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Last week, thousands of young people began mass protests in Nepal, sparked by a social media ban but over larger frustrations with government corruption.

The protests have led to Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli to resign, especially in the wake of public outrage over the killing of 22 people during the police crackdown on protestors. 

For International Desk, Wire Host Caeden spoke to University of Queensland Lecturer in Political Science Dr DB Subedi about the circumstances behind these protests, how they fit into the wider region, and the misinformation surrounding them.

Over the weekend, the largest pro-Palestinian protest in Aotearoa’s history was held in Tāmaki Makaurau, drawing a crowd of well over 25,000 people.

One of the mains calls of protestors and the organisers was for the government to place sanctions on Israel for actions they’ve committed during their war on Gaza, which the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory has officially referred to as genocidal and have led to the deaths of almost 65,000 Palestinians since October 2023.

For this week’s Get Action! Wednesday Wire Host Oto spoke with Nadine Mortaja, one of the organisers behind Saturday’s March for Humanity, about a petition of hers calling for the New Zealand Government to place sanctions on Israel.

If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here:

Shortly after an album announcement last week, Elle spoke to Stella Donnelly about Love and Fortune, out November 7th. An honest and revealing body of work, laden with synths (and sometimes bird sounds) the album comes after a step back from the music industry and a refreshed perspective on making music. Made with close friends, supporting the album’s sound and vulnerabilty was supported by: Marcel Tussie, Jack Gaby and Julia Wallace and new guests Sophie Ozard, Timothy Harvey, and Ellie Mason.

Kei te kōrero māua ki a Paiheretia Aperahama, o Te Wananga o Aotearoa, i te wiki o te reo Māori! Whakarongo mai nei!

For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March about The Greens renewed call for the government to recognise Palestinian statehood, The Greens call for an extension on Māori wards referendum, The most recent failed ETS auction.

Max spoke to Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa Co-chair John Minto, to discuss the United Nations officially declaring a genocide in Gaza and how the New Zealand Government should respond.

And Manny spoke to the PSA’s Mar-Sia Puru to discuss the missing candidate profiles in several Māori ward electorates and what they think can be done about it.

The profiles of candidates standing in several Māori ward elections were missing from booklets given to enrolled voters intended to inform their votes.

In response to the missing candidate profiles, Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi The Public Service Association (PSA) — representing public servants — has called on the government to move the responsibility for running these elections out of the hands of private companies and back to the Electoral Commission. 

Wednesday Wire Producer Emmanuel spoke to the PSA’s acting Kaihautū Māori, Marcia Puru, to discuss the PSA's view on the missing candidate information and its implications.

Kei te kōrero māua ki a MĀ, i tana waiata hou 'Colonised Bro' feat. WYNONA, rāua ko tana kōharinga i te APRA Tohu Maioha a tēnei tau! Whakarongo mai nei!

I tēnei rā, kei te kōrero māua a Chris Hipkins mā runga What's Up. Kei te kōrero mātou i te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, rāua ko te by-election a Tāmaki Makaurau. Whakarongo mai nei!

The Greens recently made renewed calls to the government to recognise Palestinian statehood and place sanctions on Israel.

These calls were made both in light of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly which opened last week, as well as the recent 20,000-strong Pro-Palestinian protest in Tāmaki-Makaurau being the largest Pro-Palestinian protest in the history of Aotearoa.

Additionally, the Greens recently called for the voting period on the Māori wards referendum to be extended after candidate profiles were omitted on voting packs in a number of districts, despite being listed in voting papers.

Voters on the Māori roll in affected districts have begun receiving letters with the missing profiles, but concerns have been raised about the impacts to voter access to information caused by the error.

And, last week, the latest ETS auction in New Zealand, which was held on September 10, 2025, failed to attract any bids and resulted in no clearing price, making it the third consecutive failed auction in 2025 and the eighth consecutive failed auction overall

For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Wednesday Wire Host Oto spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March to discuss all these issues

This morning, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry officially announced they had found that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. To count as genocide under the 1948 UN genocide convention, at least one of five acts must have occurred, of which the commission accuses Israel of committing four. The Commission of Inquiry does not speak on behalf of the UN, however they have called on member countries to punish those responsible for it.

To this date, the New Zealand government has not issued any type of sanction against Israel or officially recognised a Palestinian state. However, Saturday’s Pro-Palestine protest – which attracted around 25,000 people to the streets of Auckland – has only increased pressure on the government to act.

Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa co-chair John Minto believes that recent protests are an accurate measure of where the Aotearoa public stand on this issue and that it’s time for the government to abandon what he describes as “pro-Israel policies”. To discuss this, as well as the UN commission of inquiry declaring genocide in Gaza, Producer Max spoke with John Minto.