The Wire with Sara

October 13th is the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction with the United Nations.

The day focuses on the rising cost of disasters, as well as disaster risks, including the impact of climate change and development choices. 

Fatma Özdoğan, PhD Candidate and Researcher at the University of Montreal, co-wrote an article on this topic, focused on the impact of how we talk about disasters, with Professor Ali Asgary of York University. 

Wire Host Caeden spoke to Özdoğan for International Desk.

A new term for Tāmaki Makaurau’s city council is rolling out amidst sizeable public transport changes for the city. Namely, the restructuring of responsibility that transfers primary policy and planning powers to council and leaves transport delivery responsibilities to Auckland Transport. 

It has also been announced that 4162 of the approximately 10,000 special votes in the recent Auckland election were deemed invalid due to outdated enrolment details, or missing and incorrect declarations on voting forms. 

Producer Jasmine spoke to Councillor Fairey about her thoughts on the future of Auckland’s transport systems and policy in the coming years, and her concerns around disenfranchisement of local democracy in light of the large number of discounted votes. 

On Monday this week, the Labour Party announced their first major policy ahead of next year’s general election, which is titled the “Future Fund”. Although Labour didn’t include many specifications about the policy, the aim is to invest in New Zealand businesses that are inventive and resourceful. They also announced the fund would begin with a $200 million investment.

In addition to this, the government made a decision to move ahead with its Roads of National Significance programme. The coalition announced that they’ve allocated $1.2 billion worth of funding to the programme, of which $550 million is being used to buy properties in order to move the project forward.

For our weekly catchup with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez March, Wednesday Wire Host Max speaks to him about the Green Party’s stance on the Labour Party’s new policy, as well as the government’s decision to move forward with the Roads of National Significance programme.

But first, they discussed the upcoming mega strike from the unions.

The government is looking to introduce a raft of reforms to the driver licence system, officially called the Graduated Driver Licensing System. 

The government aims to make getting a full driver’s licence easier and cheaper for New Zealanders, which is why one of the proposed changes to the system includes scrapping the full licence test. 

However, the government is also calling for reduced eye exams for class one licence holders, saying repeated eye exams don’t have any significant benefit on safety. 

Producer Vihan spoke to the New Zealand Association of Optometrists (NZAO) President Hadyn Treanor about his views on the reduction of eye exams.

He also spoke to a couple of university students about the changes, and their thoughts on it.