The Wire with Joel

On Wednesday, the 30th of October, prominent mental health advocate, Mike King, during an interview with Newstalk ZB, claimed that alcohol is a solution for people with mental health problems. 

The interview stems from a suicide prevention fundrasing event in Dunedin struggling to obtain a liquor license. 

Following the statements and subsequent controversy, a briefing was released on the Public Health Communication Centre Aotearoa, providing the facts and evidence around the correlation alcohol can have with mental health concerns.

News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to co-author of the briefing and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Population Health at the University of Otago, Dr Rose Crossin, about the briefing, and Mike King’s claim.

You can read the briefing here.

If you are struggling with mental health related problems, some places you can reach out to include:

Lifeline: Call 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP) (available 24/7)

Suicide Crisis Helpline: Call 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)• Youth services: (06) 3555 906

Youthline: Call 0800 376 633 or text 234

Depression helpline: Call 0800 111 757 or text 4202 (available 24/7)

If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111, go to your nearest emergency department, or phone your local DHB Mental Health Crisis Team (find your local number by ringing Healthline on 0800 611 116)

This week on the Monday Wire...

For our weekly catchup with the ACT Party's Simon Court, producer Evie spoke to Simon about his members bill to change alcohol laws in West Auckland, Mike King’s controversial comments surrounding alcohol and mental health and the government’s funding of King’s Gumboot Friday initiative, as well as police pulling back from mental health call outs.

News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Senior Lecturer in the Department of Population Health at the University of Otago, Dr Rose Crossin, about a briefing she co-authored regarding the correlation between suicide and alcohol, following controversial statements made by I Am Hope and Gumboot Friday campaigner, Mike King, in which he claimed alcohol is a solution for people with mental health problems.

They also spoke to Associate Professor in the School of Health at the University of Waikato, Sarah Gordon, about the police’s phased approach to attending fewer related mental health callouts that are not correlated with a level of high risk or crime.

And Evie spoke to climate scientist and honorary academic at the University of Auckland, Kevin Trenberth about calls for world leaders to scrap net zero targets that look to offset emissions, and instead endeavour to remove all emissions in a ‘real zero’ initiative.

Whakarongo mai!

The Israeli parliament recently passed a law that would ban the United Nations Relief and Works agency, more commonly known as the UNRWA, from operating in Israel and East Jerusalem.

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work, Dr Ritesh Shah, about this ruling, and what this will mean for those relying on the services of the UNRWA amidst the humanitarian crisis in Palestine.

About two weeks ago, the government announced a series of changes to the Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa.
Some of the changes included updating the definition of migrant exploitation to specify incidents occuring only under an official employment contract and excluding measures falling under lawful employment terminations.

Immigration minister Erica Stanford has said that the new changes would specify the terms of the visa and reduce the time migrants may be in vulnerable situations, however a number of human rights advocates have disagreed with this reasoning, saying the changes to the visa would reduce support for migrant workers and put more power in the hands of employers.

Oto spoke to Saunoamaali’i Karanina Sumeo, the Equal Employment Opportunities Commissioner at Te Kāhui Tika Tangata - The Human Rights Commission, to discuss the recent changes to the Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visas and how it’ll impact migrant workers.