This week, News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to ACT Party Leader David Seymour about ACT’s opposition to the passing of the fair pay agreements bill, that will set up a legal framework for collective bargaining across entire industries.
They also discussed the government’s response to Iran and ACT’s decision to block a unified parliamentary message condemning Iranian authorities until another MP took over the motion from Golriz Ghahraman.
It was announced yesterday that the Ministry of Education will step in to fund Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand, which recently lost its Creative New Zealand funding.
In a statement, Creative New Zealand clarified that they support Shakespeare being in schools but that they can't meet the demand for funding.
For our weekly catchup with ACT party deputy leader Brooke van Velden, Jess asked Brooke why the ACT party is against Creative New Zealand's decision.
It was announced yesterday that the Ministry of Education will step in to fund Shakespeare Globe Centre New Zealand, which recently lost its Creative New Zealand funding.
In a statement, Creative New Zealand clarified that they support Shakespeare being in schools but that they can't meet the demand for funding.
For our weekly catchup with ACT party deputy leader Brooke van Velden, News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins asked Brooke why ACT is against Creative New Zealand's decision, and if the party would support more funding for creative projects.
A recently announced He Waka Eke Noa proposal would see the government work with the agricultural sector to reduce its emissions.
This would put a price on agricultural emissions, a scheme advertised as a world-first which garnered international media headlines.
For his weekly catchup with ACT party deputy leader Brooke van Velden, Casper asked her why ACT is critical of the proposal and what they think could have been done better.
The ACT party are renewing calls to reduce the mandated isolation period for those who test positive for COVID-19.
Previously they've called for a reduction down to 72 hours of isolation in line with Singapore's requirements but their latest push has been to match Australia's recent scrapping of the mandated isolation period altogether.
For his weekly catchup with the ACT party, Casper questioned David Seymour about his stance on isolation periods as well as a recently announced Ukraine aid fundraising event that the party will be hosting in a couple of weeks' time.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has utilised her platform on the international stage during the UN general assembly to advertise the Christchurch Call, a joint initiative with French President Emmanuel Macron to help combat online extremism.
The ACT Party is highly critical of this initiative, believing that it is not the best thing Ardern could have done with her time in the international spotlight.
Casper spoke to ACT leader David Seymour, filling in for his deputy Brooke van Velden, about this criticism as well as one topic some believe Ardern should be pushing for more - investment in New Zealand's economy.
On Monday the government announced the scrapping of the traffic light covid-19 protection framework, as well as the easing of many key restrictions.
Mask wearing will now no longer be required outside of healthcare settings, household contacts don’t need to isolate, and all vaccine mandates will cease at the end of the month.
For Casper's interview with ACT Party deputy leader Brooke van Velden, which he has taken over from Alex, they spoke about this announcement and how it has been received by the ACT Party.
Today, Alex chatted with ACT’s Brooke van Velden about the Government’s new youth crime strategy and ACT’s call for ankle bracelets on youth offenders, as well as the GST sharing members bill to fund housing infrastructure.
In this week's chat with the ACT party Deputy Leader, Alex chatted with Brooke van Velden about the new NZI report into Ministry of Health policies as well as youth crime statistics.
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