The Wire with Caeden

Four climate activists were arrested and seventy protesters were trespassed after blockading operations at Bathurst Resources’ Stockton coal mine for more than sixty hours.

The protest targeted the Australian-owned mine which is planning an expansion of activities approved through the government’s new fast-tracked consent process.

While Resources Minister Shane Jones has justified the coal expansion as important for domestic energy needs and economic growth, activists assert that the government is wrongly “doubling-down” on fossil fuels when they should be scaling up renewable energy.

Producer Sara spoke with Adam Currie, a climate activist from 350 Aotearoa and one of those who was arrested for disrupting operations at the coal mine this week. 

She started the interview by asking what the main goal of the protest was

The Government announced its proposals for updating the Waste Minimisation Act and the Litter Act today. The proposals would combine these two Acts into one, extend producer responsibility and permit local government to use its share of the waste disposal levy on a wider range of activities unrelated to waste.

Labour party MP, Rachel Brooking, criticised the proposal for failing to include any mention of establishing a circular economy. However, Sue Coutts, an advocate for Zero Waste Network Aotearoa says that the proposal is a step in the right direction.

For our weekly catchup with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March, Oto speak to him about Simeon Brown’s Health Infrastructure Plan, the downgrading of climate change in the new Defence Capability Plan and the recently announced extension of military assistance to Ukraine.

He spoke to Amanda Larsson - Senior Campaign manager for Greenpeace Aotearoa, about Greenpeace’s investigation into meat processing corporation JBS and their role in the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.

And he spoke to Sue Coutts, an advocate for the Zero Waste Network about their take on the government’s proposal to update the waste minimisation act.

Max spoke to the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa co-chair, John Minto, about the PSNA appeal to New Zealand Foreign Minister, Winston Peters, in which they requested that New Zealand initiate the call for an internationally enforced “no-fly” zone over Gaza.

Last week finance minister Nicola Willis announced a budget cut of 25% to the reserve bank. The cut follows criticisms of the reserve bank staffing numbers, which have risen significantly since 2018. 

Also last week education minister Erica Stanford announced $100 million of new classroom developments across the country, with one large development in Massey. The move has been well received, though some have pointed out the continued impacts of overcrowding in the school system, particularly due to housing intensification in parts of the country. 

In our weekly catchup with National’s Tom Rutherford, Wire host Castor asked about each of these issues, starting with reserve bank budget cuts.