Afleveringen
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A controversial clause in the Conservation Amendment Bill that would allow more conservation land to be sold has been removed. However, environmental advocates are still calling for the Bill to be scrapped.
Submissions on the Bill to the Environment Select Committee have also been extended, and are open until midday on Monday 13 July.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Professor Jacqueline Beggs from the University of Auckland School of Biological Sciences, who has English, Scottish, Irish, and Ngāti Awa ancestry, about why the Bill still poses a threat to the interests of Māori and to conservation land.
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Wire Host Caeden spoke to Professor Jacqueline Beggs from the University of Auckland School of Biological Sciences about the Conservation Amendment Bill.
And they spoke to the Founder of Pet Refuge, Dame Julie Chapman, about a proposal from the ACT party to strengthen protections for pets in family violence situations.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Pranuja spoke with Shanan Halbert about energy security, Labour’s solar policy, NZ First’s proposal on voting rights, and the tobacco excise review.
She also spoke with Associate Professor Tim Tenbensel from the University of Auckland about winter hospital pressures, health underfunding, and why temporary beds and extra staff may not be enough.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Health New Zealand has announced temporary beds and extra staffing to help hospitals cope with winter pressure, but health policy experts say the response is still too reactive. Winter demand happens every year, yet hospitals continue to face pressure from respiratory illnesses, staff shortages, and underfunding. Producer Pranuja spoke with Professor Tim Tenbensel from the University of Auckland about why the health system struggles to plan for winter, and what a more sustainable response could look like.
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This week on the Wednesday Wire...
For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party, Wire host Manny spoke with MP Ricardo Menéndez March about the Green Party's drinking, swimming and fishing policy released this week.
News Director Castor spoke to Professor of Sociology Francis Collins about the politics behind anti-immigrant sentiment.
Producer Toby spoke to the ecologist Dr. Dianne Brunton about the threat that a particularly virulent strain of avian influenza poses to New Zealand’s birds.
And Producer Theo spoke to the University of Auckland’s Associate Professor Stephen Winter, on the implications of the recent passing of the Redress System for Abuse in Care Act.
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Last month, the H5N1 strain of bird flu reached Australia. The government has now confirmed seven cases of the deadly disease, which mainly affects birds, but can jump to mammals too.
Experts here in New Zealand now believe that the arrival of the deadly virus on our shores is now a matter of “when” rather than “if.” Our goal should be to prepare the best that we can for the inevitable introduction, which poses a threat to native wildlife and livestock alike.
To discuss the threats posed by the H5N1 strain of bird flu, producer Toby spoke to Dr. Dianne Brunton, an expert in ecology at the University of Auckland.
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Recent months have seen some anti-immigration narratives cast into the spotlight in Aotearoa, with policies such as stop-search announced by the government and others such as voting rights restrictions proposed by New Zealand First.
One of the big catalyst points for the issue has been the India Free Trade Agreement, which NZ First have raised some commotion over, claiming it will cause a major influx of Indian immigrants. While the rest of the government disagrees, the claims have led to some protests and derogatory language used by officials.
While these debates are not too common in Aotearoa, they’re fairly frequent in some of our overseas counterparts, particularly the United States and United Kingdom. To discuss the politics behind anti-immigrant sentiments and how they’ve developed here, News Director Castor spoke to Professor of Sociology, Francis Collins.
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Survivors of historic abuse in care seeking redress and accountability have faced a long battle, often against the State as it repeatedly delayed action and attempted to deny responsibility.
Although a system of redress is in place, survivors have often been left in the dark by confusing processes, including whether they are eligible for redress, alongside inconsistent experiences and offers of settlement with the system.
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Social Development was found by the High Court to not have been following its own assessment policy when unlawfully denying survivors seeking to register claims.
However, a new piece of legislation that passed its third reading late last month, and will come into effect on the 1st of August, may make things even more difficult for survivors seeking redress.
The Redress System for Abuse in Care Act 2026 will establish the legal presumption that survivors who have been convicted of serious violent and sexual offences will not be eligible for financial redress. It will also mean that apologies given to a survivor of abuse in care cannot be used as evidence for fault or liability for that abuse.
To understand the implications of this legislation, and the possible motivations behind it, Producer Theo spoke to the University of Auckland’s Associate Professor of Social Sciences, Stephen Winter.
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This week the Green Party released their Drinking, Swimming, and Fishing policy that aims to improve Aotearoa's aquatic environment and resources, such as rivers swimmability, fish stocks, and drinking water.
Among the proposals that they lay out to achieve this are strengthening rules controlling wastewater discharge, reforming marine-protected area legislation, increasing iwi-led management, and setting lower limits for nitrate.
Environmental group ‘Greenpeace’ has come out in support of the policy, advocating for Labour to pick it up themselves, however, farmers advocacy group ‘Federated farmers’ has expressed their dismay over the proposal to phase out synthetic nitrogen fertilisers.
They say that evidence shows that such a move would be economic suicide, drastically increasing food prices, and cutting our agricultural output which accounts for 60% of New Zealand's exports.
So for this week’s catch-up with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez March, Wire Host Manny asked about their water policy.
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In 1996, after 20 years of debate and pushback from oil lobbyists, New Zealand banned the use of leaded gasoline in cars. An exception, however, remained, with leaded petrol still permitted for use in light aircraft, helicopters and motor racing. Lead, even in small doses, has been linked to negative health effects including neurodevelopmental disorders.
I spoke with Dr John Horrocks, an independent researcher who, in collaboration with University of Otago Public Health Professor Nick Wilson, published a briefing on the continued use of lead in New Zealand. We discussed why leaded petrol is still being used, what health effects it might have, and what we can do to phase its use out.
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On Sunday, New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters pledged that NZ First would bar non-citizens from voting, emphasising ideals about what citizenship means as a requirement to vote. A promise that Peters has made before, the pledge has been questioned over whether there’s actually any problem with the current system, how this will harm permanent residents in New Zealand, and what NZ First's goal is with the pledge against the background of their anti-immigration stances.
Host Alex spoke with Andrew Geddis, Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Otago, about this promise, and what it could mean for non-citizens.
