Two brutal attacks across the motu have returned public attention to the issue of dog maulings that stubbornly refuses to be resolved. Since 2020, we’ve seen a 20% increase in injuries to people from dogs, coming to nearly THIRTY THOUSAND dog-related injuries reported per year (half of which are bites), and these are the numbers collected without mandatory reporting in Aotearoa.
In the wake of these dog attacks, which saw one woman in Northland lose her life and a father and son in Christchurch severely injured, many people are looking for the government to act to address this issue that frequently flies under that radar until tragedies like this strike.
But how to respond, and what changes should be focused on, remain open questions.
To get his opinion on how we should approach the issue, Wire Host Manny spoke with Associate Professor at Auckland Law School Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere on the issue of animal control legislative reform.
The People’s Select Committee reported on the 2025 amendments to the Equal Pay Act on Tuesday this week. The document revealed that recent changes to our pay equity laws represent a clear undermining of human rights on multiple accounts. The legislation was passed under urgency last year, making it more difficult to correct pay inequities and freezing the progress of 33 active workers claims that affect thousands of kiwis’ rights to fair remuneration.
Producer Jasmine Gray first spoke to Oliver Christeller, Senior human rights advisor at Te Kāhui Tika Tangata / Human Rights Commission, about the legislative changes and how the issue disproportionately affects women-dominated professions.
She then also spoke to Rachel Mackintosh, National Secretary at E Tū Workers Union, about their mahi in fighting for pay equity in the current legislative climate.
The National party has rolled a series of new proposals aimed at dealing with violent gangs, if they were to win the 2020 election. They’ve said they want to take a much stronger stance than the current government, promising new laws ranging from banning gang patches to revoking parole for those associated with gangs to the setting up of a new task force, modelled after a prolific New South Wales unit called “Strike Force Raptor”. This is apparently only the beginning of a broader “gang action plan” that National has promised to release by next year. Meanwhile Corrections minister Kelvin Davis called the document a "mishmash of reheated ideas", stating that the focus should be on anyone who breaks the law rather than specific groups. University of Auckland Criminologist Dr Ron Kramer said the proposals were "transparently pathetic", "overblown propaganda", and that they provide no substantive impact on crime. William Boyd spoke with Manukau ward councillor Efeso Collins, who has been outspoken in the past about opening up conversation with gangs as opposed to cracking down on them. William started off by asking him for his input on the new proposals.
The self-proclaimed “first McKenzie Friend Specialist” in New Zealand, Vinay Deobhakta is a former lawyer setting up a training programme aimed at producing professional McKenzie Friends. McKenzie Friends are support people for self-represented litigants in court - they are not lawyers, but can sit with litigants in court to support them. However, Deobhakta did not leave the law profession out of choice - he was in fact struck off for misconduct in 2014. 95bFM journalist Caitlin McIlhagga speaks to Deobhakta to try understand how he is reconciling his past with his current work setting up the McKenzie Friends training programme.
To learn more about the relationship McKenzie Friends have with the Family Court, check out the other interviews Caitlin did with two experts in family law here.
The 2017 Parliamentary Drug Law Symposium kicked off today in Wellington, bringing together a range of international and domestic speakers to talk about how better drug laws can be developed for the 21st Century. An increasing number of countries around the world are shifting their stance towards controlling drugs, away from a prohibitive approach and towards law & policy that promotes health and wellbeing. One of the speakers at the Symposium is Professor of Criminology at Durham University, Fiona Measham, who is also the Director of a non-profit in the UK that provides drug safety testing, as well as welfare and harm reduction services at nightclubs and festivals. 95bFM reporter Pearl Little catches up with Fiona to find out a little more about her work.
Today Newsroom reported that the New Zealand Family Court has made frequent inappropriate comments about domestic violence victims. For example, a judge concluded that a victim was a "successful school teacher" and "a robust and resilient person" and therefore "did not have an ongoing need for protection". This was after the victim had suffered whiplash from being bodyslammed by her former partner. In response to this report, Jemima spoke with Dr Henry Kha who is a family law lecturer in the Faculty of Law at UoA. They talked about how domestic violence is responded to in the law, why victim-blaming comments made by the Family Court matter and how these negative patterns will change. If you're ever in need of help for a domesic violence issue, please call Womens Refuge at 0800 733 843 or HELP at (09) 623 1700.
This week, it’s all about abortion. The first reading of the government’s abortion reform bill is set to go to first reading today. It would take abortion out of the Crimes Act, meaning there is no test for abortion up to 20 weeks - and from then on, a statutory test focusing on the mental and physical wellbeing of the woman. It’s a slightly more conservative version of one of three tests proposed by the Law Commission. But, after the Bill was announced earlier this week, NZ First has announced plans to seek a referendum on the issue. So, what does it all mean for the Bill? The Minister talks to Stewart Sowman-Lund.
On Felix's weekly catch up with Brooke van Velden from ACT, they spoke about the government's climate change policy and a possible change to the laws surrounding Māori wards.
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