The Wire with Caeden

For their weekly catchup, Wire Host and News and Editorial Director, Joel, speaks to the ACT Party's Simon Court, about calls from the New Zealand police association for ACT MP, Nicole McKee, to step down from her responsibilities in the firearms reform.

Also for our week catchup, they speak to Te Pāti Māori's Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, around local council's voting on the future of Māori wards in their constituencies, the Ngāpuhi hīkoi over the government's plans to reverse section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act, and Te Pāti Māori's calls to boycott the newspaper, The Herald.

They spoke to Professor at the University of Auckland Faculty of Law, Claire Charters, around the controversial decision to include an advertisement by right-wing lobby group, Hobson's Pledge, in The Herald.

The also spoke to Professional Teaching Fellow in Social Sciences at the University of Auckland, Chris McMillan, about whether the Olympics, as well as team New Zealand, are doing enough to lower their carbon footprint.

Finally, they spoke to youth worker and co-founder of Kick Back, Aaron Hendry, about the Ministry of Social Development changing their eligability for Emergency Housing, and what this means for vulnerable youth.

Earlier this week, Aotearoa Justice Watch released a report detailing numerous testimonies of abuse, discrimination and alleged violations of human rights within New Zealand’s criminal justice system.

Of the 62 submissions made between June 2022 and March 2024, 36 testimonies related to prisons, 20 to policing and 6 to both policing and prisons.

Aotearoa Justice Watch is made up of People Against Prisons Aotearoa, Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, JustSpeak and the New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties.

Producer Sofia spoke to Senior Campaigner at Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand, David Vega, about the report and identifying areas for improvement in our criminal justice system. 

New Zealand’s family violence act officially took effect on the 1st of July 2019. The act reformed previous legislation released in 2018 to update the definition of family violence and include references to controlling and coercive behaviour. 

However, while certain coercive and controlling behaviours in abusive relationships are criminalised and covered by New Zealand law, coercive control itself is not illegal, with family courts in Aotearoa often failing to prosecute those responsible for coercion and non-physical forms of abuse in family violence situations.

Oto spoke to Carrie Leonetti, associate professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Auckland, to discuss how Family courts in Aotearoa often fail to properly address coercive and controlling behaviours.

On the 29th of July this year, three children were killed in a mass stabbing incident in the town of Southport in the United Kingdom. Following the killings, riots broke out across the United Kingdom, after the attacker was falsely identified as a Muslim refugee on social media platforms such as Facebook and X, formerly twitter. 

The riots have been lead by members of Far-Right British organisations such as the English Defence League, who have targeted Mosques, Muslim owned businesses and members of the Muslim community. 

Oto spoke to Dr Neal Curtis, a professor of media and political theory in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Auckland, to discuss the cause of the UK riots and the rise of the British far right.