The Police have announced a new phased approach to attending lesser mental health-related callouts, that are not of high risk or are related to crime, with the next phase aimed at handing over these responsibilities to health staff.
The first phase is beginning this month, with the fourth and final phase set to begin from July to September 2025.
Police Commissioner, Andrew Coster, in a statement, sez Police received one mental health callout every seven minutes, taking up half a million hours of Police frontline time per year, of which of these callouts, only 11% are given a priority response.
News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Associate Professor in the School of Health at the University of Waikato, Sarah Gordon, about what this phased approach will look like heading forward.
ACT MP Simon Court has recently introduced a members bill looking to scrap ‘alcohol licensing trust monopolies’ which remain in Gore, Invercargill and West Auckland.
This would change the system in these areas in which the licensing trusts decide where alcohol can be sold, resulting in no alcohol at supermarkets and very few bars. The bill has received a lot of response, with trusts in the South calling it an ‘Auckland-centric’ view and undemocratic.
For their weekly catch-up Producer Evie spoke to Court about the bill and the responses to it.
They also talk about Mike King and the government funding for his mental health initiative ‘Gumboot friday’, following controversial comments made by King.
In a Newstalk ZB interview last week King claimed that ‘alcohol wasn’t a problem for people with mental health issues’ instead that it was a ‘solution to these issues.’
Now the Labour party is calling for the government to suspend funding for the $24 million gumboot friday initiative.
And finally they talk about Police being pulled back from mental health callouts, which began at the start of this month. The move has left health workers worried about their safety and how to deal with violence in the workplace.
For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party's Simon Court, producer Evie spoke to Simon about his members bill to change alcohol laws in West Auckland, Mike King’s controversial comments surrounding alcohol and mental health and the government’s funding of King’s Gumboot Friday initiative, as well as police pulling back from mental health call outs.
News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Senior Lecturer in the Department of Population Health at the University of Otago, Dr Rose Crossin, about a briefing she co-authored regarding the correlation between suicide and alcohol, following controversial statements made by I Am Hope and Gumboot Friday campaigner, Mike King, in which he claimed alcohol is a solution for people with mental health problems.
They also spoke to Associate Professor in the School of Health at the University of Waikato, Sarah Gordon, about the police’s phased approach to attending fewer related mental health callouts that are not correlated with a level of high risk or crime.
And Evie spoke to climate scientist and honorary academic at the University of Auckland, Kevin Trenberth about calls for world leaders to scrap net zero targets that look to offset emissions, and instead endeavour to remove all emissions in a ‘real zero’ initiative.
Around the world countries are tackling climate change with net zero targets. This involves offsetting carbon emissions through other initiatives such as planting trees or using technology that pulls carbon dioxide out of the air.
Despite the drive to meet these targets, carbon in the atmosphere is continuing to rise, and even with the current efforts to offset them, they aren’t predicted to drop.
Climate scientist and honorary academic at the University of Auckland, Kevin Trenberth says that world leaders should scrap these net zero targets and instead focus on ‘real zero’, eliminating fossil fuels entirely.
Producer Evie spoke to Trenberth about what the ‘real zero’ initiative involves, how it differs from net zero, and how realistic it is for it to be adopted both in Aotearoa and globally.
Blind Mango Chutney takes you on a journey around the jazz world, from Ramsey Lewis's take on South American classic 'Concerto de Aranjuez,' through the Head Hunters' brand of jazz-funk, to a Jessica Williams study of the Monk/Cootie Williams standard 'Round Midnight.' Top stuff as always.
Playlist
The Ramsey Lewis Trio - Concirto De Aranjuez
Harold Land Quintet - Speak Low
John McLauglin - Radio Activity
Headhunters - Majic
The Headhunters - Here And Now
Callum Allardice - Solitude
Dr Tree - Wildlife
After 'Ours - Long Road
The Ramsey Lewis Trio - Please Send Me Someone To Love
Slowdeck takes over the show for the first hour, and there are notable anniversaries for The Blackbyrds, George Duke, Kraftwerk, Curtis Mayfield, Ohio Players, Digable Planets, Artifacts, Wham!, Slave, Brand Nubian and Pete Rock & CL Smooth! As well as newly released material from Greentea Peng, Homeboy Sandman, Rahaan, Roland Haynes Jr, Edward Fisher, and classics from the likes of Gary Bartz, Twilight, Rance Allen, Vesta Williams and on and on. Can you dig it?
Playlist
Slowdeck takes over the show for the first hour, and there are notable anniversaries for The Blackbyrds, George Duke, Kraftwerk, Curtis Mayfield, Ohio Players, Digable Planets, Artifacts, Wham!, Slave, Brand Nubian and Pete Rock & CL Smooth! Can you dig it?
groundsound - We had a quility time dubbing these drums
95bFM 
