Efforts to stamp out yellow-legged hornets in New Zealand are widening. 

Biodiversity New Zealand is expanding the 5-kilometre surveillance zone in Glenfield and Birkdale on Auckland's North Shore further out to 11-kilometres, to ensure only one population is at large. 

Victoria University Ecology and Entomology Professor Phil Lester told Kerre Woodham hornets target worker bees one by one and will hurt more than our honey sector.  

He says bees support our dairy, kiwifruit, and avocado industries, and if they get established it will be a real problem. 

LISTEN ABOVE  

Efforts to stamp out yellow-legged hornets in New Zealand are widening.&nbsp;
Biodiversity New Zealand is expanding the 5-kilometre surveillance zone in Glenfield and Birkdale on Auckland's North Shore further out to 11-kilometres, to ensure only one population is at large.&nbsp;
Victoria University Ecology and Entomology Professor Phil Lester told Kerre Woodham hornets target worker bees one by one and will hurt more than our honey sector. &nbsp;
He says bees support our dairy, kiwifruit, and avocado industries, and if they get established it will be a real problem.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE &nbsp;

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

Phil Lester: Victoria University Ecology and Entomology Professor on the efforts to stamp out yellow-legged hornets

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/e4d214a4-eb10-4b07-919d-b3af0184e7b9/transcript

The arrival of Netflix and other film streaming services was the death knell for video rental stores. Five years after Netflix arrived in New Zealand in 2015, the majority of stores, once mainstays of our weekends —who didn't go in and spend an hour or so in the video rental store trying to decide what to choose for the weekend?— had closed across the country.  

Yet despite 99% of New Zealanders saying they used email regularly in that same year, 2015, postal services have endured. Now sure, they've reduced as mail volumes have dropped off. 2015 was a big year because that's when postal deliveries went from six days a week to three as the mail volumes declined. But at least my toll payment notices and my cards from Aunt Barbara are still arriving in my letterbox three days a week.  

The decline of video stores was relatively quick, if not painless. The decline of postal services is long and slow and may yet not be terminal. Take the announcement yesterday that New Zealand Post is to remove its services from 142 franchise partners. On the face of it, grim news. Yet in the same press release, New Zealand Post GM of Consumer announced that many of the remaining stores will be upgraded and new retail hubs featuring modern spaces designed for parcel sending, collection, and returns will be opening across the country. All well and good.  

But for the franchises, those businesses that had New Zealand Post services in their stores, they say people do still send letters and parcels. They do still contribute significantly to their businesses. The owner of Marsden Books in Karori, Briony Hogg, told Ryan Bridge this morning that having the post office in store brings in a number of people. 

BH: For us as a small bookshop in a suburban area, it's all about the people that it brings into the store. People would come in to do their posting and while they're in there, they'll buy a card and they'll buy a book and they'll have a chat and we build a relationship with these people and yeah, we're really, really disappointed that we've lost that. 

RB: Do you know what sort of impact it might have on your bottom line? 

BH: It's going to be pretty significant. It is a large portion of our revenue. So now we're going to have to think about ways that we pivot, ways that we change in the way we do business. And it's been a pretty exhausting couple of years to be a small business owner. I'm sure there's people out there that just don't have the energy to do that sort of pivot anymore. So yeah, it's going to be really, really significant, not just on me, but on all the other 141 outlets that got closed yesterday. 

Yes, it's interesting too the choice of franchise owners that NZ Post has chosen to keep. I am no NZ Post GM Consumer, but a bookstore seems to make more sense for a New Zealand Post franchise than a service station, but there we go.  

The fact remains it's a government-owned company and if it's making a loss, that's a loss the taxpayer has to wear. In the 2024 financial year, the state-owned enterprise reported a loss of $14 million. Chump change if you're a former Labour government, but nonetheless $14 million. The moves announced yesterday are part of the plan to return to profitability.  

In a way, it would be quite freeing to not have postal services anymore. I'm still hung up on sending cards to denote formal occasions, but I faff around. I still owe a thank you card to generous hosts from Christmas. A month has now gone by. Their generosity was such that I need to acknowledge it, and an email just doesn't do it. Yet I would have sent an email within days of Christmas. But because I'm still trying to find the right card and get an actual physical voucher, it'll probably be Easter before I post my thank you. And a thank you delayed is an ill-mannered ingrate. So if there was no postal service, I could use that as an excuse rather than just faffing around. But I still love sending cards and maybe that's just a generational thing. There may be those of you 30 and under who are thinking, "What? I only get my speeding tickets in the mail and that is that and I could easily do that online." But some occasions just seem to require a formal thank you, a formal handwritten "I've taken the time to acknowledge what you've done for me and I appreciate it." And I would be really, really, really sorry to see that go. 

The arrival of Netflix and other film streaming services was the death knell for video rental stores. Five years after Netflix arrived in New Zealand in 2015, the majority of stores, once mainstays of our weekends —who didn't go in and spend an hour or so in the video rental store trying to decide what to choose for the weekend?— had closed across the country. &nbsp;
Yet despite 99% of New Zealanders saying they used email regularly in that same year, 2015, postal services have endured. Now sure, they've reduced as mail volumes have dropped off. 2015 was a big year because that's when postal deliveries went from six days a week to three as the mail volumes declined. But at least my toll payment notices and my cards from Aunt Barbara are still arriving in my letterbox three days a week. &nbsp;
The decline of video stores was relatively quick, if not painless. The decline of postal services is long and slow and may yet not be terminal. Take the announcement yesterday that New Zealand Post is to remove its services from 142 franchise partners. On the face of it, grim news. Yet in the same press release, New Zealand Post GM of Consumer announced that many of the remaining stores will be upgraded and new retail hubs featuring modern spaces designed for parcel sending, collection, and returns will be opening across the country. All well and good. &nbsp;
But for the franchises, those businesses that had New Zealand Post services in their stores, they say people do still send letters and parcels. They do still contribute significantly to their businesses. The owner of Marsden Books in Karori, Briony Hogg, told Ryan Bridge this morning that having the post office in store brings in a number of people.&nbsp;
BH: For us as a small bookshop in a suburban area, it's all about the people that it brings into the store. People would come in to do their posting and while they're in there, they'll buy a card and they'll buy a book and they'll have a chat and we build a relationship with these people and yeah, we're really, really disappointed that we've lost that.&nbsp;
RB: Do you know what sort of impact it might have on your bottom line?&nbsp;
BH: It's going to be pretty significant. It is a large portion of our revenue. So now we're going to have to think about ways that we pivot, ways that we change in the way we do business. And it's been a pretty exhausting couple of years to be a small business owner. I'm sure there's people out there that just don't have the energy to do that sort of pivot anymore. So yeah, it's going to be really, really significant, not just on me, but on all the other 141 outlets that got closed yesterday.&nbsp;
Yes, it's interesting too the choice of franchise owners that NZ Post has chosen to keep. I am no NZ Post GM Consumer, but a bookstore seems to make more sense for a New Zealand Post franchise than a service station, but there we go. &nbsp;
The fact remains it's a government-owned company and if it's making a loss, that's a loss the taxpayer has to wear. In the 2024 financial year, the state-owned enterprise reported a loss of $14 million. Chump change if you're a former Labour government, but nonetheless $14 million. The moves announced yesterday are part of the plan to return to profitability. &nbsp;
In a way, it would be quite freeing to not have postal services anymore. I'm still hung up on sending cards to denote formal occasions, but I faff around. I still owe a thank you card to generous hosts from Christmas. A month has now gone by. Their generosity was such that I need to acknowledge it, and an email just doesn't do it. Yet I would have sent an email within days of Christmas. But because I'm still trying to find the right card and get an actual physical voucher, it'll probably be Easter before I post my thank you. And a thank you delayed is an ill-mannered ingrate. So if there was no postal service, I could use that as an excuse rather than just faffing around. But I still love sending cards and maybe that's just a generational thing. There may be those of you 30 and under who are thinking, "What? I only get my speeding tickets in the mail and that is that and I could easily do that online." But some occasions just seem to require a formal thank you, a formal handwritten "I've taken the time to acknowledge what you've done for me and I appreciate it." And I would be really, really, really sorry to see that go.&nbsp;

Kerre Woodham: The slow decline of NZ postal services

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/dbe7125c-3e15-4a98-9e78-b3df016d1cd5/transcript

And here we all are, another summer, and while for many people it was fun in the sun and family catchups, for others it was dealing with floods and landslides. Specialised crews are still working, and will be working for some time yet, on recovering the bodies of the missing Mount Maunganui campers. Families are mourning the loss of a Welcome Bay grandmother and grandson killed in another Bay of Plenty landslip, and around the country communities are dealing with being cut off from main thoroughfares and facing lengthy drives to access any kind of amenities, probably counting their lucky stars that their family members are not among the dead and injured from this year's summer storms. 

It's horrifying, but it's not unexpected, is it? Ever since humans have attempted to tame the environment around them, they've had to deal with the fact that often they will come off second best. So, do we need to rethink how and where we build our communities? It's the definition of madness to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results, and yet that is what we do.  

Cabinet's meeting this morning and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking they'd be discussing the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to fix major roading damage from this year's summer storms. Last year they met to discuss the hundreds of millions of dollars that would be needed to fix roads, the year before that they needed to fix kilometres of roads around the country, and that too would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. A large part of the Waioeka Gorge, which connects Gisborne and Bay of Plenty, will be closed for several weeks to clear slips from the roads. Farmers in the region are calling for a plan B and a more resilient road network because they say they can't handle being cut off from the rest of the country every 18 to 36 months. 

There are some communities that are looking at other options, rather than rebuilding every time there are floods and doing that every 18 to 36 months. You've got the town of Westport that's looking at a long-term managed retreat strategy, where they're not going to build a new town per se, but gradually any new projects will be built on higher, safer ground away from the severe flood risk, and there'll be plans for a new hub and infrastructure to encourage gradual relocation over generations.  

There's also a proposal to shift Kumeū's town centre over a number of years. That was tabled by the Auckland Council around about this time last year. A proposal to shift Kumeū and Huapai area because it has a repeated history of flooding, and yes, you can pay the higher insurance rates and you can rebuild and do it again and again, but why would you if there is an alternative? Infrastructure proposals are also being put forward, but a number of community leaders are saying it's pointless, it's putting your finger in the dyke. The better option is to concede defeat and build somewhere else.  

Certainly there are ways to mitigate damage from flooding and landslips, there are ways of predicting which areas are more prone to flooding and landslips, technology's improving all the time. In some instances though, do we just need to acknowledge that we are no match for the power of nature, concede defeat and step away? 

And here we all are, another summer, and while for many people it was fun in the sun and family catchups, for others it was dealing with floods and landslides. Specialised crews are still working, and will be working for some time yet, on recovering the bodies of the missing Mount Maunganui campers. Families are mourning the loss of a Welcome Bay grandmother and grandson killed in another Bay of Plenty landslip, and around the country communities are dealing with being cut off from main thoroughfares and facing lengthy drives to access any kind of amenities, probably counting their lucky stars that their family members are not among the dead and injured from this year's summer storms.&nbsp;
It's horrifying, but it's not unexpected, is it? Ever since humans have attempted to tame the environment around them, they've had to deal with the fact that often they will come off second best. So, do we need to rethink how and where we build our communities? It's the definition of madness to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results, and yet that is what we do. &nbsp;
Cabinet's meeting this morning and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking they'd be discussing the hundreds of millions of dollars needed to fix major roading damage from this year's summer storms. Last year they met to discuss the hundreds of millions of dollars that would be needed to fix roads, the year before that they needed to fix kilometres of roads around the country, and that too would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. A large part of the Waioeka Gorge, which connects Gisborne and Bay of Plenty, will be closed for several weeks to clear slips from the roads. Farmers in the region are calling for a plan B and a more resilient road network because they say they can't handle being cut off from the rest of the country every 18 to 36 months.&nbsp;
There are some communities that are looking at other options, rather than rebuilding every time there are floods and doing that every 18 to 36 months. You've got the town of Westport that's looking at a long-term managed retreat strategy, where they're not going to build a new town per se, but gradually any new projects will be built on higher, safer ground away from the severe flood risk, and there'll be plans for a new hub and infrastructure to encourage gradual relocation over generations. &nbsp;
There's also a proposal to shift Kumeū's town centre over a number of years. That was tabled by the Auckland Council around about this time last year. A proposal to shift Kumeū and Huapai area because it has a repeated history of flooding, and yes, you can pay the higher insurance rates and you can rebuild and do it again and again, but why would you if there is an alternative? Infrastructure proposals are also being put forward, but a number of community leaders are saying it's pointless, it's putting your finger in the dyke. The better option is to concede defeat and build somewhere else. &nbsp;
Certainly there are ways to mitigate damage from flooding and landslips, there are ways of predicting which areas are more prone to flooding and landslips, technology's improving all the time. In some instances though, do we just need to acknowledge that we are no match for the power of nature, concede defeat and step away?&nbsp;

Kerre Woodham: Is it time to rethink where we build our communities?

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/30316889-49db-4a2e-9ccf-b3de016ca32e/transcript

Inflation's officially higher than it's supposed to be. 

Latest Stats NZ data shows inflation's reached 3.1% – up from 3% at the last update three months ago. 

That's above the Reserve Bank's target range of 1 to 3%. 

The Herald's Liam Dann told John MacDonald it's also well above the Reserve Bank's forecast of 2.7%. 

He says there were hopes inflation was starting to fall again, so to see a rise like this isn't good at face value. 

LISTEN ABOVE 

Inflation's officially higher than it's supposed to be.&nbsp;
Latest Stats NZ data shows inflation's reached 3.1% – up from 3% at the last update three months ago.&nbsp;
That's above the Reserve Bank's target range of 1 to 3%.&nbsp;
The Herald's Liam Dann told John MacDonald it's also well above the Reserve Bank's forecast of 2.7%.&nbsp;
He says there were hopes inflation was starting to fall again, so to see a rise like this isn't good at face value.&nbsp;
LISTEN ABOVE&nbsp;

Liam Dann: NZ Herald Business Editor on the annual inflation rate rising to 3.1%

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/7784f840-c291-422a-924b-ad9000bbad71/clips/f0d1e733-0ef9-45cc-a4d7-b3da01754247/transcript

Phil Lester: Victoria University Ecology and Entomology Professor on the efforts to stamp out yellow-legged hornets

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