The Wire with Joel

This week on the Monday Wire, Lachlan speaks to Cosmo Jeffery from the Howard League about the prisoner voting ban. Southern Cross is back with the latest from across the Pacific. Jemima talks to Green Party co-leader James Shaw about the changes to the Misuse of Drugs Act, the Abortion Legislation Bill and waste minimisation. Finally, Lachlan wraps it up with an interview with Richard Medlicott from the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners about advertising prescription drugs in New Zealand. 

Producer Bronwyn Wilde spoke to Don Carson from Forest Owners Association. This interview arose out of an earlier interview last month with a representative from 50 Shades of Green - a group of farmers who are concerned about the Billion Trees program encouraging investors to buy up prime farmland in order to plant trees and reap the carbon credits.  The main takeaway from that initial interview was that 50 Shades of Green wanted those billion trees to be native, and planted on marginal land. 

Don Carson heard this interview and got in contact to defend pines and forestry as the solution to sequester our carbon in the short term, and supply jobs for farmers who will be forced to change their lifestyles.  

He began by telling us what he sees as the weaknesses of the 50 Shades of Green campaign.

It's The Thursday Wire with Stewart Sowman-Lund and Deb Rawson!

This week:

• The Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has lashed out at coalition partner Labour, over their handling of the abortion law debate. Commentator Ben Thomas breaks down what this means for the government.
• Plus, the Official Cash Rate dropped yesterday by 50 basis points… double market expectations. But what is the official cash rate? And why should we care that it’s dropped. Economist Shamubeel Eaqub explains it in language we can all, hopefully, understand.
• After that, Justice Minister Andrew Little is here for his weekly catch-up. Stewart asks him whether he was blindsided by Winston Peters’ talk of a referendum on abortion use.
• Then, as protests at Ihumatao continue, Deb asks what this all means from a legal perspective.
• And finally - we’ll catch up with our Australian Correspondent to get all the latest news from across the ditch in Neighbourhood Watch!

It's The Thursday Wire!