Last week, Te Pāti Māori MP, Takutai Kemp, passed away at the age of 50.
She had previously taken leave from Parliament last year, due to suffering from kidney disease.
Following the announcement of Kemp’s passing, the House adjourned early in the week out of respect for Kemp, her whānau, loved ones, and Te Pāti Māori.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party’s Simon Court, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host Joel spoke to him about the passing of Takutai Kemp.
They also discussed the Regulatory Standards Bill.
Last week, ACT Party Leader, David Seymour, created multiple posts on his Instagram, accusing individuals, such as academics Dr George Laking, Dame Anne Salmond, and Metiria Turei, as well as Labour’s Willie Jackson, of suffering from "Regulatory Standards Derangement Syndrome".
In response to this, Wellington Mayor, Tory Whanau, wrote to the Prime Minister, accusing Seymour of “attempting to stifle academic opinion and any dissenting opinion.” She added that Seymour’s acts breached Sections 2.53 and 2.56 of the Cabinet Manual.
Section 2.53 calls for Ministers to "conduct themselves in a manner appropriate to the office," while Section 2.56 requires ministers to act to the highest level of ethical and behavioral standards.
As well as this, they discussed the bill receiving over 130,000 public submissions, but only being allocated 30 hours for these submissions.
Recently, Meta, the company that owns Facebook, has won a copyright case against 13 authors over the unlicensed use of their work to train Meta’s Llama AI models.
The case, referred to as Kadrey v. Meta, resulting in US District Court judge Vince Chhabria, ruling that Meta did not violate copyright law.
As this case is a first of it’s kind as AI becomes more prominent across the globe, this has raised the question of the grey area between copyright infringements and the use of AI.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Joshua Yuvaraj, a Senior Law Lecturer at the University of Auckland, about this case, and what this ruling means for the future copyright claims not only internationally, but also here in Aotearoa as well.
From tomorrow onwards, the Healthy Homes Standards will come into effect.
The guidelines require landlords to meet minimum standards of heating, insulation, ventilation, among other things; a law that was signed into effect in 2019.
Despite this, many are concerned that landlords can ‘self-confirm’ they meet these standards without external scrutiny.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the Medical Director of the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation, Bob Hancox about these guidelines, and how the organisation are feeling about the standards heading into tomorrow.
Recently new legislation, The Game Animal (Herds of Special Interest) Amendment Bill, has passed its first reading in parliament which would allow deer and tahr into our New Zealand’s national parks after being reclassified as special herds.
Aoetearoa does not have any indigenous mammals, and its ecosystems are not developed for their sudden introduction into national parks. This has lead to pests such as possums and rats doing untold damage to our natural ecosystems and biodiversity.
This bill has been criticised as dangerous to our environment and native animals.
Producer Sam spoke to the Regional Conservation Manager at Forest and Bird, Nicky Snoyink, about the potential dangers of such legislation.
As electronics continue to become a more and more accepted part of everyday life, so does the need to dispose of them when they cease to function as intended. This leads to a lot of electronics being disposed of incorrectly, along with all manner of other rubbish.
While that may seem harmless on the surface, this can lead to combustion of rubbish trucks, which can be filled with all kinds of waste that can range from harmless biodegradable banana skins to highly explosive aerosol cans and very flammable lithium ion batteries.
When disposing of electronic waste, it is recommended to consult with the Auckland Council website for a full list of approved e-waste disposal locations.
Producer Sam spoke to Saeid Baroutian, Professor of Chemical & Materials Engineering at the University of Auckland at the University of Auckland about an experiment they carried out in conjunction with Auckland Council about the dangers posed by electrical fires in rubbish trucks.
Professor Emeritus Peter Lineham phones in to catch us up on the recent Destiny's Church march, their flag-burning activities and also the large statue of Guru Rinpoche set to be installed in the Waiwera Valley.
First up is Stage Direction with Alice Canton and members of the cast of Saint Joan which you can catch at Q Theatre later in the month. Peter Lineham phones in for That's The Spirit to discuss Brian Tamaki's march and flag-burning. Later Matthew is joined by members of the Medena Ensemble, the only Bulgarian Folk Choir in Aotearoa, to discuss their upcoming trip to a folk festival in Bulgaria and to perform two pieces live-and-direct from the 95bFM studio.
Matthew is joined by members of the Medena Ensemble, the only Bulgarian Folk Choir in Aotearoa, to discuss their upcoming trip to a folk festival in Bulgaria and to perform two pieces live-and-direct from the 95bFM studio.
Alice Canton speaks to Dylan and Joseph, cast members of Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan. You can catch the Flyleaf Theatre Company's staging of the play, which follows on the canonization of Joan of Arc, at Q Theatre later in the month.
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