Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

When I first heard about Winston Peters’ idea to give every newborn baby $1,000 so they can have a KiwiSaver account from birth, I liked the sound of it.

Until I did some numbers. Which I’ll get to.

Announcing the NZ First policy yesterday, he said it would be compulsory for every newborn to be signed-up to KiwiSaver and the state would throw in $1,000 to get things started.

He said the policy would ensure every child began their f...

I can understand why people living at Pegasus, north of Christchurch, are upset about the golf course there being sold to a large property developer.

But, at the same time, how long can anyone expect the area they live in to stay the same?

And, while I might not make friends with the Pegasus people saying this, I think they are just going to have to accept it.

What happened is we got a tip-off earlier this week that the golf course...

Where do you think government spending should be prioritised?

According to new survey findings, a third of us reckon health funding and access to medicines is most important and must be given top priority.

And I find it hard to argue with that, because we’re all involved in the health system in some way, shape or form, aren’t we?

This is at the same time as we have the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister saying there’s more bel...

Opposition Leader Chris Hipkins wouldn't say whether his internal polling indicates he would need Te Pāti Māori's support to form a government if Labour is successful in this year’s election.

Speaking to Canterbury Mornings, the Labour Party leader said the internal polling he receives shows Labour in the “high thirties”, and he is confident the party is on the right track to win in November.

"My goal is to make sure Labour gets th...

Why do councils bother with public consultation when, it seems, they don’t even listen to what people have to say?

I’m asking that after the announcement by the Christchurch City Council that it wants to put another $15 million into the reinstatement of the Anglican Cathedral.

That’s on top of the $10 million the council has already committed to the project.

I’m asking because, even though only a minuscule amount of people have tol...

When I was a first-home buyer, I can honestly say that I never expected any parental assistance with the finances.

Now, granted, my father was no longer alive and I probably thought it would be a stretch for my mum to help out. But I had no expectations.

And, as far as I can remember, I didn’t grow up with any expectation that the Bank of Mum and Dad would be there to get me onto the property ladder.

Fast-forward to today, though, ...

Labour leader Chris Hipkins won’t be loving the news out today that the coalition government is on its way to a second term, but Christopher Luxon shouldn’t be either.  

According to the NZ Herald - Motu research Poll of Polls, there is an 88.3 percent chance of the coalition getting back in this year. 

Election results from the last 12 years have been run through 4,000 simulations, and it’s shown there is nearly a 90 per...

I have my reservations about the Government’s new fast-track laws, because it encourages that whole “do something for the sake of doing something” mentality.

And my reservations are only being amplified with this news that Christchurch City Council staff want to use the fast-track legislation to get on with the job of rezoning the land where the old temporary stadium is, in Addington, so it can be sold to developers.

It’s not the l...

Quite rightly, people living in the central city in Christchurch have had a gutsful of the number of places being rented out as Airbnb-type accommodation.

They’re speaking out today, saying they don’t want to live in what they call “pretend neighbourhoods”. And they want action. And I’m with them.

Because I reckon the council has sat on its hands way too long on this one. It seems to me that it’s been happy to turn a blind eye to w...

Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger has defended the co‑governance model of the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Committee, which is investigating potential regeneration of the residential red zone. He says progress had stalled, and locals wanted the council to “get on with it.”

“It was going round in circles, so we decided to grab it by the throat, sit down, and get on with it and make decisions.”

The City Council has agreed to...

I heard Barry Soper say yesterday that, despite all the hard talk, the Government’s so-called fast-tracking of local government amalgamation won’t actually happen anytime soon. 

Certainly not before the election. Which is true. Because this is a big change the Government wants to see happen. 

But, in my mind, it can’t happen soon enough. 

The fast-tracking bit is the councils being told that, if they don’t come up wi...

If you woke up this morning hoping things had somehow sorted themselves out in the Strait of Hormuz, sorry to disappoint. 

It’s still the cluster it was yesterday. In fact, worse, actually. With hostilities ramping up overnight. 

Which will probably have Singapore's Prime Minister saying “told you so” to anyone who poo-pooed the comments he made after meeting with Christopher Luxon yesterday, that he doesn’t see things ge...

ACT Leader David Seymour seems to be going all Winston Peters on it, with his party’s new immigration policy. 

There’s stuff in it I think is ok. But there’s one part I don’t think is okay. This ridiculous idea of banning immigrants from getting any sort of benefit until they’ve been here for at least five years. I’ll tell you why shortly. 

But essentially, ACT doesn’t want immigrants getting any sort of free ride. 

...

Is it a flip flop? Is it a sign of things to come? Or is it just something Labour leader Chris Hipkins said off the top of his head when he was asked about it yesterday?

Means testing the NZ Super pension.

Because, back in 2023 - when he was Prime Minister - Hipkins completely ruled out the idea of means testing the pension.

Now, though, he’s saying he’s open to the idea.

And thank goodness he is. Because we can’t go on the way we ...

Winston Peters has gone too far this time. 

Last week, Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis were telling us not to trust him. 

They‘ll be saying it even louder now. After the NZ First leader released emails to the media which show how the Prime Minister was talked out of expressing “explicit public support” for the war in Iran. 

And I'm in no doubt that peters has betrayed Luxon's trust. 

The two of them, apparen...