The Wire with Sara

Auckland council has released for consultation their proposal to rezone parts of the central suburbs for medium and high density housing development.

Casper spoke firstly to Auckland councellor Shane Henderson about proposal, what it will mean for Auckland’s housing development and how people can contribute to the feedback process.

Then, to bring in some wider perspective, Casper had a chat with Character Coalition chairperson Sally Hughes about a desire to preserve special character areas and how it might be reconciled with a need for more affordable housing.

Finally, to round out the discussion, Casper talked to Bill McKay from the Architecture department of the University of Auckland about the impact that the council’s proposal might have on the city in terms of livability, housing supply and the future of urban development.

This week on The Wire for Thursday!

We have our regular chat with Andrew Little. Tuva’a speaks to him about the new health system reforms.

Joe speaks to Jude Ball from the University of Otago about adolescent drinking trends. He also will be speaking to Breast Cancer Foundation Chief executive Ah-Leen Rayner about New Zealand’s lack of access to cancer drugs.

Emilia speaks to Sanat Singh from Make it 16 about their case to lower the voting age making it to the Supreme Court. She also speaks to Greg Treadwell from AUT about Twitter agreeing to a sale to Elon Musk.

That's us for the Thursday Wire!

Cancer Control Agency Te Aho o Te Kahu released a report today aimed at measuring the gap that patients have been looking to close for years. The report found there were 18 cancer related medicines with significant benefits that New Zealanders did not have access to.

Joe spoke to the Chief Executive of the Breast Cancer Foundation, Ah-Leen Rayner, on the matter.

We start off with a conversation with ACT’s Brooke van Velden about the housing crisis and how to boost housing supply. 

Stella then speaks with Angela Maynard from the Tenants Protection Association about the human rights commission’s call for an independent housing authority and rental WOFs

This is followed by Stella chatting with Georgia Pigot, an environmental social scientist from the university of auckland about the third round of funding for the Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry Fund

Alex then speaks with Associate Professor Kevin Simon of the University of Auckland about microplastic pollution in freshwater. 

And then with Steven Trewick of Massey University about his research into six new Weta species in the alpine region of the south island.

Finally, Stella speaks with ben Birks Ang, deputy director of the NZ drug foundation, about recent police wastewater statistics showing increases in methamphetamine.