The Wire with Sara

The government has announced their plan to repeal the Holidays Act in an effort to make the application of leave entitlements for workers easier to calculate — an issue which has been estimated to have resulted in more than $2 billion in remediation payments to workers for miscalculated entitlements. 

But critics including from Labour and the Greens say the changes will see some workers lose protections, especially when their hours defer from the traditional employment arrangement.

Submissions on the Electoral Amendment Bill reveal that many New Zealanders believe the changes will disenfranchise voters and negatively impact democratic participation. 

The proposed changes in the bill include removing the ability to enrol on voting day, banning prisoners from voting, and disallowing the provision of food and drink at election booths.

Over the weekend, Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ announced that New Zealand does not officially recognise Palestinian statehood, going against the decisions of countries like Australia, the UK and Canada.

Peters said that, at this stage, such a decision might legitimise Hamas, but that the government will take a ‘when, not if’ approach to the issue.  

Wire Host Sara spoke with National MP Carl Bates about all of these topics, starting with the Holidays Act

Welcome to the latest addition to the Tuesday Wire: Green World! A segment run by bfm news team-ers Sara, Leilani & Max, Green World will dive into the eco-future  — uncovering everything from niche research topics, strange and interesting tech innovations, and the latest environmental developments from across the globe.

This week, the first ever Overshoot Conference will take place in Austria, where climate experts from around the world will come together to discuss how climate targets can be recovered as we head toward exceeding 1.5 degrees of warming. 

New Zealand Climate Change Commissioner Dr Andy Reisinger, who will be attending the event, says the global capacity to respond to this urgent issue “depends on collective social and political will”.

Last week’s UN Climate Summit also saw numerous political leaders speaking to global climate commitments, in particular in the lead up to COP30. 
US President Donald Trump denounced scientific evidence on the urgency of climate change, Tuvalu Prime Minister Feleti Teo called for urgent climate action.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New Zealand spokesperson Carolyn Schwalger called for refreshed commitments to international cooperation on climate solutions, and Albanese specifically called out isolationist decision-making across the globe.

In the first interview with Dr Andy Reisinger, Host Sara talks about the Overshoot Conference and global climate action. 

When it comes to a global response to climate impacts, UN Chief of International development Achim Steiner has said that an observed increase of national defence spending has detracted from critical investment. 
University of Auckland Management and International Business professor Sasha Maher who has engaged with research on climate finance, spoke to Sara about the financial obligation of individual states, towards climate solution.

Over the weekend, at the United Nations General Assembly, Foreign Minister Winston Peters announced that New Zealand would not formally recognise a Palestinian state.

This follows weeks of the Government not explicitly laying out what their plans were regarding recognising Palestine, unlike countries such as France, the UK, Canada, and Australia, who all announced they would be recognising a Palestinian state.

The government’s decision to not recognise a Palestinian state has received criticisms from the opposition parties, international relations experts, and pro-Palestinian advocates.

For our weekly catchup, News and Editorial Director and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to the ACT Party’s Simon Court about the country’s decision not to recognise Palestinian statehood.

We also discussed the government overhauling the Holidays Act.

The changes include a shift to hours-based accrual system for annual leave and a 12.5% Leave Compensation Payment for casual employees as opposed to accruing leave.

Joel also spoke to Simon about this topic, specifically about its impact on casual and part-time employees.

But first, we discussed the Government’s decision not to recognise Palestine.

Last week, US President Donald Trump had an outburst of criticism towards the UN. Despite the why and what of these criticisms by the right wing leader, he is not the first to levy criticisms against the organisation and its structures.

Particularly, the inability for the organisation to enact, oversee and rule on meaningful change, as well as the powers invested in an outdated security council, have been subject of significant concern, especially in the 21st century.

Monday Wire Producer Alex spoke to Senior Tutor in Law at the University of Auckland, Dr Justin Sobion, about the UN’s glaring issues, and potential fixes.