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.
Following the Prime Minister's announcement yesterday, we have a brief reminder of what alert level 3 will look like.
Laura Kvigstad and Jessica Hopkins bring us with notes of today's parliamentary Epidemic Response Committee.
Bronnie talks about the Ministry for the Environment’s Our Freshwater 2020 report on Greendesk.
Oscar Perress spoke to Auckland Councillor Pippa Coom about tactical urbanism, infrastructure projects and procedures around Covid-19 as well as the Council’s budget on another episode of City Counselling.
Sherry Zhang talked to Green Party co-leader James Shaw about moving the country to alert level 3, guidance for business transitioning online and to contactless takeaways, unsafe living situations and the Green Party's financial challenges.
International Desk reports on the current state of Chinese diplomacy during the pandemic.
Oscar has another chat with Samuel Miller McDonald on the relationship between the environment, politics and Coivd-19.
Lilian looks into what will happen during alert level 3 when New Zealand moves into it next week, while Justin reports on contact tracing in New Zealand, after the Ministry of Health released an audit saying it needs expansion.
The structure and meeting procedures at Auckland Council are not the only thing that has and will change in reaction to Covid-19. Last week, the Council met to discuss the budget, and how they are to adjust what they had ready to propose prior to Covid-19, and what they believe are the best steps forward budgeting to find solutions that emerge from Covid-19.
This week, Oscar Perress is joined by Cr Pippa Coom. They discussed tactical urbanism, infrastructure projects and procedures around Covid-19 but started by addressing the budget.
A huge thank you to Cr Coom, and Conor Lavery and Louis Laws for their assistance.
Zoë Larsen Cumming brings us a report on education under rahui. She dives into the bubbles of some people who have been highly affected by an online school shift. She interviews eight year old Artemis Sloan, ten year old Clara Bayliss, year thirteen student Harrison Cooke, and an exoplanet hunter and professor of astrophysics, Pr. Daniel Bayliss.
Zoë Larsen Cumming brings us a report on education under rāhui. She dives into the bubbles of some people who have been highly affected by an online school shift. She interviews an eight year old, a ten year old, a year thirteen student and an exoplanet hunter and professor of astrophysics.
Lillian Hanley continue with this, and speakes to her younger cousins also under rāhui to see how their first day of term went. Lillian also speaks to Spinoff Columnist Emily Writes about the pressure on teachers and parents this online shift brings.
Bronwyn Wilde brings us a report on prisoner voting rights, looking into the first round of public submissions to the select committee.
We have Southern Cross as usual, with the latest updates on the Pacific. This week on COVID-19 free zones in the pacific, journalists working remotely and restrictions on media freedom.
Last week Lillian was looking into the start of term 2. Lillian rang her cousins, Winter and Beatris, who are under rāhui in their home in Waitakere to see how their first day of term went. The main issue it seemed to them was that they didn’t get to see their friends during the school day. This chat was last week, and their mum told me they were appreciating the shift back into a routine. This week, it's been a little more difficult. Their mum talked about figuring out how they work, the two different platforms they are being given work on plus the emails.The challenges are unprecedented and this is important to acknowledge - for children for parents and for teachers. Emily Writes is an author and columnist for the Spinoff Parents, as well as a mum of two. Last week she wrote about the way online learning is a major shift in education and that we shouldn’t put so much pressure on kids, teachers or parents at this moment. Lillian asked her what her initial response to that shift was.
With submissions on the Electoral (Registration of Sentenced Prisoners) Amendment Bill closing this Friday, Bronnie sheds light on the contentious issue of prisoner voting rights.
Among other changes, the Bill would reform the 2010 prisoner voting ban, reinstating the right to vote for those serving sentences of less than three years. As well as the usual debates that accompany an issue of constitutional gravity such as this, there has been particular criticism of the speed at which the government is progressing this reform in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This report begins with a brief history of prisoner voting rights in New Zealand: from the 1993 Electoral Act, to the 2010 reform and subsequent Waitiangi Tribunal report and Taylor v Attorney General Supreme Court case. We then hear excerpts from the Parliamentary debate at the first reading of Andrew Little's proposed Bill. Lastly are the highlights from the first round of oral public submissions to the Justice Select Committee which was held via Zoom.
Public submissions on the Bill close on the 24th of April.
On Tuesday, the Treasury announced some unemployment figures based on modelling from different scenarios relating to the Covid19 pandemic and our subsequent rāhui.
The scenarios show:
That unemployment can be kept below 10%, and return to 5% in 2021 with additional Government support. Work is already well advanced on further fiscal support.
Without additional support, unemployment could have hit 13.5% under scenario 1 (four weeks in Level 4), while scenarios requiring more time in Level 4 showed a peak of 17.5%-26%.
New Zealand’s underlying strength means the economy can bounce back to be $70 billion larger by 2024 than in 2019.
So, the best outlook we are dealing with at the moment is an increase in unemployment to just under 10 percent, and some commentators have pointed out this number is already a reality for Māori. So! What does this all mean? And what effect will Covid19 have on the economic system in general? To get some idea, Lillian Hanly rang Rod Oram. They started off by talking about the figures but ended up talking about Capitalism more generally.
Image credit:
Original image from Harvard Business Review | Animation by Thomas Fink-Jensen
Moving into our fourth week of the rāhui, the government yesterday outlined what Alert Level 3 would look like.
The principles for level 3 are to restrict contact with others as much as possible. The Prime Minister indicated this shift would not be a rush to normality, it is a progression, and carries many of the restrictions in place at level 4.
Lillian Hanly fills us in on what kind of restrictions we will be looking at for alert level three...
The flooding in Owhiro Bay this week paints a picture of what is likely to become a more frequent event over the next decades. Reports indicate that many in Aotearoa will be affected by the rising sea levels. Wellington council for one is taking it seriously with officials claiming that consequential conversations around costal flooding need to be had this year. The events in Owhiro Bay are acting as a catalyst for these talks.
This week Sherry Zhang talks to Green Party co-leader James Shaw on criticisms brought up Dr Rod Carr from the Climate Change Commission, regarding concerns that the budget does not adress climate change concerns adequetly. Greenpeace has also been outspoken in the lack of climate change mitigation projects. James also talks on how NZ is looking in regards to reducing carbon emissions, and meeting the 2015 Paris Agreement and the Zero Carbon Bill.
Why have so many human rights campaigns, such as Free Tibet and the Falun Gong, failed in China? Why have others such as better environmental protection and HIV/Aids care fared better? What have the costs been on political movements with the more successful campaigns? What activism can work in the authoritarian country? Maria Armoudian speaks with Stephen Noakes.
For more stories like this head to www.thebigq.org
Welcome back to Southern Cross.Pacific Media Watch contributing editor Sri Krishnamurthi will be talking about the latest happenings in the Asia Pacific region, particularly with ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
This week we spoke on the arrest of former PNG Prime minister on suspicion of misappropriation, abuse of office and official corruption, regarding the purchase of two generators from Israel, Pro- independence FLNKS in New Caledonia also wans a vote on the referendum delayed by two month to be independent from France, and Sri also talks on the High Court decision regarding the sale of Stuff.
Today on the Green Desk, Bronnie speaks to Liam Prince, co-founder of Takeaway Throwaways, an organisation seeking to ban single use disposable plastic service ware for food and drink and replace them with reusable alternatives. The closure of cafes during Alert Level 4 meant that more than 20 million takeaway coffee cups that would have otherwise gone to the landfill were avoided. However, with businesses reopening under Alert Levels 3 and 2, many have been hesitant to bring in their reusable cups. Takeaway Throwaways have been vocal in dispelling hygiene myths around BYO reusable containers, and that was the topic of today’s interview.
You can Takeaway Throwaways on Facebook, Instagram, or check out their website - www.takeawaythrowaways.nz - and sign their petition to ban the use of single use plastic serviceware.
Sherry Zhang has her weekly talk with Green party co-leader James Shaw on the recent budget announcment, which includes 1.1 billion investment into nature based jobs. They also talked about essential service workers, and how the budget may be addressing climate change. James touches on the controversial COVID-19 Public Health Response Act, which is currently being reviewed by the select committee.
Pacific Media Watch contributing editor Sri Krishnamurthi on the latest happenings in the Asia Pacific region, particularly with ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
This week we spoke about a new book by John Martinkus regarding a major highway built through West Papua, the closure of local tv stations in Phillipines, and the state of NZ media following the recent budget announcements.
The National Party's Denise Lee joins Laura Kvigstad for their weekly chat. This week she fills us in on what the budget means in a National Party perspective and how she would have liked to see the budget modeled in a transformative way.
What psychological challenges do children and young people face amidst the time of COVID-19? In this podcast, Lillian Ng speaks with Hiran Thabrew and Melanie Woodfield about ways that families can support their children and adolescents.
Meet Aroha the Chatbot: http://tiny.cc./aroha
For more stories like this head to www.thebigq.org
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