The Wire with Sara

For our weekly catchup w/ The Green Party, Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez March about the government’s initiatives aimed at moving young people out of benefit dependency, Associate Education Minister David Seymour’s announcement of changes to how the government contracts school attendance services, The Green Party interviewing the families of the three New Zealanders detained as part of the Sumud flotilla, as well as Foreign Minister Winston Peters' action to blame the “radical left” for the vandalisation of his Auckland home.

Max also spoke with Paul Taillon, a Senior Lecturer from the Faculty of History, Arts and Education at The University of Auckland, to discuss the recent actions by United States President Donald Trump, to deploy the National Guard in democratic states and what this means for American democracy.

Producer Manny spoke with Associate Professor George Laking the government's announced changes to bowel Cancer screening.

Producer Manny also spoke with Craig Stevens, a Professor in the department of Physics, on the recently released Our Environment 2025 Report by the Ministry for the Environment.

The government announced two new initiatives aimed at moving young people out of benefit dependency, and are looking to motivate them to stay in work by providing a $1000 incentive if they are able to keep stable work for more than 12 months. In the same announcement, they stated that young adults, aged 18 and 19, will no longer be eligible for Jobseeker payments if their parents can support them, for which they set the bar as an annual household income of just over $65,000.

In addition to this, The Green Party conducted a public interview on Monday, with the families of the three New Zealanders who were detained by Israel aboard the Sumud flotilla. The goal of the flotilla was to break through Israel’s illegal blockade that has existed since 2007, and provide aid to those suffering in Gaza.

As a result of rising tensions towards the Government’s stance on Gaza, Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ Auckland home was vandalised on Tuesday, the day after the press conference where Chloe Swarbrick urged the Government to act against Israel. Peters then quickly blamed the vandilisation – where a protestor broke his window and left a note saying “welcome to the real world” – on what he described as the “radical left”.

For our weekly catchup with the Green Party’s Ricardo Menendez-March, Wednesday Wire Host Max speaks to him about the vandalisation of Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ Auckland home, what the Green Party is asking of the government as a next step in Aotearoa’s stance on Gaza. As well as the Government’s initiatives aimed at moving young adults towards independence.

We also spoke about Associate Education Minister David Seymour’s announcing a change to how the government contracts school attendance services.

This week in Aotearoa, the Hauraki Gulf Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill is set to pass its third reading in parliament. The legislation extends existing protections and introduces new areas of marine reserve. The move is providing what many have described as long overdue in Aotearoa’s conservation efforts, as only 0.3% of our waters are currently under full marine protection. However, experts have also raised concerns about the balance of consideration of commercial fisheries comparative to that of local whānau and hapū groups.

Producer Jasmine Gray spoke to Fiona McCormack, an Associate Marine Anthropology Professor at the University of Waikato, about the nature of this legislation and what it means for wider marine conservation efforts.

For Dear Science this week, our expert, Professor Allan Blackman about Dame Jane Goodall, discoveries in Bearded Vulture’s nests and fresh clues of a new planet.  

For our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire Host Sara spoke to MP Carl Bates about the government’s Electricity Plan, the Defence Industry strategy and the Freedom Flotilla activists
Sara also attended a press conference yesterday on the NewZealand activists detained by Israeli forces while attempting to deliver aid into Gaza. On this topic, she spoke to two experts on international humanitarian law on New Zealand and the international community’s obligations to respond to the Israel-Palestine conflict. 

For Green World, Producer Jasmine spoke with Fiona McCormack, Associate Professor in Marine Anthropology at the University of Waikato, about the incoming Hauraki Gulf Tīkapa Moana Marine Protection Bill