Andrew Becroft, Children's Commissioner, is officially recommending a total transformation of the current care and protection system for pēpi Māori after decades of calls for change to the system. Aneeka speak to Glenis Philip-Barbara, assistant Māori Commissioner, about issues facing pēpi Māori in state care and what changes we need to start seeing.
Today on the Tuesday Wire, Lyric Waiwiri-Smith speaks to Sandra Murray from Make It Legal NZ about a new poll regarding the cannabis referendum. The poll shows an overwhelming 69 percent of respondents preferred legalisation or decriminalisation over total criminalisation of cannabis.
Jemima Huston talks to Neill Ballantyne, an organiser of Diverse Church New Zealand's Awaken 2021 Conference, about the event and why it creates a safe space for queer Christians to connect.
Jade Lewis looks into the attitudes surrounding the Covid-19 vaccination at universities in the United States. She speaks to a recently vaccinated residential advisor, Daniel Sprague, from Duke University as well as Duke University’s Associate Professor of Medicine and Covid-19 Response Director Dr. Cameron Robert Wolfe.
Following the release of the 2021 Budget, Dr Mark Harvey, a Senior Lecturer in Dance Studies, has raised concerns that the arts are not a priority.
Harvey says despite the wider arts sector accounting for up to 7% of the total workforce, it receives a disproportionately small proportion of overall government spending.
Jessica Hopkins interviewed Harvey about why funding the arts sector is economically valuable, but is also essential to our mental health and wellbeing.
Felix turns a journalistic eye to the world's most mysterious stories. This week, he investigates The Dancing Plague of 1518, an event that got a whole town on their feet... before they couldn't get back down.
Robert Bartholomew from UoA's Psychology Department joins him on his very serious, totally real investigation.
The Climate Change Commission has recommended sweeping changes to cut down emissions from transport, which totalled about 47 per cent of New Zealand's carbon emissions.
It wants petrol and diesel car imports to be fully banned no later than 2035, and to have ships electrified after 2025 and short-haul routes operated by electric planes by 2030.
The roadmap also targeted to have more cars run by a mix of petrol and biofuel.
The Motor Industry Association, which represents importers and distributors of new vehicles, said they 'cautiously welcome' the report.
Its chief executive David Crawford spoke to Justin Wong.
Yesterday, Fiji recorded over six hundred new coronavirus cases. This brings their total active cases to over five thousand. Many have criticised the government's response, claiming they have failed to properly control the spread.
Producer Louis talked with the University of Canterbury's Dr Steven Ratuva about the current situation in Fiji as cases escalate.
The Abel Tasman National Park is currently coming alive to the sound of young kākā following a successful breeding season for the park’s resident birds. Collaborators on the breeding programme including Project Janszoon, DOC and the Abel Tasman Birdsong Trust are all celebrating the successful fledging of eight chicks from three nests in the Bark Bay and Torrent Bay areas.
In 2015, Kākā were virtually extinct in the park with only a few wild male birds surviving there. Since then a total of 35 captive-bred birds have been released, with the last release happening in 2019. Most of these birds came from captive South Island kaka but about a third were raised from eggs or chicks collected from Nelson Lakes and Kahurangi National Parks. This year’s chicks were all banded and fitted with a transmitter before they left their nests. They are particularly vulnerable in the period between leaving the nest and learning to fly, which can take up to a week, but most are now competent flyers and adding their tunes to the chorus of the park.
This week on the Wire, Frances speaks with ornithologist Ron Moorhouse and Project Janszoon’s Project Director Bruce Vander Lee about the much loved birds and conservation in the area.
Mondays dishes out a hectic storm which neither Rachel nor Producer Zoë can stop going on about for the full three hours, Fashun, some Loose Reads, and some Red Dead Redemption. Whakarongo mai!
New Zealand has just announced another package of $13million NZD for Ukraine, bringing our total of aid spending to $30million NZD. It’s also the first time we provide what’s called lethal aid. Producer Stella Huggins spoke with Geoffrey Miller, an expert on Ukraine and an international analyst with the Democracy Project, about the package.