Earlier this week, defence Minister Judith Collins announced that $2 billion would be set aside in this year’s budget to replace the Defence Force’s maritime helicopters.
This would be outside the additional $12 billion dollars that the government will be investing in the Defence Capability plan and would include another separate $1 Billion investment in the defence force over the next four years.
In that same week, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith recently announced that Cabinet had reinstated a total ban on prisoners voting in general elections, overturning laws under the previous Labour government allowing prisoners serving less than three years to vote.
And Green Party MP Steve Abel recently added The Animal Products (Closing the Welfare Gap) Amendment Bill to the biscuit tin, which would ensure that imported products in New Zealand met our animal welfare standards.
For our weekly catchup with the Green Party, Oto spoke to Greens MP Ricardo Menendez-March to discuss all of these issues.
Winter is coming, and so is a projected increase in respiratory illnesses and COVID cases. Schools are particularly notorious breeding grounds for such diseases with children being more susceptible to respiratory illnesses.
Ultimately, this results in teachers also being subject to COVID and respiratory illnesses at a higher rate than other professions, and an increased number of teachers leaving the profession due to long COVID symptoms is worsening Aotearoa’s already severe teacher shortage.
For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Tara Forde from Aotearoa Covid Action, to discuss a petition of hers calling for the government to prevent the spread of COVID in our schools by making improvements to school air quality and improving accessibility to Booster Vaccines and Rapid Antigen Tests.
If you'd like to sign this petition, you can find it here:
Just yesterday, Workplace Minister Brooke van Velden announced a series of radical changes to New Zealand’s Pay Equity Legislation.
The changes would increase the pay equity claims of gender-discrimination from 60-70% and adjust the comparators to make sure claims met standards that Brooke Van Velden has described as “Genuine” and Sustainable for employers.
This would cause all 33 current pending claims representing thousands of workers in the care industry and health sector to be dropped.
Subsequently, a number of unions and Women’s groups have condemned the government’s changes and have vowed to protest outside parliament in opposition to them.
Oto spoke to Rachel Mackintosh, Assistant National Secretary for E tū Union, to discuss Brooke Van Velden’s changes to Pay Equity Laws and how they will impact Women Workers
For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March, Oto spoke to him about The $2 billion boost for naval helicopters, the voting ban for prisoners and the party’s new members bill to ensure that imported products meet animal welfare regulations.
For this week’s Get Action! He spoke to Tara Forde from Aotearoa Covid Action to discuss a petition of hers calling for improvements to the air quality in schools.
And he spoke to Rachel Mackintosh from E Tu Union to discuss Brooke Van Velden’s changes to pay equity claims
Max spoke to National Co-chair of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, John Minto, about the attack on the ‘Conscience’, a Freedom Flotilla boat which was loaded with life-saving humanitarian aid for Gaza, before being disabled off the coast of Malta.
And he spoke to Ronan Payinda, a student at the University of Auckland, who led a study which looked into the location and frequency of Vape stores, around schools in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Jonny interviews Judith Collins about the National Party's proposed changes to the Fair Pay Agreements legislation which the government has described as having the potential to save 'billions'.
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