For our weekly catchup w/ The Green Party, Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez March about the government’s initiatives aimed at moving young people out of benefit dependency, Associate Education Minister David Seymour’s announcement of changes to how the government contracts school attendance services, The Green Party interviewing the families of the three New Zealanders detained as part of the Sumud flotilla, as well as Foreign Minister Winston Peters' action to blame the “radical left” for the vandalisation of his Auckland home.
Max also spoke with Paul Taillon, a Senior Lecturer from the Faculty of History, Arts and Education at The University of Auckland, to discuss the recent actions by United States President Donald Trump, to deploy the National Guard in democratic states and what this means for American democracy.
Producer Manny spoke with Associate Professor George Laking the government's announced changes to bowel Cancer screening.
Producer Manny also spoke with Craig Stevens, a Professor in the department of Physics, on the recently released Our Environment 2025 Report by the Ministry for the Environment.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has moved to send federal troops into American cities — a decision many legal experts and political leaders argue is unconstitutional. Earlier this week, an Oregon judge blocked the Trump administration from sending National Guard troops into Portland, ruling that the move overstepped presidential authority. The judge was originally appointed by President Trump, who now said the judge had “lost their way”. It’s the latest pushback against federal forces being deployed into U.S. cities.
The ruling by U.S district judge Karen Immergut, was made on the basis that the President’s actions were unconstitutional and that Trump did not have a valid reason for deploying the National Guard.
Paul Taillon is a Chicago, Illinois, native and currently a Senior Lecturer in The Faculty of History, Arts and Education at the University of Auckland. Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke to Paul to ask whether there had been any similar situations to this in American history, and what the implications of these actions could mean for the future of American democracy.
The government announced two new initiatives aimed at moving young people out of benefit dependency, and are looking to motivate them to stay in work by providing a $1000 incentive if they are able to keep stable work for more than 12 months. In the same announcement, they stated that young adults, aged 18 and 19, will no longer be eligible for Jobseeker payments if their parents can support them, for which they set the bar as an annual household income of just over $65,000.
In addition to this, The Green Party conducted a public interview on Monday, with the families of the three New Zealanders who were detained by Israel aboard the Sumud flotilla. The goal of the flotilla was to break through Israel’s illegal blockade that has existed since 2007, and provide aid to those suffering in Gaza.
As a result of rising tensions towards the Government’s stance on Gaza, Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ Auckland home was vandalised on Tuesday, the day after the press conference where Chloe Swarbrick urged the Government to act against Israel. Peters then quickly blamed the vandilisation – where a protestor broke his window and left a note saying “welcome to the real world” – on what he described as the “radical left”.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March, Wednesday Wire Host Max speaks to him about the vandalisation of Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ Auckland home, what the Green Party is asking of the government as a next step in Aotearoa’s stance on Gaza. As well as the Government’s initiatives aimed at moving young adults towards independence.
We also spoke about Associate Education Minister David Seymour’s announcing a change to how the government contracts school attendance services.
Happy Wednesday! Today on the show, Rosetta and Milly catch up with Care HQ nurses Nickie and Charlotte for The Birds, The Bees, and The Bugs - plus a chance to win tickets to Helmet and Voom! Whakarongo mai nei!
Bowel cancer is one of the leading causes of death in Aotearoa New Zealand, with more than 1,200 people dying from the disease each year, making it second only to lung cancer.
Free government screening is one of our key policies aimed at combating the disease. Earlier this year, Health Minister Simeon Brown announced changes to the eligibility for screening. These included lowering the starting age from 60 to 58 years old while scrapping a pilot scheme that gave Pacifika and Māori earlier access from 50. These changes have sparked criticism about the inadequacy of the policy.
Producer Manny spoke with Associate Professor of Oncology at the University of Auckland, George Laking, about his views on these changes and whether we are doing enough to tackle bowel cancer.
Paul Kean of The Bats chatted to Elle and Sof about some tracks he's been listening to lately. The Bats' newest album Corner Coming Upon October 17th, and you can hear tracks from the album live at The Others Way on November 29th later this year.
Jujulipps and Artists for Others' Daylen and Tami join Sof in the studio to chat about their upcoming Artists for Congo event happening across Double Whammy, Public Bar, and 235 Karangahape Road on Friday, October 24th.
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