Kerre Woodham Mornings Podcast

• Kerre Woodham: What would it take to get police trust to 80%?

  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 company, so therefore it was found more quickly perhaps than if it had just been taken by a joy rider. But professional, they were helpful, they had a completely holistic understanding of crime, of the importance of the victims, of not me particularly, but the those at the wrong end of a firearm in the aggravated robbery. I was really, really impressed. What does satisfaction with service from officers look like to you? Have you received it recently? I would be very, very interested to hear your thoughts. What will it take to get 80% of New Zealanders having trust and confidence in police, 80% of New Zealanders being satisfied with service? What do the police need to do? I would argue the police on the beat, the police out there investigating don't need to do much. They're doing their job and doing it well. It's the bosses that need a long hard look in the mirror. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

  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.” LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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

  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?

  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

  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.' LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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