We thought we'd start with the announcement on law and order and Corrections, given that this was one of the big drivers for National and ACT, and indeed New Zealand First’s election campaigns, and one in which the coalition government was elected upon.  

Still, when you've got a big announcement to make on law and order, one of the foundations of your government's policies, it does pay to get it right. I mean numbers. I know, but pesky journalists will drill you on them. It was unfortunate for Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell that he muddied the waters, as the PM and put it, around numbers when they made the announcement yesterday as that became the focus, not the actual announcement of what the government was promising to deliver. Still, we all make mistakes. I'm sure the announcement, whatever the numbers, will be appreciated by many New Zealanders.  

It's a $1.9 billion investment that will bring hundreds more new beds to Waikeria Prison, deliver 685 new frontline staff at Corrections, including 470 Corrections officers who will be recruited and trained to respond to growing prison numbers. And $78 million, and this is one I was really pleased to see, $78 million to extend rehabilitation programs for the 45% of prisoners who are on remand. At the moment if you're on remand, you don't have access to rehabilitation programs. With this announcement, you will.  

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon did the number crunching this morning. How many beds are there going to be in Waikeria? Well, I'll tell you, he said, there are 455 beds there currently. There are 600 beds that will be added next year. There's a further 810 beds and that means you'll end up with Waikeria with capacity for more than 1800 beds in total. That sounds like a hell of a lot. A super prison, if you will.  

Floyd du Plessis, the corrections union spokesperson said, there is no problem with super prisons, no problem with having a large number of prisoners in one place. To me, intuitively, instinctively, there seems to be something very wrong with housing so many people in one spot. I'd rather a more bespoke boutique approach to trying to rehabilitate people and punish them, you know, which is, after all, what they're there for. It's a deprivation of their liberties. It's supposed to be a punishment, I get that, but I'm really glad to see that there is money in there for rehab. He said there is no problem with the super prisons, but all I can see in my mind's eye are those huge American prisons, which just look like places where souls go to die, really.  

But what you're seeing, says Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, is a big focus on law and order. They've got tougher laws on gangs. They've got serious young offenders and military academies coming for them. They've put the three strikes back in. He says we're recruiting an extra 500 police officers, little bit hard to do until the pay dispute is settled. And now we've got this big package of $1.9 billion for Corrections, he says. We're also going to work really hard on social investment and rehab for prisoners as well. Again, that is something I think we really, really need to see the prevention as well as the “cure”. And I'd say cure with inverted commas because I don't think going to prison cures many people.  

So, I'd love to hear your take on this. Is locking people up, more of them, going to make a difference long term? Probably not but locking them up short term surely will. While you're locking people up so they cannot just be put back out onto the streets and continue to commit crime, which is what we saw over the last few years. We work on social investment, the programs that work with young offenders, we keep. We invest even more money in if we have to. We work with the families where these law breakers are coming from. For some people, going to prison is enough to scare them straight. For those who haven't really got their hearts into being a crim, for those who have the foundations in their childhood to have choices, to be able to say, you know what? This is not for me. I don't like it. They can turn themselves around.  

For those that are just fed up of being inside, not seeing their kids, not seeing the partner that they love, they've finally met a good one. They don't want to stuff it up. That generally, anecdotally from what ex-cons have told me, is what turns them around the most. Having the love of a good woman, as nobody has yet said it was the love of a good same sex partner, so I'm going to go with woman. The love of a good woman and their kids, that's made them think, ‘for all that is holy, I am 36 years old. I don't want to keep doing this. I don't want to keep going on the merry go round I've been on for the last 18 years.’ It has to come from the prisoner themself; to say I don't want to do this anymore. And then they need the help to be able to support them and to going straight. 

So sure, lock them up in the short term, but we're going to have to have a long-term view of social investment, rehabilitation, and giving these predominantly men, a stake in society to say you can belong if you if you choose to, it's going to be worth your while to join society, to be a part of this community. So, we've all got a part to play there.   

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A new policy guide for New Zealand schools, titled ‘Students and Social Transition: A Gender Identity Policy Guide’, has been emailed to schools across the country today. 

It was created by Ethos, a charity that supports people with questions about freedom of conscience and belief. 

Ethos had been contacted by a number of parents and schools with questions about the best way to help children experiencing gender identity questions. 

The guide advocates for schools to follow a ‘watchful waiting’ policy which is now best practice in countries like Sweden, Finland, and England. 

Ethos CEO Alex Penk told Kerre Woodham that it’s important to have a holistic approach like this, that can provide support to a child that is in their best interests and fits within the school’s legal responsibilities. 

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Last week, I think it must have been Wednesday or Thursday, I was harrumphing and muttering away like Waldorf and Statler from The Muppets. I was doing a little bit of that while I was reading about the latest sewage spill into a waterway in Wellington Harbour. I'm like, how in this day and age, can this still be? This is an outrage - and Helen tries to tune it out until she hears her name, and I said Helen, let's see if we can get Simeon Brown on... this is unacceptable. Sure. OK, fine.  

Not Three Waters under Nanaia Mahuta, she sold it badly and things wrong with, but if not Three Waters, then what? Get him on the line to explain himself ...back to Statler and Waldorf! Helen's yes, all right, knowing that once our host was on one, it's probably better to try and sort it out a few minutes later!  

She was back saying sorry Local Government Minister Simeon Brown can't talk, but he did say expect some news next week. And what do you know? Here's the news. I can see why he was busy over the weekend.  

Simeon Brown, Christopher Luxon and Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown announced a new water deal that will see government, council and Watercare work together to improve infrastructure and water delivery in the region. And it is hoped that this will be a template for other deals around the country. Obviously, they might have to be tweaked a bit when you're looking at the smaller regions with a smaller base with lower value water assets, but nonetheless it's been done. Deal done. Simeon Brown says Local Water Done Well is putting the responsibility for delivering the three waters that we require into the hands of the councils rather than overlaying its management and delivery with layers of bureaucracy and middle managers, will be the way to go. But councils won't be left entirely to their own devices. 

“It is ultimately local councils putting forward their solutions for a financially sustainable approach. Rather than government coming and saying have four entities or ten entities or whatever number of entities, which are co- governed and spend $1.2 billion on it - we're actually going to let local communities put forward their solutions. 

What's going to stop a water entity doing what many councils around the country have done and borrow, go nuts and find themselves up against a wall?   

Well, we are going to put in place economic regulation and so that will mean that they will be regulated in similar ways to how electricity distribution companies are regulated. They'll have to outline their price path, they outline their capital expenditure, outline their asset management plans, that's about sensible economic regulations to assure that consumers are not blocked off and then their assets aren't being gold plated, And as part of that, we're putting a crown monitor in place, straight away, for Watercare, to make sure that there is better oversight over their investment plans and make sure that Auckland is getting value for money.” 

That was Simeon Brown talking to Mike Hosking this morning. So, at least it's movement. We can't be paralyzed, sitting on our hands trying to work out the best possible way, while allowing raw sewage to be pumped into all of our waterways. And it's happening right around the country.  

Wellington is particularly bad in terms of its drinking water, in terms of its sewage, in terms of the age of its pipes, in terms of they put out one fire and another one erupts somewhere else. There are some councils who have done a brilliant job and have invested ratepayer money sensibly and have got their water assets well and truly up-to-date and future proofed. Others haven't even started.  

But, at least when you have a deal that's been announced, a deal that looks workable, it will see water rates rise by 7.2 percent rather than the 25.8 percent forecast. And that was what Watercare was warning, we're going to have to put it at that rate. We're now under this one going to be able to borrow more money to invest in infrastructure with the cost of borrowing spread over a longer period.  

Not all councils are created equal. Not all councils are the same, so they're going to have to tweak and adapt and modify this deal to make it suit themselves.  But at least we're moving.  

There are going to be challenges. They're going to be wondering what happens when one council has invested for years in upgrading its water assets, its ratepayers, have been responsible and said, yep, we understand that. Other councils have not, and how you work out who pays for what? But, at least there is movement.  

Mergers and coalitions and works programs are being announced and that's what we need to be doing. We cannot, we simply cannot, leave it to the next generation to fix up our polluted waterways, our droughts, our dead rivers, our toxic drinking water. We can't. If there's one thing we can leave behind us, it should be clean streams, pristine seas and first World water services. That should be our gift to the next generation and at least we're making a start right now. 

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May is New Zealand Music Month, the theme for this year ‘Amplifying Aotearoa’, aiming to shine a light on those who are the heartbeat of the nation’s music scene. 

One of the artists being highlighted is Tami Neilson, a country and soul singer-songwriter. 

She’s fresh off a plane from Nashville where she paid tribute to Patsy Cline on the sacred stage of the Rhyman, rewarded with a standing ovation from the audience. 

Neilson told Kerre Woodham that it was so overwhelming and unexpected. 

“I still haven’t really processed it.” 

Despite the accolades, making a living as a musician is no easy feat, most artists waiting by the phone until they can snatch up a gig. 

“This business is, is not for the faint of heart.” 

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Remember the Tau Henare-Trevor Mallard stauch back in 2007?  

Senior Cabinet Minister Trevor Mallard said the punch he threw at National MP Tau Henare is “one of the most stupid things I've ever done in my life” and in a life full of them, that's saying something. The scuffle broke out in the parliamentary lobbies. Allegedly, Henare had made some snide remarks about Trevor Mallard's personal life, which is pretty nasty, but Mallard lost the plot and then promptly lost his Sports Minister portfolio and was demoted by then PM Helen Clark.  

He was allowed to stay in cabinet, though, which some thought was very lenient on Helen Clarke's behalf, but she was always incredibly loyal to those who showed devotion to her, so I guess that's how he stayed and then went on to have a fabulous career and is now living on the pig's back in Ireland. Oh me, oh my. If only you'd been sacked then and there, it could have spared us a lot. But there we go.  

That was a particularly unsavoury moment in parliamentary history. More recently, Nationals Tim Van de Molen was judged to be in contempt of Parliament after he was found to have threatened and intimidated Labour MP Shanan Halbert in a Transport committee hearing. He accepts he stood over him, Van de Molan stood over Halbert and generally behaved like an oak. He was censured effectively, a public telling off in the House of Parliament, and stripped of his portfolios by Christopher Luxon.  

Now we have Green MP Julie Anne Genter committing a sin at least as egregious as Mallard’s, certainly, far more egregious than Van de Molen. By marching across the house and standing over National MP Matt Doocey, getting right up in his grills and behaving in a totally intimidating manner. She apologized and says she was trying to impart information.  

What, by shoving it down his throat? It was completely unacceptable and over the top and I cannot believe that there are texters who are defending the behaviour, why? How, how can you defend that? It doesn't matter if she's a Green or if she's a woman, God, imagine if it was a man had done that. We all, we all know how bad that would have looked, even if Matt Doocey had stood up. He was probably just gob smacked because she was behaving completely irrationally. And when you're confronted like that, it's really quite shocking and you turn into a flight and fight response and the adrenaline surges cause you're thinking, what is the mad tart going to do next.  

I cannot believe already there have been texts this morning saying, oh, come on, it’s fake news, you know. Bigger things to worry about. I don't think so. What is it about Transport Committee hearings that excites so much passion? Because that's what happened with Van de Molen and Halbert. And the last one, it was a transport committee. And here we had Simeon Brown answering questions from the floor.  

I don't know how much the Debbie Francis review into bullying in Parliament cost, but it doesn't seem to have improved matters much, does it? Julie Anne Genter deserves all the censure Parliament can throw at her, as would any MP of any hue who behaved in that fashion?  

And as an aside, she has taken the gloss of James Shaw's valedictory speech. He should be the ones getting the headlines. He should be the Green MP that everybody's talking about. He has shown dignity and professionalism throughout his career, and to have been upstaged by one of his own MPs, one of his own party members with her appalling lack of professionalism is extremely disappointing.   

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Happy International Workers Day to all the labourers and workers out there. All right, brother. All right, sister. Dedicated to recognizing the contributions and achievements of workers worldwide and taking the opportunity to promote workers rights and opportunities so. Go us, all of us paid grunts.  

MPs, would you consider them paid grunts? Not really public servants, sure, and reasonably well-paid public servants. Too much? Well, who decides that? The remuneration authority, that's who. A very good idea to leave the setting of certain public servants pay to an independent authority. And let's face it, it is never a right time for MPs to be accepting pay rises, they're on a hiding to nothing. Particularly tough, though, when the government has been calling for financial restraint when it's been calling for cost cutting in every government department. At a time when hundreds, if not thousands, of workers are being made redundant, you get the remuneration authority saying ‘look time for a pay rise for MPs.’ On a sliding scale, depending on what job you do. It doesn't matter that many of those who were sucking off the public tit shouldn't have been there anyway. That hiring spree in the last six months of ‘23 was an outrage. Redundancies are punishing and create uncertain times for those on the receiving end of a ‘don't come Monday’.  

The Remuneration Authority has announced pay rises backdated to October 2023 and coming in tranches through to 2026. It will be the first increase to MPs salaries since 2017 and the first major overview of the remuneration package since in about 20 years. The Prime Minister's salary will rise by almost $50,000 over six years, from $471k to $520k. Which you know, if you're the CEO of a big company, as he likes to see it, or if you're the Prime Minister, you probably wouldn't begrudge. 

I don't think people begrudge the big money for the big job. It's when you look at some of the backbenchers from numerous parties that you start to get a little sniffy and a little bit, what about me-ism starts to creep in. The Prime Minister has said he'll donate the extra to charity, as has become almost customary.  

So, what to do? What to do?  

Now we can all say they don't deserve it, but that's not true. Some of them do deserve the money they get, be they a backbencher from any party, be they a minister, be they a leader of an opposition party, some of them work hard for the money. They understand the concept of public servant. They are there to do their best for their constituents, for their party, for the country. Some of them are underpaid. Others would be overpaid if they were on the dole.   

So, what do you do? Would you do the job for the money? I heard the man from the Remunerations Authority saying, look, it's a matter of looking at what similar jobs pay in the private sector. It's a matter of attracting people to do the job and it's a matter of retention. Now, I know you've got to look for comparisons, but when it's attracting people to the job, you wouldn't do it for the money, would you? When you look at the hours they work, the scrutiny they're under, the pressure they're under, the meetings they have to sit through, the numpties they have to listen to. I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't be in a backbench MP. Not for the money. I might do it if I thought I could add something and help create a New Zealand that's fair and just in the way I want to see it, but I certainly wouldn't do it for the money.  

As for retention, quite frankly that's not up to a wage band, that's up to a voter. If you're doing a good job, you'll be retained. The voters will vote you back in. It's got nothing to do with the money. 

So, when it comes to the backbenches, some of them are overpaid, massively, given what they do, others are underpaid. If you look at the work of the ministers, I think it's too soon to tell from the current government as to whether they’re value for money.  

The last lot? Well. You know my views on that. Very few of them I think could have commanded a ministerial salary in the private sector, and I'd be really interested to find out from those who have left Parliament, got bundled out of Parliament, what they're doing now and whether they're earning anywhere near as much as they were earning as a minister. Somehow, I doubt it. Other than Grant Robertson, who managed to land himself, get his trotters inpossibly the biggest trough in the country, 600 odd thousand at the Otago University.  

They're on a hiding to nothing. Well, how else do we set their pay? An independent authority does it? They haven't had a pay rise since 2017. It's the wrong time to do it. Absolutely the wrong time to do it. When is the right time? We get value for money for some, not for the others. And still again, the question: would you do it for any money? 

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A former Labour Minister says a proposed pay rise for politicians gives them a real dilemma. 

The Remuneration Authority's set to increase most MP salaries 10.5% over three years. 

If implemented, it would be the first pay rise for MPs since 2017 and the first rise of 2.8% will be backdated to the election.  

Stuart Nash told Kerre Woodham that the public tends to hear about poorly performing MPs, which can shift perceptions of MPs in general.  

He says about 90% of MPs work incredibly hard and put the hours in, but it's often unseen. 

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Unemployment has risen again but economists don't think it's peaked yet. 

Stats NZ figures out today show the rate reached 4.3% for the March quarter, up 0.3 percentage points from the December quarter's 4%. 

It reflects the impacts of higher interest rates as the Reserve Bank keeps trying to rein in inflation. 

Herald Business Editor at Large Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham that it's a slow and steady rise. 

He says 134 thousand people are now unemployed, up from 122 thousand at the end of 2023, meaning 12 thousand jobs have gone. 

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Well, the 1News Verian poll released last night shows that support for the coalition government, after seeing an operation for a few months, has dropped since election night. Hardly surprising. Well, to my mind. Anyway, clearly there were others who were simply gob smacked and amazed, but on to them in a moment.   

National, ACT, and New Zealand First have collectively dropped 5 percentage points. According to the numbers from that poll, and based on that poll, the left block would be able to form a government and New Zealand First would be out of Parliament. How many times have New Zealand first voters heard that? So many times, you'll be out of government dead and buried.   

The poll had National at 36%, down two points from the last poll in February, Labour jumped to 30%, up two. And the Green Party also increased by two to 14%. Te Pati Māori was on 4%, the same as the last poll. This is pretty much par for the political course. Labour showed a dip after it formed a coalition government in 2017 after three years of heading their coalition government. The first Colmar Brunton poll of 2020 saw National scraping into power and again New Zealand First out of Parliament in their polls. 

These snapshots are an indication of how people are feeling, both in themselves and around politics. Christopher Luxon was questioned about it this morning when he was on with Mike Hosking. He said, he didn't say it in so many words, but this is me. He said, it was hardly surprising that people were feeling grumpy. These are his words, he told Mike Hosking, we've got high inflation and high interest rates. People are sick of it. We're making some pretty tough decisions. We need to do that in order to fix the mess. We've been left New Zealand, as he said, would make a call into and a half years' time. And he went on with the usual spiel. Everyone in the coalition government is very focused on fixing the mess that they inherited, which is quite true. They've got a big job. They knew that going in. But people are going to need to see some results and they're going to need to see them soon.  

The shocking daylight robbery of a jewellery store over the weekend, all very 2020. The price of everything is still rising, uncertainty in the job market, there's a lot going on and not a lot of it is good for most people. It is not the government's fault, but it is their responsibility. And they are going to need to see some wins within the next three months and they are also going to have to watch their messaging. The accommodation entitlement, the snide tweets from ACT on Twitter over job losses in the public service, the weeks of fumbling and obfuscation from Melissa Lee handling the broadcasting portfolio, none of that has been helpful at all. Sacking Melissa Lee? Very helpful.  

I noticed that, I thought that was a really good move. I was up in Hokianga trying to avoid the news and I saw this and thought, damn it, what a great talk back day that would have been because I think that is really decisive, really good. She's clearly not up for the job. She can't handle it. Get. Go.  

Brutal, but a good sign to Ministers, perform, or you're out. A good sign to backbenchers that if you perform, you're in. I thought I thought that was a really good move, so the poll was taken over a week and ended on the day of Melissa Lee's sacking, so I'd be interested to know whether that will have an impact the next time around.  

But it's polls. You know, as every they're great to have a bit of a yarn about, great to give different media outlets their lead for the day or the night. People can have a yarn about them. Take the pulse, see where everybody's at, they count for nothing until Election Day. You can take some learnings out of them. You can think. OK, well, yes. No, we need to be careful here. We need to be more positive here.  

It will give Labour a bit of heart because they have been in the doldrums, and they need to reinvigorate themselves to bring themselves up to a decent opposition. But it's a poll. There's two and a half years to go. A lot can happen in that time.   

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If you're a teenager addicted to your phone and the world that lies within and beyond your apps, it's the end of the world as you know it today.   

The Government's ban on phones in schools kicks in as kids return to school for Term two, meaning students won't be able to use their cell phones during the day - including at lunch time and during breaks. Some schools have gone early and introduced it in Term one. They saw the writing on the wall, thought they'd bedded in before they were required to by law. Others have gone even earlier. They decided it was the right thing for their school to ban cell phones, and they didn't need a government imperative to do so.  

In a shocking departure from the norm, there seemed to be wholesale support for the ban, despite it being an initiative of the wicked, evil National government. And it appears that the headlines are in the main, supportive that the media have found people who are supportive of the ban, like New Zealand Secondary Principals Council Chair Kate Gainsford. She says schools across the country already have measures in place, but the changes will make it easier to stop distractions. She says parents have appreciated the support because they're having the same sorts of conversations in their own homes about the harmful effects of too much time online, about limiting screen time.  

So, now you've got rules around cell phone use at home that are being replicated in the school grounds, so the adults are working together. It seems that parents, educators, even some of the kids agree that 24/7 access to cell phones is a bad idea, but for years nobody wanted to be the one with the stick - you wanted to be down with the kids on their level, you didn't want to impinge on their freedoms. And then along came Erica Stanford. When she entered government as part of the National team in the coalition government. She was big on banning cell phones and she says she has no problem waving a big stick if it means the kids will benefit. 

Erica Stanford - “I've had a lot of principals say to me, look, it was really hard, there was lots of pushback from kids, but now you've done it, you're the bad guy. I'm quite happy to be the bad guy, Mike. It means improved mental health and academic outcomes for our kids. I mean, there was a Norwegian study that's just come out saying that this has got incredibly good outcomes for especially low socioeconomic girls for their mental health, but also GPA grades and bullying is reduced as well, so look - I'm happy to be the bad guy.” 

That was bad guy, Erica Stanford, Education Minister, talking to Mike Hosking this morning. It's not just Norwegian studies. Studies by researchers at the University of Texas and Louisiana State University found that where students were banned from bringing their smartphones into the classroom, their grades quickly improved. Around an average of 6 percent. That's without the distractions. That's amazing. The results were most pronounced for high school students over 16. It's even better for at risk students, as Erica Stanford referred to. Students who live in poverty or attend special education classes benefited approximately twice as much as their peers, after ditching the technological distraction.  

By removing phones from the classroom, apparently it's the equivalent of adding an extra hour of class per week. Students lose almost a full week of school interacting with their phones rather than engaging in class time. The only counter study I can find, with arguments against is that children feel infantilised. Well, your children, it’s kind of a point. And if you can't stay off your phones then it shows that your childlike behaviour needs to be modified.  

I just cannot believe that teachers, principals feel so disempowered that they can't make the rules in their own schools. Some don't, some have, and some did - and good on them. But a lot of principals didn't want to have a battle with parents who said I need to get in touch with my child in case there's an emergency. Well, you know, there is still the school, P.A. Let's go analog and use your copper phone to dial up Mrs Grimes, the school secretary, and she will be able to pass on a message. She will also be able to vet whether it is indeed an emergency. I forgot to pack your lunch, darling, mummy will bring it in in two hours is not an emergency. And Mrs Grimes knows that so she won't pass that message on.  I just cannot see any downside to this.  

There's a lot of cyber bullying that goes on, and while the internet has been an extraordinary invention and cell phones have been amazing and we can't go back and nor would we want to, the dark side, the downside, is severe and cruel and the cyber bullying is vicious. Kids should be safe at school. They shouldn't have to be checking their phones under their desks, desperately making sure that nobody's started for no reason at all, a campaign against them that's going to ruin their lives for the next five years.  

School should be a safe place. Home should be a safe place. Surely there is nobody, nobody who would speak against a ban on cell phones in schools? It's a good move. 

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From today, new government regulations require students not to use or access a phone while they're attending school, including break times. 

The legislated phone ban won't change much for Opunake High School as they have had a "Phones Off, Brains On" policy in place for a few years. 

Principal Andrea Hooper Carr tells Kerre Woodham her school noticed a significant change in behaviours as the wave of cellphones in schools began around nine years ago, including less socialisation in classes and less interaction with teachers. 

Since banning phones at Opunake High School, Hooper Carr has seen grades improve. 

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