Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

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Join Kerre Woodham one of New Zealand’s best loved personalities as she dishes up a bold, sharp and energetic show Monday to Friday 9am-12md on Newstalk ZB. News, opinion, analysis, lifestyle and entertainment – we’ve got your morning listening covered.

  1. 1d ago

    Kerre Woodham: Auckland's harbour crossing - a discussion that goes round in circles

    I can imagine 50 years from now, the morning host on ZB 9am to Noon will be nearing retirement and they'll have talked about everything, as I have done over my time here. So, they'll be opening their show on the 18th of August 2076, and they'll say, “Harbour crossing, tunnel or bridge? Meola Reef crossing or a bridge alongside the existing one? 0800 80 10 80.” And 50 years from now, the discussion will begin again and again and again.   Can you imagine we'll have a second harbour crossing in 50 years? Which is the more likely scenario – the ZB morning host 50 years from now opening it up for discussion, bridge or tunnel, Meola Reef or alongside the existing one, or that you'll be driving over or through the tunnel-crossing, listening to the morning host on Newstalk ZB in 2076? Because it will have been built and there you will be in your driverless car, sipping your morning coffee, listening to the wireless on your car radio while you're going over the harbour crossing.   It seems like one of those where you just end up going round and round and round in circles, which would be fine if it wasn't costing us so much money. How many reports have there been into another crossing? There was one in 1996 —last century— Transit New Zealand's scoping study identifying the initial bridge and tunnel options. Oh, and then things stepped up again, in 1997 the Auckland Regional Council reviewed dozens of alignment variants. Bit of a lull, then between 2006 and 2009 there were more studies, alignment and corridor protection studies recommending twin tunnels – I remember that, remember the discussions around that 20 years ago. 2010 to 2011, new transport and economic evaluation that looked into add-ons like the Skypath. 2023, the Waitematā Harbour Connections detailed business case presented five shortlisted bridge and tunnel options. 2024 to ‘26, further geotechnical seabed testing and market sounding investment cases by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport.   And then this month, another reset ordering an independent Crown-led detailed business case alongside a separate $1 million study for a Meola Reef alignment, which is basically a sop to Wayne Brown's ego and will only happen if Auckland Council's willing to pay half a million towards it. You cannot imagine how thrilled I am to be an Auckland ratepayer contributing towards Wayne Brown's ego and a taxpayer paying towards a $1 million ego study. Chris Bishop says the latest independent Crown led detailed business case is necessary.  “The difference here would be that in the past we've made decisions based on desktop studies, right? So a bunch of people have sat around and looked at a map and gone, “Oh, that'd be quite good," and drawn a line and gone, Let's do that." This time we've actually had a barge in the harbour, we've got the route alignment for a new bridge, we've got the route alignment for the tunnel. There's a lot more work's been done and I appreciate people listening will say, “Oh yeah, yeah, well he would say that," but this, you know, is genuinely true. We're a lot further advanced, we've got a really detailed investment case for both a bridge and a tunnel.   “The question is always, and has always been with this project, and this is the reason why the ‘08 and 2014 and 2015 and 2016 versions fell over, no one's yet worked out a proper way to pay for it because it's, you know, like it potentially, you know, could bankrupt the transport system or even, you know, the country's fiscal position unless we get it right. So that's the work we're doing right now, and I don't want people to underappreciate the scale of the cost. It's huge.”  I don't think we underestimate that, but I also know that given the amount of time we've wasted and the money we've wasted on coming up with options and then re-presenting the same options, would have been a good down payment to a lovely firm of Chinese tunnel builders who could have come in, whapped the thing up and pushed off again. We'd be driving over it.   The only thing that makes me feel marginally better about this decades long time and money wasting exercise is that the first harbour bridge was beset by the same issues. I know we probably think, as I did until I looked into it, God, must have been 20 odd years ago, that our pragmatic, phlegmatic forebears just rolled up their shirt sleeves and threw up the Auckland Harbour Bridge and bloody be done with it because we needed it, but in fact no. It faced intense public, political and technical opposition for decades. North Shore residents and farmers had been agitating for a crossing since the 1860s. So nearly 100 years later the thing was shoved up after much debate.   So maybe, maybe, maybe we aren't completely and utterly as hopeless this generation as I think we are. These are the same kind of debates, discussions, you would think we would learn from history, wouldn't you? But no. And if ever there was a piece of infrastructure that needed to be looked at by independent consultants, the Infrastructure Commission has a look at it, it cannot be touched politically, we decide on the best option, we toll the thing and be done with it. But it just does not seem to be that simple. It wasn't that simple in 1860 and it's not that simple in 2026. I hope things will have improved by 2076.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  2. 2d ago

    Emma Frazer: President of NZ Association of Beauty Professionals talks 'gel nail ban'

    Despite headlines about a "gel nail ban", gel manicures are not being banned in the UK. The new rules target a specific ingredient called TPO (trimethylbenzoyl diphenylphosphine oxide), which is used in many gel polishes to help them harden under UV or LED lamps. Regulators are phasing out polishes containing TPO over concerns it may damage fertility. So are we being exposed to TPO here in New Zealand? NZ Association of Registered Beauty Professionals President and owner of Allure Nail Studio in Tauranga Emma Frazer joined Kerre Woodham to discuss.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  3. 5d ago

    David Seymour: ACT Leader unpacks their proposed bed tax alternative

    ACT's vowing to share the tourism revenue already collected with councils, based on the number of bed nights.  It wants to see one dollar given to councils for each guest night in their area, funded through GST and levies already paid by visitors.  Leader David Seymour says it could be implemented at the next Budget, rather than needing legislation.   He told Kerre Woodham the Government is not short of taxes and does not need a new one – it needs to use the money it has better.  LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  4. 5d ago

    Kerre Woodham: Is ACT's bed tax alternative a good option?

    There's a reason that people live in cities and towns that others love to visit. Beautiful beachside resorts down south, the gorgeous, gorgeous little villages nestled under incredible mountains and natural beauty, or vibrant hotspots where there's a million things to do and a melting pot of cultures and all the places of great historical relevance as well as great beauty. Of course people are going to flock to visit them. But it does cost to provide the amenities that serve the visitors and for small cities and towns, it's a heavy, heavy burden for the ratepayer.   For a long time now, there's been discussion about whether to impose a bed tax on tourists, approximately 2.5% to 3% on short stay lodgings, and that would fund major cultural and sporting events and build the infrastructure in places where the ratepayer simply can't afford to put in the changing rooms, the loos, the motorhome parks, that sort of thing that are required. It would relieve the financial pressure on the ratepayers. Local authorities like Auckland Council face multimillion dollar budget gaps for attracting and subsidising major events that drive regional economic activity.   Now, ACT has proposed a dollar a night from each guest night stay be given to the local council who is hosting that visitor, funded through levies and GST that tourists already pay. So not a new tax, but taking the money and taking a dollar out and giving it to the council. David Seymour estimates this dividend would give councils more than $40 million annually, but the strategic director of Hotel Council Aotearoa, James Doolan, told Mike Hosking that while it's a good start, it's nowhere near enough.  “How do we share the massive amount of tourism tax with the people who actually host the tourists? You've got to do it everywhere nationally with a formula that doesn't change and isn't at risk of being changed by politicians from time to time. And $40 million for the entire country, I mean, Wayne Brown and Hotel Council, we agree that the number for Auckland alone should be about $40 million.   “So there's some, again, good stuff from ACT, they've acknowledged the problem, but already we have $5 billion of GST, we have $230 million collected at the border, $230 million at IVL, and we need ACT to tell us whether that money is also going to deal with visitor pressure, which is what it was originally designed to do.”  And it was. Remember when the international visitor levy was $35? Half went to conservation and DOC, the other half went into directly into infrastructure. Then the Coalition Government came in and changed it to $100, and now it's being used to pay for all sorts of things loosely associated with tourism. James Doolan didn't believe it should be spent on upgrading the cycle trails, given that it's mostly Kiwis that use them, but I don't know. I mean, regional tourism is still tourism, isn't it? At least it's not going on something like defence. It's not being taken out of one budget portfolio and going into another portfolio entirely.   But if you live in a tourist town, a place that tourists flock to because it's beautiful, because it gives them an experience that they otherwise would not have, like Rotorua. Loved my time in Rotorua over Christmas, loved going back and seeing the city recovering and damn near fully recovered. Beautiful things to do there. But what do you need to spend the money on? I look at places like Whangamatā or Wānaka, and they're little, and for most of the time they chug along really nicely as a beautiful little community in a beautiful part of the world, and then woof, in comes the tourism, in comes the visitor influx. And it's not year-round, it's seasonal. How on earth do you deal with that with the huge fluctuations? If it was relatively steady, it would be so much easier to deal with.   But when you're living in places, Ōhakune is another example, how do you deal with a massive influx of tourists all at once? Because what you need to sustain the tourists during that time is not what you're going to need for the rest of the year. And what sort of money do you need to look after the tourists properly, so it doesn't fall on the ratepayers’ shoulders? What sort of money are you talking about in the regions? What would you spend it on? Say all of a sudden, the international visitor levy gives you a windfall for your particular town, your particular region, what would you spend the money on to either attract tourists or to look after the ones who are already dedicated to coming and visiting your town?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  5. 6d ago

    Kerre Woodham: National's leadership debacle – what a waste of time

    So that's it then, at least until the next time. Christopher Luxon and his camp stared down the would-be challengers to his leadership, and he lives to fight another election. What happens after that is anybody's guess – win or lose. Chris Penk, the stalking horse, paid the price for calling a confidence motion, stripped of his ministerial portfolios, kicked down to the bottom of the backbenches to sit in purgatory, and he's announced he'll retire from politics at the election. There are all sorts of reckons about who he was acting for, who was really behind the coup, why it failed, and no doubt that will keep the political journos and the Wellington cabal in a lather for the next few weeks to come.  But the end result is, despite all the fevered speculation, another challenge to the Prime Minister's leadership was mounted and another challenge was bested. What a sorry, sorry state of affairs. Credit to the Prime Minister for having the cojones to stare down the perfidious ne'er do wells within his own caucus. He doesn't have to do the job, he doesn't need to do the job, yet he was determined to stick it out and finish the job in his own time and in his own way. Credit too to him for keeping excellent ministers where they are doing good work, when surely a dark deep recess of his heart must wish there was still the ability to hang, draw, and quarter traitors. Would have taken a big deep breath and then move on. The ministers are doing good work for New Zealanders while undermining their boss and their party, and to be able to set aside an entirely understandable desire for vengeance shows real maturity and leadership.  But where does it leave erstwhile National voters? Quite clearly the caucus is full of liars and traitors and grasping opportunists, no different I suppose to most other political parties, but it doesn't make me feel great voting for them. I know I should accept that this is politics, but why? You wouldn't put up with that in friendships, you wouldn't put up with that in your own workplace. Why do you have to accept undermining, duplicitous, two faced, pledging loyalty with one hand, hugging with one hand while the other hand holds the knife? I find it despicable. Is loyalty an old-fashioned virtue? I wouldn't have thought so. Anyway, why should people be able to get away with pledging their loyalty, telling the public, “Oh yes look, we're absolutely behind the leader," only to be found to be actively undermining both the leader and the party? And what sort of thinking are you getting if a significant cabal within National thinks it's a great idea to roll a leader who is leading a party that could form a government 90 days before the election?  It hardly shows the brains trust, does it? To have a group of people going, “Hey, I know, why don't we roll the leader of our party and the Prime Minister 90 days before an election? That'll really get people on side." What a waste of time, what a waste of money and what an absolute bloody gift to Labour.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  6. Aug 11

    Kerre Woodham: Those trying to roll Luxon are a pack of fools

    Do you know what? While those self-serving destructive quislings in Wellington are doing their very best to lose the election at the caucus meeting this morning, specially called, do you know who's not meeting? 40 mayors and councillors who were supposed to be attending a signing ceremony of a regional deal between the government, the Queenstown Lakes District Council, the Otago Regional Council and the Central Otago District Council. This is good work. This is perhaps not sexy work, but it's sound, sensible work that's going on, that's going to make life better for the ratepayers of these regions. It was all set to be signed at 10:30am, but now it won't because senior ministers can't attend. And why can't they attend? Because a group of traitorous idiots are attempting to roll the Prime Minister again.   That just underlines how arrogant and ignorant these small minded, perfidious group of Nats are. Because they are terrified of losing their accommodation allowances, their travel allowances, their home security allowance, their jacked up Super, terrified of having to find a real job 90 days before an election. They're trying to roll a Prime Minister who at the latest poll was leading a party that was ahead and a party that had every chance of winning an election with a group of centre-right other parties. If there was any last one of us who thought that politicians were there to serve the people, surely this self-serving, self-seeking, self-aggrandising group of Nats has put that idea to the sword.  If National had no chance of getting back in, if the leader of the Nats had committed an egregious crime à la McSkimming, if he'd been accused of something truly vile, then sure, get rid of him, utterly grounds for getting rid of him. But to get rid of him because he's not snazzy enough? Not glib enough? Not vibey enough, hasn't got the feels? Knows too much and wants to share it? They think Chris Bishop is snazzy? What a pack of fools.   I do not know where my vote will go if the cohort of Nats within the party are stupid enough to roll their boss. If they prevail, they're people who simply cannot be trusted, their word is not good. I know men and women who can do million-dollar deals on the shake of a hand and a word. They are good people, they are sound people and they're the ones getting dicked around by these traitorous, duplicitous liars. “We back our leader," said Chris Bishop yesterday while testing the sharpness of his blade. Erica Stanford four days ago told journalists that they were interviewing their typewriters and that she's behind Luxon while the bagman Penk is alleged to have done the numbers. Ugly, ugly, ugly stuff.  If Luxon prevails today, and I really hope he does, Chris Bishop should be relegated straight to the bottom of the list and consigned to history. Christopher Luxon came in and did a jolly good job of uniting a party that was a shambles. It was in absolute disarray. Simon Bridges was dumped, replaced by Todd Muller who retired hurt and then Judith Collins got the hospital pass and then into the 2020 election in which National were decimated. They had to rebuild from the ashes, and Christopher Luxon helped them do that.   He might not have the jazz hands, but he had faith in good ministers, let them get on with their work, held them to account. What do they do with their renewed strength, the Nats? They disembowel themselves and eat their own entrails, which makes for really unpleasant viewing. For the lefty voters, oh, you must be thinking this is better than any Netflix drama right now. Grab the popcorn and watch it all unfold and who can blame you? This is an own goal of seismic proportions. If a small group of destructive Nats are responsible for the collapse of the centre right vote and Labour, the Greens, Te Pāti Māori and the Opportunity party gets in, we should make a new crime and charge those snivelling quislings with economic treason.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  7. Aug 11

    Dr Michael Swanson: Otago University political commentator on whether there's a case for MMP reform

    As debate continues about Luxon's political future following last week's MMP reform comments, there's growing discussion about whether a referendum is needed. In a piece in Newsroom, Otago University political commentator Dr Michael Swanson argues MMP has delivered fairer representation and coalition Governments are doing exactly what proportional representation was designed to do.He joined Kerre Woodham to outline New Zealand's possible options amid the ongoing election season. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  8. Aug 11

    Kerre Woodham: The Delmore development's giving fast-track a bad name

    Well, this Orewa development's giving fast-track consenting a very bad name, isn't it? I am absolutely gobsmacked. I am no property developer, but I would have thought you wouldn't apply to put up hundreds and hundreds of houses before you had, if you’ll excuse me, your shit together, quite literally. The decision to greenlight a 1,217 home development on the outskirts of Orewa has attracted heavy criticism from the Auckland mayor, the council, local residents, and just about everybody you speak to. And deservedly so. Vineway Limited plans to build the homes, a commercial area, two neighbourhood parks, some ecological areas to tick the box, and construct a State Highway 1 interchange. All very admirable, but where's the wastewater pipes? And the water pipes full stop. Lovely to have a little ecological area where you can rediscover a sparkling skink, but what about the pipes?  There isn't the capacity from Watercare to deliver water, get rid of the waste for the more than a thousand homes in the commercial space. Watercare has made it abundantly clear that it cannot connect any services to the site before 2033, potentially 2050, so why in heaven's name would you allow a housing development of this size to go ahead? We've been there, we've done that, it doesn't work. Two years ago, Watercare was trucking sewage from new housing developments while infrastructure was being built to cope with the waste. But they said two years ago this wasn't working. It was expensive, it was smelly, it was complex. So they said no, we're not going to approve any new resource consents that require an interim wastewater solution. And they did oppose this Orewa one.  Back at the time they were talking about servicing Cardinal West, a housing development on a former dairy farm. There were 300 homes there, in the first stage they were planning 417 odd. There were 300 homes, and to service those 300 homes Watercare had to make 90 trips a week to remove the sewage. 90 for 300 homes. How many trips would it take to get rid of the waste from 1,217 homes? Can I remind you too, because this is why it's so incomprehensible; if this was a first where you had a housing developer saying, “Hey, I know we haven't got any pipes to connect to the water infrastructure and the wastewater infrastructure, and I know we won't get them till about 2050 but what about we truck water in and take the treated sewage away?" And if that was the first time it had been suggested, you might think, “Well, that sounds half baked, but nonetheless let's give it a go, let's not be negative Nancys, let's just, we need housing." Look at them. It doesn't work. That's why Watercare said no.  And can I remind you of Auckland's Whitford Manor, described by planners as a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when developers build houses in areas where public water pipes have yet to reach. Spelling it out for the property developers out there. Over the years, every plan for a private wastewater system at Whitford Manor collapsed. A deal to pipe waste across a neighbouring golf course fell through, shock me. And a backup plan to dump it in a nearby creek was killed in the High Court by conservationists and iwi, and I don't blame them. It didn't work 150 years ago, we're still dealing with the problems of just using natural waterways to dump our crap into and our arsenic and our poisons from the factories. Look at the creeks around Grey Lynn, they're still recovering.  So what in God's name are we doing in Orewa? Watercare held up Whitford Manor's failure as one of the reasons to object to other housing projects trying to build outside the public network. We've been there. We've seen that it can go wrong. Everybody's opposed to it, apart from the developers, who, you can take your ecological area and your indigenous skink and shove it up your jacksy because until you've got the infrastructure that's necessary, you're creating a recipe for disaster and you won't be clearing it up. You won't be, because like Whitford Manor you'll just go t**s up and bankrupt and off you go. And guess who's left cleaning up your waste, your mess? We are, the ratepayers, the taxpayers. No, no, no, no. If this is an example of the fast-track consenting process, it's a big fat fail from me.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Join Kerre Woodham one of New Zealand’s best loved personalities as she dishes up a bold, sharp and energetic show Monday to Friday 9am-12md on Newstalk ZB. News, opinion, analysis, lifestyle and entertainment – we’ve got your morning listening covered.

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