The Wire with Joel

The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), or COP28, is currently taking place in Dubai. The conference began on the 30th of November and runs until the 12th of December, and UNICEF Aotearoa is sending a delegation of young ambassadors to represent young New Zealanders priorities’ regarding climate change. The delegation will leave to Dubai on Wednesday, are all aged between 18 and 24, and offer a range of perspectives including Māori, Pasifika, rural and urban living experiences, and LGBTQIA+ youth. COP is the biggest climate conference in the world, and this year over 70 thousand people from both business and political sectors will attend. In the past, youth advocates such as Greta Thunberg have criticised COP conferences as too much talk and too little action, and the conference has already started with controversy after the BBC reported that leaked briefing documents revealed plans by the United Arab Emirates to discuss fossil fuel deals with 15 nations. The conference also comes at an interesting time for Aotearoa, as the new government has pledged to reintroduce oil and gas exploration, which has come under criticism by many of the delegations present at COP28

Rosetta spoke with Vira Paky, who is one of the Young Ambassadors in the UNICEF delegation. We spoke about the importance of having young voices represented at COP28, and discussed what role the new government should be playing in involving Aotearoa in global conferences like this.

As part of the coalition deal between National, ACT and New Zealand First, the Government intends to refocus school curriculum on academic achievement, which includes the removal and replacement of the gender sexuality and relationship-based education guidelines.

In 2020, former New Zealand First MP and minister Tracey Martin initiated Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE), giving our youth a safe space to learn about themselves, as well as develop knowledge and skills towards acting in positive and respectful ways with others. Now, current Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is reversing this policy, primarily because parents oppose the RSE curriculum. 

ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa recently released a statement condemning the Luxon governments plan to remove RSE from school curricula, arguing that the government would be ignoring decades of evidence-based research carried out in Aotearoa and overseas.

Lou discusses the removal of RSE with Ella Shepherd, President of ALRANZ Abortion Rights Aotearoa further.

Recently, we have seen members of the new coalition government be increasingly critical toward the media. 

In particular, this week we saw NZ First leader, Winston Peters falsely accuse the media of accepting government bribery in the form of the Public Interest Journalism Fund. 

News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Associate Professor of Journalism at Massey University in Wellington, James Hollings, about the purpose of the Public Interest Journalism Fund and state-funded media, and the potential implications of some members of the incoming government’s attitudes towards media.

The new government has announced a plan to remove and replace relationship and sexuality education guidelines, citing the need for a return to an ‘achievement-based’ curriculum, rather than what they have referred to as an ‘ideological’ one.

Beth spoke to Professor of Education at the University of Auckland Katie Fitzpatrick about the new policy, and what this means for rangatahi.