The Wire with Joel

On The Wire for Rāapa Wednesday:

Andre Fa’aoso spoke to Professor Boyd Swinburn, co-chair of Health Coalition Aotearoa about political parties' positions on tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food policies and how they should weigh-in on voters' decision making come election day.

Andre Fa’aoso also spoke to Joe Carolan about a Tax the Rich protest that is being held in Tamaki Makaurau next Saturday.

Arno spoke to Greater Auckland’s Matt Lowrie about the new State of the City report. Arno also spoke to Sarah Helm from the NZ Drug Foundation about laced MDMA in the Hawke’s Bay area

Nicholas, spoke to Jessica Walker from ConsumerNZ about new Unit pricing regulations for supermarkets

This is the last Wednesday Wire with Andre as he heads off to America to begin his studies at Yale University, so enjoy!

The National Party is yet to announce a full Fiscal Plan to account for spending they have promised if they win the election. Figures released by the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions have shown a large gap between National's promised spending and the available budget, and workers unions such as Etū are fearing that funding cuts are in store for essential sectors. Rosetta spoke to Rachel Mackintosh, assistant national secretary for Etū, about these fears, and where this leaves working-class voters in the upcoming election.

On today's show:

Spike speaks to ACT's Karen Chhour about the party's new 2 rate tax policy along with the Green Party's free dental care policy, and 95bFM's Water Reporter Marnie Prickett on the new freshwater farm policy rollout, and the pushback it's receiving from farmers and agriculture industry groups.

Hanna speaks to Te Pāti Māori candidate Takutai Kemp about the party's proposed tax reforms and policy going into October's election.  

Caeden speaks to Urs Signer from Climate Justice Taranaki about their petition to stop oil and gas drilling in Taranaki.

Andre speaks to Otago professor Janet Hoak about the new WHO report on Aotearoa's "world leading" tobacco reduction policy, and the future of Smokefree 2025.

Te Pāti Māori have announced their tax policy for the election, seeking to modify income tax brackets to reduce the tax burden on low- and middle-income whānau, introduce a wealth tax, raise the company tax rate, introduce a land banking and vacant house tax, and crack down on tax evasion. 

Hanna spoke to Te Pāti Māori's Takutai Kemp about the proposed reforms, the social policies they could fund, enforcement, the critique that progressive tax reform would hurt the economy, and coalition negotiations when Labour is ruling out new taxes.