The Wire with Joel

Last week, thousands of secondary teachers went on strike demanding a better pay agreement from the government. 

The Post-Primary Teachers’ Association rejected the government’s offer for a one percent pay rise, which they say is the lowest in generations.

Amidst staff shortages forcing some schools to take days off with not enough teachers, in addition to a variety of recent curriculum changes, union leaders have said the education sector is stretched-thin. 

As well, the latest Security Threat Environment report has shown that New Zealand is facing the ‘toughest’ national security environment of late, with issues like global conflicts, violent extremism, foreign interference and espionage at the forefront of concern

Last week, thousands of secondary teachers went on strike demanding a better pay agreement from the government. 

The Post-Primary Teachers’ Association rejected the government’s offer for a one percent pay rise, which they say is the lowest in generations.

Amidst staff shortages forcing some schools to take days off with not enough teachers, in addition to a variety of recent curriculum changes, union leaders have said the education sector is stretched-thin. 

As well, the latest Security Threat Environment report has shown that New Zealand is facing the ‘toughest’ national security environment of late, with issues like global conflicts, violent extremism, foreign interference and espionage at the forefront of concern

A recent international study, including using recordings of birds in New Zealand’s North Island, has shown that birds worldwide are singing for almost an hour longer due to light pollution.

The study used audio recordings of millions of birds, and these findings show that light pollution confuses birds, impacting their natural cycles and could have an impact on their health.

News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Dr Natalie Forsdick, the President of Birds New Zealand, about these recent findings.

Following on from my chat with Forsdick, Joel also spoke to Dr Rashi Parker, the Fundraising Manager at BirdCare Aotearoa, a native bird hospital based in West Auckland, about these findings, how light pollution is impacting the birds coming into the hospital, and what people can do to ensure birds are carefully transported to the hospital if needed.

If you want to support the work BirdCare Aotearoa, you can donate to their charity here.

Last week, up to 19,000 secondary school teachers across the motu went on strike for a day over what they say is an inadequate pay offer of 1% each year for three years by the Ministry of Education.

The union, the Post Primary Teachers’ Association, or PPTA, say this pay offer is the lowest in a generation.

For our weekly catch-up with the ACT Party, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to MP Simon Court about these strikes and the Ministry’s pay offer.

They also discussed New Zealand joining 26 other countries in calling for “immediate and independent” foreign media access into Gaza, and to allow Israel to protect journalists reporting from within the besieged strip.

The joint statement by the Media Freedom Coalition says, "Journalists and media workers play an essential role in putting the spotlight on the devastating reality of war. Access to conflict zones is vital to carrying out this role effectively. We oppose all attempts to restrict press freedom and block entry to journalists during conflicts".

Joel also spoke to Court about this, but first, we discussed last week’s secondary school teachers’ strikes.