Two weeks ago, the 2026 Budget revealed the government’s spending and funding plan. Notably absent, however, is support for care workers, except for a minor boost to mileage rates while the fuel crisis is ongoing. The E Tū union, however, has said that these changes do little to match the inflated costs, and still leaves support and care workers woefully unsupported in the midst of an already struggling health system.

Host Alex spoke with the National Secretary of E Tū, Rachel Mackintosh, about the state of care work in NZ, and what this budget means for the priority given to care work by the government.

The Carrington Hospital, also known as Building One, was built in 1867 and stands as a monument to Victorian era healthcare in New Zealand. Until 2018, this category 1 heritage building was part of Unitec’s Mt Albert Campus, but was sold to the government as part of the Carrington Residential Development - Te Kukūnga Waka. The goal was to build 4,000 new homes in collaboration with Ockham Residential and various iwi. However, concerns have been raised by locals about the degrading state of Building One as well as whether local infrastructure will be able to cope with intensification.

I spoke to a range of individuals who want to see the building preserved, and attended some of their protests. This Carrington Building One movement is also active on Facebook and Instagram. 

Among the people I spoke to were Chris Casey, Chair of the Cachet Foundation, Helen White, MP for Mt Albert, Gareth Hughes, operator of the Waterview Coffee Project, Allan Matson, President of the Civic Trust as well as a high school student from Mt Albert.

I also reached out to the owner’s Ockham Residential and Marutūāhu, as well as Auckland Council and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, for comment. 

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, chats with us about taking too many vitamins, bees, and AI failing psychological tests.

For our weekly catchup with the National Party, Host Alex spoke with MP Ryan Hamilton about the US threat of further tariffs on New Zealand, our relationship with the US, and changes to local government committees to limit the impact of unelected members.

Producer Liam spoke to a range of people, including Chris Casey of the Cachet foundation, about the current deteriorating state of the former Carrington Hospital in Mt Albert, also known as Building One, and efforts to see it restored and repurposed. 

And Alex also spoke with Rachel Mackintosh, National Secretary of E Tū, about where the 2026 Budget leaves struggling care and support workers in Aotearoa.

Last week, the Danish government officially confirmed it will be lowering the legal limits for nitrate contamination in water according to recommendations from an independent scientific review commissioned by the Danish ministry for the environment.

The change came after outcry from Danish citizens over the country’s pork industry and its links to water contamination. Greenpeace Aotearoa is now saying New Zealand should follow Denmark’s lead and lower their legal nitrate levels to the same point.

There has recently been suggestions New Zealand is in a nitrate crisis, with the Canterbury regional council declaring an emergency last year and Southland is facing increasing calls to do the same.

To discuss the lowering of drinking water nitrate limits producer Thomas talked to Greenpeace freshwater campaigner Will Appelbe.

New research has been released which found people who spend more of their lives in socioeconomically disadvantaged areas have a significantly higher risk of premature ‘deaths of despair.'

These kinds of deaths include suicide, drug overdoses and alcohol-related diseases. The findings of the report suggest neighbourhood effects frequently operate independently of individual-level factors, indicating expanding public health beyond individual treatment to wider neighbourhood care may be necessary to help those most in need.

To discuss deprived area’s link to deaths of despair and how best to solve the issue producer Thomas talked to University of Auckland Social Sciences Professor Barry Milne.

The Government has been presenting maths education as a crisis that needs urgent fixing, with Education Minister Erica Stanford pushing through rapid reforms. But some education experts say the picture is much more complicated than the public narrative suggests, and that the real issues are being oversimplified.

Producer Pranuja spoke with Dr Lisa Darragh from the University of Auckland about what the evidence actually shows, why the “crisis” framing has taken hold, and what the current reforms could mean for students and teachers.

A new report from the UN University Institute for Water, Environment, and Health has outlined the consequences of AI on water, land, and carbon emissions.

Wire Host Caeden spoke to Professor Te Kaka Keegan, from the University of Waikato Department of Software Engineering and Co-Director of the AI institute, about the report and the cultural impacts of AI for Māori. 

They also spoke to Professor Nirmal Nair from the University of Auckland Faculty of Engineering about how the report applies to a local context.

For City Counselling this week, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson about a law change that will mean only elected councillors can vote on council committees and what Budget 2026 means for Auckland.

And they spoke to both Professor Te Kaka Keegan from the University of Waikato and Professor Nirmal Nair from the University of Auckland about a new UN University report on the environmental impacts of AI.

And Tuesday Wire Host Alex spoke with Elliot Crossan, the co-chair of Auckland Action Against Poverty, about the changes made to social housing in the 2026 Budget.

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Producer Pranuja spoke with Shanan Halbert about the 2026 Budget.

And she also spoke with Senior Lecturer Dr Lisa Darragh, challenging the idea that New Zealand is facing a maths education crisis

The Government is changing the law so only elected councillors can vote on council committees, stopping iwi representatives and independent experts from being full voting members.

And last week, the Government announced the Budget for the next year. It includes investment in areas such as housing, health, and rail infrastructure in Auckland.

For City Counselling this week, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson about both of these topics.

Under the Public Finance Act, the government is required to release a report on child poverty as part of the budget process.

The report for 2026, released last week, shows that New Zealand is far from on-track to meet its goal of reducing child poverty to 6% by 2028. One of the key measures of this - material hardship - was not even able to be estimated by the Treasury, but was calculated to be sitting at 14.3% in the financial year 2024/25.

With community providers, such as foodbanks, reporting increased hardship in the community, it seems highly unlikely that the government will meet previous targets for reductions in child poverty.

So, to speak on the government’s approach so far, and what the recent Child Poverty report tells us, Producer Theo was joined by Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, Susan St John.