The Wire with Joel

When it comes to our privacy laws in Aotearoa, according to experts, we may be lacking behind.

News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Associate Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Auckland and convenor of the NZ Privacy Foundation’s surveillance working group, Gehan Gunasekara, about why he believes we need to pressure politicians to keep our privacy laws current, especially concerning children.

She started off the interview by asking Gunasekara about his work with the Privacy Foundation’s surveillance working group.

News and Editorial Director, Jessica Hopkins, spoke to Green Party Co-Leader, James Shaw, about his announcement he will be stepping down as Co-Leader, Waitangi, and New Zealand deploying a NZDF team to the Red Sea.

She spoke to Action Station Director, Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa), about Waitangi yesterday.

She spoke to Associate Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Auckland and convenor of the NZ Privacy Foundation’s surveillance working group, Gehan Gunasekara, about how we can improve our privacy laws in Aotearoa.

And for Get Action! she spoke to Common Grace Aotearoa Co-Director, Kate Day, about their campaign for the Electricity Authority to better protect families struggling with power prices.

The government has recently announced a 5 million dollar aid programme for Palestinians in Gaza through UNICEF and World Food Programme. This comes as funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees is still halted from New Zealand, as the organisation is under investigation for staff involved in the October 7th Hamas attacks. Prior to halting this funding, New Zealand was contributing 1 million dollars annually to UNRWA, and with this new aid, the government has contributed a total of 15 million dollars since October through UNICEF, WFP, International Committee for Red Cross, to civilian humanitarian aid.

Several Palestinian advocacy groups in Aotearoa have been highly critical of the decision to cut UNRWA funding due to its direct link to civilians in Gaza. UNRWA has also stated that due to suspended funding from the UK and USA, they may be forced to cease operating in the Middle East by the end of the month. UNRWA not only runs schools and refugee camps across Gaza and The West Bank, but also Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. 

Rosetta spoke to John Minto, Chair of Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa, about what the New Zealand government aid will mean, the importance of UNRWA, and issues that Palestinian advocacy groups in Aotearoa are noticing with media coverage of the situation in Gaza.

Following coalition talks late last year, the new National led coalition government has proposed repealing anti-smoking legislation. In their statements and arguments supporting this position, they have repeatedly used common talking points from the tobacco industry. 

A report released today by the Public Health Community Centre Aotearoa has highlighted this connection, and calls for our leading politicians to be more transparent about any connections they might have to the tobacco industry

Producer Castor spoke to the University of Otago’s Professor Janet Hoek about the influence of the tobacco industry on politics in Aotearoa.