The Wire with Caeden

As part of their pledge to fund 13 new cancer drugs the coalition government has given Pharmac at least $600 million.

This is welcome news to the 330,000 patients that are currently on the waiting list for medicines on Pharmac’s Options for Investment List.

I spoke to the chair of Patient Voice Aotearoa about the current state of Pharmac’s process, funding and what other reforms are needed on top of the recent changes. 

Patient Voice Aotearoa is a collective of patients, caregivers, whanau, advocates and charitable organisations that campaign for the rights of New Zealand patients.

I began by asking about the state of Pharmac funding prior to the developments.

Wire host Caeden spoke to Labour Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about last week’s Labour Party conference and scrutiny week in Parliament.

They also spoke to Kanak youth coordinator Viro Xulue about the struggle for decolonisation in New Caledonia.

They spoke to University of Auckland Lecturer Dr Emmy van Esch about the ethics of monitoring employees’ computers when they work for home.

And they spoke to World Vision’s Dr Olivia Yates about pacific migration due to climate change. 

Producer Oto spoke to Dr Selena Shang from the University of Auckland about the government’s decision to remove agricultural emissions from the Emissions Trading Scheme.

He also spoke to Dr Jennifer Tatebe from the University of Auckland to talk about the impacts of urbanisation on rural schools.

On Sunday the government announced new measures to combat increased rates of youth offending. Along with increased police presence on Queen Street, they also promised the introduction of military style boot camps for youth offenders. 

Military style boot camps have been implemented several times in Aotearoa, to minimal success. They have been met with criticism for their failure to address the root issues of youth offending, and the high rates of reconviction. 

The government has also met recent criticism for its cuts in the public sector, particularly for ACT party leader David Seymour’s comments that more cuts should be expected. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the boot camps proposal and the impact of cuts in the public sector.

At the beginning of May, advocacy group Students for Fair Rent, launched a ‘rent strike’ against the University of Auckland. This saw many students withholding their rent from their halls of residence. 

Just over a month later a decision was made to end the strike. Now, still with no response from the University, the group is moving away from solely targeting the tertiary institution, and instead focusing on legislative change. 

Producer Evie spoke to the groups organiser, Matthew Lee, who explains what happened over the course of the strike and what led to its end.