The Wire with Joel

Yesterday the Western line was closed for some stops including between New Market and Britomart, while two Britomart stations remained closed due to KiwiRail maintenance issues. This won’t surprise commuters in Tāmaki Makaurau who are far too used to trains not running or turning up.

Caeden spoke to West Auckland based counsellor Shane Henderson about our public transport woes and the success of the cost-cutting budget. Here is that interview.

The coalition Government has announced that they will reintroduce interest deductibility for property owners with a mortgage.

This would mean that property owners with a mortgage would be able to deduct the interest they pay on their mortgage, from their total income when calculating how much tax they pay.

The coalition government has claimed that this move will help both landlords and renters with David Seymour that landlords not being able to deduct interest from income is a cost that is inevitably passed on to tenants, contributing to New Zealand having all time high rental costs.

This claim has been disputed with economists saying that the reintroduction of interest deductibility will have little to no effect on the prices landlords choose for their rentals.

Nicholas spoke to Associate Professor Michael Rehm about the changes.

An Auckland University research project has shown high vaccination rates skew towards new migrants in comparison to those born in New Zealand.

The study found children of recent migrants were also more likely to receive vaccines within the first year of moving to Aotearoa than non-migrants. 

Producer Sofia Kent spoke to Senior Researcher at the University of London Dr Ladam Hashemi about the research project. 

This week on the Wednesday Wire:

Nicholas spoke to Associate Professor Mike Rehm about the reintroduction of interest deductibility and the implications for renters. 

He also spoke to Professor Nicolas Lewis about the Government’s proposed bill to change regulations around the fast-tracking of consents for development.

Sofia spoke to Senior Research Fellow at the University of London, Dr Ladam Hashemi tells us about her research project at the University of Auckland that found higher vaccination rates for new migrants.

Oto spoke to Hiraia Haami-Wells, a student at the University of Auckland, to talk about a project she founded called “Kurutao”, aiming to bring more Tauira Māori into the world of entrepreneurship.

To end the show, Sofia spoke to Bird Connoisseur and Auckland regional representative for Birds New Zealand Ian Mclean about what really happens when we feed the birds at western springs