Listen back to features and interviews from 95bFM's daily news & current affairs show, The Wire. Your hosts Sherry Zhang, Justin Wong Mary-Margaret Slack, Lillian Hanly, and Laura Kvigstad focus on the issues of Tāmaki Makaurau and elsewhere, in independent-thinking bFM style. Weekdays 12-1pm on 95bFM.
Mary-Margaret speaks to Low Carbon Specialist Robbie Sutherland about the extent to which responsibility for climate issues lies with the public versus government, and about which initiatives are available for volunteering this winter
Oscar speaks to Richard Hills in this week’s instalment of city counselling and we hear about the logistics of council’s operations now we’re back at level 1
Jemima speaks to Tom Kay of Forest & Bird about water pollution risks and lack of government action
And in Green Desk this week, Bronnie learns about the UNESCO commission for culture in New Zealand, where a new commissioner has just been appointed
Ports of Auckland has applied for consent from Auckland council to deepen the city's shipping channel so larger ships can come to the port. With the population expected to continue to grow, this means more demand from online shopping, commercial goods and general goods which come via container ships. Currently ships entering the harbor can hold up to 5,000 containers, with gradual deepening then allowing ships with up to 12,000 containers in the future. In an effort to understand why this is necessary and to understand the potential affects this move may have, James talked to Matt Ball from Ports of Auckland, and started off by asking why they applied for consent.
Weekly chat with Green party co-leader James Shaw on NZGIF investing into wellington ports and ACC Zero carbon plans.
Southern Cross: Pacific Media Centre Contributing editor Sri Krishnamurthi on the University of South Pacific and tourism in Fiji. Polynesian panthers Will 'Ilolahia also joins us, and we talk about overstayers, and keeping activism going for the next generation.
Finally, producer James Tapp talks to Ports of Auckland spokesperson Matt Ball on deepening the shipping channel at Auckland Ports.
Sam speaks with Associate Professor Yoram Barak about how to traverse the healthspan of life in good stead. Turns out the secret to aging well is staying social... Listen and learn!
Sam speaks with professor Elaine Rush from Child Poverty Action Group aboout growing food insecurity within Aotearoa and how that is impacting our young people.
This week Jemima follows up with her investigation into the commercialisation of social movements. Speaking again to Professor Neal Curtis, she asks what motivates brands to support political movements.
Sam talks to Otago University Professor Yoram Barak about the benefits of social connection for healthy ageing.
Jemima speaks to Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni about the Government announcement to extend and increase rent arrears support.
Sam interviews Professor Elaine Rush about Child Poverty Action Group's research into children experiencing food insecurity in New Zealand household.
Jemima has been looking into the commercialisation of social and political movements and culture in response to the action taken supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. She continues her conversation with University of Auckland Media Professor Neal Curtis to discuss the motivations brands and businesses have in supporting a political movement.
Lobby groups say fast tracking the consent process for eleven shovel ready projects neglects commitments to climate action, and obstructs consultation with iwi & hapu. Economic downturn as a result of COVID-19 lockdown has generated a need for stimulus. The government says infrastructure developments such as these 11 projects will act as stimulus, but commentator Rod Oram explained to Mary-Margaret why this justification is flawed. Mary-Margaret also speaks to Te Ara Whatu's India Logan-Riley about concerns that fast tracking due process will exacerbate breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and Generation Zero's Jen Coatham adds that an opportunity for climate action has been neglected.
As Minister Little is nearing a redress deed with Ngā Iwi o Taranaki, Mary-Margaret asks what the Minister has learnt from listening to Ngā Iwi o Taranaki over the last couple of years. They also discuss the lack of implementation by this government of changes that Māori justice advocates say are essential for fixing a broken justice system.
Lillian Hanly speaks to Tracey Martin about Elder Abuse Awareness Day.
Lobby groups say fast tracking the consent process for eleven shovel ready projects neglects commitments to climate action, and obstructs consultation with iwi & hapu. The government says infrastructure developments such as these 11 projects will act as stimulus during current economic downturn, but commentator Rod Oram explained to Mary-Margaret why this justification is flawed. Mary-Margaret also speaks to Te Ara Whatu's India Logan-Riley about concerns that fast tracking due process will exacerbate breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and Generation Zero's Jen Coatham adds that an opportunity for climate action has been neglected.
And in this week's Neighbourhood Watch Zoe explains the legacy of branch stacking in Australian politics, and the latest comments by Scott Morrison about the history of slavery.
Head of Community Libraries - North & West, Darryl Soljan spoke to Felix about the role of libraries in our communities and what the future may hold for the concept of the "library"
This week, Mary-Margaret and Andrew discussed the proposed rewriting of the Official Information Act, the extension of the role of Children’s Commissioner to monitor the treatment of children in secure detention centres, and whether or not advocacy by an American lobby group is ‘interference in another country's electoral process'.
This week in Neighbourhood Watch, Zoe updates us on the situation at Melbourne Towers, and the border between Victoria and New South Wales being closed
Lillian speaks to the Minister about two government announcements from yesterday, the first being an extension of temporary working visas, and the second being a hold on incoming flights to the country. They also touched on a tool the Minister has been working on during her time in government. Just for some more information around the visa extensions, given this is not Martin’s portfolio she indicated she may not have all the details. Minister Iain Lees-Galloway announced yesterday that the Government is "making immediate short-term changes to visa settings to support temporary migrants already onshore in New Zealand and their employers, while also ensuring New Zealanders needing work are prioritised".
So this means,
- Extending all existing employer-assisted temporary work visas for people in New Zealand and whose visas are due to expire before the end of 2020 by six months, benefiting around 16,500 workers
- Shifting the stand down by 6 months to February 2021. So this affects migrant workers who are subject to the 12 month stand-down period and were going to have to leave New Zealand this year will now be able to stay for the duration of the extension, and that affects 600 workers. The stand-down period being the amount of time one has to leave the country before applying to come back and work. The government states that, The stand-down period was introduced in 2017 to prevent lower-skilled, lower-paid foreign workers from becoming well settled in New Zealand without a pathway to residence. Just a note here because of the way in which lower-skilled as a term has negative connotations, the Government is continuing to work on a number of changes, which were announced pre-COVID-19. These changes include a different way to define lower-skilled/lower-paid employment and a new process for employer-assisted work visas expected to be fully in place by mid-2021.
- Finally, the last part of the announcement was ensuring New Zealanders needing work continue to be prioritised.
So back to Tracey Martin, Lillian started by asking her how this will work.
EDIT: Minister Iain Lees-Galloway's response 08/07/2020:
“Temporary work visas are there to fill temporary gaps in the labour market and that is clear when people apply for temporary visas. Work to residency is only available for more skilled jobs where there is a longer term skills shortage.
“The extension to visas announced yesterday is to give people breathing space to work out what is best for them. The New Zealand labour market is changing as more New Zealanders lose their jobs and as always, immigration is there to fill the gaps in our labour market. As the gaps close, there may be fewer opportunities for temporary migrant workers.
“We value the contribution our migrant communities make to New Zealand and it’s great that many do become residents and citizens. However, like in most countries around the world, temporary immigration is for temporary work opportunities. That’s a choice people make for themselves.
[on the low-skilled issue] “Last year we introduced changes to the employer assisted temporary work visas that includes introducing the use of pay rates as a proxy for skills. In the vast majority of cases higher skilled roles are paid above the median wage so the median wage is being used to assess the skill level, instead of complicated skills assessments under ANZCO.”
On Dear Science today with Marcus Jones we touch back on some coronavirus news, we also hear about some concerns being raised about scientists collecting DNA in China, and lastly, scientists are moving to strip offensive names and terms from reports and prizes.
The world is facing multiple crises from climate change to institutional racism to COVOD-19. Maria Armoudian speaks to three preeminent scholars from the fields of anthropology, philosophy, and psychology about the crossroads we are facing as a global community and the ways we can navigate them for the betterment of humanity.
For more stories like these head to www.thebigq.org
This week on The Green Desk, 95bFM reporter Bronwyn Wilde spoke to Kepa Morgan about a Māori approach to understanding and restoring the vitality of ecosystems in Aotearoa.
On today's Southern Cross, Pacific Media Centre director David Robie, reflecting on his experience as a journalist on Rainbow Warrior, we follow up on domestic violence in PNG, and journalism in West Papua.
This week Sherry Zhang talks to Green Party co-leader James Shaw, on the Electoral Integrity Amendment Act. This means members of parliament can’t change political parties once they enter parliament, and party leader are able to kick out MP's if they reasonably believe they disproportionately affect the proportion of parliament.
One of the most fundamental features of the Trump Administration is a policy of limiting immigration and reversing previous US policy on work visas, asylum, and deportation. Will Trump continue to limit immigration in light of recent US Supreme Court decisions and the Covid-19 Pandemic? Doug Becker speaks with Peter J. Spiro and Hiroshi Motomura.
For more stories like this head to www.thebigq.org
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