ACT's Simon Court

A rampant item in the news headlines late last year was David Seymour's promise to cut costs but revamping the Ka Ora Ka Ako healthy school lunch programme. 

He claimed that by changing to larger providers $1.5 million would be saved. Now the school year has officially kicked back off, the lunches have been put into action. 

But last week, hundreds of students in Auckland were left hungry, when their lunches arrived hours late. Teachers pitched in their own money to feed the children and hoped for a better outcome after voicing their complaints. The next day, the industrial kitchens the lunches were cooked in experienced technical issues… delaying the lunches delivery until after lunchtime once again. 

For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Simon Court about these issues. 

They also asked him about the first Oral Submissions on the Treaty Principles Bill which began last week. As well as comments made by Shane Jones and Winston Peters, attacking migrant MPs.

Last week officially marked one year since the coalition government came into power. 

It’s been a busy year for all three parties, with many new bills introduced, and many more repealed or abolished. 

For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, Producer Evie checks in with Simon Court to see how well the party thinks they’ve done this past year. We explore what they have and haven’t been able to do, and whether they’ll continue to push for these things throughout the rest of their term in government. As well as how well the coalition parties have been working together. 

She also asks about the government's gang patch ban legislation coming into effect, and how effective it’s really going to be.

The hīkoi mō te tiriti, which started as a rally against the ACT Party’s Treaty Principles Bill, is set to arrive at Parliament tomorrow, in the capital, Wellington.

Over the duration of the hīkoi, thousands have joined the march in support so far, with an estimated 30,000 set to be at Parliament tomorrow.

For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to him about the hīkoi, and how the party has reacted to this event.

They also talked to Simon about the Treaty Principles Bill passing its first reading in Parliament last week, with members of Te Pāti Māori, the Labour Party Party, and Green Party, performing the haka as a form of protest to the bill, with members of the public gallery also joining in, resulting in Parliament being suspended for an hour.

But first, they talked to Simon about the hīkoi.

ACT MP Simon Court has recently introduced a members bill looking to scrap ‘alcohol licensing trust monopolies’ which remain in Gore, Invercargill and West Auckland. 

This would change the system in these areas in which the licensing trusts decide where alcohol can be sold, resulting in no alcohol at supermarkets and very few bars. The bill has received a lot of response, with trusts in the South calling it an ‘Auckland-centric’ view and undemocratic. 

For their weekly catch-up Producer Evie spoke to Court about the bill and the responses to it. 

They also talk about Mike King and the government funding for his mental health initiative ‘Gumboot friday’, following controversial comments made by King. 

In a Newstalk ZB interview last week King claimed that ‘alcohol wasn’t a problem for people with mental health issues’ instead that it was a ‘solution to these issues.’ 

Now the Labour party is calling for the government to suspend funding for the $24 million gumboot friday initiative. 

And finally they talk about Police being pulled back from mental health callouts, which began at the start of this month. The move has left health workers worried about their safety and how to deal with violence in the workplace.