Kerre Woodham: This one's for small business owners

The editorial this morning goes out to all the small and medium business people. Those of you who are starting the work week looking to earn your own keep, employ some New Zealanders, pay your taxes, and provide a product or service that people want or need. You don't want luxury yachts and private…

Ben Van Berkel: President of the Wellington Rugby Referees Association on Wellington Rugby and local referees reaching new deal after abuse causes shutdown

There's positive movement in the club rugby refereeing stand-down in the capital. Referees will still boycott all club matches this weekend, after 19 reported incidents of verbal abuse towards Wellington whistlers, but they are working with Wellington Rugby to be back officiating the following wee…

Mike Casey: Rewiring Aotearoa CEO on Labour and National looking to roll out solar power-based initiatives

Both National and Labour are rolling out new solar power proposals ahead of the election, and it's clear there's mood for change.  Current WorkSafe rules prohibit the use of certain plug-in solar systems because connecting solar panels directly to standard household plugs is considered a safety ri…

Kerre Woodham: Bring on the solar

Everybody's into the solar energy now. National announced its solar energy policy last week and most people thought it was a sound idea, good common-sense idea. The party, if elected, would launch the Home Energy Fund by tweaking the Local Government Act and committing a one-off $7 million equity i…

Kerre Woodham: How would you rate the "liveability" of New Zealand's cities?

What makes a city liveable? The Economist Intelligence Unit, which is such a grand name, has released its latest list of the most liveable cities. There are 173. Three Australian cities are in the top 10 – Melbourne third, Sydney fourth, and Adelaide eighth. For all the bad press Melbourne gets for…

Kerre Woodham: Would you rather pay a toll or wait for a new road?

What would you rather? Would you rather toll roads and shiny new roads, or would you rather waiting for NZTA to put you on the list of priorities and potholes up your ying yang?   New Zealand has just three toll roads right now throughout the country, and two of them are in Tauranga. There are als…

Kerre Woodham: Why stop at only citizens being able to vote?

Yes, it's election year. How can you tell? They're all coming up with policies now, aren't they, designed to appeal to their core constituency. Winston Peters played a blinder by announcing to the party faithful at a campaign meeting in Warkworth over the weekend that he wants to see voting rights…

Gary Morrison: NZ Security Association CEO comments on ACT proposition to give security guards more power

ACT wants to grant security guards more powers, with industry concerns not many would want the extra abilities The Party says police are overstretched and security staff can fill the gap - protecting retailers, transport hubs and businesses. They'd like them allowed to detain and remove people, i…

Kerre Woodham: Should security guards have the power to intervene?

Security guards will be given the power to detain people and use force under a sweeping ACT Party proposal that makes the very fair point that police are overstretched, and businesses can no longer wait for officers to respond. Some of them would see tectonic plates drift as they waited for the Pol…

Kerre Woodham: The school lunch programme's become more trouble than it's worth

From Michelin stars to school lunches, sublime, ridiculous. I think it's safe to say none of the school lunches on offer will be getting Michelin stars. Then the last lot probably wouldn't have either. A scathing report has been issued by the Auditor General, which says only 50% percent of the meal…