Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Remember the Tau Henare-Trevor Mallard stauch back in 2007?  

Senior Cabinet Minister Trevor Mallard said the punch he threw at National MP Tau Henare is “one of the most stupid things I've ever done in my life” and in a life full of them, that's saying something. The scuffle broke out in the parliamentary lobbies. Allegedly, Henare had made some snide remarks about Trevor Mallard's personal life, which is prett...

A former Labour Minister says a proposed pay rise for politicians gives them a real dilemma. 

The Remuneration Authority's set to increase most MP salaries 10.5% over three years. 

If implemented, it would be the first pay rise for MPs since 2017 and the first rise of 2.8% will be backdated to the election.  

Stuart Nash told Kerre Woodham that the public tends to hear about poorly pe...

Unemployment has risen again but economists don't think it's peaked yet. 

Stats NZ figures out today show the rate reached 4.3% for the March quarter, up 0.3 percentage points from the December quarter's 4%. 

It reflects the impacts of higher interest rates as the Reserve Bank keeps trying to rein in inflation. 

Herald Business Editor at Large Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham that it's a ...

Happy International Workers Day to all the labourers and workers out there. All right, brother. All right, sister. Dedicated to recognizing the contributions and achievements of workers worldwide and taking the opportunity to promote workers rights and opportunities so. Go us, all of us paid grunts.  

MPs, would you consider them paid grunts? Not really public servants, sure, and reasonably well-paid public serv...

Well, the 1News Verian poll released last night shows that support for the coalition government, after seeing an operation for a few months, has dropped since election night. Hardly surprising. Well, to my mind. Anyway, clearly there were others who were simply gob smacked and amazed, but on to them in a moment.   

National, ACT, and New Zealand First have collectively dropped 5 percentage points. According to t...

If you're a teenager addicted to your phone and the world that lies within and beyond your apps, it's the end of the world as you know it today.   

The Government's ban on phones in schools kicks in as kids return to school for Term two, meaning students won't be able to use their cell phones during the day - including at lunch time and during breaks. Some schools have gone early and introduced it in Term one. T...

From today, new government regulations require students not to use or access a phone while they're attending school, including break times. 

The legislated phone ban won't change much for Opunake High School as they have had a "Phones Off, Brains On" policy in place for a few years. 

Principal Andrea Hooper Carr tells Kerre Woodham her school noticed a significant change in behaviours as the wave o...

There is one thing I’ve never heard one of the old soldiers you always see or hear on the news on Anzac Day saying. There are less of them now, of course, as time passes, but, over the years, I have never heard one of them say they had a great time and that going to war was the time of their life. I’ve never heard it. And I bet you haven’t, either. 

And that’s why you’re not going to hear me ripping into those i...

Welcome to another war of words between the greenies and the government over changes to the Resource Management Act.  

With the poor old farmers stuck in the middle, just wanting the chance to be trusted to do the right thing when it comes to protecting the environment. And that’s what I think we should be doing.  

You know how people have this concept of Mother Nature and how it’s all peace and lo...

Have you ever heard of a placebo policy? That’s what this Three Strikes law is, and I don’t think bringing it back is going to make one bit of difference. 

You’ll know what a placebo is when it comes to things like clinical trials where they give someone a sugar pill but tell them it’s medicine, and the person says ‘oh I feel much better, thanks’.  

The person thinks they’re using a real pill, or a...

Well, the Reserve Bank has got what it wanted. Maybe not what it wanted, it's possibly the hard landing that they were hoping to avoid, but it got what it engineered.  

Back in 2022 the Reserve Bank told a Select Committee that, yes, it was deliberately engineering a recession to rein back inflation after being slow to raise interest rates. Governor Adrian Orr said as a result of raising interest rates to slow s...

New Zealand police officers have overwhelmingly rejected the government's latest pay offer and have given the government one last chance to lift its game. The latest offer was put to the vote on April the 8th by the New Zealand Police Association. More than 75% voted against the offer. That is overwhelming. President Chris Cahill said the outcome sends a clear message to the government that the offer falls well short of addre...

Back in the day when I lived in Ponsonby and it was only just starting to evolve as a shopping and cafe destination, we didn't have beggars per say. More, they were people who were living in community houses who would walk up and down the street, and they were simply absorbed into the community.  

They were given cigarettes from the smokers who were sitting at the outside tables of the cafes that had established...

Inflation is continuing to ease, particularly for essentials. 

Latest Stats NZ figures show the Consumer Price Index increased 4% in the year to March, down from 4.7% in the year to December. 

Housing's been the biggest contributor to inflation and rents rose at the fastest rate since records began in 1999. 

But the Herald's Liam Dann says the cost of most other day-to-day essentials ...

When I broke my arm just before the end of the year, I was very grateful to our health system for picking up the pieces, quite literally. They found a bit that was missing at the top of my arm that they weren't expecting, and put me back together again, and it's pretty much back to normal.  

I'm very, very grateful for the skill, the ability and the kindness of North Shore Hospital, and I was grateful too for th...

Those suffering from Long Covid are afraid of what will happen to them under the Government’s benefit reset. 

Social Development Minister Louise Upston announced that sanctions for those on the benefit will begin to ramp up from June. 

Long Covid has left some suffering from symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, cognitive impairment, and severe pain, forcing them to leave work where they subsequentl...

As police in NSW work to establish the motives behind the knife attack at Sydney's Westfield Mall, that left six people dead, 12 in hospital, spare a thought for the families of the victims who were receiving texts up to minutes before all of a sudden, randomly, without any warning or notice their lives were gone. And spare thought too for the family of Joel Cauchi - because they have been left reeling too.  

Ca...

New Zealand’s unions are up in arms over the major cuts to the public sector. 

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told reporters that if the PSA and Council of Trade Unions actually cared about low and middle income workers, they’d support the Government’s planned tax cuts. 

PSA National Secretary Dunane Leo said they’re standing firm in defending their jobs, claiming services are being sacrificed fo...

You don't really need to watch or read the news at the moment, at least not for the first couple of stories, because all we're really getting at the moment is a union campaign from the PSA and the CTU dressed up as news, with stories about how cuts to the civil service are going to bring the country to ruin.  

#Newsalert, the country is already on the brink of ruin and the bloated civil service would have contri...