This Wednesday a report of the Resource Management Act (RMA), New Directions for Resource Management in New Zealand, was welcome by the government. This was commissioned by the Environment Minister, David Parker, with the recommendation being to completely scrap the RMA and replace it with two new pieces of legislation, a Natural and Built Environments Act and a Strategic Planning Act. In an effort to understand more about the RMA, producer James Tapp talks to Minister Parker live on air about the RMA and its future.
Yesterday, former Broadcasting Minister and outgoing Labour MP Clare Curran said the nature of reporting in Aotearoa was destructive. She said there is a toxic culture at Parliament, that is systemic and not the fault of anyone in particular. Mary-Margaret wanted to find out how accountability should be dealt with if issues are systemic, in the context of a Westminster model of governance that encourages combative politics and combative political media. She spoke to Associate Professor Neal Curtis about how complex this issue is, and if we are discussing the root of the problem accurately.
Wednesday’s report on the Resource Management Act, called New Directions for Resource Management in New Zealand, was welcomed by the government. It was commissioned by Environment Minister David Parker, and it recommended completely scrapping the RMA and replacing it with two new pieces of legislation: the Natural and Built Environments Act and the Strategic Planning Act. James Tapp spoke to National’s environment spokesperson Scott Simpson, after having interviewed Minister Parker too.
Last week the government announced that a series of products are to be placed on a priority list as part of the waste minimization act, which includes e-waste, which Hannah covered yesterday, as well as a range of plastics. By doing so, levvys will be put in place and requirements to create more integration into the circular economy. The circular economy is an idea which revolves around the fact that many of the products do not go in a full circular fashion as materials do in nature, instead ending up in places such as landfills. While the intention is positive, there is potential for unintended consequences as voiced by the plastic industry. To understand more of their concerns, James talks to Rachel Barker, the CEO of Plastics NZ, about what this will mean for the future.
Today on the Wire with Zoë:
Zoë has her weekly chat with Green Party co-leader James Shaw regarding new environmental projects and an update on the Green School controversy.
95bFM's Election Coverage is back, and this week's theme is housing.
Producer Aneeka Moheed interviews the National Council of Women in New Zealand's Lisa Lawrence on statistics showing 90.91% of people who lost their job in New Zealand due to Covid 19 were women.
Zoë Larsen Cumming interviews natural language processor and Artificial Intelligence programmer Alistair Landels on conversational interactions with bots and AI.
Aneeka Moheed interviews Gina Dellabarca from the Show Me Short's Film Festival on how it plan to operate due to Covid 19 changes.
This week Zoë Larsen Cumming has a pretty broad chat with the Green Party co-leader James Shaw on the dairy industry, New Zealand’s waterways and their Farming For Future Plan. They also chat about the lack of Māori issues brought up in the first leaders debate, and why we only have debates with two party leaders when we have an MMP system. They also touch on how the world failed to meet a single target to stop the destruction of nature and why climate change is presented as a partisan issue. Big stuff! Check it out.
Zoë Larsen Cumming has her weekly chat with the Green Party co-leader James Shaw on the dairy industry, our water ways, the Farming for Future plan, debates under MMP, and international climate agreements.
Producer Aneeka Moheed interview Kevin Hackwell, chief conservation advisor for Forest&Bird, about the country's wallaby problem.
Then, Zoë interviews the unofficial leader of Save The Canal Road Trees, Steve Abel, on the 80 day long protest to save native trees from being cut down in Avondale.
Finally, Aneeka brings a report on the Jobs for Nature Programme.
In Australia last week, the New South Wales government condemned a Sydney primary school whose students made Black Lives Matter and anti police violence posters for their classrooms. NSW government officials have said that any teachers found politicising their classrooms will face disciplinary action and a full review will be made into the incident.
The NSW Minister for Education and Early Childhood Learning says that "politics has no place in the classroom". 95bFM News and Editorial Director Jemima Huston questioned this sentiment and set out to explore where Aotearoa stands on the inclusion of political discourse in education.
Jemima begins by explaining what happened in New South Wales last week. She speaks to Jason Wong, the President of the Lindfield Learning Village Parents & Citizens Association, who describes the 'political' task set for the students and the following backlash by the NSW government and the media.
Jemima then goes on to ask New Zealand education experts whether politics has a place in New Zealand classrooms. She speaks to Victoria University of Wellington Senior Lecturer in Education Bronwyn Wood, NZEI Te Riu Roa President Liam Rutherford and the New Zealand Principals Federation. They discuss the inherently political nature of the classroom, dealing with teachers' biases, and the relevance of the NSW story stemming from a reflection exercise on recent indigenous histories.
Māori, farmers and other landowners in the Far North have united against council mapping of Significant Natural Areas (SNAs). Local Māori have complained that 43% of SNAs are Māori land and have criticised the local council for an attempted land grab. Ayana spoke to journalist and ex-BFM newsteamer Tuwhenuaroa Natanahira about the protests.