The Wire with Charlie Parker

Today on the Friday Wire:

Casper talked to Auckland city councillor Shane Henderson about investment in cycling infrastructure, as well as the public consultation closing on Auckland housing intensification.

He also spoke to Meng Foon, the Race Relations Comissioner about new rights-based guidelines for school uniforms.

Liam had a chat with the Green Parties Golriz Gharaman about her electoral reform bill and moving the voting age to sixteen, as well as political psychology professor Danny Osborne to discuss how the proposed changes could affect voters.

Casper also talked to Maria Armoudian from the University of Auckland about barriers to regulating guns in the United States.

And finally Liam spoke to Wattie Watson from the New Zealand Professional Firefighters Union about the strike action firefighters have voted for and the issues that the industry has been dealing with for the past few years.

In the wake of the recent tragedy that occured in Texas, a horrific school schooting which cost 21 lives, a discussion around gun regulation has resurfaced in the United States.

Casper spoke to Maria Armoudian from the Univeristy of Auckland about the state of gun control debate in the United States, a country that experiences disproportionately high levels of gun violence especially in schools, and what barriers may exist to regulation.

Overnight, civil servant Sue Gray released her long-awaited report into a series of parties held in the prime minister's office while the UK was in covid lockdowns. 

While the report is impartial and doesn’t make any specific recommendations as to the repercussions Prime Minister Boris Johnson should face, it found that these events “should not have been allowed to happen”, and now the question has been passed to the Conservative Party to assess whether Johnson should remain in his post. 

Emilia Sullivan spoke to Aeron Davis, professor of political communication at Victoria University of Wellington about the inquiry.

The World Health Organisation’s newly released report on regulating cross-border alcohol marketing has raised the alarm for countries like Australia and New Zealand, given our light approach towards alcohol advertising.

New Zealand and Australia are some of the highest consumers of alcohol, and researchers are worried that the rise of digital marketing is increasing the impact of alcohol advertising.

As digital spaces such as the metaverse begin to gain traction, there are concerns that Australasia’s lax approach to alcohol marketing has been overlooked in decision-making.

Emilia Sullivan spoke to Sally Casswell from Massey University about the matter.