The Wire with Sara

The Labour Party announced their tax policy over the weekend. It included policies like dropping GST off fruits and vegetables and changes to Working for Families.

The Policy has received some support, but several organisations advocating for the eradication of poverty and tax reform say it does not go far enough to address the wealth gap in Aotearoa.

Caeden spoke about this with Glen Barclay, Chair of Tax Justice Aotearoa and the Better Taxes for a Better Future campaign which is a coalition of 20 organisations aiming to work for better taxes to grow revenue and have a fairer tax system.

They started by asking Glen if Labour’s announcement is fair tax policy.

Caeden also spoke to economist Susan St John for the Child Poverty Action Group’s position on the announcement. As they have been quite critical of it, they started by asking what the issues were.

News and Editorial Director Jessica Hopkins spoke to Labour’s Andrew Little about New Zealand’s first National Security Strategy, the proposed Immigration (Mass Arrivals) Amendment Bill, and reports that complaints of migrant exploitation have increased under Labour. 

For City Counselling, councillor for Waitākere Shane Henderson spoke about the State of the City Report comparing Auckland to nine other cities globally and the government's plans for 19 new marine protection areas for the Hauraki Gulf.

World Vision Advocacy Campaigns and Communications Manager Morgan Theakston discussed the government's proposed legislation to address modern slavery and supply chain exploitation. 

Producer Olivia talked to Climate Justice Taranaki researcher, Catherine Cheung, about the recently announced BlackRock green energy investment deal. 

She also spoke to Associate Professor of Law and Associate Dean of Equity at the University of Auckland Law School, Hanna Wilberg, about issues with our social welfare system.

Concerns have been raised that Aotearoa’s social welfare system has problematic aspects that contribute to hardship, such as the continuation of repayable grants that are taken from people’s benefit, which advocates say are already too low. 

Olivia spoke to Auckland Law School’s Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Equity, Hanna Wilberg, about the issues with our current system and where people can go for help.

A recent report called ‘State of the City’ examines Auckland City in a global context, comparing it to developed cities in other countries. The report draws both comparisons and highlights potential areas of improvement. 

The report was commissioned by the Committee for Auckland, in partnership with Deloitte and Auckland Council’s economic and cultural agency Tātaki Auckland Unlimited. 

Arno spoke with Greater Auckland editor Matt Lowrie to find out more about the findings in the report. Arno started by asking how Matt viewed Auckland prior to reading the report.