Is it time for New Zealand to shine in the space economy?
Dr. Denis Odlin, of the Management and International Business Department at the University of Auckland, as well as other co-authors, have published an analysis that looks into how the space race is being reshaped due to current ongoing geopolitical tensions.
They analyse how Aotearoa New Zealand has found itself in an ideal position to take advantage of the situation, because of its historically neutral position in the space economy.
To talk about New Zealand’s space history, the benefits of neutrality, and the current reshaping of the global space economy, Producer Max spoke with Dr. Denis Odlin.
For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March, Oto spoke to him about the suspension of three Te Pati Maori MPs, The Waitangi Tribunal's recommendation to halt the regulatory standards bill and the impact of the social security amendment bill on beneficiaries.
He spoke to Dr Claire Achmad, Chief Children’s Commissioner about New Zealand ranking 32nd out of 36 countries for child wellbeing in UNICEF’s recent childwellbeing report.
And he spoke to Maher Nazzal from the Palestine Forum of New Zealand about how the recent clearance to bring aid trucks into Gaza won’t be enough to address the needs of affected Palestinians
Max spoke to Dr Annie Jones, a Research fellow in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland, to talk about a new visualisation tool that is being developed for children during cancer treatment.
And he spoke to Dr Denis Odlin, of the Management and International Business Department at the University of Auckland, about the potential for New Zealand to take advantage of the new space economy.
Last week, UNICEF published their latest child wellbeing report, comparing childhood experiences, child poverty rates and mental wellbeing in OECD countries.
In the report, Aotearoa New Zealand was ranked 32 out of 36 OECD countries for child wellbeing and at the very bottom of this list for child mental health.
The report also showed that New Zealand had the highest suicide rate amongst rangatahi in the developed world and the second highest rate of children experiencing bullying.
Chief Children’s Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad, said that the findings in the report were unacceptable, that they were attributed to the ongoing issue of child poverty in New Zealand and called on the government to act immediately to combat child poverty and invest in mental health services for tamariki and rangatahi.
Wednesday Wire Host, Oto, spoke to Achmad about this.
The United Nations recently received permission from Israel for 100 more emergency aid trucks to enter Gaza, after International humanitarian experts warned of looming famine due to Israel’s renewed blockade of the strip since March.
On Monday this week, Israel cleared nine trucks of goods on Monday to enter Gaza, however, only 5 of those trucks actually entered Gaza and haven’t distributed their aid yet.
However, even if all 9 of those trucks were to enter Gaza, that still wouldn’t be nearly enough to attend to the needs of the strip’s 2.1 million population, 47% of whom are children under the age of 18.
Oto spoke to Maher Nazzal from the Palestinian Forum of New Zealand about why the clearance of aid trucks into Gaza isn’t enough, and the additional steps that the New Zealand government could take to put pressure on Israel.
This week it was announced that a visualisation tool was being developed, which would help young people with cancer who are undergoing radiotherapy.
The visualisation tool is being developed by Dr. Annie Jones, a Research fellow in the Department of Psychological Medicine at the University of Auckland. Dr. Jones said that “stress can affect the way our body responds to treatment”, and that “if we can reduce people’s anxiety, that should have positive benefits for their physical recovery as well.”
The visualisation will provide clear information for children, as well as their families and friends, about how radiotherapy works. While making it clear that it’s normal to feel worried and offering coping strategies.
To talk about this, Producer Max spoke with Dr. Annie Jones.
Yesterday the debate in the privileges committee regarding the suspension of Te Pāti Māori MPs Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi was adjourned until after the upcoming budget announcement.
The Privileges Committee Report and recommended punishments for the three Te Pāti Māori MPs were issued last week for the Haka they performed during a parliamentary session in November 2024 in opposition to the ACT party’s Treaty Principles Bill.
In that same week, the Green party recently issued a call to the government to scrap the Regulatory Standards Bill after the Waitangi Tribunal found that the Bill breaches the Crown’s Tiriti o Waitangi obligations.
And the government recently passed the Social Security Amendment Bill, which the government says would support people into employment and off benefits, however, opponents of the bill have said it could harm beneficiaries and lower income New Zealanders.
For our weekly catch up with the Green Party, Oto spoke to MP Ricardo Menendez-March about all of these issues.
This week's brainbox is Sam Lasham, a doctoral student at the Faculty of Health Sciences. Sam's research focuses on the link between psilocybin variability and consumer saftey, and developing a method for species identification. Whakarongo mai nei and read more about Sam's mahi here.
We’ve all heard about NFTs, AI, crytpo, and all those buzzwords... but do we really know what financial technology is, and how prevalent it is in our daily lives?
Producer Faith spoke to Dr. Chanelle Duley from the University of Auckland about financial technology– or the “fintech” frontier.
Just under two weeks ago the government passed the pay equity amendment bill under urgency. This bill would change existing pay equity legislation to make it more restrictive, which the government says will save billions of dollars.
The process was originally introduced to address issues of pay inequity between sectors. While the Equal Pay Act mandates that people working the same job are paid the same regardless of gender, Pay Equity is meant to ensure industries dominated by women are not paid less than similar industries dominated by men. The process has worked by allowing applicants to compare their positions with positions in other sectors with similar workloads, skills, or experience.
The government’s changes will limit the criteria for comparators, allow only industries with over 70% women in the workforce as opposed to the previous 60%, and removing the ability for the authority to award back pay, among other changes.
These changes have been met with criticism from rights organisations, advocacy groups, and opposition parties. In our weekly catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about the government’s reasoning behind the Pay Equity Amendment Bill.
Many experts believe that New Zealand should also be grabbing more opportunities to keep up with the rest of the world, and invest more in “deep tech."
Producer Faith spoke to Professor Frederique Vanholsbeeck from the University of Auckland’s physics department about deep and quantum technologies, and their benefits.
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