The Wire with Castor

The People’s Select Committee reported on the 2025 amendments to the Equal Pay Act on Tuesday this week. The document revealed that recent changes to our pay equity laws represent a clear undermining of human rights on multiple accounts. The legislation was passed under urgency last year, making it more difficult to correct pay inequities and freezing the progress of 33 active workers claims that affect thousands of kiwis’ rights to fair remuneration.

Producer Jasmine Gray first spoke to Oliver Christeller, Senior human rights advisor at Te Kāhui Tika Tangata / Human Rights Commission, about the legislative changes and how the issue disproportionately affects women-dominated professions.

She then also spoke to Rachel Mackintosh, National Secretary at E Tū Workers Union, about their mahi in fighting for pay equity in the current legislative climate.

Central government has granted new police powers to issue move-on orders for rough sleepers around the motu, with failure to comply resulting in penalties of a $2000 fine or the possibility of three months incarceration. 

2 cases of measles have been reported in Auckland, both of which have been linked to overseas travel.

And, the celebrations continue in Tāmaki this week with the Chinese Lantern festival taking place this weekend at the Manukau Bowl.

Producer Jasmine Gray spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson about these topics.

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour Party, Wire Host Caeden spoke to MP Shanan Halbert about Labour Leader Chris Hipkins ‘State of the Nation’ speech and the Government’s ‘move on’ orders for people who are homeless. 

And they spoke to Matt Raskovic, International Business Professor at AUT, about Aotearoa New Zealand’s ranking in the global Corruption Perception Index, and the number of high performers who are backsliding.

For City Counselling this week, Producer Jasmine spoke to Councillor Shane Henderson about move-on orders, the possibility of a measles outbreak, and the Chinese Lantern Festival.

She spoke to Oliver Christeller, Senior human rights advisor at Te Kāhui Tika Tangata / Human Rights Commission, as well as Rachel Mackintosh, National Secretary at E Tū Worker’s Union, about how the 2025 amendments to the Equal Pay Act undermine human rights to pay equity

She also spoke to Hilton Freund, Global CEO of the Twinning Project, about the debut of the football rehabilitation programme for near-release prisoners in Aotearoa

We’re constantly hearing of geopolitical tensions raring their heads across the world, with talks of ‘great powers’ flexing their dominance - commercially, economically, militarily - brazenly.

One arena of such confrontation is the Pacific. But when we discuss this region, are we sidelining the peoples and nations who actually live there?

Recently, the Associate Dean Pacific at Auckland’s Law School, Professor Guy Fiti Sinclair, hosted a workshop foregrounding Pacific-centred understandings of how the Pacific is contending with international law and governance amidst these tensions.

So how should we think of the Pacific as a region? Who are the organisations representing the ‘blue continent’, and is Aotearoa New Zealand a facilitator of Pacific interests, or just our own? Producer Theo spoke with Professor Guy Sinclair to understand more.