Episodios

  • Kerre Woodham: Should convictions for violence be public record?

    Kerre Woodham: Should convictions for violence be public record?
    Dec 3 2025
    Now, surely, it should be a straightforward exercise. You're about to embark on a relationship with someone, and you want to do a police check. Does this person have previous convictions for violence? Seems charming, seems a lovely, but you hear horror stories. So, why wouldn't you want to check on somebody before you invite them into your life? Why can't you know? Surely, once you have a conviction for an offence, it becomes a matter of public record. And there might be people who say, "Well, what about the privacy? What about the privacy concerns of offenders who have done their time?" I think we need to stop being concerned about the privacy of offenders and start being concerned about the safety of individuals, especially women and children who are generally the ones who end up most damaged. A man who harassed and stalked a woman, hid behind a tree waiting for her to get home with her children before fatally stabbing her 55 times. In 2012, Nathan Bolter was jailed for eight years and six months for kidnapping and assaulting his ex-girlfriend over a 38-hour ordeal on Great Barrier Island. In November of this month, he pleaded guilty in the High Court at Christchurch to murdering another woman. Had she known about his previous convictions, you'd have to wonder about whether she would have entered into a relationship. He was recalled to prison. Presumably that's when she found out about it because she terminated the relationship and that's when he went ballistic. I have another one for you. Colombian national, Juliana Bonilla-Herrera, was attacked and stabbed to death in her Addington flat by Joseph James Brider in January 22, after he was paroled to the flat next door. She knew nothing of his criminal history of sexual violence. She wasn't warned. I have another one. I could go on and on. This is particularly vile. An Australian deportee who murdered two women in Oz in the 80s was jailed a few years ago for 16 years for sexual assault. Johnny Harding received the prison term for 19 charges including sexual violation and assault. The offences were mostly against two young sisters. He had entered a relationship with the children's mother, then offended against the children. To ensure the children didn't tell, he used violence and threatened to harm their mother if she knew. I could go on and on, but I won't. You get the picture. There are so many examples. Google can only tell you so much about a person. If you're an employer, you can do a police check, and that's relatively simple. You get the signed consent of the employee; you then fill out a form online. You have to be registered as an agency authorised to request police vetting. You submit the request online, you get the results back - clean as a whistle, absolutely nothing wrong with this person, go for it. If you want to check the background of someone you're bringing into your life, your home, your children's home, and your bed, it's a lot more difficult. The then-National Government put a scheme in place in 2015, the FVIDS, and that was designed to allow people concerned for their own or their family's safety to be made aware of a person's history of family violence. Police officers could also instigate disclosure to a person of concern using the scheme. So say if they had concerns about Juliana in Christchurch, the fact that she had a dangerous sexual offender moving in next door, might have been nice to tell her. The scheme, the FVIDS, followed similar initiatives overseas. However, in this country, when victims and family violence support workers attempt to apply for the information, they're being turned away by police who don't seem to know that the scheme exists. They don't know that it's there. And even when they do know, there's no online portal to help people to apply for the scheme. It can take up to three visits in person to a police station. How much do you need to know and how much do you want to know? We had a caller whose daughter was being very in a relationship with a man who was being very coercive. And he knew something was up. This was only a couple of weeks ago, you might remember him. And he said, "No, this isn't good. You've got to come home." And he owned the house that his daughter and the chap were living in. And when he started making inquiries about this guy, whose behaviour was suspect, he found out that he had form. Done it before to other women. And he wanted her out of there now, and he wanted the guy out of the house. And how did he best go about doing that? How much do you need to know? How much do you want to know, and how easy is it to get that information? Might not be you. You might have sparkly eyes, and you've just met the girl or the boy of your dreams, and you think they're absolutely amazing. Parents or friends might think, "Really?" When something's too good to be true, it generally is. I don't know about this one. How much should you be entitled to know? I would say that the ...
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  • Kerre Woodham: What would it take to get police trust to 80%?

    Kerre Woodham: What would it take to get police trust to 80%?
    Dec 3 2025
    It's been 12 months since Richard Chambers became New Zealand's Police Commissioner. And by crikey, he's had a busy old time of it, a little bit of a poisoned chalice. There's been the clean out of the police hierarchy following the McSkimming scandal – or really, scandals. And two months after his appointment, police officer Lynn Fleming was killed in the line of duty in Nelson on New Year's Day. Back in March of this year, the latest Ministry of Justice Crime and Victim Survey found 69% of people had trust and confidence in police, up slightly on the year before. That was 67% probably after the Coster years, and then the police involved in the occupation of Parliament, and there was a little bit of argy-bargy going on between some members of the public and police. And then people felt that violent crime was getting out of control and the police weren't doing anything and providing escorts for gangs rather than arresting them. So, I can understand how trust might have slipped a little. He said the measure had slipped to its lowest ever in recent years, and although trust in police had improved slightly in the past 12 months, he conceded it could take a hit after the McSkimming scandal and other controversies. I'd say almost certainly. But the Commissioner has set some targets, and as he told Mike Hosking this morning, he's certain the police will achieve them. RC: We've been at 80% before, some years ago, but sitting at the moment around about 70%. So, we have seen a slight increase over the last 12 months, which is great. I know that we can do it. Trust and confidence matter and 80% is aspirational, but I'm determined to get there. MH: As regards confidence post this whole shambles of McSkimming and Co., if I suggested to you that most New Zealanders think no differently of the police because of this specific set of circumstances, would you agree broadly or not? RC: Absolutely agree with you, Mike. That's the feedback that I'm getting from across communities in New Zealand, that they appreciate this comes down to a group of former leaders of New Zealand Police, not the 15,000 outstanding men and women who do a great job day and night, they understand that. Yeah, and I think we do, don't we? We're still going to call the police when we've got somebody coming in the window, when a member of the family goes missing, in any of the myriad everyday tragedies that take place on a daily basis. The police are the first port of call, even if you are somebody like Tamatha Paul who doesn't instinctively and intuitively trust the police. They're who you go to when you're in trouble. They're the ones you ask to put their lives on the line to save yours or members of your family. I can appreciate that victims of sexual crime might think twice before going through a gruelling investigation in light of, you know, the police hierarchy seeming to believe their colleague over a woman complainant. But they shouldn't, because remember it was a police officer, a rank-and-file working police officer, I mean high ranking, but nonetheless she was on the front line, who highlighted the appalling treatment of the woman at the centre of the McSkimming cover up. Detective Inspector Nicola Reeves was the one who stood up to her bosses and told the IPCA. In her words, "I personally think it should be very simple in every police officer's world. It doesn't matter who the hell you are. We speak to the person, we take a complaint, and we investigate it. It's all very simple." Yeah. I mean, she got the brief. She understands her job. And as far as I'm concerned, I absolutely trust the police. I trust them to do their job well and professionally. And the cover up at Police HQ, I don't think has anything to do with the police who are going to work every single day, working for us. Richard Chambers has set four new targets. They'll be introduced early next year, and that is that 80% of New Zealanders have trust and confidence in police, 80% of New Zealanders being satisfied with service from officers, a 15% reduction in public violence, which is ambitious, and a 15% increase in retail crime resolutions, which would be gratifying for retailers. When it comes to having trust and confidence in police, it'd be interesting to see how the survey is worded. I was talking to someone recently who as part of a long-standing study that fills out their thoughts and opinions on different matters. And he said the way the questions were worded almost invites you not to have trust in the police, not to have trust in the justice system. It's all in the wording, as we well know. So I'd be interested to see the wording of this particular survey. What does satisfaction with service from officers mean? In recent times, I had the car appropriated from an underground locked garage. The police couldn't have been more helpful. Admittedly, the car was used by a 501er to commit an aggravated robbery, so, you know, the car got into bad ...
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  • Doug Marlowe: Global expert on drug-court policy on the effectiveness of the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court

    Doug Marlowe: Global expert on drug-court policy on the effectiveness of the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court
    Dec 2 2025

    Calls to expand the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court across the country.

    AODTC was launched in New Zealand in 2012 as a pilot to steer high-risk, high-need offenders away from prison.

    Offenders must plead guilty and face a likely prison term of up to three years for drug offences, committing to a tough 12- to 18-month program including regular drug testing, AA or NA meetings, and counselling.

    The courts are incredibly successful in the United States, resulting in some prisons in Texas closing due to lack of need.

    Dr Doug Marlowe, a global expert on drug-court policy, told Kerre Woodham early studies of the system showed low rates of people committing new crimes and high rates of people completing treatment, avoiding jail sentences, and avoiding probation revocations.

    He says that when Judges take a personal interest in the treatment the participants are receiving, their influence and authority in the community helped to bring more resources to bear for their clients.

    Marlowe told Woodham that treatment courts raised all ships – raising the quality of treatment, the quality of defence council representation, and the quality of probation supervision.

    “Treatment is the core of the model, and if you don’t have good treatment, you know, your outcomes are severely limited.”

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  • Kerre Woodham: A rates cap or an erosion of services and facilities?

    Kerre Woodham: A rates cap or an erosion of services and facilities?
    Dec 1 2025
    Auckland households face a 7.9% rate rise next year, primarily to fund the operating costs for the $5.5 billion City Rail Link, which is nearly finished. It's a reality, it's going to open for passengers next year – woo! The increase will cover the $235 million annual cost of operating the new underground rail service. It's the largest rates rise since Auckland Council as a super city was formed in 2010. For the average household wondering what on earth to do with all the extra money that comes into their bank accounts, annual rates will climb from $4,023 to $4,341. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown's rates announcement came shortly after Christopher Luxon announced at his post-cabinet press conference yesterday afternoon that the Government's going to introduce a rates cap of 2 %to 4% from January 27. The cap will exclude water charges and non-rate revenue such as fees and license fees and things like that. Very good politically. Who doesn't want somebody to say, "Hey, you greedy grasping councils, stop taking our money and delivering nothing in return." But as Wayne Brown pointed out, how would Auckland be able to pay for its city link if it didn't have the facility to raise rates? Wayne Brown told the Herald, putting a cap on rates isn't going to solve anything, it'll just defer it for a couple of years, then ratepayers will be paying even more. He said councils are faced with making decisions that involve significant investment and should not be restricted by governments telling us what we can and cannot do. All very valid, provided of course that councils are sensible husbands of their ratepayers' money. We can all think of absolutely barking mad vanity schemes that have been undertaken with ratepayers’ money that incense us and infuriate us. And there's very little we can do. You could always try voting, those 70% of you that don't, but you won't be listening to this radio show probably. And if you've got a council that doesn't really know what it's doing and doesn't know how to keep control of the different departments and can't really manage long-term investment infrastructure and a long-term rates plan, suddenly turning off the money tap is not going to turn them into brilliant budgeters. They're not going to suddenly gain the skills overnight because there's less money to pay with, play with. If you're making dumb decisions now, you're still going to be making them in 2027. Rate capping or rate pegging has been in force in New South Wales and Victoria for several years and is loosely based on the rate of inflation or the consumer price index, which is what we've done. We've looked at Australia and thought we can do this here. In New South Wales and Victoria, the councils can apply for higher caps, but the process is complicated and deeply controversial with their rate payers, not surprisingly. Ratepayers like not having to pay significant rate increases, but the sorts of things they want to see, swimming pools, sports facilities, libraries, lifestyle infrastructure, are getting further and further away from local councils to deliver because they're under the pump financially. They just haven't got the money to do it. If you reduce your rate collection, you won't have as much money to maintain services or implement them. So what do you want as a ratepayer? We were talking about this earlier and, you know, one of our young producers doesn't use his local swimming pool. He said, "Can I opt out of funding that?" And I'm like, "Well, I'm all in. Our family uses the local swimming pool, uses the local library, loves it." We can opt in. Can it be like a car wash, where you get your basic car wash and then you can do the add-ons? Do you want the wax? Sure. Tick. Could they have a bare bones rate structure, or would it be simply too difficult to implement? At least in Auckland you can see what you're paying for, and I assume it's the same if you're in Hamilton or Timaru or New Plymouth. You can actually see the projects. When you're paying rates in places like the Hokianga, we don't get rubbish collection, we don't have water that comes from the sky. We have sewage that is collected on site in septic tanks, don't have lighting, any pest control I'm doing. You don't get a lot for your $3,000. So at least in the cities you can see what you're getting. There'd be some of you paying rates wondering what on earth you're paying them for. I'd be very interested to hear your rate stories. Could you have, would it be too difficult to implement? It probably would, but would you like to see an option? You can have economy, business class, or first class in terms of what you pay for in rates and what services you can access. Does a rates cap appeal to you or can you see it just being a gradual erosion of services and facilities?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  • Kerre Woodham: Labour makes big promises, but can they deliver?

    Kerre Woodham: Labour makes big promises, but can they deliver?
    Nov 30 2025
    Hundreds of the Labour Party faithful gathered over the weekend in Auckland to begin the march back to Parliament's government benches. Council of Trade Unions head Sandra Gray was preaching to the converted when she told the crowd that New Zealand's Pavlova paradise has been eaten up by the rich. She said Labour needed to give workers a reason to vote for them and to deliver fundamental and systemic change. Yay! Cue loud rapturous applause. Barbara Edmonds, Labour's Finance Minister in waiting, stressed to the crowd, and the way the attendant media, that she would be a firm, fit and frugal Finance Minister. She and her husband have raised eight children. They have lived on one income. As a tax lawyer for small businesses, she knows, she said, how to manage money responsibly and make every dollar count. She repeated that ad nauseam throughout the day. Gone are the days of profligate spending. No, no, no. Not with Barbara at the helm. Not with Barbara in charge of the bank accounts. She knew how to be frugal. She knew the value of a dollar. She would make sure that money was spent wisely, judiciously, and not everybody who came knocking at the door with policies would get the money they wanted. And yesterday, Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins announced a future Labour government would offer doctors and nurse practitioners low interest loans to set up new practices or buy into existing ones. New Zealand, and this will come as no news to you, New Zealand currently has a GP shortage, which is expected to worsen. We have an aging GP workforce. GPs are looking to retire and they can't find anybody to take their place. A recent survey found two thirds of GPs are expected to retire in the next decade. Many in the sector have also warned of a an emerging duopoly, large primary healthcare providers buying up practices from the small family-owned GP practices. So Labour has announced that initially it will offer up to 50 loans per year, prioritizing areas that have no GPs or practices with closed or partially closed books. They will only be available for owner and or community operated general practices. The loan will have to be repaid over 10 years. They will be interest-free for the first two years. Novel. It aligns with Labour's messaging of health, jobs, homes, as it goes into next year's election. But just as the three free GP visits per year, is a gift that a lot of people don't need or want, is this what GPs and practice nurses want? Do you actually want to own your own practice? I'm sure there are some that do. But just because you're a brilliant GP, does that make you a brilliant manager? Running a business, a successful business, requires a very specific skill set. Times are tough for small businesses. And the problem for GPs practices doesn't appear to be having access to loans to buy into a business. It's that the business model doesn't seem to be working. You've got the very low cost access practices serving high needs populations. They face financial challenges, especially the community trust owned clinics that have been operating at a deficit. Increase costs for GPs, inabilities to raise fees, growing patient debt due to the cost of living. Those are the problems for GP practices, not necessarily the fact they haven't got the money to buy it. They've also got the problem of trying to recruit and retain healthcare professionals. There's a shortage of locums and a high level of burnout because there aren't enough people to replace them. They're working longer than they wanted to. They've got more difficult healthcare problems presenting because people put off going to the doctor because they can't afford it. Pay parity concerns are particularly severe for the very low cost access GP practices. They can't afford to pay the going rates in the employment market as they don't have the ability to increase fees. So is the ability to buy into a practice what's holding GPs back? I wouldn't have thought so. That poor little targeted capital gains tax is going to be working overtime, isn't it? As more and more policies are heaped upon it onto its little fragile base. And good luck with to Barbara Edmonds, the want to be Finance Minister, when she says not everybody who comes knocking on the door is going to get money. When you've got the Council of Trade Unions head Sandra Gray whipping everybody up in the front rows, you bet your bippy the firefighters and the police and the nurses and the teachers are going to be banging on the door saying, "Give me, we've been under a National-led coalition government for three years. Those bastards have screwed us down. We gave you support, we got you into power. Give us more". You can you can say what you want to get into Parliament, to get into government but once you're there, there will be expectations and obligations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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  • Tom Walters: Matakana Oysters owner says industry is struggling after heavy rain and wastewater spill

    Tom Walters: Matakana Oysters owner says industry is struggling after heavy rain and wastewater spill
    Nov 30 2025

    Auckland oyster farmers are facing another blow just weeks after a major wastewater spill into the Mahurangi River.

    Watercare says heavy rain on 19 November caused 86 cubic metres of wastewater and stormwater to overflow into the river from a Warkworth pipeline.

    The Ministry for Primary Industries has suspended harvesting while tests are carried out, but growers say the spill has already wrecked their busiest season.

    Matakana Oysters owner Tom Walters told Kerre Woodham that, 'it's been a gutting year, and it seems to be the gutting cherry on top of it at the moment.'

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  • Kerre Woodham: E-scooters, cycle lanes, and public demand

    Kerre Woodham: E-scooters, cycle lanes, and public demand
    Nov 27 2025
    The Government's move to shift e-scooter users from the sidewalk to bike lanes is being hailed as a win for common sense. Shame it's not coming in before the Christmas party season. ACC stats for e-scooter injuries this year are close to surpassing $14 million. Now, I don't believe that's because e-scooters are inherently dangerous. They're very easy to ride, very stable. I am willing to bet a significant proportion of those injuries happened after 10:00 at night on a Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, when the rider was pissed as a parrot and there were three to a scooter, tooting their hooter. Putting e-scooter riders into cycle lanes isn't going to stop them falling off their perches, but it might protect innocent passers-by and pedestrians. National MP for Tukituki, Catherine Wedd, says the rules around where people were allowed to ride e-scooters were outdated and dangerous, and the government had work underway to change it. Flamingo Scooters co-creator Jackson Love told Mike Hosking that it clears up confusion. He says bike lanes are clearly lot safer than the road, and it also helps keep footpaths clear for pedestrians. And the cycling action spokesperson Patrick Morgan agreed, as he told Ryan Bridge on Early Edition this morning. PM: This is long overdue. It makes sense for this to happen. Pedestrians really don't want e-scooters on the footpath, and often our streets can be quite hostile for people. So, it makes sense to put e-scooters on bike lanes. But we're going to need a lot more bike lanes, aren't we? RB: How many more bike lanes do you reckon we need? PM: We don't need a bike lane on every street. No one's asking for that. What we need is bike lanes on busy streets where people want to go, so to get people to our schools, workplaces, shops. There's a there's a trend in modern cities for people to get around by bike, e-bike, and scooter. So, I think councils and the government need to restart building bike lanes to meet public demand. It would be interesting to know what that public demand is, given that cycle lanes are not swollen and congested. You do not see long, lengthy queues on cycle lanes. There are some that are better patronised than others. But there is clearly a heck of a lot more room for people on scooters, for people on bikes, for people on skateboards, for people on bloody horses to use the cycle lanes because they are not at capacity now. I love a cycle lane. I love cycling. But it's some cyclists I'm less keen on. They want cycle lanes and they want them in most places, and I would love a cycle lane from my home to work. So I could get to and from work over the bridge on a fine day. I want to be able to use my car if it's raining or the bus. But I'd love to be able to cycle safely without aggressive nasty drivers taking aim at me. But cyclists want cycle lanes and more of them, but they also want to be able to use the road when it suits them too. The man mules say they want to, they're way too fast to go into cycle lanes, mate. You should see the clicks I can get up to on my bike. They don't go into the cycle lanes because they're too fast and they say it's dangerous. So they need to be on the road and everybody needs to look out for them. And despite the fact that there's a beautiful cycle lane that's been built on Meola Road in Auckland, and you could probably substitute Meola Road for just about any road in any city around New Zealand. There's a beautiful cycle lane there, wide, safe, glorious. But my lovely producer Helen came to work quite discombobulated because she'd had to slow down to go behind a lady commuter on her electric bike who was adjacent to the cycle lane, in the middle of the road, pootling along, not quite at the same speed as the traffic, but and there was a yawning, vast, empty cycle lane right next to where the lady cyclist was. There are special bike lights to let cyclists know where it's safe to go and when they need to stop. Yesterday I was coming up Franklin Road in Auckland, again substitute any road in any city, and there's a lovely cycle lane there, and there were three cyclists on it from bottom to top, which is great. And the first cyclist got the green light, the green little cyclist, so through they went. That changed to red by the time the second cyclist got up. Did that deter them? Not a jot. They wove through the pedestrians like the pedestrians, who were on the pedestrian crossing, were oddly shaped obstacles in a fun obstacle course. Weaved around them, the little cyclist, and nobody died, nobody got knocked into. Clearly very good at weaving through pedestrians and off he went. I agree that the cycle lanes should be for anything that's motorised. Footpaths, it's in the name, foot. For people with feet to walk on. Not for scooters, not for bikes. I am all for different forms of transport being incorporated into everyday life. It makes no sense. I mean, you see it all the time in the cities where ...
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  • Kerre Woodham: Are you feeling optimistic?

    Kerre Woodham: Are you feeling optimistic?
    Nov 26 2025

    The Pohutukawa are out and flowering and abundant. The days are longer, the sun is shining, the Reserve Bank has cut the OCR, Christmas is coming, summer holidays are on the horizon, Chris Hipkins was talking tough around any kind of coalition with the Greens. We're in charge, we're not going to have this rabidly socialist nonsense, was the clear implication.

    Commentators are saying that this point now, here, is rock bottom. I know we've been told things are nearing the bottom, nearing the nadir, but this is it. And now things are on the up.

    So how confident are you feeling? I know when we've talked about this in the past, you've been bruised by past events, and that's informed the way you're thinking and who could blame you. The world has been a very uncertain place over the past five years, and nobody could blame you for hunkering down and keeping your nuts hoarded away. Nobody. Some of you have said, those of you that have got the readies to invest, you've said, "I'm not willing to. I'm just not willing to. I'm not willing to grow my business. I'm not willing to take risk in case Labour gets back in."

    Well, where are you at right now? The Reserve Bank lowered the OCR to 2.25%, the ninth reduction since August 2024. The bank said economic activity is picking up, inflation is forecast to fall to 2% by mid 2026, and that will help households.

    And listen to Roger Gray from the Ports of Auckland, who was on with Heather Du Plessis-Allan last night.

    “Nine months ago, I was in Miami talking to the cruise lines to try and understand why they were dropping off their bookings and the feedback across the whole lot of the four cruise lines I went to was they felt that New Zealand was just simply too hard to deal with because people were so negative about things. What I think is interesting is that's where we were and that was their perception, but the cool thing is now, I think there's a real change going on amongst people. There's a real starting to be a positivity amongst a lot of people and you know, I think the Bledisloe Wharf is a great example. If you can just get on and do stuff, we've created 250 new jobs for Aucklanders and that wharf will be finished by the end of next year.”

    He was saying, "Yeah, we used to be known as “No Zealand” and it was all like, 'Oh no, no. No, don't bother investing here. It's all too hard. No, you'll lose your money.'" He says it's quite different now. Quite different. He's picking up the positivity, he's seeing more of it. Where are you at right now?

    You know, as we go into Christmas, there's a month of business for many companies and many businesses and many workers. It's a busy time of year up until a couple of weeks before Christmas, then as we go into Christmas and the Christmas holidays, how are you feeling about going into 2026? Are you feeling optimistic? Can you feel the tide is turning?

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