The Wire with Castor

Recent drugs misrepresented as pure MDMA have caused hospitalizations in the Hawke’s Bay region, with four men admitted and two in critical condition. 

Arno spoke to the NZ Drug Foundation’s executive director Sarah Helm to find out more. Arno started the interview by asking what the MDMA was laced with.

In the upcoming election there have been many discussions on all sides in regard to tax policy. A Newshub-Reid research poll in May found that a majority of Kiwi’s support implementing a wealth tax, although Labour, National and ACT have been reluctant to touch the subject with Labour still making no major tax reform announcements in the run-up to the election. 

Union’s in Tamaki Makaurau have become vocal and have organised a protest advocating for tax reform targeted at New Zealand’s wealthiest. To talk more about the protest that is happening next week, Andre Fa'aoso spoke to protest organiser with Unite Union Joe Carolan.

This year ConsumerNZ launched a campaign to rid our Supermarket shelves from “Dodgy Specials”.

The campaign asked for examples of misleading pricing in our supermarket aisles.

 The Labour Government has just announced new regulations around Unit Pricing that could help combat these “Dodgy Specials”

The regulations mean that all similar products will have to be displayed with a consistent unit price, making it easier to distinguish which products are cheaper by unit.

Nicholas spoke to Consumer NZ’s Jessica Walker about these new regulations, as well at ConsumerNZ’s campaign to rid New Zealand’s supermarket of quote “Dodgy Supermarket Specials”

The National Party is yet to announce a full Fiscal Plan to account for spending they have promised if they win the election. Figures released by the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions have shown a large gap between National's promised spending and the available budget, and workers unions such as Etū are fearing that funding cuts are in store for essential sectors. Rosetta spoke to Rachel Mackintosh, assistant national secretary for Etū, about these fears, and where this leaves working-class voters in the upcoming election.