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Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald

Every weekday join the new voice of local issues on Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald, 9am-12pm weekdays.It’s all about the conversation with John, as he gets right into the things that get our community talking.If it’s news you’re after, backing John is the combined power of the Newstalk ZB and New Zealand Herald news teams. Meaning when it comes to covering breaking news – you will not beat local radio.With two decades experience in communications based in Christchurch, John also has a deep

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All Episodes

4:16

John MacDonald: 46 years and we still can't get the...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/27

It’s taken 46 years and we’ve still managed to stuff up the decision as to where to have a memorial for the 257 people who died in the Mt Erebus air disaster. It was 46 years ago today when the Air NZ DC-10, flight TE901, ploughed into the side of Mt Erebus. And, yes, nice job making the memorial announcement in time for the anniversary, but Cracroft Reserve in Christchurch is not where it should be. In fact, it shouldn’t be in Christchurch full-stop. It should be in Auckland. I’m not the only one

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4:51

John MacDonald: Who can we believe about nitrates in...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/27

How interested are you in the quality of your drinking water? For example, would you like to be able to look up your address and get credible, reliable information from an official source about the nitrate levels in the water coming through your taps? I would. Because I just don’t know whether to believe some of the alarming stuff that’s been coming out of Greenpeace this week about the nitrate situation or not. Let’s bring in Associate Professor Tim Chambers from the University of Canterbury - who

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4:20

John MacDonald: The alternative to ditching regional...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/25

You know how at work you can get people leaving and, instead of hiring new people, they just dish out the work to other people? Then it gets to the point where the other people look up and realise they’re overworked, overloaded, and burnt out. I wonder if that’s how mayors around the country are feeling about the prospect of them not only running their own councils but taking over their local regional council, as well. That’s what the Government is proposing, with the ultimate aim of pretty much

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15:47

Leeann Watson: Business Canterbury CEO on...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/25

Christchurch City Council's been selected to act as a one-stop consenting authority for large-scale supermarket developments. Finance Minister Nicola Willis says it's the latest step in the Government plan to make New Zealand attractive for new operators. She says developers previously had to navigate up to 66 different councils, processes and responses. Willis says the aim is to boost competition in a sector dominated by Foodstuffs and Woolworths by letting new entrants deal with just one

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9:48

Chris Hipkins: Labour Leader on regional council...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/25

Labour Leader Chris Hipkins says he's not clear what the Government's aiming for in its plans to change local government. It's proposing replacing the country's 11 regional councils with boards made up of local mayors. Hipkins agrees there's an obvious need for change. But he told John MacDonald he thinks this looks like an attempt to make councils amalgamate. Hipkins says if that's what they wanted, they should have told councils to go away and amalgamate. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener

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5:24

John MacDonald: Reasons to be nervous about the...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/25

This move by the Government to change who is ultimately liable for repairs to defective building work on new houses up to three-storeys high and renovation jobs worth more than $100,000 makes me very nervous. At the moment, all parties involved in a project are jointly liable for any defects and repairs. Which means, sometimes, if one of them can’t pay or if they’ve all gone under since the work was done, the local council that consented the work ends up carrying the cost to fix things up. The

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4:22

John MacDonald: We need to go further with Kiwisaver

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/23

I’m with the KiwiSaver providers who are saying we need to go further than just increasing contributions and we need to make them compulsory. This is after the announcement by the National Party yesterday that one of its election policies next year will be increasing contributions to 12 percent (6 percent from employers and 6 percent from employees) by 2032, to bring us into line with Australia. KiwiSaver providers are saying today that they’re liking the policy - but the calls are already coming

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18:05

Politics Friday with Duncan Webb and Matt Doocey:...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/21

Labour says the Government shouldn't be celebrating record high prisoner numbers. Earlier this week Prime Minister Christopher Luxon declared it was a good thing the prison population was nearing 11 thousand people. The Government is also celebrating a reduction by 38 thousand in the number of victims of violent crime since it came into power. Labour's Duncan Webb told John MacDonald that while locking people up may provide short term relief, it doesn't last. He says they eventually get out and

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5:10

John MacDonald: Lessons for the future from the ferry...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/20

For me, one of the best things to come out of yesterday’s announcement about the Cook Strait ferries has nothing to do with the ferries themselves. There’s still a bit of smoke and mirrors about the numbers and what it’s going to end up costing. Because what it still comes down to is that the Government poured $671 million down the drain when the Finance Minister pulled the plug on funding for the old ferry project. Which some —Nicola Willis included— thought was too Flash Harry with too many bells

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12:30

Phil Mauger: Christchurch Mayor talks housing...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/20

Christchurch's Mayor is suggesting the city's temporary sports stadium could be redeveloped for housing. Addington's Apollo Projects Stadium opened in 2012 when the quake-damaged Lancaster Park closed permanently. The City Council's confirmed structures including the grandstand will be removed when Te Kaha opens in April, but the future of the Addington site remains unclear. Mayor Phil Mauger told John MacDonald it should be intensified and turned into housing, so people can jump onto a bus and

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4:40

John MacDonald: I'm paying attention to BusinessNZ, I...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/18

I hope people are sitting-up and paying attention to what BusinessNZ is saying today. Especially the people who have their heads in the sand about our ability as a country to keep paying for things like healthcare and pensions. Because, as BusinessNZ puts it, we don’t have enough people to keep on doing that and we need a lot more people. As one headline today says, New Zealand needs 10 million people to stay afloat. BusinessNZ says we need twice as many people just to keep the lights on. For

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4:59

John MacDonald: Is the EV bubble about to burst?

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/18

New Zealand is about to become a dumping ground for dirty vehicles. That’s what the electric vehicle people are saying today about the Government’s urgent changes to the clean car standards for imported vehicles. Of course they’re unhappy. Because I reckon they are seeing and we are seeing the EV bubble about to burst. I’ll tell you why. I’ll also tell you why you’re not going to hear me ripping into the Government for doing what it’s doing. Reason 1: imported petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles

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15:27

Sir David Carter: Canterbury A&P Association Chair on...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/13

The city is back mingling with the country at New Zealand's Royal A&P Show in Canterbury. Thousands are set to descend on the Agricultural Park over the next three days. This year’s event has re-gained its royal status for the first time since 2010. Canterbury A&P Association chair Sir David Carter told John MacDonald that the Royal Agricultural Society approached them after they saw them put on last year’s show, and asked if they were prepared to run under the Royal Show status. They

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6:35

John MacDonald: In terms of scandals, this one is...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/11

Whatever you thought of Andrew Coster as Police Commissioner, you probably felt you could trust him to do the right thing. To be upfront, honest, and certainly not hide stuff. And if you thought the attitude within the Police towards women had changed from what it used to be – well you might be having a bit of a re-think on both of those. Because I certainly am after this damning report by the Independent Police Conduct Authority on the way Police handled accusations of sexual offending by former

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10:24

Chris Hipkins: Labour Leader on IPCA report on...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/11

The Labour Leader is “absolutely disgusted” by the handling of complaints against Jevon McSkimming by former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster. The Police Complaints Authority has released a report finding some of our highest-ranking Police didn't deal properly with a woman's anonymous complaints against the former Deputy Police Commissioner. Hipkins is deeply disappointed in Coster, and believes the Police have a right to feel very disappointed in him as well. “Clearly he had standards that he

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5:02

John MacDonald: Housing intensification is the future

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/11

Be careful what you wish for. That’s how I’m feeling about the Government giving Christchurch an exemption from the new housing intensification rules, which would have enabled three, three-storey properties to be built on single sections anywhere in the city. Instead, that level of intensification is going to be limited to certain parts of town, including the city centre, Church Corner, Riccarton, Hornby, Linwood, Shirley, Merivale, Edgeware, and Papanui. But I think the Government is just letting

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7:39

Matt Cross: Race Caller previews the 2025 NZ Trotting...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/10

Just as punters hoped, showers have cleared in Christchurch in time to fling open the gates at Addington Raceway before the 122nd running of the New Zealand Trotting Cup. The grey start's made way for some blue skies and enough sun to fry off rain that fell this morning. Race caller Matt Cross told John MacDonald the track's in good order. He says the afternoon forecast is pretty good, so by the time the Cup comes around this evening, we should be in pretty fine form in terms of the weather. The

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5:55

John MacDonald: I'm meh about the meth plan. But at...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/10

At least they’re doing something. But I don’t rate the chances of it working. That’s how I’m feeling about the Government’s declaration of war on methamphetamine, with this new plan that will see spy agencies working with customs and the defence force to target ships carrying drugs in the Pacific. It's also going to work with ports and the shipping industry. The feature of the plan that I like most is this $30 million increase in funding for addiction services. Because, as the Drug Foundation is

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4:59

John MacDonald: Money for restaurant reviewers, but...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/07

Slightly ironic, don’t you think, that on the day people up and down the country are turning up at work and school wearing their gumboots for Gumboot Friday, we’ve got Lifeline saying it can’t keep running on the smell of an oily rag and has to cut back on services. Which means no one answering the phone or replying to text messages between midnight and 7am. Call them then and you’ll get a message saying you’ve reached them out of hours and to call back later. Which is not how Lifeline has done

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20:59

Politics Friday with Reuben Davidson and Matt Doocey:...

Canterbury Mornings with John MacDonald ·

2025/11/07

A reminder mental health crises don't follow timetables. Long-time support service Lifeline will now go unanswered between midnight and 7am. It's asking the Government for help after reducing hours because it has a $2 million annual shortfall. Labour's Reuben Davidson told John MacDonald help's needed at all hours and mental health crises don't work office hours. Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says support is available elsewhere, with other helplines. He told MacDonald that they set an extra $9

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1,152 results

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