The Wire with Caeden

It is our second week of 95bFM's election coverage, and this week's focus is health.

Rosetta spoke to Adele Gautier, Research and Strategic Programmes Manager at Breast Cancer Foundation New Zealand, about Pharmac's decision to replace Herceptin with Herzuma, but not to widen eligibility for multiple rounds of treatment for patients with advanced breast cancer.

For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party, producer Rawan spoke to SImon Court about some of ACT's health policies, including their proposed review of Pharmac, their promise to subsidise more elective surgeries as well as establish Mental Health and Addiction NZ.

For our bi-weekly segment of Tomorrow's World where Rawan and Leilani explore current events around science, technology and the environment, Rawan looked into the increase of youth vaping and The Labour Party's proposed policies surrounding the topic. Rawan spoke to Otago public health expert Janet Hoek and The Health Coalition's Leitu Tufunga.

Finally, Rosetta spoke to Co-Chair of the Health Coalition's Alcohol Panel, Karen Wright, about The Sale and Supply of Alcohol Amendment (Community Participation) Bill, and reducing alcohol-related harm in Aotearoa.

For our weekly catch-up Caeden speaks to Minister Andrew Little about Labour’s policies to combat the cost of living crisis and an open letter calling to scrap the acceptable standards of health criteria for visa applications.  

For City Counselling, News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins speaks to Auckland Councillor Shane Henderson about the council deciding on whether to establish seats for Māori representatives and on-street parking prices increasing across the city. 

Beth speaks with Professor of Tax Law at the University of Auckland Craig Elliffe, about the economic viability of a Wealth tax in Aotearoa.

She also speaks to co-leader of the Green Party Marama Davidson about the Greens’ Income Guarantee Plan.

Olivia speaks to Massey University Business School’s Māori Economist Mathew Roskruge about Labour's pledge to make financial literacy compulsory at schools.

She also speaks to Chief Executive of Tourism Industry Aotearoa Rebecca Ingram about the role of Aotearoa’s tourism industry in our economy.

In the lead up to the election, political parties have been proposing different measures to address the cost of living crisis.

If re-elected, Labour has promised to scrap goods and services tax from fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables from 1 April next year, claiming it would save an average household about $4.25 per week.

First, News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to New Zealand Council of Trade Unions President Richard Wagstaff, and asked him what impact they believe this policy would have for low to middle income workers and their whanau. 

She also asked Child Poverty Action Group’s Alan Johnson to weigh in on how effective they believe this policy would be in alleviating cost of living pressures. 

To hear from an economist's perspective she spoke to Chief Executive and Principal Economist at Infometrics, Brad Olsen, who has been a vocal opponent of the policy. I started off the interview by asking him why he believes the policy would not benefit consumers. 

Lastly, she spoke to Senior Taxation Lecturer at AUT Ranjana Gupta, who gave her thoughts on the policy and suggested potential alternatives. 

In June, the Greens announced their Income Guarantee plan, which would be funded by a Wealth tax. Last month, Labour ruled out the possibility of a Wealth and Capital Gains tax should they be re-elected, but the polls seem to be telling a different story about what Aotearoa wants, with a recent One News poll reflecting 63% in favour of a Wealth tax.

Beth sat down with Professor of Tax Law at the University of Auckland Craig Elliffe to speak about the economic viability of a Wealth tax in Aotearoa and the national support expressed in recent polls. She also caught up with Co-leader of the Green Party Marama Davidson about the Greens' Income Guarantee plan and Labour's decision to rule out a Wealth tax.