Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

The eagle has landed. One of the police Eagle helicopters from Auckland is in Christchurch for the next two months as part of a crackdown on these criminal kids doing-over dairies and committing other crimes. 

I think it’s brilliant that it’s here and I think we need one here permanently.  

For several reasons: Christchurch is New Zealand’s second-largest city; we have a level of criminal activity here to justify it; and ...

A couple of advisors at the Christchurch City Council have ripped into the Government’s plan for regional councils and have said to councillors that they reckon there’s a better way.

Or more correctly, two better potential ways. Instead of having local mayors run regional councils for two years and, during that time, work out how they’re going to get by without a regional council. At a briefing meeting yesterday, two principal poli...

You might recall a poll result that came out back in September which proved that 75 percent of us are idiots.

It’s these idiots that the Government is pandering to with the council rates cap it announced yesterday. And the 75 percent of people who said in that poll that they support the Government forcing rates caps on councils will be very happy today.

Because, from mid-2029, annual increases won’t be allowed to be any higher than...

Is it time to have a re-think about what’s done with the residential red zone on the east side of Christchurch?

I think it’s fair to say that mayor Phil Mauger thinks so. And so do I.

Phil’s saying today that he wants to see red zone land used for housing as soon as possible. With the first cab off the rank being land on the edge of the area already zoned for it.

This includes land the city council is going to lease to a housing tr...

It’s taken 46 years and we’ve still managed to stuff up the decision as to where to have a memorial for the 257 people who died in the Mt Erebus air disaster. 

It was 46 years ago today when the Air NZ DC-10, flight TE901, ploughed into the side of Mt Erebus.  

And, yes, nice job making the memorial announcement in time for the anniversary, but Cracroft Reserve in Christchurch is not where it should be. In fact, it should...

How interested are you in the quality of your drinking water?

For example, would you like to be able to look up your address and get credible, reliable information from an official source about the nitrate levels in the water coming through your taps?

I would. Because I just don’t know whether to believe some of the alarming stuff that’s been coming out of Greenpeace this week about the nitrate situation or not.

Let’s bring in Asso...

You know how at work you can get people leaving and, instead of hiring new people, they just dish out the work to other people?

Then it gets to the point where the other people look up and realise they’re overworked, overloaded, and burnt out. 

I wonder if that’s how mayors around the country are feeling about the prospect of them not only running their own councils but taking over their local regional council, as well. 

...

Christchurch City Council's been selected to act as a one-stop consenting authority for large-scale supermarket developments. 

Finance Minister Nicola Willis says it's the latest step in the Government plan to make New Zealand attractive for new operators. 

She says developers previously had to navigate up to 66 different councils, processes and responses. 

Willis says the aim is to boost competition in a sector domi...

Labour Leader Chris Hipkins says he's not clear what the Government's aiming for in its plans to change local government.

It's proposing replacing the country's 11 regional councils with boards made up of local mayors.

Hipkins agrees there's an obvious need for change.

But he told John MacDonald he thinks this looks like an attempt to make councils amalgamate.

Hipkins says if that's what they wanted, they should have told councils ...

This move by the Government to change who is ultimately liable for repairs to defective building work on new houses up to three-storeys high and renovation jobs worth more than $100,000 makes me very nervous.  

At the moment, all parties involved in a project are jointly liable for any defects and repairs.  

Which means, sometimes, if one of them can’t pay or if they’ve all gone under since the work was done, the local co...

I’m with the KiwiSaver providers who are saying we need to go further than just increasing contributions and we need to make them compulsory.

This is after the announcement by the National Party yesterday that one of its election policies next year will be increasing contributions to 12 percent (6 percent from employers and 6 percent from employees) by 2032, to bring us into line with Australia.

KiwiSaver providers are saying today...

Labour says the Government shouldn't be celebrating record high prisoner numbers.  

Earlier this week Prime Minister Christopher Luxon declared it was a good thing the prison population was nearing 11 thousand people.  

The Government is also celebrating a reduction by 38 thousand in the number of victims of violent crime since it came into power.  

Labour's Duncan Webb told John MacDonald that while locking people u...

For me, one of the best things to come out of yesterday’s announcement about the Cook Strait ferries has nothing to do with the ferries themselves. 

There’s still a bit of smoke and mirrors about the numbers and what it’s going to end up costing.  

Because what it still comes down to is that the Government poured $671 million down the drain when the Finance Minister pulled the plug on funding for the old ferry project. Wh...

Christchurch's Mayor is suggesting the city's temporary sports stadium could be redeveloped for housing.  

Addington's Apollo Projects Stadium opened in 2012 when the quake-damaged Lancaster Park closed permanently. 

The City Council's confirmed structures including the grandstand will be removed when Te Kaha opens in April, but the future of the Addington site remains unclear. 

Mayor Phil Mauger told John MacDonald ...

I hope people are sitting-up and paying attention to what BusinessNZ is saying today. 

Especially the people who have their heads in the sand about our ability as a country to keep paying for things like healthcare and pensions. 

Because, as BusinessNZ puts it, we don’t have enough people to keep on doing that and we need a lot more people. 

As one headline today says, New Zealand needs 10 million people to stay aflo...

New Zealand is about to become a dumping ground for dirty vehicles.  

That’s what the electric vehicle people are saying today about the Government’s urgent changes to the clean car standards for imported vehicles.  

Of course they’re unhappy. Because I reckon they are seeing and we are seeing the EV bubble about to burst.  

I’ll tell you why. I’ll also tell you why you’re not going to hear me ripping into the Govern...

The city is back mingling with the country at New Zealand's Royal A&P Show in Canterbury. 

Thousands are set to descend on the Agricultural Park over the next three days. 

This year’s event has re-gained its royal status for the first time since 2010. 

Canterbury A&P Association chair Sir David Carter told John MacDonald that the Royal Agricultural Society approached them after they saw them put on last year’...

Whatever you thought of Andrew Coster as Police Commissioner, you probably felt you could trust him to do the right thing. To be upfront, honest, and certainly not hide stuff.   

And if you thought the attitude within the Police towards women had changed from what it used to be – well you might be having a bit of a re-think on both of those. Because I certainly am after this damning report by the Independent Police Conduc...

The Labour Leader is “absolutely disgusted” by the handling of complaints against Jevon McSkimming by former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster.  

The Police Complaints Authority has released a report finding some of our highest-ranking Police didn't deal properly with a woman's anonymous complaints against the former Deputy Police Commissioner. 

Hipkins is deeply disappointed in Coster, and believes the Police have a righ...