Join Milly and Tuva'a for one interesting Tuesday, with some great tracks old and new! Featuring Ready Steady Learn with , thanks to the University of Auckland!
The New Zealand Nurses organisation has rejected the District Health Board’s latest pay offer, which was increased by 15%. After 9 years of underfunding in the health area, the nurses have reached a breaking point. With poor work conditions, low staffing and high pressure, the nurses are demanding the District Health Board do something about this issue. The New Zealand Nurses organisation are using this opportunity to be loud and clear with the changes they expect in the system, after being let down for many years. This issue is not about nurses wanting more money, but about getting more appreciation and respect for their line of work.
A social media post by a nurse which commented on this issue being painted solely about pay by mainstream media reminded people the negotiations are more than that. Nurses are calling for safer staffing and recognition of more nurses being needed in wards. The offer the District Health Board proposed equated to approximately 1 to 2 extra nurses for each across New Zealand. This would not be sufficient enough to cover staffing issues or safely care for patients. The social media post also mentioned that new graduate nurses are feeling unprepared and ill supported by the system.
New Zealand Nurses Organisation Industrial Services Manager, Cee Payne spoke a little bit more about this, as did Richard Wagstaff, President of the Council of Trade Unions who has been supporting the nurses movement.
TW: This involves discussion of sexual violence, including rape, and the criminal court process that follows when someone reports an assault.
In the latest Sunday Star Times, Allison Mau has conducted an investigation into the criminal court process of sexual violence cases. Mau spoke to a number of different people in this field to see what people thought of the current process. A number of people believe it is not only ineffective resulting in an extremely low number of convictions comparable to the number of assaults, but it is also spoken of as a process that re-traumatizes the victim. One of the issues that was raised is the judgment by jury, and the removal of a jury in these cases was floated as a solution.
Frances Joychild is a Queen’s Counsel Barrister in Auckland and has worked on human rights law for the past 33 years. Some of the areas she focuses on are refugee work, work for beneficiaries or housing corporation tenants, and sexual harassment and sexual violence. Joychild does not do criminal prosecution, but civil cases. This focuses on people who do not want to go through the criminal courts but want to seek justice through different methods. This could look like mediation between the accused and the victim and is still a legal process but does not end up in a criminal conviction. Instead, it looks like recompensation in whatever form is decided. Lillian Hanly spoke to Frances to find out more about these possibilities, what a civil legal process actually looks like, and why she prefers this method.
Craft Homes is a is a company committed to building sustainable homes that are conscious of the environment as well as people’s health. Toby Tilsey is the director and believes in better quality, and more energy efficient homes. Lillian Hanly spoke with him about the issues they are hoping to combat with these types of homes.
In the interview, Toby mentions he doesn't know the financial cost for New Zealand from Asthma so Lillian looked up some of the stats. These figures are available on the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ website. One of the key things to know is that asthma and respiratory diseases are two of the leading causes of sickness and death in New Zealand. Over 597,000 people take medication for asthma − it affects one in eight adults and one in seven children (Source: New Zealand Health Survey). Large numbers of children are still being admitted to hospital with asthma, there were 3,050 admissions in 2017, and some of these will have had a potentially life-threatening attack (Barnard & Zhang, 2018). 77 people die from asthma each year, that's just over 1 person per week. By far the highest number of people being admitted to hospital with asthma are Māori, Pasifika peoples and people living in the most deprived areas. The cost of asthma to the nation is over $1 billion per year (Barnard & Zhang, 2018).
The Auckland Women’s Centre is an organisation working in the area of primary prevention for sexual assault, as well as family and sexual violence. This means community education and support groups to enhance women’s self esteem, coordinating a group of preventing violence agencies, and making submissions to government. Recently, the Family Violence laws have been reformed, something that Green Party MP Jan Logie, the Under-Secretary to the Minister of Justice for domestic and sexual violence issues has been working on for a while. The law expands the definition of family violence to include coercive and controlling behaviour, but proving that could be challenging. Under the wider definition, police will consider more factors when issuing a protection order such as the abuse of pets, withholding care and dowry abuse. Sherry Zhang spoke with Auckland Women’s Centre Manager Leonie Morris about the changes.
CW: The interview discusses sexual and family violence and assault, as well as court processes that are known to re-traumatise survivors of such violence. And if you or anyone you know needs to speak to someone regarding sexual or domestic violence, you can call HELP which is a 24/7 helpline on 09 623 1700 or Safe To Talk, also a 24/7 helpline on 0800 044 334, or Shine between 9am and 11pm 7 days a week on 0508 744 633.
Sam Denne talks to Jeni Cartwright from Child Poverty Action Group about the Child Poverty Monitor, childhood poverty in Aotearoa and the recommendations put forth to the government by the Welfare Expert Advisory Group.
Earlier this year on Green Desk, Mitchell Fuller spoke to Hugh Wilson from the Hinewai reserve. In July this year there was a film made about the reserve and about Hugh Wilson, the Manager. The Fools and Dreamers film made by Happen Film can be found on YouTube.
We thought we would revisit this story from earlier this year. Mitchell and Hugh discuss the carbon credits system available at Hinewai which has become increasingly popular with large businesses allowing them to offset unavoidable greenhouse gas emissions. The system has allowed the reserve to expand and encompass a significant area on the peninsula which has rejuvenated naturally without planting and minimal pest control. Mitchell begins by asking Hugh a little bit about the history of the Reserve and how its arrived at where its at today.
We were also joined by Erin Maloney of Tiny Nation to discuss the release of He taonga te Tamaiti: Every child a taonga: The Early Learning Action Plan 2019-2029, a foundational plan from the Coalition government to create long-lasting changes to early learning.
Last week Bronwyn spoke to Jess and Noor from Rainbow Election 2020 about their LGBTQI+ policy tool for this year’s election. The tool was created in collaboration with 13 rainbow organisations and aims to inform the voting public as well as educate policymakers on how they can protect the rainbow community. It highlights 15 rainbow policy areas, split into 4 categories; Health, Education, Community and Legal. Part I talks about rainbow voter disenfranchisement and lack of engagement by political parties in rainbow policies. In Part II, Jess and Noor give some examples of the types of policies that fall under those categories.
Since last week's episode, the Labour Party has stepped up to indicate its support for 11 of the 15 policies. You can have a read of the policies yourself on their website or on social media. Their launch event is happening on the 17th of September with guest speaker MP Chloe Swarbrick.
This week James chatted to Brooke a few topics, starting off with PHARMAC. Recently PHARMAC has said they are unable to fund every cancer drug for children, as well as announcing they need another 400 million dollars to fund all the drugs they want to fund.
James and Brooke then chat about the Motion which Brooke is currently putting through parliament. The motion is for the NZ government to oppose China’s actions against the ethinic minority, Uyghur Muslims. The wording of the motion has had to be changed for it to be debated, however this means whether China is committing genocide will not be discussed.
They finish off our chat with the He puapua report, which has not been officially put out to the public. The report is a plan to realise the UN declaration on the rights of Indigenous peoples (UNDRIP) here in New Zealand. New zealand originally rejected the declaration in 2007, but has since adopted it. The report includes a number of recommendations such as a Māori court system, health system, upper house or parliament; Māori wards and the protection of Māori seats in parliament; compulsory te reo Māori and New Zealand history in schools; joint governance bodies across all government agencies; and strengthening the legal recognition of Te Tiriti o Waitangi by putting it into law. Using the FPIC principle, it also recommends greater rights for Māori in areas such as fisheries and the RMA, and it recommends that Māori co-design and/or co-govern all Māori services. Both ACT and Nation have opposed the report, which is yet to be approved by cabinet.
On Thursday 30 March the Auckland Council Planning Committee will receive an internal report on compliance and decide how to better regulate helicopters within the planning system. This follows years of advocacy from residents in Herne Bay and Waiheke who are frustrated by the proliferation of helicopter pads and the significant impact they have on the wellbeing of people and animals nearby. The report suggests compliance is adequate and notes there are few complaints. However, there has been no consultation with residents who make the point that there is no proactive enforcement of compliance. The council relies on complaints to act and discourages feedback by providing no avenues to complain, noting on its website that it does not deal with aviation noise. When people do complain about breaches of consent they are required to know exactly what helicopter is used and the address of the consent holder. This creates an impossibly high bar for most people to meet. However, it was clear from a notified submission in Cremorne St last year which attracted 130 submissions, all in opposition, that feelings in affected neighbourhoods run high and that local residents with experience of living near private helipads want them banned in urban residential areas entirely. Waiheke local board chair Cath Handley and Elena Keith of Quiet Sky Waitemata talk about the issues, why Auckland is an outlier, the changes in approach needed and why they want National Planning Standard 15 for helicopter noise measurement to be incorporated into planning decisions immediately.
Last week the Government confirmed its plan for its first 100 days, combining the 100-day plan National campaigned on, with the priorities of the partner parties ACT and New Zealand First.
Announcing the plan at his first post-Cabinet briefing held last Wednesday, Luxon spoke of 49 ambitious actions they plan to deliver in the next 100 days. During the briefing Luxon spoke that New Zealanders voted for a change of government, policies and approach, And the plan announced reflects this, with many of the actions proposed being repeals of the previous government’s doing.
The Plan revolves around three key areas- the economy, law and order and public services.
In our weekly catch up with Simon Court, Lou enquired about the ACT Party’s response and support of the repeal of the Labour government’s Fair Pay legislation, their promise to begin work towards the crack down on serious youth offending, and ACT's stance on the intent to remove the current Smokefree legislations.
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