From February 2026, GP’s and nurse practitioners in Aotearoa will be able to start medical treatments, for adults with ADHD.
It’s a move that could drastically reduce long wait times, while improving access to care. Mental health experts, say the change is a big step forward for adults in New Zealand, who are particularly vulnerable to falling through administration gaps.
Anna Elders, is a mental health nurse practitioner and a specialist in ADHD. Producer Max spoke with Anna to talk about what the change means, and why it could change the way primary care supports mental health, in Aotearoa.
Newly released data from StatsNZ, taken between 2019 and 2024, has revealed a growing crisis. Almost half of New Zealand’s monitored groundwater sites have shown contamination levels that exceed national health standards. The findings raise several concerns about the safety of New Zealand’s drinking water, particularly in rural communities.
StatsNZ's data shows particularly high levels of both, E. coli and Nitrate, both have been linked to serious health risks, with Nitrate contamination being linked to certain cancers and preterm births.
This comes just weeks after the government proposed changes that would further roll back freshwater protections.
To talk about the latest StatsNZ report, Producer Max spoke to Will Appelbe, a freshwater campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, to discuss what these figures mean and why he believes the government is putting public health at risk.
For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party, Oto spoke with MP Hūhana Lyndon about how the government's $200 million dollar gas exploration investment fund breaches the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability, Shane Jones drafting a member's bill forcing Ngāpuhi into a single commercial settlement and The Greens call to the government to condemn the recent US strikes on Iran.
He spoke to retired Politics and International Relations professor at the University of Auckland Stephen Hoadley for a follow up conversation about the Iranian strikes and their potential impacts on oil prices
And he spoke to Professor of Maori Studies at the University of Auckland Margaret Mutu for another follow up conversation about Shane Jones’s Ngāpuhi settlement bill.
Max spoke with Anna Elders, a Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, to discuss how GP’s and nurse practitioners will be able to start medical treatment for adults with ADHD.
And he spoke to Will Appelbe, a Freshwater Campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, to discuss the latest groundwater data published by StatsNZ.
Recently the Green Party commissioned independent legal advice to look into the government’s $200 million investment in new gas fields that was carried out last month and found out that the investment was in breach of the Agreement on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainability (ACCTS).
NZ First MP Shane Jones recently announced that he’d be drafting a member's bill to force Ngāpuhi into a single commercial settlement, which would prevent hapū from negotiating separate commercial redresses and remove any reference to hapū sovereignty from the settlement terms.
And the Green party recently issued a call to the New Zealand government to condemn the US strikes on Iranian Nuclear facilities, almost a week after Iran and Israel had both been trading missile strikes between each other.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke with MP Hūhana Lyndon to get the party’s take on all of these issues
Earlier this week, the United States struck three of Iran’s nuclear sites, marking the first time that the United States had directly struck Iranian soil. Although a ceasefire between Israel and Iran was recently achieved, the monumental change in the US's approach to the fighting between Iran and Israel, leading to speculations about regional tensions that almost instantaneously affected fuel prices and the stock market.
Oto spoke with Stephen Hoadley, a retired associate professor from the University of Auckland about the US strikes on Iran and their potential impacts on fuel prices and the global economy.
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