The Wire

Last week, the government announced that planned developments to Dunedin’s hospital may exceed the planned budget of $1.88 billion, and reach as much as $3 billion. As such, ministers Chris Bishop and Shane Reti announced that the plans may require reductions or an extended timeframe. 

The announcement was met with mass opposition both on social media and in public, with some 35,000 protestors turning out on the streets of Dunedin on Saturday to march against the change.

The current government has been controversial for a range of its other policy decisions as well, particularly for how these policies shape up to campaign promises and expectations. 

While under delivery on campaign promises is not uncommon in politics, it can hurt a party when it comes to re-election, especially when it comes to regions like Dunedin which may see less directed policies than major centres like Auckland. 

Wire host Castor spoke to PhD candidate and researcher at the University of Otago, Michael Swanson, about the politics of this government and how the Dunedin hospital development plays into things moving into the next election.

The crown mineral amendment bill was introduced to parliament last Tuesday. Public submissions on the bill close tomorrow (Tuesday 1st October). This gives the public only four business days to make their submission on the bill, significantly shorter than the average submission time. 

The bill is aiming to reverse the ban on offshore oil and gas exploration, something the coalition government campaigned on. 

The government has also cut down the normal six month select committee process, wanting the bill to be passed before the end of the year. 

Greenpeace says the short public submission time on the bill shows the government has a complete disregard for people in New Zealand who care about climate change. 

Producer Evie spoke to Greenpeace Executive Director Russell Norman about his concerns surrounding the four day submission time on the bill, and what impacts the ban reversal will actually have on the environment. 

Last week, Fonterra announced it is returning a total dividend of 55 cents a share for the past financial year, off the back of a $1.1 billion net profit. 

In response to Fonterra’s profit announcements, Greenpeace Aotearoa has called out Fonterra for ‘profiting from rainforest destruction’. 

Since last week, Greenpeace has also announced the organisation are suing Fonterra, over allegations Fonterra are also misconstruing the claim that their dairy product is 100% New Zealand grass-fed, when findings show that a potential 20% of a cow’s diet could come from palm kernels importanted from rainforests in Southeast Asia.

On 26 September, Wire Producer Sofia spoke to Greenpeace Aotearoa Agriculture Campaigner, Sinéad Deighton-O’Flynn, about this topic, asking her firstly about how concerning the profit announcement was to Greenpeace.

Recently, the government has announced a push to get public services working back into working in the office, as opposed to current, alternative methods, such as through working-at-home models, and hybrid working models.

This comes as multiple academics from the Victoria University of Wellington are set to release an article in the New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations, discussing the positive findings of a hybrid working model.

Further findings in the past have proven claims that a hybrid working model improves productivity, such as a 2023 study from Human Resources New Zealand, which has shown 40% of HR professionals noted positive productivity gains from a hybrid working model.

I spoke to the Senior Lecturer at the School of Management at the Victoria University of Wellington, and co-author of the article, Stephen Blumenfeld, about the government’s calls to get public services workers back to the office, and the findings from the article.