Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has shut down the idea that New Zealand will return to life under Covid-19 alert level 2.5 when the borders open.It comes after director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield yesterday floated the vision that opening up the border to vaccinated tourists could require Kiwis to return to alert level 2.5.Speaking on Kerre McIvor Mornings on Newstalk ZB, Ardern said it would more likely be a "1.5 environment"."I spoke to [Bloomfield] and he said he was referencing more a 1.5 environment with things like QR code scanning, those kind of things we need to be aware of on a day to day in that transition period," Ardern said.The Prime Minister's comments came in response to a caller who was worried the country was now being restricted to gatherings of ten.Ardern was quick to say that was not the case, saying it was a discussion about creating extra "buffers" when we do open the borders which could be at the end of this year.She said there was no suggestion that for three to five years New Zealand will be in a constant level of a 2.5 environment."A lot of it is going to come down to how many people we have vaccinated, the more people we have vaccinated the more freedom we can have.She said in the same way we have immunisations for measles we do still have outbreaks from time to time and we have to make sure we contain those.Ardern dedicated an hour to answering questions from Newstalk ZB callers.It is the first time this year the Prime Minister has been in studio with McIvor.She will also be answering questions from McIvor about child poverty, homelessness, the public sector pay freeze and District Health Boards.Ardern speaks ahead of Budget 2021, which will be announced next Thursday, May 20.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You'd like to think you'd be the first to rush in if someone was being threatened, but there is a very real risk in these mad and crazy times that you could literally be putting your life on the line to help. In the wake of the Dunedin Countdown stabbings, there are stories of tremendous courage on the part of the store manager and bystanders who are now in hospital recovering from their injuries. Others said they just froze, they saw what was happening, they knew people were in trouble but they did nothing. People who failed to step in are being told they shouldn't feel guilty, remember Austin Hemmings? He was the father of three, the devoted husband and the incredible colleague who was coming out of his workplace when he saw a man assaulting a woman and stepped in to help her escape. He was stabbed and fatally injured; he paid the ultimate price for being a Good Samaritan. If you've ever been in that situation I'd love to know how you handled it. Does it help if you have been trained for a conflict situation?Say, if you've been in the army or you were a police officer or a corrections officer? Does it help if you know first aid?One of the reasons I did a first aid course a couple of years ago because I felt it was almost inevitable I'll come across an accident? In these mad and crazy times, we ask the question ‘will people step in?’The answer is yes, and we saw that in Dunedin yesterday.If you've ever been in that situation I'd love to hear your story.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The government's making space in managed isolation to get skilled and critical workers into the country.Over the next 10 months, 500 spaces per fortnight will be allocated to support New Zealand's economic recovery.Three hundred seasonal workers will be able to arrive each month from June, 2400 in total by next March.There's also an allocation for construction workers, international students and refugees.COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says they need to balance seasonal and strategic skills shortages, using spaces freed up by the trans-Tasman bubble.But dairy farmers and the hospitality sector are disappointed the government is not allocating MIQ spaces to workers who could help.Federated Farmers Immigration spokesman Chris Lewis and restaurateurs Chand Sahrawat and her husband Sid, told Kerre McIvor they’re disappointed with the announcement.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Break out the bubbly.Well, the bubbly we would have had if our winegrowers had been able to harvest their grapes.From next month around 300 of the country's 6200 MIQ rooms will be allocated to RSE workers every month, meaning 2400 RSE workers are estimated to arrive by March next year. There will also be 400 international students allowed in June for the start of semester two, 240 specialised construction workers will arrive between June and October. The government has also renewed border exceptions for shearers, rural mobile plant machinery operators and essential travellers to and from the Pacific. Oh, and as of July, we'll be getting 100 refugees every six weeks. Sorry?  Yes, that's right, 100 refugees every six weeks. I totally get that we are in a very fortunate position as a country and that we have international obligations; it is utterly incumbent upon us to share our good fortune. But, given that we have 22,521 applicants on the Housing Register as at 31 December 2020, an increase of 51.5 percent compared with the same time last year (i.e. December 2019), given that we're spending more than a million dollars a day on emergency housing grants for 8500 people, many of whom have complex high needs, where are we going to put those refugees?Chris Hipkins’ office didn't know so they referred us to Kris Faafoi's office, who didn't know and they referred us to an immigration manager who is going to get back to us. In an ideal world, religious groups would be sponsoring these refugees and they would be helping provide rentals and jobs and support and all would be well. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that these poor buggers are going to be out of the frying pan that is a UN refugee camp and into the fire that is an emergency housing motel in Rotorua or Hamilton. Hard to be grateful for that.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government is hitting gangs where it hurts their pockets.It's amending the Criminal Proceeds Act to allow seizure of assets of people associated with organised crime – for items they couldn't afford with their legal income.Police Association President Chris Cahill told Kerre McIvor this is a positive move for Police - and they could do it with more of their possessions. "If you can take those bikes and say 'you explain to us how you paid for that legally'. If you can, you can have it back, and if you can't, it's getting forfeited, and that can have a real impact."However, Mongrel Mob Kingdom's adviser Louise Hutchinson says it will affect how gang members get kai for families."Hunting is a primary means for them to gather kai for their whanau, especially in our rural areas." Asides from that, she says she doesn't see this making a difference on the ground."There's still huge problems with poverty, the housing crisis. These things aren't being addressed, which is driving the likes of crime in our nation."LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well there's a funny old thing. Last week, I received a text from someone saying that we needed to be aware that Māori were being appointed to conservation councils replacing elected councillors and that this was being done without any consultation. I'm pretty sure I read it out - it was a big week and maybe I thought I just did - but we did pass it on to our news room. And then what do you know, on Sunday the National Party releases a document that shows the body tasked with reviewing conservation policies has been recommended that the Conservation Act be reviewed and replaced with a system that better honours the Treaty of Waitangi.   It also suggests that the government reforms all conservation entities including Doc and that the Crown revoke its ownership of indigenous species.  And to provide for the delegation, transfer and devolution of functions and powers within the conservation system to tangata whenua.I get that Māori can make a strong claim that they are better kaitiaki of the environment than the government or local councils when you look at the state of the nation's oceans and rivers. But surely any kind of bold transformation of the Conservation Act should involve all parties concerned.  If 85 per cent of the West Coast is affected, then should Coasters be involved in the decision making? Inter-generational recreational fishers and hunters, professional hunters - shouldn't they too have a right to have their voices heard? I like going for the odd tramp or bush walk and as a family we want to do more of that.  There's no suggestion we won't be able to access DOC parks in the future, no suggestion that parts of New Zealand will be closed off to some New Zealanders and not others. We saw that with the transfer of ownership of mountains to iwi - for example, the 14 tupuna maunga of Auckland that were part of the settlement of 2014 -  technically they are in the custody of their traditional iwi but they are held in trust for the common benefit of the iwi/hapū of Ngā Mana Whenua o Tāmaki Makaurau and the other people of Auckland.So undoubtedly there will be much comment, much debate - especially as government review committees seem to be recommending Maori have a seat at the table in many areas of government.  We had health last week, conservation this week.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A concerned father has spoken out after his 8 -year-old daughter was confronted by the sight of a naked man sunbathing while she was collecting rubbish on Pāpāmoa Beach.Dave Laidlaw, 41, was walking along the beach towards the Mount from Pacific View Rd with his two young daughters and was shocked when they saw the naked man because there were no signs indicating it was a nudist area, the Bay of Plenty Times wrote."[She] spotted some plastic, and with the tide right up was walking along the base of the dunes looking for more rubbish to collect when she stumbled on to a fully nude man. It gave her a hell of a fright."Laidlaw did not lay a complaint with the police or council because he understood it was a designated nudist area.He told Kerre McIvor that he is not worried about nudity, but he has a problem with a naked man out on a public beach with an erection. "I'm just asking for clarification - is it a local nudist area, or is it just an unwritten rule that everyone knows it's a nude part of the beach."He says there are no signs to warn people whether they mind nudity or not. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Police Association have slammed the government's public sector pay freeze as an unacceptable bombshell, and I couldn't have put it better myself. Bombshell is right. Had we been warned that New Zealand was facing a period of belt tightening in the wake of Covid, had we been advised that we must all be prepared for a time of austerity as we pay back the awful cost of lockdowns, had the government not been handing out money hand over fist including 25 dollars extra per week to beneficiaries, increasing paid parental leave by twenty dollars a week and extending the period of paid parental leave.Not to mention boosted the Families Package by 75 dollars a week, boosted the Best Start payment by 60 dollars a week for the first three years of a child's life, introduced a free period products scheme throughout our schools, if we hadn't been spending a million dollars a day on motels for the homeless, invested 700 million dollars into shovel ready projects which as it turns out aren't shovel ready.If as recently as yesterday, the Finance Minister hadn't announced that he'd found damn near a billion dollars down the back of the couch. If they hadn't been shaking the Wellington Money Tree until it’s damn near been stripped bare, then my loins would have been well and truly girded in preparation for a period of austerity. But, because this government has been so free and easy with the cash, because they have done what Labour government’s traditionally do, and that is spend, this pay freeze IS indeed a bombshell. Public sector workers earning more than 60 grand, those are your front line workers doing the toughest jobs, can only expect pay increases in exceptional circumstances; those earning more than 100 thousand won't get a cent more over the next three years. Talk about a kick in the guts.  There's money for everyone it seems, except the workers.Nope, they'll be off to Oz, as will any other public servant with transferrable skills.  Look, spending is what Labour governments do, they build up the state sector. In Ardern’s first government, the number of public servants increased 5.2 per cent to nearly 50 thousand.They look after workers and beneficiaries, and primarily that's because National governments run down public departments and reduce spending. But to be all kind and generous with taxpayers’ money, to give until it hurts, to bleed taxpayers until the pips squeak; and THEN to announce a pay freeze? Bloody hell. It's the stuff of the Muldoon days. Next thing, they'll mandate carless days when we'll all have to cycle to work one day a week to get some use out of the hundreds of millions of dollars they've spent on cycle ways.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trevor Mallard is again facing pressure to stand down.The Speaker sparked a testy debate with National MPs last night after he said under Parliamentary Privilege a worker had committed sexual assault.Mallard has previously apologised to the worker for wrongly accusing him of rape.Leader of the House Chris Hipkins says the debate didn't reflect well on Parliament or the people involved, and Jacinda Ardern will release a statement on the matter today.Former Speaker Sir Lockwood Smith says members should be able to make personal statements.But he told Kerre McIvor as Speaker, he made sure that right was never abused.“That personal statement had to be explaining something with respect to the member themselves, not someone else, so there are meant to be important boundaries around these things.”LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Speaker of the House needs to go. He has continued a vendetta against a former staffer, a man he labelled as a rapist - a claim that cost taxpayers more than $330,000. We paid Mallard's $175,000 legal fees, this is a man who earns $296,000 per year plus expenses and who has been paid by the taxpayer since he was MP for Hamilton West since 1984. You'd think he'd have enough stashed away to cover his own legal bills, but there we go. We also paid a $158,000 ex-gratia payment to the former staffer to settle the defamation claim. Now he's re-litigated the affair all over again, trying to paint himself as a champion for women and victims and using Parliamentary Privilege to denigrate the staffer all over again. He told the house he did not agree that he'd destroyed the former staffer's life; he did that when according to Mallard, he sexually assaulted a woman. According to Barry Soper, Newstalk ZB's political editor, what the staffer did was hug the woman, which might have been unwelcome, but does not constitute serious sexual assault.  Barry says we should all care about what Mallard said and where he said it because it's a gross abuse of power and privilege.  So, I think we do need to care. You may think it’s knocking the government, what’s $330,000 when we are paying a million a day to hoteliers? As National MP Chris Bishop says, come out and say it without the protection of privilege.He won’t, because then he’ll be personally liable.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.