The Wire with Joel

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board will be soon launching their Youth Seat Trial programme, built in partnership with local youth board Younite, to facilitate further meaningful youth engagement in local democracy for year 12 and 13 students in the area. Producer Jasmine Gray spoke to Devonport-Takapuna Local Board Chair, Toni Van Tonder, about this initiative.

Disability communities have been rallying against a surprise change in purchasing rules in the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha. Communities have said the changes will have massive impact, despite no consultation on these changes or a formal announcement. 

The Department of Conversation also recently proposed staffing cuts to meet funding demands. DoC controls a third of Aotearoa’s landmass which is all conservation land. It remains uncertain how job losses in the Ministry could impact conservation land management.

For weekly catch-up with the Labour party Wire Host Caeden spoke to Labour spokesperson for Disability Issues and Conservation Priyanca Rahdakrishnan about both of these issues.

Ralph Cooney is a former lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Auckland, where his career has developed into communicating Climate Change to his community.

Wire Host Caeden spoke to him about the importance of communicating climate science, especially to community groups and older generations, after he published a piece in Newsroom on this topic.

It’s been one month since TVNZ announced a massive restructuring process, cutting their Sunday and Fair Go current affairs segments and axing 68 jobs in a cost cutting plan that they attributed to a decline in advertisement revenue.
Employees at TVNZ were reportedly only given a few days to review the restructuring proposal after it was announced and offer feedback. E Tu, the union for media workers in Aotearoa, said that both the cuts and the rushed consultation process were unacceptable and violated the collective agreement between TVNZ and their staff, which requires the consultation process for such a massive restructuring to be more comprehensive and to begin at a much earlier stage. As such, E Tu has filed a claim against TVNZ with the Employment Relations Authority, to get TVNZ to go back to the drawing board and consult their staff more effectively.

Oto spoke to Michael Wood, the negotiation specialist at E Tu, to discuss the union’s claim and what it means for the wider media landscape in Aotearoa.