Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

A Christchurch man says the scene that confronted him ten years ago felt like it was straight out of a movie.Lawyer Andrew Riches was sitting in his office when the building started shaking and filing cabinets fell down.He ran outside and was one of the first rescuers at the PGC building, which had pancaked, claiming 18 lives.Riches told Kerre McIvor when he heard people calling out for help he sprang to action. "When I stopped and looked at it, the whole building had collapsed down many floors on top of each other."You run through your head, how many people would be working on each floor - there must be a pile of desks in there."Riches, alongside fellow lawyers David Lang and Toby Giles, were honoured with awards from the Christchurch Mayor of that time,  Bob Parker, for heroism during the earthquake.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Unsafe lead levels have been found in the blood of East Otago-based children.It was revealed earlier in the month unsafe levels of lead had been discovered in the southern towns of Karitane and Waikouaiti. The levels go back to as early as July 2020.Back in 2017, a Government inquiry found 20 per cent of the country's tap water was not up to standard, with as many as 750,000 New Zealanders exposed to drinking water that was not safe.Water New Zealand is the industry body for the three water sector - drinking water, waste water and storm water.Water NZ Technical Manager Noel Roberts told Kerre McIvor the main problem is resources."Both people capability and funds, and stretched between multiple needs for funding, especially from rates.A Beca report says New Zealand needs to look at desalination and purifying of waste water. Mr Roberts says the level of expertise required is not cheap, and there are not many individuals around the country who can do it."That's sort of why the DIA is looking at the three waters reform and what the options are there."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Salvation Army's released its annual State of the Nation report focusing on areas such as crime, housing, and poverty.One of their biggest concerns is that the large increases in hardship are going to linger long after the Covid-19 pandemic - exemplified by food parcels given out last year, doubling to more than 110-thousand.They're urging the Government to take harder action against the housing crisis as it's key to addressing income poverty, which is worsening.Salvation Army Lieutenant Colonel Ian Hutson says increasing benefits, or any income, doesn't work if the cost of housing just keeps rising too.He told Kerre McIvor the housing register is continuing to climb. "It's got up to over 22,000 people, those who are in most need of housing."Hutson says the number of social housing needs to be ramped up. "There is a real need to increase the number of social housing that is being built."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Remember Shamima Begum? The entitled little schoolgirl who ran away to be a terrorist with two of her mates, married two terrorists, gave birth to three babies who all subsequently died and then demanded the right to return to the UK and that the UK return her citizenship - she was stripped of it in the interests of national security. She's still battling for the right to return to the UK claiming she's a citizen and she has the rights of a citizen but at the moment, she's cooling her heels in a refugee camp while her lawyers battle for her to be allowed back in the UK so she can plead her case. There was a glimmer of hope that she could be palmed off to Bangladesh as her parents were originally from Bangladesh, but the Bangladeshi government quite sensibly washed their hands of her and said she was the UK's problem. And so the battle goes on. Now we have our very own Shamima Begum in the form of Suhayra Aden - a New Zealand born, Aussie raised woman who ran away to join the ISIS from Australia. Although the Australian and New Zealand authorities had been working on how they could solve the problem of Suhayra for a number of years, the decision by Scott Morrisson to strip Aden of her Australian citizenship means she and her two children are now solely the responsibility of this country. How did our PM take that news?  Fair to say, not well. She says she told Morrison if the issue became public she would speak very strongly on New Zealand's view.Australia's PM was unrepentant. Morrison told media  Australia does not want to see terrorists, who fought with terrorist organisations, enjoying privileges of citizenship, and he has to put his country's interest first.This is what Australia has been doing. If there's a sniff of a hope that some thug was born in New Zealand, back they go. It doesn't matter if they went over as a babe in arms, back they go. I find it incredible our Prime Minister would be shocked and surprised.They don't want to deal with thugs, with criminals, with hardcore recidivists, and they've found a way of divesting themselves of that problem. Even if they raised them and didn't give their families the kick up the bum to raise them right, they see them as our problem. We do the same - to Samoans, to Tongans, Irish and Americans have been sent back. If we find a way to kick you out, we do the same. It was the most angry I think I've seen Jacinda Ardern been at a press conference, but I had to wonder why - this is what they do. The difference here is does this woman even want to come back? She was caught trying crossing the border from Syria into Turkey to join the 3.6 million other refugees registered as Syrian that Turkey is trying to manage.The Turkish authorities detained her and now they want to deport her - it's simply a matter of which country is prepared to take her.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Researchers are looking into how to expand Covid-19 detection - with a Kiwi at the forefront of developing more accessible technology. Air New Zealand employees undertaking regular surveillance testing are participating in a Institute of Environmental Science and Research study, that will test saliva for the virus.The study will include the SalivaDirect Covid-19 testing technology developed by Nathan Grubaugh and New Zealander Anne Wyllie at Yale University in the US.While the Ministry of Health say at this stage there is still no indication that saliva PCR testing could replace the mandatory nasopharyngeal testing, health experts say it's only a matter of time.The ACT Party has come out this morning calling for daily mandatory saliva tests for border and MIQ Staff.  So just how is saliva testing progressing?Dr Wyllie told Kerre McIvor that she wanted to make a test as effective as possible, and they worked off developing the same PCR technology as the nasal swabs but make it more affordable. "We started playing with this back in April. There's still such a dire need here in the US for testing, so anything we could do to increase access to testing." She says they validated their method with the National Basketball Association and their bubble.LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kerre McIvor shares her thoughts on housing intensification and NIMBY-ism below, and chats with National Party leader Judith Collins about finding the balance. Residents in Christchurch are up in arms about ugly intensive housing developments popping up in their neighbourhoods. They've started a petition, and National MP David Bennett is also behind a petition in Hamilton to halt a Kainga Ora housing development as it was a “high density development in a low density suburban area” that would “change the character of the suburb”. I can totally understand how residents would feel.  When we were living in Grey Lynn and Wellpark College, which was a big college on a large piece of land went from one side of the block to the other, when that was sold, we assumed it was going to be an apartment complex put up there. Why wouldn’t there be? It made absolute sense that an apartment building would be put there.  Though, as it turned out, beautiful, single level dwellings were put up.I still think they should have put apartments there. It was a perfect site for an apartment building, if you were looking to create lower cost housing in the central city.When residents of Point Chevalier, a lovely seaside suburb close to the central city complain, about six storey apartment blocks popping up next to family homes, again, understandable. But if the only reason to oppose the development is because you don't like it, that's simply not good enough.  Not when people are desperate to get into their own homes in the cities. Even the National Party is now backing the Government’s National Policy Statement on Urban Development, which will stop councils from enforcing height limits of less than six storeys near major transit routes in an attempt to intensify cities. There is no need for intensification to necessarily be ugly. I can understand why people are opposed to intensification when you look around and see what’s happened to the monstrosity that is Auckland Central. But we need more homes – more thoughtfully planned, well designed homes, and that cannot be impossible.And interestingly, successful NIMBYs seem to come from the leafier, more expensive suburbs.  They know how to use the process.  But one of their more potent weapons may be done away with under the changes announced to the RMA.  The NIMBY's weapon of choice is the RMA appeals process - blocking consents - and the Environment Minister won't commit to keeping it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The stoush between Rawiri Waititi and the Speaker of the House is absolutely absurd. If Waititi wants to wear a hei tiki shaped taonga around his neck into Parliament for goodness sake, he should be able to. This stoush has been brewing for some time. Late last year, Waititi was warned that he faced being ejected from the House if he did not wear a tie, after refusing to wear one. Well, after refusing to wear what Mallard deems to be a tie.  Peter Dunne was allowed to wear that absurd foppish bow tie in the debating chamber.  It seems Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March, who is of Mexican descent, is allowed to wear a Bona bolo tie. These are as much ties as hei tiki. The origin of the tie appears to have come about after Louis XIII hired Croatian mercenaries during the 30 year war in France.  They wore red scarfs around their necks and Louis liked the look so much, he appropriated it and thus the cravat was born, and from there came the tie. Ties came about because a French fop wanted to jazz up his wardrobe.  It has nothing to do with a mark of respect or gravitas or dignity.Late last year, Mallard said he was open to relaxing the rules around ties in the House. He had asked all MPs for their opinion as to whether or not MPs should be wearing ties in Parliament.That feedback came back in the affirmative and the rule stayed."A significant majority of members who responded opposed any change to dress standards for the Debating Chamber," Mallard said."Having considered those views, I have decided that no change in current standards is warranted. Business attire, including a jacket and tie for men, remains the required dress standard." But as I mentioned above, Mallard is open to interpretation as to what a tie should look like.  A bow tie?  A piece of string?  But not a hei tiki? Mallard is the problem, not the co-leader of the Māori Party.  What if Labour needed the Māori Party to govern in a cobbled together coalition?  You can bet your bippy then the Speakers version of what a tie looked like would include a hei tiki. Also, as we mentioned yesterday, the Speaker of the House has done more to sully the integrity of the House than Rawiri Waititi. Besides, is this really what we pay our MPs to do?  Engage in personal power struggles wasting valuable time and energy that could be spent on issues that really matter?  Get back to work like the rest of us had to do weeks earlier than you lot.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Royal Society of New Zealand panel has been brought in to improve students' declining maths results.The Ministry of Educations National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement shows only 45 percent of students in Year 8 are achieving at the expected curriculum level.It comes after a survey late last year found Kiwi students' maths knowledge in the first year of high school, is below all other English speaking countries.Education Minister Chris Hipkins told Kerre McIvor that the politicisation of education isn't too blame, and both sides of the aisles agree it is an issue.However, he agrees that some of the solutions have been too political. "If you look at National Standards, they were tackling the right problem but they had the wrong solution." He says there has been bipartisanship in looking for a solution. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It is still a big regret of mine that I lost my way with maths. I was really enjoying maths for years and years and then I hit fifth form and either it was the change of teacher or I'd just reached my natural limit but one minute I had it, and the next minute it was gone. One minute I was enjoying the glorious purity of solving equations, the next the numerals and symbols were just incomprehensible ciphers. I managed to scrape through School C maths, then collapsed into a sixth form economics class and that was the end of maths for me. And I've had on my bucket list for years the desire to go back to school and learn the language of maths properly.  It's a beautiful language and one I got to do the equivalent of saying Hello, how are you? and Thank you very much in - just your basic essentials but that was it. And it appears I'm not alone.  For years and years, Kiwi kids have been on a slippery slope - if I knew maths I'd be able to put a maths pun in there about angles - sliding down the international league tables since global testing started in the 1990s. To be fair, we're also flunking in reading and science.  But the latest results of the Trends in International Maths and Science Study released last year were so bad that everybody's decided that somebody has to do something .And look at that, somebody has. The Ministry of Education has called in a Royal Society expert panel to adapt the national curriculum to achieve this. There are four main surveys that measure how well our education system is doing.  All show that we're in trouble.  And we've known this for years.  There are so many, many things wrong with our education system, it's hard to know where to start. Perhaps when our national curriculum advisory service was abolished with the establishement of Tomorrow's Schools.  Schools became self governing and in recent years, schools have been left to buy their own advice from approved profit driven facilitators.  Schools bid for professional development funding from a limited pool. Teachers need more support.  Only 14 per cent of NZ Year 5 primary teachers specialised in maths in their training compared with a global average of 43 per cent.  Kids are also missing out because teachers stream students into ability based groups far more than their global counterparts do. It's a shambles but it can and should be fixable.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A chance to help young people through the justice system, and reduce reoffending.The Young Adult List separates 18-25 year olds from adult court, and offers extra support.It's being trialled for 12 months at Porirua District Court, and is being described as a huge success.Principal Youth Court Judge John Walker told Kerre McIvor one of the biggest problems the programme addresses is the complicated jargon."It's a strange and scary place and the language used is often not understood by people on the street, and people from whatever walk of life have a real hard job understanding the court process." He says the current system treats them as fully functioning adults, when they clearly aren't."Unless we can have them fairly participate in the case which is about them, then there is no wraparound service or intervention that is going to work."LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.