/on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/rss ¾ÅÒ»ÐÇ¿ÕÎÞÏÞ Tune into Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald, 9am to midday weekdays. Keep up with the latest news and developments from New Zealand and the world on Fri, 20 Jun 2025 00:09:00 Z en /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-the-govts-into-local-decision-making-when-it-suits/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-the-govts-into-local-decision-making-when-it-suits/ The Government’s been making it increasingly clear over time that it doesn’t really give two-hoots about local democracy.   But, in the last 24 hours, it’s gone next level.   First up, we’ve got housing minister Chris Bishop, who announced yesterday that he’s going to be given special powers to ride roughshod over council plans if he doesn’t like them. Essentially, if he thinks a council has a district plan that doesn’t support economic growth and development, or won't do anything to create jobs, then he can come in over the top and say “nah nah nah, you’re not doing that.”  In fact, from what I’ve been reading, it seems any government minister is going to be able to modify or remove aspects of council plans that they don’t agree with. Talk about big brother. But that’s not all. Chris Bishop also got himself involved in a spat with the Christchurch City Council, saying that the council’s failed attempt to push back on the Government’s housing intensification rules was “nuts”. He’s saying: “It is an inarguable, and sometimes uncomfortable, fact that local government has been one of the largest barriers to housing growth in New Zealand." Going on to say: “Christchurch City Council just outright defied its legal obligations.”Signing off with the accusation that the council was “nuts” if it thought it could get away with not doing what the Government wanted it to do.  Now, even though I didn't have a problem with Chris Bishop declining the council’s request for Christchurch to be treated as a special case and not have to go along with the Government’s housing intensification policy, I think he needs to rein it in a bit.  But this attack on local democracy doesn’t stop with Chris Bishop.  Shane Jones is at it, as well. Saying in a speech to local government leaders that regional councils have had their day and he wants to get rid of them.  “What is the point of regional government?” That's what he said when he stood up at the lectern in Wellington last night. He seems to think that, with all the changes the Government is making to the Resource Management Act, we won't need regional councils anymore. Saying: “There is less and less of a justifiable purpose for maintaining regional government.” Which I do kind of get. Because I know a few people in local government and I have asked them recently where they see the likes of Environment Canterbury going if the Government is going to give the resource management act the heave-ho. Because that’s what regional councils were set up to do in the first place. To implement the Resource Management Act. There have been a few add ons since then - like running bus services. And I’ve long been a fan of local government amalgamation. But for a government minister like Shane Jones to stand up and give a speech to local government people and tell them that he wants to ditrch regional councils - that is arrogant. Just like this plan to let ministers interfere in council plans if they don't like what they see. That’s arrogant too. But it’s more than just arrogance. It’s an attack on local democracy. Which, apparently, is something the government values. When it suits, it would seem. Because, when he was announcing these new powers - which are going to be in force until all the changes to the Resource Management Act have gone through - he admitted it was a significant step.  "But the RMA’s devolution of ultimate power to local authorities just has not worked.” Which is code for saying: "Even though we say we’re all into local decision-making, we’re only into it when it suits Wellington".  LISTEN ABOVE Thu, 19 Jun 2025 03:10:14 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/phil-mauger-christchurch-mayor-on-housing-intensification-central-government-being-able-to-override-council-plans-christchurch-council-update/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/phil-mauger-christchurch-mayor-on-housing-intensification-central-government-being-able-to-override-council-plans-christchurch-council-update/ Christchurch’s Mayor is back with John MacDonald to discuss the biggest stories from the week that was.  The Government is giving the Housing Minister the power to overrule local councils, and Phil Mauger has some strong opinions on the topic.  Housing intensification is still on the docket, but he’s made it clear they’ll be pushing back against it all the way.  And why are there so many leafblowers out and about? Is that a good use of taxpayer money?  LISTEN ABOVE  Thu, 19 Jun 2025 01:08:43 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-we-need-a-one-size-fits-all-life-jacket-rule/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-we-need-a-one-size-fits-all-life-jacket-rule/ How weird is it that there are different rules or expectations regarding life jackets, depending on where you are in the country?   I’m not the only one who thinks it’s weird. A coroner who has looked into the drownings of a 10-year-old boy and his mother thinks it’s weird too, and is calling for change.   And instead of local councils being responsible for setting lifejacket rules, she wants there to be a single rule for the whole country making life jackets mandatory on all small boats. Everywhere.   And I totally agree. I know there’ll be no shortage of people thinking that it’s pointless making life jackets mandatory because, even where you have local councils now saying they have to be worn, there are still people who don’t.   But this is why a single, blanket rule for the whole country is needed.   This follows the deaths of 10-year-old Ryder Ferregel and his mum Gemma Ferregel, in November 2022. They were on Auckland’s Manukau Harbour and they were out on a 4.8 metre boat doing some scalloping.   There were three other people on board the boat and what happened is it was hit by two waves in pretty close succession, and because of that, it capsized.   At the time, no one on board was wearing a lifejacket. What makes this more tragic —aside from the fact that a woman and her son lost their lives— is that before the boat capsized, Ryder had been wearing a lifejacket but his mum said he could take it off because it didn't fit him properly and was riding up on him.    So, by the time the boat capsized, there was no one wearing a life jacket.  And coroner Erin Woolley is saying today that if they had been, Ryder and Gemma would have had a much greater chance of survival.  And that’s why she wants to see life jackets to be made mandatory on small boats, everywhere. She thinks we need a single rule for the whole country – not just rules set in different areas by different local authorities.  It would also be clear to people who aren’t boaties what the rule was, giving them licence to call people out for not wearing life jackets.   For example: you’re at the boat ramp and you see some muppets about to head out with no life jackets – even people in the car park there just watching the boats, they would know what the rule was and they’d be much more likely to say something, wouldn't they?   What’s more, if there was a single rule for the whole country, it wouldn't be left to local authorities to have local rules that only they can enforce.   If there was a single life jacket rule for the whole country, the Coastguard —for example— could fine people for not wearing a jacket.   It's crazy, isn't it, that they can come up to you when you're out fishing and fine you if the fish in your bucket are undersized, but they can’t fine you for not taking the appropriate safety precautions.   That’s because lifejacket rules are set by local by-laws and it’s the job of the councils to enforce them. Which coroner Erin Woolley wants to see changed. And so do I.    Wed, 18 Jun 2025 00:49:16 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-a-closer-look-at-our-mental-health-hospitals-is-overdue/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-a-closer-look-at-our-mental-health-hospitals-is-overdue/ It was bad enough that a patient at Hillmorton Hospital who had threatened to kill was still allowed to come and go and ended up killing an innocent woman at her Christchurch home.    The fact this person had killed someone else previously, before taking the life of Faye Phillips last year, makes the circumstances behind the tragedy worse.   On both occasions he was a mental health patient, which is why Ruth Money —who is the Government’s Chief Victims Advisor— is saying that we must have a Royal Commission of Inquiry into our mental health hospital system.   And I’m with her. I think it has to happen.    Last week we were astounded to learn that Elliot Cameron had been allowed to leave Hillmorton as he pleased, because he was a voluntary patient.   Apparently, it had been decided at some point that he didn’t have to stay, but because he didn’t want to leave, he wasn’t forced out and he’d made all sorts of comments about killing people if he was forced out.   And from the reports I’ve read, it seems staff had been helping him clean up his room, which may have led him to believe that he was about to be moved on.   But who knows. Whether that was his motivation for murdering Faye Phelps, we’ll probably never know.   Either way, last week he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 10 years.  And today, we’re finding out that it wasn’t the first time he had killed someone.   In 1975, he killed his brother. Shooting him while he slept at his parents' house.   And when he committed that killing, he was a mental health patient. Just like he was a mental health patient when he murdered Faye Phelps.   We haven’t known this until suppression orders relating to the 1975 case were lifted last night, which means we now have more context for this terrible, terrible situation.   Last week, I couldn’t understand how anyone at Hillmorton could think that someone who had threatened to kill was fine to walk out the gate, get a bus to Mt Pleasant and do some gardening work for an innocent elderly woman.     There is just no way that should have been allowed to happen.   But the fact that he had already shown himself capable of killing someone makes that decision to let him come and go even worse.   And if I was a member of Faye Phelps family —or if I was a friend of Faye Phelps— I would be absolutely livid, given these new revelations.   What’s unclear to me, from the reports I’ve read, is how aware Hillmorton was that Elliot Cameron had killed his brother 50 years ago.   I think it’s probably safe to assume that the hospital had some knowledge of it, given he’s been a mental health patient for 57 years. And that he was found not guilty of murdering his brother back in 1975 because he was deemed to be insane at the time.   So it beggars belief.   As Faye’s daughter Karen said last week: “Public safety must come first and should always have come first. Sadly, it wasn’t prioritised, and the result is what happened to my mum.”  And that’s where the Government’s Chief Victims Advisor Ruth Money is coming from too. She’s saying: “Another patient who has warned of his intent and distress numerous times and yet he too has gone on to kill for a second time.   "The public deserves an inquiry that can give actionable expert recommendations, as opposed to multiple coroners inquests and recommendations that do not have the same binding influence. The patients themselves, and the public will be best served by an independent inquiry, not another internal review that changes nothing."   And I couldn’t agree more because this is not the first time public safety has been compromised.   Three years ago, there was the case of the Christchurch woman walking home after getting the bus from work and being stabbed to death just a short distance from her home by a mental health patient at Hillmorton.   No updates on where the internal investigation into that is going. I understand it’s “ongoing”, but that’s exactly why Ruth Money wants a top-level inquiry. She wants more than internal inquiries and toothless coroner’s inquiries.   She thinks a Royal Commission of Inquiry into our mental health hospitals is way overdue. I think so too.  Tue, 17 Jun 2025 01:22:18 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-police-cameras-yes-with-a-couple-of-provisos/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-police-cameras-yes-with-a-couple-of-provisos/ I’ve surprised myself a little bit with my reaction to the news the police are looking at introducing body cameras.  Generally, I’m all for it. But the civil liberties people have raised some very good points about them being misused.  One example they’re giving is the potential for the cameras to be combined with facial recognition technology. Which I'm torn on, after finding out about facial recognition being used at the Richmond Club, in Christchurch, to keep an eye on people using the pokie machines.  They're are asking how we're going to know - once police start wearing body cameras - when an officer is filming and when they’re not.   Is there a chance, for example, that you or I might be walking down the street and get filmed by the cops walking towards us?  Which is why the head of New Zealand’s civil liberties council is saying that there needs to be robust policies in place before any officer starts going around the place wearing one of these things.  The bit Thomas Beagle is concerned about most, is the lines between body cameras and facial recognition getting blurred.  He’s saying: “Suddenly, it turns footage into data of who was where, what their names are, and what they were doing. In a way, that’s really quite worrying and can be put together to build up the surveillance society.”  So he wants clear, robust policies in place. Policies which make it clear, for example, who will be able to access any footage captured on the body cameras.  He says if we’re going to bring-in body cameras, we may need to look at the idea of having someone independent deciding when footage is released and who it’s released to.   He reckons that could be a job for the Independent Police Conduct Authority, making the very good point that the cameras not only need to serve the police well - but they also need to serve the public well.  And that’s the bit that has probably surprised me a bit. That I’m not as holus-bolus enthusiastic about police body cameras as maybe I expected myself to be.  The civil liberties people are spot on - referring to cases overseas where police have refused to release body camera footage when officers have been accused of things like misconduct.  I’ve also been reading a BBC report which talks about other ways these things have been misused. Or abused.  It reports more than 150 examples of camera misuse by police in England and Wales.   For example, officers turning the cameras off when they’ve been dealing forcefully with someone. Giving someone the old heave-ho. You know: “I’ll just turn this thing off for a minute while we give this turkey what he deserves.”  The BBC has also discovered cases where police have deleted footage and even shared footage with other officers on WhatsApp.  But, before you think I’ve gone totally civil liberties on it - I’m all for the police wearing body cameras.  For many reasons. For starters - it’s crazy that security officers and parking wardens can wear them, but police can’t.  And, even though there are a truckload of examples of these cameras being misused, you could say the same about any bad police behaviour.  There are dodgy cops everywhere - but that doesn’t mean we get rid of the police.  And, as police commissioner Richard Chambers is saying today, New Zealand is one of the few countries not using them.  He says body cameras are great for gathering evidence and they’re great for keeping staff safe.  So he’s going to have people working on options over the  next 12 months and, hopefully, by that time - they’ll be ready to press go.  I see Chris Cahill from the police association is a bit worried about the cost.  He’s saying that some countries are getting rid of them because of how much it costs to store the footage.  And, not surprisingly, he doesn’t want to see the spending on body cameras meaning there’s less money to be spent on frontline officers and police vehicles.   He says: “It isn’t the game changer that we thought it might be, but it has certainly got significant benefits and many officers in Australia don’t want to deploy without it.”  But all up, when I consider what Chris Cahill is saying about the cameras not being the silver bullet and the many cases overseas of these things being misused, I still think is a great move by the police commissioner.  LISTEN ABOVE Mon, 16 Jun 2025 03:13:17 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-australia-might-have-aukus-buyers-remorse/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-australia-might-have-aukus-buyers-remorse/ Donald Trump won’t be too happy with Helen Clark right now, because she’s saying she doesn't want New Zealand to be an ally of the United States ever again.   I’m with her on that one – while Trump is president, anyway.    I’m also with Defence Minister Judith Collins who isn’t saying anything about Trump doing a review of the AUKUS military alliance with Australia and the UK, to make sure that it’s a fair deal for America.   I think Judith Collins going all quiet about this cloud over AUKUS is the approach we should be taking more broadly, as well. And New Zealand should be more like Switzerland and keep pretty much every country at arm's length.   As Helen Clark is saying, if you’re an ally, you can get dragged into all sorts of things you shouldn’t. Whereas, if you’re a “friend”, you can keep your head down, treat every country pretty much equally, and stay out of international dramas you don’t need to be involved with.    I heard former defence minister Wayne Mapp saying that the fact Trump has said this AUKUS review will be done and dusted in 30 days, shows that it’s unlikely that the U.S. is about to pull out.   Tell that to Dr Emma Shortis —who is a senior researcher in international affairs at the Australia Institute— who is pointing out that the submarine part of the AUKUS deal includes a “get-out clause” for the United States.   She reckons Trump is about to use that clause – not that she’s too upset about it. She’s saying today that AUKUS is "a disaster" for Australia and only ties Aussie ever closer to “an increasingly volatile and aggressive america”.   And, with respect to Wayne Mapp, I’m going to listen to this expert from Australia.   Understandably it’s caused a fuss in Australia, because they’re due to get a few nuclear subs from America as part of all this. Three second-hand submarines for $368 billion.   On this side of the Tasman though, the Government is keeping shtum, with Defence Minister Judith Collins not wanting to get dragged into it. Which makes sense, because —at the moment— we’ve got nothing to do with AUKUS.   The Government’s been making noises recently about doing a bit of tyre-kicking and seeing whether we might get involved at a lower level. “Pillar 2” is what they call it.   But there’s nothing coming from the Government about Donald Trump running his eye over AUKUS to check that America's getting the best deal. Former Prime Minister Helen Clark isn’t holding back though.   She says: "I would not want to see us back in the position where New Zealand is expected to spend a whole lot more money on defence; expected to follow the US into whatever its strategic venture is. I'm old enough to remember the Vietnam War and New Zealand going into that for not a good reason at all and walking out the other end with Kiwis dying on the battlefield for no good reason. I don't want to see us ever in that position again."   I’m with her on that one.    Australia’s possibly feeling that way too, given that it signed up to the AUKUS agreement when Joe Biden was president. And, aside from wanting to get the submarines, and aside from the fact that it’s already ploughed $800 million into AUKUS, it might still be having a bit of buyer’s remorse given Trump’s unpredictability.  Fri, 13 Jun 2025 01:33:03 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/politics-friday-with-matt-doocey-and-duncan-webb-nzs-relationship-with-the-us-privacy-vs-safety-and-tourism-nzs-new-marketing-campaign/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/politics-friday-with-matt-doocey-and-duncan-webb-nzs-relationship-with-the-us-privacy-vs-safety-and-tourism-nzs-new-marketing-campaign/ Matt Doocey and Duncan Webb joined John MacDonald in studio for Politics Friday. They discussed Helen Clark’s recent comments around New Zealand’s relationship with the United States – do they agree?   On the topic of privacy versus safety, when it comes to mental illness, is keeping people safe a higher priority than keeping someone’s health private?  And Tourism New Zealand’s new 100% Pure marketing campaign has been launched, and Duncan Webb is not a fan.  LISTEN ABOVE  Fri, 13 Jun 2025 00:30:44 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-wool-carpet-is-great-but-not-everywhere/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-wool-carpet-is-great-but-not-everywhere/ I’m all for the push to have wool carpet used in government buildings but I think it’s a mistake putting it in state homes.   Kāinga Ora has announced that, from next month, there will be woollen carpets in all new state homes. It’s also going to use wool if the carpet in existing homes needs replacing.   Economic Growth Minister Nicola Willis says Kāinga Ora has managed to get a deal that will mean the wool carpet won’t cost any more than nylon carpet.   Which is interesting because, in December last year, KO said it had done some cost analysis work which showed that it could save roughly 34% using nylon carpet. So the wool carpet people have obviously sharpened their pencils.   Nevertheless, is it practical?  And my answer to that is no it’s not. And will it end up costing us in the long-term? Yes it will, and I’ll tell you why.   But first, here’s why I generally like the government’s move to use wool carpet, but why I don't think it's a good idea in Kāinga Ora properties.   It makes perfect sense for the Government to be doing what it can to support our farmers who grow wool, who’ve been pushing it uphill recently. Wool has almost become a burden for farmers because of the returns they’ve been getting.   So good on the Government for going down the wool route, because it has to buy carpet, so why not buy the carpet that does the farmers a favour, while it's at it? Especially, when you consider the amount of money the Government must spend on carpet.   I don’t have a dollar figure for you, but I was reading a briefing that was written for the incoming government after the last election, which said that the Government has approximately 1 million square metres of office accommodation around the country, costing approximately $330 million a year.   That’s a lot of potential floorspace for carpet and that’s a lot of potential floorspace to get our farmers' wool all over.   But here’s why I don't think it’s a good idea having wool carpet in state homes.   Government buildings —such as government department offices and schools— generally have cleaners going through pretty much every day. And so if the DOC office or the local primary school has wool carpet, they get cleaned pretty regularly, don’t they?   A Kāinga Ora property is different. The only time cleaners get sent into a state house is when someone leaves or is booted out.    And this isn’t me tarring every state housing tenant with the same brush, because most tenants are probably very good. But we’d be naive to think that every tenant vacuums the carpets every day. We’d be naive to think that every state house tenant is a cleaning freak and will do everything they can to keep stains out of the carpet.   I remember when we put wool carpet in —it was when the kids were still quite young— and we did everything we could to stop it getting marks and stains on it, but it still got stains and marks on it.   And I’ve seen nylon carpets in action, and you can’t deny that they are brilliant for keeping clean. I’ve seen red wine spilled on nylon carpet and you can pretty much just wipe it away.   That’s the kind of carpet that Kāinga Ora should be using.    Thu, 12 Jun 2025 01:24:31 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-people-should-have-known-about-mentally-unwell-gardener/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-people-should-have-known-about-mentally-unwell-gardener/ I’m not exactly sure where to start with this, because it is just so tragic and there is so much to it.  I could start by ripping into the people who run Hillmorton Hospital, in Christchurch, for not doing more to try to prevent one of their patients murdering a woman at her home in Mt Pleasant – because I want to rip into them.   I could start with the thought that ran through my head when more details emerged at Elliot Cameron’s sentencing yesterday for the murder of 83-year-old Faye Phelps, but I’ll come back to that.  Where I’m going to start is with what the cousin of Elliot Cameron said after the sentencing. Because it doesn’t just relate to this tragic case, it relates to other tragic cases we’ve seen too.   And it’s all to do with how out-of-kilter things have got when it comes to protecting people’s privacy versus protecting people from danger.   Alan Cameron is the cousin of the killer, and he is saying that people like Faye, and anyone else this guy did garden work for or had dealings with, should have known that he was a mental health patient living at Hillmorton Hospital. Especially given his threats to kill someone if he was forced him to leave the hospital.   They should have known that he’d been in mental health care for most of his life.   Alan Cameron says: “Just shoving people out into the community isn't good enough, without ensuring that there are supports. I feel if more could have been done it might well have made a difference.  "To protect his privacy they won't involve the family, but he wanted my involvement."   He says people should have been informed that his cousin was living at Hillmorton because they could’ve then decided whether they wanted anything to do with him.   He says: "It would have put others on alert to observe him and to keep a note.”   And I couldn’t agree more.   Because Faye Phelps had no idea. She was completely in the dark, all in the name of protecting this man’s privacy.   Just like the probation people couldn’t knock on the doors of people living near that guy who was released from prison and ended up murdering the Colombian woman living next door to him.  She was in the dark too, because it would have breached that guy’s privacy, as well.   So when are we going to wake up to the fact that this obsession with privacy is killing people?   Because there is no way that Elliot Cameron should have been allowed to come and go from Hillmorton and do gardening work for people without those people whose homes he was going to having any idea about him.   You could say that anyone can ask questions but when you hire someone to do gardening, you ask them about things like their availability, price etc.   Faye Phelps was never going to ask him if he was mentally unwell, was she? She should have been told. Because, if she had, she might still be alive.   But we will never know that. Or more importantly, her family and friends will never know that. Either way, Faye Phelps and the people who loved her were let down big time.   As Faye’s daughter Karen says: “Our family never thought in a million years something like this would happen. The reality is it could be any member of the public next.”   Which brings me to what went through my head when I saw the reports on the sentencing yesterday. Straight away I wondered how many other patients are walking out the gates at Hillmorton, jumping on buses, and none of us have any idea.  Faye’s daughter Karen is thinking the same, saying: “Public safety must come first and should always have come first. Sadly, it wasn’t prioritised, and the result is what happened to my mum.”   As for Hillmorton Hospital – you would think, wouldn’t you, that the people running the place would have learned a thing or two from that tragic case three years ago when one of their patients stabbed a woman to death in broad daylight.   Maybe they have, but it doesn’t look like it. And they need to learn pretty quick that protecting people’s safety has to come first – even if it means breaching someone’s privacy.   I think it’s outrageous that Hillmorton Hospital thought it was fine for a guy who repeatedly threatened to kill to come and go as he wanted, and not tell innocent people that their gardener living in mental health care and has been for most of his life.  Wed, 11 Jun 2025 01:04:42 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/chris-hipkins-labour-leader-on-te-pati-m%C4%81ori-housing-intensification-sewage/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/chris-hipkins-labour-leader-on-te-pati-m%C4%81ori-housing-intensification-sewage/ Labour's leader says Te Pati Māori should focus on the issues most New Zealanders care about.   Parliament last week voted to hand down the harshest suspensions in history to three MPs over a haka performed during the Treaty Principles Bill vote.    Labour's Willie Jackson and Adrian Rurawhe argued the punishments were too harsh, but also suggested the Party could compromise or say sorry.   Chris Hipkins told John MacDonald housing, health, and education are the main things Māori around the country raise with him.  He says that Te Pati Māori made their point around the haka, but he thinks people want to see them get back to debating the big issues now.   LISTEN ABOVE  Tue, 10 Jun 2025 23:59:04 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-the-govt-needs-some-skin-in-the-solar-game/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-the-govt-needs-some-skin-in-the-solar-game/ How would you feel if the Government came out and said solar energy is the future and it was going to throw everything at it?   Because that’s something I think it needs to seriously consider doing.   For me, there would only be one fly in the ointment – I’ll get to that. But it’s not enough for me to say that the Government shouldn’t be ploughing money into solar energy.   Lodestone Energy is in the news today talking about its latest solar farm, which will cover 42-hectares in the Clandeboye area in South Canterbury. There’s also the big solar farm being built near Christchurch Airport, among others in the South Island. Which is brilliant.    But I think our reliance on private operators to get these things up and running is very risky. Which is why I think the Government should be getting some skin in the game, as well.   Now before you start thinking, “what about SolarZero?”, that’s different to what I’m talking about. That wasn’t about solar farms, that was a joint venture between the Government and a private outfit which supplied solar panel kits to homeowners.   But it does show the risk of relying on private outfits because SolarZero went into liquidation and that was it.   I’m not saying that Lodestone Energy, which is behind the solar farm at Clandeboye, is a risky bet. I only want the best for them.   But as anyone in business will tell you, nothing is guaranteed. That’s why we don’t have a solely private health system. Why we don’t have a solely private education system.   If anything, state ownership is —at the very least— a backstop.   And that’s why I think the state needs to get more involved in solar power generation.   The potential fly in the ointment is use of land that might otherwise be used for things like growing food, but I can live with that.   The Government might point to the Christchurch Airport solar farm and say that the Crown has a 25% share in the airport, so it's already investing in solar generation, but that would be dancing on the head of a pin. I’m talking here about the Government allocating money to the construction and operation of state-owned solar farms.    But how would you feel about that?  Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:27:28 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-we-need-to-get-real-about-housing-intensification/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-we-need-to-get-real-about-housing-intensification/ “A complete balls up”. How about that for what might be quote of the day?   That’s how Christchurch city councillor Andrei Moore is describing the council’s handling of the housing intensification row.  It’s a row that has been shut down for good by Housing and Resource Management Minister Chris Bishop, who has rejected Christchurch’s bid to have its own, separate housing intensification rules.  Which I have no problem with. If he had given-in to Christchurch, it would’ve opened the floodgates right around the country. So good on Chris Bishop.  It’s a final decision too, by the way. No correspondence will be entered into. The council can’t blow any more money running off to the environment court. So Christchurch has to like it or lump it.    What it’s going to mean is high density, multi-level residential housing in the CBD (good), Riccarton (good), Hornby (good) and Linwood (good).   Even if it means neighbouring properties losing sunlight. Which is not necessarily good - but that’s just reality. We need to get over that.  Not that I’ve felt that way from the outset. When these new rules were first proposed three years ago, I didn’t like the sound of them.  And there was no shortage of people saying they felt the same way. And I suspect that a lot of people will still be very unhappy about the prospect of a new place going up next to them and losing their sunlight.  But that’s just reality. I accept that now.   Because what other option is there in a city where the population is only going in one direction?  Do we want the city to spread out even further, chewing up land that is much better used for things like growing food? Of course, we don’t.  If there’s one very small example of how the city has just kept on spreading outwards, it would be Musgroves - the second-hand building supplies outfit in Wigram.  I’m still amazed at how that place is surrounded by buildings now. When I remember it being pretty much in the wops not all that long ago.  And, if we don’t allow the city to become more built-up, we’re just going to see more and more houses built in places like Rolleston and Prebbleton. Which aren’t in Christchurch - they’re in the Selwyn district.   Which means more and more people travelling into the city every day, using Christchurch’s roading infrastructure but not paying a bean towards it. Because they pay their rates to Selwyn.  But let’s come back to councillor Andrei Moore - who is saying today that the council has ballsed this up.      He said back in April that he thought it was nuts that the council was insisting on pushing back on more intensified housing in Christchurch.  He said - and I agreed with him a hundred percent at the time (and I still do) that “it’s high time we wake up and deal with the reality of city growth”.  What’s more, it hasn’t been cheap. The most recent, available figures show that the council has spent about $7 million fighting the Government’s proposals.  It’s not a total loss for the council. Three of its ideas have been accepted by the Government, which include increasing the building height limit on the old stockyards on Deans Ave to 36 metres.  Mayor Phil Mauger says: “We obviously wanted to get our alternative recommendations approved. So, to only have three of them get the tick, is a kick in the guts.”  As a result of the Government telling the city council to pull its head in, we’re potentially or eventually going to see 10-storey apartment buildings within 600 metres of suburban shopping areas. Even if it means neighbouring properties losing sunlight.  Urbanist group Greater Ōtautahi thinks it's brilliant and gives the city certainty.   They say the quarter-acre dream of a standalone house on a large section is unsustainable.  Spokesperson M. Grace-Stent says: “Not everyone wants to live the exact same lifestyle. Allowing more housing to be built allows people to make that choice for themselves.”  They say: “We want people to be living near the city centre,  near the amenities, not pushed out further and further into the Canterbury plains”.   And they’ll get no argument from me.  LISTEN ABOVE Mon, 09 Jun 2025 03:06:30 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-the-modern-learning-environment-pipedream-turned-nightmare/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-the-modern-learning-environment-pipedream-turned-nightmare/ Imagine a school having $800,000 in the bank.  Imagine all the things a school could buy with that amount of money.   This is a state school I’m talking about, not a Flash Harry private school that can put the call-out to the old boys and the old girls when it needs cash to do something.   So a state school with $800,000 in the bank, and this state school has to spend that money fixing up a cock-up forced on it by the Ministry of Education.   The cock-up I’m referring to is that disastrous experiment called the “modern learning environment” – where our kids have been the guinea pigs, forced into huge barns instead of your old-school single-cell classrooms.   And the school I’m talking about, having to spend $800,000 of its own money to get out of this ideological nightmare, is Shirley Boys’ High School in Christchurch.   Good on it for flipping the bird at the modern learning environment, but I think it’s crazy that the school has to dip into its own reserves to pay to sort it out.     I know whether it’s the school that pays or the Ministry of Education that pays, it’s all pretty much taxpayer money. But the difference is Shirley Boys' is spending money it’s actually got in the bank, which could be spent on all sorts of other things. That’s why I think the ministry should be paying for this work.   I’ve been anti this modern learning environment nonsense right from the outset. Which was pretty much straight after the earthquakes when schools in Canterbury needed rebuilds.    And what happened is the powers-that-be jumped on the bandwagon and started telling schools that this is how it was going to be. That, if they wanted classrooms, they were going to be barn-like structures with up to 200 kids in them.  To be fair, it wasn’t just the Government and the Ministry of Education forcing this one. There were some teachers and principals who thought it was a brilliant idea too.   I’ve mentioned before how I was on the board of our local school for about six years, and they got sucked into the modern learning environment frenzy.   In fact, they didn’t wait for new buildings. They had the caretaker knocking out walls left, right and centre every weekend, it seemed. And I thought it was nuts at the time and I still think the concept is nuts.  As does Shirley Boys'. As does Rangiora High School, which did the same thing. It cost them even more – they spent $1.5 million turning their open-plan classrooms into single classrooms.   But here’s what the principal at Shirley Boys', Tim Grocott, is saying about why they’re doing it.  "The level of distraction was just too high. There was too much movement going on. They can hear what is happening in the class next door. Particularly if something was being played on TV or anything like that. So that level of distraction was a negative factor."   He says the school did a formal inquiry into how the kids and the staff were finding the open-plan set-up and found that there was widespread unhappiness and so the school had no option but to do something.   So it started the work during the last school holidays and will finish it during the next holidays.   Tim Grocott says the changes that have been made so far have gone down very well.   He says feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive and instantaneous”. I bet it has.  He says: “The staff on the first day were absolutely thrilled. One of our teachers was hugging the walls in her classroom because she was so thrilled to have walls. The boys are just much happier too."   Tim says he thinks that open plan classrooms are a flawed concept that just did not work for his school.   Are they ever.    And the Ministry of Education needs to admit that and needs to front-up with the money to pay back Shirley Boys’ High School for the $800,000 it’s spending to fix up this flawed concept, and elsewhere too.  Or, more correctly, it needs to front-up with the money to pay schools back for the mess caused by this failed experiment.  Fri, 06 Jun 2025 01:11:32 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/politics-friday-with-matt-doocey-and-tracey-mclellan-high-schools-te-pati-m%C4%81ori-and-natural-gas/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/politics-friday-with-matt-doocey-and-tracey-mclellan-high-schools-te-pati-m%C4%81ori-and-natural-gas/ John was joined by Matt Doocey and Tracey McLellan this week for Politics Friday. They discussed the situation with Shirley Boys High School, who have spent $800,000 to move their school away from the modern learning model. Is it fair that schools have to foot the bill for this? The decision has been made around punishment for Te Pati Māori, does this affect Labour's view of working with them in future, and is there really gas to be found in New Zealand?  LISTEN ABOVE Thu, 05 Jun 2025 23:32:56 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-theres-nothing-special-about-supermarket-specials/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-theres-nothing-special-about-supermarket-specials/ I love this idea the Commerce Commission and the Grocery Commissioner have come up with, of supermarkets giving us everyday low prices instead of the ever-changing, so-called “special prices”.  The supermarket specials that really brass me off are the ones where you might see meat in one of the fridges, and they’ll have a sign showing the price per kilo. That means absolutely nothing to me. Maybe there are some shoppers who know all the ins-and-outs of prices per kilo, but I’m not one of them.  The other thing about specials is that, most of the time, it feels like the supermarkets are yelling “special special special” at me, but it doesn’t look like much of a special. I’ll be the first to say that I’m in the lucky position of not having to rely on supermarket specials. That’s a financial thing, but it’s also because I’m no longer at a stage of life where there are three kids at home and where it’s not unusual to kiss goodbye to $400+ a week at the check-out. But I’ve never been one of those people who buy their bananas at one place because they’re cheap and my mandarins somewhere else because their cheaper. And, when I see and hear the ads about specials, they pretty much don’t register with me. And it’s not just because I can afford to pay what I have to pay. And it’s not just because the supermarket shops are cheaper these days because there aren’t three kids living at home. It’s also because I see supermarket specials in the same way I see cafes with signs outside saying “great coffee”. They can tell me what they want as much as they like, but whether I believe it or not is another thing. The other week I went into Pak 'n Save and when I hit the fruit and veg section there was a sign telling me that the 99 cent broccoli heads were an amazing special. I wasn’t that convinced because they seemed pretty small to me, but I grabbed a couple anyway. But as I kept moving around the fruit and veg section, I saw another bin of broccoli heads —again with the sign saying 99 cents a head and “amazing special”— but these things were about twice the size of the smaller ones at the start of the fruit and veg section.  What was that all about?  And it’s little examples like that —as well as the one I mentioned earlier about specials being based on price per kilo— that demonstrate how much of a rort this whole “special” thing is. So I agree with Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden who is saying that doing away with specials and having everyday low prices instead would be more straightforward and transparent.  He also thinks it would allow any new operators coming into the market to put real pressure on the existing supermarkets. I’m not as sold on that bit, because I don’t think there are any foreign supermarket companies interested in coming here. But if he thinks that, that’s fine. The only problem I’ve got with this idea is that it’s going to be voluntary —for now, anyway— whereas I think it should be compulsory. The Commissioner says they’ll give the supermarkets a year or so to get with the programme, but I want to see this happening ASAP. So does Consumer NZ. Its boss, Jon Duffy, says: “We know New Zealanders love a special. We also know there’s not much that’s special about supermarket specials.” He’s spot on there. He says: “Everyday low prices would benefit all shoppers, so would price transparency. Right now, it’s so hard to know what’s a fair price because the prices of certain goods fluctuate so much.” And that’s the nub of it right there. If you go to the supermarket today and see all these signs saying special here, special there, all you can do is take their word that it somehow is a special. And like the sheep most of us are, we think ‘aww, on special…I’ll get a few of those”. But how do we know we are actually getting the best deal?  We don’t. Which is why the Grocery Commissioner and the Commerce Commission think the days of the supermarket special should be numbered. I think so too. Thu, 05 Jun 2025 00:53:37 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/phil-mauger-christchurch-mayor-on-capping-rates-increases-the-potential-for-passenger-rail-in-canterbury-selling-lichfield-street-car-park/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/phil-mauger-christchurch-mayor-on-capping-rates-increases-the-potential-for-passenger-rail-in-canterbury-selling-lichfield-street-car-park/ Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger joined John MacDonald this morning for their regular catch up.  In the wake of Raf Manji’s comments about capping rate increases, how does the Mayor feel about its achievability?   ECAN is making a case for a passenger rail in Canterbury – is it a good move? And is selling off Lichfield Street car park a wise decision?  LISTEN ABOVE  Wed, 04 Jun 2025 23:58:09 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-privacy-commissioner-says-facial-recognitions-okay-but/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-privacy-commissioner-says-facial-recognitions-okay-but/ I am really torn. Because when it comes to facial recognition technology, I’ve always been of the view that if you’re not doing anything wrong, there’s nothing to worry about.   But, at the risk of sounding like I’m going a bit “civil liberties” on it, I’m starting to change my tune a bit.     Which I’ll admit is a bit weird considering the Privacy Commissioner has announced that he’s all good with the facial recognition trial that Foodstuffs supermarkets have been doing in the North Island.   But what’s making me feel uneasy is the potential for this tick of approval from the Privacy Commissioner to be seen as a licence for anyone and everyone to use facial recognition however they want.   Because there’s an outfit in Christchurch —which isn’t a supermarket— using facial recognition technology right now. Which shows why the Privacy Commissioner is also saying that, as well as the Foodstuffs trial being all good, we need to tread carefully with how this technology is used.   He’s not saying it outright, but I think we’re on a slippery slope if we don’t make sure there are better legal safeguards in place to make sure businesses and organisations —and individuals too possibly— don’t start using facial recognition however and wherever they want.   So that we don’t look up in two years’ time and realise that we’ve got a runaway train on our hands.  Which is why I don’t think Michael Webster giving his tick of approval for what Foodstuffs North Island has been doing —saying that it complies with the Privacy Act— is the be-all and end-all.   I know you would think that it might reassure me that I’ve been on the right track thinking that only people breaking the law need to be worried about facial recognition technology.    But I’m not so sure.    Because it’s not just supermarkets in the North Island giving facial recognition a go. The Richmond Club, in Christchurch, is also using it.  I’ve seen a photo of a poster on the wall at the Richmond Club telling users of its pokie machines that it’s trialling facial recognition software to help it keep an eye on problem gamblers.   The sign says: “The Richmond Club is currently trialling facial recognition software - however, this is only in the gaming room.”  The poster says: “Such footage is used in conjunction with our CCTV surveillance cameras and other publicly-available sources of imagery to assist in identifying individuals for a variety of reasons.”   And it goes on to say that it’s all about identifying problem gamblers and that all footage is destroyed when someone who has been playing the machines leaves the room.   The person who sent me this photo said they spoke to half of the people in the gaming room at the time and none of them were aware that facial recognition was being used, despite the sign on the wall. And they didn’t like the sound of it.   Which I can understand.    Because using pokie machines isn’t illegal. Even though I can’t stand pokie machines, they’re not illegal. Just like having a gambling problem isn’t illegal.   Stealing stuff from a supermarket is illegal, but going and playing the pokies on a Saturday afternoon isn’t.    Yes, the Richmond Club is legally obliged to look out for problem gamblers, but does it need facial recognition to do that? There’s no doubt it’s probably very useful, but I reckon the club could easily look out for people without facial recognition.    And I would, generally, say that using facial recognition to track people doing anything that isn’t illegal, is not what it should be used for.   I heard the Privacy Commissioner Michael Webster saying this morning that people are, generally, happy for it to be used to try and stop crime. But at the same time, people are concerned about it being misused.   He referred to a survey his office did which found that two thirds of people are happy to see increased use of facial recognition if it reduces theft and enhances personal safety.   But it also found that 49% of people are concerned or very concerned about facial recognition technology being mis-used.   These survey findings also said that 64% of people are concerned about not being told about or agreeing to the use of facial recognition technology.   So the Richmond Club in Christchurch is ticking the box on that front, with the poster on the wall telling people that it’s trialling facial recognition in the gaming room.    But I think we’re in real danger of this technology being used in ways that most of us would consider to be over the top.  Wed, 04 Jun 2025 01:15:40 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/leeann-watson-business-canterbury-ceo-on-signs-of-recovery-in-the-region-worksafe-changes/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/leeann-watson-business-canterbury-ceo-on-signs-of-recovery-in-the-region-worksafe-changes/ Leeann Watson, CEO of Business Canterbury, joined John MacDonald to give a quarterly update.  Are we seeing signs of recovery in Canterbury? What would a commuter train mean for the city business scene?  And will the Government’s new approach to WorkSafe make a difference for local businesses and how they operate?  LISTEN ABOVE  Tue, 03 Jun 2025 01:10:36 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-the-dangers-of-tinkering-with-health-and-safety/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-the-dangers-of-tinkering-with-health-and-safety/ If there’s anyone who shouldn't be told they can wind things back on the health and safety front, it’s a New Zealander.   Because generally, we are absolute shockers when it comes to this sort of thing and our health and safety laws are the only thing standing between our “she’ll be right” attitude and misery and tragedy.   Especially when you consider that —even with the health and safety laws we have at the moment— our workplace fatality rate is 60% higher than Australia’s and more than 500% higher than the UK’s.   So a perfect time, isn’t it, for us to be getting rid of what the Government says is WorkSafe's “safety-at-all costs mentality”?   Just in case you think I’m a health and safety freak, I’m not.    But I’m also enough of a realist to know that, without these laws, more people would be going home at the end of the day injured or not going home at all.   Another reason why us New Zealanders are the last people to be told we can go a bit easy on the old health and safety is that we have very short memories.   I haven’t forgotten the 19th of November 2010, when the first Pike River explosion happened. I remember distinctly getting home from work that afternoon and all of us watching the live coverage.    That was what set-in-train a huge overhaul of health and safety laws because, as we eventually discovered, the guy who ran the mine wasn’t the hero we all initially thought he was.   Pike River was where it all started. And the government is setting out today to walk all over the progress that we’ve made since then – apparently because we’ve gone too far with it.     But even though I’m just as capable as the next person of shaking my head at some of the things businesses and employers are required to do in the name of keeping people safe, I’m not happy about the screws being loosened.   But what the Government has in its favour is that most people haven’t experienced the consequences of things going pear-shaped at work.   That’s why it’s so easy to dismiss health and safety as an overreaction. But I bet if you have known someone who has lost their life at work or if you know someone who has been seriously injured at work, then you’ll have a much more realistic view of things.   The irony is we’ve got the Government on one hand saying today that its crackdown on badly-behaved state housing tenants has worked   But, on the other hand, it’s saying that it wants to be less heavy-handed on employers who don’t do everything they can to keep their people safe.   Which is why the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety, Brooke van Velden, wants WorkSafe to ditch what she’s calling its “adversarial nature” and to move from managing risk generally to critical risk.   But what on earth does that mean?   Do you know the difference between “general” risk and “critical” risk?    Example: is an extension cord running across the floor somewhere at work a “general risk” or a “critical risk”? The answer to that depends on the consequence.   If the consequence of a power cable running across the floor in the office is just a bit of a nuisance and nothing else, then you could probably categorise it as a “general risk”.   But if that cable lying across the floor means someone trips on it and they bang their head pretty hard on a wall and get some sort of brain bleed, then that becomes a “critical risk”, doesn’t it?   See what I mean?   The idea of taking the pedal off the metal and only taking “critical risks” seriously probably sounds great to many of us. But dig a bit deeper or even think about it for a few minutes and you’ll realise that it’s a huge mistake.   It’s a bit like Trump coming in and saying that all this Paris climate change stuff is nonsense and suddenly you’ve got people around the world saying, “yeah yeah, enough of this climate change nonsense”.   And the reason that’s happening is because people like Trump are giving people permission to go all climate change-sceptic on it.   Which is exactly what the Government is doing with its loosening of the health and safety laws. It’s giving people permission to go easy on health and safety, which is the last thing us New Zealanders need when our default position is “she’ll be right”. It is a disaster waiting to happen, all over again.  Tue, 03 Jun 2025 01:02:03 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/politics-friday-duncan-webb-and-hamish-campbell-talk-truancy-students-rma-proposals/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/politics-friday-duncan-webb-and-hamish-campbell-talk-truancy-students-rma-proposals/ Today on Politics Friday John MacDonald was joined by National’s Hamish Campbell and Labour’s Duncan Webb to discuss some of the biggest stories of the week.  The Government will soon be issuing fines to parents of repeatedly absent students – will this work? Is it a new idea?  Campbell almost manages to explain the RMA changes in one sentence, but what do they mean for New Zealanders?  And is there a place for more dairy cows in Canterbury, along with a passenger rail?  LISTEN ABOVE  Fri, 30 May 2025 00:57:21 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-finger-wagging-wont-get-more-kids-going-to-school/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-finger-wagging-wont-get-more-kids-going-to-school/ I can’t find an exact figure but from what I have seen online, I’m pretty confident in saying that there are hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid fines in New Zealand, and that figure is about to rise even further.   Because the Government is dreaming if it thinks people fined for not sending their kids to school are going to suddenly start sending their kids to school, and that they're even going to bother paying the fines.   They won’t. They’ll just ignore them. They won’t pay up.   Because if they don’t feel bad about not sending their kids to school, they won’t feel bad about getting a fine. And they won’t feel bad about not paying it either.   A fortnight ago, Associate Education Minister David Seymour announced that the Government is going to spend $140 million over the next four years with one aim: getting more kids to turn up at school regularly.   And I said at the time that we’ll wait and see, but it seemed that he had stopped banging the drum about fining parents whose kids don’t go to school. And I said, we’ll see, because leopard and their spots, and all that.   And it turns out I was right to be doubtful, because the leopard hasn’t changed its spots and today, he’s telling these parents that the Government is out to get them.   But it won't make one bit of difference.   And I've said before that I think starting school later is an idea worth considering because I want us to get creative when it comes to truancy. There’s no evidence to show that fining parents works. In fact, there’s evidence to show that it doesn’t work.   In the United States, for example, Texas, Pennsylvania, and California went through periods where parents could be heavily fined if their kids were repeatedly absent.  Parents were fined $500 for every absence. Some states even used ankle bracelets for kids who were repeat truants. It didn't work because it created mistrust in the system and in authorities and the truancy rates got even worse.   So what might work, if fining parents isn’t going to work?   Well this is where Sweden comes into the conversation.   I’m not a fan of any sort of financial penalty because, as far as I’m concerned, anything that takes money away from families isn’t good because that affects the kids themselves.  But if you want a financial penalty approach, in Sweden if a parent is on a benefit of any sort, their payments get cut if they don’t send their kids to school.   Apparently it’s had a positive impact. And I think the reason it works way better than fining parents is that it takes money away without these parents having any choice.   Whereas if they get a fine, it’s still their choice whether they pay it or not.   Plus, here in New Zealand, I think there’s a culture where some people just don’t give a damn about fines – that’s why so many just don't get paid.   Which is why I think that the Government’s plan to fine parents who don’t send their kids to school won't make one bit of difference. Fri, 30 May 2025 00:42:14 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-all-councils-should-learn-from-ecans-open-mind-on-rail/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-all-councils-should-learn-from-ecans-open-mind-on-rail/ I hope Environment Canterbury isn’t bothering listening to Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey.   He’s not impressed that the regional council is going to spend money doing a business case for a rail passenger service between Rangiora, Christchurch, and Rolleston.   Matt Doocey says it’s nothing more than a pie-in-the-sky idea and, given we’re in a cost-of-living crisis, he says ECAN should stick to its knitting and focus on getting costs down and reducing rates.  But what Matt Doocey should be doing —instead of criticising ECAN— is praising it for showing some initiative.   He should be praising it for showing that it’s prepared to do the kind of big sky, big picture thinking that local government hasn’t been doing, and which we’ve been saying it should be doing.   I think Doocey isn’t reading the room, and I suspect that there will be a lot of excitement about ECAN pushing this rail idea. What’s more, ECAN has put some money aside for a possible rail project.   Plus, it’s talking about not just limiting this rail passenger idea to Rangiora, Christchurch, and Rolleston. It’s saying that, once up and running, the service could be extended to places like Amberley, Ashburton, Timaru, and even further south into Otago and Southland.   I’m loving the idea. I’m also loving the fact that ECAN is prepared to put some skin in the game. To spend some money and find out once-and-for-all how much of a goer this could be.   ECAN is onto something because if there’s a common complaint about how the earthquake rebuild played out, it would be the fact that, despite all the talk that Christchurch was going to be the most modern city in the country, it’s not. Because we’ve just stuck to the same old, same old when it comes to things like transport.   And local government has to carry some of the blame for that. But now, ECAN wants to make good on that.   What this comes down to for me is this: what do expect of local government?   Do we just expect it to stick to its knitting and do the basic boring stuff? Or do we expect our councils to be the big picture thinkers?   If you’re like me and you want to see councils doing the big picture stuff, then you’ll agree that we’ve lost the ability to think big.   Mark my words, there’ll be no shortage of people running in the local body elections later this year banging-on about sticking to the basics.   Whereas ECAN is showing that it’s thinking about the future, which is exactly the kind of thing I want to see not just from ECAN, but all our councils.   Tell that to Waimakariri MP Matt Doocey, though.   He’s saying today: ‘Rather than coming up with pie in the sky motions, ECAN should focus on reducing rates which have rapidly increased - putting more pressure on ratepayers in a cost-of-living crisis.’’   Compare that to the likes of ECAN councillor Joe Davies who is saying we can’t wait 20 or 30 years, and we need a solution in the next five to ten years.   He says: ‘There’s a corridor already in place so there would be significantly lower set-up costs and this is an opportunity to link Rangiora and Rolleston to the city.’’   So he sees opportunity. Matt Doocey sees obstacles.    ECAN sees opportunity and is doing something about it, which is the approach I want to see a lot more of from our local councils.  Thu, 29 May 2025 00:49:57 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-sometimes-a-ban-isnt-the-answer/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-sometimes-a-ban-isnt-the-answer/ It would be very easy for me to say that the organisers of those ridiculous Run it Straight combat sport events have blood on their hands after the tragic death of 19-year-old Ryan Satterthwaite.   And I would be saying that if Ryan had been involved in an official event. The thing is, he wasn’t.   That’s not stopping other people from piling in though. There are experts saying today that we need to ban the whole thing. But I don’t think that’s realistic.   Because for starters, banning officially organised events wouldn’t stop the likes of what happened in Palmerston North on Sunday when Ryan was hanging out with mates and when they decided to give it a go.   So this thing’s gone nuts on social media. It involves two people running directly at each other and slamming into one another.   The people behind it are touting it as the world’s fiercest combat sport, which is all about mirroring the extreme collisions you sometimes see happen during the likes of rugby and rugby league matches.   You’re bound to have seen the pictures from a couple of official events held up north in the last couple of weeks.   I’ve seen it reported that there might have been a couple of concussions and anyone who’s had a concussion will know that they’re not a walk in the park.  I saw one of the organisers banging-on about having medical people on-hand and how all the competitors are checked before and afterwards. Nevertheless, there’s no way you’d get me involved.  But what it all comes down to for me is those two words you hear trotted out quite often about all sorts of things: personal responsibility. Or personal choice.   There was Ryan with his mates on a Sunday afternoon, and they thought they’d give Run it Straight a go – just for a laugh.  Just like any other bunch of young guys, they’d seen the stuff on social media and would’ve seen the news coverage of the recent events held up north and decided to give it a go.   A ban of any type wouldn’t stop that kind of thing happening. Tragically.    But even though I think we’re dreaming if we think a ban is needed, there are a couple of things we could do.   I agree with Stacey Mowbray from Headway —which is a concussion support organisation— who is saying that education could be key to trying to do something about this situation. She says parents need to sit down with their kids and talk to them about the dangers of all this.   The other thing that I think we should be doing is to do what we can to take away some of the glamour around this so-called sport.   For example, I think the likes of the Christchurch City Council should decline any requests to hold Run it Straight events at any of its facilities.   That wouldn’t stop people like Ryan Satterthwaite and his mates giving it a go, but it would send a very clear message that Run it Straight doesn’t have the support of the local community.   But I think that’s about as far as we can go.   Wed, 28 May 2025 01:06:01 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/james-meager-minister-for-the-south-island-on-his-portfolio-budget-for-canterbury-hipkins-comments/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/james-meager-minister-for-the-south-island-on-his-portfolio-budget-for-canterbury-hipkins-comments/ James Meager is responding to Chris Hipkins’ comments about the Minister for the South Island role.  The Labour Leader called the position a “PR job”, saying there would be no need for Meager’s role if the Government was actually prioritising the South Island.  Hipkins says Meager's not doing anything because he has no budget or decision-making ability, and this is just a way of telling the South Island it hasn't been forgotten.  Meager has hit back, saying it speaks volumes that Hipkins thinks the only way to achieve something is having a big bureaucracy and budget.  He says it’s disappointing to hear that kind of comment, and he’d rather hear something more positive about the aspirations of the South Island, which is why he’s there.  LISTEN ABOVE  Wed, 28 May 2025 00:58:55 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/chris-hipkins-labour-leader-on-winston-peters-ruling-out-labour-kiwisaver-changes-minister-for-the-south-island/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/chris-hipkins-labour-leader-on-winston-peters-ruling-out-labour-kiwisaver-changes-minister-for-the-south-island/ Labour's yet to rule potential coalition partners in or out.  New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is refusing to work with Chris Hipkins next election, but has not entirely ruled Labour out.  On social media, Peters posted a Government of Labour, the Greens, and Te Pati Māori would be a "circus" and a "radical woke show".  Hipkins told John MacDonald that they actually ruled out working with Peters before the last election, and he’s said since that that’s unlikely to change.  However, he says potential coalition decisions will be made closer to the election, based on principles and the party’s compatibility, rather than the petty personality vendettas that seem to be occupying Peters’ time.   The Labour Leader is also calling the role of the Minister for the South Island a "PR job."  Rangitata MP James Meager picked up the new portfolio in January, alongside Hunting and Fishing, Youth, and Associate Transport.  The Prime Minister says he will be a critical voice for the South Island.  But Hipkins told MacDonald there would be no need for Meager's role if the Government was actually prioritising the South Island.  He says Meager's not doing anything because he has no budget or decision-making ability, and this is just a way of telling the South Island it hasn't been forgotten.  LISTEN ABOVE  Tue, 27 May 2025 23:31:00 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-have-we-lost-the-retail-crime-battle/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-have-we-lost-the-retail-crime-battle/ “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”  That’s the message cops have been given about shoplifting.    And the powers-that-be can say as much as they like about their memo to staff about only bothering with shoplifting worth more than $500 not being worded as well as it could have been, but the message is very clear. You steal stuff worth less than $500 and you’re going to get off scot-free.   If I was a retailer, I’d be really brassed off. I’d be brassed off with the cops and I’d be brassed off with the Police Minister, who is no longer doing interviews about retail crime, apparently.   This is the guy who made a career out of sending off media releases every time there was a ram raid. This is the guy who promised the crims would be scared of him and his coalition government, because the free ride for crims was about to end.   This is the Mark Mitchell who said this two years ago, when he was in Opposition:  “While retail crime incidents have more than doubled since 2018, fewer offenders are being held accountable for their actions. Despite an enormous spike in retail offending under Labour, the number of convictions for this type of offending have decreased.   “Staggeringly, this drop in convictions coincides with skyrocketing incidents of retail crime. Offenders are simply not being held to account by a Labour government which has been nothing except soft on crime.”   So if I was a retailer, I’d be angry. I’d also be very worried. In fact, even if I worked in retail —not necessarily owned a shop, but worked in a shop on the daily— I’d be worried.   Because I’d know that even if I saw someone nicking stuff and I called them out on it, they’d just tell me to go to hell. “What’re you gonna do? Call the cops?”   Sunny Kaushal, who used to run the Dairy & Business Owners Group and now chairs the Government’s advisory group on retail crime, says other countries have taken this approach and it’s gone very badly.   Quite rightly, he says that it “emboldens” criminals. Makes them even more brazen, because they know nothing’s going to happen.   Which is why —if I was someone who likes to go into shops and help myself to stuff— I’d be very happy. Because the police writing this stuff down and it getting out means retail criminals have a licence to do what they want.   They can go into your local supermarket and walk out the door with $490 worth of groceries. You picture $490 worth of groceries in a trolley at Pak n Save and someone walking out the door without paying, knowing the police won’t be coming anytime soon. Pretty much flipping the bird at anyone who tries to stop them.   Now I’m realistic and I know, just like you do, that the chance of the police turning up is less likely than it used to be.   And yes, they’ve probably always had a cut-off point where they decide something’s too small fry to investigate.   Which is fine, but, making it an explicit instruction or suggestion not to investigate unless the stuff nicked is worth more than $500, is a major cock-up by the police.   And I don’t know if there’s any coming back from it.   Because, even if the Police Minister showed some fortitude and told the police to ditch this approach to retail crime, we know that even then the likelihood of the police getting involved in this lower-level retail crime would be pretty low. Because they just don’t have the resources.  Which tells me that, despite tough talking from politicians, the battle against retail crime is a losing battle. And if it’s not a losing battle, it’s a battle we’ve already lost.   Tue, 27 May 2025 00:53:52 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-the-community-work-sanction-is-an-opportunity/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-the-community-work-sanction-is-an-opportunity/ The Government is describing the 20 hours unpaid community work that people on the Jobseeker benefit will be made to do from today if they don’t follow the rules, as a penalty. And there’ll be no shortage of people cheering on from the sidelines, who will also be seeing it as a penalty. I think it’s great too. But not for the obvious reasons. The Opposition doesn’t like it, saying it will mean people getting stuck on the benefit for longer; that it could push people into homelessness, and they’re describing the community work as “forced labour”. The Green Party’s social development spokesperson Ricardo Menéndez March is saying: “This community work sanction will leave people without homes, without food, and with worse employment outcomes. Louise Upston is making it harder for beneficiaries to find employment.” But he needs to open his eyes a bit. Because I think the complete opposite. I’m seeing it as an opportunity for people - not a punishment. Because we all know how easy it is for someone to go down a rabbit hole and how difficult it can be for them to come out of it. For all sorts of reasons - including unemployment. It can happen to people in all sorts of situations and I reckon it must be very easy for someone who is unemployed to fall into the trap of putting stuff off and isolating themselves. Thinking they’ll get around to writing up that CV tomorrow. Thinking they’ve got heaps of time to get that job application and, generally, letting time drift away on them. And, in the process of all that delay, delay, delay, they start to feel worse about themselves and they cut themselves off from people and society. To the point where they look up one day and wonder where the past year has gone. And they know themselves that if they just got out a bit and mixed with people then they might start to feel a bit better about themselves and might be more motivated to sort their life out. But straight away the prospect of trying to organise something is all too much and nothing changes. These are the types of people who don’t do what the Government says is expected of people on the Jobseeker benefit. They don’t apply for jobs; they don’t show-up for interviews; and they don’t attend employment expos. Because they’re broken. But if they get a call from MSD one day telling them to turn up at such-and-such a place, on this day at this time, to do community service work - then I think it could flick a switch inside some people. They’ll see it as the kick up the pants they know they need and they will turn up and they will do their five hours of unpaid community service work each week for four weeks and, while they’re doing it, they’ll be meeting people; they’ll feel like they’re contributing something and they won’t be as stuck as they had been. For some of them - not all of them, of course - but some of them, won’t want to let go of that feeling of belonging somewhere and being part of something and they will do all the things the Government wants them to do and they’ll much have a much greater chance of finding work and turning their life around. You might think I’m being over-optimistic. That I’m giving people on the dole too much credit. You might think that if someone wants a job, they’ll find one. But there is more to it than that. Yes, I’ve made my way in the world. Whenever I’ve found myself out of work, I’ve always managed to find something or been able to make something happen. But I don't take that for granted and I know very well that, just like the next person, I’m only a few steps away from going down that rabbit hole I’m talking about. We could be that person I describe before who loses their job, loses their confidence, loses their self-respect and who looks up and finds that they’ve pretty much sat on the couch for a year. Hiding from the noise and letting their world get smaller and smaller and smaller. And that is why I think the Government is actually doing unemployed people who don’t follow the benefit rules a favour. It might think 20 hours of unpaid community work is a punishment. But I think it could be the best thing any government has done for the unemployed in New Zealand. Mon, 26 May 2025 00:28:10 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/politics-friday-with-megan-woods-and-matt-doocey-kiwisaver-means-testing-what-the-budget-means-for-canterbury/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/audio/politics-friday-with-megan-woods-and-matt-doocey-kiwisaver-means-testing-what-the-budget-means-for-canterbury/ Today Megan Woods and Matt Doocey joined John MacDonald following the release of the budget. They discussed the key aspects of it including changes to KiwiSaver, will there be an announcement on the retirement as it sound like Matt is hinting towards? Should parents really support 18 and 19 year olds if they aren't working? And what is in the budget for Canterbury? LISTEN ABOVE.  Fri, 23 May 2025 02:06:31 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-were-not-going-far-enough-with-superannuation-changes/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-were-not-going-far-enough-with-superannuation-changes/ Quite a well-known chief executive and finance guy told me once that, in business, you should always make use of other people’s money first. Which is exactly what the Government is doing with the KiwiSaver changes announced in yesterday’s budget. It wants more of our money going in from our wages and salaries and less of its money going in through government contributions. Although, that’s our money too when it comes down to it. But the gist is, the minimum contributions are going to increase from 3 percent to 4 percent and the bit the Government chips in each year is halving - from a maximum of $520 to a maximum of $260. The change in what we pay-in to our KiwiSaver is going to be somewhat gradual. From April 1 next year, the rate will shift to 3.5 percent, before increasing again in April 2028 to 4 per cent. But if you’re earning more than $180,000 a year, there’ll be some changes coming sooner. You’ll have no government money at all going into your KiwiSaver from July this year. Which I think is great. Because why should someone earning that amount of money get a government hand-out? They shouldn’t. Especially, when you consider that the finance minister made no noises yesterday about any longer term changes - such as the ones I always have and always will push for: means testing the state pension and increasing the age you can get it. But with no talk about either of those, I think the Government should have gone harder and faster with the contribution changes. I’m not the only one who thinks this. Rupert Carlyon runs a KiwiSaver provider and he says 4 percent plus 4 percent is better than the 3 percent plus 3 percent that we have now - but nothing like the 6 percent plus 6 percent they have in Australia. And he says it’s nowhere near the 15 percent average contribution rates in other OECD countries. He says: “We have a long way to go, but it's better than nowhere." Another provider, Dean Anderson, says the finance minister should have stood up yesterday and delivered an outline of how New Zealand is going to follow Australia’s lead and increase contributions more than it did yesterday. And he will get no argument from me. Because we need to be way closer to the way they do things in Australia with their retirement savings scheme if there’s any hope of keeping state pension entitlement anything close to 65. Which I think is way too low. The retirement age should be, at least, 67. We also need to be way closer to the way they do things in Australia if we’re going to hold on to this pipedream of keeping the pension a universal benefit that everyone - whether they need it or not. Yes, I know the consequences of contributing more to KiwiSaver. It means less money in the pocket in the here and now. Which is why some people are warning us today that the changes aren’t great news for everyone. Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson says low-income earners, Maori, women and self-employed will be hit the hardest by the lower government contributions. She says: "It's a shame there are so few government incentives for a scheme that underpins private saving for retirement.” The Retirement Commissioner would have liked to have seen the Government use the money it’s going to save from reduced contributions to help these people out. But, irrespective of how we are affected by having to pay more into our KiwiSaver and getting less contributions from the government, we need to remind ourselves what saving is all about. It’s about denying ourselves in the here and now, to benefit in the future. And yes, we will all be affected by these changes announced yesterday to varying degrees. But, what it comes down to for me, is that these changes are about denying ourselves a little bit more than we do at the moment, so that we can have a little bit more in the future. And what’s so bad about that? Fri, 23 May 2025 01:51:48 Z /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-do-we-even-need-speed-limits-around-the-new-stadium/ /on-air/christchurch/canterbury-mornings-with-john-macdonald/opinion/john-macdonald-do-we-even-need-speed-limits-around-the-new-stadium/ There’s a danger that when the new stadium opens in Christchurch next year, we'll have no idea exactly what speed we should be going when we drive around the area.   At the moment, the council wants it to be 30kph on Madras Street, Tuam Street, Lichfield Street, Duke Street, Hereford Street and St Asaph Street.   But now it’s being told by the Government that it can’t do that, and I think they should just make it 50kph. I’ll explain why shortly.    There are also parts where the council wants the limit to be 10kph on Lichfield Street between Madras and Manchester. Apparently, the council believes that that can stay based on the design of the street and expected traffic volumes.   If we wind back the clock, 2023 was when the council consulted us on the 30kph limit and, apparently, it got the tick from people and so that’s been the plan ever since.   But between then and now, the Government’s got involved because it’s not into all these reduced speed limits that popped up under the last government.   Which means the council has been told that it needs to drop the 30kph speed limit idea and the speed limit around the stadium needs to be at least 40kph. And the council being the council, has to go and do a whole new round of consultation.   Which has central city councillor Jake McLellan saying that it’s nothing but a waste of time and money. He says the council should be left to decide for itself what speed limit it wants around the stadium. Or anywhere for that matter.   And I’m with him on that bit. Of course it should. Except I want the council to set a 50kph, for the simple reason that if the traffic is crawling, we will all crawl.   When everyone is trying to get to or around the stadium when there’s a big event on, the speed limit could be 100kph, but we’d all still be going about 20 or 30 or even 10kph.   Which is why I think most people, if they were asked, would say there should be no special speed limit and it should just be 50.   Because I think it’s simple really. If there’s an event on where there are truckloads of people making their way to the stadium, traffic will be at a standstill anyway. Or there’ll be roads completely closed off.   There are no speed limits around the Apollo Projects Stadium – or the “temporary” stadium, as it’s also known.   I know that it’s not right on the street, like the new one in town will be, but when there’s a match on there or a concert or whatever, the traffic is what it is. Just like it will be when the new one is up and running.  Thu, 22 May 2025 01:14:59 Z