ACT's Simon Court

Last week the ACT Party announced that they were going to stand candidates in the local elections for the first time. 

The party is calling for a ‘clean out’ of councils, slating them for failing to make change. The claims have been met with backlash from councillors who say David Seymour and the party don’t understand the work that goes into local government. 

For our weekly catch up Producer Evie spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about what decisions lead to the move, and what the party hopes to achieve in local government. 

They also discussed ACT MP Mark Cameron who made headlines last week for saying National was leaving farmers and rural communities worse off than James Shaw did due to their higher emission reduction promises. 

And finally we also discussed David Seymour failing to inform Education Minister Erica Stanford that a key school lunch provider was going into liquidation.

The government has announced plans to lower the free bowel cancer screening age from 60 to 58. In order to do this, they are scrapping the pilot programme that would have allowed Maori and Pasifika to have free screening from age 50. 

While this opens the programme up for another 120,000 Kiwis, it takes away free screening from a different 100,000 - essentially just shuffling eligibility around. 

Despite bowel cancer rates being lower in Maori than Pakeha the death rates are higher. Some are calling the change institutionalised racism. 

It’s also been called a broken promise, with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon promising in his election campaign to match Australia’s free screening age, which stands at 45. 

For our weekly catch up with the ACT party, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Simon Court about the changes - which ACT has praised for its ‘needs not race’ initiative. 

We also spoke about The ACT Party pushing back on calls for new online literacy and numeracy to be scaled back, after principals said they were failing students in poorer communities. 

Along with last week's Labour cabinet reshuffle, which among the changes saw the introduction of a minister for jobs. 

But, they started off by asking Court about the impact the Bowel Cancer screening changes will have on Māori and Pasifika, and whether the party denies that race should be considered when treating the disease.

More issues have arisen around the government’s School Lunches programme. 

Multiple schools have raised concerns over whether the lunches are Halal certified. The school lunch collective eventually confirmed that the lunches were ‘Halal friendly’ rather than certified. 

Halal is an Islamic dietary standard referring not only to the food, but the way it is stored and prepared. Without a certification this can not be confirmed. 

David Seymour has responded to concerns by saying  he did not believe the expense of going fully halal certified would be justified. Under the previous system schools were able to choose their providers, letting them use Halal certified kitchens, but now they are left with no choice. 

For their weekly catch up, Producer Evie spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about these continued issues with the programme. 

They also spoke about Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden’s refusal to meet with the Council of Trade Unions, Aotearoa’s largest union organisation. 

Last Thursday marked Waitangi day, with thousands coming together to mark the occasion at the treaty grounds themselves - including a number of politicians. 

This year however, in the midst of the Treaty Principles Bill debate, ACT leader David Seymour was asked by his own hapu Ngāti Rēhia not to attend Waitangi. He ignored this request and chose to attend with his party anyway. 

During his speech at Waitangi, in an act of protest many onlookers turned their backs, and his microphone was taken multiple times. 

For our weekly catch up, Producer Evie spoke to the ACT party’s Simon Court about the proceedings at Waitangi.

They also discussed the latest unemployment figures - which continue to steadily rise, putting us in the worst place since 2020. As well as unpacking the government’s latest emissions reduction plan and how achievable it really is.