The Wire with Joel

Justin talked to Paul Thompson, the Chief Executive of Radio New Zealand, to talk about the decision to move classical music station Concert FM to the AM frequency, in order to set up a new youth-oriented station.

Justin started by asking the direction of the new youth station.

Last Wednesday a judgement was dismissed by the high court of Justice surrounding the Accommodation Provider Targeted Rate which was Introduced in 2017 to help benefit tourism in Auckland. The APTR is charged to hotels, motels and AirBnB that are rented for 28 days or more, with a change in rate depending on the number of days rented. This rate combined with money from rate payers is helping fund events such as the women's rugby world cup and the NZ fashion week. James started off by asking Auckland mayor, Phil Goff, how the Targeted Rate works.

Haylee Koroi is from Te Tai Tokerau, of Pukepoto and Utakura descent. She is a member of Te Ara Whatu, an indigenous youth climate action group made up of young people around the Pacific working toward climate justice. Te Ara Whatu released a statement of solidarity this weekend with the Wet'suwet'en nation in Great Turtle Island, or Canada. Wet'suwet'en land protectors have been occupying their territory in protest of a pipeline that will cut directly through it.  All five Wet'suwet'en Clans have opposed pipelines on their territories. On the 6th February the Royal Canadian Mounted Police moved onto the territory carrying out a raid on the unarmed land defenders. 6 unarmed people were arrested that morning, and a further 20 people have been arrested since. Lillian Hanly spoke with Haylee from Te Ara Whatu to find out more about what is going on. Firstly though, Lillian asked how Te Ara Whatu experienced attending COP25 the climate conference for leaders around the world.

In its annual survey of top CEO pay issued last week, The New Zealand Herald showed the average earnings of CEO’s jumped 12 percent last year to $1,750,141 compared with a 2.4 percent rise for average New Zealanders.

As several researchers, including the University of Auckland’s Tim Hazeldine, have pointed out, the trend of overpaying CEOs “lacks any obvious empirical justification in terms of general improvements in marketing, productivity, and profitability.”

Rachel Simpson talks to Peter Malcolm, who is the Secretary General of Closing the Gap NZ. They talked about how to keep up the pressure on the government, corporates and CEOs during the upcoming election year.