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  • Sonia Gray: Broadcaster on being in psychedelic drug trials to treat anxiety

    Sonia Gray: Broadcaster on being in psychedelic drug trials to treat anxiety
    2025/06/19

    Changes to allow over the counter sales of Melatonin in New Zealand alongside relaxing rules on magic mushrooms as medicine.

    MedSafe's approved Melatonin for sale to adults without a prescription.

    Psilocybin remains unapproved, but one specifically qualified psychiatrist is now permitted to prescribe it for treatment-resistant depression.

    Broadcaster Sonia Gray has been trialling psychedelic drugs as an anxiety treatment, and joined Kerre Woodham to speak about her experience.

    “Nothing is a silver bullet, and nothing is going to work for everybody all the time, but we need more tools.”

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    8 分
  • Liam Dann: NZ Herald Business Editor on the GDP rising by 0.8%

    Liam Dann: NZ Herald Business Editor on the GDP rising by 0.8%
    2025/06/19

    GDP figures just out are stronger than economists had forecast.

    Stats NZ says New Zealand's gross domestic product grew 0.8% in the March quarter – overtaking predictions of 0.7%.

    It follows a 0.5% increase the quarter before.

    Herald Business Editor-at-Large Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham it could mean the OCR won't get another cut next month.

    He says it raises the odds the Reserve Bank will keep things on hold.

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    9 分
  • Jonny Bannister: Coastguard Regional Manager on the deaths of Gemma and Ryder Ferregel and the need for compulsory lifejackets

    Jonny Bannister: Coastguard Regional Manager on the deaths of Gemma and Ryder Ferregel and the need for compulsory lifejackets
    2025/06/18

    There's a call for compulsory nationwide lifejacket use following the death of a 10-year-old boy in the Manukau Harbour.

    Ryder Ferregel and his mother, Gemma, died in November 2022 after a boat carrying five people capsized near Clarks Beach.

    They both drowned after hours of clinging to the overturned hull and even after reaching the relative safety of a sandbar.

    In Coroner Erin Woolley's findings, she says had the pair been wearing lifejackets, their chances of surviving would have significantly increased.

    Coastguard Regional Manager Jonny Bannister told Kerre Woodham it should absolutely be legislated for on a national level.

    He says that there’s about eight different variations around the country as to what is required, but Coastguard New Zealand is actively campaigning to make it compulsory across the country.

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    6 分
  • Sean Broughton: Stats NZ Population and Housing spokesperson on the changes to the Census

    Sean Broughton: Stats NZ Population and Housing spokesperson on the changes to the Census
    2025/06/18

    It's goodbye to the five-yearly Census from 2030, and hello to a smaller annual survey.

    They're changing things up, instead assessing a smaller chunk of the population yearly.

    Information people have already provided to Government departments will be used to inform the data, and Stats NZ says the changes will help provide more accurate and timely information.

    Population and Housing Statistics spokesperson Sean Broughton told Kerre Woodham the traditional approach to the Census is no longer sustainable.

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    8 分
  • Kerre Woodham: Outsourcing surgeries has to be a win for patients

    Kerre Woodham: Outsourcing surgeries has to be a win for patients
    2025/06/17
    Simeon Brown took the words right out of my mouth. I was just saying this very morning, that people living with bone-on-bone pain don't really care where their hip replacement is done or whether their knee is replaced in a private hospital or a public one. And there in the statement released from the Health Minister's Office is Simeon saying patients don't care who's delivering their surgery – they care about getting their hip, knee and cataract operations done. I think it's a common sentiment. I think most of us would feel this way. News this morning that Health New Zealand has been directed to give private hospitals 10-year outsourcing contracts to perform elective surgeries should come as good news for those on the waiting list. As Simeon Brown was talking to Francesca Rudkin about the 10,000 elective surgeries that had been performed, mostly in private hospitals, he gave a hint that the arrangement with private hospitals was likely to be formalised. “This is something that needs to continue to happen so that we can continue to reduce the number of people waiting for those surgeries. The waitlist ballooned over the last six years, that's unacceptable for patients. I'm committed to continuing to use both the public and private system to make sure we reduce that waitlist and ensure patients get seen in a timely manner.” And now it has. Private hospital contracts have in the past tended to be rather short term, ad hoc arrangements designed to take the spill over from the public waiting list. But Health New Zealand has been negotiating 3-year agreements with private hospitals. And that will guarantee high volumes of low complexity patients. They don't want your tricky ones, they don't want your obese smokers, they just want the people who'll be able to come in, have a routine operation, and have the aftercare needed to provide good outcomes. Brown has now directed Health New Zealand to seek even longer-term arrangements, which he says will improve the cost effectiveness of delivery and provide clear investment signals to the private sector. So if the private sector is thinking, do we put up a private clinic in Tauranga that can do routine operations, do you know what? Damn it, we will, if there's a 10-year pipeline of work. Do we invest in the super duper state-of-the-art high tech medical equipment that would take the operating theatre to the next level? Damn it, we will, because we have that pipeline of work. That has to be good news for patients. The number of people waiting more than four months for elective surgery has grown from 1000 in 2017 to more than 28,000 and 2023. Now, I totally accept that waiting lists can be manipulated. You know, over the years, over the many, many years I've been doing a talkback, we've seen successive governments manipulate the waiting list. It looks a hell of a lot better when you just take people off it – you have to be referred by your GP and start the process all over again. That's one old trick. But we also take into account that Covid meant that a lot of elective surgeries couldn't be performed and that happened the Western world over. The Covid pandemic meant that elective surgeries were a luxury, and of course, it ballooned out. So this has to be good news. The fact that the private hospitals will now have a contract where they will be able to deliver these operations for less than they have been charging. The New Zealand Private Surgical Hospitals Association Representative hadn't heard about the 10 years, but said obviously with that certainty that length of agreement it was not unreasonable to expect such deals would provide certainty on costs, which is doctor speak for we'll sharpen our pencil and give you a good deal. However, there are concerns from the medical profession, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons says they were sold outsourcing as a short-term solution. But outsourcing is not a solution to an inadequately funded health system. They said that outsourcing elective surgery deprived surgical registrars of the training they needed, and that it was all so much more expensive. I don't see why the registrars can't pop across the road to Alleviate or Ascot and spend a day in the operating theatre in a private clinic. I mean, it's probably much more complex than that, but when they say surgical registrars won't get the training they need, whatever happened to work experience? Where you could go to a private hospital for a day or a week and help out there. I agree in an ideal world where you pay your taxes to contribute to the good of the community, an adequately funded public health system would be fantastic. Where in the world do you have one like that? Possibly the Nordic states do. But we're a long way from getting that and in the meantime, when you have people who do not have life threatening conditions but who have life diminishing conditions where they can't work, they can't enjoy life, they are living in ...
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    8 分
  • Kerre Woodham: Prisons are evidence of failure, but what's the alternative?

    Kerre Woodham: Prisons are evidence of failure, but what's the alternative?
    2025/06/12
    Prisons to me are tangible evidence of failure. Failure of a person to do the right thing, failure of family, of community, of society. Before they've even been used, they smell like failure. I’ve emceed a fundraiser for the Shine domestic violence prevention charity at Mount Eden's remand prison before the first prisoner had stepped foot inside it. And even though it was brand-spanking new and done to the very best of the budget and to the specs, you just felt like failure the moment you walked in there. It would be so much better to spend the 150K per year that we spend on average on each prisoner, on at-risk kids to prevent them becoming just another statistic, perpetuating the cycle. But prisons are a necessary evil because some people do evil things. And because if people aren't seen to be punished for doing evil things, society's fragile contract breaks down. Remember the case of the 26 year old drunk who had been reported for dangerous driving? As he went from point A to point B, from his work drinks to a mate's house to drink more while throwing back premixed drinks in his car, he slammed into the vehicle of an innocent young woman, killing her. Jake Hamlin got 12 months home detention, 200 hours community work, disqualified from driving for a year, and ordered to pay $8k in reparation. And that just doesn't seem enough. But because you and I want to see a life mean something, we want to see that when you recklessly take the life of another person, you have to pay for that. And you have to be seen to pay for that. And the payment has to be significant. You've taken another person's life. A person with hope and dreams and potential and family who loved her. And what? You sit at home for 12 months? So because I want to see him punished, we need more prisons. Our prison population looks set to increase by more than 30% in the next decade. I think we'll be lucky if we can keep it at 30%. Given the social issues over the past five years, it will be bloody lucky if we can keep it at 30%. And because we can't build prisons fast enough, that may well lead to double bunking, which will lead to more issues, and so on and so forth. The previous National government had planned to build more prisons, but Labour put the kibosh on that. They decided they would depopulate prisons. A policy that didn't work so well, as Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell told Ryan Bridge this morning: “I think that we've been really clear that we are focused on public safety, and under the previous government, the only target they had around public safety was reducing the prison population by 30%, and we saw a massive increase in violent crime. So there are some people that don't want to stick to the rules that think they're above the, above the law, that are often recidivist violent offenders, and the safest place to put them is into a correction system or facility where then we can start to work on rehabilitation and hope that they rejoin society and make good decisions in their lives. There's a huge human cost and economic cost to having these people in the community and we've been very clear as a government that we're not going to tolerate that.” Yeah, I like his optimistic approach that there can be rehabilitation, and people can re-enter society when for a very long time, these people have been on the outer of society. They don't want to join society because that means they'd have to get a job, and turn up on time, and not sell drugs. Mark Mitchell said after year-on-year increases in violent crime since 2018, it was encouraging to see a reversal of that, with a 2% drop in numbers for 2024. He said violent crime increased by 51% between 2018 and 2023. So in October of last year, the prison population broke the 10,000 mark for the first time, and inmate numbers are expected to reach nearly 14,000 in the next decade. And that means we need more prisons. But even as Waikeria and Christchurch have begun expansion at their prisons, you've got a hikoi, organised by People Against Prisons Aotearoa, marching on Parliament. What on Earth do they expect people to do? What is the alternative? What do the Tamatha Pauls and the People Against Prisons Aotearoa want to have happened to somebody like Jake Hamlin? Or somebody who so violently assaults his partner, the mother of his children that she either ends up dead, or with life changing injuries? What do they expect to have happen then? What do you expect when somebody coward punches? Or when somebody is making an absolute fortune by selling drugs and perpetuating misery? Getting young people hooked on drugs so that they've got more customers? Or when some sleazy ass uses their privilege —this has been the case recently— to rob people blind, to abuse their trust, wreck their companies, destroy livelihoods? What do they expect? That they're going to sit at home for a year? I know that I know that prisons represent failure. But not locking up people is an ...
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    7 分
  • Kerre Woodham: The wool directive has to be a win for everyone

    Kerre Woodham: The wool directive has to be a win for everyone
    2025/06/12

    Good news for the wool industry. Wasn't such good news in December of last year when Kainga Ora, the country's largest landlord, put out tenders for new carpet and underlay, and specifically said wool suppliers need not apply.

    So that was in December of 2024 then in January 2025, the agency opened its tender process to wool carpet suppliers, allowing a direct price and offering comparison. Remember when the representative for the wool industry said that wool suppliers, wool carpet suppliers, hadn't even been able to tender? For more than a decade, Kainga Ora had been using nylon and that was that. You weren't even allowed to say, look, actually, we can give you a really good price. It was just thanks, but no thanks.

    And that was still the policy back in December of last year. in January, Kainga Ora opened itself up to what the wool industry could offer. At the time, chief executive Matt Crockett said Kainga Ora had traditionally used solution-dyed nylon carpet due to the durability and price. But yesterday came the announcement that Kainga Ora will use wool carpet in new state homes as of July.

    The Government has played a huge part in this decision. Back in December of last year, as I say, Kainga Ora said no. Wool providers were specifically excluded in the call for tenders. That was because it was believed that wool was an extra $2-400 more per home than nylon. But after a directive to about 130 agencies in April that government buildings and government suppliers would use wool where possible, Kainga Ora changed its mind. Said, feel free to make a submission. Feel free to give us a price. And now New Zealand sheep farmers will be providing the carpet for Kainga Ora homes as of July. About 4500 new state houses will be affected, will be expected to be fitted out in the next three years.

    Now I'm a huge fan of wool. I've been harping on about it for nearly a year now after having wool carpet put into my place. And surely its benefits outweigh the fact that it's slightly more expensive than the nylon – or rather it was. You know the $2-400 was before the wool carpet providers were able to actually come up with a price for Kainga Ora. They may well have sharpened their pencils. We won't know because the total value of the contract is commercially sensitive and can't be disclosed, according to Kainga Ora. So we don't know but you'd imagine that it's at least competitive with the nylon. And when you look at the whole of life of the carpet, you may well see that it's cheaper in the long run, better value in the long run than the nylon. The natural qualities allow wool to dampen sound, absorb pollutants. They contribute to healthier indoor environments by regulating humidity and improving air quality. So in terms of whole of life costs, sustainability, and health benefits, it ticks all the boxes.

    So yay for the government directive. Yay for New Zealand's sheep farmers. Yay for the durability and environmentally superior qualities of all carpet. It's got to be a win for everyone, doesn't it?

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    5 分
  • Kerre Woodham: Are farmers in the position to invest in new technology?

    Kerre Woodham: Are farmers in the position to invest in new technology?
    2025/06/11

    The largest agricultural expo in the Southern Hemisphere, one of the largest business expos in the Southern Hemisphere, has opened its gates this morning, and exhibitors are ready to do business.

    That hasn't always been the case in Fieldays’ 57 year history – the rural economy has had its ebbs and flows over the years, and Fieldays in Hamilton has felt them. Confidence has waxed and waned, but not this year. This year, you've got the Massey Ferg’s descending on the Tron in their droves. This year the feeling is bullish, according to Richard Lindroos, the CEO of the National Fieldays.

    “They say down here it's a bit of a positive vibe going on. Everything's going the right direction. We have certainty now in terms of where the prices are and the forecasts are pretty good, so we expect the rural community to open up the wallets at Fieldays. I think you're going to see those large capital expenditure, and the more certainty you have from the farming community, the better it will be. So our exhibitors down here, and we have over 1200, are looking forward to gates opening at 8am today. We go right through to Saturday. Saturday is Super Saturday, so I'm looking forward to even the townies coming down.”

    Absolutely. It's an amazing event. I've had the privilege of going a couple of times —working and as a spectator— and it’s enormous amounts of fun, and enormous amounts of business is done in the good years. And as Richard referred to when he was talking to Mike Hosking this morning, he's expecting the wallets to be open, because there have been good prices in the agricultural sector for the farmers, and also one of the big ticket items in the Government's 2025 Budget was ‘Investment boost’. The facility that allows businesses to deduct 20% of a new assets value from that year's taxable income on top of normal depreciation.

    There was a good example in the Herald: let's say a company invests in a machine worth $100,000, or a farmer if you will, that depreciates over 10 years, assuming a 10% straight line depreciation rate. Previously the company would have been able to deduct $10,000 worth of depreciation each year from its taxable income. Under investment boost, it could make a $20,000 upfront deduction, followed by $8,000 in depreciation deductions each year, including in year one. So you can see that that would have an impact. The Government hopes the change will significantly increase productivity by encouraging businesses to invest in new assets now, rather than waiting for the economy to improve.

    You might have heard that yesterday when we were talking the solar power interest-free loan from ASB for farmers to invest in solar power technology. We had a farmer who rang in, he had actually got his loan through ANZ, but he said he'd been looking at solar power for a while and he just wasn't in a position to make that kind of upfront investment. This year he can and has.

    So there's more money going on farm and into farmer's pockets. The investment boost, it is hoped, will see farmers and other businesses investing in new technology to allow for increased productivity. Is that what's going to happen? If you're heading to Fieldays, are you going there with the express aim to invest in new technology, technology you might have had your eye on for a while but you haven't been in a position to do anything about it until prices improved, and until you gets a commitment from the government like investment boost. Does investment boost, now you've had time to let it settle, mean that you are going to be investing in the kind of technology that's going to boost your productivity?

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    6 分