Last week, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston announced plans to double the tourism value by 2034, with increased funding to support the country in reaching this goal. The funding is primarily targeted at increasing the marketing of New Zealand tourism overseas, which has been met with mixed reactions from tourism operators in Aotearoa, many of whom have been struggling with existing tourist numbers.
Also this past week, the New Zealand government imposed sanctions on two Israeli ministers for ‘inciting extremist violence’ against Palestinians. While the move has received cross-party support, opposition parties such as the Greens and Te Pāti Māori have criticised the government for not taking further action against Israel.
In our weekly catchup with National's Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about each of these issues, beginning with the new tourism funding.
Oto played a variety of experimental Bumiputera Hip-Hop and Psych-Rock while Jaycee was recovering from a flu he contracted from Oto the week before.
Oto also chatted with Aliya, a former member of the NiceGoblins collective here in Tāmaki Makaurau currently working as an independent filmmaker in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Kelly spoke with Sandra Murray of the New Zealand Product Stewardship Council, about China's recently proposed ban on certain imported plastics. They discuss what implications this will have on New Zealand's recycling industry and our environmental future.
Animal advocacy group SAFE has launched a new campaign raising awareness of bobby calf deaths in the dairy industry. Mack hears from spokesperson Mandy Carter about the research behind it.
Environmental lobby group Forest and Bird have recently revealed that a large portion of skippers on commercial fishing boats have been avoiding the use of Ministry of Primary Industries observers. Skippers are under legal obligation to have a MPI observer on their vessel upon request with the purpose of checking that environmental standards are being withheld. Producer Damian Rowe spoke to Forest and Bird CE, Kevin Hague firstly asking what this information from MPI revealed.
Police have been accused of acting as "private security" during the defence industry expo in Wellington last year where 15 protests were arrested . Declassified documents show that police were directed to "undertake investigation into any complaints against protesters by delegation members". Human rights lawyer Michael Bott says this shows bias and a lack of neutrality. Reuben McLaren spoke to Bott to discuss the issue.
This week, Laura Kvigstad chats to Dame Catherine Healy, national coordinator for New Zealand Prostitute collective about how we as a society can better serve those currently employed in this industry.
Chris Fowlie from NORML NZ chats about Helen Clarkes approach to drug policy, in which drugs are decriminalised and state-regulated, and developing a cannabis industry in NZ for international export markets.
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