Kerre Woodham: Everyday children deserve support and encouragement

This particular pre-Budget announcement should be music to the ears of parents who are currently working every hour God sends to pay for extra maths coaching for their children. You might have heard them on this show before – parents who really can't afford it, but say to themselves they can't affo…

Kerre Woodham: You won't get your car seized if you don't break the law

The government sent a strong signal to boy racers that their days of running amok on the roads are over. Car crushing is not new, it's been announced before - Judith Collins was police minister in 2009 when car crashing legislation was introduced for recidivist boy racer offenders, hence her sobri…

Kerre Woodham: The party is well and truly over

There's bad news, really, and it's been coming and I think I've had my head in the sand for some time. I've been wanting things to get better quickly. I've wanted things to move out from grindy-ness, and a lack of fun, and excess, and nonsense. It's just been for four years of long, slow grind, it …

Tom Ronaldson: Fire and Emergency New Zealand's Community Education Manager on safely using lithium-ion batteries

Warnings to be careful after a string of fires was linked to lithium-ion batteries.   Scrap metal company Sims Metal has been fined $30 thousand over a 2023 fire that released toxic smoke near Ōtāhuhu.  A massive blaze at a recycling plant near Glenfield last month was also linked to lithium-ion …

Kerre Woodham: The New Zealand political system David Parker wants

Long serving Labour MP and former Minister David Parker gave his valedictory speech in Parliament last night, where he gave his colleagues across the House a list of things to do, among his thank yous and goodbyes.   Chief among them was closing the gap between the very wealthy and the middle clas…

Kerre Woodham: This Government has a problem with optics

Just when I thought the issue of pay parity couldn't get any more confusing, the Government has made it so. Yesterday, the coalition government moved under urgency in Parliament to raise the threshold for proving work has been historically undervalued when making a pay equity claim. Under the new l…

James Ross: Taxpayers Union Policy and Public Affairs Manager on the government's use of urgency for the pay equity law

The Government is being criticised for their use of urgency to pass legislation.   A law to lift the threshold for gender-discrimination pay equity claims and extinguish claims under way is likely to pass today, after only being announced yesterday.    The Government's said it could save the taxp…

Liam Dann: NZ Herald Business Editor on the unemployment rate remaining at 5.1%

The unemployment rate has stayed static for another quarter.  Stats NZ figures just out show the rate remained at 5.1% in the March quarter.  The number of full-time workers fell by 45 thousand over the year and part-time employment grew by 25 thousand.  Herald Business Editor at Large Liam Dann…

Kerre Woodham: We need to be part of the solution to retail crime

A new report from Retail NZ has revealed the state of retail crime in New Zealand - 99% of the membership of Retail NZ has experienced some form of crime or antisocial behaviour in 2023/24, that's up from 93% the year prior.   I remember thinking that's a lot, National want to be working on that b…

Kerre Woodham: Northland desperately need police boots on the ground

I don't know if you caught the story over the weekend - Ngāpuhi, the iwi of Northland, are calling for police to round up the drug dealers in Northland using the same strong tactics they used in drug raids on Ōpōtiki last year. You'll remember there was criticism of how the police dealt with some…