Episodios

  • Kerre Woodham: Revisiting drug laws

    Kerre Woodham: Revisiting drug laws
    Oct 30 2025

    New Zealand's drug laws are in the spotlight again and with good reason. Despite record police busts, we're still seeing record methamphetamine use, we're seeing increasingly dangerous street drugs, and rising overdose deaths, three a week from drug overdoses.

    There have been calls to overhaul the 50-year-old Misuse of Drugs Act and the call comes from a number of different organisations. The Drug Foundation wants drug use decriminalised and the law rewritten to make it a health issue, not a criminal issue, and they have been very consistent in their approach on this.

    Also this week we had a survey from the Helen Clark Foundation conducted by the University a University of Otago researcher, Rose Crossin. And that found that half of New Zealanders support shifting investment from policing to health. Rose Crossin told the Elephant News show right now two-thirds of what we spend on drugs goes to law enforcement. And the people surveyed would prefer that money to go on to prevention, treatment and harm reduction. The report shows that just 1.4% of the annual drug budget is for harm reduction. 1.4%. That does rise to 30% when you look at treatment and prevention, but it's still when you see the vast majority going towards policing, surely it should be flipped on its head.

    Green's co-leader Chloe Swarbrick also raised the issue, again, launching an online platform yesterday, which asked for public suggestions on better drug regulation, in particular cannabis, as a step towards legalisation.

    Now, with the use of medicinal cannabis, we haven't seen a huge upswing in the numbers of people taking cannabis. I venture there are some of you who have used medicinal cannabis, found it works for you.

    You've never used cannabis before, but when the opportunity came available for you to use it, you did so, and found it didn't turn you into a raging drug addict lifting your skirt on the streets to pay for your habit.

    And in fact, helped you with pain, helped you with sleeplessness, whatever it is that medicinal cannabis is supposed to do. So certainly, there needs to be more opportunity for people to rehab, for those who've tried drugs, found it doesn't work for them and need to get off it.

    There are clinics around the country, but hey, good luck getting into the taxpayer funded ones. Pretty much it seems you have to be court ordered before you can get into those rehab clinics. If you go private, prices start from around $17,000 for a couple of weeks to a month. Most 30-day residential rehabs charge more than $20,000. And you can have ones with all the bells and whistles and the nice sheets and the nice meals and the yoga instructor.

    But who the hell can pay for that? The trust fund babies, sure. Wealthy business people, sure.

    But where do you go if you're an average, ordinary, everyday Kiwi who tried drugs, be it meth or coke or booze, and thought you could handle it, and found that the monkey on your back was the one in charge, you need to get off. You have to. - you're going to lose your family, you're going to lose your soul. How do you step out of your life for a month? How do you find the 30-odd thousand for the month? How do you re-enter your life and stay clean?

    Policing plays an important role in thwarting people who make money from peddling misery. Having drugs criminalised stops some people from using them. I know that when I was growing up in the media,and I really was, 17,18, 19 years old, a big reason I didn't use drugs that were around, the cocaine and the cannabis, was that I would lose my job. If I was found in possession of any of these drugs, I would lose my job. I would have a criminal offence against my name, so the legalised drug, booze, became my drug of choice. So I understand how having drug use criminalised can be useful in stopping people starting. Bbt surely reducing demand is a really vital part of the process as well. People choosing not to use alcohol and other drugs will have a much bigger impact than the occasional high-profile bust.

    And surely then making drugs just another product with all the health and safety regulations around the production of these drugs, having taxes applied at source, turning it into just another commodity would be the most effective of all at emasculating the gangs and the cartels?

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    6 m
  • Jason Herrick: Federated Farmers Southland President discusses storm damage in South Island

    Jason Herrick: Federated Farmers Southland President discusses storm damage in South Island
    Oct 30 2025

    Power is still out to many rural South Island properties.

    Just under six thousand are still cut off in Clutha and Southland, where States of Emergency continue.

    More than three-thousand weather-related insurance claims have been lodged so far.

    Federated Farmers Southland President Jason Herrick told Kerre Woodham that, 'people were helping one another and I'll tell you what, I'm hearing some stories out there of some real unsung heroes.'

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    8 m
  • Kerre Woodham: More MPs? I don't think so

    Kerre Woodham: More MPs? I don't think so
    Oct 28 2025
    I thought I'd start with the idea, the initiative, if you will, coming out of the think tank, the New Zealand Initiative. I love generally the work that they produce because even though you might not agree with the ideas that they put forward, there's generally a good discussion to be had. You hear the pros, you hear the cons, you think, mmm, okay. This one though, I'm not so sure. More MPs. Increasing the number of MPs in our parliament from 120 to 170. Oh, I don't think so. Our parliament may be small compared with other countries with similar populations, but until the New Zealand voting public has a seismic shift in the understanding of civics and civil society, and refocuses itself, if we all have to refocus on responsibilities over rights, then the fewer politicians, the better. Senior fellow at the Initiative, Nick Clark, says though that we need more politicians because the ones we have are stretched too thinly, they're doing too much work, and that means there's a very real risk of poor legislation being drafted.We have difficulty with select committees in terms of the ability for them to properly scrutinise legislation, and that's partly because the MPs that we do have available are so thinly stretched. We have MPs that end up on multiple committees. They can't give a good handle on what's going on, as much as they perhaps should. They get inundated with submissions. It's a good idea, I think, to just spread the load a bit more by having some more MPs. Also, the electorates that we have are very large, both geographically and in population terms, and they're becoming increasingly difficult for MPs to service the rather complex and intense needs of the constituents. So these extra MPs will be electorate MPs, not list ones. Some will be, yep, yep, ... we'd be looking at the 50/50 split. That was Senior Fellow at the New Zealand Initiative Nick Clark talking to Ryan Bridge this morning. So a few more electorate MPs, but also more list MPs. No, thank you. No, thank you very much at all. Maybe if every MP who was being paid by you and me, by the public purse, was pulling their weight, you could argue a case that they're overworked. But while a large number take the job very seriously, there have been many instances of MPs across the house calling out others for laziness, for not understanding the job and not doing it. I think when we have MPs who are accountable to an electorate, there is a far greater sense of ownership. So if you had more electorates, perhaps I could consider the case for it, but certainly, no. No more list MPs. And in another New Zealand Initiative report, Dr James Kierstead says there's a disconnect between politicians and the people they represent, just as there is in many other democracies around the world. And his report, he says in recent years, governments have enacted a number of policies that were clearly opposed by most Kiwis. Three Waters legislation was forced through despite multiple polls consistently showing that a majority of New Zealanders opposed it. Only a year after Three Strikes legislation was repealed, a poll suggested nearly two-thirds of New Zealanders wanted it to stay on the books, and only 16% of them wanted it repealed. Nonetheless, when Labour came in, they did that anyway. And despite polls showing clear majorities of Kiwis supported the actual wording of the Treaty Principles Bill, it failed to progress beyond its second reading. Dr Kierstead says we need more direct input from citizens as the solution. Again, I'd say no, not until we have a better educated voting population. If you're listening to the show, I'm assuming you know a little bit about politics, you know a little bit about how parliament works. Some will have a greater understanding than others, but you have an interest in politics. You understand how legislation is enacted. You understand why we have a parliament. You understand the roles of MPs. But there are so many who don't. They won't look at policies. They'll either vote tribally or they'll vote because somebody looks better than somebody else does. They won't be looking at what policy is going to mean further down the track. They'll just look at how it directly impacts on them, and that's okay if that's their interest. I just don't think that we are intelligent enough to be either represented well, because let's face it, MPs are drawn from us, and we are an imperfect pool of people. And I don't think we know how to keep them accountable. I don't think we know what to expect of them. I don't think we pull them up when they're making grievous errors of judgment when drawing up their list MPs, looking at you, Greens. Somebody said yesterday that the biggest threats to our society are apathy and ignorance, and I would agree. Increasing the pool of MPs by another 50? We're going to have to do a lot better than that before I'd even remotely concede to discussing that one. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ...
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    8 m
  • Gaven Martin: Massey University Distinguished Maths Professor discusses calls to pause curriculum rollout

    Gaven Martin: Massey University Distinguished Maths Professor discusses calls to pause curriculum rollout
    Oct 28 2025

    When the Government unveiled it's maths action plan in August last year, we spoke to Distinguished Maths Professor Gaven Martin.

    Widely regarded as New Zealand's leading mathematician, Gaven gave the new plan better odds of working than curriculum under the previous Government.

    Now, more than 40 maths educators and researchers have written an open letter calling on the Ministry of Education and Erica Stanford to pause the latest curriculum rollout immediately.

    They are questioning why the maths curriculum has been re-written for the third time in three years, saying they were “deeply concerned” by both the changes themselves and the process used for its development.

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    13 m
  • Bruce Bernacchi: Dentons Tax Partner reviews potential impact of Labour's Capital Gains Tax

    Bruce Bernacchi: Dentons Tax Partner reviews potential impact of Labour's Capital Gains Tax
    Oct 27 2025

    Early this morning, the Labour Party made a surprise Capital Gains Tax announcement.

    The targeted tax would raise funds for the health system, including three free doctors' visits per year.

    The tax wouldn't apply to the family home, farms, KiwiSaver, shares, business assets, inheritances, and personal items.

    Dentons Tax Partner Bruce Bernacchi told Kerre Woodham that, "people will call it a capital gains tax when it's actually not, because it's extremely targeted just on property."

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    8 m
  • Kerre Woodham: Why give something to people they don't need?

    Kerre Woodham: Why give something to people they don't need?
    Oct 27 2025
    I was looking last night at things we could talk about, and there was plenty to talk about, all of which got superseded by Labour, Labour, Labour - having to release their capital gains tax, which is targeted to three free doctors' visits. Labour's been playing peekaboo with a capital gains tax for some time now. Oh, will we, won't we? Oh, what's it going to look like? Can't tell you. And now they kind of have. We finally get to hear the detail on what that CGT is going to look like, except #notreally. Because the release was made early because it was leaked, and so nobody got up to speak to the policy. Chris Hipkins, Barbara Edmonds, and Ayesha Verrall are doing that at 10:30am today, despite their press release having been out for the past five hours. With all news media going, what the dickens? What does it all mean? Does nobody actually talk to one another in the Labour ranks? Last week a health policy was announced and Chris Hipkins was taken by surprise. Today there's been the leak, not ideal. Anywho, from the press release, Labour will set up a Medicard for all New Zealanders, giving you three free doctors' visits per year, whether you need them or not, and will pay for it with a targeted capital gains tax. There was some detail included in the release. The tax will exclude the family home, Kiwi Saver shares, business assets, inheritances, and personal items. And the tax will only apply to gains made after July 2027. I heard Mike reading out a text saying, "Oh, I bought the batch in 56,1956. It's been in the family and now I'm going to have to pay a million dollars in tax." Well, no. The tax will only apply to gains made after July 2027. Back to the press release we go ... currently most profits from selling commercial property or residential property are tax-free. A new targeted tax would apply only to the sale of a commercial property or residential property, excluding the family home, and only on the gains made after the 1st of July 2027. There would be no tax on any gains made before that date. I don't think that was very clear this morning in the discussion. The tax would be set at 28% to align with the company tax rate. So some detail. So many more questions. I have some, and hopefully we'll be able to put them to Chris Hipkins, Ayesha Verrall, or Barbara Edmonds at some point. How much will three free visits for every New Zealand cost the taxpayer? Anybody? No. Related to that, how much does Labour anticipate collecting from a targeted capital gains tax? Anybody? Nope. Does it include dental, which is what a lot of primary healthcare researchers have been calling for, or just the GP visits? Why does everybody get three free visits? If one in six New Zealanders can't afford GP visits, why are taxpayers paying for the five in six who can? What if I don't need to visit the doctor three times a year, but my neighbour needs to visit 10 times? Surely it's better to look after people who are born with poor health or develop poor health over a lifetime, and look after them and keep them out of the hospital system. And not specifically related to the policy, but why are you having so much trouble releasing policy, Labour? Seems to be a bit tricky. You've had quite some time to develop it. Anyway, hopefully we can put these questions to them, but there has been much talk about a capital gains tax. We've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, waiting for Labour to release this. It's so targeted, so specific in terms of how the CGT will be applied, and then to tie it in with free GP visits, three per person per year, when five in six New Zealanders don't need free visits. What's the point? You might think it's amazing. If so, I'd love to hear from you. If this is an absolute game-changer for you, I'd love to know how and why. To me, it's a complete and utter head-scratcher. And I'm trying not to be biased against Chris Hipkins. But I am a bit, a little bit. But I'm open-minded to Barbara Edmonds and Ayesha Verrall, I quite like them in terms of the policy they announce. Chris Hipkins is a likeable chap, but I just think he's been a failure when it comes to delivering any kind of policy. I'm willing to keep a relatively open mind to Barbara Edmonds and Ayesha Verrall, but they're not doing much to convince me. Why give something to people they do not need? That's been a criticism of National with the tax cuts and the landlord rebates. Why give something to people they don't need? Why not target it to the people who do need it? And what's the point of bringing in a capital gains tax if it's going to be put into harness with three free GP visits to people who may or may not need them? I give this one a two out of 10. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    7 m
  • Episode 3: Lisa King

    Episode 3: Lisa King
    Oct 22 2025

    They say when one door closes, another one opens.

    That’s certainly been the case for Lisa King. In the same breath she closed her first business Eat My Lunch and started a drinks brand AF Drinks.

    AF stands for alcohol free - and it's a range of booze free cocktails.

    The brand has picked up on a huge rise in people who want to drink less or not at all.

    It’s a change not just seen in New Zealand, but across the world. Within two years in the US market, AF Drinks are now available in 4000 stores in America.

    Lisa King joined Kerre Woodham in studio for the latest episode of Bosses Unfiltered.

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    43 m
  • Mark Ryall: Transpower Executive General Manager of Grid Delivery gives the latest updates on extreme weather warnings

    Mark Ryall: Transpower Executive General Manager of Grid Delivery gives the latest updates on extreme weather warnings
    Oct 22 2025

    Extreme winds are battering Wellington, Wairapa and the South Island.

    Winds of up to 150km/h are expected today as red strong wind warnings are in place for much of the South Island's eastern regions and southern parts of the North Island.

    More than 100 flights have been cancelled, along with some of the planned strikes in tehe affected areas.

    Transpower Executive General Manager of Grid Delivery Mark Ryall told Kerre Woodham that three the Canterbury to Nelson power lines 'trip out' due to the extreme weather.

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    5 m