Justice Minister Andrew Little pops by for his weekly chat. He speaks to Stewart about liquor trading laws, after a bill passed last night under urgency allowing licensed venues to stay open late for the Rugby World Cup. Plus, foreign donations- should they be allowed?
This week on the Friday Wire, Denise Lee joins us to have a chat about the alcohol trading hours after the extending trading hours amendment, the revitalized controversy of a large donation to the National Party by a New Zealand company owned by a foreign billionaire and the National Party's opposition to the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act.
Following that, foreign interference in local and national elections have been raised as a concern by the GCSB and SIS with one of the primary concern being around political donations. Producer, Bronnie Wilde reached out Marama Davidson about why the Green Party is pushing for law changes around political donations
Next, Auckland Action Against Poverty Spokesperson, Ricardo Menendez March joins Laura Kvigstad to explain why AAAP is calling for better regulations around tobacco lobbying.
Finally, Benjamin J Goldson looks at the media coverage around the suspension of parliament by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Neutral Corner.
Law and Order Spokesperson for New Zealand First Darroch Ball, does not support drug checking as a harm reduction strategy and is currently blocking a clarification of the Misuse of Drugs Act that would allow the service to be implemented nationally. To find out more, Olivia Holdsworth spoke to KnowYourStuffNZ’s Managing Director, Wendy Allison and began by asking why is drug testing important?
Stewart's back and it's a Wire for the history books, with two producers in studio at the same time! Mary-Margaret and Justin are back this week.
On the show:
With the news that Mediaworks has made some pretty major cuts to comedy and reality TV shows, Stewart Sowman-Lund speaks to journalist Philip Matthews. He’s the co-author of Funny As, a book about the history of Kiwi Comedy. Stewart gets his thoughts on what the cuts and cancellations to comedy programming might mean for the future of the industry.
Then, Labour Party MP and Justice Minister Andrew Little is here. Today, he talks about last week’s polling and a new counter terrorism bill
After that, Mary-Margaret learns about zero waste packaging with K Rd vintage shop, Crushes, who have just installed their latest initiative
Plus, producer Sherry asks Education Minister Chris Hipkins about amendments made to Pastoral Care laws for students in Halls of Residences
Then, International Desk is back - Justin delves into some history on the Turkey offensive into Syria.
All that plus a chaotic Poll Position and some texts from our listeners. It's The Thursday Wire and it's wired as.
Last week the Governmen released a discussion paper, "Designing a Fair Pay Agreements System", about what a proposed law on Fair Pay Agreements could include. Jemima spoke to New Zealand Council of Trade Unions President, Richard Wagstaff, about the paper and what it might mean for New Zealand workers.
The 2018 showed that the percentage of people not born in New Zealand was 27.4%, an increase from 25.2% in Census 2013. The biggest increase in ethnic group is the Asian population.The Superdiversity Institute for Law, Policy and Business released a report on the cultural and language barriers the Chinese community experience through the litigation process in senior courts, difficulties matching interpreters with clients and discrimination felt by Asian lawyers.
Sherry spoke to Lawyer and Author of the report, Mai Chen, on her findings and recommendations to address this issue. She begins by asking Mai on the background to the report.
The State Sector Act 1988 is set to be repealed and replaced with the new Public Service Act. On Monday State Services Minister Chris Hipkins announced that current law is now unable to support the operation of modern public services. The new Act will provide public services with more flexibility, allow for greater cooperation between agencies and establish principles for an apolitical service. Supporters of the Bill include the Public Service Association, as Union members throughout the public sector have been contributing feedback on certain issues leading up to its introduction. PSA National Secretary Glenn Barclay emphasized the importance of recognising that public servants should have the same rights as the average citizen. William Boyd spoke with Mr Barclay about the introduction and implications of the new bill. Will started off by asking him what new changes are being presented.
First up on the show today we have a piece from Dhannun Ahmed on the port of Auckland move, he speaks to Michael Goldwater from Waterfron 2029.
Deb Rawson is covering the changes to prisoner voting rights, she speaks to Law Professor Edward Willis, and Arthur Taylor, a former prisoner who first sued the government for the right to vote.
Mitchell Fuller has Green Desk and this week we hear from those protesting the felling of trees on Owairaka maunga.
The recent heist at the Green Vault within the Dresden Castle in Germany has been speculated to be one of the largest art heists in history. City officials and experts consider the loss to be "priceless" and a "cultural loss", while the media considers the Baroque-era jewellery that was stolen to be worth one billion dollars.
The entire heist took about five minutes in total, and it may be possible that the jewels are already melted down or have been sold on the black market.
Rachel Simpson spoke to Dr Ngarino Ellis from the University of Auckland's art history department. Dr Ellis has a history in the law profession and is a member of the Art Crime Research Trust. Rachel and Dr Ellis spoke about the nature of art crime, why stealing art has historically been an assertion of power, and how exactly the Dresden thieves might have done it.
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