The Wire with Joel

National was the only party to vote against the "Conversion Practices Prohibition Legislation Bill" at its first reading.

The party stated that they supported the principle of banning conversion therapy, but wanted to keep parents from being prosecuted. 

I talked to Max Twedie about his response to the National party, and why they are not welcome at Auckland pride. 

Here is Max… 

Forest & Bird's George Hobson speaks to Noah Ferguson-Dudding about taking the Southland District Council to court over coal exploration expansion. Forest & Bird claims the Council failed to take the environmental impact on Southland when granting permission for Bathurst Resources Limited to explore for a new coal mine. They are now trying to convince the courts to revoke the permission, in order to protect the environment.

Today, Ilena talked to a swathe of people about this week's announcement that the government and Auckland Council will be inveting $35 million into the Auckland Film Studios in Henderson. A privately-funded, $280 million film studio project is also being planned in Wānaka. 

She spoke first with Stuart Nash, the Minister of Economic Development, to give some more details on the Auckland development. Ashley Williams and Tim Hamilton both gave their opinions on these high-end investments and how they do/don't feed back into local filmmaking. Queenstown Lakes District Deputy Mayor Calum McLeod discussed the advantages of the proposed Wānaka studio.

Finally, Nikki Boucher from Screen Wellington commented on the current status of film in Wellington, as well as the appearance of a new purpose-built studio opening in Upper Hutt. The speakers also had many thoughts on the New Zealand screen industry's role in our post-Covid recovery as a desirable, well-resourced and safe location for inter/national productions.

Neighbourhood Watch reports on the Covid-19 situation in Australia, advocates for sexual assault survivors blasting the decision to temporarily promote former federal minister Christian Porter to Leader of the House months after he faced allegations of rape in the 1980s, and telecomm company Telstra making all payphones free.