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Last election, one of the National Party’s main campaign promises was to be ‘tough on crime’, promising to increase police coverage and penalties for crimes. A target was set to increase the number of police officers by 500 by November 2025, however some police leaders today say this goal is unrealistic. 

The government also announced this week some shakeups to insulation standards, which they say should make houses more affordable. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor spoke to him about police staffing targets and new insulation standards.

Featuring Fashun with Pennie Black and Loose Reads. 

Whakarongo mai nei!

This week on the Monday Wire:

For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party's Simon Court, Producer Evie speaks to Simon about government bootcamp participants reoffending, proposed changes to employment law and David Seymour’s incumbent term as Deputy Prime Minister.

News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland, Dr Lisa Darragh, about New Zealand's recent results in the Trends in International Maths and Science Study.

Producer Yesenia speaks to Greenpeace’s Agricultural Campaign Spokesperson, Amanda Larsson, about the government's Methane Review and the impact it has on an agricultural standpoint.

Evie speaks to Senior Lecturer in Science Ecology at Victoria University of Wellington, Julie Deslippe, about 30 years of research revealing that Aotearoa’s species are some of those at the greatest risk of extinction.

And Yesenia speaks to Associate Professor in Faculty of Arts at the University of Auckland, Neal Curtis, about artists ending their time on X, formally Twitter, and shifting to Bluesky for it's moderation policies. 

Whakarongo mai!

Last week it was revealed that two of the ten participants in the government's pilot bootcamp programme were on the run. 

The youth were two months into the community rehabilitation phase of the programme, following the three month youth justice residence phase. Both teens were found in the weekend, but had allegedly reoffended, and are now set to come before the court. 

For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, who have been heavily advocating for this programme, Producer Evie spoke to Simon Court about this incident. 

She also talks to him about proposed changes to employment law which would give employers the power to dismiss workers earning over $180,000 without the employee refuting the decision. 

And finally, she talks to him about David Seymour’s incumbent run as Deputy Prime Minister, which is set to begin in May of next year.

This week Jonny gets some sci-fi fantasy summer reading recommendations from Suri. Including a new comic from the creator of Watchmen Alan Moore, Rebecca Yarros's new book Onyx Storm and more!

As of recently, X formerly known as twitter has seen an exodus of its artistic community ending their time and moving to a new platform called Bluesky. 

The change comes as a result that X would be using visual art to train its AI programs leading many artists to end their time with the Elon Musk hosted app.

Producer Yesenia spoke to Associate Professor in Faculty of Arts at the University of Auckland, Neal Curtis, about artists moving to Bluesky for its moderation policies, How Bluesky is holding space for Artists of any medium to share and how the site is benefitting from this rise of new communities.

As of last week the government's methane review report was slammed by Greenpeace for what they say  is the coalition government manipulating of numbers of shirk responsibility in the fight against climate crisis. 

This comes as a result of livestock being one of the biggest contributors for man-made methane within Aotearoa and especially within the meat & dairy industry. 

Producer Yesenia spoke to Greenpeace’s Agricultural Campaign Spokesperson Amanda Larsson about the impacts the review has on an agricultural scale, possible strategies to reduce methane production from the meat and dairy industry and the prospects of reducing methane for the future. 

New Zealand and Australian species are among the most vulnerable to extinction in a warming world, according to a global analysis of 30 years of research.

The research found that Amphibians; species from mountain, island, and freshwater ecosystems; and species inhabiting South America, Australia, and New Zealand face the greatest threats.

If global warming reaches 1.3°C, 1.6% of species are threatened globally, with risks escalating to nearly 30% of global species at 5.4°C. 

Producer Evie spoke to Senior Lecturer in Science Ecology at the Victoria University of Wellington, Julie Deslippe about the research and what it could mean for Aotearoa’s ecosystem.

Recently, findings from the study into student achievement in maths and science, TIMMS, otherwise referred to as the Trends in International Maths and Science Study.

New Zealand’s findings show that the achievement gap regarding maths results has relatively stayed the same since 2018, although the overall gap has increased since 2002. 

This comes as the government has pushed heavily to increase maths statistics in the country, over concerns New Zealand’s maths statistics are not on par with other countries overseas.

News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland, Dr Lisa Darragh, about New Zealand’s statistics in the TIMMS and whether the government is rightfully concerned about where our maths statistics are.

They also discussed Darragh’s thoughts on ability grouping in primary school maths, and how this practice can impact the achievement gap with high and low-achieving students.

Only one more show after this one before the bFM Kids' Show Christmas Show!

Thanks to the wonderful NZ Maritime Museum - Hui te Ananui a Tangaroa - for sponsoring the show!