Earlier this week, Wayne Brown shared an opinion piece offering a case for council amalgamation.
He discusses his experience in the Upper North Island Strategic Alliance, stating that discussions on local issues can be inefficient because of the number of members, and arguing that some sort of council amalgamation would be more beneficial in terms of efficiency, and providing better representation for New-Zealanders in this region.
As well, ahead of this year’s local elections, Auckland Council has posted an advertisement on LinkedIn for “passionate Aucklanders” to throw their hat in the ring for an Auckland Council position. They have said they are hoping to draw in a ‘diverse range of community leaders’ to help represent Auckland within local governance.
Producer Sara spoke with Councillor Shane Henderson this morning about both these topics.
As artificial intelligence systems including the likes of chatbots and art generators become more advanced, their use has begun to pervade the political arena.
Across the world, political leaders and parties including Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and now New Zealand’s own ACT Party, have used AI images to promote a certain political agenda or message.
In the case of the ACT Party, an artificial stock image from Adobe AI titled “happy Māori couple sitting in a living room” was featured in a social media post underneath the tagline “Kiwis are saving over $150 per week on their mortgages since ACT entered government”.
Producer Sara spoke with University of Otago Media, Film and Communications Professor, Dr Olivier Jutel about this new era of AI political content.
To begin, she asked him to discuss why ACTs recent social media post was so problematic.
For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to MP Shanan Halbert about Casey Costello’s Te Whatu Ora language directive, consultation opening on the new relationship and sexuality education draft framework, and the Treaty Principles Bill being voted down at second reading.
For International Desk, they spoke to Jean Lantz Reisz from the University of Southern California Law School about the removal of Kilmar Abrego García from the United States without due process.
Wire Producer Sara spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson for City Counselling about council amalgamation and the roles available in Auckland Council in this year’s local elections.
And she spoke to Dr Olivier Jutel from the University of Otago on the use of AI in political content, specifically ACT’s recent social media post.
Kilmar Ábrego García, a man legally in the United States, was wrongly deported to a maximum security prison in El Salvador earlier this month.
The Trump administration refuses to bring Ábrego García back to the United States despite a Supreme Court ruling stating that Trump must “facilitate” this process.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Associate Professor Jean Lantz Reisz from the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California about Ábrego García's removal from the US and what this means for the rule of law.
Kilmar Ábrego García, a man legally in the United States, was wrongly deported to a maximum security prison in El Salvador earlier this month.
The Trump administration refuses to bring Ábrego García back to the United States despite a Supreme Court ruling stating that Trump must “facilitate” this process.
Wire Host Caeden spoke to Associate Professor Jean Lantz Reisz from the Gould School of Law at the University of Southern California about Ábrego García's removal from the US and what this means for the rule of law.
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