The Wire with Caeden

Spike speaks to Catherine Delahunty from West Papua Action Aotearoa about the current situation in the region, and their open letter to the Aotearoa government. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is facing an uncertain future after the recent election ended in a stalemate. With no candidate reaching the 50% required to govern, the country is going back to the polls on May 28th. In his 20 year rule, this is the closest Erdoğan has come to defeat. PHD Candidate at Australian National University Khalid Al Bostanji is an expert on Turkish foreign policy and he began by discussing how the run-off election came to be.

Climate change, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism and lack of accessible support are some of the key concerns and issues highlighted in a youth wellbeing report. Ka Whakahuatau te Rangatahi mõ te Toiora or the Youth Wellbeing insights report has highlighted key issues affecting the mental health of young people throughout Aotearoa.

The report also outlines the disproportionate mental health struggles of minority communities including Māori, Pasifika and rainbow youth. The report emphasises that policymakers need to acknowledge the experiences of rangatahi within future mental health system reform and investment. 

To speak more about the report, its findings and the reactions to it, Andre Fa'aoso spoke to Doctor Jessica Stubbing, research fellow in Koi Tū, The Centre for Informed Futures.

The most recent food price report from Stats NZ hints at tough future for Kiwi’s wallets. The report says that annual food prices have increased by twelve point five percent, the largest increase in food prices since September 1987, which shortly followed the introduction of GST in 1986. 

Some of the key numbers from the report show that over the recent period:

• grocery food prices increased by 14.0 percent
• fruit and vegetables prices increased by 22.5 percent
• restaurant meals and ready-to-eat food prices increased by 9.0 percent
• meat, poultry, and fish prices increased by 9.5 percent
• non-alcoholic beverage prices increased by 8.0 percent.

To learn more about what food items substantially increased in price, Andre Fa'aoso spoke to James Mitchell, manager for Consumer Price Delivery at Stats NZ.