New Zealandâs family violence act officially took effect on the 1st of July 2019. The act reformed previous legislation released in 2018 to update the definition of family violence and include references to controlling and coercive behaviour.
However, while certain coercive and controlling behaviours in abusive relationships are criminalised and covered by New Zealand law, coercive control itself is not illegal, with family courts in Aotearoa often failing to prosecute those responsible for coercion and non-physical forms of abuse in family violence situations.
Oto spoke to Carrie Leonetti, associate professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, to discuss how Family courts in Aotearoa often fail to properly address coercive and controlling behaviours.
On the 29th of July this year, three children were killed in a mass stabbing incident in the town of Southport in the United Kingdom. Following the killings, riots broke out across the United Kingdom, after the attacker was falsely identified as a Muslim refugee on social media platforms such as Facebook and X, formerly twitter.
The riots have been lead by members of Far-Right British organisations such as the English Defence League, who have targeted Mosques, Muslim owned businesses and members of the Muslim community.
Oto spoke to Dr Neal Curtis, a professor of media and political theory in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Auckland, to discuss the cause of the UK riots and the rise of the British far right.
Following the 2019 terrorist attacks on a number of Mosques in Christchurch that left 51 worshippers killed, A Royal Commission of Inquiry was launched to measure agencies responses to the attack, steps needed to prevent further attacks in the future and ways to safeguard marginalised communities in Aotearoa.
The initial inquiry was released on the 8th of December in 2020 and made 44 recommendations based on its findings.
However, the government recently announced it had concluded its response to the inquiry and that it would dismiss 8 of its recommendations, particularly ones related to firearm law amendments and crackdowns on hate speech.
For their weekly catch up, Oto spoke to Green Party MP Ricardo Menendez-March about the partyâs take on the decision to dismiss 8 of the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch terrorist attacks.
They also spoke about the impact of funding cuts to Oranga Tamariki on frontline services, as well as the open letter to the Green party of Germany.
Following the governmentâs decision to halve the excise tax from tobacco products, lung and vaping research expert Kelly Burrowes and her team have been investigating the effects of vaping on the body. She will be heading to Wellington to present her findings today on the effects on airflow, blood flow and lung function. Sasha spoke to Kelly Burrowes from the University of Auckland on her findings to prevent a âpotential vape epidemicâ
The mantra of the current government is to âget the country back on trackâ, but Honorary Associate professor Avril Bell says the current government is looking at safeguarding Pakeha privilege at the expense of Maori. The removal of section 7aa, repealing the Maori Health Authority are some of the actions the government had taken which Avril claims are exclusively âanti-Maoriâ. Sasha spoke to Avril Bell from the University of Auckland about why whatâs good for Maori is good for everyone.
For the first ever episode of WALAO! Oto and Jaycee interviewed local TÄmaki Makaurau indie rock outift Backshotz for a chat about their musical process and asian representation in the music scene here in Aotearoa.
They also had a chat about Budot music in the Philippines and it's spread through TikTok.
And, of course, they played 2 hours of the best independent music from Southeast-Asia and the diaspora abroad.
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