The Wire with Caeden

The Cook Islands and China have released the details of their recent partnership agreement.

The agreement has raised concern amongst the New Zealand government, who have close constitutional ties with the Cook Islands, as they felt they were not adequately consulted before the agreement was signed.

The controversial agreement, and New Zealand’s opposition to not being adequately consulted, have gained international attention.

For International Desk this week, Wire host Caeden spoke to AUT Law Senior Lecturer Sione Tekiteki about the agreement and the controversy surrounding it.

The Cook Islands and China have released the details of their recent partnership agreement.

The agreement has raised concern amongst the New Zealand government, who have close constitutional ties with the Cook Islands, as they felt they were not adequately consulted before the agreement was signed.

The controversial agreement, and New Zealand’s opposition to not being adequately consulted, have gained international attention.

For International Desk this week, Wire host Caeden spoke to AUT Law Senior Lecturer Sione Tekiteki about the agreement and the controversy surrounding it.

For their weekly catch up with the Green Party, Oto spoke to Ricardo Menendez March about the government’s recent tourism and biodiversity fund, as well as Destiny Church’s protests at recent pride events and the deportation notice given to 18-year-old Daman Kumar.

For this week’s Get Action! Oto spoke to Vanessa Cole from public housing futures to discuss a campaign of hers calling for the government to construct more public housing for people on the “true waitlist”.

And he spoke to Carrie Leonetti - an associate professor in Law at the University of Auckland at the University of Auckland, to discuss the government’s new anti-stalking legislation, and why it falls short of protecting stalking victims.

Sasha spoke to Dr Chanelle Duley, a lecturer in Business at the University of Auckland, about the introduction of a new bill that will aim at preventing banks from refusing their services to businesses.

Amani spoke to University of Auckland’s School of Population Health and spokesperson for Health Coalition Aotearoa, Dr. Kelly Garton, on why we should give kids a break from junk food ads.

She also spoke to Professor at Lincoln University’s Department of Soil & Physical Sciences and Co-Director of Bioprotection Aotearoa, Amanda Black, on how the use of pesticides is worsening the “biodiversity crisis.”

Kids have recently gone back to school, which means they will be “bombarded” with ads for junk food whilst commuting, according to researchers.

Senior research fellow at the University of Auckland’s School of Population Health and spokesperson for Health Coalition Aotearoa, Dr Kelly Garton, has published a comment on this in a recent Newsroom article and is advocating for Aotearoa’s local councils to eliminate junk food advertising from public transport spaces due to the impact they are having on young people.

Producer Amani spoke with Garton about what other major cities around the globe have done to tackle this issue and the further repercussions these ads could have on Aotearoa and its health system.