The Wire with Castor

Aotearoa’s progress in reducing smoking has slowed for Māori, Pacific and European adolescents, and vaping could be the reason, according to research published  in The Lancet Regional Health – Western Pacific 

The study, conducted by researchers from the Universities of Otago, Auckland, and Sydney, along with the Daffodil Centre in Australia, analysed population-level data from almost 600,000 Year 10 students aged 14–15. The students were surveyed between 2003 and 2024 as part of the Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Year 10 Survey.

They found rates of regular smoking among 14-15-year-olds declined significantly for Māori, Pacific, European, and Asian adolescents between 2003 and 2024. However, these declines in smoking slowed for Māori, Pacific, and European youth after vaping emerged in 2010.

Thursday Wire Producer Sanat spoke to the University of Auckland's Dr Lucy Hardie about these findings and what the response needs to look like from policy makers in order to mitigate the predicted harms.

Over recent weeks, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has been busy touring South-East Asia, in the hopes of negotiating various trade deals and securing meetings with other world leaders.

In his returning press conference, where he recapped his trip, the Prime Minister focused on the importance of securing a 1-on-1 meeting with US President Donald Trump.

For our weekly catch up with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March, Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke to him about the Prime Minister’s trip.

They also discussed the Green Party’s plans for an evidence-based cannabis regulation and whether they would campaign with that policy for next year’s election, as well as the new draft school curriculum released by the government, and the subsequent plans to shrink the teaching council.

But first, they discussed whether Luxon’s trip to South-East Asia was a success.

This week on the Wednesday Wire:

For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March about Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s trip to South-East Asia where he met with multiple world leaders, The Green Party’s plans to call for evidence-based cannabis regulation, the government’s new draft school curriculum for years 0-10, and Education Minister Erica Stanford announcing plans to shrink the Teaching Council.

Producer Manny spoke with Glenn Barclay, Chairperson of Tax Justice Aotearoa and The Better Taxes for a Better Future campaign, about Labour’s Limited Capital Gains Tax Proposal.

Manny also spoke with Chris Puliuvea, Senior Lecturer at Auckland University of Technology, about the current measles outbreak in Aotearoa.

And Max spoke with John Minto, co-chair of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, to discuss the current state of the Gaza ceasefire almost four weeks since it came into effect, as well as the news of an Israeli military lawyer being arrested, after admitting to leaking the August 2024 video of Israeli soldiers.

Last week, Education Minister Erica Stanford confirmed the latest additions to draft curriculum changes for English and Maths, with the hope for implementation in 2026.
While she says the changes are not significant to the existing system, teachers have said the draft proposes an entire overhaul and greatly increases workload expectations.

Also, ACT MP Laura McClure has put forward the Deepfake Harm & Exploitation Bill to update legislation around exploitation committed on digital platforms especially with AI.

Finally, after 30 years of MMP, the New Zealand Initiative, a kiwi policy thinktank, has proposed a four year parliamentary term and more MPs for Parliament, among numerous electoral reforms that they think can make New Zealand more effective for representing the population.

Wire Host Sara spoke with MP Carl Bates about all of these topics, starting with the curriculum changes.