Business NZ Chief Executive Katherine Rich says the Supreme Court's ruling that Uber drivers are in fact employees of Uber, not contractors, could have far-reaching implications for businesses that hired contractors, and she says it could collapse the gig economy. What's the gig economy? Well, when we're talking about the gig economy, we mean people who work on single projects or tasks, gigs, on demand. They're often hired through a digital marketplace, think Uber, Airbnb, and gig workers can be anyone from part-timers looking to make extra dosh from a second job that they can work around their own hours, to full-time freelancers. They can also be from a range of backgrounds across a range of industries.

On the plus side, if you're a gig worker, there's more flexibility for hours and remote work, high earning potential —the keyword there is potential—, the option to work for various companies, you're not tied to one, and the ability to become your own boss.

On the downside, there is the potential to make very little. The gig economy is unsteady, and for many it's an unsatisfactory alternative to a secure and stable full-time job with all the associated benefits, sick pay, annual leave, and the like. Now, a lot of young ones say they want the flexibility that comes with having a gig and a side hustle and doing a bit there. The idea of turning up and working 9am to 5pm is absolute anathema to them, until they get sick or until they realise that they need to set aside money for holidays or until say they want parental leave. And then all of a sudden, a secure job doesn't look so bad after all.

Now, with the Supreme Court ruling, in effect, contractors can have their cake and eat it too if it flows on to other industries. The drivers who brought the case against Uber said they were seeking fundamental human rights in relation to the work they did for the company.

Uber says, "Oh, come on, you knew what you were getting into when you signed the contract. Drivers are in control of business decisions in a manner not typical of an employee situation. They can decide whether, when, where, and for how long to drive, or whether they want to do other work instead." They also had the ability to and did make decisions around assets, business costs, and organize their own tax affairs.

Uber accepted in court that drivers didn't have input into the structure. For example, when Uber decided to slash the fares in Auckland and Wellington, it was a bit of a promotion, drivers had no say over that. But they say the drivers know what the platform looks like, they accepted and they use it. They enter into a service agreement, and they act accordingly.

Workplace Minister Brooke van Velden told Mike Hosking this morning that the Government's looking to make changes to define exactly what it means to be a contractor. She outlined it very, very clearly, and we will get that to you. Basically, she says that the law hasn't really kept up with the new economy. The workplace law hasn't kept up with the new economy. That, you know, the way Uber wasn't around 10 years ago. Airbnb wasn't around 10 years ago, and workplace law hasn't kept up with it. But can you really have your cake and eat it too? If you don't like turning up to the same employer 9am to 5pm, you know what your job is, you know what your hours are, the very regularity of it that makes a job like that so attractive to some people, Makes it a turn off to others. They don't want that regularity in their lives. They want to be free to work when they want to.

It doesn't seem right that you have your cake and eat it too, does it? Brooke van Velden says she'll make changes. The Supreme Court says Uber has to treat its drivers like employees. Would love to hear from you on this one, especially if you've worked for Uber. I know a number of people have. I ran into an old film director of mine from Television New Zealand days who was driving an Uber. Really enjoyed it. Loved the in effect retired, but still really loved meeting people, kept them out of the house, enjoyed driving, really enjoyed it. All sorts of people have done a bit of Uber.

Do you feel like an oppressed member of the working classes with the corporate boot on your neck? Did you know what you were getting into when you signed up? And what implication does this have for employers who do use contractors?

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Bowel Cancer NZ's new report lays bare the realities of 350 people under 50 living with the disease.

It’s the second deadliest cancer in New Zealand, and the leading cause of cancer death among people under the age of 50.

Every year around 3,300 New Zealanders are diagnosed and 1,200 die from the disease, despite it having a cure rate of over 90% when caught early.

The Never Too Young report found more than half of those surveyed didn't know the symptoms prior to diagnosis, and many faced delays in diagnosis.

Bowel Cancer NZ Chief Executive Peter Huskinson told Kerre Woodham if the screening age was lowered to 45, it would go a long way to catch the majority of people with early onset bowel cancer.

He says that way they’d be caught by the screening, rather than waiting for symptoms to develop.

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New Zealand produces enough food to feed 40 million people. Some of it we consume and some some we export.

But a staggering 30% of the food we make or grow goes to waste.

Fruit and vegetables need to look a certain way to make it onto supermarket shelves – or they get tossed.

Angus Simms and his partner Katie Jackson wanted to tackle that problem - so they started Wonky Box three years ago.

This is the subscription food box full of wonky fruit and veg that’s delivered to your door.

Their business has grown way bigger and faster than they ever thought, but it hasn’t been smooth sailing along the way.

Angus joined Kerre Woodham in the latest episode of Bosses Unfiltered to share his story.

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As you'll have heard in the news this morning, the Retirement Commissioner has called for a 10-year roadmap and cross-party agreement, following the release of its review of New Zealand's retirement system.

More Kiwis are living longer, working differently, and facing pressures around housing and care. We're facing a huge rise in the number of older people. At the same time, we're facing fewer working Kiwis who can pay for the associated costs of aged care. Current data shows that right now, for every 100 people of working age, we have 28 retirees. Those numbers are changing quickly. By 2050, just 25 years away, we're looking at 38 retirees per 100 workers. By 2060, we'll have twice as many retirees compared to workers.

In 2019, those older than 65 received $13 billion more in government services, mainly super and healthcare, than they contributed in taxes. I mean, that's just the way it is. You end up using the health system more when you're young, very, very young, like under five, but mainly when you're very, very old. And in the middle, you shouldn't really be accessing it at all. Of course, we're seeing those numbers going up as well, but that's just the way it is. It's the Western world over. It's just life.

Treasury has been screaming for more than a decade now that we simply don't have enough money coming in to keep the lights on. Last week it gave another warning. Debt is not only being used for capital expenditure, but to cover operating costs. So it's like using your credit card to pay the necessary bills. It's unsustainable.

And this is occurring as the books haven't yet recovered from Covid and Cyclone Gabrielle, and as the costs associated with an aging population are set to soar. As I said, we're not alone in this. The Western world over is struggling with this. Japan's been staring down the barrel of a shrinking workforce and a rising number of oldies for years now. The Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made an interesting point in January 2023 that Japan is standing on the verge of whether they can continue to function as a society, facing as it does the twin threats of falling birth rates and an ever-increasing elderly population. And when I say elderly, they live a really long time – they've got really healthy oldies who are regularly hitting 100. In 2022, almost half of Japanese firms relied on workers over the age of 70. So they're trying to encourage older people to still participate, to continue if they're up to it, if they can.

So we could work longer. We could make use of the technology and the digitisation and the AI if you want to continue working. We could shift health to be rather than end-of-life care, try and put an emphasis on preventing people getting health issues and try and keep people out of hospital with preventable illnesses. We could prioritise health and well-being to ensure we stay healthy for longer.

When it comes to providing a broader tax base, we'll be competing with every other Western country to import workers, because I think it's pointless telling young people, and certainly other countries have found this, to have more babies. There's financial incentives for young couples to have more babies, but a couple of 100 bucks here and there is not going to make people have children.

What makes young families want to have children is a belief in the future, a belief in the society in which they live, a belief that they can support the children and give them what they need in terms of and it's not just financial things, it's time. If you're working seven days a week to provide for your family, you're going to limit the number of children you're going to have.

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A warning New Zealand needs to act quickly on strengthening our retirement income system.

The Retirement Commission's income policy review has found a longer-term political focus is needed to ensure future generations' certainty.

It makes 12 recommendations, including moving more quickly to implement KiwiSaver reforms, and harder strategies such as a new cross-party accord.

Policy and Research Director Patrick Nolan told Kerre Woodham we now have people over 65 than we have under 15, so we need to act now.

He says New Zealand is going to look very different into the future, so these conversations need to be had.

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How common is it for people to be living double lives?

Former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming is awaiting sentence after pleading guilty to having child sexual exploitation and bestiality material on his work devices.

An IPCA report also found complaints of McSkimming being a sexual predator were ignored, the emails the woman sent instead being used to prosecute her for harassment.

Private Investigator Julia Hartley Moore told Kerre Woodham that the number of people living double and secret lives is an epidemic.

"I think they just do it because they can,” she said.

“People have an endless capacity to deceive each other – I think that certain people will never and there’s certain people that will, and there’s a hell of a lot that do.”

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How is it that the woman, who's at the centre of a cover-up by top brass within the Police, still has to go to court to defend two charges of causing harm by posting a digital communication? She's charged with harassing a police officer who was apparently investigating her accusations against that pervert McSkimming and with harassing the investigating police officer's wife.

She was charged in May of last year with causing harm by posting digital communication in relation to over 300 emails she sent to McSkimming's work email address between December 23 and April 24. That charge against the woman was withdrawn in the Wellington District Court in September because McSkimming did not wish to give evidence. You bet your bippy he didn't. It would have been all shades of Oscar Wilde, bringing a court case against someone and having it spectacularly backfire, and then you are the one who ends up in strife.

When Richard Chambers spoke to Mike Hosking yesterday, he said the charges against the young woman had been withdrawn.

RC: The matters that resulted in her being charged in the middle of last year, no, that is now, that is no longer in the court.

MH: So that has been taken out of the court and resolved in some way, shape or form. Is there a cheque being written? How does that being, or how is that being handled?

RC: I reached out to her legal representative late yesterday to express an apology on behalf of New Zealand Police for what had occurred, and I did say to him that I had no doubt there would be further conversations at an appropriate time in the future.

So no mention of further charges and that they were still before the court. If you were listening to that as I was, you would be left with the clear impression that any charges against the young woman had been wiped, that the Police were very sorry, and that they would be compensating her for what she'd been through. No mention of the further charges. We approached the Police Commissioner, and this is the written statement from the office:

"The matter is before the court. Police has instructed a senior criminal barrister in this proceeding. It would be inappropriate for me to comment about the merits, including public interest of any case that is before the court. However, what I have done and what I can say is that I have assured myself that proper process has been followed in bringing this case."

Reading between the lines, if he interfered now that it's before the court and asked for it to go away, it would be shades of a cover-up. Because it's underway, because the presumably policeman and his wife have not dropped the charges, it must go before the court and due process must be followed.

This statement's attributable to Assistant Commissioner Mike Johnson: "Ms Z is the defendant in a prosecution in the District Court. In these circumstances, it's not appropriate to comment publicly on the merits of the prosecution, including the public interest."

So I kind of vaguely, if I'm being generous, and I'm not particularly feeling all that generous, but as a as an intellectual exercise, I'll try and be generous, I can see that to interfere with a matter that's before the court, making something disappear and go away, is shades of exactly why the top brass have been cleared out.

But come on. I'm sure it was very distressing for the police officer and his wife to be inundated with emails, and goodness knows what was said in it. They were, what was that lovely word that Jared Savage used about the emails that he received? Incoherent. So there was a lot of high drama and emotive language used in the emails. God only knows what was said but she'd been driven unhinged by what had happened to her in terms of not being spoken to, not being listened to, not being regarded.

Surely there has to be an element of mercy in this. I mean, even if she has to go through the whole process of appearing before court any kind of conviction against her name would be a gross miscarriage of justice.

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