The Wire with Castor

Late last year, the High Court ruled against the Ministry of Social Development on one of their practices in recovering welfare payments. MSD had, for the last twenty years, required that successful ACC claimants pay back any supplementary assistance they had received while waiting for their claim to be resolved, such as through the accommodation supplement. 

This approach would often mean claimants would be left with a significantly reduced payout, and even debt.

Last month, the government began passing legislation that would retroactively make these practices legal, slashing any hopes of forgiving the outstanding debts that were - until recently - unlawful.

The Social Security (Accident Compensation and Calculation of Weekly Income) Amendment Bill has been pushed through parliament in urgency, limiting scrutiny. However, despite a narrow timeframe to submit on the select committee, over eight hundred responses were received.

Producer Theo spoke to Dr Susan St John, Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Auckland - and one of the submitters to the bill’s select committee - about the consequences this legislation will have.

This week on the Wednesday Wire...

For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party, Manny spoke with MP Ricardo Menéndez March about the war in Iran and Pay equity.

We then spoke to Professor Felicity Goodyear-Smith from the Department of General Practice and Primary Healthcare, about the crisis in primary care and what can be done to support GP’s.

And after that, we’ll share with you part of a series of interviews we did with festival organisers looking to understand why so many were struggling at this current time and how the government overlooked these grassroots local event organisers.

This week on the Tuesday Wire...

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman, chats with us about the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, Squeaky Rubber Shoes, and Plastic made from Milk. 

For our weekly catchup with the National Party, Tuesday Wire Host Alex spoke to National MP Ryan Hamlilton about the government's shares in Air New Zealand, their Teacher Training Boosts, and the results of the New Zealand Crime and Victims Survey.

He also spoke with Associate Professor in Politics at the University of Otago, Nicholas Khoo, about The US and Israeli strikes on Iran, nuclear proliferation, and what it means for the existing rules based liberal order.

This past weekend saw tensions in the Middle East rising, with Israel and the United States launching strikes on Iran yesterday, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran responded by launching strikes on Israel, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Kuwait. 

The conflict follows tensions between the United States, Israel, and Iran, which in turn followed protests across Iran earlier this year. As the situation develops, the internal and external politics of Iran are precarious, as all parties remain interested in who could take power. 

To discuss how the events came about and will affect domestic politics in Iran, News Director Castor spoke to political scientist and activist, Samira Ghoreishi.

Ghoreishi spoke to 95bFM in an independent capacity.