Last week Environment Minister David Parker agreed that Auckland Council could have more time to change its planning rules to allow greater intensification but he instructed the council that they had to reduce the amount of impermeable spaces like concrete driveways and plan for a sponge city. Alex Bonham talked to landscape architect Matthew Bradbury, an Associate Professor at Unitect and author of the book Water City what a sponge city is and what it might look like.
While the rest of the country closes shop over the holiday season, mental health helplines remain open - including on public holidays. 0800 What's Up, a helpline and chat service for rangatahi, are keeping their phone lines running to meet not only existing needs, but also to address the additional distress the holiday season can bring for some.
Hanna spoke to Ban, What's Up's Team Leader, about the services they provide, why they are continuing to provide help over the holidays, and how the crisis in mental healthcare exerts pressure on helplines.
Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission has released a statement calling for the respect and dignity of all to be upheld when discussing important issues in Aotearoa, particularly in regards to the election. The statement condemns the use of race-baiting, or using race as a political football, and urges New Zealanders to look out for our most vulnerable people at this time.
Rosetta spoke to Saunomali'i Karanina Sumeo, Acting Race Relations Commissioner at Te Kāhui Tika Tangata about the statement, and what more needs to be done to hold individuals accountable for race baiting and spreading harmful rhetoric.
For Transgender Awareness Week, Joel spoke to Artie Ho, who is helping to run a Trans Community Day at the Ellen Melville Centre on Saturday, the 26th of November, as well as playing music from a variety of different trans masc, femme, and non-binary artists.
As well as this, Joel spoke to RuPauls Drag Race Down Under season 4 contestant, Olivia Dreams, starting off a new segment of the show, where Joel will speak to every drag queen on the show as the season progresses!
The City Centre Bus Plan to improve transport within the city centre was released this week. Conor spoke to Pete Moth, Service Network Development Managert, and Matt Lowrie, Editor of Greater Auckland on the plans. They discussed what the changes to the bus system were going to be, the barriers that are in place to make the changes, and the time scale of such a development.
As an essential service, the Auckland City Mission will continue to operate during the current level four lockdown. But restrictions have change how the mission provides services, including takeaway bags, social distancing, and a pop-up vaccination centre.
Auckland City Mission's Fundraising and Reputation Manager Deb Ward joined Louis to chat about how lockdown has impacted the mission and the people they support.
Earlier today Producer Alex spoke with Auckland City Mission Manutaki Helen Robinson about how the ongoing Omicron outbreak and red light setting are impacting the homeless. Auckland City Mission have a range of services that cater to vulnerable, unhoused people in Auckland and the pandemic has led to them adapting their approach so that workers, volunteers and people seeking their services can remain safe.
A partnership between Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha (University of Canterbury) and Christchurch City Council is leading the world in understanding and adapting to risk from climate change.
The research is developing methodology and guidance for councils to assess their risk. The team of researchers, which includes experts from NIWA, Resilient Organisations, and Urban Intelligence, is working with the Christchurch City Council as it creates its coastal hazards adaptation plan.
Joe speaks with Dr Tom Logan, a Civil Systems Engineering lecturer at the University of Canterbury, on the matter.
Wellington city councillor, Nikau wi neera, has been involved with the Palestinian cause even before the start of the current conflict.
Not only has he been a speaker at more recent Palestine Solidarity marches he also helped lead the start of a sister city partnership with Ramallah, a city in Palestine region.
Rawan spoke to him this morning about his involvement with Pro Palestine marches and the significance of indigenous support from Aotearoa, from both iwi and political parties.
They then discussed the sister city partnership with Ramallah, looking at how it started and how the current conflict will impact the process.
A new term for Tāmaki Makaurau’s city council is rolling out amidst sizeable public transport changes for the city. Namely, the restructuring of responsibility that transfers primary policy and planning powers to council and leaves transport delivery responsibilities to Auckland Transport.
It has also been announced that 4162 of the approximately 10,000 special votes in the recent Auckland election were deemed invalid due to outdated enrolment details, or missing and incorrect declarations on voting forms.
Producer Jasmine spoke to Councillor Fairey about her thoughts on the future of Auckland’s transport systems and policy in the coming years, and her concerns around disenfranchisement of local democracy in light of the large number of discounted votes.
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