Canterbury Mornings

Labour and National appear to be on the same side when it comes to propping up District Health Boards.Canterbury DHB is facing a leadership crisis with seven members of its executive team and board stepping down reportedly over pressure to cut costs.Labour's Poto Williams and National's Gerry Brownlee spoke to Chris Lynch and both agree things have to change.Williams says the Government allocated almost one billion dollars to Health boards in the last budget.Brownlee says funding levels are always an issue.

Disorder at the Canterbury District Health Board is being felt at Christchurch's Charity Hospital.More than a hundred protested outside the Canterbury DHB's boardroom yesterday as they met to discuss their annual plan.Seven of the executive team have stepped down in recent weeks - with many blaming a push by the board and its Crown monitor to cut costs.Surgeon and charity hospital founder Phil Bagshaw told Chris Lynch many doctors initially heard there was a plan to save $56 million and it caused panic.He says they were flooded with GP referrals to the charity hospital.

Concern Canterbury DHB's cost-cutting measures will lead to job losses.More than a hundred hospital workers protested yesterday as the DHB Board met to discuss its annual plan.Seven executive team members have stepped down in recent weeks with many blaming a big push by the board and its Crown monitor to cut costs.Nurses Organisation Chief Executive Memo Musa told Chris Lynch there are already staff shortages.He says heard there's a recruitment freeze in place which is unacceptable with staff already short-handed.

National is calling on the Government to do something to stop the flow of resignations from Canterbury DHB.Two more members of the DHB's senior leadership team have resigned in the past 24 hours - joining five others who'd announced their departure in recent weeks.Further resignations could still be on the cards.National's health spokesman Shane Reti told Chris Lynch it's concerning to see the DHB lose so much valuable organisational knowledge, so quickly.LISTEN ABOVE

Minister in charge of managed isolation Megan Woods and Air Commodore Darryn Webb told Newstalk ZB's Chris Lynch they were visiting hotel premises in Christchurch today."We are always learning how to do things better," Webb said.He said the assumption is people staying in the premises have Covid and appropriate precautions are taken.Woods said one of things when visiting the facilities that gave them confidence was talking to the teams."You can just see how into the detail the staff are, and how much they really care about all the responsibilities."The facilities had been chosen due to suitability for security, which continued to be "layered up"."Any breach that is a danger to public health is reported," Woods said.The pair were asked about Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peter's idea to shift facilities to military camps."We are not adverse to other kinds of facilities," Woods said."They are conversations we have had, where they would be, but we do already have these hotels, and they are also providing a way t

Bowel cancer is not something people like to talk about but it kills four times more New Zealanders than the road toll, and as much as breast and prostate cancer combined.Never Too Young Campaign Founder and bowel cancer survivor Chelsea Halliwell spoke to Chris Lynch about her experience being diagnosed with stage 3 bowel cancer at age 39 and why it is so important to get checked if you're showing any symptoms. Listen above.

The source behind a false rumour about Auckland's Covid-19 outbreak has been tracked down.Spinoff writer Dylan Reeve tracked down the author of a Reddit comment that appears to be the blueprint for the rumour.The claim then spread wildly on social media over the weekend, with later versions containing slurs and suggestions of criminal activity.Reeve told Chris Lynch the man told him the information he posted came from various friends."He tied the threads together in public. The ideas going around, he hasn’t invented them but he was the one who connected them all together and put them out so people can read it."LISTEN ABOVE

Christchurch's City Mission says Covid 19 is continuing to put pressure on its services.The Mission started to see a steep rise in clients - including many who had never engaged with social services before - after the lockdown.City missioner Matthew Mark told Chris Lynch food bank demand is still 150-160 percent up on last yearThose seeking drug and alcohol counselling had tripled in the past year and those seeking financial and budgeting services had also tripled.Listen above. 

National's deputy leader has no problem with the new election date.Judith Collins had told the Prime Minister her preference was for November 21st.However, Gerry Brownlee told Chris Lynch he doesn't have a particular view on the date it is just a matter of practicality of being able to campaign.Listen above.

Questions after the fifth high level exit in a matter of months at the Canterbury District Health Board.Chief Medical Officer of Health Sue Nightingale has announced she is stepping down.It follows the resignations of both Chief Financial Officer Justine White and CEO David Meates.Association of Salaried Medical Specialists executive director Sarah Dalton told Chris Lynch if this happened at a private company shareholders would be up in arms. Listen above.

The local music scene is taking a hit due to the resurgence of COVID-19.Caller into the show Cameron told Chris Lynch bands are losing out on gigs as bar owners are cancelling the live music while they have limited capacity. He says he plays in two bands and at one of their gigs on Friday night when people stood up and tried to dance bar staff had to tell them to sit down due to level 2 social distancing rules.Listen above.

National's deputy leader has no problem with the new election date.Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced the election will now be held on Saturday 17th October, four weeks after it was due to be held on September 19th.While the Electoral Commission said voting could safely happen under Alert Level Two, Ardern says she also had to factor in participation of voters, fairness and certainty.However, Ardern says Covid is the world's new normal and gave the assurance she won't change the election date again.Parliament will reconvene tomorrow, and its dissolution will now be September 6th. Judith Collins had told the Prime Minister her preference was for November 21st, but her deputy Gerry Brownlee told Chris Lynch he doesn't have a particular view on the date."If the current outbreak largely in Auckland can be contained, if the contact tracing can be efficient to be certain it is removed from be a threat, October 17 will be fine."

Chris Lynch and Mike Yardley discuss the battle with the resurgence of COVID-19, the council decision to ditch 1 hour free parking plus the hits and misses of the week.Listen above.

Military veterans are angry that protesters have scrawled chalk messages on Christchurch's Bridge of Remembrance.Protesters claim freedom of expression - but vets argue it's disrespecting those who've served their country.RSA president, BJ Clark, told Chris Lynch this is just graffiti and unacceptable.Listen above.

National deputy leader Gerry Brownlee says he is "not at all comfortable" that he might have aided conspiracy theorists by asking whether the Government was covering up information about the recent Covid-19 outbreak.Brownlee, in a press conference with leader Judith Collins, raised a series of questions on Wednesday that suggested the Government knew more than it had announced about Covid-19 community transmission.National Party leader Judith Collins and deputy leader Gerry Brownlee. Photo / Mark MitchellBut Brownlee told Newstalk ZB's Canterbury Mornings host Chris Lynch this morning that he got himself into a "bad spot" with those comments, saying he wasn't trying to spur on conspiracy theorists but simply get as many facts out there as possible."I got myself into a bad spot the other day," he said."I'm not at all comfortable that I might have unleashed some sort of credence to those people."He said the way his comments had been presented was "unfortunate"."I certainly didn't enjoy it, it's not my intention

The leader of the Opposition says it would be unsafe to hold the election next month.The Party wants to delay September's election, in light of the raised Covid-19 Alert Levels because of community transmission in Auckland.National Leader Judith Collins told Chris Lynch public health should come first.“The Prime Minister could extend it to November 21, or even next year to give them time to get on top of what looks to be a serious community outbreak.”Judith Collins says an election would be too unsafe if the outbreak is widespread.“People need to focus on their health and jobs at the moment, they don’t need politicians campaigning at them. “LISTEN ABOVE

Health officials warn anxiety levels are still high after going through the roof when ringing cell phones signalled New Zealand is back in lockdown territory.Kiwis were settling into bed when an emergency message warning of an increase in alert levels went off on their phones at about 10.15 last night.Canterbury DHB public health specialist Lucy D'Aeth told Chris Lynch it was very unsettling to get the alert and many people would have tossed and turned last night.She says we need to override our fears to get back into a calm space.D'Aeth says we have to go back talking to friends,  staying connected and enjoying the outdoors - like we did during the lockdown.LISTEN ABOVE

All New Zealand rest homes have moved to alert level 4, meaning strict lockdowns and barring family visitors, an industry chief has just announced.Simon Wallace, Aged Care Association chief executive, said this morning risks were so high in the elderly community that rest homes had gone further than Auckland's level 3 alert status from midday and the rest of New Zealand's level 2 alert."Rest homes are on level 4 lockdown for at least three days. Full lockdown means effectively we are operating at level 4. It means there will be no family visits to their loved ones in a rest home," Wallace said this morning.His sector had been watching Melbourne closely and reacted swiftly to avoid any repetition of that deadly situation."We've seen what's happening in Melbourne where aged care has been affected. More than 100 rest homes in Melbourne have had Covid-19 outbreaks and they didn't move quickly enough. We can't afford to take any risks at all.Asked if the alert level 4 at New Zealand rest homes would continue beyon

Positive news for small businesses, spending locally in Canterbury is up 3.9 percent compared to June last year according to new figures from Xero.Canterbury Employers Chamber of Commerce Leeann Watson told Chris Lynch this is really positive news but there is still a degree of uncertainty due to Covid and the upcoming general election. She says because of this people are being a bit more conservative with their business investments. Listen above.   

It's important to remember those lost and educate the next generations in order to keep from repeating mistakes from history. An exhibition at the central Christchurch library Tūranga shows the unspeakable cost of the Holocaust by using 1.5 million unique buttons to represent the number of children lost.Holocaust Centre of New Zealand chief executive Chris Harris told Chris Lynch it's necessary to teach young people the importance of standing up and calling people out for bullying, harassment and discrimination.The Children’s Holocaust Memorial will be on display at Hapori/Community, level 1, until Wednesday, September 23.Listen above.