Today on The Green Desk, Joel Armstrong speaks to University of Canterbury Master of Urban Resilience and Renewal student Emily Ward about barriers preventing people from cycling, walking, or taking public transport like the bus or the train.

Aotearoa’s seaweed sector has had a comprehensive industry plan released recently. Stella speaks to Rob Major, a project lead involved with the roadmap to help guide the development of the industry.

Today is World Sight Day! Stella speaks to Dan Buckingham, CEO and Tamara Gussy, Audio Describer from Able, a media accessibility trust, about how they're celebrating.

Rod Oram phones up to talk about the economic situation in the UK, and the women lead protests in Iran. Whakarongo mai nei! 

The government has released its consultation document on He Waka Eke Noa, the system of farmgate pricing that has been in the works for almost three years. However, not everyone is pleased with the government’s announcement.

Starting in 2025, farmers will start to pay a price for their methane emissions. Consultation will run until near the end of the year with Cabinet expected to make final decisions in early 2023.

Host Emilia Sullivan first spoke to Christine Rose, lead agriculture campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, and started by asking her what she made of the government’s decision.

Then News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Federated Farmers Climate Change Spokesperson Andrew Hoggard who says the amendments to He Waka Eke Noa are “unacceptable.”

This week on The Wire for Rāapa Wednesday:

Casper speaks to Brooke van Velden in our weekly chat with the ACT Party.

Emilia chats to Christine Rose from Greenpeace Aotearoa, and our News and Editorial Director Jess chats to Federated Farmers Climate Change Spokesperson Andrew Hoggard about what they make of the amendments to He Waka Eke Noa.

Emilia also chats about the latest updates on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine with Otago Uni’s Robert Patman.

And lastly, Jess speaks to John Crocker from Unite Union about a fair pay agreement for hospitality workers.

That's us for the Wednesday Wire! See you next week.

Ukraine won’t be intimidated by Russia following a wave of missile strikes on urban populations this week, that is according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Russian strikes targeted the country’s capital Kyiv, as well as in other civilian centres, in what Russian President Vladimir Putin calls ‘retaliation’ for an explosion over the weekend that damaged the Kerch Strait Bridge between Russia and Crimea.

To discuss these recent escalations, Emilia Sullivan spoke to Professor Robert Patman from the University of Otago.

A recently announced He Waka Eke Noa proposal would see the government work with the agricultural sector to reduce its emissions.

This would put a price on agricultural emissions, a scheme advertised as a world-first which garnered international media headlines.

For his weekly catchup with ACT party deputy leader Brooke van Velden, Casper asked her why ACT is critical of the proposal and what they think could have been done better.

Figures from the hospitality job platform Barcats have shown the industry is short by 30,000 workers.

But John Crocker from Unite Union says the industry's current wages do not reflect this critical need for staff. 

"What the industry needs to do to attract workers is lift wages and conditions. The industry has had forever to do this, and it simply hasn't."

The Government's proposed Fair Pay Agreements Bill, currently awaiting its second reading, would provide a framework for collective bargaining for fair pay agreements across industries like hospo. 

News & Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Crocker about the union's campaign for a Fair Pay Agreement for hospo workers, which they say is the best way to resolve ongoing shortages in the sector.

Another reggae dub show because we all love some chill vibes to lead us into summer. Be sure to follow my Spotify playlist 'Land of the Dub' for all things dub related.