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

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

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

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

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/d31145be-bcee-4ced-a62c-b4a3003545e3/transcript

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 tits 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. 

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?&nbsp;
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.&nbsp;
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.&nbsp;
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.&nbsp;
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 tits 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.&nbsp;

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

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/655cd0e4-146c-40d6-8915-b4a3000d52d6/transcript

A developer says controversy around a housing build near Orewa in north Auckland should prompt a rethink.

The 1200 home Delmore development —now fast-track-approved— can't be connected to wastewater infrastructure until at least 2033. 

Waste will have to be trucked out.

Urban Planning Specialist Hamish Firth told Kerre Woodham it highlights a lack of support for infrastructure providers.

He says we need to be getting this infrastructure into areas where housing is likely to go.

However, Firth says the land has been zoned for housing since 2016 – so maybe Watercare should have planned for it in future work.

LISTEN ABOVE  

A developer says controversy around a housing build near Orewa in north Auckland should prompt a rethink.
The 1200 home Delmore development —now fast-track-approved— can't be connected to wastewater infrastructure until at least 2033.&nbsp;
Waste will have to be trucked out.
Urban Planning Specialist Hamish Firth told Kerre Woodham it highlights a lack of support for infrastructure providers.
He says we need to be getting this infrastructure into areas where housing is likely to go.
However, Firth says the land has been zoned for housing since 2016 – so maybe Watercare should have planned for it in future work.
LISTEN ABOVE &nbsp;

Hamish Firth: Urban Planning Specialist and Mt Hobson Group Director on the controversial Delmore development getting fast-track approval

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/ad664a9d-9e2c-444b-b0f4-b4a3000769a6/transcript

Today, the 111 call out and the fact that St John is absolutely under the pump and has been for quite some time and they're not expecting it to finish anytime soon. On Saturday, 2,562 calls came into the ambulance through 111 the highest number received ever in a single day. But then that was the third time the daily record had been broken in a week.

Just last week, the record number of 111 calls was set, then surpassed, then surpassed, then surpassed again and they're not expecting that to go anytime soon. A mate of mine pretty much saved the life of our mutual friend. She was at her flat, suddenly stricken, like off the couch in agony. Her flatmate called 111, time was ticking by, nothing was happening.

So he rang my friend Les in absolute despair and said what the hell do I do, she's in agony. Les whizzed round there and then rang the ambulance service and asked where the ambulance was. And she said I can't tell you that and he said yes you can because you've got GPS, where is the ambulance? She said I can't tell you that. And he pushed her and pushed her until finally she admitted there was no ambulance on the way, they didn't have one. But she didn't want to tell him that, I don't know why. 

As soon as he heard that he just hung up, he and the flatmate scooped up Soph, whizzed her to the hospital and she'd had a brain aneurysm. It was touch and go but she has made a full recovery and is back to the beautiful vibrant soul she is, but it really was touch and go. If Les hadn't pushed, they'd have sat there waiting for an ambulance and Soph would have died. There'll be a hell of a lot more stories like that out there after the past two weekends.

As I said, it was a record number on Saturday, 2,562 calls, a normal day would see around 1,900 calls. According to Doug Gallagher, who's the St John Director of Ambulance Operations, not all cases need an ambulance. And he's right. After I smashed my arm into a million pieces, the next day, it was an uncomfortable night I grant you, but the next day I was still able to take a taxi from Leigh to a 24 hour medical centre on the North Shore.

It wasn't a fun hour and if I'd been in an ambo perhaps I would have had some pain relief which would have been greatly appreciated, but I got it once I got to the 24 hour clinic and once there it was a completely straightforward process of them going ooh, no, I think that needs to be x rayed, oh, I think we'll go to hospital for that one, and off we went. So probably people don't need an ambulance.

When something drastic happens, your first thought probably is oh I better ring an ambulance. And I suppose when I hurt my arm, I didn't even think of an ambulance because we were so far away, we were out in the seaside, at a seaside resort. And I didn't think there'd be any point in ringing an ambulance, I'd wait till the morning and get a taxi and go in from there. Possibly you could travel under your own steam. And I just wonder why people instantly think 111.  As Mike said this morning when he was talking to Doug Gallagher, there are a lot of time wasters, but Doug Gallagher said well I wouldn't call them that.

Wasting the time's not the term to use. I think people struggle sometimes with not being able to access the right part of the health system. But there are options there, Healthline, online GP portal, people can find those through the Health New Zealand website. I think that's the issue that people struggle to navigate the health system at times.

Is that what it is? Why would the first, I mean if you don't have a vehicle and you don't have any money, and there's a few people like that, then an ambulance may well be your only option if you think it's serious. But in the first instance, what do you do? I've called the Healthline before and it's been very helpful. I did think I'd probably need to get my arm set, but I didn't need an ambulance for that. I couldn't drive, but I could take a taxi and I did have the money to take a taxi. Not everybody does.

Do you think it's drummed into us to call 111 in an emergency or why is it that so many people see the ambulance as the first response? And you are asked to pay if you can when you take an ambulance, so you might as well hop in a cab or an Uber if you think there's something really wrong and needs checking out. That's a lot of calls in a day.

 I would love to know how many of them were absolutely essential where people may well have died if they didn't get that ambulance ride to the hospital. I'd just be interested to know what the advice is. Like Doug is saying navigate the health system, well so okay you ring Healthline and they answer pretty quickly. They might be able to give you advice.

Is it just panic when something happens? Like oh my god, what do I do? They're in terrible pain, I don't know how to deal with it, I'm going to ring the ambulance rather than I'm going to ring Healthline and see if this is something I can manage myself. I'd really love to hear your experiences.

I mean in my mate's case, Les's case, if he hadn't got Soph to the hospital she wouldn't be here and that's that. How many cases are like that with an ambulance or are people using it because they have no other options? And what is the medical advice? I mean if in doubt ring an ambulance, is that really the advice that St John would give?

LISTEN ABOVE

Today, the 111 call out and the fact that St John is absolutely under the pump and has been for quite some time and they're not expecting it to finish anytime soon. On Saturday, 2,562 calls came into the ambulance through 111 the highest number received ever in a single day. But then that was the third time the daily record had been broken in a week.
Just last week, the record number of 111 calls was set, then surpassed, then surpassed, then surpassed again and they're not expecting that to go anytime soon. A mate of mine pretty much saved the life of our mutual friend. She was at her flat, suddenly stricken, like off the couch in agony. Her flatmate called 111, time was ticking by, nothing was happening.
So he rang my friend Les in absolute despair and said what the hell do I do, she's in agony. Les whizzed round there and then rang the ambulance service and asked where the ambulance was. And she said I can't tell you that and he said yes you can because you've got GPS, where is the ambulance? She said I can't tell you that. And he pushed her and pushed her until finally she admitted there was no ambulance on the way, they didn't have one. But she didn't want to tell him that, I don't know why.&nbsp;
As soon as he heard that he just hung up, he and the flatmate scooped up Soph, whizzed her to the hospital and she'd had a brain aneurysm. It was touch and go but she has made a full recovery and is back to the beautiful vibrant soul she is, but it really was touch and go. If Les hadn't pushed, they'd have sat there waiting for an ambulance and Soph would have died. There'll be a hell of a lot more stories like that out there after the past two weekends.
As I said, it was a record number on Saturday, 2,562 calls, a normal day would see around 1,900 calls. According to Doug Gallagher, who's the St John Director of Ambulance Operations, not all cases need an ambulance. And he's right. After I smashed my arm into a million pieces, the next day, it was an uncomfortable night I grant you, but the next day I was still able to take a taxi from Leigh to a 24 hour medical centre on the North Shore.
It wasn't a fun hour and if I'd been in an ambo perhaps I would have had some pain relief which would have been greatly appreciated, but I got it once I got to the 24 hour clinic and once there it was a completely straightforward process of them going ooh, no, I think that needs to be x rayed, oh, I think we'll go to hospital for that one, and off we went. So probably people don't need an ambulance.
When something drastic happens, your first thought probably is oh I better ring an ambulance. And I suppose when I hurt my arm, I didn't even think of an ambulance because we were so far away, we were out in the seaside, at a seaside resort. And I didn't think there'd be any point in ringing an ambulance, I'd wait till the morning and get a taxi and go in from there. Possibly you could travel under your own steam. And I just wonder why people instantly think 111. &nbsp;As Mike said this morning when he was talking to Doug Gallagher, there are a lot of time wasters, but Doug Gallagher said well I wouldn't call them that.
Wasting the time's not the term to use. I think people struggle sometimes with not being able to access the right part of the health system. But there are options there, Healthline, online GP portal, people can find those through the Health New Zealand website. I think that's the issue that people struggle to navigate the health system at times.
Is that what it is? Why would the first, I mean if you don't have a vehicle and you don't have any money, and there's a few people like that, then an ambulance may well be your only option if you think it's serious. But in the first instance, what do you do? I've called the Healthline before and it's been very helpful. I did think I'd probably need to get my arm set, but I didn't need an ambulance for that. I couldn't drive, but I could take a taxi and I did have the money to take a taxi. Not everybody does.
Do you think it's drummed into us to call 111 in an emergency or why is it that so many people see the ambulance as the first response? And you are asked to pay if you can when you take an ambulance, so you might as well hop in a cab or an Uber if you think there's something really wrong and needs checking out. That's a lot of calls in a day.
&nbsp;I would love to know how many of them were absolutely essential where people may well have died if they didn't get that ambulance ride to the hospital. I'd just be interested to know what the advice is. Like Doug is saying navigate the health system, well so okay you ring Healthline and they answer pretty quickly. They might be able to give you advice.
Is it just panic when something happens? Like oh my god, what do I do? They're in terrible pain, I don't know how to deal with it, I'm going to ring the ambulance rather than I'm going to ring Healthline and see if this is something I can manage myself. I'd really love to hear your experiences.
I mean in my mate's case, Les's case, if he hadn't got Soph to the hospital she wouldn't be here and that's that. How many cases are like that with an ambulance or are people using it because they have no other options? And what is the medical advice? I mean if in doubt ring an ambulance, is that really the advice that St John would give?
LISTEN ABOVE

Kerre Woodham: The ambulances are under the pump, and it won't finish anytime soon

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/5dcab178-264b-40d1-8a2f-b4a1017b8b5c/transcript

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

In 1 playlist(s)

Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

Social links

Follow podcast

Recent clips