The Wire with Caeden

This week, Jogai and Jess have a report on the morning’s strike by civilian staff of the New Zealand defence force, and Co-leader of the Green Party James Shaw joins us live in studio to discuss some of the prominent issues forming this year's elections. Jogai chats to one of the producer's of Maori Television's new show The Ring Inz, and Jess speaks to Children’s commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft about a new report outlining the use of solitary confinement in New Zealand. Labour leader Andrew Little is also back for our weekly chat. All this and more on the Thursday Wire - check out the full podcast here. 

The Backbone Collective is a national coalition of survivors of violence against women and watchdog NGO that acts as a voice for victims of domestic abuse. The Collective recently released the results of a survey, the conclusions of were pretty damning of the Family Court. Last Wednesday, the Principal Family Court Judge Laurence Ryan released a media statement in response to the criticisms made by the Backbone Collective, in which Judge Ryan said many of the issues raised by the Collective were already addressed or discussed by Parliament. Michelle Duggan, Chair of the New Zealand Law Society's Family Law Section, also released a statement supporting the comments of Judge Ryan. 95bFM reporter Caitlin McIlhagga speaks to both Duggan and Professor Mark Heneghan, Dean of Law at the University of Otago, about the Backbone Collective's criticisms of the Family Court and recent Family Court reforms.

Caitlin also spoke to both Duggan and Heneghan about the participation of McKenzie Friends in the Family Court process. A McKenzie Friend is the name given to a support person for people who are representing themselves in court. McKenzie Friends are not lawyers, and cannot address the court without permission or draft any legal documents, but they can sit with litigants in court for support.

To listen to Caitlin’s full interview with the self-proclaimed ‘first McKenzie Friend Specialist’ in New Zealand, click here.

Former Wire host, Caitlin McIlhagga, makes a special return to the show this week for an investigation she's been working on around the Family Court system & the place of McKenzie Friends within this framework. AUT's Allan Blackman also joins us for a wee Chemistry-related interlude in the middle of the show, where he chats to Ximena & Adam about the legacy of Ernest Rutherford. 

Earlier this month saw the release of the People's Review of Mental Health, an intiative to gather qualitative data about what life is like for people involved in the mental health system. The review then used the data to make a number of recommendations for the Ministry of Health.

Two groups involved in the People's Review were advocacy group Action Station and the Public Service Assocation, producer Ben speaks to spokespeople from each.