Episodes

  • Chris Pugsley: Historian slams culture ministry for axing Heritage Trails website for Gallipoli

    Chris Pugsley: Historian slams culture ministry for axing Heritage Trails website for Gallipoli
    Mar 16 2026

    Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage is removing the Ngā Tapuwae Heritage Trails website for Gallipoli and the Western Front in what Historian Chris Pugsley believes is a cost cutting measure and a result of firing historians.

    Pugsley spoke to Kerre Woodham, slamming the move.

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    10 mins
  • Kerre Woodham: The entire fuel situation is a mess

    Kerre Woodham: The entire fuel situation is a mess
    Mar 15 2026
    How about that petrol, eh? I filled up on Thursday, as usual, that's my usual day. Just the car, no jerry cans, no oil drums, thanks very much, and I thought to myself, $2.95 - she's getting up there. Bargain now, looking at the pumps. Our colleague Kylie, who has to travel north most weekends, reckons she paid an extra $80 above what she would normally pay for her weekend tikitouring. The boss and Helen desperately need to fill up their cans so they can mow their lawns, but they're too scared to take their cans to the petrol station in case they go, "crippers, you're crazy, you're hoarding petrol." The CEO of one of New Zealand's largest independent fuel suppliers says there is no need for people to panic buy fuel as motorists fret about the rising prices. Petrol stations across the country are seeing a surge of drivers filling up, and the petrol prices will keep climbing. And you'd have to wonder how much of that is passing on the real cost, how much of that is opportunistic. 91's tipped over the $3 a litre mark in some areas because of the conflict in the Middle East. US President Donald Trump is calling for countries to send ships to secure the Strait of Hormuz, which is effectively closed as Iran launches attacks to halt maritime traffic. Around 20% of the world's oil consumption usually passes through the strait. Even the most ardent of Trump supporters, and I know there are a lot and, you know, you have your reasons, but even the most ardent of Trump supporters surely would have to concede he's no Sun Tzu, is he? For those who don't know, Sun Tzu was an ancient Chinese military general and strategist. He lived about 500 BC, and his book, The Art of War, described as a profound text about military strategy and philosophy, has endured from 500 years BC to now. The lessons are still being taught today. Don't think we're going to see the US President's thoughts on military strategy enduring for the ages. Even forgiving him using military excursion when I'm pretty sure he means military incursion. I was a bit perplexed about that excursion. That's normally, you know, a trip down to Hamilton for Homegrown, that's an excursion, but we all choose wrong words and malaprop from time to time and that's okay. But, not knowing the size of Iran's navy or musing aloud or kind of forgetting how big it was, I mean, that's a classic. Military strategist knows the importance of your enemy's strengths and weaknesses. And sending out an SOS to help keep the Strait of Hormuz open might have been a better idea to have a coalition of the willing and able sorted before attacking Iran, rather than doing it on the fly and saying, "hey, is there any frigates out there?" But whatever. I'm not attempting to effect regime change in the Middle East, he is, and presumably there is somebody advising him. As it is, the European nations have said, "thanks, but no thanks." France is not a country at war today, thanks very much. At this point, there's no question of sending any vessels to the Strait of Hormuz, says France. And Germany says that we'll only get security for the Strait of Hormuz if there's a negotiated solution. The UK's considering all options. I mean, they could decide, Keir Starmer could decide something one day and flip flop on it on the next. They don't seem to have a very coherent strategy there. So it's all a bit of a mess, really. You're better off being in Hamilton at Homegrown or Eden Park watching the footy ... but when it comes to the fuel, where it's actually affecting us, has the price of petrol changed your habits? Or are you just putting up with it and thinking, sighing heavily and thinking, oh well, it is what it is until such time as there is a resolution? Have you decided to forgo trips? Have you decided to forgo a tikitour of the South Island, perhaps, or a tikitour of the North? Is it impacting the decision making yet? I know that there are some people who are buying fuel and storing it, and do be careful with your insurance, as people have said time and time again. But there are also people buying fuel because this is the time of year when they do, as our farmers told us. This is normally what we're doing. It's harvest, you know, there's still haymaking going, there's harvesting, fertiliser's being put down. It's just that people haven't noticed before that they're filling up large amounts of diesel to take out onto the farm. But because there is a renewed interest and focus on people buying gas and diesel and fuel at the pumps, everybody's noticing and thinking it's stockpiling. Has it changed what you're doing right now? Are you looking at having to increase your prices, because the oil companies have not been, their profits are soaring, but they have not been slow in passing on the extra costs? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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    6 mins
  • Hera Eruera: Certified Plumber at Auckland Plumbers Group on the job and lack of women in trades

    Hera Eruera: Certified Plumber at Auckland Plumbers Group on the job and lack of women in trades
    Mar 12 2026

    Women are still underrepresented in the trades.

    Despite employing more than 300,000 people, women only make up around 16% of those working in the construction sector.

    Chair of construction firm Naylor Love, Jackie Lloyd is interested in seeing more women enter the industry and play a role in leading it as well.

    Auckland Plumbers Group’s Hera Eruera is one of only fifteen certified female plumbers in New Zealand, and told Kerre Woodham that the sector’s still a bit of an old boys’ club.

    When she first came across Auckland Plumbers Group, Director Andrew Durrans was one of the few people looking to take on a female apprentice.

    “All the other companies that I had gone to, they were just not wanting to have a bar of it,” Eruera said .

    The stigma of plumbing being a “dirty job” may also be keeping women away from the trade, and while some elements can be, that’s not all they deal with.

    “It’s such a huge variety – you've got your hot water systems, you’ve got all your piping systems, guttering, spouting, roofing. We’ve also got gas fitting, draining.”

    “It's just a huge variety and it’s not always a dirty job like what most people would think it is, and it’s quite enjoyable as well."

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    9 mins
  • Kerre Woodham: Are you feeling fuel anxiety?

    Kerre Woodham: Are you feeling fuel anxiety?
    Mar 12 2026
    Today we thought it would be Fuel Friday because we haven't really touched on the oil crisis so far, have we? I filled up at my local on the way to work and it was certainly more expensive than it was last week, but nowhere near the heights we've reached previously. Back in the day I had to give up driving the Club Sport, which was a beast of a car —loved that car— when fuel topped $3 a litre. I loved her, but I couldn't afford to keep her. There's a lot of things like that really. With the war in Iran effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, the only tankers going through are the most tenacious or those with a death wish as they attempt to negotiate the waters. I mean, there is oil getting through, but it seems to be a, ‘well, let's give it a bash’ rather than with any kind of certainty. So, one of the main sources of oil and fertiliser has, in effect, been blocked and Iran's doubling down on that. They're just going to shut up shop and that will be that. The whole world is looking at their country's respective fuel gauges, wondering if they have enough in the tank to see them through the conflict. Ministers here have joined forces and are getting advice on how, well the relevant ministers are joining forces for a special advisory group and getting advice on how low fuel supplies have to go before the Government should introduce demand measures such as reducing the amount of petrol people can buy or only allowing fuel outlets to open on alternate days. So instead of car-less days, we'd have petrol-less days, appealing to people's better natures and saying please only travel if you absolutely have to. We have about 50 days supply including what we have in the country and what's on its way here, which hopefully will not be diverted to other countries. Shane Jones was on with Heather du Plessis Allan last night and when she said what about other countries? Can't they just divert it? Can't they tell the oil companies come on, we're a bigger customer and we should be able to have that oil that's heading down to that tiny little island nation at the bottom of the world? And he said they were hoping the strength of the contracts they had with the various oil companies would be sufficient to withstand that sort of pressure from other countries to in effect hijack our shipments. The Associate Energy Minister told her the Government had asked officials to come up with all sorts of contingency plans and yes, car-less days were included in the briefing, but they weren't a likely option. SJ: No, it's too early to identify any specific intervention. I mean, perhaps this thing's all over in a week, who knows? But the reality is. HDPA: But why are you taking advice on it if you're not seriously considering it? SJ: Well, no, Kiwis expect their government to be proactive. Kiwis expect us to deal with the fact that other countries are hoarding their fuel. They're introducing export restrictions. So what we need to do is ensure that we've exhaustively looked at every option so if things do deteriorate and we make decisions, they're made on the basis of quality information, not some grasshopper attitude. I thought he answered that pretty well and you know, of course car-less days makes great headlines and that seems to have been dominating the media over the last 24 hours, but I thought Shane Jones was quite right. They're looking at every single option that's on the table and they're weighing the relative merits of each option, which makes sense. So those of you with EVs, I don't know if you feel like you'd like to join the discussion, feel free. It probably doesn't have much to do with you as we all pile into the petrol station and try to get the petrol on the specials days, everybody refreshing their Gaspy, seeing which petrol station in your neighbourhood has the cheapest petrol. But it's so much more than that. It's more than just the petrol in the car to get us from point A to point B. It's the petrol within the supply chain and the diesel within the supply chain to get our goods around the country. It's the growers and their fertiliser and the farmers and their diesel stocks. How are you feeling? It's very easy to whip yourself up into a panic and a frenzy, but it is sensible to be prepared. You don't have to panic, but you can, I would have thought, certainly be prepared if you can. There was a petrol special on at my local service station so I filled up on the way to work and got the 95 for $2.88, which I was relatively happy about – who knows what it will be next week. And while I'm not in the habit of Sunday drives, I probably won't start them until this particular conflict is over. I think we can take sensible measures as your average commuter-consumer without panicking. If you're dependent on fuel for your work, like farmers, like growers, like Uber drivers, it might be a different story. There might be a higher level of fuel anxiety and if so, I'd love to hear from you. You ...
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    8 mins
  • Kerre Woodham: Is the primary teachers' union causing friction?

    Kerre Woodham: Is the primary teachers' union causing friction?
    Mar 11 2026
    For nine months now, the Public Service Commission has been negotiating with the primary school teachers union over pay and conditions. Every other union in the education sector has settled, but not the NZEI Te Riu Roa. There have been strikes, there have been rejected pay offers, in some cases offers haven't even been presented to union members to vote on, and there have been accusations of bad faith from both sides. In interviews, the Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche has sounded increasingly grumpy and frustrated, and when he spoke to Mike Hosking last week, he said that he was exploring options, looking for a way to offer non-union teachers, about a third of the primary teacher workforce, a pay increase so they didn't have to wait for the union to find an offer acceptable. And now he has, as he explained to Heather du Plessis Allan last night. BR: There are 10,000 non-unionised teachers who have been deprived of a settlement. In the normal course of events, we would have kept going with the NZEI, and we are still keeping going with them, but I got to the point where I could no longer justify withholding an offer. So they, the non-union members, have the option now of accepting or not accepting. I don't think it impacts at all on our good faith bargaining and our strong commitment to reach a settlement with NZEI. HDPA: Is it lawful? BR: Of course, but it is risky and that's playing out now. But this is a question of equity. Why would somebody who's not in the union be deprived of being able to benefit from something? They're under no obligation to accept it, I fully respect that, but 10,000 people where I can make their lives better and get greater stability is worth doing. So that was what Sir Brian Roche was doing, looking at the legality of it, whether they could do it. He's found a way that they can, and he says it's risky because he fears the unions will kick off. They'll go hardline, they'll take the strikes and go all sort of waterfront union on it. The union says it will cause a division, but as Education Minister Erica Stanford told Mike Hosking this morning, she thinks it's fair and reasonable that nearly a third of primary school teachers who are not part of the union should be offered a contract now so that they can receive the pay increases now that the government has already offered. ES: I know that the unions, of course they're not happy with it, and they're trying to say, look, it's causing division. But I would say there's already division. A third of their workforce are not in a union, you know, and if they seriously think it's about division, they should ask themselves why a third of the workforce don't want anything to do with them. Interesting. This will equate to approximately 50 to 76 bucks every week, which is not inconsiderable. And it's pay that teachers could be receiving already, were they not impacted by the ongoing holdout from the union. They would say that it's the Government's failure to meet their perfectly reasonable demands, so there'll be stories from both sides. But good on the Public Service Commission. I mean, if unions want to keep going because they believe they can get a better deal for their union members, that's what their members pay their dues for, that they want to get the best possible conditions for their members, fine, fill your boots, keep going. But if I was a non-union teacher, I'd be getting more and more brassed off. It's not just the parents and young people too who are fed up with the ongoing negotiations and ongoing industrial action. Plenty of teachers are too, if the text traffic is anything to go by. A number of teachers told me they were only in the union for the legal protection it afforded them. They certainly didn't agree with the hardline stance being taken by negotiators. Will it cause friction? More friction than there already is in the staffroom when you have some teachers earning more while others are having to wait for their union to settle? I mean, when we were talking about the waterfront workers’ strike lockout depending on which side you're on, there were people who would cross the street to avoid scabs, you know, in Huntly or Otahuhu and different parts of the country. Those old resentments lingered and lingered and lingered. Surely we're beyond that now. You shouldn't have to join a union to be able to negotiate fair pay and conditions, and I wouldn't have thought teachers particularly would need one. They know their worth, they're articulate. Why would you need a union per se? I bet, as a number of them said, they're only there for the legal protection. If there was a way of insuring yourself privately for a reasonable fee against malicious lawsuits, then perhaps there'd be no need for the union at all. How many of you belong to unions and why? Do you see the benefit it brings you? How many of you would like to be in a union and how many of you are perfectly confident that you can negotiate ...
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    7 mins
  • Sharon Zollner: ANZ Chief Economist on New Zealand's economic response to the Covid pandemic

    Sharon Zollner: ANZ Chief Economist on New Zealand's economic response to the Covid pandemic
    Mar 11 2026

    New Zealand’s economic response to the Covid pandemic is under scrutiny.

    The second phase of the Covid Inquiry found New Zealand’s overall pandemic response effective, but some restrictions went too far, and the Government moved too slowly in some areas.

    It highlights our Covid increase on health spending was one of the OECD's largest.

    ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Kerre Woodham that debt is likely going to be permanently higher, and we have a lot of medium-term fiscal challenges as a result.

    She says in broad terms, we’ve used up two crises worth of buffer for a single crisis.

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    10 mins
  • Johan Norberg: Cato Institute Senior Fellow on Sweden's Covid response compared to New Zealand's

    Johan Norberg: Cato Institute Senior Fellow on Sweden's Covid response compared to New Zealand's
    Mar 11 2026

    Comparisons are being drawn between New Zealand’s approach to Covid, and Sweden’s.

    The findings of the second phase of the Covid Inquiry were released yesterday, and the response was found to be broadly effective, but slow to adapt and poorly communicated.

    It also found some mandates to be overly restrictive, and the Auckland lockdown went on too long.

    In Sweden, they had a less restrictive approach, focused on keeping life moving as normal as much as possible.

    Cato Institute Senior Fellow Johan Norberg told Kerre Woodham that the population voluntarily engaged in social distancing and reducing travel, and so they only felt the need to briefly enforce limitations when a new wave hit in 2020.

    He says the focus was on normalcy, as they didn’t know what would happen next, but they knew it would be a bad idea to hurt themselves further by shutting down schools and the economy.

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    12 mins
  • Kerre Woodham: Do you feel our Covid response was successful?

    Kerre Woodham: Do you feel our Covid response was successful?
    Mar 10 2026
    We all seem to be suffering from Long Covid. It's lingering as the findings of the second phase of the Covid-19 response inquiry were released yesterday. And what its findings were pretty much depends on what media you read. According to RNZ, it found the Government's response was effective but late and not communicated well enough to people. From Newsroom: ‘Lockdown, vaccine decisions considered and appropriate, Royal Commission’. So looking at that headline, you'd think nothing to see here, no criticisms, excellent, well done. ‘Covid-19 inquiry commission criticises length of Auckland lockdown and government spending’ – that's from the New Zealand Herald. Maybe read it yourself and see what you think. It's on publicly available on websites. There are video explainers, there are findings there. See for yourself. If you were anti-the infantilisation of the country, as I was, you will read it and wonder why the commission was so temperate in its findings. If you believed the Government was your saviour and without their instructions you would have died, you will read the excuses and the findings and nod along and say, “Yes, didn't we do well?" The second phase of the inquiry tested whether the Government took a balanced approach and found overall it largely did, but said the public was not brought on board —maybe they didn't want to be on board, maybe they could start to see through the nonsense— and the public must be brought on board in the next pandemic. One of the 24 recommendations made yesterday said that there should be more open decision making in future around the impacts on people's isolation, health, and incomes. And that's really, really important because surely, we must be allowed to question decisions, we must be able to debate them and argue against them without being considered treasonous or a conspiracy theorist or a granny killer. Look what happened when then leader of the National Party Simon Bridges grilled Ashley Bloomfield over the Ministry of Health's decision-making transparency and data at the Covid Response Select Committee hearing. In effect, just by daring to question the Director General of Health, just by asking him some tough questions, he lost his job. Cost him the job as leader of the National Party. We have to be able to question and debate, even if the decisions are ultimately the Government's based on the best possible advice. The report confirmed, as reported at the time, that the Auckland lockdown in late 2021 went on six days longer than recommended by Ashley Bloomfield. I think Aucklanders would argue it went on six weeks longer than it should have, but hey ho, there we go. That's what they found. It also found that advice from health experts that under 18s in work shouldn't be mandated to have two vaccine doses because of the risk of cardiac myocarditis wasn't followed. Another finding was that the Auckland Northland border stayed in place over the 2021/22 Christmas period when it was advised it could be reopened. There was also criticism of the then Labour Government's economic approach, saying policies around stimulus and inflation became unaligned from mid ‘21. For unaligned, I'd have put unhinged, but again, hey ho, it's their report. And that was despite the best advice from Treasury that spending must be temperate, timely, and targeted. The people of New Zealand are now vulnerable for at least the next 40 years to another shock, another pandemic, an earthquake. We're built on the shaky isles, you know, there's bound to be another, and we are now really vulnerable because too much money was not just spent but wasted by the previous Labour Government. And it's not just Treasury or the Inquiry that have pointed the finger at Labour for their financial sloppiness. Auditor General John Ryan, as he was then, heavily criticised the $15 billion infrastructure spend up during the pandemic. He said he decided to look at the funding because of the scale of the investment and the potential intergenerational impacts. His criticism and list of failings by officials and ministers are many. This is from a man who could ask the hard questions and get the answers that he needed to get, unlike journos who had to go through the OIA to get any kind of answers to any pertinent questions. They were far too busy saving lives to give answers to genuine questions around lockdowns, around vaccinations, around mandates and the like. But even with the hard data in front of them, Chris Hipkins and the like just recycle the “it's hard to be sorry when you've saved lives" trope. The inquiry finishes: “These lessons do not detract from the overall success of the pandemic response. Indeed, our findings, lessons, and recommendations are offered in the hope that they will assist decision makers to be as successful in fighting a pandemic in the future." Well, with what you know now, do you believe that the response was a success? Do you believe that when ...
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    7 mins