The Wire with Sara

A project funded by the Health Research Council (HRC) has spotlighted the significant gap in support for Asian rangatahi who’ve experienced sexual violence in Aotearoa. 

Research investigated the experiences of professionals and carers - from counsellors, psychologists, educators, social workers, legal and medical practitioners and more from across the motu.

Increased cultural competency, safety, and support emerged as common themes to a more cohesive cross-sector approach to improve support for survivors.

I spoke to the initiative’s lead researcher, Dr. Ying Wang, Research Fellow at the Centre for Arts and Social Transformation at the University of Auckland about this kaupapa.

Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Courts have been utilised since 2012 to treat offences fueled by drug use or committed by people in active addiction. 

Offenders who would have otherwise faced up to three years in prison can instead commit to rehabilitation programs  and community work to aim to address the core issues of these offenders.

Amidst rising levels of methamphetamine use in New Zealand, the courts have shown success at rehabilitating offenders in the community and stopping reoffending. 

Producer Flo spoke to Dr Katherine Doolin, Senior Law Lecturer at the University of Auckland about the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Courts, the upcoming conference on AODT courts and her thoughts about the future of drug-crime related policy in Aotearoa New Zealand.

This Week on the Wednesday Wire:

For our weekly catchup w/ the Green Party Wednesday Wire Host Max spoke with MP Ricardo Menendez-March about The National Party’s newly announced rates rises cap, The Labour Party announcing they’d be providing low-interest loans for family GP practices, and last week’s Government announcement that they'd be majorly shaking up local government.

Producer Flo spoke with Dr Katherine Doolin, a Senior Law Lecturer at the University of Auckland, to talk about the effectiveness of Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Courts, the upcoming conference on AODT courts and hopes for their further implementation in the future.

Max spoke with Peter Shepherd, a Professor in the department of molecular medicine at the University of Auckland, to discuss the World Health Organisation listing Ozempic-style weight loss drugs as a recommendation to combat obesity.

And Flo spoke with Wei-Qin Zhuang, an Associate Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Auckland, to discuss a new methodology to remove nitrate from water supplies.

Recently, the government has announced some major reforms to how regional councils operate, with regional councillors proposed to be replaced by boards made up of city and regional mayors, and potentially even Crown-appointed representatives, called combined territories boards, or CTBs.

As well as this, Health Minister, Simeon Brown, has called for the decentralisation of Health New Zealand, with the expectation that the entity focuses on deliveries closer to the front-line, additionally expecting a plan to do so by the end of the year.

For our weekly catch up with the National Party, News and Editorial Director Joel spoke to MP Stuart Smith about these topics, starting with the regional council.