Remember yesterday when we were talking about the declining rates of hazardous drinking among young people? Good news. And then so many of you positing that it's because they're popping pills and taking other drugs. Bad news. It looks like you might be right.   The 2024 New Zealand Drugs Trend Survey has found that the price of drugs is dropping, the meth market saturated, and drug use has increased in just about all the regions. The availability of LSD and other psychedelics is growing,...

Pros and cons in the latest NZ Health Survey.  Hazardous drinking rates have fallen from 20.4% in 2019 to 16.6% this year, and daily smoking rates have remained steady.  However, the number of daily vapers has increased from 33,000 to 480,000 over the past eight years.  Daily vaping has also increased more quickly in younger age groups, especially those aged 15-17 and 18-24 years.  Asthma and Respiratory Foundation Chief Executive Letitia Harding told Kerre Woodham that the data they’re...

The hīkoi we were discussing last week has gone down the country through the weekend, rolls into Wellington City, and should arrive at Parliament around midday. Police say they don't expect any problems, certainly nothing like the descent into chaos we saw at the end of the last demonstration at Parliament. We'll see.   So far, it seems hīkoi participants have abided by the organisers’ requests. There's all sorts of rules and regulations before you can join the hīkoi, and participants are...

Foodstuffs North Island chief executive Chris Quin has confirmed that the company will appeal the decision by the Commerce Commission to block its proposed merger. Speaking on Newstalk ZB this morning, Quin said the company’s advisers had been working their way through ComCom’s reason for the decision for the last few weeks. “The biggest concern in the document seems to be about whether suppliers would be worse off as a result of the co-op merging between the North Island and South Island,”...

If I asked you how many demerit points you have right now, reckon you’d be able to tell me?  If you could, then you’re better than most people. Because, unless you get enough demerits to have your licence suspended, then I think most people don’t care.  And a study out today is telling us that we do need to care if we want to make the roads safer.  The people behind the study are telling us that most of us won’t care until we have tougher penalties for speeding. And I’m with them. Because,...

Crikey, when I suggested yesterday that it might be a good idea if you've never seen Parliament TV, you could always tune in and see the first reading of the Treaty Principles Bill.   Crikey, I expected fireworks but not quite to the level that was on display yesterday. The House was temporarily suspended as the legislation was being voted on, after members of the Te Pati Māori performed a haka in front of the bill's author David Seymour. Gerry Brownlee cleared the public gallery, suspended...

You have woken up to the news that New Zealand businesses can now take meaningful action to drive down the gender pay gap. You need no longer wait for governments to legislate – the power is in your hands. The launch of an online calculator to help do so was announced yesterday by the Minister for Women, Nicola Gregg. The previous Labour government announced plans last year before the election to require public and private companies with more than 250 workers to publish a gender pay gap...

Police have announced Operation Nickel, a nationwide operation focused on the enforcement of the Gangs Act 2024. What is the Gangs Act 2024? It's the specific piece of legislation that enforces the prohibition of the display of gang Insignia in public places. It provides for the issue of dispersal notices to stop gang members from gathering in public places, and it also makes provisions for non-consorting orders to prevent specified gang offenders from associating or communicating with each...

Is the electric vehicle market really dying?   Nissan is axing over 9,000 jobs as sales slump in China and the US and Toyota has said that the California regulations around EVs and emissions are unworkable.  EVs are being discounted by a third in Britain as manufacturers rush to meet their end-of-year sales targets.   In New Zealand, October saw the second strongest month when it comes to car sales, but despite heavy discounting, EV sales have slid backwards.  BYD NZ General Manager...

Take a look at your children, or your grandchildren if you have them, when they're at their most delicious – seven, eight, nine-year-olds, full of hopes and dreams, and starting to come into themselves properly. Their character’s forming, you see what they're good at, what they love doing, where their passions lie, supported and nurtured by families and communities who love them.   Your kid's basic belief that life is good is informed by the love and the care that they've received from...

Now, there was news from over the weekend that the Government will be introducing legislation this year that will make stalking illegal with a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison. The announcement came from the Justice Minister, Paul Goldsmith. It does seem incredible that stalking wasn't illegal before now, but there it is, it's on its way. The offence will have a maximum penalty, as I said, of five years imprisonment and will capture patterns of behaviour being 3 specified acts...

A prison sentence of up to five years could soon be handed down to those convicted of stalking. A new anti-stalking bill will be introduced to Parliament by the end of the year. Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says it applies to patterns of behaviour -- specifically, three acts taking place within a 12 month period. Goldsmith says there needs to be a threshold an offender will have to cross, and there needs to be a clear message that stalking won't be tolerated and will come with...

I know for many people affirmative action programmes are a real sticking point. A new report in the New Zealand Medical Journal, has found that affirmative action programs at the University of Otago have however, significantly lifted Māori, Pacific, and rural enrolments over the last 30 years. Where they have failed is increasing the student numbers from poorer backgrounds.   So people don't like them, but they do actually work. Māori made up 20% of enrolments at the university's medical...

Alarms are being raised over a shortfall in programmes aimed to lift medical school enrolment for under-served groups.  A study in today's New Zealand Medical Journal has found Otago University's initiatives have lifted Māori, Pacific, and rural enrolments over the last 30 years.  However, the number of students in health courses from poorer backgrounds hasn't actually increased.  Otago University's Public Health Professor Peter Crampton told Kerre Woodham they shouldn't be missing out.  ...

Donald Trump is once again Commander in Chief, and now the 45th and 47th President of the United States.  He becomes the first former president to return to the White House in more than 130 years and, at 78, the oldest man elected to America's highest office.  Trump has beaten Kamala Harris in both the Electoral College and the popular vote.  Republican pollster Dr Whit Ayres told Kerre Woodham that Harris was always on a bit of a hiding to nothing coming in after Biden’s messy exit.   He...

Kiwis are being warned to prepare for a more challenging trade environment as Donald Trump returns to the White House.  Trump has proposed a tariff of up to 20% on all imported goods, with China potentially receiving special treatment and a tariff of up to 60%.   New Zealand exports about $8 billion worth of goods to the US every year, and tariffs could have a significant impact.  Damien O’Connor was a Trade Minister during the Biden Administration, and told Kerre Woodham that any tariffs...

Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s Kerre Woodham this morning, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said the Government was confident it was “ready to go” in engaging with the incoming Trump Administration. “We have got some serious connections with the incoming administration, that’s the key part here,” he said. He mentioned New Zealand’s “very experienced Ambassador” in Washington who he said was there “to ensure if there was a change in the election results in America against what the media...

There's been much political play made around outside organisations having the potential to use violence on at risk kids. And really, it's entirely the fault of inexperienced politicians in the Coalition Government that Labour and Te Pati Māori have got any traction on this at all. The PMs ‘I know nothing, I know nothing’, when he was questioned about this yesterday on the Mike Hosking Breakfast, the refusal to answer questions on a leaked document, it just makes a vacuum which the opposition...

Tensions are high as America casts their votes, the nation deeply divided down partisan lines.  Polling booths will begin to close within an hour, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump still neck in neck in all major polls.  TVNZ and Newstalk ZB’s Jack Tame told Kerre Woodham that whoever wins, there will be tens of millions of Americans who are very happy, and tens of millions who are very unhappy with the result.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Unemployment has risen again.  Latest figures from Stats NZ show the unemployment rate has reached 4.8% in the September quarter.  That's up from 4.6% in the June quarter, and well up from 3.2% in the December 2021 quarter.  NZ Herald Business Editor Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham that there was no question they would see people lose their jobs, but the fact that it came in lower than many forecasts is a good thing.  He says that over the last 20 or 30 years, New Zealand has historically...

There’s plenty of nerves, with polling booths beginning to close in the next hour across the US.  Candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have been neck-and-neck in all major polls, with a focus on key battleground states like Pennsylvania.  CNN Correspondent Paula Newton told Kerre Woodham there's more uncertainty around the election this time.  She says since last time was a Covid election, all the voting information is unreliable.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for...

A math professor believes the Education Minister deserves kudos for their new maths programme.  The Government's announced 2000 Year 7 and 8 students will take part in a programme aiming to boost math achievement over the first two terms of next year.  Erica Stanford says it's designed to give more Kiwi kids confidence in mathematics.  Massey University Distinguished Maths Professor Gaven Martin told Kerre Woodham that this plan can start to address many of the problems thy had.   He says...

Now we've known for some time that New Zealand's once world class education system is no longer – that it is failing. And I really, really feel for the teachers. Education has been hijacked by ideologues who want children to share their world view and care little for the fact that our kids have no idea how to spell world or view. Our literacy is bad, our numeracy is even worse.   According to international studies, we are now one of the least numerate countries in the developed world. In the...

There is absolutely no doubt that healthy teeth are vital for a healthy life.   Poor dental care can actually kill you. There's a small number of cases from the States they read about recently where an untreated tooth abscess led to an infection that spread to the brain, and a number of children died as a result of that.   Even without catastrophising, bad teeth are miserable. It's painful, leads to other infections throughout the body, it's unsightly - robs people of self-confidence if...