The Wire with Caeden

For their regular catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March about the National Land transport Programme, the Ministry of Education removing information on charter schools from their website and the party’s nomination for bird of the year.

He spoke to Professor Christine Rubie-Davies from the University of Auckland to talk about the practice of streaming in classrooms and the Kōkirihia initiative led by Ngāi Tahu which looks to replace it with High expectation teaching and mixed ability classrooms.

And he spoke to Researcher Leueta Mulipola from the University of Auckland to talk about a study she conducted on anger studying anger through the lens of Samoan youth in Aotearoa.

Sasha spoke to John Minto from Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa about double standards in New Zealand's media coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza.

He also spoke to Professor Barry Barton from the University of Waikato about the government’s intention to reverse the oil and gas exploration ban.

The government recently announced its New National Land Transport Plan for 2024- 2027. The plan would consist of a $32.9 billion package, largely going towards the development of new roads, many of which are part of the Roads of National Significance programme, as well as maintaining and repairing existing highways and improving public transport in Aotearoa’s major cities.

Based on the it's large expenditure on road and highway development, the Greens issued statements calling out the plan for increasing car dependency and the potential for greater emissions shortly after it was announced. 

For our weekly catchup, Oto spoke to Green Party MP Ricardo Menendez-March about the party’s take on the National Land Transport plan. 

They also had a chat about the Ministry of Education removing information on previous iterations of charter schools from their website, as well as the party’s nomination for bird of the year and why it’s important.

In our catchup with the National party this week, Wire Host Castor asked MP Katie Nimon about several issues in the recent week of politics. Firstly, I asked about the death of Kiingi Tuheitia and the government’s response. I then asked about the potential arrival of Candace Owens, a far-right speaker from the United States who has been known for engaging in anti-semitism and holocaust denial. 

Castor then asked about a recent submission by the parliamentary commissioner for the environment, Simon Upton, regarding the government’s second draft emissions reduction plan. The submission makes several critiques of the government’s attitude towards emissions reduction, particularly criticising its promotion of short term solutions which could end up offloading responsibility onto future generations. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Castor spoke to MP Katie Nimon about each of these issues, starting off with the recent passing of Kīngi Tūheitia. 

The latest poverty report, authored by the Ministry of Social Development Principal Advisor, Bryan Perry, shows New Zealand is behind regarding child poverty statistics, when compared with European nations.

News and Editorial Director, Joel, speaks to Staff Researcher for Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), Harry Yu Shi, about the findings of the report, and what policy proposals CPAG have outlined to mitigate the statistics.