Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

From good news to bad news really – a growing number of pensioners are turning to the Government's hardship support network as a last resort as the cost of living crisis grinds on. Applications for temporary additional support from New Zealand super recipients have almost tripled since 2020, rising from around about 22,000 per year to more than 61,000 in 2025.
Retirement Commission research revealed to Newstalk ZB highlights older renters as one of New Zealand's most financially vulnerable groups. 80% of renters aged 65 and over are financially uncomfortable. 80%. That's up from 66% who were uncomfortable in 21/22. Mortgage free home ownership among older people has fallen from 83% to 71%, and that's going to keep declining. Many older New Zealanders have little income beyond New Zealand Super.
If you're young and you're fit, you can try to find extra work to pay the bills. You can share a house and the associated costs. When you have young children, slightly more difficult. There are costs there, but you'll often scrimp and save so that the kids don't go without. You might not have any simple luxuries, but you'll make sure the kids are alright.
When you're older and you've already pared things down to basic necessities, there's not much more you can do. You start running out of options and you need to rely on the largesse of the state. There's the temporary additional support – that's around $111 per week. There's the winter energy payment paid automatically from the 1st of May to the 1st of October to people on main benefits, New Zealand Super, or a veteran's pension, and you don't need to apply for that if you qualify. That gives you an extra $20.46 a week if you're on your own, $31.82 if you're a couple or have dependent children, and if that's per week, that should just about cover your power bill. The way the world is going, looking at what's happening in Europe, you might need a summer living payment as well to help pay for the air conditioning.
What are the options? Even owning your own home isn't a guarantee of a comfortable retirement when you look at the rising rates, rising insurance costs, the increase in doing any kind of repairs or maintenance because houses need to be taken care of. That all impacts on the superannuitants. People tend to think of boomers as living the life. They sell the business, they sell the farm, they retire from their high paying CEO jobs, they've got the house, the bach, the investment properties, the trips overseas. And for some that is true – that is their retirement and they've worked hard and they look forward to it, and they are living the life of Riley.
But that is not the reality for many of our older Kiwis. The vast majority are living on just the Super and they're crawling their way from payment to payment. Now the renters who are doing it tough, 80% of renters aged 65 and over are financially uncomfortable, they're worried. But even if you own your own home, as I say, that is no guarantee. You're worried about the roof that needs repairing or blocking off rooms so that you're basically living in one room to try and save on the heating costs. What are your options if you are owning your own home, if you're renting, what are the options other than relying on the government to top up your payments? Is this how you imagined your retirement would be?
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One district is crediting its proactive programme for its top water ranking.
The Water Services Authority's latest report suggests Grey District, the Far North, Queenstown, Ashburton, and Clutha councils are the worst for leakages.
Meanwhile the place with the least leakages is Hauraki District Council.
Mayor Toby Adams told Kerre Woodham the District has invested heavily in ensuring local dairy farms have reliable access to water.
He says it wants to get it right, ensuring there are no disruptions and there is enough to go around.
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The first national picture of our water networks has revealed severe and immense pressures, with an average of 31 wastewater overflows across New Zealand every single day given as an example of how it's failing. In total, about 15% of our pipes are in poor or very poor condition – and that’s likely to be understating it, given that the pipes are under the ground and we only know there's a problem when there's a problem, like a sinkhole – good morning St Marys Bay, hello Wellington. Or when there's a major sewage overflow – good morning again Wellington, and looking at you, Queenstown Lakes and Herne Bay.
To be fair, a lot of the wastewater overflows are on us. Absolute morons cause blockages when they put things down the loo or the sink that shouldn't go down there. No, you don't pour your fat down there, because what happens when fat sets? Blocks everything up, doesn't it? Wet wipes, honestly, and the like. Will the Government's take on Labour's Three Waters, Local Water Done Well, fix the problem?
Well, even the proponent of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown says it's going to be “a mammoth challenge”. That's like a doctor saying there'll be quite a bit of discomfort – what they mean is severe agony. When they say a mammoth challenge, that's like, we're not entirely sure we can do it, but we have to give it a bash. One of the key points, he says, the Government wanted to achieve with Local Water Done Well is making sure the entities that deliver these water services are, in essence, match fit, are financially sustainable, and have the ability to deliver, not just now, but in the years, the decades to come.
There are significant challenges around infrastructure investment deficit, and we'll need to spend, on average and all things considered, around $4 billion per year over the next 10 years. Now, some have already got cracking and underway, and that was in part one of the reasons that Labour's version of Local Water Done Well, the Three Waters, received a bit of pushback. The first was that local mayors said that the Government shouldn't get their mitts on local assets. The second was that some councils had already spent a great deal of money doing the hard stuff, not just building pretty things that look great above ground, but had invested considerably in their water structures. Auckland has a very efficient, reasonably well-run department of water, if you will, Watercare, and they didn't want to hand that over to anybody in particular. And then, of course, there was the co-governance, which was very poorly sold.
And even now, when we're joining into big entities so that there's more clout when it comes to borrowing and sharing and pooling of resources, Auckland's like, “well, if you haven't spent a cent, Northland, on your water, why on earth should we carry you?” And other councils are feeling much the same way. But anyone who's living near Moa Point in Wellington right now would say spend whatever it takes to get the pipes fixed. Ask anyone in Havelock North who was affected by the campylobacter outbreak there this time 10 years ago. Almost 40% of the town struck by gastro when sheep dung contaminated the town's water supply. There were four deaths, 953 notified cases.
Upgrading our water system is not a “gosh, that'd be nice one day”. Upgrading our water was gosh, it would be nice one day 20 years ago. It is so overdue. The money must be spent now, and it's infrastructure that must be prioritised now.
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Now in any recession, it's the young ones who are going to find it hardest to get jobs, and this recession is no different. Student Job Search says many students and graduates are really struggling to find jobs, part time, full time, which means they're also finding it tough to pay the rent and to put food on the table. And just looking at the story, it seems that many young people who've followed their passions are finding it the most difficult to get work. They've taken out student loans to get degrees in fields like screen production or radio, or they've done a Bachelor of Communications and then they're finding that the jobs simply aren't there, not for entry level.
Or there are fears that the jobs for which the young people have qualified, taken out the student loans, worked their way through and qualified, simply won't exist in the future. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, has warned that up to half of white collar work could be automated by 2030 In this country, MB warns that young people may struggle to get onto the employment ladder as an increasing amount of entry level work is automated. The unemployment rate among New Zealand's 15 to 24 year olds currently sits at around 15% triple that of the working age population. These are young people who are looking for work. They weren't faffing around just taking a dole or a youth allowance. These are young people who want work and the unemployment rate is around 15%
Research from the AI Forum in this country earlier this year showed that 45% of businesses were planning to lower their headcount due to implementing AI. So not only are they struggling to find jobs in the field that they've studied and they've graduated in, there's real concern that they're not going to get a job in 10 years from now, that job simply won't be there. There was a review of a number of go get em tiger type books in The Economist this week under the heading "Traditional career advice is failing Gen Z".
Two of the books have authors who tell their readers to get out there and find a career you love, to follow your passion, nothing will make you more successful than loving what you do for a living. But the third author took the opposite approach and I think it's probably the more sensible one. He says get good at something that helps others and the passion will follow. His argument is that if you're good at your job, you'll have more leverage to do enjoyable work than if you pursue a passion and you're mediocre. Don't go for the big bucks, he cites the happiness paradox where once basic comfort and security are met, extra income yields much smaller gains in daily emotional well being. Just being wealthy isn't going to make you happy. You get to a certain tipping point where you can pay all your bills on time, have a little bit set aside for disposable income, a holiday once a year perhaps, that'll do you. Anything beyond that and it's not really worth it. He says do something where you feel valued and where your skills are in demand. Do that rather than follow your dream of becoming a professional YouTuber or a cinematographer or what have you.
I have been very, very lucky to begin a job at 17 that I have loved, and I've pretty much done it on and off since I was 17 working in the media. Being a television presenter, being a radio journalist, being a writer, being a columnist, loved it. Apart from two years of COVID, but we don't need to go into that right now, not today. Absolutely loved it and feel very, very lucky to have done so. But what is your advice to your young people? Or if you are a young person who has recently graduated, how did you decide what to do? How difficult has it been trying to find a job? I mean 15% unemployment among the 15 to 24 year olds. That's a lot of young kids that are knocking on doors willing to do anything, and they are. These aren't lazy kids. They're willing to do damn near anything. They've given up working in screen production or radio or public relations, they just want a job. What's your advice? Do a bit of research and find out what jobs might be AI proof, service jobs, or do you still think it's important to tell kids to follow their passion?
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A big job to hire the next float builder for the country's biggest Christmas parade.
Auckland's Farmers Santa Parade's long-time elf is retiring his paintbrush - after five decades of building iconic floats.
Applications are open for his replacement - requiring artistry and carpentry to take on a few new editions each year.
Children's Christmas Parade Trust Chair Simon Bridges told Kerre Woodham they aren't restricting the search to just Auckland.
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