Earlier this week the City Rail Link reached a milestone, breaking through the end of its final tunnel.
The tunnel boring machine created space for the new rail system by breaking through fifteen metres of cement per day.
The machine was Named after Dame Whina Cooper, the Maori Rights activist who led the hikoi to parliament.
For this week’s segment of City Counselling, I had a chat with Shane Henderson about the City Rail Link milestone as well as the 2022 Mayoral conservation awards.
As per usual, Tuva’a brings us our regular chat with Labour's Andrew Little.
Joe speaks to Mohamed Elkharboutly from Massey University about traditional knowledge being the key to building cyclone-resistant homes in Fiji. Joe also talks to the Chief Executive of Alzheimers NZ, Catherine Hall, about global research indicating concerns in Alzheimers post diagnostic care.
Frances brings us Greendesk! She speaks to CEO Heather Saunderson from Keep New Zealand Beautiful about Clean Up Week.
Joe also speaks to SAFE for Animals CEO Debra Ashton about new data revealing the failure of the international live export trade to protect New Zealand’s animals.
A new comprehensive review of global ocean temperature data has allowed researchers to paint a clear picture of ocean warming since the 1950s, and predict future warming scenarios.
They found that if we don’t take action, the rate of ocean warming will be four times larger than the current level by 2090, with dire consequences for all life on Earth.
However, Authors also point out that if the world succeeds in limiting global surface temperature to 2°C above pre-industrial levels, as per the Paris Agreement, the acceleration of ocean warming will stop at around 2030, highlighting the need for urgent action to mitigate climate change
Joe spoke to Dr Kevin Trenberth, from the University of Auckland, who co-authored the study on the matter
News and Editorial Director Jess Hopkins speaks to David Seymour in our weekly chat with the ACT Party.
Joe looks at the suicide rate dropping for the third year as well as having a korero about mental health. He speaks to Shaun Robinson, the Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation, and Kaaren Mathias, a Senior Lecturer from the University of Canterbury.
We have Eurovision with our European Correspondent Cameron Adams!
Joe also speaks to Rhys Jones Associate Professor Te Kupenga Hauora Maori, at the University of Auckland about Health inequities between Māori and non-Māori adults costing NZ$863.3 million per year.
Yesterday, the Annual Provision Suicide Data was released. It showed that 538 people died by suspected suicide, down from 607 the year before and 628 in the year to 2020.
This release showed the rate per 100,000 was 10.2, which is statistically lower than the average rate over the last 13 financial years. It is also the third year in row suicides have decreased.
The Mental Health Foundation says, "each of these 538 people leave behind grieving whānau and friends. We send you all our aroha and acknowledge your deep pain and loss.”
Joe spoke to the Chief Executive of The Mental Health Foundation, Shaun Robinson, on the matter.
The 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as COP27 is soon set to take place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
This is the first COP27 to take place since Russia invaded Ukraine, which has brought world tensions to their brink and seen focus on climate legislation delayed.
That being said, action on the climate crisis remains important - in Europe alone the temperature is rising at .5 degrees celsius per decade according to the World Meteorological Organisation.
To learn more about what this conference will look like, Liam spoke to Bronwyn Hayward, a political science professor at the University of Canterbury.
The bus driver shortage has seen around 1000 buses cancelled per day. Alex Bonham talks to transport campaigner Matt Lowrie of Greater Auckland blog on the impact of delays and cancellations on Aucklanders and what can be done to improve wages and safety for bus drivers.
An independent review of Immigration New Zealand’s continued practice of Dawn Raids has found that the law does need to change. The review by Senior Lawyer Mike Heron looked into out-of-hours immigration visits to communities throughout Aotearoa.
The report found that out-of-hours visits were still being used by immigration in New Zealand and targeted minority communities, particularly Pacific Islanders.
In the 1970s, dawn raids overly targeted Pacific communities with 86% of related prosecutions being of people of Pacific descent, even though Pasifika accounted for a third of overstayers. US and UK overstayers accounted for another third of total overstayers but accounted for only five per cent of prosecutions over this period.
The review found that there had been no change to immigration policy since the government’s official 2021 Dawn Raid apology.
To talk more about the findings of the review and what it means for communities across Aotearoa, producer Andre Fa’aoso spoke to Dylan Asafo, Senior Law Lecturer at the University of Auckland
The Government has just announced that they will honour an independent arbitration panel’s recommendations, regarding a pay offer agreement with the Post Primary Techer’s association.
As part of the pay offer the base salary of secondary teachers will rise 14.5 per cent.
However, the latest offer will mean cuts to other parts of the ministry of Education's budget, including deferring planned school infrastructure projects.
Nicholas spoke to PPTA acting President Chris Abercrombie to discuss the association's thoughts on this pay offer.