vaccinations for staff without fear of being prosecuted.  Job ads in Wellington increased by four per cent month on month and Canterbury by nine per cent — in Auckland, they dropped eight per cent. As Liam Dann wrote in the Herald the ongoing lockdown isn’t sending NZ's economy off a cliff — but that doesn't mean long term damage isn't being done.  There were signs of hope that the government is finally listening to different sectors — the mandating of vaccinations in the education and health sector, permission for Sir Ian Taylor to trial his private MIQ system for international travel.  Common sense coming through. Let's hope we see more of that.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Most teachers are expected to be on board with mandatory vaccinations.School staff who have contact with pupils will have to be fully vaccinated by January 1 and schools will have to keep track of which students are vaccinated.However, there are concerns over what prolonging the return of students to school will do to their learning and also their mental welfare.May Road School is a primary school in Auckland's Mt Roskill and principal Lynda Stuart joined Kerre McIvor.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A delighted Sir Ian Taylor has been given approval by the Government to trial a private self-isolation system for international travel, designed to free up spaces in MIQ for returning Kiwis.The Animation Research founder received approval yesterday from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) to run a privately funded trial that Taylor is calling #151 Off The Bench.He wants to prove he can fly from Dunedin to Auckland, on to Los Angeles and San Francisco, and return to New Zealand safely using the latest technologies available and without taking up a space in a hopelessly overloaded MIQ system.The approval is a victory for Taylor who has outlined his plans in a series of articles published in the Herald, saying his staff need to travel, like other business people, but they do not need to take up MIQ spaces and deprive other Kiwis from returning home.travellers privately will free up much-needed spaces in MIQ hotels. Photo / Michael CraigLast month when the Government announced 150 places for business people who wanted to run a private, self-isolation system, Taylor said he didn't want to take up one of those spots either. Instead he lobbied the Government to allow him to trial his own system, #151 Off The Bench, which he is convinced will be Covid-19 proof."We're not asking anything of MIQ. What we want to do is create a system that runs parallel. That means those people who don't have the kind of resources we have can get those bids and get home. I would feel terrible to take an MIQ slot, I wouldn't take one."His will be a quick visit to the US in November, just time for a meeting about golf with Fox Sport in LA and another with Major League Baseball in San Francisco. Taylor has a lot at stake, knowing that his trial will be very public and open to scrutiny."This is about doing a full-view test showing how businesses can operate in order to keep the economy running."If he can prove it works, he sees no reason why the "road map for the future" could not be expanded outside of business to include sports and cultural teams, Government officials, film crews who are currently taking up MIQ spaces.At aged 71, Taylor is well aware he's in the high-risk category if he caught Covid-19 despite his double vaccination."I'm well and truly in the danger zone, but this is how confident I am. Yes, I'm susceptible but that's why my mask is not coming off. That's why I've got the best mask you can buy, "he said."I will have tools and tests with me so I can test every day just to make sure I haven't picked it (Covid-19) up. I will not be going anywhere near a restaurant, or a cafe or a pub. I'm there for a meeting, and most importantly, I'm there to make sure I don't get Covid because otherwise I'm not coming home. I don't get on the plane until I prove I am negative."Once back in Auckland Taylor will then self-isolate in an hotel and will continue testing.Taylor paid tribute to how quickly the Government had accelerated his proposal, particularly Minister of Economic development, Stuart Nash, Associate Finance Minister David Parker and Carolyn Tremain, chief executive of MBIE."They have been really tremendous. When they saw my plan they were really interested in my idea and the technologies I was finding, especially the New Zealand-based one."Now Taylor will work with MBIE to merge his #151 plans with the 150 private business spots."The primary objective was to say "we're here to talk. Can we help?'Taylor hopes a private MIQ system will help open up the economy and give businesses needing to send staff overseas some surety. And he is confident #151 will work. His "road map" includes technology including a geo-fence watch that will act like a virtual fence around Taylor's room when he is self-isolating in Auckland on his return."That watch when I put it on my wrist, I can't take it off. The minute I take it...See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

D Day today on the announcements, and I don't think anyone's expecting good news - not with 60 community cases yesterday and more to come. It's not the number of cases of the Delta strain that is the problem - it's the fact that unvaccinated or people who are not fully vaccinated are more likely to end up in hospital and that’s the problem. Good to see rates of vaccination picking up as the reality of having Covid in the community kicks in - although how you reach some people is beyond me. Take the Stuff story - they went into the suburb of Aranui, a suburb with one of the lowest rates of vaccination in the country and spoke to a number of vaccine resistant residents. One of them was a woman who looked like she had lived a full life.  She was puffing away on her ciggy, and enjoying a beersie of a sunny morning - and far be it for me to point the digit at anyone enjoying a beerise on a sunny morning. But she wasn't going to get the vaccine because I quote 'I'm scared it's going to kill me.' And the gangs - they're a bit hesitant because they don't know what's in it.  Since when have they ever given a fat rat's bum about what they put into their body or where indeed they put their body parts.  It is time for the authorities to get tough on people like the huckory moll who did the tiki tour of Northland with her dodgy mate.  Once she's out of quarantine, she can spend a bit more time staring at four walls - hopefully in a cell.  She's a criminal nuisance but hopefully she won't prove to be the Typhoid Mary of Northland - and hopefully her selfishness and callousness will be the spur some vaccine hesitant need to get the vaccine. As well as getting tough on rule breakers, the Government also needs to mandate vaccinations for essential workers, not rely on the employer to do their unpopular work for them. That would be one small thing the Government could do that would help out businesses without costing them a cent.  And the Government needs to let the South Island go - if they want to move down a level.  What is the point of everyone languishing if they don't have to?  Talking to my family on the Kapiti Coast, it made me aware of how quickly you become institutionalised.  They went away for the weekend, visited vineyards in Martinborough, went out to dinner in Greytown, their uncle took the kids to the swimming pools - bliss. And it seems utterly foreign and exotic sitting north of the Bombays.  The sooner we bring out vaccine passports the better - if we've been double vaxxed, let us visit loved ones in aged care homes.  Let us travel to other cities to be with family and friends.  Let us dine out.  Let us be like Sydney.But again, because I've become so institutionalised, I really don't expect any good news, leadership or bright ideas.  I will be very, very happy if I'm proved wrong.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Roadside drug testing is going ahead, despite concerns from a number of organisations and commentators that the tests are unreliable.   You can absolutely understand why police, others working as first responders, A and E professionals would want some deterrent against drug impaired drivers.   Studies in New Zealand have found about one in three drivers in fatal and serious injury crashes had some type of drug in their system, mainly cannabis, but usually a cocktail of drugs.   In 2017, 79 fatal crashed involved drug impaired drivers, in 2019, it was 103.  The Government is set to pass legislation into law by December, despite criticism from a number of health professionals saying the tests right now are not supported by reliable scientific evidence and that the presence of drugs doesn't relate to direct impairment.  You've had the Royal NZ college of GPs, the Royal Australian and NZ College of Psychiatrists, back in 2020 you had the attorney general, David Parker, saying the original bill appeared to breach the bill of rights act in a number of places,  Dog and Lemon.com editor and road safety activist Clive Matthew Wilson agrees.  Roadside tests can show the presence of cannabis, but these tests cannot reliability say a person was affected significantly, even if the recorded drug concentration is very high. That’s quite different to tests for alcohol, which can reliably say a person was drunk and that their driving would have been affected.” “In fact, the driver who gets busted in a police roadside test may not have willingly consumed cannabis at all. He or she may merely have been sitting in a room where cannabis was smoked.  The NZ Medical Association with a distinct lack of hyperbole says the science is “not quite sufficiently adequate”. Dr Bryan Betty of the Royal NZ College of General Practitioners (RNZCGP) says it’s unusual so many health groups have raised the issue. “This needs serious consideration by our politicians and policy makers before it is turned into law. The Bill was originally introduced by the Green Party’s former Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter, yet despite being the bill's, she was a complete and utter shambles when asked about it on TVNZ News last night.   “The reality is we don't have evidence one way or the other about what the impact of this bill is going to be,” Genter said. Maike Sherman asked if the legislation was a test-run, and she replied “well you never know how any policy is going to work until you implement it”. In a select committee report into the legislation. both the Green Party and ACT said “it's likely that a number of unimpaired people will be subjected to infringement or criminal penalties”. Roadside drug testing would allow police to randomly stop drivers - and that's another concern especially for the Maori Party who voted against the bill.  Maori are stopped more often than non Maori and that's a fact. Anyone failing two saliva tests will be fined, while those opting for a blood test risk being slapped with a conviction. The new law expected to be passed in parliament in December.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Calls for a signal New Zealand is, or will be, open for business.That's the sentiment from this year's Mood of the Boardroom, which surveyed 151 of the country's CEOs and senior directors on what businesses want, as we prepare to come out of Covid-19.  Many want more tools to keep people safe from the virus like mandates for staff to be vaccinated, and antigen and saliva testing.NZME Head of Business Fran O'Sullivan joined Kerre McIvor.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.