Caleb Perry: NZTA Project Manager on the need for a long-term plan for the slip-prone Awakino Gorge

The Awakino Gorge on State Highway 3 that connects Waikato to Taranaki will be closed for nine nights as of tonight. Every time there's a major storm it seems Karangahake Gorge between Paeroa and Waihi is closed. It was closed for five days this month. The Waiwera Gorge is open, then closed, then open, then closed. The Brynderwyns are a constant worry. Is it time to revisit our national highways and accept that what might have worked in 1923 —widening a dray track into a road— is not really fit for purpose in 2026? Sticks of gelignite blasting away through the Karangahake Gorge worked fine in 1875, but if you've driven through the gorge recently, looking like a goldfish with one eye out the side looking at the rock face, praying it stays up, the other goldfish eye looking out at the river and the road and hoping there's no landslip, you wonder how long these gorges are going to be drivable and whether it's worth patching them up, opening them, patching them up, opening them, patching them up, opening them. Round and round and round we go. We don't seem to be advancing. It's just spending hundreds of millions to stay in place. Transporting New Zealand says we have to start thinking about plan B when it comes to the transport network. They say when the Awakino Gorge is closed, it costs the sector up to a million dollars per day in additional travel time, fuel consumption, and vehicle operating costs. Transporting New Zealand, in the case of the Awakino Gorge, has suggested developing a 20km windy metal road, and suggested a one way route north for a couple of hours, then opening it for a couple of hours to the south. Which sounds like it would have been a brilliant thing to do in 1952, but in 2026, is that really the way to go when we're trying to connect two major provinces, two major exporting provinces, Taranaki and Waikato? I wouldn't have thought so. The New Plymouth mayor says he would sue NZTA if he could for their successive failures over the years, which have cost the people of his region millions and millions of dollars. Are our road networks still fit for purpose? Does it make sense to keep going over the same roads that were initially, in many cases, horse tracks, then dray roads, then roads for the old Model Ts? It worked back then. They made it work. And back then it was rip, shit and bust, hoots wahay, let's just blast our way through, and the quickest way to get anywhere is in a straight line between two points. Given the precarious state of the climate, given that the extremes are becoming the norm when it comes to the storms, the landslips, the torrential rain, do we need to redraw the map rather than keep retracing over existing lines? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The gangs, as we know, create wholesale damage and destruction in our society through their drug trafficking. Now it looks like they're causing wholesale damage to Labour. After roundly criticising members of the Greens and Te Pati Māori for visiting a mongrel mob gang pad and posing for photos, putting it on your social media, Labour leader Chris Hipkins ruled out his coalition partners holding the justice or police portfolios in any government he was in charge of. He was talking tough. Now it transpires one of his own MPs was campaigning with gang members, with a video circulating of Kerrin Leoni in a Labour jacket handing out Labour Party flyers to mobsters. Te Pati Māori's Orinii Kaipara, who appeared with Leoni in a Whakata Māori debate this week, threw the Tamaki Makaurau opponent under the bus during the debate by saying Leoni had recently been campaigning with gang members too. She did it too, miss. It wasn't just me. Kaipara said Leoni had since deleted a social media post about it after the kaka hit the fan over her posing with gang members. Leoni during the debate said, I have never been to a gang pad campaigning. I've got whanau who are gang members. I've never been campaigning at a gang pad. And then sought to clarify the situation in a Facebook post last night. "To be clear, I have not attended a gang pad at all during this campaign. I said at the debate, I have close whanau who are gang members. In early October, I attended a whanau function where some of those present were whanau gang members." If you've seen the video, it's a funny old whanau function. I mean, who am I to say how other people should hold their barbecues? But Leoni is clearly campaigning for Labour at the function. If she hadn't posted the video to social media, I'd say perhaps her case is different. You can't pick your relatives. For many families, you can have one brother who's a detective and another who's a senior gang member, and they all have to be able to still function as a family. I'd have sympathy if someone had taken a video or photo of Leoni in a T-shirt, shorts and jandals, having a BBQ with her brother at a whanau function. But she's in a Labour Party jacket, handing out Labour Party flyers, telling people to vote Labour and then posting it to social media. Apparently it's since been deleted. What kind of family function is that? It doesn't sound like a real thigh slapper to me. Not a guitar insight. Can it really be a family function if there's no singing and dancing around the BBQ? You're in your Labour Party jacket. You're handing out the flyers, you're saying vote Labour to get rid of this government. Is that a family function or is that campaigning just like a Orinii Kaipara and Hūhana Lyndon were doing? Sounds like campaigning to me. Yeah, nah. I'm sorry. I mean, Chris Hipkinson can talk tough, and I do have sympathy when you've got people who, I mean, you can't pick your relatives as my poor cousins know. I remember saying to a departed aunt, at a whanau function. She had very poor eyesight. I said, "it's me, Kerre." And she said, "yes, I know exactly who you are." In clipped tones. I said that little catch up with my aunt. She's never been a big fan and that's okay. You can't pick your relatives, but to say you're not campaigning, it sounded, come on, Kerrin Leoni, come clean. You might have a brother or whanau who are in the gangs and that's fine. But to say that you were just catching up at a family function, I don't buy it. Not in the Labour Party jacket, not handing out the flyers, not saying get rid of this government. That is not a family catch up, that is campaigning. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Seymour says he won't shy away race relations, despite previous backlash. The ACT Leader championed the Treaty Principles Bill to its first reading this term, sparking nationwide protests. This election ACT's promising to “end race-based hiring requirements”, prohibit cultural or spiritual practices in the public service, and to abolish the Waitangi Tribunal once historic claims are settled. Seymour told Kerre Woodham the idea New Zealand is divided by its treaty is not sustainable. He says he doesn't resile to not having the conversation, no matter how painful it may be. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We may be at a turning point when it comes to property investment. Cotality data shows residential property is worth $1.66 trillion and still accounts for more than 50% of all household assets. But it also shows property sales and values are largely subdued. Chief Property Economist Kelvin Davidson told Kerre Woodham over the last couple of decades, strong capital gains and low interest rates were a big driver for the housing market. He says mortgage costs went down and selling provided capital gains as well, but this potentially won't last into the future. Davidson says property investment will probably need to be done a little bit differently, focusing on active management and cash flow rather than relying on capital gains. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Inflation is still much higher than it should be, largely because of high global oil prices. Stats NZ data shows the rate's now on 3.7%, down from 4.1% three months ago. Domestic non-tradeable inflation —for things like housing, electricity, and healthcare— has been trending down. Internationally-driven tradeable inflation —for things we import and export— has dipped, after trending up. But NZ Herald Business Editor at Large Liam Dann told Kerre Woodham economists are forecasting anywhere up to 4.7% inflation for the December quarter, which is pretty ugly. He says even if the Reserve Bank were to look through the impact of oil prices, the Consumer Price Index would still rise around 3.2%, which they can't ignore. Dann says it's one of the reasons economists expect them to hike interest rates. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.