The Wire with Caeden

With the election coming up, there is a need for as much of the country to be voting as well as to be informed on what they’re voting for. One tool New Zealanders can be using is the vote compass, which is a 30 question survey, which then tells you where your views sit compared to New Zealand's political parties. This one of the largest surveys to be conducted, which will be used for academic purposes. To understand more about the vote compass works, James Tapp talked to Jennifer Lees-Marshment, one of the professors who is part of the compass, and started off by asking how it works.

https://votecompass.tvnz.co.nz/

With Auckland in level 2.5, many people are readjusting to life, there are many areas which are still returning to normal. For central Auckland and their homeless population, there have been huge efforts to provide housing throughout the pandemic. While housing has been adequate so far, there are a number of other issues arising. To understand more about this, James Tapp talked to the chief executive of Lifewise, Jo Denvir, and started off by asking about the current situation.

On Monday, Minister of Building and Construction, Jenny Salesa, announced a number of new exemptions from the regular building consent process, specifically for smaller projects such as decks and sheds. Felix Walton spoke to Paul Hobbs, a principal advisor in building systems assurance, from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment about the changes.

Bronwyn speaks to Jess and Noor from Rainbow Election 2020 about their LGBTQIA+ policy tool for this year’s election. The tool was created in collaboration with 13 rainbow organisations and aims to inform the voting public as well as educate policymakers on how they can protect the rainbow community. It highlights 15 rainbow policy areas, split into 4 categories; Health, Education, Community and Legal. Part I talks about rainbow voter disenfranchisement and lack of engagement by political parties in rainbow policies. Part II next week will go into more depth on the specific policies. 

The Rainbow Election Policy tool website will go live on 3 September, followed by a launch event on September 17 with guest speaker MP Chloe Swarbrick. You can find more info on their website or on social media.