Auckland city council’s decision to sell a percentage of their shares in the Auckland Airport has placed a fresh spotlight on other Council owned assets.
No plans have been announced yet, but a review into Auckland’s ports could lead to the potential sale and privatisation of the currently council owned ports..
Nicholas spoke to Craig Harrison, The National Secretary of The Maritime Union of New Zealand, about the potential pitfalls of selling the ports of Auckland.
The results of a new survey out of Massey University has shown that there’s been a 18.2% decrease in the number of Kiwis considering quitting their jobs since November 2021. This survey is a part of Professor Jarrod Haar’s Wellbeing at Work research.
Nicholas spoke to Professor Haar about what the survey results mean, including possible measures businesses need to take to ensure staff
Concerns have been raised that Aotearoa’s social welfare system has problematic aspects that contribute to hardship, such as the continuation of repayable grants that are taken from people’s benefit, which advocates say are already too low.
Olivia spoke to Auckland Law School’s Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Equity, Hanna Wilberg, about the issues with our current system and where people can go for help.
The Labour Party announced their tax policy over the weekend. It included policies like dropping GST off fruits and vegetables and changes to Working for Families.
The Policy has received some support, but several organisations advocating for the eradication of poverty and tax reform say it does not go far enough to address the wealth gap in Aotearoa.
Caeden spoke about this with Glen Barclay, Chair of Tax Justice Aotearoa and the Better Taxes for a Better Future campaign which is a coalition of 20 organisations aiming to work for better taxes to grow revenue and have a fairer tax system.
They started by asking Glen if Labour’s announcement is fair tax policy.
Caeden also spoke to economist Susan St John for the Child Poverty Action Group’s position on the announcement. As they have been quite critical of it, they started by asking what the issues were.
BNZ’s latest research into New Zealand’s scam savviness has shown that Nine out of Ten Kiwi’s have been targeted by scams.
This number is up 13% on last year, but fortunately the research also found that only one out of ten Kiwi’s have actually fallen victim to a scam.
BNZ’s research coincides with the beginning of their Scam Savvy Week, in which the bank raises awareness around scams as well educating the public on tips and tricks to avoid being duped.
Nicholas spoke to Ashley Kai Fong, the head of BNZ’s Financial Crime unit, about tell-tale signs of common scams as well as the upcoming resources provided during Scam Savvy Week.
Last week, one of Aotearoa’s most commonly used political online tools, Vote Compass, launched for 2023. The tool has been used for elections in New Zealand since 2014, and is the product of a collaboration between TVNZ, An academic advisory panel of New Zealand political scientists, and the data science company Vox Pop Labs.
The compass asks a series of questions about a person’s personal stance on topical issues, and then aligns their views on the spectrum of political parties and their policy.
Rosetta spoke to Danny Osborne, associate professor at the school of psychology at the University of Auckland, and member of the academic advisory panel for vote compass, about his involvement with the project.
Migrant exploitation has been a prominent issue for the last few of months with several protests by community groups that lead to labour launching an immigration review.
Aotearoa Tongan Response group is one of the community groups involved in this movement, advocating for the Pasifika community in particular. Rawan spoke with the group’s organiser and community leader, Manase Lua.
They spoke about the state of migrant exploitation, especially his experience with Pasifika migrant workers. I also asked about his thoughts on both National and Labour’s response to this issue and what policies and actions need to be taken.
Steven Giersig is an associate professor of free radical biochemistry at the University of Cantebury, and his research in studying artery plaque to greater understand heart attacks and strokes has just been awarded a Heart Research Grant. Rosetta spoke to him about his research and what his findings could mean for New Zealanders with vascular disease and preventative care.
For our bi-weekly segment of Get Action, where we speak to petitioners from Action Station about their causes, Rosetta spoke to Erin Thomas, director and change maker at the International Center for Advocates Against Discrimination, or ICAAD. ICAAD has been working to bring awareness and justice to the Banaban people residing in Rabi, Fiji, as a result of displacement due to phosphate mining of Banaban in the mid 20th century.
Rosetta spoke to Erin about ICAAD’s recently launched petition to the New Zealand ministry of Foreign affairs and trade ‘Protecting the to life with dignity of the Banaban community’