The Wire with Caeden

For their regular catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March about Hīkoi Mō te Tiriti, the 9-day Hīkoi opposing the treaty principles bill, as well as the government apologies to victims of abuse in care and the election of former US president Donald Trump.

He spoke to John Minto from Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa about the ongoing siege of Northern Gaza, as well as media coverage of the clashes between Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters and locals in Amsterdam and the implication of Donald Trump’s election on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.

He spoke to Ti Lamusse from Victoria University of Wellington about the governments cuts to mental health services for prisoners and the increase in the prison population of Aotearoa to 10,000 inmates.

And he spoke to Kevin Lamb from Age Concern Auckland to talk about a study examining loneliness amongst older New Zealanders.

Sasha spoke to Lisa Woods, A Movement Building & Advocacy Director at Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand about the treaty principles bill and calls for a codified constitution.

And he spoke to Sinéad O'Flynn, an Agriculture Campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa, about the new sale of companies associated with Fonterra, including potential implications for consumers and Greenpeace’s expectations for companies.

On the 11th of November, the Fonterra company announced that they will be selling customer-facing brands, which include Anchor, Mainland and others. Following this announcement, Greenpeace are calling for potential buyers to go palm-kernel free.

This comes after an expose of Fonterra’s dishonest marketing strategies, and claims that its milk is produced with ‘regenerative farming’, a blatant example of greenwashing.

Sasha spoke to Sinéad Deighton-O'Flynn, Agriculture Campaigner at Greenpeace Aotearoa about the new sale of companies associated with Fonterra, including potential implications for consumers and Greenpeace’s expectations for companies looking to purchase.

The Treaty Principles Bill is being tabled this week as part of the National Party’s coalition agreement with the ACT Party. The bill was one of ACT’s main campaign promises, attempting to clarify the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi under the law. 

The bill’s changes have been criticised by the Waitangi Tribunal, which found that the consultation process deliberately excluded Māori, the proposed content does not reflect Te Tiriti, and that if passed would cause significant prejudice to Māori. 

In response to the bill, a national hīkoi has been organised. Today the hīkoi is stopping in Kaiwaka, and it will make its way to parliament on Tuesday next week. In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the bill and the hīkoi.

Pharmac has announced the funding of the ADHD medication Lisdexamfetamine, which is currently not available in the country, as well as removing the renewal criteria for funded treatments.

The new medication will be funded from December, which is expected to benefit over 6000 people.

Many have welcomed these developments, including ADHD New Zealand.

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the spokesperson from the organisation, Darrin Bull, about these developments, and why they are so important for Aotearoa’s ADHD community.