It’s been nearly a year since the Government changed hands, and Opposition Leader Chris Hipkins is back with Kerre Woodham to answer the hard-hitting questions. 

Hipkins is pointing his finger at the coalition for slowing infrastructure down because of a lack of bipartisanship.

Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop has been urging parties to work across the House to secure a solid building pipeline. 

But Labour leader Hipkins says it's the new Government which has been more partisan on infrastructure investment. 

He told Kerre Woodham the coalition put a whole lot of things on hold already underway after the election.

Hipkins says many of those projects need to happen anyway, so when Labour regains power they won't stop things already started just because it wasn't their priority.

WATCH ABOVE

It’s been nearly a year since the Government changed hands, and Opposition Leader Chris Hipkins is back with Kerre Woodham to answer the hard-hitting questions.  
Hipkins is pointing his finger at the coalition for slowing infrastructure down because of a lack of bipartisanship. 
Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop has been urging parties to work across the House to secure a solid building pipeline.  
But Labour leader Hipkins says it's the new Government which has been more partisan on infrastructure investment.  
He told Kerre Woodham the coalition put a whole lot of things on hold already underway after the election. 
Hipkins says many of those projects need to happen anyway, so when Labour regains power they won't stop things already started just because it wasn't their priority. 

WATCH ABOVE

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.

Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Chris Hipkins: Labour Leader on infrastructure, leadership, taking calls

Well, that's one way, isn't it, to deal with your problematic pupil attendance record – do away with attendance requirements altogether. 

Hagley College in Christchurch will allow some of its students to work from home two days a week, in a trial to believed to be a New Zealand first. The college is offering 20 NCEA Level 2 students the chance to do hybrid learning. There'll be 16 hours of math, science, and English, and they will be required to be at school three days a week for in person learning and two days will be online via scheduled video calls. Hagley representative Nathan Walsh said the school had tried to get students to attend the traditional five-day face to face education model, otherwise known as school, but they'd really struggled, especially when it came to getting kids back into the classroom who'd experienced mental or physical health issues, or children who had extracurricular activities they prioritised. Gaming, you know, that's an all-night thing —you're knackered by the time the morning rolls around— all sorts of other extracurricular activities that are best done in twilight or by dark of night. 

So the prospective hybrid learners would need to prove their ability to work independently when out of school, and caregivers had to be clear on their responsibility to support ongoing learning. It's a trial for now, but if it's successful, if students achieve well, and if they attend their classes, hybrid learning will be offered to pupils for NCEA levels 2 and 3 in 2026, at Hagley College. 

Now the old school amongst us may think this is a load of lefty tosh. But have a look at all the adults who claim to be just as productive working from home as they are in the office. There are so many people who have incorporated working from home as their working model. Students, especially the older students, see their parents working from home and think why not? Especially if they are part of that cohort who was told to stay home, who were kept out of classrooms for two years. If we have been told that you can learn just as well outside of the classroom, why wouldn't you give hybrid learning a go? 

And then there are the young people who have really struggled to get back into the rhythm of going to school. I remember a youngish mum ringing in, and she had a great big giant of a 16-year-old son who would not go to school some days. He said I can do it in three hours, I can do what I need to learn in three hours. It's all a crock, most of it is just time wasting. I can get it done and still do my own thing. And he was too big for her to drag to school. He was too old for her to bribe, and she was at her wits end. Good family, an expectation that school was part of a young person's life, but she said he was right, he could do the learning in three hours and then do his own thing. 

So surely any learning is better than none if young people will not go to school. We've seen many who don’t want to go, can’t go, are too anxious to go, surely getting some learning into them is better than them dropping out altogether? 

My initial response was oh for God's sake, for the love of all that is Holy, there aren't many expectations on young people but going to school is one of them. But then you think about it and you know, going to work used to be an expectation. Not now. People will work from home, and if their employer’s reluctant for them to do so, they'll find another employer. You're a kid, you see Mum and Dad working from home, then you're going to want to do the same thing if it suits you better. 

And if you are one of those parents who has struggled to get their young person back into the classroom, would you welcome the opportunity for hybrid learning? We've heard from parents who have said, look, I negotiate with my child and say three days out of the week you’ve got to go, two days you can stay home. For some parents, I imagine this would be a blessing. 

Well, that's one way, isn't it, to deal with your problematic pupil attendance record – do away with attendance requirements altogether.  
Hagley College in Christchurch will allow some of its students to work from home two days a week, in a trial to believed to be a New Zealand first. The college is offering 20 NCEA Level 2 students the chance to do hybrid learning. There'll be 16 hours of math, science, and English, and they will be required to be at school three days a week for in person learning and two days will be online via scheduled video calls. Hagley representative Nathan Walsh said the school had tried to get students to attend the traditional five-day face to face education model, otherwise known as school, but they'd really struggled, especially when it came to getting kids back into the classroom who'd experienced mental or physical health issues, or children who had extracurricular activities they prioritised. Gaming, you know, that's an all-night thing —you're knackered by the time the morning rolls around— all sorts of other extracurricular activities that are best done in twilight or by dark of night.  
So the prospective hybrid learners would need to prove their ability to work independently when out of school, and caregivers had to be clear on their responsibility to support ongoing learning. It's a trial for now, but if it's successful, if students achieve well, and if they attend their classes, hybrid learning will be offered to pupils for NCEA levels 2 and 3 in 2026, at Hagley College.  
Now the old school amongst us may think this is a load of lefty tosh. But have a look at all the adults who claim to be just as productive working from home as they are in the office. There are so many people who have incorporated working from home as their working model. Students, especially the older students, see their parents working from home and think why not? Especially if they are part of that cohort who was told to stay home, who were kept out of classrooms for two years. If we have been told that you can learn just as well outside of the classroom, why wouldn't you give hybrid learning a go?  
And then there are the young people who have really struggled to get back into the rhythm of going to school. I remember a youngish mum ringing in, and she had a great big giant of a 16-year-old son who would not go to school some days. He said I can do it in three hours, I can do what I need to learn in three hours. It's all a crock, most of it is just time wasting. I can get it done and still do my own thing. And he was too big for her to drag to school. He was too old for her to bribe, and she was at her wits end. Good family, an expectation that school was part of a young person's life, but she said he was right, he could do the learning in three hours and then do his own thing.  
So surely any learning is better than none if young people will not go to school. We've seen many who don’t want to go, can’t go, are too anxious to go, surely getting some learning into them is better than them dropping out altogether?  
My initial response was oh for God's sake, for the love of all that is Holy, there aren't many expectations on young people but going to school is one of them. But then you think about it and you know, going to work used to be an expectation. Not now. People will work from home, and if their employer’s reluctant for them to do so, they'll find another employer. You're a kid, you see Mum and Dad working from home, then you're going to want to do the same thing if it suits you better.  
And if you are one of those parents who has struggled to get their young person back into the classroom, would you welcome the opportunity for hybrid learning? We've heard from parents who have said, look, I negotiate with my child and say three days out of the week you’ve got to go, two days you can stay home. For some parents, I imagine this would be a blessing.

Kerre Woodham: Why shouldn't we give hybrid learning a go?

A Christchurch school hopes to address falling attendance rates by allowing some students to work from home two days a week.

The trial will be run by Hagley College, who will be offering 20 students the opportunity to do “hybrid learning”.

Students will attend 16 hours of the core subjects —maths, science, and English— a week, with three days of in-person learning, and two days of online learning.

Tim O’Connor, Headmaster at Auckland Grammar, told Kerre Woodham that Hagley is entitled to make whatever decisions they see fit for their school community, but from his point of view, they need students attending school on a daily basis.

He said there’s much to be learned from being in a physical classroom, such as socialisation skills, routines and scheduling, and the Socratic style of learning that occurs within a classroom environment.  

LISTEN ABOVE

A Christchurch school hopes to address falling attendance rates by allowing some students to work from home two days a week. 
The trial will be run by Hagley College, who will be offering 20 students the opportunity to do “hybrid learning”. 
Students will attend 16 hours of the core subjects —maths, science, and English— a week, with three days of in-person learning, and two days of online learning. 
Tim O’Connor, Headmaster at Auckland Grammar, told Kerre Woodham that Hagley is entitled to make whatever decisions they see fit for their school community, but from his point of view, they need students attending school on a daily basis. 
He said there’s much to be learned from being in a physical classroom, such as socialisation skills, routines and scheduling, and the Socratic style of learning that occurs within a classroom environment.   
LISTEN ABOVE

Tim O'Connor: Auckland Grammar Headmaster on whether a "hybrid learning" model would work for students

We're going a little bit back to the future today because the annual report card into the grocery industry came out yesterday, and we were overrun with health talk. So we'll go back to that report and look at the ramifications for the industry, for the suppliers, and for us, the consumers. 

So according to the report, we are paying higher prices, specials are confusing, and loyalty schemes aren't delivering overly significant rewards. Paying $10,500 for a glass container isn't really enough in terms of loyalty (if you're collecting the stickers from New World, you'll know what I mean). According to the ComCom’s first annual grocery report all major supermarkets experienced an increase in price cost margins, which means retail prices were increasing faster than the cost of the goods. Those wanting to enter the market are not finding it easy. Despite 150,000 members signing up to Costco by March, Costco still suffered a $20 million loss. Restrictive land covenants were hampering new entry for new players and existing ones. The Commission has already prosecuted Foodstuffs North Island for historical abuses, grabbing land and holding on to it so nobody else can build there. 

We also saw alternative grocery shopping places like Huckleberry shut down – that's been around forever and that's been placed into liquidation. Online retailer Supie failed, Bin Inn closed 5 stores, so it's tough, it's a tough market out there. And it's tough for Foodstuffs and Woolworths too, I'm sure. They've had to pay increased costs, and security guards, and thefts and the like, it has not been easy for them. They've had to look after their staff, who face relentless barrages of abuse, and probably this report card won't help. 

So, it's not an easy industry to be in right now. It's a much, much tougher one to get into if you want to. While the number of covenants around land had decreased, the Commission has expressed concern at the more than 100 properties currently owned by major retailers that are not being used for stores, with no immediate plans to put a supermarket there. The Commissioner said, well, yes, I suppose some of these properties could be used for car parks or storage, but they certainly included potential expansion sites when properties held for more than 20 years were considered. Sue Chetwin from the Grocery Action Group, told Ryan Bridge on Early Edition that the government needs to show its teeth if we want to see any significant change to the market. 

“All of the rules that they've put in place, all very well meaning, but have not worked. They have really just tinkered around the edge, so unless you make some structural change to encourage competition or to allow competition to happen, then we're just going to get more of the same.”

Yeah, and that's the thing. There was a Commerce Commission report, there were some prosecutions, the duopoly of Foodstuffs and Woolworths were put on notice, and nothing happened. If anything, it's got slightly worse. So the government is interested in turning up the heat, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says he plans to seek advice on the sites currently being land banked, alongside broader regulatory reviews that could lead to potential change, including the Overseas Investment Act and the Fair Trading Act. 

What about the concerns of suppliers? We've looked at consumers and said, yep, you're paying more than you need to for food, even taking into account seasonal fluctuations, even taking into account everything's more expensive, what the report says is that the increase in price cost margins has given them a greater profit than they needed to have. The report says a monthly index of suppliers prices produced by Informetrics for Foodstuffs North Island and pumped out to the media —in fact it was referred to in the press release following the release of the ComCom report yesterday— has consistently failed to include the impact of so-called trade spend, the impact of rebates, discounts, and payments that run to billions of dollars annually on the prices supermarkets actually pay to their suppliers. The report stopped short of calling this lying, Business Desk said let's settle for embarrassing. 

So what does this all mean? We are a very small country. We're not even as big as most cities in the United States, so anybody who's interested in coming here from overseas has to know that they'll make a profit. Even if the government arranged for a prime piece of real estate in the middle of Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city, and earmarked it for an overseas player and said come, haere mai, haere mai, this land is yours, put your supermarket up there, fill your boots. I'm not entirely sure they'd make a profit. It’s a huge investment. It's a huge investment in building up relationships that cannot happen overnight with suppliers. It takes time, and the reason that Foodstuffs and Woolworths are so successful is that they are old companies. They're very old. Certainly with Foodstuffs when you trace their whakapa back, they are part of the landscape back to the 60s. So this has taken time to build, to get into this position of strength. And while there might be huge players overseas, they don't have that network of contacts, that history, that the others do here. It's got to be worth their while. They've got to know that they're going to make money if they up sticks and invest here. How likely is that? 

Is there any real likelihood of a third player? What's it going to take to get real competition? Is it going to take a coalition government that really doesn't like regulation? Are they going to have to swallow a dead mouse and say we'll have to regulate this industry because they're not doing it themselves?  

We're going a little bit back to the future today because the annual report card into the grocery industry came out yesterday, and we were overrun with health talk. So we'll go back to that report and look at the ramifications for the industry, for the suppliers, and for us, the consumers.  
So according to the report, we are paying higher prices, specials are confusing, and loyalty schemes aren't delivering overly significant rewards. Paying $10,500 for a glass container isn't really enough in terms of loyalty (if you're collecting the stickers from New World, you'll know what I mean). According to the ComCom’s first annual grocery report all major supermarkets experienced an increase in price cost margins, which means retail prices were increasing faster than the cost of the goods. Those wanting to enter the market are not finding it easy. Despite 150,000 members signing up to Costco by March, Costco still suffered a $20 million loss. Restrictive land covenants were hampering new entry for new players and existing ones. The Commission has already prosecuted Foodstuffs North Island for historical abuses, grabbing land and holding on to it so nobody else can build there.  
We also saw alternative grocery shopping places like Huckleberry shut down – that's been around forever and that's been placed into liquidation. Online retailer Supie failed, Bin Inn closed 5 stores, so it's tough, it's a tough market out there. And it's tough for Foodstuffs and Woolworths too, I'm sure. They've had to pay increased costs, and security guards, and thefts and the like, it has not been easy for them. They've had to look after their staff, who face relentless barrages of abuse, and probably this report card won't help.  
So, it's not an easy industry to be in right now. It's a much, much tougher one to get into if you want to. While the number of covenants around land had decreased, the Commission has expressed concern at the more than 100 properties currently owned by major retailers that are not being used for stores, with no immediate plans to put a supermarket there. The Commissioner said, well, yes, I suppose some of these properties could be used for car parks or storage, but they certainly included potential expansion sites when properties held for more than 20 years were considered. Sue Chetwin from the Grocery Action Group, told Ryan Bridge on Early Edition that the government needs to show its teeth if we want to see any significant change to the market.  
“All of the rules that they've put in place, all very well meaning, but have not worked. They have really just tinkered around the edge, so unless you make some structural change to encourage competition or to allow competition to happen, then we're just going to get more of the same.” 
Yeah, and that's the thing. There was a Commerce Commission report, there were some prosecutions, the duopoly of Foodstuffs and Woolworths were put on notice, and nothing happened. If anything, it's got slightly worse. So the government is interested in turning up the heat, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says he plans to seek advice on the sites currently being land banked, alongside broader regulatory reviews that could lead to potential change, including the Overseas Investment Act and the Fair Trading Act.  
What about the concerns of suppliers? We've looked at consumers and said, yep, you're paying more than you need to for food, even taking into account seasonal fluctuations, even taking into account everything's more expensive, what the report says is that the increase in price cost margins has given them a greater profit than they needed to have. The report says a monthly index of suppliers prices produced by Informetrics for Foodstuffs North Island and pumped out to the media —in fact it was referred to in the press release following the release of the ComCom report yesterday— has consistently failed to include the impact of so-called trade spend, the impact of rebates, discounts, and payments that run to billions of dollars annually on the prices supermarkets actually pay to their suppliers. The report stopped short of calling this lying, Business Desk said let's settle for embarrassing.  
So what does this all mean? We are a very small country. We're not even as big as most cities in the United States, so anybody who's interested in coming here from overseas has to know that they'll make a profit. Even if the government arranged for a prime piece of real estate in the middle of Auckland, New Zealand's biggest city, and earmarked it for an overseas player and said come, haere mai, haere mai, this land is yours, put your supermarket up there, fill your boots. I'm not entirely sure they'd make a profit. It’s a huge investment. It's a huge investment in building up relationships that cannot happen overnight with suppliers. It takes time, and the reason that Foodstuffs and Woolworths are so successful is that they are old companies. They're very old. Certainly with Foodstuffs when you trace their whakapa back, they are part of the landscape back to the 60s. So this has taken time to build, to get into this position of strength. And while there might be huge players overseas, they don't have that network of contacts, that history, that the others do here. It's got to be worth their while. They've got to know that they're going to make money if they up sticks and invest here. How likely is that?  
Is there any real likelihood of a third player? What's it going to take to get real competition? Is it going to take a coalition government that really doesn't like regulation? Are they going to have to swallow a dead mouse and say we'll have to regulate this industry because they're not doing it themselves?

Chris Hipkins: Labour Leader on infrastructure, leadership, taking calls

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