As of yesterday, New Zealand Immigration have implemented stricter health screening requirements for the dependent children of temporary visa holders.

Under the new regulations, migrant children with significant cognitive or developmental disabilities requiring substantial support will no longer be eligible for student or visitor visas.

In that same week, Volunteer firefighters across the motu launched a petition calling for legislation change that would give volunteer firefighters the same ACC coverage and benefits as their paid counterparts.

And, ACT party leader David Seymour announced that he wants local councillor candidates to be able to run under the party’s banner in the upcoming October elections.

For their weekly catch up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March for the green party’s take on all of these issues.