Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

New Zealand has the third highest adult obesity rate in the OECD, and the rates are going up. One in three adult New Zealanders is classified as obese, and one in 10 children. Even if you take into account, yes, yes, yes, a lot of the All Blacks front row are considered obese if you use the BMI. And yes, you might have a slow metabolism or it's your hormones and there's nothing you can do about it, that's still a lot of fat people and a lot of associated health issues.  The cost of obesity in this country is estimated as being between four and nine billion dollars per year. It's a huge range, four to nine billion, but it's where you classify the different illnesses, and it depends on which survey you look at. Even if you go at the lower limit, $4 billion is a hell of a lot of money to spend on something that doesn't need to happen. Cardiovascular disease alone costs more than three billion. The human misery too that comes with being obese for many kids and adults is another intangible cost.   But now we have a drug for that. GLP-1 is the magic ingredient. It regulates blood sugar levels and slows down the rate at which food leaves the stomach, thus making people fuller for longer. And apparently, according to those who've used it, it turns off the chatter in your head, the constant thinking about food. Well, if I have this and then I walk for an hour and then I'll be able to have something else. Ooh. Ooh, I'm not hungry now, but ooh, imagine what I could have for dinner. Planning the next meal before you've actually finished the one in front of you. It's that constant food chatter. I think Oprah was the first one to talk about it, how she never realised until she took the magic drug, that you didn't have to listen to that noise in your head, that other people didn't have it.  So the GLP-1-mimicking drugs seem to be a powerful tool. They're actually effective.  And after decades of research and money being poured into weight loss drugs, this one seems to work. More importantly, this one doesn't have the side effects of the speed drugs that were given out in the 70s as diet pills. It was basically methamphetamine. Some people are losing around 15% of their body weight or more after just over a year on the semaglutide.  Wegovy became available to New Zealanders in July. It's not publicly funded. It's a weekly drug and comes at an ongoing cost of about $500 a month. Should it be funded?  David Seymour, the Associate Minister for Health, seems to think so. In the past he said, well, if you spend a buck to save five, why wouldn't you?  Although as he points out, Pharmac's decisions are independent of any ministers. The NHS in Britain has done the sums. If the weight loss drugs were prescribed to everyone who needed them according to the stringent criteria, the prohibitively expensive cost would bankrupt the NHS even after taking into account the cost of the health problems that they would inevitably solve. So you would have to do the sums for this country to work out whether it would pay off in the long run. If that's what it does, if, you know, one buck is going to save us five long term. If a huge cohort, in every sense of the word, of New Zealanders is going to live a better life, a healthier life as a result of the investment, surely it's worth it?  But to get buy-in, you would have to get the support of the majority of New Zealanders. One in three adult New Zealanders is classified as obese, two in three aren't. And they might say, well, I'm doing everything right for my body. I'm doing the exercise and I'm not greedy. Some might well see obesity as a moral failing. Throughout history, it's been seen as a moral failing.  One of the seven deadly sins is gluttony. In Dante's Inferno, the gluttons are consigned to the third circle of hell. Gluttons are people with uncontrolled appetites who worship food as a kind of God, according to Dante. Therefore, the gluttons' punishment in the third circle of hell, instead of eating fine delicate foods and wines, they're forced to eat filth and mud and be rained upon by foul smelling rain. Cerberus, the dog, ravages them and mauls them. It's a miserable punishment.   Gluttons have always been seen as moral failures. Which may, I think, have been fair at a time where resources were scarce, and if you were wealthy, you got other people to get food for you and you ate it at the expense of the poor. But these days, when the food industry is making money out of processed food designed to hook you in and give you an insatiable appetite for more, I think we can take the moral failing out, can't we?  Most people know what to do. There's far more to it than just calories in, calories out and more exercise, and even the makers of Wegovy and Ozempic and the like understand that too. They say it's not going to work on its own. It's the same with bariatric surgery, you have to do so much more than just stop the food going in. There is much, much more to it than that.  If we do the sums, the NHS says they've done them and the cost is too high. But if we do the sums for this country, and ultimately, we spend a dollar to save five, why wouldn't we? Why wouldn't we put everybody who wants the Wegovy onto it? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister says he's confident a free trade agreement with India will get across the line soon.  Christopher Luxon denied negotiations had hit a rough patch after skipping Parliament last minute this week to meet with India’s Trade Minister.   He told Kerre Woodham India has very strong positions on certain aspects of trade.  Luxon says they’re really hard negotiators, but equally they want the best possible deal they can secure for New Zealand.   The Government's aiming to finalise the FTA this year and the Prime Minister's confirmed Trade Minister Todd McClay will head there next week.  Luxon's popularity has lagged in polls this year and there’s a growing sentiment that National should consider a leadership change for the next election.   However, the Prime Minister told Woodham a potential successor hasn't crossed his mind.    When told people aren’t buying the product he and his government are selling, he told Woodham to wait and find out what happens next year.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Publicly funding weightloss drugs may not be the answer to the country’s obesity problem.   New Zealand has the third highest adult obesity rate in the OECD, with one in three adults classified as obese, and one in ten children.   Associate Minister of Health David Seymour believes publicly funding things like Wegovy would help save money in the long run.  But community leader and Founder of Butterbean Motivation, Dave Letele told Kerre Woodham that we can’t prescribe our way out of this issue.  While he's not against weightloss drugs, he says they don’t change habits, mindsets, and they don’t break cycles for children.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What do you do, when you have invested all your money into an idea you thought was going off, and then the whole world shuts down?   Do you try to fight on? Or do you completely change your business to survive?  That’s the decision Aidan Bartlett faced.   He’s the co-founder and chief Executive of online marketplace Designer Wardrobe. It was, once upon a time, a designer rental shop.   Covid-19 wrecked the business but also gave it a new life.   Aidan Bartlett joined Kerre Woodham in studio in the latest episode of Bosses Unfiltered.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's one of those circular discussions, really, where people are extremely staunch in their opinion and no amount of debate can bring them over to the other side. A bit like the secondary tax discussion – you either think you're paying more tax, or you don't, you understand that it all comes out in the wash.   Sick leave is a bit like that. People either believe it's an entitlement and you use every single day of sick day every single year, whether you're sick or not. Or you're one of those people who will only take a sick day when you're like the Black Knight in Monty Python, down and out, completely incapacitated, no limbs left, bellowing, "Tis but a scratch," as you're dragged out of the workplace snuffling and sneezing and feverish.   The latest workplace wellness surveys say New Zealand workers are taking more sick leave. The average rate of employee absence of the organisation surveyed in 2024 was the highest since the survey began, 6.7 days per employee compared with 5.5 days in 2022. The report blames it on Labour's 2021 increase in legal sick leave entitlement. You'll remember it went from five to ten days, but it's also down to a change in attitude as Katherine Rich, Business NZ CEO, told Mike Hosking this morning.   “It certainly has been a change in the workplace culture, and in some cases, employees are doing exactly what they've been told to do – if you're unwell, don't come to work and splutter all over your colleagues. But certainly with the rise in leave entitlements, we do think that it's reflected in the jump in the average absence of, you know, 6.7 days per employee per year, and that's a big jump since 2012 when it was about 4.2.That has a material impact on the economy and of course productivity of not just businesses but the whole economy.  “Post-Covid, people really think about their wellness and they're less likely to soldier on like the Codral ad. They're more likely to think, am I going to be productive? If not, I'm going to stay home.”   So the old Codral soldier on mentality is very outdated since Covid made it socially unacceptable to turn up at work with the slightest sniffle. But sick leave isn't just used because people are sick. It's also down to people using it because they have children who are home from school and they need to look after them. They have elderly parents, and you need to look after them as well. The sandwich generation needs to be looking after kids who are unwell and parents who have hospital appointments or who are unwell. So it's not just you who is sick, that you'll be the one taking the sick leave.   Where do you stand on this one? It's really interesting because when you have that mentality of this is my entitlement and I will take it whether I'm sick or not, there's no getting around it. As a boss, you just have to accept that's what this particular worker with this particular attitude will do.   It's interesting too to see the split between government workers and those working in the private sector. Guess who takes more sick days? Yes, you're right, it's the government workers. They take an average of nearly two more sick days than people who work in the private sector. An average of 6.5 for those of us working in the private sector, 8.4 for workers in public sector organisations. Now, why doesn't that surprise us?   You know, it's because you can. When it's a private sector employer, I suppose everything's run leaner and tighter. You don't take the piss when you work for the private sector. If you are working for a boss and you know that she or he has put everything into this business, that the house has been put into the business, you're less likely, I think, than taking a couple of sick days off the government, because you can, because it's nobody's money. And that attitude would be pervasive right across the public sector.   The idea of taking mental wellness days – I guess if you're in a job you don't enjoy, it's going to be hard to summon up the enthusiasm to get to work. Apart from Covid, the few times during the Covid years, I've never not wanted to come to work, and I appreciate that's a privilege. When I first started in the workforce in antediluvian times, the idea of ringing up the boss and saying, "You know what? I'm just not feeling it today. I might need just a couple of days to reset my equilibrium," or whatever it is you do, unfathomable to me. I'm not saying it's wrong or right, I just cannot imagine doing that. And maybe we should be more proactive about mental health.    One thing I have noticed the bosses clamping down on, the people who ring in and go, "Yeah, feeling a bit poorly, might just work from home.” And the bosses, quite rightly, are now saying, "a bit poorly? Right you are. Don't worry about working, take a sick leave day," because they know that when you ring in and go, "Yeah, you know what? Not so good today, a bit of a scratch, bit of a tickle, might stay in and work from home." That's not what's going to happen. They're not going to be as productive. They've probably got a haircut or I don't know, an appointment at a nail salon or whatever it is.   You're either sick or you're not. You're either working or you're not. And I totally accept that is an old school view, and may not be the right one. I'd love to know what your policy is. As bosses, it must be an absolute minefield trying to navigate your way through people who are genuinely ill, might be something far more than a sniffle. They might have something a little bit more complicated. They're a good worker. What do you do? You've got people who are having a bit of a slump, a bit of a downtime in their life. It's there's a lot going on. They're not technically sick, but they're not right either. Might be a relationship breakup. What do you do with them? Tell me how you navigate it and as a worker, what's your attitude towards sick days?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The events calendar at Auckland's Eden Park could soon be a lot busier.  RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has asked Auckland Council for feedback on a proposal to increase the number of concerts it hosts from 12 to 32 a year.  It's recommending the venue should be allowed to host up to 12 large concerts of more than 30 thousand attendees.  Eden Park CEO Nick Sautner told Kerre Woodham they’ve been hamstrung by so many regulations, and this is about simplifying and modernising the rules so the national stadium can be utilised.   In the last five years, he says they’ve invested $45 million into the stadium and redefined their business model, so they need to be able to continue evolving.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A month ago to this very day, Heart of the City, the business association for Auckland City Centre, released a scathing report that found store owners and offices believed homelessness, too few police, neglect and disorder, and frightening anti-social behaviour were crippling their businesses.   Amongst the most dire findings was 91% of those surveyed saying rough sleepers and begging were affecting their business. 81% believed the city centre was not in a good state to attract significantly more people and investment. The findings came from 102 business owners in and around the Queen Street valley area in late September who were asked about the state of the city centre and what factors were hindering their financial success.   This isn't news. There have been problems with rough sleepers for years now. But the business owners I've talked to in Queen Street say although there was always the odd person around before Covid, it was when Labour turned the inner-city hotels and motels into emergency housing during Covid that things became absolutely dire. Because when everything was freed up, the people stayed. They'd made a home there, they'd found a home there, they weren't going to be moved on, they'd found their people.   In Ponsonby, when I was living there, there were about three or four characters, men and women, who were either sleeping rough or living in halfway houses. But they were part of the community. You knew them by name, you greeted them. They were they were different. They were odd, but that was okay. We're all different and odd at different times and perhaps not quite as odd as these ones, but they were there first, and they were part of the community.   And I think we all do have empathy for those who are doing it tough or are going through a tough period in their life or who are just wired a little bit differently. But when you are swamped with people in need, when you are one district, one area that is overrun with people who are odd, who are wired differently, who don't behave as you would imagine civilised humans would behave, who quite literally crap on your empathy, inevitably you will start to take a tougher stance. And I think that's what's happened to the store owners and retailers in Queen Street.   It's back in the news again. As I said, homelessness is seldom far from it because Labour has suggested that the Government is looking at introducing a ban on rough sleepers in the city. Well, as Chief Executive of Heart of the City Viv Beck told Mike Hosking this morning, bring it on, something needs to change.   VB: What I'm seeing is we need a game changer. We can't just keep moving people around. As long as there were really good solutions for vulnerable people, I think a majority of the people that we represent would support a scenario where you don't lie on streets or you house people.   MH: I don't know if you were watching Parliament yesterday, but they seem squeamish about it. Why don't we just be a bit blunt about it? And the cold hard truth of homelessness is that it ruins central cities, and we need to clean it up and clear it out. I mean, it's that simple, isn't it?   VB: I believe so. And what's been really pleasing in the last four weeks is that there has been constructive debate and people are recognising these are real issues. We need to be bold about this. We do have to care for people. We've got a track record of caring for people. The reality is though, we cannot leave it the way it is. It does need a game change and I really hope the politics don't sabotage a really important issue that needs resolving.   Oh, I think it probably will. Politics generally does, especially when there's an election looming. I was listening to Ginny Anderson and Mark Mitchell this morning, on the Mike Hosking Breakfast. Ginny said, "Well, where are they going to go? People don't want the homeless outside schools or their homes." Well, no, they don't, but they also don't want them outside their bloody businesses either. Hairdressers and cafe owners and accountants and clothing retailers and the like in Queen Street have had enough of looking after them.   And I don't think many of the retailers would have a problem with rough sleepers if that's all they were doing. Looking for a warm, safe, dry place to sleep, then packing up and moving on. It's the detritus and the bodily fluids and the aggressive, pugnacious attitudes that most retailers have the problem with. Sleep in the doorway, but it's the associated issues that come with it that are the real issue, the real problem.   We have got people out of motels. There are no children on the streets, and that's got to be a good thing. There are places, as Mark Mitchell referred to, for people to go. It's the associated issues, the problems that they have that mean they don't feel either safe staying there, they don't want to stay there, they don't feel comfortable being within four walls, they're quite claustrophobic, especially those that have done time.   It is a huge issue, way beyond just putting a roof over heads. If only that billion dollars into mental health had actually done some work. So, I don't blame the retailers for saying, okay, make a law, move them on. At least if they are in communities, 24/7 communities, not retail areas, they might become part of the community. They're dispersed throughout the community. You can adopt a homeless person, a bit like it was in Ponsonby back in the day.   I don't know what the answer is. I really don't. With so much money going into mental health, it doesn't seem to be affecting the very people that you would hope would be benefiting from that massive contribution of taxpayer money. Those who are living on the edge, those who are wired differently, those who do need extra help, and those who are making it almost impossible to run a business in the central city.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today's rise in unemployment isn't unexpected.  Latest Stats NZ data shows the unemployment rate has reached an almost nine-year high of 5.3% in the September quarter.  160 thousand people have been looking for a job, while another 138 thousand have been wanting more work.  The Herald's Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham today's figures are exactly as forecast by economists.  He says the labour market will remain tough for a while yet because companies are nervous to hire, and some are still having to let staff go.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can you believe the bean counters at ACC are taking the knife to its funding for Water Safety NZ?   Their reasoning is that they’ve poured all this money into Water Safety NZ but they’re not seeing a return on that investment. Which would be a reduction in drowning-related claims.   But I’m with Water Safety NZ, which is saying today that good progress has been made, and this funding cut will put everything at risk and make a hard job even harder with $1 million less to do its work.   Gavin Walker is its head of partnerships and funding, and he says there have been 54 drownings so far this year – five fewer than the 10-year average.   Which, apparently, is not good enough for ACC.    But it can quibble as much as it likes about the numbers and the return on investment and all of that, but the fact is water is a huge risk to people’s lives. To every one of us.   This claim by ACC that it’s cutting the water safety funding because it’s not getting the return on its investment doesn’t stack up when you consider some of the other things it puts money into.   ACC also part-funded the doomed “Road to Zero” road safety campaign which, I think we can agree, was hardly a glowing success. I don’t recall ACC pulling the plug on that one.   But its deputy chief executive of engagement and prevention, Renee Graham, is defending the decision, saying they’ve been putting $1 million a year into Water Safety NZ but drowning-related claims are costing it $3 million a year.   My response to that: so what?   The thing about water is that it’s accessible to anyone and everyone – you don’t need a swimming licence. Which means people can be clueless when it comes to throwing themselves into the water and not always thinking whether they might be overestimating their abilities.  I’m probably at the other end of the spectrum because water terrifies me. Even though I’ve sailed for years —and even though our kids have grown up around water— the potential for things to go drastically wrong in water terrifies me.   I suppose “respectful” might be a better word to use than “terrified”, but even though I love getting out on the water, I know it will never be my friend.  That was something I always said to the kids when they were young. Water can be fun, but it’s not your friend.   Which is why I was determined, from the get-go, that they were going to have swimming lessons – but that costs money.    We were very fortunate that we could afford it. But, if we’d been in a different financial position, then perhaps the swimming lessons would’ve been one of the first things to go.   Which is what Gavin Walker from Water Safety NZ is saying today.   He’s saying: “There’s a whole lot of kids who are actually missing out on good quality water survival support”.   Which is going to get worse with ACC pulling its funding.  And that’s why ACC needs to have a hmmm moment of its own.  “Hmmm…if we pull this funding, who gets harmed?”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Buckingham Palace has announced that King Charles will remove all of his brother, Prince Andrew's, titles. The statement from Buckingham Palace related the announcement to the allegations of sexual abuse by the late Virginia Giuffre. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor's title will not be immediately stripped as UK Correspondent Gavin Grey said the process of removing his titles "will take some time".  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Five years ago, Port of Auckland was struggling with a shocking health and safety record. Three people had died and many more had been injured at work. Financially, the company was dealing with a costly but flawed automation project, and COVID added plenty of headaches for the global shipping industry too. The company needed a complete turnaround, and Roger Gray was picked as the new chief executive to get on with the job. With a background of 20 years in the Australian Army and roles at Goodman Fielder and Air New Zealand, Roger came with experience in leadership, but this was a big job with big problems. Roger Gray joined Kerre Woodham in studio for the latest episode of Bosses Unfiltered. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand's drug laws are in the spotlight again and with good reason. Despite record police busts, we're still seeing record methamphetamine use, we're seeing increasingly dangerous street drugs, and rising overdose deaths, three a week from drug overdoses. There have been calls to overhaul the 50-year-old Misuse of Drugs Act and the call comes from a number of different organisations. The Drug Foundation wants drug use decriminalised and the law rewritten to make it a health issue, not a criminal issue, and they have been very consistent in their approach on this. Also this week we had a survey from the Helen Clark Foundation conducted by the University a University of Otago researcher, Rose Crossin. And that found that half of New Zealanders support shifting investment from policing to health. Rose Crossin told the Elephant News show right now two-thirds of what we spend on drugs goes to law enforcement. And the people surveyed would prefer that money to go on to prevention, treatment and harm reduction. The report shows that just 1.4% of the annual drug budget is for harm reduction. 1.4%. That does rise to 30% when you look at treatment and prevention, but it's still when you see the vast majority going towards policing, surely it should be flipped on its head. Green's co-leader Chloe Swarbrick also raised the issue, again, launching an online platform yesterday, which asked for public suggestions on better drug regulation, in particular cannabis, as a step towards legalisation. Now, with the use of medicinal cannabis, we haven't seen a huge upswing in the numbers of people taking cannabis. I venture there are some of you who have used medicinal cannabis, found it works for you. You've never used cannabis before, but when the opportunity came available for you to use it, you did so, and found it didn't turn you into a raging drug addict lifting your skirt on the streets to pay for your habit. And in fact, helped you with pain, helped you with sleeplessness, whatever it is that medicinal cannabis is supposed to do. So certainly, there needs to be more opportunity for people to rehab, for those who've tried drugs, found it doesn't work for them and need to get off it. There are clinics around the country, but hey, good luck getting into the taxpayer funded ones. Pretty much it seems you have to be court ordered before you can get into those rehab clinics. If you go private, prices start from around $17,000 for a couple of weeks to a month. Most 30-day residential rehabs charge more than $20,000. And you can have ones with all the bells and whistles and the nice sheets and the nice meals and the yoga instructor.  But who the hell can pay for that? The trust fund babies, sure. Wealthy business people, sure.   But where do you go if you're an average, ordinary, everyday Kiwi who tried drugs, be it meth or coke or booze, and thought you could handle it, and found that the monkey on your back was the one in charge, you need to get off. You have to. - you're going to lose your family, you're going to lose your soul. How do you step out of your life for a month? How do you find the 30-odd thousand for the month?  How do you re-enter your life and stay clean? Policing plays an important role in thwarting people who make money from peddling misery. Having drugs criminalised stops some people from using them. I know that when I was growing up in the media,and I really was, 17,18, 19 years old, a big reason I didn't use drugs that were around, the cocaine and the cannabis, was that I would lose my job. If I was found in possession of any of these drugs, I would lose my job. I would have a criminal offence against my name, so the legalised drug, booze, became my drug of choice. So I understand how having drug use criminalised can be useful in stopping people starting. Bbt surely reducing demand is a really vital part of the process as well. People choosing not to use alcohol and other drugs will have a much bigger impact than the occasional high-profile bust. And surely then making drugs just another product with all the health and safety regulations around the production of these drugs, having taxes applied at source, turning it into just another commodity would be the most effective of all at emasculating the gangs and the cartels?  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Power is still out to many rural South Island properties. Just under six thousand are still cut off in Clutha and Southland, where States of Emergency continue. More than three-thousand weather-related insurance claims have been lodged so far. Federated Farmers Southland President Jason Herrick told Kerre Woodham that, 'people were helping one another and I'll tell you what, I'm hearing some stories out there of some real unsung heroes.' LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I thought I'd start with the idea, the initiative, if you will, coming out of the think tank, the New Zealand Initiative. I love generally the work that they produce because even though you might not agree with the ideas that they put forward, there's generally a good discussion to be had. You hear the pros, you hear the cons, you think, mmm, okay. This one though, I'm not so sure. More MPs. Increasing the number of MPs in our parliament from 120 to 170. Oh, I don't think so. Our parliament may be small compared with other countries with similar populations, but until the New Zealand voting public has a seismic shift in the understanding of civics and civil society, and refocuses itself, if we all have to refocus on responsibilities over rights, then the fewer politicians, the better. Senior fellow at the Initiative, Nick Clark, says though that we need more politicians because the ones we have are stretched too thinly, they're doing too much work, and that means there's a very real risk of poor legislation being drafted.We have difficulty with select committees in terms of the ability for them to properly scrutinise legislation, and that's partly because the MPs that we do have available are so thinly stretched. We have MPs that end up on multiple committees. They can't give a good handle on what's going on, as much as they perhaps should. They get inundated with submissions. It's a good idea, I think, to just spread the load a bit more by having some more MPs. Also, the electorates that we have are very large, both geographically and in population terms, and they're becoming increasingly difficult for MPs to service the rather complex and intense needs of the constituents. So these extra MPs will be electorate MPs, not list ones. Some will be, yep, yep, ... we'd be looking at the 50/50 split. That was Senior Fellow at the New Zealand Initiative Nick Clark talking to Ryan Bridge this morning. So a few more electorate MPs, but also more list MPs. No, thank you. No, thank you very much at all. Maybe if every MP who was being paid by you and me, by the public purse, was pulling their weight, you could argue a case that they're overworked.  But while a large number take the job very seriously, there have been many instances of MPs across the house calling out others for laziness, for not understanding the job and not doing it. I think when we have MPs who are accountable to an electorate, there is a far greater sense of ownership. So if you had more electorates, perhaps I could consider the case for it, but certainly, no. No more list MPs. And in another New Zealand Initiative report, Dr James Kierstead says there's a disconnect between politicians and the people they represent, just as there is in many other democracies around the world. And his report, he says in recent years, governments have enacted a number of policies that were clearly opposed by most Kiwis. Three Waters legislation was forced through despite multiple polls consistently showing that a majority of New Zealanders opposed it. Only a year after Three Strikes legislation was repealed, a poll suggested nearly two-thirds of New Zealanders wanted it to stay on the books, and only 16% of them wanted it repealed. Nonetheless, when Labour came in, they did that anyway. And despite polls showing clear majorities of Kiwis supported the actual wording of the Treaty Principles Bill, it failed to progress beyond its second reading. Dr Kierstead says we need more direct input from citizens as the solution. Again, I'd say no, not until we have a better educated voting population.  If you're listening to the show, I'm assuming you know a little bit about politics, you know a little bit about how parliament works. Some will have a greater understanding than others, but you have an interest in politics. You understand how legislation is enacted. You understand why we have a parliament. You understand the roles of MPs. But there are so many who don't. They won't look at policies. They'll either vote tribally or they'll vote because somebody looks better than somebody else does. They won't be looking at what policy is going to mean further down the track. They'll just look at how it directly impacts on them, and that's okay if that's their interest. I just don't think that we are intelligent enough to be either represented well, because let's face it, MPs are drawn from us, and we are an imperfect pool of people. And I don't think we know how to keep them accountable.  I don't think we know what to expect of them. I don't think we pull them up when they're making grievous errors of judgment when drawing up their list MPs, looking at you, Greens. Somebody said yesterday that the biggest threats to our society are apathy and ignorance, and I would agree. Increasing the pool of MPs by another 50? We're going to have to do a lot better than that before I'd even remotely concede to discussing that one. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When the Government unveiled it's maths action plan in August last year, we spoke to Distinguished Maths Professor Gaven Martin. Widely regarded as New Zealand's leading mathematician, Gaven gave the new plan better odds of working than curriculum under the previous Government. Now, more than 40 maths educators and researchers have written an open letter calling on the Ministry of Education and Erica Stanford to pause the latest curriculum rollout immediately. They are questioning why the maths curriculum has been re-written for the third time in three years, saying they were “deeply concerned” by both the changes themselves and the process used for its development. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Early this morning, the Labour Party made a surprise Capital Gains Tax announcement. The targeted tax would raise funds for the health system, including three free doctors' visits per year. The tax wouldn't apply to the family home, farms, KiwiSaver, shares, business assets, inheritances, and personal items. Dentons Tax Partner Bruce Bernacchi told Kerre Woodham that, "people will call it a capital gains tax when it's actually not, because it's extremely targeted just on property." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I was looking last night at things we could talk about, and there was plenty to talk about, all of which got superseded by Labour, Labour, Labour - having to release their capital gains tax, which is targeted to three free doctors' visits. Labour's been playing peekaboo with a capital gains tax for some time now. Oh, will we, won't we? Oh, what's it going to look like? Can't tell you. And now they kind of have. We finally get to hear the detail on what that CGT is going to look like, except #notreally. Because the release was made early because it was leaked, and so nobody got up to speak to the policy. Chris Hipkins, Barbara Edmonds, and Ayesha Verrall are doing that at 10:30am today, despite their press release having been out for the past five hours. With all news media going, what the dickens? What does it all mean? Does nobody actually talk to one another in the Labour ranks? Last week a health policy was announced and Chris Hipkins was taken by surprise. Today there's been the leak, not ideal. Anywho, from the press release, Labour will set up a Medicard for all New Zealanders, giving you three free doctors' visits per year, whether you need them or not, and will pay for it with a targeted capital gains tax. There was some detail included in the release. The tax will exclude the family home, Kiwi Saver shares, business assets, inheritances, and personal items. And the tax will only apply to gains made after July 2027. I heard Mike reading out a text saying, "Oh, I bought the batch in 56,1956. It's been in the family and now I'm going to have to pay a million dollars in tax." Well, no. The tax will only apply to gains made after July 2027. Back to the press release we go ... currently most profits from selling commercial property or residential property are tax-free. A new targeted tax would apply only to the sale of a commercial property or residential property, excluding the family home, and only on the gains made after the 1st of July 2027. There would be no tax on any gains made before that date. I don't think that was very clear this morning in the discussion. The tax would be set at 28% to align with the company tax rate. So some detail. So many more questions. I have some, and hopefully we'll be able to put them to Chris Hipkins, Ayesha Verrall, or Barbara Edmonds at some point. How much will three free visits for every New Zealand cost the taxpayer? Anybody? No. Related to that, how much does Labour anticipate collecting from a targeted capital gains tax? Anybody? Nope.  Does it include dental, which is what a lot of primary healthcare researchers have been calling for, or just the GP visits? Why does everybody get three free visits? If one in six New Zealanders can't afford GP visits, why are taxpayers paying for the five in six who can? What if I don't need to visit the doctor three times a year, but my neighbour needs to visit 10 times? Surely it's better to look after people who are born with poor health or develop poor health over a lifetime, and look after them and keep them out of the hospital system. And not specifically related to the policy, but why are you having so much trouble releasing policy, Labour? Seems to be a bit tricky. You've had quite some time to develop it. Anyway, hopefully we can put these questions to them, but there has been much talk about a capital gains tax. We've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for Labour to release this. It's so targeted, so specific in terms of how the CGT will be applied, and then to tie it in with free GP visits, three per person per year, when five in six New Zealanders don't need free visits. What's the point?   You might think it's amazing. If so, I'd love to hear from you. If this is an absolute game-changer for you, I'd love to know how and why. To me, it's a complete and utter head-scratcher. And I'm trying not to be biased against Chris Hipkins. But I am a bit, a little bit. But I'm open-minded to Barbara Edmonds and Ayesha Verrall, I quite like them in terms of the policy they announce. Chris Hipkins is a likeable chap, but I just think he's been a failure when it comes to delivering any kind of policy. I'm willing to keep a relatively open mind to Barbara Edmonds and Ayesha Verrall, but they're not doing much to convince me. Why give something to people they do not need? That's been a criticism of National with the tax cuts and the landlord rebates. Why give something to people they don't need? Why not target it to the people who do need it? And what's the point of bringing in a capital gains tax if it's going to be put into harness with three free GP visits to people who may or may not need them? I give this one a two out of 10.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

They say when one door closes, another one opens.   That’s certainly been the case for Lisa King. In the same breath she closed her first business Eat My Lunch and started a drinks brand AF Drinks. AF stands for alcohol free - and it's a range of booze free cocktails. The brand has picked up on a huge rise in people who want to drink less or not at all.   It’s a change not just seen in New Zealand, but across the world. Within two years in the US market, AF Drinks are now available in 4000 stores in America.  Lisa King joined Kerre Woodham in studio for the latest episode of Bosses Unfiltered.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Extreme winds are battering Wellington, Wairapa and the South Island.  Winds of up to 150km/h are expected today as red strong wind warnings are in place for much of the South Island's eastern regions and southern parts of the North Island.  More than 100 flights have been cancelled, along with some of the planned strikes in tehe affected areas.   Transpower Executive General Manager of Grid Delivery Mark Ryall told Kerre Woodham that three the Canterbury to Nelson power lines 'trip out' due to the extreme weather.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Talkback isn't really the place for good news. Generally, it's a forum where we can vent our respective spleens, express our frustrations, have a good old moan, and yes, we do share stories and we exchange information, but mainly it's to bristle about things that we feel aren't going right and could be better. Good news, we tend to think that, oh, good, yes, things are back on track. They've listened to what we have to say, and things are as they should be, and then you don't bother phoning in because you just think, well, that's as it should be.   But the news that youth offending has come down dramatically is simply too good not to share. Especially given the amount of bristling that went on when it was at its peak. There has been a 16% reduction in children and young people with serious and persistent offending behaviour. And if you take that number and think of it as children, as young people, whose lives are now not going to be blighted and off course and may stay off course forever, these are lives that have been saved, pretty much. Minister for Children Karen Chhour said in her press release, "I am proud to announce that the government's target has not only been achieved but surpassed." The target's been reached four years early in terms of bringing youth offending down. She should be proud. She really should be. As should the government agencies involved in short-circuiting the trajectory of these young people's lives. Youth crime, you will recall, was an absolute blight back in 2022/2023. Prior to then, it had been steadily declining both here and the Western world over, over the past decade, and nobody really knows why, but youth offending had come down. But then along came Covid, and post-Covid, with all the isolation that was caused, all the rules being up in the air, lack of consequences for anyone at the time, given the be kind, be nice attitude, schools being closed,parents going quietly mad in some parts of the country, child offending went nuts. It was a campaign issue. People were absolutely fed up to the back teeth with youth ram raids, with parents taking their kids out in the middle of the night to steal and rob other people's homes. Remember all that terrible footage of the time from people's home security cameras where you'd see the cars pull up and these littlies of 9-10 years old, in their pyjamas, getting out and doing the robbing for their gutless, malevolent, evil caregivers? It was absolutely shocking. And the waste of young lives was just cruel. But now, and to be fair, it is building on what the previous government started with the multi-agency approach. Youth crime has come down and it's come down dramatically. The Minister for Children Karen Chhour was on the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning explaining just why it's dropped. Some of it is young people no longer believe that they can avoid this accountability. I'm hearing it all across our communities, that they know that there's going to be consequences if they're caught. Other parts of it are better coordination between courts, Oranga Tamariki and police. And then we've taken some of the learnings from the military style academy pilot and put better investment into transitional support for young offenders coming out of youth justice. And we're investing in a number of safety and quality improvements to facilities in youth justice residences. So there's a lot of work that's been going on in the background, all around rehabilitation and making sure we are helping these young people be the best versions of themselves. This is good for them, and it's good for our community. Absolutely. I could not agree more. And when you think of the flak that poor woman took from Māori MPs in Labour and Te Pāti Māori, who accused her of not being Māori enough and being a traitor to her race and all. She has done more to help children , to help because unfortunately Māori children were overrepresented in the youth offending stats. She has done more to help them than they have done with their posturing and their infighting and their race baiting. She has made more practical difference to the lives of kids who didn't have a show when they're born to parents who just use them as tools in their offending because they know, and knew then, that there wouldn't be any consequences. Now there are. So bloody hats off to her. And good on her for staying focused on the kids, which was the reason she got in to Parliament, rather than being distracted and put off . She stuck in there because she believed in what she was doing and she believed as a child of state agencies herself, she wanted to make a difference for the kids, and she really has. And again, there's many reasons for that. It's building on what was started under the previous government who thought, bloody hell, we can't go on like this - the multi-agency approach proved to be very effective and that is continued. But if you also look at truancy - the data shows rising attendance every term since David Seymour made it his mission to get kids back into the classroom. In term two of 2025, 58.4% of students attended school regularly. In 2022, that was 39%. There's been a huge increase in the number of kids going to school.  It wasn't the school lunches that got them there. That was the carrot. I thought it would. I really did. I thought, yes, go the school lunches, starving kids, desperate kids will go to school and they'll turn up and they'll learn because they'll be fed and they'll see school as a safe place. No, didn't happen. What happened was a a carrot and a stick approach. An expectation that you will turn up for school. And if you're behind your desk, you're not behind the wheel of a stolen car, are you? This is good news. It's not perfect. There's still room for improvement. I'm not entirely sure about the boot camps, we haven't seen any figures from those, but that multi-agency approach is working. The expectation that kids will be in school is working. The fact that there are consequences for offending is working. This has got to be good news.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.