95bFM: The Wire

The Public Service Association says that the ‘needs not race’ based directive to government agencies is putting all that progress that has been made to improve the lives of Māori at risk. 

With the government directing all government agencies that public services must be delivered by need and not race disregards the systemic disadvantages experienced by Māori and Pasifika. 

The PSA’s Janice Panoho says that the move will set back Māori for generations at a time when they remain one of the most disadvantaged groups in Aotearoa. 

Producer Evie spoke to Panoho about these concerns and what impacts she believes this directive may have. 

This week on the Wire...

For our weekly catch up with Te Pāti Māori, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Mariameno Kapa-Kingi about updates regarding the Treaty Principles Bill, as well as Te Pāti Māori MP, Hana-Rawhiti Maipa-Clarke, being a recipient of the One Young World Politician of the year award.

For our weekly catch up, Producer Evie spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about a government directive to create a public service that delivers on ‘need not race’, and the draft treaty principals bill being tabled at cabinet for the first time.

Producer Evie also spoke to the Public Service Association’s Janice Panoho about what the government has labelled ‘a colourblind public service’, and some of the concerns that come with us.

Host Joel spoke to Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health at the University of Otago, Caroline Shaw, regarding a new study showing that ‘decarbonising’ transport would have a signficant impact on health; mental and physical.

Producer Evie spoke to the University of Auckland’s Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law Treasa Dunworth about her request for an inquiry to be made into whether New Zealand is sharing intelligence to aid Israel in its war on Gaza.

And finally, Host Joel spoke to the National Secretary for Retail and Finance at First Union, Rudd Hughes, about the Woolworths strikes that took place last week, with extra walkouts being planned for the 17th of September.

Whakarongo mai!

Last week, workers at Woolworths walked out of their stores,with another strike being planned for tomorrow afternoon over ongoing negotiations between First Union for better pay and working conditions for workers.

On Friday, News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the National Secretary for Retail and Finance at First Union, Rudd Hughes, about Tuesday’s walkout.

They started off by asking Huges why there was a walkout of over FORTY stores.

This week, Cabinet reviewed the first draft of the ACT Party’s Treaty Principles Bill. 

The Bill has been met with controversy, with officials warning the government that it “calls into question the very purpose of the Treaty and its status in our constitutional arrangements” and that it could be detrimental to Māori and social cohesion. 

Criticism has also come from Māori leaders saying it could remove Māori from decision making processes entirely, as well as most recently a group of 440 Christian Church leaders signing an open letter asking MPs to say no to the Bill. 

Both National and New Zealand First have said they will not support the Bill beyond the select committee process. 

In response to the Bill, ActionStation Aotearoa has launched a campaign, Together for Te Tiriti, which “welcomes people of all backgrounds who believe that our country is better off when we honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi.” 

Sofia spoke to ActionStation Aotearoa Director, Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa) about this Bill, current discourse around it, and ActionStation’s campaign.

Wire Host Caeden speaks to Labour Party Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni on the government signalling a shift in their foreign policy stances, the allocation of 6 months in select committee for the Treaty Principles Bill and Bird of the Year. 

They speak to Yale Daily News Andre Fa’aoso about yesterday’s Harris/Trump Presidential debate and Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris. 

And they speak to the University of Auckland’s Dr Tatjana Buklijas about the fast track legislation in a democratic context. 

For City Counselling this week, Producer Sofia speak to Councillor Julie Fairey about how Auckland Council’s celebrating Te Wiki o te Reo Māori next week and Council’s emissions reductions targets

She also speaks to ActionStation Director, Kassie Hartendorp, about the Treaty Principles Bill and a campaign ActionStation has launched in response, Together for Te Tiriti. 

Wire Host Caeden speaks to Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, Dr Tatjana Buklijaš, about the fast track legislation within the context of democratic participation on infrastructure decisions. 

For State of the States, our weekly 95bFM US election coverage, Wire Host Caeden speaks to Yale Daily News’ Andre Fa’aoso on yesterday’s Harris/Trump Presidential debate and Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Kamala Harris.

It recently came to the public’s attention that the Inland Revenue Department had been providing social media firms with the personal details of taxpayers to be used in marketing campaigns. 

While the IRD have tried to reassure taxpayers that their details were anonymised using a hashing process that would replace the letters in their names with numbers, many have raised concerns about the potential privacy implications that could come with their personal data being sold to social media companies, as well as the efficacy of the hashing process itself. 

Wire Host Oto spoke to Gehan Gunasekara, Associate Professor in Commercial Law at the University of Auckland, to discuss the IRD’s selling of taxpayer data to social media firms and its potential implications.

This week on the Wednesday Wire...

For our weekly catchup, News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to The Green Party's Ricardo Menéndez March about recent changes to the treaty principles bill to include acknowledgements to Iwi and Hapu, government pay parity cuts for relief ECE teachers and concerns over Nicole McKee’s gun law reforms.

For our bi-weekly segment Get Action! Wednesday Wire Host, Oto, spoke to ActionStation’s Kareana Kee, about their petition calling for TVNZ to review their coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Producer Sasha spoke to spokesperson from Student Justice for Palestine Pōneke, Frank Mackenzie, about the Victoria University of Wellington Foundation divesting in Israeli bonds.

and Oto spoke to Associate Professor in Commercial Law at the University of Auckland, Gehan Gunasekara, to discuss the implications of the IRD sharing taxpayer data with social media firms.

Following a consistent year of pressure, the Victoria University of Wellington has announced its divestment from all Israeli government bonds and shares. The foundation has previously reported having close to $50,000, which they have divested following major Student sit ins and pushback.

The divestment is only the first step in a long process of boycotting Israel, however there is continued student backing and a recent petition attempting to further progress the severing of ties to Israel. 

Producer Sasha spoke to spokesperson for Student Justice for Palestine Poneke, Frank Mackenzie about how continued student pressure led to University of Victoria Wellington divesting from Israeli bonds and stocks.