The Wire with Castor

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.

AMI has recently released data that tells us about the most collision prone suburbs in the country. Today on the Wire, Beth speaks to Executive General Manager for AMI Claims Wayne Tippet about the areas highest on the list and what we can do to keep safe on the road.

The Early Care and Education sector is suffering from a lack of funds and teachers. 

Such governmental neglect has already resulted in long childcare waiting lists, high staff turnover, and low morale across the sector. 

Olivia talked to the Executive Officer at ECE Reform and public health specialist of the early care and education sector, Dr Mike Bedford, about this issue and potential solutions. 

Data released this month by StatsNZ has shown that annual inflation is down to six per cent from six-point-seven per cent in the previous twelve-month period until March 2023. 

Although despite this period of disinflation, Consumer Price Index data has shown that the price of consumer goods has continued to rise, with stubbornly high food prices fuelling the cost of living crisis. Food prices have risen above general inflation with food inflation on the Consumer Price Index sitting at twelve-point-three percent in the June quarter of this year. 

To talk more about the decrease in inflation and what that signals within the New Zealand economy, producer Andre Fa’aoso spoke to James Mitchell, manager of Consumer Price Delivery at StatsNZ.