Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Parts of our economy are continuing to provide inflation pressures for the Reserve Bank.  

It's decided to keep the OCR at 5.5% and has signalled a rate cut no sooner than the second quarter of next year. 

The move to keep the OCR the same was anticipated, but many were hoping for rate cuts to come earlier. 

Corelogic’s Chief Property Economist Kelvin Davidson told Kerre Woodham that ...

I first heard the catchphrase Survive to 25 when I was talking to be at large, Liam Dann.  It appears to have come out of the US and implies that if mortgagees and small businesses can just hang on till next year things will start to come right. Because let's face it, we're not going to see interest rates drop any time soon. Despite some of the banks predicting that there would be a drop in mortgage interest rates towards the...

I know we have no money.  I know the government is in dire straits and making really tough decisions when it comes to spending and where that spending is targeted, but I will be so sad if First Home Grants is one of the schemes that gets cut in the review of housing projects that is under way. The review is necessary because the previous government and its agents mismanaged Kainga Ora to the extent that New Zealanders not eve...

The scathing review into the government's public housing landlord Kainga Ora, which was led by former Prime Minister Sir Bill English, was released yesterday and it was every bit as bad as those with half a brain had expected. 

It found the social housing system is not socially or financially sustainable. As a result, the board has, in effect, been sacked and a new chairman has been appointed. 

New...

The report out that workplace bullying is costing the country in terms of productivity and lost earnings is nothing new.  Bullying and harassment are conservatively estimated to cost employers $1.5 billion a year, according to a new study by KPMG, published for Friday's Pink Shirt Day.    

Years ago, there was a story on workplace bullying that surfaced in the news and the Department of Labour had to scramble to...

Finances are tough for many Kiwis at the moment, with costs skyrocketing across the board. 

Mortgages are going up, as is inflation, food costs, gas, and electricity. Banks are expecting the value of “bad mortgage debt” to increase by 40% by the end of 2024, and around 90% of the country’s fixed mortgage debt has an interest rate about 4%. 

An estimated 40,000 people had their power cut in 2023 due...

If you woke up this morning and you turned on the heater because it was a bit chilly, not as chilly as it has been, but a bit chilly, good for you. Did you think about the cost? If you didn’t, lucky you.

An estimated 40,000 New Zealand households had their power cut due to unpaid bills in 2023, which is a phenomenal number of households. One in five had trouble paying their monthly power bill and this is at a ti...

Late in the show yesterday, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster along with Police Minister Mark Mitchell announced they would be introducing a National Gang Unit to crack down on gang crime and gangs’ anti-social behaviour.  

Coster said police know gang members commit a large amount of the crime in New Zealand. I don’t think it’s a state secret. I think most of us are well aware that the gangs are either committi...

David Seymour says the Government is diversifying education by bringing back charter schools. 

More than $150 million from the Budget will go towards setting up 15 new charter schools and converting 35 state schools.  

Charter schools get government funding but operate independently. 

They were abolished by the Labour-led coalition in 2018.  

The Associate Education Mini...

Charter schools are making a comeback.  

So, what happened last time?  

When ACT was in confidence and supply with the John Key government, they were able to establish charter schools and they managed to establish 11 of them. 

Charter schools were designed to be a place for children who didn't fit into mainstream education. They had different structures, a different layout, and a diff...

How on earth can the IRD allow child support arrears to get to more than $1 billion?   

I could understand it if chasing up payments involved men and women using telephones and ledger books, sharpening their pencils to make fresh calculations - but in this age of technology and electronic payments and with IRD having the power to rifle through bank accounts, it seems inconceivable that it could be allowed to get...

Consumers will be feeling unsettled as the reliability of electricity supply is tested. 

A cold snap and low wind generation meant the country faced a potential supply shortfall, and Transpower asked people to reduce electricity use between 7 and 9am. 

Consumer Advocacy Council chair Deborah Hart says this kind of situation is not new, but the market model is obviously not working. 

S...

Ah, another cold snap, another example of our power industry being unable to cope. I hope you all had cold showers and turned off the heated towel rails and ate cold gruel this morning to do your bit to reduce power consumption. The reason for the latest orange alert is that there has been a surge in demand and the wind turbines haven't been turning - yada, yada, yada. Different excuses same result. It gets cold, and our elec...

There are more calls to further lower the bowel cancer screening age. 

An Otago University study shows rates of early onset colorectal cancer have risen by 26% each decade over the past 20 years. 

Rates for Māori aged under 50 years rose 36%. 

Professor Frank Frizelle told Kerre Woodham that the screening age needs to be lowered from the current age of 60 to at least 45. 

You have to wonder whether the strident critics of the coalition government ever stop and look at the facts. Maybe read the press releases. Listen to the interviews. Do they just see something coming from the office of the Honourable Shane Reti or the Honourable David Seymour and bin it? Hear Christopher Luxon on the wireless and just switch off and go “Oh! Can’t come bear it! Let me replay some of the 1o’clock briefings duri...

The Associate Education Minister says a revamped school lunches programme is better bang for buck. 

Every student who received a free school lunch under the previous Government will still be fed, but the programme will save $107 million a year. 

David Seymour told Kerre Woodham that instead of having multiple providers, schools will order lunches from an online portal. 

He says they'l...

Lifeline is calling for a lifeline as they celebrate their 60th anniversary. 

The Mental Healthline is struggling to keep up with demand, taking around 7,000 calls and 20,000 texts a month.  

On average, 17 people at high risk of self harm or suicide call Lifeline every day. 

Presbyterian Support Northern is the charity behind Lifeline, CEO...

You will remember there was some alarm in some quarters when the New Zealand Police Service announced they'd be looking to step back from attending calls from people in psychological distress.  

Over the past decade police say the number of mental health events officers attend has increased by more than 150% to 77,043 in the past year. The vast majority of these were low to moderate risk and safety and didn't re...

We thought we'd start with the announcement on law and order and Corrections, given that this was one of the big drivers for National and ACT, and indeed New Zealand First’s election campaigns, and one in which the coalition government was elected upon.  

Still, when you've got a big announcement to make on law and order, one of the foundations of your government's policies, it does pay to get it right. I mean n...