Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Unemployment's risen again to a ten-year high, with 165 thousand Kiwis currently out of work.  Stats NZ data shows the unemployment rate was 5.4% in the December quarter, up from 5.3% in the September quarter.  It's now the highest it's been since September 2015.  The Herald's Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham while today's rise is small, it's also unexpected.  He says there was some hope we had seen the peak of unemployment, but it appears we haven’t.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Remember the terror of the driving test? Your heart in your mouth as you drove around the mean streets of Timaru or Ashburton, or in my case Tauranga, with a gimlet-eyed traffic cop watching your every move. The parallel parking, the hill starts. I only got my license because the cop took pity on me, I'd have lost my job if I didn't pass the test. But it's been 40 years now and I haven't had any major incidents in that time, fingers crossed. His faith was justified. Getting your driver's license is a rite of passage. But now Chris Bishop has announced a swathe of changes, the first to the testing regime since 2011 for drivers and for wannabe drivers, as he explained to Mike Hosking this morning.  “Firstly, we know that younger drivers are more dangerous on the roads. We know that inexperienced drivers are more dangerous on the road. You add alcohol and drugs to that, it's a really toxic mix. So we've gone for a zero-alcohol rule for anyone on their learners and restricted. We've made sure that people under 25 spend longer on their learners as a default. They can lower that down by doing an approved driving training course, which again we know the evidence shows makes a difference.   “And it's all about road experience, so that's why we've gone for a longer period of time at the front end in terms of spending time on your learners. But then at the other end, we don't think it makes a lot of sense to make people go and do a second practical test after they've been driving for a long period of time on their restricted and have got used to the road code and they've got that practical experience. We just didn't think it made sense to have people spend all the time and money to go and get a second test. Most countries don't do that, so we're bringing ourselves in line with that.”  So, once you sit your practical on your restricted and get your restricted, no more second test. Longer time spent on the learner licenses for under 25s, so 12-month learner period, an increase of six months. You can reduce that learner period by six months if you record practice hours or complete an approved practical course. It'll be cheaper to get a full license, it will reduce by 80 bucks under the new system. If you get demerits, you'll face a further six months on your restricted. There'll be fewer eyesight screenings, so that will only be required at the first license application and at each renewal. Chris Bishop explained about the zero-alcohol rule, no learner or restricted driver will be able to have a drop of alcohol in their blood. And there'll be stronger oversight of the training providers. NZTA can suspend driver training course providers if they think there's something iffy going on. So some good changes, but as the Driver Training Association told Ryan Bridge this morning, it's a bit of a mixed bag. I'd have liked to have seen a few more changes, like resitting your license at 60 and then 80. Like those who hold overseas driver's licenses having to sit a full test on New Zealand roads. Our roads are markedly different to those of other countries, our driving conditions are markedly different, so I would like to see anyone who holds an overseas driver's license having to sit a driver's license here. Like having to resit your license or go to traffic school if you're pulled over for three driving offences in a certain timeframe. I think we should have been tougher. It's a privilege, not a right, to be on our roads. I do like some of the changes, but I really would have liked to have seen the government go further. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government wants to open New Zealand up to mining investment from all countries, not just from the US.  New Zealand's one of dozens of countries negotiating with the US on a potential minerals deal.  Ministers from New Zealand, Australia, the US, UK and EU are also meeting in Washington DC this week to discuss a potential security alliance over critical minerals.  Minerals Council CEO Josie Vidal told Kerre Woodham New Zealand has a real opportunity to promote the fact that our mining is responsible, that we have really high standards for employment and health and safety.   She says she can’t think of anywhere else on the planet that has stricter environmental regulations than we do.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As children head off to school this week, many of them for the first time, a woeful number of young ones are ill-prepared for the classroom.   A recent survey conducted by the Auckland Primary Principals' Association and released by the ECE sector partnership, found nearly 90% of Auckland primary schools have reported an increasing number of children starting school without basic skills, such as talking, eating, and toileting. To be very clear, these are not children who have mental and or physical disabilities. These are erstwhile normies, kids who should be able to do all of these basic, basic skills. The same survey, undertaken with 120 primary and intermediate schools, said all but 2% of those who responded said there's a real prevalence of new entrants having trouble with following directions and sharing. 92% of schools have new entrants who don't know the letters of their own names. Schools also reported new entrants who have real challenges dressing, identifying their name, they're unable to hold a pencil or drawing utensil, those fine motor skills.   Now, probably there'll be retired teachers sitting there muttering, going, well this is nothing new, there have always been children in new entrant classes who have required extra help. But the schools in the survey have around 15 children per cohort, per new intake cohort, who need extra help in getting them learning ready. That's a lot of kids, and a lot of extra time and effort to spend on children to get them to the same start line as the other new entrants. One of the schools has introduced, in effect, streaming. At Massey Primary, they've set up two new entrant classes to support children at the different ends of the school readiness spectrum. So, those who are able to identify their names, who are hungry to learn, who can hold pencils, they're in one class, those who need help in going to the toilet are in another class. It's a sensible solution to a problem that really should not exist.   The report is, in effect, talking up the value of quality early childhood education, and it's calling for more funding for the sector. It can make a huge difference to the school readiness of a child, which is quite true. But so too does a parent who takes an interest in their child. The report, while talking up ECE, is very quick to excuse parents. It says this should not be attributed, the lack of school readiness should not be attributed to parents who are juggling a myriad of obligations in an increasingly busy environment that includes a cost of living crisis.   So the lack of a child's ability to be ready for school should not be attributed to parents who are juggling myriad of obligations in an increasingly busy environment that includes a cost of living crisis. Come on – how can it not be a parent's responsibility? I would have thought it would take an enormous effort to dumb a child down to the extent that some of them are turning up at school. Children are naturally curious, they want to learn. That's why we're not still primordial slime – we have a natural, innate desire to know. Children also naturally want to be clean, they don't want to be in a nappy at six, unless that's what they've had to get used to. It doesn't have to cost anything to develop a child's natural curiosity, it's just time spent with them. Every single child psychologist will tell you that, those first 1,000 days. It's not about the flashiest pens and pencils and buying them books and it's not even, it's just having a safe, warm, dry place, which can be difficult for some, but then spending time with them. And if you're not confident about answering questions or reading to them, or you can't be bothered taking them to the park, then you can send them to childcare where the well-trained educators will do the hard work for you. There's free hours at childcare centres.   Please, when we're talking about the readiness or not of children for school, sure, talk up early childhood education, ask for more money, but please, do not exculpate parents who know they can and should be doing better by their children. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's believed the pandemic can't be used as an excuse for why a growing number children aren't ready for life in the classroom.  Some primary schools are reporting record levels of children arriving without basic skills such as talking, eating, and toileting.  Auckland Primary Principals' Association President and Milford School Principal Lucy Naylor told Kerre Woodham this was the case immediately after Covid, but it's still continuing.  She says some Covid babies are now well established in school, so it's concerning there's been no improvement.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We thought we'd start with the new 12-month prescription rules. They came into force this weekend and are designed to save time and cut GP visits for patients. But community pharmacists say this could be the straw that breaks the camel's back because it's the latest in a raft of changes in a sector that is fighting to survive. The rules mean that people with long-term stable conditions can now get prescriptions of up to a year from their prescriber. And the government says this could save you up to $100 and more in GP fees annually. So that's got to be a good thing and you would think that the GPs would be in support of this too because if they have concerns about their patient's health and well-being, then they can say, well no, I'm not going to give you the one-year prescription, you'll have to come back more regularly. So they can decide. But if they do have an otherwise healthy patient, they can do the year-long prescription, then that frees them up for other patients. They say that there are too many for them to deal with, the workload is too much. Hopefully this reduces the workload. But for pharmacists, they say the increased competition from Chemist Warehouse and Bargain Chemist, the moves to allow pharmacists to prescribe medicines, and now this, the year-long prescriptions. It's a lot of change that they're having to deal with. They say there's going to be no real financial change as a result of the year-long prescriptions, but what it may well mean is less foot traffic through the pharmacies and for these smaller neighbourhood pharmacies, it's the retail sales that help them stay viable in the wake of the competition from these huge hypermarket-type chemists. Health Minister Simeon Brown told the Weekend Collective though that it's a no-brainer that for certain conditions, annual prescriptions become the norm. Ultimately, GPs and prescribers will make the decision on a case-by-case basis in consultation with their patients. And ultimately, it'll be people with long-term stable conditions who most likely are going to benefit. So for example, someone like myself, I've got asthma, it's a long-term stable condition. In consultation with my GP, those would be the conversations. You think about diabetes, epilepsy, other conditions as well where there's patients with a long-term condition. At the moment, they're having to go back to their GP every three months to get their prescription renewed. Well, actually under this new policy, they'll be able to the GP will be able to give them a 12-month prescription. They'll still have to collect their medication from the pharmacy every three months, but it will save them that prescription renewal and of course the cost and time that goes alongside that for what is medicines that they need and have had probably for many years. I would have thought absolutely that GPs would think, yes, excellent. You know, I've got healthy patients who have asthma, here's your year-long prescription and now I can see those that need more time. I was amazed at the number of people when we first talked about the proposed changes, I was amazed at the number of people who had a real relationship with their chemist. Like to me, I've got a lovely chemist just up the road and I quite like her, but if I'm in the mall, I'll pop into the Chemist Warehouse and pick up all sorts of things. They have a range of products at really low prices and then I'll pick up things that I might otherwise have got at my neighbourhood chemist. But there were people who were passionately loyal to their neighbourhood chemist because they might have diagnosed conditions that GPs had missed or picked up on prescription errors that GPs and more than one caller phoned in about that. And they say that their chemist provide excellent holistic care. They were really really loyal to their neighbourhood chemists. They were really worried that the supermarket chemists were going to put their local pharmacists out of business. But at the same time, when you have to make an appointment every three months to see your doctor or to check in with your doctor, pay your $25 to get a repeat of a prescription that you know you need and you know you're going to need for a long time, it makes sense. You know, this is a common sense piece of legislation I would have thought. And sometimes you have to accept that you cannot subsidise an arm of a business, of an industry, of a profession just to keep it going. You know, should patients with long-term conditions be paying more, be paying $100 each on average more just to keep an arm of a business going? No, unfortunately. You know, if your local chemist is good enough, surely they will stay in business because you will keep going back there. You know they need your support to survive, so you will go. The changes I think are good and surely if, you know, you might not see a patient as often if there's year-long prescriptions, but once pharmacists are able to prescribe for certain conditions, surely that will see a lift in business. I think it's a good thing overall for New Zealanders and the professions are just going to have to adapt to survive. 0800 80 10 80 is the number to call. I'd really love to get your feedback on this one, especially if you are involved in as a pharmacist or working in a pharmacy. How are these changes really going to affect you? Sometimes I think when the media approaches sectors for comment, they'll find reasons to be against something just for the sake of it, just because it seems to be that's what you do. Very seldom do you go, yep, this is brilliant. Yep, there might be a bit of foot traffic falling off, but we'll see that pick up when we're able to prescribe medicines. I don't know, I would very much like to hear from you on this one. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I've always understood the theory behind mainstreaming. We're all different, we all have different abilities, different attitudes, and a classroom of individuals with diverse personalities and levels of learning prepares young people for the real world. You're not among your own kind once you leave school and enter the workplace, enter the community. Mainstreaming means that kids who are different physically, intellectually, socially, aren't siloed or separated or marginalised. They're part of the wider school community and if they need extra time or attention, well in an ideal classroom, the teacher gladly offers it and the other students make space, accepting that some people need more resources than others.  That's the theory. In reality, for many families, mainstreaming is brutal for teachers, for students, both the normies and the diverse students, the families of the normies. It can work, but only if there are the resources and the goodwill to make it happen. In reality, overworked teachers simply do not have the time or indeed the training to be able to offer the sort of specialised education that children with diverse and complex needs need.  Now the Government has announced funding for two new specialist schools, catering to children with high needs and disabilities. They are the first schools for such kids to be built in 50 years, which is how long the prevailing ideology of mainstreaming clearly has been going on. Education Minister Erica Stanford and Finance Minister Nicola Willis made the announcement yesterday at Queen Elizabeth College in Palmerston North. That college's campus will host one of the schools, which will open in Term 2 of 2027. The other will open next to Ngākōroa School in Drury in South Auckland in Term 1 of 2028.  The announcement of the two special schools, together with the Autism New Zealand education hubs that opened in Term 3 of last year for neurodivergent secondary students struggling with traditional schooling, really will give some parents, some kids, some choices. The charter schools sponsored by Autism New Zealand are operating from campuses in Wellington and Auckland, 96 students to begin with, and utilises homeschooling, online learning and community-based learning as a way to transition students back into the classroom learning face-to-face.  Autism NZ has accepted that there are many young people with autism for whom mainstreaming simply does not work. It doesn't work for them, it doesn't work for the other students, it doesn't work for the teachers. And so to get the best out of young people, they have created a curriculum that best suits them. It makes sense. Of course there are naysayers. Some education academics believe more money should be put into mainstream schools to cater for those with diverse needs rather than building special schools for them.  But that won't work for every child. What do they say? If you've met one neurodiverse child... There are some children for whom mainstreaming absolutely works, but not every child is going to enjoy being a square peg trying to squeeze through a round hole. Some will, but surely the alternative education hubs that have opened and those that are being planned make sense for parents who recognise that their child's potential can only be realised with specialist teachers in a school that's built to accommodate complex needs. It's back to the future, and those who are not blinkered and blinded by ideology know that there are lessons to be learned from the past. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government is building two new specialist schools for children with complex learning needs.   The schools in Palmerston North and South Auckland will open in 2027 and 2028 respectively.   Education Minister Erica Stanford says debate has raged on whether such children should be in mainstream or special schools.   She told Kerre Woodham that there’s an argument that every single child should be mainstream no matter the degree of need, but it was never going to happen.  Stanford says they’re the first government in a very long time to draw the line and say it’s about choice – if your children need highly specialised care, then that should be a choice that is available to you.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Concerns that banning the use of boats and jet skis by fire stations is a box ticking exercise.  Fire and Emergency NZ banned the use of all powered watercrafts by local fire stations in May of 2025.  The decision means that Waikato’s volunteer fire stations are unable to use their jet skis and boat during emergency situations on the Waikato River.  Yesterday saw Fire and Emergency face tough questioning on the subject at the Governance and Administration Select Committee.   Waikato MP Tim van de Molen told Kerre Woodham it’s a classic case of bureaucracy and red tape stifling practical, common-sense solutions.   He says that every brigade needs to be able to operate to safe standards, but the brigades in question have undertaken significant effort to ensure they’re doing exactly that.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I have said it before and I'll say it again. We can argue for hours, we can have online debates, we can write letters to the editor about whether extreme weather events are the result of anthropomorphic activity or whether we're just in the middle of a natural cycle that's occurred for millennia, but ultimately, what we think about climate change doesn't really matter. It's what banks and insurers and councils and the Government thinks that matters. And when they decide climate change is making some homes uninsurable, there's no arguing about it. Insurance companies just will not insure you, which means you won't be able to get a mortgage, which means you won't be able to buy a home in certain places unless you can buy it on your EFTPOS card, like Westport.  There's a story on Radio New Zealand's website today. A major insurance company has temporarily stopped offering new home insurance policies in Westport because of the fact that the town floods and floods again. AA Insurance, which has approximately half a million New Zealand customers, wrote to Buller District Mayor Chris Russell at the end of 2023 to tell him AA would halt new business home and landlord insurance policies for properties in the 7825 postcode, which covers Westport, Carters Beach and Cape Foulwind. The company said existing policies would stay in place and it had put a transfer policy in place for anyone looking to buy or sell a home that was currently insured with AA.  Tower Insurance is another one. People who own properties in locations where Tower deems the risk is too great are now being denied insurance cover outright. Beware signing up to a sale and purchase agreement before you can be sure you have insurance. A couple of legal firms are saying would-be buyers have found when they apply for a mortgage that they've signed up for a property on an insurer's red-lined list. Because they can't get insurance, they can't get the mortgage. But with no insurance condition in their sale and purchase agreement, they still have a contractual obligation to settle on the purchase.  Back to Westport. The West Coast Regional Council Chief Executive said the first stages of the Resilient Westport project involved building 17 kilometres of stopbanks. Most of that work's in the planning and design stages, but two sections have been built already and that will be protecting around 30 houses that hadn't had that protection before. And in the next few months, they'll be progressing more of the flood bank, which will result in more houses being protected. And the council plans to show that to insurers who'll be visiting the town at the end of next month as different stages of the flood protection scheme are completed.  So AA has said to Westport that if its flood exposure drops below the maximum exposure limit in the future, if they believe the flood banks will do the job of protecting the homes, then they'll reopen books to new customers. But they're not the first insurer to stop insuring where they deem the risk is too great, and they certainly won't be the last.   So as I say, we can argue all we like about climate change and who's responsible and whether anyone should be held responsible at all. It really doesn't matter because policies are being drafted, policies are being enacted that take climate change into account. And whatever we believe, we will be denied insurance, paying the increased premiums, reshaping our towns and communities as a result of what the banks, the insurers and the council believe. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.