The Wire with Sara

It's another Friday Wire, and Casper McGuire is making his debut as a host!

Today on the show:

Jess spoke to Susan Saint John, economic spokesperson for Child poverty action group to discuss today's increase to the Working for Families tax credit increase by the government.

Casper had his regular chat with Auckland city councellor Shane Henderson and this week we talked about the council’s newly proposed parking strategy.

Liam spoke with University of Otago Professor James Headley about Russia’s threats to cut Germany’s fuel supplies.

Jess spoke to Dr Lida Ayoubi, Senior Law Lecturer at Auckland University of Technology, asking her what the current immigration policy is in Aotearoa for disabled people.

Casper also talked to Dr George Laking, the medical director of the New Zealand Cancer Society, about a recent melanoma study.

Jess spoke to Justin Hodgkiss is co-director of the MacDairmid institute about the future of solar panel technology.

And finally Liam spoke to Greater Wellington Regional Councillor Thomas Nash about the Puketaha Kakapo Sanctuary. 

In the midst of their invasion of Ukraine, Russia has signed a decree requiring several G7 countries to pay for Russian fuel supplies via roubles. 

Multiple countries have declined this decree despite their reliance on Russian fuel, with Germany especially calling the move blackmail. 

Putin is now threatening to halt all fuel supplies to Germany,  with more supplies from Russia such as other forms of food and fuel.

To learn more, I spoke to University of Otago's James Headley about what’s going on, first asking him why Europe was so reliant on Russia's fuel supplies. 

Today the government increased Working for Families Tax Credits in response to inflation. Susan Saint John, economic spokesperson for Child Poverty Action Group, talked about the changes.

Major reforms to New Zealand's healthcare systems are set to come into place in July. The changes would see all DHBs replaced by one national organisation, Health New Zealand, while a Māori Health Authority will be established to commission health services, monitor the state of Māori health, and develop policy.

Emilia Sullivan spoke about these reforms to the University of Otago's Professor Robin Gauld, Pro-Vice Chancellor of Commerce and Dean of Otago Business School.