Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Councils are reportedly signing on to new iwi partnership agreements before the Resource Management Act is replaced.

In the Government’s currently drafted RMA reform, councils won’t be able to enter into new Mana Whakahono ā Rohe agreements which outline how councils and iwi work together on resource management matters. 

Taxpayers Union Executive Director Jordan Williams joined Kerre Woodham to discuss.

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Should we be looking at banning youth from owning smartphones instead of banning them from social media? 

ACT Leader David Seymour has suggested that under-16s should be limited to “dumbphones” that can’t access the internet, but can text and call. 

While not suggesting it as official policy yet, he says social media has caused anxiety, depression, self-harm, poor body image, loneliness, and declining li...

The ACT Party's not really a “ban” sort of a party. I've always thought they supported the idea of letting people go to hell in their own way. If you want to make your own decisions, fill your boots – if they're bad ones, live with the consequences. And perhaps they do still support the idea of adults going to hell in their own way, but not when it comes to kids.  

Leader David Seymour did not support the Nat...

Stop the press, the media has a new darling. Chlöe Swarbrick and the Opportunity Party can have a breather this week, a bit of downtime, because there's only one show in town and it's Paul Henry. The self-made millionaire, the former broadcaster, has thrown his hat into the political ring again. He wants to become a polly, and not just any old polly. He has no interest in sitting on the back benches, cooling his heels, learning the...

I would like to get your feedback on whether or not we should be upgrading our warships. New Zealand's two main warships will reach the end of their working lives within about a decade, and Cabinet must decide by 2027 what should replace them. 

The way we're going it'd be a fleet of jet skis. The choice will shape the country's ability to help keep its trade routes open for a generation, according to retired Major General John...

The Defence Minister says we can't just follow Australia's footsteps as the time for replacing our two ageing warships nears. 

The NZ Initiative says the frigates need to retire within a decade, with complex geopolitics adding urgency. 

It says the replacements will impact our status as a maritime nation, and our trade routes and defence capabilities for the next generation. 

Minister Chris Penk told Kerre Woodham we...

The editorial this morning goes out to all the small and medium business people. Those of you who are starting the work week looking to earn your own keep, employ some New Zealanders, pay your taxes, and provide a product or service that people want or need. You don't want luxury yachts and private jets. You just want to work hard, be rewarded fairly, have people get out of your way, not be strangled by red tape. Seems a fairly rea...

There's positive movement in the club rugby refereeing stand-down in the capital.

Referees will still boycott all club matches this weekend, after 19 reported incidents of verbal abuse towards Wellington whistlers, but they are working with Wellington Rugby to be back officiating the following weekend.

Wellington Rugby Referees Association president Ben van Berkel says things won't change completely in a week - but they had to stan...

Both National and Labour are rolling out new solar power proposals ahead of the election, and it's clear there's mood for change. 

Current WorkSafe rules prohibit the use of certain plug-in solar systems because connecting solar panels directly to standard household plugs is considered a safety risk.

Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey says most political parties are getting behind new proposed energy changes and it's very exciti...

Everybody's into the solar energy now. National announced its solar energy policy last week and most people thought it was a sound idea, good common-sense idea. The party, if elected, would launch the Home Energy Fund by tweaking the Local Government Act and committing a one-off $7 million equity investment to secure a 20% shareholding in the new entity with the balance funded by participating councils. The Home Energy Fund, inspir...

What makes a city liveable? The Economist Intelligence Unit, which is such a grand name, has released its latest list of the most liveable cities. There are 173. Three Australian cities are in the top 10 – Melbourne third, Sydney fourth, and Adelaide eighth. For all the bad press Melbourne gets for its crime, it's doing pretty jolly well to be there in the top three. Auckland came in at 12th place, down five – one of th...

What would you rather? Would you rather toll roads and shiny new roads, or would you rather waiting for NZTA to put you on the list of priorities and potholes up your ying yang?  

New Zealand has just three toll roads right now throughout the country, and two of them are in Tauranga. There are also two more planned on Bay of Plenty roads – not surprisingly, residents are up in arms. Yes, there are workarounds for them un...

Yes, it's election year. How can you tell? They're all coming up with policies now, aren't they, designed to appeal to their core constituency.

Winston Peters played a blinder by announcing to the party faithful at a campaign meeting in Warkworth over the weekend that he wants to see voting rights reserved for citizens of this country only.

If his party is returned to Parliament, he will move to reform voting rights. Current electo...

ACT wants to grant security guards more powers, with industry concerns not many would want the extra abilities

The Party says police are overstretched and security staff can fill the gap - protecting retailers, transport hubs and businesses.

They'd like them allowed to detain and remove people, issue exclusion notices, and use force.

Security Association chief executive Gary Morrison says he doubts most security staff would want to...

Security guards will be given the power to detain people and use force under a sweeping ACT Party proposal that makes the very fair point that police are overstretched, and businesses can no longer wait for officers to respond. Some of them would see tectonic plates drift as they waited for the Police to respond to shoplifters who are slowly but surely causing their business to buckle under the pressure and the increased costs. Rep...

From Michelin stars to school lunches, sublime, ridiculous. I think it's safe to say none of the school lunches on offer will be getting Michelin stars. Then the last lot probably wouldn't have either. A scathing report has been issued by the Auditor General, which says only 50% percent of the meals delivered by the new school lunch programme in 2025 complied with the Ministry of Education's nutrition standards. We haven't talked a...

Multiple hospitals are dealing with failing infrastructure.  

Episodes of heavy rain are causing leaks and water damage at Middlemore Hospital’s aging maternity block.  

And conditions at Hutt Hospital are being described as “disgraceful”, with water getting into wards, collapsing ceilings, and potential electrical hazards. 

Nurses say they’re juggling patient care with buckets and mops, while...

Yesterday, I was talking about the amount of aid we're sending to places like Vietnam and Indonesia. Places I would venture to suggest that are showing more go ahead, more investment in infrastructure than we are. When you're looking at Vietnam, they're building one of the largest stadiums in the world, they've got fast rail underway, they're building a huge city to house much of its population – they're spending billions. It...

Nobody loves a tradie more than a politician in election year. Labour announced it would reset the apprenticeship boost scheme back to two years from 2028 if come the glorious day they became the next government. Labour leader Chris Hipkins announced the election policy to the party faithful at Labour's congress as they call it in election year in Wellington over the weekend.

There are so many young New Zealanders who would love to...