Larry Williams Drive

We've got a new Government package aiming to tackle youth crime. It's aiming to get more young people back into education, training, or work, and will better fund existing initiatives to do so. All children in Counties Manakau and West Auckland under 14 caught ram raiding will now be referred to the social wellbeing board. Police and Education Minister Chris Hipkins explains it all. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's cracking down on the ram raiders, but will they take any notice? Political editor Barry Soper is unconvinced the current approach is effective. “The toerags, the ram raiders, there’s been more that 130 ram raids since May. The Government says it’s investing heavily in programs that break the cycle of crime.” LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Interest rates in Australia have hit a historic 7 year high. Correspondent Murray Olds confirms"rates haven't been this high since Christmas 2014." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More than 100 early childhood education services are facing licensing action from the Ministry of Education this year. The Ministry steps in if a provider is failing to meet its minimum standards , but only investigates and responds to complaints. The Office of Early Childhood Education’s Chief Advisor, Dr Sarah Alexander, is in the studio to explain further. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I’ve suspected something for a while, and now that I’ve watched the Sunday programme on the emergency housing disaster in Roturua, I’m convinced.  Rotorua will not recover from this.  It will not go back to being the city it was.  It’s just not possible.  This has gone too far now. 50 motels on or near Fenton Street are housing the homeless. There are about 1100 people in Rotorua in these motels or similar. All of these people need houses. The council reckons it’s going to take them 5 years, at least, to build enough homes which means for the next five years those people are still in those motels, trashing them like we saw on Sunday. Causing fights on the street outside. Freaking neighbours out so they sleep with baseball bats by the door. So for the next five years they will also keep trashing Rotorua's reputation.   Who of us are going to want to go on holiday to Rotorua? If we can afford to go to Hawke's Bay or New Plymouth or Queenstown, why would we go to Rotorua? Which means there will be no other busin

I was going to vote for Paul Eagle in the Wellington Mayoral race, but then I read a story in the paper today and now I’m not going to.   Because he broke his word and no politician who breaks their word deserves my vote.  It wasn’t for the media. This is what’s happened. Everyone in Wellington has known for years that Paul Eagle was considering running for Wellington Mayor. So at the last government elections in 2020, he was challenged on that. Why was he running for parliament if he wasn’t planning on being there for the whole term? If he was just going to quit after a couple of years and force a by election which will cost the whole country $1.2m-odd and then go off to be the mayor. So the media asked him and he dodged the question and they pushed him and finally he ruled it out. He said ”Yes, I will [rule it out].”  And now he’s doing exactly what he said he’d ruled out.  He’s running for Mayor. And good on the media for drawing attention to this.  Because now Paul Eagle is costing taxpayers a lot of mone

The Government's u-turn on a proposal to tax fees on Kiwisaver funds was quite spectacular. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern says fund managers expressing they didn't want it caused the backtrack. Finance Minister Grant Robertson talks us through it. ”The decision was made as levelling the playing field around the treatment of GST. It was bout, in this case, the fees that Kiwisaver schemes charge. But it was seen in that light, it wasn’t seen as being the way it was presented.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Helen Clark Foundation and the Drug Foundation say a health based meth addiction scheme is working well to reduce harm. It's called Te Ara Oranga, and it's a trial programme for meth addiction. It's currently just in Northland and Murapara - and now there are calls for it to be rolled out nationwide. Ian Mckenzie, General Manager of mental and health and addiction services at Te Whatu Ora Northland says the community partnership aspect is important to the purpose of the organisation. “You can’t think of drug use and substance misuse in isolation. You are a part of a community, and you become very connected, and if it permeates through, it’s really hard for people to get away from it. I think having a community on board is just fundamental, critical.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Three and a half thousand people per month are walking out of our emergency departments due to wait times. That doesn't even count those who signed the paperwork confirming it was their choice to go. Sarah Dalton, the executive director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists definitely reckons the numbers could be way higher too, once all the other people who arrive in ambulances later down the line are taken into account. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More power for police to seize assets of gang members and other organised criminals. Police will now be able to target associates of organised crime groups who hold assets that likely weren't obtained legally. It'll also allow police to keep some seized assets for longer. Justice Minister Kiri Allan explains “The amendments we are introducing this week give police the power to say- were you an associate of a criminal organisation, gang, or association? Those assets we reasonably believe that you have, that are likely to be a consequence of criminal activity? We can get our hands on them.” LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At least one part of the country is making progress when it comes to our school attendance crisis. Principals across the Northland region say the "let's get to school - tai tokerau" campaign is working and classrooms are filling back up. Pat Newman is the president of Te Tai Tokerau principals association, which is behind the campaign. He notes that the it’s still early days, but there’s been positive reports of student attendance going up.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Renters United have launched a petition to stop property owners from casting multiple votes in local body elections. Currently, people who own property in multiple areas can cast votes in each city or district where they pay rates.  This petition is set to counteract that. Geordie Rodgers, president of Renters United says “We know that a fundamental part of democracy is that everyone has an equal opportunity to participate. And that really comes down to the idea that each one person has one vote in those elections.”  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Almost a hundred police staff are taking a personal grievance over their treatment for refusing to get the Covid vaccine. The vaccine mandate for Police was overturned in the High Court in February - and 91 people are now complaining about what's happened since they got back to work. Employment lawyer Chris Scarrott told Heather du Plessis-Allan there needs to be good rationale for any vaccine policy - whether enforced by Government or the Police themselves. He says it's about looking at each of the roles and assessing whether there are particular reasons to protect health and safety. LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Clearer expectations are needed of what's required from off-duty police officers. The independent police conduct authority has looked into four incidents, including one where an off-duty cop exposed himself to other officers while drunk on a Waitangi deployment. The IPCA say this negatively affected police's reputation. Investigations manager for the IPCA, Stu Graham, told Newstalk ZB “Generally, off duty officers should not drink to an extent that they can no longer behave in a manner consistent with the code of conduct.” LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ardern out and about in the South Island today but the Kiwisaver about face continues to plague her wherever she goes. The Government will be trying to deflect attention over the next week to make us forget the past two, which has been a disaster for them. Barry Soper observed “There’s no doubt it’s a shell-shocked government, they’ve all attempted to go to ground, but the prime minister couldn’t avoid it.”  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Controversial pastor and would-be politician Brian Tamaki claims his umbrella party will get into Parliament. Tamaki and his supporters copped flak for holding a mock trial of politicians outside Parliament last week. Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson's described Tamaki as extreme, and National's Chris Luxon has called the new party crazy. But Tamaki told Heather du Plessis-Allan he's confident he has the numbers. He says he has many supporters and thinks the party will easily surpass the five percent threshold quite easily. The five percent threshold equates to 177 thousand votes. Between 1500-2000 turned up to Tamaki's protest last week. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are media outlets running stories almost daily unmasking these people as conspiracy theorists, warning that they’re threatening to make the country “ungovernable” and telling us these people are ‘very’ dangerous. What’s the harm these conspiracy theorists can actually do if they get elected?  Yes some of them say they want to make New Zealand ungovernable and I don’t like the sound of that but let’s be realistic; It’s local government, not parliament.  And what's more there might be one or two or a smattering of them on council. There is only so much disruption a couple of people can cause . We’ve had conspiracy theorists on council before.  We’ve even had them as mayors. Think of Sandra Goudie.  She seems to have some pretty kooky ideas about the vaccine. What harm did she actually do? Thames Coromandel district council still seems to be ticking along ok.  I say that as a ratepayer. Yes, many of them are concealing their links with conspiracy groups like Voices for Freedom but that’s pretty normal in c

Badly behaved customers have forced a Rotorua McDonald's to hire security guards. The Fenton Street branch says customers and staff have been copping abuse. Owner Rob Parry says the last straw was when a person kicked their windows in last week. He says the security guards have already made a difference. Parry says he's noticed a very quick change in behaviour towards staff and customers. “We didn’t have this level of issues or problems two years ago, and it has recently gotten worse over the last 6 months. And as soon as you start targeting my staff or the customers, you’ve just got to act.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A West Auckland Farmer is outraged that Auckland Council has given the green light to a cell phone mast being built in the middle of his driveway. Greg Jonkers came home from feeding his cows last week to find a hole had been dug through the gravel at the centre of his driveway. Greg Jonkers relies on that driveway to access that particular section of the farm. “It’s not an everyday use, but we certainly do use it quite frequently.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yet more unhappiness and action from our health sector. After 7 years of failed negotiations - more than 1300 self employed midwives have filed a class action against the ministry of health in the high court. The main complaints include  poor working conditions, fair pay and the breach of contracts. Health minister Andrew Little says he sympathises with their position. “My jaw literally dropped when I read what had happened, so I do have sympathy with them, they never should have been put in that position.”  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.