ACT's Brooke van Velden

This week Zazi spoke to Brooke about the Māori Party's petition to to change New Zealand's official name to Aotearoa as well as John Tamihere's comments in a Newshub interview yesterday.

Zazi asks Brooke about the Māori Party's petition - whether she supports it, thinks it’s important, or believes official titles don't make much of a difference.

In the second half, Zazi and Brooke talk about comments made by Māori Party's John Tamihere, saying that ACT members contacted him, appalled and apologetic of Seymour’s Māori priority vaccine tweet, posted last week.

The Māori Party's co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer also spoke with Zazi about the Aotearoa petition in today's Wednesday Wire show. If you would like to listen to that interview as well, click the link here.

This week Zazi talks to Brooke about ACT refusing to have Parliament sit virtually and Butchers being closed during lockdown. 

On Friday, the National Party and the ACT Party rejected a proposal for a virtual Parliament, saying that democracy needs to be in-person to work. And as a result, in-person Parliament sittings have been conducted this week.

Zazi starts by asking Brooke why she thinks in-person Parliament sittings are necessary, even at level 3 and 4, when there is a virtual alternative. 

In the second half, Brooke goes on to talk about Butchers only being able to conduct contactless delivery during lockdown. She talks about supermarkets, lockdown restrictions, and the risk of transmission. 

As of last night, all of New Zealand entered an Alert Level 4 Lockdown, due to one community case that has now been confirmed to have the Delta variant. New Zealand is now being told to stay in their bubble, stay safe and to act as though they already have COVID-19 to reduce the spread of the virus. 

As well as this, Jacinda Ardern announced last night that all vaccinations will be paused for 48 hours to allow them to be undertaken safely. 

So today, Zazi spoke to ACT Party’s Brooke van Velden to hear her thoughts on New Zealand’s Alert Level 4 Lockdown, as well as talk to her about the vaccinations being paused for 48 hours.

This week Zazi spoke to Brooke about the Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill and the Auckland cycle bridge. 

On the 30th of July, the Government announced The Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill, following through with Labour's election promise to ban gay conversion therapy. To begin with, Brooke spoke about the Party’s stance on this bill, why they have hesitations, and what they would like the next step to be in terms of developing the bill further.

In the second half, Zazi and Brooke talk about the Auckland cycle bridge, its Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR), and whether Brooke believes that catering to cyclists is important.